Thursday, January 31, 2013

U.S. Senate panel grills Obama's choice for defense chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chuck Hagel will face tough questions on Pentagon spending cuts and U.S. relations with Israel and Iran on Thursday as he faces a deeply skeptical Senate panel considering his nomination to be President Barack Obama's next secretary of defense.

Another member of Obama's second-term national security team, Senator John Kerry, sailed through his confirmation before being receiving the Senate's overwhelming support on Tuesday.

But Hagel, a former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran who broke with his party over the Iraq War, can expect a much more confrontational hearing when he is grilled on a range of issues by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Although most observers expect Hagel will eventually be confirmed - barring unexpected fireworks at the hearing - Thursday's testimony will be contentious.

At least three Republican panel members, including James Inhofe, the party's leader on the committee, have said they did not support Hagel's nomination.

"We are simply too philosophically opposed on the issues for me to support his nomination," Inhofe said in a January 15 statement. Such comments have angered Hagel supporters, who say two-term senator, who would be the first former enlisted soldier to lead the Pentagon, deserves at least a hearing.

Hagel's confirmation hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) on Thursday.

In the entire Senate, which would vote on Hagel if he is cleared by the committee, only one of the 45 Republicans - Mississippi's Thad Cochran - has come out in Hagel's favor.

He is expected to face tough questioning on Israel and Iran, his view of the Pentagon budget - Hagel is known as an advocate for tighter spending controls - and relations with China.

The Middle East, which has been the most intense focus of the anti-Hagel campaign, is likely to be the toughest issue.

"There's a lot of misleading information out there about the senator's views on Middle East policy. Senators are going to want to hear from Chuck Hagel directly on what his view is and what is the administration's view," said Mark Jacobson, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a former staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

CHARM OFFENSIVE

Hagel, backed by the White House and Pentagon, has been on a charm offensive to win over recalcitrant senators since Obama nominated him this month to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Facing a public campaign against his appointment by critics seeking to portray him as soft on Iran, anti-Israel and uncommitted to equal rights for women and gays, Hagel has been pounding the halls of the Capitol to hold one-on-one meetings with 53 senators before his hearing.

Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican, said on Tuesday she had spoken with Hagel for 90 minutes and been satisfied on several issues, but stopped short of endorsing him.

"We had a good discussion, but it's obvious that we have very different views on some fundamental issues," she said.

Hagel also detailed his views in 112 pages of written responses to wide-ranging questions submitted by lawmakers.

In them, he said that if confirmed as the next defense secretary, he would ensure that the military is prepared to strike Iran if necessary but stressed the need to be "cautious and certain" when contemplating the use of force.

Hagel also voiced support for a steady U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan, pledged to ensure equal treatment for women and homosexuals in the military and assured the committee that the United States would maintain an "unshakeable" commitment to Israel's security.

Most observers expect Hagel will be confirmed by the committee, even if he is approved only 14-12, along party lines.

"I do think he'll be voted out of committee tomorrow and then it will be interesting to see where things go on the Senate floor," said Maren Leed, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the face of intense lobbying by both Hagel supporters and opponents, many Republicans have said they will withhold judgment until after the hearing.

Democrats control 55 seats in the Senate and can approve Hagel with no Republican support, but they will need some backing from Hagel's party to overcome procedural hurdles that could stop the nomination.

One has already emerged. Senator Lindsey Graham, a committee member, has threatened to keep the nomination from going to the Senate floor if Panetta does not testify about a September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin, the committee's chairman, said Panetta is already due to testify, and that would take place before the full Senate voted on Hagel.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hagel-face-grilling-senate-panel-mideast-budget-080308553.html

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Teacher donates kidney after seeing Facebook plea

Any parent of grade-school-age kids knows that it takes a saint to be a teacher. Now a teacher from Kentucky is proving that yet again by volunteering to donate one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.

Twelve months ago, John Desmond, a father of two, came down with bacterial meningitis, which shut down his kidneys and left him in need of a donor. His siblings weren't a match, and his wife, Tina, desperately pleaded on Facebook for a donor to come forward. Amazingly, somebody did: Buffy Sexton, a seventh-grade science teacher and a complete stranger to Desmond.

Sexton saw the post on Facebook when a friend shared it. After months of testing, she learned she was a perfect match. She'll need to be out of the classroom for about a month to recover, but surgeons have agreed to tape the procedure so she'll be able to use it as a lesson when she returns.

Do you know of a selfless act performed by a teacher? Share it with us on our Facebook page or by following us on Twitter @YahooTrending

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/teacher-donates-kidney-stranger-seeing-facebook-plea-202044098.html

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Miley Cyrus Album: Confirmed for 2013!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/miley-cyrus-album-confirmed-for-2013/

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Working to identify early warning signs in juvenile offenders

Jan. 29, 2013 ? Red flags are easy to recognize in the days following a tragic event like a mass shooting. That's why a group of Iowa State researchers is working to identify those early warning signs in juvenile offenders before they turn into a pattern of criminal behavior.

It is often difficult for people to understand what leads to criminal behavior in children or teens. But by the time a juvenile is arrested, or referred to the juvenile court system, the child generally has displayed a pattern of antisocial behavior, said Matt DeLisi, professor of sociology at Iowa State University.

In some extreme cases, DeLisi said children as young as 5 years old are committing crimes. So when that child becomes an adult, he or she may already have a lengthy criminal record. That is why DeLisi, and the team of researchers, wants to understand what contributes to this behavior in order to correct it.

"With onset in criminal careers, the first sign of that problem behavior is an indicator of how severe it will be," DeLisi said. "If you can help them, you save a ton of money and you save a lot of problems. But it's just the issue of correctly identifying them and that raises a bunch of ethical and other issues."

The connection between the onset and the severity is similar to other ways children start to develop, whether it is positive or negative, at an early age.

"If you have someone who is 3, or even 2, and is already reading it would suggest that the person is highly intelligent," DeLisi said. "The reason is because the emergence or the onset of the behavior is usually inversely related to what they will become. The earlier something appears the more special they are or extreme."

With criminal behavior, the onset begins with rule violations, but researchers found a juvenile's first arrest or contact with the police is the strongest indicator of future problems. The study published in the Journal of Criminal Justice included 252 children living in Pennsylvania juvenile detention centers. The offenders ranged in age from 14-18 and on average had committed 15 delinquent acts in the prior year.

