Preparing for the Future - Government Technology

Government agencies are often slowed down by the bureaucracy, creating challenges for pushing forward new ideas that could improve IT operations.?

In a keynote speech presented at Defining the Cloud for Government, a conference held Wednesday, Jan. 30, in Sacramento, Calif., Brian David Johnson?(pictured above), Intel?s futurist and director of future casting and experience research, said it?s crucial for government agencies to think well into the future when planning technology implementations. According to Johnson, cloud computing and big data will figure prominently into that future.

During opening remarks, Carlos Ramos, secretary of the California Technology Agency, said the agency plans to move some applications into a private cloud because he believes cloud computing is the future. He added that government is so reliant on technology that policies and programs ?don?t have a prayer? without the use of the cloud.?

But how can governments look a decade or more into the future?

Johnson is responsible for looking 10 to 15 years ahead to figure out how people will interact with technology. Similarly, he said that government agencies must prepare for the future of tech by having a vision, and contemplating what humans will be like down the road.?

Future casting -- a combination of social science research and technical research, can help organizations determine how to improve people?s lives using technology. But to better prepare for the future of technology, Johnson urged policy-makers to consider a major trend happening in the technology space.?

Around 2020, Johnson predicted, the size of meaningful computational power will approach zero. Since the intelligence inside a platform is getting smaller, traditional computers will no longer be the only vessels for computing. Other objects will also have the ability to serve as computers.?

While computing power shrinks, the proliferation of big data and the use of cloud computing will continue to grow.

?We humans are like fire hydrants of data,? Johnson said.?

Whether we create data from financial information, health records or social media, more and more data will be generated and collected, which will be stored in a cloud environment.?

Johnson said that in 20 years, we will start to see mobile devices diminish since computational power will live in the cloud. Living in the future will mean living in a ?smart? environment ? a time period where we are no longer dependent on laptops, PCs or mobile devices for computing.

Like any major technology shift, Johnson said the future will pose some challenges for governments looking to prepare. He said fear can be a driving force behind stifled innovation ? particularly fears about security threats.?

?You don?t come up with innovative ideas when you?re in fear,? he said.?

To prevent fear from holding an agency back, Johnson suggested communication to help increase government workers' understanding about technology implementations like cloud computing. While there will always be those who are wary of shifting to a cloud environment, Johnson feels that constant communication can help dispel some of that fear. When there is uncertainty, he concluded, public-sector organizations should embrace it as an area of opportunity to build and innovate in a more robust way.?

Main photo of Brian David Johnson??2013 William Foster Photography

Source: http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Preparing-for-the-Future-Intel-Futurist-Says-Cloud-Is-Key.html

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The Walking Dead Video Game Review | Almost Nerdy

By:? Megan Gotch @TheNerdyGirlie

When my gamer brother came for Christmas he began playing The Walking Dead video game on the Xbox. ?I was busy with all the Christmas festivities to be able to watch any of it, but I did HEAR a lot of it! ?LOTS of bad words and I?pretty much complained?ongoing that it wasn?t a very Christmas-y spirit game. ?Of course he protested and kept right on playing. ?It wasn?t until the eve of Christmas that Steam put the game up for only $10 and my husband jumped at the chance to buy it. ?After the holiday rush settled down, I began to play on his iMac. ?The very first ten?minutes?I got stuck and ALMOST gave up, that is NOOB talk! ?But I FINALLY figured it out, after dying a few times, and I never looked back!

This was THE PERFECT game to get this NOOB player into ?real? gaming. ?The Walking Dead is pretty much a choose your own adventure game. ?Throughout the five episodes you are given?multiple?decisions?that need to be made. ?Your choices determine where the game will go. ?I don?t want to give away any spoilers, but there are some TOUGH?decisions. ?A lot of them involving children. ?I stayed pretty removed from the game, since I knew tough stuff was going to come up and decided to be ?the nice guy? throughout all my decision making. ?As nice as I could be anyways. ?It would be fun to go back and play again, making all the?opposite?decisions!

I would LOVE to hear from all of you?who have played the game, how it was different for you or what was the same. ?This was such a fun and easy play. ?I would totally recommend it to a non-gamer girls/guys or a gamer geek. ?If you love the show The Walking Dead like I do, this game will have you hooked!

4 out of 5 stars

About the author: Megan Gotch View all posts by Megan Gotch

Megan Gotch is the founder of The Nerdy Girlie blog site. Her nerdiness came on at a young age when she received an NES for Christmas. It then became full blown upon her first trip to San Diego Comic Con in 2009. Each year she eagerly awaits the Con and her fan girl list continues to grow. Megan enjoys TV, photography, writing and ballet. Her nerd crush is Zachary Levi and her current obession is Doctor Who. She currently lives in San Diego and hopes to never leave.

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Source: http://almostnerdy.com/gaming/the-walking-dead-video-game-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-walking-dead-video-game-review

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Nightclub fire highlights Brazil's safety laws

A man cries during a protest near the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The blaze began at around 2:30 am local time on Sunday, during a performance by Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band that had made the use of pyrotechnics a trademark of their shows. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man cries during a protest near the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The blaze began at around 2:30 am local time on Sunday, during a performance by Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band that had made the use of pyrotechnics a trademark of their shows. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A woman holds up a black banner as people protest near the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed over 230 people in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The Rio Grande do Sul state forensics department raised the death toll Tuesday from 231 to 234 to account for three victims who did not appear on the original list of the dead. Authorities say more than 120 people remain hospitalized for smoke inhalation and burns, with dozens of them in critical condition, after the Sunday nightclub fire. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A makeshift memorial that include pictures of the victims of the Kiss nightclub fatal fire is seen inside the gymnasium where a collective funeral was held a day earlier, in Santa Maria, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. A fast-moving fire roared through the crowded, windowless nightclub, early Sunday, killing more than 230 people. The first funeral services were held Monday for the victims. Most of the dead were college students 18 to 21 years old, but they also included some minors. Almost all died from smoke inhalation. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

This photo released by Policia Civil do Rio Grande do Sul, shows the inside of the Kiss nightclub where a fire killed more than 230 people in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2012. The blaze began at around 2:30 am local time on Sunday, during a performance by Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band that had made the use of pyrotechnics a trademark of their shows. (AP Photo/Policia Civil do Rio Grande do Sul)

In this photo released by Policia Civil do Rio Grande do Sul, a police officer inspects victims' belongings after a fire at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria City, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2012. The blaze began at around 2:30 am local time on Sunday, during a performance by Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band that had made the use of pyrotechnics a trademark of their shows. (AP Photo/Policia Civil do Rio Grande do Sul)

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) ? Flammable and toxic foam soundproofing on the ceiling. Just one exit for a club that could hold hundreds of people. Not a ceiling water sprinkler system in sight.

