Not about the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi | Global Health ...

By Owen Barder

Following today?s announcement of the death of Meles Zenawi, and in response to the many requests I have received to comment about what might happen in Ethiopia, this is a good time to repost an article I wrote a few years ago: Why do you want your analysis of Ethiopian politics to be intermediated by a European? Isn?t that a little bit, well, racist? Ethiopians have a sophisticated political culture. ? They are justly proud of their long and deep social and religious traditions. Here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia gather in coffee shops or bars and talk endlessly about politics, culture and society.

Read this article:
Not about the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

No related posts.

Source: http://www.globalhealthhub.org/2012/08/21/not-about-the-death-of-prime-minister-meles-zenawi/

Karen Klein jerry sandusky Colorado fires supreme court college board summer solstice Summer Solstice 2012

Excess Liability Insurance: Is it for you?

Imagine you are involved in a million-dollar lawsuit. Would your family?s future be at risk? Could you afford the legal defense costs to win your case, or worse, the sum awarded by a jury should you lose?

Unfortunately, we live in a litigious society, and as such, many financial planners would suggest you obtain an Excess Liability policy as a buffer over the other policies you have. Here are some tips to help you learn if an Excess Liability policy is a practical purchase for you.

1. Define your liability costs. When you consider the various scenarios in which you could be held responsible, try to imagine the potential cost. Suppose your neighbor is walking his dog and is injured crossing your driveway on uneven pavement. How much would the potential damages be? Remember ?to include medical expenses, lost wages, and even negligence should you be found guilty. If your current insurance program would be bear the upper estimates of these costs, excess liability might be for you.
2. Understand the likelihood of your realized liability. Insurance often protects you from things that never happen because it?s purpose is to shield you from the risk exposures you face every day, but that doesn?t mean it?s not a good idea to consider how likely you are to be held liable for something.? Are you on the Board of Directors for a non-profit? Do you have teenage drivers in your household? Do you travel often, sometimes out of the country? These questions can help determine how often you are directly exposed to risks that could result in a lawsuit, and whether excess liability is something you should look into.
3. Can you afford to self-insure the additional risk? If you were able (and willing) to liquidate savings and retirement accounts, and sell off assets if necessary in order to compensate for the liabilities you face, you might not need Excess Liability insurance. If, however, that is a gamble you?re not willing to take, placing coverage in the form of an Umbrella policy that would sit over your current insurance program is something you should seriously think about.

An Excess Liability policy can give an extra layer of protection by providing liability coverage over and above your standard auto and homeowners insurance policies. You don?t have to be a multi-millionaire to be sued like one, but you also don?t have to be a multi-millionaire to be able to afford Excess Liability insurance. Speak to an independent agent today to assess your individual needs and see if this important coverage is right for you.

Source: http://www.mmins.com/excess-liability-insurance-is-it-for-you/

dark knight rises trailer vince young vince young evan longoria carrie underwood jessica simpson ryan seacrest

Look more fit and healthy with whole body exercise equipment ...

Look more fit and healthy with whole body exercise equipment

Are you conscious about your health and body? Every person wants to look good and attractive among others. To live a healthy life it is important for a person to take proper balanced diet and include some exercise in their daily routine. People adopt various activities to stay in shape. To try and look young and health some may take pills or buy the latest a miracle gadget. Unfortunately it?s often not the right solution to stay in shape. The best way improve and maintain the body?s fitness level is with regular exercise. Regular exercise helps increase energy, improves your health and keep you looking and feeling young. Exercise not only helps to reduce obesity it makes you feel better throughout the day. To lose excessive weight and to begin a healthy lifestyle it may help to consider home exercise equipment. It can be used at home to do your workouts at a time that works for you.

Most of us find it difficult to wake up early in the morning and go for a jog or to the gym. Home equipment offers an alternative.

?

For an inactive lifestyle, these exercise machines can do wonders. They are the latest thing in the exercise and rehab world. These exercise machines offer a wide range of benefits and are also a great fitness tool. A person can operate the exercise equipment according to their body?s needs and strengths. Whole body vibration machines are the latest equipment that offer various health & fitness benefits without any side effects. This equipment is beneficial for all age groups and anyone can use this equipment to suit their goals. These home exercise equipments have established a place in the fitness world and are designed to keep in mind the comfort level of the user.

It is one of the safest pieces of equipment to help keep a person fit and strong within short period of time.

?

The benefits offered by whole body vibration equipment are-

?

It helps to strengthen the body.

It helps manage pain & stress

It helps to boost confidence levels and self-esteem.

It helps a person?s mood and energy levels throughout the day.

It helps a person to enjoy sound sleep at night.

?

So enjoy working out on this exercise equipment as these machines are easily available in the market and one can get their desired equipment according to their lifestyle and budget. Choose the most effective and healthy way to keep yourself fit and healthy.

This entry was posted in Healthy Living and tagged Body, equipment, Exercise, healthy, Look, more, Whole. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://www.redsoxthoughts.com/89/look-more-fit-and-healthy-with-whole-body-exercise-equipment

super tuesday states shepard fairey is snooki pregnant snooki pregnant gbc hedy lamarr jack white

The Nonprofit Business Model Canvas | Innovative Nonprofit

?

?

By Grant Smith

The nonprofit is unique among businesses. A regular for-profit business has one main type of customer or client, one that receives products or services in exchange for payment. The business then uses the revenue to pay for administrative expenses, marketing, salaries, etc., and everything else production related. In a regular for-profit business, the person who pays is also the person who receives the product or service. But, in a nonprofit the traditional client is split into two: the donor client and the beneficiary client. One pays and the other receives the product or service. This division creates a business logistics problem. You now have two people for every one that a regular business has.

In a regular business, the client or customer has one reason for dealing with you, to satisfy their wants and needs. Again, with a nonprofit that client is now split in two, each desiring to have their individual wants and needs be satisfied. To achieve that a nonprofit needs to incur differently oriented costs, perform different activities, market to each differently and measure the success of each relationship differently. In essence, nonprofits need two different, yet complementary, business models.

A widely used and highly effective method for innovating and mapping out the basics of a business model is the Business Model Canvas, developed by Drs. Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur and over 400 practitioners. It is currently being used by some of the largest corporations in the world as well as some of the smallest startups. It is used to describe and map out the nine most essential elements of a functioning business: customer segments, value proposition or offering, distribution channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners and cost structure. But, the model as it stands does not work very effectively for most nonprofits. It would need to take into account what was explained above, the fact that the customer is split between donors and beneficiaries.

The Nonprofit Business Model Canvas was developed as an alternative to the Business Model Canvas, specifically designed with nonprofits in mind. Under the new model, nonprofits can map out both business models, the Donor Model and the Beneficiary Model, on their respective canvas. Together they form a complete nonprofit business model.? Let?s look at what they both cover.

