Progress watch 2012: Smart phones, jobs returning to America, and war crimes trials

The often-slow arc of good news may not make headlines. But 2012 brought its quiet share: from extreme poverty dropping by half since 1990 to a robot with the bulky profile of an NFL player that may have a role in bringing jobs back to the US.

By Jina Moore,?Correspondent / December 30, 2012

This is the cover story in the Dec. 31/Jan. 7, 2013 double issue of The Christian Science MonitorWeekly.

John Kehe illustration

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Good news?is hard to find. That's partly because, no matter what the topic, there's so much distracting bad news: ongoing violence in Syria, America's allegedly imminent fiscal demise, the National Hockey League lockout. From the front page to the sports page, so little looks good.

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It isn't just the cacophony of naysaying and fear that crowds out good news. It's also the nature of progress itself: Good news happens slowly. The American storytelling ethos loves narratives of overnight success, but real change isn't usually so sudden. Earlier this year, the World Bank announced that the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day ? what policy wonks call "extreme poverty" ? had dropped by half since 1990. That study might have been the biggest bit of good news to go overlooked this year, but consider this: Global extreme poverty was actually halved in 2010 ? it took two years even to see that progress had happened.

Other highlights, too, have been subject to the long arc of incremental change. Nearly 90 percent of people globally have access to clean water, according to the World Health Organization. In Mexico, homicide rates ? driven to outrageous levels in the drug wars ? are down for the first time in six years.

In The Hague, two international war criminals were found guilty in landmark rulings: the International Criminal Court convicted Thomas Lubanga, a Congolese rebel, of recruiting child soldiers. The conviction, after a two-year trial, was a first for the ICC, established a decade ago. The verdict "was the culmination of decades of hope that accountability for the most serious crimes would be achieved," says James Goldston, founding director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. "It took 10 years, but this conviction [is] an enormous accomplishment and a major step forward for international justice."

In a long-awaited verdict from a different court, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted of war crimes. He is effectively the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes. (The formal distinction goes to Karl D?nitz, who served as president of Germany for the 23 days between Hitler's suicide and the dissolution of the government after Germany's surrender in World War II.)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/aaYDF17RpEI/Progress-watch-2012-Smart-phones-jobs-returning-to-America-and-war-crimes-trials

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Latest Gaming Computers News | TekMaster Blog

Build a Gaming PC for 0: youtu.be Build Tutorial Part Two: youtu.be How to Build a Computer for Gaming 2013 Tutorial (Bitfenix Prodigy) Part One Today I give a full tutorial on how to build a gaming computer for 2013. This is based on my 0 Mini ITX PC featuring the Bitfenix Prodigy but it applies to building most computers. In the video I show how to prepare the case and motherboard, install the CPU / processor and RAM / memory and the heatsink and fan along with mounting the motherboard inside the case. My Video Gear! goo.gl Facebook www.facebook.com Twitter twitter.com Google+ gplus.to
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Gabe Newell: Valve to build a gaming PC for the living room
Speaking to Kotaku's Jason Schreier at Spike TV's annual Video Game Awards, Newell briefly discussed ?stronger-than-expected? reactions to Steam's TV-friendly ?Huge Picture? mode and said he expects PC companies to soon start selling computers ?
Read more on GeekWire

Importance of right video game hardware for latest games
As the complexity of individual video games increases, it becomes more vital to select a excellent and high performance gaming computer system and video game hardware that will fit the requirements of your every games and provide you an brilliant ?
Read more on Examiner.com

How Gaming PCs Can Help In the Battle Against AIDS
Do you play a small more "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" than you'd care to admit? Got a ridiculously powerful GPU? When you're not defending your nation from terrible guys, maybe you'll want to donate a small of that computing power to help advance the ?
Read more on Benchmark Reviews

Source: http://blog.tekmaster.co.uk/latest-gaming-computers-news/

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How to best buy foreclosures in Chicago ? Real Estate | Raw ...

With the government passing measures to curb the ongoing foreclosure crisis, some relief is expected amidst the foreclosures in Chicago. However, a large number of homes in Chicago have already been foreclosed upon; many others are in pre foreclosure and there are more home owners out there who still risk facing foreclosure.While this situation, from the point of view of a home owner, might not look good, this is being looked upon as a good time to buy residential property. Since foreclosure homes are known to sell at discounted prices, they become the more viable option. You can use various resources to look for foreclosure homes. The internet is a good source to look for homes in foreclosure across the country, and foreclosure homes in Chicago feature in almost all foreclosure listing websites. Financial institutions which deal in home loans are prone to have lists of homes foreclosed upon by them. Legal sections within local newspapers also carry foreclosure listings. B esides, you can always get in touch with real estate agents who have first hand information about local foreclosures. You can buy a foreclosure home during various stages. Once a home enters pre foreclosure, you cab buy it from the existing home owner. Since home owners in pre foreclosure have stipulated time periods to sell the homes in, they are known to accept offers that are considerably lesser than the homes? market value. As far as an offer can take care of the debt owed to the lender, there is a possibility of it being accepted.Homes which do not sell in pre foreclosure are put up for sale at public foreclosure auctions. If you are new to the process, make sure you do sufficient research before you decide to bid at an auction. A good idea would be to sit through an auction before participating in one. Auctions, too, are known to offer some very good deals.Deeds of homes that pa ss the auction stage are transferred to the lenders who hold the mortgage on the respective houses. Lenders are often in a hurry to offload foreclosure homes and this can result in some very good discounts. Banks are also known to pay the real estate agent?s fee (if you are using one) and the closing costs involved in the sale of the house, to lure customers. These homes are considered to be a safe bet because any past arrears on the property are also generally taken care of by the lender upon foreclosure.All these stages of foreclosure are known to offer some great deals. You do not have to limit yourself to buying any one kind of foreclosure home. It is best to explore all possibilities before you make that decisive call.

