Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Small Business Marketing Update - Scary TV Spot Appearing

One of the scariest things I have seen is the television commercial for Cars.Com. Not only does it look creepy, I am mystified by what it is supposed to say. While the graphic attracts your attention, you tend to miss the message, which is actually sung by the face in the woman?s hair. I rate it high for Halloween but low for effectiveness.?

Source: http://smallbusinessmarketingjax.blogspot.com/2012/10/small-business-marketing-update-scary.html

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Test developed to detect early-stage diseases with naked eye: Prototype ultra sensitive disease sensor developed

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2012) ? Scientists have developed a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that would enable doctors to detect the early stages of diseases and viruses with the naked eye, according to research published?October 28 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The team, from Imperial College London, report that their visual sensor technology is ten times more sensitive than the current gold standard methods for measuring biomarkers. These indicate the onset of diseases such as prostate cancer and infection by viruses including HIV.

The researchers say their sensor would benefit countries where sophisticated detection equipment is scarce, enabling cheaper and simpler detection and treatments for patients.

In the study, the team tested the effectiveness of the sensor by detecting a biomarker called p24 in blood samples, which indicates HIV infection.

Professor Molly Stevens, from the Departments of Materials and Bioengineering at Imperial College London, says: "It is vital that patients get periodically tested in order to assess the success of retroviral therapies and check for new cases of infection. Unfortunately, the existing gold standard detection methods can be too expensive to be implemented in parts of the world where resources are scarce. Our approach affords for improved sensitivity, does not require sophisticated instrumentation and it is ten times cheaper, which could allow more tests to be performed for better screening of many diseases."

The researchers in this study also tested samples for the biomarker called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which is an early indicator for Prostate Cancer. The team say the sensor can also be reconfigured for other viruses and diseases where the specific biomarker is known.

The sensor works by analysing serum, derived from blood, in a disposable container. If the result is positive for p24 or PSA, there is a reaction that generates irregular clumps of nanoparticles, which give off a distinctive blue hue in a solution inside the container. If the results are negative the nanoparticles separate into ball-like shapes, creating a reddish hue. Both reactions can be easily seen by the naked eye.

The team also report that the sensor was so sensitive that it was able to detect minute levels of p24 in samples where patients had low viral loads, which could not be diagnosed using existing tests such as the Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test and the gold standard nucleic acid based test.

Dr Roberto de la Rica, co-author of the study from the Department of Materials at Imperial College London, adds: "We have developed a test that we hope will enable previously undetectable HIV infections and indicators of cancer to be picked up, which would mean people could be treated sooner. We also believe that this test could be significantly cheaper to administer, which could pave the way for more widespread use of HIV testing in poorer parts of the world."

The next stage of the research will see the team approaching not-for-profit global health organisations, which could provide strategic direction and funding for manufacturing and distributing the sensor to low income countries.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Imperial College London, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Roberto De La Rica, and Molly M. Stevens. Plasmonic ELISA for the ultrasensitive detection of disease biomarkers with the naked eye. Nature Nanotechnology, 2012 DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2012.186

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/welhStrh_0I/121028142310.htm

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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Default Tricks ? Enhance Your Web Marketing and advertising ...

The Web has revolutionized the way in which people do business these days through an online appearance is vital. Internet marketing can certainly seem like an overwhelming task, and then there are certainly a lot of subtleties that are included with promoting your small business on the internet. This article will direct you from the actions you have to take to obtain the most from internet marketing.

You should system to your internet site much the same way you will network for a job. Become familiar with people your field and industry good and pertinent links along with them. The more referrals you have on other internet sites, the higher you may be searching search rankings. Having a lot of hyperlinks to other web sites on the website, assists significantly as well.

Be around, should you be marketing online! Help make your buyers feel safe! Give them your true business street address plus a cellular phone variety. Lots of people are not comfortable paying their challenging-gained dollars at websites on the internet that use submit business office bins. Make sure they know that you are currently readily available should they have issues or questions.

Publish something that is fairly debatable to obtain people speaking about you. While that might seem detrimental, it can in fact assist you to acquire a lot of guests that could be interested in you. There is no need being too away from-the-wall, just say something which goes against exactly what is considered to be fact in your industry.

If you?re seeking distinctive website marketing methods, try making your own personal radio station. The procedure is fairly easy, and there is free of charge computer software that permits you to avoid another-bash variety that costs a payment. If at all possible, the formatting of your own fm radio station should be connected aimed at your website or otherwise include a few connected courses. While you might only achieve a niche marketplace, it can be still a terrific way to promote your web site and product or service.

Regardless how tiny your company is, a good internet marketing tip is to create your business look huge online. Give your site the most expert appear feasible. Ensure your artwork are cutting edge plus your webpage appears refreshing and thoroughly clean. This can give individuals the concept that you happen to be effective enterprise.

Broaden. Don?t placed all of your current world wide web eggs into a single marketing method. Get ready for any transform as much as you can by making sure that your web marketing can continue even when some thing ought to occur to a great way you use. By preparing in advance and dispersing sources, you will end up ready for anything at all.

Make your initial 100-150 characters of your META outline tag add up. The written text in your meta explanation is proven right beneath the page name searching engines. An effective description is certain to get individuals to just click, and the amount of clicks impacts your site?s place in search final results. Very long descriptions is going to be truncated, so be cautious.

Should your e-news letters aren?t driving a car the targeted traffic you need, take time to discover ways to produce an fascinating e-e-zine. Consider the profitable e-publications that competing brands are selling and cherry select several of the far better tips that you just see in them. After that you can create these suggestions into the own speech.

Involve interesting photos with your articles. Folks are very graphic, particularly on the web, and a picture will usually get them thinking about studying much more. Vibrant and interesting photos would be best. Make sure there is the proper permissions to share any photographs you intend to use along with your posts.

To become effective in website marketing you need to make the website visitors relaxed and comfortable once they visit your site. One of several quickest points that you can do is by offering them your main deal with. It will likely be difficult for them to have confidence in you should you use a P.O. Pack deal with.

If done efficiently, web marketing can bring about an infinite variety of consumers visiting your site and buying your products or services and with your providers. For every single customer to move you more than, there are a 1000 far more out there holding out being drawn in by your initiatives. Implement the ideas previously mentioned and make up your client base.

