Friday, November 30, 2012

Megastorms Could Drown Massive Portions of California

Huge flows of vapor in the atmosphere, dubbed "atmospheric rivers," have unleashed massive floods every 200 years, and climate change could bring more of them


atmospheric rivers, megastorms, California, CA, flooding, massive flooding, extreme weather, climate changeDROWNED: A 43-day atmospheric-river storm in 1861 turned California?s Central Valley region into an inland sea, simulated here on a current-day map. Image: Don Foley

In Brief

  • Geologic evidence shows that truly massive floods, caused by rainfall alone, have occurred in California about every 200 years. The most recent was in 1861, and it bankrupted the state.
  • Such floods were most likely caused by atmospheric rivers: narrow bands of water vapor about a mile above the ocean that extend for thousands of miles. Much smaller forms of these rivers regularly hit California, as well as the western coasts of other countries.
  • Scientists who created a simulated megastorm, called ARkStorm, that was patterned after the 1861 flood but was less severe, found that such a torrent could force more than a million people to evacuate and cause $400 billion in losses if it happened in California today.
  • Forecasters are getting better at predicting the arrival of atmospheric rivers, which will improve warnings about flooding from the common storms and about the potential for catastrophe from a megastorm.

Editor's note (11/30/12): The article will appear in the January 2013 issue of Scientific American. We are making it freely available now because of the flooding underway in California.

The intense rainstorms sweeping in from the Pacific Ocean began to pound central California on Christmas Eve in 1861 and continued virtually unabated for 43 days. The deluges quickly transformed rivers running down from the Sierra Nevada mountains along the state?s eastern border into raging torrents that swept away entire communities and mining settlements. The rivers and rains poured into the state?s vast Central Valley, turning it into an inland sea 300 miles long and 20 miles wide. Thousands of people died, and one quarter of the state?s estimated 800,000 cattle drowned. Downtown Sacramento was submerged under 10 feet of brown water filled with debris from countless mudslides on the region?s steep slopes. California?s legislature, unable to function, moved to San Francisco until Sacramento dried out?six months later. By then, the state was bankrupt.

A comparable episode today would be incredibly more devastating. The Central Valley is home to more than six million people, 1.4 million of them in Sacramento. The land produces about $20 billion in crops annually, including 70 percent of the world?s almonds?and portions of it have dropped 30 feet in elevation because of extensive groundwater pumping, making those areas even more prone to flooding. Scientists who recently modeled a similarly relentless storm that lasted only 23 days concluded that this smaller visitation would cause $400 billion in property damage and agricultural losses. Thousands of people could die unless preparations and evacuations worked very well indeed.

Was the 1861?62 flood a freak event? It appears not. New studies of sediment deposits in widespread locations indicate that cataclysmic floods of this magnitude have inundated California every two centuries or so for at least the past two millennia. The 1861?62 storms also pummeled the coastline from northern Mexico and southern California up to British Columbia, creating the worst floods in recorded history. Climate scientists now hypothesize that these floods, and others like them in several regions of the world, were caused by atmospheric rivers, a phenomenon you may have never heard of. And they think California, at least, is overdue for another one.

Ten Mississippi Rivers, One Mile High

Atmospheric rivers are long streams of water vapor that form at about one mile up in the atmosphere. They are only 250 miles across but extend for thousands of miles?sometimes across an entire ocean basin such as the Pacific. These conveyor belts of vapor carry as much water as 10 to 15 Mississippi Rivers from the tropics and across the middle latitudes. When one reaches the U.S. West Coast and hits inland mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada, it is forced up, cools off and condenses into vast quantities of precipitation.

People on the West Coast of North America have long known about storms called ?pineapple expresses,? which pour in from the tropics near Hawaii and dump heavy rain and snow for three to five days. It turns out that they are just one configuration of an atmospheric river. As many as nine atmospheric rivers hit California every year, according to recent investigations. Few of them end up being strong enough to yield true megafloods, but even the ?normal? storms are about as intense as rainstorms get in the rest of the U.S., so they challenge emergency personnel as well as flood-control authorities and water managers.

Atmospheric rivers also bring rains to the west coasts of other continents and can occasionally form in unlikely places. For example, the catastrophic flooding in and around Nashville in May 2010?which caused some 30 deaths and more than $2 billion in damages?was fed by an unusual atmospheric river that brought heavy rain for two relentless days up into Tennessee from the Gulf of Mexico. In 2009 substantial flooding in southern England and in various parts of Spain was also caused by atmospheric rivers. But the phenomenon is best understood along the Pacific Coast, and the latest studies suggest that these rivers of vapor may become even larger in the future as the climate warms.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f72c7dbc9d9b9df5ae9ffab3bbc88777

Hunter Pence NBCOlympics Danell Leyva Ye Shiwen OJ Murdock Olympics Live Mens Gymnastics

This Future-Proofing Torture Test Puts Next-Gen Materials Through the Ringer

Our gadgets sure have it rough. Between change-filled pockets, waist-high falls onto concrete, and dunks in the toilet bowl, gadget surfaces need to be tougher and more resilient than ever. To develop the next generation of durable surfaces, materials scientists rely on specialized torture testing equipment like the Bruker Universal Mechanical Tester to put prototype samples through their paces. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/i9E-_m0c0qE/this-future+proofing-torture-test-puts-next+gen-materials-through-the-ringer

Ohio Lottery Colorado Lottery Pa Lottery finish line ups Ebates lotto

'Cliff': Boehner, White House chide each other

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Speaker John Boehner met with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday and accused Democrats afterward of failing to outline specific cuts to avert the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the economy into recession.

The White House and other Democrats said the Republicans were the ones holding things up.

"No substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks, Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters after the private meeting with Geithner at the Capitol.

"I was hopeful we'd see a specific plan for cutting spending, and we sought to find out today what the president really is willing to do," Boehner said.

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also offered a pessimistic take following his separate meeting with Geithner.

"To date, the administration has remained focused on raising taxes and attending campaign-style events, with no specific plans to protect Medicare and Social Security or reduce our national debt in a meaningful way," McConnell said in a statement. "And today, they took a step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff."

At the White House, Obama spokesman Jay Carney took a confrontational tone at his daily briefing, saying Republicans must accept the reality that tax rates for the top 2 percent of income earners are going to go up, as President Barack Obama has demanded.

"This should not be news to anyone on Capitol Hill," Carney said. "It is certainly not news to anyone in America who was not in a coma during the campaign season."

"There can be no deal without rates on top earners going up," he declared.

To Boehner's criticism that Obama has not detailed a cost-cutting plan, Carney held up a copy of the president's plan from September 2011, noting that it was available online and on Capitol Hill. He said, "I believe they have electricity and Internet connections."

Senate Democrats insisted that it's up to Republicans to offer a specific roster of spending cuts.

"Republicans know where we stand," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "We're still waiting for a serious offer from Republicans."

Reid said there is strong public support for Obama's proposal to extend all expiring tax cuts except for those that apply to incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples ? legislation that Boehner and other Republicans say would harm the economy rather than help it.

The private meetings and public statements marked an acceleration in the pace of bargaining, if not in movement toward an agreement on an issue that leaders of both parties say they want to resolve.

The speaker has said that Republicans are willing to endorse higher tax revenues as part of a deal to prevent across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect at year's end, but only if the agreement includes savings taken from Medicare and other government benefit programs.

Boehner spoke by phone with Obama Wednesday night, and said his remarks Thursday were the result of that conversation, as well as the session with Geithner.

Carney said Obama's telephone call with Boehner lasted 28 minutes. He characterized it "frank and direct" and a good conversation.

