plank gumdrop: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Historic British mansion has 48 rooms but no toilet

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Government rests its case in Clemens perjury trial

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 2:30 p.m. ET May 29, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) - Prosecutors have rested their case in the perjury trial of Roger Clemens.

The government called the last of its 24 witnesses Tuesday, concluding 19 days of testimony. The last witness was a toxicologist from the FBI who testified about the various forms of vitamin B12.

Including jury selection, the trial is now in its seventh week. It was originally expected to take four to six weeks.

Clemens' lawyers say they will need about two weeks to call their witnesses.

Clemens is charged with lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone during his 24-year major league career.

The government's case relies heavily on Clemens' former strength coach, Brian McNamee, who testified that he injected the ex-pitcher with both substances.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Beginning iOS Game Development - Instructional Design Adventure

I wanted to extend my learning of iOS Development outside of what SAMS Teach Yourself iOS in 24 Hours provided me during the run of the Apps for Education course so I have begun working through Patrick Alessi's Beginning iOS Game Development.? However, I need to understand the frameworks behind iOS game development a little bit more than what was introduced in the SAMS book.? That being said today, I explored Chapter 1 and skimmed Chapter 2 (since it was an introduction to XCode and I feel I have a pretty good handle on that).? My goals for tonight and tomorrow are to work through Chapters 3 (C programming language), 4 (Objective-C programming language), and 5 (Cocoa Foundation Framework).? Each of these chapters provides a quick tutorial game to develop, which will be especially important to understand how the book sets up its walkthroughs of the code which are presented a little more indirectly than the SAMS book.? The part of the book I am particularly interested in is Part II (mostly chapters 6 and 7).? These chapters contains tutorials for the two different types of Simon Says games, which is what I would like to do for my final project.? While I probably have enough knowledge to just jump into those tutorials, I'm afraid to skip over some key concepts that I may later need to know (or at least know where to find).

Now for a summary of Chapter 1 -- this is more for me than for you, but read on if you like.
What makes a good iOS Game?

Device usage:? Think about when your user will be accessing your content.? It is typically in short bursts so your game needs to be easily and efficiently launched
Use unique features:? This is not a game console so don't expect your user to play your game like they would with a D-pad or a joy-stick.? Instead allow them to interact directly with the game itself
Make your game fun!

Easily approachable:? too many rules = too difficult
Offer players a tutorial if it is complex
Balance the game to challenge the player with easy levels that progress to harder levels
Reward the player (GameKit APIs to show leader board stats)
If you have fun during the development of the game your users will have fun playing it!

Developing your idea!

Documenting the game:? "Game writing" phase

Application definition statement (1 sentence)
Define the features (formal document or checklist):? this is a list of key features not tiny details that is used more to gauge your progress in game development.? You can add separate subitems when needed
Keep your target audience in mind!

Prototyping your game

Pen and paper design:? use clips of paper to simulate play which will help you understand how to better define rules and level of difficulty without writing code

Preparing to Code:

Use a program you are comfortable with (Illustrator, Photoshop, OmniGraffle)
Device and Resolution:

iPads 1 & 2:? 1024 x 768
iPad 3 (retina display):? 2048 x 1536
iPhone 4 & higher (retina display):? 960 x 640
other iPhones and iPod Touch:? 480 x 320

Game-Related Frameworks:? Graphics, sound, user interaction

Cocoa

"Cocoa is a set of object-oriented frameworks that provides a runtime environment for applications running in Mac OS X and iOS."? - Apple
Cocoa libraries are written in Objective-C, which is a subset of C programming language but extends to include object-oriented features.
Foundation Framework:? provides low-level classes that are used in every iOS program
UIKit Framework:? contains classes that you use to build the user interface of your application
Media Services:? graphic and sound APIs, which includes Core Graphics, Core Animation, and Core Audio
Core Services:? This includes the Foundation framework and contains all the basic building blocks you need
Core OS:? includes the Kernel (Linux based), file system, networking components, and device drivers

