Thursday, February 28, 2013

Three overstretched DNA structures confirmed

Feb. 28, 2013 ? A novel discovery brings a close to a 17-year-old scientific debate about the impact of mechanical stretching on the structure of DNA.

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Yan Jie from the Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science has identified three new distinct overstretched deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) structures caused by mechanical stretching. This discovery provides a clear answer to a long-running debate among scientists over the nature of DNA overstretching.

Debate on Possible DNA Structural Transitions

Recent single-molecule studies revealed that mechanical stretching could induce transitions to elongated DNA structures. Three possible elongated DNA structures have been proposed, namely: a single-stranded DNA under tension, DNA bubbles consisting two parallel, separated single-stranded DNA under tension, and a new form of base-paired double-stranded DNA. The existence of the three transitions has been heavily discussed among scientists for some 17 years.

To fully understand the nature of DNA overstretching, the team led by Assoc Prof Yan, which comprises members from NUS, the University of Minnesota and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explored the possible structural transitions.

Three Distinct Transitions Revealed

In their recent study, the researchers systematically investigated the three possible transitions induced by mechanical stretching, with methods to control DNA construct, temperature, force and salt concentration. Their data successfully identified all the three proposed structures and fully characterised their respective thermo-mechanical properties. These findings were first published on the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 19 February 2013. These findings complete the picture about the structures of DNA under tension, providing a conclusion to the 17-year-old debate.

Biological Implications and Potential Applications

As forces over a wide range are present in the DNA of cells, the researchers' findings provide new perspectives of possible force-dependent regulations of critical biological processes, such as DNA damage repair and gene transcriptions.

In addition, as many recently developed DNA devices are based on thermo-mechanical properties of various DNA structural motifs, these findings may also have potential applications in designing new DNA devices for the future.

The Next Step

To further their research, Assoc Prof Yan and his team will study the physiological functions of the three overstretched DNA structures, and investigate the presence of any new DNA structures under other mechanical constraints.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/UdUdRvs5FAo/130228080240.htm

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A 1:30 a.m. line... for Van Gogh

The works of Vincent Van Gogh are still a vibrant part of pop culture more than a hundred years after his death.

By Donna Bryson,?Contributor / February 27, 2013

"Lust for Life," a novelized version of Vincent van Gogh's life by Irving Stone written in 1934, was the basis of a 1956 movie starring Kirk Douglas. Tim Roth took on the artist role in Robert Altman's 1990 film "Vincent & Theo." Van Gogh was even the subject of a hit folk song in the 1970s, "Vincent," by Don McLean.

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Van Gogh, an inventive, dedicated, and struggling painter in his lifetime, continues to be a pop culture phenomenon 123 years after his death. That much was clear recently at the Denver Art Museum, which kept a Van Gogh exhibition open for 40 hours straight during the last two days of the show to accommodate visitors.

Louis van Tilborgh, a senior researcher at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, says one source of the artist's enduring and broad appeal is simply his paintings, which continue to delight viewers with their bright colors, familiar landscapes, and thickly applied paint. Mr. Van Tilborgh says Van Gogh also connects across the generations through the lively and perceptive letters he wrote to his younger brother Theo, and others. Van Gogh's determination to achieve something in his life and his art despite his personal struggles resonates with many, he adds. "He tried so hard," Van Tilborgh says.

At 1:30 a.m. on a Sunday during the Denver Art Museum's last weekend of "Becoming Van Gogh," the downtown streets were dark and quiet. But inside, early morning could have been early afternoon as a steady flow of visitors drank in the visions of Van Gogh's swirls. The three-month show, which examined the artist's evolution and influences through more than 70 paintings and drawings, had been sold out nearly every day of its run.

For art teacher Andrea Crane, it was her third visit. This time she had brought her husband, Dave, a personal chef. Mr. Crane said he learned something of Van Gogh's fierce will, and was glad he had made the early morning visit, even though his own job starts at the crack of dawn.

Attendance was so steady during the 40-hour stretch that staff had trouble keeping the hand-held audio guide devices charged. Beyond the artist's prolific but short career ? he produced more than 2,100 artworks, including 37 self-portraits over two decades ? Van Gogh himself is as fascinating as the canvases he painted. Was he really crazy? Did he cut off his own ear? Was his death a suicide? Scholars are still exploring the answers.

Timothy Standring, the curator behind the Denver show, allows only that Van Gogh had a "restless life" and that a study of it makes for "a compelling story."

A story, it appears, that is as endlessly enchanting as a starry sky on a dark night.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/s1sq-CcUsGY/A-1-30-a.m.-line-for-Van-Gogh

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FortiVoice Phone Systems Improve Enterprise Communication ...

By Steven P. Garrison

The FortiVoice phone systems of today have evolved to send them soaring before their competition. Some phone systems function along with the digital PBX systems to provide better services to businesses. Common-sense will tell you it is always advisable to do web research to find the best phone system for your business communication needs. One of the greatest things business phone systems provide is freedom for your workers to go anywhere with no need to miss a business call.

FortiVoice phone systems along with other business phone systems come with a remote telephone unit connected to the office phone system. This permits upgrades and growth if necessary, customization of music on hold, voicemail notifications and plenty of other features that are proved beneficial to the business and its users.

Using FortiVoice phone systems could help you to save plenty of money compared to using other phone systems. Your phone bill might be lowered up to fifty percent! Except for this, the packages are designed so that the company that purchases this telephone system no longer wishes aid from an IT expert just to set up everything. Due to its simpleness, smaller enterprises are given the opportunity to have a classy communication system just like the big firms have.

Even smaller firms need to be outfitted with the newest technology, not only in communication services but with other business wants. The applying of the FortiVoice phone systems would help in making a business grow and become competitive in today's world. It increases productivity, improves shopper service and reinforces employee relations.

There are some suppliers who custom configure the FortiVoice phone systems before it is sent to the buyer. This would make it easy for the business to install the whole system and start using it. Communication with the employees and the buyers is critical in every business. A good communication system would make all of the difference.