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Source: http://www.defaulttricks.com/enhance-your-web-marketing-and-advertising-tactics-using-these-tips/

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European Gaming League (EGL) 8 Day 1 Streaming Live ? Shoryuken

European Gaming League 8 will be taking place this weekend, October 13-14 in Manchester, England. EGL8 huge game event that will feature tournaments for FPS games, FIFA, as well as a number of fighting games

  • The King of Fighters XIII
  • Street Fighter X Tekken
  • Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
  • Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition
  • Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition
  • Tekken Tag Tournament 2
  • Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Persona 4 Arena will also be playable at the event.

The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary European Master Series will also be a part of the event, with separate tournaments for SSFIV AE, SFXTK, 3SOE, and HDR. The winner of these qualifiers will be invited to the Master Series Grand Finals, which will determine which players will go to compete in the SF25th Grand Finals in December.

The stream for EGL8 is provided by ARMSHOUSE. Below is a basic outline for EGL8.

Saturday
UMvC3 singles
UMVC3 3v3
UMvC3 North vs. South Exhibition
TTT2 singles

Sunday
SSFIV singles
SSFIV 2v2
KOF XIII

Watch live video from armshouse on www.twitch.tv

Source: ARMSHOUSE

Source: http://shoryuken.com/2012/10/13/european-gaming-league-egl-8-day-1-streaming-live/

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Obama trumpets rebound of US auto industry

President Barack Obama, center, meets with winners of a campaign fundraising contest, at Smith Commons Dining Room and Public House in Washington, on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. At left are Deidra Orosa, and her husband Mario Orosa, of North Canton, Ohio, and to the right of the President are Kimberley Cathey, and her husband Ron Cathey, of Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama, center, meets with winners of a campaign fundraising contest, at Smith Commons Dining Room and Public House in Washington, on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. At left are Deidra Orosa, and her husband Mario Orosa, of North Canton, Ohio, and to the right of the President are Kimberley Cathey, and her husband Ron Cathey, of Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama is hailing the rebound of the U.S. auto industry, pointing to progress since his administration rescued General Motors and Chrysler.

Obama says in his weekly radio and Internet address that auto sales are the highest they've been in more than four years and the industry has created nearly a quarter of a million new jobs.

Obama frequently cites GM and Chrysler as a success story for his campaign. Automakers are large employers in Ohio, one of the key battleground states being contested by Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican running for Congress, says in the GOP address that the Obama administration has pushed regulations that make it difficult for businesses.

He says the economy "doesn't need more meddling ? it needs more certainty."

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://tinyurl.com/9zhygh7

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-13-Obama/id-bbac4e7f53a341ab9975e9dbbf5402db

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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Network Security: A Moving Target Provides An Easier Hit | Business ...

From pick-pockets to sophisticated electronic scanners, people have always been more vulnerable when on the move, and the same applies in today?s mobile network and BYOD environment. The key difference here is that the ultimate victim of a network attack is probably not the individual user, but the organization.

This has two negative consequences. For a start, the individual feels less directly threatened and is less motivated to follow strict security measures: ?This looks like a handy new app. I?ll try it now, and get it cleared by IT if it works?. Secondly, the enormous potential payoff for attacking an organization means that today?s cyber criminal is prepared to spend unlimited time and resources on designing, deploying and concealing ever more sophisticated attacks.

A recent example of such attack escalation, ?Operation High Roller? is reputed to have already siphoned around ?1.57 billion from bank accounts in Europe, the US and South America, and still be on the move. Although based on familiar Zeus and SpyEye attacks, it takes a quantum leap in sophistication by replacing their manual operation with a level of automation that reduces attack times to seconds, operating around the clock.

The attack, which reveals ?an insider level of understanding of banking transaction systems?, includes automated concealment techniques such as falsifying an account that has just been depleted so that the loss will not be immediately reported.

This all adds up to an IT security nightmare: an increasingly permeable network of increasingly individualistic users of increasingly diverse devices being targeted by increasingly smart and sharply targeted attacks. The temptation must be to either give up in despair or else to clutter the system with every new security hardware and software patch ? until it becomes so complicated that only dedicated hackers will have the patience to understand it.

There is an alternative ? it is to fight fire with fire. This means applying the same level of skill and experience to testing network security as the criminals apply to breaking it. This, in effect, is what the industry leaders are doing, and they are focused on three vital factors when testing the security of today?s corporate networks:

  • Rapid response
  • Accurate modeling
  • Simple, flexible test processes

Rapid response

Operation High Roller exemplifies the threat of faster acting and faster evolving attacks. So many existing attack mechanisms and types of malware are already available and out there that creating a new attack does not require sitting down and writing all the code from scratch. Most new attacks are based on existing code being tweaked to evade existing defenses and reassembled in some new combination. That can happen faster than the old procedures ? a) report an attack, b) analyze it and create a patch, c) distribute the patch ? can keep up with.

Similarly, testing for vulnerability means that the tester must keep ahead of the game ? not only knowing the latest attacks as soon as they appear but also keeping up with all the new apps that are coming on line and which could be introducing unexpected vulnerabilities into the system.

Today?s most advanced Cloud-based test solutions support this need by supplying immediate ready-to-run tests for all consumer and business apps likely to be used, such as: Facebook, Skype, Netflix, Twitter, BitTorrent, VMware and Google Docs.

Note that it is no longer enough simply to say ?we have tested the security of Skype on our network?, because in a BYOD environment different users will have different versions, presenting a range of vulnerabilities, over their diverse set of devices. With a Cloud-based solution, however, hundreds of tests can be added every month and updated automatically to keep up with new version, new type of device or operating system.

Accurate modeling

Network traffic is not uniform in structure: thousands of different applications running on hundreds of different traffic protocols all share space at any time on the network, each subject to unexpected surges in demand. BYOD brings ever more applications into the picture ? social networking, voice and rich media applications, cloud computing, video, smartphone traffic ? and into this mix comes the growth of malicious attack traffic.

How realistically can the test process model the many protocols on the network? You can define a protocol in terms of its packet structure, but does the model realistically reflect the real world timing between packets? For example: an application runs on broadband much faster than on a mobile phone, and in applications such as VoIP the timing pattern is determined as much by typical user speech patterns as the actual protocol structure.