Researchers also discovered that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder got into trouble at a younger age than other juvenile offenders without ADHD. In fact, their first contact with police happened more than a year prior to other offenders. Youth with conduct disorder were also more likely to be arrested at a younger age. However, researchers urge caution on how the results are interpreted.

"This by no way means that every child with ADHD or conduct disorder will become delinquent or ultimately be arrested. What it does mean is that future work needs to address why some youth with ADHD or conduct disorder become delinquent and others do not," said Brenda Lohman, an associate professor in human development and family studies at Iowa State.

"From a preventive standpoint, this information could then help identify support systems and intervening mechanisms for families and parents, and ultimately decrease rates of antisocial behaviors of children with ADHD or conduct disorder," Lohman said.

In addition to preventive measures, researchers hope to build on this study to better understand the family dynamics that can lead to mental and behavioral issues in children.

"Extensive research indicates that economic hardship has an adverse effect on the well-being of families," said Tricia Neppl, an assistant professor in human development and family studies at Iowa State.

Economic pressures increase the risk for emotional distress, which Neppl said can lead to harsh disciplinary practices. She is working on a study to determine if such hardships, when a child is between the ages of 3 and 5 years old, impact the child's mental health when they are 6 to 13 years old.

"The results suggest that economic adversity influences parental emotional health, marital distress, and hostile parenting which predicts child mental health disorders, such as conduct disorder and ADHD, during later childhood and early adolescence," Neppl said.

As researchers understand more about the connection with antisocial behavior, DeLisi expects there will be an even greater push for intervention and treatment for ADHD and conduct disorder.

"Early interventions are very successful, but they require a lot of investment on the part of people who may be the least willing or able to invest," DeLisi said. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Saint Louis University also contributed to the study.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Iowa State University.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Matt DeLisi, Tricia K. Neppl, Brenda J. Lohman, Michael G. Vaughn, Jeffrey J. Shook. Early starters: Which type of criminal onset matters most for delinquent careers? Journal of Criminal Justice, 2013; 41 (1): 12 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.10.002

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/living_well/~3/r_OVL__YQyk/130129144753.htm

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Could Scottish, Catalan independence votes reshape Europe?

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - The separatist flag of Catalonia - with its yellow and red stripes, blue triangle and white star - was a rare sight on the streets of Barcelona a decade ago. Now, it is almost ubiquitous.

Two thousand km to the north in Scotland, the blue-and-white saltire has always been popular. But that flag too increasingly symbolizes something new, that after more than 400 years within the United Kingdom Scotland may be on the verge of demanding a divorce.

For all the focus on the risk of the euro zone falling apart, some suspect this decade may be better remembered as the time when two of Europe's most permanent states began to break apart.

Pro-independence parties in Scotland and Catalonia are preparing for referendums next year that they hope could see their regions secede for good - which some analysts suspect might encourage others in Europe to follow suit.

There are considerable differences between the two regions. Scotland has always been referred to as a separate "country" within the United Kingdom, while Catalonia's claims to self rule are rooted in the history of the Middle Ages.

Prime Minister David Cameron's government has agreed to co-operate with the autumn 2014 Scottish referendum, though it is campaigning vigorously against any split.

In contrast, Madrid has declared it will fight a Catalan referendum on constitutional grounds. The separatist parties that run the region are keen to push ahead anyway and match Scotland with a 2014 vote.

Some suspect the two campaigns will feed off each other in the months to come. Each cause is marshalling a similar range of emotional, practical and cold-blooded economic arguments as well as trading off widespread frustration with those in power in the traditional national capital.

Alfred Bosch, leader of the Republican Left, or ERC, bloc in Spanish parliament that has long lobbied for independence, said separatist politicians in Spain do keep an eye on what's happening in Scotland.

In both countries "there are the underlying emotional arguments for independence, then there are the more rational economic ones. What we are seeing is that they are coming together."

Polls vary, but at least one survey has suggested more than half of Catalonian voters would vote for a separate state if given the chance. That compares to figures of just over a third in Scotland - although those on both sides of the argument in that country say it is entirely possible numbers could change between now and the final vote.

Pro-independence activists in both countries are quick to stress they see themselves as part of a wider trend. The number of countries of the world has almost trebled since 1945 as African and Asian states broke free of colonial masters and with the fall of the Soviet Union creating a plethora of new nations across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In Brussels, Scottish and Catalan parties are already forging something of an alliance with Belgian Flemish parties.

"The global trend has been moving in this direction for some time," Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for external affairs for the pro-independence Scottish government, told Reuters recently.

"Many countries which were not independent 20 years ago have gained their independence and are now full members of the European Union."

ECONOMIC CRISIS, ALIENATION

The modern contours of both Britain and Spain were drawn in the 15th and 16th centuries just as they began hundreds of years of imperial expansion that brought wealth and power.

Neither nation embarked on the kind of deliberate centrally coordinated efforts to build a national identity seen in newer nations such as Germany and Italy under Bismarck and Garibaldi respectively - or in France under Napoleon.

What may be giving fuel to the cause of separatism now is a growing sense of frustration and alienation from the powers-that-be in London, Madrid and many other capitals. The economic crisis, it seems, has made that even more pronounced.

"Whatever happens, these movements are going to have an impact. You're going to get more calls for devolution," said David Lea, Western Europe analyst at Control Risks.

"Part of it is obviously the crisis, but there are other factors as well: the rise of social media, much broader unhappiness with the status quo."

In Edinburgh, the rise of the Scottish National Party - now a majority government in the parliament - is seen more a result of their perceived administrative competence and a lack of enthusiasm for London-based parties than widespread pro-independence sentiment. The SNP hopes that is already changing as the referendum nears.

In Catalonia, one of the richest areas of Spain, there is widespread anger over what many see as too much money passing to the rest of the country. The Catalan independence movement has also proved increasingly effective at tapping into the wider sense of anger at government and big business produced by still-deepening economic woes.

"For me, it's something sentimental I got from my father," salesman Miquel Blas, 35, says of his attachment to the idea of Catalan independence. "But the real support for independence has come with the crisis."

Another Barcelona resident, real estate agent Maria Caralt, 40, says intertwining the two issues is unhealthy, however.

