No. 1 USC welcomes Hawaii for start of title chase

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Although Matt Barkley has already graduated from Southern California, he's eager to get to work on his final college project.

After a two-year wait for the chance to play for a national championship, the senior quarterback leads the No. 1 Trojans into their season opener Saturday against Hawaii and new coach Norm Chow.

Three years after he started his first college game at the Coliseum as a freshman, Barkley is a seasoned veteran leading one of the nation's most talented teams into the title hunt ? just how he imagined his USC career would end.

Not even a two-year bowl ban and scholarship reductions from the NCAA dimmed that dream, which he made real by postponing his NFL career to return for his fourth season.

"It's great to be in the mix of things again," Barkley said.

The 93,607-seat Coliseum is sold out in Los Angeles' anticipation of a return to dominance by USC, which reigned atop college football for a good part of the previous decade. That's when Barkley was a wide-eyed fan growing up in Orange County and dreaming of following in the footsteps of Carson Palmer, fellow Mater Dei High School graduate Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez.

Barkley has that chance this fall: He's at the controls of an offense with an impressive array of talent, including 1,000-yard receivers Robert Woods and Marqise Lee and 1,000-yard rushers Curtis McNeal and Silas Redd. Everything is in place for a historic season ? if Barkley and his teammates can make it happen.

That's the only opportunity Barkley ever wanted.

"The overall skill is unique," Barkley said. "I've never been a part of a group of players this talented and special. The leadership across the board, of the seniors, I've never been on a team with this much leadership before. It's really cool to be a part of."

USC is an overwhelming favorite against Hawaii, which was picked to finish seventh in its debut season in the Mountain West. Trojans coach Lane Kiffin has welcomed the hype around his team, realizing it's unavoidable at a school with USC's profile, but also tries to keep his players from subsisting on it.

"My No. 1 job for this season, especially with the hype around this team, is to make sure that they're ready each week to play and they don't get caught up in anything else," Kiffin said. "We just have to educate our guys and really guard against loss of energy. With all the anticipation and hype, it's easy to lose that energy."

The Trojans insist they won't have that problem. A slogan to that effect has been painted on their practice field since spring ball: "PREP NOT HYPE."

Yet it's still pretty fun to be a Trojan right now.

"It's just so exciting, walking around campus and everybody is talking about the game," USC sophomore linebacker Hayes Pullard said. "But we're all seasoned veterans now. We've matured, and we're better players. Anybody would get better if they played against our offense every day."

While Barkley grew up steeped in USC lore and Kiffin became enthralled by the school during his career as a Trojans assistant, Chow also knows all about Palmer, Leinart and the Trojans' glorious recent past. He was a huge part of that success, running a stellar offense for coach Pete Carroll for four years and winning two national titles before Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian replaced him in 2005.

"You play hard when you go to USC," Chow said. "That's the only thing that matters. Hopefully it's the kind of culture that we'll have one day."

Although Chow jumped at the chance to return to his native islands to land his first head coaching job after four decades in the profession, he still has strong ties to Los Angeles, where he was UCLA's offensive coordinator until moving to his alma mater, Utah, last season. Chow and his wife still live in Manhattan Beach in the offseason, and two of their children graduated from USC.

And though Chow isn't intimidated by the prospect of facing the nation's top-ranked team in its historic stadium, he realizes his players don't exactly have his range of experience.

He even thought about taking the Warriors to the Coliseum one day early to get used to the atmosphere, but decided against it.

"We just hope they're not overwhelmed," Chow said. "We tried to talk to them about it. They understand. They read the paper. They know. You don't fool kids. I don't think you ever fool the players. ... We certainly understand and respect who they are. We just have to go out and perform."

Hawaii has never beaten USC in seven previous tries, and USC has won 14 consecutive season openers, including three against the Warriors. Kiffin's first game as USC's head coach was at Aloha Stadium in 2010.

With just four defensive starters returning, Chow readily acknowledges he isn't sure how the Warriors will slow down Barkley and the Trojans' offensive talent. Hawaii will attempt to score enough points to keep up, debuting Chow's pro-style offense after 13 years of Warriors football in the run-and-shoot schemes that regularly produced entertaining, high-scoring games.

"You know that's always an entertaining team to watch," said USC safety T.J. McDonald, who also passed on early NFL entry to chase a championship. "We're going to have to play hard to shut them down, no matter who the coach is or what offense they're running."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-1-usc-welcomes-hawaii-start-title-chase-184103885--spt.html

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WATCHING THE SHOW: Are demographics destiny?

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? One way to think about this year's election is as a contest between the impact of a sour economy (advantage Romney) and the power of the nation's shifting demographics (advantage Obama).

Put simply, the groups that support President Barack Obama most strongly ? blacks, Hispanics, young people, unmarried women ? have been growing as a share of the electorate. Those who support Mitt Romney the most ? white working men and older people ? have not.

This demographic tide is so strong that some Democrats came away from their 2008 victory feeling that a political reordering was in the works that could be as important as the New Deal realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic strength after the Great Depression.

The Great Recession put a deep dent in that hope of theirs, as it soured most other optimism around America.

But now both Republicans and Democrats see that the demographic tide is still running. But it is running into the effects of the bad economy.

As Republicans convened here this week, Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, issued a warning to his fellow Republicans. Perhaps the economic hard times would get them through this year. But soon they would have to face the longer-term implications of America's population shifts.

"Our demographics are changing, and we have to change. Not necessarily our core beliefs, but the tone of our message and the message and the intensity of it for sure," Bush said. "I don't think that's going to have an impact in this election though. . But long-term, conservative principles, if they're to be successful and implemented, there has to be a concerted effort to reach out to a much broader audience than we do today."

___

DEMOCRATS ARE hoping Bush is wrong about the impact this year. In fact, it could be said they are hoping the continuing demographic shifts will salvage Obama from the wreckage of the economy.

Charles Cook, one of the country's foremost analysts of election trends, says that basic public opinion about the election has been so stable now for so many months "that the makeup of the electorate is one of the few critical questions."

There are different ways to express the changes that electoral makeup is undergoing.

The percentage of the electorate that is white and not of Hispanic origin has been dropping steadily. It was about 90 percent of the vote in the 1970s. By 2008 it was 74 percent. The white vote has declined an average of 3 points each presidential election since 1992.

Will the trend continue into 2012?

Yes, concludes a study by a liberal think tank that looked at census data in battleground states. The researchers, Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin of the Center for American Progress, combined declines in the white electorate (3 percent) with growth among blacks and Hispanics (2 percent) as well as college-educated whites (1 percent), who are more sympathetic to Democrats than white voters in general. That produced a total swing of 6 percent toward voters more likely to favor Obama.

But demographics are not always destiny. Population trends don't actually register voters or bring them to the polls. The drubbing Democrats took in 2010 was largely explained by the very low turnout among some of their normally loyalist voters. Young voters who helped elect Obama in 2008 stayed away in droves at the midterm. So did blacks and Hispanics

The same thing could happen this year. "Will Democratic apathy and Republican energy make the electorate much more conservative leaning than its underlying demographics would suggest?" Teixera and Halpin asked.

That question is driving both sides, and the effects can be seen everywhere in the presidential campaign.

