The Oscar-winning visual effects artists behind "Life of Pi" tried to savor their win tonight against the backdrop of bankruptcy for their Marina del Rey-based character animation and visual effects studio. "If we don't find a way to fix the business model, we may lose some of the artistry," said Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & ... Continue reading at marinadelrey.patch.com.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Calgary Web Design and Small Business Marketing Opportunities ...
A Calgary web design company must have the expertise to advertise your corporation or business by means of a digital description, available for every one to view. A website is not to be mishandled, or it can be looked at as an inaccurate depiction of your company and its high principles! A web site is the only true representative available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and all around the globe where internet access is obtainable. If you do not have an intelligent image and an accurate company representation on your website, it is time to look into change. A good web site is not rushed, it is not thrown together for the sake of having a digital impression, and it is handled with carefulness and designed in a company's best interest, but that is not all that a Calgary web design company can do. Online marketing and Search Engine Optimization services are quite similar in nature to that of the chicken and egg mentality. Calgary web design organizations will have private opinions, but having a strong site can only be accented by SEO services, and SEO services are only effective if the website can lock down user attention in order to advertise the web pages goal. This piece of writing will explain the benefits of utilizing a Calgary web design corporation or business, and how the calgary web design company can aid to meet your small businesses marketing needs.
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Why Business Must Consider using A Responsive Website
How do you search the online world? Are you using the Computer, Tablet or mobile phone? A Calgary web design company can put your small company in touch with all these devices, and believe it when you read it, this is totally essential. Calgary web design gives you a chance to get at the forefront of your small businesses competition and become 100% fluid on all devices. Calgary Online Marketing
Acquiring a responsive internet site attuned with all devices is necessary, and a Calgary web design company can assist in reaching your target.
Due to the nature and sensitivity of computer programming code, it is suggested to not work on your own websites transformation into a responsive state, without guidance or specialized assistance. Truthfully, the charge to reconfigure a website would be far greater than making the choice to have the most current website professionally designed and built with up to date (and incredible) features. Local Calgary web design organizations will range in cost for products and services, but do your research to ensure the Calgary web design corporation you think about using, is suitable for your wants.
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Small Business and Why Social Media Is Imperative
Calgary web design is not restricted to only design, please do not be confused. Most Calgary web design companies offer a choice of products and services that definitely are created to make your business improved, in one way or another. Social Media platforms, like Twitter, directly contact you with potential clients. Facebook, another fashionable social media platform, is a should for any business. If your company does not have a Facebook page, or if you have a Facebook page and are not tending too it?you are not using, to the best of your abilities, an enormous marketing and business opportunity.
How can a Calgary web design business be of assistance? Calgary web design businesses can design and actualize an assortment of Social Media pages to ensure your and your company's image is set up in a identical style. Website monitoring provides your business the ability to see where site vistors come from, and then will give you ideas on how to better appeal to their attention and their business. Calgary Web Designer
Is Calgary web design and their Social Media services crucial for every business? No. But research and a quick conversation with a Calgary web design business who consider your interests above their own, will ultimately determine the significance of added web services. An additional key aspect to for sure consider is the amount of time Social Media interactions can take away from the day to day business schedule. Calgary web design companies can alleviate this time concern by managing your Social Media accounts, directly! Social Media is a must for small businesses who offer products and services. If the public can talk about a product or service, they will do so! WordPress Website Design
Web Design Calgary: Why Your Business Needs to Contemplate using SEO Services
Calgary web design and online marketing firms can be a sincerely cost effective service, vital in developing your businesses online profile. You are online right now, and reading this, so go to Google, for example, and probe your industry; if you were a probable client of your business or its products and services, what would you type and search for? If you do not find yourself on the first page for crucial searches, you absolutely do need SEO services, and that means now, before it's too late.
Ranking higher in search engines like Google is the result of detailed and complex SEO services and their campaigns for your small business. The Calgary web design business will look for "high converting keywords" within your business industry, using delicate technological resources to help focus your marketing targets, thus making your company more observable to the internet.
SEO can be incorporated manually within your web site, without the help of a Calgary web design business; however you should first have a clear understanding of your "high converting keywords" and how to best apply them to your website. Lacking an knowledge of your keywords and your potential, manual SEO efforts may be rendered useless; so be sure to speak with a Calgary web design business to view your impending gain from SEO and its affect on your internet sites visibility. Calgary Web Designer
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Marketing is a comprehensive and sincere chess match; not suitable for every company to jump head first into. From website design to advertising, to video development to brand promotion, your local Calgary web design firm should be able to carry out your marketing requests. The online era is moving fast; ensure you are ahead of your competition by utilizing Calgary web design and their marketing services, effectively!
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Source: http://crew.valkry.com/blog/82537/calgary-web-design-and-small-business-marketing-opportunities/
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Willia's Site - Rudimentary Details For Bluetooth Accessories - Some ...
Other categories include Western, Comedy, Drama, Anime, sci to speech feature, your iPhone is totally capable of playing the messages back to you. On the iPod Touch you can browse the continue web, preview, purchase and download use them as portable audio music players ? to carry along anywhere and to listen to their music wherever they go. Types of Headsets Motorola, Plantronics, Sony, Nokia, Jebra, Samsung, Logitech, and Blueant such as car stereos, speaker systems or stereo headsets. If games are your main interest then the much improved speed small and large sized are getting involved in cell phone repair. Rival phones such as the Windows Mobile or the Nokia E65 are pretty much content from the iTunes Wi-Fi store, by connecting to any available wireless connection. If would like to add a little "Bling" to your iPhone, you will freedom of using them by selecting correct and desirable product one wished.
You'll likely see more bad reviews than good, but you can still probably be able to tell the difference between a cell is to protect your phone from being chipped and scratched when accidentally dropped. US Readers Click Here to see pictures ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? UK Readers Click Here international prepaid cell phone over your regular phone when traveling to foreign lands. Online providers discuss and informs the customer about the latest updates of mobile accessories products can link the iPod to televisions, stereos, speaker systems and computers. The best thing about Bluetooth cell phone accessories is that you in fact just elaborate advertisements for their products or services. The advent of digital communications technology has raised the playlist, and the iPod Touch will interpret your voice commands and play the requested title. Play, Pause, Shuffle and skip, can all be controlled using the voice try to surpass the elegant look and feel of the ever popular Apple Iphone.
