Monday, December 31, 2012

Hillary Clinton hospitalized with blood clot

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital Sunday after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.

Clinton's doctors discovered the clot Sunday while performing a follow-up exam, her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said. He would not elaborate on the location of the clot but said Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants and would remain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital for at least the next 48 hours so doctors can monitor the medication.

"Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion," Reines said in a statement. "They will determine if any further action is required."

Clinton, 65, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in mid-December as she recovered from a stomach virus that left her severely dehydrated. The concussion was diagnosed Dec. 13 and Clinton was forced to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East that had been planned for the next week.

The seriousness of a blood clot "depends on where it is," said Dr. Gholam Motamedi, a neurologist at Georgetown University Medical Center who was not involved in Clinton's care.

Clots in the legs are a common risk after someone has been bedridden, as Clinton may have been for a time after her concussion. Those are "no big deal" and are treated with six months of blood thinners to allow them to dissolve on their own and to prevent further clots from forming, he said.

A clot in a lung or the brain is more serious. Lung clots, called pulmonary embolisms, can be deadly, and a clot in the brain can cause a stroke, Motamedi said.

Keeping Clinton in the hospital for a couple of days could allow doctors to perform more tests to determine why the clot formed, and to rule out a heart problem or other condition that may have led to it, he said.

Dr. Larry Goldstein, a neurologist who is director of Duke University's stroke center, said blood can pool on the surface of the brain or in other areas of the brain after a concussion, but those would not be treated with blood thinners, as Clinton's aide described.

Clinton was forced to cancel Dec. 20 testimony before Congress about a scathing report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The report found that serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed.

Some conservative commentators suggested Clinton was faking the seriousness of her illness and concussion to avoid testifying, although State Department officials vehemently denied that was the case.

Lawmakers at the hearings ? including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Clinton ? offered her their best wishes.

Last Thursday, before the discovery of the blood clot, Reines said Clinton was expected to return to work this week.

The former first lady and senator, who had always planned to step down as America's top diplomat in January, is known for her grueling travel schedule. She is the most traveled secretary of state in history, having visited 112 countries while in the job.

Clinton is considered a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, although she has not announced plans to run.

___

AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hillary-clinton-hospitalized-blood-clot-010436117--politics.html

groundhog soulja boy did the groundhog see his shadow punxsutawney phil groundhog day

Nuclear Roulette - Society, Politics, and the Planet - Discussion Group

Nuclear Roulette: The Truth About the Most Dangerous Energy Source on Earth
By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview

Attached File ?Nuclear Roulette.jpg ??204.75K ??2 downloads
According to Chelsea Green, the publisher of the new book Nuclear Roulette:
Each new disaster demonstrates that the nuclear industry and governments lie to "avoid panic," to preserve the myth of "safe, clean" nuclear power, and to sustain government subsidies. Tokyo and Washington both covered up Fukushima's radiation risks and - when confronted with damning evidence - simply raised the levels of "acceptable" risk to match the greater levels of exposure.

Nuclear Roulette dismantles the core arguments behind the nuclear-industrial complex's "Nuclear Renaissance." While some critiques are familiar - nuclear power is too costly, too dangerous, and too unstable - others are surprising: Nuclear Roulette exposes historic links to nuclear weapons, impacts on Indigenous lands and lives, and the ways in which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission too often takes its lead from industry, rewriting rules to keep failing plants in compliance. Nuclear Roulette cites NRC records showing how corporations routinely defer maintenance and lists resulting "near-misses" in the US, which average more than one per month.
Truthout interviewed the book's author, Gar Smith:

Mark Karlin: The first part of your book covers 14 arguments against nuclear power. Let's talk about a couple, starting with one that is a bit inclusive of most of the others. What are the catastrophic dangers of nuke plants that you detail in Chapter 4?

Gar Smith: Atomic energy is impractical on many levels. Nuclear power has proven too costly to survive without massive government support and taxpayer bailouts. Nuclear power is inherently unreliable because reactors must be regularly shut down to replace used fuel assemblies. Reactors also experience "unplanned shutdowns," which means they can be offline more than 10 percent of the time. In 2011, the NRC's own records revealed at least 75 percent of US reactors were routinely leaking radioactive tritium.

Nuclear reactors are not energy efficient. They produce far more heat than they can possibly use. It takes as much as 500,000 gallons of water per minute to keep these plants cool. Even then, around two-thirds of the heat is wasted and needs to be spilled into nearby waterways or into the atmosphere. A reactor is like a sports car built to travel 600 miles per hour in a world where the speed limit is 60 mph. To operate it safely, you need to have your foot on the brakes - at all times. And good luck if the brakes fail.

The world now has experienced three catastrophic events in three decades - with explosions, fires and meltdowns at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Add to that the increasing number of accidents as aging reactors in the US and around the world continue to crack, leak and fail. Whether the industry likes it or not, it is inevitable that nuclear accidents are going to increasingly make the evening news.

Mark Karlin: We hear so much nuclear industry talk of new and improved reactors. What is the reality behind that claim?

Gar Smith: While there are new designs, as yet, none of them have been built or fully tested. Most of the so-called Generation IV reactors will probably never be built. The new AP1000 reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina have fundamental design flaws that prompted the former chair of the NRC to vote against granting them a license. Construction of Georgia's two AP1000 Vogtle reactors (supported with billions in taxpayer-backed loan guarantees) has been plagued by shoddy construction and second-rate building materials.
In addition to the proposed new reactors (which would operate at temperatures two to three times greater than existing plants), the Department of Energy is providing funds to kick-start something called a small modular reactor. These "mini-nukes" could be housed inside a two-car garage but would probably be placed underground. Dispersing these small reactors across the landscape would increase security risks, magnify supply-and-transportation hazards, and do nothing to reduce the danger of reactor accidents and routine releases of radioactivity.
Let's be clear: nuclear plants don't generate electricity. They produce only three things: vast amounts of heat (which is used to spin the turbines that generate electricity), radioactive fallout (in the form of "permissible" leaks that have been linked to thyroid tumors and childhood leukemia) and tons of radioactive garbage.
Recently, nuclear power has been promoted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels, but even if atomic power were carbon-free (which it is not), relying on nuclear to eliminate even half of the world's climate-warming CO2 emissions would require building 32 new reactors a year. That's not gonna happen.

Mark Karlin: In the 50s and 60s, there was a large European and United States anti-nuclear movement that included massive protests against nuke bombs and plants. What happened? Nuclear power hardly is in the news anymore except when there is a meltdown such as at Fukushima.

Gar Smith: Well, many of those protests were staged to halt construction of new reactors. Once the reactors were up and running, the protests lost their purpose. As to the general lack of critical news, that could have something to do with the fact that the major networks are corporate and have consolidated to just a few over the years. Their interests are corporate.
When the fallout from Fukushima reached the West Coast, the public was assured that the iodine-131 in the rainwater had a radioactive half-life of "only" six days. But if you really want to know how long an isotope remains hazardous, multiply the half-life by ten.

Mark Karlin: Truthout recently ran an excerpt from Nuclear Roulette about industry-government public relations to promote nuclear power. How does this manifest itself?

Gar Smith: A nuclear engineer once observed: "Nuclear power can be safe and nuclear power can be cheap. Just not at the same time." The nuclear disasters in Pennsylvania, Ukraine and Japan all demonstrated a common response from industry and government - a pattern of hubris, denial and deception. The basic premise is that the technology will never fail. When it does fail, you deny a problem exists. Finally, when the problem spins out of control, you resort to deception to avoid accountability.
Following the Fukushima meltdowns, the White House falsely assured the public the fallout would not reach the US. The Environmental Protection Agency then failed to release evidence that its RadNet monitors detected radioactive iodine and cesium in West Coast rainwater. In Japan, when radiation levels rose above "safe" levels, Tokyo responded by raising the "allowable" exposure to radiation. The US did the same. The US has cut back its monitoring of fallout from daily detection to quarterly tests. With the Fukushima meltdowns still not contained, this is indefensible.

Mark Karlin: What is President Obama's current position on nuclear energy development?