About the Author:


We sell, install and provide support for FortiVoice, including the FortiVoice FVC-40 Phone Systems, FortiVoice FortiFone FON-350i Phones and FortiVoice Console Accessories. We offer free shipping and have a 30 Day Return Policy on systems.

Source: http://onlinescommunication.blogspot.com/2013/02/fortivoice-phone-systems-improve.html

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Part 7: Directions for a typical personal injury client: Rockford ...

IN GENERAL:

? Provide your attorney with the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any neighbors, friends, fellow employees, or relatives who know of your activities both before and after the accident.

? Notify your attorney immediately if you hear of anything that may affect your case, and contact your attorney immediately in the event of any new developments.

? Notify your attorney at once of any change of address or phone number.

? If you are moving or going out of town for a long period of time, please advise your attorney on how to reach you.

Rockford Personal Injury Attorney
J. Hansen Law Firm
320 Shaw Street
Rockford, IL 61104
Toll Free: (877) 205-6625
Phone: (312) 878-6410
Fax: (312) 878-6410
Email: info@jhansenfirm.com
Web: http://www.jhansenfirm.com
Blog: jhansenlawfirm.wordpress.com
Twitter: @JHansenLawFirm

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Source: http://jhansenlawfirm.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/part-7-directions-for-a-typical-personal-injury-client-rockford-personal-injury-attorney-www-jhansenfirm-com/

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What is a Health Insurance Navigator?

What is a Health Insurance Navigator?

The Affordable Care Act requires state health insurance marketplaces to establish a ?navigator? program (Section 1311(i)) that will help individuals who are eligible to purchase coverage through a health insurance marketplace learn about their new coverage options and enroll. States can award grants to entities that will provide these services. This articles explains how navigators are different from brokers and agents.health insurance navigator

What is a health insurance navigator?

Under current law, navigators have the following five duties:

  1. To conduct public education about the availability of qualified health plans.?

  2. To distribute fair, impartial information about enrollment in qualified plans and about the availability of premium tax credits and cost-sharing assistance in the exchange.

  3. To facilitate enrollment in qualified plans.

  4. To refer people who need help resolving a problem with their health plan or with their premium assistance to a consumer assistance or ombudsman program or to another appropriate agency that can help with a grievance or appeal.

  5. To provide information in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner to the population being served by an exchange.

Who can become a health insurance navigator?

The law lists a number of different kinds of entities that could become navigators, including:

  • community- and consumer-focused nonprofits;?

  • trade, industry, and professional associations;?

  • commercial fishing, ranching, and farming organizations;?

  • chambers of commerce;?

  • unions;?

  • Small Business Administration resource partners;?

  • licensed insurance agents and brokers; and?

  • other entities.

To be eligible to receive navigator grants, an entity must meet the following criteria:

1. Relationships

The entity must already have relationships, or be readily able to establish relationships, with one or more of the following that qualify to enroll in exchange plans:

    • employers and employees;

    • consumers, including uninsured and underinsured consumers; and

    • self-employed individuals.

    2. Capabilities

    The entity must be capable of performing the duties of a navigator, described above.

    3.?Meet standards established by the Secretary of HHS

    These standards will ensure that navigators are qualified and ?licensed if appropriate? and that they avoid conflicts of interest. The law requires that navigators cannot be health insurers. Nor can they receive direct or indirect compensation from an insurer in connection with enrollment of any exchange-eligible individuals or employers in a qualified health plan.

    4. Deliver fair and impartial information

    The Secretary and states will develop standards to ensure that navigators deliver fair, impartial, and accurate information.

    Can a health insurance agent or broker be a navigator?

    Yes. According to ACA Section 1312(e), the Secretary will establish procedures under which states may allow agents or brokers to:

    1. Enroll individuals and small employers in qualified health plans, and?

    2. Assist individuals in applying for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions in exchanges.

    Insurers are not prohibited from paying agents and brokers for their services. While the yet-to-be-issued procedures will clarify how this will work, it appears that agents and brokers can be paid by insurers for enrollments (as they are now) or can be paid a fee by the exchange, but when they are paid by insurers, they cannot simultaneously get grants to act as navigators.

    Note: This should not be taken as legal or tax advice.

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    Source: http://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/bid/271638/What-is-a-Health-Insurance-Navigator

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    Dennis Tito to announce private mission to Mars

    Space tourist millionaire Dennis Tito, who in 2001 paid $20 million to visit the International Space Station, is planning a privately funded trip to the Red Planet.

    By Clara Moskowitz,?SPACE.com / February 27, 2013

    Dennis Tito became the first space tourist when he launched toward the International Space Station in April 2001. Here, he shares his experiences at a space conference in 2003.

    NASA Kennedy Space Center

    Enlarge

    A millionaire space tourist plans to make a major announcement today (Feb. 27) about launching a trip to Mars in 2018.

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    American businessman?Dennis Tito?paid about $20 million to visit the International Space Station in 2001 aboard a Russian spacecraft. Now, Tito is launching a new nonprofit organization called the Inspiration Mars Foundation to plan another private trip to space.

    Details about the?private Mars voyage, including whether it will be manned or robotic, are set to be revealed during a press conference today at Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club. Speakers at the 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) event will include Tito, as well as longtime space journalist Miles O?Brien, former NASA flight surgeon Jonathan Clark, a professor of space medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Taber MacCallum, chief executive officer and chief technology officer of Paragon Space Development Corporation, and Jane Poynter, Paragon's president and chairwoman.

    The Inspiration Mars Foundation plans to mount a mission to "take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days," project officials wrote in a media advisory.

    "This 'Mission for America' will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation," they added.

    Tito, an engineer who once worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., founded the investment firm Wilshire Associates, which eventually made him a millionaire. [Photos: The First Space Tourists]

    Tito's eight-day trek to space in 2001 made him the first-ever space tourist. Since his trip, six others have followed in his footsteps, paying between $20 million and $35 million through the American firm Space Adventures, which brokers deals with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

    No private company has yet launched people to space on commercially built vehicles, though numerous firms, such as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are working toward that goal.