The Donor Model canvas is the revenue side. But, at its heart is a donor-oriented value proposition. Even though Donors don?t receive the products or services nonprofits offer, they still are essentially people or groups of people that have needs and wants. At the base of every relationship there is some level of give and take or exchange. Even if what is received by the donors is a warm, fuzzy feeling, they wouldn?t have that feeling if the nonprofit didn?t give them any way of knowing that the nonprofit?s mission was being accomplished. If that was missing, the warm and fuzzy feeling would turn into a hesitant, concerned feeling. Ultimately, your donors need to receive something in return for donating and not just anything. They need to receive what they want or need, something they didn?t have before, a value-added proposition that they can agree with. And yes, there is a donor market with scarce nonprofit resources and value-proposition-oriented competition for available funds. The market ?clears? when the nonprofits with the best and most relevant value-propositions match up with the right donor segments and there is an exchange.

Everything else in the Donor Model revolves around who your donor segments are and what value proposition they are interested in. To be specific, these elements include:

1. Distribution Channels ? the touch points where you are interacting with your donors;
2. Donor Relationships ? the type and level of relationships you have with each donor segment;
3. Revenue Streams ? how your nonprofit captures value in the donor market;
4. Key Non-program Resources ? the different assets that are indispensible in your donor model. These include intellectual capital, human capital, financial capital and physical capital;
5. Key Non-program Activities ? the most important activities you need to perform to create and capture value in the donor market;
6. Key Non-program Partners ? those that can help you leverage your Donor Model with added connections, resources or activities. They compliment the Donor Model, allowing you to focus on your core activities;
7. Non-Program Cost Structure ? the essential non-program monetary costs for operating your donor model.

On the Beneficiary Model side of the Nonprofit Model Canvas the outcome isn?t revenue, it?s impact. A nonprofit is created to fill a social mission that cannot be or just isn?t fulfilled by for-profit organizations. The value you add to society needs to be unique from or done more efficiently than that of the for-profit world, or else you will be competing for discretionary income in a market where you cannot provide products or services to those that are giving you money, while your competitors can provide them and are still fulfilling a social mission. Your beneficiary-oriented value proposition (or ?Mission Offering?) also needs to be relevant to both your beneficiary segments and the social ill you are offering to correct.

First, each beneficiary segment needs to be identified, and then the corresponding Mission Offering must be outlined for each segment. From there you need to work through the following seven elements:

1. Distribution Channels ? the touch points where you are interacting with beneficiaries.
2. Beneficiary Relationships ? the type and level of relationships you have with each beneficiary segment;
3. Impact Metrics ? quantifiable measures of impact, influence and the creation of beneficiary-oriented value;
4. Key Resources ? essential assets you need to create beneficiary-oriented value.
5. Key Activities ? the most important activities you need to perform to create and capture beneficiary-oriented value i.e. impact;
6. Key Partners ? those in your network that can help you leverage your Beneficiary Model with added connections, resources or activities. These may be specific donors, but in general they are people or organizations needed to acquire and/or create value for beneficiaries.
7. Cost Structure ? Program costs essential to creating value for beneficiaries.

The two sides of the Nonprofit Business Model Canvas are not mutually exclusive. Resources on the donor side may have to be shared with the beneficiary side and vice versa. They form under one organization, but they have two different focuses: value for revenue and value for impact.

To use the Nonprofit Model Canvas, first download a copy from off the Innovative Nonprofit Magazine website (InnovativeNonprofit.com) and print off a poster sized copy. The first rule of the Canvas is to never make things permanent i.e. don?t write on it. Instead, write your elements on sticky notes and place them on the Canvas. If you cannot afford to print one off, draw one out on a poster board or use a whiteboard (you can write on that one). Make sure to take a picture of each version you make. This will be a journal of your progress as you adjust to the needs of your donors and beneficiaries and as you test your hypothesized model elements.

Each sticky note is either going to be based on a fact or an assumption. If it is not known for sure, then it is an assumption. To help identify these apart from one another, you might add a star to indicate that there is an assumption there that needs to be proved. One goal should be to eventually end up with the least amount of assumptions on your Canvas as possible. But the main goal of your efforts after completing the Canvas should be to prove the model itself.

If the model cannot be proved correct, then it?s possible that either one or more of your assumptions were incorrect, the model was not executed correctly, or you have broken elements to your business model. In any case, regularly recurring retrospection should occur i.e. you should meet back up to discuss the efficacy of the model on a regular basis. By doing so, you can ensure that the you are adapting to the current needs of both your donor and beneficiaries, and you are examining any external influences that may have an impact on your model e.g. rising costs, newly available distribution channels, changes to the demographics of donor segments, etc.

For more information on how to conduct a Nonprofit Business Model Canvas strategic meeting, download the facilitator?s guide. We are eager to hear feedback and stories about your use of the Nonprofit Business Model Canvas. Please comment below or email me.

Poster Size (30?20 in. and 36?25 in.):
Beneficiary Model
Donor Model

Economical Poster Size (9 page print out):
Beneficiary Model
Donor Model

Economical Small Poster Size (6 page print out):
Beneficiary Model
Donor Model

?

Source: http://www.innovativenonprofit.com/2012/08/the-nonprofit-business-model-canvas-2/

marg helgenberger censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills censoring the internet blackout blackout

U.S. court upholds industry-favorable status quo on gene patents ...

By Amanda Wilson, August 17, 2012. Source: IPS

WASHINGTON ? Is a gene more like a tree trunk or more like a baseball bat? A federal court Thursday took a stand on the question, ruling that isolated DNA molecules are ?not found in nature?, and are therefore more like inventions, such as baseball bats, than natural phenomenon, such as tree trunks.

Using language steeped in metaphor in a packed U.S. federal courtroom, attorneys in July debated the question in a closely-watched case on the right to patent genes that has been working its way through the courts.

At stake: the right of one company ? Myriad Genetics ? to patent a gene as a human invention under U.S. patent law, which allows patents on inventions but not on products of nature.

In a ruling that largely upheld the status quo in a biotech industry that has been patenting genes for decades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Thursday that ?isolated? human genes are patentable. Methods of ?comparing? or ?analysing? DNA sequences are, however, not patent eligible, it ruled.

In a two-to-one decision, the court affirmed Myriad?s right to claim intellectual property rights on the BRCA-1 BRCA-2 genes, genes where mutations indicate a woman has an 82 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer.

The company?s patents on the genes are the basis of a breast cancer indicator test that has been a profitable asset in the company?s portfolio of intellectual property.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing a group of about 20 plaintiffs, including the breast cancer patient advocates and geneticists, several years ago launched a legal challenge to Myriad?s right to patent the genes.