Just Wednesday, Obama campaigned among University of Virginia students in Charlottesville, one of three college-town appearances he is making in a week to gin up enthusiasm among young voters.

"Go out there, register," he implored the students, "Stand up. If you do, we will win Virginia and if we win Virginia we will win this election and we will finish what we started."

Paul Ryan, in his convention address, was direct in his effort to appeal to younger voters, making fun of Romney's music tastes and painting a biting image of the economic malaise: "College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life."

Meantime, Ann Romney went to the Latino Coalition lunch here at the Republican convention, part of a concerted Republican effort to reduce Obama's margins among Hispanics. "I admire your community so much because I know how much you value family and what sacrifices you make for your families," she said.

She stressed the Republican theme that Obama was unsympathetic to small business. "The Latino community is the huge engine of small business," she said, and "they are mistaken if they think they are going to be better off" if Obama is re-elected.

___

REVIVING THE economy is an appeal Republicans hope will be heard by all voters, including those who have leaned Democratic. The downturn hit everyone, after all. Pat Mullins, Republican chair in Virginia, said party polling had found that Hispanic voters were less worried about immigration policy than unemployment.

"They're concerned about the same things we are ? that their kids have the advantage to better themselves," he said. "That's what they moved here for."

But around the convention there is a palpable subtext, exemplified by Jeb Bush, that just relying on the economic message was a recipe for trouble, certainly in the long term. "We need to start being certain these various communities have leadership roles," Mullins said.

The question of roles sparked some blunt exchanges this week.

The chairman of next week's Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, took a shot at the Republicans for lining up a string of minority speakers at the opening night of the convention. "You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate," Villaraigosa said.

Indeed, the racial fault lines between the parties are creating conversations that are not always pretty.

A search for black faces at the Republican convention has become a kind of game on Twitter under the hashtag "negrospotting." The pop singer Clay Aiken wrote that he and his brother had been watching and taking a drink each time they spotted a black face and were, as their hashtag put it, "soberasamormon." This prompted the country star John Rich to tweet that Aiken "should be ashamed for racist comments like that."

The Republican Party says delegates aren't asked to identify their race, so they don't know how many are black. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which has been counting just that since 1974, said Thursday there are at least 47 black delegates, or about 2.1 percent.

And when it comes to Hispanics, Romney hurt himself during the primaries, particularly when he refused to support Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's legislation to address the problem of young aliens who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents and have lived here for years, gone to school and built lives but remain illegal. Obama then outmaneuvered Romney by unilaterally suspending deportations of these residents.

To counter this, Romney took a step that reflects the very notion Jeb Bush raised ? to look at the makeup of the electorate, shape the message and change its intensity. For his speech Thursday evening, the newly minted nominee has chosen someone to introduce him who reflects that changing demographic and can, not coincidentally, help to deliver it: Marco Rubio.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Michael Oreskes is senior managing editor for U.S. news at The Associated Press. Reach him at moreskes(at)ap.org.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/watching-show-demographics-destiny-090144739--politics.html

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Utilizing the Automatic Mind to Your Gain to Quit Smoking - ArticlePDQ

A report from Cambridge University has established that a mathematically typical individual will have a way to make out the meaning of a misspelled word as long as the last and first letters of the word are in place. I would suggest that the reader take a look at these reports as they are really incredible! Hypnotists can be alert to the automatic nature of the unconscious mind. It appears that in many cases the subconscious uses shortcuts to be able to become more effective. Some make reference to the workings of the unconscious as ?lazy economical.? .. Obviously this is helpful in most cases for instance when we see danger we run! It requires a bit of encouragement for the subconscious to depart from it is persistent mode.If you are one of the individuals who has been smoking for years, your subconscious has learned to create techniques that cause an automatic reaction which will be very harmful. Therefore, say when you?re out with buddies, that subconscious of yours may recognize some circumstances you have held it?s place in the habit of smoking it conditions ?out with friends.? .. From there it forms an automatic link, a secret to smoking cigarettes. All of this occurs instantaneously at an even approach below conscious thought. It is possible to create a conscious change in this pattern but until a brand new automatic subconscious pattern is made this is an uphill fight. The subconscious will resort for a while to the structure it knows best.Hypnosis is an excellent solution to make changes in that subconscious, but if the goal would be to make these changes intelligent and permanent, it requires changes responses over and over. A well-known pet trainer once explained that if you wish to stop your puppy from working to the door and screaming everytime someone opens it, open and shut that door yourself 25 to 50 times per day until that small doggy subconscious links door opening with nothing much occurring (and with not barking! )Similarly if a club or cultural drinker visits the club and doesn?t smoke fifty times a fresh nonsmoking routine is placed for the subconscious mind in that condition. A new default environment has been established.The point is that it is not essential to avoid life but merely to rewire that subconscious so that it?ll perform just how one wants it to!

Visit our website for more info about top Rated Vapor Cigarette

Source: http://articlepdq.com/health-fitness/utilizing-the-automatic-mind-to-your-gain-to-quit-smoking/

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Green Homes ? Joe's Plumbing Service

Green homes are houses that are kinder to the planet. They use lesser energy, produce less waste, and are a healthier environment for the people inside. Green homes come out of a philosophy of being more eco-friendly to the environment. They save on electricity, find ways to cut down on carbon-waste and general energy consumption. Green homes can put money in your pocket, and give you the peace of mind you are doing your bit to help sustain our planet.

Energy

Most of us would to make the world a little ?greener? by reducing our home energy consumption. There has been improvement in building techniques and materials over the last couple of decades, which means that homes are becoming more energy efficient. Do you dream of a house with no carbon emissions and zero-net-energy use? This can be achieved with a strategy that includes alternative energy sources, and conscientious fabrication methods and standards. We can channel in green energy into our homes without breaking the bank. There are DIY home energy programs that cost thousands of dollars but there are also DIY Solar and wind turbine schemes that will only cost a few hundred dollars, and that can be implemented without great technical skills. You can reach your goal of a Zero Energy Home, and it maybe just a couple of steps away. . .

Design: Living Green Designer Homes

When we think of eco friendly homes, or sustainable homes, we probably have an image of an odd-looking place? Too many panels and windmills all over it, maybe half buried on a hill, or too high tech for our budget? That may have been the case once but it?s now possible to design a home that is beautiful, and will give you a degree of independence from both present and future water and energy cost increases and shortages There is evidence of a growing concern about environmental and design issues. There is information available from government from which you can learn about design of green buildings for energy conservation. Good modern design standards readily integrate sustainable features such as rainwater collection, alternative power sources, grey water recycling, solar hot water and water efficient landscaping.

Sustainability

In December 2006, The Code for Sustainable Homes was introduced as a voluntary code in the UK and by May 2008 has become a national standard. It rates the key elements of design and construction which impact upon sustainability and efficiency. It is used by architects, builders and consumers alike in helping them plan and design new homes. The code awards new homes a star rating from 1 to 6, based on their performance against 9 sustainability criteria which assess the overall environmental impact. These are model green home building guidelines!