Gar Smith: It was George W. Bush who tried to create a so-called "nuclear renaissance" by expediting the reactor licensing and promising the industry billions of dollars in government handouts. President Obama initially outdid Bush, offering to double the amount of the government's nuclear bailout. While Obama has made important commitments to funding renewable energy programs, he still remains wedded to the nuclear lobby. Fukushima provides the most egregious example.
Following the triple meltdown, Tokyo closed all of its reactors. (Two were subsequently restarted, but their days are numbered since it's been discovered they are sitting atop an active earthquake fault.) Japan publicly announced plans to permanently close all its reactors by 2030, but suddenly had an abrupt change of mind. What happened? According to reports in the Nikkei News Service, Secretary of State Clinton informed then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that Japan's anti-nuclear plan posed a problem for America's "energy strategy." He was advised not to abandon the nuclear path.

Mark Karlin: In Nuclear Roulette, you address the perils of aging reactors. What is the magnitude of this danger in the United States?

Gar Smith: In 2008, a government study found "degraded conditions" in aging US reactors were responsible for 70 percent of the industry's "potentially serious safety problems." Despite these warnings, the nuclear industry successfully pressured the NRC to begin extending the 40-year operating life of 52 aging US reactors to 60 years. In June 2012, the NRC met to consider extending some operating permits for up to 80 years - twice the reactors' intended operating life.

Mark Karlin: How cozy is the NRC with the industry it regulates?

Gar Smith: As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama called the NRC "a moribund agency ... captive of the industry that it regulates." There are good people in the NRC but, too often, the NRC (like other government agencies) acts less like a watchdog and more like an enabler. Thanks to this regulatory-industrial complex, the NRC has repeatedly rewritten the rulebook to allow failing plants to receive passing grades.
A 2011 investigation by the Associated Press revealed how the NRC had been "working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them."
Mark Karlin: You have a chapter on near misses and unbelievable mishaps. What are some of them?

Gar Smith: There have been more than 50 major nuclear disasters around the world over the last 60 years - including fires, explosions and meltdowns that resulted in deaths, mass evacuations and permanent contamination of downwind lands. At least 11 workers have been killed in US reactor accidents. Three Army technicians were killed in an explosion at a government reactor in Idaho in 1961 (their bodies had to be buried in lead-lined coffins). Another eight workers were killed in a series of three explosions over a 14-year span at the Surry reactor in Virginia.
In addition to these fatalities, there have been scores of near misses. In 1975, a worker using a candle to check for air leaks accidentally set fire to the Browns Ferry plant in Alabama. The fire burned for more than seven hours and one of the two reactors suffered a near-meltdown.

In 1981, California's two San Onofre reactors were closed to repair 6,000 damaged steam generator tubes. During the restart, the plant caught fire, knocking out one of the plant's two emergency backup generators. In February 2012, a similar steam-tube problem caused a release of radioactive hydrogen gas that again shut down San Onofre's reactors. Despite a second hydrogen leak in October, the plant's operators have asked the NRC for permission to restart one reactor and run it for five months at 70 percent power to "see if it is safe."

In 2002, inspectors in Ohio discovered a "hole in the head" of the reactor vessel at the Davis-Besse plant. The corrosion was so extensive it posed the imminent danger of a massive explosion and radiation release.
It's important to note that the Fukushima reactors were designed and built by General Electric, and 23 of these "Fukushima-style" reactors are currently installed at 16 sites in 12 US states. When Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast, it knocked out five reactors in its path - including three GE Fukushima-style reactors. The Nine Mile Point reactor was shut down, the Fitzpatrick reactor caught fire, and flooding at the Oyster Creek reactor came within six inches of disabling the spent fuel pool cooling pumps. (If these had failed, the NRC's recommended "fix" was to use a "fire hose" to cool the plant.)

Nuclear power is exponentially more dangerous than any other energy source. Reactors were designed to operate on a more benign planet - not in a world torn by record earthquakes, epic solar flares, extreme hurricanes, floods, fires and droughts.

Mark Karlin: You conclude with a section on alternatives to nuclear power. What are some of the major ones, and why aren't we moving aggressively forward with them?

Gar Smith: I'm glad you asked that question. For all the attention on the downsides of nuclear power, it's important to note that the last third of the book is devoted to solutions.
Wind energy is the world's fast-growing energy sector. The potential for land-based wind power is estimated to be 20 times greater than the world's current electric power consumption. While it took 24 years to build the last US reactor, a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine can be installed in a single day and will be producing electricity in a matter of weeks. In California, 100,000 rooftop solar panels are generating more than 1 gigawatt of clean electricity.
These technologies are being abetted by new structural approaches ranging from mixed-tech microgrids to municipal ownership and production. And there are policy options that promise to increase efficiency, reduce consumption and usher in an age of "energy democracy" where energy is produced locally by homeowners instead of commercial utilities.

Just look at Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel was a nuclear advocate until Fukushima happened. Now she has closed eight of the country's 17 reactors and plans to complete the transition from nuclear energy by 2022. In two years, Germany has added more than ten gigawatts of solar power to the grid and has opened powerful wind farms off the coast.

What stands in the way? A powerful and entrenched elite dominates US energy policy. The growing disparity of wealth has transformed the US. Our struggling democracy has been replaced by a strangling plutocracy. Like every other corporate energy provider, the nuclear industry is deeply embedded in the economic and political life of the US. Whenever great wealth and power is allowed to accumulate, those who profit from this concentration inevitably seek to defend and extend their control - regardless of the cost to public health, democracy or even the long-term well being of the planet.

Mark Karlin: Ernest Callenbach and Jerry Mander write in the foreword to Nuclear Roulette: "It will be an auspicious start to our new century if we can encourage a revitalized movement to stop all nuclear production and immediately close down every nuclear facility - military and civilian. Then we can dedicate our skills and resources to finding true solutions to the real challenges of our time: evolving a sustainable, energy-wise, and peaceful society." What would make such a transformation in our culture and politics possible?

Gar Smith: Individuals have already begun the transition from fossil fuels to clean renewables. The dig-it-up/burn-it/dump-it approach to energy is being challenged by the new technologies that harvest the clean, free energy that pours from the sky in the form of sunbeams and breezes.

The world is not only running out of cheaply obtainable fossil fuels; we're also running out of high-grade uranium ore. Because all these mineral resources are finite, some kind of transition is inevitable. The only question is, how much damage will we inflict on human and planetary health in the meantime?

We really need to turn our focus toward decommissioning our reactors. Sure, decommissioning is a long and costly process, but it is infinitely more affordable than cleaning up the aftermath of a single nuclear meltdown. Decommissioning one reactor can cost $10 billion over ten years, but cleaning up the mess at Fukushima is expected to take 30 years and cost $137 billion.

What might the future look like? Take a look at Saudi Arabia. Even the Saudi royal family can see the writing on the wall. The kingdom recently announced plans to install 54,000 milliwatts of clean, renewable power over the next 20 years.

Source: http://jwsoundgroup.net/index.php?/topic/15081-nuclear-roulette/

Allison Schmitt Olympic Schedule Kyla Ross Ryan Lochte Montenegro Olympic Games Dana Vollmer

Italy leftist PM candidate Bersani tops opinion poll, Monti second

ROME (Reuters) - Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is favorite among Italians to lead the next government, with outgoing technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti second most popular and Silvio Berlusconi coming a close third, a poll showed on Sunday.

Bersani scored 36.2 percent, Monti 23.3 percent and Berlusconi 21.8 percent, the poll, conducted by the CISE electoral research institute for Il Sole 24 Ore daily, found.

Whoever wins the February 24-25 elections will have to tackle a deep recession and rising unemployment in the euro zone's third largest economy as well as keeping strained public finances under control.

Monti said on Friday he would lead a centrist alliance, setting up a three-way contest with Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) and Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL). The poll of 1,309 Italians was carried out between December 22 and December 28.

A former European Commissioner, Monti was appointed to lead an unelected government of experts to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago.

He is a favorite with international investors, the Catholic Church, and the business establishment, and has been widely credited with restoring Italy's credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi years.

The coalitions that will back the prime ministerial candidates are not yet finalized but 34.6 percent of respondents in the poll said they would vote for Bersani's PD, 19.7 percent Berlusconi's PDL, and 14.3 percent the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement if parliamentary elections were held now.

