Friday, November 16, 2012

Some conservatives voice Petraeus conspiracy theories

It's the soap opera that shocked official Washington and ensnared a previously squeaky clean CIA director at a time when he was supposed to play a role in the accounting for a possible security misstep in Libya.

We don't know all the facts of why the FBI started investigating David Petraeus' biographer and how it ultimately led to his resignation.

But a growing number of conservative commentators contend that the resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus is more than simple amends made for a personal wrong.

Charles Krauthammer, the Fox News and Washington Post commentator, believes the Petraeus' sex scandal is linked to a closed briefing that he gave two days after the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, in Benghazi, Libya.

Petraeus is set to speak about circumstances surrounding the tragedy again before a House committee on Friday and possibly at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, as well.

Petraeus' resignation from his post at the CIA in light of his extramarital affair raised the possibility that he would not testify. But on Wednesday morning, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told ABC News Petraeus had agreed to do so.

Krauthammer said on Fox News Tuesday that ties he sees between what Petraeus' told the Congress in September and his fear for his future at the CIA make his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell important to the public.

"The reason that it's important is here's a man who knows the administration holds his fate in his hands, and he gives testimony completely at variance with what the Secretary of Defense had said the day before, at variance with what he heard from the station chief in Tripoli and with everything that we had heard," Krauthammer said. "Was he influenced by the fact he knew his fate was held by people in the administration at that time?"

Krauthammer's comments seemed to imply that the man who wrote the book on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq lied to the House Intelligence Committee to save his skin when he said that the attack was a spontaneous mob spurred by the film, "The Innocence of Muslims."

At the time of his briefings, no one in the White House was aware of the FBI investigation into Petraeus' relationship with Broadwell.

As ABC News' Martha Raddatz reported on "World News with Diane Sawyer," the FBI got involved around May or June tracing emails from Broadwell to Jill Kelley in Tampa, Fla., but President Obama was not informed about Petraeus' indiscretions until November

Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano wrote an op-ed for the Washington Times Wednesday in which he said Petraeus was clearly forced to resign his post in an effort to keep him quiet.

"In the modern era, office-holders with forgiving spouses simply do not resign from powerful jobs because of a temporary, non-criminal, consensual adult sexual liaison, as the history of the FDR, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ and?Clinton?presidencies attest. So, why is?Gen. Petraeus?different?" Napolitano wrote. "Someone wants to silence him."

Napolitano offered no guesses as to what those pressuring Petraeus might be hoping to suppress.

Rudy deLeon, senior vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, said the American people should allow Petraeus to "speak for himself."

"Anyone who knows Gen. Petraeus, and I've known him since my Pentagon days, knows that his integrity comes first, that he's not a political guy, and that being straightforward is what his considerable reputation has been based on," deLeon said.

In late October, Petraeus personally traveled to Libya to investigate the CIA personnel who were in Benghazi on the night of the attack.

Read more about that trip ?HERE.

On the night Petraeus first announced his resignation, Krauthammer said the affair would spur the mainstream media to dig deeper into what transpired in Benghazi.

"It will now become the hottest story around and you can be sure that even the mainstream papers, which did not show any interest whatsoever in this story up to and into the election, are going to get on it," Krauthammer said. "It will unravel."

Implications that Petraeus was covering for the White House play into a larger theory floating around conservative circles that Obama administration officials like Petraeus and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice purposely misled the American people following the attack in Benghazi.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC's Jon Karl Wednesday that they would oppose Obama's hypothetical nomination of Rice to Secretary of State, with Graham saying he didn't "trust her."

President Obama responded to this opposition Wednesday at his first press conference since taking reelection, defending the U.N. ambassador.

"She made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her," Obama said. "If Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/start-voice-petraeus-affair-conspiracy-theory-232314516.html

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Man arrested on 29 counts of identity theft - abc27 WHTM

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -

An insurance agency employee is accused of the stealing personal information of customers and applying for credit cards in their names.

Marshall Anthony Bradley, 33, of Conewago Township, has been arrested on 94 criminal counts; including 29 felony counts each of forgery, identity theft, and unlawful use of a computer, as well as charges of theft, receiving stolen property, and related offenses.

Northern York County Regional police said that beginning in May 2012, victims began reporting that they had received unsolicited credit cards in the mail, had inconsistencies on their credit reports, or had mail taken from their mailboxes.

A majority of the transactions were tracked to an Internet address belonging to a Manchester Township insurance agent and to an Internet address belonging to Harrisburg Area Community College. Bradley was found to a be a HACC student and an employee of the insurance agent, police said.

Police said Bradley would access personal information through the insurance agency's computerized files, then apply for credit cards in the names of the victims and have the cards sent to the victims' addresses.

He would then determine the mail delivery schedule for the address in question and repeatedly check the mailbox to retrieve the credit card before the victim discovered it, police said.

Bradley would then use the cards until they were maxed out or canceled, according to police.

Twenty-nine victims have been identified so far. The total amount of loss to the victims and the credit card companies is still being determined, police said.

Anyone with information may call the Northern York County Regional Police Department at 717-292-3647.

Source: http://www.abc27.com/story/20095132/man-arrested-on-29-counts-of-identity-theft

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Paulding County's proposed Richland Creek reservoir upstream of Rome named one of Georgia Water Coalition's 'Dirty Dozen'

Paulding County's proposed Richland Creek reservoir upstream of Rome named one of Georgia Water Coalition's 'Dirty Dozen'

Paulding County's proposed Richland Creek reservoir upstream of Rome is one of the Georgia Water Coalition's "Dirty Dozen" worst offenses to the state's water resources for 2012.

Rome and Cartersville officials have registered formal concerns with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the plans to withdraw 40 million gallons of water a day from the Etowah River below Lake Allatoona.

Paulding County's sewer system is extremely limited, so most of the used water would drain into the Chattahoochee River basin instead of being returned to the Coosa basin. Paulding County Water and Sewer Director Michael Carter has said the project is necessary to provide for future water needs.

For an archived report and a link to the project website: http://rn-t.com/view/full_story/19672700/article-UPDATE--Paulding-reservoir-nets-state-funds-?instance=article_results

The Coalition's analysis of the reservoir issues, and its complete press release follows:

Today, Georgia?s leading water protection group named its ?Dirty Dozen? for 2012, exposing the worst offenses to Georgia?s water. The sites range from an unnecessary reservoir in northeast Georgia to a tire dump in southwest Georgia.

The Georgia Water Coalition is a consortium of 175 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses, and faith-based organizations that have been working to protect Georgia?s water since 2002. Collectively, these organizations represent more than 300,000 Georgians.

"This list not only highlights some of the most egregious water pollution problems in our state, but also calls attention to state policies that harm our rivers and waste our tax dollars,? said April Ingle, executive director at Georgia River Network. ?The sites on this list are examples of Georgia?s failures to protect our water, our fish and wildlife and our communities.?