Building regulations require at least One Star. Six Stars reflects exemplary sustainability. The sustainability criteria by which new homes are measured are:

Energy and CO2 Emissions

Water H20 & Surface Water Run-off

Materials

Waste

Pollution

Health and Well-Being

Management of the environmental impacts of the construction and operation

Ecology

The key is to achieve sustainability without compromising either design or quality. The Code introduces minimum standards for energy and environmental factors affecting the sustainability of a home, and the rating takes into account different elements of sustainability. These include energy, transport, pollution, materials, land use and ecology and health and well-being. The UK Government has set the industry a target of delivering zero-carbon homes by 2016.

The aim of sustainable homes is to deliver real improvements in key areas such as carbon dioxide emissions and water use.

Carbon

Carbon reduction is high on the political agenda of all nations, yet there is a clear struggle for governments to come to terms with the measures that must be taken to achieve the reduction goals that our best science tells us is needed. Much can be achieved by action at the household level that can drastically reduce the enormity of the tasks that faces governments looking at the problems on a macro scale. Motivation for the changes that are needed is key, as it is in anything great but difficult that we strive for. One ?carrot? in the budget for households is the direct benefit of reduced energy bills achieved by making an effort to reduce their own carbon pollution. In the UK, London Green Homes service uniquely offers a free telephone advice service, a website and a paid-for green service to provide a free tailor-made package of carbon saving lifestyle improvements. The service has great flexibility, offering Londoners advice on a broad range of actions to reduce carbon emissions from lifestyle changes; and explains how best to save money on energy bills. It is the UK?s first one-stop-shop for information on how to make homes more carbon efficient.

Environmental

A US survey has shown that 87% of home buyers want to know how their homes rate in terms of environmental performance in order to make an informed decision when moving house. Further, 84% would pay an average 2% more for an eco-friendly home. Environmentally friendly homes are no longer a luxury reserved only for the richest Americans. Environmental concerns, dependence on foreign oil, water shortages, vanishing species, are all factors in an increasing the awareness of the call for us to be better stewards of the earth and its resources.

In this environmentally aware world, we are hearing more about green homes, eco friendly living and sustainable homes. Green homes that are designed to be energy efficient, use environmentally friendly and healthy materials and conserver water are becoming the standard. In addition to new building standards, there are simple environmentally friendly, DIY projects that will help curb energy costs, and improve your homes value.

Space is still the most important consideration for home buyers, but environmental considerations and use of eco-friendly materials are very high on the list of priorities. Architectural firms today are often committed to developing creative yet environmentally sustainable components of space for the betterment of lifestyle and family in a way that supports responsible stewardship of the environment and natural resources. Green living and building, with an emphasis on health, energy efficiency and environmental conservation, has never been more relevant than it is today. As time goes on, there will be more attention given to advocating for socially just and environmentally-minded rebuilding solutions. Home-building imposes very significant environmental and social costs at all levels. Impacts of new home construction include:

quarrying to provide basic raw construction materials like aggregates,

water consumption, and the widespread use of toxic

chemicals in building materials.

Conclusion

Green homes can put money in your pocket, they don?t need to be thought of as an expensive way to do what?s demanded of us for the environment. Sustainable homes give you peace of mind from knowing that you are doing everything you can to help sustain the planet. Sustainable homes don?t have to be unattractive anymore, and unsuitable for residential architecture. Green homes are better for the environment because they use less energy, less water, and have a lower impact on the environment

Minneapolis, MN. (August 8, 2012). . . The University of Minnesota?s Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC) was the home for today?s Green Home North Program Expo. The Green Homes North Program will provide home buyers with newly constructed green homes on City-owned vacant lots in North Minneapolis to strengthen the sustainability of our communities. Green Homes North will incorporate: quality green design standards; green, energy efficiency, and sustainability standards; job creation and workforce development; sourcing of local green products; and marketing to meeting homebuyer expectations. This is the first year in a planned five year program to build 100 new homes. Request for Proposal: The City of Minneapolis through its Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) department is accepting applications for the Green Homes North Program. Green Homes North is funded by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, the City of Minneapolis* and the Family Housing Fund with 2-3% loans available from the Twin Cities Community Land Bank. The program funds will assist developers with development gap financing for new construction. CPED is offering approximately one million dollars in funding in 2012. Proposals are due by 4:00 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2012. Visit the website, www. Ci. Minneapolis. Mn. Us *(This video was filmed and produced by Don Allen 612-986-0010 or dwradon@gmail. Com)

---

About The Author

Richard Lodge is Administrator of a small educational and social welfare organization that targets youth at risk. In his ?spare time? he teaches meditation and Buddhism. His diverse online interests include personal research and authoring several blogs that reflect his interests in personal health and environmental welfare. For more information: http://reviewratings.net/category/greenenergy/

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Home Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://joes-plumbing.com/green-homes-7/

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Facebook Co-Founder Moskovitz's Daily Stock Sales

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Source: wn.com --- Thursday, August 30, 2012
NEW YORK (AP) ? Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has been selling 150,000 shares of Facebook stock a day out of the hundreds of millions that he owns. So far, he has shed 1.35 million shares for proceeds of $26.2 million, at prices ranging from $18.79 to $20.08. Moskovitz was Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard roommate when they founded Facebook in 2004. Moskovitz, 28, left Facebook in 2008 and started Asana, whose software helps manage projects. He has been disclosing the sales every three days. He did not sell any stock in Facebook's IPO. Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif. Here's a look at his daily sales, average prices and ranges and proceeds for the day: ? Aug. 17:... ...

Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2012/08/30/Facebook_CoFounder_Moskovitzs_Daily_Stock_Sales_h7/

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ASUS launches PB278Q WQHD monitor for pros and gamers that appreciate accurate colors

It appears there will be plenty of options for professionals interested in WQHD monitors this fall, and ASUS has added one more to the pile on the eve of IFA 2012 with its PB278Q. An LED-backlit IPS 27-inch widescreen display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440, it has HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2, Dual-link DVI and built-in speakers. Similar to the VA278Q that was introduced at CES 2012, it will add pro-focused adjustments for more accurate color, plus ASUS QuickFit Virtual Scale and Splendid Video Intelligence tech when it ships in early September. There's no word on the price tag, but if you're interested in something with more pixels than your current 1080p setup, there's a video from ASUS Republic of Gamers Australia embedded after the break.

Continue reading ASUS launches PB278Q WQHD monitor for pros and gamers that appreciate accurate colors

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7appTz6F0Io/

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Ingredients include Cajun cuisine, and thankfully no bodily fluids, in ...

If watching vampires drink people's blood on television wasn't already mouth-watering enough, soon you'll be able to cook recipes inspired by HBO's "True Blood" as well. How tasty. A cookbook due out Sept. 5 entitled "True Blood: Eats, Drinks, and Bites from Bon Temps" will give fans a chance to live out the show's edible endeavors in their own kitchens. (Image: leighvalleylive.com)

Luckily for those of us not yet accustomed to the taste of blood, the cookbook won't actually contain directions involving any human parts or juices. Instead, the recipes will draw on the show's frequent uses of Louisiana's cajun cuisine and culture. Set in a fictional Louisiana town called Bon Temps, "True Blood"'s central storyline involves a waitress and a vampire. Local delicacies of the non-human variety are featured onscreen quite often.

Cajun chef Marcelle Bienvenu put together the cookbook's collection of recipes, including both food and drinks.?

Expect Louisiana culinary staples like gumbo and jambalaya, but presented in a whole new way. Recipes will be accompanied by photos from scenes in the series that correspond to that particular type of food.?