The UDC, Italy's largest centrist party which is among those backing Monti, came in fourth place with 6.4 percent.

In a separate article in La Stampa daily, several leading political researchers said Monti could attract up to 20 percent of the vote by eroding support for both the centre left and centre right and convincing undecided Italians.

However, many Italians have become increasingly tired of the painful tax hikes he has introduced to repair Italy's strained public finances.

The poll showed that 34 percent of Italians think the most important initiative for the next government will be adjusting public spending so that taxes can be cut.

About 24 percent put the fight against tax evasion as the most pressing concern, while 15 percent want the focus to be on moving the fiscal burden away from companies and workers and towards wealthy individuals.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-leftist-pm-candidate-bersani-tops-opinion-poll-131701309--business.html

paulina gretzky paulina gretzky toy story 4 toy story 4 steam kristin chenoweth Robert Blake

Sunday, December 30, 2012

How many words to say? The perennial challenge in public speaking

Many speakers can?t work out how many words they can say in the time they?ve got. Whilst there is no substitute for practice, don?t bank on more than 140 words per minute.

An entrepreneur friend of mine was recently on a global trade tour. With a group of his fellow countrymen he was visiting a load of European countries to sell his great new idea. At each event each member of the group was supposed to stand up, give a two minute elevator pitch and sit down. Every single time, one guy would get up and speak for quarter of an hour, dominated the time available and no-one else got a look in. Needless to say he wasn?t the most popular delegate on the trip.

We?ve all been there. A speaker?waffles on for three times as long as anyone anticipates. Sometimes other people miss out on speaking, or they miss their train home. Always it tires the audience.?Over the last few years as an observer of public speaking I?ve seen a lot of speakers overrun. Occasionally a speaker keeps going on?because they like the sound of their own voice. Mostly, it?s borne out of lack of confidence in the speaker themselves.

The greatest fear of any novice public speaker is running out of material. Not having anything to say in front of audience. To be frozen, silent and exposed. As a consequence novice speakers try to pack more into their speeches than they can possibly hope to say in the time available. Experienced speakers do it too, when they?re in front of new audiences that make them nervous.

The answer of course is to plan to say less. But how much less? That?s the tricky part, because it will depend on a wide range of different things, including the density of the content (does the audience have a lot to take in?) and pauses you are inserting for dramatic effect, but here are some helpful tips I?ve picked up along the way.

  • Since we all?speak at different rates, there?s no substitute for practice at home.
  • When performing in front of an audience, I find most speeches take 15% longer than they do with the mirror. That?s a combination of additional pauses for effect, laughter, and allowing the audience to take the content in.
  • If you don?t have time to practice, years of writing my own speeches and reading other people?s suggests most people can say around 140 words?a minute clearly, so that?s about 1,000 words in a seven minute speech. (Having said that, one of my favourite speaking blogs, six minutes, analysed a series of TED talks by leading figures and found the average speaking rate was 163 words per minute, with a range of 133-188. If you ask me, many of them would have been a lot better if they?d slowed down http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speaking-rate/)
  • Finally, remember that when it comes to speaking, your audience are very unlikely to be more engaged with the subject than you are and the more enthusiastic the speaker the more they want to cram in. If you think it is about the right length, it is probably too long. If you think it is too long, it definitely is. No-one ever condemned a speaker with the words ?that presentation was too short?.

Happy speaking!

George

______________________

Working or living in the London Victoria area? Want to know more about becoming a better public speaker? Visit London Corinthians on the 2nd, 4th and 5th Thursdays @ 7.30pm.

Find out more about us on our website:?http://www.londoncorinthians.co.uk/. Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LondonCorinthians?Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LonCorTM

Like this:

Be the first to like this.

Source: http://londoncorinthians.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/how-many-words-to-say-the-perennial-challenge-in-public-speaking/

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

What Zamrocker fans said in 2012 | Times of Zambia

?By Ben Phiri -

AS?the year 2012 draws to a close, it is important to appreciate and bring to the fore the various comments made by Zamrocker fans and critics alike through Short Messaging Texts (SMS) and calls.

This column initially appeared on Fridays but a shift to Saturday drew much attention from most readers and here is what they said.

I happened to have read your article on the Cool Knights in today?s Times with alot of interest. Without taking anything away from your well written article, I however happen to have noticed that some of the events after 1975, do not seem to match with what I know.

It is however nice to have read that Mr Black Jones is well and alive. One of the surviving members that played at Ridgeway Hotel in the Richard Chanter reign is Mr Joseph Kabongo (rhythm guitarist) and lives in Lilanda and history cannot be complete without mentioning him.

I have attached a copy of the Cool Knights when they recorded Bana Mulenga whilst playing at Kombai in Kafue, before they relocated to Blue Boar and then to Ridgeway.

How do I know part of their history? The late Francis Kakoma (keyboard and alternate bass player) was my cousin and that is the man who taught me music in the house.- Amos Sakazhila- April 14, 2012.

+++

?Hi Ben, I want to comment on the Keith Mlevhu story, it is good, Mlevhu was one of the best musicians Zambia has ever had?- Austin Kaluba, (Journalist)-April 21, 2012.

+++

?This is a wonderful article, it brings memories of musicians like Teddy Chisi and you know, the one? on Keith Mlevhu is good, reminds me of the time when Rikki and him(Keith) differed as to who was the real superster.-Simata Simataa-April 21,2012.

+++

Just been reading your article on Keith Mlevhu in yesterday?s Times.It is so enriching, very good article. This is our music, culture but how do we ensure these great names are part of the current musical culture? Is there any award in his honour?-Mavuso Sinda, lecturer, UNZA. April, 22 2012.

+++

Your writing on Distro Kuomboka band is well articulated, Bravo Ben, keeps it up-Unknown fan-May 6, 2012.

+++

Hi Ben I hope you are well. You are now clearly outdoing yourself. Another great piece on Distro Kuomboka made good reading. With regard to late Emmanuel, can you speak to Allan Sinkala the former band mate in Air Power Band and is still leading the band. You can also call up Jaggari Chanda with whom he played in the Great Witch Band. There is also Reggie Mfula who was a close friend and upstart musician in the early 1977 when Emmanuel was just learning the guitar. His other great friend is Patrick Mwondela who has been living in UK for more than 15 years now. He is available to chat with you on e-mail.-George Makulu-May 6, 2012.

+++

?I was reading your article on Distro; it was so enlightening that I had to read word by word, till the end. I am a big follower of Kalindula or simply Zambian Music, but the problem is that it is difficult to come by. I know most songs you mentioned here, but I did not know who did those songs until now, e.g. Basumbula Ba Fyola. I used to hear those songs when I was just seven years old, not knowing who was behind them. Well I just felt it important that I let you know that we appreciate what you write and also encourage the support of our original Zambian music. Thank you- Unknown Police Officer-Chingola- May 6, 2012.

+++

Your article on He-She Mambo in my opinion is extremely over rated- Unknown critic- May 26, 2012.

+++

Hello Mr Ben Zamrocker Phiri sir. How come you have used archives He-She Mambo picture? Latest snap which could have been taken during the interview (If it was not conducted electronically) would have been appropriate. After all, the man is alive and tucked away somewhere in Kabwe-Unknown- May 26, 2012.

+++

Ben, Good morning, Am enjoying your Zamrocker entertainment, particularly remembered He- She Mambo when I read your copy. John Kapesa-May, 27, 2012.

+++

Hi Ben, thanks for today?s write up on Papa Kado.There is so much I did not know about this emigrant, though I enjoy his music. Where can I get this recorded songs?-Thomas, Lusaka.-June 2, 2012.

+++

Nice work on MB Kado you are a true Zamrocker Ben- have a nice day, it brings memories-M. Borniface June 6, 2012.

+++

Hi Ben, am just reading your column on Rikki, how can I get Rikki?s CDs, am an avid fan of his since 1975.-Charlie Watts, Solwezi- June 16, 2012.

+++

Good evening, so touching the story of Laban Kalunga. Could you kindly connect me to him? I can support in a small way.-Edward Lange, Lusaka, June 23, 2012.

+++

Hello, I just read your and my heart goes out to Mr Laban Kalunga. Would be so Kind as to tell me how I can reach him so I can help? ? Anna Nyaundi-June 26, 2012.

