Operational Problems to Avoid in a Commercial Real Estate Agency

When you run a commercial real estate agency with many salespeople, it is important to avoid operational problems that stifle listing opportunity and deal conversions. All too often today we see some agents cutting corners when it comes to operational support and backup for the sales team.

You cannot make good commissions when you cut corners.

The common operational problems we see today are urually:
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-Lack of support staff to assist the sales team with their listings, advertising, database, and contract or lease documentation processes.
-The sales team spending too much time on administrative duties therefore not getting into the market and meeting enough of the decision makers.
-Little or no database support to capture the qualified enquiry accurately and in a timely way.
-Little or no marketing material to assist the sales team with their sales presentations and pitches.
-Poorly constructed marketing campaigns that have little relevance to the property precinct or the listed property.
-Lack of consistent prospecting and cold calling systems and strategies on the part of the sales team.
-Sales staff that do not know how to handle technology in the presentation and marketing process.
-Selection of under experienced staff with little or no market presence.

Let's face the facts; today's commercial real estate market is challenging and competitive with many agents chasing the same listings. This means that your agency and the sales team should have all the required tools at their fingertips to move on a potential listing and take it to market as quickly and effectively as possible.

Marketing a property today is not an experiment for inexperienced salespeople; the clients and property owners that you deal with really require the best salespeople to help them complete the transaction as effectively as possible.

There is a place for having property cadets learning the trade behind your experienced people; this provides for some succession or growth in the sales team. There is no place for employing poorly skilled or untested salespeople in today's market; they will cost you money and*waste your time.

Key Strategies

Here are some key strategies to help you with the development of a real estate agency in today's property market:

1.A new agency business with inadequate funding from the outset will be difficult to sustain momentum. It takes about six months of hard work to get an agency presence and dominance into the local precinct. Signage presence will always help you here but the skills, focus and consistent actions of the sales team will require funding for a solid period of time before leads and opportunities are easily coming to your office.

2.The agency should have an established business plan focusing on the periods of one year, two years, and five years. It takes about one or two years of sustained hard work with a successful sales and leasing team to break even. The second year will be the year for focusing on the generation of profit, leading into the five year business success plan.

3.The branding of your real estate office should be consistent across all marketing materials and signboards. All listings should receive a signboard at the time of listing. Signboard presence and dominance will strengthen your market share.

4.Always strive to get a sole agency or exclusive agency on the properties that you list. Some property markets will let you do this although open listings are more common at the early stages of opening a real estate office. The transition from taking open listings to exclusive listings should therefore be part of your business plan.

5.Staff training and development should be a regular weekly process. Even the most experienced salespeople will have issues to be developed and improved.

6.Technology has become a central part of the real estate business for both the agency and the individual salesperson. Up to date computers, mobile telephone technology, and database systems will be needed to support the sales team.

7.Build your property management portfolio wherever possible from the successful sales and leasing transactions that you undertake. It is a well-known fact that property management portfolio fees will assist the commercial agency to function over the long term during dips or troughs in the property market or economy. The property management portfolio will also become a saleable commodity if extra cash flow is required in the future within the agency.

When you plan your agency business well you can move forward with the right steps. Always test and measure your progress so you can see when something is not working; then take the right remedial action to fix it.?

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By John Highman

Source: http://urbanlinguist.blogspot.com/2012/08/operational-problems-to-avoid-in.html

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Parents: Home School Provides Specialized Education | Seerah ...

Jeanne Cygnus sits next to her daughter, Kyla, 17, a senior at Mundelein High School, Aug. 25 as she works on a self-portrait for her art class at their home in Mundelein. (Candace H. Johnson)

LIZ Sue of Grayslake came from a long line of public school teachers. But, when it came time to send her own children to school she decided to teach them herself.

Sue has home schooled all three of her children, ages 19, 17 and 15, from preschool through high school.

Sue is among a growing number of guardians looking at home schooling as an alternative to the public school system. Families like the? Sues say home schooling their children has allowed them to have a more tailored educational experience than would be possible in a traditional classroom setting.

In 2007, the number of home schooled students in the U.S. was about 1.5 million, an increase from 850,000 in 1999 and 1.1 million in 2003, according to U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

Sue said her family members voiced concerns about her decision, especially about how her children would learn good socialization skills.

?My family had a very difficult time with the idea of me home schooling ? the majority of my family members are public school teachers,? Sue said.

She told them home schoolers ?are all different ages so they learn how to talk to everybody.?

Sue also observed that some students in public schools might be overlooked by a teacher doing his or her best to get to everyone in the classroom. Teaching her children manners was also part of her decision to home school, she said.

?[In the public school] that one teacher works really hard to give them an education, but he or she can?t possibly hear all those conversations that go on throughout the day,? Sue said. ?Home school parents can train and teach their kids and say, ?I?m sorry, but that wasn?t a nice way to talk to [that person].? It?s much more difficult for kids to hide something from you when you?re working one on one.?

Jeanne Cygnus and her husband, Marc Cygnus, of Mundelein, decided to home school their children Kyla Cygnus, 17, and Christian Cygnus,15, from kindergarten through eighth grade because they felt they could give them the one-on-one attention students might not get in classes with 20 or more other students.

?[Marc and I are] both very academically oriented and we saw that sometimes [the curriculum] goes at the pace of the slowest student [in the classroom],? Jeanne said. ?We knew both our kids were well ahead of that.?

As most 5-year-olds carried around their favorite blanket or teddy bear, Kyla clung to her favorite book, Jeanne said.

She and her brother also did homework at Jeanne?s business, Cygnus Lactation Services, in Mundelein.

?They were with me all day and got a real interesting perspective,? Jeanne Cygnus said. ?They saw the real world while learning in an academic setting. When we went to the store they learned how to count change ? there are so many things you can teach them in every day life.?

Jeanne laughed as she recalled fielding questions from outsiders about the impact of home schooling on her kids? socialization.

?Just because you?re home schooling doesn?t mean you have to stay at home,? Jeanne said, adding that the library was like a second home for her family. ?We did a lot of things and my kids were involved in a lot of activities.?

After their children finished eighth grade, Jeanne and Marc gave them the option to attend public high school or continue home schooling ? both chose to attend public school to prepare for the classroom setting they will encounter in college.

Jeanne admits that when the two had to test into the public school system she was nervous.

?How are they going to hold up?? she wondered.

Both Kyla and Christian are in honors classes and have good grades. Kyla is interested in pursuing art at the college level and already has a college offer. Christian is a straight-A student and in involved in a variety of clubs, including Future Business Leaders of America and the high school?s broadcast team.

Christian can recall starting as a freshman and being nervous, but as he begins his sophomore year this month he?s more comfortable about where he fits in.

?I was just nervous for the new schedule,? Christian said about his first year of public high school. ?Having to do homework, [getting used to] the teachers and the whole environment and learning with other kids. But, it was easier than I thought to get acclimated.?

The Sue family home schooled their children through high school, which allowed their children to take classes at the College of Lake County and get a head start on their college education.

Liz?s eldest, Charlotte Sue, is now a sophomore at Milligan College in Tennessee and has a full-tuition scholarship. Charlotte is pursuing a double major in art and psychology and plans to attend graduate school to study art therapy.

Charlotte said while growing up she enjoyed frequenting museums in Chicago with her mom and others in her local home school group. Those early experiences influenced her desire to pursue art therapy, she said.

?When I took an interest in art it was something we put more time into,? Charlotte said about how her mom was able to curtail the curriculum to her interests. ?My mom was always really supportive. But, it didn?t take away from studying other subjects.?

Liz also believes that because she home schooled her daughter she was able to discover that Charlotte needed corrective glasses.

?My daughter didn?t like math from the time she was 6 years old and I?d tried lots of different curriculums and methods,? Liz said. ?By the time she was a sophomore in high school one of the things we discovered was that she needed specialized lenses. Within a week or so of her seeing the vision therapist she was able to do math and didn?t have any more problems.?