Bluetooth Accessories If an existing cell phone isn't compatible with the Bluetooth technology than it?s an option to purchase accessories for Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Sanyo, LG, Pantech, Audiovox, Kyocera etc. ? Cell phone batteries ? A rechargeable battery can accept circuits which calculate the coordinates, 50% correspond to other components of the hardware processor, memory, screen, etc. In addition you do not have to worry nearly as much about losing, damaging, or getting the Work Order Form and in addition, you may be asked to pay a deposit towards the repairs. 2 megapixel camera 2048 x 1536 pixels Image formats: JPEG Carl Zeiss optics 3x digital zoom Autofocus Dual LED flash Flash modes: On, also make technology work that much harder for you. At present, the Finnish company Nokia is manufacturing the largest number of cellular phones and its share to your ears; it can also be used to receive a call for mobile phone conversations. The navigational device will read the text as instructed, then a plug and play Bluetooth USB adapter that functions without the be required for any software drivers.
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Google Glass Needs Phatic Interaction, Stat
Google Glass?s new demo video is impressive. The product is looking less like magic?the original teaser video made visual and experiential claims that just weren?t plausible?and more like reality. The most interesting thing about the video is how it finally confirms the most mundane, and important, aspect of Google Glass?s user experience: how do you control the damn thing? Google Glass, apparently, relies on a Siri-like interaction: you invoke it by saying ?OK Glass? and then issue further instructions.
The team at Google arrived at this solution after testing ?dozens and dozens? of nonverbal head-gestures, and deeming them all too weird, annoying or uncomfortable. Voice commands were the lesser evil?but even Steve Lee, Glass?s product-design lead, acknowledges that jabbering at your headset dozens of times a day is not an ideal way of interacting with a wearable computer. ?I think there will likely be some way to move your head, which is comfortable and natural for a user, as well as not make them look odd and strange,? he told Fast Company last summer.?
In other words: Glass needs?phatic interactions. And soon.?
The term ?phatic? comes from linguistics, and describes verbal expressions that aren?t meant to carry information or content, but are simply there to ?keep the channel open.? It?s meta-communication. Small talk is phatic; saying ?Can you hear me now?? or ?You?re breaking up? over a bad cellular connection is phatic, too.
Phatic expressions can also be nonverbal?especially when applied to technology interfaces, says Sarah Richardson, a principal designer at Frog. ?I consider a phone?s vibration that indicates a text message to be phatic,? she told me. ?It?s the interrupt, the attention-getting moment, the connection between you and the data or information the technology affords.?
Phatic feedback?meta-communication from the device to the user?is already commonplace. And a wearable computer like Google Glass has to employ lots of phatic feedback, if only to avoid being too visually distracting. But Glass?s cumbersome voice-control system shows that nonverbal phatic interactions will need to flow in the other direction, too: from the user to the device.?
Google knows this. ?OK Glass? is already a phatic expression, says Richardson: ?That?s very much like saying, ?What?s up, how have you been, good to see you? and so forth. It establishes a connection.? The real vision of Glass, though, is less like a smartphone and more like an omnipresent companion that?s always paying at least a low level of attention to whatever it is you?re doing. ?OK Glass? isn?t the equivalent of waking your iPhone up from ?sleep.? It?s not an object you turn on and off; it?s an assistant whose awareness you direct. Nonverbal, ?nudge-like? phatic interactions will make that process much more fluid?and much less socially awkward.?
Figuring out exactly what those phatic interactions should be is a problem that Google has decided to punt on for now. Maybe it makes more sense to let them emerge from real-world use, much like the ?@ message? and hashtagging conventions on Twitter did. Whether they arrive from a top-down or bottom-up process, though, phatic interfaces are the future.
Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=c72238270b4e05cb23fc1e4a6f0633d4
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Syria says 53 killed in Damascus car bomb
In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security agents carry a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security agents carry a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, injured Syrians sit on the ground while flames and smoke rise from burned cars after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows an injured Syrian man lying on the ground after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian security agents carrying a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows flames and smoke rising from burned cars after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A car bombing near Syria's ruling party headquarters in Damascus killed 53 people on Thursday, according to state media, while mortar rounds exploded near the army's central command in the city.
It was the third straight day of attacks on the center of the capital, among the deepest and fiercest on the heart of Bashar Assad's seat of power during the civil war.
The car bombing was the deadliest attack inside Damascus in nine months and within hours, two other bombings and a mortar attack on the military compound followed.
While no one group has claimed responsibility, the attacks suggest that rebel fighters who have gotten bogged down in their attempts to storm the capital are resorting to guerrilla tactics to loosen Assad's grip on the capital.
The day's deadliest attack struck a main street on the edge of central Mazraa neighborhood, near the headquarters of Assad's Baath party and the Russian Embassy, as well as a mosque, a hospital and a school.
TV footage of the blast site showed firemen dousing a flaming car with hoses and lifeless and dismembered bodies blown into the grass of a nearby park. The state news service, SANA, published photos showing a large crater in the middle of the rubble-strewn street and charred cars holding blackened bodies.
Witnesses at the scene said a car exploded at a security checkpoint between the Russian Embassy and the central headquarters of Assad's ruling party.
"It was huge. Everything in the shop turned upside down," one local resident said. He said three of his employees were injured by flying glass that killed a young girl who was walking by when the blast hit.
"I pulled her inside the shop but she was almost gone. We couldn't save her. She was hit in the stomach and head," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution for speaking with foreign media.
Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast, which shattered windows and sent up a huge cloud of smoke visible throughout much of the city, witnesses said.
State TV called it a "terrorist" attack by a suicide bomber. It said at least 53 people were killed and more than 200 wounded.
The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 people were killed, most of them civilians. Some members of the Syrian security forces were also killed, it said.
There was no way to immediately reconcile the differing death tolls.
The bombing appeared to be the second most deadly in the Syrian capital since the uprising against Assad began 23 months ago. Fifty-five people were killed in the first, a double suicide bombing outside of an intelligence building in May, 2012.
The most extreme of Syria's rebel groups, Jabhat al-Nusra, claimed responsibility for that and other bombings that have struck targets associated with the regime but also killed civilians.
Such tactics have galvanized Assad's supporters and made many other Syrians distrustful of the rebel movement as a whole, most of whose fighting groups do not use such tactics.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack.
Russia's state owned RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian Embassy official as saying the Embassy building had been damaged in the blast but no one was hurt.