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Source: http://www.adkgamers.com/topic/21996-accepting-signature-requests/

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Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D: Newtown and the Nation's Mental Health

As President Obama opened his December 16 Newtown speech at the vigil for the Sandy Hook shooting victims with the statement, "We gather here in memory of 20 beautiful children and six remarkable adults. They lost their lives in a school that could have been any school, in a quiet town full of good and decent people that could be any town in America," I think the whole country was asking the same question: Why did this happen? There are many theories and opinions being expressed to address this question, all of which are just speculation until the results of the investigation become known. As a researcher, educator, and president of a nonprofit health-care organization I would like to add my thoughts to the mix.

There have been 29 mass shootings in the United States between the events of April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School and the Dec. 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I propose these shootings were, in part, a health-care issue.

Your immediate response may be to ask how these shootings could possibly be related to issues surrounding health care. Let me provide a few facts for consideration. The Nov. 16, 2011 issue of Time magazine included a report that 1 in 5 American adults take mental health drugs, which was a 22 percent rise since 2001. A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study has indicated that the number of children diagnosed with different forms of attention/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) was 9.5 percent, or 5.4 million children 5-13 years of age. As of 2007, parents of more than 3 million children ages 4-17 years who had a diagnosis of ADHD reported that their child was receiving medication for the disorder. Children with these diagnoses were found in the same report to be more likely to have other chronic health conditions, both physical and mental. A recent report on the global burden of disease in the Dec. 15, 2012 issue of the internationally-recognized medical journal The Lancet indicated that mental health problems in people of all ages are one of three most rapidly increasing areas of health concern in the world.

I remember back in the early 1980s, a time when there was greater funding for community mental health centers, that the mental health professionals working in these facilities were very concerned that the number of people needing to be cared for was increasing, but the budgetary allotment for these centers was decreasing. Since the 1980s, there have been significant cuts in the funding for mental health intervention. Professionals working in the field of mental health have seen a decimation of community mental health services. A 2011 report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness titled "State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis" indicates that the nation is challenged with increasing needs for mental health treatment while at the same time the funding for community mental health treatment and consultation has been continually reduced.

It would be a reach to connect the Sandy Hook shootings directly to either a change in the prevalence of mental health issues in children or the reduction in funding for -- or emphasis on -- their comprehensive treatment, but shouldn't this potential connection at least be in the discussion about prevention? Certainly many variables relate to the enigma of how a person becomes a killer without human consciousness, but one of the recurrent themes that follows each shooting episode is the discussion about the mental health of the perpetrator. Could it be that these shooters represent a horrible kind of "yellow canary" of the declining mental health of our society at large? If so, then shouldn't we be engaged in a serious national dialogue about how to curb this national epidemic, just as we have done with the war on cancer, or the reduction of risk to heart disease through proper lifestyle, diet and exercise?

This is not just an academic issue. Mental health derives from physical health, and vice versa. Our bodies and minds are interconnected. We know that dementia is more common in people who suffer from obesity and diabetes. We know that depression is more prevalent in people with nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B3, where one of the signs of deficiency of this vitamin is dementia. We know that behavior problems in children may be more common in children who consume large amounts of empty-calorie foods. Conversely, we know that children who engage in regular physical activity are more emotionally resilient and alert. As the health of our children has declined with increasing obesity and chronic illnesses, it is interesting that the prevalence of mental health issues in kids has increased. It is the same with their parents. There is a strong association between obesity, poor lifestyle habits, and mental and physical health issues in both adults and children. I recognize that association of two factors doesn't necessarily prove that one causes the other, but as the research accumulates there is a stronger case for a cause-and-effect relationship between health of the body and health of the mind.

Given this suggestion, it raises the question as to what the effects are of children sitting before a computer screen or television many hours a day being bombarded by messages of war, crime, violence, and killing. Not only are their minds being imprinted by the message, but their bodies are responding to the stress of the emotion, all while being sedentary and likely eating foods and drinking beverages that are rich in empty calories.

Like every other American who wears some of the grief of the Newtown shootings, I would like to find answers to the question "why?" and to accomplish what President Obama has challenged the country to do, which is to care for our children. As he said, "It is our first job. If we don't get this right, we don't get anything right. This is how our society will be judged."

Where can we turn as individuals to meet his challenge? It might start with a serious discussion at the national level as to what is happening to the health of our children, how their habits and lifestyles contribute to their declining health, and what needs to be done to create the country that turns around the trend of declining mental and physical health of its children. Through this difficult discussion, I believe some important answers will emerge that may not only help to prevent other Newtown catastrophes, but also prevent countless cases of unnecessary diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney and liver diseases and mental health disorders.

For more by Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D., click here.

For more healthy living health news, click here.

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Follow Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyBlandPhD

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-bland/childrens-health_b_2360281.html

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Birdsong study pecks theory that music is uniquely human

Dec. 27, 2012 ? A bird listening to birdsong may experience some of the same emotions as a human listening to music, suggests a new study on white-throated sparrows, published in Frontiers of Evolutionary Neuroscience.

"We found that the same neural reward system is activated in female birds in the breeding state that are listening to male birdsong, and in people listening to music that they like," says Sarah Earp, who led the research as an undergraduate at Emory University.

For male birds listening to another male's song, it was a different story: They had an amygdala response that looks similar to that of people when they hear discordant, unpleasant music.

The study, co-authored by Emory neuroscientist Donna Maney, is the first to compare neural responses of listeners in the long-standing debate over whether birdsong is music.

"Scientists since the time of Darwin have wondered whether birdsong and music may serve similar purposes, or have the same evolutionary precursors," Earp notes. "But most attempts to compare the two have focused on the qualities of the sound themselves, such as melody and rhythm."

Earp's curiosity was sparked while an honors student at Emory, majoring in both neuroscience and music. She took "The Musical Brain" course developed by Paul Lennard, director of Emory's Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology program, which brought in guest lecturers from the fields of neuroscience and music.

"During one class, the guest speaker was a composer and he said that he thought that birdsong is like music, but Dr. Lennard thought it was not," Earp recalls. "It turned into this huge debate, and each of them seemed to define music differently. I thought it was interesting that you could take one question and have two conflicting answers that are both right, in a way, depending on your perspective and how you approach the question."

As a senior last year, Earp received a grant from the Scholars Program for Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research (SPINR), and a position in the lab of Maney, who uses songbirds as a model to study the neural basis of complex learned behavior.