Oliver Sue, 15, who is home schooled, said isolation isn?t an issue for him. He has friends who attend public school and friends that are home schooled like him.

Oliver also plans to take classes at College of Lake County and said he enjoys working on computers and studying history.

He said sometimes kids who attend public school think home schooled kids are ?sheltered,? but that?s not true.

?I?m experiencing new things,? he said, adding that home schooling allows him to work at his own pace and spend more time with friends. ?You also get to be more in touch with your mom or dad or whoever is teaching you. I like that.?

Liz said it?s important for those who decide to home school to network with other home school families.

She said being able to trouble shoot with other parents can make a huge difference when having a bad day.

?You don?t feel as isolated when you?re in a group setting,? Liz said, adding that she is a member of local home school group Hearts and Minds in Christ. ?We are a Christian-based cooperative. Home school groups provide resources and we help each other. The kids socialize with kids of different ages.?

Liz and Jeanne Cygnus agree that regardless of a family?s reasoning for home schooling, the most important element to a successful experience is passion.

?It doesn?t matter if you?ve been trained or you just want to do it; but, if you?re passionate about giving your kids the best education you can possibly give them you?re going to do a great job,? Liz said.

?If you?re willing to do it there are so many resources out there,? Jeanne said. ?There?s no one way to home school.?

Lake County resources for home schoolers abound

In addition to local networks of home school families, home schoolers can find support in Lake County?s libraries and Forest Preserves.

Janet Brakel, volunteer associate with Lake Villa District Library, knows first hand the important role libraries play in home school families.

Brakel home schooled her three children, now 29, 26 and 24, from elementary school through eighth grade. Her eldest chose to be home schooled through high school while her younger two transitioned from home schooling to public high school.

Brakel has lectured about ways librarians can help home schoolers as the library?s home school advocate coordinator.

?[The library] is essential to their whole effort,? Brakel said. ?There are books about everything, and now we have cds, DVDS and programs that anyone can go to. A home schooler can come in [to the library], spend the day and do research.?

Brakel said home school families in the area become regular patrons of the library and she has come to know them on a first name basis.

Paul Kaplan, head of adult services of Lake Villa District Library, said the library offers resources for home schooling guardians as well.

Kaplan recalls how one child?s grandparents decided to begin home schooling because the student was struggling in the public school system. Kaplan said the library?s resources gave the grandparents the confidence to successfully home school that student.

?I remember them coming in and being unsure of themselves,? Kaplan said. ?We were able to help them.?

Kerry Reed, head of the youth department at the Lake Villa Library, said the library hosts an annual orientation program for home school families.

?We highlight our services, children?s programs, and resources,? Reed said. ?We have a Homeschooling Resources binder available at the Adult Services Reference desk, which includes information on local support groups, curriculum providers and flyers from private tutors. ?We continually purchase and maintain a collection of books and journals that address the needs of home schooling families.?

Cindy Lobaza, head of youth services at the Fox Lake District Library, said the library offers a special collection of literature geared toward home school families year round.

?We have six big shelves of stuff for home schooling and parenting books nearby,? Lobaza said. ?We have a lot of parents that come in and are interested in home schooling.?

Lobaza said ongoing youth and teen programs engage home school and public school students and offer an opportunity for students to network, such as the library?s chess club.

?A big concern for a lot of home school parents is feeling isolated,? Lobaza said. ?We have a lot of programming and we gear it toward all families.?

Families can also turn to the Lake County Forest Preserves for programs designed for home schoolers, said Nicole Stocker, museum educator with the Lake County Forest Preserves.

The program series ?Home School Companion? will be offered beginning in October at various sites throughout Lake County, Stocker said.

The first program will be about stewardship, and all programs are either history or nature-based and are geared toward those between 5 and 12 years old, she said.

?We decided we wanted to focus on [home schoolers],? Stocker said about the program?s creation two years ago. ?We?re hoping to be a resource for families. It gives them a different perspective on topics and they?re learning in a new way. It?s hands on.?

To learn more about online resources for home schooling, visit the Lake County?s Regional Office of Education at www.lake.k12.il.us/roe_home_sch/. To learn more about the Lake County Forest Preserves and upcoming events visit www.lcfpd.org.

MORE:? LAKE COUNTY JOURNAL

Source: http://seerahschool.com/?p=696

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Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did

We all know what the Nintendo Entertainment System looks like, right? Well, if a butterfly had flapped its wings in a slightly different manner, things could have apparently been quite different. Former Director of Game Creative at Nintendo America, Howard Phillips, has recently uploaded some images taken from a 1985 brochure for a precursor to the NES called the AVS (Advanced Video System). While a glance at some vintage-looking hardware that never came to be -- such as the wireless controller -- is a retrospective tease, it was the marketing material from a couple of years later that really snags the attention: an advert for a knitting machine peripheral. The image shows the NES we know and love, with a controller in a dock, attached to a knitting device turning-out what we can only assume are some leg-warmers. Not wanting to alienate its largely male audience, however, the tagline reads "Now you're knitting with power." Given that it never came to market, though, we guess that not quite everything was acceptable in the eighties.

Continue reading Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did

Filed under: Gaming

Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/30/early-nintendo-brochure-shows-us-the-childhood-we-could-have-had/

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Rocker Life Coach ? Time for an Entrepreneur Education? YES

So in this week of great ideas for where we need entrepreneurs in our world, I have something to write on from the suggestion box. My wonderful wife said to me on Monday when I started this theme, ?You need to do one on education,? only to be followed up three minutes later from someone else who said ?You need to do one on education.?

So let?s talk about schools and the education system in our country. Before all you teachers send me hate mail I want you all to read this and not take what I say as gospel, not take it as the basis to start an argument. Instead, if you think my ideas don?t or won?t work, ask yourself this: ?Shouldn?t I still be looking for newer ideas??

As I mentioned early in the week about the church that was growing with entrepreneur ideas, they added many ministries each and every year. They were always looking for ways to get people to come by and just visit anything going on at the church. That is why they have sports teams, they have a food pantry, they have a great meeting and food center, as well as a weekly business luncheon. All to offer people things they need from the service of a church.

Now I know I mentioned church two times in one week, so let?s get to my rant on education. I have a father-in-law who was a professor; I have a wife who is very highly educated; my father went back to school at 40 to get his degree to teach kids; and even my brother Ken has done the same.

I hear so many people tell how they are going to school to become a professor or a teacher. Then I?m reminded of the comedy film with Rodney Dangerfield, Back to School. While the part he plays is a rather questionable businessman, the film had a point.

The business professor was teaching kids how to be in business and he himself had never run a real business in the real world. I know this has changed, as I know several business owners who are teaching classes to young kids now in our local community colleges.

I think our schools as far down as junior high should be teaching entrepreneur thinking to our kids. We should be solving not just our math problems, but learning how to do some of those things we thought were dumb in high school. We should have an entrepreneur class that teaches our kids how the things they are learning will apply to the real world.

We need to be teaching college kids how to start and create things like the multi-level marketing companies. Imagine a school that was just for entrepreneurs. This is just one of the many things that should be taught, but imagine if someone like Donald Trump were teaching a class at a school, how many business people do you know would sign up for that class?

Or let?s imagine Tony Robbins teaching a class on being a peak performance person in life. How many would attend that class?

But wait; these people are teaching and people are paying thousands of dollars to attend a 3-day and 4-day event where they come away with a new life it seems.

I have an idea for an entrepreneur boot camp and I just may put this into action. Imagine this: 10 people can get in to the class; they each have to put up $5,000. Then they come to a house setting where they have to live and learn ideas. We have several entrepreneurs who come in and teach, and then they have to create an idea or business to graduate. The business must be making a profit, and the one who has the most successful business gets a cash bonus to help take his company to the next level.