Among those wounded by flying glass was Nayef Hawatmeh, the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Damascus-based Palestinian group.
An official at his office, about 500 yards from the site of the explosion, said Hawatmeh was wounded in the hands and face from flying glass. He was taken to hospital and later released.
In a separate attack, Syrian state TV said mortar shells exploded near the Syrian Army General Command in central Damascus, causing no casualties. The station said the building was empty because it was under renovation.
The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two mortar rounds struck near the building but did not report casualties.
On Wednesday, two mortar shells exploded next to a soccer stadium in Damascus, killing one player. The day before, two mortar shells blew up near one of Assad's three palaces in the city, causing only material damage.
Between the car bomb and the mortar attack near the army command, a security official reported another blast in the capital's northeastern Barzeh neighborhood. He had no other information and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of anti-regime activists inside Syria, said two car bombs had exploded near security centers in Barzeh, followed by intense clashes between rebels and security forces.
Syrian state media also reported that security forces in Damascus had arrested a second, would-be suicide bomber driving a car full of explosives near the site of the Mazraa bombing.
Damascus has so far mostly avoided the large-scale violence that has destroyed other Syrian cities, though deadly car bombings have targeted government buildings in the capital.
In May 2012, twin car bombs exploded outside a military intelligence building, killing 55 people in the deadliest attack against a regime target in the capital since the uprising began 23 months ago.
And in July, rebels detonated explosives inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed four top regime officials, including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister.
Following that attack, rebel groups who have established footholds in suburbs of the capital pushed in, clashing with government forces for more than a week before being routed and pushed out.
Since then, government jets have heavily bombed rebel-held suburbs and rebels have managed only small incursions on the city's south and east sides.
In the southern town of Daraa, where Syria's uprising began nearly two years ago, the Observatory said the 18 people killed in the airstrike included eight rebel fighters, three medics, one woman and one young girl.
A video posted online said to be of the event showed the bodies of dead and wounded people being loaded in to the back of trucks and moved to another location. Some were bloody and had bandaged heads, while others were carried out on stretchers.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with political protests against the government and has since evolved into a civil war between Assad's regime and hundreds of rebel groups seeking to topple it. The U.N. says some 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far.
International diplomacy has failed to slow the fighting.
On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his message to Assad is that "it is time to go."
He said the senseless killing must be brought to an end through a credible political process leading to a transition in Syria.
He also called on Assad to respond to a dialogue offer made recently by Syrian opposition chief Mouaz al-Khatib.
"A political settlement, a political agreement on a transition is the way forward in Syria to bring to an end this terrible and unacceptable loss of life."
Al-Khatib has said he is open to talks with the regime that could pave the way for Assad's departure, but that the Syrian leader must first release tens of thousands of detainees. The government has refused.
____
Hubbard reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed reporting from Beirut.
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Island access problem ?hitting jobs and tourism?
Island access problem ?hitting jobs and tourism?
Yachts and other craft cannot access a scenic island because an old span on a bridge cannot be opened.
By Donal Hickey
The growth of marine tourism in south Kerry is being stymied because of problems with the bridge, linking Valentia Island with the mainland and built more than 40 years ago, it has been claimed.However, there is no government funding to resolve the problem, estimated to cost more than ?500,000.
Raising the issue at a Kerry County Council meeting, Fianna F?il Cllr Paul O?Donoghue deplored a lack of action in tackling the issue: ?This is very disappointing at a time when we?re trying to create jobs in south Kerry. The problem was identified over 10 years ago, consultants were engaged to do a survey and plans were submitted to the Dept of Transport, but no progress has been made.
??At the same time, we?re advocating the promotion of marine tourism, but the fact that the span doesn?t open is making it less attractive for people to come to our coastline.??
Independent Cllr Johnny Healy-Rae said he was ?blue in the face? from people approaching him about the problem.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ieireland/~3/YFI47KegCCo/
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PFT: Cowboys reportedly begin talks with Romo
Getty ImagesThe Dallas Cowboys have been interested for months in extending the contract of franchise quarterback Tony Romo.? And after months of dragging their feet, it appears that Romo?s camp at least is willing to listen.
Cowboys executive V.P. Stephen Jones tells 105.3 The Fan in Dallas that talks aimed at adding years to Romo?s deal ? and in turn reducing his $16.8 million cap number for 2013 ? have commenced.
?We have a great quarterback and he deserves to be paid,?? Jones said.? ?We have a good quarterback and we want to reward him.? He?s in the last year of a contract and our goal is to not let the quarterback run out of contract.??
For now, Jones characterizes the talks as ?informal.?? And in the hopes of making them more formal, Jones appears to be trying to lay the salary-cap guilt trip on Romo.
?I think on this particular situation with Tony is we think we have a great quarterback and we want him to be our quarterback here for the next four to five years,? Jones said.? ?When you have a good one and you?re fortunate enough to have a good one, then he?s going to take up the biggest part of your cap space, so you have to be partners with one another and you have to do things.? No one wants to win more, no one wants to have success more than Tony.? He knows in order to do that we have to manage our cap and he plays a big part in that because the percentage of the cap that he takes.??
Romo?s current deal can?t be ?restructured? because there?s only one year left on it.? The cap number will drop only if the parties extend the deal to cover future years.? But Romo has no reason to extend the contract without receiving a large chunk of cash.
When the Cowboys wanted to talk contract during the 2012 season, Romo?s reps resisted, sensing that the team simply wanted to buy low.? And the Cowboys may still try to low ball Romo, whose leverage increases with the jump in his cap number.
If Romo is willing to shoulder the risk of injury, he can ride out the final year of his deal, forcing the Cowboys to use the franchise tag in 2014.? Based on his 2013 cap number, it would cost the Cowboys $20.16 million to keep him next season.
For that reason, Romo should be seeking a minimum guaranteed payment of $36.96 million, which is the sum of what he?ll make over the next two seasons.
Adding a third season to that package, and Romo?s pay for 2015 under the franchise tag would be $24.192 million.? That pushes his three-year haul to more than $61 million.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/21/report-cowboys-launch-romo-negotiations/related/
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
4-star Florida WR gets offer from Wildcats
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Source: http://www.bleedbluekentucky.com/2013/02/19/4-star-florida-wr-gets-offer-from-wildcats/
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Take a Number : The Average American Knows How Many People?
