Thursday, May 31, 2012

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Freecycling has viral effect on community spirit and generosity

ScienceDaily (May 30, 2012) ? Reinforcing that the best things in life are free, a new study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that online freebie-exchange communities such as "Freecycle" and "Couchsurfing" foster greater team spirit among their members than do cash-for-goods websites.

The results, published earlier this month in the journal Administrative Science Quarterly, may help explain why a growing number of recession-weary Americans are participating less in monetary-based consumerism in favor of "gift economies" built on freebies and community spirit.

"We found that being active in online gift-giving communities like Freecycle generates strong feelings of solidarity and identification, which in turn drive people to give more gifts in the system," said Robb Willer, assistant professor of sociology and psychology at UC Berkeley. "This dynamic may help explain why the membership of sites like Freecycle and Couchsurfing has taken off in recent years."

In a wide-ranging survey of more than 1,300 online consumers and recyclers, UC Berkeley and Stanford University researchers gauged the dynamics of transactions and levels of solidarity and group identification among two of the most popular online goods exchange networks: Freecycle and Craigslist.

Launched in 2003, Freecycle is a thriving, grassroots, web-based recycling network that boasts 9 million members in more than 70 countries. Craigslist, started in 1996, is a pioneering online free-classifieds system used predominantly to advertise goods or services for sale, and it claims to receive 50 million ads a month.

"Users of Freecycle make unilateral contributions to other individual users, but cannot make requests for payments or ask for any other form of reciprocation," the study notes. "In contrast, Craigslist users exchange resources with one another by engaging in direct transactions, the terms of which are explicitly shared and mutually agreed upon."

Researchers hypothesized that people who give and receive via a "generalized exchange system," (Freecycle) would feel greater solidarity and group identification than those using a "direct exchange system" (Craigslist). The results bear out their claims.

"What we found is that a site like Freecycle is uniquely good at generating pro-group sentiments like group identification and solidarity," said Willer, a co-author of the study. "The more people receive gifts through these systems, the more they come to identify as members of the group and view the group as cohesive and high in solidarity, more so than Craigslist members. These pro-group feelings in turn motivate members to give to the group."

Thus, the study points out, "If a critical mass of contributions can be harnessed, it may spark a sort of 'virtuous cycle' that leads groups featuring generalized exchange to achieve productivity and maintain group members' giving."

Freecycle and Craigslist users answered questions about their consumer activity and sentiments about their respective online communities. Among other things, they reported the amount of time spent on these websites or listservs and the number of items bought, sold, advertised, given and received. They also rated how strongly they agreed or disagreed with such statements as "The group I belong to is an important reflection of who I am," or "My group membership has very little to do with how I feel about myself."

Researchers factored in such variables as environmental concerns -- reducing waste sent to landfills -- and political or religious affiliations that might predispose their subjects to stronger feelings of idealism and group identity.

Overall, the study found Freecycle's "generalized exchange system" inspired greater team spirit and giving behavior among its active members than did the "direct exchange system" for Craiglist users.

Another notable disparity between Freecycle and Craiglist respondents emerged during recruitment for the study. Given the choice to enter a lottery drawing for a 30GB video iPod or get an official Freecycle banner to promote the organization at public events, about 60 percent of Freecycle users opted for the iPod. By comparison, nearly 80 percent of Craiglist users opted for the iPod over a small donation to the charitable Craigslist Foundation.

On a practical level, the findings offer management strategies to foster more positive and cooperative working environments.

"When leaders communicate to employees about exchange dynamics, they may be better off emphasizing how ? 'we all benefit from sharing resources' rather than ? 'we should do more to help our colleagues,'" the study concluded.

In addition to Willer, other co-authors of the study are Francis Flynn, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, and Sonya Zak, Ph.D., a former researcher at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley. The original article was written by Yasmin Anwar.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. R. Willer, F. J. Flynn, S. Zak. Structure, Identity, and Solidarity: A Comparative Field Study of Generalized and Direct Exchange. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2012; 57 (1): 119 DOI: 10.1177/0001839212448626

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

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

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Your Garden With a Natural Stone Patio | Randumbprod Home ...

There is such a wide range of natural stone available now that any kind of garden you have something suitable that will transform your outdoor space whether it is a small garden or if you have acres of space. But knowing that the availability of suitable natural stone tiles in the easy part ? choosing the right tiles for your patio more difficult. And not just the color you need to get it right ? the completion of the surface is even more important ? they do not have non-slip, children play on it, whether permanently? Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you even start to see the available options.

In addition, natural stone is unique characteristics depending on the mine of origin and may also have a special finish depending on the manufacturer. So some sort of slate, for example, is the same if it had come from different mines or cut and finished by a different manufacturer. The most natural stone has a limited lifespan (think of all the ancient buildings made of natural stone is still standing in the world) but if you have a special finish another consideration in the longevity of the finish ? both hard-wearing and lasts for years or be a character special finish to disappear under the influence of bad weather?

Obviously the choice is simple for her beauty will be completed at the time of installation of natural stone, but also how it will be seen within a few years because the gateway is the kind of structure often change even one of the advantages of natural stone that is active in second-hand market for pre-used tiles if you ever decide to replace it. Depending on the size and thickness, the largest natural stone tiles can be laid as a patio to the sand bed of slate tiles though some may need a mortar bed. But any area to be used as a driveway or parking of vehicles required for the concrete base.

Natural stone tiles are available in many shapes and sizes from 300mm wide variety of sizes and can allow you to design a unique design for your patio. This can be a regular pattern or a lot of people choose the random scheme can look just as attractive, especially for large area in a rural setting. But even with only one shape and size that you can achieve impressive terrace, for example, rectangular tiles arranged in patterns, such as brick offset looks very effective in small areas. Although natural stone tiles can be expensive, the advantage of the patio is a natural stone will look beautiful from the day it is installed for life and is available in such a variety of colors and styles that will suit all types of homes: rural, traditional or contemporary. The color in the weather, but will not fade colored concrete as an alternative to do. It is weather resistant and maintenance is relatively low, only the possibility to change the point at some point.

Although there are cheaper alternatives to natural stone in the market, and you can use porcelain tiles for patios and even some ceramic tiles giving them the level of water absorption of not low enough to beat the organic appearance of natural stone tiles on the terrace.

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2 men charged in attack on pregnant Detroit woman

(AP) ? A Detroit-area man has been charged with allegedly getting a friend to try to kill his pregnant ex-girlfriend to prevent her from having his baby.

Jamal Rogers and Antonio Mathis were each charged Tuesday with attempted murder and other crimes in the attack on Rogers' ex-girlfriend, Latonya Bowman. Both men were denied bail and requested court-appointed lawyers.