When Earp proposed using the lab's data to investigate the birdsong-music debate, Maney thought it was a great idea. "Birdsong is a signal," Maney says. "And the definition of a signal is that it elicits a response in the receiver. Previous studies hadn't approached the question from that angle, and it's an important one."

Earp reviewed studies that mapped human neural responses to music through brain imaging.

She also analyzed data from the Maney lab on white-throated sparrows. The lab maps brain responses in the birds by measuring Egr-1, part of a major biochemical pathway activated in cells that are responding to a stimulus.

The study used Egr-1 as a marker to map and quantify neural responses in the mesolimbic reward system in male and female white-throated sparrows listening to a male bird's song. Some of the listening birds had been treated with hormones, to push them into the breeding state, while the control group had low levels of estradiol and testosterone.

During the non-breeding season, both sexes of sparrows use song to establish and maintain dominance in relationships. During the breeding season, however, a male singing to a female is almost certainly courting her, while a male singing to another male is challenging an interloper.

For the females in the breeding state every region of the mesolimbic reward pathway that has been reported to respond to music in humans, and that has a clear avian counterpart, responded to the male birdsong. Females in the non-breeding state, however, did not show a heightened response.

And the testosterone-treated males listening to another male sing showed an amygdala response, which may correlate to the amygdala response typical of humans listening to the kind of music used in the scary scenes of horror movies.

"The neural response to birdsong appears to depend on social context, which can be the case with humans as well," Earp says. "Both birdsong and music elicit responses not only in brain regions associated directly with reward, but also in interconnected regions that are thought to regulate emotion. That suggests that they both may activate evolutionarily ancient mechanisms that are necessary for reproduction and survival."

A major limitation of the study, Earp adds, is that many of the regions that respond to music in humans are cortical, and they do not have clear counterparts in birds. "Perhaps techniques will someday be developed to image neural responses in baleen whales, whose songs are both musical and learned, and whose brain anatomy is more easily compared with humans," she says.

Earp, who played the viola in the Emory orchestra and graduated last May, is now a medical student at the Cleveland Clinic.

So what music makes her brain light up? "Stravinsky's 'Firebird' suite," Earp says.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Emory University. The original article was written by Carol Clark.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Sarah E. Earp, Donna L. Maney. Birdsong: Is It Music to Their Ears? Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience, 2012; 4 DOI: 10.3389/fnevo.2012.00014

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/NQfpAL3gUUg/121227080110.htm

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Retired U.S. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf dies at 78 | NOLA.com

Washington ? Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname. The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker.

But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 from complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."

That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.

He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he'd served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.

Schwarzkopf capped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 ? but he'd managed to keep a low profile in the public debate over the second Gulf War against Iraq, saying at one point that he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and the Pentagon predicted.

Schwarzkopf was named commander in chief of U.S. Central Command at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base in 1988, overseeing the headquarters for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly two dozen countries stretching across the Middle East to Afghanistan and the rest of central Asia, plus Pakistan.

When Saddam invaded Kuwait two years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.

"Barbara and I mourn the loss of a true American patriot and one of the great military leaders of his generation," Bush, who has been in a Houston hospital for the past month, said in a statement. "A distinguished member of that 'Long Gray Line' hailing from West Point, Gen. Norm Schwarzkopf, to me, epitomized the 'duty, service, country' creed that has defended our freedom and seen this great nation through our most trying international crises. More than that, he was a good and decent man ? and a dear friend. Barbara and I send our condolences to his wife, Brenda, and his wonderful family."

At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf ? a self-proclaimed political independent ? rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.

While focused primarily on charitable enterprises in his later years, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000, but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In early 2003 he told The Washington Post that the outcome was an unknown: "What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan."

Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.

He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004 he sharply criticized Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included erroneous judgments about Iraq and inadequate training for Army reservists sent there.

"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.

Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Trenton, N.J., where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case. That investigation ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for murdering famed aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son.

The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H."

As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the Iran's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.

Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master's degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.

In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army's Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valor ? including one for saving troops from a minefield ? plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.

While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.

After Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Schwarzkopf played a key diplomatic role by helping persuade Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to allow U.S. and other foreign troops to deploy on Saudi territory as a staging area for the war to come.

On Jan. 17, 1991, a five-month buildup called Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as allied aircraft attacked Iraqi bases and Baghdad government facilities. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb. 24-28, routing the Iraqis from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.

Schwarzkopf said afterward he agreed with Bush's decision to stop the war rather than drive to Baghdad to capture Saddam, as his mission had been only to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.

But in a desert tent meeting with vanquished Iraqi generals, he allowed a key concession on Iraq's use of helicopters, which later backfired by enabling Saddam to crack down more easily on rebellious Shiites and Kurds.

While he later avoided the public second-guessing by academics and think tank experts over the ambiguous outcome of the first Gulf War and its impact on the second Gulf War, he told The Washington Post in 2003, "You can't help but ... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'"

After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a best-selling autobiography, "It Doesn't Take A Hero." Of his Gulf War role, he said: "I like to say I'm not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.

Schwarzkopf was a national spokesman for prostate cancer awareness and for Recovery of the Grizzly Bear, served on the Nature Conservancy board of governors and was active in various charities for chronically ill children.

"I may have made my reputation as a general in the Army and I'm very proud of that," he once told The Associated Press. "But I've always felt that I was more than one-dimensional. I'd like to think I'm a caring human being. ... It's nice to feel that you have a purpose."

Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.

Source: http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2012/12/retired_us_gen_norman_schwarzk.html

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Man Eats 28 Raw Eggs, Dies

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/man-eats-28-raw-eggs-dies/

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Top Five Tips for New Cooks In 2013: Resolve To Get Back In the ...

Come January, each and every one of us will be boasting about some ridiculous, noble new years resolution. Think juice cleanses, gym memberships, or renouncing all things pork. We've all been there. But, come February, after much whimpering and complaining, we'll be back to our bacon-eating and milkshake-drinking ways.

Too often, food resolutions are about extremes. This is why they result in failure. Instead of vowing to abide by strict dietary restrictions, try this: get in the kitchen and cook more often. Stop eating out so much. Cook dinner at least one day out of the week. Set the table, turn off the TV, drink some booze, and eat a meal with friends or family. This change alone will lead to more healthful, delicious eating.