"People talk about independence and they talk about the crisis and they all get mixed together," she says. "But I still think independence is a good idea. It would be better and easier to manage a small country."

Not one of those who spoke to Reuters on the streets of Barcelona were enthusiastic about maintaining a unified state. Those who planned to vote against independence cited their cynicism about politicians in general and said they doubted that leaders of a separatist Catalonia would run it any better.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

In London and Madrid, mainstream political parties opposed to independence are already beginning to work together to fight the pro-independence campaigns, though some analysts believe a coordinated effort could end up inflaming Catalan and Scottish opinion, instead.

The debate is being watched well beyond Europe. Far-flung states such as Russia and China with restive minority populations are concerned that the breakup of a major European state could fuel separatist feeling at home.

British and Scottish officials say they have already received queries from their U.S. counterparts on the issue and say Washington is noticeably lukewarm about the prospect that two key NATO allies might be about to radically change.

Fiona Hill, a former official at the U.S. National Intelligence Council and now head of the Europe program at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC., says London and Madrid don't seem to realize how important this is seen to be beyond their borders.

"We are talking about two of the oldest states in Europe," Hill said. "I had a senior Balkan official ask me if it was the end of the multi-ethnic state."

If the unexpected happens and Scotland and Catalonia do vote for independence, no-one knows what it would mean in practice.

While those pushing for independence in both say they would want to remain within the European Union, most experts believe the new countries would have to apply for membership, which Madrid and London might be tempted to block, perhaps cutting them off at least temporarily from employment in the EU.

It is also unclear how an independent Scotland could continue to use sterling or Catalonia the euro, although in principle there would be no way for Britain or Spain to stop them. National debt and natural resources, from water rights to Scotland's share of North Sea oil, would all have to be negotiated.

If Catalonia votes for independence but Madrid attempts to block it from splitting off, long-simmering resentment on a host of issues could spill out into violence on the streets.

So far, however, the biggest lesson from these independence movements appears to be a positive one: they have been relatively effective while remaining peaceful, compared to more violent separatists such as the IRA in Northern Ireland or ETA in Spain's Basque country.

"If that was the first lesson of this decade of the 21st century, I think that would be a beautiful thing," says Catalan separatist politician Bosch.

(Additional reporting by Braden Phillips in Barcelona; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-scottish-catalan-independence-votes-reshape-europe-132307741.html

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Hidden Antarctic lake shows signs of life

WISSARD Project via Antarctic Sun

A laptop screen shows a video view of the borehole drilled through Antarctica's ice down to Lake Whillans.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The first signs of potentially exotic life have been spotted in a sample of water drawn from Antarctica's hidden Lake Whillans, a half-mile beneath the surface, according to reports from the scene.

The telltale green glow of cells stained with a DNA-sensitive dye could be seen when water from the lake was put under the microscope on Monday, Discover Magazine's Crux blog reported. "It was the first evidence of life in an Antarctic subglacial lake," science journalist Douglas Fox reported for The Crux. Fox is an embedded journalist reporting from Lake Whillans under the auspices of a National Science Foundation program.


The U.S. scientists in charge of the project to drill into Lake Whillans ??known as the Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling, or WISSARD ??will be more circumspect: They'll have to demonstrate that the green-glowing cells are truly alive and capable of growing in culture. They'll also have to conduct tests to make sure that the microbes are indigenous to the lake, rather than the result of contamination from the drilling operation.

Last year, Russian scientists analyzed water from Lake Vostok, an even deeper and bigger subglacial lake beneath Antarctica's Vostok Station, but the only microbes they found in the sample were surface-dwelling species that may have come from contaminated drilling chemicals rather than the lake itself.

During the current Antarctic research season, the Russians resumed their drilling at Vostok. They said earlier this month that they had reached transparent lake ice at a depth of 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles). Since then, they've reported retrieving "fresh frozen" ice cores from slightly deeper levels.

The Russian and U.S. teams are drilling into the lakes in hopes of finding evidence of life forms that could have been living in the dark for hundreds of thousands of years, or even millions of years. Theoretically, such organisms could live off the minerals in deep-buried rock, plus oxygen dissolved in the lake water.

The Whillans Ice Stream is a glacial river that pushes ice from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Ross Ice Shelf. Lake Whillans lies about 800 meters (0.5 miles) beneath the ice, less than 400 miles (640 kilometers) from the South Pole. Just this past weekend, the WISSARD team reported that their borehole connected with the lake after several days of drilling.?

Fox quoted scientists?as saying that Lake Whillans is just 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 2 meters) deep, as opposed to the 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) that was expected. The first water samples that were brought up contained the fossils of dead diatoms?? tiny marine creatures that are thought to have been pushed down into the lake from West Antarctica's rocks millions of years ago.

The study of Lake Whillans and other subglacial lakes should shed light on Antarctica's climate history, as well as the long-term interaction between the continent's ice and the water and rocks that lie beneath. The discovery of novel life forms could open up an entirely new frontier for biologists. And even if the organisms in Antarctica's hidden lakes aren't unusual, the drilling operations could set the stage for future missions to the ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn, where similarly challenging conditions for subsurface life are thought to exist.

More about the mysteries beneath the ice:


Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/29/16756676-hints-of-life-spotted-in-water-sample-extracted-from-hidden-antarctic-lake?lite

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This Week In Small Business: 1,000 New Bankers - NYTimes.com

Dashboard

A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Big Story: Four More Years

At his inauguration, President Obama delivers a rallying cry for active government. Rick Newman says the president has given a gift to the stock market. This blogger believes that the speech made things a lot more certain for small businesses. Here?s the whole speech in just three minutes. These are 22 of the most fabulous Beyonc? moments from the inauguration (and one that?s not-so-fabulous). The president?s daughters seemed to enjoy the day, too.

Finance: Bank of America Hires 1,000 Bankers

Investment professionals are anticipating an influx of income and growth-hungry mom-and-pop ?retail? investors. Bank of America reached its goal of hiring 1,000 small-business bankers and extended nearly $8.7 billion in new credit to small businesses in 2012. Companies are keeping stockpiles of foreign cash in the United States. Erik Sherman says you should be wary of any Web site that claims to enable crowdfunded public offerings.