Prosecutors allege that Mathis abducted Bowman at gunpoint from Rogers' Warren home early Saturday, drove her to a vacant Detroit field, doused her in lighter fluid, set her on fire and shot her. They say she played dead until he fled.

Bowman suffered burns but is expected to recover. She gave birth to a boy via an emergency cesarean section hours before Rogers' arraignment.

The baby is in intensive care.

Associated Press

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Detroit Tigers vs Boston Red Sox Live Stream Online, MLB Baseball ...

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Vital Signs: Diabetes Death Rates Show Steep Fall

Death rates among people with diabetes have declined substantially in recent years, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

Since 1997 the C.D.C. has done five surveys of people with and without diabetes, each sampling about 107,000 adults. Compared with the 1997-98 figures, 2006 death rates from cardiovascular disease had declined 40 percent and all-cause mortality had declined 23 percent among people with diabetes, even after the researchers controlled for age and other health factors. Death rates also declined among those who did not have diabetes, but the decline was not as steep.

The study, in the June issue of Diabetes Care, attributes the progress to advances in medical care and self-management.

But every silver lining has a cloud.

?The good thing is that people with diabetes are living longer,? said one of the authors, Sharon Saydah, a senior research scientist with the C.D.C. ?But people with diabetes are at risk for a number of complications ? cardiovascular disease, lower leg amputations, kidney disease, eye problems, dementia and other kinds of disability. Preventing all of these complications means that we will have greater health care expenses for people living with diabetes.?

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WLCI school of business management and top B schools in India ...

28 May, 2012 at 4:17 pm in Education

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WLCI Business School/College offers full time & part time business management courses. WLCI is one of the best ?B Schools, Business management institute in India with over 16 learning locations.

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Florida Football 2012 100 For 100, No. 98: Gators Are Older Than Most

Photo

Last year, we tried 50 For 50, and got halfway done before things cropped up. This year, Alligator Army is coming back with 100 For 100, with 100 articles in the 100 days leading up to the first Florida Gators football game of the 2012 season, and will run down storylines, profile players, examine history, and make some predictions, possibly all haphazardly. The only thing we can promise is that each day's entry will bring us all one step closer to "Herrrrrrrrre ... come the Gators!"

We remember Florida's 2011 team as a young one that couldn't quite get over the hump in a lot of ways: The young defense wasn't as ferocious as it promises to be this fall, and the young secondary got torched; the young receiving corps was invisible on all but a few afternoons, and the young offensive line was rarely better than miserable.

Here's good news for 2012: Those Gators aren't so young anymore.

Phil Steele's got the rankings of teams by percentage of lettermen returning, and Florida tops the FBS list with 55 of 65 lettermen from 2011 coming back for 2012. That's 84.6 percent, better than all FBS/FCS teams but the University of Texas at San Antonio, a program in its second year.

That total isn't automatically good, of course. Florida doesn't return its starting quarterback, top two running backs, or two of its top three receivers, and it's only because the people in that accounting are John Brantley, Chris Rainey, Jeff Demps, and Deonte Thompson that we don't think those are such huge losses. (You can play this game with fellow top-five-in-returning-lettermen teams Stanford and Oregon: Andrew Luck isn't back for the Cardinal, nor is most of a great offensive line, and the Ducks lost Darron Thomas and LaMichael James.)

That said, another year under Will Muschamp can't possibly make the Gators who were often in games in 2011 worse in 2012, can it?

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Re: FIRST FREE ENERGY DEVICE REACHES MARKET IN OCTOBER -- The Game Changer is Here

Chess:

Rossi is basically stating that he is taking private investment money to advance his project.? I seem to recall you vehemently denying this.


@MileHigh:

Once again, your recollections are misleading and dis-informative at best.? To set the record straight, below is the direct quote from Rossi that I posted in this thread back on February 9, 2012, 02:10:29 AM (Reply #597 on Page 40):

Sterling Allen: Totally different question. I get inquiries from time to time about investment. I know there are people out there interested in investing in your company. What ranges of dollar amounts will you consider for investment? Anything above "X" dollars, for example.
?
Andrea Rossi: You know the issue is of a philosophic kind, because we are not yet... Our company before we will have millions of E-Cat units in operation, our company will be a sort of a warship. And as I usually say, I want not to play football with the bones of the others. So we cannot, we want not to accept money from people that have saved money working, and they want to invest their money to give, how can I say, safety to their family. We want not that. We do not want the savings of families in our enterprise now. Our enterprise is still risky, for many reasons. So we can accept investments from big organizations, that can invest a small amount... Some hedge funds of their finances, and can risk it, in a way that if something goes wrong, no body is going to cry. And no body is going to be damaged, really. Do you understand?

While we're on the subject of setting the record straight, let us clear up a little more disinformation, shall we?


1MW is a negligible amount of power for an electric utility so you are not making any sense.

...and

One megawatt is a drop in the bucket for an electrical utility.

Regarding size limitations of E-Cat power plants I posted the following (Reply #925 on April 7, 2012, 06:24:48 AM):

Oilprice.com: It almost seems as if you?re downplaying the role that LENR could play in providing cheap abundant energy for the world, by only developing relatively small units. Do you not believe that your LENR machine could truly solve a lot of the world?s energy problems? Do you plan to build much larger units of 10s-100s of megawatts, or is that not possible?
?
Andrea Rossi: We are already developing 1 MW plants, and it will be easy to link these plants together to make larger power plants. Due to the compact scale, and efficient energy production process, an E-Cat power plant will be much smaller than its fossil fuel or nuclear equivalent.
?
Oilprice.com: You mentioned linking 1MW plants together to make larger power plants. How would this work? What would the cost be?
?
Andrea Rossi: The 1MW units can be assembled at a reduced size of 10ft x 8ft x 8ft, and can then be stacked in series or parallel to produce the necessary power. It will cost 1,000 $/KW.

Setting the record straight again ::)

Chess

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Rampant Lion Pipe Band Recruitment Information | Basking Ridge ...

U.S. Hard Line in Failed Iran Talks Driven by Israel by Gareth Porter

by Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted at ISP
May 25, 2012

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2012 (IPS) ? Negotiations between Iran and the United States and other members of the P5+1 group in Baghdad ended in fundamental disagreement Thursday over the position of the P5+1 offering no relief from sanctions against Iran.

The two sides agreed to meet again in Moscow Jun. 18 and 19, but only after Iran had threatened not to schedule another meeting, because the P5+1 had originally failed to respond properly to its five-point plan.