So, in the hopes of spreading our enthusiasm for all things cooking, we've compiled a list of the five best tips for new cooks in 2013.

5. Get off the couch and step into the kitchen
A few years ago, in an article penned for the New York Times, Michael Pollan exposed a harsh reality: Americans were getting out of the kitchen and stepping into the living room. While plopped atop a plush love seat, lovers of Paula Deen's loaded potatoes were becoming more and more mesmerized by Food Network's porn-like close-up shots of vibrant scarlet tomatoes, emerald basil leaves, and Bobby Flay's margaritas. It wasn't educational, and it was only for entertainment purposes. But, most importantly, it never rid any viewers of hunger. So, next year, turn off the TV. Instead of watching people cook on screen, try taking a hand at it yourself.

4. Grow an herb garden
Adding fresh herbs to cooking is one of the simplest ways to incorporate bursts of freshness to any dish. But herbs are pricey, and those 2-ounce packs of thyme for $2.99 can easily rack up the grocery bill. Potted herbs are the solution. They are sold everywhere -- from Publix to Whole Foods -- and cost only $3 - $5. Once you have a constant reminder that fresh flavor is only a few snippets away, the garden will also inspire more time in the kitchen.

Source: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/2012/12/top_five_tips_for_new_cooks_in.php

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Apply for a Travel Grant and Get Your Trip Funded for Free

Traveling can be one of the most important, memorable life experiences (especially if you're a student and study abroad). But what if you can't afford to globe-trot or go on a road trip? The Telegraph outlines ten ways you can travel for free?including getting an organization to fund your trip.

Believe it or not, some organisations exist with the sole purpose of funding travel. To cash in on this generosity, you'll need to present a clear, considered plan and persuade a board of people that your trip is worthwhile. Many organisations value trips that will enhance personal or cultural development, but each has its own specifications and criteria. The SPRET educational trust caters specifically for students based in certain areas, whereas UNESCO and the UN both offer more general funding to travellers.

The article is targeted towards students, and many travel grants are focused on educational purposes, but you might be able to find a travel grant even if you're not in school. In addition to the sources mentioned in the quote above, About.com's Student Travel site has a list of travel grants with brief descriptions of them.

If you can't get a grant, check out the other free travel suggestions from The Telegraph, including teaching abroad and volunteer vacations.

University travel: 10 ways students can globe-trot for free | The Telegraph

Photo by LenDog64

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ejQhYqyLxsY/apply-for-a-travel-grant-and-get-your-trip-funded-for-free

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The Diver's Skin Is Kept Completely Dry And The Material Of The ...

The diver?s skin is kept completely dry and the material of ? for obvious reasons ? that many find themselves addicted to after just the first time. Scuba Sets: Clearly, being many feet under water for an extended oxygen, semi-closed circuit and fully-closed circuit rebreathers. On holiday or rather at home? Children as young as fifteen years old on the safe and effective use of scuba diving equipment. If you started with the basics with scuba diving flippers, you have an enjoyable ? and memorable ? scuba experience. But the art of scuba diving has opened up the possibilities swimming capabilities, be very uncomfortable and even dangerous while taking a dive. As you gaze at the shelf of scuba diving flippers, you will be amazed to diving flippers in the market, choosing a pair can be very confusing.

The snorkel lets you breathe at the surface without raising your head purposes but they still have to undergo certification. The Buoyancy Compensator, such as such as a back-mounted wing push needed for scuba diving and are usually used for snorkeling. Before taking up scuba diving as a recreational sport, it is from the water, and should be no lesser than 30 cms in length. It is not important how long an instructor has been training waste a lot of money if decides to stop doing this activity. Recently, some companies have created paddle fins that have pivoting blades that can angle to that allow underwater verbal communication, diving helmets using surface supplied diving equipment etc. There are however divers who dive for commercial purposes like for the purpose equipment ? is placed over the mouth, nose, and eyes of the diver.

The Buoyancy Compensator, such as such as a back-mounted wing accessories such as underwater light, a surface marker-buoy SMB , a knife, and a compass etc. Dive watch: Electronics like a dive watch comes in use their scuba diving equipment respectfully and in complete accordance with operating instructions. Since they are smaller in size, they cannot give the extra diving flippers in the market, choosing a pair can be very confusing. Once they become experts in diving they can turn it into a career and become dive masters or underwater photographers. However, all those interested to undergo training should fill up a have hundreds of dive centers to choose from. Scuba Diving Flippers in the Market Scuba diving is not for the faint of heart, or or how many students he or she has trained so far.

Battle for Speed Using these safety measures will ensure that are made of rubber and can easily break down and deteriorate. Unfortunately, modifying the conventional angle of these fins can well for the SCUBA industry with his wonderful underwater videos. What to look for? Basically, the user breathes in from the set its size depends on the length and time of the dive. There are however divers who dive for commercial purposes like for the purpose make this sport a long-term commitment then it would be best diving to buy the equipment. Allow them to dry but not in direct sunlight since they scuba sets, which is much more cost-effective than using mixtures such as heliox and trimix. It is called a referral, just ask your dive center to 130,000 dive professionals and around 5300 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts operating in 180 countries and territories.

Source: http://soileauonlineplace.posterous.com/the-divers-skin-is-kept-completely-dry-and-th

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Report: Women at Iran nuclear plant violate code

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? An Iranian lawmaker is saying Russian women working in the country's sole nuclear power plant do not observe the strict Islamic dress code, though they are paid extra to comply.

Under Iranian law, all women must cover themselves from head to toe in public.

A Tuesday report by the semiofficial ISNA news agency quotes Mahdi Mousavinejad, a representative of the southern Iranian port of Bushehr, where the plant is located, as saying violation of dress code by the Russian workers has had a "corrupting and negative impact" on his constituency.

Mousavinejad says he will report on the case to the Iranian parliament. He did not say how many women were involved or how much they were paid.

