Reminder: Our Northern Meetups Are Next Week. Is Your Pitch Ready?

We?ve had such a great response and such persistent requests for additional tickets to the Northern Meetups that we?ve decided to release some more. While about 800 of ya?ll will be able to hang out with us, all at the same time, we?re gonna give a few more tickets and let folks in on a 1-in-1-out basis. So grab a ticket and come on down early so you can be one of the first 800 folks in the door. Drink tickets go to the first 800 folks that show up, but if you miss the free drink tickets, well, you can always buy a beer and hang out. This is quite literally the last time we'll release tickets so get cracking.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QSzMtOEi-2M/

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Ghosts said to mingle with guests at haunted Arizona hotel

DOUGLAS, Arizona (Reuters) - Manager Robin Brekhus was sceptical about her Arizona hotel's supernatural history until the day she went to the basement in search of candles during a power outage and glimpsed a figure in a long duster coat and cowboy hat in the beam of her flashlight.

"It was like he wanted me to make eye contact with him and acknowledge that I saw him," she said, recalling how she then sprinted up the steps to the spacious lobby with its Italianate columns and Tiffany & Co. stained glass mural - a new believer.

In its heyday in the early decades of the last century, the lobby of the Gadsden Hotel was known as the "living room" of the remote Arizona ranching town of Douglas, hosting cattle barons, cowboys and executives from the local copper mining industry.

While many hotels in the United States claim ghosts, staff and guests at the Gadsden have recorded scores of supernatural encounters from the top floor right down to the maze-like basement - not just at Halloween, but year round.

This Halloween, the hotel is embracing its haunted history as never before, with a visiting blues band from Tennessee set to play at a bash in the lobby. Guests can come dressed up or not, and ghosts are more than welcome.

The 160-room Gadsden Hotel, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, opened in 1907, but was badly damaged by a fire, and reopened in 1929. Since then, little has changed.

The lobby retains the original white marble steps leading to the large mezzanine, up which Mexican bandit-turned-revolutionary Pancho Villa once reportedly rode his horse.

Visitors ride one of the oldest manual elevators west of the Mississippi to their rooms, many fitted out with original furnishings, aging drapes and pictures that recall the hotel's bustling heyday.

SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS

Many of the alleged supernatural encounters have been recorded by guests themselves and are kept in two binders behind the front desk. Accounts include televisions turning on and off in Room 333, supposedly the most haunted, and mysterious knocks coming from radiators.

"My heart almost came out of my chest," one guest wrote of her experience. "But then I thought ?Pray the Hail Mary,' all was fine."

In another testimonial, a guest reported hearing a key turning in a lock, then two figures walking into the room "as if they just finished a day of shopping." Then they were gone.

One woman visitor wrote of something pulling on her hair during the night, while another said she felt someone "sit on the edge of the bed, then ... felt pressure as the person laid down next to me."

"She came down the next morning and said, ?You know what? It felt like someone got in bed with me,'" deputy manager Brenda Maley recalled as she stood in the spacious sunlit lobby.

Maley, who said a ghost once pinned her to a bed in room 114, said she apologized and offered up a new room. But the woman happily declined.

Television paranormal sleuths and amateur ghost hunters have probed the Gadsden, some toting thermal image cameras. Enthusiasts have also sent in photographs of purported paranormal phenomena, including an eerie snap of a shadowy translucent cowboy sitting on a couch in the lobby.

But not all guests are believers: "The only thing haunted about Room 333 is the toilet, which won't stop running," wrote one sceptic.

Some newer staff are a little uncomfortable. Ana Yanez, a server in the Cattleman's Coffee Shop, said she hears coffee spoons tinkling sometimes, and shudders at the thought of working the front desk "graveyard shift" at night.

But for Maley, who has worked at the hotel for 36 years, the ghosts provide company in an isolated town.

"You get used to it," she said. "You would be lonely without them."

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ghosts-said-mingle-guests-haunted-arizona-hotel-130454846.html

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New York Feels Hurricane Sandy Impact In Its Subways, Bridges, Tunnels

NEW YORK -- Two days after New York City closed its subway system in the face of Hurricane Sandy, swarms of New Yorkers made their way over the Queensboro and Williamsburg bridges by foot and by bike -- forms of transportation that may become more familiar as the Metropolitan Transit Authority and others indicated Tuesday that it may take weeks to restore the MTA for its roughly 8.7 million daily riders.

In a press conference Tuesday morning Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not attempt a firm estimate of when New Yorkers may be able to resume their normal commuting routines, describing the challenges the city faces in the coming days as ?enormous.? By Tuesday evening, Bloomberg told reporters that the city's subway system would remain closed for at least, "four to five days."

?The work is well under way,? Bloomberg said Tuesday morning. ?East River bridges have already been reopened. The work of getting our mass transit grid and our power grid restored, however, is going to take more time and a lot of patience.?

Authorities are calling the super-storm the worst disaster to hit the city's subway system in its 108 years of existence. The MTA planned to resume limited bus service by 5 p.m. Tuesday, but the subways remained shuttered following flooding in seven tunnels under the East River. While Bloomberg declined to give specifics, other city authorities and outside experts indicated that the timeline for reopening New York?s vast subway and commuter train systems could stretch well over a week.

Jay Jayakrishnan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Irvine, estimated that it could take the city at least three days just to pump out all the water from the various flooded tunnels, beyond the further inspection necessitated by the damage. Complicating the clean up is the corrosive capability of salt water.

?It will cause corrosion to the signal systems of the trains, even after three or four days. They will need time to inspect that,? Jayakrishnan said.

On top of that, Jayakrishnan noted, while some pieces of equipment may just need to be cleaned, others might need to be replaced. MTA may have some of that equipment on hand, but in other cases, it may have to be ordered and delivered.

In the interim, the city will likely have to depend on a network of buses operating on express routes, water taxis and ferries to move the millions of people that the MTA transports daily.

The city would be wise to start bussing people to and from Manhattan to reduce the number of cars on the road and to potentially regulate how many vehicles travel into the city at any given time, Jayakrishnan said.

?You make the assumption that the subway might not be up for 10 days,? Jayakrishnan said. ?You make that assumption, and you put in some traffic measures.?

David King, an assistant professor of urban planning at New York?s Columbia University and a transit expert, cautioned against pinning down a timeline.

"I wouldn't venture to put a number on it," King said. "But getting the subways back up and running is going to take a while, probably longer than most people think."

Though experts both outside and inside New York are unsure of the scope of the damage, firsthand accounts also indicate that portions of the system took on significant amounts of water.

Among the most damaged transportation pathways was the Hugh Carey Tunnel -- formerly known as the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel -- according to two Department of Transportation workers who brought in emergency generators to power a pumping system late Monday night.

?The amount of water coming over the sea walls, we just couldn?t, our system just couldn?t handle,? one of the workers said.

The men, who declined to give their names to The Huffington Post because city policy forbids unauthorized contact with reporters, were driving through midtown Tuesday continuing to work on little sleep. Before the pumping began the previous evening, one of them had to abandon his vehicle as it became submerged near the tunnel. He promptly produced a cell phone picture of his truck drowning, with only its roof peeking out from the flooded area.

To prevent these sorts of problems in the future, King said, the public has to become realistic about what storm protection really means.

?MTA can barely get the funding they need for existing capital projects and to avoid cuts in service,? King said. ?Can you imagine what would happen, what would be said if these guys said, ?OK we also need money to seal the tunnels in case of a storm. That won?t make anybody?s life better most days, but we need it.? That?s just impossible.?

King is unsure that Hurricane Sandy will serve as a catalyst for that kind of forward thinking. Devastation and casualties have not always been enough to change the current of spending.