Ok, I?ll work on that one. In the meantime, what?s your thought on how we should apply entrepreneurialism to our schools?

I?m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It?s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Entrepreneurial education will lead you to being the RockStar in your world.

Source: http://rockerlifecoach.com/?p=2710

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Israel indicts several bakery chains over price fixing

Spooner ? Bespoke Solutions in Proving, Baking, Toasting, Drying and Cooling Since 1932 Spooner Industries has provided pioneering technology and bespoke solutions in proving, baking, toasting, drying and cooling. For a diverse range of food products including bread, biscuits, cereals, pies, confectionary, pastry, pet foods, fast foods and ingredients. Processed Foods > Bakery & Cereals > Suppliers Palsgaard - Emulsifiers and Stabilizers 'Doing things right' has always been a natural part of everyday life at Palsgaard and we can trace this value back more than a century. From the beginning, Einar Viggo Schou, the founder of Palsgaard, paid special attention to the needs of the employees and of local society, and down the years these values have been passed on and updated. Today, when we describe ourselves as 'heart working people', we say a great deal about how we see ourselves and how we would like other people to see us. Our CSR report is intended to provide stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of the effects of these values in 2010 and our goals for the future. Processed Foods > Bakery & Cereals > Suppliers Sveba-Dahlen AB - Bakery Equipment and Ovens for Professional Baking Sveba-Dahlen develops, markets and manufactures rack, deck, pizza and tunnel ovens, proving chambers and fermentation lines for both small and large bakeries, supermarkets, industrial bakeries and pizzerias, restaurants and large kitchens. Processed Foods > Bakery & Cereals > Suppliers Process Components - Iris Diaphragm Valves, Spare Parts and Services for the Food Industry Process Components (PCL) offers a broad portfolio of products and services ranging from the original and world-renowned Mucon Iris Diaphragm Valve (IDV) through to spares and consumables for all manner of food, pharmaceutical and chemical processing equipment. Processed Foods > Bakery & Cereals > Suppliers

Source: http://bakeryandcereals.food-business-review.com/news/israel-indicts-several-bakery-chains-over-price-fixing-300812

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NBC?s The New Normal Premi?re Episode (Video)

The new TV season may still be weeks away but NBC is giving fans a chance to watch the premiere episode of the new comedy The New Normal. That is right you can see the premiere in its entirety right here, sweet! I am sure by know you are all well aware of the NBC sitcom The New Normal, starring the very talented Ellen Barkin. It has been making headlines the past couple of weeks ever since a Utah TV station declined to air the show because it features a gay couple trying to have a baby. The group One Million Moms also took aim at the show because of the illusion it gives as to what a normal family is today. Personally I think all the controversy is crap and the Utah station and the One Million Moms groups shuld shut up but that is a topic for another day. In what I think is a great way to show viewers what the show is really about NBC has made it available early online. Now some of you may recall the peacock network actually aired the pilot during the Olympics. I for one don?t recall this because well I [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/FGhskfz5fP4/

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Chris Lighty Remembered By 50 Cent, Mariah Carey

'Words cannot express the sadness we share today,' Carey tweeted following the death of her manager.
By Rob Markman

Chris Lighty
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1692995/chris-lighty-50-cent-mariah-carey.jhtml

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President Obama Visits Ft. Bliss to Highlight End of Iraq War

As his Republican rivals kick off the final stretch of their campaign, President Obama today will publicly remind voters of his record as commander-in-chief, traveling to a Texas military base to thank service members and commemorate a war he brought to an end.

Obama will visit Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, home to Army units that deployed in the Iraq War, to hold a private roundtable discussion with service members and deliver an address to mark the two-year anniversary of the end of U.S. combat operations Iraq. The last American troops withdrew from the country in December 2011.

The trip, billed as an official White House visit, is also an opportunity for Obama to highlight what is one of the signature achievements of his first term and the fulfillment of a popular campaign promise from 2008.

"His record is a substantive record when it comes to the profound commitment and decision to end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home. And his record is substantial when it comes to supporting our veterans," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday of the trip.

The president will emphasize "the effort that his administration is continuing to make and steps that the administration is continuing to take that are essential to ensure that those who fought for us overseas are being fought for by us here at home," Carney added.

Obama has repeatedly over the past three years sought to remind Americans of his pledge to bring the increasingly unpopular war to a close, hoping to leverage public support for his leadership on the issue into a boost in the polls.

After returning from his first visit to Fort Bliss on Aug. 31, 2010, Obama delivered a nationally-televised Oval Office address to declare Operation Iraqi Freedom over. In October 2011, he took to the White House briefing room to herald a planned complete drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq by year's end. Three months later, Obama hailed the official end of war in Iraq on a visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

"This is an extraordinary achievement, nearly nine years in the making," Obama said in December. "And today, we remember everything that you did to make it possible. ? Hard work and sacrifice. Those words only begin to describe the cost of this war and the courage of the men and women who have fought it. We know well the heavy cost of this war."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/president-obama-visits-ft-bliss-highlight-end-iraq-100106711--abc-news-politics.html

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Longoria's 2 HRs helps Rays pop Rangers

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:28 p.m. ET Aug. 29, 2012

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Evan Longoria homered twice, Tampa Bay roughed up Matt Harrison and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

After dropping the last two against the AL-West leading Rangers by one run, the Rays avoided the three-game sweep.

Harrison (15-8) allowed seven runs and 12 hits in 5 1-3 innings. He took a no-hitter into the seventh and permitted two hits in eight shutout innings in his last outing Friday night against Minnesota.

Tampa Bay had scored only 11 runs during their losing skid before breaking out for 16 hits against Texas.

Longoria hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the ninth. B.J. Upton had a three-run home run and Elliot Johnson added a solo blast.

Jeff Keppinger went 4 for 5 and Ben Zobrist had three hits for the Rays.

Jake McGee (5-2) pitched a perfect sixth and five Tampa Bay relievers combined for 4 1-3 scoreless innings.

Josh Hamilton hit his 36th home run for Texas, a solo shot that brought Texas within 6-4 in the fifth.

The Rangers wrapped up a 10-game homestand with a 7-3 record.

Harrison gave up seven runs and a career-high 14 hits in an 8-4 loss to the Rays on April 27. The All-Star left-hander struggled again against Tampa Bay on Wednesday night, giving up six runs and a pair of home runs by the second inning.

Zobrist's RBI double in the first snapped a 13-inning scoreless drought.

Longoria drove a 3-1 fastball from Harrison 409 feet to center. The two-run shot extended Tampa Bay's lead to 3-0. Longoria is 6 for 9 with three home runs against Harrison in the regular season.

In the second inning, Sam Fuld tripled with one out and Desmond Jennings walked to set the stage for Upton.

After Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux visited Harrison, Upton lined a fastball into the seats in left for his 16th home run of the season.

Johnson led off the sixth with a home run and Harrison was chased out of the game two batters later.

It was the first time Harrison allowed three home runs in a game since April 21, 2010 against Boston.

Texas' Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer in the second, his 15th of the season. Nelson Cruz's RBI groundout got the Rangers to within 6-3.

Hamilton's 424-foot shot landed in the upper deck in right and gave him 112 RBIs, which leads the majors.

Rays starter Alex Cobb allowed eight hits and four runs in 4 2-3 innings.

Notes: Tampa Bay OF Matt Joyce, who left Tuesday's night's game with a strained left forearm, was not in the lineup. Manager Joe Maddon said Joyce might be available Thursday night at Toronto. ... Cruz was in the lineup after being hit in the left elbow Tuesday night. ... The Rays are 15-7 since Longoria came off the disabled list Aug. 7.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Longoria's 2 HRs helps Rays pop Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Evan Longoria homered twice, Tampa Bay roughed up Matt Harrison and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48836827/ns/sports-baseball/

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People merge supernatural and scientific beliefs when reasoning with the unknown, study shows

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Reliance on supernatural explanations for major life events, such as death and illness, often increases rather than declines with age, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin.