Drawing:? UIKit and Core Graphics

*This is your first choice in how your app will render:? 2D or 3D

2D Drawing utilizes the UIKit and Core Graphics; however, 3D Drawing uses the GLKit and OpenGL ES.? For 2D, both the UIKit and Core Graphics help you create and manipulate Bezier paths, image, bitmaps, colors, and fonts.? Core Graphics extends the UIKit giving the ability to directly work with line attributes, color spaces, pattern colors, gradients, shadings, and image masks.? On the other hand, OpenGL is a C-based graphics library that you can use to build high-performance 2D and 3D graphics.? The GLKit sits on top of this in iOS5, which promises to simplify certain aspects of 3D development.? The OpenGL library is HUGE and not covered in many books -- But note, if you build a game by using the native drawing APIs and discover that the performance is not good enough to support your game, you can migrate your drawing code to OpenGL for a performance boost.

User Interaction:? Cocoa Touch

UIButton class:? When you are only concerned about a player hitting a button use a button
Touch events:? Offer more precision such as letting a player touch down on the screen and move something with finger while pressed down
Gesture recognizers:? pre-built classes that recognize when a specific motion that are common to iOS such as pinching or swiping.? Gesture recognizers will recognize, analyze, and send a message if a gesture is used
Don't forget about other functions such as the built in accelerometer!

Core Animation

Frame-based animation:? building for real-time action games by drawing each frame individually with each frame differing (example Blocker Game)
Turn-based game:? does not require as much precision but easier to just use the Core Animation framework
Core Animation framework:? animations seen in the iOS user interface, which you use by changing the Core Animation properties on an animatable object (Chapter 8:? card game)

Core Audio (covered in Chapter 9)

Sound system services is part of the Audio Toolbox framework which plays notifications for UI events (30 second sounds or shorter)
AV Foundation Framework provides an Objective-C interface with more options and fewer limitations for playing sounds and video
Audio Toolbox Framework:? synchronize audio playback with your application
Audio Unit Framework allows your application to host audio processing plug-ins called audio units.? Pre-made audio units for mixing, equalization, format conversion and real-time input/output
You can use OpenAL Framework? to create positional based stereo sound playback which accurately position the sounds in your game in three-dimensional space

GameKit:? enables three core pieces of functionality

Peer-to-peer networking:? allows you to set up an ad hoc network between devices through either bluetooth or wireless network to enable communication
In-game voice chat:? allows player of the game to chat with each other during a game
Game Center:? Social gaming services that includes leader boards, achievements Friends lists, turn based gaming, and auto-matching to anonymous players (think Words with Friends)

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Two separate attacks wound five in north east Kenya

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Blair faces grilling over ties to Murdoch

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Friday, May 25, 2012

Secret Service chief apologizes for prostitution scandal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Secret Service, in his first public appearance since a Colombian prostitution scandal involving his employees surfaced last month, apologized for the misconduct on Wednesday as lawmakers expressed doubt it was an isolated incident.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, gray-haired in a blue striped suit and tie, faced the Senate Homeland Security Committee and asserted that the behavior of a dozen employees in Cartagena in April did not reflect the culture of the agency that protects the president.

But Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the committee, said a review of Secret Service records showed that over the past five years there were 64 instances of "allegations or complaints concerning sexual misconduct ... against employees."

In the biggest scandal to hit the agency, a dozen Secret Service employees were accused of misconduct for bringing women, some of them prostitutes, back to their hotel rooms in Colombia, ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.

"I am deeply disappointed and I apologize for the misconduct of these employees and the distraction that it has caused," Sullivan said.

"Over the past several weeks, we have been under intense scrutiny as a result of this incident. To see the agency's integrity called into question has not been easy," he added.

Sullivan generally has been praised by lawmakers for acting swiftly and the White House has stood by him. None of the senators at the hearing called for him to step down.

But Senator Susan Collins, the senior Republican on the committee, and others said they found it difficult to believe the misconduct was an isolated incident, and she faulted Sullivan on that score.

"The only answer of his that disturbed me today was that he kept saying over and over again that he basically does think this is an isolated incident. I don't think he has any basis for that conclusion," Collins told reporters afterward.