?When the [Interstate] 35 W Bridge collapsed in Minnesota, that was supposed to be a watershed moment that made us understand that we need to start investing in bridges and other parts of our crumbling and aged infrastructure," he said. "That didn?t happen.?

But what may shift public thinking, he said, is repeated storms and constant subway system shut downs.

?People are willing to put up with extra regulations in California to keep their air clean and build buildings that will withstand earthquakes,? King said. ?If the risk is real, people will respond.?

Indeed, for many New Yorkers such risks became real, even devastating, this week. The storm's impact made the country's most populous city seem instead to be a smaller community, capable of being deeply effected by a mammoth storm. Many residents accustomed to total mobility by relying on the country's largest transit system have been reduced to island dwellers alone, virtually trapped without access to the city?s network of bridges and tunnels.

?It?s like ?Lost?, down there,? Patrick Chan told The Huffington Post Tuesday as he was making his way across the Queensboro bridge to camp out with friends in Astoria, having walked all the way from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he lives. ?There?s no power, no cell phone service, no water until you cross [north] of [the] United Nation?s Plaza.?

At the Affinia Dumont hotel on 34th Street near Lexington Avenue Tuesday morning before the bridges reopened, a group of New York University hospital employees spent the morning sitting in a circle in the dimly lit lobby on their cell phones, struggling to figure out how they were going to get home. They were also still reliving the stress of the night before, after being evacuated when massive flooding began in the basement of the NYU Langone Medical Center.

?It was almost like a roaring river down there,? said Laurian Deep, who lives in Danbury, Conn. and works as a production coordinator in food services for the hospital.

Deep and her colleagues were put up at the hotel for the night, but they woke up with no power, no water and no way to get home.

?As soon as the bridges open, I?ll walk over,? said Orlando Ramos, an executive chef with the hospital. He estimated it would take him two hours to walk to his house in Ridgewood, Queens, but he was desperate enough to get home.

?It?s hopeless right now,? he said.

Hours later on Tuesday, pedestrian traffic was once again allowed over the bridges. Chris Hill of Jackson Heights, Queens, had to work Tuesday and ended up walking two hours straight to get to his job at one of the city?s 311 call centers.

?I had to work,? Hill said. ?Today I'm trying to get there. And really, so far, it's not too bad.?

With subway service indefinitely suspended, Hill could not take his usual Number 7 subway line into Manhattan.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday, hundreds of people streamed across the region?s bridges in cars, taxis and on foot. Some borough residents headed into Manhattan just to survey the damage and quell their cabin fever. Others headed in the opposite direction to the homes of friends and relatives in Brooklyn and Queens who still have power. It?s estimated that 750,000 people in the city lost electricity. Much of Manhattan above 30th Street maintained power throughout and after the storm.

Max Sarinsky, a law student at New York University and resident of the East Village, said he lost power at around 8:30 p.m. Monday while cooking dinner. On Tuesday, he packed a canvas bag of perishables, grabbed a container of Silk soy milk for the road and headed towards the Manhattan Bridge on foot to go stay with his father in Brooklyn Heights.

?Walking is obviously not ideal,? Sarinsky said. ?But what can you do??

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/new-york-hurricane-sandy_n_2046722.html

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Lights Out In The Village - Business Insider

'; } } if (google_ads[0].bidtype == "CPC") { /* insert this snippet for each ad call */ google_adnum = google_adnum + google_ads.length; } document.write(s); return; } google_ad_client = 'pub-0604454314447934'; /* substitute your client_id (pub-#) */ // google_ad_channel = '1122334455667788'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '5'; // google_ad_type = 'text_html'; // google_image_size = '728x90'; google_feedback = 'on'; google_skip = google_adnum; /* to skip for multiple units, insert this snippet for each ad call */ google_ad_channel = '1230120361'; /* our ad channel */ // -->

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/lights-out-in-the-village-2012-10

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US home prices rise in August at faster pace

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Home prices rose in August in nearly all U.S. cities, and many of the markets hit hardest during the crisis are starting to show sustained gains. The increases are the latest evidence of a steady housing recovery.

The Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller index reported Tuesday that national home prices increased 2 percent in August compared with the same month a year ago. That's the third straight increase and a faster pace than in July.

The report also said that prices rose in August from July in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the index. Prices had risen in all 20 cities in the previous three months.

Cities that had suffered some of the worst price declines during the housing crisis are starting to come back. Prices in Las Vegas rose 0.9 percent, the first year-over-year gain since January 2007. Prices in Phoenix are 18.8 percent higher in August than a year ago. Home values in Tampa and Miami have also posted solid increases over the period.

Seattle was the only city to report a monthly decline. Still, prices there fell just 0.1 percent in August from July and are 3.4 percent higher than a year ago.

Prices in Atlanta have fallen 6.1 percent over the 12 months that ended in August, the largest year-over-year decline. But Atlanta has posted the largest price gain among the 20 cities over the past three months, according to Trulia, a housing data analysis firm.

"The sustained good news in home prices over the past five months makes us optimistic for continued recovery in the housing market," David Blitzer, chairman of the Case-Shiller index, said.

The steady increase in prices, along with the lowest mortgage rates in decades, has helped many home markets slowly rebound nearly six years after the housing bubble burst.

Rising home prices encourage more people to put their homes on the market. They may also entice would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The August figures are the latest available.

The figures aren't seasonally adjusted, so some of the gains in August reflect the benefit of the summer buying season.

Stan Humphries, chief economist at the housing website Zillow, expects the monthly price figures will decline in the fall and winter.

"This doesn't mean the housing recovery has been derailed," he said. "This is exactly what bouncing along bottom looks like."

Other recent reports show that the housing market is improving, albeit from depressed levels.

Home builders started construction on new homes and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years last month. They also requested the most building permits in four years, a sign that many are confident that home sales gains will continue. Home building is still far below the pace that economists say is consistent with a healthy housing market.

New home sales jumped last month to the highest annual pace in the past two and a half years.

Sales of previously-occupied homes dipped in September but have risen steadily in the past year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-30-Home%20Prices/id-fba28ab99e18498c8f4155d03f95b84f

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Straight Talk on Medicare: A Go-To Guide for Hospital Executives ...

Written by Bob Herman?| October 30, 2012

Tags: ACO | hospital Medicare | Ken Perez | MedeAnalytics | Medicare | Medicare cuts | PPACA

With less than a week to go before the 2012 elections go into the history books, those in the hospital and healthcare industry can probably agree on one thing ? it has been an exhaustive process.

Relentless advertisements and political grandstanding have created a mass influx of information, and in some cases disinformation. One of the biggest issues during this information-heavy election season has been a topic that is, and will continue to be, near and dear to many hospital executives ? Medicare.

In a recent webinar, Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing and director of healthcare policy for MedeAnalytics, broke down the current state of Medicare, discussing everything from the politicization of Medicare to detailed breakdowns of presidential Medicare plans.

Why Medicare matters

It's no secret that the U.S. healthcare system is spending a lot. In fact, the United States spends more than every other industrialized country, but the healthcare quality results are not any better.

Medicare has grown in size over the past five decades as a percentage of national health expenditures. When Medicare was formed in the 1970s, it represented roughly 10.3 percent of NHE, and by 2010, that figure had almost doubled to 20.2 percent.

Currently, there are 49.4 million Medicare beneficiaries, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and that number is increasing as the baby boomer generation is adding thousands more to the rolls every day. Total gross Medicare spending in fiscal year 2012 reached $550 billion, which is 12 percent of the federal budget.

Medicare is particularly important for hospitals and health systems, as it finances roughly four out of every 10 hospitals stays ? making it the leading payor for most hospitals. Medicare also accounts for roughly 35 to 55 percent of most any hospital's revenue.

