In push for Hagel, no leading from behind from White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Pentagon, prepared to meet with senior New York Senator Chuck Schumer in mid-January, the White House stepped in and ensured that the get-together would take place quickly - and in the West Wing.

Some of the loudest objections to Obama's choice of Hagel for secretary of defense stemmed from lawmakers' concerns about his past comments on Israel and Iran.

And with Schumer, the leading Jewish Democrat in Congress, among those expressing doubts, the administration wanted to make absolutely clear that it expected his support. Hosting the meeting in the White House wing housing the president's official offices was a symbol of its importance to the administration.

The West Wing session - followed by Schumer's effusive endorsement of Hagel - was part of an all-out offensive Obama's White House has launched to secure Hagel's nomination, administration officials and congressional aides said. The campaign has included a Pentagon task force, hours of meetings and, at times, some judicious direct intervention.

Hagel, 66, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former two-term Republican senator, emerged as a leading candidate to replace Leon Panetta almost as quickly as the defense secretary announced his retirement.

Hagel's Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning, and his approval is less than a sure bet.

To battle a well-financed firestorm of objections from neoconservative and gay rights groups, the White House lined up a large team to work with Hagel and make the former Nebraska senator's case to his former colleagues.

The group included Obama allies like Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who pushed Schumer and other balky Democrats to back Hagel, White House officials and Hagel aides from his two terms in the Senate.

Administration officials have reached out to Jewish groups and reassured gay rights activists. Hagel met with leaders of some of the largest Jewish-American groups at the White House on Friday, where he was joined by Vice President Joe Biden.

And they have enlisted an array of luminaries to serve as Hagel ambassadors. Thirteen former secretaries of defense and state and national security advisers from both parties sent a letter to senators last week strongly backing his nomination.

Hagel will be introduced at his hearing by two former Senate Armed Services committee chairmen, Democrat Sam Nunn and Republican John Warner, who both - like Hagel - were known for breaking from party doctrine on a range of issues.

'MURDER BOARDS'

Hagel has set up a Pentagon office and has a transition team helping him to prepare. He has met with Panetta, deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter and other military leaders, including Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The nominee has had two "murder board" sessions, panels to grill him to prepare for questions from skeptical - and hostile - senators.

A source close to the confirmation process said Hagel may squeeze in a third "murder board" session before Thursday.

Carter, who will stay on as deputy secretary of defense during Obama's second term, told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that Obama had called him to tell him about the Hagel nomination and asked him to remain, which would provide a measure of stability.

Critics have questioned Hagel's past statements over the power of the "Jewish lobby" in Washington, and what they say is his resistance to sanctions on Iran and eagerness to further cut defense spending. No Republican has yet publicly endorsed him.

Hagel is expected to have a tougher time with the Armed Services Committee, which must clear his nomination, than in the full 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 45 seats.

There are 12 Republicans on the 26-member panel, but many are among the Senate's most conservative members. At least three, including the panel's top Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said they would oppose Hagel even before hearing his testimony.

But others, including fellow Vietnam War veteran John McCain, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Utah's Mike Lee and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, said they would reserve judgment until after Hagel's testimony.

McCain's vote is considered key. He campaigned for Hagel in 1996, and Hagel was national co-chairman of the Arizona Republican's unsuccessful 2000 presidential bid. On Tuesday, McCain said he would wait to make up his mind until he hears Hagel's testimony.

TRAITOR TO THE RIGHT, WORRY TO THE LEFT

Some Republicans view Hagel as a traitor for questioning the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq War, which he initially supported.

Some Democrats and moderate Republicans, meanwhile, question Hagel's social conservatism, saying it raises concerns about how strongly he would support equal rights for women or homosexuals in the military.

"Hagel annoyed people on both the right and left with some of his comments," said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan.

"My guess is in the committee, he's going to get out, but not by a lot," Korb said.

Controlling 55 seats in the Senate, Democrats have enough votes to confirm Hagel by a simple majority. They would need five Republican votes to overcome Senate procedural hurdles, although an effort to block Hagel would infuriate Democrats as the two parties try to negotiate delicate issues like spending cuts and a bipartisan immigration plan.

Hagel has held dozens of meetings with senators to address their concerns and appeal for their support, staying on Capitol Hill from early morning well into the evening repeatedly in the weeks leading up to his confirmation hearing.

He was due to have 10 more meetings on Tuesday, cramming for his make-or-break appearance before the panel. Aides have said they expect he will have met with at least 50 of the 100 senators before Thursday morning.

Despite a grueling schedule, Hagel has shown glimpses of humor.

He accidentally wandered into the Senate press gallery last week while looking for a men's room and gamely fielded a few questions - saying little - when he emerged.

And the Omaha World Herald newspaper reported that Hagel ran into Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts' new senator, in the Capitol basement while hurrying between meetings one day last week.

"We were just talking about you," Warren said.

To which Hagel replied, "Everybody's been talking about me."

(Additional reporting by David Alexander and Phil Stewart; Editing by Warren Strobel and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/big-push-hagel-no-leading-behind-white-house-060912084.html

awakenings phantom of the opera agoraphobia andrew lloyd webber obscura grok cirque du freak

TARP Pay Czar Patricia Geoghegan Permitted Excessive Executive Pay At Bailed-Out Companies: Report

Top executives at three major companies that received taxpayer-financed bailouts received excessively generous pay packages last year, in an apparent violation of Treasury guidelines aimed at restricting their compensation, a government watchdog asserted in a report Monday.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Trouble Asset Relief Program -- which keeps tabs on taxpayer bailouts -- singled out for blame ?pay czar? Patricia Geoghegan, the Treasury official tasked with reining in excessive pay increases for executives at bailed-out companies.

The SIGTARP report directly questioned Geoghegan's judgment in ignoring directives set by her predecessor as well as recommendations from a previous report, saying she accepted companies' own justifications for high executive pay. She ?is effectively relinquishing some of [her office]?s authority to the companies, which have their own best interests in mind,? the report said.

In a letter sent to the agency in response to the report, Geoghegan said that her office was ?not aware of any facts that support ... an assertion? that companies had misused taxpayer dollars to give executives fat paydays. Her office declined a request for further comment from The Huffington Post.

The Office of the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, which Geoghegan has led since 2011, has been troubled since its founding in 2009 as part of the law authorizing the Treasury to disburse up to $700 billion to save a select group of automakers and financial companies.

Kenneth Feinberg, who preceded Geoghegan at the post, noted the pay czar was ?under the constraint that his most important goal was to get the companies to repay and exit TARP" -- and often those companies argued limiting executive pay would lead to desertion, delaying the turn-around process. Throughout its tenure, Geoghegan said in her letter, ?OSM has sought the appropriate balance between these sometimes competing considerations in making all our determinations.?

But the SIGTARP report accuses the agency of tilting more toward the interests of bailout recipients and chides Geoghegan for accepting at face value the notion that executives should be highly paid. One section details Geoghegan's response when asked to justify having allowed nearly one-third of all executives under her office?s purview to draw salaries over $500,000 in 2012. According to the report, she ?told SIGTARP that it would be ?utterly normal?? for executives ?to expect over $500,000 in cash salary.?

Geoghegan is also taken to task for uncritically approving virtually all pay raises under her control.

Executives, the report contends, got pay bumps in 2012 for leading their bailed-out companies in profitable directions. But they also got raises when their units performed poorly: An executive at Ally?s residential mortgage unit saw his paycheck rise in 2012 even though Treasury knew that division of the bank was about to file for bankruptcy. The executive, Treasury said, was deemed ?critical to successful restructuring.?