Lieberman, an independent, said most of the 64 allegations or complaints of sexual misconduct in the past five years involved sexually explicit emails or sexually explicit material being sent on government computers. But three incidents, Lieberman said, "involved charges of an inappropriate relationship with a foreign national and one was a complaint of nonconsensual sexual intercourse."

Another incident involved a Secret Service employee soliciting a prostitute who turned out to be an undercover police officer in Washington, Lieberman said.

An older incident involved several Secret Service employees who were disciplined for "partying with alcohol with underage females in their hotel rooms while on assignment" at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Lieberman said.

Regarding the Colombia incident, Sullivan said the actions of a few should not taint the whole agency and its roughly 7,000 employees, and he pushed back on any suggestion that such behavior was considered acceptable when agents were on the road.

'JUST ABSURD'

"The thought or the notion that this type of behavior is condoned or authorized is just absurd, in my opinion," said Sullivan, who has worked nearly 30 years at the Secret Service.

"I never one time had any supervisor or any other agent tell me that this type of behavior is condoned. I know I've never told any of our employees that it's condoned," he said.

Obama has called the Secret Service employees involved in the scandal "knuckleheads" and maintained that the vast majority of agents perform their work admirably.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that four of the employees involved in the incident are challenging their dismissals, saying the Secret Service has made them scapegoats for behavior that previously had been tolerated.

Sullivan told the committee that the agency's numbers differed: "We have two employees who had originally said that they were going to resign, that have now come back and said that they are going to challenge that."

In addition to the two who rescinded their resignations, seven Secret Service employees retired, resigned, were fired or are in the process of having their security clearance permanently revoked because of the scandal.

Three others were cleared and a 13th employee is on administrative leave after reporting his own potential misconduct in a separate incident.

Collins said there was no excuse for "recklessness" and that the Secret Service employees had "willingly made themselves potential targets" who could easily have been drugged, kidnapped or blackmailed. Sullivan said no secret information had been compromised because of the incident.

Sullivan listened to senator after senator express concern. The agency's reputation was "badly stained" by the "sordid story," Lieberman said.

Lieberman and Collins, who were among lawmakers briefed on the incident, described the evening in mid-April when the men, in separate groups of two to four, went to different nightclubs and strip clubs, drinking alcohol heavily.

They returned to their hotel with women, some of whom were prostitutes, and registered them under their actual names as overnight guests as required by hotel rules.

"If one of the agents had not argued with one of the women about how much he owed her, the world would never have known this sordid story," Lieberman said.

Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, pressed Sullivan about some of the new rules announced by the agency since the scandal surfaced, such as sending a senior employee to supervise behavior on trips.

"I'm a little bit confused as to why we would be sending a $155,000 (annual salary) person, another person to basically babysit people that you say this hasn't happened before," Brown said.

A dozen U.S. military personnel also are under investigation in connection with the prostitution scandal in Colombia.

Charles Edwards, the acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Secret Service, told the hearing he would conduct an independent investigation into the events in Cartagena.

(Writing by Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Learning the Hard Way

The international renown of Johns Hopkins Medical School isn?t always a good thing. Its proximity to Washington, DC is another problem. Together, they produce a stream of foreign doctors intent on seeing Washington and then Hopkins, an hour away in Baltimore. The problem for a Hopkins scientist like me is what to do with the visitors once they are here. Often, their English skills are weak. Usually, they are only interested in checking off a line on their itinerary. Their most frequent, and my favorite, response to the question ?What is your research interest?? is ?Johns Hopkins is the finest hospital in North America.? Unless they are from Mexico, in which case they say ?in America.? So, if you?re a busy head of lab, you really don?t have time, and if you are a good head of lab, you don?t burden your trainees with entertainment duty. I prided myself in becoming very good at avoiding these interactions.

One day I received an email from a friend in otolaryngology. She said that there was a visitor from China who was interested in my lab and wanted to spend a day with me. I figured that this was a code for ?I?m really busy, and I?m really tired of this physician.? I demurred, I was too busy, and in fact, I didn?t answer her email. My friend simply subverted my ruse by giving my email address to Dr. Peng Ding, M.D., Ph.D. from Shanghai.