Medicare continues to be one of the most important issues for hospitals and health systems of all shapes and sizes because of its major impact on hospital bottom lines. For many, Medicare margins are the difference between a good year and a bad year, and the country's largest payor has been placed in the election spotlight because of its enormous national ramifications both now and in the future. Standard & Poor's even recognized this when it downgraded the U.S. long-term debt last summer, saying the containment of Medicare expenditures is "key to long-term fiscal sustainability," according to S&P's rating report.

Medicare under the presidential candidates

The two primary presidential candidates, President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have both touted potential Medicare reforms, but in completely different ways.

For President Obama, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ? the most significant healthcare legislation to come out of Washington, D.C., in years ? serves as his blueprint for Medicare and the future of the U.S. healthcare system. There has been a lot of political rhetoric surrounding the PPACA, and most of it has centered on one figure: $716 billion.

President Obama has said the PPACA saves $716 billion over the next decade from the Medicare program "by no longer overpaying insurance companies [and] by making sure we weren't overpaying providers." Mr. Romney, on the other hand, argues the healthcare law cuts $716 billion from the program by reducing rates "across the board."

Mr. Perez broke down the infamous $716 billion figure in the following way: As it stands, the PPACA would enact $517 billion in decreases to Medicare Part A (hospitals), $247 billion in decreases to Medicare Part B (medical insurance) and $48 billion in decreases to Medicare Part D (prescription drugs).

Going a step further, hospitals and health systems will absorb $260 billion of the $716 billion in Medicare reductions, and there will be $56 billion in reductions to disproportionate share hospital payments from both Medicare and Medicaid. Other major reductions include $156 billion to Medicare Advantage insurers, which have been overpaid $282.6 billion since 1985, according to a recent study by Physicians for a National Health Program.

For hospital and health system executives, the cuts within the PPACA will have major impacts, perhaps detrimental in some cases, Mr. Perez said. Although the promise of more Medicaid and commercially insured patients by 2014 is supposed to offset those reductions, the proposal has still been viewed has potentially damaging to hospital bottom lines in the near future. MedeAnalytics projected that these cuts will ramp up from $15 billion to $20 billion in 2013 to $30 billion to $35 billion in 2022. The result for hospitals? Almost a 9 percent across-the-board cut to Medicare reimbursement over the next decade.

"These cuts will obviously lower profit margins for hospitals, and CMS' chief actuary has concluded that up to 20 percent of hospitals could become unprofitable as a result," Mr. Perez said, noting that hospitals' Medicare margins have been negative on average since 2003.

Furthermore, hospitals and health systems must wait to see whether the Budget Control Act of 2011's sequestration will take effect Jan. 1. Hospitals and other providers will see a 2 percent Medicare payment reduction totaling $11.1 billion this upcoming year, due to the BCA, unless Congress passes new measures to prevent the cuts. Tripp Umbach, an economic consulting firm, released a report earlier this year showing that sequestration could result in 766,000 lost jobs within the hospital and healthcare industry by 2021.

Mr. Perez said the already-negative margins for Medicare and the prospect of future Medicare cuts per the PPACA have already prompted several large providers to lay off employees. For example, University of California San Francisco Medical Center laid off hundreds of employees in preparation for the cuts.

"If hospitals go out of business or continue to operate but under financial duress, it stands to reason that the availability and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries could be impaired," Mr. Perez said.

Mr. Romney's Medicare plan hinges on turning Medicare into a premium support system. Essentially, seniors will receive a fixed amount (also known as a defined contribution) to buy an insurance plan, and all insurance plans must offer coverage comparable to what Medicare provides today. However, Mr. Romney's plan does not provide specifics on how this Medicare reform will impact payments to hospitals and health systems, nor does it cover other issues, such as:

??? ?Will premium support payment adjustments be capped?
??? ?Will Medicare benefits within the PPACA, such as closing the doughnut hole and expanding coverage of preventive care with no co-pays, be reinstated?
??? ?Will traditional Medicare be subject to cuts after 2023?

The future of Medicare

Politicians and candidates who are heavily involved with the 2012 election season have all promised to keep Medicare intact for the future of America's senior citizens. Getting from point A to point B has been a completely different subject ? polarizing in some regards ? but many believe the future of Medicare relies on better preventive care.

Mr. Perez noted, however, that accountable care organizations and other capitation-driven initiatives may not be a panacea for all of Medicare's ills. Capitation and managed payment systems have been tried before, and hospital and health system executives must be aware of Medicare ACOs and understand their potential impacts.

"In spite of the emerging consensus that accountable care is at least directionally correct ? where healthcare needs to go in the future ? we need to be realistic about ACOs' possible impact on Medicare outlays," Mr. Perez said. "Even if we were to double the most optimistic federal savings projection, the total savings from Medicare ACOs would amount to less than 0.2 percent of total Medicare spending over the next decade."

Hospital and health system executives worried about Medicare and how it will impact their organizations can only worry about the details they can control ? ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries are treated with care and compassion in the proper continuum of care.

"In the final analysis, voters will be the ultimate arbiters as to which presidential candidate has done a better job of articulating the more plausible and effective plan to reform Medicare," Mr. Perez said. "Regardless of the election outcome, the call for healthcare providers remains the same ? to help our society by providing higher-quality care as efficiently as possible."

More Articles on Medicare:

6 Scariest Issues in Healthcare Right Now

PPACA Saved $4.8B on Prescription Drugs

Medicare Stalemate: 4 Ways This Year's SGR Payment Cut Would Hurt Healthcare

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To receive the latest hospital and health system business and legal news and analysis from Becker's Hospital Review, sign-up for the free Becker's Hospital Review E-weekly by clicking here.

Source: http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/racs-/-icd-9-/-icd-10/straight-talk-on-medicare-a-go-to-guide-for-hospital-executives.html

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Barry Diller's Aereo gets support of Consumer Electronics Association

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Aereo, an online television streaming service backed by billionaire Barry Diller, has won the support of the Consumer Electronics Association - a significant ally in the media mogul's fight against the major TV networks, which are opposing the fledgling service in the courts.

The networks - including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, PBS and Univision - are trying to torpedo the service, arguing that Aereo, which allows consumers to access local broadcast signals over their computers, infringes on broadcast copyright.

But CEA and other Diller allies are contending that Aereo, which thus far has only been rolled out in New York City, is basically giving consumers a new way to access the signals that they already can access free with standard over-the-air antennas to their TV sets.

"Our legal system can and must favor innovation over the status quo," said Gary Shapiro, CEA president and CEO, in a statement Monday. "Our American exceptionalism and economic growth rely on innovation and we must fight legacy industries seeking to maintain their old ways of doing business."

CEA, the leading trade association for the $206 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry, has also joined a pair of public interest watchdog groups - the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge - to fight a pending effort by the major TV networks to shut Aereo down in the U.S. Court of Appeals for New York.

"Consumers do not need permission to watch free TV," said John Bergmayer, Public Knowledge senior staff attorney, in a statement Friday. "Just as viewers are allowed to use rabbit ears to receive over-the-air broadcasts, they're allowed to make use of Aereo's remote antenna service."

In a decision in July, a federal judge rejected a request by the networks seeking to block Aereo's rebroadcasts pending a trial. The networks are now challenging that decision in an appeal pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for New York.

"We're optimistic that in the final analysis, Aereo will be a copyright infringer," Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, told TheWrap.

Aereo works by picking up broadcast signals over clusters of tiny antennas and sending them via the internet to users' mobile devices, computers or web-enabled televisions.

