Improving Your Home? Try Double Glazing | Not About The Buildings

If there is one home improvement that can make a real difference to the look and feel of your home it is double glazing. It comes in a variety of designs and styles and not only looks good, but can also help cut your energy bills as well as improve the comfort of your home.

Read on for a guide to some of the benefits offered by double glazed windows:

Energy saving

Around a quarter of the energy that is generated in the home is lost through its windows and doors. If you want to make your home more comfortable and save on your energy bills it makes sense to replace your windows with something more efficient.

In fact, just upgrading single glazed windows to B-rated energy efficient double glazed windows could save the average homeowner around ?165 a year on fuel bills.

What?s more, fitting double glazing can actually make your home feel more comfortable as they can cut down on draughts and condensation build-up.

Security

One thing that is incredibly important for homeowners is their security, and double glazed windows will help provide additional protection from the outside. Because single glazed windows only have one pain of glass they are quite easy to break into. However, with double glazed units, not only do they come fitted with toughened glass making them harder to break, they also come with a number of excellent security measures. They have hinge bolts fitted as standard so whatever happens the hinge side of the window will be just as secure as the lock side. What?s more, the locks themselves are of the highest standard with anti-snap cylinders and guards to stop thieves. The windows themselves are internally beaded, so you can sleep in peace knowing that you have put these preventative measures in place.

Noise reduction

Everyone wants their home to be a sanctuary where they can shut out the outside world, so the last thing people want is noise coming into their house. However, because double glazed units have a gap of air between the two panes of glass not only does this make them more energy efficient, it can also help reduce the amount of noise entering your home. This means that when you return home, thanks to your new double glazed windows, you can shut out the outside world and spend time in a peaceful environment.

Maintenance free

Another great benefit of double glazed windows is the fact that they are virtually maintenance free. Unlike wooden window frames there is no need to treat them regularly or deal with things like rot. Instead, apart the odd clean now and again your windows will look good-as-new for years to come. This means that you won?t need to spend money replacing your windows every few years or spend cash trying to keep them looking good.

If you are looking for double glazing in Leeds then why not visit Yorkshire?s Premier double glazing company at one of Coral Window?s showrooms in Bradford, Otley, Wakefield or Huddersfield.

Source: http://notaboutthebuildings.com/home-improvement/improving-your-home-try-double-glazing/

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Syria rebels in bitter battle for territory in Aleppo

Narciso Contreras / AP

A rebel sniper aims at Syrian army positions in Aleppo's Jedida district on Oct. 29, 2012.

Narciso Contreras / AP

A rebel fighter belonging to the Qatebee Sokor Al-Islam group runs for cover as a Syrian army tank shells the rebel position during clashes in the Jedida district of Aleppo on Oct. 29, 2012.

Narciso Contreras / AP

An apartment destroyed by tank shelling in the Karm al-Jabel neighborhood of Aleppo after several days of intense clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army, Oct. 28, 2012.

Narciso Contreras / AP

A rebel fighter belonging to the Liwa Al-Tawhid group kisses a Quran as mortar explosions and gunshots are heard in the nearby battlefield in the Karm al-Jabel neighborhood of Aleppo on Oct. 28, 2012.

Javier Manzano / AFP - Getty Images

A rebel fighter looks at smoke billowing from a bus that caught on fire after a regime sniper allegedly shot at it in Aleppo on Oct. 28, 2012.

The conflict in Syria intensified on Monday with scores of airstrikes that anti-regime activists called the most widespread bombing in a single day since Syria's troubles started 19 months ago, The Associated Press reports.

On Tuesday,?Syrian warplanes bombed rebel positions on the outskirts of the central city of Homs to try to break a siege of an army base housing dozens of soldiers, opposition activists said.?

Related content:

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A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

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Source: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/30/14804041-syria-rebels-in-bitter-battle-for-territory-in-aleppo?lite

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How silver turns people blue

ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2012) ? Ingesting silver -- in antimicrobial health tonics or for extensive medical treatments involving silver -- can cause argyria, condition in which the skin turns grayish-blue. Brown researchers have discovered how that happens. The process is similar to developing black-and-white photographs, and it's not just the silver.

Researchers from Brown University have shown for the first time how ingesting too much silver can cause argyria, a rare condition in which patients' skin turns a striking shade of grayish blue.

"It's the first conceptual model giving the whole picture of how one develops this condition," said Robert Hurt, professor of engineering at Brown and part of the research team. "What's interesting here is that the particles someone ingests aren't the particles that ultimately cause the disorder."

Scientists have known for years argyria had something to do with silver. The condition has been documented in people who (ill advisedly) drink antimicrobial health tonics containing silver nanoparticles and in people who have had extensive medical treatments involving silver. Tissue samples from patients showed silver particles actually lodged deep in the skin, but it wasn't clear how they got there.

As it turns out, argyria is caused by a complex series of chemical reactions, Hurt said. His paper on the subject, authored with Brown colleagues Jingyu Liu, Zhongying Wang, Frances Liu, and Agnes Kane, is published in the journal ACS Nano.

"The particles someone ingests aren't the particles that ultimately cause the disorder."Hurt and his team show that nanosilver is broken down in the stomach, absorbed into the bloodstream as a salt and finally deposited in the skin, where exposure to light turns the salt back into elemental silver and creates the telltale bluish hue. That final stage, oddly, involves the same photochemical reaction used to develop black-and-white photographs.

From silver to salt and back again

Hurt and his team have been studying the environmental impact of silver, specifically silver nanoparticles, for years. They've found that nanosilver tends to corrode in acidic environments, giving off charged ions -- silver salts -- that can be toxic in large amounts. Hurt's graduate student, Jingyu Liu (now a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology), thought those same toxic ions might also be produced when silver enters the body, and could play a role in argyria.

To find out, the researchers mixed a series chemical treatments that could simulate what might happen to silver inside the body. One treatment simulated the acidic environment in the gastrointestinal tract; one mimicked the protein content of the bloodstream; and a collagen gel replicated the base membranes of the skin.

They found that nanosilver corrodes in stomach acid in much the same way it does in other acidic environments. Corrosion strips silver atoms of electrons, forming positively charged silver salt ions. Those ions can easily be taken into the bloodstream through channels that absorb other types of salt. That's a crucial step, Hurt said. Silver metal particles themselves aren't terribly likely to make it from the GI tract to the blood, but when they're transformed into a salt, they're ushered right through.

From there, Hurt and his team showed that silver ions bind easily with sulfur present in blood proteins, which would give them a free ride through the bloodstream. Some of those ions would eventually end up in the skin, where they'd be exposed to light.

To re-create this end stage, the researchers shined ultraviolet light on collagen gel containing silver ions. The light caused electrons from the surrounding materials to jump onto the unstable ions, returning them to their original state -- elemental silver. This final reaction is ultimately what turns patients' skin blue. The photoreaction is similar to the way silver is used in black and white photography. When exposed to light, silver salts on a photographic film reduce to elemental silver and darken, creating an image.

Implications for nanosilver

Despite its potential toxicity, silver has been valued for centuries for its ability to kill germs, which is why silver nanoparticles are used today in everything from food packaging to bandages. There are concerns however that this nanoparticle form of silver might pose a unique health threat all its own.

This research, however, "would be one piece of evidence that you could treat nanoparticles in the same way as other forms of silver," Hurt says.