Topping the list for the second year in a row is the Ogeechee River where a textile manufacturing plant?s toxic discharge led to the death of some 38,000 fish in May 2011. A hazardous waste site adjacent to Atlanta?s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Glades Reservoir proposed near Gainesville, a Flint River groundwater injection experiment near Albany, Richland Creek Reservoir proposed in Paulding County and Rayonier?s pulp mill in Jesup round out the top six.

Minimum flow requirements on the Chattahoochee in Atlanta ranked seventh on the list, followed by a century-old navigational cut through the Satilla River salt marsh, a landfill with ties to Gov. Nathan Deal in Gainesville, Tired Creek Reservoir proposed near Cairo, the expansion of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant on the Savannah River and a tire dump in Cuthbert.

The Coalition?s full report details the history of each site and provides solutions to correct these ongoing pollution problems and eliminate the listed threats. It is available online at: http://www.garivers.org/gawater/dirtydozen.htm.

The Coalition faults continuing funding cuts to Georgia?s Environmental Protection Division (EPD), political cronyism at the highest levels of state government and the wasteful use of state tax dollars as the primary causes of these ongoing threats to our state?s streams, rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

EPD has seen its funding cut by 44 percent and staff cut by 23 percent (250 positions) since 2008, seriously jeopardizing its ability to enforce the state?s environmental laws.

Even more problematic, said the Coalition, is the cronyism that puts campaign contributors and their business interests on the Governor-appointed Department of Natural Resources Board, which oversees EPD?the agency that regulates those same businesses.

Board members who have spoken up for the protection of waterways have been systematically removed from the board and replaced with political cronies. Of the 16 members currently serving, 11 have ties to entities that EPD regulates. Even the current Director of EPD, a political-appointee of Gov. Nathan Deal, previously served as a lobbyist for a firm that represents industry and business groups.

?The Deal Administration?s appointments and actions suggest that enforcing environmental laws are not a priority,? said Joe Cook, Executive Director & Riverkeeper with the Rome-based Coosa River Basin Initiative. ?Track the money divvied out in Gov. Deal?s new water supply program and you get further clarity about this administration?s priorities and allegiances.?

In August, the Deal administration directed $102 million in state dollars to reservoirs and water supply projects of dubious need, including some $9 million in state ?investments? that directly benefited businesses and individuals that were major donors to his gubernatorial campaign, according to the Coalition.

At the same time, state funding for lower cost projects to maximize existing water supplies has languished.

?The $102 million that Gov. Deal directed to questionable and environmentally destructive water supply projects this year is more than three times the $30 million in state dollars invested by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority in water conservation and efficiency projects from 2006-2010,? said Sally Bethea, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper.

The Dirty Dozen list was compiled by the Coalition after taking nominations from member groups across the state. This is the second such list. While four issues from the 2011 Dirty Dozen made return appearances this year, other issues did not return to the list this year because they were resolved; still others continue to threaten our water.

The 2012 list includes:

1. Ogeechee River: One Year After The Largest Fish Kill in State History, Pollution Continues

In May 2011, after five years of King America Finishing Co. (KAF) illegally dumping toxic substances into the Ogeechee River, some 38,000 fish died?the largest known fish kill in Georgia?s history. With funding for its Emergency Response Team gutted, it took Georgia?s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) days to respond to this tragedy and warn the public. And, it took almost a month for EPD to instruct the company to stop the dumping. More than a year later, the impacts of the fish kill are still rippling through Ogeechee communities. Long-time river users no longer fish the river, riverfront property values have declined and the Ogeechee fishery is still recovering--despite a state-financed re-stocking program. Meanwhile, KAF has still not been held accountable, and the Ogeechee Riverkeeper has had to file legal appeals to force EPD to follow the law and clean up the mess.

2. South River: Chronic Looting of Hazardous Waste Trust Fund by Legislators Leaves Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup for Another Day

Each year, some 90 million people course through Atlanta?s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport; what those visitors don?t know is that a stone?s throw from the airport?s runways is a site so polluted with heavy metals and other hazardous substances that Georgia?s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has placed it on the state?s Hazardous Site Inventory. A toxic stew linked to brain damage and reproductive dysfunction in humans is contaminating groundwater and potentially leaking into the South River watershed. What?s worse, there?s no money to pay for a cleanup because, during the past eight years, Georgia?s General Assembly has looted state funds. Since 2004, legislators have taken $86.5 million paid by taxpayers, local governments and businesses, that is supposed to fix messes like this site, and used those funds to pay for other parts of the state budget. Statewide, there are 560 sites similar to this site threatening public health and the environment.

3. Flat Creek: Boondoggle Reservoir Project Threatens Lake Lanier, Chattahoochee River and Downstream Communities

The Chattahoochee River supplies drinking water to nearly four million people in metro Atlanta. For decades, the river has been the center of a water dispute between Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The Chattahoochee has suffered from extreme droughts while serving as ground zero in the ongoing conflict over water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) basin. These events have fueled Georgia's misguided strategy to circumvent federal control over the Chattahoochee by damming its tributaries. The most glaring example of this strategy is Hall County?s proposed $95 million Glades Reservoir on Flat Creek which flows into the Chattahoochee River and Lake Lanier. This project would divert and impound water that would otherwise fill Lake Lanier, interfering with federal management of the lake and complicating efforts to reach a water sharing agreement with Alabama and Florida. While local support for the project has waned recently, Gov. Deal has indicated that he might come to the rescue with state funds to prop up the floundering project.

4. Flint River: Governor?s Water Supply Program Invests in Boondoggles Instead of Water Supply

When Nathan Deal became Governor in 2011 he created the $300 million Governor?s Water Supply Program (GWSP) to fund ?critical, cost-effective? projects that will provide ?an adequate supply of clean and affordable water? for communities in need. In August 2012, the Deal Administration released the first $102 million in this program. The bulk of the money went to reservoir projects of dubious need and to businesses and individuals that were supporters of Deal?s gubernatorial campaign. Two projects proposed by Deal supporters received $9 million in direct state investment (funds not requiring reimbursement to the state), including an experimental groundwater injection experiment on the Flint River and a well for Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority, a private resort and water park. Neither project could be considered critical or cost effective. In fact, the Flint River project could ultimately cost $1.2 billion.

5. Richland Creek: Unnecessary Reservoir Wastes Tax Dollars, Threatens Downstream Communities, Endangered Fish

The proposed Richland Creek reservoir in metro Atlanta?s Paulding County is symptomatic of Georgia?s rush to ?secure water supplies? at the expense of common sense and state and local tax dollars. While lower cost alternatives exist to secure future water supplies, local leaders, supported by Gov. Nathan Deal?s water supply program, are promoting an unnecessary $85 million project that threatens downstream water users and a population of federally protected fish that are only found in the Etowah River basin?and nowhere else in the world. The project, which was awarded a $29 million loan from Gov. Deal?s water supply program in August, is being built for the Paulding County water system which currently cannot account for 25 percent of the water that it purchases from a neighboring water system due to leaky pipes and metering problems.