It is likely that more than 80% of your traffic is driven by applications, so test tools that focus purely on protocols ? inserting random data in the application payload ? are not good enough. Application awareness runs through a BYOD or mobile user network: next generation firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, mobile packet gateways, policy routers and many other systems on the network will not detect an application or react to it in a realistic manner unless the test tool can recreate a realistic application-level state, with regards to cookies, session IDs, NAT translations, ALG-driven modifications, authentication challenges, lengths and checksums.

So testing application-aware systems requires a tool that accurately recreates application traffic and maintains application state ? and this must happen fast, for all versions of the application. To model the true behavior of the network, you need a new generation test solution that is also designed to behave exactly as real clients would in the face of congestion and flow control situations.

It must also be designed to deliver consistent, repeatable results to allow comparison between test runs to determine whether changes are effective. In addition, test solution should be able to recreate custom and proprietary application traffic for cases where in-house purpose built applications are used.

Simple, flexible test procedures

Accurate modeling of the actual traffic on a BYOD, largely mobile network is what makes realistic security testing possible, as networks become increasingly application-aware. The right test tool can recreate an application-level state that takes account of multiple factors ? cookies, session IDs, NAT translations, ALG-driven modifications, authentication challenges, lengths, checksums etc.

The most advanced network test solutions do indeed model traffic in such detail and, when combined with a constantly updated Cloud database, they can not only test in depth but also keep up with advances in technology, user behavior and new types of threats. Response times will be cut from days to hours or less but, unless the resulting tests are quick and simple to customize and run, the advantage will be lost in a typical busy IT department.

This takes us back to one of the oldest problems in security: the need to balance absolute safety against simple, user-friendly deployment. If safety procedures become too cumbersome, people will begin to take shortcuts and that leads to gaps in the defenses. So also with security testing: no matter how good the test procedure, if it proves too elaborate and time consuming it will be postponed or curtailed.

The Cloud-based library of up-to-date tests saves much time and effort, but off-the-peg tests can only go so far. The most advanced test solutions also have the flexibility to allow precisely targeted adjustments to tests ? for example by modifying port numbers, embedding IP addresses, session IDs, or URLs etc, to better understand the system?s limits.

Even now, many test tools only allow adjustments to a few pre-defined fields, whereas more sophisticated solutions should allow this across all layers. Once the protocol field at the application layer has been parameterized, you should then be able to insert custom values, using a list, spreadsheet, range, or random values. For example, you could test URL filtering by modifying the URL field of the payload with the click of a button to see what happens when thousands of alternate values are supplied.

A further refinement is testing for unexpected divergences from the norm. For example, a date field DD/MM/YYYY: if a user keys in a two digit year instead of four, or uses letters for the month, could that crash the system? Exploring reactions to such errors is known as ?fuzz testing? and very few test tools support this.

Those that do too often rely on random ?bit flipping? and flooding of malformed packets ? a rudimentary form of fuzzing, that does not help build intelligent fuzz test cases for all the field types at the application layer in the way that an advanced test solution should do with just simple button clicks.

It is the ?clicks of a button? that are so important here. When choosing a security test solution, don?t just research what it can do but also how easily it can do it. Automated, repeatable tests that can be set up via a simple graphical interface without needing specialist scripting skills not only save time and reduce staff overheads but also make sure the tests are actually carried out properly, and on time.

Conclusion

Networks for mobile users, bringing their own devices and apps into the organization, need to be intelligent and application aware to handle such complex traffic patterns. Testing the security of such a complex and apparently open system presents a near impossible task in terms of old style network test procedures.

Today?s most advanced test solutions, however, are ahead of the game. They incorporate a Cloud based service that proactively keeps all test procedures up to date with new developments in application, versions, devices and user behavior. They have a simple interface allowing tests to be set up, fine-tuned and programmed to run automatically, with a minimum amount of expertise and time required.?In a world where cybercrime is evolving so fast, it is the test system?s sheer flexibility and simplicity that helps you to move even faster and keep ahead of the cyber-crime game.

Marc Meulensteen

As EMEA Business Development Manager for Layer 4-7 Application and Security testing, Marc Meulensteen is responsible for new business for Spirent L4-7 Test Solution in the European and Middle East and African Markets. Marc joined Spirent in 2001 as System Engineer for the BeNeLux market. In this role Marc was responsible for technical Sales support with large accounts like Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper and Cisco in Belgium and the Netherlands. In this time Marc gained his expertise in testing and more specific in the newer technologies. In 2006 he changed to the current role of Business Development Manager. Marc is involved of introduction of new testing methodologies and new testing areas like video streaming and video quality testing and more recently in deploying there test technologies in the DataCenter and Cloud.

As EMEA Business Development Manager for Layer 4-7 Application and Security testing, Marc Meulensteen is responsible for new business for Spirent L4-7 Test Solution in the European and Middle East and African Markets. Marc joined Spirent in 2001 as System Engineer for the BeNeLux market. In this role Marc was responsible for technical Sales support with large accounts like Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper and Cisco in Belgium and the Netherlands. In this time Marc gained his expertise in testing and more specific in the newer technologies. In 2006 he changed to the current role of Business Development Manager. Marc is involved of introduction of new testing methodologies and new testing areas like video streaming and video quality testing and more recently in deploying there test technologies in the DataCenter and Cloud. ...less info

Source: http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/network-security-a-moving-target-provides-an-easier-hit/

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How politicians use SEO to optimize their campaing ? Internet ...

It may be getting colder outside, but the political climate continues to heat up. We are just under 30 days away from the 2012 Presidential election.? And, right now, voters are talking, Tweeting, updating their Facebook status, and uploading YouTube videos about the key topics of interest in voters? minds.? Whether federal spending, jobs and the economy, education, energy, national security, health care, or the environment are your main issues of concern, the fact still remains that our future IS at stake.? But, the real solution lies beyond the scope of the political machine, the solution lies within the people.? We have the power to change our futures.? Think about the difference one vote makes.

Well, in the business world, the same rules apply.? Small business owners have the power to increase their ROI?s by keeping up to speed with the ever changing climate of online marketing.