Another executive, at GM, saw a $50,000 pay increase not because of good performance, Geoghegan is quoted in the report as saying, but because ?GM wanted to retain the employee and ?do a little extra for him.'"

At AIG, which had by far the best remunerated executives of the three companies in 2012, the top 25 earners made nearly $108 million combined. CEO Robert Benmosche?s pay was $10.5 million. (AIG repaid its government loans in late 2012 and is no longer under Treasury oversight.)

?When AIG was subject to TARP restrictions, AIG worked closely with the Special Master to make sure we paid our employees market-based compensation, including appropriate amounts of incentive pay, under a rigorous review process that will continue into the future,? Jon Diat, a spokesman for AIG, said in a statement.

The SIGTARP report questions that assessment, however, noting an AIG employee argued that he should be paid completely in cash since the company (and any stock-based compensation) would be worthless if he left. While the employee involved in that argument is not named in the report, public statements made by Benmosche late last year expressed precisely that view.

AIG was not the only company to fight the Treasury when the agency did put limits on executive pay. According to the report, the CEO of General Motors went straight to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at some point in 2012 to ask that his company no longer be subject to the restrictions imposed by the pay czar. Geithner declined to entertain the request.

"General Motors is performing at its highest levels in years with a string of 11 profitable quarters and soon will have one of the industry?s newest product lineups, while complying with all TARP restrictions," General Motors spokesman Dave Roman said in a statement responding to the report.

The bailed-out companies' insistence on high executive pay, the report notes, shows they ?continue to lack an appreciation for their extraordinary situations and fail to view themselves through the lenses of companies substantially owned by the U.S. Government."

However, the report makes explicit its view that corporations looking out for their interests are not at the root of the problem. Instead, it lays the blame squarely on the Treasury department?s willingness to allow excessive compensation to go unabated.

In a section that discusses what SIGTARP sees as a failure to hold executives under the $500,000 cash salary mark, for example, the report notes Geoghegan saw that limit as a ?discretionary guideline? and ?appears to have no desire to dig into a company?s justification" for such compensation.

?If the pay czar is not even willing to independently analyze high cash salaries,? the report asks, ?who else will protect taxpayers??

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/tarp-pay-czar-executive-pay_n_2569328.html

chronicle george lopez bedtime stories micron susan g komen kenyon martin kenyon martin

Early-onset puberty in females explained

Jan. 29, 2013 ? New research from Oregon Health & Science University has provided significant insight into the reasons why early-onset puberty occurs in females. The research, which was conducted at OHSU's Oregon National Primate Research Center, is published in the current early online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The paper explains how OHSU scientists are investigating the role of epigenetics in the control of puberty. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene activity linked to external factors that do not involve changes to the genetic code itself. The OHSU scientists believe improved understanding of these complex protein/gene interactions will lead to greater understanding of both early-onset (precocious) puberty and delayed puberty, and highlight new therapy avenues.

To conduct this research, scientists studied female rats, which like their human counterparts, go through puberty as part of their early aging process. These studies revealed that a group of proteins, called PcG proteins, regulate the activity of a gene called the Kiss1 gene, which is required for puberty to occur. When these PcG proteins diminish, Kiss1 is activated and puberty begins.

PcG proteins are produced by another set of genes that act as a biological switch during the embryonic stage of life. The role of these proteins is to turn off specific downstream genes at key developmental stages.

OHSU scientists found that both the activity of these "master" genes and their ability to turn off puberty are impacted by two forms of epigenetic control: a chemical modification of DNA known as DNA methylation, and changes in the composition of histones, a specialized set of proteins that modify gene activity by interacting with DNA.

Using this new information, researchers were then able to delay puberty in female rats. They accomplished this by increasing PcG protein levels in the hypothalamus of the brain using a targeted gene therapy approach so that Kiss1 activation failed to occur at the normal time in life. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that controls reproductive development.

"While it was always understood that an organism's genes determine the timing of puberty, the role of epigenetics in this process has never been recorded until now," said Alejandro Lomniczi, Ph.D., a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center.

"Because epigenetic changes are driven by environmental, metabolic and cell-to-cell influences, these findings raise the possibility that a significant percentage of precocious and delayed puberty cases occurring in humans may be the result of environmental factors and other alterations in epigenetic control," said Sergio Ojeda, D.V.M., who is also a scientist in the Division of Neuroscience at the OHSU ONPRC.

"There is also much more to be learned about the way that epigenetic factors may link environmental factors such as nutrition, human-made chemicals, social interactions and other day-today influences to the timing and completion of normal puberty."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Alejandro Lomniczi, Alberto Loche, Juan Manuel Castellano, Oline K Ronnekleiv, Martha Bosch, Gabi Kaidar, J Gabriel Knoll, Hollis Wright, Gerd P Pfeifer, Sergio R Ojeda. Epigenetic control of female puberty. Nature Neuroscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nn.3319

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/VSkMvJk5S7U/130129130947.htm

palm sunday toure patti smith lottery winners lottery winners april fools day pranks ohio state vs kansas

Teacher Duct Tapes Students' Mouths Shut, Posts Photo on Facebook, May Be Fired

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/teacher-duct-tapes-students-mouths-shut-posts-photo-on-facebook/

tyler perry good deeds pretty in pink nba all star game shark tank john wall gordon hayward gas prices

Early Childhood Education: An Economist's View | VT-HEC

Is High Quality Early Education a Good Investment?

We have often heard educators say that it pays to invest in early childhood development, but what would an economist say about ?early childhood education as a public investment? In his article, ?The Economics of Inequality?, economist James Heckman explores that question, not just from the moral equal opportunity viewpoint, but also from the perspective of investment return and the factors that will be most effective in increasing the productivity of the American economy.

Inequality in childhood experiences and learning produce inequality in ability, achievement, health and adult success

?Traditionally, equity and efficiency are viewed as competing goals? says Heckman, what is fair is many times not efficient and what is economically efficient is often times not fair. So, it is noteworthy when you come across a policy that is both fair and efficient, and those policies need to be made the most of. ?It turns out that investing in the early development of children who are disadvantaged is one of those policies. In fact, there is a large body of data from psychology, biology, economics, etc. ?that shows, that not only is education equity a social justice imperative,?it is an economic imperative that has far-reaching implications for our nation?.

Children are born into circumstances that vary greatly and those circumstances have powerful effects on their lives. ?Children born into disadvantaged circumstances are more likely to struggle as they make their way through life and are more likely to need things like special education, additional health care, financial support, etc. ?All things that cost society additional dollars. The effects of these differing circumstances appear very early on and differences in language development and cognitive progress can often be measured before the 2nd birthday.

Cognition and Character Propel Success

Heckman and his colleagues note that while cognitive abilities are very important they are not as powerful as cognitive and social skills together. In short, he says, cognition and personality (character) drive success with character being a traditionally neglected factor. He argues it is these character skills that differentiate between the children who successfully complete school and those that do not. ?It is this same collection of personality skills that predicts a variety of behaviors including, smoking, teenage pregnancies, wages, and many other aspects of social and economic life.

Character and learning skills have gotten more attention lately and Heckman is clearly one of those who believes that this attention is well-founded.?His evidence shows that family characteristics have much more impact on test scores than the characteristics of schools.?He believes that assisting parents in developing a family environment that will promote good social skills and behavior, along with a focus on language and literacy skills, will produce the best results and have a lasting effect on the child in adulthood.