If you were looking for recipes involving anything more authentically vampire...then you probably have issues.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/08/ingredients-include-cajun-cuisine-and-thankfully-no-bodily-fluids-in-new-cookbook-

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Ex-Somali PM must pay $21 million for alleged torture: U.S. court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former Somali prime minister denied diplomatic immunity must pay $21 million in damages to the victims of his alleged torture and human rights abuse, a U.S. federal court ruled on Tuesday.

Mohamed Ali Samantar, who served as Somalia's defense minister in the 1980s and prime minister from 1987 to 1990, agreed in February to not contest the charges and accept liability for any damages against the seven plaintiffs - four individuals and three estates.

The lawsuit, seeking financial damages from Samantar, was filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act in 2004 by a small group of Somalis who said they suffered torture or other abuses in their homeland by soldiers or other government officials under Samantar's general command.

Samantar has lived in Virginia since 1997. Some of the plaintiffs are naturalized U.S. citizens.

The case had been followed closely for its foreign policy implications. Granting immunity could allow foreign torturers in the United States to escape responsibility, human rights groups said.

The seven plaintiffs do not claim that Samantar personally committed the atrocities or that he was directly involved.

But they said the Somali intelligence agencies and the military police under his command engaged in the killings, rapes and torture of civilians, including the use of electric shocks.

A federal judge dismissed the original lawsuit. But a U.S. appeals court reinstated it, ruling the 1976 sovereign immunity law does not apply to individuals. In 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Samantar did not have diplomatic protection from lawsuits.

On Tuesday U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia Leonie Brinkema ruled that Samantar owed $1 million in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages to each plaintiff.

Samantar is going through bankruptcy proceedings and does not have to pay any damages until after those proceedings are resolved.

The case is Bashe Abdi Yousuf et al. v. Mohamed Ali Samantar. Case No. 1:04CV1360

(Reporting by Drew Singer; Editing By Howard Goller and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-somali-pm-must-pay-21-million-alleged-231314931.html

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Networks prepare to juggle politics, weather

NEW YORK (AP) ? Television networks began juggling two major stories on Monday, still wondering whether Tropical Storm Isaac will cause them to divert a large amount of attention from the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Anderson Cooper of CNN and Shepard Smith of Fox News Channel were shifted by their networks from Tampa to New Orleans, where the storm appeared headed. It's an odd rerun for both of them: four years ago they left a GOP convention to head to the gulf region ahead of Hurricane Gustav. MSNBC was sending Tamron Hall and Lester Holt to New Orleans in advance of Isaac, and Soledad O'Brien was joining Cooper for CNN.

The major broadcast networks haven't shifted resources yet. Even before the Republicans chose to cancel the first night of the convention on Monday and compress the action into three days, ABC, CBS and NBC had not planned on broadcasting from Tampa on Monday night. Each has scheduled an hour of convention coverage over the next three nights.

"We continue to watch the storm closely and we will have correspondent coverage throughout the region," said Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, vice president of CBS News. "We will reposition some of our resources as necessary."

Brian Williams of NBC News has taken an intense interest in the New Orleans area since Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, but there are no immediate plans for him to switch cities. NBC's coverage is augmented through its partnership with The Weather Channel, also owned by the Comcast Corp.

The cancellation of Monday's convention activities due to Isaac forced schedule changes upon television networks. Instead of three hours on politics, PBS shifted to entertainment programming. CNN reran a documentary on Republican Mitt Romney that first aired Sunday night. Fox News Channel and MSNBC played to their bases with their typical opinion programs.

Throughout Monday, CNN mixed coverage of the storm with political stories from Tampa. Even when its correspondents were talking politics, the lower portion of the network's screen flashed updates on the path and wind speed of Isaac. The network has plenty of experience following multiple stories, said Sam Feist, CNN political director.

"This is CNN," Feist said. "We can walk and chew gum at the same time."

The uncertainty about the storm's path and strength made for uncertainty among Republicans, too.

"This is a difficult set of circumstances for the Republicans," said Fox's Smith, "because as this storm comes through it's going to be fighting for TV time, and newspaper headline time and water cooler talk time. The Republicans had hoped they would be able to have all of the attention of themselves for the next few days and it would appear that Isaac has thrown a wrench in that."

Networks strive, as best they can, to be fair to both parties in terms of television time around the conventions. Even with the storm, Feist said he expects the Republicans to get as much or more coverage than the Democrats, primarily because of the GOP's original plan to have a four-night convention.

Television didn't even need the convention to start to produce some fireworks on Monday. MSNBC's "Morning Joe" featured a bitter confrontation with MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews attacking Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Romney campaign tactics, leaving show hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski plainly uncomfortable.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/networks-prepare-juggle-politics-weather-183524329.html

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You Know About Swimming Pool Contractors Lighting

Swimming pool contractors know every element of pool development and will know how to fix or substitute anything on your pool that needs to be done. Quite often, the excellent of perform that Swimming Pool Contractors do is far excellent to what a subcontractor does. Also, when you begin modifying out the floor and dealing, you begin to want to create other changes in your pool while it is under development.

Another inclusion that people want to put on their swimming pool is a spa. Maybe at the time that they designed their pool, they did not have resources for it. Now they are recognizing that they want a heated, healing atmosphere to rest in. This is not a hard accomplishment for swimming pool contractors as although there is development with electric and water system elements engaged, they have plenty of encounters doing it.

Pool Lighting

Safety is the area of utmost concern when deciding on swimming pool lighting, however considering the vastness of opportunities provided by the clean lined architecture of water bodies and the affects that can be achieved because of the illumination in water; this still remains the area of utmost interest.

There are various factors which have to be taken into consideration as a pre requisite when we are designing for the lighting of a pool, and the most important one is the provision of RCCB for the entire area which incorporates the pool. This is something which usually remains ignored by the contractors and swimming pool being a industry at nascent stage in Indian scenario, nevertheless this is the most vital component of the entire swimming pool lighting as this is what ensures the safety of the bathers against the leakage of current in the event of system malfunction.

With large swimming pool areas, fluorescents light sources are a great way of achieving the appropriate light levels needed for the space. Whether linear or compact, fluorescents provide great volumes of light whilst helping you to be energy efficient. Swimming pool lighting provides a range of opportunities because of the voluminous space they offer. We have variety of options starting from the normal halogen lamps and ending at the latest technologies like fiber optic and LED's. Fiber optics and LED's offer us the opportunity to light up the pool in linear strip pattern as well as dotted pattern, the latest one of the two is LED as the consumption of electricity is less and the life of bulb is also longer.

Creative lighting can enhance every experience. This should include scene setting which is now available through wired, wireless or remote lighting controls allowing the user total flexibility over their environment. The other important aspect that needs to be addressed by the contractors is the placement of the lights , as at times the similar lights with slightly innovative perspective to their placement provide entirely different get up to the pool , for instance providing the entire lighting of an infinity pool on the wall opposite to the vanishing edge wall- lightens up the vanishing edge of the water at the top , but hides the source of light from the people sitting on the deck, hence giving totally different character to the entire landscape, with the feel of an enigma.