6. Altamaha River: Rayonier Pulp Mill Continues to Foul Georgia?s Little Amazon

No. 2 on the 2011 Dirty Dozen list, Rayonier?s pollution of the Altamaha River makes a return appearance because little has changed on Georgia?s largest river. The river remains fouled for miles as the pulp mill?s discharge turns the river black and pulpy and leaves it smelling rancid. White sandbars are still stained brown. Fishermen still catch seemingly healthy fish only to find them reeking of nauseating pulp mill odors when they begin to clean them. After inclusion on the Dirty Dozen list in 2011, EPD, after six years of inaction, finally requested that Rayonier apply for a renewed wastewater discharge permit. In 2011, Rayonier boasted earnings of $264 million while its stockholders reaped a 32 percent return from dividends and stock price gains. Yet, the company still has not invested adequately to fix its foul discharge.

7. Chattahoochee River: State Fails to Ensure Minimum Flows at Atlanta

Twice in 2012, Bull Sluice Lake, a reservoir on the Chattahoochee River formed by Morgan Falls Dam near Atlanta, nearly disappeared, stranding boaters on mudflats. The sudden drop in Bull Sluice?s elevation was the result of a communication glitch between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), which operates Lake Lanier?s Buford Dam upstream, and Georgia Power Co., which operates Morgan Falls Dam. As a result of the glitch, Chattahoochee River flows below Buford and Morgan Falls dams dipped to unprecedented lows with unknown water quality consequences, underscoring an ongoing problem on the river: the lack of timely flow and water quality monitoring. For more than three decades, EPD has relied on a minimum flow to dilute the wastewater discharges from Metro Atlanta?s sewer plants, but has never provided monitoring to assure minimum flows were achieved. Nor has the state agency conducted studies to determine if the minimum flow is adequate to protect the drinking water source for 73 percent of metro Atlanta?s population. No. 4 on last year?s Dirty Dozen list, the Chattahoochee returns this year because of limited progress to address this ongoing need.

8. Satilla River: Army Corps of Engineers Action Needed to Restore Fisheries in Coastal Waters

In the early 20th century, a half-mile channel was dug through Georgia?s coastal marshlands for the purposes of moving timber to market via river barges on Dover Creek and the Satilla River. A century later the lumberjacks are gone, but the channel known as Noyes Cut remains, wreaking havoc on migrating fish, blue crabs and boating routes near the mouth of the Satilla River. Today, filling in the obsolete timber barge route could result in restoration of striped bass, herring, eel and shad migrations in Camden County?s coastal creeks and the Satilla River while improving routes for recreational boaters. Despite the fact that a Corps? study recommended the closing of Noyes Cut in the 1980s, to date, no action has been taken to correct this century-old problem.

9. Allen Creek: Politically-Connected Landfill Operators Threaten Streams, Minority Community

On the south side of Gainesville in Hall County, the predominantly minority community of Newtown has fought for more than half a century to protect their homes, health and property values from harmful industrial pollution. Today, they face the proposed expansion of a landfill that processes food waste, biosolids and sewage sludge. Already, nearby residents say that odor from the facility is so unbearable that children, at times, cannot play outside. Promoted by politically-powerful individuals with ties to Gov. Nathan Deal, expansion of the Gainesville Waste and Recycling (GWAR) landfill poses a serious threat to Allen Creek and the Oconee River and to the health of families in Newtown. This site is an example of the hundreds of industrial operations statewide that are not fully complying with pollution regulations to stop the flow of bacteria, excess nutrients, toxic substances and other contaminants into Georgia?s waterways.

10. Tired Creek: Unnecessary Fishing Lake Puts Taxpayers on the Hook, Threatens Downstream Communities

Since the 1930s, state and federal authorities have proposed multiple plans for a park and lake on Tired Creek near Cairo. All have failed to materialize?due to lack of funding and a lack of need. But, Grady County officials have been undaunted. When Georgia?s Department of Natural Resources questioned the need for an additional fishing lake just 25 miles from the large-mouth bass hotbed of Lake Seminole, county leaders pushed forward. Their latest proposal will destroy more than 300 acres of wetlands and nine miles of streams and will alter flows on the Ochlockonee River. It will also put county taxpayers on the hook for at least $15 million. The County?s flawed angler demand study, used to justify the lake?s need, included infants and toddlers in its calculations for potential anglers, yet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2010 approved the project?and without any meaningful regulations on development around the proposed public reservoir.

11. Savannah River: Two New Nuclear Reactors Threaten Health of Savannah River, Needlessly Waste Limited Water Supplies

Along Georgia?s rivers, you?ll find 17 fossil-fuel-fired and nuclear-powered electric generation facilities. Water pumped from our rivers is critical in the power generation process as it is used to cool operating systems and keep electricity flowing to our homes, businesses, industries and farms. In fact, more water is pumped from Georgia?s water bodies to produce electricity than is removed for any other use?nearly fifty percent of Georgia?s total water use. These facilities permanently remove about 187 million gallons a day (MGD) from Georgia?s rivers?enough water to supply the cities of Augusta, Savannah, Columbus, Macon, Albany and Rome. Now, the Southern Company wants to add to that drawdown on Georgia?s rivers by building two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River. Though new and safe technologies exist that would require less water, Southern Company plans to rely on water-intensive cooling systems for these reactors.

12. Patchila Creek: Georgia Legislators Loot Trust Funds for Cleanup of Tire Dumps, Leaving their Hometown Communities at Risk

As Georgia citizens, every time we purchase new tires for our vehicles, we pay a $1 per tire fee to the state to ensure proper disposal and recycling of our scrap tires. In place since 1990, these fees deposited in the state?s Solid Waste Trust Fund have helped our state clean up illegal and abandoned landfills, tire piles, and dumps. Unfortunately, during the past eight years, the Georgia General Assembly has looted $32 million from the Solid Waste Trust Fund, leaving tire dumps scattered across the state, posing a risk to public health and the environment. Such is the case in Southwest Georgia where some 150,000 tires sit at the Randolph County Transfer Station in Cuthbert awaiting proper disposal and recycling. Collecting water, the tires are breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Meanwhile the risk of fire is always present?a catastrophe that could release toxic fumes into the air and release contamination into creeks feeding Patchila Creek.

Source: http://romenews-tribune.com/bookmark/20832519

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

How a Robot Will Steal Your Job

On a visit to Standard Motor Products' fuel-injector assembly line in South Carolina, Atlantic writer Adam Davidson asked why a worker there, Maddie, was welding caps onto the injectors herself. Why not use a machine? That's how a lot of the factory's other tasks were performed. Maddie's supervisor, Tony, had a bracing, direct answer: "Maddie is cheaper than a machine." More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5uWknv5ia6o/how-a-robot-will-steal-your-job

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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Physicist Elected to Congress Calls for More Scientists-Statesmen

Bill Foster, member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives, wants more scientists in Congress who can bring to bear an analytical mind-set to lawmaking


Image: Bill Foster

Only a handful of physicists have reached the halls of Congress. Bill Foster, a particle physicist and businessman just elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives from Illinois's newly drawn 11th district, wants this situation to change. The Harvard graduate knows he is one of few in any technical field to hold national office. Foster plans to use his time in the public spotlight to serve as an advocate for bringing more of his peers to Washington.