Every Dollar Spent on High-Quality Early Childhood Education Produces a 7 to 10 Percent Annual Return on Investment

While supporting early childhood development cannot right every wrong, it can go a long way toward making up for the disadvantages in the environment of some children. Since the inequality begins before or at birth he believes that the best time to address those issues are with early childhood and parenting education. ?Heckman mentions the Perry Preschool Project as an example of a program that combines family support and early child education and showed significant positive outcomes into adulthood. ?He also talks about programs that were successful in promoting a better family environment, such as the Nurse Family Partnership. ?This program provided home visits to high-risk first-time mothers for two years and has good long-term outcomes. ?Such a program could be combined with early education to more intensely promote the cognitive side. ?In the same way, high-quality early education programs could be include support for parenting skills and a positive family environment.

Heckman ends with a warning that it would be incorrect and short-sighted to assume that investments in programs like these only benefit the participants and not the public who pays for them. ?If these investments are not made in the early years one can assume that the public will pay much more later on through lower earnings, unemployment, health care costs and even increased crime. ?Whether one thinks it is the moral thing to do or whether it is the role of government, it makes economic sense to invest in increasing productivity; to spend less early on to prevent much greater costs later, and Heckman has the data to prove it.

You can see this article here:http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2011/Heckman.pdf

Heckman, J.J. (2011). The economics of inequality: The value of early childhood education. American Educator, 35 (1),31-47

Source: http://www.vthec.org/early-childhood-education-an-economists-view/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=early-childhood-education-an-economists-view

bully bohemian rhapsody bohemian rhapsody spike lee carson daly heejun han donovan mcnabb

Research into Contagious Bird Flu Starts After Moratorium

After public outcry against research into avian flu strains that can be transmitted among mammals, 40 of the top scientists working on the influenza strains signed a voluntary moratorium on research last January. The goal of the pause was to properly--and publically--weigh the potential risks and benefits of such investigations. Critics of the research noted that the viruses under study--versions of the form known as H5N1--could be used as a bioweapon or might accidentally escape from a lab. Research supporters argued that without this research we could be caught unprepared if a pandemic were to emerge naturally and we did not know how to detect or fight it. Now the same 40 signatories have pronounced that the work on H5N1 transmissibility should recommence in nations where it is permitted. The announcement was made public online January 23 jointly in the journals Science and Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). The U.S. has still not ruled on the fate of the research by labs in this country or by those receiving U.S. funding. But investigators in the Netherlands, Canada, China and elsewhere can now return to their studies of how H5N1 could mutate to create a human pandemic. "We fully acknowledge that this research--as with any work on infectious agents--is not without risk," the signatories noted in their open letter. "However, because the risk exists in nature that an H5N1 virus capable of transmission in mammals may emerge, the benefits of this research outweigh the risks." H5N1 is currently a threat for birds around the world. Should it become transmissible among humans, it has the potential to become a deadly global pandemic. Flu researcher Ron Fouchier, of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, announced in September 2011 at an influenza meeting in Malta that he and his colleagues had created a strain of H5N1 that was transmissible among ferrets, the best animal model we have to study flu. By that winter, news of the development had spread, and concerned researchers, policy makers and public called for such research to end. Fouchier and others have argued that this sort of research--when conducted under proper security conditions, such as in labs designated biosecurity level three-enhanced--is necessary to learn how to detect an emerging pandemic and to create the drugs and vaccines to diminish its ferocity. And the risk of details from the research being used for malicious purposes are quite small, he noted in a press conference about the decision to lift the voluntary research moratorium. Details of the ferret studies were published--after much debate--in June 2012. The strain of H5N1 from the ferret studies needed only nine genetic mutations to transform from the standard avian flu into an infection that could be transmitted easily--say, via a sneeze--among ferrets. "Nine mutations for the influenza virus is almost none," Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted during the press conference. Two mutations have already been circulating in wild strains, "so that risk already exists in nature," he noted. Knowing what mutations the virus needs to become transmissible among mammals should help improve surveillance, Fouchier noted during the press conference, fighting back a cough. "We can already use it to define the mutations that cause it to become airborne," he said. Further research could also improve drug development. "With these viruses in hand, we can better identify vaccines and drugs," he noted. Without being able to study H5N1 pandemic strains specifically, researchers are confined to using seasonal strains and avian influenza to test potential vaccines and antivirals. And different strains respond differently to various treatment and prevention measures. "You want to choose the right strain for better protection," Kawaoka added. While many researchers across the globe prepare to resume research on H5N1 transmission, others, such as Kawaoka, wait with baited breath for the U.S. government to make a decision on whether and/or how it will allow--and fund--such research. "It's in their hands," Kawaoka said. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/research-contagious-bird-flu-starts-moratorium-180000946.html

beyonce lupe fiasco martin luther king jr quotes Jim Harbaugh Inauguration 2013 Super Bowl 2013 Tony Gonzalez

Tire & Lug Tools 2020: Berk Automotive Portable Car Truck ATV Tire ...

Buy on the merchant's on-line looking and browse reviews. If you are trying to seek out Berk Automotive Portable Car Truck ATV Tire Changer with the simplest deal. This is the most effective deal for you. Where you'll realize these item is by online looking stores? Read the review on Berk Automotive Portable Car Truck ATV Tire Changer Now, it's special deal. So don't lose it.

Berk Automotive Portable Car Truck ATV Tire Changer
by Berk Automotive
(7)

New!: $73.95 (as of 01/21/2013 18:22 PST)
2 Used! | New! from $73.95 (as of 01/21/2013 18:22 PST)

Tire & Lug Tools

• Rank: #8276 in Automotive

Source: http://greattirelugtools342.blogspot.com/2013/01/berk-automotive-portable-car-truck-atv.html

Lizzie Velasquez

Source: http://robertthompson65.typepad.com/blog/2013/01/tire-lug-tools-2020-berk-automotive-portable-car-truck-atv-tire.html

whitney houston funeral live stream kevin costner whitney houston whitney houston funeral live pat buchanan slither slither naacp

Kate Middleton Portrait Artist Responds to "Vicious" Criticism

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/kate-middleton-portrait-artist-responds-to-criticism/

adrian peterson tony romo weather kennedy center honors boxing day george h w bush Belk

Stock futures flat, but techs rally in premarket

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher at the open on Wednesday, with technology stocks among the best performers after earnings from Google and IBM .

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 44.78 points, or 0.33 percent, to 13,756.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 0.81 point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,493.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> advanced 12.16 points, or 0.39 percent, to 3,155.34.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-lower-wall-street-open-092452912--finance.html

Bret Bielema blake shelton sons of anarchy adriana lima victoria secret fashion show SEC Championship Rick Majerus

Bloggers Put Chemical Reactions through the Replication Mill

The set-up for Blog Syn's first attempt at replicating a literature chemical reaction. Image: Matt Katcher

From Nature magazine

Scrounging chemicals and equipment in their spare time, a team of chemistry bloggers is trying to replicate published protocols for making molecules. The researchers want to check how easy it is to repeat the recipes that scientists report in papers ? and are inviting fellow chemists to join them.

?We?re just a bunch of people who want to make the reactions work,? explains blogger See Arr Oh, who is based in the United States and prefers not to reveal his real name. The other team members include chemistry graduate student Matt Katcher from Princeton, New Jersey, and two bloggers called Organometallica and BRSM, who together have launched Blog Syn, in which they report their progress online.?

Among the frustrations he and others have experienced with the chemical literature, says See Arr Oh, are claims that reactions yield products in greater amounts than seems reasonable, and scanty detail about specific conditions in which to run reactions. In some cases, reactions are reported which seem too good to be true - such as a 2009 paper which was corrected within 24 hours by web-savvy chemists live-blogging the experiment; an episode which partially inspired Blog Syn. ?I never forgot that reaction,? See Arr Oh adds.?