That's because the bioavailable form of silver -- the form that is absorbed into the bloodstream -- is the silver salt that's made in the stomach. Any elemental silver that's ingested is just the raw material to make that bioavailable salt. So ingesting silver in any form, be it nano or not, would have basically the same effect, Hurt said.

"The concern in this case is the total dose of silver, not what form it's in," Hurt said. "This study implies that silver nanoparticles will be less toxic than an equivalent amount of silver salt, at least in this exposure scenario."

The National Science Foundation and the Superfund Research Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funded the research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jingyu Liu, Zhongying Wang, Frances D. Liu, Agnes B. Kane, Robert H. Hurt. Chemical Transformations of Nanosilver in Biological Environments. ACS Nano, 2012; : 121017162703002 DOI: 10.1021/nn303449n

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/l2woS9cxAl8/121030143029.htm

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Law governing legal fees unconstitutional, Miami-Dade judge says ...

October 30th, 2012

A Miami-Dade judge says a law tying legal bills for defending death penalty defendants to annual budgets of state judges is unconstitutional.

Circuit Judge Victoria Sigler said the law violates Florida?s constitution, which guarantees a separation of power between the judiciary and lawmakers who are supposed to be the ones who allocate money for indigent clients.

The ruling, certain to be reviewed by higher courts, could force changes to how the state appropriates money to defend people too poor to afford their own lawyers.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/29/3073244/law-governing-legal-fees-unconstitutional.html

By: David Edelstein October 30, 2012.

Posted in Tweets |

Source: http://www.miami-criminal-lawyer.net/blog/tweets/law-governing-legal-fees-unconstitutional-miami-dade-judge-says/

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Coaching Introverts @helenbevan @ReadyToManage ...

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012?by?DR. JON WARNER?in?COACHING AND MENTORING

http://blog.readytomanage.com/coaching-introverts/

Introverts are getting a great deal of attention recently, in part due to Susan Cain?s popular book, ?Quiet: The Power of Introverts,? published last year and this year?s Scientific American article,?The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance. In the past, introverts tended to be criticized as less, somehow, in need of being ?fixed? or ?brought out of their shell? by extroverts. This perception may have arisen from lack of knowledge and is explored in this article by examining how introverts might best be coached in the workplace as one factor among many in coaching skill-building.

First, we?ll tackle a few basic questions before moving on to specific coaching strategies. This initial groundwork looks at these questions:?what is an introvert??how does an introvert generally relate to the world??and finally?what percentage of the world is introverted versus extraverted?

What is an introvert?

According to Carl Jung, the psychologist who defined the terms introversion and extraversion in the language, Introversion is all about drawing energy from the internal world of thoughts and ideas, preferring depth and pausing for thought. Jung would say that the unconscious preoccupation of introverts is therefore privacy. Extraversion, on the other hand, is about drawing energy from the world of people, things, and activities, and dealing in breadth rather than depth. Jung would say that the unconscious preoccupation of extraverts is therefore access to people. Introverts then tend to focus on their own inner world of ideas and experiences. They direct their energy and attention inward and receive energy from their internal thoughts, feelings and reflections. They tend to enjoy quiet for concentration and do not mind working on one project for a long time. They usually prefer working alone and develop their ideas through reflection.

People who prefer introversion are energized when they are involved with the ideas, images, memories, and reactions that are a part of their inner world. Introverts often prefer solitary activities or spending time with one or two others with whom they feel an affinity, and they often have a calming effect on those around them.

Introverts often take time to reflect on ideas that explain the outer world. With their orientation to the inner world, introverts truly like the idea of something, often better than the something itself, and ideas are almost solid things for them.

So, in summary, people who prefer introversion are likely to:

• Be mainly private and contained
• Enjoy being calm and ?centered? or reserved (preferring reflection in general). This means they tend to reflect before acting or speaking
• Feel comfortable being alone and like solitary activities
• Prefer fewer, more intense relationships socially (and may need time to recover from heavy socializing)
• Sometimes spend too much time reflecting and may not move into action quickly (usually wanting to understand things thoroughly before acting)
• Often like quiet space in which to work or concentrate
• Sometimes forget to check with the outside world to see if their ideas really fit their experience (as they are drawn to inner world of thoughts and ideas)

To contrast the introvert with the extravert, the following table may help (and, you will notice that both lists start and end with how extraverts and introverts use energy:?

Extraversion	Introversion
Energized by what goes on in the outer world Need to talk to clarify what they think Can be seen as accessible and understandable Difficult for them to just sit and listen Often work to change the world Interests often have breadth Interaction Multiplicity of relationships Expenditure of energies	Energized by what goes on in their own inner world Need to reflect and clarify internally before they talk Can be seen as subtle and difficult to know well initially Work quietly, often without interruption Often work to understand the world Interests often have depth Concentration Limited relationships Conservation of energies

How does an introvert generally relate to the world?

Quiet people may be introverted but this is not always the case, as extraverts can be quiet for a short period and some introverts can adopt more extraverted and non-quiet behaviors for a period. We can tune into the language that introverts tend to use to get a better idea of when individuals may have a greater preference for introversion. Hence, we might hear statements such as:

• ?I have to reflect on that? (although they may just do this and say nothing!)
• ?I have had one or two close friends most of my life.?
• ?I can usually concentrate/focus pretty well.?
• ?I prefer not to make speeches/presentations/talking in public.?
• ?Let me think about it and I?ll have an answer for you tomorrow.?
• ?I?d rather do it on my own.?

Outside of observing language clues we might also see the following general behaviors:

• Often require a lot of time alone (but can often tune out very effectively and hence be alone in a crowd).
• Dislike interruptions.
• Can?t be easily pressured into talking about an issue until ready (may take quite a long time).
• Is often intense and passionate even though it may often not show, seeming to take life very seriously.
• Must generally understand a thing before trying it.
• Generally think carefully before speaking or acting.
• Often very good listeners.
• Generally dislike small talk.

What percentage of the world is introverted versus extraverted?

It is popularly thought that introverts are only 25-30% of the total population. However, the managers of the Jungian based Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (or MBTI?) have more recently reported that in a population of hundreds of thousands of assessment-takes the split is 51:49 in favor of Introverts. For the purposes of this article we are going to assume that there is approximately the same amount of introverts as extraverts or it is a 50:50 split. An article on this subject can be found at the ?Thoughtful self-improvement? site at?http://www.thoughtful-self-improvement.com/percentage-of-introverts.html.?

Coaching the introvert

Now that we have understood more about introverted preferences, let?s turn our attention to how best to coach an introvert. Perhaps the best place to start is to look at the kind of frustrations and/or goals that introverts are likely to have in the workplace. Although this is both an incomplete and non-specific list below are ten of the most common ones:

1.? A wish to boost overall ability to interact (often confused with external show of confidence and self-esteem)?? introverts (and not exclusively of course) may suffer from low self-esteem where they have become over-introspective and/or when they have lost confidence in their inner means to cope with their work environment. A coach may therefore need to help them to develop greater confidence (often by getting them to give more of their assistance and advice to others).

2.? A wish to contribute more in important workplace discussions and/or decisions???Extraverts may well become impatient with introverts in significant discussions when important decisions have to be made (especially when time is pressing) so an introvert may feel unheard or sidelined. However, introverts can typically be much more effective in difficult problem-solving situations and when complex issues need to be thought through and a coach can help in getting introverts to better promote these skills as a key step in important discussions or before key decisions are made.?