    NASA itself is also pursuing the goal of?sending humans to Mars. The space agency is developing a new capsule called Orion, and a new heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and to new destinations in the solar system, including asteroids and the Red Planet.

    To watch Tito's announcement live at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), visit:?http://www.inspirationmars.org/.

    Follow Clara Moskowitz on Twitter?@ClaraMoskowitz?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also onFacebook?&?Google+.?

    Copyright 2013?SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/NyL7S9vzHxk/Dennis-Tito-to-announce-private-mission-to-Mars

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    Wednesday, February 27, 2013

    Balloon crash in Egypt's Luxor kills 19 tourists

    Rescue workers remove a body from the scene of a balloon crash outside al-Dhabaa village, just west of the city of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor, Saad told reporters. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama)

    Rescue workers remove a body from the scene of a balloon crash outside al-Dhabaa village, just west of the city of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor, Saad told reporters. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama)

    Egyptians gather at the site of a balloon crash where the remains of the burned gondola are seen, outside al-Dhabaa village, just west of the city of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor, Saad told reporters. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama)

    Map locates Luxor, Egypt, where a hot air balloon crash killed foreign tourists

    Egyptian rescue workers carry the dead bodies of foreign tourists, near the scene of a balloon crash outside al-Dhabaa village, just west of the city of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor Ezzat Saad told reporters. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Zayed)

    Rescue workers remove a body from the scene of a balloon crash outside al-Dhabaa village, just west of the city of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said. The casualties included French, British, Belgian, Hungarian, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, Luxor Governor, Saad told reporters. (AP Photo/Hagag Salama)

    (AP) ? A hot air balloon carrying tourists over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire Tuesday, and some passengers trying to escape the flames leaped to their deaths before the craft crashed in a sugar cane field. At least 19 tourists were killed in one of the world's deadliest ballooning accidents.

    The accident was a new blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which has been gutted by the country's turmoil the past two years. The southern city of Luxor, site of some of the most dramatic pharaonic temples, has been particularly hard hit, with empty hotels worsening the area's poverty.

    After the early morning crash, authorities suspended hot air balloon flights, a popular tourist attraction here, while investigators worked to determine the cause. The crash raised accusations that authorities have let safety standards fall amid the political instability since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak ? though the civil aviation chief insisted his ministry keeps stringent inspections of balloons.

    The balloon was carrying 20 tourists ? from France, Britain, Belgium, Hungary, Japan and Hong Kong ? and an Egyptian pilot on a sunrise flight over Luxor, officials said.

    According to initial indications, it was in the process of landing after 7 a.m. when a landing cable got caught around a helium tube and a fire erupted, according to an investigator with the state prosecutor's office.

    The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said. The fire set off an explosion of a gas canister and the balloon plunged some 300 meters (1,000 feet) to the ground, according to an Egyptian security official. It crashed in a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 510 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo, the official said.

    The official and the investigator spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

    "I saw tourists catching fire and they were jumping from the balloon. They were trying to flee the fire but it was on their bodies," said Hassan Abdel-Rasoul, a farmer in al-Dhabaa. He said one of those he saw on fire was a visibly pregnant woman.

    Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon, as rescue officials collected the remains in body bags.

    The crash immediately killed 18, according to Luxor's governor, Ezzat Saad. Two Britons and the Egyptian pilot were taken to the hospital, but one of the Britons died of his injuries soon after. The other Briton and the Egyptian, who state media said suffered severe burns, were flown to Cairo for further treatment.

    Among the dead were nine tourists from Hong Kong, four Japanese ? including a couple in their 60s ? and two other Britons, according to Egyptian officials or tourism authorities from the home countries.

    Hot air ballooning is a popular pastime for tourists in Luxor, usually at sunrise to give a dramatic view over the pharaonic temples of Karnak and Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, a desert valley where many pharaohs, notably King Tutankhamun, were buried.

    Luxor has seen crashes in the past. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.

    The toll puts the crash among the deadliest involving a recreational hot air balloon. In 1989, 13 people were killed when their hot air balloon collided with another over the Australian outback near the town of Alice Springs.

    After the 2009 accident, Egypt suspended hot air balloon flights for several months and tightened safety standards. Pilots were given more training and a landing spot was designated for the balloons.

    But Tuesday's crash raised accusations that standards had fallen, and many in Luxor were afraid it would only further damage tourism in a city that relies on foreign visitors.

    "Tourism is dying here already and the tourists killed in the balloon will make things worse," said Mohammed Osman, head of the Luxor's Tourism Chamber. He blamed civil aviation authorities, who are in charge of licensing and inspecting balloons, accusing them of negligence

    "There is no oversight, and no one is checking anything. I don't want to blame the revolution for everything but the laxness started with the revolution," he said. "These people are not doing their job, they are not checking the balloons and they just issue the licenses without inspection."

    Civil Aviation Minister Wael el-Maadawi, who flew to Luxor to oversee the investigation, said the balloon that crashed had been inspected earlier this month as a requirement for renewing the company's license. Speaking to Al-Jazeera Mubasher television, he said safety standards were "normally high" and that there must have been extreme circumstances that led to the crash.

    "This is a painful accident," he said. "It is premature to say whether it is maintenance or a human error until the investigation is over, whether the tube was unhooked because of a maintenance error or because it was pulled, someone stepped on it and pulled it."

    The Civil Aviation Ministry, like much of Egypt's administration, has seen some political disputes since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected leader.

    The ministry was long dominated by military officers or former officers, some of whom have resented control by a civilian president, particularly one who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood. In other ministries, observers say Brotherhood members have been appointed, or included as volunteers, in many posts.

    One civil aviation ministry official told The Associated Press that standards have fallen since civilians were brought in to some middle-ranking positions. The official said inspections have become more lax, taking place oncee a month instead of weekly. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak on the issue.

    Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 2011 uprising and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day. Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.

    Scared off by the turmoil and tenuous security following the uprising, the number of tourists coming to Egypt fell to 9.8 million in 2011 from 14.7 million the year before, and revenues plunged 30 percent to $8.8 billion.