Dr. Ding began to email me every day. She emailed her CV, which had a few publications in Chinese, outside my area of expertise. I delayed. I avoided. She started calling, and one day left a phone message saying that she was called ?Cee Ling? and really wanted to meet me. Finally, after a week, I figured I was being rude, and assigned one of my post-docs, Nicolai, to help me do a dog-and-pony show for Cee Ling at the end of the week.

Nicolai and I debated what project to discuss with her. We had just finished working on how parts of the long thin muscles in your neck can do different things at the same time. They can because there are many muscle fibers that make up each muscle, and many small nerves going to different fibers. What we used to think of as a single muscle was working like a group of many small muscles. It was really interesting stuff, and might just catch the attention of a foreign doctor.

But, we had also just written a grant we were really excited about. I had done a lot of work on the motor nerves that activate muscles during swallowing. Now we wanted to study how information from the sensory nerves inside your throat affects the function of the muscles when you swallow. Swallowing is supposed to be a reflex. This meant that, once a swallow has started, the sensation signals to the brain should not influence the motor signals to the muscles. We were going to examine the relationships between sensation and muscle function in animals by taking away the sensation with an anesthetic.

There are two particular nerves we were interested in, called the laryngeal nerves, branches of a large nerve coming directly from the brain stem. These nerves convey sensory signals from the larynx, or voice box, to the brain. One, the superior laryngeal nerve comes down from the top of the neck, and the other, the recurrent laryngeal nerve travels down into the chest near the heart and ?recurs? that is, travels back up to the larynx from below. Other people?s work suggested that these two nerves have an effect on swallowing. We wanted to measure exactly what that effect is.

Dr. Ding arrived 10 minutes early, and was very excited to be in the lab. I felt bad about delaying to see her. I realized that she didn?t call herself Cee Ling, but Ceiling, because she was a very tall Chinese woman. She listened very politely to the muscle fibers story, and asked some surprisingly good questions. She looked at all our equipment and computer programs, and asked more good questions. But I couldn?t figure out why she was so interested in my work. All she was doing was confirming my hypothesis that she needed to show people back in China that she had met some American researchers.

Then I asked my standard question about what research was she interested in. As she began talking, my eyes got big. She said that she wanted to study the problems that patients have with swallowing when their laryngeal sensory nerves get damaged in surgeries. Nicolai looked at me and I looked at him. Ceiling went on. She said that she thought there was an important link between the loss of sensory information from these nerves that gave problems for the muscles in the neck and what made swallowing problems.

You could have picked Nicolai and me off the floor. Ceiling said that she thought I might be interested in this problem, because I had worked on the muscles before. I started laughing. Nicolai started telling Ceiling about the grant we just wrote. It was her turn to look surprised and amazed and very happy. She said ?I have two more weeks in America, and I will stop doing everything else, if I can come and work in your lab.?

Ceiling, Nicolai and I had a great time in those two weeks. We did two brand new preliminary experiments and got incredible results. Ceiling went back to China, Nicolai got a job at Brown University, and I needed a new post-doc.

Ceiling has been working in my lab for two years now. The clinical implications of my work are much stronger for her input. Our results are much more interesting. But the most important change is in my attitude towards those foreign visitors. 99 out of 100 may think that Johns Hopkins is a great hospital. But the 100th will change your research.

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Around the Web?

Happy Monday! Get the week started with our recommended clicks: The latest parenting trend: “oversharenting” ? Wall Street Journal What we can learn from the men in What to Expect When You’re Expecting ? iVillage.com The earlier, the better to start your kids on yoga ? Just the Facts, Kids Smoking, drinking during pregnancy ? [...]

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Actuarial Job at S.C. International - Actuarial Recruiters for Sr ...

Consulting Firm in the Midwestern US has a needs for a Senior Health and Group Benefits Actuarial Consultant. The incumbent will serve in a high profile, all encompassing buusiness oriented type role in the Health and Group Benefits area.