3.? A wish for a greater connection to others?? Introverts can feel incompetent or unskilled in communicating and connecting with others (despite their need to spend time alone to think and reflect on a regular basis). A coach may therefore need to help them to develop approaches to connect with other people.

4.? A wish to overcome apparent shyness (at least to some degree)?? Shyness may be a sign of introverts under-developed social skills and/or under-developed sense of self. There is a huge difference between an introvert who requires quiet time and an introvert who avoids people wherever possible. The former is taking necessary time and keeping his or her energy ?battery? charged whereas the latter is being avoidant and potentially not helping him or herself and the team of which he or she is a part. A coach may therefore need to help an introvert to develop the ability to enjoy limited socializing that is commensurate and comfortable for the introvert?s overall temperament.?

5.? A wish to be less ?perfectionistic? at times?? Most introverts want to evolve thinking such that the output of their thinking is as near perfect as possible. But if this goes too far, the perfectionism may negatively impact the introvert and others (and create a sense of slowing things down unnecessarily). Coaching can help here by providing a more objective perspective on the introvert?s introspection and by identifying a way of being at least somewhat more pragmatic when time and circumstances demand it.?

6.? A wish to deal more effectively with the dominance of extraverts in the workplace?? Most introverts see extraverts to be more assertive and even pushy, confident (perhaps overly so) and prone to jump-around a lot. This approach often puts them ?in-charge? of tasks and projects (even if they are not the official leader). This can be irritating to an introvert, especially if he or she is the knowledge expert and he or she may therefore just withdraw and let the extravert ?dig his/her own grave?. A coach therefore needs to work with the introvert to find common ground with the extravert by not withdrawing and getting information to them in different ways-such as ahead of time in writing or quietly on a one-on-one basis after a discussion.

7.? A wish to work more effectively in the fast-paced work climate that is often required?? Today?s work environment often requires work to meet difficult to achieve deadlines. A coach can work with an introvert to help develop different ways to contribute that meet the pressure of a deadline, or sometimes show why changing a deadline (to allow for deeper thinking perhaps) may create a better result.

8. ?A wish to promote their own agenda and needs at work and when networking?? While an extravert will not be slow at putting him or herself forward, the introvert may find self-promotion to be extremely difficult. Here a coach can work with an introvert to pre-identify/pre-prepare important issues and contributions that should be made, so that they can put forward in pithy and impactful ways in more public environments.

9.? A wish to more effectively contribute effectively in meetings???Extraverts will often call meetings, chair them and do most of the talking (it is after all an extraverted communication format with lots of people talking about lots of things in a fixed time period). An introvert may never therefore feel totally comfortable in this climate but a coach can work with an introvert to ask questions of others and communicate both before and after to ensure their input is heard. This helps to emphasise that their input is important and insightful and worth sharing. (this in turn boosts their confidence in themselves/ their ability. They may need strong encouragement and strategies for getting their ideas on the table and to realize that an idea does NOT have to be carefully crafted before it is put into the outside world.

10. A wish to put themselves forward strongly enough to lead projects and even gain promotion???Introverts will put themselves forward for jobs they think they are capable of doing but may not see themselves to be the forceful leader that is required. A coach can therefore work with an introvert to increase confidence in his or her own ability and give them strategies for leadership that are a comfortable fit for his or her temperament.?

So, how should a coach relate to an introvert?

All of the above often boils down to one major issue???communication. Of course, both extraverts and introverts have helpful and hindering behaviors, as the table below illustrates:

Communicating ??Extraversion and Introversion

	Potentially helpful	Potentially hindering
Extraversion?	being outgoing and sociable; being spontaneous and enthusiastic; enjoying talking through ideas with peers and the people you manage; demonstrating energy	overwhelming people; finding listening difficult; wanting to get to action too quickly; being easily distracted; appearing to have a ?butterfly? approach
Introversion?	a reflective style which allows people space; listening attentively; concentrating on what is happening below the surface; staying calm	appearing withdrawn or moody; lacking in social confidence; seeming over-intense; disliking large meetings; appearing lacking in presence

A coach can help an introvert in at least three of the four boxes in the above table. This is not only with the potentially hindering behavior of the extravert and introvert but also in helping the introverted individual to promote him or herself in the more positive ways that he or she can contribute to the team. ?To do this there are effective strategies for a coach to adopt, as well as approaches to avoid as follows:

Effective coaching strategies?to adopt with Introverts	Coaching approaches?to avoid with Introverts
Allow an introvert time to ?mine? his or her internal feelings and thoughts-this means being more patient in general	Don?t spend time on small talk
Always operate in a calm and considerate manner (avoiding too much gesticulation or histrionics)	Don?t introduce multiple points one after the other or overwhelm with a lot of unrelated data
Listen carefully using occasional paraphrases to check for understanding	Avoid ?jumping in? too quickly and completing sentences or thoughts for introverts
Introduce points one at a time and allow them to be fully discussed	Try to discourage too much introspection or unhelpful ?wallowing? in an issue
Ask searching questions about complex issues	Get them to respond to statements or questions immediately
Let silence reign and allow time for answers	Don?t push for action too early
Encourage the introvert to partner with others (but perhaps just one or two people) on tasks and projects on a limited basis	Don?t push them to be more extraverted
Allow them to talk about details or minor points (these may be more important than at first appears)	Encourage them into group or team coaching
Assign homework and reading between sessions for study and reflection	Don?t let a session ramble on too long-it will overwhelm the introvert who will want to escape.

And finally, how should an introvert relate to his or her coach?

If an introvert is dealing with an introverted coach, then there may be a more comfortable relationship. However, even here the coach may be pushing quite hard towards outcomes. Where the coach is an extravert, this pushing may be even more apparent however, and it is therefore up to the introverted person to play his or her part in managing the relationship to get the most from the experience. Here are therefore a few ways in which this can be done:

• Always bring a notepad/journal to a coaching session ? take notes and keep a record of thoughts/feelings for yourself.
• Ask your coach for direct and candid feedback.
• Speak up when you need more time to reflect on what has been asked of you or when a subject warrants it, or when you have a more important concern to discuss.
• Specifically let your coach know when you are starting to share your private views?the ones that you keep to yourself in usual circumstances.
• Let your coach know directly if you are not comfortable in sharing some information or you prefer not to answer a question that has been put to you.
• When working with a highly extravert coach be prepared to apply a metaphorical ?hammer? from time to time to get his or her attention.
• After your coaching session, keep a running record of brief notes on what you thought after you have had time to ponder things ? write down what you are learning.
• Make a list of new questions or issues and bring it with you to your next coaching session.
• Try and be as willing as possible to attempt something new or different that you may not otherwise consider. Small stretch tasks will eventually help to make bigger stretches.
• Talk to new colleagues and build new relationships as you become comfortable in doing so when being coached ? start with other introverts. Relate the experience to your coach.
• Take the whole coaching journey step-by-step and let things unfold as slowly as you like. Your coach at your pace, you do not have to work at theirs.?