Obama is insisting that tax rates go up on family income exceeding $250,000; Boehner is adamant that any new tax revenues come from overhauling the tax code, clearing out tax breaks and lowering rates for all.

The White House has been dismissive of Republicans suggestions that they can raise enough tax revenue by limiting deductions, saying that alone would not generate the amount of money Obama wants in revenue.

A White House document being shared with congressional officials and Obama allies says that placing a $25,000 limit on deductions would generate about $650 billion over 10 years if phased in gradually, and only $450 billion if charitable deductions were excluded from the limit, as some have suggested. Obama is aiming for $1 trillion in budget savings by letting estate taxes and the rates for the top 2 percent of earners rise to Clinton-era levels.

The document, obtained by The Associated Press, states that achieving revenue gains by limiting deductions rather than by letting rates rise for the wealthy "would inevitably force any tax reform designed to further reduce the deficit to raise taxes on middle class families simply to preserve lower rates for the most fortunate."

Republicans are also demanding significant cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare, such as an increase in the eligibility age for the program from 65 to perhaps 67.

As for the "fiscal cliff," across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs set to strike the economy in January along with the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts on income, investments, married couples and families with children. That combination of tax increases and spending cuts would wring more than half a trillion dollars from the economy in the first nine months of next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

No one anticipates a stalemate lasting that long, but many experts worry that even allowing the spending cuts and tax increases for a relatively brief period could rattle financial markets.

From their public statements, Obama and Boehner appear at an impasse over raising the two top tax rates from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. Democrats seem confident that Boehner ultimately will have to crumble, but Obama has a lot at stake as well, including a clear agenda for priorities like an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cliff-boehner-white-house-chide-other-195610248--finance.html

PECO chris christie Hurricane Sandy update weather channel mta ellen degeneres tomb of the unknown soldier

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Is Obama?s promise of US troops in the Sinai an outright lie?

by Doug Book,? staff writer

Is the Gaza cease fire agreed to by Benjamin Netanyahu based on a lie told the PM by Barack Obama?

Egypt?s president Mohamed Morsi should be forever beholding to Barack Hussein Obama. After all, Obama?s calculated ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarek gave Morsi the job of ruling the Middle East?s most populous nation. And ruling is the right word as Morsi has granted himself both dictatorial power and immunity from prosecution by Egypt?s courts.

I ?may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution,? writes the Egyptian president in Article 6 of his power grab decree. Morsi also becomes the ?Sovereign of the State? who can ?claim exception against all rules.? ?(There exists a similar situation in the United States, though it has yet to be put in writing.) (1)

Fortunately, no one in Egypt needs worry about the true intentions of their self-appointed pharaoh. After all, Morsi has assured Egyptians that his new dictatorship is only a temporary state of affairs ?until a new constitution can be drafted and a new parliament elected.?? As a dedicated member of the Muslim Brotherhood, surely he can be taken at his word!

But upon release of his decree on Egyptian television, protests and rioting began throughout the nation. For although Morsi won the ?democratically held? election earlier this year, even the massive voter fraud reportedly engineered by the Muslim Brotherhood could only provide the new president a very narrow margin of victory over the competition.

So why would Morsi agree to the placement of United States soldiers in Egypt?s Sinai region? After all he?ll win few Egyptian friends by inviting American troops into the country and certainly none among his Muslim Brotherhood peers. Yet according to Israel?s Debka, during a conversation with P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu, ?Barack Obama personally pledged to start deploying US troops in the Egyptian Sinai next week,? that is, yesterday or today!? And Obama obviously needed Morsi?s permission to do so. In fact it was only this promise which convinced Netanyahu to accept the cease fire as Obama guaranteed American soldiers would halt the smuggling of arms through Sinai to Hamas in Gaza. (2)

But did Obama lie to Netanyahu? According to Egypt?s Daily News ?there is no truth to what has been published on Israeli websites on plans for the deployment of US troops in the Sinai as part of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.? Is this statement by the Egyptian armed forces true? Did Netanyahu lie about what he was told by Obama? (3)

Clearly, something is going on here. Debka is not the sort of news provider to make up a story, least of all one of such import. Would Obama lie? That question answers itself. But what would he hope to gain unless it be time for Hamas to replenish its stock of weapons through the usual smuggling routes in the Sinai?? Naturally this would necessitate a prior agreement between Obama and Morsi, indicating the sort of intrigue and betrayal of which both are certainly capable.

This will be a very interesting story to watch during the coming days. For it?s a safe bet that Barack Obama is more concerned with keeping Mohamed Morsi?s friendship and cooperation than Benjamin Netanyahu?s!

(1) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/23/morsi-power-grab-angers-opposition

(2) http://www.debka.com/article/22557/Obama%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-pledge-of-US-troops-to-Sinai-next-week-won-Israel%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s-nod-for-ceasefire

(3) http://dailynewsegypt.com/2012/11/24/armed-forces-deny-deployment-of-us-troops-in-sinai/

?

Related posts:

  1. Egypt?s new president keeps useful idiot Obama on short Muslim Brotherhood leash
  2. Mercy in the style of the ?Religion of Peace?; diplomacy in the style of Barack Obama
  3. Four degrees of separation: Hillary to Huma Abedin to Saleha Mahmoud Abedin, to Muslim Brotherhood
  4. Media useful idiots endanger America by painting Muslim Brotherhood as Jeffersonian democrats
  5. Obama?s dreams come true: Muslim Brotherhood drags Egypt back to the 7th century

Source: http://www.coachisright.com/did-egyptian-dictator-morsi-really-invite-u-s-troops-into-the-sinai/

ricky williams missouri primary minnesota caucus knowshon moreno knowshon moreno sovereign citizen komen

Tips On Getting Your Credit Under Control.

Nowadays, millions of people have bad credit scores due to a number of things, such as job losses and a higher cost of living. The tips in this article will help you learn how to boost your credit score.

TIP! Look over your own credit report to see if there are any missed payments or outstanding debts you have forgotten about. Once you have checked for mistakes, you can set about to fix the damage.

You will be able to buy a house and finance it if you maintain a good credit rating. If you pay your mortgage as agreed, your credit score will rocket into the stratosphere. Owning your own home gives you a significant asset to use in securing your finances, and your credit score will reflect that asset. This will be very helpful if the time comes where you need to take out a loan.

You won?t be able to repair your credit until you are able to pay those bills. It is key that you pay them on time and in full. Do the best that you can. You will notice how quickly your credit score increases when you start paying off those overdue bills.

TIP! Attempts to defend negligence or bad credit will not succeed, even if they are justifiable. The creditors are only worried about results and numbers.

Avoid using your credit cards at all. Use cash to pay for things whenever possible. If the purchase you?re buying is more than you can currently afford you can use a credit card, but pay it back as soon as possible.

Before you commit to a settlement, you should first determine exactly how the agreement will affect your credit. There are ways to go about this that will have less of an impact and should be learned about before you make any kind of deal with a creditor. Debt settlers are more interested in their money than your credit rating.

TIP! Erase your debt. Creditors look at your total debt in relation to your income.

Keep the balances on your credit cards low if you want to repair your credit. If you currently have a $4000 limit on a card, you never want to have a balance of more than $3800. Even if have been consistent in making on time monthly payments, the more you owe on your card, the more damage you are doing to your credit score.

Many times you and your creditor can work together to come up with a prepayment plan. If so, be sure you get a written agreement stating the terms. This is the only way that you have of protecting yourself. After you have paid off your debt, send proof of this to the major credit agencies.