The Economy: $1 Trillion In Profits

General Electric?s earnings rise and overall corporate profits are now projected to be $1 trillion this year. But how good can things be if Google?s co-founder is still taking the subway? Weekly jobless claims dropped to a five-year low. The architecture billings index went up for the fifth straight month, and truck tonnage jumped 2.8 percent in December. Existing home sales shrank, but Bill McBride says it?s a solid report. Manufacturing activity contracts again in Richmond and in Kansas City (pdf). Blockbuster plans to close 300 stores. A quarterly survey finds that small-business confidence continues to hold steady but a Chamber of Commerce survey finds 53 percent of small businesses have not hired in the past year and 64 percent plan to keep the same number of employees in 2013. The International Monetary Fund thinks the United States economy is slowing down.

Tweet of the Week

@michaelianblack: Blockbuster still has 300 stores?

The Budget: Cats!

The House votes to extend the debt ceiling to May 19. Larry Summers says the government should worry less about deficits and more about unemployment. Jeff Miller tells us how to spot pop economists. A New Zealand economist wants to eradicate the country?s cats.

On The Road: Dreamliner Nightmares

Boeing?s unions blame the 787 Dreamliner woes on outsourcing. Southwest Airlines introduces a $40 fee. Capital One introduces a LinkedIn group for business travelers. Chicago?s hotel occupancy rate is back to pre-recession levels. A former road warrior delivers tips on cutting business travel expenses (and this road warrior almost becomes a former road warrior).

Your Employees: As Happy As Google

Yahoo is trying to lure back some former employees (suggestion: hire these awesome people instead). A marketing and advertising firm embraces quirkiness and manages to increase its growth. This is how to let employees know they?re appreciated and how to make your office as happy as Google?s. Emmanuel Banks explains how to make your Mac work space more productive. Here are a few tips for your employees to be more productive when working from home. Cash appears to be leaking out of 401(k) plans at an alarming rate. An 11-year-old girl shatters climbing records.

Managing: Losing Your Passion?

Brian Lee explains why you should never give up on becoming an entrepreneur, and Brad Farris has some thoughts on what business owners should do when they lose their passion. Ken Gaebler believes that investing in public relations boosts a company?s chances of getting acquired: ?P.R. works because you?re not saying, ?I?m great?; instead, it?s a respected outsider saying, ?They are great,? which is much more convincing.? Here?s how to achieve business success based on the Martha Rules. A bunch of high-profile entrepreneurs reveal what?s in the refrigerator.

Start-Ups: Why M.B.A.?s Fail

When looking for people to join your start-up?s board of directors, Mahendra Ramsinghani says not to let laziness and bias trump diversity. These three start-ups are trying to help you sleep. A new venture will mine asteroids. John Greathouse says there are five reasons M.B.A.?s fail at start-up. Steve Woodruff recommends five books for business starters. This is how one start-up spends its money.

Social Media: Bait and Switch

The clients of this social media consultant can?t even log on to Facebook, and here are 26 tips for getting started with social media marketing. Deb Donston-Miller suggests five ways social media makes business-to-business sense. This is how Threadless, Home Depot, and Amex managed to get groups of fans talking. Twitter experiences technical problems and releases a video sharing app. Here?s how to track the most popular Twitter hashtags. Google plans improvements to its image searching, and Facebook?s first intern is leading a small-business revolution. Nothing makes Derek Johnson angrier than seeing a text-message marketing campaign pull the old bait-and-switch on consumers. These are the five biggest misconceptions about using Instagram for business (but be careful: restaurants are cracking down on Instagrammers). And for some reason, the Library of Congress is archiving America?s tweets. Owen gets on SportsCenter.

Marketing: After the Sale

Here?s why you need to make content marketing a priority, and Heidi Cohen suggests nine content-marketing tactics. A webinar will discuss the seven marketing habits of today?s highly successful small and midsize businesses. Here are four tricks to attract new clients with your business cards. J. David Green explains how technology on the trade show floor can help your sales team work smarter and sell more. Ken Sundheim explains how search engine optimization almost killed his business. Charlotte Varela asks if you are helping your customers after they buy from you.

Retail: ?Show-Rooming?

Target can teach you the benefits of introducing brands online instead of in stores. ?Show-rooming? shoppers have been a good thing for eBay. Yelp is adding health inspection grades to its site. A bear uses a washing machine. A new marketplace helps retailers find spaces offering short-term leases. This week retailers can start charging their customers for credit card fees. The Panera Bread Foundation opens a new community cafe with no cash registers or prices.

Around The Country: Sparking Entrepreneurs

A flexible work company plans to add more than 20 locations in the Los Angeles area in 2013. The owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars offers $1 million to ?spark? entrepreneurs. A new tech rap video promotes entrepreneurship. Small businesses are big in Montana. Startup Weekend is coming to Evansville, Ind.

Around The World: 3D Clothes

Spanish banks are facing big challenges. Coca-Cola pledges $100,000 for projects by young people. In the United Kingdom, the prime minister wants a global crackdown on corporate tax cheats, a record-breaking number of Britons are now at work, and Prince Harry abandons an interview for ice cream. A Dell executive says small businesses should consider exporting to Brazil. In Paris, 3D printed clothing hits Fashion Week, and a Dutch architecture firm plans to print a house. This is the world?s poorest president.

Red Tape: Five Legal Myths

A new e-guide from Microsoft demystifies the process of pursuing contracts with the government and other large enterprises. Pete Wise lists five legal myths small-business owners should avoid, including: ?I don?t need a lawyer.? Entrepreneurs plan a road trip to talk up immigration reform. Women entrepreneurs will have greater access to federal contracts. Bill Murphy Jr. lists four ways women in combat will change business. Michael Keating discusses the opportunities in the government market.

Technology: Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs

Microsoft considers taking a big stake in a Dell buyout. Chris Luo says big data and software as a service will become relevant for small businesses in 2013. Ashton Kutcher will appear at MacWorld as Steve Jobs (which may help him get an invite to one of these dinners). Apple takes a beating on Wall Street. Paul Greenberg announces the best customer relations management applications for 2013. Liquids bounce off this clothing material. Robert LeCount gives advice for picking the right technology for your business. A yearlong competition challenges the best technology minds to develop solutions that address issues in health care, education and sustainability. Brother introduces a contest aimed at small businesses.