Summary

Introverts have much to bring to any workplace. In general they are more effective than extraverts at focusing or concentrating on important issues, thinking deeply about them and coming up with new, different or well thought through ideas (often noticing or picking up important details that extraverts may miss entirely). They may need a little more time and space to perform this role, and may need assistance in teasing out their ideas, but results usually make this extremely worthwhile. The more that extroverts therefore become knowledgeable about introverts, the less tension and misunderstanding there will be among the two and the higher overall workplace productivity will become. To finally summarize, if you don?t know what an extravert is thinking you haven?t been listening but if you don?t know what an introvert is thinking, you haven?t asked. And as a final contrast, albeit with tongue in cheek, the table below from counseling group?New Reflections?leaves no doubt about the differences.

An Introverts Versus Extraverts Lexicon

WORD?	Extrovert?s Definition?	Introvert?s Definition?
Alone, adj.	Lonely.	Enjoying some peace and quiet.
Book, n.?	1) Doorstop. 2) Paperweight.	1) Source of comfort. 2) Safe and inexpensive method of travelling, having adventures, and meeting interesting people.
Bored, adj.?	Not frantically busy.	Stuck making small talk, and unable to escape politely.
Extrovert, n.?	A nice, normal, sociable person. Never surprises you with anything weird.	A boisterous person who may be very nice, but who is somewhat exhausting to spend time with. Usually not too deep, but fun.
Free time, n.?	A time when you do group activities. (See Introvert?s Definition of work.)	A time when you read without interruption until you?re in danger of going blind.
Friend, n.?	Someone who makes sure that you?re never alone.	Someone who understands that you?re not rejecting them when you need to be alone.
Good manners, n.?	Making sure people aren?t left all by themselves. Filling in any silences in a conversation.	Not bothering people, unless it?s necessary, or they approach you. (Sometimes you can bother people you know well, but make sure they aren?t busy first.)
Home, n.?	A place to invite everybody you know.	A place to hide from everybody you know.
Internet, n.?	1) Another medium for advertising. 2) A place where geeks with no life hang out.	A way to meet other introverts. You don?t have to go out, and writing allows you to think before just blurting something out.
Introvert, n.?	One of those who like to read. Moody loners. Be careful not to tick them off; some of them are serial killers.	One who shows a perfectly natural restraint and caution when meeting new people. One who appreciates solitude. Often, one who enjoys reading and has a philosophical turn of mind.
Love, n.?	Never having to do anything alone.	Being understood and appreciated.
Music, n.?	Background noise.	Something with a tune and lyrics which may be moving and intelligent, or may be drivel.
Phone, n.?	Lifeline to other people ? your reason for living.	Necessary evil, and yet another interruption. Occasionally useful, but mostly a nuisance.
Reading, v.?	A chore that a teacher makes you do when you?re a kid.	You have to do it in secret and pretend you don?t really do it, or people think you?re strange.
Shell, n.?	Something you find on the beach.	What people relentlessly nag you to come out of. Why do you have to leave it, if you?re happy there?
To go out, v.?	Requires at least two people, and the more the better. Constant chatter, loud music, sports, crowds, and food consumption are all fun components of going out.	Can be done alone or with others. Enjoyable if there?s some point to it; i.e., in order to see a band, a movie, a play, or perhaps to have a stimulating discussion with one or two close friends.
Work, n.?	Having to read, write, listen, or concentrate on anything.	Being pestered every five minutes about something trivial, and not allowed to concentrate.

From:?New Reflections Counseling, Inc

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Dissident artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

By Le Li, NBC News

Updated at 12:42 p.m. ET: BEIJING ? Released this past summer, Korean pop star Psy's "Gangnam Style" quickly became a global phenomenon. Within months, the infectious song has been watched over 530 million times and recently earned the distinction of being the most ?liked? video in YouTube history according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

It seems that everyone has tried to get in on the Gangnam rage, including Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt, our very own TODAY team, and just this week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.?

Ai Weiwei, China?s dissident artist who was detained last year for nearly three months, on Wednesday became the latest to jump on the Gangnam bandwagon, uploading his own version of ?Gangnam Style? on YouTube. The video, which shows Ai dancing in handcuffs, is entitled "Grass Mud Horse Style." ?

"Grass Mud Horse," a homonym of a Chinese phrase that suggests a very lewd act with one?s mother, is popular among anti-censorship activists in China.

PSY, the South Korean pop singer whose "Gangnam Style" viral video sensation made him an international star, returns to his home country, where crowds are going wild. NBC's Ian Williams reports.

Ai told journalists that the idea to cover the dance craze came from one of the many donors who helped him out last year when Ai was ordered to pay back taxes that the government claimed that he owed. Donations to help pay Ai?s government fine flooded in online and supporters even visited his studio home in Beijing to toss money over the wall to him.

YouTube is banned in China and the video has not appeared on Chinese video sites.

The artist's tongue-in-cheek and at times hilarious -- at one point Ai can be seen swinging a pair of handcuffs around his head -- anti-censorship send-up may have been received with silence by Chinese state press, but it has been picked up by the New York Times,?the Washington Post?and?NPR.

Grass Mud Horse
The Grass Mud Horse, which has its origins in a 2009 collection of hoax entries in a popular Chinese web-based encyclopedia called Baidu Baike, became a popular and irreverent way to poke fun at the heavy-handed censorship of China?s ruling Communist Party.

Special coverage of China: Behind the Wall on NBCNews.com

The fabled Grass Mud Horse soon found itself the inspiration of a slew of cute online animations, stories and web board chatter.? Stuffed animal versions of the alpaca-like animal were soon available online for sale and can still be seen periodically in shops and cafes across China.

Government censors though were left in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to let this pun-based challenge to their power go unchecked or to be seen?censoring a fuzzy cartoon character.

Complete Asia-Pacific coverage on NBCNews.com

In addition to Grass Mud Horse, the term ?River Crab? also became a popular way for internet users in China to challenge censors as it is a homonym for ?harmonious.? The principle of a ?Harmonious Society??has been a signature principle of current Chinese President, Hu Jintao?s ideology.

In China, then, when content runs afoul of censors, users often say it has been ?harmonized.? The term river crab became another way to jokingly get around online censorship in China.

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Source: http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/25/14695035-dissident-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei-goes-gangnam-style?lite

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Pocket brings its 'read it later' service to Mac App Store, keeps its free status

We know Pocket has had a strong presence on iOS, Android and other platforms for quite some time now, but today the service formerly known as Read it Later announced it is now making its way to a bigger Cupertino screen. Naturally, Pocket's new application isn't much different than its mobile versions, meaning it'll offer the same offline access, save-for-later features as it currently does on the mobile front but with a more "native Mac experience" -- of course, this includes the ability to sync across multiple devices, stream videos and share tidbits via those cherished social networks. What's more, Pocket won't be charging a dime for its novel and handy OS X app, though this shouldn't come as a surprise given the outfit's somewhat recently adopted no-cost model -- still, it's a gesture most people will certainly appreciate, and one you Mac folk can start enjoying now by downloading from to the desktop-based App Store.

Continue reading Pocket brings its 'read it later' service to Mac App Store, keeps its free status

Filed under: Internet, Software

Pocket brings its 'read it later' service to Mac App Store, keeps its free status originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/G5tGnsRu4_k/

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CONRIC PR & Marketing Names Angeli Chin As Their New - PRLog

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Angeli Chin, Marketing Director of CONRIC PR & Marketing

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct 23, 2012 -
Connie Ramos-Williams, CEO of CONRIC PR & Marketing, is pleased to announce Angeli Chin as the agency?s new Marketing Director. ?Ms. Chin will be working with clients to set and achieve marketing goals. She will also work directly with the media across the state and country to promote our clients, their companies, services and products.