These are some of the main causes of the massive death toll in a nightclub fire in Brazil. And none broke any law, raising questions about safety regulations in a nation set to host the World Cup and Olympic Games.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press, including past building and fire safety plan permits issued to the Kiss club, where more than 230 people died within minutes in a fire early Sunday, showed that such deadly choices were within regulations.

"Do I agree with the fact that there was only one exit? No. Do I agree that the roof was covered with flammable material? No, I don't," said Maj. Gerson Pereira, an inspector with the local fire department. "I would have liked to shut down this place, but then the firefighters could be sued" because no law had been broken.

But the same documents also illustrate that other regulations were broken, including irregularities in the fire safety inspection of the club, as well as violations by the band the club hired whose pyrotechnics are blamed for causing the blaze. Police inspectors say any of these violations were reason enough to shut the club down.

One document shows that the club had already been labeled by fire officials as being at "medium" risk for having a fire. By state law, that designation requires that the club undergo annual inspections. But records show that the last inspection took place in August 2011.

Survivors of the fire have said that the club's fire extinguishers failed to work in early attempts to battle the blaze. Under state law, an extinguisher must have a receipt showing that it had been independently inspected within a year in order for it to be acceptable.

Marcelo Arigony, the lead police investigator in the case, said in a Tuesday press conference that it was clear the fire extinguishers had not been inspected and that they were clearly cheap models that should not be used anywhere.

Perhaps most egregious was what authorities point to as the cause of the fire, whose death toll rose to 235 when a young man died of burn injuries late Tuesday.

The blaze began at around 2:30 a.m. local time during a performance by Gurizada Fandangueira, a country music band that had made the use of pyrotechnics a trademark of their shows. The band's guitarist told media that the 615-square-meter (6,650-square-foot) club was packed with an estimated 1,200 to 1,300 people, the same estimate police have given. Capacity for the club, however, is under 700.

Police said that members of the band knowingly bought flares meant for outdoor use because they cost a mere $1.25 a piece, compared with the $35 price tag for an indoor flare.

"It's not that this club was working to come within this or that law ? the place should have never been open in the first place," Arigony said. "This is a problem that is seen across Brazil, these laws. I can only hope this tragedy brings about change."

Jaime Moncada, a U.S.-based fire-safety consultant with nearly three decades experience in Latin America including large projects in Brazil, said he was not surprised that one exit was permissible under local law.

Shown a blueprint of the club obtained by the AP, he calculated that the farthest point from the front door was 105 feet (32 meters), and regulations in most Brazilian states dictate that a second exit is required only if the distance is 131 feet (40 meters) or more.

For the same reason of distance, Moncada said sprinklers and alarms would not be required.

"For an American audience, it is crazy to think that a place would have only one exit," he said.

In Brazil, he added, that would be the norm.

In the United States, the club would have failed an inspection in at least three ways, according to Moncada: Three separate exits would have been required; the foam would need to be treated with a fire retardant; and it would need sprinklers.

Brazil is the globe's fifth-largest economy by some measures, but it lags far behind others in terms of fire safety standards, according to several fire-safety experts with experience here.

One reason: State laws are written by fire-fighting officials who do not seek input from engineers specializing in areas such as fire dynamics, how flames affect different materials and computer models that can devise the best evacuation procedures, according to Rodrigo Machado Tavares, an engineer and fire-safety consultant based in Sao Paulo.

What's more, state, city and expert groups can offer conflicting suggestions.

In Sao Paulo ? where a series of large fires in the 1970s prompted an early round of safety regulations that became a model nationally ? there are three ways to calculate how wide a staircase needs to be for safe evacuation, Tavares said.

"You'll get three different numbers; it's very confusing," he said.

And enforcement often is lacking. In academic research, Tavares found that in the northeastern port city of Recife, most buildings do not have the required fire alarms. It's the same in much of Brazil, he said.

Amid the shock of what was the world's deadliest nightclub fire in a decade, changes in Brazil seemed on the horizon.

In Brasilia, the nation's capital, lawmakers in the lower house worked on a proposal that would require federal safety minimum standards across Brazil. Now states individually create such laws. The O Globo newspaper reported on its website that the mayor's office in Santa Maria ordered all nightclubs closed for 30 days while inspections are carried out.

Elsewhere, the government of the country's biggest city, Sao Paulo, set to host the opening match of the 2014 World Cup, promised tougher security regulations for nightclubs.

The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported that in Manaus, which will also host World Cup matches, nightclubs with empty fire extinguishers and unmarked emergency exits have been shut down and fined. And in Olympic host city, Rio de Janeiro, a consumer complaint hotline has received more than 60 calls since Sunday's tragedy denouncing hazardous conditions at night spots, theaters, supermarkets, schools, hospitals and shopping malls.

Outraged citizens in Santa Maria are demanding change.

Elise Parode, an 18-year-old student taking part in a protest before City Hall, chanted with all her might along with about 500 others, pushing up against the door of the building as municipal guards kept them from entering.

"We want justice! We want the government held accountable, just like the owners of the bar!" she yelled as the crowd around held aloft poster-size photos of the fire's victims. "Our own government doesn't know the laws ? we're not safe until they do."

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Brooks in Santa Maria and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-30-LT-Brazil-Nightclub-Fire/id-f8858aac32164b21b67dd7915eed6156

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Sci-Fi Movie Hype ? Warm Bodies ? Movie Review

The first zombie romantic comedy?

STARRING: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Rob Corddry, Analeigh Tipton

2013, 97 Minutes, Directed by: Jonathan Levine.

We seem to be nearing the end of the wave of zombie movies. There may be some in the pipeline, but when a genre starts spoofing itself it?s usually the end of the line. That doesn?t mean these comedic turns aren?t fun. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a great horror comedy, but it does represent the last gasp of the Universal horror series that had defined the genre for two decades. Analyze This was a wonderfully goofy gangster comedy marking the end of the Mafia phase of the gangster genre.

While zombie movies have often been satiric (such as setting Dawn of the Dead in a shopping mall), the best recent examples on the big screen were comedies like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. Now comes Warm Bodies, an entertaining cross-genre exercise that may be the first zom-rom-com, or zombie romantic comedy. It freshens up the tired zombie film and provides a much more satisfying romantic comedy than something like Silver Linings Playbook, a movie that seems to have been made by zombies.

It?s the end of the world, and the struggling remnants of humanity are fighting on two fronts. There are the zombies, the usual shuffling dead bodies with a taste for living human flesh. Then there are the boneys. These are skeletal zombies with similar tastes and even less connection to their past humanity. That proves to be key, because the twist here is that boneys must be destroyed but R (Nicholas Hoult) is about to show that the zombies can be redeemed.