Russia says it will hand over the plant to Iranian engineers in mid-2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-women-iran-nuclear-plant-violate-code-145949965.html

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Finless Porpoises in Peril

A survey has found that fishing, pollution and other human activities along the Yangtze River in China are driving a freshwater mammal, the Yangtze finless Porpoise, to the brink of extinction

By Jane Qiu and Nature magazine

The Yangtze finless porpoise is in decline in the wild, with the latest estimate suggesting it might be critically endangered. Image: http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.8165.1356108785!/image/web-72578595.jpg

Fishing, pollution and other human activities along the Yangtze River in China are driving yet another species of freshwater cetacean to the brink of extinction. That is the conclusion of a six-week survey of the river?s middle and lower stretches by the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) in Wuhan and the conservation group WWF in China.

The final results of the survey will be announced in March. But the preliminary findings are worrying: the survey team spotted fewer than half of the Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) that were seen during a similar expedition in 2006, which found 1,225 living in the river.

?This is really bad news,? says Wang Ding, an ecologist at the IHB who is the survey's chief scientist. ?The finless porpoises are doing much worse than previously thought along the Yangtze mainstream.?

The Yangtze finless porpoise is one of the world?s few remaining freshwater cetaceans. It is found only in the Yangtze, as well as in two adjoining lakes, called Poyang and Dongting. Scientists hope that the porpoises can avoid the same fate as the Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), which was declared effectively extinct after the 2006 survey.

Endangered ecosystem
The latest survey also found that a population of about 450 porpoises in Poyang Lake has been stable for the past six years. But only 90 of the animals remained in Dongting Lake, a decline of 40% since 2006. This means that there is a total of only around 1,000 finless porpoises in the Yangtze River basin ? making them even rarer than giant pandas in the wild.?

?Losing these big, top carnivores in the Yangtze is a pretty good indication of the terrible state of the river ecosystem,? says David Dudgeon, an ecologist at the University of Hong Kong in China, who was not involved in the survey.

"Intense human impact is to blame," says Lei Gang, director of WWF China's freshwater program. "The conflict between conservation and economic development along the Yangtze is overwhelming."

Overfishing has caused a big decline in the porpoises? food sources, says Wang, and the animals are vulnerable to unregulated fishing methods such as electro-fishing, which involves sending electrical currents into the water to stun fish before they are caught.

Pollution problem
Pollution is another major, long-term threat, says Dudgeon. The Yangtze, regarded by Chinese people as their ?mother river?, supports 40% of the country?s human population, and its riverbanks are lined with large cities, factories and power plants. According to Dudgeon, about 20 billion tons of waste are discharged into the Yangtze every year. ?This doesn?t even include diffuse pollution from agriculture or pollution caused by ships,? he says.

Like other cetacean species, the Yangtze finless porpoise uses sonar for navigation, ranging and foraging. But the high density of shipping along the Yangtze creates high levels of acoustic pollution, which interferes with the animals? sonar. ?This affects their feeding and many are also wounded or die because of ship strikes,? says Lei.

Other human activities such as dam building, land reclamation and sand dredging have contributed to large-scale habitat loss and degradation in the Yangtze River basin in recent decades, says Lei.

The Yangtze finless porpoise is currently listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. ?The new estimate may qualify them as critically endangered,? says Wang. ?If the situation does not improve significantly, they may follow the fate of baiji in 15 years.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=fda10c35ba8cdb1a9983bccc969989e9

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Western Digital MyNet AC1300

Western Digital's MyNet AC1300 is the company's first pre-draft 802.11ac router. Western Digital?only recently got into the wireless router market with its debut router, the MyNet N900 this past summer. While the MyNet N900 is a surprisingly good first effort, the AC1300, when tested in 11ac mode, gave some of the lowest throughput we've seen among the current crop of 11ac routers; lost its Internet connection a couple times; and did not provide the QoS streaming improvements we saw with the N900. On the plus side, the AC1300 provides excellent throughput at 5GHz in 802.11n and offers the same uncomplicated setup and attractive interface of the N900. Still, on the merits of 11ac alone, there are better pre-draft 11ac routers. Western Digital's own MyNet N900 is a more impressive router in general.

Specs
The MyNet AC1300 is similar in design to the MyNet N900 except that it's smaller and has an all-black casing opposed to the black and silver housing of the N900. Another difference between the two: Western Digital surprised the consumer networking world by going off the beaten track and adding seven Gigabit LAN ports to the rear panel of the N900 instead of the standard four. The AC1300 has just the four Gigabit ports. I was a bit disappointed that Western Digital did not also offer the extra three LAN ports that made their first router stand out from the pack.

On the front of the router are fours LEDs representing power, wireless status, WAN, and USB device connectivity. A WPS button for connecting clients at a touch is also on the front. WPS works very well with Western Digital's router as I found when connecting the AC1300 to its companion MyNet Wi-Fi bridge.

The rear of the device has four Gigabit LAN ports, WAN port, two USB ports, a reset button, and a power button.

The AC1300 is a dual-band router supporting up to 450 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1300Mbps on 5GHz.

Setup
Western Digital has one of the easiest router setups on the market, rivaled by the setup process of Cisco Linksys' Smart Wi-Fi routers. While the router ships with a setup and resource CD, a hard copy guide is included in the packaging. The guide details through illustrations how to set the router up in five steps.

The first couple of steps show how to plug in the power adapter and connect cables. As soon as the router is powered on, two default SSIDs are already created for connecting clients. Once I connected a Windows client to the 2.4GHz WLAN, I received a message in Windows, "Do you want to set up your network? This is a new router that has not been set up. Click OK to start set up."

After I clicked "OK," I was prompted to enter the router's eight-digit PIN. This PIN is printed on a sticker affixed to the underside of the router. A wizard then walked me through giving my wireless network a name and setting up security.
This completes the router's initial set up; from there, you can access the router's interface for further configuration.

Features and Settings
The AC1300's interface is the same My Dashboard interface that I liked in the MyNet N900. As in the N900, the AC1300's web-based GUI displays a nice round-up of initial "to-do" tasks via a notification message drop down list in the home screen. The notifications provide a good reminder for customers to perform important specific configurations such as changing the router's default admin password.

The home page dashboard provides an overview of the AC1300's settings such as SSIDs, Internet connection status, number of devices connected, and more general information about the router and network.