    Poverty swelled at the country's fastest rate in Luxor. In 2011, 39 percent of its population lived on less than $1 a day, compared to 18 percent in 2009, according to government figures.

    Magda Fawzi, whose company operates four luxury Nile River cruise boats to Luxor, said she expects the accident will lead to tourist cancellations. Tour guide Hadi Salama said he expects Tuesday's accident to hurt the eight hot air balloon companies operating in Luxor, but that it may not directly affect tourism to the Nile Valley city.

    In August, Morsi flew to Luxor to encourage tourism there, about a month after he took office and vowed that Egypt was safe for tourists.

    "Egypt is safer than before, and is open for all," he said in remarks carried by the official MENA news agency at the time. He was referring to the security situation following the 2011 ouster of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

    Deadly accidents caused by poor management and a decrepit infrastructure have taken place since Morsi took office. In January, 19 Egyptian conscripts died when their rickety train jumped the track. In November, 49 kindergarteners were killed when their school bus crashed into a speeding train because the railway guard failed to close the crossing.

    The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political force and Morsi's base of support, blames accidents on a culture of negligence fostered by Mubarak, under whose rule the country saw a number of devastating accidents.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong, Jill Lawless in London and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-26-Egypt-Balloon%20Accident/id-8834bb5376c1487282327e3ea3544bcf

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    SPIN METER: In budget fight, sky is falling again

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and his officials are doing their best to drum up public concern over the shock wave of spending cuts that could strike the government in just days. So it's a good time to be alert for sky-is-falling hype.

    Over the last week or so, administration officials have come forward with a grim compendium of jobs to be lost, services to be denied or delayed, military defenses to be let down and important operations to be disrupted. Obama's new chief of staff, Denis McDonough, spoke of a "devastating list of horribles."

    For most Americans, though, it's far from certain they will have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day if the budget-shredder known as the sequester comes to pass. Maybe they will, if the impasse drags on for months.

    For now, there's a whiff of the familiar in all the foreboding, harking back to the mid-1990s partial government shutdown, when officials said old people would go hungry, illegal immigrants would have the run of the of the land and veterans would go without drugs. It didn't happen.

    For this episode, provisions are in place to preserve the most crucial services ? and benefit checks. Furloughs of federal workers are at least a month away, breathing room for a political settlement if the will to achieve one is found. Many government contractors would continue to be paid with money previously approved.

    Warnings of thousands of teacher layoffs, for example, are made with the presumption that local communities would not step in with their own dollars ? perhaps from higher taxes ? to keep teachers in the classrooms if federal money is not soon restored. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says teacher layoffs have already begun, but he has not backed up that claim and school administrators say no pink slips are expected before May, for the next school year.

    To be sure, the cuts are big and will have consequences. Knowing what they will be, though, is far from a precise exercise.

    And there is a lot of improbable precision in administration statements about what could happen: more than 373,000 seriously ill people losing mental health services, 600,000 low-income pregnant women and new mothers losing food aid and nutrition education, 1,200 fewer inspections of dangerous work sites, 125,000 poor households going without vouchers, and much more.

    "These numbers are just numbers thrown out into the thin air with no anchor, and I think they don't provoke the outrage or concern that the Obama administration seeks," said Paul Light, a New York University professor who specializes in the federal bureaucracy and budget. For all the dire warnings, he said, "It's not clear who gets hurt by this."

    The estimates in many cases come from a simple calculation: Divide the proscribed spending cut by a program's per-person spending to see how many beneficiaries may lose services or benefits under the sequester.

    But in practice, through all the layers of bureaucracy and the everyday smoke and mirrors of the federal budget, there is rarely a direct and measurable correlation between a federal dollar and its effect on the ground.

    That has meant a lot of tenuous "could happen" warnings by the administration, not so much "will happen" evidence.

    So it was in Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' letter to Congress laying out likely consequences of the spending cuts for her agency's operations. She said the sequester "could" compromise the well-being of more than 373,000 people who "potentially" would not get needed mental health services, which in turn "could result" in more hospitalizations and homelessness.

    Duncan left himself less wiggle room. "This stuff is real," he said last week. "Schools are already starting to give teachers notices."

    Asked to provide backup for Duncan's assertion, spokesman Daren Briscoe said it was based on "an unspecified call he was on with unnamed persons," and the secretary might not be comfortable sharing details.

    Briscoe referred queries about layoffs to the American Association of School Administrators. Noelle M. Ellerson, an assistant director of the organization, said Monday that in her many discussions with superintendents at the group's just-completed annual meeting, she heard of no layoffs of teachers. While everyone is bracing for that possibility down the road, she said, "not a single one I spoke with had already issued pink slips."

    Most school district budgets for the next school year won't be completed for two months, she said, meaning any layoff notices would come in early to mid-May. "No one had yet acted."

    School districts in areas set aside for tribal lands or military bases count on Washington for a significant share of their budgets, and are to lose $60 million, or 5 percent of their federal payments, when the sequester starts. Nearly all money to run most of the nation's public schools comes from local sources such as property taxes that are not affected by the federal cuts.

    As for the assertion that 600,000 women could be dropped from the Women, Infants and Children Program, that's not to say the rolls would be cut by that number. The actual number is likely to include women who are not enrolled in the program now and could be denied when seeking to join it. Federal officials say the true number will depend on how states can manage their caseloads.

    Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has warned of impending furloughs of air traffic controllers, who may need to take one day off every two weeks, and said air-travel delays are likely across the country. Asked Friday why the airline lobby predicted no major impact on air travel from the sequester, he said, "I don't think they have the information we're presenting to them today."

    "The idea that we're just doing this to create some kind of a horrific scare tactic is nonsense," LaHood said. But it's a pressure tactic nonetheless: "What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table."

    However the cuts fall, Light at NYU says the Washington Monument ploy, also known as the Firemen First principle, is at work.

    It goes like this: Put someone's budget at risk and the first thing you'll hear is a threat to close a cherished national symbol or lay off firefighters and police, when in fact there are other ways to cut spending.