Although Foster left a career in the laboratory to pursue politics, science is never far from his mind. He says he is continually thinking of new ways to inject the rigor of science into the often messy give and take that is the essence of politics.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

Why did you decide to leave science and run for U.S. Congress?

I often say that I inherited the family's recessive gene for adult-onset political activism. My father was actually a chemist. He got a degree in chemistry from Stanford. He came back from the war unhappy that his work was being used to kill people.

When he came back from the war he decided he wanted to spend part of his life in service to his fellow man. He actually wrote a lot of the enforcement language behind the Civil Rights Act. Reading his papers after he passed away a few years ago was one of the things that triggered my thinking.

There's a fundamental question that everyone has to answer: What fraction of your life do you spend in service to your fellow man? It's not something that science helps you answer at all. It's one of these questions like, Who are you gong to marry? Science doesn't really help you with the question.

For me, the idea of not spending a significant fraction of my life in service to my fellow man did not feel right. And one of the highest-leverage ways to do that is to get elected to an office in the United States.

How will you utilize your scientific background to achieve your political goals?

It's very valuable when you're formulating policy to attach even a rough number to what's under discussion. That's an instinct that engineers and scientists have. In terms of getting the policy right, often you'll find that one of these arguments is quantitatively 10 or 100 times more important than all the others.

What did you study as a physicist?

It's high-energy particle physics, including working on the experiments that discovered the top quark.

There's a series of heavier and heavier quarks, and the pattern stops at the top quark. The top quark has an anomalous large mass, so many accelerators were built with the idea that they would be the one to discover the top quark.

And it was only the technology developed at FermiLab that would allow an accelerator to be built so that you'd have enough "oomph" to discover the top quark. Just having the accelerator isn't enough. You need detectors with the capability to handle the debris coming from the proton collisions.

The top quark was heavier than anyone really expected it to be. It was the last member of the last family of fundamental particles. If it had been missing, it would have been a bigger mystery. It closed the chapter, allowing scientists to think about what the ultimate structure of matter is. It was the last quark in the standard model of high-energy particle physics and so it was the last step along that path.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=620b6d5ebc9c8728d042dc7d51a6a44b

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AP Interview: Muti says culture good for economy

(AP) ? Riccardo Muti, the master conductor, is sounding an ominous note, and it isn't rising from the orchestra pit.

The former longtime maestro at Milan's La Scala opera house is worried that the stubborn financial crisis in much of the world risks impoverishing not just public coffers but also the arts, whose budgets, often lean even in good economic times, are among the biggest casualties in many countries.

And, said the man known for his dramatic flair at the podium, there's more than just the risk of darkened theaters or silenced concert halls.

Muti even fears the loss of a people's very identity.

"For our governing leaders, culture is something less important, less necessary, above all in times of economic difficulties," Muti said in an interview with The Associated Press evening at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera, where he will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" in the season's opener Nov. 27.

"But a people without culture is a people that loses its identity. We haven't reached that point yet, but the danger is there."

There are some rays of light for the maestro, who spoke enthusiastically about his current role as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ("mutual love") and about the future of music, which he predicted will bring people together around the world. The maestro appeared relaxed in a free-ranging conversation while seated on a crimson velvet couch in a private drawing room in the theater.

While some Europeans chafe at Germany's demands that struggling eurozone countries cut their public spending to the bone, Muti said Germany had found the right formula for treating the arts.

There were budget cuts for the arts in much of Europe, "but not in Germany." Muti said the Berlin Philharmonic, where he has often been a guest conductor, didn't suffer from budget ax-wielders.

"The Germans understand more than others that culture isn't just spiritual well-being, but when it's utilized well, when it's valued, it brings economic well-being," Muti said.

This is a note that Muti has sounded before. In March 2011, barely recovered from having a pacemaker installed following a fall from the podium while rehearsing in Chicago, Muti opened a performance of Verdi's "Nabucco" at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera by lamenting the slashing of the arts budget by the government of then-premier Silvio Berlusconi.

In the United States, orchestras around the country have seen disruptions by labor disputes as the poor economy exacts its price on the classical music world. Orchestra executives complain of flat ticket sales and sagging corporate and other private support.

In Chicago, the symphony orchestra in September went on a brief strike that forced the cancellation of a performance two hours before it was to start.

Muti declined to weigh in on American orchestras' labor disputes. "I do not make judgments on countries where I am a guest," said Muti, who has been with the Chicago orchestra since 2008.

Still, he urged Americans to consider music and the other arts "a patrimony that must be preserved and brought as much as possible to the various levels of society. It's not elitism."

And a little better treatment of musicians, pay-wise, might just make for better listening, Muti added with a mischievous smile.

"I hope that musicians in American can always find that dignity and happiness that is born from an (improved) economic situation," the maestro said. "If you're OK, you play fine. No, you play even better."

Muti did complain that classical music in America is sometimes labeled "entertainment."

"Soccer and sports are entertainment ... You can't call Beethoven's 9th Symphony or a work of Shakespeare 'entertainment.' It's not 'entertainment.' It's culture."

Muti started intoning the famous bars of Beethoven's 5th Symphony: "Da-da-da-dee ... Da-da-da-dee ..." Centuries ago, he said, "they could sing this." Now, "the music that is written today is not something you can bring home and sing." The exceptions he cited were "The Beatles, some of Madonna's, Barbra Streisand."

But he stressed he doesn't want to be "cynical" and expressed optimism about the music still to be made.

Muti is especially renowned in the United Sates, where he won accolades leading the Philadelphia Orchestra. Spending his 30s there, he won a reputation for stripping away the romanticism of the lush so-called "Philadelphia sound" made famous by Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Normandy.

But it is Chicago which sees him waxing lyrical about work and life.

Now 71, he said he brought to Chicago, his long experience of "life, orchestras, music, theaters." Praising that city's symphony orchestra for its "mixture of virtuosity and sensibility," he ranks it as one of the world's three best, along with the philharmonic orchestras of Berlin and Vienna.

He's also in love with Chicago itself. "I believe it's the most beautiful city in the U.S." architecturally. He also gushed about its "light that comes from the north, from the lake, a brilliant light." And its "tough and friendly" people, Muti said, switching from Italian to English to pick his adjectives.

With Chicago so satisfying, did he linger too long at La Scala, from which he resigned in 2005 in a labor dispute that wrote the coda on his nearly two decades there?

Muti sighed and mentioned "my friend, Jimmy Levine," meaning James Levine, whose conducting at New York's Metropolitan Opera has spanned some 40 years.

In America, he said, "it's possible. Here, we have a more dramatic, more polemical world."

"Here, when you reach 15 years, it's the maximum," he added ? an indication, perhaps, that he felt his 19 years at La Scala were indeed too long.

Muti made a melodramatic exit from La Scala after a dragged-out controversy over artistic and programming differences with management and open rebellion by musicians.

Wary about stepping into any La Scala controversy now, Muti sidestepped a question about its season opener.