?Ask any synthetic chemist what they spend most of their time on, and they will admit that it is getting literature reactions to work,? says chemist Peter Scott of the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. ?That is the elephant in the room of synthetic chemistry.?

Blog Syn is one of several places where chemists can check synthesis know-how. The journal Organic Syntheses, for example, only publishes synthetic procedures that have been checked and verified by a member of its editorial board. Scott is involved in a separate project to compile a database of about 5,000 chemical procedures, called SyntheticPages, which is part of ChemSpider, an online database of chemical structures.? And the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) ? a peer-reviewed online journal that publishes videos of experiments ? will launch a chemistry channel on 4 February. That could help with one difficulty faced by some chemists: published chemistry reactions are written in a standard format that is supposed to make things easy to follow, yet unwritten tweaks are often needed to make experiments succeed in practice.

See Arr Oh says that Blog Syn is different to JoVE and SyntheticPages because those initiatives involve chemists refining and verifying their own chemical reactions. By contrast, Blog Syn intends to use crowd sourcing, meaning that outsiders ? chemists that the bloggers already know, to start with ? will check work that has already been published by others.

Test case
So far, the bloggers have investigated one reaction, which they picked because it would be especially useful if it were easy to replicate; it uses an iron and sulphur catalyst to make ring-shaped molecules containing oxygen and nitrogen. Following the published method, the team couldn?t get as much of the final product as the original authors did. ?It does indeed work, but we?re not positive yet what factors the authors have that we don?t,? says See Arr Oh. One problem, the team's blogpost says, was that the written paper didn't make it clear how stringently they needed to exclude air from the reaction.

The chemists? online efforts reflect a growing focus across the sciences on the importance of being able to reproduce published procedures. One project, the Reproducibility Initiative, was set up last year to enable researchers to have their study ?validated? by outside checkers. Another, the Reproducibility Project, is dedicated to estimating the reproducibility of psychology experiments. The director of that project, social psychologist Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, thinks that Blog Syn will work only if chemists can be rewarded for participating.

See Arr Oh accepts that funding Blog Syn will be the challenge to developing it on a larger scale. He is exploring ways to make the blog easier to manage, including crowd-sourced funding methods such as the website Kickstarter. Until then, he will continue to check reactions in his spare time. ?At the moment these reactions are done at night under cover of darkness,? he says.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on January 21, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f40d44e180d37d62a427ac529779c845

spice girls justin theroux Bumbo recall USA Basketball taio cruz taio cruz Winter Olympics 2014

Editor gets 10 years in jail for Thai royal insult

BANGKOK (AP) ? A prominent Thai labor rights activist and magazine editor was sentenced to a decade in prison Wednesday for violating much-debated laws designed to protect Thailand's royal family.

The verdict came despite repeated calls by rights groups to free Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, who has been jailed since 2011. It also underscored the harsh nature of Thailand's lese majeste laws, which have been criticized as a violation of free speech.

The articles in question were published under pseudonyms in Somyot's now-defunct Voice of Taksin magazine, which he launched in 2009 to compile political news and anti-establishment articles from writers and contributors.

Judges found both articles in question contained content that defamed the royal family and argued that Somyot, as a veteran editor, knew that and chose to print the stories anyway. The court handed down two five-year jail terms ? one for each story.

Somyot said he would appeal the verdict but would not seek a royal pardon.

Although Somyot's articles were published in 2010, he was only arrested the following year after launching a petition drive to revoke Article 112 of the nation's criminal code, which mandates three to 15 years in jail for "whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent."

"The courts seem to have adopted the role of chief protector of the monarchy at the expense of free expression rights," Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "The court's ruling appears to be more about Somyot's strong support for amending the lese majeste law than about any harm incurred by the monarchy."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/editor-gets-10-years-jail-thai-royal-insult-053349058.html

marco rubio farrah abraham Paul Ryan Speech chris cooley chris cooley condoleezza rice Perry Hall High School

8 videos of DIY home improvement fails - Mother Nature Network

Winter is upon us and you know what that means ? it's DIY season. The frigid temperatures mean less venturing outside and more activities inside the house. Fresh New Year's resolutions have people surveying their homes, looking for something that needs fixing. Hardware store sales will be another lure, drawing in optimistic Mr. and Ms. Fix-Its like shoppers to a Walmart on Black Friday.

?

Another common theme for DIYers is YouTube. DIYers everywhere like to film themselves fixing up parts of their home or creating cool gadgets. Many are successful, teaching others what DIY done right looks like. But these are?not their stories. In the following videos, you'll see the faces of DIY home improvement gone wrong.

?

Changing lightbulbs

The simple lightbulb change is something most of us learned in Household Chores 101. It's a straightforward procedure: Get something to stand on, unscrew the old bulb, and screw in the new one. Just make sure you've got something sturdy to stand on.

?

Repositioning furniture

When you're fixing or moving heavy objects, always ask for help. You're not Superman, and good friends will usually be glad to lend a hand. Otherwise you could break the stuff you're moving ? and possibly yourself.

?

Using power tools

Didn't Dad teach you to be careful with power tools when you were a kid? (Apparently having long hair and using these tools don't mix.)

?

Mowing the lawn

Popping on your headphones and cutting the grass is a zen way to DIY. But first, make sure you understand the power of your lawnmower or you just might catch an unexpected ride.

?

Repairing a roof

When you do a DIY project, sometimes there are red flags. When the roof you're repairing creaks louder than a rusty gate is one such flag.?

?

Moving unwanted furniture out of your house

One rule of thumb when you're moving furniture out of your house: safe is better than easy. And make sure your helpers know what they're doing, or you could end up spending more money than you'd get for that furniture.

?

Doing 'renovation' work

What was this guy thinking? A simple understanding of physics and remembering to keep a safe distance away from potential disaster could have averted this crisis.

?

Chopping down a tree

It seems easy enough ? take a chainsaw and start carving into a tree to chop it down, right? There's two things this amateur lumberjack forgot, though: a tree topples the way it leans and the bigger something is, the harder it falls.

?

?

Related DIY posts on MNN:

Source: http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/8-videos-of-diy-home-improvement-fails

bristol motor speedway prometheus grand canyon skywalk tonga pid corned beef hash the walking dead season 2 finale

Controversial Kansas abortion clinic to reopen this spring

WICHITA, Kan (Reuters) - Closed since 2009 after its doctor was murdered, one of the country's most embattled abortion clinics is scheduled to reopen this spring over renewed objections of abortion opponents.

Controversy over the clinic in Wichita, Kansas is building as the country observes the 40th anniversary on Tuesday of the Roe vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal in at least the first three months of pregnancy.

An abortion rights group bought the building where George Tiller was among only a few doctors in the country to do late-term abortions before he was gunned down at a Wichita church. Scott Roeder is serving a life sentence after testifying that he killed Tiller, 67, to stop abortions.

Tiller owned the clinic and his family decided to close it down and withdraw from any involvement there after his murder.

Anti-abortion groups are trying to block or delay the reopening of the clinic through a rezoning petition and complaints to the city that permits haven't been issued as required for the clinic's indoor remodeling.

"Once they get the permits we'll be off to the next thing - we will try to persuade contractors not to work there," said Cheryl Sullenger of the Wichita chapter of Operation Rescue.

The attempted roadblocks cast in front of the clinic before it even opens are not discouraging leaders of the organization that bought the building, where abortions, family planning and other gynecological care would be offered.