Premium Pools have deep interest in writing informative articles on Swimming Pool Contractors. Also given her words to a portal Swimming Pool Contractors where one can find info on Swimming Pool Builders. Explore: - http://www.premiumpools.org/

Keywords: Swimming Pools Construction, Swimming Pool Contractors, Swimming Pool Builders, Swimming pool Designers, Swimming pool Equipments, Swimming pool Manuf

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The Nexus 7 Now Enjoys Prime Advertising Real Estate On Google?s Homepage

The iPad might have the bulk of the tablet mind share, but the Nexus 7 has Google.com. The $199 tablet is now advertised on Google's homepage with an attention-getting animation. It's hard to miss the tablet on Google.com as it bounces up and eventually rests under a tag line of "The playground is open. The new $199 tablet from Google." And as one of the top pages on the Internet, this ad spot will likely move quite a few tablets.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MDjH6tJFNqM/

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Sharapova eases into 2nd round at US Open

Maria Sharapova, of Russia, returns a shot to Melinda Czink, of Hungary, at the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Maria Sharapova, of Russia, returns a shot to Melinda Czink, of Hungary, at the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Britain's Andy Murray returns a shot to Alex Bogomolov Jr., of Russia, at the 2012 U.S. Open tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. Murray won the match. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Australia's Samantha Stosur reacts after defeating Petra Martic of Croatia at the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

A fan uses an umbrella to keep dry during a rain delay at the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Mel C. Evans)

Rain drops cover a logo during a rain delay for the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Maria Sharapova's stomach ache turned out to be nothing more than that.

That lopsided loss she suffered at the Olympics ? well, that may have only been a false alarm, as well.

Playing her first match since a blowout loss to Serena Williams in London and a stomach virus that forced her out of two tuneup tournaments, Sharapova returned to tennis in fine fashion Monday at the U.S. Open.

The third-seeded Russian came back from a three-week break and defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 in a stress-free, 67-minute first-round match at blustery Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Sharapova's victory in front of the half-filled stadium was her first match since a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Williams at the London Games in a gold-medal showdown that looked and felt more like one of these first-round wipeouts Sharapova usually inflicts.

Turns out, Sharapova was dealing with some stomach pain then, which only got worse a few weeks later. She went to the doctor for a series of tests, including an ultrasound to see if she was pregnant. The test turned up negative.

"Just because of the pain I was having, it was really weird," said Sharapova, who is engaged to basketball player Sasha Vujacic. "They told me I was fine, not pregnant. Then, I'm like, 'Can I get my money back?'"

It has been an eventful summer for one of tennis' biggest stars.

After serving as the flagbearer for Russia, then finishing as the silver medalist at the Olympics at Wimbledon, Sharapova's original plan was to come to North America and play in tuneups in Montreal and Cincinnati to acclimate herself to the hard courts.

But the Olympics took a lot out of Sharapova, and when she arrived in Canada, she got knocked down by a stomach ache so bad that she went to the doctor.

It turned out to be a virus ? her body's way of telling her to take it easy, she said, so she withdrew from the events and took a few weeks off.

"It was a nice break in a way, but after so many weeks of practicing, you're just eager to get back on the court," she said.

She looked eager to get off the court, as well, showing very few signs of rust against her 88th-ranked opponent.

Wearing a soft-pink dress with a touch of mauve ? more subdued than what she usually wears for, say, a nighttime appearance ? Sharapova served five aces and maxed out at 115 mph. It took her 31 minutes to finish the first set and she was up 3-0 in the second before Czink got her only break.

That made things only mildly interesting, and only for a very short time. Leading 4-2, Sharapova won one point by chasing a ball almost into the stands on the sidelines, reaching out to get it back, then closing in on the net to win the point. Czink stood there shaking her head, hardly believing what she had just seen.

Sharapova said it was not problem getting the blowout loss to Williams out of her mind.

"It doesn't stick with you," she said. "I mean, personally, I've been part of many different types of matches in my career. Looking back at that week, it was really special. It was so hectic."

The routine win closed out a day session filled mostly with by-the-book results: Defending champion Sam Stosur's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Croatia's Petra Martic, No. 3 Andy Murray's 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over Alex Bogomolov Jr., of Russia and, of course, a two-hour rain delay at a tournament that has finished on a Monday for four straight years because of bad weather.

No. 1 Roger Federer's quest for a sixth U.S. Open title began later Monday against American Donald Young.

Before Federer played, No. 23 Kim Clijsters extended her Flushing Meadows winning streak to 22 straight matches, defeating the youngest player in the field, 16-year-old American Victoria Duval, 6-3, 6-1.

Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, began the quest for her second Grand Slam title of the year with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Alexandra Panova.

Stosur wrapped up her win before the rain came, and any thought that the early round jitters might get to her ? the way they did in first-round exits at the Australian Open and the Olympics or a second-round loss at Wimbledon ? were over before the crowd even got settled.

The seventh-seeded Aussie won the first 19 points ? she was five away from a perfect set before she double-faulted ? and needed only 51 minutes to finish the match.

"It did pop into my head for a split second," Stosur said of the prospect of a golden set. "Then I hit the double fault and it was erased and I was quickly on with the next point."

Murray is trying to become the first man to win the Olympics and the U.S. Open in the same year. His first match of 2012 at Flushing Meadows gave him a decent test ? with just a little something to worry about.

He fell down a break to open the first two sets but won the last five games of the first and last four games of the second, then cruised in the third, which he began by shouting "focus."

"It's an important stage of the match, when he was up 4-3 in the second with a break, then I won three games in a row and momentum was with me," Murray said. "You want to win the matches as quickly as possible."

He finished with 46 winners to 24 for Bogomolov, and handled the array of drop shots Bogomolov tried on him. Leading 4-1 in the third set, Murray grabbed his left hamstring while lunging for a ball near the net. But he closed out the match with no problem.

"Maybe I didn't take enough fluid," Murray said.

That could have been the problem No. 22 Florian Mayer encountered, as well. He withdrew while trailing 19-year-old American wild card Jack Sock 6-3, 6-2, 3-2, saying he felt dizzy and had blurred vision.

"He played the perfect match," Mayer said. "He hit the forehand fast, didn't really make any mistakes, just played really good."

Sock advanced to the second round for the second straight year. He'll be joined by Americans James Blake, a four-set winner over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 23rd-seeded Mardy Fish, who beat Go Soeda of Japan in three sets, and Tim Smyczek, who won 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 over Bobby Reynolds in a 3-hour, 33-minute, all-American matchup between qualifiers.

"It's obviously the biggest tournament for us Americans but I'm just trying to go about my business and treat it like any other week," said Smyczek, ranked 179th, after recording his first victory in a Grand Slam tournament.

Other winners included 24th-seeded Marcel Granollers on the men's side and 11th-seeded Marion Bartoli, No. 9 Li Na and No. 5 Petra Kvitova in the women's draw.

Andy Roddick, Serena Williams and defending champion Novak Djokovic were scheduled to play Tuesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-27-US%20Open/id-a3a1e40c4fa84dda9fa7ae8d90b39ad6

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Vitamin B12 deficiency: Tracking the genetic causes

Monday, August 27, 2012

Vitamin B12 is essential to human health. However, some people have inherited conditions that leave them unable to process vitamin B12. As a result they are prone to serious health problems, including developmental delay, psychosis, stroke and dementia. An international research team recently discovered a new genetic disease related to vitamin B12 deficiency by identifying a gene that is vital to the transport of vitamin into the cells of the body. This discovery will help doctors better diagnose this rare genetic disorder and open the door to new treatments. The findings are published in the journal Nature Genetics.

