Huge dino handover shakes up the market

A fossil dealer's guilty plea has set the stage for what is most likely the largest dinosaur fossil repatriation in history, according to an attorney representing the president of Mongolia ? the country that will receive most of the fossils that federal officials are seizing from fossil dealer and preparer Eric Prokopi.

On Thursday, Prokopi pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to smuggling fossils and agreed to forfeit a small menagerie of dinosaurs to federal officials. All but one of the dinosaurs in question came from Mongolia, where law makes fossils state property, and among them is a high-profile skeleton that received a $1.05 million bid at auction.

"We have looked into this, and we can't find any instance anywhere when one country has returned to another a lot of dinosaurs this large and this significant that have been looted or smuggled," said Robert Painter, attorney for Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia.

The outcome has set precedent in other ways, according to observers and others who are involved in the case. In particular, some believe it will send a message to those involved in the black market for fossils, particularly those taken from Mongolia, which have been widely available for sale.

A long list of dinosaurs
In May, Prokopi put his 8-foot-tall and 24-foot-long (2.4 meters by 7.3 meters) Tarbosaurus bataar specimen up for auction. President Elbegdorj and several paleontologists objected, saying the dinosaur was almost certainly pilfered from Mongolia. The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office became involved and sought legal possession of the dinosaur with the intent of returning it to Mongolia. Later, Prokopi was arrested on federal smuggling charges. [See Images of the Smuggled Tarbosaurus Skeleton]

In a plea deal, Prokopi pleaded guilty to three felony counts and agreed to give up his claim on this dinosaur, plus fossils from two other Tarbosaurus bataars, which are Asian relatives of the better-known Tyrannosaurus rex; one Saurolophus or duck-billed dinosaur; and two birdlike Oviraptors. In September, federal officials seized another Saurolophus that Prokopi had sold to California-based gallery and auction house I.M. Chait. A small four-winged Microraptor from China was taken by federal officials before this case began. One of the Tarbosaurus fossils is believed to be in Great Britain.

"We are pleased that we can now begin the process of returning these prehistoric fossils to their countries of origin," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

Prokopi's prospects
After pleading guilty to charges of smuggling, making false statements on customs forms and dealing in fossils he knew to be illegal, Prokopi faces a maximum of 17 years in prison and a substantial fine. However, his defense attorney Georges Lederman said he believes it is highly unlikely Prokopi will receive anything close to the maximum sentence.

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"We are confident that the sentence imposed will be a fair and reasonable one and will take into account all the proactive measures my client has made," Lederman said, noting that Prokopi has cooperated with investigators and, as part of his plea deal, will continue to do so.

The outcome of the case disappointed David Herskowitz, an independent natural history consultant. While employed by the auction house Heritage Auctions, Herskowitz arranged for the sale of Prokopi's Tarbosaurus.

"I know Eric, and I know he is not a criminal," Herskowitz said. "I don't believe he knowingly broke any laws, and I believe the only reason why he had to cop a plea was financial and the pressures [of being involved in a court case]."

Prokopi spent a year preparing the Tarbosaurus fossils, which were once rough fossils that made up about 75 percent of a skeleton, to create a complete, mounted specimen with the intent of selling it at auction, Herskowitz said. But the $1 million sale was never completed.

Since releasing a statement in June, in which he described himself as "just a guy in Gainesville, Florida, trying to support my family, not some international bone smuggler," Prokopi has been silent.

At roughly the same time federal officials seized the Tarbosaurus bataar, fossils of probable Mongolian origin were easily found in auction catalogs and on eBay. Herskowitz noted that he has seen Mongolian fossils for sale during the 20 years he has been working in the field.

"Mongolia never stepped forward to do anything about the buying and selling of Mongolian fossils, and that was the reason why everyone felt it was legal and OK," Herskowitz said.

A legal question
With the deal still fresh, not everyone agrees about its legal implications. An important issue in the case was the relationship between Mongolian law ? which Prokopi?s civil attorneys said did not clearly make fossils state property ? and U.S. law. This is important because prosecutors were basing the claim that the fossils were stolen on Mongolian law; however, Prokopi was being prosecuted under U.S. law.

From Herskowitz?s perspective, the plea deal doesn?t resolve this issue, but the ambiguity will likely change the market.

"I would believe that no one should be selling Mongolian fossils until this whole thing is resolved," he said.

Ricardo St. Hilaire, an attorney who practices cultural law, disagreed, saying that the deal created a foundation for using Mongolian law on cultural property to invoke U.S. law on stolen property.

"This conviction should signal to those of us in the legal community and to anybody in the collecting community that Mongolian law has served as the basis to trigger the National Stolen Property Act," St. Hilaire said. Prokopi pleaded guilty to one count of violating this law. [Faux Real: A Gallery of Art Forgeries]

The case and its outcome signal the willingness of the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office to pursue cultural property cases, said St. Hilaire, who has been following the case and writing about it on his blog.

Robert Painter, the attorney for the Mongolian president, put the significance in more blunt terms: "Smugglers like Eric Prokopi used to think they could do this with impunity. Now they realize this is very serious."

The Mongolian reaction
Mongolian officials have announced plans to establish a temporary facility in the central square of the capital, Ulaanbataar, to display the dinosaurs once they return, Painter said.

"President Elbegdorj and Mongolians are so grateful for what the U.S. government has done, there is just a tremendous amount of excitement," he said.

The dinosaur's saga from auction block to courtroom has captured Mongolians' attention: A Mongolian media company, Shuud.mn, named the dinosaur's story the top event of the year, said Bolorsetseg Minjin, a Mongolian paleontologist who has advocated for the return the dinosaur.

"It is not only on the news, just talking to the people in Mongolia, they really want to know what is going on with the whole case," Minjin said.

Mongolian officials are investigating the illicit trade within their own borders as well, Painter said.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50324236/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Take Care of Expensive Deals With Revised Mortgage Refinance ...

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Source: http://www.sturly.com/take-care-of-expensive-deals-with-revised-mortgage-refinance-and-debt-consolidation-refinance-rates/

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10 Things to Know for Today

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-today-101340019.html

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Pakistan seeks help to rescue 23 missing police

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Pakistani officials pressured tribal elders Friday to help rescue 23 policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban during attacks on their posts in the country's troubled northwest tribal region.