In his statement Monday, CEA's Shapiro compared the Aereo case to the landmark 1984 Supreme Court Betamax case decision. In the Betamax case, the high court cleared the way for consumers to use home video recorders to tape TV programs, over the opposition of the Hollywood studios. The studios wanted to block sales of the recording devices as an infringement on their copyrights.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/barry-dillers-aereo-gets-support-consumer-electronics-association-003631569.html

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Face Time | Natalie Coughlin - NYTimes.com

It was hard to pass up a few moments chatting with the very pretty, 12-time Olympic medalist in swimming Natalie Coughlin. Though enjoying some time off, post-Olympics, she?s been keeping busy traveling and working on various projects and partnerships. As one of the few athletes to who has not had corrective vision surgery, Natalie has recently teamed up with LensCrafters, and is helping get the word out about vision care and living a healthy lifestyle. Read on to find out which is her favorite mascara to adorn her healthy eyes, plus some great fitness and diet tips.

What are your tips for keeping your eyes healthy?

Getting an eye exam each year is important, but there are also things you can do day-to-day to care for your vision. Eating a diet rich in Vitamin A, lutein and Omega-3s are all great for eye health. Kale, eggs and oily fish are great sources of these. I travel quite a bit and I prefer to wear my glasses rather than my contacts to protect against dry cabin air in the plane. Also, I always have my sunglasses with me to protect my eyes from UV rays.

In addition to their obvious benefits, do you look at eyewear as a stylish accessory that can compliment an outfit or mood?

Eyeglasses or sunglasses are essential to completing an outfit, I think. Whether it?s an oversized geek chic frame or a bold color, it?s amazing how much your look can be changed based on the glasses that you choose.

How would you describe your style?

I would say it?s a mix of California casual and a touch of glam. My favorite outfit: skinny jeans, boots, a relaxed t-shirt, a leather jacket, and of course a great pair of glasses or sunglasses.

When you are not swimming do you find makeup a great accessory too?

When I swim and compete I never wear makeup. I can?t be bothered. So when I know I?m going to be dry for a few hours, I love wearing makeup and I have fun with it.

Tell me, what are some of your everyday essential cosmetics?

I?d have to say, Boscia BB Cream, Tarte lip stain in ?Enchanted? and Givenchy Noir Couture 4-in-1 mascara.

Your skin is so healthy looking. What are your skincare secrets?

I dry brush my body at night, and I like to use a Clarisonic on my face. To help keep my skin clear, I use either Murad Acne cleanser or Boscia Purifying Cleansing gel. I use Pevonia?s Vitamin C serum, day and night. In the morning, I follow this with Boscia BB cream, at night it?s followed by Dermalogica?s Pure Night moisturizer.

I?m sure swimming can wreak havoc on hair. How do you keep your hair in such great shape?

I don?t heat style during the week. I always comb my conditioner through my hair with a wide tooth comb when I?m in the shower. After showering, I always use a leave-in-treatment. I really like Pantene?s moisture whip.

Your body is amazing. What are some of the most important fitness and training goals you try to achieve on a regular basis?

Thank you! When I?m traveling, I always bring my TRX Suspension Training System with me. It allows me to get in a full-body workout no matter where I am in the world. I also do Pilates and yoga daily for about 30 minutes. Whether I?m in training or not, it?s important for me to stay active every day. That can mean a swim, a run, a hike, gardening or simply a long walk with my dogs.

You mentioned you grow a lot of your own food. What does your diet mainly consist of?

I eat mostly a plant-based diet. I like to include lots of fruits and vegetables. I eat meat, but I make sure to support farmers that humanely and sustainably raise their animals. Growing my own vegetables forced me to learn about seasonality. Portion size is the only think that changes, whether I?m in heavy training or not.

Do you have any favorite indulgences?

I love a glass of wine with dinner. My guilty pleasure is a juicy bratwurst, with onions and relish at a football game (go Raiders!).

Is there a fragrance you are really into these days?

My two favorites are Jo Malone?s ?Lemongrass? and Kate Walsh?s fragrance, ?Boyfriend.?

You travel quite often. What are your travel must-haves?

I always have my Tempur-Pedic eye mask, Diptyque travel candle in ?Baise Noir?, Dr. Singha?s Mustard Bath, T3 Travel hair dryer, my Canon G1X camera and Jambox wireless speakers ? gotta have my tunes!

Source: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/face-time-natalie-coughlin/

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Accused UBS rogue trader: 'I lost control'

LONDON (Reuters) - Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli told a London court on Tuesday he had "lost control" of his trading in the summer of 2011 but insisted he never acted dishonestly in the frantic weeks that resulted in losses of $2.3 billion.

Adoboli also attacked the culture of investment banks, arguing that compliance rules were "aspirational" and that traders knew they had to bend rules to achieve the goals set by senior management.

The 32-year-old British-educated Ghanaian, who used to be a senior trader on the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) desk at UBS's London offices, was arrested on September 15, 2011. He denies two counts of fraud and four of false accounting.

The prosecution says he traded far in excess of his risk limits and concealed his positions with fictitious accounting. Adoboli says everything he did was for the benefit of UBS.

The ex-trader said his troubles started on July 1, 2011, when, under intense pressure from fellow traders and managers, he abandoned a long-standing bearish stance and flipped his trading position to a long one. Just after he did so, the market started to sell off.

"I lost control. The result of that loss of control was an increasing number of breaks (accounting problems), a more frantic trading activity, a less controlled decision-making process," he said.

Later that month, as losses mounted in a volatile market, Adoboli recalled that exhaustion and stress levels reached such a peak that it caused him to briefly break up with his long-term girlfriend.

He said that on the evening of July 23 the couple had been supposed to go out for dinner but he found himself unable to talk to her.

"I went a bit catatonic. I was curled up on my bed. She was asking me what was wrong. I just couldn't explain," he said.

About two weeks later he reunited with his girlfriend and she, over time, persuaded him to stop trying to recoup the losses and open up to someone about his true position.

"In the end she was the strength. She was the person who said to me 'Look, Kwek, if you can't do this, if you can't fix this, then look within yourself and maybe go and tell someone.'

"This is going to kill you. You can't keep fighting this battle that you are clearly not winning," Adoboli quoted his girlfriend as telling him.

He said that by the end of August he came around to her point of view.

"I had told loads of people different stories about what the trades were to buy us more time to recoup the losses. Eventually I accepted that I would have to tell someone about the true nature, the full scale of the losses," he said.

MORE RISKS, MORE PROFIT

In a separate strand of his evidence, Adoboli said he did not believe he had done anything dishonest because he was trying to deliver what UBS management wanted: greater risks in pursuit of greater profits.

He said that in the spring of 2011 the ETFs desk was doing so well that it was held up as an example to other UBS trading desks.

"There were no secrets. There was no hiding. There was no holding back," he said, describing that period.

"We were told to go for it. We went for it. We were told to push the boundaries ... We found the boundary. We found the edge. We fell off the edge and I got arrested," he said.

Adoboli said UBS and investment banks in general set traders unrealistic objectives and everyone knew they could only be met with a certain amount of rule-bending in areas like risk limits.

"The policies were aspirational policies, and on the ground - at the coalface - you had to put in place mechanisms to achieve what you had to achieve," he said.

"In order to achieve what the bank leadership wanted us to achieve, we cannot stick to the policy. We are allowed, it is approved, in reality, that we're going to try to meet in the middle somewhere."