"We found that a second transport protein was involved in the uptake of the vitamin into the cells, thus providing evidence of another cause of hereditary vitamin B12 deficiency", said Dr. David Rosenblatt, one of the study's co-authors, scientist in medical genetics and genomics at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) and Dodd Q. Chu and Family Chair in Medical Genetics and the Chair of the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University. "It is also the first description of a new genetic disease associated with how vitamin B12 is handled by the body".

These results build on previous research by the same team from the RI MUHC and McGill University, with their colleagues in Switzerland, Germany and the United States. In previous work, the researchers discovered that vitamin B12 enters our cells with help from of a specific transport protein. In this study, they were working independently with two patients showing symptoms of the cblF gene defect of vitamin B12 metabolism but without an actual defect in this gene. Their work led to the discovery of a new gene, ABCD4, associated with the transport of B12 and responsible for a new disease called cblJ combined homocystinuria and methylmalonic aciduria (cblJ-Hcy-MMA).

Using next generation sequencing of the patients' genetic information, the scientists identified two mutations in the same ABCD4 gene, in both patients. "We were also able to compensate for the genetic mutation by adding an intact ABCD4 protein to the patients' cells, thus allowing the vitamin to be properly integrated into the cells," explained Dr. Matthias Baumgartner, senior author of the study and a Professor of metabolic diseases at Zurich's University Children's Hospital.

Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is essential for healthy functioning of the human nervous system and red blood cell synthesis. Unable to produce the vitamin itself, the human body has to obtain it from animal-based foods such as milk products, eggs, red meat, chicken, fish, and shellfish ? or vitamin supplements. Vitamin B12 is not found in vegetables.

"This discovery will lead to the early diagnosis of this serious genetic disorder and has given us new paths to explore treatment options. It also helps explain how vitamin B12 functions in the body, even for those without the disorder," said Dr. Rosenblatt who is the director of one of only two referral laboratories in the world for patients suspected of having this genetic inability to absorb vitamin B12. Dr. Rosenblatt points out that the study of patients with rare diseases is essential to the advancement of our knowledge of human biology.

###

McGill University Health Centre: http://www.muhc.ca/

Thanks to McGill University Health Centre for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 49 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/122944/Vitamin_B___deficiency__Tracking_the_genetic_causes

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Becoming a single mother by choice (as ... - Creating Motherhood

Making a choice to parent on your own is huge and it is scary. It is also liberating. You are making a decision and acting on it on your own timeline. You are calling the shots about when you will become a parent.

My friend Issa brings up a lot of fantastic points about single parenting in her crib sheet. The two of us met online because we are both single mothers to super-adorable boys.

I remember one night, early into our friendship, when she tweeted out to her friends and followers that she needed some support to get through a hard weekend. It was one of the first weekends where her son was not going to be sleeping at her house, but at his father?s. I sent out my message of support and love, but in all honesty I could not imagine what she was going through.

Being a single mother by choice is not being a single mother by circumstance, even though there are many, many overlaps, the being single part glaringly at the front of the list. But after that, a woman that has begun her journey solo has entirely different things to navigate. So I used Issa?s crib sheet as a jumping-off point, and then added some additional ideas.

Read and print out our single parenting crib sheet now.

Fear and Grief

If you are considering becoming a single mother by choice, there are other elements of fear and grief that will be unique to you.

Making a choice to parent on your own is huge, and it is scary. It is also liberating. You are making a decision and acting on it on your own timeline. You are calling the shots about when you will become a parent.

Grief is understandable, as many of us didn?t imagine living a life or starting a family without a partner. What helped me work through my sadness on this issue was telling myself that just because I am having a child on my own doesn?t mean I will never find love. It simply means that when I do, I will need to make sure he is great father material as well as great husband material.

Preparation and Delegation

Issa talks about delegating parenting tasks to friends and family, and reminds us to carve out time for ourselves.

I prepared to become a single mother by choice in three ways:

1. I did a personal life audit to see if I was ready to be a mom on my own: Did I have some savings? Did I have a clean bill of health? Did I have the guts?
2. I told my immediate family and closest friends, so that I would have a support system through the process of trying.
3. I called my doctor, and together we called a reproductive endocrinologist (RE).

Beyond physically preparing and making sure you have some financial reserves to parent solo, something else to consider is thinking about people in your life who will be a part of your child?s life.

Issa has some great points about knowing whom in your circle you can turn to for specific parenting help. Within my circle I like to think that I have someone for every question that my son could lob at me!

Sharing the Story

At some point, your child is going to want to know his or her story. Even before that, I guarantee that neighbors, the woman at the bank, and that guy on Facebook will want to know how exactly it is that you came to be with child. It is entirely up to you how much or how little you share with others.

I once read that how the news is presented shapes how people receive it. I was thrilled when I finally became pregnant with my son. When I was ready to tell people beyond my inner circle, I began by saying, ?I have some very exciting news!? and I went on to explain that, thanks to modern medicine and a team of doctors, I was going to have a baby on my own.

Telling my son about his story began the day he was born, and it gets more detailed the older he gets and the more he can comprehend. (I am also aware that whatever I tell him will be shared with others ? so heads up on that!)

I have shared with all of my son?s teachers about his unique family. Many children have a different kind of ?normal? at home, whether it is a single mom raising them or two moms or two dads raising them. Telling my son?s teachers allowed them to be more sensitive to topics (such as family day).

Things that Make Life Easier for a Single Mom by Choice

Issa hits the nail on the head by talking about growing your own village. Though I am a single mother, I have never once felt like I was raising my son alone. Between my mother (who is very active in my son?s life) and my friends, we have a tight support system. If you don?t have family nearby, establish the friends that you can lean on like family.

If you discover that your current friends are not able to support you the way you need them to, be proactive in finding ones that can. There is a national network for single mothers by choice called SMC. You can begin by finding a group online, and many have in-person meetups. (You can also always find me on my blog and wave hello!)

What About Dads?

I know that some people worry about role models, especially for boys, in homes where there is no father. I can understand this. It is important for me to talk about fathers with my son, because if he is lucky, some day he will get to be one. We talk about fathers as being parents. When he tends to his stuffed bunny rabbits and affectionately puts them to bed, I compliment him on being a good father.

Did you ever consider being a single mother by choice? Do you have single friends who you think are musing about it? What advice would you give a woman that tells you that she is thinking of becoming a single mom by choice?

This post is part of the Absolute Beginners editorial series made possible by Pampers and BlogHer. Our advertisers do not produce or approve editorial content.

Source: http://creatingmotherhood.com/2012/08/27/single-mom-advice/

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Video: Sorry, travelers. Take off your shoes.

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/48796514/

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Boxer - Oopa - Large - Adult - Female - Dog | Merced | eBay ...

Boxer - Oopa - Large - Adult - Female - Dog

Oopa (as in the Greek expression) is a flirt. Yes, she is. She is good with women, but oh, my goodness does she flirt with men. Her little nubby goes nuts when she looks at a man. She is happy and alert, not food oriented (wouldn?t take our treats in any way) and is very pretty.