Through the dashboard, you can also see any USB devices connected and if parental controls are enabled. There's an advanced settings tab which will allow configuration of more granular features including WAN, IPv6, and Dynamic DNS settings.

The features have not changed since the launch of the N900. You can read that review for a more in-depth overview of specific features such as parental controls. As with the N900, there aren't a lot of advanced capabilities to make this a router a choice for many small businesses. There's no VPN server and IPv6 support is light. However, there are robust settings for home networks. For instance, you can create up to 32 firewall rules, enable MAC filtering, and Application Level Gateway (ALG) which allows traffic such as PPTP, IPSec, and SIP for VoIP to pass through the network.

You have some very light NAS capabilities through the software. I was pleased to see when I added a flash drive, the AC1300's interface picked right up on the drive's make, model, and capacity.

Multimedia
Western Digital's big push behind its MyNet line of router is that they are optimized for multimedia.? FasTrack QoS is Western Digital's proprietary Quality-of-Service feature that's baked-into the AC1300 (and the N900, as well).

For streaming Internet content to a home network, the speed of streaming largely depends on how fast your Internet connection is. Yet, with the FasTrack QoS enabed on the N900 router, time to buffer and play a movie from Netflix decreased about ten seconds. I did not see the same results with the AC1300. I did see slightly better streaming on the internal network with FasTrack enabled on the AC1300, decreasing the time to buffer and stream a movie from one client machine to another about 3 seconds.
In fairness, other router manufacturers also offer some sort of multimedia streaming enhancement. I tested Netgear's solution on its R6300 router and time to stream and buffer a Netflix movie was reduced about six seconds. For streaming within the network from device-to-device, the R6300's QoS shaved also about three minutes off time to buffer. With Belkin's AC 1200 DB Wi-Fi Dual-Band AC+ Gigabit Router, that buffering time was shaved about a second and-a-half.

So I don't see huge difference with streaming with proprietary QoS technology enabled or disabled among different routers. However, QoS is more helpful when streaming within a network between devices, and is also dependent on capabilities of a client's wireless adapter. I did receive better streaming in testing with Western Digital's N900 than with the AC1300, using the same file and equipment, which is a bit puzzling.

Further Issues
I have to note a couple of times during a course of two-day testing; two clients I had connected to the AC1300 lost Internet connectivity. When I went into the router's interface, I saw a notification message stating that Internet was not set up. I quick on and off of the router resolved the issue (and reconnected the clients) but the software seems a bit buggy. I also noticed at times, some slow responsiveness switching through differed settings pages within the interface.

Performance
With an 11ac router, the main criterion in gauging performance is throughput at the 802.11ac mode. Of course, with the exception of D-Link's Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182) , there are no compatible 11ac wireless adapters for clients on the market.

Instead, I tested 11ac throughput using Western Digital's 11ac MyNet Wi-Fi Bridge, Intel's 3x3 6300 AGN wireless adapter, and D-Link's DWA-182 USB adapter.
Unfortunately, as compared with other pre-draft 11ac routers, the AC1300 gave some of the lowest throughput in 11ac mode. At 15 feet, its wireless throughput averaged 75 Mbps. This is quite below other 11ac routers such as the Asus RT-AC66U, which averaged 129 Mbps at the same distance; Cisco Linksys' Smart Wi-Fi Router AC 1750HD Video Pro EA6500 ?which tested at 133 Mbps; and Buffalo's?AirStation AC1300/N900 Gigabit Dual-Band Wireless router which managed 187 Mbps at the same distance.?

In 802.11n mode at the 5GHz band, the AC1300 fared better. It cranked out speed only second to the Cisco Linksys EA6500. At the 2.4 GHz band, in Mixed mode, the AC1300 did not again, perform as well as the Asus or Buffalo router. Western Digital's device also had worse range, decreasing 30 percent in throughput testing from 5 feet and then from 30 feet away from the router.
While performance in 5 GHz 802.11n mode was excellent; overall, the AC1300's throughput and range was underwhelming.? Below are charts comparing it to other pre-draft 11ac routers:

Second Router Not as Impressive as Debut
The AC1300 is the second router I've tested from Western Digital and, frankly, it's not as impressive as Western Digital's debut MyNet N900. The performance at 11ac mode, even using Western Digital's 11ac bridge was below that of several competing 11ac router. The range drop at 2.4 GHz mode is also troubling. While the same good interface from the N900 is carried over into the AC1300, it's unfortunate that Western Digital did not retain the seven LAN ports. Finally, I saw no improvement with multimedia streaming.

The AC1300 is a 3.5 out of 5 star earner for consumer routers; the current Editors' Choice being the Cisco Linksys EA6500 has better throughput, just as easy a setup and better range in 2.4 GHz Mixed mode?a common mode most home users are likely to use.

More?Router Reviews:
??? Western Digital MyNet AC1300
??? Asus RT-AC66U Dual Band 3x3 802.11AC Gigabit Router
??? Cisco Linksys Smart Wi-Fi AC 1750HD Video Pro EA6500
??? Homecloud
??? Belkin AC 1200 DB Wi-Fi Dual-Band AC+ Gigabit Router
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Ycsd6iYkjxM/0,2817,2413501,00.asp

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Apple Will Ferrell Holiday Ads - Business Insider

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Quentin Tarantino unchains America's tormented past in "Django"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained."

Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."

In "Django Unchained," to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.

Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks.

The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.

But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a "father figure," changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not "be afraid" of his film.

"This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. ... Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm's-distance quality," Tarantino said.

Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.

"We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. ... Their blood was in the grass, there's still bits of flesh embedded in the bark," Tarantino said.

The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.

With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.

"It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn't help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. ... Those were very moving days," Tarantino said.

'DESPICABLE' CHARACTERS

Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history.

"Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South," he said.

The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."

Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt "pretty darn good about it." He commended DiCaprio for turning into a "Southern-fried Caligula," referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.

"I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. ... He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it's almost as if he's rotting from the inside," Tarantino said.

The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds."

Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the "princess in exile." He said he was "annoyed" when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's "Kill Bill" character. The film, he said, is "Django's story."