During an attack on a group of humans R ? he can?t remember anything of his past life except the first letter of his name ? comes across Julie (Teresa Palmer) and she excites something in him. He doesn?t want to eat her brains. He wants to rescue her. For reasons not fully explained that love causes his heart to start beating again, slowly bringing him back to life. Her father (John Malkovich) is of the shoot first, ask questions later school of thought until the zombies join forces with the humans against the boneys.

As a zombie story this makes as much sense as any of them does, with the ongoing battle revealing something about the crumbling of civilization. As a romantic comedy, though, it?s actually fresh as R and Julie get past their initial differences ? she?s alive, he isn?t ? and connect. As a metaphor for human relations and the power of love it?s rather affecting.

Don?t let this deep dish thinking put you off. It?s a decent horror movie and has some good laughs, as when R is escorting Julie through a group of zombies and has to coach her how to play dead so they won?t rip her apart. Hoult is especially effective as R, providing ironic commentary without crossing the line into broad clowning.

In short
With Valentine?s Day just a couple of weeks away, a good romantic movie for horror fans isn?t always easy to come by. This year Warm Bodies provides the means to have your sweetie?s heart and eat it too.

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Source: http://www.scifimoviepage.com/blog/movies/warm-bodies-movie-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=warm-bodies-movie-review

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Exclusive: Researchers warn of widespread networking gear bugs

BOSTON (Reuters) - Bugs in widely used networking technology expose tens of millions of personal computers, printers and storage drives to attack by hackers over the regular Internet, researchers with a security software maker said.

The problem lies in computer routers and other networking equipment that use a commonly employed standard known as Universal Plug and Play or UPnP. UPnP makes it easy for networks to identify and communicate with equipment, reducing the amount of work it takes to set up networks.

Security software maker Rapid7 said in a white paper to be released Tuesday that it discovered between 40 million and 50 million devices that were vulnerable to attack due to three separate sets of problems that the firm's researchers have identified with the UPnP standard.

The long list of devices includes products from manufacturers including Belkin, D-Link, Cisco Systems Inc's Linksys division and Netgear.

Representatives for Belkin, D-Link, Linksys and Netgear could not be reached for comment on Monday evening.

Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer of security software firm Veracode, said he believed that publication of Rapid7's findings would draw widespread attention to the still emerging area of UPnP security, prompting other security researchers to search for more bugs in UPnP.

"This definitely falls into the scary category," said Wysopal, who reviewed Rapid7's findings ahead of their publication. "There is going to be a lot more research on this. And the follow-on research could be a lot scarier."

Rapid7 has privately alerted electronics makers about the problem through the CERT Coordination Center, a group at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute that helps researchers report vulnerabilities to affected companies.

"This is the most pervasive bug I've ever seen," said HD Moore, chief technology officer for Rapid7. He discussed the research with Reuters late on Monday.

Moore, who created a widely used platform known as Metasploit that allows security experts to simulate network attacks, said that he expected CERT to release a public warning about the flaw on Tuesday. A spokesman for the CERT Coordination Center declined to comment.

A source with a networking equipment maker confirmed they had been alerted that CERT would issue an advisory on Tuesday and that companies were preparing to respond.

TAKING CONTROL

The flaws could allow hackers to access confidential files, steal passwords, take full control over PCs as well as remotely access devices such as webcams, printers and security systems, according to Rapid7.

Moore said that there were bugs in most of the devices he tested and that device manufacturers will need to release software updates to remedy the problems.

He said that is unlikely to happen quickly.

In the meantime, he advised computer users to quickly use a free tool released by Rapid7 to identify vulnerable gear, then disable the UPnP functionality in that equipment.

Moore said hackers have not widely exploited the UPnP vulnerabilities to launch attacks, but both Moore and Wysopal expected they may start to do so after the findings are publicized.

Still, Moore said he decided to disclose the flaws in a bid to pressure equipment makers to fix the bugs and generally pay more attention to security.

People who own devices with UPnP enabled may not be aware of it because new routers, printers, media servers, Web cameras, storage drives and "smart" or Web-connected TVs are often shipped with that functionality turned on by default.

"You can't stay silent about something like this," he said. "These devices seem to have had the same level of core security for decades. Nobody seems to really care about them."

Veracode's Wysopal said that some hackers have likely already exploited the flaws to launch attacks, but in relatively small numbers, choosing victims one at a time.

"If they are going after executives and government officials, then they will probably look for their home networks and exploit this vulnerability," he said.

Rapid7 is advising businesses and consumers alike to disable UPnP in devices that they suspect may be vulnerable to attack. The firm has released a tool to help identify those devices on its website http://www.rapid7.com.

(Editing by Edmund Klamann and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-researchers-warn-widespread-networking-gear-bugs-053410358--sector.html

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Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Stand Up Guys

The waste of talent in Fisher Stevens' Stand Up Guys is criminal. It's the movie equivalent of shooting a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

This tale of three aging lawbreakers -- played by Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin -- is not just clich?d. It's witless, to boot. The script by first-timer Noah Haidle longs for depth, even as it makes Viagra jokes (poor Pacino is forced utter them). It wants to be Tarantino-esque, blending wisecracks with wild violence. Instead, it just stumbles from one scene to the next, a long journey into night that will leave you dazed.

Walken plays Doc, who apparently spends his days painting the same landscape of an L.A. River bridge over and over. But on the day in which the story transpires, he packs up his paints and heads for the prison gates, where his best friend, Val (Pacino), is being released after a lengthy stretch.

Very quickly we get the gist: Doc has orders from their old boss, Claphands (Mark Margolis), to kill Val when he's released, because Claphands also has something he's holding over Doc's head. But Doc's deadline is 10 a.m. the next day, so he's willing to let Val have a memorable final night. Val knows this and is determined to make the most of it.

So let's see: hookers and blow, right? Well, hookers, at the least. And then a lot of driving around -- including springing their old pal Hirsch (Arkin) from the nursing home where he's spending his last days connected to an oxygen tank. Hirsch, their longtime getaway driver, takes them on a wild ride and gets a ride himself, when they head back to the same brothel where Val got his pipes cleaned.

But the sword of doom is hanging over Val -- and Claphands (as stupid and contrived a character name as any I've heard in a while) keeps sending thugs to intrude on his final hours. The joke (allegedly) is that these aging wiseguys have a few violent tricks left up their collective sleeves, which they pull off easily because the thugs are too stupid to expect them.

Arkin jolts the film to life during his brief sojourn on the screen. Pacino and Walken have an easy chemistry, but their material is too stale for them to ever really get any traction. There are moments, to be sure, including one when Pacino muses on mortality, when things feel real for a moment. But only for a moment.