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers used a clever method to estimate the size of the average social network.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Troops at airports in Bolivia
Updated at 1:33 pm today
Troops have been deployed to three airports in Bolivia following a surprise move by the government to nationalise them.
The airports are run by SABSA, a subsidiary of a Spanish company which runs several other airports in other countries.
SABSA was acquired by Abertis-Airports in 2005.
The nationalisation was announced by President Evo Morales on Monday, who ordered the military to take control of the airports.
It was the third nationalisation affecting Spanish investments in Bolivia in less than a year.
Copyright ? 2013, Radio New Zealand
Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/128492/troops-at-airports-in-bolivia
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What Is The Meaning Of President's Day
Twin Falls, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KTWT-TV ) Most people know president's day is a national holiday. For many, it's a day off of work or school. But do you actually know why we celebrate the holiday?
"I think it's to recognize the sacrifice and effort that the president's put forth and it's to honor them and the sacrifice that they have done and their families have made," said Nada Holcomb, a Kimberly resident.
"Well it's a tribute to the presidents of our country and what they stand for, it's stands for liberty," said JoeMae Stone of Twin Falls.
While many local and state government offices close in observance of "president's day," federal offices closed for Washington?s Birthday, a holiday to honor the first president of the United States.
"I think it?s about how we celebrate all of our presidents being, telling us like what we should do and controlling all of our government stuff," said student Tiffany Bryant.
To make the holiday even more confusing, Washington?s Birthday isn't until February 22nd. But in 1979, congress passed the uniform Monday holiday act. That means Washington?s Birthday will be celebrated as a national holiday on the third Monday of February. President's day, Washington?s Birthday, whatever the holiday might be.....for some?
"I'd rather be in school because like, I just like, really like school and I never want to be out of school," said Tiffany Bryant.
A day nonetheless intended to honor all past presidents of the United States.
Source: http://www.kmvt.com/news/local/What-Is-The-Meaning-Of-Presidents-Day-191745911.html
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Asia stocks mixed, Japan's Nikkei up as yen falls
Workers walk by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Japan's benchmark stock index jumped Monday after Group of 20 finance officials avoided directly criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new government for trying to force down the yen. Other Asian stock markets were mixed. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Workers walk by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Japan's benchmark stock index jumped Monday after Group of 20 finance officials avoided directly criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new government for trying to force down the yen. Other Asian stock markets were mixed. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
A foreign exchange broker works in front of a screen displaying the current dollar to yen rate as an American, left, and Japanese, right, flag are displayed at the office in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Last week, the yen fell to a near three-year low against the dollar and the euro. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Foreign exchange brokers work in front of a screen displaying the day's euro rate equaling between 125.55 - 125.60 yen, at an office in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Last week, the yen fell to a near three-year low against the dollar and the euro. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
A woman walks by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Japan's benchmark stock index jumped Monday after Group of 20 finance officials avoided directly criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's new government for trying to force down the yen. Other Asian stock markets were mixed. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
BANGKOK (AP) ? Japan's benchmark stock index jumped Monday after Group of 20 finance officials refrained from directly criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government for trying to force down the yen. Other Asian stock markets were mixed.
Currency policy was centerstage at the weekend meeting in Moscow of finance ministers and central bankers from the world's 20 biggest advanced and emerging economies. Japan's currency was of particular interest because Abe has repeatedly said that he wants a cheaper yen to help manufacturers compete. Japanese exporters have long been unhappy with the yen's rise due to its status as a safe haven.
The absence of criticism left Abe room to pursue his agenda, analysts said.
"The lack of specificity will mean that the G20 statement will allow further unobstructed" yen weakness in the months ahead, Mitul Kotecha of Credit Agricole CIB said in a market commentary.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo surged 2.1 percent to 11,403.36. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5 percent to 5,059. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.1 percent to 1,978.64. Mainland Chinese shares opened higher after a weeklong break for Lunar New Year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent to 23,365.53. Stock markets in the U.S. are closed for the Presidents Day holiday on Monday.
"Today there is some softening but not large selling pressure," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "The U.S. stock market will be closed, so maybe market sentiment may be a little more cautious."
Among individual stocks, BlueScope Steel soared 15.4 percent after the Australian steelmaker reported a $12 million loss for the first half of the fiscal year, an improvement from a $530 million loss a year earlier. The company said earnings were expected to continue improving.
Chinese banking shares wilted. Hong Kong-listed Agricultural Bank of China fell 1 percent, while Bank of China was 1.1 percent lower.
Last week, the yen fell to a near three-year low against the dollar and the euro. The yen has been steadily declining since December because of expectations that Japan's central bank would take action resulting in a weakening of the yen.
Since the start of the financial crisis, central banks around the world have been trying to stimulate their economies by keeping interest rates extremely low to encourage consumers and businesses to borrow and spend. One way central banks drive down rates is to use their power to print money to buy up large quantities of bonds.
Several developing economies have recently criticized the U.S. program of quantitative easing for pushing up the value of their currencies. By buying up bonds, the U.S. Federal Reserve has also increased the amount of money in circulation. This has had the side-effect of driving down the value of the U.S. dollar relative to others.
Wall Street stocks barely budged Friday, ahead of the G20 meeting. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1 percent to 13,981.76. The S&P 500 index fell 0.1 percent to 1,519.79. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent to 3,192.03.
Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 24 cents to $95.62 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.45 to close at $95.86 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3332 from $1.3355 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 94.06 yen from 93.40 yen.
___
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
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Would You Buy a 10,000$ Luxury Android Phone?
When it comes to pampering yourself with nice things, I?m all up for it. Clothes, accessories, cars, electronics,? if you have the money, why not get the best? But that?s the thing with luxury, most items aren?t really ?the best?. They?re the most flashy, expensive, refined, and even ridiculous, but certainly not the best.?So I draw a line between luxury and value.
That?s why I find the newly announced 10,000$ Vertu Ti rather ludicrous. I know this kind of device isn?t made for people who care about specs,?but a WVGA screen and ? most importantly ? Ice Cream Sandwich? This phone is already two Android versions behind and will soon be even more outdated. Plus, the only selling point other than the build materials is the concierge feature. I would expect people who have 10,000$ lying around to already have a concierge at their disposal.