Performance Objectives:

Financial

? Primary accountability for creating and executing a business strategy to penetrate the local and regional market and introduce new clients to the firm in order to meet annual revenue goals

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Clent

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People

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? Build relationships internally and collaborate effectively on cross-functional teams The Requirements ? Significant experience and success in the design/management of large group health and welfare plans gained in a consulting or brokerage environment; prior experience in underwriting or in an actuarial function gained in a carrier environment preferred

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? Proven ability to recognize and diagnose issues, work in teams, and leverage the resources of other related practices to address client challenges

? An executive presence with polished and well developed written and oral communication skills

? Superior ability to influence and collaborate with senior management and work across all levels of an organization

? Interest and aptitude in keeping abreast of latest developments in health and welfare plan strategy and contributing to the development of new tools and approaches

? Foreign language skills a plus

? Flexibility with regard to global travel that can range from 10-30%

? An undergraduate degree is required; advanced degree preferred

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Bee Gees' Robin Gibb Loses Battle With Cancer, Dead At 62 | Radar ...

Splash News

By Radar Staff

Robin Gibb has died at the age of 62 after a valiant battle with colon cancer.

The Bee Gees star?s family released a statement confirming the sad news that he died today at 10.46 am.

?The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery,? the singer?s rep said.

PHOTOS:? Robin Gibb Through The Years

?The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time.?

Robin?s twin brother and band member Maurice Gibb passed away nine years ago after problems with his intestines. Younger brother Andy, who was a solo artist, died in 1988.

PHOTOS: Celebs Stand Up To Cancer

The Bee Gees were best known for their songs Saturday Night Fever and How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.

PHOTOS: Celebs Who Died Young

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PHOTOS: Stars Who Died In Bizarre Ways

Cancer Survivor Giuliana Rancic ?Dodged A Bullet? By Failing To Conceive

Illinois Teen Overcomes Parents? Cancer Battles To Become Star Wrestler And Serve Country

Bride Suffering From Serious Brain & Spine Tumor Weds In Hospital

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Popular Kitchen Designs
The actual How to go about Complete Kitchen Machine Packages
Interior Design Art Deco and Modern Minimalist

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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Cuboid for iPhone review

Cuboid is a fun 3D puzzle game for the iPhone and iPad of flipping and rolling a cuboid through a maze-like puzzle placed in the setting of mystic, ancient ruins.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Will Californians trust Jerry Brown enough to vote for his tax increase?

After outlining drastic cuts Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown pleaded with California voters to approve a temporary sales-tax increase. Some experts, but not all, think he can get it through.

By Daniel B. Wood,?Staff writer / May 15, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown points to a chart showing how his budget plans will eventually reduce the budget deficit over the next few years as he discusses his revised state budget plan during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Monday.

Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Enlarge

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) called Monday a ?day of reckoning.? In the morning, he outlined more than $8 billion in cuts to higher education, social safety-net programs, and the state court system, among other things. Massive protest rallies ensued across the state.

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In the afternoon, Governor Brown used two key words that politicians don?t often use, especially lately: ?please? and ?temporarily.?

?I?m linking these serious budget reductions ... with a plea to voters,? he said in a Los Angeles press conference. ?Please increase taxes temporarily.?

Indeed, Brown?s strategy is to warn of cuts so drastic that a tax increase starts to look more palatable. Specifically, the governor is proposing a four-year, quarter-cent increase in the state sales tax, along with a seven-year surtax of 1 to 3 percent on Californians earning $250,000 or more.

Now, the question is: Will Californians go for the proposal on the November ballot?

Two recent polls say yes. A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in March found that 64 percent support the hike, and a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll in April found 54 percent in favor. But some analysts are not so sure. Complicating factors are a long, hot summer before the vote, high unemployment, and a competing tax initiative on the ballot.

?My best guess is that Brown will fall short. He is asking for trust, which is in mighty short supply in this state,? says via e-mail Jack Pitney, professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.

Hal Dash, CEO of Cerrell Associates, a Democratic political consulting firm, sees it differently. ?My feeling is that when their backs are against the wall, Californians still step up to the plate in a crisis,? he says.