TIP! Make sure you review all of the negative marks against you on your credit report. Even though the particular credit item may not accurate, finding an error in the amount, date, or something else can cause the entire item to be stricken from your report.

If you are looking to repair your credit, you should have multiple credit types. Your credit score takes into account all types of credit that you have. If you make payments on time with your credit cards and home loans, you can make your credit better.

Make sure you check over your credit report very carefully for any discrepancies. Mistakes do occur, and it?s possible issues will arise from errors in your file. If you notice any errors, file a credit dispute. Although it takes some time, it will remove the discrepancies if they?re proven to be invalid.

TIP! Take the time to carefully go over all your credit card statements. Check to be sure that you actually purchased the things that are listed on your statement, so that you are only paying for things you bought.

Getting home financing is no small feat, especially if your credit score is less than perfect. Try to secure an FHA loan; these are federal government guaranteed. FHA loans are great for the individuals that do not have the financial capability to make down payments.

TIP! Keeping track of the number of times a credit score gets checked is part of safeguarding a healthy credit record. When someone checks out your credit score, it is noted in your records.

Your credit score is strongly affected by how promptly you pay your bills. Setting up a payment reminder will help you remember to send in that payment. There are various ways you can arrange your reminders. Set them up with your online banking portal, to be sent as emails to yourself, or have debtors text you a payment reminder.

If a lawyer or law office is offering you a quick fix for your credit, be cautious. Less ethical lawyers have realized that with the current glut of consumers with credit trouble, there is money to be made by charging high fees for ineffective credit restoration help. Investigate a lawyer before hiring them to help you in repairing your credit.

TIP! Keep a savings and checking account open at all times. Open accounts serve as a proof of income and financial stability to potential lenders.

There is no reason to put off starting to repair your credit now that you?ve learned how to do so. Before your poor credit score harms the quality of your life, take the information learned from this article and apply it to your financial situation to help you get back on your feet.

Source: http://www.financerevealed.com/9750/tips-on-getting-your-credit-under-control-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tips-on-getting-your-credit-under-control-2

vince young vince young evan longoria ryan seacrest kentucky derby beltane capitals

Church honors veterans? stories of valor

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

Source: http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5723427&ct=12509571&notoc=1

dixville notch Remember Remember The 5th Of November African painted dogs What Time Do Polls Open Krysten Ritter cnn barack obama

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Young adults more likely to smoke cannabis than drink before driving, survey of Canadians shows

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? Most Ontario adults are drinking responsibly, and fewer are smoking or using illicit substances -- but several areas of concern were found in the 2011 CAMH Monitor survey of substance use trends, released November 28 by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

"More young adults are reporting that they drive within an hour of using cannabis -- even more than those who report drinking and driving," says Dr. Robert Mann, CAMH Senior Scientist and lead researcher. "Yet the risks of doing so are significant." Nine per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds report driving after cannabis use, versus six per cent in this age range who report drinking two or more drinks and driving.

The 2011 CAMH Monitor, which included 3,039 adults aged 18 or older from across Ontario, is the longest ongoing survey of adult substance use in Canada.

Cannabis users are also aging, the survey found. Those aged 50 or older now account for 16 per cent of all adult users of cannabis, which is five times higher than in 1977.

Alcohol Use

Most Ontario adults report drinking alcohol in the past year (81 per cent), but the majority does not drink excessively. Alcohol use is a concern when there are harmful drinking patterns, which occur in certain groups.

"Women are drinking more than in the past," says Dr. Mann. "Several key drinking indicators show an increase among women." Six per cent of women reported a pattern of drinking daily in 2011, compared to three percent in 1998. About eight per cent of women were drinking in ways that were hazardous or harmful, up from five per cent in 1998.

"Binge drinking also remains high, particularly among 18- to 29-year olds," notes Dr. Mann. "Overall, nine per cent of Ontario drinkers consume five or more drinks at one time each week, which represents 691,700 people." The survey also showed that the average number of drinks consumed weekly has increased, as has the number of drinkers overall who report daily drinking.

Non-medical Prescription Opioid Use

There was some good news, with the reduction in non-medical use of prescription opioids, which has been a concern in recent years. Use dropped by half between 2010 and 2011, down to four per cent in 2011.

This decline may be the result of Ontario's Narcotics Strategy as well as other policy measures to reduce the non-medical use of these powerful, addictive drugs, Dr. Mann suggests.

Mental Health

One in seven Ontario adults (17 per cent) report elevated psychological distress, with rates highest among those aged 18 to 29. "This type of distress can reduce people's ability to function effectively socially and emotionally," says Dr. Mann.

Seven per cent of adults reported using an anxiety medication, and seven per cent took a depression medication. These medications were most likely to be used by those aged 40 to 49, and in the case of antidepressants, by women in this age range.

Smoking

Smoking rates have been declining steadily for years in Ontario. Currently 15 per cent, or 1.4 million Ontarians, say they are smokers. However, this rate may be leveling off, says Dr. Mann. "The 15 per cent remains three times higher than the Cancer Care Ontario target of five per cent."

Report: http://www.camh.ca/en/research/news_and_publications/CAMH%20Monitor/CM2011_eReport_Final.pdf

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/TGBBhh-AgsM/121128112149.htm

chandler jones peyton hillis fletcher cox charlotte bobcats new york rangers nfl mock draft 2012 norfolk island

5 Reasons to Mix Social Media and Restaurants

When it comes to going social, some of the best and brightest pioneers are restaurants. The sharing-driven nature of social media mixes well with the visual world of the restaurant industry. We?ve all seen people snapping photos of their dish to share on Facebook (and maybe indulged once or twice ourselves). In fact, there?s a dizzying array of ways that consumers can interact with and endorse restaurants on social media, including check-ins, photos, recommendations, tips, lists, and much more. So really, the question at this point is why wouldn?t a restaurant be using social media to help them achieve their business goals? And yet, there are some pretty great businesses that would do well to use social media that are not seizing the opportunity. Today, we?re going to go over those opportunities using two businesses that haven?t really made the jump as our examples.

The restaurants we?ll be examining today are Wings Over and Kings Family Restaurants. Wings Over is a group of franchises born out of Massachusetts, specializing in delivering hot and tasty wings made fresh (I used to be a delivery driver for them ? try the boneless Honey BBQ, you WILL thank me). Kings Family Restaurant is a chain of American-style dine-in restaurants with a history starting in the Pittsburgh area. Both of these chains have dipped their toes, in one way or another, into the social sphere, but neither is really jumping in the way that they should be. Let?s take a look at what they?re missing.

Wings-over-restaurant-logoKings-Family-Restaurant-Logo

1. Reviews


Social media provides many channels through which a restaurant can garner reviews. For instance, Foursquare has Tips that users can leave, Facebook has Recommendations, and of course sites like Yelp and Google+ Local are completely built around the review mechanism. Frequently, marketers like to point out that these systems give restaurants the ability to both remedy any problems with customers and get their side of the story out for everyone to see. Seeing as conventional wisdom holds that finding a new customer is as much as ten times more expensive than keeping one, this sounds like a remarkably cheap way a business can prevent customer loss.

However, there is a more tangible benefit to businesses beyond that. A recent study by two prominent Berkeley economists discovered that as little as a half-star difference in a restaurant?s Yelp score would swing their business up by about 27%. In the restaurant industry, where margins are often very tight, this could mean making or breaking a new location. By taking the right steps to get customers to review the site, a restaurant could see a nice return on their investment.

2. Branded Search Prominence

Social sites also aid in ensuring that your restaurant shows up when someone is using what?s called a ?branded search?, like ?Wings Over Evanston? or ?Kings North Versailles?. For example, let?s see what comes up when we search for ?Kings Monroeville?.