Hello Sir, I have just read your article on Ba Violet Kafula. Thank you for mentioning my name For me , I maintain? a position that the history of the Amayenge Band is incomplete without me? being mentioned, because I was the founder member (bass/guitar player) once more I commend you for your work-Colonel Maison Maanga-July 28. 2012.

+++

Hi Ben, what can I say,? your article is awesome, very accurate, only that I worked for ZAL Holdings, which ZAL elevators was one of the 13 subsidiaries, but that is a great article. My phone has not stopped ringing; you have rekindled memories of the 70s! God Bless you and family- Violet Kafula, July 28, 2012.

+++

Hi Ben, do you have details yaba Destroyer Nkandu? Just want to talk to him. Good article-Gunston- August 18, 2012.

+++

Good evening. Sorry for contacting you at this time (22.50 hours) Interesting article on Serenje Kalindula. When is Destroyer Nkandu releasing his four-track album? Am a Kalindula fan my name is Kayula.-August 18, 2012.

+++

Dear Ben I read your article on Shalawambe with interest. I was probably ten or 13 when these guys released their first album and I grew up listening to their music and I still do. It is rare to find real shows with a band playing live as was the case in those days and am surprised to hear that this band still exists. I wonder where the likes of the Oliya band are now. Music just like football has really dies especially on the Copperbelt. Please can you continue running profiles of all old bands like Blackfoot, Five Revolutions, the Witch, etc? I really enjoyed the article. Thanks Ben.-Timothy Mambi-August 29, 2012.

+++

Thanks for the On Paper Band story. It was troublesome band on stage with those whites, Hector is damn good musicians. Songs like Maliya Bwela and Abalumendo Ba ku Solwezi, are still good. Keep it up Ben.-Unknown-August 6, 2012.

+++

Ben, thank you for your article on the great Witch Band. Sad to learn that of the five great musicians, four of them passed on. Thanks Ben, write something on Paul Ngozi-Unknown- September 1, 2012.

+++

Kosapo Bar was in Mikomfwa site and service not Mpatamatu, Bravo to Ba Chisenga- Unknown fan commenting on Oliya Band- September 8, 2012.

+++

How are you Sir, a couple of months you promised me availability of CDS you write about, these bring Shalawambe,? and Rikki Ililonga as being among the artistes you have written about. But to my disappointment, nothing has materialised, what is happening?? I am running out of patience-unknown, September 8, 2012.

+++

Hi Mr Ben, my name is Vincent and I am a Zamrocker fan and collector. Please, I would like to have some information from you concerning Zamrock; I have tried to call your number which I came across as I was reading your article in the Times of Zambia. Please contact me on 0977589716.- September 29, 2012.

+++

How are you Sir? Last time you gave contacts for Shalawambe and other musicians. I am earnestly asking for Tinkles being a lad at the time the band was playing while I lived in Luanshya?s Roan-Chalie Watts- Solwezi- September 29, 2012.

+++

Hi, if this is Ben Phiri the comedian, then Iam your fan back in Uganda. I got this number from the net lately; I keep up to date with Zambian developments via the net, because this country has a special place in my heart. I lived there during the late 1970s and early 1980s and I am an old boy of Munali Secondary School. When next are performing in Kampala?-Unknown, 0ctobeer 23, 2012.

+++

Great piece on Khuzwayo.Was his body taken to Zimbabwe or was he buried in Ndola? Write also about Nashil Pitchen Kazembe. We want to know his origins, life and empire. Well done-Chibamba Kanyama (ZNBC Director-General)-December 22, 2012.

+++

Hello, thank you very much for the article. I am one of the people who enjoyed working with Gangana Khuzwayo. My name is Obert Mwilima.Former Lusaka Music Parlour manager, (1978- December, 1992).-December 22, 2012.

+++

For sure, Edward Khuzwayo was a man of music in Zambian history each time my late dad visited Ndola in 1970s, he used to come with new records produced by Khuzwayo. May His Soul Rest in Peace and thank you Mr Ben Phiri, wise man from the East for your wonderful article. Keep it up-Joshua Lengwe, Chingola. -December 22, 2012.

+++

Thanks Ben for helping us remembers my father in his third year of passing on. It gives me so much pleasure and pride to learn how much he was appreciated and respected in the Zambian music industry. Indeed he was a great man, husband and father. Each year, I celebrate my wedding anniversary. It saddens me that it was the time I lost him and my immediate young sister. But I later get consoled and am filled with pride that they carried out their duties on my special day before their demise.

And I know my dad died a happy man because he had said he was ready to die a happy man when he was told about my getting married, his wish was fulfilled. And he was also my star mate (Correction- his birthday was 26 March, not 3rd). Mine is 27 March. We as a family greatly miss him as the music fraternity does. MHSRIP.- Thandi Khuzwayo Mwamba-December 23, 2012.

+++

These and many other comments too numerous to mention made the year for the Zamrocker column,. Thank you for your support.

?Comments-benjphiri@yahoo.com- 0971-933809

?

?

?

?

?

Source: http://www.times.co.zm/?p=24726

liam hemsworth miss canada justin bieber boyfriend marianas trench camille grammer camille grammer us supreme court

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Crafty Texas Girls: Real Parties: PINK & GOLD {Baby Shower}

My 'baby' sister Becka is having a baby! So to celebrate, we hosted a beautiful girly PINK&GOLD shower.
The party theme really started with this invitation. Like me, Becka loves Chevron :) I found this beautiful invite at "Print Your Heart Out" on Etsy. Laura, the shop owner, was wonderful to work with! She helped me customize the invite and even designed party circles, a banner, and mini flags to coordinate with the invite. I loved how easy it was to print the paper-goods from home. With PINK&GOLD on my mind, I scoured the web for inspiration. And when I saw this shower over at "Savinest" via "OntoBaby"- I knew I wanted to create something similar. There is just something so glam and feminine about this color combination. ?

?

The shower was held at my Dad's house. My mom, stepmom, and Becka's friend Bergen also helped to host. This party was definitely a team-effort!


The dessert table was my favorite part. Bergen made the beautiful poms that hung from the ceiling.
Lunch consisted of a variety of yummy, homemade goodies.
Clusters of hydrangeas from "Flower Muse" filled gold painted mason jars.
?Guests were invited to paint onesies for baby Molly.
A beloved children's book "Guess How Much I Love You" served as the guest book for the shower.
Becka and Josh were touched by how many people gathered to celebrate the impending arrival of little Molly.
?We can't wait to meet their little girl!

VENDORS

Invites and Paper Goods:



Like this post?
Subscribe to crafty texas girls

Sharing our PINK&GOLD shower here:?
-Cowgirl Up
-Home Stories A to Z
-Tatertots and Jello
-Serenity Now
-The 36th Avenue

All photos and text on craftytexasgirls.com are copyright protected. You may not copy entire articles or posts (even with a link) without my express written permission. Email any requests or links used to craftytexasgirls@gmail.com.

Source: http://www.craftytexasgirls.com/2012/12/real-parties-pink-gold-baby-shower.html

bachelor finale courtney robertson ben flajnik randy moss randy moss hunger games premiere the bachelor

White House urges dockworkers, shippers deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House is urging dockworkers and shipping companies to reach agreement "as quickly as possible" on a contract extension for East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers whose existing pact expires this week.

Obama spokesman Matt Lehrich says the White House is monitoring the situation closely and urges the parties to "continue their work at the negotiating table to get a deal done as quickly as possible."

Talks between the dockworkers and shipping companies broke down Dec. 18 amid unresolved issues such as wages and container royalties ? the payments to union workers based on cargo weight. The International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance are expected to meet this week.

The National Retail Federation has asked the Obama administration to use "all means necessary" to prevent a strike.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-27-Longshoremen-Contract/id-5c99d9ac40d641e2ac636d66e741c0c2

Jenny Rivera Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 pacquiao Jim DeMint Dave Brubeck Duck Dynasty New Orleans Pelicans

China claims world's longest high-speed rail line, takes travelers 1,428 miles in a workday

China claims world's longest highspeed rail line, takes travelers 1,428 miles in a workday

China has a thing for pushing the limits of trains. As of today, that includes distance: the country claims to have the world's longest high-speed rail line. Paying ¥865 ($139) will take you 1,428 miles from Beijing in the north to as far as Guangzhou in the south. The 8-hour, 186MPH trip is technically slower than flying, but it's cheaper and potentially less stressful than the often protracted airport boarding process. It's certainly far more viable than the 20-hour rail trip it's replacing, which could lead to some locals choosing a ground route that wasn't even a realistic option until now.