The prospects for agreement are not likely to improve before that meeting, however, mainly because of an inflexible U.S. diplomatic posture that reflects President Barack Obama?s need to bow to the demands of Israel and the U.S. Congress on Iran policy.

The U.S. hard line in the Baghdad talks and the failure to set the stage for an early agreement with Iran means that Iran will not only increase but accelerate its accumulation of 20-percent enriched uranium, which has been the ostensible reason for wanting to get Iran to the negotiating table quickly.

Iran?s enrichment to 20 percent, which Tehran has justified over the past two years as needed by its Tehran Research Reactor to produce medical isotopes, can be turned into high enriched uranium more quickly than the 3.5 percent enriched uranium for Iran?s nuclear power programme.

But although Iran has let it be known that it is open to making a deal to end its 20 percent enrichment and even to let go of its stockpile if offered the right incentive, the Obama administration has opted not to go for such a deal by refusing to offer any corresponding reduction in sanctions.

The U.S. demand for the closure of the Fordow facility, which is now under surveillance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was a direct response to pressure from Israel. Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu declared that demand one of his ?benchmarks? for the talks on Mar. 2.

In discussions with the U.S. in late March, Defence Minister Ehud Barak insisted on the closure of Fordow as one of the Israeli demands, as he revealed Apr. 4. That was a quid pro quo for Israeli acceptance of a focus in the first stage on halting Iran?s uranium enrichment to 20 percent rather than demanding an end to all uranium enrichment, as Reuters reported Apr. 4.

That agreement clearly implied that the Obama administration would do nothing to dismantle any sanctions against Iran unless Iran ended all uranium enrichment.

The administration?s refusal to entertain any removal of sanctions as part of its diplomatic strategy with Iran also recognised the fact that it would have to pay a steep political price merely to request any change in sanctions legislation and would be unlikely to prevail over the deeply entrenched interests of Israel in both houses.

After being lobbied by 12,000 activists attending the conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in March, the House of Representatives passed a resolution demanding a policy of preventing Iran from having a ?nuclear weapons capability? by a vote of 401-11.

The U.S. understandings with Israel were sharply at odds with a deal with Iran based on a ?step by step? approach which had been proposed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Under that approach, each move by Iran to satisfy Western concerns about its nuclear programme should be rewarded by a relaxation of sanctions.

As Michael Adler revealed in The Daily Beast Mar. 7, however, the Obama administration was unwilling to reduce sanctions gradually as the Russians wanted. Adler?s account implied that it could only come at the end of the process in response to a complete suspension of all uranium enrichment by Iran as a ?confidence building measure?.

For Iran, 20 percent enrichment has been largely an exercise in increasing its bargaining leverage with the United States by creating a level of enrichment that the U.S has said is threatening.

Iran has made a series of policy statements since it began that enrichment suggesting that the objective has been to trade those bargaining chips for negotiating concessions that would benefit Iran ? mainly moves to reduce sanctions and the recognition of its right to enrich.

The demand that the 20 percent enrichment be ended and that Fordow facility be closed without any easing of economic sanctions would represent a double diplomatic defeat which Iran has strenuously rejected.

?Giving up 20 percent enrichment levels in return for plane spare parts is a joke,? Iranian analyst Hasan Abadini was quoted as saying.

There was some discussion before the Baghdad meeting, initiated by Europeans, of at least offering to suspend a European ban on insuring oil tankers, which threatens some of Iran?s oil trade with Asian countries, in conjunction with a deal, according to the New York Times May 18. But that was evidently rejected by Washington.

The U.S. rejection of the ?step by step? approach in favour of a stance that leans heavily toward Israeli preferences leads to apparent contradictions in U.S. policy.

That stance is sharply at odds with the official U.S. stance suggesting ending Iran?s 20 percent enrichment is an urgent requirement. A senior U.S. official was quoted by Associated Press Thursday as saying, ?We are urgent about this, because every day we don?t figure this out, they keep going forward with a nuclear program.?

The contradiction was further highlighted by reports that Iran is further increasing its capability for 20 percent enrichment at the Fordow facility. A Reuters story from Vienna Thursday said that Iran may have already put 350 more centrifuges into Fordow since February, on top of the almost 700 already operating there.

Associated Press reported a senior U.S. official in Baghdad explaining that sanctions were likely to increase the pressure on Iran to agree to U.S. terms in the next round of talks. ?Maximum pressure is not yet being felt by Iran,? the official was quoted as saying.

But few diplomatic observers believe that Iran?s Supreme Leader, who makes the crucial decisions, could afford to bow to the U.S. demands as presented in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the U.S. strategy of drawing out the talks to wait for the impact of sanctions to work on the Iranians allows Iran to continue adding ?facts on the ground?.

Ironically, U.S. strategists have argued publicly in the past that Iran was using negotiations to ?play for time? while it increased its nuclear capabilities.

In another seeming contradiction between U.S. diplomatic posture and its declared interest in ensuring that Iran prove the non-military character of its nuclear programme, U.S. officials dismissed as irrelevant the news that Iran and IAEA Director General Yukia Amano are close to an agreement on the terms of Iranian cooperation in clarifying allegations of past nuclear weapons work.

A ?senior U.S. official? said the United States welcomed the signs of progress, but then carefully differentiated the purpose of the P5+1 negotiations and those of the IAEA, according to Al-monitor May 22.

?The IAEA is about accounting for the past and for naming what is,? the official explained. ?It is not about what is the nature of Iran?s nuclear program and what will Iran?s nuclear program look like going forward, and will it be peaceful.?

That statement abruptly reversed previous U.S. insistence that Iran?s cooperation with the IAEA represented a central element in a diplomatic settlement of the conflict over Iran?s nuclear programme.

The idea that U.S. negotiations with Iran would not be affected by whatever it did to prove allegations of past nuclear weapons work wrong implies that Washington is firmly committed to its present diplomatic course mainly in order to placate Israel and the U.S. Congress.


Gareth Porter?is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book,?Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in 2006.

see

Gareth Porter: IAEA Near Iran Inspection Deal but will US Insist on End to?Enrichment?

Three significant and inter-related developments for America?s war plans for full spectrum dominance by Finian?Cunningham

Iran War Path Resumed, With Another ?Colin Powell Moment?? by Finian?Cunningham

IAEA Parchin Demand Puts Iran Cooperation Pact at Risk by Gareth?Porter

U.S. Treasury Claim of Iran-Al-Qaeda ?Secret Deal? Is Discredited by Gareth?Porter

Iran Israel US Nukes

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Sunday, May 27, 2012

LAO behind the scenes: Grauman's Chinese

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NYPD Muslim Surveillance In NJ 'Permissible' According To Attorney General Report

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Islamic leaders say they are shocked that a review by New Jersey's state attorney general into the New York Police Department's secret surveillance operation targeting Muslim businesses and mosques in New Jersey found the NYPD did nothing wrong.