There should be a penalty for assembling a cast this good (it includes Julianna Margulies and Lucy Punch) and then forcing them to work from a script as bad as this. If there were such a thing as movie jail, Stand Up Guys and its creators would be serving life without parole.

Find more reviews, interviews and commentary on my website.

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Follow Marshall Fine on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Marshall Fine

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/movie-review-istand-up-gu_b_2572732.html

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Shapiro: 'Liberal' label doesn't cut it for Obama

By Walter Shapiro

Is Barack Obama a liberal?

That question might have aroused spirited debate, especially among Democrats, during the president?s vague-is-in-vogue re-election campaign. But since the polls closed on Nov. 6, President Obama has undeniably positioned himself to the left of Candidate Obama.?

Amid the national grieving over the Sandy Hook shootings, Obama suddenly found the gumption to stare down the NRA and put gun control back on the national agenda. His inaugural address will be remembered for the stirring endorsement of gay rights and the sudden rediscovery of climate change. Then before the inaugural glow wore off, the Pentagon announced that it would drop its ban on women in combat. And immigration reform?another explosive topic?is likely to receive a star turn in the upcoming State of the Union address.

But before we dust off right-wing commentator Dinesh D?Souza?s absurd claim that Obama is really a Kenyan socialist, let?s look more closely at the president?s sudden liberal fervor.

Make no mistake, Obama is indeed a transformational 21st-century leader when it comes to any issue that touches on individual rights and equality. He reflects the end of the white-bread politics that elected both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to two terms. Rather than defying the demographic and attitudinal shifts that produced the America of 2013, Obama embodies them.

Some of his liberal statements and actions are undoubtedly payback to the electoral coalition that gave the president a second term despite the stagnant economy. When the first wave of Obama White House memoirs are published, it will be fascinating to read about the internal debates over the gay-rights portion of the inaugural address. But maybe, in reality, there was little dissent. Maybe Obama and his top advisers simply understood that it was time.

Any discussion of Obama?s newly expressed passion for gun control has to begin with the fact that this Chicago-shaped politician is our first urban president since John Kennedy. Unlike, say, Bill Clinton, Obama never came from a place where guns are equated with hunting rather than violent shootouts. Remember, during the 2008 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, Obama in a private fundraiser derided rural voters who ?cling to guns or religion.?

When it comes to regulating guns, political geography matters. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be the nation?s most zealous proponent of gun control, but it is hard to describe this billionaire plutocrat, who endorsed George W. Bush for president in 2004, as a dangerous left-winger.

Immigration reform is another issue with a bipartisan pedigree. The plan that Obama is likely to highlight in his State of the Union address will bear a close resemblance to the legislation that John McCain and Ted Kennedy introduced in 2005 with the blessing of George W. Bush and Karl Rove. It is hard to describe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has consistently backed immigration reform, as a hotbed of left-wingers.

Painting an ideological portrait of any incumbent president is tricky since the subject keeps moving rather than holding a fixed position. All presidencies are filled with contradictions: Ronald Reagan raised taxes; Bush dramatically expanded the social safety net by adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare; and Obama, for a while, dramatically increased troop levels in Afghanistan.

Even now, there is a zigzag quality to Obama?s foreign policy. In his inaugural address, the president declared, ?A decade of war is now ending.? But not the vastly expanded drone attacks, which have become Obama?s favored way of battling terrorists. To the consternation of liberals, Obama has refused to make public the legal justification for this airborne war conducted by robots.

The president?s economic orientation can be equally confounding. In an interview after the election, Obama claimed, ?My policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican.? Of course, this contention is self-servingly hyperbolic. But Obama?s words do underscore how the political pendulum on economic issues (but decidedly not on social issues) has moved to the right in the past three decades.

How liberal is a president who signed the ?fiscal cliff? legislation that made permanent the Bush tax cuts for roughly 99 percent of Americans? How liberal is a president who at various points in his budget negotiations with the Republicans has toyed with raising the eligibility age for Medicare and cutting back the inflation adjustment for Social Security? How liberal is a president who allowed the Wall Street masterminds behind the economic collapse to go unpunished for their flagrant misdeeds?

Even the big-government complexity of Obamacare was created in large measure because the president refused to endorse the liberal cause of a single-payer system like Medicare. And while not beating the drums for the president?s claim to be a moderate Republican, didn?t a Massachusetts governor named Mitt Romney enact an analogous health-care plan?

The point is that an inaugural address and a few post-election gestures do not, by themselves, define who Obama is as a political leader. So far the liberalism of Obama in the personal sphere has been tempered by the centrism of Obama in the economic and foreign-policy realm.

This ideological blurriness comes with the keys to the Oval Office. To steal a line from Walt Whitman, Obama can rightly say, ?I am large, I contain multitudes.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/don-t-hem-him-in---liberal--can-t-define-the-obama-presidency--154423941.html

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New study shows stable fisher population in the Southern Sierra Nevada

Public release date: 28-Jan-2013
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Contact: Sherri Eng
sleng@fs.fed.us
510-559-6327
USDA Forest Service - Pacific Southwest Research Station

ARCATA, Calif.After experiencing years of population decline on the West Coast, a recent study examining fisher populations found thatat least in the southern Sierra Nevadathe animal's numbers appear to be stable.

Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and the Pacific Southwest Region collaborated to monitor the distribution of fishers across a 7,606-square-mile area in the southern Sierra Nevada. They used baited track-plate stationsan enclosure where the fisher leaves a sooted track print as it walks throughat 223 locations across three national forests. Over an eight-year period, from 2002-2009, they found that the fisher population in the southern Sierra Nevada neither increased nor decreased.

The findings are relatively good news for the cat-sized relative of the weasel family. The forest-dwelling fisher (Martes pennanti) once lived throughout most of the mountains in northern California and the Sierra Nevada, and in the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Coast ranges. But many populations were eliminated or declined due to commercial trapping and clear-cut timber harvesting. Fishers have been reintroduced at a few locations in the western U.S., but only two native populationsboth centered in Californiaremain. The small population of fishers in the southern Sierra has been estimated, by other methods, to be approximately 250 individuals.

"This study is encouraging in that it demonstrates that we can monitor a fisher population over a large area, with simple methods," said Bill Zielinski, a PSW research ecologist who coordinated the analysis of the research data. "It is also encouraging that we did not discover a decreasing trend in the population, but eight years is a relatively short period."

Zielinski noted that given the short time period of this study, the effects of Forest Service management actions to protect fishers and their habitat cannot yet be fully assessed. Further study, over a longer time period is necessary to fully understand the efficacy of these conservation measures. Other factors unrelated to habitat, including road kill and the illegal use of rodenticides which poison the fishers, must also be considered when evaluating the population.