Some Italians are fuming that La Scala's gala opening night next month is featuring the German composer Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin," conducted by Daniel Barenboim, and not an opera by Verdi, the Italian composer so identified with La Scala.

Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of both composers.

"They were both giants," said Muti, rising from the couch to descend to the orchestra pit to lead Teatro dell'Opera's orchestra in a rehearsal to go late into the night. "They made the mistake to be born in the same year.

"It's their fault," he added with a twinkle in his eye.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-11-14-Italy-Muti/id-1d2b07bb849e425ebb054c4c5febe467

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Friday, November 9, 2012

Karlie Kloss Dating Joshua Kushner, Ivanka Trump's Brother-In-Law (PHOTOS)

OK, so not to cry wolf here, but we finally may have found Karlie Kloss' man.

Us Weekly reports that Kloss is dating Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner. 27-year-old Kushner happens to be Jared Kushner's younger brother, which makes him Ivanka Trump's brother-in-law (and Donald Trump's son-in-law, but that's not something to boast about).

The proof? The pair attended Wednesday night's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show after-party, greeting pals at Lavo with smiles on their faces. We chatted with the couple ourselves -- Kushner was sweet and outgoing, asking us if we wanted a photo with Karlie. (We politely declined.) Neither had drinks in their hands -- Kloss is only 20, after all -- but they did make their way around the dance floor with Karlie was as giggly as ever.

To which we say: hooray! After rumors of her dating "My Week With Marilyn" cutie Eddie Redmayne and hunky St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, we're happy Karlie has found her man.

Check out a pic of Kushner below as well as pics of Karlie on her big night. Think these two make a cute couple?

PHOTOS:

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See Karlie and friends walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/karlie-kloss-joshua-kushner-dating-_n_2101542.html

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Jared Loughner: Arizona man gets life without parole for mass ...

Posted on: 2:20 pm, November 8, 2012, by Nick Dutton, updated on: 06:22pm, November 8, 2012

(CNN) ? Gabrielle ?Gabby? Giffords stood next to her husband in court Thursday as he spoke directly to Jared Loughner, the Arizona man who tried to assassinate the then-congresswoman in a January 2011 shooting.

?Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven?t put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place,? former astronaut Mark Kelly said.

Giffords was seriousy wounded when Loughner walked up and shot her in the head during her meet-and-greet event with constituents outside a Tucson grocery store on January, 8, 2011. A federal judge, a congressional aide and four others were killed and 12 other people suffered wounds.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns sentenced Loughner to serve the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The punishment includes seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years.

?The evidence clearly shows that he knew what he was doing, despite his mental illness,? the judge said.

Loughner, 24, spoke just once, confirming to the judge that he would make no statement before sentencing. ?That is true,? he said.

Beside the dramatic appearance by Giffords and her husband, nine other victims spoke at the sentencing hearing held in a packed federal courtroom in Tuscon, Arizona. Much of the time, they directed their words toward the 24-year-old Loughner, whose lawyer stroked his arm at times.

?You pointed a weapon at me and shot me,? said Susan Hileman, who was wounded by Loughner?s Glock pistol. ?Over last several months, I wanted to take you by the shoulders and shake you and scream at you.?

?It?s an awful situation,? she said, looking straight at Loughner, ?and it?s all because of you.?

His victims gathered that day ?to witness democracy in action,? she said. ?We brought family and friends. You brought a gun.?

Mavanell Stoddard described how her ?precious husband,? Dorwin Stoddard, was fatally shot as he fell on top of her to shield her from the onslaught of bullets.

?Somehow when you shot him, I got out from under him,? Stoddard said. ?I was screaming ?Oh God, oh God, help me.? I said to him ?Breathe deeply? and he did. Therefore, I believe that he heard me said ?I love you.??

He died in her arms her minutes later, she said. ?Then I passed out because you had shot me three times,? she said. ?You took away my life my love my reason for living.?

?I am so lonesome,? Stoddard said as she stared directly at Loughner. ?I hate living without him. No one to hold me, no one to love me, no one to talk to, no one to care. I forgive you. As a Christian I am required to.?

?Mary Reed, who was among the wounded, blamed Loughner for introducing ?my children to something sinister and evil.?

?My children will forever remember the moments of people when they died, the smell of blood everywhere,? Reed said.

?Jared took their lives, their bodies, but he will not take their spirit,? victim Pat Maisch said.

Pamela Simon, one of the Giffords congressional aides who was wounded, said Loughner is reminder ?of our society?s failure to provide adequate mental health.?

?Jared, I know you did not choose this illness that led to this horrific tragedy,? Simon said. ?When you were a student in middle school and I was a teacher there at the same time. You were a regular kid.?

U.S. Rep. Ron Barber was Giffords top congressional aide when Loughner?s gunfire interrupted a meet-and-greet event with constituents outside a Tucson grocery story.

?The physical and mental wounds will be with us forever,? said Barber, who was hit in the leg by a bullet.

He spoke of watching congressional aide Gabe Zimmerman ? ?one of my dearest colleagues? ? die. ?He was my go-to guy, a human being with so much compassion,? Barber said.

Barber won a special election to fill Giffords? congressional seat after she stepped down a year after the shooting.

?We are thankful she survived your attempt to take her life,? Barber told Loughner. ?You did not take away her compassion and desire to serve. In fact, the whole world knows of this great leader. She remains the model of bipartisanship and political courage.?

Barber told the court he supports a life sentence for Loughner.

?I hold no hatred for you, but I am very angry and sick at heart about what you have done and the hurt you have caused all of us,? Barber told Loughner. ?You now must bear this burden and never again see the outside of a prison.?

Mark Kelly, who was training for a space shuttle mission when he learned his wife was shot, spoke for her as she watched.

?Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered on that day,? he said. The statement noted each of the dead.

?And then there is what you took from Gabby,? Kelly said, looking at Loughner. ?Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered. Every day is a continuous struggle to do those things she was once so very good at.

His wife now struggles to walk, an arm is paralyzed and she is partially blind, he said. She stepped down from her position in Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery.

?Mr. Loughner, by making death and producing tragedy, you sought to extinguish the beauty of life,? Kelly said. ?To diminish potential. To strain love. And to cancel ideas. You tried to create for all of us a world as dark and evil as your own. But know this, and remember it always: You failed.?

Directing his comments away from Loughner for a moment, Kelly said ?There?s something else Gabby and I have been spending a lot of time thinking about. ?

?The way we conduct politics must change,? he said. ?Sure, it?s easier to win a debate if you can turn your opponent into a demon, but that?s not how we move forward. Not only does slash and burn politics make Americans cynical about their leaders, but it leads to bad ideas. It creates problems instead of solving the ones we have now.

Kelly concluded with words directed again at the defendant. ?Mr. Loughner, pay close attention to this: Though you are mentally ill, you are responsible for the death and hurt you inflicted upon all of us on January 8th of last year,? he said. You know this. Gabby and I know this. Everyone in this courtroom knows this. You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did. But after today. After this moment. Here and now. Gabby and I are done thinking about you.?