"We will continue to move forward to see that women have their rights," said Julie Burkhart, who worked with Tiller's clinic for eight years on political and legislative issues. "It's incredibly important because women in this region need access to good medical care."

Since the clinic closed, women in the Wichita area have had to travel at least 150 miles to Oklahoma City or Kansas City for abortions.

Burkhart directs a non-profit organization called Trust Women Foundation Inc, which now owns the single-story, nearly windowless clinic building that sits between a busy highway and a neighborhood of single-family homes.

Tiller's murder spawned formation of the organization with the goal of reopening a clinic, Burkhart said. It took 2-1/2 years to plan a new clinic, look for possible locations and raise money to buy the building, she said. Burkhart is braced for persistent opposition.

"This is absolutely one of the most difficult things I have had to do in my life," said Burkhart, 46. "I have a lot of brave people working with me."

CONSTANT PICKETING

The clinic was the site of constant picketing. Burkhart's home has also been picketed and she has been referred to as a killer in anti-abortion brochures, she said.

Mark Gietzen, chairman of Kansas Coalition for Life, said people in his group are "sidewalk counselors, not protesters" and that between 2004 and 2009 they persuaded 396 women not to have abortions at the clinic.

Gietzen is part of a petition drive spearheaded by Kansans for Life that calls upon the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and Wichita City Council to rezone the property so a clinic can't be operated there.

Several thousand signatures have been gathered in the online petition drive, said David Gittrich, development director of Kansans for Life. The petitions will be presented next month to show opposition to the clinic and the traffic, parking problems, disturbances and police calls it creates, Gittrich said.

"We can't stop an abortion clinic, but we can stop it from going in there," Gietzen said. No alternate location is being proposed but Gietzen said it should be in a commercial, not residential area.

Burkhart said disruptions outside the clinic arise from the protests.

"I don't see us being a nuisance to the neighborhood, I see us as a benefit," Burkhart said. "They are the ones who are a nuisance."

At a meeting of the city council last month, city attorney Gary Rebenstorf said the council could rezone the property, but under state law the stated reason could not be to stop an abortion clinic.

Several businesses near the clinic provide medical services and to single out the clinic for rezoning would be a misuse of the zoning laws, said Bob Eye, attorney for Trust Women.

Sullenger has sought to delay the project by complaining to the city that no permits were obtained to modify the building. Burkhart said the contractors will get all required permits and that Sullenger is making a "bogus claim."

Tiller's murder is the main reason the proposed new clinic in Wichita is gaining a lot of attention, both sides agree. Gietzen said the killer should be condemned by everyone in the pro-life movement.

"He was an idiot, a loner, and not informed about basic Christian principles," Gietzen said. "He was very much like the people who do the school shootings. He was anything but pro-life."

(Reporting By Kevin Murphy; Editing by Mary Wisniewski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/controversial-kansas-abortion-clinic-reopen-spring-151959264.html

justin bieber kanye west cbs Univision josh hamilton alicia keys Susan Rice

Steve Strauss: Small Business Negotiations | Small Business News ...

Back when I practiced law (no longer, thank you very much!) I would negotiate on a daily basis. And while I was pretty good at it, some of the jerks, err, I mean opposing counsel, I dealt with were masters. And, like attorneys, small business people negotiate all the time. Whether it?s trying to get a vendor to lower his prices or working out a deal with a client, negotiating is part and parcel of a small business life. So, yes, I do have a few thoughts on successful negotiations and negotiators.

Here are a few of my favorite tips:

Start slow, if possible: It sometimes takes a while to get a feel for the person you will be negotiating with, and if time permits, it is generally a good idea to get your feet wet before jumping in. Try and get a sense of their style, whether they seem like a bluffer or not, and how tough they are. Not everyone likes to negotiate or is good at it. Don?t assume your ?adversary? is either a good or bad negotiator; instead try and learn the facts first.

Come in over-prepared: The more you know about the other side and the facts, the better equipped you are to get what you want. For instance, say that you are negotiating a lease in a new building. If you don?t know what the vacancy rate is, if you don?t know what comparable rents in the area go for, if you do not know how long the space has been vacant, it will be hard to get a good deal.

He who offers first, loses: A well known strategy yes, but still important to remember. Typically, when you make the first offer, you are setting an upper limit on what you can get. For instance, if you want a raise and tell your boss that you want $5,000 more a year, you will never find out that her budget would have allowed you to get $7,500 more. So try and not make the first offer.

Have some good tactics ready: There are all sorts of negotiating techniques that you can use to your advantage:

• Silence: This is one of my favorites. When offered a number you do not like, instead of responding, instead say nothing . . . continue to say nothing . . . if the other side talks first, it will likely be to raise the offer and break the uncomfortable silence.
• Flinch: An ?involuntary? flinch is likewise used to make the offeror uncomfortable with the offer. Any sort of similar ?shocked? response may work in the right circumstances.
• Good cop / bad cop: This age-old strategy does work. The good cop earns the other side?s trust by being reasonable talking about what a jerk the bad cop is. He can then make offers or offer rejections that the bad cop cannot.

Remember it is a negotiation: Their job is to get what they want. They may ask for the sun and be willing to settle for the moon. Do not take it personally. By the same token, build some room into your offer so that they feel like they are getting something too.

Be willing to walk: The willingness to walk away from the deal or table is the key to a strong negotiating position. This is the real leverage in any negotiation.

Source: http://www.bizengine.com/small-business-negotiations/

ufc Earl Weaver lance armstrong Stonewall Inauguration Schedule martin luther king jr quotes Super Bowl Winners

TechCrunch Is Holding Office Hours To Discover The Next Stars Of Disrupt Startup Alley NY

If you're a startup, you've heard of TechCrunch's Startup Alley. It's a huge part of our TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Hundeds of startups from all over the world vie for a spot on our showroom floor, where their booths are perused by investors, reporters, and general attendees. Oh, and TCTV cameras. It's the place to be if you're trying to disrupt, and we're looking to make each Disrupt Startup Alley more diverse, interesting, and bigger than last year. TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 is right around the corner. But first we need to meet you, to know you, and to like you. Which is where office hours comes in.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qtd8lNxinBs/

calipari national archives brock lesnar kentucky jayhawks wwe wrestlemania oakland shooting

Cindy Ratzlaff: 3 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies for Self-Published ...

Every author dreams of writing a bestseller. Dreaming isn?t enough. The self-published author is both writer and publisher and is the director of the entire publishing process. This includes cover design, interior layout, marketing and promotion. Standing out from the crowd of hundreds of thousands of other self-published authors and garnering attention for an unknown author, and his or her book, is a daunting undertaking. Budget, time, connections and strategy all play into a successful book launch. Most authors, however, are short on budget so here are three free steps every author can take right away to help increase the visibility for their work.

If you write it, they will come. IF you go find them and lead them to it. ~ Cindy Ratzlaff

These three inexpensive, but effective, strategies will help self-published authors present their work to book buyers. As an author who has been published by a legacy publisher and as a self-published author, I?ve employed these strategies myself in both cases and can attest to their ease, cost effectiveness and efficacy.Author Central

Author Central is a free feature of Amazon.com and self-published books need to be on Amazon. Amazon is one of the most trusted online booksellers and people feel comfortable purchasing from Amazon. Being there is a key element in a good distribution strategy. Author Central provides authors with a page for their photo, bio, promotional videos, blog feed, Twitter feed, and promotional tour schedule. An Author Central page is indexed in search on Amazon and will be served up to book buyers searching for an author by name. It?s also a good tool for introducing an author to new readers. This is free to set up and every author should take advantage of this marketing real estate.? The author?s page on Author Central will appear at the bottom of the sales page for their book and gives readers more information about the author at point of purchase; right when they?re making the decision whether or not to buy the book.