The plaintiffs, including patient advocacy group Breast Cancer Action, have argued that Myriad?s IP rights to the genes allow it to block others from testing for ? or even looking at ? the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes, a right they say Myriad has exercised in the past with legal threats.

Plaintiffs have also argued the patents raise prices for testing and essentially create a market monopoly which blocks the poorest from getting tested and stifles scientists who want to look at the genes. Yale geneticist Ellen Matloff, a plaintiff in the case, told IPS last year the situation was ?horrifying.?

Matloff told IPS that 95 percent of patients she recommended for Myriad?s 700-dollar supplementary BART test, which looks for mutations on the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes, opted not to get it because of its high cost.

Furthermore, those who question gene patents have pointed out that patenting individual genes might even be myopic, especially in a world of whole genome sequencing where the scientific community is increasingly interested in gene interactions, the influence of the environment on genetics (called epigenetics), and other big-picture indicators to understand patient health.

The case has been working its way through the courts. A New York district court judge sided with the ACLU in 2010, but the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling in July 2011.

The ACLU appealed to the Supreme Court last year, but the Court declined to issue a ruling in the case. Instead, it sent the case back to the Federal Circuit to re-examine in light of its unanimous spring decision that Prometheus Laboratories Inc. did not have a right to patent a certain blood test because the patent was based on observations about natural phenomena.

But Thursday, the Federal Circuit again ruled that genes are patentable. The court wrote, ?The isolated DNA molecules before us are not found in nature. They are obtained in the laboratory and are man-made, the product of human ingenuity.?

In its majority opinion the court also highlighted that gene patenting had been standard practice for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for years.

?Why hasn?t this come up in 30 years,? Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore, who sided with the majority, asked during oral arguments in the courtroom July.

Moore hinted at the biotech sector?s financial stake in gene patents, often key components of diagnostic test IP at the centre of a much-hyped personalised medicine industry. ?What about the biotech sector and all the money?? Moore asked.

In his dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge William Bryson wrote, ?my colleagues assign significant weight to the fact that since 2001 the PTO has had guidelines in place that have allowed patents on entire human genes? I think the PTO?s practice and guidelines are not entitled to significant weight??

Sandra Park, an attorney with the ACLU, told IPS her team was disappointed in the Federal Circuit court?s decision, which she said she believed did not take the Supreme Court?s ruling in Prometheus adequately into consideration.

?We think that the Supreme Court?s recent decision is very clear that the Court is very concerned about how patents interfere with scientific work,? Park told IPS. ?The Supreme Court has said that the interests of industry in relying on patent protection is not a factor in determining that something is patentable.?

Park said the mere fact that Prometheus argued that it needed its patents to advance its interests, in the Supreme Court?s ruling, was insufficient reason to justify patents.

If the ACLU decides, with the other plaintiffs, to appeal the Federal Circuit court?s decision, it is possible the Supreme Court might decide to hear the case. Such a scenario is not unheard of. In fact, Park said, the Supreme Court decision to overturn Prometheus?s right to its diagnostic patent came after the Federal Circuit twice upheld it.

Park said the ACLU was still deciding its next step. ?We are reviewing our options, but we haven?t made any decisions yet.?

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Source: http://climate-connections.org/2012/08/20/u-s-court-upholds-industry-favorable-status-quo-on-gene-patents/

golden globe winners aaliyah jane fonda morgan freeman the express zappos hacked bit coin

Slow Clap: AT&T Wireless Stops Selling Tablets With Subsidized Pricing

AT&T Wireless no longer sells tablets with a long-term contact. This is great news and comes by way of a memo leaked to Engadget Mobile. That means the upfront cost of tablets is slightly higher, but the consumer wins in the long run by not being locked into a tablet for a couple of years. This comes several weeks after Verizon stopped selling tablets with subsidies as well. In the past both AT&T and Verizon offered tablets at their full MSRP along with lower priced options that locked the buyer into a 2-year contract. Now, the tablets are only available at their full price.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wEz5L5ur8Zc/

james van der beek dyngus day indonesia quake stephen strasburg shabazz legion baby found alive in morgue

Academy of the Devined

An Academy for people in the Earth to gather, and learn to use there powers for good.

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Academy of the Devined?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

---

---

Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Who is online

Registered users: AceofSpade, Addrinvan, Ahri*, airedeiagrace*, Ally-loves-you*, amyreinreaper, Andrea Rose*, Aniihya, Animality Opera*, Augustinsect, Azure Limit, Baby, Battie, BBClock*, Beach-Born-Boy, Blackbird26*, BleedingLover, BlueWind_22, Breeze*, Breyerluv*, Bugbuster, Caelus*, Calvazara, Canibelle*, ceh12*, CelticCat*, Censored69*, Centraiu*, ChaosxChild13*, Cheeseymonkey, Cheshire_Cat*, Child of the Winged*, Chizzura, cirrus_sd, Cloasse*, colombiantwat*, ColorMeCrimson, CriminalMinds*, Cypher*, Cyphia*, DA_SHADOW_PHOENIX*, danm36*, Dante Angelico*, DarkCookie97, Deallo, delfiler*, demented-tiger*, dig17*, Dmitrij Rosha, Dreamscourge*, dreamtheaterem*, DustAndEchoes, Eisenhorn*, EKRonnie, Elrith Eldwind, EverFrost*, evilfang, Exabot [Bot], Fadded, FamishedPants*, Fencer*, Fenjor*, Fiorlia*, Flexar, frazzguy*, Gamer_Templar*, genericfantasy92*, Gii_the_fallen*, GoodGracious*, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Green~Apple*, H.Dot.S, hawk10002002, HeavenAndHell, Himekura, Hingyou, Hitomi-san*, HitoriRaven*, HOLYCRAPAGHOST*, Hyper_Dragon*, iCat, ILikeToRoleplay*, Imagine That!, InvisibleSoul, JacePierce*, jackrules158*, Jadeling Hawkins*, Jman9862, KameJLa*, Kapento, kaze04*, Keotsu, KiraArsenic*, Korrye*, Kuroe, Kyrie, lackadaisyfancies, Lady Inali*, Lifecharacter, Light_of_the_Fallen*, Lingeringrepose*, LittleMissGeorgia, Lovely ?, LRmember, LuckyNumber24, Magic Man*, Majestic-12 [Bot], Malachite*, MaliceInWonderland*, Malzberry, Marco Chain*, MaxStokes*, MegaKooala12*, Mela, MetalSliver, Minion, MirrorMirror1498*, Miss_Sumo*, MixingMusicWithMagic*, Modesty, Moonbow, Morgan, Mr_Doomed, MsLoveBug*, MSN [Bot], MSNbot Media, mummydove, MustacheMan*, Nannyhap*, Nevan, Nevermore90, nightwolf, Nikolai*, nltniko*, noonshine, NotAFlyingToy*, Noxize*, OpalePhantasmagoria, Outlaw*, PBJayRich, pieluver, poeticjustice8012, Princess Awinita*, PrincessBoy, Prof. Slendy, qbsuperstar03, raindrops_autumn*, RavensOath*, ReaperGirl4*, Rem?us*, Renmiri, rockPolotics*, RoseAmedori*, RPGNerdette*, Rulke*, Rylet*, R?tshreck*, Saint Crash*, SaintAndSinner, SarcasticIrony, Sarifa, Saxious, Script*, Shadetree76, ShadowAvian*, ShadowsoftheNine*, Shaodow*, Shiki29*, Shpleem, shrubvera, Silhouetteless*, SilverAngelWings, SilverStar89*, SkullsandSlippers*, Smith, smrtazz13*, Solo Wing Pixy, Sprezzatura*, Squall Reyes, StandardFiend*, stormwolf321, StoryWriterKai, StrobeLight, sturber*, Surfergirl*, Susie Maddy Daison*, Sweet Angel Jocelyn*, sweetgal, TemplarWarden, Terrus*, ThanatosXIII*, The Broswagonist, The Ghost Writer*, The Great Thundorz*, TheFinalOne, TheFlag, TheMadBlackRabbit, TheNoremac42, throne*, Thundera*, Tiko*, Tonks*, TRUE-ASSASSIN*, Tsukiakari*, ultimas308*, Valerie_Nix*, Vanillasugar41, varxint, Vestiline*, Vexar*, Victoria, VitaminHeart*, WadeJackel*, WalterF, WarningImCrazy, whatyoufancy, Whispers..x*, whscorbin, Wizzabee~**, WordSail, Yahoo [Bot], YoureStillAnInnocent*, ZacharyTC*, zeno3111*, zerodagger*, zodiak177, zolarix*, Zombicide93*