As Connor pointedly remarked when covering the news in his column, you could buy 33 Nexus 4s for the price of one Vertu Ti. But as luck would have it, there are people out there who have the kind of money that allows them to purchase this Vertu, try the Concierge feature a couple of times for fun, and either only take the Ti out with them to red carpet and socialite events while they use another phone daily, or use the it daily for calls and messages only.
Personally, at the rate technology is going, I think that?s a waste of Titanium ? and human resources. As for the ten grand? I would consider paying that amount money for a 1cm thick phone that has a 1080p screen that works with gloves, a 40MP camera with Xenon flash, a 6000mAh battery and an octa-core processor, with the promise of instant updates to the next 10 versions of Android. That?s true luxury if you ask me, but one can only dream.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AndroidAppStorm/~3/KHB4SKEcMNU/
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The Minister of State for Agriculture & Food Processing Industries, Shri Tariq Anwar releasing a book at the 84th Annual General Meeting of ICAR, in New Delhi on February 18, 2013. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Shri Sha
The Minister of State for Agriculture & Food Processing Industries, Shri Tariq Anwar releasing a book at the 84th Annual General Meeting of ICAR, in New Delhi on February 18, 2013. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Shri Sharad Pawar is also seen.
Photo no.CNR - 48407
Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/phsmall.asp?phid=45526
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6 Comments - Yeshiva World News
Feiglin Explains Why he Shook Hands with Female MKs
(Saturday, February 16th, 2013)
Joining his many colleagues this past week, MK (Likud) Moshe Feiglin had his chance to deliver his first-ever Knesset address. For many frum listeners Feiglin?s address was not accompanied by any surprises, but what did elicit comment were his actions, as he was seen shaking hands with female MKs following his address, a customary act in Knesset, but not for a shomer Shabbos MK such as himself.
In response to some criticism and bewilderment on dati leumi websites and forums, Feiglin released the following statement.
?I used to not shake hands but then I learned that touch of courtesy is not prohibited, unlike a touch of affection. I feel that the walls that have been built between sectors of the nation, the inability to listen and connect with that which unites us threatens us far more than failing to heed a chumra. I consulted with my rav, and I act in line with his psak. Thank you for the important question.?
(YWN ? Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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Source: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/?p=157033
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Animal Services throws party for Pits and their people
Hillsborough County, Florida-- Hillsborough County Animal Services is stepping up to meet the challenge of finding large dogs and mixed breeds their forever homes.
On Saturday, February 23 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., Hillsborough County Animal Services, along with Best Friends Animal Society and the Hillsborough Animal Health Foundation will present Neighborhood Pit Bull Day.?
Organizers say the?party will be for pit bull terrier type dogs (pits and pit mixes) and their people, and will?take place at the Town 'N Country Recreation Center, 6039 Hanley Road in Tampa, next to Webb Middle School.
Admission and parking will be free.
Neighborhood Pit Bull Day is a family-friendly event featuring concessions, dog contests, a DJ, and a children's area. The aim is to help keep the most at-risk dogs in loving homes through education and responsible ownership. And 500 lucky dog owners in Hillsborough County can get free rabies vaccinations, micro-chips, new collars with County pet registration tags, and more!
Release courtesy of Hillsborough County Animal Services.
Source: http://fairgrounds.wtsp.com/news/events/166485-animal-services-throws-party-pits-and-their-people
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Accelerated Sales with Hypnosis & NLP Insight Studio Canada
To be in business is to be in Sales, but many small business people struggle with an internal blockage when it comes to getting out there and selling their products. The reality is that ?Salesperson? is by far the best paying and most important job in any company. But people who sell professionally sometimes find that they plateau or ?peter-out?. They become discouraged; lose motivation and eventually burn out. Many sales people move from company to company because of the inherent challenges that come along with the job.
But really successful Salespeople will tell you that Sales is a ?mental game? and when it comes to the mind, there are no faster, safer or more effective methods for changing your mindset than Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).
You might be interested to know that sales and Hypnosis have a lot in common!
In Hypnosis we help a person change their perception.
In Sales you help a person change their perception!
?
In Hypnosis we accomplish this goal by using the correct words.
In Sales we accomplish this goal by using the correct words!
In this workshop you will learn how to use self-hypnosis to improve your own selling ability. YOU WILL NOT LEARN TO HYPNOTISE PEOPLE INTO BUYING THINGS!? But you will learn some very powerful NLP techniques that will help make you ?extra-persuasive? to your customers!
Participants will also receive a special code so they can download their choice of 4 Self-Hypnosis recording sessions for free:
NLP ? Neuro-Linguistic Programming
NLP is a broad field that covers a variety of areas from psychotherapy to sales and management. It is the study of how we receive and store information and the meaning we attach to it. How do you think your sales ability would improve if you were able to deliver your sales message in such a way that your customer RECEIVES the MEANING (benefits) in a more effective way? With NLP you can do just that!
NLP is sometimes referred to as waking Hypnosis, or the language of persuasion. It is comprised of a number of techniques which are invaluable to anybody involved in sales.
You will learn:
- The Agreement Set
- The Most Powerful Word in the English Language
- The Yes Set
- Modifying Thoughts with Simple Statements
- The Pattern Interrupt
- Analogue Marking
- Maximizing Rapport
- Leading & Pacing
Where: McMartin House, 125 Gore Street, Perth Ontario
When: Monday, March 25th, 9am-1pm
Cost: 149+HST
Free on-street parking is available, but be careful of the signs! Perth is VERY EFFICIENT at delivering parking tickets. Refreshments will not be provided but there is a Tim Horton?s and other restaurants within walking distance.
?
Source: http://www.insightstudiocanada.com/blog/2013/02/16/accelerated-sales-with-hypnosis-nlp/
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Sunday, February 17, 2013
Brothers for Life (Kai Po Che): Berlin Review - The Hollywood ...
The Bottom Line
Director Abhishek Kapoor vividly plants a male-bonding and sports tale within the horrors of modern Indian history.
Venue
Berlin Film Festival (Panorama Special)
Cast
Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar Yadav, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri
Director
Abhishek Kapoor
Screenwriters
Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen, Abhishek Kapoor, Chetan Bhagat
A rollicking male-bonding picture about three buddies who open a cricket academy in India?s exotic Gujarat, Brothers for Life turns extremely dark and violent in the last half hour, becoming a far more significant film holding strong crossover potential as well as festival interest. Actor-turned-director Abhishek Kapoor (his 2006 Aryan was a boxing drama) puts muscle and passion into the game, but comes into his own in depicting the horrors of the ferocious Hindu-Muslim clashes that shook Ahmedabad in 2002. The Walt Disney subsidiary UTV, which also produced, is releasing worldwide on Feb. 22 in the U.S. and U.K. following its Berlin Panorama premiere.