In 2008 Los Angelenos, Mr. Dash notes, passed Measure R ? a half-cent sales-tax increase to finance transportation projects and programs ? because they knew that traffic gridlock would only worsen if they did nothing. ?They won?t pass a frivolous tax hike, but when they know they are in a hole with no other way out, they will respond. My personal opinion is that there is no other way out,? Dash says.

Brown should spend time laying out the choices clearly for voters, but he shouldn?t try to do it alone, says Mark Baldassare, president of PPIC.

?He knows California very well and Californians better than anyone,? Mr. Baldassare says. ?So he knows that they respond best to coalitions ? Democrats with at least some Republicans, business with at least some labor ? to let people know that these are extraordinary times and what he is proposing will work.?

At the moment, key Republicans are digging in their heels.

?We believe this updated proposal is part of the Governor?s strategy to try and fool Californians into accepting a costly tax increase as a necessary step,? says Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway in a statement. ?Nothing could be further from the truth. Tax revenue is up two years in a row, but not enough to satisfy the spending demands of Sacramento Democrats. Republicans will continue to fight to protect funding for the classroom and public safety, while standing united together as the last line of defense for California?s taxpayers.?

Still, some experts outside California say that Brown?s strength has always been that he takes complicated issues right to the public, unlike many governors.

?He is quite good at educating the public in speeches and using YouTube videos,? says Craig Wheeland, political scientist at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Noting that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) hardly ever appears in public, he says, ?Most governors don?t understand the power of personal persuasion the way Jerry Brown does. I think Californians will go along because he is showing them clearly what?s at stake and emphasizing that it?s only a temporary hike.?

?If anyone can do it, Jerry can. There's no question the State of California is behind the eight ball now,? adds Roger Salazar, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist, in an e-mail. ?We're out of options, and Jerry's choice of language reflects that reality. The ?no? side is antitax groups. The ?yes? side is everyone else.?

One potential challenge for Brown is that a separate tax-hike proposal will probably be on the ballot. Some argue that could help persuade voters that the state really does need money, but conventional wisdom holds that when voters are confused or overloaded with initiatives, they tend to vote no.

?It?s far more likely that the dueling campaigns will split support for a tax increase, sending both to defeat,? concludes a Los Angeles Times editorial earlier this month.

Much depends on exactly how Brown comports himself between now and November and what happens to the economy.

?Politically, Brown might be using the larger-than-expected deficits to gin up support for his proposed tax increase,? says Matthew Hale, professor of political science at New Jersey?s Seton Hall University, in an e-mail. ?People everywhere don't say yes to new taxes unless they are terrified of the alternative. Slashing schools or letting out prisoners early might be scary enough to get voters to tax themselves.?

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tried And True Internet Marketing Tips And Advice | Internet ...

Find unique ways to give gifts. For example, hide words in your website?s content, and ask visitors to find them. After they find them all, give them a special offer or discount. When you make your website interactive, it will entertain your customers, and they will have a better feeling about buying from you.

You should survey your customers on your site?s content, so you will know what appeals to users the most. This can help you improve what you provide to your readers, and will help them to feel included in your professional decisions.

Tailor your banner ads to deviate from what people would expect a normal banner ad to look like. By freshening up your banner ads, you will get more clicks.

You should always use email marketing as an advertising strategy. Put together compelling newsletter that will engage your customers while providing them with useful information. Your customers should be grateful for the information you send by email, not annoyed. Newsletters help you stay in contact with your customer long after they leave your website, and allow them to feel as though you are interested in their return.

It is important that you know when and how to use HTML tags. Tags are used to highlight your key content. Search engines use HTML tags to rank your website, so it?s important to choose your HTML tags carefully. You need to be sure to put extra emphasis on the keywords that are very important to your business.

When sending out e-mails, regardless of whether the e-mail is business related or a personal one, you should always have a signature on all e-mails. Your signature is your online business card, so you should distribute it freely. It also offers your contact a way to see what is going on with your business.