The three-month probe, ordered by Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, concluded there was no evidence to show the NYPD's activities in the state violated New Jersey's civil or criminal laws.

"Based on what we saw, their conduct was permissible," said one of the officials involved with the review who was not at liberty to discuss the report publicly. "There was no evidence of illegal wiretaps or search and seizures. We're not seeing any violations of law."

Members of the Muslim community -- summoned to Trenton on Thursday (May 24) to be briefed on the review -- reacted to the findings with anger and disappointment.

"We thought the AG was on our side," said Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum, who called the revelations at the meeting "stunning and offensive. ... I was ready to walk out."

"American Muslims are easy game right now in New Jersey," Assaf said.

Nadia Kahf, who chairs the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she and other community leaders are now exploring legal options -- perhaps a lawsuit challenging the six-year-long surveillance of their community.

"After two months of fact-finding, they have come up with absolutely nothing? No criminal or civil violations? That was very hard to accept," she said.

Ed Barocas, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, questioned the findings as well.

"The New Jersey attorney general's statement that the NYPD violated no New Jersey laws by spying on Muslim houses of worship comes as cold comfort to anyone who found themselves under a microscope based solely on their religious beliefs," he said. "The issue still remains that the police were targeting religious and ethnic minorities, and New Jersey should have no part in enabling the discriminatory practices of the NYPD or any other law enforcement agency."

He said that if New Jersey police departments, which are subject to the state's discrimination laws, were to target people or groups based on religion or ethnicity as the NYPD did, they would be in violation of New Jersey law.

The fact-finding review ordered by the attorney general was sparked by disclosures by The Associated Press that the New York Police Department had been running an aggressive domestic intelligence operation that extended into New Jersey, targeting ethnic communities in Newark, the campus of Rutgers University and elsewhere.

In Newark, the NYPD cataloged every mosque and Muslim-owned business in the city -- from fried-chicken joints to houses of worship located in private homes -- in a 60-page report later obtained by the AP. The report identified the work as "a joint operation with the Newark Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Unit" with the aim of identifying "the existence of population centers and business districts of communities of interest."

Most of the properties listed in the NYPD report were Islamic cultural centers, restaurants and stores where members of Newark's Muslim community went to pray, eat or shop.

NYPD officials have repeatedly defended the program as legal and justified, and have been backed strongly by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who maintains the NYPD can gather intelligence anywhere in the country it wants without any requirement to tell local authorities.

Gov. Chris Christie, questioned at a press conference in Atlantic City, had little to say about the findings.

"I have complete confidence in Attorney General Chiesa. I have every reason to believe that he's correct," the governor said. "I'll leave it at that."

Chiesa said the state did reach an agreement with the NYPD that will "strengthen the lines of communication" between New Jersey law enforcement officials and the city. The attorney general is also planning to establish an outreach committee with the Muslim community.

(Ted Sherman writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. Megan DeMarco contributed to this report.)

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An appetite for self-improvement is more embarrassing than ...

Illustration: David Foldvari

There are lean times ahead for Britains high streets: Weight Watchers is opening a chain of shops. And, if you hated that joke, take comfort from the fact that its days are numbered. As obesity rather than thinness becomes established as the wests poverty signifier, lean-equals-broke will have no resonance in the shiny, sweaty, globulous and wheezing future.

The rich thincats of the decades to come will pay good money to remain skinny, and the aspirant plump to become so, which is presumably why Weight Watchers thinks its on to a winner with these new Lifestyle Centres, which will provide one-to-one weight-loss consultations and express weigh-ins and in general will, as spokesman Chris Stirk puts it, offer a more personalised and flexible service for busy people like working mums and office workers who can pop in when they have time.

You can see the way theyre styling themselves: its weight loss for todays busy, connected, results-orientated fat person. Its for the fatty on the move, wobbling dynamically from one meeting to the next: theyve only got time to hop on those scales and get a pep talk from a dietician, before whizzing off to their next appointment, executive moo moo billowing in their wake. If they havent had time for lunch (unlikely but possible), they might get one of the centres grab and go meals, such as their 243-calorie prawn mayonnaise sandwich, which would probably leave you hungry, but thats OK because, on a British high street, theres bound to be a KFC next door.

But will this catch on? Wont people be embarrassed to be seen wandering into a high-street weight-loss centre, however much it adopts the rhetoric of business class? Going there is still an admission that youre worried about your weight, of lack of confidence. In normal-sized people this might betray poor self-esteem; in the skinny, it looks anorexic; and, even in the demonstrably obese, it would be a sign that theyre not as proud of who they are as were all supposed to be nowadays. Getting help with weight loss is a brave confession of weakness and need ? but few are comfortable displaying those traits publicly. Thats why so many dirty-video stores went out of business because of the internet, while Waterstones limps on. There arent many of us whod be happy to stride openly from the sex shop to the Lifestyle Centre, proclaiming to the world: Yeah, Im a fat guy who wanks ? deal with it.

A survey into womens attitudes to exercise conducted for mental health charity Mind suggests this sort of embarrassment might be a problem for the centres. More than half of those questioned said they were too self-conscious to exercise in public. Fears of unforgiving Lycra, wobbly bits, sweating or going red, lead them to try to get fit, if they try at all, very early in the morning or late at night. So thats why everyone you see jogging looks intimidatingly fit! The flabby do their running under cover of darkness.

Its easy to understand their feelings. Watching a fat or unfit person jog evokes two main responses. First, its funny ? in the way a pratfall is funny. Its a physical misfortune thats happening to somebody else. The sweaty, panting discomfort, the glazed-over expression of dread, the pink-and-cerise-pocked face, the hilariously slow rate of progress that has nevertheless proved so exhausting, the thought of the cakes and ale that went before ? you want to laugh. And the runner knows you want to laugh.

Worse still is the other simultaneous response: sympathy, empathy, even pity. Most of us have been there or think, if we broke into a run, wed soon find ourselves there. But those feelings are seldom welcomed, any more than it is soothing when you bump your head for someone to say: Ooh, that must have hurt! On some deep evolutionary level, we reject this pity ? maybe we sense that it leads gradually but inevitably to people concluding that we may be surplus to the tribes requirements.