Also Friday, missiles fired from unmanned U.S. aircraft killed four suspected militants at a training center elsewhere in the remote frontier area, the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the country, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The 23 tribal policemen went missing before dawn Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts in the Darra Adam Khel tribal region. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.

Senior political officials held a meeting in the main northwest city of Peshawar on Friday with tribal elders from both the villages where the attacks took place, said government administrator Naveed Akbar Khan. Tribal law stipulates that the elders could be punished for attacks that occurred in their areas.

Officials gave the elders until Monday to rescue the missing policemen and arrest the culprits, said Khan. If they fail to do so, authorities may take punitive action, such as cutting off monthly allowances they receive from the government. The elders said they would do everything they could to help, said Khan.

Security forces have also launched an operation to try to recover the missing policemen.

The U.S. missile strike Friday occurred in Gorbuz village in the North Waziristan tribal area, said Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Three missiles hit a suspected militant training center in the village, they said.

The U.S. rarely speaks publicly about the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.

____

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-28-Pakistan/id-f4772b672d7746e5bea1c09e615104a4

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Best social media companies in Mexico

The importance of the internet for businesses is unquestionable. Nine out of ten people look for information on the Internet every single day and 90% of these decide what they?ll buy from what they?ll see on the internet. More than 85% of Mexican internet users use social media so this is clearly something that companies there mustn?t ignore. In fact it?s very importamnt for companies to use social media correctly nowadays. Here are some of the top social media companies in Mexico:

Altaan

This company which is headquartered in Mexico DF, has been boosting brands for seven years now, offering all sorts of services such as email marketing, internet advertising campaigns, bluetooth advertising, commerce and communication strategies and website development as well as social media.

GreenDreamSocial

This company, which is based both in Mexico and the United States, specializes in digital branding optimization, social media strategic management and social presence monetization.

Spiga

This company specializes in social media, web design and development as well as SEO. It helps with social network production and atrategy, as well as constructing and mantaining skins and profiles on social networks. It also helps creating widgets, gadgets and facebook apps by monitoring, administering and upkeep.

Atomo interactive

This company is an interactive agency which specializes in the development of integral communication strategies that will combine the user?s experience with the interactivity, social media and SEO.

Gamol

This social media marketing company combines Facebook, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn to effectively boost your brand. Although practically anybone can use social media, in order to make the most of these great tools having an expert is much more convenient.

Source: http://www.onbile.com/info/best-social-media-companies-in-mexico/

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Social Media Trends from the Nielsen Social Media Report 2012

Last updated 1 hour 14 minutes ago

Nielsen?s State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012 reflects on various social media trends of 2012, as well as the potential impact they will have on the coming year. There is no denying that social media is more popular than ever with consumers, and that having a social media presence is critical for SMBs? online marketing strategies in 2013.? Here are a few highlights from the report.

Mobile Usage Is Not Slowing Down

As you might have guessed, the amount of time consumers spent on PCs and Smartphones increased between July 2011 and July 2012.? Time spent on these devices grew by 21%, while time on apps rose 120% in that same period.? While PCs still remain our primary source of Internet access, the usage of mobile Web and apps are increasing at a significant rate. Small businesses can?t afford to ignore mobile any longer, and should invest in mobile-friendly advertising and sites to reach this growing audience.?

Time Spent on Social Networks Grew 37%.

From July 2011 to July 2012, the time consumers spent on social media sites grew from 88.4B minutes to a whopping 121.1B minutes. Nielsen attributes this substantial growth in part to the rise of mobile apps, which enable us to stay connected to our favorite sites while on the go. In fact, we spent seven times more minutes on apps than on the mobile Web. Time spent on these sites means social media access is not only on the rise, but also that we are more engaged when we do visit them. For small businesses, this means being active on social media is more important than ever in order to reach consumers spending a large portion of their time there.?

Consumers Value Social Customer Service

For more and more consumers, social care, also known as social customer service, is becoming an increasingly important, and valuable social media trend for SMBs to leverage. Nielsen reports that one in three social media users prefer social care to contacting a company by phone. That means that more consumers are using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and the company blog to reach out to businesses and brands in the hope of resolving a customer service issue. SMBs are not immune to this trend, and many will see an influx of customer complaints through these channels, which can impact their online reputation. As a result, it?s vital for businesses to monitor their social media pages regularly and respond to customer questions, complaints, and more as soon as possible.?

As we?ve seen throughout the year, mobile and social media continue to top consumers? online behavior. And as 2012 winds down, it?s important for small businesses to think about whether they have successfully taken advantage of some of these social media trends, and how they can incorporate them in the future. You can read the entire Nielsen social media report here.?

How do mobile and social media fit into your online marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments!

Related Articles

About the Author

Tamara?Weintraub?helps equip small business owners with information about local online advertising, social media, and content marketing as a writer for?the?ReachLocal?blog.

Source: http://blog.reachlocal.com/616785/2012/12/26/social-media-report-2012-top-trends-smbs-need-to-know.html

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As winter storm bears down on Midwest, death toll climbs

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A winter storm system that blew through Christmas Day with Gulf Coast tornadoes and snow in the nation's midsection headed for the Northeast on Wednesday, spreading blizzard conditions that slowed holiday travel.

The death toll rose to six with car accidents on snow and sleet-slickened highways in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Post-Christmas travelers braced for flight delays and a raft of weather warnings for drivers, a day after rare winter twisters damaged buildings in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Snow blew across southern Illinois and southern Indiana early Wednesday as the storm tracked up the Ohio River valley toward the Eastern seaboard and New England.

There were whiteout conditions in parts of southwestern Indiana, where 6 inches or more of snow had fallen by midmorning around Evansville. State police reported dozens of vehicles stuck after not being able to get up a hill on a central Indiana highway, while some roads around Evansville were impassable with wind gusts around 30 mph.

A blizzard warning was in effect for much of the state's southern two-thirds and more than a dozen counties issued travel watches asking residents to make only essential driving trips.

"People need to not travel. They need to just go where they're going to be and stay there," said Rachel Trevino, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service bureau in Paducah, Ky., which covers southwestern Indiana.