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/ndAvNCPjwGA/viewtopic.php

news 10 hillary rosen j.k. rowling j.k. rowling axl rose google earnings pat burrell

Justin Vincent ? It's Time for an Open Twitter

Anti-Competitive

I like Twitter. I?ve been trying to build a business on Twitter?s platform for the past 3 years. However, their most recent announcement of new rules and regulations has stunned me.

Twitter has the power to topple regimes, but by following advertising dollars they are building a walled garden and making anti-competative decisions. It does not bode well for our world that such a commercially driven company should wield so much power and be the epicenter of global conversation.

Non-Profit

In the same way Wikipedia is a non-profit democratization of knowledge, we need a non-profit democratization of global real-time-messaging.

Dalton Caldwell has an interesting idea, but I don?t think it will end the Twitter monopoly due to being pay-to-play. For example, I doubt app.net will bring free-for-all freedom-of-speech to the third world.

In my opinion, the best scenario would be for a new uncensored non-profit organization to offer a free, global, robust, API for real-time-messaging.

sky.net

For the sake of this article, let?s call this new service, sky.net and assume it has millions of dollars of donations to keep it running (think Wikipedia).

sky.net could quickly win a huge amount of users due to the overwhelming power of geeks and influencers talking about it, blogging about it, building awesome software clients, and letting everyone know that sky.net was the best option for a free global chat stream.

The market segmentation could look much like Android and iOS. Especially because sky.net would be free to use, with no developer restrictions, a new global chat-stream, free/paid apps available on all devices. No restrictions.

Monopoly

The sad fact is that right now Twitter has the right, and the power, to shape global conversation and change our world. Unfortunately their commercial interests are not truly aligned with the responsibility they are entrusted. We need an impartial non-profit company to take Twitter?s place and become the true real-time-messaging backbone of the internet.

The current situation, with Twitter owning real-time-messaging is like saying ATT owns email, or Facebook owns the internet.

Let?s be clear, Twitter created a free ubiquitous protocol for all to use, and then they withdrew access to it and claimed it for themselves. In other words, they created a single protocol and invited the open market to create multi-variant clients to use it (just like email, or http).

How can one commercial company be allowed to own a protocol such as http or email? Furthermore, Twitter?s new terms and conditions have made some astonishing demands and rules that seem to show the true color of the companies leadership. For example they forbid intermingling between Twitter and other social networks on the same screen.

Geeks Have The Power

If we, as geeks, could build awesome apps and use our influence to promote and get a critical mass into sky.net, it could be a defining moment for the internet when free-speech and anti-walled garden ideals won-out.

Interestingly, Twitter?s own greedy move of limiting 3rd party clients to a maximum of 100,000 users ensures that existing (and new) client developers would make every effort to move to a system like sky.net.

Funding

After reaching critical mass (of say 100m users) it would be easy for sky.net to maintain donations and funding. After all, if an API developer was making millions of profit (think Hootsuite, Datasift) they would have a very high motivation to regularly donate to sky.net to ensure its upkeep. However, they would not be unable to alter the non-profit manifesto of sky.net. Philanthropists may also consider donating to sky.net in the name of unbiased and open free speech. It?s also worth mentioning that with new open source scaling technology, sky.net might be comparatively inexpensive to run.

Ecosystem & Investment

If sky.net really existed it would be a more secure option for any company or investor that is doing business with Twitter today. The sky.net manifesto would be rock solid and would ensure that an unbiased free market prevailed. It would also ensure that API capabilities would not be pulled from under any responsible developers feet. The investment surge that happened during early Twitter days could be free to be re-sparked due to renewed investors confidence in an unwavering unbiased platform.

sky.net would have no obligation other than to make a great API for other vendors to capitalize on, and it would not cost users or developers anything.

?

Check out my latest project, AnyFu, a site that makes it easy to hire proven technology experts for short-term screen-share sessions.

Source: http://justinvincent.com/page/1972/its-time-for-an-open-twitter

joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall whitney houston news sylvia plath whitney houston whitney houston autopsy results

Araba Yarisi Oyunlari ? Innovations In Car Race Games ...

Automobile games are well-known compared to different auto games for appeal in addition to attractive car models.

Almost all of the car games provide you with the player to choose a vehicle of the choice. At times there are specific manipulative features attached with these products like better rate or better control. Some participants find smaller cars and trucks more compatible with their gaming skills. These people feel that smaller sized cars are less dangerous while driving all over ridges and steep turns. However , in fact it depends for the player?s timing and skill. The participant should use the brakes wisely for obtaining the speed in order.

There are lots of varieties of car game titles offered already in the market. A lot of them could be grouped to the racing category where the gamer is competing having a whole lots of virtual opponents. You will find a targeted line and there is a set path to be weaned. Deviations are generally allowed in most games but not just about all. Racing game titles are sometimes manufactured complex with the addition of added tasks and obstacles.