In the world of internet marketing, various methods are utilized to attract potential customers to a businesses? website. One such method is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which ensures that more traffic is driven to your businesses website through the careful analysis of keywords and original content outlined on your webpage and blogs.

The power of one connection can make all the difference.? Partnering with the right SEO company can help your business connect with a whole new world of business opportunities in an ever evolving and expanding internet marketplace.? At Ipsum Total Marketing, we have the tools and experienced professional staff available to analyze your businesses website.? We will ensure that your website is properly search engine optimized so that more traffic is driven to it every time your potential customers search for your product or service.

So, don?t wait until election day to take control of the future of your business, start investing in the future of your business, today. Contact us so we can show you how to prepare your business for global expansion.

Source: http://www.ipsumtm.com/blog/how-politicians-use-seo-to-optimize-their-campaing/

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Tibetan man sets himself on fire to protest China

BEIJING (AP) ? The grandfather of a revered Tibetan Buddhist figure died Saturday after setting himself on fire in protest of Chinese rule, the London-based rights group Free Tibet said.

The incident is the latest of dozens of self-immolations by Tibetans since 2009.

Free Tibet said 52-year-old Tamdrin Dorjee died at the scene near Tsoe Monastery in northwestern China's Gansu province.

It said the man is the grandfather of the 7th Gungthang Rinpoche, believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be the reincarnation of an important religious figure.

Dorjee's body was taken to his home village, Free Tibet said. Photos said to be from the scene show dozens of villagers and monks gathered around a body in smoke.

The self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile confirmed the report. It said a heavy presence of paramilitary police in and around the monastery followed the self-immolation.

More than 50 Tibetans have self-immolated to protest China's rule of the Himalayan region, and most of them have died, according to tallies by Tibetan rights groups.

The government-in-exile has urged Tibetans not to give up their lives in self-immolation protests. Meanwhile, it tries to gain international support for their struggles against China's rule.

Calls to the government and police offices for Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where the self-immolation took place, rang unanswered Saturday evening.

China has blamed the Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting the immolations, but he denies the claim.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tibetan-man-sets-himself-fire-protest-china-113742157.html

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Computers And Technology: Pc Forensics Article Class

Normally we think of maintenance as a chore, one thing we?ve got to do to keep things working smoothly and stop issues down the street, whether with our car, house, or computer. But with a PC, maintenance can really be enjoyable ? approached from the right perspective.

While you go for most of these companies then you do not have to hold your personal pc or laptop computer to the computer repairing shop. You do not need to wait for very long time if you opting for the computer restore services. They will provide you onsite repairing and get the problem fixed in much less time.

Another big benefit stays high quality providers and an unexceptional expertise. On-line computer assist facilities rent a highly educated workers to handle every form of support queries to assist consumers avail the perfect support! You possibly can seek for unique computer assist resources by finishing up a simple search on the Internet. You keywords like computer help, laptop assist, and technical support to have refined search.

Many women and men do not take into consideration trying to repair the actual contextlinks1 themselves. The original stress of dropping info, or your pc not working, can actually throw you off looking for a solution immediately. Nevertheless frequently the very best to resolve complaints are the most typical ones. Consequently, it truly is definitely best in case you examine any problems you?re having with your laptop so to presumably repair all of them on your own.

In case you have all the time wished to be taught the distinction between HTML, C++ and any other programming language, there are numerous courses obtainable on-line that can allow you to advance your profession and supply training in pc languages. Being licensed in computer programming can mean you can be employed in the whole lot from pc gaming design to pc repair and lots of other high paying jobs. Pc programming coaching permits you to have a leg up on many new careers that involve pc skills. The more society becomes computerized, the more there can be a need for individuals who are skilled in the right way to program computers.

If you?re a prescription glasses wearer, you also can opt for a pair of prescription pc glasses, which can meet the requirement of individuals with visual needs. Unlike conventional prescription eyeglasses, prescription computer glasses not solely will help you to see clearly, but additionally oblige you to right laptop imaginative and prescient syndrome. In addition, if you can not see the objective clearly each in further and clear distance, a pair of progressive laptop glasses is usually recommended since it has three imaginative and prescient zones which might assist you to see clearly.

To make computer faster, make sure to remove or delete as a lot recordsdata and applications as possible. On your recordsdata, verify the date you final opened each file to identify which recordsdata to delete and to keep. Make a folder for the never to be deleted recordsdata, which, because the title indicates, contains recordsdata which you need for a long interval of time. Files comparable to resumes, soft copy of your IDs, certificates, contracts, etc. Make separate folders for the rest of the vital information, and delete the others.

Careers in laptop science supply each job security as well as alternatives for growth. Computer science jobs also provide flexibility and longevity in the marketplace. Companies use websites as a comparatively cheap strategy to obtain a worldwide presence. Subsequently, firms want people who can replace and manage their websites; that is where the cash is.

Should you would like further information about special offer read Wilda J. Harderman?s site there is plenty of information not outlined in this post, visit Author?s web blog to locate more.

Source: http://brettstclair.com/?p=2611

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Friday, October 12, 2012

iPod touch 5 gallery

If you thought the iPhone 5 set a new bar for thin and light, wait until you see the iPod touch 5. Thanks to the miniaturized Lightning connector and the single layer in-cell display, the iPod touch 5 really is entering the realm of ludicrously, turn-it-sideways-and-it-almost-disappears thin.

Unlike previous years, stainless steel on the back of the iPod touch has given way to aluminum. Anodized aluminum to be precise. We've seen that with the iPods nano and shuffle before, and it's nice to see it on the touch now as well. For the first time, you can also choose between black, white & silver, blue, yellow, pink and, at Apple Stores only, (product) RED. We've got blue and silver so far, with more on the way. So sit back, relax, and take a look at the new iPod touch... if you can see it.