Our aversion to sympathy for quite trivial misfortunes is laid bare when you watch someone narrowly miss a train or bus. Almost everyone, in the moment it becomes clear theyre not going to catch it, tries to make it look like they didnt really want to. Its fine, I was just kind of jogging anyway ? Id rather get the next one is what theyre desperate to convey, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary. Even those who go the other way and express annoyance usually do it in a slightly performed way; they are portraying an annoyed person, but concealing their true desire, which, more than to have caught the train or bus, is now for the ground to swallow them up. It is very rare to see annoyance unselfconsciously or unashamedly expressed in those moments ? I certainly cant do it myself.

As a species, we seem much more comfortable with implausible shows of empty pride than unremarkable admissions of weakness. This may explain the existence of the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, which offers free meals to anyone weighing over 25 stone, and where last week a woman suffered a cardiac arrest while eating one of their double bypass burgers. She was also drinking a margarita and smoking a cigarette, but was being abstemious compared to the establishments previous heart-attack victim, a man tucking into a triple bypass burger in February. Presumably one of the things those customers are trying to say is: We know what were doing ? were going into this with our eyes open. Were unafraid, were not running away from anything, and thats not just because wed immediately be drenched in sweat if we tried.

We humans have a deeply conservative instinct that we should know our place: paupers should stay in hovels and kings on thrones. Gyms should be full of fit people exercising, diners full of fat ones eating. Everyone just being and no one trying. Its the trying, the aspiration, that people find threatening ? trying to get a better job, move somewhere nicer, lose weight. And thats why those who are doing it feel vulnerable.

Can Weight Watchers outlets thrive on the high street? I hope so, but I doubt it. More than theyre ashamed of over-eating or buying pornography or missing a train, people are ashamed of wanting to change themselves. They fear they cant and that others will resent the attempt. Thats why fat people exercise by night.

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Kline Retires from Coach, Leaves Canterbury

May 23, 2012 Updated May 23, 2012 at 11:18 PM EDT

Fort Wayne (Indiana's NewsCenter)- Canterbury boys basketball coach, Dan Kline told his players at a meeting on Tuesday he has decided to retire.

Kline was 36-12 in his 2 seasons with the Cavs, leading them to their first ever sectional and regional titles and coming up just short in the 1A semistate this past season.

Kline says the people at Canterbury were great to him during his time there but this was a personal decision.




What are your thoughts CLICK HERE to leave us a "Your2Cents? comment.

? Copyright 2012 A Granite Broadcasting Station. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Saturday, May 26, 2012

Severely Injured Service Members and Youth with Disabilities to ...

Over 80 sports opportunities for wounded warriors and youth and adults with disabilities

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) May 25, 2012

Hundreds of wounded warriors, youth and others with disabilities will participate in Disabled Sports USA?s SummerFest, a nationwide series of summer sports learn-to and competitive opportunities. More than 80 summer sports programs in over 30 sports in 30 states will be offered by Disabled Sports USA (DSUSA), its local community chapter network and other partnering organizations.

The SummerFest sports series is the only one of its kind in the nation helping to ensure participants with physical disabilities receive state-of-the-art adaptive equipment, instruction and competition in a broad range of summer sports including archery, cycling, athletics, kayaking, water skiing, sailing, surfing, canoeing, golf, hiking, rock climbing, scuba diving, fishing and more.

?The 2012 programs will include sport activities that allow individuals with disabilities to lead full and active life styles,? said Kirk Bauer, JD, executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a disabled Vietnam veteran. ?We are also integrating our wounded warriors into these community sports events to give them expanded opportunities to participate in their own communities.?

Military sports programs include the ?learn-to? events for wounded warriors as well as extreme sports are offered as part of DSUSA?s Warfighter Sports program. Now in its ninth year of service, all sports programs offered are free of cost for severely wounded service members and their families. Activities will be held for severely wounded service members rehabilitating at the major military hospitals, VA hospitals and other military medical centers across the nation. Wounded warriors discharged from the military will also have the opportunity to continue to participate at DSUSA chapter programs throughout the USA, so they can maintain an active lifestyle.

Upcoming Memorial Day weekend events include: Team Warfighter Sports? participation in the Ski to Sea relay race, a 100-mile long, multi-sport competition that stretches from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay, Washington on May 28, supported by The Heisman Trophy Trust. In addition, more than 50 wounded warriors will be taking part in the Wave Warriors Surf Camp, in Virginia Beach, VA this weekend, learning how to surf as well as participate in other water sports. The surf camp, in partnership with Billabong and Air Compassion for Veterans will take place in conjunction with the Steel Pier Classic.

SummerFest sports series includes national and regional competitive events and training opportunities, including: US Handcycling Series (nationwide), Great Lakes Regional Games (IL), Endeavor Games (OK), U.S. Association of Blind Athletes Cycling and Rowing Development Camps, and DSUSA Adapt2Achieve Chapter Development Conferences in the Northeast and Northwest regions.

Summer activities conducted at DSUSA chapter sports and recreation venues throughout the USA include:

Alaska: Challenge Alaska; Southeast Alaska Independent Living

Alabama: Lakeshore Foundation

Arizona: Arizona Disabled Sports

California: Adaptive Athletics Association; Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra, Disabled Sports USA Far West, San Diego Adaptive Sports Foundation, US Adaptive Recreation Center

Colorado: Adaptive Sports Association, Adaptive Sports Center- Crested Butte, Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, Challenge Aspen, Colorado Discover Ability, National Sports Center for the Disabled, Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports, Telluride Adaptive Sports Programs, US Handcycling

Connecticut: Leaps of Faith Disabled Water Skiers, Sports Association of Gaylord Hospital

Idaho: Sun Valley Adaptive Sports Programs

Illinois: Adaptive Adventures, Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association

Kansas: Wheelchair Sports, Inc.

Maine: Maine Adaptive Sports Recreation

Massachusetts: CAPEable Adventures

Maryland: Team River Runner

Minnesota: Courage Center

Missouri: Disabled Athlete Sports Association

Montana: DREAM Adaptive Recreation, Eagle Mount Billings, Eagle Mount Bozeman

New Hampshire: New England Disabled Sports, New England Handicapped Sports

Association, Northeast Passage

New York: Lothlorien Therapeutic Riding Center, STRIDE Adaptive Sports, North Country Access

North Carolina: Bridge II Sports, SUDS Diving

Ohio: The Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition

Oklahoma: UCO Sports Recreation, United States Association of Blind Athletes

Oregon: Happy Trails Riding Center

Pennsylvania: Two Top Mountain Adaptive Sports Foundation

Tennessee: Sports, Arts, and Recreation of Chattanooga

Texas: Operation Comfort

Utah: Common Ground Outdoor Adventures, National Ability Center

Virginia: Adventure Amputee Camp, Wintergreen Adaptive Sports

Vermont: Friends of Stowe, Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports

Washington: Outdoors for All Foundation

West Virginia: Challenged Athletes of West Virginia

Wyoming: Teton Adaptive Sports

Corporations and foundations supporting DSUSA?s sports programs, including the programs for severely wounded service members include: Platinum: Ariel Corporation, Bob Woodruff Foundation, Chartis, U.S. Paralympics, WellPoint Foundation, The Moore Charitable Foundation. Gold: Advocator Group, Anthem Life, The Chart Group, Fluor, Heisman Memorial Trophy Trust, May Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, PING, Tee it up for the Troops, Trijicon, Wash Depot Holdings, and others.