Kings-Restaurant-Monroeville-Search

What we find is that a TripAdvisor.com page is the top result. Additionally, it has a 5-star rating underneath the page title, making that result stand out on the page. This is not ideal for Kings, as the top result routinely receives the most traffic. This robs Kings of the opportunity to interact with that visitor and get them to convert on one or more goals.

For example, if a customer interested in rewards programs lands on the TripAdvisor page, that customer will not see Royal Rewards section of the Kings Site, which they probably would have converted for. A simple check of their analytics would probably reveal a discrepancy between visitors who visit the Royal Rewards page from the Monroeville search versus those who land on the site from higher-ranking location searches. Since rewards programs can be a big driver of repeat business for restaurants, Kings is actively losing money in this example because of the discrepancy.
Social media can help resolve this in several ways. As part of a larger content strategy, social media can serve as a channel to help spread content optimized to improve the rankings of pages for branded searches. This leads to more people linking to that content and social signals being attributed to it. Those links and signals help that page rank in the number one spot when someone is searching for the terms that content is optimized for.

Social media can also provide the same kind of rich snippet oomph that the TripAdvisor link enjoys. By linking pages with Google+ Local profiles, pages enjoy a large amount of rich information on branded searches. Take a look at what comes up when we search for Wings Over Evanston.

wings-over-evanston-search-result

As you can see, the results show the aggregate reviews they?ve received from Google users, as well as a large knowledge graph section on the right hand side of the page with a map, at-a-glance information, and more. This makes the result much more attractive ? rich snippets increase click through rates of pages as much as 30%, a huge boon. Coupled with the revenue boost that from positive reviews garnered on social sites, these little changes make a huge difference in a restaurants bottom line.

3. Search Discovery

Another tangible way social sites help with a restaurants bottom line is by increasing the likelihood they?ll appear in non-branded searches. A non-branded search is something like ?Boneless wings State College? or ?Diners Robinson Township?. It does this by functioning as part of a larger content strategy, just like with branded searches. A company will create content that is optimized for non-branded keywords they wish to rank well for, then use social networks to share and facilitate the spread of that content. This, in turn garners social signals and additional links to the content, if properly positioned and created. Likewise, this helps to move the page up the rankings, driving more traffic. That traffic can then be called to join their social sites, creating a positive feedback loop for the restaurant.

4. Social Signals

Social signals are the interactions a particular page or piece of content on receives on social networks. We?ve heard twice now from Matt Cutts those social signals are playing a role in determining the results of a search query. Currently, I would guess that effect is pretty minor. We have only really seen correlation studies thus far, and the most thorough attempt at a causal study that I?ve seen only concluded that they might not be, an indefinite answer. However, we can be reasonably confident that social signals will yet play some role in the results going forward. Having active social presences to help propagate content and creating pages that will accrue authority on the various social graphs now is a smart move. Additionally, social media is not going to go away; it will only become more prevalent. It?s better for a business to get in as soon as possible and find what works for them early, than to try and play catch up later on ? like some businesses who ignored their search efforts or even the internet altogether.

5. Social discovery

The last way that social sites can increase the business that your restaurant receives is through social discovery. Social sites like Foursquare or Urbanspoon have core components that help their users discover restaurants they might like. These choices are influenced by user reviews and activity the restaurant receives on those networks. By increasing the likelihood someone will interact with your business in that way, a restaurant will see more business.

Beyond social discovery tools, restaurants can increase awareness of their business through interacting on social sites. User interaction on social sites appears in the feeds of those users friends, creating a ripple effect for a restaurants awareness or content. Likewise, responding to those comments increases the likelihood of exposure for a restaurant on a social site.

So, in review, there?s plenty of ways that restaurants benefit from social media programs. Reviews have a direct and causal relationship to driving increased business, with a half-star on Yelp being estimated to swing a 27% increase in diners. Social sites can enhance those reviews, provide a platform to save potential lost customers, and can put those glowing reviews directly into the search results and drive diners to click on your site. They can also assist in other programs designed to increase your restaurants visibility in branded and non-branded searches. And finally, they can lead to your restaurant receiving new business through social discovery tools like Foursquare. It?s worth pointing out that all of these benefits are additional to the effects social tie-ins can help on your on-going marketing efforts, including increasing repeat customers and increasing things like Top of Mind Awareness, among others. And best, these are almost entirely measurable effects ? no marketing voodoo required.

About Dan Wilkerson

Dan Wilkerson is a Social Media Project Manager with a background in Advertising and PR. Since producing his first commercial at 18, Dan has wanted to get involved with brands. Dan loves solving problems creatively, effectively, and measurably, and has had experience with a wide variety of businesses ranging from tech start-ups to household charities.

Source: http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2012/11/27/social-media-restaurants/

Chris Kluwe Jennifer Granholm Tulane player injured fox sports frank ocean obama speech amber rose

kumbasherri: Opening Your Mind To Spirituality ? Self Improvement ...

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Source: http://burris2274.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/opening-your-mind-to-spirituality-self-improvement.html

albert pujols the shining mariano rivera mariano rivera jobs report tiger woods masters 2012 nikki haley

Source: http://implosion-linefeed.blogspot.com/2012/11/opening-your-mind-to-spirituality-self.html

metta kashi neil diamond orange crush harden nor easter nor easter

Source: http://kumbasherri.blogspot.com/2012/11/opening-your-mind-to-spirituality-self.html

tim thomas oral roberts les paul fred thompson fred thompson red hook romney tax return

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Longoria agrees to deal adding $100 million

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) ? Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria has agreed to a new contract through 2022 that adds six guaranteed seasons and $100 million.

The agreement announced Monday with the three-time All-Star incorporates the remainder of the 27-year-old's existing contract, which called for him to earn $36.6 million over the next four seasons. The new deal includes a team option for 2023.

"We drafted Evan in 2006 with the belief that he and the organization would grow with each other and together accomplish great things," Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement. "That is why the Rays and Evan signed a long-term contract in 2008, and it is why we are extending our commitments. Evan has clearly become a cornerstone player and a fixture in our organization. We are proud of what we have accomplished these past seven years, and I expect the best is yet to come."

Just six games into his major league career, Longoria agreed in April 2008 to a $17.5 million, six-year contract that included club options potentially making the deal worth $44 million over nine seasons.

"Evan has all of the attributes we seek in a player," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. "His determination and work ethic inspire others around him. He is devoted to his craft and strives to improve himself every year, and he defines success in terms of team performance and achievement. It's exciting to know that Evan will be manning third base for the Rays for many years to come."

Tampa Bay selected Longoria as the third overall pick in the 2006 amateur draft, making him the first player drafted under Sternberg and Friedman.

Longoria played in just 74 games in 2012 because of a partially torn left hamstring. He underwent a minor procedure on the hamstring Nov. 20 and is expected to be ready for spring training.

Tampa Bay was 41-44 during Longoria's absence, and 47-27 with him in the starting lineup.

The two-time AL Gold Glove winner and 2008 AL Rookie of the Year ranks second on the Rays career list with 130 home runs, third with 456 RBIs and fourth with 161 doubles. Longoria is one of 11 active players to average at least 25 homers and 90 RBIs during his first five seasons.

Longoria will donate more than $1 million during the contract to the Rays Baseball Foundation, the team's charitable foundation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/longoria-agrees-deal-adding-100-million-155201987--mlb.html

hgtv dream home patriots vs broncos contraband denver vs new england denver broncos vs new england patriots cruise ship sinking vernon davis

underwood fuhrer: Usuario:ZeemanSkeffington3014 - Educaci?n ...