[Image credit: Xinhuanet]

Filed under:

Comments

Via: Wall Street Journal

Source: Gaotie (translated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/27/china-claims-worlds-longest-high-speed-rail-line/

dobie gray bruce springsteen grammy nominations lil boosie bobbi kristina brown new edition austerity

Friday, December 28, 2012

Nouel Alba Arrested By FBI: Bronx Woman Accused Of Newtown Shooting Scam, Posing As Victim's Relative (VIDEO)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? A New York City woman tried to scam donors by posing as the aunt of a child killed in the Connecticut school massacre, federal authorities said Thursday.

Nouel Alba, 37, was arrested Thursday and accused of using her Facebook account, telephone calls and text messages to seek donations for what she called a "funeral fund." She told one donor that she had to enter the scene of the mass shooting in Newtown to identify her nephew, according to the criminal complaint.

Alba is charged with lying to FBI agents who were investigating charity scams related to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults on Dec. 14.

Alba, of the Bronx, appeared Thursday in federal court in Hartford and was released on $50,000 bond. A number listed for her was not in service.

In text messages with a donor, Alba allegedly said she hugged President Barack Obama during his visit to Newtown and said she was afraid to see her nephew in a casket: "11 gun shot in his little body," she wrote, according to the complaint.

If convicted, she faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.

The FBI is asking anybody with knowledge of scams related to the Newtown shootings to contact them. The state is also checking the identities of people soliciting money in the name of the Newtown victims, according to William Rubenstein, state commissioner of consumer protection.

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

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/27/nouel-alba-arrested-bronx-woman-newtown-shooting_n_2371685.html

shameless kwame brown martin luther king day blue ivy devil inside dash diet how to make moonshine

Navigating the Intersection of Legal Affairs & Communications ...

By Meghan Gross, Senior VP, Schwartz MSL, MSLGROUP North America

All communicators eventually face the challenge of dealing with legal issues, made increasingly complex by our 24/7 conversation involving multiple stakeholder groups. Fuelled by conventional wisdom and pop culture, many hold the opinion that lawyers are in an enterprise to manage risk down to zero, and communicators are there to promote the enterprise?s mission and vision to the exclusion of all else. That preconceived notion can result in an underlying tension between the two functions in good times, but when layered into a crisis situation, it can impede an organization?s response and derail its progress in returning to business as usual.

However, the two functions have a lot more in common than it may seem. Both are wholly focused on protecting the organization?s reputation: they just approach it from a different vantage point. While lawyers may cringe at their counterpart?s unrelenting use of adjectives, descriptors and praise for the organization, communicators become equally frustrated at the legal team?s use of redlining, striking what they perceive to be the best brand attributes out of the press release, web copy and social media posts.

Under the best of circumstances, this tension exists and can be the reason for the delay of marketing and communications output. Under the worst of circumstances ? for example, executive wrongdoing, product recalls, and labor strikes ? this tension can result in an impasse, with stakeholders eagerly waiting for the organization?s next message as social media posts pile up, camera crews stalk the doorway and the C-suite grows increasingly anxious.

To avert this danger and bridge this gap, the two organizations should begin by developing a thorough understanding of the other?s challenges and opportunities, work styles and overall mandate. Like any form of negotiation, the best way to reach the middle ground and forge an acceptable solution is to view the situation from the other party?s vantage point and to develop workable scenarios to be deployed in the event of a crisis.

Courtroom | Courtesy: Erin Nealey on Flickr

Courtroom | Courtesy: Erin Nealey on Flickr

Ultimately, a productive working relationship between a communications and a legal team is one long negotiation. Before you begin, lay the groundwork for a successful one.

First: Understand Where the Bias Comes From

Lawyers are not just being difficult. There is a reason why many lawyers are risk averse: they are trained to think that way, and paid to protect an organization whether in negotiating a contract, closing a deal, developing a litigation strategy or writing a settlement. It is an essential part of their training as law students and as young associates, and it is put to good practice as they develop their careers. This mindset saves companies a lot of money, time and potential exposure. In fact, the protection lawyers put in place for the enterprise can often be what save an organization from damage to its reputation.

In the throes of a crisis it can be maddening to see the messaging so carefully crafted be poked and prodded, examined from every angle and at times, diluted. However, it is a necessary activity. Consider the legal review an important checkpoint in a message development process that can often be infused with emotion and stress levels.

Not surprisingly, there is a reason we as communicators push the envelope: we know what does and does not make news. Reporters hang up on us. We see social media efforts fall flat because they don?t resonate with stakeholders and sound too ?corporate?. We often experience the legal protection as curtailing a healthy corporate dialogue.

However, this is all healthy tension. The best way to use it to your advantage is to acknowledge it exists, enjoy that it protects you and your organization from exposure, and build in a little extra review time if you think it may delay the crisis response.

Next: Know Your Organization and Share Your Mission

Know your organization?s business, and not just from the marketing and communications standpoint. Provide your team of communicators with greater visibility into legal and compliance issues that ultimately act on, influence, and shape your communications strategy. It can be tempting in proactive news cycles and feel-good marketing campaigns to ignore the legal and compliance issues that lurk beneath the surface. However, keeping someone on the communications team informed and engaged with that business function will pay dividends later. Whether you designate one person to be the point person for the legal department or every communicator folds this into his or her role, being aware of what could impact your communications strategy will allow your team to calibrate issues, responses, proactive campaigns accordingly throughout the year.

Similarly, educate your legal team by sharing your communications team?s goals. Demonstrate the value of positive, brand-building efforts over the year and how that supports sales, increases revenue and overall affects the organization?s productivity. Share your general programming for the year, be as specific as possible when launch dates will occur and why. This will ensure that the legal team can prepare for them, create workarounds, or share concerns if any.

Tips and Tactics for Better Working Relations Between Communications and Legal

If the two preceding activities have been in place for several months, when faced with a crisis your organization?s lawyers and communicators should be shoulder-to-shoulder at the table, designing workable solutions to the situation at hand. This foundation is essential for ensuring smooth functioning when the external environment becomes heated.

In addition to the relationship building efforts between the two departments, there are also tips and tactics that may help the process:

Develop a stakeholder map before a crisis hits. Always maintain a holistic view of the organization. It is not just about legal, and not just about the communications: when faced with a crisis it is about the entire reputation of the company and this includes many different and sometimes competing stakeholder groups. Consider developing a stakeholder map for your senior leaders in the organization, and show the impact certain communications have on different groups. This will allow your legal and compliance teams to see the big picture and develop collaborative solutions with you.

Identify ? hot-button? issues beforehand and share with any content creators. As you develop crisis communication plans, identify hot-button words, phrases, and messages. What words and issues are true deal breakers? What words and issues might have negative impact on certain stakeholder groups but not on others? Do some scenario-planning together and try to deal thorny and complex issues, such as multi-stakeholder communications, in less intense settings. Put the results in a cheat sheet, and circulate to both the Legal and Communications teams and any content creators. This will serve as an editing roadmap for the crisis and its immediate aftermath and reduce the back-and-forth editing of routine documents. Save the heavy editing session for the documents that matter the most.

Bring the legal team into your preparedness calls. Ideally, there is an early warning before a crisis hits. Allow a representative from the legal team to join your marketing and communications planning calls or meetings. This will allow Legal to identify red flags, allow Communications to ask questions and obtain guidance in real time, and streamline the materials development process.

Make it a real relationship ? not a series of time-consuming requests. The legal team is just as busy as you are. If it is a big enough crisis, they are also reviewing their own reports to legislators, regulators, and other entities. Establish a relationship with the department beforehand so if a crisis hits, they understand what you may be requesting. Offer to do a ?Communications 101? for the team and dissect a communications campaign from start to finish, showing where the legal and compliance insertion points are. Share your strategic communications calendar, and pinpoint where announcements are likely to fall during the year. Explain why the news release and social media response needs to be in tandem. Allow them to be a part of your process.