All photos taken with a Nikon D800 and a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens, macros taken with a Canon 5D Mark III and a EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens by Rene Ritchie, embedded at HiDPI for iPhones, iPad 3, and Retina MacBook Pro.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/8TPzllWgPvM/story01.htm

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Nicki Minaj Tweets Release Date, Cover For Roman Re-Up

'American Idol' judge Minaj says Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded -- The Re-Up will drop on November 19.
By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Nadeska Alexis


Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded -- The REUP
Photo: Young Money

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1695344/nicki-minaj-roman-re-up-album-release.jhtml

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FEATURE-Doctors torn over heart screening for young athletes

NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters Health) - Christopher Storm was a high school freshman and track runner when doctors found an abnormality in his heart. Part of the muscle was thicker than it should have been, making it harder for it to send blood to the rest of his body.

The condition, known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is one of the most common causes of sudden cardiac death - when the heart abruptly stops beating.

Storm's disease was caught on an electrocardiogram (ECG), a test of the heart's electrical signals, done by volunteer doctors who visited his school, the Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois, near his hometown of Naperville, as part of a community screening program offered to all students.

"There was nothing - no lightheadedness, no reason for me to believe that anything was wrong," Storm, now 17, said almost two years after that test.

He believes it may have saved his life, but the idea of screening all young athletes for heart conditions is controversial.

Italy and many other European countries already screen teen and adult athletes before they play sports, and some researchers have called for regular testing of U.S. kids and teens as well to try to prevent rare but deadly cardiac arrests. But so far, data haven't definitively shown that screening could reliably weed out only the most at-risk kids and do so at a price that wouldn't break the bank.

Based on Italian data, British researchers have calculated that close to 800 athletes like Storm would have to be kept out of sports, even given available treatment options, for every death prevented.

Not only that, but "you tell them that they're basically walking around with a ticking time bomb," said Dr. Anders Holst, from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, adding that the vast majority will be scared unnecessarily.

Sudden cardiac death kills an estimated 100 to 1,000 children in the U.S. every year - an estimate that's so wide because reliable records of the deaths haven't been kept.

Because many young people with heart conditions never have symptoms, the diseases typically aren't caught until after a tragedy.

Wes Leonard was a 16-year-old high school basketball player from Fennville, Michigan, who collapsed after sinking a game-winning shot in March 2011. He was pronounced dead from sudden cardiac arrest due to dilated cardiomyopathy - when the heart becomes weakened and enlarged.

Some experts believe that if more young athletes were screened early on, a number of those deaths could be prevented.

One such proponent is Dr. Joseph Marek, a cardiologist from the Midwest Heart Foundation in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, who directs the screening program that tested Christopher Storm.

"We've identified a good number of kids who had life-threatening conditions who were unaware," Marek said.

QUESTIONS AND LIMITATIONS

Most doctors acknowledge that screening isn't a perfect solution. Although an ECG can run as low as $10, costs add up when millions of kids are screened.

And some results are false positives suggesting abnormalities in actually healthy hearts. In one study, 7 percent of all ECG-screened athletes needed additional testing, which can add up to $2,000 per person.

Even if more invasive tests confirm underlying problems, it's usually impossible to tell which kids would have died as a result and which would never have had any trouble, researchers said.

The evidence supporting ECG screening comes largely from Italy, which implemented a program to screen all teens and adults in organized sports in 1982. (http://reut.rs/JyNuPz).

After 20 to 25 years of collecting data, Dr. Gaetano Thiene from the University of Padua Medical School and his colleagues say they've shown that screening and disqualifying some athletes saved lives.

In the Veneto region the number of young athletes, male and female, dying of sudden cardiac arrest fell from one in 28,000 each year to one in 250,000, according to a 2006 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

By law, Italians aren't eligible for competitive sports until their hearts are cleared by a doctor.

Thiene said about 1 percent of Italian athletes are disqualified and referred for treatment based on ECG and other test results.

WHEN NOT IN ROME

Many doctors question whether the Italian results can be applied to the U.S. population.

For one, ECG screening is less accurate in non-Caucasians, according to Dr. Charles Berul, chief of cardiology at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The rate of sudden cardiac death in Americans is also lower, matching that of Italians who have already passed screening tests.

The early Italian figures "might have just been a blip to begin with," said Dr. Anne Dubin, a pediatric cardiologist at Stanford University and the Children's Heart Center in Palo Alto, California.

"Or it could be that there are certain genetic rhythm problems that are inherent in Italy that we have here but not to the same extent," she said.

Other European countries have followed Italy's lead and implemented ECG screening for young athletes. A study group for the European Society of Cardiology determined the evidence warrants such tests.

Danish cardiologists broke from the European Society of Cardiology on screening, according to Holst of Copenhagen University Hospital.

He compared ECGs to prostate-specific antigen tests for prostate cancer. U.S. and European doctors intuitively thought PSA tests would save lives long before there was much evidence, he said. Yet recent reports, including one from a U.S.-wide trial, have suggested the harm of over-treatment may not be worth any small potential screening benefit.

FINDING ANSWERS

Researchers would need a "gold standard" trial - in which young athletes are randomly assigned to get ECGs or not - to determine if screening is worthwhile, Holst said.

That would require a huge number of athletes and decades of follow-up.

"It's not feasible in my view," he said.

"I'm afraid I don't have any clue as to how we are going to get a definitive answer. But until we one day might get that, I think we should just step down."

Cardiologist Dr. Robert Myerburg from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine doesn't support waiting for persuasive data.

"I think we ought to implement (screening)," he said. "Some number of deaths can be prevented as we're going along, as we're doing the research."

Organizing a federal screening program probably isn't realistic in the United States, Myerburg said, but individual states can start screening high school athletes, he suggested.

Marek, from the Midwest Heart Foundation, said communities can sponsor in-school screening if local cardiologists are willing to volunteer to save money.

Without them, adding an ECG screening program to a traditional history and physical would cost $117 per athlete, or about $69,000 per "quality" year of life saved, according to the National Institutes of Health. The bar for cost-effectiveness is typically considered to be $50,000 per quality life-year saved.

Using a lower ECG price, Stanford researchers said screening could be cost-effective. According to their model, if the 3.7 million student-athletes deemed to be potentially at risk were screened, 183,000 would be referred for further testing. One in six of those would get results confirming a heart problem. The cost would be just under $43,000 per life-year saved.

Depending on the particular abnormality, treatment can include heart medications, surgery or exercise restrictions only.

For Christopher Storm's condition, doctors placed an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and pacemaker in his chest to keep his heartbeat regular.