In snowy Arkansas, the storm left more than 189,000 customers without electricity Wednesday, utility Entergy Arkansas said.

Severe thunderstorms were forecast for the Carolinas while a line of blizzard and winter storm warnings stretched from Arkansas up the Ohio River to New York and on to Maine.

Thirty-four tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during the outbreak Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

Rick Cauley's family was hosting relatives for Christmas when tornado sirens went off in Mobile. Not taking any chances, he and his wife, Ashley, hustled everyone down the block to take shelter at the athletic field house at Mobile's Murphy High School in Mobile.

It turns out, that wasn't the place to head.

"As luck would have it, that's where the tornado hit," Cauley said. "The pressure dropped and the ears started popping and it got crazy for a second." They were all fine, though the school was damaged, as were a church and several homes, but officials say no one was seriously injured.

Camera footage captured the approach of the large funnel cloud.

Mobile was the biggest city hit by numerous twisters. Along with brutal, straight-line winds, the storms knocked down countless trees, blew the roofs off homes and left many Christmas celebrations in the dark. Torrential rains drenched the region and several places saw flash flooding.

More than 750 flights around the U.S. were canceled as of Wednesday morning, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. The cancelations were mostly spread around airports that had been or soon would be in the path of the storm.

Holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions from the same fast-moving storms. In Arkansas, highway department officials said the state was fortunate the snowstorm hit on Christmas Day when many travelers were already at their destinations.

Two passengers in a car on a sleet-slickened Arkansas highway died Wednesday when the vehicle crossed the center line and struck an SUV head-on. In Oklahoma, the Highway Patrol said a 76-year-old Wisconsin woman died Tuesday when the car she was riding in was hit head-on by a pickup truck on Interstate 44.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol had earlier reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in another crash Tuesday on a snowy highway. The storm's winds were blamed Tuesday for toppling a tree onto a pickup truck in Texas, killing the driver, and another tree onto a house in Louisiana, killing a man there.

Trees fell on homes and across roadways in several communities in southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, saying eight counties reported damages and some injuries.

It included McNeill, where a likely tornado damaged a dozen homes and sent eight people to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries, said Pearl River County emergency management agency director Danny Manley.

The snowstorm that caused numerous accidents pushed out of Oklahoma late Tuesday, carrying with it blizzard warnings for parts of northeast Arkansas, where 10 inches of snow was forecast. Freezing rain clung to trees and utility lines in Arkansas and winds gusts up to 30 mph whipped them around, causing about 71,000 customers to lose electricity for a time.

Christmas lights also were knocked out with more than 100,000 customers without power for at least a time in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.

Blizzard conditions were possible for parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky up to Cleveland with predictions of several inches to a foot of snow. By the end of the week, that snow was expected to move into the Northeast with again up to a foot predicted

Jason Gerth said the Mobile tornado passed by in a few moments and from his porch, he saw about a half-dozen green flashes in the distance as transformers blew. His home was spared.

"It missed us by 100 feet and we have no damage," Gerth said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-storms-toll-6-dead-155424097.html

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Practical Tips For Successful Home Improvement Projects | Roofers ...

TIP! Adding certain items can enhance the look of your entryway and make it more functional. A coat rack, key holder and storage bench are all items to consider.

The majority of homeowners have undertaken some type of home improvement project during their lives. Whether it?s an old kitchen, a boring living room or even the need for a new bathroom, every homeowner has a wish list. For successful home improvement project planning, read on!

TIP! Stained baseboards offer an excellent alternative to traditionally painted ones. Furthermore, the look and feel of wood is perfectly suited to all types of decor and style.

Apply an asphalt search to keep your driveway from crumbling and cracking. Both the sun and the weather can harm your driveway, particularly if water gets into the crevices, freezes, and then thaws out. Applying a sealant will lessen the effects that weather and other elements will have on your driveway, which naturally extends its useful life.

TIP! Search for ?how to? videos of the task you are about to undertake, being as specific as you like and including details like models and model numbers. An amazing number of people may have already solved the same problem you are dealing with and posted their solution online.

Study the quotes given to you by various contractors; identify which are printed on company stationery and which are simple and nondescript. Professional businesses will send their quotes on a letterhead, letting you know that they are an established company. While this shouldn?t be the sole criteria for choosing a contractor, it certainly adds credibility.

TIP! To help free up counter space, install an over-the-range microwave. These units take the place of a range hood and are available at a variety of price points.

Install a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans are great projects to have. It is also inexpensive and simple to install. Ceiling fans are cheap and also help with the cost of air conditioning.

TIP! If you have many small parts, such as screws and bolts, that you need to store but still need to access quickly, you should try small magnetic trays so they won?t slip off. When you?re looking for just one tool, even the best shops may have difficulty finding it.

Highlight the best features of your house. Try not to block off any scenic views! Understand that keeping a view will increase the selling points of your home. This will help buyers see your house as the unique and beautiful home that it is.

TIP! You can easily dress up a teenager?s room by creating pillows that serve as a trendy focal point. You can use old t-shirts with neat designs, band shirts, or even jeans to cut and sew into pillows.

Simple things like magazines or an interesting paint swatch can provide you with inspiration for a remodeling or home improvement project. Even if you have no immediate plans to do a project, finding and retaining ideas for later use can make your projects less stressful when you do decide to begin undertaking them. For one thing, this process will let you distribute the costs of the necessary supplies and materials over a long span of time.

TIP! Advance planning is key for any home improvement project. Leaving important decisions unmade until the day the work gets done is a recipe for disaster.

As you can probably see, first-timers can find it difficult to plan and execute a home renovation project. Sometimes, results are a matter of sheer luck. By following the tips presented here, you will be able to plan and execute your home improvement project successfully from start to finish.

Thank you for seeing the Neighborhood Roofing website. We are Arlington?s Top Roofing Expert and Your Greatest Option for Quality Roofing in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area! Neighborhood Roofing is a Accredited and fully Bonded and Insured Roofing Expert in the State of Texas.