Any racing game is created interesting by means of involving several phases with diverse pays and paths. As an example, the initial stage in the race may possibly involve a simple city the path with normal site visitors along with pedestrians. As the game moves on into further phases, the bike racing tracks are moved to country lanes with rocky and bumpy paths or an arctic track with links and blind transforms. This improvement in the environment served with beautiful graphic presentations keep the player hooked to the sport. Therefore , even though are doing the work same thing time and time again, they just don?t truly feel almost any repetitiveness.

Game developers use different techniques to keep player interested with interesting advancements throughout the sport. Within the prior days racing video game titles had a limited lifetime. When the player receives through each of the stages, he weren?t inclined to learn exactly the same game all over again. The video games companies earned their revenue by selling these game titles online or offline.

With all the associated with internet networking options, video gaming industry has efficiently integrated online gamers to perform with each other. The video game titles were programmed to perform with a live interface in accordance with the player?s commands. This triggerred the players in order to compete with actual persons representing various elements in a video game. Online vehicle and motorcycle racing games can be popular on this field.

You will find special interests created for portion such games along with the players usually are registered members that can enter as well as the game anytime they want to. Messing around with friends and the ones positioned in different parts of the world is different from playing against a machine. The players get in my opinion involved with its competition and it becomes a few winning as an alternative to fun and excitement. These gaming arenas became a system for the members to express their particular attitude and thoughts in an unrestricted virtual universe.

This is actually the prime reason why on the net car games possess surpassed arcades and also game clubs.

For more information please visit araba yarisi oyunlari

-

Source: http://www.backlinkarticles.com/business/araba-yarisi-oyunlari-innovations-in-car-race-games.html

iau msft etan patz obama dog doug hutchison larry brown kevin hart

NASA rover prepares to use laser on a Martian rock

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Ready, set, fire.

The NASA Mars rover Curiosity is preparing for its first laser target practice ? zapping a Martian rock 10 feet away sometime next week.

Since landing in an ancient crater Aug. 5, Curiosity has been getting a full health checkup. Scientists said Friday they have chosen a generic-looking rock near the landing site to aim the laser at and burn a small hole.

The laser is one of 10 tools Curiosity will use to study whether the environment was favorable for microbial life.

In several weeks, the rover will head east to a spot where three different types of terrain intersect. By year's end, it will start its trek toward a mountain rising from the crater floor.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-rover-prepares-laser-martian-rock-195738706.html

mls draft khloe kardashian mark davis marine urination video hostess cadillac ats bain capital

The Secret Language of Your Body, A Choice to Heal | Care2 ...

by Inna Segal, Contributor to Energy Medicine on Allthingshealing.com

Editor?s Note from Bruce Dickson: Therapeutic Metaphor is a huge part of Energy Medicine and healers like Inna have taken this up when psychosomatic medicine, as a speciality, was abandoned by the AMA. It?s true, The Meaning of Illness Is Now an Open Book.

Every disease or disorder a person experiences feeds on negative thoughts, feelings or energies. The more density there is in your mind the more fuel your body has to degenerate.

The first step towards healing is making a decision you are ready to get better.

The next step is learning to understand your blocks and limitations.

Often, recognizing the thoughts, emotions and attitudes which have contributed to the problem can begin the healing process. This is because when you have awareness of the cause, you have choice. Choice gives you an opportunity to reflect on your life, become aware of what does not work; and then, do something different.

Healing encompasses every aspect of your being, including your physical health and fitness, emotional wellbeing, mental attitude, energetic welfare and spiritual strength.

It is important to recognize your body is not your enemy; it is a messenger helping you to know yourself more fully.

Healing always means transformation

Healing always means transformation. To heal, you need to change your thoughts, feelings and actions, from what does not work, to what can, and does work for you.

Whatever part or system of your body is experiencing a problem needs to be looked at as a metaphorical representation of the challenges you are dealing with in your life.

As an intuitive healer I see a lot of clients who change their lives and let go of problems when they begin to understand the interconnection between their ways of living and the problem they are experiencing.

Zelda, a woman in her mid-forties, came to see me because she had problems with her heart and wanted to find out what was the cause of her pain. When we looked at what was happening in Zelda?s life, she became aware of several patterns. Zelda held onto buried pain from the past, she was constantly stressed about her work and worried about people in her life. She lived on her own and felt isolated and lonely. Zelda was also extremely self-critical even towards to little mistakes she made.

Once Zelda became truly aware of what she was doing to herself and how it was causing her heart disease, she began forgiving the people who had hurt her in the past and letting go of her buried pain. Zelda realized her job was causing her a lot of unhappiness and she quit. She also began to socialize more, to relax, and to do creative things which opened her heart. Instead of being so harsh with herself, she started using humor and laughing rather then beating herself up. Incredibly her heart condition, which doctors had said was incurable, healed.

Your body is your teacher

Your body is your teacher. It gives you opportunities to learn and expand. Once you have learnt your lessons, it heals because there is no need to keep holding onto the pain any longer.

Your body systems teach you lessons of empowerment, confidence, love, compassion, forgiveness and much more.

The more you understand your body and its specific components the more tools you have to bring it back to health and balance.

Healing takes you through many different stages and layers of discovering who you are. Sometimes change happens quickly, at other times you can experience, stuckness, frustration, and chaos.

Healing occurs on many levels; physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. So please be patient with your transformation, and take time to discover and empower all the different aspects of yourself.

Our immune system identifies viruses, bacteria and any foreign bodies and tells the brain to activate the immune processes. It helps us to stay strong, healthy and clear. The immune system begins to breakdown when we feel insecure, experience inner conflict, feel pressured, or threatened.

To strengthen the immune system we need to focus within and allow the innate wisdom of our body to guide us. We need to focus on staying true to ourselves and have the courage to stand up for what we believe in.

Love, understand and listen

The key to having a healthy body is to understand, love and listen to the wisdom it has to share with you.

? 2012 Inna Segal

Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-secret-language-of-your-body-a-choice-to-heal.html

martin luther king jr quotes martin luther king jr i have a dream speech packers score ricky gervais napoleon dynamite michelle williams the descendants

AP: VIDEO: No laughing matter. Kenny the Clown talks about how he ended up with an iPad stolen from Steve Jobs' home: http://t.co/U7jq0VhK -EF

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

Source: http://twitter.com/AP/statuses/236651070854672384

mumia mumia uss arizona memorial uss arizona memorial d day red solo cup new planet

AVAYA IP Office ? Telephone Systems Specifically Designed ...