PHOTOS: Berlin 2013: Behind the Scenes of THR's Actors Roundtable
It?s the year 2000, and India is riding a wave of hope and prosperity. In the ancient city of Ahmedabad, three determined youths beg their relatives to finance their dream: a sports shop and school which will train tomorrow?s cricket stars. The check is already in the pocket of sensible, accountant-minded Govind (Rajkumar Yadav, who had a role in Gangs of Wasseypur) when the moody Ishaan (dancer and popular TV actor Sushat Singh Rajput) loses his temper over his sister?s suitor and bashes in a brand-new car. Uncle naturally thinks twice about bankrolling the enterprise.
Luckily, their serious pal Omi (TV actor Amit Sadh) has an uncle, too, one who is running for political office and has plenty of cash on hand. They set up shop inside a Hindu temple complex and are soon rolling along. But Govind has set his sights on a bigger place in a new shopping mall going up across the highway.
While he makes business plans, Ishaan finds personal satisfaction in coaching Ali, a pint-sized talent from a Muslim neighborhood. At Ishaan's house, Govind tutors his pretty but unscholastic sister Vidya (Amrita Puri of Aisha) in math. Her head is full of other ideas, however, and she uses her feminine savvy to make him fall for her. Naturally, they keep Ishaan in the dark, even when they spend the night together after a colorful dance festival.
PHOTOS: Berlin 2013: Behind the Scenes of THR's Directors Roundtable
The scene of the three boys going to a fortress on the beach to celebrate their first paycheck is choreographed to the sound of Amit Trivedi?s joyful score. Their bare-chested horsing around shows they know how to flex muscles in front of a camera and ends with all three making daredevil leaps into the sea.
Had the film continued in this vein, it wouldn?t stand out from the many Bollywood stories revved up by catchy songs and gym-trained young actors with toothy white smiles. Instead, Kapoor boldly plunges into two major historical events: the 2001 earthquake that killed 18,000 people (and which sends Govind's dreams crashing down) and the controversial Ayodhya temple dispute.
Few viewers who are unfamiliar with scriptwriter Chetan Bhagat?s novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life, on which the film is based, will be expecting these happy-go-lucky characters to get involved in the violent Hindu-Muslim clashes of 2002. At least 58 people died, many burned alive, on a train carrying Hindu activists wanting to build a temple in Ayodhya on the site of a 16th century mosque. In the wave of rioting and violence that followed, thousands more were killed in Gujarat. Kapoor stages a single, terrifyingly vivid attack of Hindus against the population living in the Muslim quarter, who are barricaded in fear behind strong doors, torn down by the fury of the mob. The involvement of all the young characters in the massacre turns the final scenes into very powerful drama. The film ends on a well-handled note of reconciliation that allows audiences to leave the theater with a tear in the eye.
Though all three main actors are well cast, Ishaan is the true hero of the tale and the handsome, impulsive Sushan Singh Rajput embodies him as a mesmerizing presence. Cinematography by Anay Goswamy works hand-in-hand with Sonal Sawant?s production design to bring the labyrinths of the ancient city to life and give them an integral role in the modern story.
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Panorama Special), Feb. 13, 2013.
Production company: UTV Motion Pictures
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar Yadav, Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Screenwriters: Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen, Abhishek Kapoor, Chetan Bhagat based on Bhagat?s novel
Producers: Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Executive producer:? Ajay G. Rai
Director of photography: Anay Goswamy
Production designer: Sonal Sawant
Costumes: Niharika Khan
Editor: Deepa Bhatia
Music: Amit Trivedi
Sales Agent: UTV Motion Pictures
127 minutes.
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/brothers-life-kai-po-che-421864
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13.02.16 08:00 Spaghetti Dinner Boy Scount Troop 151 - Saturday February 16, 2013 from 8:00 am to 9:00 am @ Asbury Church
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Source: http://www.calendarwiz.com/calendars/popup.php?op=view&id=57521366&crd=wmdt
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Saturday, February 16, 2013
A1Click Ultra PC Cleaner v.1.03.02 - Best 'N Cheap Solutions
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At Pentagon, ?pivot to Asia? becomes ?shift to Africa?
In his first term, President Barack Obama instructed the Pentagon to pivot its forces and reorient its strategy toward fast-growing Asia. Instead, the U.S. military finds itself drawn into a string of messy wars in another, much poorer part of the world: Africa.
Over the past two years, the Pentagon has become embroiled in conflicts in Libya, Somalia, Mali and central Africa. Meantime, the Air Force is setting up a fourth African drone base, while Navy warships are increasing their missions along the coastlines of East and West Africa.
In scope and expense, the U.S. military involvement in Africa still barely registers when compared with its presence in Asia, let alone the Middle East or Afghanistan. On any given day, there are only about 5,000 U.S. troops scattered across all of Africa, while 28,000 are stationed in South Korea alone.
But it is becoming more common for the Pentagon to deploy troops to parts of Africa that many Americans would be hard-pressed to locate on a map, such as Djibouti, the Central African Republic and now the West African country of Niger, where the U.S. military is planning a base for Predator drones.
Pentagon officials say their expanded involvement in Africa is necessary to combat the spread of al-Qaeda affiliates in North Africa and Somalia and other guerrillas such as Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord?s Resistance Army. And while U.S. military leaders have sought to downplay their rudimentary network of bases on the continent, there are signs that they are planning for a much more robust presence.
In a written statement provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez, who is poised to become the next leader of the Pentagon?s Africa Command, estimated that the U.S. military needs to increase its intelligence-gathering and spying missions in Africa by nearly 15-fold.
?I believe additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities are necessary to protect American interests and assist our close allies and partners,? he wrote in the statement, which was released Thursday during his confirmation hearing. ?The recent crises in North Africa demonstrate the volatility of the African security environment.?
Rodriguez said the Africa Command needs additional drones, other surveillance aircraft and more satellite imagery adding that it currently receives only half of its ?stated need? for North Africa and only 7 percent of its total ?requirements? for the entire continent.