Neighborhood Roofing was founded in the 2011 by David Carlson, Paul Carlson and Chris Hyland. David has more than 20 years in roofing sales and contracting, Chris Hyland has in excess of 20 years in sales and administration in different markets and Paul Carlson has been in the field for over 40 years selling and installing roofs. Collectively they are poised to make a monumental change in the method roofers do business.

Home owners and corporations have chosen Neighborhood Roofing as their Roofing Contractor for the Quality of the tasks done, the fair cost on its services and the achievement of delivery times.

Neighborhood Roofing has been doing roofing in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex region for more than a year and the proprietors have more than 40 years knowledge combined. Neighborhood Roofing has obtained an exceptional reputation doing re-roofing and new roofs for households and commercial properties. We at Neighborhood Roofing think that every consumer should be regarded as a part of our family, giving them the very best of us. As a result, we have been referred to new clients as the Premier Arlington roofer. We always say that a client satisfied with his new roof is the ideal client.

Please pay a visit to our website at www.roofersarlingtontx.net

Source: http://www.roofersarlingtontx.net/practical-tips-for-successful-home-improvement-projects/

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Boehner to Obama: ?Get serious? about ?fiscal cliff?

House Speaker John Boehner makes a brief statement to the media at the Capitol in Washington December 19, 2012.??Republican House Speaker John Boehner warned President Barack Obama on Wednesday that he can either accept a GOP alternative to a comprehensive ?fiscal cliff? compromise or ?be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history.?

?I hope the president will get serious soon about providing, and working with us on, a balanced approach,? Boehner told reporters in a brief public appearance at which he took no questions.

The verbal hardball tactics came one day before the Republican-led House of Representative was to vote on the speaker?s ?Plan B," which would extend Bush-era tax cuts on income up to $1 million but would raise tax rates above that. His plan also keeps in place deep automatic defense and domestic spending cuts?the so-called sequester?that key Republicans have spent months denouncing as unacceptable and dangerous to national security.

?Tomorrow, the House will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every American?99.81 percent of the American people,? Boehner said. ?Then the president will have a decision to make: He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history.?

The speaker?s remarks hinted at the pitched public relations battle over the fiscal cliff?across-the-board income tax hikes and deep government spending cuts that will be triggered if the White House and congressional Republicans can't reach a deal. The combination of spending cuts and tax hikes could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession. Both would go into effect Jan. 1 barring an^{eleventh-hour compromise.}

Republicans have squirmed for months in the face of opinion polls showing the public sides with Obama, who has accused the GOP of holding tax cuts that chiefly benefit the middle class hostage to secure tax cuts for the richest Americans. The president first called for extending tax cuts on income up to $250,000 annually per household, then in a concession to Republicans raised that to $400,000.

Boehner?s gambit also highlighted how he is in a political bind. Many conservatives in the House oppose any tax increase at all. On Wednesday, the anti-tax Club for Growth interest group warned House members to vote against the speaker?s plan. And some House Republicans remain opposed to the automatic defense cuts they say risk endangering national security.

But it?s also not lost on anyone that Boehner?s ?Plan B? could turn out to the be the legislative vehicle for any final compromise deal. Once received by the Senate, lawmakers there could amend the package and send it back to the House?though that may be easier said than done.

(Roll Call ace reporter Niels Lesniewski lays out the parliamentary details here with characteristic clarity and thoroughness, noting that ?Plan B? might actually prove to be ?a much-needed Christmas present? to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.)

In some ways, Obama seems to be playing along with the idea that the time for talking is over and its now time to vote. During a press conference at the White House shortly before Boehner's comments, the president signaled that he was done negotiating. ?Take the deal,? he said.

As for a negotiated compromise? ?I think the speaker would like to get that done,? Obama said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/boehner-obama-serious-fiscal-cliff-202506400--politics.html

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Clinton accepts Benghazi findings, orders broad changes

In the aftermath of Friday's Newtown school shooting, we've heard tales mostly horrifying and occasionally heroic, from surviving witnesses and mourning citizens alike, but this one lies somewhere in between, all the more unshakeable. One six-year-old Sandy Hook student played dead in her first-grade classroom, her family pastor said late Sunday, with the kind of quick thinking that ended up saving her life but now leaves her with the unshakeable memories of watching all her classmates being shot and killed. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-accepts-benghazi-findings-orders-broad-changes-024017457.html

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Armenia, Russia-led Customs Union to sign cooperation deal in 2013

Photo: www.gov.am

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Victor Khristenko in Yerevan, December 5, 2012

The Customs Union of three former Soviet countries, including Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, plans to sign cooperation agreements with Armenia soon, Eurasian Economic Commission (EurAsEC) Board Chairman Viktor Khristenko said on Monday.

As reported by Interfax, Khristenko presented the results of his latest visit to Armenia and meetings with the leadership in Yerevan, saying that the document will probably be singed early next year.

On December 17, Khristenko and CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev signed a memorandum of cooperation between EurAsEC and the CIS Executive Committee. The document includes cooperation in the following areas: economics and finance, statistics, trade policy and simplifying trade procedures, technical regulation, standardization and uniformity of measurements, customs policy, transport and freight, migration policy, investment policy, competition policy, industrial and agricultural cooperation, and energy cooperation.

The news came as Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian traveled to Brussels to sign with European Union officials an agreement that would make it easier for Armenian travelers to obtain short-stay entry visas to EU-member countries.

Also on Monday President Serzh Sargsyan?s office announced a visit by the Armenian leader to the Russian capital of Moscow today to take part in a high-level gathering of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/an_daily_eng/~3/U12vKohkuEg/armenia_russia_eurasec_customs_union

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NASA prepares twin spacecraft for crash landing

Ebb and Flow, two spacecraft that have been investigating the moon's gravitational field, will end their existence by smashing into the moon's north pole next week. The event is not likely to be visible from Earth, but the?Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter?may catch a glimpse. ? ?

By Alicia Chang,?Associated Press / December 13, 2012

This artist rendering released by NASA shows the twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow orbiting the moon. The duo is preparing for a crash landing on the moon next week.

AP Photo/NASA

Enlarge

After nearly a year circling the moon,?NASA's?Ebb and Flow will meet their demise when they crash ? on purpose ? into the lunar surface.