    It so happens the Washington Monument is already closed, for earthquake repair. But Obama indulged in the Firemen First principle quite literally.

    He appeared at the White House in front of officers in blue uniforms to warn of the consequences of the sequester. "Emergency responders like the ones who are here today ? their ability to help communities respond to and recover from disasters will be degraded."

    The law gives little flexibility to agencies to protect favored programs, except for big ones specifically exempted from the automatic cuts, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans benefits. FBI and Border Patrol furloughs are expected. Still, the White House has directed agencies to avoid cuts presenting "risks to life, safety or health" and to minimize harm to crucial services.

    In the partial government shutdown during his presidency, Bill Clinton and his officials told some tall tales and sketched dark scenarios that didn't come to pass, though some might have if the crisis had lasted weeks or months longer. The shutdown played out over two installments totaling 26 days from mid-November 1995 to early January 1996.

    National park properties closed (yes, even the Washington Monument), passport and federal mortgage insurance processing were disrupted and toxic waste cleanup stalled as hundreds of thousands of federal workers went idle, paid retroactively later. But states, communities and private groups stepped up to tide over the neediest, keeping Meals on Wheels rolling with their own resources, for example, until Clinton found emergency money to cover the costs. Warnings that Medicare treatment would be withheld proved unfounded, and veterans got their care.

    Contractors, who perform many key services for government, kept working for IOUs. A claim by the government that deportations "have virtually ended" was not so.

    The Justice Department told the story of a Florida gas station rejecting the government-issued credit card of a drug-enforcement agent to illustrate the indignity of it all.

    But the reality was humdrum: The card had merely expired.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Mary Clare Jalonick, Joan Lowy and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-26-Budget%20Battle-Sky%20Is%20Falling/id-0d1f7c4d7f144b45ab7eaf8612404fb7

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    To Build An Empire, Hold The Anchovies

    Located north of Lima, Peru, the Caral-Supe settlement was the ancient home of the Norte Chico people, a civilization almost as old as the Egyptians.

    Courtesy of Chris Kleihege

    Located north of Lima, Peru, the Caral-Supe settlement was the ancient home of the Norte Chico people, a civilization almost as old as the Egyptians.

    Courtesy of Chris Kleihege

    Megalomaniacs, consider yourselves warned. Anchovies will not help you build your empire. To rule long and prosper, serve corn.

    That's the word from archaeologists who say they've solved a mystery that has been puzzling their colleagues for the past 40 years: How did some of the earliest Peruvians manage to build a robust civilization without corn ? the crop that fueled other great civilizations of the Americas, like the Maya?

    The Norte Chico people, who lived some 5,000 years ago, built a thriving civilization ? but from the archaeological evidence previously available, it looked like they did it solely on anchovies. And anyone who has ever nibbled an anchovy on a pizza knows there's not a lot of meat on those tiny bones.

    Would that have given the Norte Chico enough oomph to build the monumental architecture they left behind, including dozens of large communities with huge earthen platforms and circular ceremonial plazas, some 40 meters across?

    A view of one of the ceremonial plazas at the Caral-Supe archaeological site.

    Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images

    A view of one of the ceremonial plazas at the Caral-Supe archaeological site.

    Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images

    "Think about anchovy at every meal you ate," says Jonathan Haas, an archaeologist at the Field Museum in Chicago. "The problem with anchovies is if you are going to get calories out of them, you have to eat a lot of them, and it's not a balanced diet."

    Agriculture is considered the engine of civilization, and in the Americas, that means corn.

    Though very little evidence of corn consumption had been found in Peru dating back to the time of the Norte Chico, Haas and his colleagues figured these people just had to be eating corn. So they decided to look harder.

    First, they searched Norte Chico archaeological sites north of Lima for proof that the ancient Peruvians had been growing corn. They found lots of old maize pollen.

    Then, they went looking for pollen on the stone tools the residents of Norte Chico used to cook. They looked under the microscope, and "lo and behold, the large majority of the tools are being used to process maize," Haas tells The Salt.

    Finally, they looked in the fossilized human poop found in the sites. They found anchovy bones ? and lots of corn starch. And that's not all: Turns out, sweet potatoes were the second most popular carbohydrate, and guava the most popular source of sugar. (You can learn a lot from fossilized feces.)

    Haas says this "corn rules" thesis may be controversial, but he thinks his team's data are strong enough to hold up. The work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    "Rather than being a maritime-based society, it's an agriculturally based society," Haas says. "South America then falls in line with the rest of the civilizations of the world."

    Update: Photographer Chris Kleihege, whose photo project is documenting excavations at Caral-Supe, sends this photo of a 5,000-year-old corncob found at a pyramid at the ancient Peruvian site.

    Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/02/25/172896292/to-build-an-empire-hold-the-anchovies?ft=1&f=1007

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    Google+ Sign-In lets you use account info across iOS, Android and web apps

    Image

    These days it seems like every app wants your Facebook or Twitter info -- it figures that Google wants a piece of that action, too. Today the software giant announced Google+ Sign-in, a new feature that makes it possible to log into non-Google apps using your credentials for its myriad services (your Gmails, your YouTubes, et al). Google promises that Sign-in, which will be available for Android, iOS and web apps alike, will deliver the "protections and safeguards you've come to expect," plus some tweaks for the Google Maps Android API. The feature also makes it possible to decide what information you're sharing, so you don't spam the rest of us with your fitness goals (have we mentioned how fit you're looking these days?). You can also manage all of the apps you're using with Sign-In through Google+. More information for developers and users alike can be found in the source link below.

    Filed under: , ,

    Comments

    Source: Google, Android Developers Blog

    Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Nctp1--1IR4/

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    Iran runs altered images of Michelle Obama gown

    TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian state media has run altered images of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama's Oscars appearance, making her gown look less revealing.

    The first lady wore a sleeveless, scoop neck gown. The semi-official Fars news agency ran an altered photo that covered her shoulders and neckline with added material. State TV showed images that blurred the parts of her body that were exposed.

    Under Iran's Islamic dress code, women are required to cover their bodies in public. Films showing foreign women without a headscarf are considered acceptable, but revealing clothes are forbidden.