Facebook

One billion users is a very large ecosystem and most authors already have a personal profile. There are several very sophisticated marketing opportunities on Facebook, but here are two free and easy ways to begin.? Upload a 403 x 403 pixel photo of the cover of the book to Facebook and write a post announcing the publication.? At the end of the post include the direct link to the page where the book can be purchased; Amazon, Barnes & Noble, author website or other. Next mark the post as ?Life Event,? a Facebook designation found in the upper right hand side of the status update box. The choose ?Published a Book? from the Life Event Options. Facebook will create a large, 2-column posting with this update and send it out into the news feed to nearly all of the author?s connections. This one action significantly increases the visibility of the newly published book within the author?s own circle of contacts.? Keeping a close eye on the comments for this post and responding with a request to help spread the word can mobilize the author?s friends and family to help with promotion. All hands on deck should be the self-published author?s watch words.

YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine, behind Google, and is owned by Google. Creating a Book Trailer, similar to a movie trailer, and posting it to YouTube gives the author a high value marketing piece to share on social media, in blogs and on YouTube itself. Authors can create a 30 second video that includes images, words, a link to purchase the book and even music without any special equipment or knowledge at Animoto. This wonderful free tool has easy to use templates that make creating a 30 second digital commercial for a book simple. To make longer videos, remove the Animoto logo and access a library of professional templates, authors will need a pro account, which is $240 per year, or click on the Animoto link above and get a 20% discount (full disclosure: signing up through that link gives readers a discount and I get a little something from Animoto).? I?ve been an Animoto pro user for 3 years and cannot recommend it enough for authors. Here?s a sample of one of the first Animoto videos I created. It took me 10 minutes. It?s fun, easy and authors can upload the video to their Author Central page, YouTube, Facebook and their website.

There is so much more that authors must do to market and promote their self-published books, but these three free marketing strategies are a good beginning. Create an author profile at Author Central, add a Life Event on Facebook and produce a book trailer video at Animoto to upload to YouTube and share around the web. In fact, I invite authors to share the link to their Author Central pages or Animoto book trailers below to promote their books to other readers and to encourage new authors to use free marketing and promotional tools.

?

Tagged with: Animoto, author, Author Central, Books, ebooks, Facebook, Marketing, publisher, Self Publishing, self-published, YouTube

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2013 at 9:51 am and is filed under Blog, Books, Facebook, Publishing, Video Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://cindyratzlaff.com/blog/books/3-low-cost-marketing-strategies-for-self-published-authoprs/

Django Unchained iTunes Alfred Morris weight watchers fandango kobe bryant google play

Kim Dotcom: &#39;Nothing will stop Mega&#39; ? RT

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. (Reuters)

A defiant Kim Dotcom vowed to win his upcoming extradition hearing during the Sunday night launch party for his new project, Mega.

Dotcom, the founder of the now defunct file-storage site Megaupload, held a press conference Sunday evening at his Coatesville, New Zealand mansion in order to celebrate the unveiling of his latest endeavor as well as commemorate the one year anniversary of the high-profile arrest that projected him into the international spotlight.

On January 20, 2012, over 70 uniformed officers raided Dotcom?s home in cooperation with a federal investigation launched by the United States Department of Justice. According to the DoJ, Megaupload existed as a racketeering enterprise that made Dotcom millions by encouraging users to commit copyright infringement and piracy.

During the weekend presser, Dotcom said, ?the allegations against us are wrong, we are innocent and we will prevail.?

?Sometimes good things come out of terrible events,? said Dotcom. ?If it wasn?t for the raid, we wouldn?t have Mega.?

As with its precursor, Mega allows users to upload large files to be shared with others around the globe. The main difference this time around, though, is Mega relies on heavy-duty encryption in order to protect the privacy of its customers.

?What we are offering is a smarter, faster and more secure way of cloud storage. And we are fully assured buy our legal team that we are in compliance with the law,? he said during the event, which was attended by over 200 friends, colleagues and members of the press.

After last year?s arrest, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down Megaupload, froze Dotcom?s assets and put him behind bars. Should he lose his eventual extradition hearing, he and his colleagues could be sent to the States to stand trial and possibly be sentenced to decades in prison. Speaking during Sunday?s event, though, Dotcom said the raid and the subsequent events have prompted him to examine Internet law and privacy, an opportunity that has allowed him to examine what freedom exists on the Web today and what could be done to protect it.

?We learned a thing or two about privacy intrusion this year. It motivated us to make a state of the art privacy cloud storage service,? he said. ?According to the United Nations? Charter of Human Rights, privacy is a basic human right. But it has become increasingly difficult to communicate privately.?

During a speech the preceded a question and answer session with the press, Dotcom said that last year?s raid and the international investigation that targeted him caused him to think about more than just privacy, too. Speaking on the stage behind his Coatesville home, Dotcom said last year?s incident was also an example of how willing Washington is to break its own laws in order to make an example out of someone that doesn?t suit their model of how businesses should work on the Web

?The issues surrounding the unlawful seizure of Megaupload and the destruction of our business have opened up an urgent and ongoing political debate,? he said. ?The Internet belongs to no man or industry or government. I?m convinced that the Internet is the key to the betterment of mankind, yet I see several large corporations and governments practicing legal warfare through the misuse of copyrights in an attempt to take control of the Internet and chill free speech. Let me assure you, that it is profit that motivates certain large corporations and the content industry to strain Internet growth. These attempts to rule the web are against innovations and they have to stop.?

?Our company and asserts were taken away from us without a hearing. The US government did this secretly without notice to us and without our ability to make any arguments in front of the judge. The privacy of our users was intruded on, communications were taken offline and free speech was attacked. Let me be clear: to those who use copyright law as a weapon to drown innovation and stifle competition, you will be left on the side of the road of history.No matter how many politicians you lobby, no matter how many SOPAs your money buys . . . you will not succeed with your attempt to take control of our Internet,? he said.

Addressing the media only a few hours after Mega went live, Dotcom said the site had already been visited by over a million people, half of whom registered for accounts.

?That?s not bad for a small Kiwi start up,? he quipped on stage. ?So I can tell you already now that Mega is going to be huge and nothing will stop Mega.?

Source: http://rt.com/news/dotcom-mega-launch-internet-316/

dallas fort worth tornado dallas tornadoes dallas weather nike nfl uniforms ben and jerrys free cone day tornado in dallas texas the island president

Inaugural 2013 leads iOS Apps of the Week

This week?s iOS apps of the week have a presidential vibe to them, but that could just be because we?re leading off with the Inaugural 2013 app. Our other apps of the week may not deal in inaugurations but they?re fun, too. This week we?re featuring an app to record video of your life a second at a time, an app to delegate chores, another to lose weight, and one to have a little fun with William Shatner. Check ?em out!

Are you into big to-dos surround modern political events? Inaugural 2013 is your front row seat to every detail of the 2013 Presidential inauguration. You can view maps of the parade route, view a live video stream of the inauguration, or just follow the social media conversation surrounding the event,. Using Inaugural 2013 is like being at the Presidential inauguration without the horrendous Washington traffic or actual politicians crowding your personal space.