Be sure your campaign is personal and genuine. Try using your name in ads or your picture. In addition, you could provide a personally-written welcome for your customers.

When advertising a deal or product include words that make them feel like they are getting a deal. People shop online because they are tired of what their local stores have to offer. Some people want things no one else has. Limited edition products make people want to buy them to be unique, and they also prompt people to buy now, as there are only so many available.

You might also consider bundling the merchandise with a similar product and selling it at a bargain price. Don?t forget to clearly explain your offer when you send out the marketing materials.

Conducting business online can often seem very impersonal. Small businesses benefit from this the most as they rely on a more personal and relationship based strategy to help sell, and create a lifelong customer base.

You should ensure that your business website?s URL is a simple one. The best name to use for your website would be your business or brand?s name. This may seem obvious, but sometimes people try to be too creative when coming up with a name. Your best bet is to register a domain name that is easy for customers to remember; this is far more simple than locating your address from a search engine.

Attaching your keyword to internal links is very useful. Keep visitors on your site by linking to other related content on your site. Links can not only generate traffic, but can keep people interested in your products and services.

Testing your email marketing will help you decipher what works and what doesn?t in terms of getting action from your customers. One option for testing your emails is called A/B testing. Create an email campaign, and just change a single thing in it. You could alternate different email subjects, try different calls to action, or vary the introduction paragraphs. Each unique version of the email should be distributed to a random, comparably sized portion of your mailing list. Next, measure the success of each version. Pick the most successful one for the rest of your email.

Observe your competitors. You could learn from their successes and mistakes. If they look like they are a site that you would purchase product from, then they might be a very good role model for you.

If hiring someone who specializes in marketing is out of the question, take advantage of the many free online tools available. Some of the marketing resources available online and locally at little to no cost are online business forums, informational blogs, eBooks, and local business seminars.

You should always check in with your customers. Ask them to write a review or fill in a survey after they have had a few days to try the product.

Internet marketing can be difficult when you start, but don?t give up. Your success in internet marketing will be determined in the first steps you take after you decide and reject the idea of giving it up. Make sure that you have everything ready before you launch your website. This may require a significant initial work investment. Remember, though, that it takes time and money to earn money.

Learning about basic elements of good web page design will be time well spent. For instance, you can teach yourself about HTML, CSS, and other design basics using information or tutorials you find online. Spending just a half an hour every day learning about good web page design will give you a lot of ideas in as little as a few weeks.

As has been revealed earlier, internet marketing is an amazing way to reach out to customers and to bring attention to your business and products. The opportunities are endless and the benefits are immense. By utilizing the information in the article, you can build your customer base and bring new recognition to your company.

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Did gassy dinosaurs cause global warming?

A new study found that giant plant-eating dinosaurs could have produced giant quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Dinosaurs' gassy guts may have contributed to global warming tens of millions of years ago, according to a new study that finds a group of plant-eating dinosaurs could have produced about as much methane as all of today's natural and man-made sources of the greenhouse gas.

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British researchers reported in Tuesday's edition of the journal Current Biology that the methane emissions from sauropods far outstripped those of today's cattle, goats and other cud-chewing mammals.

Sauropods were a diverse bunch of plant-eating dinosaurs, known for their small heads and giant bodies with long necks and tails. An average-sized sauropod _ such as Apatosaurus louisae, once popularly known as brontosaurus _ could weigh 44,000 pounds, making it several times bigger than an elephant.

Like many modern herbivores, scientists think, sauropods probably hosted a diverse community of microbes in their guts to help break down and digest their food, producing methane in the process. In cattle and other ruminants, that gas is released in the form of burps and flatulence.

Such emissions from modern-day cattle are considered a major source of the greenhouse gas, adding up to roughly 55 million to 110 million tons per year. Though carbon dioxide is more abundant in the atmosphere, methane is more than 20 times as effective at trapping heat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The problem of cattle emissions prompted ecologist David Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moores University in England to consider the climate-changing effects of sauropods.

He and two other researchers used a formula from a study last year that linked body mass to methane emissions from guinea pigs and rabbits. The relationship is straightforward: The more body mass there is, the more methane is produced.