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Just don't expect to see celestial fireworks. Next week's impact near the moon's north pole by the washing machine-sized spacecraft won't carve a gaping crater or kick up a lot of debris. And it'll be dark when it happens.

"We are not expecting a big flash or a big explosion" that will be visible from Earth, said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Still, it'll mark a violent end to a successful mission that has produced the most high-resolution gravity maps of Earth's closest neighbor. On Friday, engineers will turn off the science instruments in preparation for Monday's finale.

Previous unmanned trips to the moon have studied its lumpy gravitational field, but Ebb and Flow are the first ones dedicated to this goal. Since entering orbit over New Year's weekend, the formation-flying spacecraft have peered past the craggy surface into the interior.

Initially, the spacecraft flew about 35 miles (56 kilometers) above the surface and later dropped down to 14 miles (22 kilometers). About an hour before Monday's impact, they will fire their engines until they run out of fuel and slam at 3,800 mph (6,115 kph) into a predetermined target ? a mountain near the north pole that's far away from the Apollo landing sites.

Ebb will hit first followed by Flow 20 seconds later. Though the drama won't be visible from Earth, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will fly over the crash site afterward and attempt to spot them.

The last time?NASA?aimed at the moon was in 2009. The world watched through telescopes and over the Internet as a spacecraft and its booster rocket smashed into a permanently shadowed crater ? a one-two punch that fizzled when spectators saw little more than a fuzzy white flash.

The mission's end will also mark the close of a student campaign that used cameras aboard the spacecraft to image lunar targets including on the moon's far side. The MoonKAM project was spearheaded by a science education company founded by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Ride died of pancreatic cancer in July at age 61.

Even after Ebb and Flow complete their mission, scientists will continue to pore over the bounty of data they collected.

Among their findings so far: The moon is more beat up than previously imagined. The crust is much thinner than thought. And there's no evidence that Earth once had two moons that collided to form the one we see in the night sky.

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/RnMERHgbLHI/NASA-prepares-twin-spacecraft-for-crash-landing

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TEXT-S&P summary: Singapore Power Ltd.

However, the rating on SingPower may come under pressure if the contribution

of the company's international business to the group's cash flows and assets

increases significantly, such that it becomes the key rating driver. This

could be due to SingPower's material expansion in markets and businesses that

we view as being of lesser quality than the T&D business in Singapore. The

Australian business currently contributes about 60% of SingPower's total

EBITDA and the Singapore business contributes the rest. We assess the credit

profile of the group's Australian business to be in the 'bbb' category and

that of the Singapore business to be in the 'a' category.

We believe that there is a "high" likelihood that the government of Singapore

(AAA/Stable/A-1+; axAAA/axA-1+), through SingPower's parent, Temasek Holdings

(Private) Limited (AAA/Stable/A-1+; axAAA/axA-1+), would provide timely and

sufficient extraordinary support to SingPower in the event of financial

distress. However, we believe that government and shareholder support is not

absolute.

We assess the stand-alone credit profile of SingPower to be 'a-'. In

accordance with our criteria for government-related entities, our view of a

"high" likelihood of extraordinary government support is based on our

assessment of the following SingPower characteristics:

-- Its "important" role as the holding company for SPPA, which owns and

maintains Singapore's electricity T&D assets, and SP PowerGrid Ltd., which

manages SPPA's assets; and

-- Its "very strong" link with the government.

We expect SingPower's cash flow adequacy measures to weaken in the next one to

two years as the company undertakes a tunnel project in Singapore to replace

aging underground transmission cables and lay new cables to support the growth

in electricity demand. The project is estimated to cost about Singapore dollar

(S$) 2 billion, and we expect SingPower to fund about 70% of the cost through

borrowings. We estimate SingPower's ratio of funds from operations (FFO) to

debt to drop to 11%-12% for the next two years, compared with about 13% for

the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.

Nevertheless, SingPower's diverse high-quality cash flow, liability management

efforts, and solid access to financial markets mitigate the impact of the

company's weaker cash flow and profitability measures.

Liquidity

SingPower's liquidity is "adequate," as defined in our criteria. We expect the

company's liquidity sources (including cash, FFO, and credit facilities) to

exceed its uses by at least 1.2x over the next 12 months. Our liquidity

assessment is based on the following factors and assumptions:

-- Cash and cash equivalents and available lines under committed bank

facilities fully cover debt maturities over the next 12 months.

-- EBITDA is predictable, which is supported by a favorable regulatory

framework.

-- We believe net liquidity sources will remain above cash requirements

even if EBITDA declines by 20%.

SingPower has supportive banking relationships and has good access to debt

capital markets in Singapore and Australia.

Outlook

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that SingPower will continue to

have stable cash flows and will pro-actively manage its liabilities in the

next couple of years while pursuing growth investments.

We may lower the rating on SingPower if we lower the likelihood of

extraordinary government support by one category to "moderately high." We

could also downgrade SingPower if its stand-alone credit profile weakens by

one notch to 'bbb+' due to either of the following:

-- SingPower departs significantly from its strategy of staying in its

core T&D business in a stable regulatory environment; or

-- The contribution of SingPower's international businesses to the

group's cash flows and assets increases materially, such that it becomes the

key driver of the rating; or

-- SingPower's cash flow adequacy and liquidity deteriorate, or the

company's tunnel project faces material delays and cost overruns, such that

its FFO-to-debt ratio heads toward 10% or below.

Conversely, while the probability of an upgrade is low, we could raise the

rating if we raise the likelihood of extraordinary support by one category to

"very high" or SingPower's stand-alone credit profile improves by three

notches.

Related Criteria And Research

-- Methodology: Business Risk/Financial Risk Matrix Expanded, Sept. 18,

2012

-- Rating Government-Related Entities: Methodology And Assumptions, Dec.

9, 2010

-- Stand-Alone Credit Profiles: One Component Of A Rating, Oct. 1, 2010

-- Business And Financial Risks In The Investor-Owned Utilities Industry,

Nov. 26, 2008

-- 2008 Corporate Criteria: Analytical Methodology, April 15, 2008

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/text-p-summary-singapore-power-ltd-091825372--sector.html

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Making Friends? ? A Journey Through Motherhood

I feel like this post should come with a self-pity warning? I considered not posting but instead I?ll say that if self-pity is likely to annoy you please don?t read any further, I need to be loved ;0)

?