Oopa is approximately 4 years old and about 55pounds. This dog is available for adoption August 18, 2012! DISCLAIMER: It is unknown if this dog is good with children, cats or if they are housebroken. You can pay the adoption fee before then to ensure that this pet will become your family member, if not claimed. Due to overcrowding, the shelter will be forced to euthanize this pet very soon. For GENERAL INFORMATION about this pet, please e-mail [email removed] or [email removed] (volunteer based). To check on AVAILABILITY of this pet, you MUST call the shelter at (209) 385-7436. If you can help this dog please call or go to the Merced County Animal Shelter immediately. --Their hours are Mon-Fri 9:30-1:00 2:00-4:30 (closed for lunch from 1-2) and on Sat 10:00-12:00 1:00-3:00. (closed for lunch from 12-1). They are closed Sundays & holidays. -- If you are driving a distance, please call (209) 385-7436, and make sure this pet is still available.
To see all the dogs available at the shelter please go to: http://www.co.merced.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=163 <http://www.co.merced.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=163>

CHARACTERISTICS:
Breed: Boxer
Size: Large
Petfinder ID: 23922370

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Pet has been spayed/neutered

CONTACT:
Merced County Animal Control | Merced, CA | 209-385-7436

For additional information, reply to this ad or see: http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=23922370

Brought to you by Petfinder.com

Source: http://centralvalley.ebayclassifieds.com/dogs-puppies/merced/boxer-oopa-large-adult-female-dog/?ad=22976116

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Video: Breaking down the road to the White House

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/48794358#48794358

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Volunteers to Help Tornado Victims

LOUISVILLE, Ky.? --? The Jefferson County Attorney's office will be turning up the heat on those owing child support.

County Attorney Mike O'Connell will have his seventh annual list of deadbeat parents appear in Sunday's Courier-Journal. The names of 16-hundred people, owing a collective 43-million dollars will appear.

He says the first six inserts have resulted in 49-hundred individuals located, with 6.9-million dollars collected.

Angie Anton, Director of the Child Support Division, says collecting the money is important, not only because it could mean the difference in whether a child can have a gallon of milk or not, but will help society, because the custodial parent can be self-sufficient, and not rely on welfare.

O'Connell adds, he hopes those who know the deadbeats will call his office with information on their whereabouts. Nearly three thousand names will also appear on his website this Sunday.

Source: http://www.whas.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=283307&article=10370345

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How to manage your day job and your community - Raven Internet ...

Are you a community manager?

Before you say no, know this: If you?re the one running any of your business? social media outlets then you, my friend, are indeed a community manager. Yep. You?re welcome.

A community manager is the person monitoring and engaging on behalf of a company. A lot of the people who do this don?t have an official title. You may have been the only one with the interest, time, skill set, or personality to take it on. You may be running a small business in which this is one of many roles you take on in addition to everything else you do.

However you got here, you?re someone special. If you?ve taken on the community manager role and also have another position or role in the company, you?re what I like to call a hybrid. Or, if you?d rather, a unicorn.

What exactly does a hybrid do? The role and responsibilities depend on the company, its size, and the freedom the company allows the community manager to have.

I?m a pretty good example of a how a hybrid/unicorn comes into existence. I work at a web marketing company as a ?social media strategist.? Developing and implementing strategies is what I was hired to do for our clients, so it?s a natural extension to do the same thing for the company.

In my hybrid role, I develop goals, strategies and ideas for each social outlet. I help plan the company?s blog posts, come up with clever headlines that integrate keywords for SEO and demand ask people in the office to tweet. I engage on behalf of the Mack Web Team on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and more.

Although my job led naturally into community, other community manager hybrids may start out as an SEO, blogger, marketing specialist, graphic designer, business owner, etc. If you have the skills or desire to be a community manager, hop on the hybrid train.

How does one manage both clients (or design, or payroll, or whatever else) and community? It?s not easy having more than one significant role at work, but it is possible. Here are some guidelines I?ve leaned on to help manage the load.

Follow a plan

Having a strategy for each social outlet that aligns with company goals is numero uno. You don?t have to reinvent the wheel. To make life easier on everyone, think realistically and leverage assets that have already been developed for your company.

For instance, articles on the company website can be reworked and turned into blog posts with images and video. An upcoming event can have a social campaign built around it in order to gain more excitement and exposure.

Keep an open mind

As a community manager you?ll see lots of new ideas that could turn into great opportunities for your company?s online engagement. Keep company goals in mind while engaging and you may find yourself helping out in all kinds of areas ? from link building opportunities to ideas for content ? just by listening to conversation happening on social media outlets.

Your main job comes first

As a hybrid, your main job is?well, your main job, and community management comes after that. The company you work for won?t need a community if it goes out of business. If you work with clients, remember that they?re the bread and butter (and bacon). Ever heard the saying, ?Happy wife, happy life?? There should be a similar mantra for your company: ?Happy client, happy boss.? Wait, that doesn?t rhyme. But you get the idea. If you need help prioritizing, meet with your manager or boss and ask them to clarify your responsibilities.

Be organized

In a recent My Community Manager hangout on Google+ about skills a community manager needs, organization was deemed a must-have. This is important because it helps with time management (and sanity). Luckily for you, there are plenty of tools that make a hybrid?s life easier. If you?re not already using them, try some of these.

1. Harvest

Set a budget and track your time per task with a tool like Harvest. This is vital to keeping your time and efforts in perspective. Otherwise it?s too easy to get lost in the business of monitoring your community. This may also serve as great ammunition if you need to prove to your boss that more time is needed in your schedule to handle the role of community manager.

2. Trello

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes projects on a board. This is a great visual tool that has boxes to check off upon a task?s completion.

Trello also allows users to have ownership in specific areas of a project. For instance, community managers may need art created for a Facebook cover photo, so the graphic design artist can be assigned to that project (just drag their avatar to the task).

Due dates are optional additions on Trello, and it?s easy to upload the assets that are created around the project so that everything?s in one place.

3. Raven Tools

Raven Tools has a lot to offer community managers. For one thing, the metrics tools are great. Even if you think analytics have nothing to do with community management, cross-knowledge is a must for hybrids. Plus it?s good to know how your posts are doing, which days are performing best, which types of posts are creating engagement, and who is mentioning you.

Community managers also have an advantage in helping link builders out because they are so active in the community. Take advantage of Raven?s link building tools and help a brother or sister out with some lead and link generation.

4. Google Calendar
Use Google Calendar to schedule blog post production, set reminders of upcoming events, update team members on ETA of design assets or just keep yourself on task. You can also schedule time for engagement and plan when to pull analytics (remember the very important manage-your-time-and-retain-your-sanity plan?)

5. Social media dashboard

A social media dashboard comes in handy for those who work with multiple social media accounts. You can use a dashboard?s stream to monitor and engage in one place rather than logging in to each outlet. Use Raven?s social media tools or social-specific tools like Sprout Social or HootSuite. Recently, HootSuite introduced a Google+ stream.

6. Inspiration Checklist
Develop an inspiration checklist to help you to kick ass at your job. It does wonders for me, so check out the video to get my suggestions.