To view the full calendar of SummerFest events visit http://www.dsusa.org/calendar-dsusa.html.

About Disabled Sports USA

Founded in 1967, Disabled Sports USA is a charitable organization that provides opportunities for individuals with disabilities to develop independence, confidence and fitness through participation in sports. What began as a program to serve Vietnam veterans has since grown into one of the nation?s largest multi-sport, multi-disability organizations, annually serving more than 60,000 wounded warriors, youth and adults with disabilities. A member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Disabled Sports USA offers programs in more than 40 summer and winter sports through its nationwide network of more than 100 community-based chapters. For more information, visit http://www.dsusa.org.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebDSUSASummerSports/05242012/prweb9544110.htm

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Community Advertising and marketing, The Enterprise Product ...

Community advertising is actually a multi-billion dollar enterprise. As being a small business type, it truly is taught in big universities worldwide. The Wall Street Journal said, ??between 50% and 65% of all goods and services sold in this millennium will likely be by way of network marketing.? It is an organization design that is perfectly suited for the ?information age.?

What is this ?Business Design??
Network marketing is usually a method of undertaking business enterprise that may be unique in the ?traditional? type utilized by most client packaged items, meals and drug providers. It is actually one with the most promising income possibilities in American nowadays. It is the concept of lots of individuals each undertaking slightly work, instead of some people today carrying out plenty of operate. To quote J. Paul Getty, the world?s initial billionaire, ?I?d quite have 1% in the attempts of one hundred persons than 100% of my own.?

As opposed to applying the customary distribution course of action of shifting products from producer to wholesaler to retailer to buyer, network advertising businesses utilize a community of independent marketers to move items straight from your manufacturer towards the buyer. Further, the price construction of a network advertising business is various than a classic packaged items marketer.

With a standard enterprise, numerous dollars are spent on advertising to entice consumers to purchase that company?s solutions as an alternative from the virtually identical item from another company. Having a network company, the advertising price is channeled into revenue commissions for distributors who market the product by way of ?word-of-mouth? advertising, i.e. by telling other men and women about the item. In the standard business design, money is invested Before the sale within the form of advertising; within the community advertising and marketing model, the funds is compensated Immediately after the sale inside the form of commissions. Which model appears to produce probably the most perception from a small business standpoint?

With community advertising and marketing, you?ve got two sources of income: (1) direct commissions from product sales you make yourself, and (2) commissions from sales made by men and women you introduce to the business, known as residual income. You are able to invest your time and effort and cash when and acquire compensated multiple occasions for your effort. It signifies finding compensated for your work of others. In classic revenue, you may be a terrific salesperson and possess a couple of dozen good consumers and make your earnings from all their purchases. Nevertheless, you most likely need to nurture these consumers and devote the majority of your operating time ensuring they may be buying from you rather than somebody else.

In community promoting, you can develop a downline of 100, 1,000, or perhaps 10,000 people, the majority of whom you might not know nor ever have get in touch with with. This is mainly because the vast majority in the men and women inside your downline will likely be individuals who know somebody, who know someone, who know somebody, who know you. By having a downline that is certainly operating along with you, and for you, you could multiply your attempts many instances. The earning prospective of a downline of 1,000 people today, each and every placing in just one hour every day five times per week, represents 20,000 hours of perform in a month. It will consider one individual 10 years to create precisely the same level of perform. That is the energy of the network.

Maybe Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad, Bad Father series, said it very best. ?The richest men and women within the world search for networks. Every person else looks for function.?

It?s estimated that greater than fifty,000 people today get started a home-based business enterprise every single week within the United states of america. The average individual possessing a home-based small business earns greater than $50,000 a calendar year (generally working part-time), even though the national average yearly home income is much less than $45,000 (and the majority of those individuals are operating at the least forty hours each week). In addition, a home-based enterprise proprietor can qualify for several reputable tax breaks, and tax professionals recommend that the typical individual can conserve between $2,000 and $10,000 on taxes every year just by beginning a home-based business enterprise.

How is this feasible? Well, contemplate these two tax structures: a wage earner very first earns income, then pays tax on that earnings, and then pays for costs with after-tax revenue. A small business owner initial earns revenue, then pays for costs, after which pays tax on internet earnings after expenses. In other words, a company owner can legitimately lower the level of tax he or she needs to spend mainly because business expenses are paid with pre-tax income, not after-tax, earnings.

Community advertising and marketing can be a $36 Billion industry in the Usa. More than 20 for each cent from the estimated one million millionaires in america currently have attained their fortunes over the prior six many years through community advertising. Throughout the world, there are more than 3.5 million millionaires, and more than 700,000 have made their hundreds of thousands via community advertising. Conservative estimates are that network advertising and marketing in the united states is generating 40 new millionaires each thirty day period from typical persons. This means that a person?s greatest opportunity of economic success is via ?networking.? Once again, Robert Kiyosaki noticed, ?If I?d it to do all over again, I would pick network marketing.?

For individuals who?re interested in starting a home-based enterprise, supplementing their income, and supplying greater safety for retirement and for their young children and grandchildren, community advertising is an apparent option.

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Friday, May 25, 2012

How to improve your business's customer care ~ Market and Economy

For businesses in the hospitality sector - restaurants, pubs, bars and other catering businesses - customer care is especially important. These businesses are all about the customer's experience and making improvements to customer care should be a constant effort.

That's probably the first thing businesses should bear in mind when thinking about customer care - the effort must be on-going.

The art of improving customer care, or of making sure the customer's experience is excellent at all times, is not a difficult one to understand. Putting it into practice, however, does require effort and the application of standards that are clearly understood.

The secret, as almost all experts will agree, is to see and experience a service from the customer's perspective.

If you're running a business, it can be hard to see everything from a customer's view because it's difficult to divorce yourself from the reasons why there may be shortcomings; but the customer isn't interested in reasons, just the quality of the experience. This is a good reason to bring in outsiders and elicit frank feedback.

Here, then, are some suggestions as to how any business, but especially those in the hospitality sector, can engage with and work on customer care.