On Saturday night we had a little Christmas gathering, it was lovely with a few friends with kids here meaning toys everywhere, it was pretty perfect. Then at the end of the evening I sobbed on Gareth, partly because I?d drunk half a bottle of Champagne but also because I became keenly aware of how far away my family and many of my friends are.

I?ve met lots of lovely people since moving here and it does feel like home to us but last night we discussed moving back down south to be near to my family. I think having small children and being a long way from the people who can help and support is incredibly hard and with all that?s happened these past few months it?s been even harder.

But with the teen in the middle of year 9 we won?t be going anywhere for a few years, I want him to have stability through secondary school. So, in the mean time I need to make a real effort to be more socialable and to make friends. I?m suddenly feeling very lonely and isolated and I think with a plan to home school our smaller boys this could easily get much worse, I need to fight my natural instinct to hide out at home and ?not see people.

I don?t know if this is just how modern life is, with friends spread all over the place, I know some people stay and live in the same place that they grow up but I know very few people who did that. If I moved back to my home town none of my closest friends are still there, they haven?t even had the decency to all move to the same place but are spread far and wide?

I?m always surprised how you meet people, my delicious friend Fi came along on Saturday night with her husband and their little one. I actually met Fi on Twitter. It was so lovely to see them all in a social way. Fi and Richard both do hypnotherapy and if you live in South Yorkshire and could use this sort of thing you should look them up on their website. It was Fi who got me to the top of the climbing wall by helping me overcome my fear of heights? it?s amazing stuff.

I love that being on Twitter can lead to friendships. It?s such a hard thing to find, if you are single and you want to meet someone, then you could choose to go out for the evening and flirt with men you fancy, but it?s not the same with making friends. It?s hard to find people you share interests with and that you really click with. Though it?s interesting for me to note that most of my friends are ones that I can have flirty banter with!

I don?t know what this post is meant to be exactly or what it?s saying? I have met some good people up here but still at times I find it really hard. The friends I?ve had for years, the ones I can call at 3am if needed live so far away and it?s just hard. My mum and lovely big sister are so far away and I miss them. I?m not sure moving is the answer, even my mum and sister don?t live in the same area.

Part of the problem has been my own unsettled adult life, I have moved such a lot and often made no effort to get to know people as I knew I had no long term plans to stay. I lived in Walsall for a year and actually didn?t get to know anyone. Not one person. When in Derbyshire I met some lovely people who I?m still in touch with (a couple who came along on Saturday night). Altogether this area feels most like home so perhaps I just need to overcome my fears and get to know people, I mean really get to know them. I need to remember that we do like it here and it?s safe to give myself up a little in order to get to know people. My natural instinct is to hold back and to assume that people already have their friendship groups and won?t have room for me.

It?s odd writing all this stuff down but as always it helps. Gareth and I even talked about making our wedding just the two of us last night, just because the social aspect of it is quite nerve wracking for both of us, but in the end I think it?s the perfect way to get all the people we love together in the same place. That?s something we?ll talk about more and make a decision on.

Having to cancel our trip to Sussex due to my vans head gasket going is probably not helping my mood, it was going to be a chance to spend time with my family and some friends that I rarely see, so I think I?m feeling a little sad about that. I am grateful to be living where we do and for the special people we know, it?s a beautiful place, I just need to realise it really is home and really settle in.

Source: http://motherhoodjourneys.com/making-friends

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Ryan Lanza Responds on Facebook After Media Erroneously Reports Him as Sandy Hook Killer

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/ryan-lanza-responds-on-facebook-after-media-erroneously-reports/

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Web Shopping Mall and Blog MyReviewsNow.net Promotes Affiliate ...

Atlanta, GA, December 14, 2012 ?(PR.com)? MyReviewsNow.net, a leading web shopping mall and blog that features the Internet?s hottest products, services and brands all under one virtual roof, has announced that its affiliate partner Cross has launched a limited time buy one get one half off sale.

Until December 17, people who shop online at Cross can purchase any of their remarkable, world class pens at regular price, and get the second one at 50% off when they enter coupon code BOGH12. It?s the ideal opportunity for folks who want to stock up on some of the finest pens in the world, or who want to browse for exceptional gift ideas for someone special on their list this holiday season.

?There are pens, and then there are Cross pens,? commented an Affiliate Relationship Spokesperson from MyReviewsNow.net. ?From ballpoint pens, to rollerball pens, to fountain pens and more, there?s something special about holding a Cross pen that simply can?t be described ? but is clearly understood by millions of people around the world who wouldn?t dream of writing with anything else. And now, during the limited time Cross buy one get one half off sale, there?s never been a better time to shop online and save big. But people had better hurry ? December 17 is just around the corner!?

Shoppers who want to take advantage of the Cross buy one get one half off sale can start their online shopping at the Gifts for Occasions Portal of MyReviewsNow.net?s giant web shopping mall.

While visiting, shopping can also check out helpful reviews, leave their feedback and ratings, and explore the shopping mall?s new and exciting shopping blog.

For more information or media inquiries, contact Lina Andrade at info@myreviewsnow.net. Press release issued by SEOChampion.com.

About MyReviewsNow.net Shopping Mall

A blog, gift ideas hub and online shopping mall superstore that features thousands of services, products and publications available online, MyReviewsNow.net is a business directory that sets itself apart from similar sites by offering both professional reviews and consumer reviews on the Internet?s hottest offerings in a fun, simple format that is easy for visitors to shop online and enjoy. Plus, MyReviewsNow.net is 100% free, open 24/7, and the best way avoid crowded shopping malls and parking lots.

About SEO Champion

SEO Champion was started in 1999 and is owner operated by Michael Rotkin, SEO Specialist for over 17 years. Michael Rotkin?s goal for his clients is to ?own? keyword placements for the top 3 slots organically, so that his clients can earn a higher return on investment from their advertising dollars. Rotkin realizes the value of SEO over Pay-Per-Click campaigns, where click-throughs are generally more expensive and harder to convert into sales. SEOChampion?s intense work ethic can be seen in daily and weekly reports that show progress through organic keyword gain. This effort is the reason his SEO firm has been able to build a loyal client base for many years. Learn more at SEO Champion.