One of the keywords of modern consumerism is ? choice. A place in the not too faraway past, someone found that the best way to succeed in your global economy where individuals are more and more interested in buying new material points is to provide them with any multiplicity of choices. This approach turns the whole predicament into a numbers online game, and with enough alternatives available, it is only a matter of statistics that every client will eventually find something which he or she likes ample to spend money on.

The issue that small and moderate enterprises face because consumers of office goods, however, is a not enough such choice. Prior to the advent of Avaya IP Office and other comparable telephone systems, manufacturers basically had not yet transferred into the market for office telephone among smaller companies.
Even now, products like the AVAYA IP Office, which was designed through the ground up to be suitable for application in small, and medium enterprises, continue to be rare. The reason for this really is that manufacturers comprehend the big money to be in catering to the large companies that are able to pay so much more per system purchased. Such systems make the perfect boon to small, and medium enterprises, given that they offer smaller businesses the opportunity to obtain the same competing advantage when it comes to marketing and sales communications as large companies have had access to for years.
Another thing that is often taken to be an actuality of life to become accepted is that running down a product to match smaller businesses inevitably entails eliminating some of the capabilities and functionality via that product. Essentially, the principle that ?you find what you pay for? should apply. The manufacturers from the AVAYA IP Office fail to agree, nevertheless, and the telephone systems they have are every bit as fully-featured as those being sold for you to larger companies simply by other manufacturers.
Just like those systems usually purchased by huge companies, these telephone systems, besides being entirely featured office phone systems, offer a way to negotiate all of the communications routes within the company and centralize all of them. Centralized communications make the perfect benefit to any company, no matter how small or large it might be, given it eliminates the squandered productivity that formerly resulted from staff having to constantly switch from one form of connection to the next, each time additionally having to switch bodily mediums. Emails was needed on computers, cell phone calls had to be taken on the phone, and so on.
With the IP Office program, however, employees should be able to access all of their communications on a single device with their choosing, whether it be any laptop, desktop computer or possibly a cell phone. While this consolidation may not seem like an important change, in the long run, the particular productivity wasted insurance agencies so many disparate ways of communication adds up, and saving upon that wasted efficiency will surely help to increase the organization profits.

For more information about IP Office visit our website.

Related posts:

1. How Can Avaya IP Workplace Benefit My Business?
2. A Small Desk Are able to turn Limited Space Into a Home business office
3. A Small Desk Can change Limited Space Into an Office at home
4. A Small Desk Can change Limited Space Into an Office at home
5. Telemarketing is For Small And Medium Business Too

Source: http://www.28seo.com/avaya-ip-office-telephone-systems-specifically-designed-pertaining-to-small-and-medium-corporations.html

patrice o neal. osteopathy osteopathy diphtheria diphtheria del rio del rio

Apple accessories--TVC-MALL: Fashionable HTC Wildfire S case ...

As one of the classical smartphones from HTC, htc wildfire s has tons of fans over the world. And for cell phone accessories manufacturers and wholesalers, htc wildfire s accessories are popular items. TVC Mall has got a batch of hot htc wildfire s cases for sale right now!

In case you haven?t heard about it, TVC Mall is one of the best online store form china, which is available for both wholesale and retail. As a professional cell phone accessories and parts wholesaler, TVC Mall is famous for Apple accessories and other popular brands like htc, Samsung, blackberry, etc. As for HTC accessories, not only htc wildfire s, you can find different accessories for almost all the popular htc smartphones such as htc one x serial, sensation serial and desire serial etc. And all the products are well categorized by phone models, so users can easily find what they want. For example, users can find htc wildfire s cases under the ?HTC Wildfire S? category.

TVC has got different types cases in different styles and materials. There are cute ones with famous cartoon character patterns, cool ones with simple designs, business ones with vertical flip styles, etc. And one of the best parts is, the prices are no more than 3 US dollars! The prices will be cheaper if the quantity is bigger. And most cell phone parts and accessories from TVC Mall have one-year warranty, so no need to doubt the quality.

And once you come to TVC Mall, there would be one specific sales person serve you. You can have her work mail address and work phone so you can reach her. Whatever issues you come across, you can turn to her for help.? The excellent service is one of the things make tvc stand out other than high quality and competitive prices.

Source: http://the-apple-reviews.blogspot.com/2012/08/fashionable-htc-wildfire-s-case-sale.html

TD Bank mountain lion hanley ramirez Christian Bale visits victims Perez Hilton national weather service kristen stewart

Money Tips To Help With Personal Finance | ApostolicCM.com ...

Pay more than your minimum amount due on school loans, mortgages, credit cards and any other kind of loan. It is going to help you save a good bit of money over the course of the loan. Much of your monthly payments are going to the interest and paying extra is going toward your principal.

Consider signing up for a flexible spending account. An FSA lets you pay for medical, dependent care or transportation costs with pretax dollars put aside at each paycheck. By paying with pretax dollars, you are basically getting a discount on all these expenses. If your job offers a flexible spending account, contact the employee benefits department about it.

To help you improve your personal financial situation, use direct deposit to ensure your paycheck goes directly into the bank. If you decide to cash your check immediately instead of depositing it, it will be more tempting to spend the money instead of saving it. Direct deposit will ensure you save more money and improve your personal finances.

If you are looking for the best deals, take the middle man out of the equation. Sites like Expedia and Travelocity can include transactions fees (though some have been reducing them or even eliminating them). Take a look at the prices directly available at the websites of the airlines and hotels you are considering. You may find that it is cheaper.

Order your checks through the mail instead of from your bank! Banks subcontract the printing out and hike the price up so they make a profit. Mail order companies, in comparison, specialize in printing and will usually print directly for the customer at much cheaper prices than you would have to pay through the bank.

Cut your monthly budget by learning to love being a homebody. Going out is expensive and staying home with your family can actually be a lot of fun. Watch great movies and make homemade popcorn. Staying home more often saves money on shopping expenses, meal costs, gas and other incidentals.

Consider working with a financial professional if you want to truly take the reins of your financial situation. A financial professional can come to you via an one on one meeting, or even by taking a class. The information they can provide you with will allow you to get your debt under control. You can also learn valuable tips about investing and saving for the future.

To help yourself cut back your spending, track your spending. There are many free spending tracking applications available for phones and computers. Take a look at what you?re spending the most money on, and see how essential it is. Seeing where your money goes each month can be sobering, and will let you know what areas cutbacks should be focused on.

Use online deal sites. There are many different sites like this and they usually offer a new deal every day or two. Each site has different options, but you can usually find deals at local stores, beauty parlors, coffee shops and many other places in your area. This is a great way to save money and support your local businesses.

Watch your splurging ever month. It?s one thing to buy a little extra every once and while, but it can become an issue if that happens too much. You need to be aware of your budget and you need to avoid spending all of your savings on things that necessities. You can splurge, but do it in moderation.