Just as it's important to test the customer experience with a critical eye by using independent testers, it's also important to find out what customers think.

Getting feedback is important. But getting quality feedback - that is finding out what people really think - is not easy. Many customers may be reluctant to be brutally honest, especially about small matters. Others may be overly fussy and offer criticism that's unreasonable and unnecessary, finding faults where nearly all other customers wouldn't. To find out what reasonable people think, you probably need to get their feedback anonymously, possibly through a feedback form a d a suggestion box.

Some kind of mechanism for feedback is a good idea. This may be in the form of a competition for great suggestions and feedback, or another way could be to invite customers to come along to an evening for the express purpose of commenting on service or dishes or drinks. Getting the customer involved is key.

Of course, it's also important to listen to customers less formally. If they have something to say about the way the business is being run, the quality of the service of the food, anything, then really welcome it. It's an opportunity that should be taken advantage of. If it's complimentary, that's great and helps to suggest how to emphasise strong points; if it's negative feedback, it gives you a chance to put things right. 'The customer is always right' is still a valid maxim to apply.

That's fine for feedback. But the fundamental aspect of a great customer experience, especially in the hospitality business, is the quality of your staff.

It's vital to create a culture in which customer care - the customer's experience - is central to everything that takes place within the business. Set the bar high and insist on quality service. Reward and praise behaviour and the attitude you want to see and discourage that which you don't want. Attend to detail because customers will.

Create an example for others to follow and make sure staff understand that the quality of service they provide has a direct impact on the business and, ultimately, on their job. Give staff real incentives to do well - cash ones, if possible.

Ensure that everyone understands that they are customer facing and must behave accordingly. In a restaurant, for example, kitchen staff who don't serve the public may well need to come into contact with customers now and again. When they do, insist that they maintain the same standards as those staff who directly deal with customers.

Have regular meetings, perhaps once a week, to discuss improvements to and suggestions for customer service. Make these meetings upbeat and make sure staff feel they are an important part of the success of the business.

Make sure staff are aware of precisely what you expect from them.

Lead by example - basically always behave in the way you want your staff to.

Keep your staff happy - or at least root out any problems that are causing friction, unease and so on. Unhappy staff simply can't create happy customers, unless they are Oscar-level actors.

Make sure staff know about the products they are selling - whether it's a drink or a dish, they should be able to answer reasonable questions. And, if they can't answer a question, then, of course, they need to be able to offer to find out and do so.

Never leave customers waiting. This means when whatever they want, attend to them, whether they are at the bar to be served, waiting to be seated or to settle a bill, or wanting to ask for a service. If there is an unavoidable delay, explain quickly and honestly - it's far better than trying to stall.

Answer your phone promptly and enthusiastically. Sound helpful. Never let a phone ring without being attended to. Make use of call forwarding or voicemail, if you must, but get back to callers promptly.

Be reliable. If you say you will do something for a customer, however small, then make sure it's done. If you promise a table by the window, or a replacement dish, for example, then deliver.

If complaints arise, as they will always do from time to time, treat them as feedback for future improvements, sure, but also deal with the substance of the complaint there and then. Don't delay: tackle the problem and try and resolve it head on. Customers will generally respect you for your sympathy and your efforts to resolve the matter.

These are simple ideas, but unfailingly executed they're also powerful ones. The golden rule, though, is never stop looking at the service you provide from the customer's point of view.

Premierline Direct offers retail and shop insurance carefully tailored to suit the specific needs of your business, as well as comprehensive restaurant insurance solutions which can be tailored to suit your business.

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Leica M9-P


The Leica M9-P ($7,995 list, body only) is a beautiful camera with an absurdly high sticker price. Its lack of bells and whistles will confound casual snapshooters, but its an appealing choice for seasoned photographers who fell in love with rangefinder film cameras and want a digital equivalent. If you're looking for a camera that supports autofocus, video recording, and offers a library of zoom lenses, the M9-P ?is not for you. But if a compact camera with a large image sensor, bright optical viewfinder, and minimalist controls is what you're after, the M9-P may be what you're looking for?the only question is whether you can afford it. This high-end interchangeable lens camera doesn't offer the mass market appeal or flexibility of our Editors' Choice Olympus OM-D E-M5 ($1,299.99, 5 stars), but if you're set on a new digital rangefinder, your choices are all Leica.

Why Choose a Rangefinder Camera?
If you've never shot with a rangefinder, you must first understand that there are some fundamental differences that set the camera apart from an SLR. When you look through the optical viewfinder of an SLR, you're seeing exactly what the lens sees. This has its advantages?you get an accurate view of your frame and can preview the depth of field of your shot. With a rangefinder, two sets of framelines, which change along with the lens, are displayed in the viewfinder to give you an idea of what your frame will capture, but you'll want to keep shots a bit loose with the intention of cropping, as they aren't entirely accurate. You'll also see a bright rectangle in the middle of the finder with a double image?that's how you focus. As you adjust the focus on the lens barrel, the double image turns into one. Once you've mastered this technique, it's quicker than manually focusing an SLR, but obviously lags behind the best D-SLRs in terms of speed and precision.

So, why put up with the convoluted focusing and framing system? For one, the finder is always bright?regardless of whether you're using an f/0.95 lens or an f/4 lens. Depending on how wide your lens is, you'll also be able to see outside of the frame. This is ideal for shooting on the street where pedestrians may wander into a shot unexpectedly, or for tracking action. There's also no finder blackout when you take a photo?so you'll see the exact moment that you're capturing as you hear the shutter click. There aren't a lot of other digital cameras on the market that offer this?the Fujifilm X-Pro1 ($1,699 list) comes closest. It doesn't offer the manual focus rangefinder patch so you'll have to trust its autofocus when shooting with its hybrid digital/optical viewfinder in optical mode.

The other advantage is lens design. Because there's no mirror or focus motors, rangefinder lenses are amazingly small?especially when you consider that they provide full frame coverage. The rear element can be very close to the film plane, which makes it possible to design wide-angle lenses that are incredibly compact. The Leica Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 ASPH lens has a 2-inch diamater and is just 1.2 inches long, much smaller than any 28mm SLR lens of similar speed.

The short span between the lens mount and film plane also reduces the distance that light has to travel before it is captured, resulting in images that are much sharper around the edges and in the corners than those from SLRs. The M9-P has a series of microprisms built into the sensor that further help to increase corner performance, as digital sensors require light to hit the photosites straight on in order to be properly recorded?this isn't required when shooting film. The sensor also omits an antialias filter, which makes sharper photos possible. Along with the X-Pro1 and Nikon D800E ($3,299.95), it's one of the few cameras on the market that takes this approach to sensor design.