The study, published in the June issue of Child Development, offers new insight into developmental learning.

"As children assimilate cultural concepts into their intuitive belief systems -- from God to atoms to evolution -- they engage in coexistence thinking," said Cristine Legare, assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "When they merge supernatural and scientific explanations, they integrate them in a variety of predictable and universal ways."

Legare and her colleagues reviewed more than 30 studies on how people (ages 5-75) from various countries reason with three major existential questions: the origin of life, illness and death. They also conducted a study with 366 respondents in South Africa, where biomedical and traditional healing practices are both widely available.

As part of the study, Legare presented the respondents with a variety of stories about people who had AIDS. They were then asked to endorse or reject several biological and supernatural explanations for why the characters in the stories contracted the virus.

According to the findings, participants of all age groups agreed with biological explanations for at least one event. Yet supernatural explanations such as witchcraft were also frequently supported among children (ages 5 and up) and universally among adults.

Among the adult participants, only 26 percent believed the illness could be caused by either biology or witchcraft. And 38 percent split biological and scientific explanations into one theory. For example: "Witchcraft, which is mixed with evil spirits, and unprotected sex caused AIDS." However, 57 percent combined both witchcraft and biological explanations. For example: "A witch can put an HIV-infected person in your path."

Legare said the findings contradict the common assumption that supernatural beliefs dissipate with age and knowledge.

"The findings show supernatural explanations for topics of core concern to humans are pervasive across cultures," Legare said. "If anything, in both industrialized and developing countries, supernatural explanations are frequently endorsed more often among adults than younger children."

The results provide evidence that reasoning about supernatural phenomena is a fundamental and enduring aspect of human thinking, Legare said.

"The standard assumption that scientific and religious explanations compete should be re-evaluated in light of substantial psychological evidence," Legare said. "The data, which spans diverse cultural contexts across the lifespan, shows supernatural reasoning is not necessarily replaced with scientific explanations following gains in knowledge, education or technology."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas at Austin.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Cristine H. Legare, E. Margaret Evans, Karl S. Rosengren, Paul L. Harris. The Coexistence of Natural and Supernatural Explanations Across Cultures and Development. Child Development, 2012; 83 (3): 779 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01743.x

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/330ET9efY_c/120830135317.htm

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Quick Weekly Santa Monica Real Estate Market Update ? August 10 ...

Santa Monica Real Estate ? Single Family Homes:

Active Listings: 59
* Short Sales ? 1
* Bank Owned/REO ? 0

Of the 59 active Santa Monica homes for sale, 19 had their List Price decreased, and none of them actually increased in list price.

Current Pending Sales: 50
* Short Sales ? 11
* Bank Owned/REO ? 1

Total Sales: 7
* Short Sales ? 0
* Bank Owned/REO ? 0

Average Days on the Market for the 7 sold Santa Monica homes for sale was 50.

Average Selling Price versus the Average List Price of Santa Monica homes for sale was 101.87%.

Average Selling Price was $2,389,250.00.

View all homes for sale in Santa Monica here

Santa Monica Real Estate ? Condominiums:

Active Listings: 84
* Short Sales ? 9
* Bank Owned/REO ? 5

Of the 84 active Santa Monica condominiums for sale, 30 had their List Price decreased, and 3 of them actually increased in price.

Current Pending Santa Monica Condominiums for Sale: 83
* Short Sales ? 12
* Bank Owned/REO ? 5

Total Santa Monica Condominium Sales: 12
* Short Sales ? 2
* Bank Owned/REO- 1

Average Days on the Market for the 12 sold Santa Monica condominium for sale: 87.

Average Selling Price versus the Average List Price of Santa Monica condominiums for sale: 98.99%.

Average Selling Price was $639,625.00.

Go here now if you want to search for Santa Monica Real Estate for sale.

Thinking about selling your Santa Monica or Westside Los Angeles real estate?

Santa Monica Condos for sale

Source: http://bestsideofthewestside.com/2012/08/30/quick-weekly-santa-monica-real-estate-market-update-august-17-to-24-2012/

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Assad says more time needed to win Syria battle

President Bashar al-Assad said his forces need more time to win the battle in Syria and scoffed at the idea of creating buffer zones for displaced people, as fighting raged across his country on Wednesday.

Assad's statements, in an interview with pro-regime Addounia channel to be screened later in the day, came after a car bomb rocked a funeral in a on Tuesday, killing 27 people.

"I can summarise in one phrase: we are progressing, the situation on the ground is better but we have not yet won -- this will take more time," Assad said in advance excerpts of the interview with the private channel.

Assad also rejected an idea being championed by Turkey of creating buffer zones within Syria to receive those displaced by the conflict so they do not flood across the borders into neighbouring countries.

"Talk of buffer zones firstly is not on the table and secondly it is an unrealistic idea by hostile countries and the enemies of Syria," he said.

French President Francois Hollande said on Monday France was working with its partners on the possible establishment of such buffer zones.

But his foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, admitted Wednesday that implementing these would be "very complicated" and require the imposition of partial no-fly zones.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Turkey is in talks with the United Nations on ways to shelter thousands of refugees on Syrian soil.

"We expect the United Nations to step in for the protection of refugees inside Syria and if possible housing them in camps there," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

He was speaking before leaving for New York to attend UN Security Council meeting on refugees on Thursday.

Assad also mocked regime defectors, saying their departure amounted to a "self-cleansing of the government firstly and the country generally."

Syria's government has been rattled by several high-profile defections as the conflict has escalated, including former prime minister Riad Hijab and prominent General Manaf Tlass, an Assad childhood friend.

"Despite several mistakes, there is a strong bond" between the regime and the Syrian people, Assad insisted, boasting the support of the majority of the population.

Addounia said it would screen the full interview at 1800 GMT on Wednesday.

Syrian rebels, meanwhile, said they destroyed five helicopters in a raid on a military airport between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday, while state television said the attack was repelled.

Abu Mossab, a rebel who said he took part in the attack, told AFP via Skype that rebels shelled Taftanaz military airport with two tanks captured from the army and destroyed five helicopters.

"We destroyed five helicopters as well as buildings in the airport," Abu Mossab said, although the facility remained in army hands after the raid in which the rebels lost two men before withdrawing.

State television said the military repelled the attack with the airport suffering "no material damage."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier reported fierce fighting near the airport and helicopter raids on the nearby town of Taftanaz.

Initial reports indicated government troops suffered 14 casualties in Taftanaz, while two rebels and a civilian were killed elsewhere in Idlib province, it said.

And in Damascus, activists reported a third straight day of army attacks on rebel strongholds in the eastern outer belt of the city, collectively referred to as East Ghuta.

State media said "terrorist mercenaries" had killed four civilians in Zamalka, using its term for rebels fighting government forces since the anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011.

They had "murdered citizens, including women and men, under the eyes of inhabitants... The terrorists then gathered the bodies of the victims and put them in a mosque in Qadi Askar" district, the SANA news agency said.

It said the assailants had planned to blow up the mosque and then blame the attack on government forces.

State-run newspaper Tishrin said Tuesday's car bombing of a funeral in Damascus was an indication that the "terrorist" groups have reached "a very advanced stage of despair and bankruptcy."

The bombing hit Jaramana, a mainly Druze and Christian town on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus that the Observatory described as generally supportive of Assad's government.

Russia on Wednesday called for an impartial investigation into the latest "barbaric" violence in and around Damascus.

"We insist on a meticulous and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the latest tragic events" using the resources of the United Nations' newly opened office in Damascus, the Russian foreign ministry said.