De Educaci?n ambiental

Affiliate Marketing -- Make Money Online Rapidly

Affiliate marketing will be the fastest method anyone being received by the internet organization scene will make money. On this page I will be discussing with you why you ought to start a joint venture partner marketing organization and make cash fast on-line.


Affiliate marketing is a revenue expressing business online where an affiliate decides to offer a vendors goods or services, after which, certain percentage with the sales pays to the online as commission.

How can any person start an online affiliate business web make money online? This is actually the same kind of question I hear all around in community forums and websites. I will try out my best that will put you through the particular processes involving starting an internet marketer business like a new entrant in the internet business industry.

Affiliate marketing earn money online fast similar to I stated before could be the fastest techniques anyone coming into the internet business newly can easily start a organization and make a dwelling.

First, to start a business using affiliate marketing, you should determine what your passion or interest is, moreover, it is also essential that you know what you really want to accomplish with your organization.

Pick a niche or curiosity that is best suited for your passion, experience has shown that you will fare better with your organization when you selected niches which might be related to your passion. The gorgeous thing with regards to internet business is always that there are services and products for whichever niche you determine to choose. I want to not forget to let you know that you also need to decide if they should go for ebooks or bodily ones. It's your choice.

The next step you should take is to discover the product in which best suit your best niche. You can actually do this simply by heading up to Clickbank.com or Amazon online marketplace.com, there are many places you can find products in promoting, but the a pair of I have mentioned previously have remain consistent over time. Get to know more about the product you will be promoting, visit the online page along with learn more about your promotional equipment available.

Obtaining understood the concept of the product, it is possible to go ahead and obtain a suitable website and internet hosting space for the promotional advertising campaign to begin. Produce a review website, in which you will publish a short review about the good and the bad side with the product. Studies have shown that consumers search for product critiques before making acquisitions on the internet. Making this where you can utilize your assessment page.

Make your reviews since positive along with honest as is possible; because which will determine the next thing your prospects will take. Several prospects may be convinced by your review after which go ahead to generate a purchase. After this is done, you'll be credited with all the sales and also certain percentage with the sales will likely be credited to you.

That is all it takes to start a small business on the internet using affiliate marketing making money rapidly online. Once you master this particular act very well, it will become much simpler for you to arrive choose goods to promote and then sell on the internet. Affiliate marketing online is still the easiest and quickest way to earn money on the internet these days for a brand-new comer.

Learn more about full-time dad and focus further in regards to the important measures on ONLINE MARKETING 3 STEP FORMULA.

Source: http://maescentics.medellin.unal.edu.co/~jfmunerad/index.php/Usuario%3AZeemanSkeffington3014

yvette prieto hypertrophic cardiomyopathy kaye stevens michael jordan engaged kid cudi breedlove florida state football

Source: http://underwood-fuhrer.blogspot.com/2012/11/usuariozeemanskeffington3014-educacin.html

michelle malkin october baby sugarland 16 and pregnant ludwig mies van der rohe jamie lynn sigler mega millions jackpot

Source: http://bookermann.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/underwood-fuhrer-usuariozeemanskeffington3014-educacin.html

katy perry and russell brand katy perry divorce brock lesnar retires new years wake forest wake forest old dominion

Pay day loans Application Operations | How To Handle Your ...

Primarily pay day loan as well as wage day upfront loan can be described as quickly mortgage loan. Loan services can guide you to find the best doable work for urgent loan that far too with an really inexpensive rate of interest. Different kinds of greatest things about payday advance, as it is a brief term loan that you can fraud victim in a extremely short space of time skeleton, just using 24 hours. You don?t have to signal any papers as well as do any an additional formality, so you may really feel pressure at no cost from most such financial troubles. The perfect component of pay day loan is that often you possibly can have the cash along with you on precisely the same moment without any complications. Including one more economic items there is no need to pay out any administration fees and basically no hidden cost in the process. To apply for instant payday couple of items are fundamental employment status and also valid active bank-account. At this time it really is to utilize pay day loan, a charge card must stuff the contour and it?s also attainable to choose the mortgage loan inside a day straight on your own bank-account. online cash advance http://cashadvanceonlinesap.com operating expenses and large predetermined costs. So now you need a superb solution to a payday loan whenever there?s any emergency relating to financial activities. Effortless Step Finance can provide you with the ideal possible deal for yourself. This means anytime get payday advance on web too. Payday advance are hassle-free loans and can be acquired easily with out an issues, currently a breeze to obtain low priced payday loan. With regard to applying over Online world you simply need so that you can fill out a basic online form system needed details. Often the fee structures of payday loans are actually high in comparison with various traditional bank loans. Advance lenders defend their interest rates and charges because of high performing costs. Signify they do credit checks or carry collateral. critics charge that salaryday lenders are predatory. An instant payday loan is being paid out when the borrower gets his/her next salary or living.

That you possibly be requiring immediately to repay certain bills or for family monthly dues. The borrowers typically have instant access to useful loan for host of personal urgent reasons. tolv month cash loan are typically recognized in almost instantly on ailment you will be used for previous months and find monthly salary. Now, just grab the needed capital by applying because of this no fuss and fast www.needrapidcash.com program. Earth?s most active bank inquiry should also enter in account in the name to qualify for that loan product. But these fiscal are available not until you could be willing fax the papers within their income, employment and residential address for the loan. Short-term cash loans provide you with fast having access to your money covering anything from, depending on your once a month salary. Exact same day cash loan are instantly provided without any credit checks. You will absolutely past cases recently transaction, payment fails and CCJs happen to be of no concern to the financial institutions in approving the loan quick. Fast cash money provide you the means to access your money. | Possibly come to be requiring immediately to repay some bills or for family money. | Those loans is a good idea inside repairing auto and also associated with expensive payments. The main borrowers typically have fast access to these useful business loans for host of personal urgent purposes. These loans individuals funds that happen to be utilized for individual purposes and are paid for instantly from the way of online settings. Given that these are high-priced loans, ensure that you refund the loan within the due date. The borrower must make a short application document considering the details relating to your checking account and a position status. You don?t have to abandon comfortableness.

Encouraging secure feeling and even assurance against economical debts like financial loans, mortgages, cars or anything else that payments will probably be covered in case that they get unproductive during the course of your debt then PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE was a type of protection wherein the consumer was excused for example year generally by one off fee or by small repayment schedules. Ultimately the design which was constructed to give people freedom from anxiety of a person indebtedness turned out to be the explanation for their valuable problems. Easy methods to Claim Mis Sold PPI is a issue for many people who suffered lessening. People just weren?t aware about the most affiliate agreement in the PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE. That was offered for sale where not required. payment protection insurance claims of preferring on. Many individuals have attempted to claim their own miss-sold PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE; but many CABIN (Citizens Tips Bureau) clients experience find out that this borrowers just weren?t able to come up with a successful assert because of shunning clauses and management barriers time to make a assert. In the event the agreement in the loan was initially taken in final 6 a long time, you definitely want to check the payment arguments, if the PPI are being worked, you need to claim. Generate a good claim, the actual borrower can either go on to the provider or get assistance from a few claim management company. Conversely, the maintain management companies which inturn effects ?no be successful, basically no fee? basis are a good law firm which can help in working with often the technical jargons familiar with confuse the exact borrowers via the lending businesses, that will probably gain against these folks. In any case it?s going to benefit the borrower because process is going to be no fuss for the pup and if these people won then a considerable amount will probably be returned. Typically the PPI scandal included lenders selling PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE either; but without the policyholder?s skills, with the idea seeing as PPI had not been recommended, with the idea that will PPI would help with an approval of the loan or simply credit card or simply that PPI has been sold without showing the full value or conditions belonging to the insurance plan. Online, PPI seemed to be mis-sold when debt collectors provided pre-ticked packing containers offering PAYMENT PROTECTION INSURANCE. By Linkiesa vanicoz

Source: http://bluestarpartynyc.com/pay-day-loans-application-operations/

football schedule jo paterno dead south carolina tuskegee airmen mike james red tails red tails

Dumaguing: Should a woman have hormone replacement therapy ...