The trial continues. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/accused-ubs-rogue-trader-lost-control-152349105--sector.html

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If your customer service happens on Facebook you should be worried

I happened on an interesting research paper this weekend entitled ?The State of Social Customer Service? created by NM Incite. ?It defines ?social care? as customer service that is solicited through social media (primarily on Facebook or Twitter) and explains the benefits of social listening to cater to these ?social care? customers. ?Other key insights (verbatim from the study):

47% of all social media users have used social care, with usage as high as 59% among 18-24 year olds;?usage spans all ages and genders

71% of those who experience positive social care (i.e., a quick and effective brand response) are likely to?recommend that brand to others, compared to just 19% of customers that do not receive any response

Nearly 1 in 3 social media users prefer to reach out to a brand for customer service through a social
channel compared to the phone

A single negative customer experience posted in public can wipe out the effect of up to five positive customer messages (this is actually a statistic cited from a yet unpublished marketing study)

The study itself offers a powerful consumer insight, but I?m not sure that it?s as universally applicable as many people would like to believe. ?Let me explain.

Writers laud these findings

Here is a sample of articles covering this study:

Consumers preferring to seek customer service via social media, survey reveals
Customer Service via Facebook May Be the Wave of the?Future
Consumers Demand Service Through Social Media
47 Percent Want Customer Service On Social Media [Study]

To read these analyses, a third of customers prefer seeking customer service via social media, Facebook social media is the wave of the future and the majority of business models are completely antiquated!

Here?s the issue: there really aren?t a lot of companies that actually do this, so these respondents are answering in the hypothetical. ?Additionally, what they?re proposing is rather cost-prohibitive for most small to medium sized businesses. This is by design: ?NM Incite is a partnership between?Nielsen?and McKinsey providing big-data analytics to brands. ?This study wasn?t meant to persuade a small business to migrate their customer service to Facebook. ?It was meant to persuade bigger businesses to use NMI as an analytics vendor.

The recent Vocus / Duct Tape Marketing study on social media utilization painted a picture of small and medium sized businesses that oftentimes add social media to the marketing department duties without adding headcount or a lot of budget. ?In this scenario, maintaining a 24-hour response team for social media would not only be silly, but it would be expensive. ?Not to mention the fact that depending upon your target demographic (Gen M specifically), there is evidence that Facebook and Twitter are not going to be the preferred social networks for them. ?Because some people prefer to interact on Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, App.net, LinkedIn, or some other site, should you have a social presence that is a mile wide and an inch deep? ?Or more precisely, a mile wide, a mile deep and resource intensive? ?You can see that something as innocuous as this study could cause a company to go nuts if they took it too seriously.

Benchmarking Big

I took a very unscientific look at a couple of big companies who are apt to perform ?social care,? to look at how they measure up to the ideal that the NMI study sets.

The first I looked at was Walgreens. ?Walgreens is thought to be an innovator in social care, though I pointed out a few months back their overdependence on autotweeting when they they autotweeted an in-store?promotion to a lady whose pet had died. ?Sufficed to say, they?ve gotten better. ?They autotweet responses to anyone who mentions them (mostly by Foursquare check-in), but they have a dedicated team for most of the day who actually respond to inquiries and have a separate Twitter handle (presumably to keep?complaints?off of their main account). ?They also have a Facebook page where they respond to inquiries, but haven?t quite figured out that they can?t tag individual users from their corporate account (which is a little awkward). ?They seem to respond intermittently to people on Facebook, showcasing that FB is not an ideal place to be handling customer service to begin with.

All in all, Walgreens does a pretty admirable job of follow-up, and they make it clear where customers can go for help. ?They do have boundaries, and they have some issues performing consistent customer service on Facebook.

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AT&T is probably one of the worst customer service organizations I?ve ever dealt with. ?They?ve been my cell carrier for many years as I?ve been locked into cell contracts with them, but they make no concessions for any inconveniences that they cause and are a very fragmented organization (presumably due to?their?different acquisitions). ?On Facebook, AT&T doesn?t allow people to post on their page (except in comments, which they don?t respond to), so they?re not doing a lot of FB customer service. ?On Twitter, they do respond to complaints but in a curious way. ?They?ve got customer care teams named after their team leads, but the people responding have different names. ?For instance, as shown below the member of Team Natasha servicing a customer is Nancy. ?I find this hilarious. ?Is is Natasha? ?Is it Nancy? ?Does it matter?

AT&T makes an effort for social care, but isn?t performing on par with the ideal that this study presents, either.

Benchmarking Small

My daughter had a minor medical issue recently, which caused her a lot of pain. ?No matter what a person?s threshold of pain is, their threshold for a child?s pain is decidedly less. ?So when my kid was in pain and her doctor wouldn?t see her for a day, we switched pediatricians.

To me this is the undercurrent of any customer service study ? I?m not sure that customers are as excited to dictate the platform where customer service is performed as they are to get their problems solved. ?Trying to take a study purposed to persuade customers to buy a social analytics and monitoring solution and implying that it may be the new customer service norm is a stretch.

At the end of the day people may say that they?d love for you to address their problems on Facebook, but they really just want you to address their problems. ?Period.

One last point?..

To the point about one negative social comment equal to five positive social comments ? I find this a little misleading. ?All audiences and platforms aren?t created equal, so positioning something so variable as absolute seems false to me. ?For instance, if I were to go onto Twitter to lament my kid?s pediatrician there is very little chance that anyone will see it and give it a second thought.

It will be interesting to see the research behind this figure when it is finally published, but it seems like a rather?provocative?and simplistic?statistic for a much more sophisticated mechanism.

What are your thoughts about customer service through social media? ?Is any company rocking your world on Facebook? ?Is it more important where customer service happens or whether it happens?

I see social media as a huge differentiator for small businesses and try to tailor my insights to support that view. I am the 12th most influential social media blogger according to Kred, and the single most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff according to Klout. Neither of those is probably true. Representing Cincinnati, Ohio and my hometown of Seattle, Washington.

Source: http://leaderswest.com/2012/10/29/facebook-customer-service/

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Ford Reliability Tumbles

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Ford's vaunted reliability ratings have stalled, and their controversial MyFord infotainment system is partially to blame.

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The domestic brand once boasted top ten status in Consumer Reports' predicted reliability ratings, but a confluence of unfortunate factors plummeted their rankings to a dismal second-to-last place out of 28 brands surveyed, despite several buzzworthy introductions like the Focus ST and CMAX Hybrid.

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CR cites three reasons for the drop: the aforementioned disappointment of MyFord/MyLincoln and its spread to more models, problems associated with new or updated Explorer, Fiesta, and Focus models, and the fact that three historically reliable vehicles-- the Escape, Fusion, and Lincoln MKZ-- were not included in this year's analysis.

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The findings are based on subscriber feedback from 1.2 million vehicles, and reflect the difficulty of creating intuitive, easy to learn multimedia interfaces, not to mention the balancing act of introducing vehicle updates while maintaining reliability.?

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The survey also claimed the Prius C as the top scorer, with Cadillac, the top US brand in the study, moving up 14 spots in the rankings.

?

Source: Consumer Reports

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/auto-blog/ford-reliability-tumbles?src=rss

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Woodside, Japan Bank Sign MoU>> LNG World News

Woodside has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) aimed at supporting Japan?s requirement for stable and long-term energy supplies.

The MOU further strengthens the long-term relationship established between the two organizations through the financial support JBIC provided for the Pluto LNG Project.

Under the MOU, Woodside and JBIC will hold periodic discussions relating to Woodside?s future LNG developments and JBIC will consider providing financial support for those potential developments as well as creating opportunities for Japanese companies to participate in Woodside?s future LNG developments.

The MOU was signed by JBIC?s Managing Executive Officer, Global Head of Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Finance Group Mr. Koichi Yajima and Woodside?s Executive Director Corporate and Commercial Rob Cole.

LNG World News Staff, October 29, 2012; Image: Woodside

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Source: http://www.lngworldnews.com/woodside-japan-bank-sign-mou/

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Top 10 Fitness Trends Picked for 2013

Posted on Oct 29, 2012

Oct. 29, 2012 ? Forget fancy fitness fads. Your body is the only equipment you need for one of the hottest fitness trends: body-weight workouts.