"We hope that we can continue to monitor the fisher, so that we can witness an increase in the population as public and private groups collaborate to institute measures to protect them from various threats," he said.

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PSW statistician James Baldwin, along with collaborators Richard Truex, Jody Tucker and Patricia Flebbe from the Pacific Southwest Region, contributed to the study. Results of the study appear in the online version of the Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management and can be viewed at: http://treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/42545

Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has research facilities in California, Hawaii and the U.S.affiliated Pacific Islands. For more information, visit www.fs.fed.us/psw/.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Jan-2013
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Contact: Sherri Eng
sleng@fs.fed.us
510-559-6327
USDA Forest Service - Pacific Southwest Research Station

ARCATA, Calif.After experiencing years of population decline on the West Coast, a recent study examining fisher populations found thatat least in the southern Sierra Nevadathe animal's numbers appear to be stable.

Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and the Pacific Southwest Region collaborated to monitor the distribution of fishers across a 7,606-square-mile area in the southern Sierra Nevada. They used baited track-plate stationsan enclosure where the fisher leaves a sooted track print as it walks throughat 223 locations across three national forests. Over an eight-year period, from 2002-2009, they found that the fisher population in the southern Sierra Nevada neither increased nor decreased.

The findings are relatively good news for the cat-sized relative of the weasel family. The forest-dwelling fisher (Martes pennanti) once lived throughout most of the mountains in northern California and the Sierra Nevada, and in the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Coast ranges. But many populations were eliminated or declined due to commercial trapping and clear-cut timber harvesting. Fishers have been reintroduced at a few locations in the western U.S., but only two native populationsboth centered in Californiaremain. The small population of fishers in the southern Sierra has been estimated, by other methods, to be approximately 250 individuals.

"This study is encouraging in that it demonstrates that we can monitor a fisher population over a large area, with simple methods," said Bill Zielinski, a PSW research ecologist who coordinated the analysis of the research data. "It is also encouraging that we did not discover a decreasing trend in the population, but eight years is a relatively short period."

Zielinski noted that given the short time period of this study, the effects of Forest Service management actions to protect fishers and their habitat cannot yet be fully assessed. Further study, over a longer time period is necessary to fully understand the efficacy of these conservation measures. Other factors unrelated to habitat, including road kill and the illegal use of rodenticides which poison the fishers, must also be considered when evaluating the population.

"We hope that we can continue to monitor the fisher, so that we can witness an increase in the population as public and private groups collaborate to institute measures to protect them from various threats," he said.

###

PSW statistician James Baldwin, along with collaborators Richard Truex, Jody Tucker and Patricia Flebbe from the Pacific Southwest Region, contributed to the study. Results of the study appear in the online version of the Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management and can be viewed at: http://treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/42545

Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has research facilities in California, Hawaii and the U.S.affiliated Pacific Islands. For more information, visit www.fs.fed.us/psw/.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/ufs--nss012813.php

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Iran first monkey astronaut survives flight, but doesn't look happy

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had launched a live monkey into space, seeking to show off missile delivery systems that are alarming the West which fears the technology could be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.

The Defense Ministry announced the launch as world powers sought to agree a date and venue with Iran for resuming talks to resolve a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program before it degenerates into a new Middle East war.

Efforts to nail down a new meeting have failed repeatedly and the powers fear Iran is exploiting the diplomatic vacuum to hone the means to produce nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic denies seeking weapons capability and says it seeks only electricity from its uranium enrichment so it can export more of its considerable oil wealth.

The powers have proposed new talks in February, a spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday, hours after Russia urged all concerned to "stop behaving like children" and commit to a meeting.

Iran earlier in the day denied media reports of a major explosion at one of its most sensitive, underground enrichment plants, describing them as Western propaganda designed to influence the nuclear talks.

The Defense Ministry said the space launch of the monkey coincided "with the days of" the Prophet Mohammad's birthday, which was last week, but gave no date, according to a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

The launch was "another giant step" in space technology and biological research "which is the monopoly of a few countries", the statement said.

The small grey monkey was pictured strapped into a padded seat and being loaded into the Kavoshgar rocket dubbed "Pishgam" (Pioneer) which on state media said reached a height of more than 120 km (75 miles), IRNA said.

"This shipment returned safely to Earth with the anticipated speed along with the live organism," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi told the semi-official Fars news agency. "The launch of Kavoshgar and its retrieval is the first step towards sending humans into space in the next phase."

There was no independent confirmation of the launch.

SIGNIFICANT

The West worries that long-range ballistic technology used to propel Iranian satellites into orbit could be put to use delivering nuclear warheads.

Bruno Gruselle of France's Foundation for Strategic Research said that if the monkey launch report were true it would suggest a "quite significant" engineering feat by Iran.

"If you can show that you are able to protect a vehicle of this sort from re-entry, then you can probably protect a military warhead and make it survive the high temperatures and high pressures of re-entering," Gruselle said.

The monkey launch would be similar to sending up a satellite weighing some 2,000 kg (4,400 pounds), he said. Success would suggest a capacity to deploy a surface-to-surface missile with a range of a few thousand kilometers (miles).

But Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank, said Iran had demonstrated "no new military or strategic capability" with the launch.

"Nonetheless, Iran has an ambitious space exploration program that includes the goal of placing a human in space in the next five or so years and a human-inhabited orbital capsule by the end of the decade," Elleman said. "Today's achievement is one step toward the goal, albeit a small one."

The Islamic Republic announced plans in 2011 to send a monkey into space, but that attempt was reported to have failed.

Nuclear-weapons capability requires three components - enough fissile material such as highly enriched uranium, a reliable weapons device miniaturized to fit into a missile cone, and an effective delivery system, such as a ballistic missile that can grow out of a space launch program.

Iran's efforts to develop and test ballistic missiles and build a space launch capability have contributed to Israeli calls for pre-emptive strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and billions of dollars of U.S. ballistic missile defense spending.

MANOEUVRING OVER NEXT TALKS

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the powers had offered a February meeting to Iran, after a proposal to meet at the end of January was refused.

"Iran did not accept our offer to go to Istanbul on January 28 and 29 and so we have offered new dates in February. We have continued to offer dates since December. We are disappointed the Iranians have not yet agreed," Michael Mann reporters.

He said Iranian negotiators had imposed new conditions for resuming talks and that EU powers were concerned this might be a stalling tactic. The last in a sporadic series of fruitless talks was held last June.

Iranian officials deny blame for the delays and say Western countries squandered opportunities for meetings by waiting until after the U.S. presidential election in November.