He's allowed to exercise as long as his heart rate stays below 155 beats per minute. He can't run competitively but plays pick-up basketball with his friends, who let him stay on one half of the court.

"The biggest thing for me is, I'm always hearing about the athletes who collapse on the court or on the field... from the exact same thing that I have," Storm said.

The American Heart Association recommends a physical and history only for kids starting sports.

"I certainly understand the desire to want to do something, but we need to be cautious about that," said Dr. Jonathan Kaltman, a medical officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

"We need to be able to confidently say that we're doing more good than harm before launching a screening program that's going to affect many, many lives." (Editing by Ivan Oransky, Prudence Crowther and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/feature-doctors-torn-over-heart-screening-young-athletes-154253832--sector.html

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

SpeakEasy Cafe "The Sound of Ink" Open Mic Poetry Show 10/11 by ...

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    On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.

  • MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.

  • Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.

  • Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.

  • Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.

  • Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.

  • Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.

  • The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.

  • Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.

  • Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.

  • Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.

  • Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/speakeasycafe/2012/10/11/speakeasy-cafe-the-sound-of-ink-open-mic-poetry-show

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    New cave-dwelling reef coral discovered in the Indo-Pacific

    ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) ? Coral specialist Dr. Bert W. Hoeksema of Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, recently published the description of a new coral species that lives on the ceilings of caves in Indo-Pacific coral reefs. It differs from its closest relatives by its small polyp size and by the absence of symbiotic algae, so-called zooxanthellae. Its distribution range overlaps with the Coral Triangle, an area that is famous for its high marine species richness. Marine zoologists of Naturalis visit this area frequently to explore its marine biodiversity.

    Reef corals in shallow tropical seas normally need the symbiotic algae for their survival and growth. Without these algae, many coral reefs would not exist. During periods of elevated seawater temperature, most reef corals lose their algae, which is visible as a dramatic whitening of the reefs, a coral disease known as bleaching.

    Most reef corals generally do not occur over 40 m depth, a twilight zone where sunlight is not bright anymore, but some species of the genus Leptoseris are exceptional and may even occur much deeper. At greater depths, seawater is generally colder and corals here may be less susceptible to bleaching than those at shallower depths. Despite the lack of zooxanthellae and its small size, the skeleton structures of the new species indicate that it is closely related to these Leptoseris corals, although it has not been found deeper than 35 m so far.

    The species is named Leptoseris troglodyta. The word troglodyta is derived from ancient Greek and means "one who dwells in holes," a cave dweller. The discovery sheds new light on the relation of reef corals with symbiotic algae. The new species has adapted to a life without them. Consequently, it may not grow fast, which would be convenient because space is limited on cave ceilings. The species description is published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


    Journal Reference:

    1. Hoeksema BW. Forever in the dark: the cave-dwelling azooxanthellate reef coral Leptoseris troglodyta sp. n. (Scleractinia, Agariciidae). ZooKeys, 2012 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.228.3798

    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/~3/4yJ1ySMVI58/121011090649.htm

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    Wednesday, October 10, 2012

    Single spider dads caring for eggs suffer no disadvantages despite parenting costs

    ScienceDaily (Oct. 10, 2012) ? Single fatherhood is a challenge many arachnids undertake, guarding eggs laid by females despite the costs to their own health and mating benefits, but the news may not be all bad for these dads.

    New research now shows that, in one species of spiders, males exclusively responsible for guarding eggs actually enjoy survival benefits rather than suffer losses to health or mating privileges. The study, published Oct. 10 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gustavo Santos Requena and colleagues from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, evaluates the costs and benefits of exclusive paternal care, the rarest form of parental investment in nature, in the harvestman spider Iporangaia pustulosa.

    The researchers tracked spiders in the forests of southeastern Brazil over the course of a year to observe how caring behavior in males affected their chances of survival or body condition. Though caring males feed very rarely and lose body condition while guarding eggs, the authors found that these spiders suffered no long-term decrease in fitness compared to females or non-caring males. Their sedentary behavior during the caring period also makes them less likely to be eaten by predators, reducing their mortality risk. The authors also suggest that providing females cost-free care for their offspring might make caring males more attractive to females, thereby improving their chances for reproductive success.

    According to the authors, their results suggest that the reduction in mortality risk, combined with the genetic advantages of improving survival of their offspring, may have played important roles in favoring the evolution of paternal care in insects.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

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


    Journal Reference:

    1. Requena GS, Buzatto BA, Martins EG, Machado G. Paternal Care Decreases Foraging Activity and Body Condition, but Does Not Impose Survival Costs to Caring Males in a Neotropical Arachnid. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7(10): e46701 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046701

    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/~3/g0zZyUL-nD8/121010172118.htm

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    The graphene-paved roadmap: 'Wonder material' has potential to revolutionize our lives

    ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) ? Wonder material graphene could not only dominate the electronic market in the near future, it could also lead to a huge range of new markets and novel applications, a landmark University of Manchester paper claims.

    Writing in Nature, Nobel Prize-winner Professor Kostya Novoselov and an international team of authors has produced a 'Graphene Roadmap' which for the first time sets out what the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material can truly achieve.

    The paper details how graphene, isolated for the first time at The University of Manchester by Professor Novoselov and colleague Professor Andre Geim in 2004, has the potential to revolutionise diverse applications from smartphones and ultrafast broadband to anticancer drugs and computer chips.

    One key area is touchscreen devices, such as Apple's iPad, which use indium tin oxide. Graphene's outstanding mechanical flexibility and chemical durability are far superior. Graphene touchscreen devices would prove far more long-lasting and would open a way for flexible devices.

    The authors estimate that the first graphene touchscreen devices could be on the market within three to five years, but will only realise its full potential in flexible electronics applications.

    Rollable e-paper is another application which should be available as a prototype by 2015 -- graphene's flexibility proving ideal for fold-up electronic sheets which could revolutionise electronics.

    Timescales for applications vary greatly upon the quality of graphene required, the report claims. For example, the researchers estimate devices including photo-detectors, high-speed wireless communications and THz generators (for use in medical imaging and security devices) would not be available until at least 2020, while anticancer drugs and graphene as a replacement for silicon is unlikely to become a reality until around 2030.