He pleaded guilty to 19 charges in exchange for the life sentence to avoid facing the death penalty. He had been facing more than 50 federal charges.

?Mr. Loughner, you have been given a gift, whether you know it or not,? Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst said, just before recommending a life sentence. ?Almost all the victims you shot and the families of those you killed came to us and said they didn?t want us to seek the death penalty in this case.?

Under the pleas, Loughner admitted guilt in the wounding of Giffords and the murders of federal employees U.S. District Court Chief Judge John M. Roll, 63, and congressional aide Gabriel M. Zimmerman, 30, prosecutors said.

Loughner also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of federal employees and congressional aides Ronald S. Barber, 65, and Pamela K. Simon, 63, prosecutors said.

Loughner also admitted causing the deaths of Christina-Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy ?Dot? J. Morris, 76; Phyllis C. Schneck, 79; and Dorwan C. Stoddard, 76, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Loughner admitted injuring with a Glock pistol 10 people participating at an activity provided by the U.S. government and creating a grave risk of death to 13 more people.

Prosecutors agreed to the plea deal after taking into account Loughner?s history of mental illness and the views of victims and their families. The judge in August ruled Loughner competent to stand trial.

CNN?s Dana Bash and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.

Source: http://wtvr.com/2012/11/08/loughner-gets-life-in-prision-for-arizona-mass-shooting/

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Language Log ? Teen communication

? previous post | next post ?

Zits for 11/7/2012:

But it's not just land lines ? "In Constant Digital Contact, We Feel Alone Together", Fresh Air 10/18/2012:

Terry Gross: You had said before a lot of parents complain that their children will accept the parents' text message and respond to that, but they won't pick up the phone, they won't answer the cell phone.

Sherry Turkle: Yes.

Terry Gross: I'm sure you've spoken to children and teenagers about that. What's the explanation?


Turkle's explanation seems much too broad to me:

Well, I'm working now on sort of this flight from conversation project because really what I'm hearing is people saying to me, I mean this kind of phone-phobia, and also conversation-phobia. And people basically say - I mean, one 18-year-old says to me: someday soon, but certainly not now - I mean as though I was going to do something to him - certainly not now, I'd like to learn how to have a conversation.

And when I say to people, what's wrong with conversation, they say, I'll tell you what's wrong with conversation: You can't control what you're going to say, and you don't know how long it's going to take or where it could go. And that's exactly what's wrong with conversation, but that's exactly what's right with conversation.

And this is the kind of thing that people feel they don't have time for in the incredibly busy lives and stressed lives that they have, and it's what people are getting used to not wanting to make space for, emotionally.

I see high-school and college age students having face-to-face conversations all the time, with one another and with adults; and adults seem to be having face-to-face conversations more or less as much as they ever did; and I don't hear people of any age telling me that they strongly dislike such conversations. (At least not more than they ever did.)

Perhaps there are more communicative alternatives now ?though if texting and (among older people) email are up, paper letters and telegrams are correspondingly down. But if there's any increased general aversion to face-to-face conversations, it's not obvious to me, nor can I find any systematic evidence supporting this idea. In contrast, an aversion to voice telephone calls on the part of teenagers is openly discussed among the teens that I know.

I haven't seen any survey evidence supporting this anecdotal impression, but at least it's objectively verified that voice calling rates are down in the relevant demographics (Dino Grandoni, "Texting Dominates As Teens And Young Adults Make Fewer Phone Calls", HuffPo 7/18/2012).

Things used to be different, at least stereotypically. ?The picture on the right, from some time around 1950 (?), comes from Nina Leen's photographic ethnology of American life:

Nina Leen's fascination with the world viewed through a camera lens extends to both the human and animal kingdom. Born in Russia, Leen grew up in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, where she achieved acclaim as an animal photographer. Upon first arriving in the United States in 1939, her reporter's eye led to a series of wryly amusing works on the habits and rituals of her newly adopted homeland. Her series on, "A Teenager Monopolizes the Telephone," or her descriptions and images of "The American Male," are timeless evocations of symbols of modern American society.

More recently, the internets were full of advice like Jae Ireland's "How to stop a teenager from using the phone" 12/4/2009:

When your teenager is constantly monopolizing your phone line or causing you to miss calls, changing your policy for the home phone might be necessary for everyone's sanity. Whether you decide to get your teen his own phone or simply unplug the phone altogether, expect some resistance. If your teenager's phone use is disrupting your life, stop him from using the home phone and find other solutions that will keep everyone happy.

Or consider the telephone scene in "Bye Bye Birdie", where teens in Sweet Apple, Ohio, are shown "monopolizing telephones in seemingly endless and inconsequential conversations":

And less than ten years ago, hardly anyone in the U.S. had ever sent or received a "text message", long after SMS messaging had been ubiquitous in Europe and Japan (see the discussion and links in "What caused the texting tsunami", 6/6/2011).

Over the past decade, there have been two apparently-connected developments. First, ?in 2001 Americans sent an average of only 0.3 SMS per month per mobile subscriber, and in 2003, ?the Economist headlined an article as "No text please, we're American:?Text messaging is popular in Europe and Asia, but not in America. Why?". As late as 2004, I had a hard time finding any American college students who had ever sent or received an SMS. But things were changing in 2008, and in 2010 CNNTech asserted (following Nielsen) that "the average [American] teenager sends over 3,000 texts per month. That's more than six texts per waking hour." And second, among at least some younger people, the obviously associated decline in the number of voice calls is apparently developing into an outright aversion for the older technology, not just a preference for the newer one.

This story involves a complex pattern of technology, economics, and culture, each of which is clearly both a cause and an effect. It's a story that someone should tell. But I'm skeptical that "flight from conversation" is the plot summary.

Permalink

Source: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4294

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Exclusive: Venezuela Amuay refinery operations seen normal by year-end

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's 645,000 barrel per day (bpd) Amuay refinery should be operating normally at about 500,000 bpd by year-end once it finishes repairs to a distillation unit damaged by an explosion in August, the country's energy minister said.

State oil company PDVSA had initially said the August 25 blast that killed more than 40 people had only affected storage tanks of its largest refinery. Amuay has been operating at around 50 percent capacity since then.

Rafael Ramirez, who is also PDVSA president, told Reuters that Amuay's management determined that the explosion had damaged a furnace at a 180,000 bpd facility, one of five distillation units at Amuay.

"The (replacement parts) arrive in December, and about three weeks after that we should have that unit in service, so we can reach the operational level the refinery was at before the incident, which was about 500,000 barrels per day," he said.

The Amuay accident was the one of global oil industry's most deadly in recent years, nearing the toll of a fire that killed 56 people in 1997 at India's Visakhapatnam refinery.

Venezuela's refineries are operating at 64 percent of their 1.3 million bpd capacity, according to calculations by PDVSA workers, compared with an average of 80 percent of capacity over the last two decades. This is lower than the industry average because of an increasingly heavy crude diet and frequent accidents and outages.

Amuay had the lowest capacity utilization factor of Venezuela's refineries in 2011, according to data Venezuela provided to OPEC.