"We have always said that we are ready to negotiate until a result is reached and we have never broken off discussions," IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

Salehi has suggested holding the next round in Cairo but said the powers wanted another venue. He also said that Sweden, Kazakhstan and Switzerland had offered to host the talks.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference: "We are ready to meet at any location as soon as possible. We believe the essence of our talks is far more important (than the site), and we hope that common sense will prevail and we will stop behaving like little children."

Ashton is overseeing diplomatic contacts on behalf of the powers hoping to persuade Tehran to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment and accept stricter U.N. inspections in return for civilian nuclear cooperation and relief from U.N. sanctions.

IRAN DENIES FORDOW BLAST

Reuters has been unable to verify reports since Friday of an explosion early last week at the underground Fordow bunker that some Israeli and Western media said wrought heavy damage.

"The false news of an explosion at Fordow is Western propaganda ahead of nuclear negotiations to influence their process and outcome," IRNA quoted deputy Iranian nuclear energy agency chief Saeed Shamseddin Bar Broudi as saying.

In late 2011 the plant at Fordow began producing uranium enriched to 20 percent fissile purity, well above the 3.5 percent level normally needed for nuclear power stations.

Western governments say the higher-grade enrichment marks a notable step towards weapons-grade uranium, even though it is below the 90 percent level suitable for nuclear bombs.

Iran says its enhanced enrichment is to make fuel for a Tehran research reactor that produces isotopes for medical care.

Diplomats in Vienna, where the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency is based, said on Monday they had no knowledge of any incident at Fordow but were looking into the reports. One Western diplomat said he did not believe them to be correct.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, which regularly inspects Iranian nuclear sites including Fordow, had no immediate comment.

Iran has accused Israel and the United States of trying to sabotage its nuclear program with cyber attacks and assassinations of its nuclear scientists. Washington has denied any role in the killings while Israel has declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by William Maclean and Marcus George in Dubai, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/six-world-powers-hope-meet-iran-atom-talks-120752016.html

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Still Crying Over 'Downton'? Producers Explain Sad Twist

Even if you're not a Downton Abbey watcher, you probably heard the howl of despair across the internet after Sunday night's devastating episode. If you were watching -- well, you might have been too busy howling in despair to hear everybody else. So, why the heartbreaking plot twist? Read on to find out what the producers were thinking, but be warned: major spoilers.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/downton-abbey-producers-explain-shocking-twist/1-a-518395?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Adownton-abbey-producers-explain-shocking-twist-518395

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Professional Boarding in Canton Offers Safe, Secure Option for Pets

CANTON, Ga., Jan. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For pet owners who are traveling for work or vacation, professional pet boarding may be the best option to keep pets safe and secure. According to the veterinary care team at Acres Mill Veterinary Clinic in Canton, GA, pet boarding offers a number of important benefits. Pet owners can enjoy their trip with peace of mind knowing that their pets are well cared for in the event of any emergency. A veterinarian is always steps away to provide life-saving care, and with immediate access to a pet's health files, the animal hospital can make important, life-saving decisions. Additionally, pets can relax in comfortable surroundings and benefit from pet services, including grooming, while boarded at an animal hospital.

The animal hospital in Canton, Acres Mill, is educating pet owners about the benefits of professional boarding and pet services.

"Boarding pets with our animal hospital is a good choice for pets when an owner is traveling for vacation or work," said Dr. Michael Good, DVM. "Taking pets on a long road trip or plane ride can be incredibly stressful for animals. Leaving pets home alone or under the care of a neighbor is also less than ideal. The best option is to place pets under experienced care."

With busy schedules, neighbors may have little time to check on a pet, which means that the pet is alone for hours on end. For pets that are used to constant attention and companionship, this change can be stressful, disorienting and confusing.

"Being gone for a long weekend is very different from being gone during the work day," said Dr. Good. "Pets thrive off companionship and may act out when left alone, destroying furniture or attempting to escape."

Worse, Dr. Good noted, in the event of a health emergency, hours may pass before pets receive care. "A veterinary health emergency can strike at any time," said Dr. Good. "Even if a neighbor checks in once a day, this means that it could be 12 to 15 hours before a pet receives medical attention. For some emergencies, this could be too little, too late."

Although the clinic is not open 24 hours a day, a veterinarian is available for diagnosis and treatment during regular business hours to address any health conditions that should arise. Dr. Good also noted that a veterinary hospital would have a pet's health records on file and be familiar with the pet's vet care history, which improves the level of care available.

Dr. Good, who was named the HMSA veterinarian of the year, is the founder of the non-profit Homeless Pets Foundation. Together with his fellow veterinarians at Acres Mill, Dr. Good provides wellness care, pet surgery, and other pet services.

Pet owners may learn more about the benefits of professional boarding and other services on the veterinary clinic's website, http://acresmillvet.com.

Acres Mill Veterinary Clinic 888-667-5235

Source: http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/01/27/518722/10019325/en/Professional-Boarding-in-Canton-Offers-Safe-Secure-Option-for-Pets.html

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Boeing 787 probe shifts to monitoring system maker

TOKYO (AP) ? The joint U.S. and Japanese investigation into the Boeing 787's battery problems has shifted from the battery-maker to the manufacturer of a monitoring system.

Japan transport ministry official Shigeru Takano said Monday the probe into battery-maker GS Yuasa was over for now as no evidence was found it was the source of the problems.

Ministry officials said they will inspect Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co. on Monday as part of the ongoing investigation. It makes a system that monitors voltage, charging and temperature of the lithium-ion batteries.

All 50 of the Boeing 787s in use around the world are grounded after one of the jets operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in Japan earlier this month when its main battery overheated. Earlier in January, a battery in a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire while parked at Boston's Logan International Airport.

GS Yuasa shares jumped on the news it is no longer being investigated, gaining nearly 5 percent in Tokyo trading. The issue had plunged 12 percent after the battery problems surfaced in Japan.

Ministry officials stopped short of saying that Kanto's monitoring system was under any special scrutiny, saying it was part of an ongoing investigation.

"We are looking into affiliated parts makers," Takano said. "We are looking into possibilities."

Kyoto-based GS Yuasa declined to comment, noting that the investigation was still underway.

Deliveries of the jet dubbed the Dreamliner were three years behind schedule because of manufacturing delays. Much of the aircraft is made by outside manufacturers, many of them major Japanese companies who make about 35 percent of the plane.

It is the first jet to make wide use of lithium-ion batteries, the kind usually found in laptops and other gadgets. They are prone to overheating and require additional systems to avoid fires.

Investigators have been looking at the remnants of the ANA flight's charred battery, but it is unclear whether the battery or a related part was behind its overheating. Investigators have said the ANA battery and the JAL battery did not receive excess voltage.

Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways was the "launch customer" for the 787, and has been forced to cancel services ? 643 domestic flights through Feb. 12, affecting 69,000 passengers, and 195 international flights through Feb. 18, affecting 13,620 passengers.