    The paper also details the different ways of producing graphene -- processes which have evolved hugely from the sticky tape method pioneered by the Nobel Laureates.

    The paper asserts that there are three main methods for making graphene:

    • Liquid phase and thermal exfoliation -- exposing graphite to a solvent which splits it into individual flakes of graphene. This method is ideal for energy applications (batteries and supercapacitors) as well as graphene paints and inks for products such as printed electronics, smart windows and electromagnetic shielding. Adding additional functionality to composite materials (extra strength, conductivity, moisture barrier) is another area such graphene can be applied.
    • Chemical Vapour Deposition -- growing graphene films on copper foils, for use in flexible and transparent electronics applications and photonics, among others.
    • Synthesis on Silicon Carbide -- growing graphene on either the silicon or carbon faces of this material commonly used for high power electronics. This can result in very high quality graphene with excellently-formed crystals, perfect for high-frequency transistors.

    Professor Novoselov said: "Graphene has a potential to revolutionise many aspects of our lives simultaneously. Some applications might appear within a few years already and some still require years of hard work.

    "Different applications require different grades of graphene and those which use the lowest grade will be the first to appear, probably as soon as in a few years. Those which require the highest quality may well take decades.

    "Because the developments in the last few years were truly explosive, graphene's prospects continue to rapidly improve.

    "Graphene is a unique crystal in a sense that it has singlehandedly usurped quite a number of superior properties: from mechanical to electronic. This suggests that its full power will only be realised in novel applications, which are designed specifically with this material in mind, rather than when it is called to substitute other materials in existing applications.

    "One thing is certain -- scientists and engineers will continue looking into prospects offered by graphene and, along the way, many more ideas for new applications are likely to emerge."

    His co-author Professor Volodya Falko, from Lancaster University, said: "By our paper, we aim to raise awareness of engineers, innovators, and entrepreneurs to the enormous potential of graphene to improve the existing technologies and to generate new products.

    "To mention, in some countries, including Korea, Poland and the UK national funding agencies already run multi-million engineering-led research programmes aiming at commercialisation of graphene at a large scale."

    The paper was written with colleagues from Lancaster University, Texas Instruments Incorporated, AstraZeneca, BASF and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Manchester.

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


    Journal Reference:

    1. K. S. Novoselov, V. I. Fal?ko, L. Colombo, P. R. Gellert, M. G. Schwab, K. Kim. A roadmap for graphene. Nature, 2012; 490 (7419): 192 DOI: 10.1038/nature11458

    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/matter_energy/technology/~3/DNlwv_QPkQo/121010131440.htm

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    Tuesday, October 9, 2012

    Fujifilm FinePix S4000 14 MP Digital Camera with Fujinon 30x ...

    The?Finepix S4000?camera?boasts a?high?resolution?14?megapixel?CCD,?a bright?3.0??LCD?screen?(460K?dot?resolution), and award?winning?Fujinon?optics equipped with a 30X Optical Zoom.The Finepix S4000 is also?intuitive?and?easy?to?operate,?and?packed?full?of?useful?features?and?technologies.?With?its?mega?24mm?wide-angle?to?720mm?telephoto?lens,?the?S4000?can?capture?anything?from?a?stunning?landscape?to?extreme close-up shots. The S4000 also features a?mechanically?stabilized?14?megapixel?CCD?sensor?and?high?ISO?sensitivity?settings which combine to offer?Fujifilm?s?Dual?Image Stabilization technology.This combination reduces the blurring effects in many shooting conditions. Also Panorama mode, HD movie, Face Detection, and Easy Web Uploader combine with a host of other features to make the Finepix S4000 a feature-packed and versatile shooter for virtually any photographer.

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    Art News | Defenders of Culture

    A Q&A with Aimee Smallwood, CEO of the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation

    What is your organization?s mission?
    When we look at the cultural economy as a sector, it is the second largest economic driver in the state of Louisiana. The mission of LCEF is to support the people who work in that sector.

    What are the ?cultural industries? of Louisiana?
    Our cultural industries are what people all over the world think of when they hear ?New Orleans? or ?Louisiana;? so, in a sense, our culture is our brand. LCEF serves all of the cultural industries that make Louisiana so unique; these include art, architecture, gastronomy, graphic design and digital media, fashion, film and video, literature, historic preservation, music and more.

    What kind of initiatives has LCEF put forth?

    Our two major initiatives are our Healthcare Initiative and our Economic Opportunity Fund.

    Cultural workers tend to be an ?at-risk? population?those with low-income and little to no health insurance. The LCEF Healthcare Initiative connects cultural workers to free or low-cost healthcare services.

    Through our Economic Opportunity Fund grant program, we make seed grants to individuals, cultural nonprofits and small cultural businesses with ideas for innovative ways to build their own revenue streams. Their plans must be feasible and well thought out, but must also be outside the norm of their usual activities. Some examples include:

    Stacy LaFleur, a visual artist from the Northshore who utilized funding to create a boxed painting instruction kit. Much like businesses that teach painting to groups using pre-sketched images on canvas, LaFleur?s kit provides a similar experience, but with the instruction included. Her kits have been especially popular with hospital patients who cannot attend classes, but can still benefit from the healing aspects of painting and being creative.

    ?Queen Reesie? is a Mardi Gras Indian who was funded to develop a show to educate schoolchildren about one of our most fascinating cultural traditions. Her performance employs Mardi Gras Indians, providing them with income opportunities throughout the year. Queen Reesie?s tribe also received funding to create more compact and travel-friendly Indian costumes so that Queen Reesie?s crew can take their demonstrations on the road.

    Sarah Dunn is a visual artist who used EOF funds to transfer her artwork to textiles. After creating a line of pillows and scarves, she partnered with local fashion designer Michelle Beatty, and the duo received funds to create an eco-friendly clothing line that debuted at Fashion Week New Orleans this past spring.

    Why were Mayor Landrieu and Jennifer Eplett Reilly selected to be honored at the 2012 LCEF annual fundraising event, LA F?te Louisiane?