A new survey of fitness trends shows body-weight training, including back-to-basics exercises like push-ups, planks, and pull-ups, is expected to be one of the top 10 fitness trends of 2013.

Researchers say people have been using their own body weight for centuries as a form of resistance training. But this is the first time it has made it into the trend survey, because gyms are now packaging it as part of exercise programs.

?Body-weight exercises are a proven way to get and stay fit,? says researcher Walt Thompson, PhD, of Georgia State University. ?In a time when many people are concerned with cutting expenses, body-weight exercises are a great way to feel great and look toned without a big financial investment.?

Top Fitness Trends Predicted for 2013

Taking the top spot in the fitness trend survey for the sixth year in a row are fitness professionals.

Researchers say education and certification programs for health and fitness professionals are experiencing exponential growth. The number of employed fitness trainers is projected to rise by 29% from 251,400 in 2010 to 311,800 in 2020.

According to the survey, the top 10 fitness trends predicted for 2013 are:

1. Educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals ? Jobs for fitness workers are expected to rise much faster than the average for all other occupations, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

2. Strength training ? In the No. 2 spot for the second year in a row, strength training continues to be a strong trend. No longer restricted to body building, most people now incorporate some form of weight training to improve or maintain muscle strength.

3. Body-weight training ? Body-weight exercises use minimal equipment and include push-ups, pull-ups, planks, and squats.

4. Children and obesity ? Exercise programs aimed at the problem of childhood obesity are also a major fitness trend. Schools are increasingly partnering with commercial and community-based physical activity programs to prevent and treat rising childhood obesity rates.

5. Exercise and weight loss ? Consistently in the top 20 fitness trends, researchers say most popular diet plans incorporate exercise to encourage weight loss.

6. Fitness programs for older adults ? Fitness clubs are capitalizing on an aging baby boomer generation with age-appropriate exercise programs.

7. Personal training ? As more personal trainers are becoming certified, they are becoming more accessible in a variety of settings, such as corporate wellness, community-based, and medical fitness programs.

8. Functional fitness ? Researchers define functional fitness as using strength training to improve balance, coordination, force, power, and endurance to perform activities of daily living. Functional fitness programs are designed to reflect actual activities done as a function of daily living and are often used in fitness programs for older adults.

9. Core training ? Using equipment like balance balls and wobble boards, core training stresses strength and conditioning of the stabilizing muscles of the mid-section. Researchers say exercising the core muscles in the hips, lower back, and abdomen improves overall stability for daily activities and sports performance.

10. Group personal training ? A boon for budget-conscious clients, personal trainers now often provide services to small groups of two to four people at deep discounts.

The survey was completed by 3,346 health and fitness professionals worldwide and appears in the American College of Sports Medicine?s Health & Fitness Journal.

Laura Schlessinger more stories

Related posts:

1. Suggestions on How to Add a Regular Fitness Routine to Your Life
2. Alternative Workouts You Should Consider
3. Top Women?s Sports Medicine Issues to be Aware of
4. Safety Tips to Prevent Injury When Working Out
5. Major Issues of Women?s Sports Medicine

Source: http://knookers.com/?p=2812

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Don't be swayed by the top 9 excuses for harassment ? Business ...

When managers witness or hear about a possible sexual harassment situation at work, it?s important for them to take the situation seriously. Harassment lawsuits can spiral into multimillion-dollar lawsuits if not dealt with immediately ? and employees? personal bank accounts are at risk, too (see box below).

That?s why it?s vital for managers to contact the appropriate company officials in any potential harassment situations. Don?t be swayed by these common excuses you?ll hear from employees:

1. ?I didn?t mean it.? It?s not enough for an employee to claim that he or she didn?t intend to be offensive.

Sometimes, the effect of the behavior outweighs the intent of the harasser. Even if the employee didn?t intend to harass, if the target objectively and subjectively felt harassed, the employer could be held liable.

2. ?I was just kidding.? Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Again, the effect may outweigh intent.

3. ?That?s the way I treat everybody.? Illegal harassment must be based on gender, race or other protected characteristics. However, court cases have shown that offensive conduct that is not gender-specific still may violate sexual harassment law if there is sufficient evidence of differences in the harassment suffered by female and male employees.

4. ?I didn?t say anything sexual.? Sexual harassment is often misunderstood to mean that behavior must be sexual in nature in order to be illegal. However, nonsexual behavior that occurs because of one?s sex can also be considered illegal harassment. ?

So, for example, calling female employees names that are nonsexual, yet offensive, is a form of sexual harassment.

5. ?They?re no angels, either.? The fact that a target of harassment also used foul language or told dirty jokes herself (or himself) does not mean he or she can never be a victim of harassment.

6. ?I wasn?t talking about her.? In this case, the harasser tries to hide behind the fact that the complaining employee was not the actual target of the remarks. But several courts have ruled that employees may experience harassment regardless of whom the racists or sexist remarks were targeted toward.

7. ?They weren?t supposed to see/hear.? In a similar way to No. 6, even if the intended audience of offensive pictures or jokes was a willing participant, anyone who accidentally sees the pictures or hears the jokes may also be able to file a sexual harassment claim.

8. ?She?s too sensitive.? In some situations, the alleged harasser is right, and the behavior is not as severe or pervasive as the target thinks it is. The court test is how a ?reasonable person? would objectively and subjectively perceive the behavior.

But don?t shrug off any complaints. In all cases, the employer needs to get the facts to decide whether the behavior is inappropriate or innocuous.

9. ?It?s just the environment around here.? Certainly, each workplace varies in the degree of civility expected and exhibited. However, the EEOC has said, ?Discrimination is unlawful regardless of the job site. It doesn?t matter whether employees work behind a computer or behind a forklift.?

Be aware of conduct that could spark a harassment lawsuit

1. Repeated sexual innuendo, obscene or off-color jokes, slurs, lewd remarks and language, and other offensive sexual comments.
2. Sexually offensive content in email messages, notes and workplace graffiti.
3. Sexual propositions, insults, threats, leering, whistling or other suggestive sounds.
4. Persistent unwanted sexual or romantic overtures.
5. Displays of pornographic pictures or other sexual material at work.
6. Coerced or unwelcome touching, kissing or other sexual activity.
7. Subtle or overt pressure for sexual favors.

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ZTE's U950 shows how Tegra 3 phone is done under $160

This might not be the $199 Tegra 3 tablet that NVIDIA's keen to see, but hey, a 999 yuan ($160) quad-core phone is just as impressive. Unveiled in China earlier today, this ZTE U950 smartphone packs a 1.3GHz Tegra 3 chip, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 2,000mAh battery beneath the 4.3-inch display. There's also a five-megapixel camera plus a VGA front-facing camera inside the 9mm-thick body. Pretty standard stuff for an Android 4.0 phone, except for the price-per-performance ratio, of course. The first 100,000 customers who register now will be eligible to order on November 11th, though chances are the quota's all gone by now.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

ZTE's U950 shows how Tegra 3 phone is done under $160 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/29/ztes-u950-tegra-3-phone/

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Living With the Fear of Mesothelioma | Mesothelioma Blog

If you?ve had known or suspected prior exposure to asbestos, worked in an occupation where risk of exposure was high, or served in the Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard or Air Force, you and your loved ones are quite likely living with the fear of one day finding out you have the fatal cancer known as mesothelioma.

Over fifty countries, primarily in the developed world, have restricted or prohibited manufacturers and others from using asbestos, which causes mesothelioma, often referred to as ?asbestos cancer.? Despite banned or restricted use, mesothelioma continues to be a threat in two different ways:

• In areas where asbestos was once commonly mined or used, and
• from asbestos containing products that were used in buildings, construction, cars and ships that are now deteriorating or being damaged or disturbed through renovations and demolitions, causing the once intact asbestos fibers to become airborne.