A great personal finance tip is to make sure you?re not being underpaid at the job you?re working at. A lot of people are way overqualified for the job they?re working at and could be potentially making much more money. Know your market worth so that you can get the best job.

Always save your credit card agreement documentation and amendments. These detail the terms of your contracts. You should read them, but even if you don?t, file them away in a marked folder so that you can refer to them later. Having these documents where you can find them will help you to clear up any points you may be confused about should the need arise.

Now that you?ve learned a little more about finances, hopefully, you realize that your past financial mistakes were just due to a lack of knowledge. You should definitely know better now; just put the knowledge you?ve gained from this article into action to turn your financial situation around.

Bruno Bogen produces ebooks on a href=?http://www.longislanddivorcelawyer.com?Divorce lawyers long island/a

Source: http://answers.apostoliccm.com/2012/08/money-tips-to-help-with-personal-finance/

cispa baltimore ravens atlanta falcons space shuttle space shuttle new york courtney upshaw russell wilson

Mayim Bialik Severely Injured in Car Accident, May Lose a Finger

Actress Mayim Bialik was involved in a car accident this afternoon in Los Angeles, sustaining a severe injury that may result in the loss of a finger.

Sources tell TMZ that the crash took place around noon at the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and La Brea. The Big Bang Theory star was reportedly driving alone in a white Volvo and was struck by another vehicle, which was carrying tourists from Chile.

An ambulance soon arrived and witnesses say there was "tons and tons of blood everywhere," adding that Bialik's finger was "almost completely severed… it was just hanging there."

The 36-year old is being treated at the hospital while we type. We send her our very best wishes.

UPDATE: Bialik has Tweeted that she is in a lot of pain, but will not lose any digits. Phew.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/08/mayim-bialik-severely-injured-in-car-accident-may-lose-a-finger/

bishop eddie long madonna give me all your luvin video roseanne barr president green party day 26 gronkowski new hunger games trailer

Militants kill 1 in attack on Pakistani air base

KAMRA, Pakistan (AP) ? A team of eight gunmen attacked a Pakistani air force base with suspected links to the country's nuclear program before dawn Thursday, killing a security official in a heavy battle that ended with the militants dead and parts of the base in flames, officials said.

The attack on the base in Kamra, located only about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of Islamabad, was a brazen reminder of the threat posed by Islamist militants in Pakistan despite numerous military offensives against their sanctuaries along the Afghan border.

The large air base hosts a variety of fighter jets, including F-16s, and contains a factory that makes aircraft and other weapons systems. Some experts suspect the base could house part of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, although the army has denied it has any links to the program.

The safety of the country's nuclear weapons has been a major concern for the United States. Western experts say Pakistan has about 100 nuclear weapons and is in the midst of a rapid expansion of its arsenal.

The militants, at least some of whom were wearing explosives strapped to their bodies, attacked the base at around 2 a.m. with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the Pakistani air force.

At least one of the rockets hit a hanger holding a number of aircraft said Pakistani Air Force spokesman, Tariq Mahmood. The rocket pierced the hanger wall, and shrapnel from the explosion damaged one of the aircraft parked inside.

After the rocket barrage, the attackers scaled the wall surrounding the air base, said Mahmood.

Guards inside the base then opened fire on the militants, and an intense firefight ensued, he said. In the initial exchange of gunfire one Pakistani soldier was killed.

Security forces, backed by a team of elite commandos, fought the militants for two hours and were finally able to retake the base, the air force said.

Eight militants and one security personnel were killed in the fighting. The head of the base, Air Commodore Muhammad Azam, was wounded in the shoulder, said Mahmood.

Security forces are searching the area for any militants who may have escaped. They found and destroyed two IEDs, the spokesman said.

The base is formally known as Air Force Base Minhas. It was named after a pilot, Rashid Minhas, lauded as a hero in Pakistan for foiling attempts by his instructor to defect with an air force plane to arch-rival India in 1971. To stop the escape, Minhas disabled the controls of the plane the two were flying, and died in the resulting crash.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have waged a bloody insurgency against the government for the past several years that has killed tens of thousands of people.

While the group has carried out hundreds of bombings and other attacks through the country, raids against military bases are somewhat uncommon.

Half a dozen Taliban militants attacked a major naval base in the southern port city of Karachi in May 2011, killing at least 10 people and destroying two U.S.-supplied surveillance aircraft. It took Pakistani commandos 18 hours to retake Naval Station Mehran, and two of the attackers managed to escape. That the attackers managed to infiltrate so deep into the high-security base led to speculation they may have had inside information or assistance.

In 2009, militants dressed in fatigues attacked army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad, and took 30 people hostage. Pakistani commandos finally raided the compound 22 hours later. Three captives and four militants were among those killed.

There have been at least three attacks in the vicinity of the Minhas base since 2007, but all of them occurred outside the installation.

In 2009, a suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up on a road leading to the base, killing seven people. A year earlier, three rockets were fired at an area near the base, but no one was hurt. In 2007, a suicide car bomber wounded five children on an air force bus carrying them to school near the base.

The Pakistani army has carried out numerous offensives against the Pakistani Taliban in the country's semiautonomous tribal area along the Afghan border and appears to be planning an operation in the group's last major sanctuary in North Waziristan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told The Associated Press earlier this week that Pakistan has informed American military officials that it plans to launch an operation against the Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan in the "near future."

It's unclear if the attack on the base in Kamra was conducted in response to the upcoming operation.

____

Abbot was located in Islamabad. Associated Press writer Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/militants-kill-1-attack-pakistani-air-060318734.html

world peace lakers colorectal cancer metta kashi neil diamond orange crush harden

Dale rodeo set for Friday, Saturday | Dothan Eagle

');
} else {
$('.sidebar #main_title').after('

' + content + '

'); } $('.poll_mod .poll_form .poller .poller_results .result_pollerTitle:last').nextAll().remove(); $('.sidebar .expendable').remove(); if ($.browser.msie) { $('.sidebar .re_content .audio_section').parent().remove(); } $('.sidebar .re_content .sidebar_segment:last, .sidebar .sidebar_segment:last').addClass('flat').addClass('borderless'); function lightBoxer(sectionClass, imgClass){ $('.' + sectionClass + ' img.primary').click(function(){ var imgSrc = $(this).parent().children('.' + imgClass).attr('src'); var imgAlt = $(this).attr('alt'); var imgAbstract = $(this).parent().children('.prime_ab').text(); var imgCredit = $(this).parent().children('.prime_credit').text(); imgCredit = '' + imgCredit + ''; var overlay = '

' + imgCredit + '