FIRST and foremost, this author would like to apologize to our dear readers and friends for the delay of the appearance of this article, which for all the high-tech advantages of computers and gadgets, got lost in transit. At any rate, it is our fervent hope that the delay has not at all, diminished the enthusiasm and interest of our beloved women of menopausal age, including their anxious husbands.

Our health columnist-colleague Ms. Sara T. Poumerol says that doctors prescribe HRT for two major reasons; relief of menopausal complaints, in which treatment is given for two to three years and then tapered off; and/or protection against osteoporosis and other long term ailments. Women have a variety of treatments from which to choose.

Women who have had hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) together with her two ovaries are often given estrogen therapy. Otherwise, most women use a combination of two hormones (estrogen and progesterone) to counter the negative effect of estrogen on the uterus. Relief of urogental signs and symptoms is also available in estrogen vaginal suppositories, cream and the so-called vaginal ring.

Today, doctors and psychologists as well as marriage counselors understand the more complex nature of the maintenance of libido (sexual urge and desire) of women, even in their menopausal stage. Female sexual urges, as well as the male libido is activated by male sex hormones or androgens. Women naturally produce androgens during their 20s and 30s ? more than their output of estrogens. A new formulation that combines male and female hormones (estrogen-androgen combination) replaces the lost androgens in menopausal women providinga big boostto their sexual drive and a significant improvement in their mood and energy level, thus improving their quality of life. Also, as compared to estrogen alone, the estrogen-androgen combinationmay better protect against ospteoporosis because androgens are important for maintaining bone density.

Some researchers have shown that when taken for over five years, HRT might boost a woman?s chance of getting breast cancer by 30 to 40%. The data so far are not compelling nor consistent for a strong link between HRT and breast cancer. At that time, the medical world recommended against prescribing conventional HRT for women at high risk for breast cancer (if she has a mother, sister or daughter with premenopausal breast cancer.

Nowadays, the thinking and the attitude has changed. Many medical societies have discovered that based on experience and research, the benefits of HRT greatly outweighed the risks, unless the woman has two family relatives with breast cancer. Besides, some researchers believe that estrogen may actually benefit women who have already survivedbreast cancer.

As a personal rejoinder, this author strongly advise every woman, of menopuasal vintage, to consult their family physician and make informed co decisions before their consent is given to undergo hormone replacement therapy.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on November 24, 2012.

Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent and respectful. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Original post:
Dumaguing: Should a woman have hormone replacement therapy?

Related Post

  • Beta Sitosterol And Hair Loss (Endosterol Review) - Video - November 25th, 2012
  • Autoimmune System (Endosterol Review) - Video - November 25th, 2012
  • Thyroid Treatment with Bio-Identical Hormones - Video - November 25th, 2012
  • Should a woman have hormone replacement therapy? - November 25th, 2012
  • Causes Of Hormone Imbalance (Endosterol Reviews) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Causes Of Hormonal Imbalance In Men (Hormone Cleanse) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Bph Detoxs (Endosterol) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Breast Cancer And Hormones (Endosterol Reviews) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Buy Saw Palmetto Oil (Endosterol Reviews) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Bleeding From The Kidneys (Endosterol) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Betaprostate (Endosterol Review) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • About Estrogen (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol For Hair (Endosterol) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Beta Sterols (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol And Saw Palmetto For Hair Loss (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Bph Saw Palmetto (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol Dosage (Endosterol Reviews) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Best Saw Palmetto Product (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • week 98 two year HRT 731 days 11 20 12 2 - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • FemiYin Menopause Relief - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Med Cure Anti-Ageing - November 23rd, 2012
  • Ryan - November 23rd, 2012
  • Research and Markets: Women's Health Therapeutics Market to 2018 - November 23rd, 2012
  • FemiYin Menopause 60 - Video - November 23rd, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol For Women (Endosterol) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol For Hair (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol Dosage (Endosterol Review) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • starlitjessi MtF vlog #31 - 1 YEAR ON HRT! :D - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol And Saw Palmetto For Hair Loss (Endosterol Review) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Beta Sitosterol And Hair Loss (Enlarged Prostrate Detox) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Autoimmune System (Endosterol Reviews) - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Treatment of Adrenal Fatigue with BHRT and Stem Cells - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • FemiYin Menopause Relief 60 - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Menopause - November 21st, 2012
  • FemiYin Menopause - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Purafem Breast Enhancement - Video - November 21st, 2012
  • Women's Health Therapeutics Market to 2018 - Unmet Need for Safe and Effective Treatments due to Unfavorable Risk ... - November 21st, 2012
  • Watch Harvey up his Game with Hormone Therapy - November 21st, 2012
  • Anti Aging Supplements - Strike First Nutrition - Video - November 19th, 2012
  • How To Increase Your Testosterone Levels Naturally - Video - November 19th, 2012

Source: http://www.humangrowthhormone.info/dumaguing-should-a-woman-have-hormone-replacement-therapy/

kate gosselin helicopter crash matt jones whitney houston in casket photo resolute national enquirer whitney houston casket photo jk rowling

Source: http://ferdinanddavid417.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/dumaguing-should-a-woman-have-hormone-replacement-therapy.html

Hurricane Categories Hurricane Sandy new jersey atlantic city ocean city maryland Nexus 7 KDKA

Black Friday sales slip as shoppers opt for Thursday ?doorbusters?

Security guards break up a fight between shoppers outside a Bowling Green, Ky., Target, Nov. 22, 2012. (AP)

Black Friday, the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, saw more foot traffic than ever before, according to estimates. But it appears so-called "doorbuster" deals offered the day before dinged sales.

According to ShopperTrak, which tracks retail foot traffic, there were more than 307 million store visits on Friday, up 3.5 percent. But Black Friday shoppers spent an estimated $11.2 billion, down 1.8 percent over 2011, when consumers spent $11.4 billion.

And for once, the sluggish economy is not to blame.

"It is all Black Thursday's fault," ZeroHedge.com said.

[Slideshow: Black Friday madness]

Shopping malls were "less hectic" on Black Friday this year, Bloomberg.com reported, as retailers "have turned Black Friday, once a one-day event after Thanksgiving, into a week's worth of deals and discounts."

And Thursday's deals "attracted some of the spending that's usually meant for Friday," ShopperTrak said.

Big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target were open on Thanksgiving night, drawing crowds that were--in some cases--rowdy. (Thankfully, it was nothing like the dystopian version of shopping hell recently envisioned by "Saturday Night Live.")

Another reason for the Black Friday dip: people skipped lines and shopped online. According to IBM Benchmark, online sales rose 17 percent on Thanksgiving and 21 percent on Black Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/black-friday-sales-slip-shoppers-opt-thursday-doorbusters-165525323--finance.html

barry sanders jr nick carter sister recruiting rankings san onofre paula deen birth control recall nick carter

Monday, November 26, 2012

Rice's star rises as congressional opposition dims

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With congressional opposition softening, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice could find her name in contention as early as this week to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. It's a step that may signal greater U.S. willingness to intervene in world crises during President Barack Obama's second term.