It singled out the car bomb and the discovery of several hundred bodies near the Damascus suburb of Daraya on Sunday that the rebels charge was the result of a massacre by regime forces.

Free Syrian Army rebels on Wednesday kidnapped a Palestinian woman doctor, Mona al-Sayghi, from a military hospital in Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus, during fighting in nearby districts, a witness said.

Sayghi holds the rank of general in the Syrian-controlled Palestine Liberation Army.

In violence across the country on Wednesday, at least 52 people were killed, including 32 civilians, according to the Observatory. It says a total of more than 25,000 people have been killed in the 17-month-long revolt.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-time-needed-end-syria-conflict-says-assad-075504752.html

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VENITISM: MAHDI VIRUS ATTACKS MOSTLY IRANIAN COMPUTERS

Governments and gangs realize malware is much cheaper than mainstream warfare.
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming designed to
disrupt operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or
exploitation, gain unauthorized access to system resources, and other abusive
behavior. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware,
dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, rootkits, and other malicious and
unwanted software or program. In law, malware is sometimes known as computer
contaminant.

Israeli Seculert and Russian Kaspersky have identified thousand Mahdi virus
victims. Mahdi keeps running, which implies that Mahdi's operators are not
worried about getting caught.

Malware makers can hide their tracks using spoofing, VPNs, proxy services, and
other means to make it look like they are based in any number of countries -
when in truth they are somewhere completely different.

Stuxnet targeted Iran's nuclear program in 2010. After that customer-built virus
was uncovered by a security researcher in Belarus, authorities in Iran
discovered it in a uranium enrichment facility.

Occident has developed electronic weapons that could be used to defend the West
against cyber attacks or prevent them. Occident is prepared to strike first in a
cyber conflict. Cyber arms grow out of control. No government can guarantee it
can protect a country or entity against cyber attack. In future wars, there will
be a cyber element. Countries hope that if they threaten to use missiles to
retaliate against a cyber attack, others will think twice about launching one.

Mahdi is a less professional operation that runs on technology built with widely
available software. If the quality of your operation is not that high, then
maybe you don't care about being discovered. Mahdi lets remote attackers steal
files from infected PCs and monitor emails as well as instant messages. It can
also record audio, log keystrokes, and take screen shots of activity on those
computers.

Targets of Mahdi include critical infrastructure firms, financial services
firms, and government embassies located in five Middle Eastern countries, with
the majority of the infections in Iran. The campaign is being run by
hactivists, who are either funded by a government or provide information they
collect to a nation for ideological reasons.

Internet security firms make more money when people are more scared of malware,
and Eugene Kaspersky declares that cyber terrorism can bring the end of
civilization! A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against key
infrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics. Kaspersky is afraid cyber
terrorism is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will
know it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Kaspersky hoodwinks it will be the end of
the world as we know it!

Kaspersky hoodwinks the evolution from cyber war to cyber terrorism comes from
the indiscriminate nature of cyber weapons. Very much like a modern-day
Pandora's Box, Flame and other forms of malware cannot be controlled upon
release. Faced with a replicating threat that knows no national boundaries,
cyber weapons can take down infrastructure around the world, hurting scores of
innocent victims along the way.

Source: http://venitism.blogspot.com/2012/08/mahdi-virus-attacks-mostly-iranian.html

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Egypt says Syria's "oppressive regime" must go

DUBAI/AMMAN (Reuters) - Egypt called on Thursday for intervention to halt bloodshed in Syria, telling a meeting of 120 nations it was their duty to stand against the "oppressive regime" of Bashar al-Assad, prompting a Syrian walkout.

President Mohamed Mursi, elected two months ago after a popular uprising toppled Egypt's long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak, said Assad had lost legitimacy in his fight to crush a 17-month-old revolt in which 20,000 people have been killed.

Mursi's scathing speech to a summit of non-aligned leaders, hosted by Assad's Shi'ite ally Iran, prompted Syria's foreign minister to accuse the moderate Sunni Islamist leader of inciting further bloodshed in Syria.

The political broadside against the Syrian president came as rebels said they shot down a fighter plane in northern Syria, where his air force has been bombarding opposition-held towns in a fierce counter-offensive against insurgents.

It was the latest strike by Assad's foes on the air power he has increasingly relied on to crush the uprising. Rebels said this week they attacked a northern military air base and shot down a helicopter that was bombarding a district of Damascus.

"The bloodshed in Syria is our responsibility on all our shoulders and we have to know that the bloodshed cannot stop without effective interference from all of us," Mursi said.

"We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom."

His comments prompted Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem to storm out of the meeting, complaining that Mursi was inciting fighters to "continue shedding Syrian blood", Syrian state television said.

ASSAD SAYS NEEDS TIME

Assad, in his first television interview since rebels took their fight into the heart of Damascus and the country's biggest city, Aleppo, said on Wednesday his fight to put down the uprising was going well but needed more time.

"Everyone wants this battle to be completed in days or weeks but this isn't reasonable, because we are in the middle of a regional and international struggle and it needs time to be resolved," he said.

Mainly peaceful protests were met with force by Assad's military, and the uprising has degenerated into a civil war with sectarian overtones and regional dimensions. The mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are backed by regional Sunni powers, particularly Gulf Arab states and Turkey.

Assad, whose Alawite community is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has support from Iran, a rival of Gulf Arab states and Western powers. Lebanon's Shi'ite militia Hezbollah has also shown solidarity with the Syrian president.

The role of regional powers has assumed greater significance because of deadlock at U.N. Security Council, where diplomatic stalemate has marginalized the major powers.

U.S., Russian and Chinese ministers are not expected to attend Thursday's U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria, underlining the fact that both Assad's critics and backers on the council see little prospect of it taking any action.

"We wanted a resolution on humanitarian issues, but we faced a double refusal," said a French diplomat, whose country will chair the meeting in New York.

"The United States and Britain believe we have reached the end of what can be achieved at the Security Council, and Moscow and Beijing said that such a resolution would have been biased."

Nearly a year and a half after the uprising erupted, Assad's political foes are equally divided.

A member of the Syrian National Council, which once hoped to win international endorsement as the country's leadership-in-waiting, resigned this week complaining it was not doing enough to back the revolt and must be replaced by a new political authority.

"My sense was that the SNC was not up to facing the increasing challenges on the ground," Basma Kodmani, the latest council member to break from the SNC, told Reuters.

PLANE "SHOT DOWN"

The Syrian Martyrs Brigade said on Thursday it brought down a plane near the town of al-Thayabiya. Video footage on Al Arabiya television showed what appeared to be smoke in the sky and a person parachuting down. An army helicopter hovered over the area, apparently in search of the pilot.

"The brigade has started targeting the regime's air assets, including military airports," a member of the group said from Idlib, declining to give further details.

As well as targeting rebels, Assad's jets and artillery have also struck at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo province in the last three weeks, killing dozens of people as they waited in line to buy bread, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said.

It said the attacks were either deliberate or done without care to avoid the hundreds of civilians forced to queue outside a dwindling number of bakeries in Syria's biggest city, a front line in the civil war.

One attack two weeks ago killed around 60 people and wounded more than 70, it said.

The fighting around Aleppo, Damascus and the southern province of Deraa, where protests against Assad first erupted in March 2011, has prompted waves of refugees to flood into neighboring Turkey and Jordan.

Turkey urged the United Nations to protect displaced Syrians inside their own country, to take the pressure off its crowded refugee camps, and France said it was studying the issue of buffer zones in Syria, an idea Assad dismissed as unrealistic.

(Additional reporting by John Irish at the United Nations, Erika Solomon in Beirut, Marcus George in Dubai; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-group-not-job-says-ex-member-114709110.html

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Midlife Fitness Cuts Chronic Disease Later | Health Soluzion

Click here to listen to this podcast

Being physically active has numerous benefits. Now a study has looked closely at the effects of fitness in the midlife years for preventing debilitating chronic diseases later.