Mesothelioma has a long latency period; the time that passes between exposure to asbestos and the development of asbestos cancer is typically measured in decades. Unfortunately, this means that those who know or even just suspect they were exposed to asbestos are constantly reminded of the threat that something that happened years ago poses a risk to their health today.

Fear Driven by the Increase in Asbestos Related Media

Due to the long time periods involved in mesothelioma?s development, the cost cutting and poor safety habits of the 1960s and ?70s are only now coming back to haunt families who are experiencing the devastating effects of asbestos cancer firsthand. This is why asbestos, which has been known and used for hundreds of years, has only been widely talked about in recent years.

News about asbestos use in other countries, asbestos lawsuits against the companies responsible for asbestos exposure, and commercials alerting victims of mesothelioma to their rights serve as constant reminders for those who live with the fear of one day developing this deadly disease.

Friends, family, and former co-workers may also be diagnosed with mesothelioma, worsening the fear that these individuals feel. As with many other cancers, in the very first stages of mesothelioma, victims often feel no pain. Since mesothelioma most frequently forms in the lungs and stomach, the symptoms of heart burn or even a common chest cold can provoke worry. This leads to constant concern for those who know or suspect that they had exposure in their past.

While common wisdom might suggest not fearing the things we can?t control, those who suspect that they or a loved one might have been exposed to asbestos should consult with their physician about regular checkups and be prepared to obtain legal representation if the worst should happen. No one should have to live with the dread of asbestos cancer, and being informed about the options will help those living with the uncertainties related to mesothelioma regain control of their fears.

For more information, contact our mesothelioma lawyers at 1-800-440-4262.? We have been helping clients diagnosed with mesothelioma and their families for over 30 years obtain substantial compensation and justice for their injury and were one of the first pioneers in California in asbestos litigation.? Call today ? we are here to help you.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2012 at 3:14 pm and is filed under Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Source: http://blog.mesothelioma-usa.com/living-with-the-fear-of-mesothelioma/

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ARNOLD Real Estate | BRIAR LEA Homes For Sale October, 2012 ...

by starfish on October 28, 2012

Find BRIAR LEA Homes For Sale and BRIAR LEA Home Values. We also have information on mortgages, insurance, movers and other ARNOLD Real Estate Services for anyone looking to sell or buy a home in Maryland.

Showing properties 1 - 1 of 1. See more Briar Lea tract Homes For Sale.
(all data current as of 10/28/2012)

1. 5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 1.06 ac

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Paul Kitchen and Starfish Team provide clients, family and close friends with professional, honest and dependable service. A resident of ARNOLD, Paul is extremely familiar with the local neighborhoods including BRIAR LEA, school districts and the ARNOLD Real Estate market in this beautiful Maryland town.

Paul Kitchen
Real Estate Consultant
Keller Williams Realty Consultants
3915 National Drive, Ste 100 Burtonsville, MD 20866
(301) 589-5051
(800) 793-7304 toll free
ARNOLD Real Estate
ARNOLD Real Estate Blog

Tagged as: ARNOLD Real Estate, BRIAR LEA

Source: http://www.starfishteam.com/dc-md-va-blog/2012/10/28/arnold-real-estate-briar-lea-homes-for-sale-october-2012/

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Giants sweep Tigers for World Series title

DETROIT ? The end came much like this series, not with a boom, but with a little fly ball that fell through the 10th inning raindrops and onto the Comerica Park outfield grass for a single that would win the San Francisco Giants the 2012 World Series.

In a series where new heroes come nightly and from a roster of anonymous names, the star would be second baseman Marco Scutaro, whose fly ball fell in front of Detroit Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson. It scored journeyman infielder Ryan Theriot, who slid across home plate for what would be the winning run in a 4-3 victory in Game 4 on Sunday night.

San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval was named the World Series MVP. (AP)And after closer Sergio Romo struck out Miguel Cabrera for the final out, the Giants raced to the center of the infield to celebrate their second World Series championship in three years. It's the franchise's seventh world title.

[More: Pablo Sandoval named World Series MVP]

Pablo Sandoval was voted World Series MVP after batting 8 for 16 in four games, doing most of his damage in Game 1 with a historic three home run performance.

"My mom sent me a text and said don't wake up," Sandoval said of his dream-come-true World Series.

As for the other big hitter entering this series, it was fitting that Cabrera was the final out Sunday. After all, it was the failure of Detroit's big hitters, primarily Cabrera and Prince Fielder, that led to the Tigers' demise in this series. Their silence had as much to do with San Francisco's sweep as the Giants' resourcefulness.

In dispensing praise, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had a big helping for Romo, who seized the closer role in place of the injured Brian Wilson.

"Sergio, he's the guy you want out there. He's not afraid," Bochy said. "He saved us all year when we lost [Brian] Wilson."

[Photos: Giants fans party in streets of San Francisco]

Like they have in this World Series, the Giants scored first Sunday. Only unlike the other games, they couldn't hold onto the lead. Hunter Pence hit a fly ball in the second inning that rose high toward center field and carried over the heads of the outfielders before finally bouncing on the warning track and dropping over the fence for a double. The next hitter, Brandon Belt, hit a fly ball down the right-field line that smacked against the fence. By the time the Tigers got the ball back to the field Belt had a triple, Pence had scored and San Francisco was up 1-0.

The lead disappeared an inning later when Austin Jackson walked and two batters later Cabrera hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right field that got caught in the roaring wind and carried until it disappeared in the crowd for the Triple Crown winner's first home run of the World Series.

For Detroit, though, the problem was that pitcher Max Scherzer couldn't hold the 2-1 lead. In the top of the sixth he gave up a single to Scutaro and then two batters later he got a 1-0 changeup over the middle of the plate and Giants catcher Buster Posey pulled it down the left-field line. The ball curled just inside the foul pole for a home run that sent the San Francisco players running and jumping in their dugout.

[Y! Sports Fan Shop: San Francisco Giants World Series champs apparel]

The 3-2 lead lasted two batters into the bottom of the inning when Delmon Young hit a home run to right to tie the score 3-3, where the game would be stuck until Theriot and Scutaro won it in the 10th inning.

"It was freaky. I would've never guessed it," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of his team's inglorious demise in a postgame TV interview. "There was nothing fluky about it."

More World Series coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
? Familiar heroes emerge as Giants complete World Series sweep
? Photos: Behind the scenes at the World Series with Yahoo! Sports
? Demi Lovato ruins national anthem again at World Series

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/giants-sweep-tigers-for-world-series-title-on-marco-scutaro-s-winning-hit-.html

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Medical insurance: Why your city and profile are important | Firstpost

by Akshay Mehrotra

As medical expenditures are sky rocketing with every passing year, medical insurance is fast becoming a must for every household. As the need for healthcare insurance is becoming evident, almost all of us are faced with two questions ? What would be the right health insurance plan for my family? And how much health insurance do I need?

Representational image. Reuters

Let?s address the first question, what would be the right health insurance plan for my family. For this please understand there are two types of health insurance plans ? mediclaim policy and medical payout policy.

Mediclaim policy reimburses you the cost of medical treatment either as a cashless bill settlement at the hospital or via reimbursement of bills submitted. Basically speaking your medical expenses are reimbursed.

Medical payout policy or loss of income policy also popularly called hospital cash policy, give you a cash payment for the event of hospitalization. This policy is not towards treatment costs but gives your instant cash if hospitalised. This type of policy is aggressively mis-sold as mediclaim which it is not.