Contact Information:
MyReviewsNow
Lina Andrade
702-462-6311
Contact via Email
myreviewsnow.net

Click here to read the full story: Web Shopping Mall and Blog MyReviewsNow.net Promotes Affiliate Partner Cross? Buy One Get One Half Off Sale

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: http://money.rambergmedia.com/web-shopping-mall-and-blog-myreviewsnow-net-promotes-affiliate-partner-cross-buy-one-get-one-half-off-sale/

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Costco workers split $50M Powerball win

The Massachusetts Lottery confirmed two Costco co-workers are the winners of a $50 million Powerball prize.

According to lottery officials, 52-year-old Rosa DeLeon and 54-year-old Reginald LeBlanc, who work at the Costco in Waltham, Mass., bought the winning ticket to Wednesday's jackpot.

The Boston Globe reports that over the past 10 months, DeLeon would regularly buy two Powerball tickets, write their names on the back, and give LeBlanc a copy.

Today, her weekly purchases paid off.

The two appeared at a news conference at state lottery headquarters to accept a $33 million lump-sum payment, which comes to $23.1 million after taxes.

PHOTOS: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

The winning ticket, sold at a Shell gas station in Lexington, Mass., had the numbers 8-10-25-36-44, and a Powerball of 28.

"About a year ago we sold a $1 million ticket. Not a $50 million, but still pretty good," Shell store manager Adam Muise told ABC News.

Muise says LeBlanc came into his store this morning with the winning ticket, somewhat in shock.

"He walked in and he stood off to the side and didn't really say anything," Muise said. "We asked if he needed help with anything and continued to talk about someone winning, and he calmly said, 'I won.' He had a copy of the winning ticket."

Muise said his fellow store workers congratulated LeBlanc, who said he was waiting for the friend with whom he was splitting the money.

The lucky store location, which sold a $1 million winning scratch-off ticket last year, will receive a $50,000 commission for selling the ticket.

"I hope that people feel that we're lucky and come in and buy some lottery tickets and some more Powerball, and help our sales out over here," Muise said.

Also Read

Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/costco-workers-split-50m-powerball-win-232135176--abc-news-savings-and-investment.html

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Telecoms in the U.S. Have Held Broadband Internet Access ...

Here are the facts: Approximately 19 million Americans can?t subscribe to high-speed internet access because they live in areas that private companies believe are too expensive to serve. Internet access is still very expensive compared to the rest of the developed world ? a third of Americans don?t or can?t subscribe.

Via Wired:

Internet access in America remains relatively slow ? particularly when it comes to upload speeds, the very feature necessary for cloud computing and creating user-generated content. Cable companies dominate wired internet access and face no real competition or pricing pressure; telcos like Verizon and AT&T have retreated to wireless, which will never be a full substitute for wired capacity; and we still have no plan for a nation-wide upgrade to fiber.

Congress created the FCC to make available to ?all the people of the United States? a ?rapid, efficient, Nation-wide? communications service ?at reasonable charges.? But we have failed in that task when it comes to the basic communications need of our time: high-speed internet access. Reliable information access is central to every policy we care about, including education, health, and even national security.

How bad is it? Here?s a graphic to put it into some perspective.

Tags: broadbandPoliticstechnologytelecoms

? James Poling

To contact the author of this post you can send an email to james@jamespoling.com. If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the free RSS feed to have future articles delivered directly to your feed reader. You can also stay informed about important updates and new posts when you follow me on Twitter or join our Facebook Fan page.

Source: http://jamespoling.com/telecoms-in-the-u-s-have-held-broadband-internet-access-hostage-with-little-to-no-investment-in-infrastructure-while-charging-some-of-the-highest-prices-in-the-world-for-access/

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Pope needs help sending out blessing in first tweet

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - After weeks of anticipation bordering on media frenzy, Pope Benedict solemnly put his finger to a computer tablet device on Wednesday and tried to send his first tweet - but something went wrong.

Images on Vatican television appeared to show the first try didn't work. The pope, who still writes his speeches by hand, seems to have pressed too hard and the tweet was not sent right away. So, he needed a little help from his friends.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli of the Vatican's communications department showed the pontiff how to do it, but the pope hesitated. Celli touched the screen lightly himself and off went the papal tweet.

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," he said in his introduction to the brave new world of Twitter.

The tweet was sent at the end of weekly general audience in the Vatican before thousands of people.

The pope actually has eight linked Twitter accounts. @Pontifex, the main account, is in English. The other seven have a suffix at the end for the different language versions. For example, the German version is @Pontifex_de, and the Arabic version is @Pontifex_ar.

The tweets will be going out in Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic and French. Other languages will be added in the future.

The pope already had just over a million followers in all of the languages combined minutes before he sent his first tweet and the number was growing.

PAPAL Q AND A

Later on Wednesday after the audience was over and the television cameras turned off, the pontiff answered the first of three questions sent to him at #askpontifex.

The first question answered by the pope was: "How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?"

His answer: "By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need."

The pope, who, as leader of the Roman Catholic Church already has 1.2 billion followers in the standard sense of the word, won't be following anyone else, the Vatican has said.

After his first splash into the brave new world of Twitter on Wednesday, the contents of future tweets will come primarily from the contents of his weekly general audience, Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays.

They are also expected to include reaction to major world events, such as natural disasters.

The Vatican says papal tweets will be little "pearls of wisdom", which is understandable since his thoughts will have to be condensed to 140 characters, while papal documents often top 140 pages.

The Vatican said precautions had been taken to make sure the pope's certified account is not hacked. Only one computer in the Vatican's secretariat of state will be used for the tweets.

After Wednesday, Benedict won't be pushing the button on his tweets himself. They will be sent by aides but he will sign off on them.

The pope's Twitter page is designed in yellow and white - the colors of the Vatican, with a backdrop of the Vatican and his picture. It may change during different liturgical seasons of the year and when the pope is away from the Vatican on trips.

The pope has given a qualified welcome to social media.