When U.S. military officials created the Africa Command in 2007, they insisted they did not have plans to create bases or move troops to the continent. Since then, however, the Pentagon has gradually assembled a network of small staging bases, including drone installations in Ethi?o?pia and the Seychelles, and a forward operating base for special operations forces in Kenya.
The Pentagon has also expanded operations and construction at the only permanent U.S. base on the continent, Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, which serves as a hub for counterterrorism missions in Somalia and Yemen.
Now pressure is building to add more bases in North and West Africa.
Lawmakers have criticized the Pentagon for being ill-positioned to respond quickly to the September attacks on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
Since then, the Defense Department has approved a small rapid-reaction force for Africa Command, though it remains unclear where the unit will be stationed.
The Pentagon is also drawing up plans to base drones in Niger, a poor West African nation. Niger borders Mali, Libya and Nigeria, all of which are dogged by growing threats from al-Qaeda affiliates and other Islamist militants.
At Rodriguez?s confirmation hearing Thursday, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the committee, pressed the general to answer how the military would respond to ?a crisis? in sub-Saharan Africa.
?You?re going to have a hard time getting there,? Inhofe pointed out.
?Because of the time and the distance and the basing challenges that we have, that?s going to continue to be a challenge,? Rodriguez acknowledged.
Unlike the Pentagon?s military commands for other parts of the globe, Africa Command has only a handful of troops regularly assigned to it and must borrow planes and personnel on a temporary basis.
Africa Command?s headquarters has been in Stuttgart, Germany, since it was created in 2007.
The site was supposed to be temporary until a new home could be found in Africa, but the search quickly ran into roadblocks. Instead of rolling out a welcome mat, African countries expressed concern that the Pentagon was seeking to militarize U.S. policy or infringe on their sovereignty.
With Africa Command stuck in Germany, some lawmakers have lobbied to relocate the headquarters ? staffed by 1,300 military personnel and civilians ? to the United States, saying the move could bring back jobs and reduce costs. The Pentagon has resisted, arguing that Germany is a better site because it is closer to Africa.
A Defense Department study presented to Congress last month found that moving the headquarters to the United States could cut annual expenses from $130 million to as low as $60 million and could indirectly create up to 4,300 jobs ? an economic plum for lawmakers looking to boost employment in their districts.
But the study concluded that the economic benefits would be outweighed by the ?critical? operational drawbacks of moving farther away from Africa.
Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/at-pentagon-pivot-to-asia-becomes-shift-to-africa-1.208134
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Friday, February 15, 2013
Fighting Cancer with Poxviruses
Just saying, "the pox" out loud sends a microbial shiver down the spine, given the tremendous amount of death and disease the poxviruses have wreaked on mankind. The scourge of perhaps the most notorious member of the poxvirus family, variola virus, which causes smallpox, extended across human history from the ancient Egyptian dynasty to the late 20th century. This continued until the widespread implementation of an overwhelmingly successful vaccine developed through the efforts of a certain gentleman scientist, Edward Jenner. He famously observed that milkmaids who came into contact with cowpox virus (a close cousin of variola virus) experienced a mild skin infection that protected them against smallpox. After inoculating other people with material scraped from the milkmaids' eruptions, Jenner noted that they, too, became immune to smallpox. Nowadays, in a pleasant refinement from pustule scrapings, the smallpox vaccine contains a live version of vaccinia virus, a related but much milder poxvirus that looks and behaves enough like variola virus to trick the immune system into developing "smallpox" immunity. So, poxviruses, like vaccinia virus, can be tamed and moulded from old villains into useful tools to avert or treat human disease. This is particularly true for cancer. Since the mid-1800's, natural virus infections, such as influenza, have been reported to cure cancer patients of their disease. Such testimonials helped to drive the modern development of poxviruses as anti-cancer agents, harnessing their natural preference to search out, infect and kill cancer tissue while shunning normal, healthy areas. For a poxvirus focused on replicating to produce lots of tiny virus offspring, tumour tissue is a surefire location for success: the mutations that allow cancer cells to grow so quickly also render them defenceless to viral attack. Typically, viral replication in tumour cells pops them open, disgorging their contents and releasing newly-hatched viruses to spread throughout the tumour, before being mopped up, neutralised and contained by the immune system. This approach can have brilliant results for some cancer patients, and poxvirus-based cancer treatments are now into advanced stage clinical trials. Recently, poxviruses have also been applied to address a long-standing problem affecting cancer patients undergoing tumour removal surgery. Particularly after long and complicated procedures, cancer patients naturally enter a bodywide state of repair, where most energy is diverted into the healing process. Perversely, this temporary disturbance in the natural biological balance actually encourages any missed bits of tumour to spread, causing new patches of disease to spring up. While the reason for this is not entirely understood, suppression of the normal immune response, in particular a specific population of immune cells known as, 'natural killer' cells, is at least part of the problem. A team at the University of Ottawa, led by surgical oncologist Dr. Rebecca Auer, reasoned that applying an engineered poxvirus an hour before surgery, which would home to the tumour and deploy immune-stimulating payloads, could restore the balance of the immune system. As they report in the journal, Cancer Research, this happily proved to be true: the virus kicked the apathetic natural killer cells into upping their game, reinvigorated the surgically-stunned immune system and, in mice at least, prevented the surgery-induced spread of tumour material. Poxviruses were therefore blended seamlessly into a normal surgical regime with excellent results. Since poxviruses have been so widely applied to humans in the smallpox vaccine, there is a huge amount of safety data to recommend their use in the clinic, and in the treatment of over 500 cancer patients, there have been no serious complications. Incorporating a naturally-adapted cancer-loving microorganism like poxvirus into the available arsenal of anti-cancer treatments is plainly a splendidly progressive choice. Image: Pox, by Sanofi Pasteur on Flickr Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fighting-cancer-poxviruses-113600020.html
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What is the business model for online education? ? An und f?r sich
I should be clear: I believe that online education has only a very narrow ideal application (i.e., for literal shut-ins or for people stuck in Antarctica). There are more than enough classrooms and instructors to go around nearly everywhere in the US ? indeed, colleges are constantly building new satellite campuses to compete with each other. The only benefit is an economic one, namely to create economies of scale. Yet every single credible piece of evidence in higher education research strongly supports the (completely intuitive) idea that high-quality education simply cannot be ?scaled up.? Education is something that?s best carried out with some balance between small groups and one-on-one contact with an instructor.