Now coming back to the main question ? how much insurance cover do I need ? well unlike term life insurance there is no set formula like annual salary x 8 for amount of cover, but I follow some very basic rules in my advise. And I have followed a small formula sheet to calculate the amount of health insurance needed:

There is a simpler formula also which I follow as a thumb rule, which basically is derived from a simple fact: find out the room rent of a the normal hospital were you will go for a medical treatment * 200 is the Sum Assured in your health policy.

Taking this as an example: an upwardly mobile person living in South Mumbai should take a minimum Rs 6 lakh Sum assured of individual health insurance or a family floater of Rs 8.3 lakh for a family of 4.

Similarly in Jaipur the sum assured will get reduced to Rs 3 & Rs 4 lakh respectively.

Most of us end up taking a very small sum assured policy, my advice however is that you must always opt for the right amount, a little extra will not hurt as much as a lesser cover when it comes to medical costs.

Let?s look at some of key features, which must be included in your mediclaim policy:

1.?? ?Pre hospitalization & Post hospitalization treatments costs should consider at least 60-90 days of pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation costs.
2.?? ?Daily cash benefit
3.?? ?Free health checkup benefit.
4.?? ?Coverage of pre-existing diseases
5.?? ?Maternity cover inbuilt into the product
6.?? ?Coverage of non-allopathic treatments or alternative medicine treatments.
7.?? ?Critical illness rider
8.?? ?Discount on claim free renewal
9.?? ?Renewability of product ? a life long renewable product is best suited.

A quick comparison between Individual Mediclaim vs Floater Mediclaim plans is give below

However, there can be a few drawbacks to family floater plans too. The price of family floaters generally depends on the age of the eldest member of the family. As the age of the eldest member rises above 48-52 years, the premium can shoot up.

Thus a family with eldest less then 45 years should opt for Family Floater

(This is a guest column by Akshay Mehrotra, CMO ? Policybazaar.com)

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/investing/medical-insurance-why-your-city-and-profile-are-important-506352.html

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Battles: Atlas

Experiemental and math rock can be a little tough to get into. The rhymthms are impressively complex and intricate, but a lot of times you just can't groove to them. Enter "Atlas" by Battles. It's groovetastic. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ayUyEvUe5g4/battles-atlas

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Source: http://fefeclub.com/the-ultimate-brainwave-collection-1-in-effective-effortless-self-improvement/

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Mechanism found for destruction of key allergy-inducing complexes, researchers say

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2012) ? Researchers have learned how a synthetic molecule destroys complexes that induce allergic responses -- a discovery that could lead to the development of highly potent, rapidly acting interventions for a host of acute allergic reactions.

The study, published online Oct. 28 in Nature, was led by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Bern, Switzerland.

The new inhibitor disarms IgE antibodies, pivotal players in acute allergies, by detaching the antibody from its partner in crime, a molecule called FcR. (Other mechanisms lead to slower-developing allergic reactions.)

"It would be an incredible intervention if you could rapidly disconnect IgE antibodies in the midst of an acute allergic response," said Ted Jardetzky, PhD, professor of structural biology and senior investigator for the study. It turns out the inhibitor used by the team does just that.

A myriad of allergens, ranging from ragweed pollen to bee venom to peanuts, can set off IgE antibodies, resulting in allergic reactions within seconds. The new inhibitor destroys the complex that tethers IgE to the cells responsible for the reaction, called mast cells. Severing this connection would be the holy grail of IgE-targeted allergy treatment.

The first time a potential allergen enters the body, some people respond by making allergen-specific IgE antibodies. These antibodies stick around long after the initial allergen is cleared from the body. Most of the antibodies get snagged by IgE-specific receptors called FcRs, which are exposed on the surface of mast cells. The mast cells are then primed to react the next time a person encounters the allergen.

Dissociation of this IgE-FcR interaction is a sought-after goal of allergy treatment for a good reason: IgE-coated mast cells are grenades of histamine, and re-encountering the allergen is equivalent to pulling out the clip. When an allergen makes a return visit, it binds to the pre-loaded IgE on the mast cell surface, triggering the release of inflammatory mediators -- including histamine -- that promote the allergic response. As allergy sufferers are well aware, these nasty reactions can occur within a matter of seconds. In a severe allergic response, sudden anaphylactic shock and death can be the result.

The key to actively disabling the allergic response lies in the separation of IgE from the FcRs on the surface of mast cells. But separating these dangerous couples is a tall order because their interaction is extremely stable -- sensitizing the mast cells for weeks. Currently available treatment using omalizumab (an anti-IgE antibody sold under the trade name Xolair) can block new interactions between IgE and FcR, but it is not designed to pry the molecules apart once they've formed a bond on the surface of a mast cell. So Xolair can dampen the allergic response, but as stated on the product's website: "Xolair is not a rescue medicine and should not be used to treat sudden asthma attacks."

While simply blocking IgE binding is helpful for some allergy sufferers, when it comes to the rapid quenching of an acute allergic response, "what you'd really like to do is get rid of it," said Jardetzky. Along with scientists at the University of Bern, his team discovered that an engineered protein inhibitor called DARPin E2-79 stripped IgE from the mast cell receptor. Using this inhibitor, "an interaction that normally lasts for hours or days in terms of its stability is stripped off in a matter of seconds," said Jardetzky.

DARPin E2-79 is one of a family of engineered inhibitors containing protein-binding regions called ankryin repeats. While Jardetzky's group was using structural biology and biophysical approaches to probe the weak spots in the IgE-FcR interaction, scientists at the University of Bern were tinkering with DARPins that dampened IgE's disastrous effects. The collaboration of the two groups resulted in the characterization of DARPin E2-79, an inhibitor that goes beyond mere blockade to actively disassemble the IgE-FcR power couple.

Jardetzky's group solved E2-79'S structure and used this information to model its interaction with the IgE-FcR pair. Then, using sensitive biochemical techniques that detect step-by-step binding interactions between molecules, the teams were able to tease out the mechanism that the inhibitor uses to break the IgE-FcR bond.

The researchers found that E2-79 hastens the separation of the two molecules by taking advantage of a moment of weakness in the relationship between IgE and FcR. IgE maintains its interaction with FcR using two contact points, and occasionally one of these points releases while the other one keeps the pair together. Normally this brief looseness isn't enough to separate the couple, but E2-79 can swoop into the small space between them, effectively driving the couple apart.

While E2-79 is the first molecule to display these IgE stripping characteristics, Jardetzky hopes that this work will stimulate the discovery of smaller compounds capable of working even more efficiently. Drug developers generally expect large macromolecules like E2-79 to be less potent than small molecule inhibitors and unlikely to be able to disrupt complexes, so the fact that E2-79 worked so well was a surprise. Small molecules are more amenable to oral administration, and are easier and cheaper to manufacture than large macromolecules. "Now we're in the hunt for a small molecule that could have this kind of activity. That would be the real hit," said Jardetzky.

The discovery of E2-79's mechanism of IgE inhibition could lead to rapid discoveries from other labs as well. Now that scientists know what mechanism to look for, they may be inspired to dig back through freezers full of IgE inhibitors that were identified years ago, said Jardetzky. In the light of techniques described in this study, perhaps once-neglected inhibitors will show new promise in the treatment of allergic disease.

The study's primary authorship was shared between Beomkyu Kim, PhD, a Stanford graduate student, and Alexander Eggel, PhD, at the University of Bern. The other Stanford co-author is research assistant Svetlana Tarchevskaya.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Asthma Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Jessica Shugart.

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. Beomkyu Kim, Alexander Eggel, Svetlana S. Tarchevskaya, Monique Vogel, Heino Prinz, Theodore S. Jardetzky. Accelerated disassembly of IgE?receptor complexes by a disruptive macromolecular inhibitor. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11546

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_health/~3/SyVXKhtXvlw/121028142316.htm

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