The Week?s Bests

Freshdesk?s marketing and communications manager, Sairam Krishnan, explains how his company finds and keeps customer service representatives: ?Test their culture fit. Every company has a slightly different way of doing business. At Freshdesk, we frown upon bureaucracy and hierarchy. We put our customer service candidates in situations where they have to interact with a few senior employees of the company. These interactions, usually spontaneous and casual, help the team evaluate the candidate?s personality and fit with our customer service-centered culture.?

Megan Totka shares tips for building a socially conscious business: ?Set an example. While it is great to encourage employees to volunteer, and even provide incentives, the best way to get everyone in your company fired up for service is by getting out there and participating yourself. Do more than simply embrace the idea of service; make the service happen.?

This Week?s Question: Do you consider your business socially conscious?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/this-week-in-small-business-1000-new-bankers/

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Amazon shares set record after strong quarterly profit

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc shares hit a new record on Tuesday after it reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, fueled by the growth of higher-margin businesses during the fiercely competitive holiday quarter.

The world's largest Internet retailer said that its cloud computing services, video content sales and its aggressive expansion in e-books helped increase profitability.

In addition, a growing network of warehouses or fulfillment centers closer to customers held down shipping costs as it vied with Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other major retailers for consumer dollars over the holidays.

Chief Executive Jeff Bezos highlighted the Kindle's e-book business, calling it a multi-billion dollar category that grew about 70 percent in 2012. Its traditional physical book business rose about five percent in the same period, he noted.

"We're now seeing the transition we`ve been expecting," Bezos said in the company's results statement.

Profits have shrunk in recent years as the company invested for longer-term growth, building massive fulfillment centers, developing a Kindle Fire tablet hardware business in competition with Apple Inc, and expanding into Internet-based cloud services.

The fourth-quarter profit results suggested that Amazon may be able to generate attractive returns from such spending, analysts said.

"The fourth-quarter operating income was up more than expected," said R.J. Hottovy, an equity analyst at Morningstar. "This supports the bull case that Amazon can monetize its growth over the longer term."

The Seattle-based company said operating income jumped 56 percent to $405 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $260 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Amazon's stock climbed 11 percent to $288 in after-hours trading. It hit a record of $284.72 on January 25.

The company also said fourth-quarter revenue rose 22 percent to $21.27 billion as it grabbed a big share of online spending during the holidays. But it was the profit that initially caught Wall Street's eye.

"It was a much better-than-expected gross margin, a strong forward indicator to drive margin expansion. What is really important is gross profit dollars and that line is stronger," said Ken Sena at Evercore Partners.

The gross profit margins were 24 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations of about 22 percent.

"Incredibly strong margins," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. Amazon generated the highest quarterly gross margin in its North America business in more than three years, he noted.

Amazon mainly operates as a retailer, buying products at wholesale prices, storing them and then selling at a slight mark-up to consumers online.

But the company has expanded into other businesses that are potentially more profitable, including cloud computing, digital content and acting as an online marketplace for other merchants.

These newer businesses are growing faster than the company's original retail operations, boosting profitability.

(Reporting By Alistair Barr; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-quarterly-revenue-rose-22-percent-21-27-210721523--sector.html

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Ingenico Agrees To Acquire European Online Payment Services Provider, Ogone, For ?360M To Build Out Multi-Channel Payments Strategy

Ogone logoIngenico, a global payment provider, is to acquire Brussels-based, pan-European online merchant payment services provider Ogone for ?360 million. Ingenico said the acquisition furthers its strategy of becoming a "one-stop-shop" multi-channel payments provider, with Ogone's online platform helping to build out its existing point-of-sale and mobile payment offerings.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xaaF1o5q-cQ/

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After gun crime, weapon history takes time to find

(AP) ? In the fictional world of television police dramas, a few quick clicks on a computer lead investigators to the owner of a gun recovered at a bloody crime scene. Before the first commercial, the TV detectives are on the trail of the suspect.

Reality is a world away. There is no national database of guns. Not of who owns them, how many are sold annually or even how many exist.

Federal law bars the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from keeping track of guns. The only time the government can track the history of a gun, including its first buyer and seller, is after it's used in a crime. And though President Barack Obama and numerous Democratic lawmakers have called for new limits on what kinds of guns should be available to the public and urged stronger background checks in gun sales, there is no effort afoot to change the way the government keeps track ? or doesn't ? of where the country's guns are.

When police want to trace a gun, it's a decidedly low-tech process.

"It's not CSI and it's not a sophisticated computer system," said Charles J. Houser, who runs the ATF's National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W. Va.

When police trace a gun, the search starts by sending all the information they have about the gun ? including the manufacturer and model ? to an office worker in a low-slung brick building just off the Appalachian Trial in rural West Virginia, about 90 miles northwest of Washington.

ATF officials first call the manufacturer, who reveals which wholesaler the company used. That may lead to a call to a second distributor before investigators can pinpoint the retail gun dealer who first sold the weapon. Gun dealers are required to keep a copy of federal forms that detail who buys what gun and a log for guns sold. They are required to share that information with the ATF if a gun turns up at a crime scene and authorities want it traced. Often, gun shops fax the paperwork to the ATF.

That's where the paper trail ends.

In about 30 percent of cases, one or all of those folks have gone out of business and ATF tracers are left to sort through potentially thousands of out-of-business records forwarded to the ATF and stored at the office building that more closely resembles a remote call center than a law enforcement operation.

The records are stored as digital pictures that can only be searched one image at a time. Two shifts of contractors spend their days taking staples out of papers, sorting through thousands of pages and scanning or taking pictures of the records.

"Those records come in all different shapes and forms. We have to digitally image them, we literally take a picture of it," Houser said. "We have had rolls of toilet paper or paper towels ... because they (dealers) did not like the requirement to keep records."

The tracing center receives about a million out-of-business records every month and Houser runs the center's sorting and imaging operations from 6 a.m. to midnight, five days a week. The images are stored on old-school microfilm reels or as digital images. But there's no way to search the records, other than to scroll through one picture of a page at a time.

"We are ... prohibited from amassing the records of active dealers," Houser said. "It means that if a dealer is in business he maintains his records."

Last year the center traced about 344,000 guns for 6,000 different law enforcement agencies. Houser has a success rate of about 90 percent, so long as enough information is provided. And he boasts that every successful trace provides at least one lead in a criminal case.