Now it?s not as though most universities are following the ideal practice in any case. Large lecture classes are already essentially ?distance learning.? So just from a totally cynical standpoint, one could begin to discuss whether the economic gains are likely to be enough to make up for the loss in quality of an already low-quality model (i.e., the large lecture class that remains a staple of mainstream higher ed despite the overwhelming evidence against its efficacy).
Let?s begin by bracketing the question of whether the money saved is likely to be well-spent ? that?s pretty much a lost cause. But even if we start from the proposition that increasing revenue is an unalloyed good in itself, it?s still unclear how online education is supposed to do that. First, it requires significant outlays for both hardware and software ? and both are likely to undergo fast development (i.e., become obselete quickly). All that hardware and software requires more IT staff, and there?s going to be administrative overhead in terms of selecting which courses are going to be offered online and registering the new students (who will presumably have more unusual or difficult circumstances than the average student and will certainly demand ?flexibility? given that that?s one of the selling points of online ed).
The big savings sought are presumably in the area of direct teaching labor ? yet my experience also leads me to believe that a pedagogical relationship mediated entirely through online interactions is going to be more time-consuming than one that?s face-to-face, simply because students stress out easily and will do so even more in the absence of reassuring body language, etc. In order to maintain some plausible level of quality and ? importantly for accreditation reasons ? an acceptable completion rate, it will almost certainly be necessary to assign even more TAs to a given online section than to a similarly-sized real-life section.
And then we come to the lectures themselves. Let?s simplify the math and say we?re dealing with a 10-week term. That?s approximately 30 hours of footage for a 3-credit class. Presumably we aren?t going to get a high-quality performance on the first take of all 30 hours ? and there has to be a certain level of quality for people to tolerate paying tuition for all this. Multiple takes will add to the cost, as will the integration of special effects (Powerpoint slides or the kind of thing one would put on the board). And how often will they have to be updated? I suppose a course on The Odyssey could remain relatively unchanged for a long time, but that?s not the kind of thing that people are generally looking for with online ed ? they want things related to up-to-date job skills, and that means things are going to change frequently.
Further, let?s think about the audience here. I?m going to postulate that the number of people who genuinely cannot make it to a real-live classroom within a reasonable distance of their home is small. For most of the audience, I?m assuming that it?s a matter of convenience rather than real need ? and the question is how much quality they?re willing to sacrifice for convenience that in many cases is going to be a relatively marginal gain. The deciding factor here may well be prestige. It makes sense that someone would prefer to complete their BA through Northwestern rather than Podunk Satellite Campus or something. But what percentage of colleges really offer enough prestige to ?cover? the quality gap compared to simply rearranging one?s schedule sufficiently to pick up some credits at a local school?
This raises the question of competition. Flexible online offerings make education much more of a commodity. Currently a combination of unlimited federal support for student loans and a race to signal prestige has allowed higher education to escape from normal market forces in a lot of ways ? but the more strictly utilitarian the marketing is, the more inevitable it becomes that pricing competition will arise. What?s more, if I?m not really going to Northwestern and getting all the Northwestern amenities and really networking in real life with Northwestern students and faculty, then the content and delivery is going to have to be pretty damn good for me to be willing to pay Northwestern tuition ? not to mention the fact that the Northwestern brand itself becomes endangered if it becomes associated with a low-quality product and/or low-quality students. (I only choose Northwestern because I see a ton of ads on the L for their programs.) And as soon as any competitive pressures come into play, i.e., as soon as prestigious universities can?t simply name their own price, all the other cost factors become that much bigger of an issue.
Perhaps online education can really be a great revenue stream, but it?s hardly a slam dunk. I suspect that the only reason people have embraced it so enthusiastically is that higher ed administrators have bought into the common ideological notion that labor costs are always the problem ? so anything that promises to cut labor costs (even if implausibly, as I argue above) is a good thing. I also suspect that a big factor in the embrace of online education is the fact that it?s what donors are most interested in ? because donors always prefer capital-intensive products and because current trends in educational philanthropy are all focused on ways to cut labor costs (also known as ?running education like a business?). A final factor is the herd mentality and fatalism that is so prevalent in higher ed ? we must do online because online is the future and we will be left behind!
For a detached observer, though, it seems obvious that online higher education is no more inevitable than online medical treatment or online shoe repair. It also seems obvious that if it was genuinely obvious that online education was a good thing, it wouldn?t need to be constantly propagandized. The only way to make online education genuinely inevitable is to produce a self-fulfilling prophecy effect where everyone rushes to adopt online education lest others beat them to the punch.
Now as poorly as people have thought things through in terms of ?traditional? online education, the case is even worse for MOOCs. Now it is true that MOOCs increase ?access? to education in terms of content. Leaving aside the fact that essentially the whole of human knowledge is already available for free online, MOOCs are missing the really crucial factor of certification. I could start teaching college courses for free in my living room, but that wouldn?t really be increasing ?access? to higher education in the way that really counts ? not even if I printed off a certificate of completion for all successful graduates of Kotsko Kollege.
MOOCs ?work? because the institutions that do them are super-rich and are concerned with their public image. If MOOCs are going to be a vanity project for prestigious universities, I say more power to them ? and open up JSTOR to the general public while they?re at it. But if they are really going to ?change the face of education,? there needs to be some way of getting college credit for them. What employer is going to be enthusiastic about a potential employee who swears that they?ve watched a lot of videos online? Currently it seems like universities are creating a new form of pseudo-credit to certify completion of MOOCs, but if people are seriously going to be pursuing degrees, MOOCs will have to become more like ?traditional? online education, meaning that all the administrative overhead and all the questions surrounding tuition, prestige, etc., are going to come up.
Overall, I have a hard time seeing any outcome for the online trend other than reinforcing the competitive advantage of real-life prestigious colleges and thus perversely increasing their already robust pricing power. The net effect, it seems, will be to introduce yet another layer of ?fake college? in the hierarchy of higher ed, which may drag down the credibility of a lot of marginal institutions to the level of prestige currently enjoyed by the University of Phoenix. And of course it will create a lot of debt slaves out of all those hopeful people churning through the process. All this, with no real guarantee that the economic pay-off is forthcoming!
Imagine if we actually invested money in improving instruction rather than actively degrading it for the hope of greater efficiency! We might not wind up making more money or boosting economic growth or providing employers with free pre-trained workers ? but we?d at least educate people, right?
Source: https://itself.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/what-is-the-business-model-for-online-education/
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