If you discover that shooting with a rangefinder is for you, your choice of camera bodies is limited?they're niche products at this point. Leica currently produces two other models. The M9 ($6,995 list) is essentially the same camera with slightly different styling and without a protective sapphire glass cover over its LCD. The recently announced M-Monochrom ($7,995 list) is basically an M9 ?that shoots only black-and-white photos. You can also look for an M8, M8.2, or Epson R-D1 (2 stars) on the used market. The 10-megapixel M8 and M8.2 will handle much like the M9, although the image sensor in those cameras is smaller than full frame, so your lenses will suffer from a 1.33x crop factor, and you'll need to use special UV/IR filters on your lenses to prevent unwanted color shifts when shooting certain fabrics and vegetation. The RD-1 is a 6-megapixel camera and uses a 1.5x APS-C crop sensor, the same size that is found in consumer D-SLRs, and is unique in that it is a digital camera that requires you to manually advance the shutter after taking a photo, just as you would with a film camera.

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U.S. News - 'I was nervous': Texas whiz kid beats teens in 2012 ...

Texas whiz kid beats Wisconsin teen in 2012 National Geographic Bee.

By Sevil Omer, msnbc.com

A Houston-area whiz kid is the new champion of 2012 National Geographic Bee after correctly answering the question: "Name the Bavarian city located on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806."

Rahul Nagvekar?s answer: Regensburg.

The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Quail Middle School in Missouri City, Texas, won the grand prize, including a $25,000 college scholarship and a trip to the Galapagos Islands.


?My parents have helped me tremendously and everyone -- my family, my teachers, my friends, all the students at the school -- have been so encouraging and supportive,? Nagvekar told msnbc.com on Thursday. ?I could not have done this without them.?

Nagvekar admits he was a little nervous during the competition.

?I knew that if I remained calm and focused and listened to the questions I would do well,? Nagvekar said.??I was nervous, but relaxed.?

After four rounds of intense tie-breaker questions, Nagvekar finally ousted Vansh Jain, a 13-year-old bee veteran from northwestern Wisconsin, to win the coveted prize, according to NBC News.

Susan Walsh / AP

National Geographic Bee host Alex Trebek stands with National Geographic Bee champion Rahul Nagvekar, 14, from Missouri City, Texas, on Thursday.

Jain,?an eighth-grader at Minocqua-Hazelhurst-Lake Tomahawk Elementary School in Minocqua, Wis.,?had been in the finals the past three years.?Jain's second-place finish earned him a $15,000 college scholarship.

?I saw him on TV in the finals last year. I admired him for being so well-versed and looked forward to competing with him,? Nagvekar said.

Nagvekar said he?will crack open more books,?maps and National Geographic publications to prepare for more contests. Nagvekar has a chance to represent the U.S. at the world championship in Russia in 2013.

But first things first, he said. He wanted to chat a little more with some of?his competitors during a dinner on Thursday evening, hosted by National Geographic staff in Washington, D.C.

He described his peers as "very nice, very welcoming."

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Varun Mahadevan, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Prince of Peace Christian School in Fremont, near San Francisco, won third place and a $10,000 scholarship, according to National Geographic.

Alex Trebek of ?Jeopardy!? hosted the event, which will be televised on the National Geographic Channel Thursday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET/PT.

This is the third time in four years that a student from Texas has won the National Geographic Bee, according to National Geographic. Last year's winner was Tine Valencic of Fort Worth. The 2009 winner was Eric Yang from The Colony, Texas, according to the National Geographic.

Millions of students from thousands of schools took part in the 2012 National Geographic Bee, sponsored by?Google.

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Kayak Teams Up With Skyhook To Bring Reliable Location Services To Its Kindle Fire App

kayakAmazon's Kindle Fire is one of the most popular Android-powered tablets, but it doesn't feature a GPS chip. Given how important location-based services have become, that's a bit of a drawback for many developers and quite a few apps that want to access location features on Amazon's tablet actually crash. To avoid these issues, Kayak teamed up with Skyhook to provide location services for its updated Android app. Kayak, of course, relies heavily on location services to show its users information like nearby hotels and airport information.

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Small Business Marketing and Market Research Made Easy

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The key to your financial success lies in finding and building your business network. The richest people in the world are looking for networks and build them; also they know how to keep them! All others are job seekers. Business marketing and market research can separate you from this crowd of job seekers. The difference between winners and losers is determined by the finish line. Winners do not care whether they came to finish line first or last. They only care to cross! Losers give up before they even tried.

Marketing knowledge is crucial if you intend to start your own business or thinking about the possibilities of starting it. Small business marketing is important part of everyday business activities. Definition of business marketing is used to describe activity of different individuals or organizations, including marketing and other companies, governments and institutions to facilitate the sale of their products or services to other companies or organizations. Business marketing is also known as industrial marketing, business-to-business marketing or B2B marketing.

Marketing or small business marketing knowledge can be seen as set of skills which you can obtain and used in order to attract large number of buyers from the market, you will also learn how to keep them. If you want to directly impact your companies profit and also gain expertise in one of the most dynamic business area, this section is for you.

The methodology of marketing is very much changing, because of increased use of computers and the Internet. Large number of customers is now targeted this way, using various popular sites, like Facebook for example. On the other hand, the use of new marketing methods is multiplying the impact and the market becomes stronger than before with much higher profit. However, only companies that are capable and know how to do it as well as highly paid professionals can apply this new knowledge in certain way that can bring them really high profit.

There is a reason why is so. The Department of documentary research Cambridge University found that the average person in the urban environment receives between 1,500 and 3,000 promotional messages per day. Investments in advertising grow at impressive rate, but it also reduces confidence in the ads. The budget for local advertising company has doubled in the last four years, but regardless, the force of the marketing attack on the investment market is melted down because potential customers distrust. One out of eight TV viewers believes that television ads are truthful regarding the product. This trend of declining confidence is evident in every medium, including the Internet.

In response to these trends, the current marketing practices of an enterprise provide a strong influence on the market. The new method provides significant cash returns on investment in attracting customers. One well-known local company last year led a campaign that brought traffic to 40 euros each euro invested. These are numbers that every manager or business owner dreams of.

Main objective of every marketing course is to teach students about the concept of business marketing as well as the strategies used. It also explains the difference between business and consumer marketing. Education will provide tools for understanding the customer, implementation of knowledge to create appropriate products, services and offers. You will also learn methods of selecting the best way to deliver a message and real product/service value to customers.

You will be able to provide high cash flow and attract more clients to you or the company you work for.

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