?At CONRIC PR & Marketing, our goal is to help our clients succeed through branding, targeted marketing and advertising, media promotion, and creative writing and design. With the addition of Ms. Chin to our team, we are confident we can better serve our clients and achieve their desired results,? says Ramos-Williams.

Ms. Chin, originally from New York, has been a resident of Fort Myers for the past 12 years. She has a diverse background in graphic design, interactive media, project management and marketing. She has earned several degrees from New York University, Southwest Florida College, and Strayer University, including Graphic Design, Computer Animation and Multimedia, Marketing and Management. Ms. Chin is currently pursuing her Masters of Science in Education Media Design and Technology at Full Sail University, which utilizes interactive media for presentations, marketing and training.

Ms. Chin is excited to be a part of CONRIC PR & Marketing, and looks forward to being a part of their continued expansion. ?I am extremely pleased and grateful for my position with CONRIC PR & Marketing. ?The environment in which we work is one of a collaborative team effort with many excellent and diverse skills all aimed to provide our customers with the best possible service. ?I look forward to working and building with this incredibly dynamic company.?

About CONRIC PR & Marketing | Publishing? ?
CONRIC PR & Marketing and CONRIC Publishing are divisions of Conric Holdings, LLC, a full service agency serving the Southwest Florida business and professional community. The company, founded by Connie Ramos-Williams in 2007, provides creative writing and design in all areas of marketing, public relations, advertising and publishing. The firm currently serves clients in many different industries including banking, legal, medical, not-for-profit, restaurant, salon & spas. The firm also publishes monthly magazines for the Lee County and Broward County Bar Associations, and a quarterly magazine for Bishop Verot High School. For more information on CONRIC PR & Marketing | Publishing, please call (239) 690-9840 or visit www.conricholdings.com.

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/12006849/1

Source: http://www.prlog.org/12006849-conric-pr-marketing-names-angeli-chin-as-their-new-marketing-director.html

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Has Small Business Marketing Changed Completely?

For growing small businesses, is marketing today completely different? Many say yes. It?s all about social media.

But this is not the whole story. Despite all the effort I put into social media, I still get 80% of my business the ?old fashioned? ways:

? referrals from existing clients

? former clients coming back

? public speaking

? networking at small business venues

? my website

People I meet via LinkedIn and other forums, from ezines, via selling ebooks on Amazon, etc. account for the other 20%. So getting my face out there is still #1 by a long shot.

An example: Last Friday at a birthday party for a friend, I got to talking with a woman whom I learned works for chain of schools for massage therapists. When she heard what I do, she said, ?We should bring you in to teach our soon-to-be-graduates how to run their practice as a ?real business.?? Now I could get more business from this one dinner conversation than from all the social media I?ve ever done.

Also, there are the eternal verities of marketing that are just as true with online marketing. Things like:

? Your branding has to be consistent and appealing

? You have to know what your targets want, what message will appeal to them, where they hang out, and how to reach them there. You must know who is NOT your target, so you don?t waste time on them.

? You must take people through the stages of marketing, not try to ram your product down their throat, build relationships, address their concerns.

? You?ve got to ask for the sale!

? You must give excellent customer service.

etc., etc.

These rules are just as true for Facebook and Twitter as for people walking in through the front door of your brick and mortar.

This doesn?t mean you can ignore social media and web presence. Even people you meet face-to-face immediately check you out on the internet. But you must view your online presence, including social media, as an integrated part of your broader marketing strategy. More on what this looks like next post.

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Tagged as: marketing effectiveness, small business marketing, social media

Source: http://blog.businessownerstoolbox.com/has-small-business-marketing-changed-completely/

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Tablet PCs Have Changed The "Rules" Of Website Design ...

Technology today has meant that everyone who owns a mobile phone or a tablet PC can access the Internet on their devices no matter where they are. No one has to use either a laptop or static computer to get online whether for business purposes or pleasure.

This has meant that many people who want websites built for them have to rethink just how they need to go about it. Web designers have been faced with the new challenge of where the ?fold? should appear on the smaller and larger displays that people use. Many website designers predict the death of the fold and have done so for quite a while now.

This is due to the fact that people who surf the Net no longer need to be on 19? monitors with resolutions of anything between 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 700. Screens today can be as small as those in iPhones or as large as a 60? HDTV. But it is not just the resolution that can be dramatically different as the aspect ratio of screens today can change by the slightest movement.

Whereas in the old days ?above the fold? was the area of a webpage where all the important information would appear and where eye catching imagery as well as the call to action buttons would be placed so that viewers did not have to scroll down the page to glean any information they needed to find, today this no longer applies even though in the past it was a matter of debate.

Today web designers have come to understand that the balance of a page is the all important factor as to how the page works. The fold still has to be adhered to, but the need for viewers to scroll down the page has gained importance in so far as anyone looking at the page discovers more things of interest as they go down it.

The top of the page needs to grab the viewers? attention, but they then need to be encouraged to find out more information by being tempted to scroll down it. The point is that no one can now claim that the ?fold? is in a specific place anymore as there are too many variables which come into play for this to be possible.

Some website designers believe that the first fold should still contain the eye catching information but then there should be a second fold which would have an added bonus for those who are using mobile devices and tablet computers, and that by applying an approximate ratio instead of basing it on fixed pixel measurements, you would indeed be designing a relative effective web page.

People who surf the Internet today scroll down web pages, they have to so the tendency to automatically do this is greatly increased. This offers web designers a lot more scope as to where they place information on the page. The now common day use of tablet PCs has opened the door to a new way of looking at webpage designs and therefore the whole concept of how a website should appear.

Eddie Yu

Since graduating from Leeds University in 1997, Eddie Yu has been involved in various Entrepreneurial activities throughout his career, and eventually having built up a part time business between 2001-2003, he went full time in 2004 with Lady Luck Media. Before then, he has worked for British Aerospace, FNX and Derivatech, where he consulted for top tier banks such as Bank of America, ABM Amro and Bank of China. Eddie firmly believes that with social entrepreneurship and technological advancements we can create a world without offices and impact climate change for the betterment of our planet.

Since graduating from Leeds University in 1997, Eddie Yu has been involved in various Entrepreneurial activities throughout his career, and eventually having built up a part time business between 2001-2003, he went full time in 2004 with Lady Luck Media. Before then, he has worked for British Aerospace, FNX and Derivatech, where he consulted for top tier banks such as Bank of America, ABM Amro and Bank of China. Eddie firmly believes that with social entrepreneurship and technological advancements we can create a world without offices and impact climate change for the betterment of our planet. ...less info

Source: http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/tablet-pcs-have-changed-the-rules-of-website-design/

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Rebel Catholic group expels Holocaust-denying bishop

PARIS (Reuters)- A rebel Catholic traditionalist group has expelled British-born Bishop Richard Williamson who deeply embarrassed the Vatican by denying the Holocaust shortly before he was readmitted to the Church three years ago.