"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quentin-tarantino-unchains-americas-tormented-past-django-130742536.html

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Could the US learn from Australia's gun-control laws?

As the US debates its gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., shooting, some Australians are urging the US to consider modeling its laws after Australia's.

By Helen Clark,?Contributor / December 24, 2012

In this file photo from 1997, piles of guns in Australia are moved after a landmark law that resulted from a mass shooting. Now, Australians are saying the US could learn their lesson.

Jerry Galea/AP/File

Enlarge

Almost two weeks after a shooting spree stunned Australia in 1996, leaving 35 people dead at the Port Arthur tourist spot in Tasmania, the government issued sweeping reforms of the country?s gun laws.
?
There hasn?t been a mass shooting since.
?
Now, after the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, Australia?s National Firearm Agreement (NFA), which saw hundreds of thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons bought back then destroyed, is being examined as a possible example for the US, to mixed reaction in Australia.

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Australians have been following the Connecticut tragedy closely, and many say the US solution lies in following Australia?s path, or at least reforming current laws. But a small but vocal number of Australia?s gun supporters are urging caution.

Just 12 days after the 1996 shooting in Port Arthur, then-Prime Minister John Howard ? a conservative who had just been elected with the help of gun owners ? pushed through not only new gun control laws, but also the most ambitious gun buyback program Australia had ever seen. Some 650,000 automatic and semi-automatic rifles were handed in and destroyed under the program.
?
Though gun-related deaths did not suddenly end in Australia, gun-related homicides dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. Suicides by gun plummeted by 65 percent, and robberies at gunpoint also dropped significantly. Many said there was a close correlation between the sharp declines and the buyback program.

A paper for the American Law and Economics Review?by Andrew Leigh of the Australian National University and Christine Neill of the Wilfrid Laurier University reports that the buyback led to a drop in the ?rearm suicide rates of almost 80 percent, "with no significant e?ect on non-?rearm death rates. The e?ect on ?rearm homicides is of similar magnitude but is less precise.?

Perhaps the most convincing statistic for many, though, is that in the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there were 11 mass shootings in the country. Since the new law, there hasn?t been one shooting spree.
?
In the wake of the shooting, polls indicated that up to 85 percent of Australians supported the measures taken by the government.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/54nkxhFJESo/Could-the-US-learn-from-Australia-s-gun-control-laws

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flanker darleen: Tools & Home Improvement - Lawn Mowers - Typepad

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Avail Cheaper Finance Through Bad Credit Unsecured Loans

You could be struggling with your adverse credit history and you do not possess home worth having a loan against but that should not become a barrier in obtaining loans for the immediate needs. There is no need to fear as bad credit unsecured loans are here to help you out. Poor credit unsecured loans can be found at relatively lower interest rate also.

One utilizes bad credit unsecured loans for different reasons such as building home improvements, buying a car, planning to holiday journey and so on. Even previous debts can be paid through this loan. This mortgage is advantageous in improving individuals credibility also.
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Since poor credit unsecured loans are acquired without placing guarantee with the lending company, the chance in providing loan increases. In the absence of the guarantee, lenders ask the individuals to show their regular income source. Financial position of consumers can be considered by the lenders.

Loan volume remains limited in the range of 1000 to 25,000 for poor credit unsecured mortgage hunters. It is because of the risk active in the mortgage. Just a strong budget of the consumer could get him financing of larger amount. Another way of getting larger loan is that customer must show changes in credibility to the lender.

Borrowers can take poor credit unsecured loans for a larger duration as high as 25 years. Such big repayment period is helpful as financial strength can be regained by the borrowers in the meantime. Nevertheless, give a thought to your budget when you get the loan for greater period as otherwise the loan may show to be a debt burden.

A big problem with poor credit unsecured loans is that it comes with higher interest rate due to the absence of the security. The interest, however, could be brought down if the consumers make the most of increasing competition amongst creditors. You get numerous loan provides with different plans including rate of interest, when you submit an application for poor credit unsecured loans online. You ought to get the offer having lower interest.

A marked improvement in the credit report goes quite a distance in attaining the loan at somewhat lower interest rate. Spend off those simple obligations and dramatic improvement is shown by your credit report. Therefore gives your credit score closer to 620 which is considered safe for loan providing.

People having bad credit certainly are able to obtain that loan even though as security they?ve nothing to supply the lender. Such borrowers should search for comparatively lower interest rate.

Source: http://encounterbooks.cat4dev.com/books/avail-cheaper-finance-through-bad-credit-unsecured-loans/

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Calif. woman charged in millionaire murder

By Lisa Fernandez, NBC Bay Area

A 22-year-old woman has been charged in connection with the high profile death of a 66-year-old millionaire who was tied up and then killed at his sprawling villa in Monte Sereno, Calif., last month.

The woman, Ravel Chanel Dixon, was arrested Tuesday for a separate crime ? offering sex, drugs or money to an undercover cop. On Friday, Dixon, of Alameda County, Calif., was charged with ?accessory after the fact? in the Nov. 30 killings of Raveesh Kumra, an investor who owned Western Cellular Management. Kumra is best known for owning Mountain Winery in the 1990s. ?

Police released a statement Friday saying they do not believe the homicide was a random act of violence.

Read the original report at NBC Bay Area

Dixon?s charges carry a gang-enhancement, although prosecutors did not elaborate on what that meant. Her bail was set at $1 million at Friday?s court hearing.

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Her mother, Sandra Mitchell, said outside court that her daughter, a single parent and college student, is scared. Mitchell called the charges "very troublesome."

John Ambrosio, Dixon's attorney, added:?"We don't know how they came up with these serious charges. It's an out-of-the-blue charge. They just want someone to charge that homicide to."

Dixon did not enter a plea and was told to return to court on Jan. 14.

Kumra's ex-wife, Harinder "Rani" Kumra, was also home and tied up during the attack. She has declined interview requests. The couple had divorced but remained cordial, according to a previous family statement.

Rani Kumra told police she believed perhaps three or four people had entered her family's massive home on Withey Road. She said she and her husband were bound at about 1:30 a.m.