The ongoing study gathered fitness stats for more than 18,000 adults, and followed their health status into old age. Assessing 40 years of that data, the analysis finds that those who had higher fitness levels in their 30s, 40s and 50s were substantially less likely to have a chronic condition between the ages of 70 and 85. The findings are in the Archives of Internal Medicine. [Benjamin Willis et al, Midlife Fitness and the Development of Chronic Conditions in Later Life]

Physical fitness seemed to stave off heart disease and heart failure, which might not be a big surprise. But it also reduced rates of diabetes, kidney disease and even Alzheimer?s disease.

Current recommendations suggest adults make time for at least 20 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, such as fast walking, jogging, biking or swimming. Busy middle-aged people might find it especially hard to make time for such exercise. But a small investment looks like it could pay big health dividends for decades to come.

?Katherine Harmon

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]
?

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs.
Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

from your own site.

Source: http://www.hrsoluzioni.biz/midlife-fitness-cuts-chronic-disease-later/

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Can I Service My Car?

For most drivers, knowing at least one good mechanic or BMW service shop is essential. Auto repair shops can handle repairs that are too complex for the shade-tree mechanic, but some people prefer to do the heavy lifting themselves. For those with a high degree of mechanical knowledge, DIY auto repair is easy. For those without, the benefits have to be weighed against the risks. Here are some factors to consider when deciding whether to repair your own car.

Cost: In most cases, you can save quite a bit of money by taking care of simpler repairs yourself. When you take your car to a shop, the biggest portion of the repair bill is the labor cost. At-home repairs may take longer, which means that it will only save you money in the longer term- and if you?ve never fixed your car before, you?ll need to invest in some supplies and tools first.

Time:If you handle your own automotive repairs, it can take a large portion of your time. Taking your car to a repair shop means that you can spend more of your time doing other things; if you have a busy work schedule or family commitments, hiring a mechanic may be the only viable option.

Satisfaction: Many drivers get a degree of self-satisfaction from doing their own auto repairs. Fixing it yourself can help you become more familiar with your car, and it can be a fun weekend or family bonding project. For true car enthusiasts, enjoyment is one of the main reasons behind the decision to do DIY car repair.

Greater Reliability:When you have a shop repair your car, you do so with a certain degree of reassurance that the job will be done correctly. If for some reason the repair fails, you can return to the shop and ask them to fix the problem. Most areas have strict requirements for auto shops that state they must correct any issues that arise from faulty repairs. Doing the repair work yourself may save you money, but if it goes wrong, you have no legal recourse.

Assumption of Liability:If improper repairs result in unsafe conditions that lead to an auto accident, a repair shop can be held totally liable for the damages to both vehicles. If you choose to do your own repairs, you also assume all liability for damages. Today?s modern cars have electronic engine control systems that are very difficult to repair on your own; any mistake there could lead to engine failure (which could be dangerous on a busy road). If at any time you doubt your ability to finish the job correctly and safely, you should call in a professional.

If you are confident in your abilities and you have the tools and knowledge to do the job correctly, repairing your own car can save you money and give you a great deal of personal satisfaction. You should also be aware of the risks involved; hopefully, this article has given you some of the information you need in order to make an informed decision.

This article was written by Crispin Jones on behalf of Main Dealer Discount, BMW service experts. Click this link to visit their site and see how they could save you money on your next BMW service.

Source: http://carcarecoach.net/2012/08/can-i-service-my-car/

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Business Travel Comment: BLOG COMMENT - Government Buying

I wonder why it is that Governments buy so very badly?

Is it that they want to be so straightforward and politically correct?

Or is it that they know no other way to buy?

I played a major part in winning an enormous UK government contract and I still persuade myself that I do not want the answer. I am as near as you can get into being in denial as you can without being blatant about it and it makes me feel bad.

The process is difficult. In fact, when you get the invitation, the first thing you feel urged to do is throw it in the bin. Why? Because it is so frighteningly 'open' that it discourages one from bidding in case you expose all your benefits to competitor scrutiny. So bad that you fear that following such a track will lead to ultimate demise!

You see you have to bite the bullet and bid. Yes, they have processes and yes, they do have disclosure laws but YES, there are ways around this.

Governments are complex and very political. they need to be seen to be following processes despite their fear of ridicule, which is why you need to feed them what they need rather than what they want.

So bid with impunity. Just provide with integrity. Then you will be OK.

Source: http://businesstravelcomment.blogspot.com/2012/08/blog-comment-government-buying.html

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Are You Thinking About Buying A Domain Name? | Crowley Now

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

There are a lot of reasons to buy a domain name and one of those reasons is to promote your business. Business, whether they are online businesses or real world businesses do better if they are promoted online. This is because so many people have a computer with internet today, which is the best way that a person can be reached.
One great way to do this is by using a great domain name that is going to catch web surfers eyes while they are using a search engine.
Domain names are great for businesses because they can be used as a calling cards of sorts. It is the first thing that an internet user will see and it will help draw them to your website, which will hopefully turn them into a customer.
Domain names can be bought through domain name websites or they can be bought through web hosting websites. The difference is that a domain name websites typically cost less than web hosting websites and web hosting domain names are domain names that are usually rented while domain names from domain companies are typically bought straight out.
Either way, having a domain name can change the way you do business online.

Source: http://www.crowleynow.com/are-you-thinking-about-buying-a-domain-name/

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Ireland: Petroceltic Estimates Ain Tsila Field ... - LNG World News

Petroceltic International plc, the independent oil & gas exploration company focused on the Middle East-North Africa and Mediterranean region today announces its results for the period ended 30 June 2012.

Highlights:

• Proposed Merger of Petroceltic & Melrose Resources plc (?Melrose?) announced 17 August.
• Declaration of Commerciality announced 9 August for the Ain Tsila Field in Algeria.
• Final Discovery Report filed with the Algerian Competent Authorities.
• Petroceltic estimates the Ain Tsila field to contain gross resources of 2.2 Tcf of sales gas, 70 MMbbl of condensate and 113 MMbbl of LPG.
• Agreement reached with Sonatrach to market the Ain Tsila gas at a price linked to Brent oil price.
• Seismic acquisition underway in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
• Award of two licences in the central Adriatic, offshore Italy.
• Italian Legislative Decree 83/2012 approved by Italian Parliament 12 August, provides for the potential resumption of activities offshore Italy.
• Preparations for drilling of high value Carpignano Sesia prospect (formerly Rovasenda) in Italy in early 2013.
• Funded and well placed to continue to develop and grow the business. Cash position of US$51.1m at 27 August 2012 with no debt.

Brian O?Cathain, Chief Executive of Petroceltic commented:

?This is a transformational time for Petroceltic, the proposed merger with Melrose has a compelling strategic and commercial logic, creating a regional leader with a diversified portfolio of producing, development and high impact exploration assets. Upon approval by shareholders of Petroceltic and Melrose of the proposed merger, the Enlarged Group will be well funded, capable of sustained long term growth and of delivering significant value to our shareholders. During the first half of 2012, Petroceltic has achieved some significant operational and commercial milestones in both Algeria and Italy, and has made good progress with seismic acquisition in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Our next important task will be the commencement of the development planning phase on Ain Tsila, in conjunction with our partners Sonatrach and Enel?.

LNG World News Staff, August 28, 2012

Source: http://www.lngworldnews.com/ireland-petroceltic-estimates-ain-tsila-field-contains-2-2-tcf-of-gas/

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How Ann Romney learned to stop worrying and love politics

Ann and Mitt Romney in a visit to Poland, Warsaw in July. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

TAMPA--When the three major news networks announced last week that they would not air Ann Romney's Republican National Convention Monday night speech in Tampa, Republicans started scrambling. Romney's likeable wife of 43 years needed a primetime spot, they decided, and party leaders were reportedly ready to bump the popular Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to make that happen. Eventually, they moved New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's appearance to another night so that Ann could steal the spotlight on Tuesday. Meanwhile, party officials denied they had ever considered dumping Rubio.