The Swiss-based Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), whose four bishops were excommunicated from 1988 to 2009, said on Wednesday it took the step because Williamson had disobeyed his superiors.

Williamson, 72, an opponent of recent SSPX efforts to win full reintegration into the Church, caused an international uproar with his ultra-hardline views broadcast only days before the Vatican lifted the bans on him and three other bishops.

His presence in the SSPX leadership appeared to be a hurdle to any accord with the Vatican. But negotiations have broken down in any case so his departure may not have an effect on the group's relations with Rome.

The statement said Williamson was excluded for "having distanced himself from the management and the government of the SSPX for several years and refusing to show due respect and obedience to his lawful superiors".

The Vatican declined to comment on the SSPX statement, which said Williamson was excluded by the group on October 4.

The SSPX opposes modernizing reforms decided by the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council. In his bid to end its schism, Pope Benedict has promoted the old Latin Mass the SSPX champions and lifted the excommunication bans on its bishops.

But talks aimed at creating a special status for the group within the Church have broken down because it has refused to accept the Council as legitimate, especially its recognition of other Christian denominations and Judaism as valid faiths.

Williamson's denial of Holocaust gas chambers in a television interview in January 2009, just before the excommunication bans were lifted, sparked a wave of criticism from Catholics and Jews.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Vatican to distance itself from him. The Vatican ordered Williamson to recant his denial but he apologized only for any misunderstanding he had caused.

A German court later fined Williamson for publicly denying the Holocaust took place, which is a crime in Germany.

The Williamson affair was also embarrassing because it showed how isolated the Vatican was in the Internet age.

In an unprecedented letter to Catholic bishops, Benedict admitted he did not know Williamson's far-right wing views despite the fact the bishop had published them on the Internet. The Vatican would use the Internet more in future, he said.

Since that uproar, Williamson had used the Internet to publish commentaries critical of the SSPX's efforts to reach an accord with the Vatican.

(Reporting by Tom Heneghan and Naomi O'Leary; editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rebel-catholic-group-expels-holocaust-denying-bishop-104946260.html

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North Dakota clay could play role in oilpatch, initial results of study show

ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2012) ? Initial results of clay samples from western North Dakota show varying percentages of alumina content, a finding of interest to the North Dakota Geological Survey that commissioned the study. Scientists in a lab at North Dakota State University?s Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), Fargo, are completing analysis of the clay, often referred to as kaolin, which could eventually play a role in proppants used for hydraulic fracturing in North Dakota oil exploration.

As part of a research agreement with the North Dakota Geological Survey (NDGS) in Bismarck, N.D., the Materials Characterization and Analysis Laboratory at NDSU CNSE is completing initial analysis of more than 200 clay samples from Stark and Dunn counties in North Dakota to determine their composition and suitability for use as a component in hydraulic fracturing. ?The alumina was above 20 percent for 66 percent of the Bear Den claystone samples and 38 percent of the Rhame Bed samples,? said Ed Murphy, North Dakota state geologist. ?Roughly one third of the sites sampled averaged above 20 percent alumina for the entire exposed bed thickness.?

A final report of the study conducted at NDSU CNSE is expected in late 2012 or early 2013. ?We generated an alumina map of western North Dakota that companies can use to guide clay exploration if they determine that the alumina content is sufficiently high for their needs,? explained Murphy. ?We will publish a final report with the clay mineralogy when that information is available.? https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/Clay map/GI_158.pdf

Murphy said it was extremely useful to have specialized scientific expertise available in North Dakota to conduct the study. ?CNSE utilizes excellent analytical equipment and employs knowledgeable people with valuable experience. We have had a very good working relationship with the NDSU CNSE. We found them to be very dedicated to their work and generating a product that we could have confidence in.?

The clays show early promise for potential use as a key material known as ceramic proppant, used in the fracking process to help keep fractures open, particularly in the Bakken formation in North Dakota. ?It could potentially lead to the establishment of a ceramic proppant manufacturing plant if these claystones are determined to be suitable for this process. The chemistry and bed thickness that we are providing will answer a number of the initial questions from industry,? explained Murphy. ?If companies deem these results to be promising, they could potentially do additional exploration on their own which might ultimately lead to test manufacturing of ceramic proppant using these clays.?

Currently, proppants used in western North Dakota oil development typically come from other states or other countries. Murphy notes that companies will use approximately five million tons of proppants in North Dakota oil development in 2012. In a recent report, the North Dakota Geological Survey estimates about 1.7 billion tons of economically mineable kaolin in western North Dakota.

Researchers at NDSU CNSE use x-ray fluorescence to determine which elements and how much of those elements the samples contain. CNSE scientists also conduct analysis of clay samples using x-ray diffraction to determine the amount of kaolinite, illite, chlorite and other substances in the samples.

?We frequently partner with agencies and industry on projects,? said Philip Boudjouk, vice president for research at NDSU. ?CNSE provides specialized instrumentation and scientific expertise to a variety of research partners across a spectrum of industries.?

About NDSU CNSE
NDSU?s Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, conducts multidisciplinary research with partners in government, industry, private and university sectors. CNSE?s scientific capabilities include materials characterization and analysis, flexible electronics and materials, electronics miniaturization, wireless sensors, RFID, bioactive materials, combinatorial science, and coatings technologies. www.ndsu.edu/cnse

About North Dakota State University
NDSU, Fargo, North Dakota, USA, is notably listed among the top 108 U.S. public and private universities in the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education?s category of ?Research Universities/Very High Research Activity.? As a student-focused, land grant, research institution, NDSU is listed in the Top 100 research universities in the U.S. for R&D in computer science, chemistry, and physical sciences, social sciences, and agricultural sciences, based on research expenditures reported to the National Science Foundation. www.ndsu.edu/research

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/X0CoHEKTV74/121022192245.htm

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Complaint: NY wedding site banned same-sex couple

Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

Jennie McCarthy, left, and Melisa Erwin, right, sit in an ice cream parlor in Albany, N.Y. on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. The couple has filed a discrimination complaint with the New York Division of Human Rights after they say they were turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay. (AP Photo/Tim Roske)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? Two upstate New York women turned away from a potential wedding site because they are gay have filed a discrimination complaint, setting up a possible precedent-setting fight involving the state's new same-sex marriage law.

The complaint with the state Division of Human Rights appears to be a first involving a wedding venue since same-sex marriage became legal in New York in July 2011, according to advocates on both sides of the issue. One prominent gay marriage opponent said the case could test the breadth of the law's religious freedom language.

Melisa Erwin and Jennie McCarthy, of Albany, filed the complaint Oct. 11 after the nearby Liberty Ridge Farm said it would not host their wedding next summer. McCarthy said when the owners, Robert and Cynthia Gifford, found out they were a same-sex couple, the women were told there was a problem.

The couple is no longer considering the farm as a wedding venue, but McCarthy said, "We just want to know that the policy is being changed to fit the laws so this doesn't happen to anyone else."

The Giffords have objections to gay marriage based on their values and religious background, their spokesman said Monday.

"They still have children at home and they feel that their rights are being violated and they're being discriminated against because of their position on the issue of gay marriage," said Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a group opposed to gay marriage.

New York law exempts some religious-oriented institutions from having to accommodate same-sex weddings.