In a document issued last year, he said the possibilities of new media and social networks offered "a great opportunity", but warned of the risks of depersonalization, alienation, self-indulgence, and the dangers of having more virtual friends than real ones.

In 2009, a new Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, went live, offering an application called "The pope meets you on Facebook", and another allowing the faithful to see the pontiff's speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.

The Vatican famously got egg on its face in 2009 when it was forced to admit that, if it had surfed the web more, it might have known that a traditionalist bishop whose excommunication was lifted had for years been a Holocaust denier.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-needs-help-sending-blessing-first-tweet-104043893.html

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Google Just Made It That Much Harder For You ... - Business Insider

Google has adjusted the way that its image search works, especially for those looking for naughty pictures and video.

The Verge has confirmed through cross-browser searches that explicit content is being filtered out for certain Google image search queries in the U.S. and U.K. Even people who have "safe search" turned off are affected.

What's interesting is that Google's German image search site seems to be exempt from the changes.

Google gave an official statement to CNET:

We are not censoring any adult content, and want to show users exactly what they are looking for -- but we aim not to show sexually-explicit results unless a user is specifically searching for them. We use algorithms to select the most relevant results for a given query. If you're looking for adult content, you can find it without having to change the default setting -- you just may need to be more explicit in your query if your search terms are potentially ambiguous. The image search settings now work the same way as in web search.

Instead of having three options for search safety (off, moderate, and safe) users are now only given two options, which simply let you turn safe search off or on. The setting is turned off at first but?users are now presented with a pop-up warning when the search engine detects that you are searching for explicit content for the first time.

Don't Miss: Apparently Google Is Just Getting Started With Its Plan To Kill The Cable Companies >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-just-made-it-that-much-harder-for-you-to-search-for-porn-2012-12

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Who Was the Most Tweeted Celebrity of 2012?

Source:

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The Calculus of Love

By Bora Zivkovic?| December 12, 2012 |??

Share ?Email ?Print

---

Video of the Week #73, December 12th, 2012:

From: The Calculus of Love by Caleb A. Scharf at Life, Unbounded.

Source: Dan Clifton

This week?s video is a short film by director Dan Clifton called The Calculus of Love. It?s a story of science, obsessions, and of course love. The question is whether it?s human love or the tormented love of an elusive mathematical truth. We were astonished at how quickly the film pulls you into its intense worlds. Take a look and see what you think!

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

More??

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=3dbc6c007eccbfe52815b4ee12895a13

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Fed makes new rate pledge, pumps more money into economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In an unprecedented step, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it would hold interest rates near zero until the U.S. unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent as it launched a new round of bond purchases to stimulate the economy.

The central bank said its commitment to hold rates steady until its new threshold was reached would hold as long as inflation was projected to be no more than 2.5 percent one or two years ahead and inflation expectations were contained.

Fed officials, who revised lower their forecasts for economic growth and inflation next year, replaced a more-modest expiring stimulus program with a fresh round of Treasury debt purchases.

"The committee remains concerned that, without sufficient policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions," the Fed's policy-setting panel said in a statement.

Fed officials committed to monthly purchases of $45 billion in Treasuries on top of the $40 billion per month in mortgage-backed bonds they started buying in September, as financial markets had expected.

Under the "Operation Twist" program that will expire at the end of the month, the Fed was buying $45 billion in longer-term Treasuries with proceeds from the sale and redemption of short-term debt. The new round of government bond-buying it announced on Wednesday will be funded by essentially creating new money, further expanding the Fed's $2.8 trillion balance sheet.

Fed policymakers voted 11-1 to back the new plan. Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker dissented, as he has at every meeting this year, expressing opposition both to the bond buying and the new economic thresholds.

Stocks added to earlier gains and long-term government bond prices fell on the Fed's announcement. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the central bank's latest decision at a news conference at 2:15 p.m. (1915 GMT).

"They see an anemic economy, and they're doing all they can to get any economic progress," said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates in Toledo, Ohio.

In its statement, the Fed noted unemployment remains elevated and that inflation is running somewhat below the central bank's 2 percent objective.

Policymakers repeated a pledge to keep buying bonds until the labor market outlook improved substantially, although they said their long-term asset purchase program would end well before they raise rates.

A drop in the jobless rate to 7.7 percent in November from 7.9 percent in October was driven by workers exiting the labor force, and therefore did not come close to satisfying that condition.

SWEATING A WEAK RECOVERY

The Fed cut overnight rates to near zero in December 2008 and has bought about $2.4 trillion in bonds in a further effort to push borrowing costs lower and spur a stronger recovery.

Despite the unconventional and aggressive efforts, U.S. economic growth remains tepid. GDP grew at a 2.7 percent annual rate in the third quarter, but it now appears to be slowing sharply. According to a Reuters poll published on Wednesday, economists expect the economy to expand at just a 1.2 percent pace in the current quarter.

Businesses have hunkered down, fearful of a tightening of fiscal policy as politicians in Washington wrangle over ways to avoid a $600 billion mix of spending reductions and expiring tax cuts set to take hold at the start of 2013.

Bernanke has warned that running over this "fiscal cliff" would lead the economy into a new recession.

By setting thresholds to guide its decision on when to eventually hike rates, the Fed was able to jettison a previous prediction that borrowing costs would remain at rock bottom levels until at least mid-2015.

Officials were uncomfortable giving guidance on monetary policy based on a calendar date, and are hopeful the new framework will help financial markets assess incoming economic data in a way that helps them correctly gauge the likely future stance of policy. Officials emphasized they would look at a broad range of indicators, not just the rates of unemployment and inflation, in setting policy.

The prior practice of fixing an end point was criticized by some economists as sending a message that the Fed expected the economy to be weak until then.

In a fresh set of economic projections, the Fed suggested the jobless rate would not fall to 6.5 percent until sometime in 2015.

Officials see GDP expanding between 2.3 percent 3.0 percent next year, down from the 2.5 percent to 3.0 percent they forecast in September.

That's still a bit more optimistic than most private forecasters. The Reuters poll of economists found a median U.S. growth estimate of 2.1 percent for next year on the same fourth quarter over fourth quarter basis.

(Writing by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Tim Ahmann)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-set-expand-monetary-stimulus-050252167--business.html

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