Japan Airlines, which has fewer 787s than ANA, has deployed other aircraft in its fleet, minimizing its flight cancellations.

Boeing, which competes against Airbus of France, has halted 787 deliveries. Boeing has orders for more than 800 of the Dreamliner planes.

The 787 is the first airliner made mostly from lightweight composite materials that boost fuel efficiency. It also relies on electronic systems rather than hydraulic or mechanical systems to a greater degree than any other airliner.

Analysts say customers won't come back to the 787 unless its safety is solidly assured.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at www.twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-28-AS-Japan-Boeing-787/id-27f999bcc5314a6da609db46b29c2680

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Web Design for an E-Commerce Sector - Eliteratur-Blog

27 Januar 2013 AUTOR:

Ecommerce could be the industry. There are always a large amount of opportunities and business ideas coming up in this market. Thus if you desire to try this market it?s high time you start finding your way through it. Web site developing is extremely vital regarding the technology business industry.All your company depends upon the information and design of your site. It?s this that your business would be to the general public. The customers must get interested to your services and products with the display in your internet site. To generate an effect in the visitor?s mind your site must be unique in the content and design.The competition in the field of internet marketing is extremely large. So you will have to work very difficult to make your site improved. With the help of a professional in the area of web building your strategy can be planned by you for internet business. Your website functionality is essential. You must monitor the sales conversion rate to gauge the design you have created. Any drop in the rate suggest that your website is not getting good results.If you already have a then also you can alter and modify the information to create it quickly enhanced by the major search engines. Choose the design and other programs wisely. Warmth should be felt by the customers while seeing the website. An excessive amount of flash and artwork in the website can make it appear crowded.The complex top features of your website should be performed properly. This will create a good effect for your products and services. The expense of designing an e-commerce website would have been a bit costly that the other web designing. But this will also gain you a lot in expression of the income.

Come to our site for more info about online?best web design firm

Source: http://www.eliteratur-blog.de/2013/01/web-design-for-an-e-commerce-sector/

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Wolfram Alpha's new Facebook tool feeds your self-obsession

19 hrs.

Rosa Golijan , NBC News

As uncomfortable as it can be to admit, odds are that you occasionally really enjoy poring over information about ... yourself. It's OK, most of us secretly obsess over social media analytics and statistics ??and tools like?one offered by Wolfram Alpha don't exactly discourage those moments of narcissism.

Wolfram Alpha's Personal Analytics Tool for Facebook has been around for a while, but it received a significant update on Wednesday. "There?s much more to analyze, see, and do,"?John Burnham, a research and development fellow at Wolfram Alpha, explained on the answer engine's official blog.

To take a peek at your own analytics, you need to grant Wolfram Alpha access to your Facebook account and fork over your email address along with a couple of other details. Once you've done that, you'll have a few moments to twiddle your thumbs as Wolfram Alpha parses your Facebook. And then you'll be overloaded with so much information about things you never even wondered about before.

How are all your friends connected? Do certain individuals have a lot of friends in common with you ("social insiders")? Does someone have almost no friends in common with you (a "social outsider")??How would it look if all your friends were color-coded by relationship status, age, sex, and so on? Who comments on your posts the most? Are all your hometown friends married? Who is your most popular college friend?

Take a deep breath! There are far more questions to explore.

Who is your most distant friend, geographically speaking? Which of your friends lives nearest to the equator? When do you post photos most frequently? Which English words do you use the most in posts? Who is your oldest friend?

The stream of details provided by Wolfram Alpha's?analytics tool is?seemingly endless and, thanks to the way Wolfram Alpha structures data, you can click around and explore things from plenty of angles, zooming in on whichever specifics draw you in the most. If you like what you see,?you can even give the answer engine permission to periodically collect information "to be able to show you an evolution of your Facebook profile over time."

Silliness aside, Wolfram Alpha's tool can be quite revealing. Using it, I discovered that I'm significantly more prone to posting links in the early afternoon and photos in the evenings (likely because I tend to share stories I've written while at work).?I also learned that I have a habit of using the words "folks," "man," "now," "love," and "actually" far more than I realized.

Man, folks! I actually love how much I now know about myself thanks to this tool.

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/wolfram-alphas-new-facebook-analysis-tool-feeds-your-self-obsession-1C8091334

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On 3rd try, Turkish court convicts alleged bomber

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? After acquitting her twice before, a Turkish court has convicted a woman of involvement in a deadly 1998 bombing and sentenced her to life in prison.

Pinar Selek, a Turkish sociologist now living in France, was accused of aiding and abetting Kurdish rebels and planting a bomb in Istanbul's 17th-century spice market that killed seven people and wounded more than 120.

Selek's previous acquittals were overturned by a higher appeals court. Her lawyer, Yasemin Oz, says the sociologist will appeal Thursday's guilty verdict.

Oz says the court, meanwhile, confirmed the previous acquittal of a man being tried alongside Selek.

Human rights groups say the long-running case against Selek has exposed flaws in Turkey's legal system.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/3rd-try-turkish-court-convicts-alleged-bomber-172022142.html

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Wed Night Adult Indoor Soccer League | Arbutus Sports ...