Ramirez confirmed a Reuters report last week that PDVSA was not selling spot market fuel cargoes. He added the company is not having trouble meeting domestic fuel market demand or long-term supply contracts because of extensive inventories.

But there is not sufficient surplus for spot market fuel exports, he said.

Fuel sales to United States were already in decline at the time of the Amuay refinery accident, because Venezuela has dedicated a growing portion of its fuel shipments to repaying loans made by China through oil-for-financing arrangements.

Fuel exports to the United States dropped to a historic low of 52,000 bpd between January and August, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-venezuela-amuay-refinery-operations-seen-normal-end-160749237--finance.html

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

How Piano Lessons Foster Imagination And ... - arts and entertainment

Each child is gifted with abilities and talents which will make him or her stand out from the rest. But even before this stage, a child still has to undergo a step-by-step development, from discovering these skills to developing them, and then to mastering them.

Music and the arts provide a great place to begin for children to stimulate and discover these abilities. This is so since they're not only fun; they also foster creativity and encourage imagination, two things children are most capable of given their age. Among these activities, Piano lessons are the best. Why exactly is that?

A piano lesson hones a child's cognitive abilities, particularly his or her understanding of spatial concepts. Children who grow up playing musical instruments, according to numerous studies, exhibit a better comprehension of spatial temporal reasoning, which is the mental aptitude to understand math and science.

Aside from this, a piano lesson also trains children to concentrate. The amount of focus required to master the keys and notes, along with the relative complexity by which these come together in just one piece, would teach children early on to pay close attention to details and put them together fast, beautifully, and accurately. It allows them to strike a balance between critical thinking and creativity. In relation with this, a piano lesson also sharpens a child's coordination skills.

These lessons also lift children's self-confidence, something growing kids really need so they can look at the world with a welcoming vigor and see themselves playing lively parts in it. Most often than not, children growing up with very low self-esteem are withdrawn and restrained. They tend to avoid opportunities and are happy with the typical when actually they are very much capable of the one-of-a-kind provided the right stimulation.

When it comes to music lessons, such as voice, music, and drum lessons Singapore is a great place to get started, with its state-of-the-art music schools and government support for fostering creativity in the young. Egg on your children to unearth their inner self by exploring the many possibilities of music and the arts.

Source: http://artsandentertainment-mangalindak.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-piano-lessons-foster-imagination.html

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Monday, November 5, 2012

Merkel coalition agrees welfare changes as poll looms

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition reached agreement early on Monday on contentious social welfare issues that it hopes will bolster its support in the countdown to federal elections next September.

After nearly eight hours of talks that underlined the degree of discord simmering within her three-party government, Merkel and other leaders agreed to scrap an unpopular health surcharge and to introduce extra child benefits, coalition sources said.

Merkel's junior coalition partner, the pro-business, liberal Free Democrats (FDP), is particularly desperate to impress voters after opinion polls have regularly shown it failing to clear the five percent threshold for entering parliament.

The FDP has long had to accept that tax cuts - one of its traditional causes - are not possible at a time of fiscal austerity, with Merkel leading the euro zone's efforts to overcome its three-year-old sovereign debt crisis.

The coalition, plagued by squabbles since taking power in 2009, aims to balance Germany's budget by 2014, helped by robust economic growth that has bucked the euro zone trend, although strong tax revenues are expected to tail off next year.

Instead, the FDP has pushed hard for abolition of the 10-euro-per-quarter payments for visits to the doctor, saying they have spawned red tape without reducing waiting times.

In return, the FDP reluctantly backed benefit payments for parents who keep their toddlers at home, a policy championed by the Christian Social Union (CSU), the conservative Bavarian sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU).

Critics, including in the FDP and CDU, say this will keep women out of the workplace and children of poorer immigrants out of kindergartens where they would learn German and integrate.

The main opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who have taken a more assertive political stance since choosing former finance minister Per Steinbrueck as their candidate for chancellor next year, have vowed to challenge the child benefit plan in court.

The payments will only start from next August, shortly before the election, not as previously envisaged from January, the coalition sources said.

In their talks, billed as the last chance to launch large projects in this parliament, the coalition leaders also earmarked fresh funds for transport and agreed steps to help poorer pensioners.

Merkel's conservatives remain the most popular force in German politics with 38 percent support, an opinion poll published showed on Sunday, well ahead of the SPD's 29 percent.

But the poll, published in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, confirmed the FDP, on just 4 percent, would fail to win seats in the new Bundestag, or lower house of parliament. The SPD's favored coalition partner, the Greens, were on 13 percent.

Such electoral arithmetic suggests Merkel might have to build a 'grand coalition' with the center-left SPD after the 2013 election, like the one she led from 2005 until 2009.

(Reporting by Thorsten Severin and Andreas Rinke; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merkel-coalition-agrees-welfare-changes-poll-looms-021908374.html

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Monday's Motorcycle: KTM Cafe ? Mad Ogre

[unable to retrieve full-text content]?Just get a car.? They say. What they are really saying ?I totally don't get Motorcycles.? And that's fine?. you don't have to get it. Just please shut the fuck up then, okay? Riding is? like Flying. Next time you go to the Zoo take a ...

Source: http://madogre.com/?p=3710

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Friday, November 2, 2012

November ? Letter from the Editor | The Charlotte Moms

Devotionals

by Jenn ?|? on November 1st, 2012 ?|?

TCM Letter NEW-JABHello, and thanks for stopping by. Today is the first day of November and it sure feels like Fall out there now doesn?t it? November brings a lot of things to our families, of course the main event is Thanksgiving, where we often gather with family or friends to celebrate all that we are thankful for, and I hope you have many this year!

While sometimes in life we struggle with various things like money, how we are parenting, our marriage, and just like the falling leaves we never know where the wind will blow circumstances in or out of our lives, but Thankfully for us, we have an Amazing God who wants to be there for us through every situation.

If you?re like me, I often forget who?s really in control, I admit, it happens. This month, however, I want to encourage you and your family or those you care for to take The Charlotte Mom?s November Challenge. It?s important to be thankful, especially on Thanksgiving, but we encourage you to be thankful each and every day this month and here?s what we?re proposing based on Psalm 100 (KJV)

?Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.?

  • Take a moment at the dinner table or after nightly prayer (really whatever?activity?you are able to do with the most members of your family) and say, ?I am thankful to God?for??. Give each member of your family the opportunity to answer, even if it?s a silly one year old or it takes a tremendous amount of patience waiting for their answer. This will help each of us remember where our blessings come from and that we are blessed.
  • Write those thanks down. Whether it?s in a notebook, on paper leaves, or another creative way, and place it somewhere with high visibility in your home. Being able to see things your family gives thanks for may encourage each of you to be even more thankful.
  • Share your thanks.?We?ll be sharing our thanks with you this month via our Facebook and Twitter pages (we?d love it if you?d like to follow along), and encourage you to share as well, with friends, on social media, on our Facebook page or even here in the comments of this post. We?d love to know what you are most thankful for and pray over you for those things as well.
  • Lastly, I know this is not an option for all of you, but we?d like to encourage you to show your thankfulness. If you are able to share your thanks, we encourage you to show how thankful you are to God by serving others. Although it may be hard to find time, money, and can be difficult with little ones, God will bless you and your family abundantly if you follow His calling. ?**Some ideas for this may be writing a card of thanks to someone you know, delivering a meal during this month to someone in need, donating your time to a local non-profit or shelter {you can find these in our Home & Family section or by searching charity in our search box}.