Bucking the trend that ?everything must be shared? 1 Second Everyday instead offers up an app that attempts to privately catalogue a given time period in a person?s life one second at a time. Users can set a beginning and end date for the project alongside reminders to shoot a video each day. Once the video for each day is shot and the best second of video is chosen, the process repeats itself daily until the end date is met. It?s a simple way to capture a large amount of time in extremely small increments. While that may seem like a gimmick, it certainly makes 1 Second Everyday stand out in a crowded video recording app field.

Chorma is a fun, iPhone friendly way to organize your chores on a to-do list that you can share with and assign to other members of your household. Additionally, users can set up a reward system in Chorma so that once a specific goal is achieved, a reward reminder is triggered in the app. For example, a group dinner out would function as a reward for a week?s worth of completed chores.

Lose It! is an ideal app for anyone still sticking to a New Year?s resolution that involves trying to shed a few pounds. Interestingly enough, the health & fitness app focused on dropping weight is actually adding back some old features in its latest update. Lose It! now has an option to bring back the ?simplified? workflow of its earlier iterations for users who haven?t enjoyed the app?s more recent updates. Additionally, Lose It! now features a daily nutrients section that makes it easier to keep track of daily nutritional intake.

How much you love the vocal stylings of William Shatner will go a long way in how much you love Shatoetry. The app provides a list of words spoken by William Shatner that can be arranged any way you see fit. It?s a silly, frivolous app that reminds us that not every app has to take itself so seriously all the time. If you want a laugh at the Shat?s expense, here?s your chance.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/13149-inaugural-2013-leads-ios-apps-of-the-week

peyton manning super bowl nsx chad ochocinco roman numerals superbowl halftime madonna madonna

How to setup Google Gmail on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

As of January 30, 2013, Google will no longer allow new iPhones, iPod touches, iPads, or other devices to be setup using Google Sync (their implementation of Microsoft's excellent ActiveSync protocol). While existing Google Sync setups will keep working, the next time you want to add Gmail to a device, you'll have to use something else -- namely Google's eccentric IMAP service, which works with Apple's Mail app and allows for a unifed inbox with other, non-Gmail accounts, and the Gmail app, which is excellent but is a silo unto itself.

How to set up Gmail in Google's Gmail app

Google's Gmail app is outstanding, supporting both push email, multiple accounts, and all the unique Gmail features like stars and labels, of course. You even get easy access to vacation responders and other options. If you only use Gmail for your email, it's absolutely the best way to go. If you use multiple email providers, but don't mind accessing them via separate apps, it's also a great choice. Sadly, you can't set third party apps as default in iOS, so you'll probably need to set up your account in Apple's iOS Mail app as well, for convenience sake. (See below.)

1. Download the Gmail app from the App Store.
2. Tap Open once Gmail finishes downloading, or if you've left the App Store, tap the Gmail icon on your Home screen.
3. Enter your Gmail or Google Apps email address and password.
4. Tap sign in.

How to setup Gmail in Apple's Mail app

Gmail is one of the main email setup options in Apple's built-in iOS Mail app. It uses IMAP to receive email, but due to Google's non-standard configuration, and Apple's lack of specific support for that non-standard configuration, you won't get push email, and you won't have access to stars, labels, and other Gmail-specific conventions. Sadly, it also doesn't automagically include contact sync, so you'll have to set that up separately.

You will, however, have your Gmail included in the unified inbox, which is incredibly convenient if you also have other, non-Google email accounts (like iCloud, Exchange, Hotmail, etc.)

1. Launch Settings from your Home screen.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account...
4. Tap Gmail.
5. Enter your name, Gmail email address, password, and a descriptive name (like Gmail, or Personal, so you can identify it later).
6. Select which services you want to leave on for sync, Mail, Calendars, and Notes. (You probably want all of them on.)
7. Tap Save.

How to setup Gmail Contact Sync with CardDAV

To set up contacts sync, repeat the same procedure, with a slight change in settings.

1. Tap Add Account... again.
2. Tap Other at the bottom.
3. Tap Add CardDAV Account
4. Enter google.com as the server.
5. Enter your Gmail/Google address as the user name.
6. Enter your Gmail/Google password as the password.
7. Enter a description. For example, Gmail Contacts or Google Contacts.
8. Tap Next at the top right.

That's it, your contacts will now sync along with everything else.

How to set up Gmail's 2-step verification

If you're a high value target and worried about your Gmail security, you can also setup and use Gmail 2-step verification on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. For most people, it's probably more trouble than it's worth, but it's there for those who really need it.

• How to set up Gmail's 2-step verification with Mail on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/RS4VMLAi7Nk/story01.htm

marinol flight attendant pau gasol trade michael madsen spring forward day light savings day light savings

AP source: Inaugural ball to feature Lady Gaga

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Watch out Beyonce and Katy Perry. There's another diva set to perform during the inauguration festivities ? Lady Gaga.

A person familiar with the inauguration tells The Associated Press that the pop star will perform at Tuesday's ball for White House staffers. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because that person wasn't authorized to publicly reveal the information.

The staff ball is typically a private affair. During the last inauguration festivities, Jay-Z reportedly performed for that event.

According to one attendee, Jay-Z rapped a riff on one of his hit songs, "99 Problems but George Bush Ain't One," to the delight of the throngs of young staffers who worked to elect Obama in 2008.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-inaugural-ball-feature-lady-gaga-023104349--politics.html

bank of america Yunel Escobar Eye Black Cruel Summer Endeavor shaun white carolina panthers amanda bynes

David Morgan: Investing in Silver | The Victory Report - Precious ...

David Morgan returns to The Ellis Martin Report with his post-2012 take on silver investing, market manipulation (or not) and the relativel stability of the physical metal, coupled with opportunities for investments in stocks. The ?surge? really hasn?t happened yet. Stay positioned!

from opportunityshow:

~TVR

Source: http://thevictoryreport.org/2013/01/18/david-morgan-investing-in-silver/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=david-morgan-investing-in-silver

super pac dre kirkpatrick mls superdraft school cancellations bald barbie peoples choice awards deplorable

Cal State Fullerton seeks companies for consulting projects ...

Cal State Fullerton is seeking 50 local companies to participate in its award-winning student consulting program.

Business majors and MBA students provide in-depth analysis and recommendations to companies on increasing revenues and reducing expenses. Student teams dig into companies' operations, marketing, financial controls, customer service, human resources and new business development.

Over 20 years, many of the student projects have won national awards for the quality of their work. Students are supervised by business faculty and the Center for Entrepreneurship. For more information visit the program's web site www.csufsbi.org.

To apply, send an email to entrepreneurship@fullerton.edu or call the Center for Entrepreneurship at 657-278-3464. Deadline is today.

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/companies-387980-fullerton-entrepreneurship.html

2012 nfl draft grades young justice nfl draft d rose iman shumpert mayweather vs cotto shumpert

Holy Hot Rods! TV's Batmobile may fetch $5 million

1 hr.

Robert Frank

Maybe it was the dual bubble windshields, perfectly framing the heads of Adam West and Burt Ward as they raced to the Gotham City crime scene. Or maybe it was the flared bat wings, edged in orange. Or perhaps it was the ultimate jet exhaust, which flamed like a dragon as the caped crusaders raced out of the Bat Cave.

Whatever the reasons, the original Batmobile remains one of the most revered cars in America. And now the Batmobile ? yes the very same one used on the 1960s Adam West TV show ? is among the more than 1,400 cars expected to be auctioned off at the the 42nd annual Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale event this weekend.

The price: up to $5 million.