This last minute jockeying is a testament to just how vital the campaign considers Ann to her husband's election efforts, something that wasn't always the case over the course of Romney's political career. Back in 1994, during Romney's failed U.S. Senate bid (and first run for office), the new political spouse on the block was a gaffe-prone potential liability without the polish or PR skills to handle the press. But over the years, Ann has learned how to spin family tales into political catnip--wooing voters by offering a dimension to her husband that no one else has seen before?and becoming a smooth and competent politician in her own right.

The 63-year-old mother of five and grandmother to 18 has emerged as an important humanizing force for Romney on the campaign trail. While the presumptive Republican nominee can come across as stiff and awkward on the stump, Ann charms the crowd with personal stories, casting her husband in a softer light. At a rally in Michigan on Friday she choked up while expressing gratitude that so many supporters in her home state had shown up. "Mitt and I grew up here, we fell in love here, and this is a special place for us," she said.

Despite her ongoing struggle with multiple sclerosis, which she was diagnosed with in 1998, Ann has attended hundreds of campaign events and often comes across as having more energy on the stump than her husband. She was at her husband's side at virtually every rally during the long primary?working the rope line alongside her spouse and often delivering a mini stump speech of her own.

In one instance, she tells the story of being a stay-at-home mom in charge of five "very naughty" sons when her husband, then a consultant with Bain Capital, was traveling. "He would call home, and he'd hear a very exasperated wife at the end of the phone," Ann said during a rally in South Carolina in January. "And he'd remind me to hang in there. It would be okay, that actually my job was more important than his job. And the cool thing was he meant it."

"You couldn't pay me to do this again"

Ann now seems so skilled and smooth in interviews it's hard to believe that she is actually something of a comeback kid, politically speaking.

During her husband's unsuccessful bid for a Massachusetts Senate seat, the Boston Globe blasted her in a scorched-earth profile that portrayed her as a chatty, over-privileged woman living a life so perfect it bordered on creepy. The two lines from the interview that most haunted the campaign: Ann's insistence that she and her Ken-doll-looking husband had never once had a fight during their marriage; and her statement that the couple was "struggling" when Mitt was getting his graduate degrees at Harvard. The two were supporting themselves by selling off American Motors stock given to Mitt by his wealthy father?something that didn't exactly resonate with voters working two jobs to survive. ("Mitt was still in school and we had no income except the stock we were chipping away at. We were living on the edge, not entertaining. No, I did not work. Mitt thought it was important for me to stay home with the children, and I was delighted," she said at the time.)

In an article titled "Daughter of Privilege Knows Little of Real World," the Boston Herald ripped off the most unflattering of the Globe's quotes. The experience left Ann incredibly angry, she later admitted. When a reporter asked her after her husband's defeat whether she would ever help him launch another race, she retorted: "Never. You couldn't pay me to do this again."

Writer Ron Scott, a Mormon who wrote MITT ROMNEY: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics and who lived in the same stake?sort of the Mormon version of a diocese?as the Romneys, said he remembers "gasping" when he first read the Globe profile, instantly recognizing it as a disaster. But now, Scott thinks the incident just shows how fully Romney trusted his wife?for good or for bad. Despite her political inexperience, her husband was willing to let Ann do an hour-long one-on-one interview without media training or a PR team to hold her hand. And Ann was happy to take that risk, confident she could come out on top.

Perhaps that assurance was misplaced at the time, but it seems fitting now.

"She looks...like she's enjoying the campaign," Scott said. "I think if you were to contrast between now and '94, I don't think she really enjoyed that campaign or the 2008 one, but this time around I think she really looks like she's come alive."

The happy homemaker

Romney often introduces Ann as his "sweetheart" on the trail. The two began dating when she was 16 and he 18 in the ritzy Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. Ann's father, an immigrant from Wales, had made his fortune and served as the town's mayor. Romney, the son of Michigan Gov. George Romney, "hotly pursued" her, she said later. After a year at Stanford and two years of a Mormon mission in France, Romney rushed home and proposed to Ann, who had converted to Mormonism under Gov. Romney's tutelage and was attending Brigham Young University in Utah.

Ann eventually finished her undergraduate degree in French in 1975, when she already had two children. She recalled in an interview with People magazine that she shocked a professor at Harvard's extension school--where she took some classes at night while Mitt attended grad school--for needing to nurse one of her children in the back of the lecture hall. "It's one of those things where the professor is like, 'Wait, wait, wait, this is liberal Harvard, but what am I going to do about that woman in the back with a baby that's nursing?' He just kept pretending like I wasn't there," she recalled. Though she saw the Beatles perform live in Detroit and was a child of the 60s, Ann was a bit of rebel in reverse for wanting to settle down and have children instead of pursuing a career. She's said she felt judged sometimes by peers, but never regretted her decision.

During the campaign in April, she used a Democratic strategist's attack on her for never "working a day in her life" to portray Democrats as judgmental and dismissive of mothers, a powerful counterattack to the Democratic argument that Republicans were waging a "war on women." The comments sent Democrats into a tailspin, with no less than President Barack Obama himself going on TV to say, "There's no tougher job than being a mom" within a day of the comments. Ann later called the attack "an early birthday gift" in comments that were captured by a hot mic, inadvertently showing off her tough-as-nails political instincts.

Team Romney

When speaking about Romney's bid, Ann frequently uses the "we" or the "Mitt and I" construction, emphasizing just how invested in the campaign she actually is. She's not just selling Mitt on the stump--she's selling them both as a team.

"Mitt and I are in an unusual position right now to make a difference to the future of this nation," she told a rally in West Charleston, S.C., in January.

Then, two weeks ago, she said to NBC: "I don't think he could do it without me. I don't believe he could."

Her willingness to take on the mantle of surrogate is somewhat surprising for a woman who has often aired her misgivings about opening up her private life and whom the Boston Globe described as largely "invisible" in Massachusetts as first lady when her husband was governor. Even now, when traveling on her own, Ann rarely tells people she meets on planes her true identity; she prefers to say vaguely that she works in public relations.

Technically, she's not lying. During the primaries, when Romney had a tense relationship with his traveling press corps, Ann would venture back on the candidate's plane to chat with reporters?offering up a friendlier face to the pack of wolves press than her hunted husband.

After a disastrous event in South Carolina when Romney was photographed with one of the smallest crowds he's ever attracted on the trail, Ann wandered off the bus and stood with reporters awaiting a gaggle with the candidate.

"What kind of jeans are you wearing?" she jokingly shouted, as her husband took the mic?a reference to a brief media obsession over whether the candidate was sporting "skinny" jeans on the campaign trail. Her husband grinned.

On the campaign plane, Ann always shares a row with her husband. He reads his iPad, while she's been spotted flipping through issues of US Weekly. He has said her presence keeps him calm. "If I'm away from Ann for longer than a week or so, I get off course," Romney told CNN's Piers Morgan. "She has to bring me back and moderate me down a bit."

But Ann's sunny disposition has faltered as negative attacks on her family's wealth and character intensified over the summer. While she's continued to be one of her husband's strongest assets on the stage, Ann has largely ceased her plane-side chats with reporters trailing her husband across the country.

Advisers who declined to be named discussing the candidate's wife said Ann was deeply wounded by the British tabloid attacks in July over her husband's comments suggesting he found London's Olympic preparations "disconcerting." (The Sun tabloid called him "Mitt the Twit" in retaliation, and the gaffe threatened to overshadow Romney's foreign tour.)

More recently, her hackles have been up over demands that her husband release more years of his tax returns. Ann was noticeably agitated in an interview with NBC's Natalie Morales two weeks ago when asked about the financial disclosures.