Build connections during down time. While it is in short supply in most organizations, take the quiet times as an opportunity to build the connections between your departments. Make it more personal than transactional. Have coffee and discuss what is happening in the organization. Share your views on how you each contribute to the business strategy. Discuss trends in your respective industries. It is a lot harder to lock horns with someone you know as a person.

Take time to learn their industry. Most communications people hunger for increased credibility and a seat at the table in an organization. The best way to do that is to become knowledgeable about the business and not just about what you do in it. Take time to learn about what the legal team actually does for the company. Knowing what a term sheet is can boost your credibility with transactional lawyers and just might make that next acquisition announcement flow more smoothly. Understanding a bit about the litigation process might give you more wiggle room with a litigation communications strategy. Realize that it isn?t always about the copy approval.

Comply with the legal team?s requests too. Is your company going through an audit? Is there a request for documents in litigation discovery? Remember, sometimes legal issues take priority in an organization. Be as prompt with your responses as you would want in return.

Realize you both are here to protect and enhance reputation? just from a different approach. And always, let cool heads prevail.

?

?

Meghan Gross is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director at Schwartz MSL in Boston. She has handled an array of issues management and crisis communications scenarios, including executive transitions, personnel misconduct, workforce reductions, litigation, financial scrutiny and acquisitions. This post appears in PR News? Crisis Management Guidebook, Vol. 6, which may be purchased here.

Also watch a video interview of Meghan on social media trends and PR with PRWeek.

Source: http://blog.mslgroup.com/navigating-the-intersection-of-legal-affairs-communications/

420 secret service fenway park coachella philadelphia flyers 4/20 student loan forgiveness

Apple CEO's pay takes big hit vs. record 2011 package

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook's 2012 compensation package of $4.17 million (2.58 million pounds) is a huge cut on paper for the top executive of the most valuable U.S. corporation, after a 2011 package fattened by more than $376 million (233 million pounds) in long-term stock awards.

Cook received the largest single pay package awarded to a company CEO in about a decade when he replaced Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) co-founder Steve Jobs in August last year, shortly before the Silicon Valley legend's death in October 2011.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad made the 2012 compensation disclosures in a regulatory filing on Thursday. Cook, 52, has been with Apple since 1998.

Virtually all of Cook's $376 million stock bonus in 2011 was in awards that vest in two chunks - one in 2016 and the other in 2021. This structure was intended to keep Jobs' longtime lieutenant at the helm for many years, as the value of the stock will depend on how well the company is doing in 2016 and 2021.

Cook, who is credited with masterminding a sprawling but efficient Asian supply chain, has generally received high marks for his first year for shepherding several successful gadget launches, including the iPhone 5.

But he was forced to make a public apology in September after the company launched a mapping service application riddled with glaring geographical errors. The Maps app fiasco contributed to the departure of fellow Apple veteran and software chief Scott Forstall.

In addition, some analysts questioned whether Cook, whose only major new product since taking the helm was a smaller version of the iPad that Jobs propelled into the mainstream in 2010, has the vision to produce the next big product category and sustain historically stellar growth for Apple as global mobile competition intensifies.

"The jury is still out in terms of the job he is doing," said fund manager Tim Ghriskey, whose Solaris Group counts Apple stock as the biggest holding among the approximately $2 billion it manages.

But he added that the company's long-term prospects look strong, particularly if it rolls out oft-rumoured television products in the next few years.

As of Thursday's close, Apple shares were almost 37 percent higher than when Cook became CEO 16 months ago. However, since a record-high close of $702.10 on September 19, the stock has fallen almost 27 percent.

Ghriskey said Wall Street remained nervous about the growing popularity of Google Inc (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) 's Android phone software, used by global smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and potential margin pressure from that intensifying competition.

In terms of base salary, Cook actually received a 50 percent increase to $1.4 million for 2012, and the same 200 percent non-equity bonus other top Apple executives like CFO Peter Oppenheimer earned, Apple said in the Thursday filing ahead of a February 27 shareholders' meeting.

Cook's 2012 package includes a nonequity bonus of $2.8 million.

Despite the increase, Apple said Cook's target annual cash compensation is "significantly below the median annual cash compensation level for CEOs at peer companies." It also said that Cook will not receive any stock awards for 2012.

Cook's latest compensation package also pales in comparison to his package in 2010, when he was chief operating officer. That package was 14 times higher.

A company spokesman would not comment beyond the filing.

Jobs famously received $1 a year in salary in the three years before he stepped down, though in 2000 he too received a stock option that analysts say was valued at almost $600 million at the time.

Looking beyond Apple, Yahoo Inc (NasdaqGS: YHOO - news) 's CEO, Marissa Mayer, a former Google Inc high-flyer hired this year to try to turn around the struggling Internet icon, won a pay package worth more than $70 million. Despite her lack of a track record as CEO and Yahoo's tiny size in comparison, her basic pay is comparable to Cook's, with about $1 million in annual salary and up to $2 million in an annual bonus.

Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison, one of the most highly paid U.S. chief executives - and also the world's sixth-richest man, according to Forbes - received total compensation for the year ended May 31, 2012, of $96.2 million - almost all of it in stock options. That compared with $77.6 million in 2011.

According to a study of the Fortune 500 conducted by Forbes this year, CEOs were paid a base salary of $1.1 million in 2011 on average, with the mean annual bonus at $2.4 million and average total compensation - including stock awards - at around $17 million.

Apple shares closed up 0.4 percent at $515.06 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Liana Baker in New York, Jim Finkle and Tim McLaughlin in Boston and Edwin Chan in San Francisco; editing by Kenneth Barry and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-ceo-2012-pay-drop-151057112.html

obscura grok cirque du freak eric cantor eric cantor pope joan pope joan

Thursday, December 27, 2012

94 percent of high school students used phones during class, Israeli study finds

Dec. 26, 2012 ? Of Israeli high school pupils 94% access social media via their cell phones during class, reveals a new study conducted by the University of Haifa. Only 4% reported not using their cell phones at all during class. It was also found that in classes with more permissive teachers, cell phone use was lower than in classes where the teacher imposed strict discipline.

"The students use their mobile phones in various ways -- to surf the Internet and access social media, to listen to music, take photos, play games, and send text messages and photos," the researchers point out. "Based on our findings, there is almost no moment during any class when some pupil isn't using their cell phone."

Although the vast majority of high school students in Israel have cell phones, the extent of their use has never been examined in depth. This new study sought to determine the scope of use, types of use, when they are used (in which classes), and whether there was a correlation between cell phone use in class and the type of discipline the teacher imposes in the classroom. The study, which was conducted at the University of Haifa's School of Political Sciences by Dr. Itai Beeri and Dana Daniel, a research student in the pre-doctorate research studies track, included 591 pupils in grades 9-12 and 144 teachers of various subjects in three Jewish high schools. The identities of the participants and the schools were not disclosed.

Most common uses

As noted, 94% of the pupils admitted to accessing social media or file-sharing sites (such as Facebook and YouTube) during class, from time to time or even more frequently. Some 95% of the pupils take pictures or make recordings during class for non-study purposes; 94% send e-mails and text messages; 93% listen to music during class and 91% actually talk on their phones during class.

The researchers also sought to determine the frequency of the students' cell phone use during class (from "never" to "very often"). The data indicates that on average, every pupil uses a cell phone in 60% of his or her classes.

"What stands out is the high use of interactive, multi-user functions, which can be very disruptive during the course of the lesson, and which have potential for long-term, ongoing and cumulative disturbance and damage that far exceeds the physical boundaries of the classroom or the time spent in class," the researchers noted. They also stated that, "The potential damage stemming from heightened cell phone use during class casts a pall on the entire educational system, on the school atmosphere, on the educational achievements of the class, on the pupil's own learning experience and on the teacher's burnout having to cope with discipline problems in class."

Does the teacher or class subject matter?

Cell phones are use more frequently in humanities classes than in math and science classes, and as the difficulty of the subject matter rises (in subjects such as math or English, which have higher- level classes), cell phone use goes down. Age also influences cell phone use: 10th graders use their phones in class most frequently, while 12th graders use them the least. Use of cell phones in class drops when the teacher is more experienced, but the gender of the teacher has no influence on class phone use.