Scottsdale is the car-a-palooza of auto-collecting. And this year, auctioneers say the strong economy, growing investor interest in collectibles, and rare offerings like the Batmobile and a Mercedes once owned by Clark Gable, could push sales total to all-time highs.

The collectible car market isn't just back. It might be bigger than ever.

(Read more: Must-Have Super Car: $1.6 Million and Not Street Legal)

Craig Jackson, the CEO of Barrett-Jackson ? the auto-auction company that launched the event in 1971 ? said this year's sales total may top the company's all-time record of $108 million set in 2007.

"My goal is to beat it this year," he said. It looks like we have a good chance."

One good sign: the lines of credit available to buyers have topped $700 million. Jackson said that every potential bidder has to submit a letter from a bank or lender guaranteeing that a certain amount of cash is available for purchase. He said the total of $700 million in credit lines is likely to hit $1 billion ? meaning buyers have a war-chest of up to $1 billion to spend this weekend.

Scottsdale is mainly a muscle-car scene, with loads of American hot rods and Hemis. But it also has a smattering of Italian exotics, celebrity rides and cars made famous by Hollywood.

The Batmobile is, hands down, the star of the show. There are other Batmobiles out there, of course. But all others were copies of the original, which began life as the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car that made its screen debut in a 1959 film "It Started With a Kiss" with Debbie Reynolds. Then legendary customizer George Barris turned the car into the Batmobile for the TV series. The car was used in the original series as well as the movie adaptation starring Adam West.

Jackson said that all other batmobiles were fiberglass copies made from this original.

"This is the real deal," he said.

Barrett Jackson will be auctioning off the car Saturday. Jackson said that the car is likely to sell for $4 million or more and could easily top $5 million. He said the most likely buyer is "an institution" ? perhaps a museum or movie company linked to the Batman franchise.

"It's one of those wild cards, since we really don't know what it could sell for," he said.

(Read more: Lamborghini Miami Strikes Gold Among Foreign Rich)

Other headliners at Scottsdale include Clark Gable's 1955 Mercedes Gullwing, which could sell for millions. A 1958 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider being auctioned off by Gooding & Co. could fetch up to $7 million, while a 1960 Ferrari 250GT SWB Berlinetta auctioned off by RM Auctions could bring in $8 million.

Another piece of Hollywood going up for auction is the Dukes of Hazzard stunt car, which was used in the popular 1980s TV series. The "General Lee" ? a 1969 Dodge Charger ? could fetch more than $60,000 when auctioned off by Bonham's.

Also on the block from Bonhams: the car used in the infamous tollbooth scene in "The Godfather," in which Sonny Corleone gets shot. He didn't survive, but the car did. James Caan pulled up to the tollbooth in this car, but there aren't any bullet holes. A different car was riddled with the bullets. There's no estimate on how much the 1941 Lincoln Continental Coupe might fetch.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/holy-hot-rods-tvs-batmobile-may-fetch-5-million-1B8030594

atlanta falcons voting hours election results Doug Martin Barack Obama & Joe Biden Am I registered to vote Voter registration

Merkel surfs popularity wave before key state vote

STADE, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn't make rousing speeches, but she had 1,200 supporters wildly cheering her standard sober delivery, fired up about their brightening chances of winning a key regional election on Sunday.

At a campaign rally in the northern town of Stade late on Thursday, Merkel and Lower Saxony state premier David McAllister exhorted an enthusiastic crowd of Christian Democrats (CDU) to ensure a high turnout for the election of the regional assembly, which in turn chooses the state premier.

Merkel's CDU has been battered by the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens in 12 regional elections stretching back to 2009. A come-from-behind win in Lower Saxony would end that losing streak and give the chancellor a timely lift for her own re-election hopes in September.

"We're all excited about the outcome on Sunday," said Merkel, who is seeking a third term against the SPD, which is on the ropes thanks to blunders by Peer Steinbrueck, its candidate for Merkel's job.

"And it's not only the people of Lower Saxony who are interested in this election. It's a pivotal election. So get out and talk to your friends and neighbors and tell them how important this is," she added.

SWING STATE

Lower Saxony, an industrial and farming heartland and Germany's fourth most populous state, can go either way; both the center-left and center-right have taken turns running the vast region bordering the Netherlands and North Sea.

If the CDU can hold power in Lower Saxony for a third straight term on Sunday, it would send a powerful signal across Germany and galvanize Merkel supporters.

It would also prevent the opposition from getting a blocking majority in the Bundesrat upper house, where the 16 federal states are represented, which could make life difficult for Merkel's center-right coalition.

That explains why Merkel, who has become one of Germany's most popular leaders for her handling of the euro zone debt crisis, has invested so much time in Lower Saxony. Her campaign stop in Stade was her seventh in the last two weeks.

An opinion poll in Lower Saxony on Thursday showed a dead heat at 46-percent for both sides. The CDU were on 41 percent and their Free Democrat (FDP) allies 5 percent. The SPD were at 33 percent and their Greens allies at 13 percent.

Just six months ago, the SPD were in front with 36 percent and the Greens had 13, while the CDU appeared doomed at 32 percent, with their FDP coalition partners on 4 percent - below the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats.

"Our numbers are rising, and their numbers are going down," said McAllister, 42, a gifted speaker and rising star in the CDU whose Scottish father came to West Germany as a soldier.

"It's like we've caught up with them on the motorway in their car painted in their red and green colors," said the man seen as a potential successor to Merkel.

"We look over and see them sitting nervously in their car. They're nervous because they were arrogant and thought they already had this election in the bag," said McAllister.

The SPD's gaffe-prone Steinbrueck has kept a low profile in Lower Saxony after becoming a liability for the party's local candidate Stefan Weil. By contrast, Merkel is a major attraction for voters at rallies like the one here in Stade, a prosperous town of 46,000, about 45 km west of Hamburg.

"OUR 'IRON LADY'"

German voters seem to genuinely like 58-year-old Merkel's cautious style of leadership and speech, in contrast with the bluntness that has got Steinbrueck in trouble.

"She's tough, she's strong, she gets the job done, and she doesn't waver," said Ute Claus, 52, a lawyer who watched Merkel and McAllister win over the crowd. "She's our 'Iron Lady'. Her speech was first class, and McAllister was out of this world."

Ruben Korff, 30, said he had no problem with Merkel's understated campaign style.

"She's a super chancellor because she manages every crisis well," the student said. "You can't say that about her rival. It doesn't bother me that she's vague. It's better to be cautious than promise too much and not deliver."

Long lines of supporters and curious locals waited in line for up to an hour in sub-zero temperatures to see Merkel and McAllister at the rally in Stade, where 3,000 people applied for 1,200 tickets.

"Things weren't looking so good a few months ago," said Heinz-Klaus Gerken, 67, a retired teacher. "Steinbrueck keeps shooting himself in the foot, and Merkel's popularity has helped. McAllister has also distanced himself from Christian Wulff."

Wulff, Germany's disgraced ex president, led the CDU to two wins in Lower Saxony in 2003 and 2008 before Merkel picked the then-popular state premier to run for president in 2010. Wulff was forced to resign a year later over financial irregularities.

Thorsten Matties, a 43-year-old salesman who called himself a swing voter, said he was leaning towards the CDU because "things are going pretty well" in Germany at the moment.

"Merkel's a fascinating person," he said. "She's stayed tough during the financial crisis, and she's one of the few people who never loses her cool, even when things get hectic. I like the way she stays so calm all the time." (Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Stephen Brown and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-surfs-popularity-wave-key-state-vote-111103473.html

shabazz muhammad angela corey zimmerman charged bonobos charles manson al sharpton actuary