    For the Oscars ceremony, Michelle Obama at the White House joined Jack Nicholson via video link to help present the best picture prize for "Argo," a film based on the escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

    Fars said the first lady's announcement suggested that the film was made with U.S. government support. Iranian officials have dismissed "Argo" as a CIA commercial.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-runs-altered-images-michelle-obama-gown-184706876.html

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    For some, surgical site infections are in the genes

    Feb. 26, 2013 ? An estimated 300,000 U.S. patients get surgical site infections every year, and while the causes are varied, a new University of Utah study suggests that some who get an infection can blame it partly on their genes.

    In the Feb. 19, 2013, online edition of the journal Wound Repair and Regeneration, researchers from the University's School of Medicine show through a study of families in the Utah Population Database (UPD) that surgical site infections (SSI) appear to have a significant genetic connection, even in extended relatives. If further investigation bears out these findings, people who are genetically at risk for SSIs might be identified through personal genome analysis before surgery, according to Harriet W. Hopf, M.D., professor of anesthesiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine who is corresponding author on the study.

    "Our research showed that people with surgical site infections are more likely to be related to one another than expected in the Utah population" Hopf says. "If that's the case, individual genome analysis might benefit many people if SSIs appear to run in their families. This type of personalized health care could be available in a few years, and with the unparalleled resource of the Utah Population Database (UPDB) and its world-class genetics research, the University of Utah is positioned to make it happen."

    It's estimated that SSIs occur in approximately 5 percent of U.S. surgical procedures, resulting in longer hospitalizations and adding approximately $1 billion a year to the nation's health care bill. Infections can occur on the outer layer of skin at the surgical site or in deeper tissue below the skin.

    Hopf, who's also associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Medicine, conducted the research with Lisa A. Cannon-Albright, Ph.D., a genetic epidemiologist, professor of internal medicine and senior author on the study, and former U of U medical student and first author, James P. Lee, M.D.

    Through the UPDB, a remarkable storehouse of genealogical records, public health data, and records from hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers, the researchers combed the records of 651 University of Utah Hospital patients who had suffered SSIs based on an internationally recognized medical code. (The researchers did not learn the names of the patients.) As controls, they used randomly selected U of U Hospital patients with the same birth year, birthplace, and sex as the group that did have infections. Only people with both parents, all four grandparents, and at least six of eight great-grandparents in the UPDB were analyzed in either group.

    A test for excess familial relatedness, the Genealogical Index of Familiality (GIF), was performed to determine whether patients with SSIs were more related than expected, as measured by average relatedness in the randomly selected, matched controls. To rule out the possibility of shared environmental influences on predispositions to SSIs, the researchers also performed the analysis while ignoring first- and second-degree relationships (representing individuals who might be living together or in close proximity, such as parents, siblings, and offspring, and thus sharing non-genetic risk factors), according to Cannon-Albright.

    The results might be considered surprising, showing that SSIs occurred more frequently than expected among, for example, third cousins and more distant relatives of individuals in the study. "People who'd had an SSI were significantly more related than we would have thought," she says. "The results indicate a strong genetic contribution to SSIs."

    Hopf has researched SSIs for much of her career, suspecting that a mutation in a gene that makes superoxide, a compound released as part of the body's inflammatory response to invading pathogens, might cause a predisposition to the infections. The mutation could render this gene, p-47 phox, less efficient at making superoxide, leaving people more susceptible to SSIs.

    Upon coming to the University in 2006, Hopf saw an ideal opportunity to investigate her hypothesis by taking advantage of the UPDB and the school's genetics expertise. "The chance to collaborate with people from different disciplines makes the University of Utah an exceptional place for this kind of research," she says.

    For her next step, Hopf wants to draw blood samples from members of high-risk families identified in this study to investigate whether p-47 phox or other genes might predispose people to SSIs.

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    Story Source:

    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Utah Health Sciences. The original article was written by Phil Sahm.

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


    Journal Reference:

    1. James P. Lee, Harriet W. Hopf, Lisa A. Cannon-Albright. Empiric evidence for a genetic contribution to predisposition to surgical site infection. Wound Repair and Regeneration, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/wrr.12024

    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/health_medicine/genes/~3/BneeF3lpxhc/130226135103.htm

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    GOP's Pat Anderson: I support gay marriage; Republicans should, too (Star Tribune)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287637126?client_source=feed&format=rss

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    Tuesday, February 26, 2013

    Communication as Art {especially for moms of teens} | More to Be

    Do you struggle to connect with your teen children?

    Does it feel like your teen is slipping away like sand racing through your fingers?

    3815157603_sand_slipping_through_fingers_answer_3_xlarge

    With each passing day, so many moms feels like they know less and less of what it going on in their teen?s heart, mind, life and relationships, as their questions and pursuits are rejected with silence. Without words being exchanged it seems impossible to keep the relationship going. Our words are the different pieces of thread the God uses to weave our lives together. {click to tweet} When communication breaks down, the relationship hangs the balance.

    So can the habit of silence be undone?

    Is it possible for a difficult relationship between a mom and her teen to be healed and transformed?

    Can a vibrant dialogue emerge out of a once silent place?

    our words weave

    Changing an unhealthy pattern of communicating is never easy. It feels as awkward for the parent as much as it does for the teen. While I?ve not been the ?momma? in this type of relationship, I was certainly a teen who shut down and pulled away from my parents. One day, like the transitioning of changing lanes on the highway, I moved out of regular conversations with my mom and into silence.

    Was it her fault? Was it my hormones over-reacting? Was it triggered by one of the many trauma?s our family faced?

    I?ve searched long and hard and sought the Lord for an answer. I can see, in hindsight, that my drama-teen years were a little too much for my mom. As a mom, now, I understand our emotional limitations better.? I?ve always been intense, and as a teen was I often demanding and emotional. In my mother?s defense, I think she was short on her own emotional reserves and needed to put up a boundary of ?Honey, I love you, but I can?t do this now??. Yet what I heard was,?You?re too much for me??,? so I turned elsewhere to share my heart. I?m sure there were other reasons I stopped sharing and talking, but my ?miss-hearing? is the one pivotal moment that marks when our relationship radically changed.