"It's a factory for the production of investigative leads," Houser said of the tracing center.

A 1968 overhaul of federal gun laws required licensed dealers to keep paper records of who buys what guns and gave ATF the authority to track the history of a gun if was used in a crime. But in the intervening decades, the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups lobbied Congress to limit the government's ability to do much with what little information is collected, including keeping track on computers.

"They (lawmakers) feel that the act of amassing those records would in essence go a step toward creating an artificial registration system," Houser said.

What the ATF can do is give trace information to the law enforcement agency that asked for it and in some cases uses the data to help point them in the direction of other crimes.

Houser said the "manually intensive process" can take about five days for a routine trace. In some cases, completing the trace can mean sifting by hand through paperwork that hasn't yet been scanned.

In more urgent situations, including the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in Connecticut last year, ATF agents run a trace within about 24 hours. Oftentimes, that involves sending agents to the gun dealer that first sold the weapon to quickly find the paperwork listing its original buyer.

Despite having access to millions of records about gun purchases from dealers that have gone out of business, the ATF isn't allowed to create a database of what guns were sold to whom and when.

ATF does keep tabs on how many guns are manufactured and shipped out of the country every year, but only gun makers and dealers know for sure how many are sold. There are also strict limits on what the agency can do with the gun trace information. And that's just the way the gun lobby and Congress want it.

Various laws and spending bills have specifically barred the ATF from creating a national database of guns and gun owners. And due to the efforts of lawmakers, including former Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, ATF agents who trace the history of a gun can't share that information with anyone but the police agency that asked for it.

As it stands now, local law enforcement doesn't have access to regional data about gun traces. So if the police commissioner in New York City is trying to figure out where the guns are coming into the city from ? whether they're going to New Jersey first or upstate New York, for example ? that data is not available because of an amendment introduced by Tiahrt, said Mike Bouchard, a former ATF assistant director for Field Operations. ATF can tell police where most crime guns are traced from, by state. But it does not release information on gun shops or purchasers.

If police chiefs want that, they have to reach out to individual chiefs at other departments and ask.

"It's pretty ridiculous when we have an automated system that will do it for the chiefs," Bouchard said.

Tiahrt said he first proposed limiting access to trace data to make sure the information wasn't available under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. It was an issue of keeping undercover police, informants and innocent gun buyers and sellers out of the public eye, Tiahrt said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Knowing who legally buys guns won't prevent gun violence, the former Republican congressman said.

"We're chasing these wisps of smoke that won't solve the problem," Tiahrt said. "Get to the root cause. Put out the fire. Deal with mental illness. Deal with situational awareness."

Houser said he would prefer the tracing center's operations to be expanded and a center built that would use some technologies to help more easily trace a gun. But until the law changes, his staff will continue removing staples, turning pages right-side-up and taking digital pictures of records.

"Our job is to enforce the laws that are passed to us," Houser said. "What they give us is what we are required to work with."

___

Associated Press reporter Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.

___

Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-29-Tracing%20Guns/id-c61060a636994437afffebb3026faae8

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US scientists reach new frontier in Antarctica

U.S. scientists successfully drilled into Lake Whillans, a subglacial expanse of water hidden deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, they reported on Sunday.

About a month ago, a similar British attempt to reach subglacial Lake Ellsworth had failed. Drilling operations for the WISSARD project (Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling), which is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, started on Jan. 21.

Over the next couple of days, equipment will be lowered down the 2,625-foot-deep (800-meter-deep) hole to carry out measurements and to obtain water samples for further study onboard container-based scientific laboratories on the surface. As of Sunday, the WISSARD team said they may have penetrated the lake surface.

"Sensors on the hot water drill show a water pressure change, indicating that the borehole has connected with the lake," they write on the WISSARD blog. "Verification awaits visual images from a down-borehole camera this evening. We are excited about the latest developments at the lake!" [See Photos of Subglacial Lake Whillans Drilling Site]

The bottom of the world
On Dec. 9, I visited the WISSARD test site on the Ross Ice Shelf, just off the coast of the Antarctic continent and close to McMurdo Station, as a selected member of the NSF Antarctic media visitation program. The test site resembled a small factory, with generators, water tanks, labs, workshops, data centers and, of course, the actual drilling platform ? all mounted on giant skis. In the background were the tractors that would pull the whole installation to Lake Whillans, across hundreds of miles of solid ice.

"This is a first go," said Ross Powell of the University of Northern Illinois, one of WISSARD's 13 principal investigators. "Next year we hope to return to drill more holes."

Frank Rack, a geologic oceanographer of the University of Nebraska who leads the WISSARD drill team, explained how a powerful jet of pressurized hot water is used to melt a hole in the ice.

"Our hot water drill is state-of-the-art," Rack said. Part of the system, including two 225-kilowatt generators and the power distribution modules, had previously been used to drill the holes for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The technique is simple in principle, but prone to unexpected problems. "My biggest worry is that something might get stuck," Powell said. With the successful completion of the actual drilling at Lake Whillans, this worry has now been laid to rest.

Preventing contamination
A big concern for the WISSARD team has been to prevent contamination of samples from the subglacial lake with microbes. After all, an important goal of the project is studying the lake's ecosystem, if it exists at all. Even at 195 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius) ? the temperature the pressurized water for drilling is heated to ? water contains a lot of spore-forming bacteria. That?s why the drilling hose is fed through a collar of ultraviolet lamps: The energetic radiation kills 99.9 percent of all microorganisms.

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In contrast, the Russian team that drilled into subglacial Lake Vostok last year used kerosene to lubricate the borehole ? a technique significantly less clean than hot-water drilling.

Microbiologist Jill Mikucki of the University of Tennessee is pretty sure there might be life under the ice: microorganisms that are able to thrive in the cold, dark, isolated subglacial lakes. She doesn't expect to encounter larger organisms, because there's so little energy available at 2,625 feet (800 meters) below the icecap, but "microbes are everywhere," Mikucki said. "There's even potential to find new species."