    Mayor Landrieu: LCEF was the mayor?s brainchild, designed to revive New Orleans? cultural economy after Hurricane Katrina. He established our organization in 2005 when he was Lieutenant Governor. Additionally, he launched the Cultural Economy Initiative at the state level in order to fill some of the gaps of government in serving the cultural workers of Louisiana. His vision has been a catalyst nationally and internationally for quantifying the impact of culture on economies, and we continue to be inspired by his thinking.

    Jennifer Eplett Reilly: One the organization?s original founders, Reilly, like Mayor Landrieu, believed strongly in the concept of culture as a major part of the state?s economy. She exemplifies a driven commitment to shed light on the importance of culture to our state; she is not only a founder of LCEF, but of other organizations as well.

    What can we expect from the 2012 LA F?te Louisiane?

    This is the first year that LA F?te will recognize honorees; we are really excited about that part of the event. I must say, though, that this is not going to be one of those stodgy events with lots of speeches and rubber chicken! LA F?te Louisiane is more like a high-end festival with incredible entertainment?the Original Pinettes Brass Band, Clint Maedgen, a gospel group called United Praise Singers and more. Guests will also be treated to fashion, performance art, a silent auction, food from Louisiana restaurants and demonstrations from some of our grantees. We want guests to witness how their funds are used by bringing them together with the very grantees who have made a great impact on our culture. In response to a 10 pm noise ordinance, we have planned a silent disco for dancing under the stars: guests wear wireless headsets and a live DJ spins tunes that only the dancers can hear! This should be fun for dancers and observers. Purchase tickets at www.culturaleconomy.org or by calling (504) 895-2800.

    Source: http://www.livingneworleans.com/?p=7838

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    Monday, October 8, 2012

    APNewsBreak: Raese built golf club without permits

    (AP) ? Republican Senate candidate John Raese filled in wetlands and damaged more than 2 miles of streams when he rerouted them to create waterfalls on a private, 18-hole West Virginia golf course that federal regulators say he built without the required permits.

    The years-long construction of Pikewood National Golf Club near Morgantown is "probably the biggest violation we've ever seen in this district," Sheila Tunney, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh, told The Associated Press.

    More than two years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Raese, the club's president, to develop a plan to mitigate the damage. Tunney says work on that plan is ongoing.

    Raese, who's challenging incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin, recently called Pikewood "the nicest golf course in the United States" and a local job creator. He didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

    The millionaire businessman campaigns routinely on a platform that includes abolishing several federal agencies, including the EPA, and the government regulations that he says squelch economic development.

    EPA officials have repeatedly declined to answer questions about the violations but did provide the AP a copy of a six-page compliance order issued in March 2010. The last page says EPA "reserves the right to seek any remedy available under the law," including pursuit of any civil or criminal charges it deems appropriate.

    Tunney said the corps first learned about the 1,300-acre golf course, which sits on the Monongalia-Preston county border, from a farmer who complained he was no longer getting water from a local stream.

    The course took several years to build, and aerial photos show the waterfalls are at par-3 fifth hole, dubbed "Mow Green." The website describes it as a small, peanut-shaped green with a limestone ledge on one side and a "reflection pond" on the other.

    "Designed to fit the lay of the land, Pikewood National has a natural look," its website proclaims. "In fact, the only earth that was disturbed in the making of this course was that used to build greens and tees, and the rest of the land is allowed to lie as God intended it."

    But the corps says the waterfalls and ponds are not natural; they were created by rerouting waterways.

    "I can only assume what they mean is they kept the natural forest around it, which they did," said Jon Coleman, a project manager in the corps' regulatory branch who has been investigating the work since mid-2009.

    In all, the construction diverted, buried or otherwise disturbed nearly 2.3 miles of streams and about one-seventh of an acre of wetlands, Coleman said. Workers also built dams that disrupted Laurel Run, a tributary of Deckers Creek.

    "The ponds and stuff, those are some of the big violations," Coleman said. Damming a waterway not only changes the quality of the water but has the potential to dry up downstream areas.

    Reconstructing the damage is difficult, he added, because it occurred so long ago.

    "It's like an autopsy," Coleman said, only with tools including historical maps and satellite imagery.

    By law, Raese should have sought a permit to place dredge and fill material in waterways under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the same section mining companies use. As a quarry owner, Raese would be familiar with such permits.

    There are two kinds of 404 permits, a nationwide or general permit typically used for projects that are smaller and have little environmental impact. Those permits are free, but analyzing the project and coming up with strategies to minimize harm typically takes 45 days, Coleman said.

    An individual permit, which has more in-depth requirements and includes a 30-day public notice provision, would have cost $100 and taken about 120 days to obtain.

    Raese hinted at the problems with Pikewood last week while calling again for abolition of the EPA, suggesting during a Shepherdstown debate that the agency and the corps are trying to punish him. He accused the EPA of "terrorizing business" and offered Pikewood ? which he did not mention by name ? as an example of valuable job creation.

    "You know what happens to me?" he said in the debate. "Right now, the EPA and the Army Corps are my new partner because they're up there every day. Fines. Looking at me, for what? I don't know. I built it on 1,300 acres and they're looking at probably 20 feet by 30 feet.

    "Can you imagine this, when you try to create something that's so beautiful and so pretty and has won so many awards?" he added. "My award is that I'm chastised by government."

    Golf Digest rated Pikewood the best new private course of 2009, noting its membership "initiation fee" is $30,000.

    According to Links magazine, Raese and Greer Industries vice president Bob Gwynne designed and built the course themselves rather than hire an architect. Raese is president of Greer, a steel and limestone producer.

    "We wanted to feature the natural terrain and the rock formations on the property," Gwynne told the magazine. "After all, we are in the rock business. We wanted to make the most natural course we could."

    Raese is also chairman of the board of West Virginia Radio Corp. and the MetroNews radio network, and vice president of the company that publishes The Dominion Post newspaper.

    This is Raese's fourth Senate bid. He challenged Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 1984 and the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd in 2006. In a special election to fill Byrd's unexpired term after his death in 2010, Raese lost to Manchin by 10 percentage points.

    Now Manchin and Raese are competing for a full term.

    ___

    Online:

    Pikewood: http://www.pikewoodnational.com/

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-08-Senate-West%20Virginia/id-1ffde526d1f34b6fa66b0bbd0f54cc86

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