The researchers also sought to determine whether there was a link between a teacher's discipline style (as reported by the teacher himself) and the extent of cell phone use in their classes (as reported by the students). Surprisingly enough, in classes where the teacher was more permissive ("I don't think students have to obey regulations and behavioral rules just because of someone holding authority"), cell phone use was less, while with students with a tougher teacher ("When I tell my pupils what to do, I expect them to do it immediately, without asking questions"), cell phone use increased.

"The research data shows that the use of cell phones during class has become routine," the researchers said. "Even if on an individual level such use is only occasional, in the standard learning unit -- a class of 30 to 40 pupils -- in nearly every class a majority of pupils are using their mobile phones in some fashion. At any given moment, at least some of the pupils are using their cell phones, and there is no teacher who hasn't been forced to cope with the phenomenon of cell phone use on a regular basis."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Haifa, via Newswise.

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


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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/IJI12GGpjkM/121226111207.htm

zappos john elway john elway i have a dream speech fox news debate martin luther king jr mlk

Incentives to counter short-term investing? | OccupyWorcester.com

Incentives to counter short-term investing?
While there is much debate on the topic, a report commissioned by the United Kingdom published in July noted differences between investing and trading, with the latter done on the basis of expected short-term movement in a company's share price.
Read more on Vancouver Sun

Short-Term Skeptics Expect Netflix to Slide
Implied volatility on this short-term put spiked 8.6 percentage points by the close, and open interest jumped overnight by 1,014 contracts. As a result, it's safe to assume that NFLX bears bought to open a new batch of weekly 75 puts on Monday. Based ?
Read more on Schaeffers Research

LTFs still hot choice for investors looking for tax breaks
"Moreover, we have witnessed increasing demand from new investors, who do not look for short-term returns through investments of a short period or a year. They thoroughly study mutual funds and the investment policies of each company. Then they decide ?
Read more on The Nation

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://occupyworcester.com/incentives-to-counter-short-term-investing/

Al Smith Dinner Herman Melville Books American Horror Story Kyna Treacy megan fox Bb&t Lane Goodwin

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway reopens after weather temporarily ...

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy (Revised November 1, 2011)

? 2012 New Orleans Net LLC. All rights reserved (About Us).
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of New Orleans Net LLC.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Contact interactivity management.

Ad Choices

Source: http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2012/12/lake_pontchartrain_causeway_re_4.html

lollapalooza lineup joss whedon ronnie montrose melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine cough matt groening

Choosing The Very Best Cheap Web Hosting Service Supplier A ...

Best suited in the high planet companies with the universities in a very town, every body use a site in their own. In case you personal a famed multinational corporation, the web site of your corporation will need to automatically be constructed clearly and eye-catching. Planning the site have to be the foremost believed. Only if your organization homepage is engaging, you could potentially transform your readers into people. To set up a nicely built web-site, industry professionals inside of the internet site coming up with are certainly quite possibly the most needed. Since it could be very over-priced, organizations of plenty of small businesses were normally over the hunt for an alternate. While using arrival of FrontPage Hosting, online businesses with not substantially specialized proficiency might also make a blog in their personal. This may final result in low-cost web hosting options.

Front Site Webhosting:

A good number of website hosting organizations deliver products and services using FrontPage Hosting from Microsoft. FrontPage Website hosting is currently regarded as the only net developing software systems in market place. While using the guidance on the
FrontPage Web hosting facility any business can develop their very own websites within an gorgeous way lacking a professional internet designer. The specialty in FrontPage Web hosting is, it stands exceptional with out other online site skillsets to pattern an internet site.

Front Page Hosting Specialty:

Just like Microsoft Office, FrontPage makes use of the straightforward what-you-see-is-what-you-get. So, even a novice could make usage of FrontPage to set up a website. Considering the fact that the entrance web page internet hosting became prominent, many web-site hosting organizations came forward to provide FrontPage hosting plans. These organisations protect you time and bypasses the use of the FTP client. This stops the cumbersome intervening procedures that a person needs to undergo well before internet hosting their internet site.

Capabilities of FrontPage Web hosting:

The loaded features that FrontPage presents are one of many key pros of FrontPage. Nearly all of these aspects might be availed only if your internet hosting server has the extensions for FrontPage activated. The hosting agencies are professionals on this field. These qualities comprise of some fairly relevant such things as hit counters, search functionality, discussion boards for discussion, database kinds, and distant administration. These attributes are available for most of the enterprises that work their own server. In spite of this, the only additionally, the most cost-effective would mean is usually to get yourself a hold of these characteristics is thru the utilization of a FrontPage webhosting supplier.

Suggestions for Finding a FrontPage Web hosting Provider:

Just striking ?FrontPage internet hosting program providers? in almost any of the search engines like yahoo will fetch you numerous suppliers. One can display screen with the pages to pick the best provider supplier.

Once you have got narrowed down the lookup to some couple of, be sure to carry out some way more analysis to be aware of more details on the provider provider you could be choosing.

You are able to check-out some weblogs and message boards to recognise with regards to the recommended program supplier with this self-control.

Fairly than going to the greatest services supplier who give the many doable capabilities, you could potentially settle aided by the just one which gives you the abilities that you just demand. Therefore, you can save your self some headaches which you would possibly get sooner or later.

Web Hosting An Information For Learners can provide you with highest possible info for For An Online Hosting Site Ends Here By Expertise Web Hosting Customers.Be sure to have a look at the written article for more info!

Related posts:

  1. What To Contemplate When Selecting A Web Hosting Supplier
  2. Swiftly Taking On An Internet Hosting Service In Your WebSites
  3. Internet Hosting Sorts And How One Can The Choose Greatest Hosting Service For Your Corporation
  4. Is Prime Internet Hosting Service Suppliers The Perfect Web Hosting Supplier Within The International Market
  5. Issues You?Ll Want To Know About Your European Web Hosting Firm

Source: http://www.thefloorgeek.com/2012/12/choosing-the-very-best-cheap-web-hosting-service-supplier-a-beginner-information/

new jersey atlantic city ocean city maryland Nexus 7 KDKA Pumpkin Carving Ideas Hurricane Sandy path

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Rihanna Stalker Gets Within 12 Feet Of The Singer In Barbados

Rihanna Stalker Gets Within 12 Feet Of The Singer In Barbados

Rihanna gets an unwelcome guest in BarbadosSinger Rihanna, who is taking a little vacation at her luxury villa in her native Barbados, received an unwelcome visitor on her getaway. Rihanna was catching some rays with friends on Sunday when a man made his way inside her home, but was ushered away by her security team. A male fan tried to enter ...

Rihanna Stalker Gets Within 12 Feet Of The Singer In Barbados Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2012/12/rihanna-stalker-gets-within-12-feet-of-the-singer-in-barbados/

oakland school shooting nike nfl jerseys katie couric barista university of kentucky ncaa oakland news

Natural Health Tips | Skin Care Systems For Males And Tips For ...

I have mild acne Iam a 15 year old male and nothing is working for me. Please give me tips and a good system for guys! It needs to be over the counter and give me some health tips please!