But Lambda Legal senior counsel Susan Sommer said it's well established that a business that serves the public is in violation of New York's human rights law if it discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

"If it opens its venue for weddings by the general public, it can't then shut its doors on a same-sex couple," Sommer said.

McGuire said lawyers will argue that the religious exemption protects the Giffords, though there also is a broader constitutional issue of religious freedom.

If state officials determine there is a case of discrimination, they can order Liberty Ridge to take appropriate action and can set monetary damages. The division's administrative determination can be appealed to state courts.

There is at least one similar court case in New York. In September, a gay couple in Manhattan filed a lawsuit against a restaurant they allege canceled their wedding rehearsal dinner and refused to cater their wedding after a manager said he did not want any "gay parties." The restaurant disputes the claim.

In August, a Vermont inn agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to that state's Human Rights Commission and to place $20,000 in a charitable trust to settle a lawsuit that accused the business of refusing to host a wedding reception for two women.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-22-Lesbian%20Wedding%20Denied/id-0a11bad87b5b45768013853632ab86c5

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A Mississippi river diversion helped build Louisiana wetlands, Penn geologists find

A Mississippi river diversion helped build Louisiana wetlands, Penn geologists find

Monday, October 22, 2012

The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. By holding in floodwaters, they prevent sediment from flowing into the watershed and rebuilding marshes, which are compacting under their own weight and losing ground to sea-level rise.

Reporting in Nature Geoscience, a team of University of Pennsylvania geologists and others used the Mississippi River flood of the spring of 2011 to observe how floodwaters deposited sediment in the Mississippi Delta. Their findings offer insight into how new diversions in the Mississippi River's levees may help restore Louisiana's wetlands.

While scientists and engineers have previously proposed ways of altering the levee system to restore some of the natural wetland-building ability of the Mississippi, this is among the only large-scale experiments to demonstrate how these modifications might function.

The study was headed by Douglas Jerolmack, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Penn, and Federico Falcini, who at the time was a postdoctoral researcher in Jerolmack's lab and is now at the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in Rome. Benjamin Horton, an associate professor in the Earth and Environmental Science Department; Nicole Khan, a doctoral student in Horton's lab; and Alessandro Salusti, a visiting undergraduate researcher also contributed to the work. The Penn researchers worked with Rosalia Santoleri, Simone Colella and Gianluca Volpe of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Leonardo Macelloni, Carol B. Lutken and Marco D'Emidio of the University of Mississippi; Karen L. McKee of the U.S. Geological Survey; and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University.

The 2011 floods broke records across several states, damaged homes and crops and took several lives. The destruction was reduced, however, because the Army Corps of Engineers opened the Morganza Spillway, a river-control structure, for the first time since 1973 to divert water off of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya River Basin. This action involved the deliberate flooding of more than 12,000 square kilometers and alleviated pressures on downstream levees and spared Baton Rouge and New Orleans from the worst of the flood.

For the Penn researchers, the opening of the Morganza Spillway provided a rare look into how floods along the Mississippi may have occurred before engineered structures were put in place to control the river's flow.

"While this was catastrophic to the people living in the Atchafalaya Basin, it was also simulating ? accidentally ? the sort of natural flood that used to happen all the time," Jerolmack said. "We were interested in how this sort of natural flooding scenario would differ from the controlled floods contained within levees that we normally see in the Delta."

To capitalize on this opportunity, the team began examining satellite images showing the plume of sediment-laden water emerging from the mouths of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers. They calculated the amount of sediment in the plumes for the duration of the flood based on the ocean color in the satellite images and calibrated these data to field samples taken from a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Their boat sampling also allowed them to gather data on the speed of the plume and the extent to which river water mixed with ocean water.

From the satellite images, researchers observed that the Mississippi River unleashed a jet of water into the ocean. In contrast, the waters diverted into the Atchafalaya Basin spread out over 100 kilometers of coastline, the sediment lingering in a wide swampy area.

"You have this intentionally flooded Atchafalaya Basin and when those flood waters hit the coast they were trapped there for a month, where tides and waves could bring them back on shore," Jerolmack said. "Whereas in the Mississippi channel, where all the waters were totally leveed, you could see from satellite images this sort of fire hose of water that pushed the sediment from the river far off shore."

The researchers used a helicopter to travel to 45 sites across the two basins, where they sampled sediment cores. They observed that sediment deposited to a greater extent in the Atchafalaya Basin than in any area of the Mississippi Basin wetlands, even though the Mississippi River plume contained more total sediment.

The recently deposited sediments lacked plant roots and were different in color and consistency from the older sediments. Laboratory analyses of diatoms, or photosynthetic algae, also revealed another signature of newly deposited sediments: They contained a higher proportion of round diatoms to rod-shaped diatoms than did deeper layers of sediment.

"This diatom ratio can now serve as an indicator for freshwater floods," Horton said. "With longer sediment cores and analyses of the diatoms, we may be able to work out how many floods have occurred, how much sediment they deposited and what their recurrence intervals were."

Taken together, the researchers' findings offer a large-scale demonstration of how flooding over the Atchafalaya's wide basin built up sediment in wetland areas, compared to the more-focused plume of water from the Mississippi River. Jerolmack says this "natural experiment" provides a convincing and reliable way of gathering data and information about how changes in the Mississippi's levees and control structures could help restore marsh in other areas of the Delta.

"One of the things that we found here is that the Atchafalaya, which is this wide, slow plume, actually produced a lot of sedimentation over a broad area," Jerolmack said. "We think that what the Atchafalaya is showing us on a field scale is that this is the sort of diversion that you would need in order to create effective sedimentation and marsh building."

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University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124662/A_Mississippi_river_diversion_helped_build_Louisiana_wetlands__Penn_geologists_find

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Ratings Success? It's All In The (ABC) Family - WNYC

In a sterile white boardroom in ABC Family's headquarters in Los Angeles, two young women are assiduously ignoring a spread of cookies in favor of two more important things: their laptops and a live broadcast of the show Pretty Little Liars playing on a large flatscreen TV.

Twenty-eight-year-old Dalia Ganz is the show's social-media manager. She's patiently teaching one of the beautiful young actors on the show how to live-tweet this episode.

"Include #prettylittleliars in your answers," she instructs. That is a literal transcription of her words.

Over the next hour, Ganz will post pictures of actor Gregg Sulkin handsomely tweeting away on the show's Facebook page (where it will almost instantly receive hundreds of thousands of likes). She will tweet relentlessly and toss virtual goodies to fans. And she will obsessively monitor the show's popularity online. Pretty Little Liars is one of the most popular TV shows on Twitter, dominating trending topics and generating hundreds of thousands of tweets during the broadcast of every episode.

ABC Family's savvy social-media practices have contributed to its impressive ratings. Over the summer, the network was number one in prime time for females aged 12-34. Pretty Little Liars was TV's top series for the same demographic.

Focusing on that group of girls and young women makes all the sense in the world to ABC's head of research, Charles Kennedy.

"They're huge," he says of the generation known as millennials. "They're going to redefine brands the way baby boomers did."

Danielle Mullin, a marketing executive for the network, says one important element of its strategy is the social media team's cheeky, constant online presence.

"We act like a friend to our fans," she says. "And friends don't only talk to you between nine and five. And friends don't use a corporate tone of voice when they talk to you. So they actually do think they're speaking to their friend. And that's really an incredible opportunity for marketers."