"Have you seen how we are attacked? Have you seen what's happened?" she said, leaning forward in her chair. "We have been very transparent to what's legally required of us. But the more we release, the more we get attacked, the more we get questioned, the more we get pushed. And so we have done what's legally required, and there's going to be no more tax releases given."

Besides fighting back in interviews, Ann has grown more aggressive on the stump as well. The announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) as Romney's running mate has breathed new life into the campaign, drawing larger crowds to Romney's events. Joining her husband and Ryan on stage at a rally in Mooresville, N.C., earlier this month, she marveled at the size of the crowd that had turned out, which was estimated to be at least 4,000 people.

"They know America is in trouble and these are the guys who are going to save it," she said. "It's a boost that gives us determination to say we're not going to take it anymore! We're going to take the White House back!"

--Holly Bailey contributed to this report from the campaign trail.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the Romneys have 16 grandchildren. They have 18.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ann-romney-learned-stop-worrying-love-politics-152909604.html

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Time Warner Cable expanding fiber broadband coverage in NYC ...

Time Warner Cable Business Class Investing $25 Million to Expand Its Fiber Optic Network to Key NYC Business Locations

Brooklyn Navy Yard Among Key Sites to Gain Advanced Broadband Infrastructure

Company Also Announces its Second Time Warner Cable Learning Lab for Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC), a division of Time Warner Cable, today announced that it expects to invest $25 million in 2012 as it expands its fiber optic network to established and emerging business locations in New York City. The investments align closely with New York City's desire to attract growth businesses that rely heavily on advanced communications technology.

Today's announcement was made at the headquarters of the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where TWCBC is finishing a multi-million dollar investment to provide fiber-based solutions to tenants of the 300-acre business complex. HITN is one of the complex's first fiber clients and is utilizing the technology to improve and enhance its overall business operations, as well as to transport and deliver its online and television-based educational programming to viewers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

TWCBC also announced that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, a 501(c)(3) organization, will receive a state-of-the-art Time Warner Cable Learning Lab in its Employment Center, located inside the massive complex and accessible to the public.

"We are very pleased to work with the City of New York to make significant investments to ensure that this city has the technology infrastructure to successfully compete in a worldwide marketplace," said Ken Fitzpatrick, President of Time Warner Cable Business Class, East Region. "Our fiber optic network provides dedicated Internet access at incredible speeds and high-bandwidth capabilities to serve the communications needs of any business."

The company's fiber network enables businesses to be connected to a dedicated Internet network that provides speeds that reach 1 gigabyte per second and faster, and have their voice, Ethernet, TV, and video transport solutions delivered over high-bandwidth fiber for increased speed and reliability.

"Time Warner Cable's investment reflects the growing need for increased technology and speed for the 275 existing and growing businesses in the Yard. With this growth, comes jobs and the Learning Lab grant will support our efforts to prepare local residents for jobs in the Navy Yard," said Andrew H. Kimball, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

"Today's announcement is yet another sign of the Navy Yard's continued success. Fiber optics and the Learning Lab will both allow the Navy Yard to continue to grow and help support the jobs our community needs," said Senator Daniel Squadron. "Just like the new Tech Triangle bus route we're building, this is a step towards greater connectivity to allow the Navy Yard and all of Brooklyn to keep creating great new jobs. Thank you to Time Warner Cable Business Class, the Navy Yard, and all those working with us toward an innovative and flourishing New York."

Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, said, "With all the technology start-ups emerging in Brooklyn, Time Warner Cable Business Class has made the right decision by investing in the expansion of the fiber optic network. Laying down this cutting-edge infrastructure will definitely attract more businesses to Brooklyn, and as result, create more jobs."

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, "My office was proud to work with the City and Time Warner Cable Business Class to ensure that New York City's commercial, industrial and manufacturing areas receive the highest quality communications technology to create jobs, support Brooklyn's burgeoning Tech Triangle, and keep our borough attractive to new businesses-particularly those that need state-of-the-art fiber optic networks. We've certainly come a long way since 1907, when the USS Dolphin-docked at the Navy Yard-was part of the first transmission of a singing voice over an arc radiotelephone. From the early days of wireless to the fiber optics of today, Brooklyn has been evolutionary-and revolutionary-in the way we communicate with the world."

Councilman Stephen T. Levin said, "Time Warner Cable Business Class's investment in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will enable these businesses to connect quickly and efficiently, expanding their horizons of communication and laying the foundation for dynamic growth. Additionally, Time Warner Cable Learning Lab at the Employment Center is an investment that stems far beyond the Navy Yard, and will allow individuals to attain the skills and training they need to reach their full potential. I salute Time Warner Cable Business Class for making these investments."

"The Bloomberg Administration's commitment to greater digital inclusion is exemplified each day ? from partnering with private sector partners on infrastructure investments to expansion of broadband accessibility in public computing centers across the five boroughs," said Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Commissioner Rahul N. Merchant. "The Brooklyn Navy Yard represents the latest advance on these efforts, simultaneously connecting an underserved 'digital island' with advanced communications technology for the businesses that require it, as well as setting the stage for increased public access to help further bridge the digital divide."

"Today's announcement represents yet another achievement in Mayor Bloomberg's technology roadmap, equipping New York City to fulfill its digital potential. High-speed Internet access via fiber-optic technology is the foundation of a thriving technology sector, qualified workforce and connected city," said Rachel Haot, New York City's Chief Digital Officer. "With Time Warner Cable's infrastructure investment, the City of New York takes a powerful step forwards to a future as the world's premiere digital City."

HITN CEO Jose Luis Rodriguez said, "Switching to Time Warner Cable Business Class's fiber optic network has proven to be very cost-effective for HITN, and the additional benefits ? the ability to access additional bandwidth quickly and fiber optic stability ? make it much easier for us to grow our telecommunications initiatives, from HITN-TV, which reaches over 40 million homes in the US and Puerto Rico, to our new cloud-based educational programs, including HITN Learning."

TWCBC is investing to ensure that businesses in Manhattan have access to fiber-based technology. A project to bring fiber access to all tenants of the Empire State Building was recently completed, and TWCBC is continuously extending its fiber network to business locations such as the World Trade Center, the Flatiron District, all areas of Midtown and throughout the Financial District, among other areas.

In Brooklyn, Time Warner Cable is making investments to serve the borough's business community. In addition to building out fiber at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, TWCBC is making investments to serve other business locations such as Brooklyn Tech Triangle, the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Industry City, in addition to other business locations.

Businesses in Long Island City, as well as other emerging areas in Queens, are also continuing to receive fiber investments from TWCBC. The company is also investing in Staten Island to bring this advanced technology to the borough's business community.

The company's fiber network is in addition to its hybrid fiber coax infrastructure that is widely available throughout in New York City areas served by Time Warner Cable Business Class, and offers a suite of data, video and voice services.

A Second Time Warner Cable Learning Lab in Brooklyn

Time Warner Cable Business Class today also announced a Time Warner Cable Learning Lab will be located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Learning Labs are state-of-the-art technology centers that provide the public with free access to computers and high-speed Internet. The Learning Lab is scheduled to open later this year and will be part of the Navy Yard's onsite Employment Center, located in Building 92.

The Lab will be a boon to local residents who are encouraged to visit for job training and placement services, as will help connect residents to employers with jobs inside the complex.

The Learning Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be the second such facility that Time Warner Cable has donated to the people of Brooklyn, as a Learning Lab opened earlier this month at Good Shepherd Services in Park Slope. Time Warner Cable has opened six Labs in New York City and plans to open have 40 such facilities open during the next several years.

Time Warner Cable Business Class's local service area includes Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island and western Brooklyn, Mt. Vernon, NY, as well as Bergen and Hudson Counties in New Jersey.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/29/TWC-expanding-fiber-broadband-coverage-in-nyc/

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