As Obama nears a decision on who should be the country's next top diplomat, Rice has emerged as the clear front-runner on a short list of candidates that many believe has been narrowed to just her and Sen. John Kerry, despite lingering questions over her comments about the deadly Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya.

According to congressional aides and administration officials, Rice will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week for closed door meetings with key lawmakers whose support she will need to be confirmed. Those appearances follow her first in-depth explanation of her Benghazi remarks that Republicans seized on as evidence of the administration's mishandling of the attack that took the lives of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

A senior Senate aide said the administration was trying to measure the strength of the Republican opposition to a Rice nomination, sounding out the more moderate members of the Foreign Relations Committee such as Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who is in line to become the panel's top Republican next year, and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

Assessing the prospects for Rice before Obama makes any announcement would avoid the embarrassment of a protracted fight with the Senate early in the president's second term.

On talk shows the weekend following the attacks, Rice relied on talking points provided by the intelligence community that described the attack as a spontaneous assault growing out of a protest of an anti-Muslim film. GOP critics say her remarks downplayed evidence of an obvious terrorist attack just weeks before the Nov. 6 election.

Republicans called her nomination doomed, leading to a vigorous defense of her by Obama in his first post-election news conference. But since then, GOP lawmakers seemed to have softened their views. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who said earlier this month that would he do everything in his power to scuttle a Rice nomination, said on Sunday that he was willing to hear her out before making a decision. McCain ally Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has also eased his opposition and said he is usually deferential to presidential cabinet picks.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that the administration appreciated McCain's latest comments about Rice, but wouldn't say whether the president saw them as an opening to make the nomination. "Ambassador Rice has done an excellent job at the United Nations and is highly qualified for any number of positions," Carney said.

Several diplomats currently serving with Rice said that what she lacked in Clinton's star power, she could make up with a blunter approach that demands attention and has marked her tenure thus far at the United Nations.

Rice, who at 48 is relatively young, has played the role of "conscience of the administration" on human rights and detainee issues and would bring "a certain edge" to the secretary of state job, according one colleague who has dealt with Rice on multiple issues over the past three years.

She "will not be going into the job as a star," said Karl Inderfurth, a former U.S. ambassador and senior State Department official who worked closely with Rice in President Bill Clinton's administration when she worked as a staff aide to the National Security Council and then as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. "She will be a rising star, though."

"Hillary Clinton understood the politics of diplomacy: what the person across the table needs in order to sell something," said Inderfurth, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. "Susan Rice's background is different. What she'll bring is her experience in multilateral engagement and the limitations thereof."

"But the most important thing she brings to the table is her relationship with the president," Inderfurth said.

Rice, like many other foreign policy experts of her generation, was shaped by the Clinton administration's inability to prevent the genocide of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda 1994. Years later, she told a journalist: "I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required."

That doesn't mean the U.S. will change its policy of only providing humanitarian support to Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow the regime anytime soon. But Rice's confirmation as the next secretary of state could alter the balance in an administration that has viewed humanitarian interventions with significant skepticism, given its rejection of the Bush administration's war in Iraq.

An early supporter of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Rice fell out with some of her Clinton administration-era NSC and State Department colleagues who urged her to support Hillary Clinton's competing candidacy, including her own mentor, Madeleine Albright, and some of her top aides.

With the Clinton-Obama primary battle in full gear in April 2008, tension between the two camps was on public display at a ceremony and reception to unveil Albright's official portrait in the State Department's ornate 8th floor Benjamin Franklin room, according to several people present. At those events, Rice firmly brushed aside appeals that she switch allegiance, those present said.

Obama's 2008 election brought with it the prospect that Rice, one of his campaign's top foreign policy advisers, might be in line for the Cabinet job she is known to covet. Instead, however, Obama went with the surprise choice of Clinton and gave Rice the U.N. portfolio, although he attempted to deflect her disappointment by restoring the job to a cabinet level position.

But her sights remained set on the top job, according to people who know her.

Since arriving in New York, Rice can point to a series of diplomatic achievements ? most notably the NATO-led air campaign that toppled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and tougher sanctions against Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs.

But Rice has also been criticized ? along with other Security Council leaders ? for the failure of the U.N.'s most powerful body to take action to end the 19-month civil war in Syria.

She has also been criticized, especially by human rights groups, for being too protective of U.S. allies, namely Sri Lanka where the U.N. says up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the country's civil war that ended in May 2009, and Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the M23 rebel group that last week took control of the eastern Congo city of Goma.

As U.N. ambassador, she has gained a reputation for a sharp intellect and sharp elbows. She is not known for diplomatic finesse, rather for being aggressive ? sometimes too aggressive ? and using salty language on occasion. In private, she has a good sense of humor.

In a legendary exchange last December, Rice dismissed an appeal by Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who also isn't afraid to speak out, for a Security Council investigation of civilian deaths in Libya from NATO's bombing campaign as "a cheap stunt" to distract attention from the Syrian conflict.

"Oh, the bombast and bogus claims," she told reporters.

Churkin responded by mocking Rice's Stanford University degree, saying: "We hear that the Obama administration wants to establish a dialogue with the international community in the United Nations... If this is the intention, really this Stanford dictionary of expletives must be replaced by something more Victorian."

___

Associated Press Writers Donna Cassata in Washington and Edith Lederer in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rices-star-rises-congressional-opposition-dims-215830819--politics.html

leon russell meredith vieira prop 8 maria menounos proposition 8 ricky martin larry bird

Sandy-hit homes ransacked while families away for Thanksgiving ...

By NBC News staff

At least three homeowners in the hard-hit area of Breezy Point, N.Y., were robbed while away for the Thanksgiving holiday -- losing items like two jars with $400 in change, watches and a coin collection valued at $25,000.

"This just adds insult to injury," Robert Bainbridge told the New York Post of the break-in at his home, which was flooded by Superstorm Sandy.?

"Whoever did this is not thinking, 'This could happen to me'," added Bainbridge, whose family saw floodwaters swamp their recording studio and destroy two cars.

Bainbridge, who lost the two change jars, later taped a sign on his door stating: "I am here and armed -- come on in".


A neighbor lost the coin collection and two watches, one a retirement gift.

"We've lived here for 30 years, and nothing like this has ever happened," the neighbor, a woman who asked not to be identified, told the Post.

In a neighborhood hard-hit by Sandy, even people who are storm victims themselves find ways to bring Thanksgiving to others. NBC's Kate Snow reports.

A third homeowner who also remained anonymous returned to find many of her drawers had been rifled through.?A laptop and jewelry were taken from the home, which is still without power and whose living room, dining room and bathroom were destroyed in the storm.

PhotoBlog: Cooking a Thanksgiving feast in Breezy Point

The owner at first did not realize she had been robbed since so much of the home was damaged.

?Our house is in bad shape," she told the Post. "It looks like an earthquake hit it." ?

Breezy Point saws 14 break-ins from Nov. 12 to 18, the Post noted, compared with none a year earlier.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/24/15413723-sandy-hit-homes-ransacked-while-families-away-for-thanksgiving

mall of america mennonite smokey robinson smokey robinson pulmonary embolism packages camila alves

iPhone and iPad once again lead web usage metrics, this time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales

iPhone and iPad once again lead web usage metrics, this time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales

Continuing the confusing trend of Android dominating in market share but iOS continuing to lead -- by huge margin -- in mobile web usage share, both Apple's iPhone and the iPad reportedly eclipsed Google's Android in Thanksgiving and Black Friday online shopping use over the last few days. This according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmarks:

Mobile Shopping: Mobile purchases soared with 24 percent of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer's site, up from 14.3 percent in 2011. Mobile sales exceeded 16 percent, up from 9.8 percent in 2011.