' + imgAbstract + '

x close'; var rootImgHeight = $('.' + sectionClass + ' img.primary').height(); var scrollDownAmount = $(window).scrollTop(); $('body').css('position', 'relative').append(overlay); $('#lightbox_overlay').css('visibility','visible').hide().fadeIn(300, function(){ var imgWidth = $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img img').width(); var imgHeight = $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img img').height(); var boxWidth = imgWidth + 40; if(imgHeight 950) { $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img img').css('width', '955px'); var modWidth = $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img img').width(); $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img').css({ top: scrollDownAmount + 50 + 'px', width: 955, marginLeft: ((955/2) * -1) - 20, visibility: 'visible' }).hide().fadeIn(500); $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img .desc').width(955); } else { $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img').css({ top: scrollDownAmount + 50 + 'px', width: imgWidth, marginLeft: ((imgWidth/2) * -1) - 20, visibility: 'visible' }).hide().fadeIn(500); $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img .desc').width(imgWidth); } }); $('#lightbox_overlay .light_img').click(function(){ $('#lightbox_overlay').fadeOut(300, function(){ $('#lightbox_overlay').remove(); }); }); }); } lightBoxer('photo_section', 'primary'); lightBoxer('alt_photo_section', 'big'); lightBoxer('mugshots', 'big'); }); //-->

OZARK?Organizers of the 18th Annual Pro Rodeo Classic in Ozark are hoping for a record number of patrons to attend the event, and bleachers and parking are expected to be improved in order to accommodate a larger crowd.

Local riders and some from across the southeastern states are expected to participate in the annual classic Friday and Saturday at the Dale County AgPlex Arena off U.S. 231. Events include bull riding, cowgirl barrel racing, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, bareback riding and calf roping.

Rodeo official Reta Dyson said all proceeds from the event go back into the arena, which is used often by local schools and organizations for presentations, petting zoos and other events.

A record 3,000 to 4,000 people attended the rodeo last year, she said.

?Last year there was standing room only and people were parking up and down 231, so this year we?re adding bleachers and expanded the parking area,? Dyson said.

?It?s always been one of the largest rodeos in the Southeast, but it was certainly our largest rodeo here ever last year. We?re very excited and are looking forward to all the kids and families coming out to support the rodeo. We appreciate it so much. The arena is such an asset to the Wiregrass area.?

Dyson said the Jenna Mack Agency State Farm Insurance is the rodeo?s lead sponsor.

Source: http://www2.dothaneagle.com/news/2012/aug/15/dale-rodeo-set-friday-saturday-ar-4345460/

ncaa basketball oikos kentucky wildcats oakland school shooting nike nfl jerseys katie couric barista

iRobot trots out Looj 330 gutter-cleaning robot, three entry-level Roombas (video)

With Roomba being the household name that it is, it can be easy to forget that iRobot also makes robots of the outdoor persuasion. In fact, though, the company's been selling its Looj gutter-cleaning bots for five years now, occasionally treating us to demos involving leaves, dirt and fake roofs. Today the company announced the third-generation model, the Looj 330, which has been completely re-tooled to add a four-stage auger, multiple speed settings, an automated "Clean" mode and a lithium-ion battery. It's also a bit more compact this time around, increasing the likelihood it'll fit your gutter.

Meanwhile, for those of you who can't bring yourselves to spend $700 on a robotic vacuum cleaner, iRobot is adding some entry-level models to its Roomba lineup: the 620, 630 and 650. Though these cost about half the price of the flagship offerings, they actually feature many of the same technologies, including iAdapt, the sensor arrangement that allows Roomba to crisscross the floor like it does. Here, though, the cosmetic design is different, and you also won't find bells and whistles like capacitive touchscreens or fine Hepa filters. What's more, these guys only use acoustic sensors to detect debris, whereas the pricier models add optical sensors to pick up on lighter particles, like fuzz.

All of these products are available now, with the Looj 330 going for $299 and the Roomba 600 series starting at $330. Not in the market for a cleaning bot? You can at least get a vicarious thrill out of our Luge hands-on video, embedded after the break for your viewing pleasure. And yes, those are Goldfish and m&m's flying out of that gutter. It rains snack food here in New York City.

Gallery: iRobot Looj 330

Gallery: iRobot Roomba 620, 630 and 650

Gallery: iRobot Looj 330 and Roomba 600 Series hands-on

Continue reading iRobot trots out Looj 330 gutter-cleaning robot, three entry-level Roombas (video)

Filed under: Household, Robots

iRobot trots out Looj 330 gutter-cleaning robot, three entry-level Roombas (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qLr2Woqrsek/

blood diamond 8 bit google maps kids choice awards 2012 micah true kansas vs ohio state winning mega million numbers bruce weber

Dozens killed in Afghan suicide bomber attacks

A wave of suicide bombings across the country has left dozens dead and more than 100 injured. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By NBC News staff and wire services

Islamist suicide bombers targeted markets crowded with Ramadan shoppers and a major provincial hospital in Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing at least 38 people and wounding close to 100.

The bloodshed underscored a surge in fighting ahead of a withdrawal by most Western combat troops and handover to Afghan forces winding up in 2014. NATO-led forces have been struggling to eliminate Taliban insurgent bastions, especially in the east.

---

Suicide bombings in markets in the southwest province of Nimroz killed at least 28 people - 18 of them civilians and three policemen - and wounded over 70, police said, in the deadliest day of violence in the normally peaceful region since 2001.

An Afghan worker on a military base has allegedly killed three U.S. Marines in Helmand Province. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Women and children and at least three members of the Afghan security forces were among the dead in Zaranj, the capital of the largely rural province, which lies on Afghanistan's western border with Iran.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

Another bomber blew himself up in front of Zaranj hospital, while two others detonated explosive vests in other areas of the city, killing mostly civilians, President Hamid Karzai's office said in a statement.

The toll in Zaranj was expected to rise, provincial governor Abdul Karim Barahawi said. "The attackers blew themselves up in crowded markets to target civilians. There was no government installation nearby," Barahawi said.

The?Achin district governor in?the northern Kunduz province told NBC News that at least 10 civilians were killed and 28 were wounded in a blast from a bomb affixed to a motorcycle.

Reuters reported the blast was at a bazaar.

All the outdoor markets attacked by the bombers had been packed with people buying food and supplies to end their daily Ramadan fast, local police said.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

An Afghan policeman killed 11 colleagues in Nimroz province on Saturday, firing on them at a checkpoint in Dilaram district, adding to a recent spate of such killings that have alarmed NATO commanders and left 34 foreign soldiers dead.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and?NBC's Atia Abawi in Kabul.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/14/13280374-dozens-killed-in-afghan-suicide-bomber-attacks-ramadan-shoppers-main-targets?lite

chardon high school shooting mark martin cleveland news daytona race the cutting edge fox 8 news indy 500