Wednesday, January 30, 2013, 8:00 pm

27 Main Ave, Catonsville, MD | Get?Directions??
$15.00

CATONSVILLE?CO-ED ADULT?FUTSAL?LEAGUE??(Think?court soccer)
If you're an active soccer player, or maybe someone just hungry for an opportunity to get back in the game?(no reason for younger kids to have?all?the fun), come in from the dark & cold and get your kicks for two hours of?organized, reasonably competitive, pick-up court soccer?every Wednesday?night from?8-10pm!?
Futsal??That's the name of FIFA's official version of "indoor soccer" (aka "court soccer") & is played 5v5, (with unlimited substitutions on the fly) with the biggest difference being the use of?a specifically designed, slightly smaller, low-bounce ball?- which makes it?much?easier to control, &?incredibly?fun to play! Also, as in outdoor soccer, futsal is played within?touchlines - with ours being?the?basketball lines, &?the three-point arc as the goal box. Finally, with rule changes that opt for?kick-ins instead of throw-ins, the?elimination of slide-tackles &/or strong shoulder charges,?futsal?= just a smaller version of?the beautiful game, & one where "bigger/stronger" actually have, well...?little?impact. (And?since futsal?does?use?touchlines, there's also no risk of getting slammed into those dasher boards used in traditional "American indoor soccer"!)?
Limited spots still available, so get in touch asap to register!
Who:?Adult Men & Women?(Ages 16+) Sign up individually or register a whole team!?(Please note: The intent here is to provide one of the few options for area?adults?to get their kicks. We also know there are people who may want &/or need to bring their younger soccer players along. While there are bleachers where younger ones can sit, unattended children are not permitted. With limited time & space available to us, participation is limited to players ages 16+.)
Where:?Banneker Community Center Gym,?Catonsville?(Located off 695 & between Rt40 & Edmondson Ave. Directions will be included with registration forms.)
When:?Wednesday Nights, from 8-10pm; another session begins?this?Wed. January 16!
Registration: Immediate & ongoing: ** Please Note:?limited spots available?(to allow everyone as much play opportunity as possible) ** Contact?Rob @?(443) 802.3500?with any questions & full registration info!
Duration & Costs:?Sessions run 6 weeks, 2 hrs every Wednesday, from 8-10pm?Active students?(age 16+)= $60.00?per person/ session?Adults = $70?per person/session?Drop-ins?(if available, best to call ahead (# above)?= $12/per Student/week; $15.00/per Adult/week?*2nd (or more) registering family member = less $15 for each registrant from same family?(ie. 1st family member/adult @ $70, add additional family member/student,?now?@ $45 & 1st Member/Adult?now?$55?= $100 both!?Third/student also @ $45,?etc.)Some financial assistance is available. Call for details.
** Each participant will also receive an access code to order discounted indoor shoes & other soccer gear! **
Fees help toward equipment costs, insurance, rec council assessments, & newly implemented?use fees.
Equipment Needed:?Shin guards strongly recommended; limited sizes of pinnies (to designate teams) will be provided, but each player is also encouraged to?bring both a?dark?(navy or black)?&white shirt.
*Signed Registration, Player Agreement, & Rec Council/Waiver forms must be completed, & fees must be paid in full to participate. For forms, or questions, please contact Coordinator/Rob's cell @?(443)802.3500,?or?baltimorefutsal@gmail.com?

39.279893

-76.740294

primary

/events/wed-night-adult-indoor-soccer-league-a7c1bae3

/locations/8607219

Source: http://arbutus.patch.com/events/wed-night-adult-indoor-soccer-league-a7c1bae3

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6 Tips to Make Your E-Mail Marketing More Effective |

Over the past few years, research has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking are all notable features.

Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.

The best news is that the majority of people who receive permission-based e-mails open, on average, 78% of them.

Jupiter Research reports effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings.

But crafting an effective business email is both an art and a science. Here are 6 tips that will help you make your email marketing to your current and potential clients and customers more effective:

1. Spam!

The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of which are spam. No wonder there?s such hostility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk folders and ?report spam? features are helping consumers become more at ease about the perils of spam.

So as a permission-based business email marketer, what can you do? One tip is to remind your subscribers to add you to their ?safe senders? list. The second, and most important, tactic is to make sure your email service provider (ESP) has a good relationship with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This will ensure that your email marketing campaigns go into your subscribers? inboxes, not their junk mail folders. When choosing an ESP, make sure the company has strict anti-spam policies and complies with the guidelines of CAN-SPAM.

2. Images and Formatting: Why do my emails look broken?

Broken email campaigns are an increasing concern among email marketers, especially since several companies and web-based ESPs now block graphics as a measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of email marketing messages delivered to inboxes are ?broken? ? or have issues with the image display.

When configuring your email messages, you often want to use your own custom images and photos.

When you create your email content, you can use HTML tags to display images within the email body. If you?re unfamiliar with HTML, you can quickly upload and embed image files into your email using the HTML Editor on your ESP?s configuration page.

In order to avoid issues with the image files, keep this tip in mind: while image files with spaces or punctuation (%, #, &, !, etc.) can be uploaded to your ESP, the links created using that filename may prevent your recipients from viewing the images. For best results, you should always name your image files without using spaces or punctuation so you won?t need to rename them if you decide to use them in an e-mail or newsletter.

For example, the following file name may cause problems: my email newsletter banner.jpg

So you?should rename it as:?? my_email_newsletter_banner.jpg

3. Personalization and Relevant Content:

In a business e-mail, one size does not fit all. In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they receive. The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and household goods.

But your coupon is no good unless the user opens the email. Users in the study said the most compelling reason for them to open a business email is the name in the ?from? field. So it?s a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly stated there. Another major factor is the ?subject? line. Users cite discount offers and interesting news as the most compelling subject lines, followed by new product announcements and free shipping offers.

4. Click-through and Conversion: Show me the money!

So the user has opened your email and read the content. Great. But where?s the sale? There?s good news here. For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases as a direct result of a business email campaign. One-third of users in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an email. Another 42% clicked on an email link for more information, then purchased the product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers have redeemed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.

In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies sending business emails in these categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients have purchased their products because of an email campaign.

There?s no need to fret if your company doesn?t fit in to one of those industries. The overall landscape for email marketing conversions is looking brighter every day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% since last year.

5. Stats tracking: Who are my real consumers?

Email marketing is an increasingly popular tool in effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and more businesses should use this. Your ESP should include detailed, real-time tracking, of the emails that you send out. Real-time tracking is now an industry standard, and it?s highly valuable, as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on your link and makes that purchase. Studying your users can help you improve your communications efforts, so each campaign performs better than the last (several ESPs also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).

But many marketers are still in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research, only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing efforts, while 26% admit they?re ?flying blind.?? WebTrends says the low confidence comes from arlack of knowledge when it comes to measurement, which means there?s still a lot of work to be done.

This is an example of a high level real-time tracking dashboard from an ESP.? You should also be able to get much more detailed tracking as well: country, device, links clicked, etc:

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?6. Mobile, Tablet or PC: How are people reading my email??

Make sure your email is mobile and tablet friendly. Your ESP should also provide you with a mobile friendly version of your email, that renders well on all mobile and tablet devices: iOS, Android and Windows.

In just the last two years, smart phone usage and tablet usage have skyrocketed. The Pew Research Center?s Project for Excellence in Journalism recently released a report with some amazing statistics: Half of all U.S. adults now have a mobile connection to the web through either a smartphone or tablet, significantly more than a year ago.? 44% of U.S. adults now have a smart phone, which is up from 35% in May 2011.? 25% of U.S. adults own a tablet computer as compared to just 4% in September of 2011.

With these numbers expecting to grow in 2012 significantly, having a mobile friendly version of your email marketing is going to provide you with a valuable edge over your competition.

Here?s an example of this email on an iPhone:

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Your email marketing is a critical component of your business.? Following these guidelines will allow you ample opportunity to expand your existing list, as well as your business opportunities.

Also, check out my blog on 22 Simple Tips to Grow Your Email List Organically.

As always, comments welcome!

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Source: http://ymarketingmatters.com/6-tips-to-make-your-e-mail-marketing-more-effective/

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