    What Causes Communication Breakdown?

    There are dozens of reasons our own teens will withdraw and offer a cold shoulder with the silent treatment. Forever I?ve wanted to know the ?why? so I?d be sure to not repeat the pattern as a mom. I wanted to discover a ?how to not do this? formula, so that I could tell all the parents of the teens I?ve worked with how to improve their communication. I certainly have not found a formula, but through my fifteen plus years working with teens along with my life coaching training, I have nailed down some influences that cause a communication break down and approaches to take to improve communication.

    Influences

    These three influences will often lead to communication break down. Understanding their effect can offer such tremendous insight as to why there is a disconnect with your teen.

    • Influence of Unhealthy Habits
      Has the communication issue been influenced by an unhealthy habit on your part, such as a critical spirit, high expectations, constant nagging, outbursts of anger or emotions, betrayal, a lack of integrity, or rejection of your teen? Have this habits and behaviors caused your teen to retreat? If this is the case, confess these issues (and/or sin) to the Lord and seek help in learning how to change. Approach your teen in humility and seek their forgiveness as well, with a commitment to move forward in a healthier way.
    • Influence of Hurt
      Has the silence stemmed from a hurt, disappointment, or loss your teen?s life? If so, have they been given the support system to grieve and heal? Do they need to see a Christian counselor or be mentored by someone other than you? Focus on the Family can help you find a Christian counselor in your area.
    • Influence of Wiring
      Sometimes the communication breakdown is simply the result of different personalities struggling to hear each other clearly.? Do you have an understanding of your natural wiring, personality, gift set, learning style, and even love language? Do you understand your teen?s? Often, our communication breakdown rests in the fact that we?re not speaking ?their language? while expecting them to speak ours. Consider using these free assessment tools for discovering your wiring and your teen?s.

    ?

    Communication is Art

    ?

    Approaches

    Communicating is truly an art form. It requires listening carefully, with our whole body. It depends on speaking thoughtfully, considering the power of our words. And it also needs the power of open-ended questions, used in life coaching, to draw out the heart and mind of another person. Consider using these six techniques in communicating with your teen:

    1. Approach with open-ended Questions!
      And open-ended question requires more than a one-word answer and/or opens the door to asking further questions. For example, if you ask, ?How was your day?? all they have to give is a one-word answer. ?Good. Bad. Eh. Okay.? That?s called a closed-ended question. But if you ask, ?Who did you eat with at lunch today??, more questions can be pulled out.? They may answer with, ?Tom.? But then you can ask, ?What is it that you like about spending time with Tom?? or ?How are things going with Tom?s parents??
    2. Shape your response with more questions and restate what you hear!
      Rather coming up with a response that reflects your opinion, craft a response with another question. This is especially helpful for those opinionated and critical mommas among us, and can avoid a massive amount of conflict. Restating what you hear helps them to know you are listening and engaged. You don?t want to make assumptions or jump to conclusions, so pay attention to what they are saying, and sometimes, what they are not saying!
    3. Avoid the lecture!
      Connecting with a teen isn?t about you telling them what you think or how they should think (or behave).? Yes, this needs to happen in times of discipline, but don?t confuse that part of parenting with the times of communicating for the sake of building a relationship. Tweens and teens want to feel confident in their own decision making. A lecture makes them feel anything but confident. If you feel compelled to teach a point, continue to do so through asking questions and asking permission to share.
    4. Offer a word of encouragement!
      Look for a character strength you see in them that relates to what they have shared that would be a source of encouragement.This also helps guard you from jumping into fix-it mode as you focus instead on on their abilities and God-given strengths.
    5. Ask for permission to explain your feelings and to share what?s going on it with you!
      A relationship requires two people, right?? So offer a part of yourself to them, but do so by asking for their permission. At first, this may make them feel awkward, so follow their cues and keep it short, if necessary. Be authentic and transparent with them, too. If you have a story relevant to their experience that you want to share, ask for permission before your tell it. This guards you from becoming a run-away-story-train, derailing from their life and putting the focus on you. Asking permission to share your story puts your teen in a teachable position, since they have to agree to listen to you, too.

    As you consider intentional communication using these techniques, strive to implement them during natural times such as driving in the car or while you?re fixing dinner! Or set the stage by being home when they are home and fixing a cup of tea, milkshake, or snack to share together.? As I share in Impact My Life, taking time to share a cup of tea together may be just the warmth a relationships needs to start up again.

    Communication is art that connects our lives together. It requires the implementation of these basic principles, but will look differently in each and every relationship. Don?t give up on making art through communicating with your teens. {click to tweet} It is a gift you?re giving to them, even if the process is ever-changing and always requiring more of you.

    Don?t forget to sign up for our next mentoring study and training courses built off the principles in?Impact My Life!

    :: click here to learn more ::

    {linking up here}

    ?

    mentoring_mondays Mentoring Mondays Link Up

    Do you have a post on mentoring or on a topic that would equip a mentor?? Feel free to link up your post below.

    ?

    Elisa is a trained biblical life coach, mentor, and speaker passionate about equipping women to experience authentic life change for the sake impacting the next generation. She is the founder of More to Be and author of Impact My LIfe: Biblical Mentoring Simplified. You can also find Elisa writing for The Better Mom, MODsquad, and the Internet Cafe Devotions. Elisa considers her first calling as wife to Stephen and mother to her house-full of children. Her favorite days begin on the porch with the Lord and end on the beach with her family and friends. Connect with Elisa at www.elisapulliam.com.

    Source: http://www.moretobe.com/2013/02/25/mentoring-mondays-communication-as-art/

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    Using the Internet as a Business Tool | Cubla Incorporated

    businesstool

    In this modern and technologically savvy world, the internet has become an unavoidable and easy way for people to gather information. When most people have a question and need answers they turn to the internet, rather than a stack of encyclopedias like our parents did. As a business owner that is something to keep in mind when trying to reach out to your clientele. It is safe to assume that all of them have the internet, an email address, and a preferred search engine. With that in mind, you now can formulate a strategy to get your business name and services in their peripheral.