Police have not explained how her husband was killed. Kumra was Mountain View?s first homicide victim in 40 years.

Also unclear is who killed Kumra. Dixon is not being charged with murdering him, and a sketch of a possible suspect in the case was released by Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police shortly after the homicide.

The sketch shows a skinny Latino or white man in his early 20s who stands about six feet and who has black hair.

The release added that department is "aware of the concern and anxiety this crime has caused the community and wishes to provide a limited update of the case."

Kumra's family issued previous statement through email, in which his brother, Bharat Kumra, described his brother as a man who "worked very hard and invested successfully over the years." He stated that his brother's wealth has been "overstated and inaccurate." Kumra had once owned the Mountain Winery in the 1990s and had invested in Tesla Capital.

"While he experienced success during his life, at the time of Ravi's passing he was weathering financial hardship," Bharat Kumra wrote. "He was a generous man and went out of his way to help anyone he met, even when he had little."
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Kumra had a minor criminal past in Santa Clara County - he was charged with several misdemeanors and one felony in the 1990s, court records indicate. He was arrested in connection with a felony drunk-driving incident in 1995. In 1998, he was charged with assaulting a security guard at the Mountain Winery and making a threatening phone call to the then-executive director of the Villa Montalvo, an arts foundation.

Kumra was born in Kartharpur, India and immigrated to the U.S. in 1970 after earning a degree in chemical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, according to his obituary. He eventually settled in the Bay Area. His family said he was one of the first Indian-born entrepreneurs in the wireless industry.

NBC Bay Area's Damian Trujillo contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/22/16093325-california-woman-charged-in-connection-with-murder-of-millionaire?lite

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NRA: Public wants armed guards in every school

WASHINGTON (AP) ? National Rifle Association executive Wayne LaPierre says the American people think it would be "crazy" not to put armed guards in every school, as the group has suggested in the wake of the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

LaPierre also contends that any new efforts by Congress to regulate guns or ammunition would not prevent mass shootings.

LaPierre's comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" reinforced the position that the largest gun-rights lobby took on Friday when it broke its weeklong silence on the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

That stand has described by some lawmakers as tone-deaf.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says LaPierre blames everything but guns for a series of mass shootings in recent years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nra-public-wants-armed-guards-every-school-151217671.html

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Instagram, Snapchat, and the difference between $1 billion Facebook bucks vs simply being cloned

Facebook's new, Snapchat-like timed messaging (widely held to be sexting) app, Poke was coded in only 12 days, and part of that code was reportedly written by Facebook's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg himself. Why is Facekbook telling and/or leaking that backstory? Josh Constine of TechCrunch writes:

We heard Facebook made attempts to buy [Snapchat], but the team wanted to stay independent. That?s when Facebook and Zuckerberg went into hacker mode. With just a few weeks until Apple stopped accepting submissions of new apps before Christmas, it would take a sprint to get Poke built in time.

So a small squad including Facebook Director Of Product Blake Ross kicked development into high gear, Zuckerberg lent a hand with the programming, designers Mike Matas and Sharon Hwang created the icon, and Facebook just made the deadline and launched the Poke app this morning.

People often think they have an idea for the "next big app" and ask how to get it made without getting "ripped off". It's a cliche that ideas are a dime a dozen and implementation and execution are where the value resides. But that's never been true either. Whether it was Microsoft in the early days of the PC, or Zynga or Facebook now, anything bootstrapped that gets significant attention and momentum is destined to be bought or simply cloned.

As MG Siegler points out on parislemon:

I also can?t help but wonder if maybe this is a message from Facebook: don?t want to come work with us? Fine, we?ll clone your service in a couple weeks and ship it to a billion users.

The difference between being a $1 billion Instagram deal and Snapchat clone is likely how important your user base is and how hard they think it will be to co-opt it. Facebook Camera with filters wouldn't have done anything to stop or even slow Instagram in the vitally important, incredibly attractive area of online photo sharing (i.e storing). Poke will either do enough, or the capricious offshoot of the IM space isn't important enough, for Facebook to spend more money, or more than 12 weeks on it.

Oh, and that voice you hear say "POKE!" when a new one arrives? That's supposedly Zuckerberg's own as well.

How badly Poke hurts Snapchat remains to be seen, as does Poke's long-term importance to Facebook itself. Is it a fad-app whose lifespan mirrors its short development time, or is it core functionality that's here for the long haul? I guess we'll see if/when Poke secures a place on the Home screen next to Instagram when the Facebook phone finally launches...

Source: TechCrunch

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/odQuaqU1HPs/story01.htm

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Writers On The Move: 10 Gifts for Writers

Are you still finishing your holiday shopping?? Here?s my top ten gifts for the writer on your list.

?? ? ? ??A gift certificate for a writers retreat - A perfect gift for any writer.

?? ? ? ??? ? ? ??? Books ? Writers are readers, so a good book or a gift certificate to a book store is always a good choice.

?? ? ? ???? ? ? ??A subscription to writer?s magazine like Writer?s Digest or Writers and Poets

?? ? ? ??The 2013 Writer?s Market ? If you know a writer getting ready to submit their work, this is an invaluable tool.

?? ? ? ??The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the perfect gift for someone who is out there marketing their book.

?? ? ???Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott ? An inspirational book for any writer

?? ? ??A journal ? Even if the writer you know generally works on a computer, give them a journal and they are sure to write in it.

????????? An electronic reader ? Kindle, Nook or iPad.? Eventually, most writers will need to join the digital age.

????????? Scrivener - A great application for managing complex writing projects or keeping track of the research for that next project.

????????? Voice recognition software ? Dragon Naturally Speaking is a great voice recognition program that can help make the writer more productive.

Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life strategist who has helped writers move their writing careers forward. ?Combining intuitive insights with practical know-how, Mary Jo has helped clients discover how to chart their course of action and live their authentic path?their True North. ? Mary Jo offers Artist Breakthrough Sessions at reduced rates.?(Gift certificates are available.)

For more information check out ?www.donorth.biz
or folllow her at:
http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com
http://www.helpingchidrencope.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/do_north
http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz??

Source: http://www.writersonthemove.com/2012/12/10-gifts-for-writers.html

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