7. Songza

Last but not least is Songza.com, a tool introduced to me by Shareholic?s Ginny Soskey in her post 10 tools to help you blog better. It?s a music concierge that provides users with great playlists. It helps to have music get you in the right mood.

And finally?

Have a sense of humor

It?s the final step of the manage-your-time-and-keep-your-sanity plan. As a hybrid, you?re going to be busy. Try to enjoy the awesomeness of managing a community on behalf of your company.

Good luck, fellow hybrids.

June Macon is the social media strategist and community manager at Mack Web Solutions in Fort Collins, Colo. Put a smile on her face by following her on Twitter @junemackweb.

Source: http://raventools.com/blog/hybrid-manage-online-community-and-clients/

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Iran clings to Asian oil market as sanctions bite

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? When Iran welcomes leaders to a world gathering next week, few will get a grander reception than India's prime minister. As Tehran tries to offset the squeeze from Western oil sanctions, there is no greater priority than courting energy-hungry Asian markets.

The planned visit by Manmohan Singh, the first by an Indian prime minister in more than a decade, puts into sharp relief the sanctions-easing strategies by Iran ? and the political complexities for Washington that limit its pressure on Asian powers needing Tehran's oil.

Oil purchases by India, China and South Korea ? which decided this week to resume Iranian imports ? have not covered Tehran's losses after it was tossed out of the European market in July. But they have given Iran a critical cushion that brings in tens of millions of dollars in revenue a day and means that Iran has dropped only one ranking, to stand as OPEC's third-largest producer.

The U.S. has pressed hard for Iran's top customers ? China, India, Japan and South Korea ? to scale back on crude imports, with some success, offering in return exemptions from possible American penalties. But Washington cannot push its key Asian trading partners too fast or too aggressively and risk economic rifts.

"Despite Western sanctions ... China and Japan will remain major importers of Iranian crude oil and so will India," said Siddak Bakir, a Middle East and South Asian analyst for IHS Energy in London.

The ability of sanctions to wring concessions over Iran's nuclear program remains a key divide between Israel and the U.S. and its European partners.

Washington urges allowing more time for sanctions to eat into Iran's economy, which depends on oil exports for 80 percent of its foreign revenue. Some Israeli leaders have indicated a military attack is a possibility if they conclude the international community has failed to halt Iran's uranium enrichment. Iran insists it's not seeking atomic weapons and its reactors are for energy and medical use.

For Iran, however, there's a parallel fight: Trying to keep the oil flowing to its key Asian customers, possibly through deals to sell at below-market prices.

"China and India are not doing this as a favor to Iran. Quite the contrary," said Pennsylvania-based oil trader Stephen Schork. "I am sure they are extracting a very good deal out of the Iranians. ... I don't think it's fair to say Iran is unscathed. Certainly, they are under duress."

At the same time, the U.S. is applying relentless pressure on Iran's big oil markets to cut back on Iranian imports. Published and anecdotal data suggest some headway by Washington, which sweetened the offer by granting the big-four Asian buyers exemptions from possible penalties in return for curbing Iranian imports.

On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the exemptions would be reviewed at the end of their six-month term. "What's important to us is ... that the net flow is continuing to decrease," she told reporters in Washington.

Still, it's clear the U.S. is unwilling to risk trade wars with key Asian trading partners, even over the showdown with Iran.

"The U.S. needs Asia. It needs to maintain good relations. It also needs Asia as a critical partner in its efforts to pressure Iran through sanctions," said Sami al-Faraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "It's a delicate process of diplomacy, incentives and alternatives."

Even fast-growing China ? which counts on Iran for about 10 percent of its energy needs ? has slightly scaled back on imports from Iran: 510,000 barrels a day in the second quarter this year, compared with 560,000 in the same period last year. But some analysts say this was more over a pricing dispute than U.S. pressure.

On Tuesday, South Korea said it would resume buying Iranian oil in September after a two-month break, but at reduced levels that comply with U.S. sanctions guidelines.

Cutting Iranian crude was just too big a price for South Korea, which has nearly 3,000 companies that sold $6 billion worth of goods to Iran in 2011. Iran was also the only country that supplied oil to South Korea during the 1973 oil crisis and, in return, a major downtown street in Seoul was named after the Iranian capital, Tehran.

"South Korea does not want its ties with Tehran to irk the U.S., so it made great efforts to persuade the Obama administration to give it an exemption. Iran is probably the most important Middle Eastern country for South Korea, and it is very difficult for South Korea to sever its ties with Iran because it offers cheaper oil," said Chang Byung-ock, an Iran expert at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.

The 27-nation EU accounted for 18 percent of Iran's exports, or about 450,000 barrels a day. Add that to the reductions in Asia ? more than half of Iran's oil exports before the EU sanctions ? and Iran has lost a significant, but not yet crippling, portion of its oil revenue.

According to the International Energy Agency, a 28-nation group that monitors global energy trends, Iran's crude oil production has fallen steadily since May to 2.9 million barrels a day in July, dropping Iran to the No. 3 spot behind resurgent Iraq.

Meanwhile, imports of Iranian oil by major consumers plunged to 1 million barrels a day in July from 1.74 million barrels a day in June, according to an Aug. 10 report from the agency, which did not give a country-by-country breakdown.

In late July ? about a month after the EU halted Iranian oil purchases ? Iran's central bank chief, Mahmoud Bahmani, called Western sanctions akin to a "military war" that requires new economic countermeasures in return. These likely will include boosting sales of petrochemical products, such as motor oil, that are not covered by sanctions, as well as expansive diplomatic efforts to secure oil markets in China and India.

The latter is set to take center stage with the Indian prime minister's appearance at the Aug. 30-31 meeting in Tehran of the Non-Aligned Movement, a Cold War relic that Iran seeks to rebuild as a counterpoint to Western influence.

India has faced a full-scale press from both sides.

In May, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped in India and made repeated appeals for Iran's No. 2 oil customer to scale back on its purchases. India has curbed some of its Iranian imports ? agreeing after Clinton's visit to an 11 percent drop in the coming year. But there are limits to how far India can go as it struggles with a widening deficit and weak rupee, which drives up the costs of oil imports.

India has joined Japan in offering government-backed insurance for ships carrying Iranian crude, to bypass European sanctions that prohibit EU companies from offering coverage. The move seeks to avoid interruptions in the Iranian oil supply, with the first shipment by a government-insured tanker scheduled to arrive in India this week.

Japan was the first country to devise a workaround to the EU sanctions, passing the emergency measure in late June to avoid a disruption in critical oil supplies due to actions against Iran.

Any potential economic lifelines for Iran are likely to feed into calls by Israelis favoring a military strike on Iran. At the same time, opponents of military action have become increasingly outspoken as signs point to a war footing, such as the opening of new gas mask distribution centers in the Jewish state.

"Iran tries to present an image of having some kind of network of relationships with outside countries, and say they are not as vulnerable," said Eldad Pardo, an Iranian affairs expert at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "But the facts on the ground show they are under a lot of pressure."

___

Associated Press writers Pamela Sampson and Vijay Joshi in Bangkok, Erika Kinetz in New Delhi, Blake Sobczak in Jerusalem and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Iran-clings-to-Asian-oil-market-as-sanctions-bite-3807555.php

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