    The Small Business Association (SBA) stated, ?Setting up your business on the Internet can be a lucrative way to attract customers, expand your market and increase sales.? Even a very small business can benefit tremendously from having a website that is clean, neat, and organized. Every question that your consumer has should be answered on your website. How can they contact you? What services are you providing with them? Why should your team be trusted over another? Words don?t always have to be how this is accomplished. Having a clean, sleek design, with attractive graphics can do a lot to make a costumer feel comfortable with your business.

    Your website is your best way to advertise to your customers. Advertisements can announce your company?s birthday, specials and sales, events your company is sponsoring, and to promote goodwill with your customers. If you plan to run advertisements on your site, keep them updated! A website should be fresh, and looked after. Your website is your garden, cultivate it, care for it, and you will reap the benefits of your harvest.

    Social Media outlets are also important for your business. Regardless of your personal feelings about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc, others are more than likely using some sort of social media. Join in with your customers! As these sites grow larger and larger, people are using their email less and less. Your business?s page should have a direct link to your website. The idea is to drive customers to your actual website where all of their questions can be answered. Find a niche, and stick with it. Your Facebook page can be used to advertise to your clientele as well. You can promote your sales, specials, community events, and so much more.

    There are countless options of marketing to your customers, and these social media sites are a great tool. With sites like Pintrest, and Instagram you can quickly reach out to people that would have never known your business existed. Don?t be fearful of the internet, it is your friend!

    There are many ways that you can use the internet as a tool for your business. Your website and participation online should not be an afterthought. Your website is often the first and longest lasting impression on a client. Be sure to find a designer and developer that you can have an open relationship with. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who present themselves as something they are not and can take advantage of your inexperience with the internet. Let Cubla Incorporated show you how building a brand and marketing can help you expand your business! Contact us today to find out more.

    Source: http://www.cubla.com/businesstool/

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    Industry Ink (2-25-13) : MusicRow ? Nashville's Music Industry ...

    Follow MusicRow on Twitter Print This Post?Print This Post

    napa1Top Napa Valley winemakers and Nashville songwriters will come together to pair music and wine with stories behind their creations. Napa in Nashville will be held March 7 at Nashville?s Hard Rock Cafe, beginning at 6 p.m. The evening will include wine tasting with the winemakers and performances from several top songwriters.

    Currently confirmed songwriters include Pat Alger (?Unanswered Prayers,? ?The Thunder Rolls,? ?Small Town Saturday Night?), Tony Arata (?The Dance,? ?I?m Holding My Own,? ?Here I Am?) and Dave Berg (?If You?re Going Through Hell,? ?These Are My People,? ?Stupid Boy?), with additional performers to be announced.

    Proceeds from the event will benefit Notes For Education, supporting arts education for today?s youth and the continued development of the artists of tomorrow.

    ?$60 includes wine tasting, food and live music.?Visit?www.notesforeducation.org?for tickets and more info.

    ? ? ?

    tatemusiclogo1Tate Music Group has added Doug Briney to its roster.

    ??We are happy to be partnering with the good people at Tate Music Group,? said Doug?s manager, Michael Stover of MTS Management Group. ?Tate has worked with some of Doug?s biggest influences, including Lee Greenwood.? So, to have him on the same label is a real dream come true for him. We are looking forward to getting Doug in the studio to cut his Tate Music Group debut.?

    Briney, known as the Alaskan Cowboy, is based in Anchorage, Alaska. He is a 2012 Independent Country Music Association award nominee. His debut CD, It?s All Country has received international airplay and chart success, placing in the Top 20 of the Roots Music Report charts for several months. His next release, his first for Tate, will be recorded in the coming weeks. He will be singing the national anthem for the beginning of the Iditarod Trail race in March.

    ? ? ?

    ticket-summit-logo1Ticket Summit??s? Executive Director, Dr. Molly A. M?rez, was recently honored by both Collaborate Magazine and EXPO Magazine. Collaborate included M?rez in its ?40 Under 40? list while EXPO recognized her on its Elite list for the second year in a row. More information about this announcement can be found in the attached press release.

    ? ? ?

    renegade radio1Renegade Radio Nashville has partnered with Curb Records for an informative music industry radio show, The Road To Music Row. Featuring Taylor Childress, VP of Curb and Sidewalk Records, as well as station co-owner and voice Captain Jack Aponte and radio personality and country recording artist Lindsay Lawler, the show airs every Wednesday night from 5-6 p.m. and provides listeners with an in-depth discussion about the inner workings of the music industry.

    ?We?re always trying to be innovative and take Internet radio to the next level,? said Aponte. ?We?re excited to offer listeners a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes in the music industry with our new show. It?s especially exciting to have the label?s perspective that Taylor Childress offers.?

    To learn more about The Road to Music Row, visit www.renegaderadionashville.com

    ?

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    About the Author

    Jessica Nicholson is a staff writer with MusicRow Enterprises. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine, TasteofCountry.com and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University.

    View Author Profile

    Source: http://www.musicrow.com/2013/02/industry-ink-2-25-13/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=industry-ink-2-25-13

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    Kerry pushes trans-Atlantic free trade in Germany

    Feb 25 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 2. Matt Kuchar $1,987,000 3. Hunter Mahan $1,412,965 4. John Merrick $1,296,014 5. Phil Mickelson $1,232,760 6. Dustin Johnson $1,200,125 7. Tiger Woods $1,144,000 8. Russell Henley $1,129,080 9. Brian Gay $1,089,181 10. Charles Howell III $1,087,944 11. Jason Day $1,009,164 12. Chris Kirk $990,013 13. Steve Stricker $940,000 14. Josh Teater $870,934 15. Bill Haas $816,300 16. Jimmy Walker $812,620 17. Scott Piercy $789,592 18. Charlie Beljan $785,800 19. ...

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-pushes-trans-atlantic-free-trade-germany-133433528--finance.html

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