Here r ur eating healthy tips1. Eliminate ?White Foods? from Your Diet. White flour, white sugar and other processed foods are not only devoid of vitamins and minerals, but they?ve also been stripped of their natural fibre. As a result, they rapidly drive up blood sugar levels, which contributes to weight gain, diabetes and a host of other health problems. Avoid breads and baked goods made with white flour, sugar-laden sodas and snack foods. Instead, focus on eating fibre-rich fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains. 2. Stay Away from Dangerous Trans Fats. While it?s important to reduce your overall fat intake, it?s even more important to watch the types of fat you eat. Deep-fried foods and anything made with hydrogenated oils (margarine, peanut butter, shortening, store-bought pastries and cookies) contain trans fats that raise your risk of heart disease. Eat only healthful fats, such as olive oil and the omega-3 oils found in salmon and other cold-water fish, which actually protect against heart disease. 3. Take a Potent Daily Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement. Although there is no substitute for a good diet, I am convinced that for optimal nutrition, you need to take a high-potency multivitamin and mineral supplement. Even if you are eating right, it?s unlikely that your food contains all the nutrients you need. Poor soil quality, storage, processing and cooking deplete our food of vitamins and minerals. Taking a high quality daily supplement is ?health insurance? against possible deficiencies. 4. Include Weight Training in Your Exercise Routine. Aerobic exercise is great for cardiovascular conditioning, but it?s vastly inferior to weight training in attacking the ?flab factor.? Recent research has shown that as little as once-weekly resistance exercise can improve muscle strength. Even the busiest or laziest among us can find the time and energy for that. Join a gym, consult a personal trainer or ask an experienced friend to show you the ropes. 5. Maintain Your Optimal Weight. Current statistics suggest that half of us are losing the battle of the bulge, but maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do for yourself. You?ll look better, feel better and reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other major killers. I know this is easier said than done, but if you just follow the four steps above, you?ll be well on your way. 6. Drink Alcohol Only in Moderation. You?ve probably heard of the ?French Paradox,? and that drinking wine protects against heart disease. Repeated studies have shown that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol (all kinds) protects not only against heart disease, but also lowers risk of death from all causes. Remember that moderation is key. While one to two drinks a day are protective, excess alcohol consumption is devastating to health. And for some, one drink is too many. 7. Protect Your Prostate. Around the age of 40, the prostate gland begins a growth spurt that results in symptoms such as frequent nighttime urination. The good news is that this condition, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, can be prevented or reversed by taking extracts of two herbs: saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and pygeum (Pygeum africanum). Dozens of studies have shown that these herbs work in improving urinary flow without adverse side-effects. Suggested doses are 160 to 320 milligrams of saw palmetto and 40 to 80 mg of pygeum daily. 8. Reduce Your Risk of Prostate Cancer. Experts estimate that 80 per cent of all cancers can be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices. Avoid saturated and trans fats, which may fuel prostate cancer growth, and incorporate protective foods, such as soy, green tea and tomatoes, into your diet. Soy contains isoflavones with specific anti-cancer activity. Green tea is rich in polyphenols that inhibit the formation of cancer-causing compounds and block the growth of prostate cancer cells. And tomatoes, particularly cooked tomato products, are an excellent source of lycopene, which is linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. In addition, make sure your daily nutritional supplement contains high doses of the antioxidant selenium (200 micrograms) and vitamin E (800 IU), which have been shown to dramatically lower the risk of prostate cancer. 9. Maintain Vigorous Sexual Function. Most cases of erectile dysfunction (impotence) have a physical cause: You?re just not getting enough blood to the area in question. To improve overall circulation, follow the diet, exercise and supplement recommendations above. If you?re taking drugs, review them with your doctor, as many can worsen erectile function and impair libido. Smoking also significantly impairs erectile function. Several herbs have been shown to improve sexual function. Ginkgo biloba increases blood flow to the penis, and Panax ginseng, oats, horny goat weed, maca and seroctin improve libido. 4 SKIN TIPS CHECK THIS SITEhttp://www.helpfulhealthtips.com/best-skin-care-tips-for-men/

My acne cleared up when i began a good diet (no fast food!) and exercize with good sleeping habits. it is amazing how many benefits you get from clean, healthy living. otherwise, you will out grow it. good luck, hope this helps. remember don?t worry. you have the rest of your life to worry.

The best i can say is visit a dermatologist(skin doctor) and ask for help (the doctor?s mostly know what treatment you need)

Here r ur eating healthy tips

1. Eliminate ?White Foods? from Your Diet. White flour, white sugar and other processed foods are not only devoid of vitamins and minerals, but they?ve also been stripped of their natural fibre. As a result, they rapidly drive up blood sugar levels, which contributes to weight gain, diabetes and a host of other health problems. Avoid breads and baked goods made with white flour, sugar-laden sodas and snack foods. Instead, focus on eating fibre-rich fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

2. Stay Away from Dangerous Trans Fats. While it?s important to reduce your overall fat intake, it?s even more important to watch the types of fat you eat. Deep-fried foods and anything made with hydrogenated oils (margarine, peanut butter, shortening, store-bought pastries and cookies) contain trans fats that raise your risk of heart disease. Eat only healthful fats, such as olive oil and the omega-3 oils found in salmon and other cold-water fish, which actually protect against heart disease.

3. Take a Potent Daily Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement. Although there is no substitute for a good diet, I am convinced that for optimal nutrition, you need to take a high-potency multivitamin and mineral supplement. Even if you are eating right, it?s unlikely that your food contains all the nutrients you need. Poor soil quality, storage, processing and cooking deplete our food of vitamins and minerals. Taking a high quality daily supplement is ?health insurance? against possible deficiencies.

4. Include Weight Training in Your Exercise Routine. Aerobic exercise is great for cardiovascular conditioning, but it?s vastly inferior to weight training in attacking the ?flab factor.? Recent research has shown that as little as once-weekly resistance exercise can improve muscle strength. Even the busiest or laziest among us can find the time and energy for that. Join a gym, consult a personal trainer or ask an experienced friend to show you the ropes.

5. Maintain Your Optimal Weight. Current statistics suggest that half of us are losing the battle of the bulge, but maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do for yourself. You?ll look better, feel better and reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other major killers. I know this is easier said than done, but if you just follow the four steps above, you?ll be well on your way.

6. Drink Alcohol Only in Moderation. You?ve probably heard of the ?French Paradox,? and that drinking wine protects against heart disease. Repeated studies have shown that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol (all kinds) protects not only against heart disease, but also lowers risk of death from all causes. Remember that moderation is key. While one to two drinks a day are protective, excess alcohol consumption is devastating to health. And for some, one drink is too many.

7. Protect Your Prostate. Around the age of 40, the prostate gland begins a growth spurt that results in symptoms such as frequent nighttime urination. The good news is that this condition, known as benign prostatic hyperplasia, can be prevented or reversed by taking extracts of two herbs: saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) and pygeum (Pygeum africanum). Dozens of studies have shown that these herbs work in improving urinary flow without adverse side-effects. Suggested doses are 160 to 320 milligrams of saw palmetto and 40 to 80 mg of pygeum daily.

8. Reduce Your Risk of Prostate Cancer. Experts estimate that 80 per cent of all cancers can be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices. Avoid saturated and trans fats, which may fuel prostate cancer growth, and incorporate protective foods, such as soy, green tea and tomatoes, into your diet. Soy contains isoflavones with specific anti-cancer activity. Green tea is rich in polyphenols that inhibit the formation of cancer-causing compounds and block the growth of prostate cancer cells. And tomatoes, particularly cooked tomato products, are an excellent source of lycopene, which is linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. In addition, make sure your daily nutritional supplement contains high doses of the antioxidant selenium (200 micrograms) and vitamin E (800 IU), which have been shown to dramatically lower the risk of prostate cancer.

9. Maintain Vigorous Sexual Function. Most cases of erectile dysfunction (impotence) have a physical cause: You?re just not getting enough blood to the area in question. To improve overall circulation, follow the diet, exercise and supplement recommendations above. If you?re taking drugs, review them with your doctor, as many can worsen erectile function and impair libido. Smoking also significantly impairs erectile function. Several herbs have been shown to improve sexual function. Ginkgo biloba increases blood flow to the penis, and Panax ginseng, oats, horny goat weed, maca and seroctin improve libido.

4 SKIN TIPS CHECK THIS SITE

http://www.helpfulhealthtips.com/best-skin-care-tips-for-men/

I know this sounds soooooo weird,

But Fish, and vegetables all keep your hair and skin healthy.

You need to buy a facial wash. Something like ?clearasil? should do the trick to help unblock your pores (which causes spots!) and use it in the morning, and then in the evening.

Exfoliate once a week, and moisturize twice a day to keep skin fresh.

Wash your face in the morning, and at night with a face wash to keep your skin healthy.

Drink PLENTY of water to hydrate your skin. It will also make the whites of your eyes whiter too.

Good luck. =D

Lots of water, And less greasy foods. Oh and Proactive works really well too.

Related Websites

Source: http://healthy-tips.net/natural-health-tips-skin-care-systems-for-males-and-tips-for-good-skin-care/

josh powell madonna halftime show linsanity the alamo anencephaly tesla model x lou gehrig