Subglacial microbes could accelerate weathering of rocks, Mikucki explained, releasing silicon and iron that finds its way into the ocean and serves as nutrients for other life forms. "I want to find out how they help to run the planet," she said. [Antarctica Album: Stunning Photos of IceBridge Mission]

Hidden plumbing
Meanwhile, geologists and glaciologists are eager to learn more about water transport and ice dynamics beneath the frozen Antarctic surface. Lake Whillans lies beneath a 66-foot-wide (20-meter-wide) ice stream that moves about a meter per day, as opposed to something like a meter per year for the surrounding icecap. Little is known about the possible relation between ice streams on the surface and subglacial river systems, which have only been discovered ? and charted through radar ? over the past couple of decades.

"Lake Whillans is just one of a few hundred interconnected lakes," said Powell, "and radar observations have revealed that it fills and drains in a five- to 10-year cycle. We want to find out what causes these cycles. And knowing more about ice dynamics is important to better understand the effects global warming might have on the Antarctic continent. Thanks to WISSARD, we will be able for the first time to use real field data as input in our glacialogical models."

Even the 66-foot-deep (80-meter-deep) test drill through the Ross Ice Shelf, completed in mid-December, was of interest to scientists. An earlier program called ANDRILL (for Antarctic Drilling project), also led by Rack, encountered some unusual life forms beneath the ice, including giant anemones and previously unknown organisms looking like floating spring rolls.

"Pretty surprising," Rack said. "I have a museum guy doing the taxonomy right now, and we are writing it up for Science magazine. At the WISSARD test site we could find similar ? or very different ? organisms. We'll have to see.? Results from the test drilling have not yet been released. [Life on Ice: Gallery of Cold-Loving Creatures]

Robotic submersible
Planetary scientist Britney Schmidt of the University of Texas at Austin has deployed a small, tethered robotic submersible through the test borehole. Known as SCINI (Submersible Capable of under Ice Navigation and Imaging), it is outfitted with a lamp and a camera. "It looks for everything under the ice," Schmidt told me at her temporary office at McMurdo Station. "There's no reason that I could think of why we would not find interesting organisms."

In the future, Schmidt hopes to use similar techniques to search for life in the subglacial ocean of Europa, one of the four large satellites of Jupiter. "I'm not 100 percent sure that there is life on Europa," she said, "but if it?s not there, I'd like to learn why it isn't there." Again, the SCINI results from the test site are not yet published, but it's clear that projects like WISSARD are already firing the imagination of planetary scientists and astrobiologists.

It will be a while before scientists succeed in drilling through the polar ice of Mars, or through the icy crust of Europa, but the success at Lake Whillans gives them a taste of things to come. Meanwhile, WISSARD will provide geochemists and microbiologists alike with a unique picture of an integrated subglacial ecosystem.

"Other systems are much easier to study," said Mikucki, "but from Antarctica we only have limited samples so far. Since 10 percent of the Earth's land surface is covered with ice, we really need more data to understand our planet. Antarctica is an important piece of the puzzle."

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50610244/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Origrami Creates the World's First and Only Instagram Photo-map ...

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Job In Dubai - repost | Academic Writing | Article Rewriting ...

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eg. VAT, GST ? Registration no.

Source: http://www.freelancer.com/projects/Copywriting-Proofreading/Job-Dubai-repost.html

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Deal of the Day ? HP Pavilion p6-2355 Core i3 desktop and 20? LED-backlit LCD monitor

Monday’s LogicBUY Deal is the HP?Pavilion p6-2355 Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-core desktop bundle with the 20″ W2072a LED-backlit LCD monitor for?$564.98. ?Features: 8GB RAM 1TB Hard Drive and DVD burner Intel HD 2500 graphics 802.11n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet USB 3.0 ports Windows 8 (64 bit) $709.98 – $120 instant savings – ?$15?coupon code = $564.98 [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/01/28/deal-of-the-day-hp-pavilion-p6-2355-core-i3-desktop-and-20-led-backlit-lcd-monitor/

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'No budget, no pay' advances despite reservations (The Arizona Republic)

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The Nurtured Life: Yoga for Motherhood, home study January 2013


http://feeds.feedburner.com/YogaToday/ipod

I found this pod cast about two weeks ago. Since then, I have watched it several times. While chopping vegetables for dinner, while the children watched a movie near by, while the baby nursed. I have not done it once. Not even rolled out the mat. I have managed to do 5 sun salutations on most mornings. I have noticed them strengthening, my body moving more like fluid from one place to another. I have noticed my breath, even off the mat. I have noticed my place, my time, my space.
Because, here, in the thick of full motherhood- the strength of my body and mind are the only tools I need. Here, in this time and place- Asana practice is not to increase flexibility, or give me a firmer body. Never, is asana about what I can do on the mat- it's about what I can take with me when I leave the still, quite rectangle and move into the great wide open.
So practice here, is about finding that balance between what is needed-and what can wait. Wait till babies do not cry when they are left, wait till big girls don't need grown ups at brownies, wait until after the only time two tired parents can find each other. I do indeed need my asana practice, and my meditation, and my reading, writing, breathing, and art. But, if the main objective of all them is to bring me clarity and balance- then I need not lust after time for these as long as I find myself in a place of clarity and balance.
There will be time, time to study more, practice more, explore more- but there will never be more of this. I will never get more of these precious beings as they are today. And I will never get more time to practice being here, in full motherhood. What there is to learn here- cannot be learned from someone else, only from showing up here, present and mindful.

Source: http://thenurturedlife.blogspot.com/2013/01/yoga-for-motherhood-home-study-january_26.html

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Hannah Colby VS "Green"

Yu-Gi-OH! GX: Untold Stories

New faces arrive at Duel Academy

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
Both duelist draw 5 cards.

Green's turn:
5 + 1 = 6 cards
Summon Sonic Shooter in attack mode, place one card face down.
6 - 2 = 4 cards, 1 facedown.

Hannah's turn:
5 + 1 = 6 cards
Activate Spell: Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the facedown card (Sakuretsu Armor).
Summon Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
Activate Spell: Card Destruction.
(Hannah Discarding: United We Stand, Gorz, Emissary of Darkness and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and drawing three new cards. Green Discarding: Simorgh, Bird of Divinity, Harpie Lady Sisters, Call of the Haunted and Icarus Attack then drawing four new cards)
Activate Effect: Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World - Due to being discarded from my hand, he is special summoned to the field.
Activate Spell: Premature Burial - Bringing back Gorz the Emissary of Darkness.
Attack: Beigge, Vanguard of Dark World attacking Sonic Shooter.
Attack: Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World attacking LP
Attack: Gorz, Emissary of Darkness attacking LP
Green's LP: 8000 - 5300 = 2700
3 - 1 = 2 cards, 0 facedowns

Green's turn:
4 + 1 = 5 cards
Summon: Slate Warrior
Attack: Slate Warrior attacks Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World
Hannah's LP: 8000 - 300 = 7700
Placing two cards facedown.
5 - 3 = 2 cards, 2 facedowns.