For their investigation, Wilkinson and his colleagues had to make some assumptions _ for example, that the ratio of body size to gas produced is the same for small and extremely large animals. "That's a slightly dodgy thing to do," Wilkinson acknowledged, "but in this case there's not any other option."

The researchers also used published population estimates from the late Jurassic (about 161 to 145 million years ago) to gauge how many sauropods had been roaming the Earth back then.

Altogether, the team concluded, sauropods were likely producing on the order of 572 million tons of methane per year _ more than five times as much methane as modern-day cattle and other ruminants. Today, worldwide emissions from animals and from such human activities as burning natural gas and collecting trash in landfills is estimated to produce 550 million to 660 million tons of methane per year, the researchers said.

Wilkinson said he expected to find that the dinosaurs were perhaps only a little more productive than today's animals. The results, he said, "surprised me."

It would take more study of the ancient climate to find out whether, and how, sauropods warmed Earth's atmosphere during the Mesozoic era, said Marcus Clauss, a digestive physiologist at the University of Zurich who helped develop the formula for determining methane emissions from body mass.

Wilkinson's team was not the first to suspect that Earth's ancient behemoths were responsible for some climate change: A 2010 study in the journal Nature Geoscience found that atmospheric methane levels dropped in the Americas once native megafauna such as mammoths and giant ground sloths went extinct _ around the same time that humans arrived on the continents.

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Friday, May 11, 2012

91% Footnote

"Footnote" starts with Professor Uriel Shkolnik(Lior Ashkenazi) being honored for his work in Talmudic research while his father, Professor Eliezer Shkolnik(Shlomo Bar-Aba), suffers through the evening in silence before declining a ride home. In fact, Eliezer is literally a footnote to history with his decades of research being pushed to the side in favor of a lucky break by a rival. But one day on his daily walk to the National Library, he is notified that he has won the prestigious Israel Prize. Everything would now be fine except for one little detail... "Footnote" is a wry examination of the nature of identity and how very tenuous it all is. Take for instance, Eliezer, who was robbed by fate of everything that he is and ever could be. That same potential is fully brought to fruition by his son Uriel. While his father is nothing but bitter, Uriel acts like a mensch throughout.(I have heard of daddy issues but kiddy issues?) It might come as a surprise that something as petty as a prize could change everything, including their interactions with security personnel, but in their insular world, this is huge.(Uriel's losing/having his clothes stolen in the locker room could also be part of this world shift.) So, while the movie fares well intellectually in its Introduction/Conflict/Resolution structure and a sudden ending that actually comes at just the right place, it does not connect as well on an emotional level.

April 9, 2012

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Puppycides (Theagitator)

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Wild Horses? Fate in Outer Banks Lies in Preservation Clash

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Defenders of the native habitat of the Outer Banks of North Carolina fear that a recent increase in wild horses threatens the coastal ecosystem.

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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Engadget interview: Sprint product execs John Tudhope and David Owens at CTIA 2012 (video)

We managed to catch not one, but two of Sprint's execs yesterday at CTIA Wireless 2012: Director of Product Marketing John Tudhope and VP of Product David Owens. While our discussion was centered primarily around the company's announcements at the show -- Sprint Guardian, HTC's EVO V 4G for Virgin Mobile and HTC's EVO Design 4G for Boost Mobile -- we were able to ask a few questions about the state of Sprint's LTE deployment and the associated value proposition. Want to find out more? Take a look at our video interview.

The Engadget interview: Sprint product execs John Tudhope and David Owens at CTIA 2012 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 May 2012 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo recalls 188,000 ThinkCentres, perilous power packs to blame

Lenovo is recalling a further 188,000 of its ThinkCentre PCs due to a possible fire risk. The M70z and M90z all-in-ones come with a faulty component in its embedded power supply that has already seen two units self-immolate. The company recommends that you check the serial number (via our source link) stamped on the base of the housing, let Lenovo know, unplug the unit and wait for a replacement.

Lenovo recalls 188,000 ThinkCentres, perilous power packs to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 May 2012 10:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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