?

Today, we are thankful to God, for YOU, our readers. We are so blessed by your comments, support and love in the mission we are on and are continually praying for you and your families! Happy November, give thanks!!!

?

Author Description

Jenn

Jennifer is The Charlotte Moms' Editor-in Chief and a child of Christ. She has lived in the Charlotte area for 5 years with her roller coaster blogging husband and her two beautiful daughters. She is a self-proclaimed Jill-of-all-trades and is passionate about organizing events and her home. She loves Social Media and blogging and also writes for MommyBKnowsBest.com and freelances for other brands and companies as well. Jenn owns her silly personality, shows her love for God, and wants to help parents out through her experiences and what she has learned from others. Happy Reading!!

Source: http://www.thecharlottemoms.com/november-letter-from-the-editor/

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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Real Estate Marketing in Translation | Scott Levitt's Tuesday Tactics ...

Thank you in different languages.Are you fluent in a second language? Have you leveraged it for your real estate career?

While many bilingual (or even trilingual!) agents make a passing mention on their website about fluency in non-English languages, very few go the extra mile to turn their knowledge into a true market differentiator. Do it right, and you?ll net more leads over the competition.

Rather than rely only on in-person client conversations in Spanish, Russian, or Chinese, you should strongly consider creating fully-translated pages on your website for your target languages. With a click of a button, your foreign-language prospects can view your alternate language versions.

Another benefit to translating your website centers on foreign buyers. Right now, buyers from countries around the world are taking advantage of the U.S. market. Do you know who the active foreign buyers are in your market? Are you targeting them with your marketing?

If you don?t speak a second language, you can work with a freelance translator to have your materials translated. In order to reduce the cost, you should first consolidate your site into a single, effective landing page which highlights your main message to prospects. (The more you have to translate, the higher the expense.)

Even if you don?t speak the buyer?s first language, that you made the effort to extend the olive branch will go a long way to making you a first-choice. It?s easy to disclose on your translated page that you don?t speak the language, but welcome buyers from the country you?re prospecting.

Many companies are looking at global markets for their products in order to remain competitive. Why should real estate be any different?

Source: http://www.tuesdaytactics.com/real-estate-marketing-in-translation/

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Green tea found to reduce rate of some GI cancers | ScienceBlog.com

Women who drink green tea may lower their risk of developing some digestive system cancers, especially cancers of the stomach/esophagus and colorectum, according to a study led by researchers from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

The study by lead author Sarah Nechuta, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor of Medicine, was published online in advance of the Nov. 1 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, professor of Medicine, chief of the Division of Epidemiology and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, was the principal investigator for the study.

greentea 150x150 Green tea found to reduce rate of some GI cancersTo determine green tea?s impact on cancer risk, the investigators surveyed women enrolled in the Shanghai Women?s Health Study, a population-based study of approximately 75,000 middle-aged and older Chinese women. During the initial interview participants were asked if they drank tea, the type of tea consumed and how much they consumed. Most of the Chinese women reported drinking primarily green tea.

The researchers found that regular tea consumption, defined as tea consumption at least three times a week for more than six months, was associated with a 17 percent reduced risk of all digestive cancers combined. A further reduction in risk was found to be associated with an increased level of tea drinking. Specifically, those who consumed about two to three cups per day (at least 150 grams of tea per month) had a 21 percent reduced risk of digestive system cancers.

The trend toward fewer digestive cancers was strongest for stomach/esophageal and colorectal cancers.

?For all digestive system cancers combined, the risk was reduced by 27 percent among women who had been drinking tea regularly for at least 20 years,? said Nechuta. ?For colorectal cancer, risk was reduced by 29 percent among the long-term tea drinkers. These results suggest long-term cumulative exposure may be particularly important.?

Tea contains polyphenols or natural chemicals that include catechins like EGCG and ECG. Catechins have antioxidant properties and may inhibit cancer by reducing DNA damage and blocking tumor cell growth and invasion.

The researchers also asked about other lifestyle factors including the kinds of food eaten regularly, exercise habits, education level and occupation. Women who had ever smoked or who drank alcohol were excluded from the study.

Regular tea drinkers in the study were younger, had higher education, exercised more and consumed more fruits and vegetables. While the researchers adjusted for these factors, they could not rule out an effect from these and other unmeasured lifestyle habits.

The study was conducted in nonsmoking and nondrinking Chinese women to minimize the potential influence of these two risk factors on the results for tea consumption and digestive system cancer risk.

Source: http://scienceblog.com/57435/green-tea-found-to-reduce-rate-of-some-gi-cancers/

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NYC Marathon organizers awaiting word from city

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Buy Car Spare Parts Online From Home

If you have a car then buying car spare parts is an activity that you must be familiar with.? Nowadays, as the world is becoming more and more internet savvy and a lot of dealers have jumped into online car spare parts selling business. Buying car parts for different cars like Vauxhall spares, Mercedes spares and BMW spares etc has become really easy as these online stores offer customers an opportunity to buy these spare parts from the relative comfort of their home. If you want to start shopping for these spare parts online, then all you need is an internet connection and a credit card or a pay pal account and once you have them you are ready to go.

Online site like 247spares, dealing in car spare parts might still be a new concept for some people but it has become hugely popular in a very short span of time. The main reason behind the growing popularity apart from the convenience that they provide is the fact that these stores allow you to buy spare parts for expensive cars like Mercedes, Audi and Vauxhall spares at some of the best prices you will find. Whereas if you buy these spare parts from your local dealer then you might end up paying a huge amount which in some cases might put a huge burden on your budget. The reason these sites provide such great prices on spare parts is the huge competition that they face from hundred of other sites dealing in the same business, therefore they always try to stay ahead of their competitors in terms of prices as well as different discount that they offer.

Further, when you shop around for expensive car spare parts you need to ensure that the parts you are buying are original and of highest quality, as a defected piece may end up having a negative effect on the performance of your car. This is where you can trust these online stores to provide you with quality original parts, as all the spares that these sites sell come with guarantee and generally in case of any defect these stores provide you with exchange deals. With the help of online dealers you can save yourself the exhausting experience of looking from one store to the other, for spare parts of your car, as everything here is available to you at a click of your mouse.

Before you go around shopping online for car spare parts, you must do a thorough research and browse the net to find the best online site that has a good reputation for selling quality products at the best prices. Taking a look at the customer reviews is also very helpful.

Source: http://postedintheparkinglot.com/buy-car-spare-parts-online-from-home/

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Majority of Moms Use Facebook for 'Me Time' [STUDY]

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