Hannah's turn:
2 + 1 = 3 cards
Activate Spell: Heavy Storm (Destroying Hysteric Party and Aqua Chorus)
Attack: Gorz the Emissary of Darkness attacks Slate Warrior
Attack: Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World attacks LP
Green's LP: 2700 - 800 - 2300 = 0

Hannah Colby wins the duel

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As you can see, this was a very, very short duel, mainly because it is just to illustrate the workings (and I was dueling myself...) I think the basic system is pretty easy to understand - Changes in LP are always bold, the turn markings are bold, and names of cards in italics. If any questions, feel free to post them here :) Also: leave a message when you are ready to start your own duel, and I'll set up another OOC thread so we can start. I have all the exam decks ready :)

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Korver has 27 as Hawks top Celtics 123-111 in 2 OT

ATLANTA (AP) ? Kyle Korver scored 27 points and the Atlanta Hawks overcame a 27-point deficit in the first half to beat Boston 123-111 in double-overtime on Friday night, handing the Celtics their sixth straight loss.

Jeff Teague had 23 points for Atlanta before fouling out in the first overtime. Al Horford had 24 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Smith, who opened the second overtime with a three-point play, had 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 10 rebounds but fouled out in the second overtime as the Celtics were left with their longest losing streak in six years. Rajon Rondo had 16 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his fifth triple-double of the season.

Korver had all of his career-high eight 3-pointers in the second half, setting a franchise record, and five in the fourth quarter.

Korver's eighth 3, with 2:26 remaining in regulation, cut Boston's lead to 98-96. Horford's two free throws with 1 minute remaining tied the game at 98-all to set up the first overtime.

With the game tied at 105-all in the first overtime, Courtney Lee's steal from Horford set up Lee's two free throws to give Boston the lead, but Smith tied the game with a jam.

Paul Pierce, who had 12 points, missed a jumper at the end of the first overtime.

The Hawks outscored the Celtics 16-4 in the second overtime.

Jeff Green had 17 points for Boston. Courtney Lee had 16 points and Avery Bradley had 14.

Boston appeared headed for a rout when it led 48-21 in the second quarter. Atlanta trailed 57-38 at halftime following a modest recovery.

The Hawks' comeback gained strength as they outscored the Celtics 21-2 to open the second half, including a 19-0 run for a 59-all tie. Korver had three 3-pointers in the run.

There were two more ties in the third quarter, the last at 69-all, but each time the Celtics answered to prevent Atlanta from taking the lead.

Horford made two free throws less than 3 minutes into the final period to give Atlanta a 77-75 lead ? its first advantage since the opening minutes.

The Hawks led 80-77 after Korver's fifth 3-pointer, but the Celtics regained the lead on back-to-back baskets by Pierce and Courtney Lee.

The Hawks made only 4 of 23 shots while being outscored 29-10 in the first period.

Horford started after missing one game with a sore left calf, and Devin Harris had 14 points in a backup role after missing two games with a sprained left ankle.

NOTES: The Celtics' last six-game losing streak was April 4-15, 2007 ... The 10 points were a season low for first-quarter points for the Hawks. ... Korver extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 37, the longest of career and longest active streak in the NBA. ... Hawks C Zaza Pachulia returned after missing one game with a sore right Achilles.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/korver-27-hawks-top-celtics-123-111-2-034005701--spt.html

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Wayward dolphin dies in polluted New York canal

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal with debris on its nose, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A dolphin surfaces in the Gowanus Canal in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. The New York City Police Dept. said animal experts were waiting to see if the dolphin would leave on its own during the evening's high tide. If not, they plan to lend a hand on Saturday morning. According to authorities at the scene, the dolphin appeared to be adventurous, rather than stranded.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

(AP) ? A wayward dolphin that meandered into a polluted urban canal, riveting onlookers as it splashed around in the filthy water and shook black gunk from its snout, died Friday evening, marine experts said.

The deep-freeze weather hadn't seemed to faze the dolphin as it swam in the Gowanus Canal, which runs 1.5 miles through a narrow industrial zone near some of Brooklyn's wealthiest neighborhoods.

Marine experts had hoped high tide, beginning around 7:10 p.m., would help the dolphin leave the canal safely. But the dolphin was confirmed dead shortly before then, said the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, which didn't immediately know how it died.

Earlier, with the dolphin swimming about and surfacing periodically, bundled-up onlookers took cellphone photos, and a news helicopter hovered overhead.

The New York Police Department said the marine foundation's experts had planned to help the dolphin on Saturday morning if it didn't get out of the canal during high tide. The foundation, based in Riverhead, on eastern Long Island, specializes in cases involving whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles.

The filthy canal was named a Superfund site in 2010, meaning the government can force polluters to pay for its restoration. For more than a century before, coal yards, chemical factories and fuel refineries on the canal's banks discharged everything from tar to purple ink into the water, earning it the local nickname The Lavender Lake for its unnatural hue.

The dolphin, which appeared to be about 7 feet long, likely entered the canal from the Atlantic Ocean through the Lower and Upper New York Bays and then the Gowanus Bay, which leads to the canal. It's about 20 miles from the canal to open ocean.

It may seem strange, but it's not uncommon for sea creatures to stray into city waters, though they don't often swim away alive.

A dolphin was found dead last August near Long Island, south of the canal. Another washed up in June in the Hudson River near Manhattan's Chelsea Piers sports complex.

In 2007, a baby minke whale that briefly captivated the city wandered into the Gowanus Bay and swam aimlessly before dying.

Two years later, a humpback whale took a tour of the city's waters before leaving New York Harbor safely. The 20-foot whale was first seen in Queens before it headed for Brooklyn, took a swing through the harbor and headed toward open waters near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-25-Dolphin%20in%20Canal/id-b124fc71c834471c87db91111cca22a7

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