The iPad Factor: The iPad generated more traffic than any other tablet or smartphone, reaching nearly 10 percent of online shopping. This was followed by iPhone at 8.7 percent and Android 5.5 percent. The iPad dominated tablet traffic at 88.3 percent followed by the Barnes and Noble Nook at 3.1 percent, Amazon Kindle at 2.4 percent and the Samsung Galaxy at 1.8 percent.

We've seen this again and again, iOS web usage reports that dwarf the competition. Tablets, of course, are understandable. Apple is the market leader. The iPhone, however, while often the best selling phone in many markets, doesn't outsell all other phones -- or all Android phones -- combined in the market.

So what explains the discrepancy? Do people upgrading from feature phones to a cheap or big screen Android simply keep using it as a feature phone and not bother with things like web browsers? Is the web browsing experience on Android somehow less discoverable or enjoyable? Do expert users simply not care to use the web?

None of those explanations make sense. Chrome on Android is easy to find and easy to use. So why aren't Android users using it?

Maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the right question is why are iPhone and iPad users using the web so much? What is it about Apple's products that make using the web so much more discoverable and enjoyable?

IBM via Fortune:



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/fuNcBH-FCZQ/story01.htm

Chris Brown Tattoo Innocence of Muslims Clara Schumann Jael Strauss Alison Pill Sam Bacile sprint

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Casey Anthony detectives overlooked Google search

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? The Florida sheriff's office that investigated Caylee Anthony's death confirmed Sunday that it overlooked a computer search for suffocation methods made from the little girl's home on the day she was last seen alive.

Orange County sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said the office's computer investigator missed a June 16, 2008, Google search for "fool-proof" suffocation methods. The agency's admission was first reported by Orlando television station WKMG. It's not known who performed the search. The station reported it was done on a browser primarily used by the 2-year-old's mother, Casey Anthony, who was acquitted of the girl's murder in 2011.

Anthony's attorneys argued during trial that Casey Anthony helped her father, George Anthony, cover up the girl's drowning in the family pool.

WKMG said sheriff's investigators pulled 17 vague entries only from the computer's Internet Explorer browser, not the Mozilla Firefox browser commonly used by Casey Anthony. More than 1,200 Firefox entries, including the suffocation search, were overlooked.

Whoever conducted the Google search looked for the term "fool-proof suffication," misspelling "suffocation," and then clicked on an article about suicide that discussed taking poison and putting a bag over one's head.

The browser then recorded activity on the social networking site MySpace, which was used by Casey Anthony but not her father.

A computer expert for Anthony's defense team found the search before the trial. Her lead attorney, Jose Baez, first mentioned the search in his book about the case but suggested it was George Anthony who conducted the search after Caylee drowned because he wanted to kill himself.

Not knowing about the computer search, prosecutors had argued Caylee was poisoned with chloroform and then suffocated by duct tape placed over her mouth and nose. The girl's body was found six months after she disappeared in a field near the family home and was too decomposed for an exact cause of death to be determined.

Many jurors apparently went into hiding amid public outrage over the verdict and refused to comment, but two have said prosecutors couldn't conclusively prove how Caylee died.

Prosecutors Linda Drane Burdick and Jeff Ashton didn't respond to emails from The Associated Press on Sunday.

But Ashton told WKMG that "it's just a shame we didn't have it. This certainly would have put the accidental death claim in serious question."

Baez didn't respond to phone or email messages Sunday from The Associated Press but told WKMG that he expected prosecutors to bring up the search at trial.

"When they didn't, we were kind of shocked," Baez, who no longer represents Anthony, told the station. Her attorney, Cheney Mason, who was also on the trial team, didn't return an email message from AP Sunday, and his office answering service refused to take a phone message.

The sheriff's office didn't consult the FBI or Florida Department of Law Enforcement for help searching the computer in the Anthony case, a mistake investigators have learned from, Nieves said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-detectives-overlooked-google-search-153900682.html

Olympic Medal Count 2012 Olympics 2012 Olympic Schedule 2012 NBC Olympics NBC Olympics schedule 2012 Olympics Chad Everett

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'Life of Pi,' 'Hitchcock' & 'Chasing Ice ...

Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'Life of Pi,' 'Hitchcock' & 'Chasing Ice'

Pi Patel and a fierce Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker (credit: Rhythm & Hues/20th Century Fox)

?
(KCBS) ? KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl reviews three films this week. The first, Jan explores Ang Lee?s ?Life of Pi? starring Suraj Sharma and Gerard Depardieu. Next Jan reviews ?Hitchcock? starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Toni Collette and Jessica Biel. Finally, the documentary ?Chasing Ice? about award-winning National Geographic photographer, James Balog.

KCBS Entertainment Reporter Jan Wahl:

KCBS Entertainment Report: Life of Pi, Hitchcock, Chasing Ice

?
LIFE OF PI (PG)

A family moves its zoo halfway around the world. On the journey, a teen is stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger. Sounds impossible to film, but turns out to be a remarkable, touching movie.

Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) took the best-selling novel and made it a painstakingly authentic odyssey, pushing the boundaries of 3-D technology, visual effects and cinematic storytelling.

Suraj Sharma is Pi, grounding this remarkable saga with humanity. It?s a surprise and one to see on the big screen.

janwahlhats 04 Jan Wahl Movie Review: Life of Pi, Hitchcock & Chasing Ice

Four hats.

?

?????????????????-

Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'Life of Pi,' 'Hitchcock' & 'Chasing Ice'

(L-R) Toni Collette, Anthony Hopkins & Helen Mirren (credit: Fox Searchlight)

?
HITCHCOCK (PG-13)

Partly based on Stephen Rebello?s ?Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho,? director Sasha Gervasi wanted to make sure the story gave credit and importance to Hitchcock?s wife and collaborator, Alma. Anyone who has studied the cinematic genius of Hitchcock knows Alma Reville Hitchcock had an instinct for the right thing, experience to help him technically and a desire to stay out of the limelight.

Anthony Hopkins does a credible job as Hitchcock, less cruel but just as obsessed as Toby Jones in the recent HBO movie about the making of The Birds. Helen Mirren plays it strong and smart as Alma, but those of us who have studied that real woman will have trouble buying into her romance. Scarlett Johansson as smoothly credible as Janet Leigh, as is the rest of the cast.

I love back stories about show business, and this is one to see.

janwahlhats 03 Jan Wahl Movie Review: Life of Pi, Hitchcock & Chasing Ice

Three hats.

?

?????????????????-

?
CHASING ICE (NOT RATED)

This documentary sets out to illuminate the story of our planet?s changing glaciers. Scientist James Balog is the Director of the Extreme Ice Survey. In 2005, he takes a team to various locations to capture images of the ice. By capturing these images, he hopes to tell everyone the story of our changing climate.

janwahlhats 03 Jan Wahl Movie Review: Life of Pi, Hitchcock & Chasing Ice

Three hats.

?

?????????????????-

See Right Now: Argo, The Sessions, Lincoln, A Late Quartet, Silver Linings Playbook, Anna Karenina.

Home Viewing/DVD: Bernie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Candidates, Brave.

You can hear KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl?s movie reviews on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM Fridays at 8:53am & 4:53pm.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
?

0.000000 0.000000

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/11/23/jan-wahl-movie-review-life-of-pi-hitchcock-chasing-ice/

ludwig mies van der rohe jamie lynn sigler mega millions jackpot black panther party frank martin pink slime eagle cam