'Family' Turns Out Not To Be Such A Bad Word

Technology has always meant intimacy to this generation, so social media and texting are key to ABC Family shows, in terms of both storylines and audience engagement. Diana Gal, 22, is a fan of Pretty Little Liars partly because she enjoys the social-media aspect. And she's noticed the network cannily taps into pre-existing fan bases.

Pretty Little Liars is a little like the CW's Gossip Girl. And MTV's reality show 16 and Pregnant was popular before ABC Family launched its breakthrough hit The Secret Life Of An American Teenager, about a girl who gets pregnant at 15.

"So I think they're building off of things they already know will work," Gal observes. "And they've done a good job of it."

The network's slightly edgy scripted shows filled the gap left by the WB network. ABC Family has gone through a few reinventions over the years. It started 20 years ago as The Family Channel. It was owned by the Christian Broadcasting network. It was sold to Fox, then Disney, which also owns ABC ? with the proviso that the word "family" had to remain in the name.

Kate Juergens now runs the network's programming and development. She says at the beginning, executives feared the word "family" would alienate teen viewers.

"When we first came in the door, it was thought, 'Oh my god, it's such a burden,'" she recalls.

But research proved that the word"family" is no longer necessarily uncool for 15-to-30-year-olds today. They're more connected with their parents than previous generations. Indeed, they often still live with them.

"A unique aspect about the millennials is an incredible closeness they have with their parents," says research head Charles Kennedy.

So ABC Family took a risk. Rather than playing down the family label, it decided to make families central to its brand. What families are, the choices they make, how people fit in or not.

And parents are powerful characters in every ABC Family show, including Switched at Birth, a show that explores all kinds of dynamics through a domestic prism.

"Our family on our show is Latina, deaf, two [economic] classes mixed ? and that's very millennial, right?" observes creator Lizzy Weiss.

Her lead characters are two teenaged girls who were literally switched at birth in the hospital. One is deaf, and Switched at Birth includes extended sequences subtitled while characters use American Sign Language. Programming executive Kate Juergens says she never saw this as a problem. After all, she points out, reality shows subtitle English speakers all the time. It just seemed like an exciting new way to tell a story.

It did feel risky to creator Lizzy Weiss.

"I felt it was really ballsy, actually," she exclaims. "And that's when I thought, wow. I am so excited to be at this network actually taking chances together."

Betting The Future On 'Bunheads' And Its Fans

Chances like Bunheads, a show on a channel for teenagers about the fractious relationship between a 40-year-old woman and a 60-year-old woman. But Juergens insists Bunheads was not a risk either.

"It was my team's favorite script last year coming out of our development process," she says, noting that it was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who created the much-loved Gilmore Girls for the WB. "And we thought, well, we all love it, and we have to make it. And we tested it with our millennial audience, and they all responded to it."

Juergens hoped Bunheads would broaden ABC Family's audience ? and it has pulled in older female viewers. But ABC Family is still banking on younger women. Research shows that more millennial women will graduate from college than young men. They're going to be leaders, decision-makers. And it's possible the most coveted audience, 18- to-35-year-old men, will cede that spot to 18- to-35-year-old women.

Whose favorite shows, as it may happen, are on ABC Family.

Source: http://www.wnyc.org/npr_articles/2012/oct/22/ratings-success-its-all-in-the-abc-family/

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10 Common Credit Myths That Could Be ... - Baron Financial Group

10 Common Credit Myths That Could Be Costing You Money

By Erik Carter | Forbes ? Mon, Oct 15, 2012 11:52 AM EDT..

Managing credit is one of the most common subjects that I?ve been getting asked about lately. Perhaps it?s because so many had their credit scores damaged during the recession and are now trying to improve them in order to qualify for the record low mortgage rates we?ve been seeing. In addition, employers have increasingly been using credit scores to evaluate applicants and especially in this job market, every little factor really counts. So regardless of your motivation to increase your credit score, here are some of the most common credit myths I?ve heard that could be hurting your score:

1) I haven?t done anything wrong so my credit is fine. Even if you?ve done everything right, your credit could still be in trouble. That?s because 70% of credit reports have errors on them. In the likelihood that you have one of them, you could be paying more in interest than you need to be.

2) If I check my credit report, it will hurt my score. Checking your own report generally doesn?t hurt your score but errors do so don?t let this be an excuse not to do it.

3) I?ve checked my credit report and there are no errors so I don?t have anything to worry about. You actually have 3 credit reports (from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) so if you?ve only checked one, there?s still a chance that errors on one of the others is hurting you.

4) I can check my credit reports for free at freecreditreport.com. First, many sites like this only give you access to one report, which is from Experian in this case. Second, freecreditreport.com ironically isn?t exactly free. It?s one of many copycat sites that charges you a fee to see your credit report and then charges you a monthly fee unless you cancel within a short period of time. Instead, you?ll want to go to annualcreditreport.com, which allows you truly free access to each of your credit reports once every 12 months.

5) I should always make payments on old debts. While it may feel like the right thing to do, the debt collector will be unable to sue you for it if the debt is older than your state?s statute of limitations. However, if you make a payment, it could actually reactivate that time period and give the creditor a chance to file a lawsuit against you. If it?s older than 7 years, it shouldn?t even be on your credit report at all so have it removed and forget about it.

6) I should use a debt settlement company. The first thing debt settlement companies usually do is collect your payments and withhold them from the creditor in order to settle the debt for a lower lump sum payment later. The problem is that until the debt is settled, this strategy could result in a lower credit score, harassing phone calls from creditors, and even a lawsuit against you. If you have debt within your state?s statute of limitations but you can?t afford to pay it back in full, you could avoid the debt management company?s fees by trying to reach a settlement yourself. Just be sure to let them know that you?re considering filing for bankruptcy protection. Another option is to work with a nonprofit credit counselor that can negotiate on your behalf.

7) I should always close a credit card after paying it off. This can actually hurt your credit score in a couple of ways. If it?s a card you?ve had for a while, closing it can reduce your credit history, which is about 15% of your score. Second, if you have any debt, closing a card can increase your debt utilization or the ratio of debt to credit available. Keep in mind that you can always cut up the card and simply not use it.

However, there are also a couple of reasons to close a credit card account. One is a steep annual fee but you can always ask them to switch the card to a no-fee one. In addition, closing a card can help your score if you have too much credit available. To see if this is the case for you, you can see the effect of closing a card and other actions on your score at sites like Credit Karma, Quizzle, and Credit Sesame.

8) Bankruptcy is the end of the world. Yes, it?s painful and can take 7-10 years to be removed from your credit report but many people?s credit scores are practically recovered within just a few years. If you can?t pay your debts, think of bankruptcy as a second chance that?s better than allowing the debt to continue hurting your score.

9) Maintaining a balance on my credit cards will increase my credit score. Opening and using a credit card can increase your score, especially if you?re starting to build or rebuild your credit, but keeping a balance will only increase your interest payments. If anything, the opposite is true since having a lot of debt can hurt your score.

10) I need to pay a company like LifeLock to protect my credit. You can get free daily credit monitoring through Credit Karma. Even better, you can put a security freeze with each credit bureau for at most a nominal fee to help prevent identity thieves from opening an account in your name.

Source: http://www.baronfinancialgroup.net/10-common-credit-myths-that-could-be-costing-you-money/

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