unrest velveeta: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Brisbane Wedding Venues For The Most Memorable Wedding

The hottest wedding trends in Australia for 2013 are to create a spectacular personal wedding day that is customized. More weddings are taking place at all in one wedding venues in the inner city. Unusual venues are also sought after such as warehouses, up market cafes and art galleries. 2013 will see more couples customizing their own vision and style. Wedding stylists are creating bespoke occasions and couples are also opting to create the wedding theme themselves including the bouquets and wedding dress. when it comes to bridal accessories and gowns, Australian brides are now adding crystal broaches, coloured belts and adding sleeves to an off the rack wedding gown. Bridesmaid can now also choose their own style of dress as long as it is in line with the colour scheme.

Pocket squares and funky bow ties are the latest among the grooms, and the ceremonies are becoming less traditional and more about the couple getting married. By customizing a wedding, Australian brides and grooms are depicting a wider view of who they really are by not following tradition. Due to the spending by the groom, the average cost of wedding are expected to rise slightly in 2013, especially as more and more grooms are now actively playing a bigger role in planning their wedding. Most wedding budgets can be significantly impacted by items such as accessories, groom rings and cakes, unique groom gifts and honeymoon plans. However, the brides are in favour of the groom spending more as the wedding involves the groom and the bride. To match the latest trends are Brisbane wedding venues that are in line with customizing and personalizing the couple wedding day according to specifications. Shabby chic was reflected in 2012 due to the economic slump, and some designers are predicting the return of elegance which will draw old world inspiration from a Royal Affair, The great Gatsby and other such cinematic influences. Wedding dresses will be made from beautiful decadent fabrics, costume jewellery, metallic, ornate lace and corsets and the couples will host more formal receptions. In Australia and around the world this trend has already reflected runways and red carpets and will soon be incorporated into wedding ceremonies again.

In spring, designers are expecting to see an increase in bird themes which include bird themed invitations, card holders as little bird cages, bird necklaces, tossing bird seed instead of confetti, bird nest favours and an increase I feather hair accessories. The wedding flowers are combined with soft shades of greys and yellows and other pastels which give a warm romantic feel and look. Texture is also being added by incorporating succulents, fruits, pods, grasses and berries with lace and beautiful ribbons.

About the Author:
Jasper Mason is a travel author. He pen articles related to party and conference venue and share his experience about Brisbane wedding venues. He appreciate hotels in Brisbane for stay when you visit Australia.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Brisbane-Wedding-Venues-For-The-Most-Memorable-Wedding/4459277

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Bloomberg's Super PAC Anti-Gun Ad Makes Waves in Election

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has lent his voice and money to have some say in which Democrat replaces former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson, in today's special election.

The front-runners in today's primary in Illinois 2nd District are Robin Kelly, a former state representative, and former Rep. Debbie Halvorson. Kelly recently snapped up Bloomberg's endorsement and financial backing through his super PAC Independence USA. Bloomberg donated close to $10 million to the super PAC last year, according to OpenSecrets.org. Jackson, who pleaded guilty last week in a D.C. federal court to one felony fraud count related to improper use of campaign funds, won re-election last November but resigned, citing health and the investigation into his campaign finances as reasons.

Halvorson is the only white candidate in the majority African-American district, which includes Chicago's South Side. Several Democrats initially stepped up to run for the seat following Jackson's resignation, but many withdrew and threw their support to the current candidates.

Chicago's epidemic of gun violence has been a top issue in the campaign. Ads have sought to paint Halvorson, who challenged Jackson in a 2012 Democratic primary for his congressional seat, in a negative light. An ad made by Independence USA, the super PAC created by Bloomberg, an independent, has attacked Halvorson for her support of gun rights.

"Debbie Halvorson, when it comes to preventing gun violence, she gets an F," the ad says. The ad further warns to "watch out" for Halvorson, saying she is against banning deadly assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips, and that she also co-sponsored a bill to allow felons to take "loaded, hidden guns across state lines."

"If you can tell me that banning another gun will go after the criminals, I'd be all for it," Halvorson told The Hill Monday. "I'd be for anything that stopped the killing and gets guns out of the hands of criminals, but it won't work. [Chicago's] Cook County has had an assault weapons ban since 1993, and they have the highest murder rate in the country." Halvorson was one of the few Democrats endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2010.

A spokesman for Halvorson's campaign said the ad had actually backfired on the super PAC.

"Initially, it was a shell shock," said Sean Howard, a spokesman for Halvorson's campaign. "But we had 70 African-American ministers call for Bloomberg to have the ad removed. ? These ministers find it distasteful and racist, and thought its tone was dangerous and appalling."

But the ad stayed. A representative from Independence USA said the ad expressed Bloomberg's staunch support for Kelly. "The mayor has been clear for his entire time in office. He wants commonsense reforms that keep guns out of hands of criminals," said Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for Independence USA. "There is no doubt there has been a surge of gun violence around Chicago. Robin Kelly has been aggressively pushing for gun reform measures - we believe this is the right way to go."

Halvorson, however, remains confident, said Howard. "Given that we have a dangerous snowstorm here today, turnout will be dangerously low," Howard said. "[Debbie] was phone banking all last night. ? We are cautiously optimistic."

Infrared digital holography allows firefighters to see through flames, image moving people

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Firefighters put their lives on the line in some of the most dangerous conditions on Earth. One of their greatest challenges, however, is seeing through thick veils of smoke and walls of flame to find people in need of rescue. A team of Italian researchers has developed a new imaging technique that uses infrared (IR) digital holography to peer through chaotic conflagrations and capture potentially lifesaving and otherwise hidden details.

The team describes its breakthrough results and their applications in a paper published February 26 in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express.

Firefighters can see through smoke using current IR camera technology. However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field. By employing a specialized lens-free technique, the researchers have created a system that is able to cope with the flood of radiation from an environment filled with flames as well as smoke.

"IR cameras cannot 'see' objects or humans behind flames because of the need for a zoom lens that concentrates the rays on the sensor to form the image," says Pietro Ferraro of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Istituto Nazionale di Ottica in Italy. By eliminating the need for the zoom lens, the new technique avoids this drawback.

"It became clear to us that we had in our hands a technology that could be exploited by emergency responders and firefighters at a fire scene to see through smoke without being blinded by flames, a limitation of existing technology," Ferraro says. "Perhaps most importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that a holographic recording of a live person can be achieved even while the body is moving."

Holography is a means of producing a 3-D image of an object. To create a hologram, such as those typically seen on credit cards, a laser beam is split into two (an object beam and a reference beam). The object beam is shone onto the object being imaged. When the reflected object beam and the reference beam are recombined, they create an interference pattern that encodes the 3-D image.

In the researchers' new imaging system, a beam of infrared laser light is widely dispersed throughout a room. Unlike visible light, which cannot penetrate thick smoke and flames, the IR rays pass through largely unhindered. The IR light does, however, reflect off of any objects or people in the room, and the information carried by this reflected light is recorded by a holographic imager. It is then decoded to reveal the objects beyond the smoke and flames. The result is a live, 3-D movie of the room and its contents.

The next step in moving this technology to the field is to develop a portable tripod-based system that houses both the laser source and the IR camera. The systems may also be suitable for fixed installation inside buildings or tunnels. In addition, the team is exploring other applications, most notably in the biomedical field for non-destructive testing of large aerospace composite structures.

"Besides life-saving applications in fire and rescue, the potential to record dynamic scenes of a human body could have a variety of other biomedical uses including studying or monitoring breathing, cardiac beat detection and analysis, or measurement of body deformation due to various stresses during exercise," Ferraro says. "We are excited to further develop this technology and realize its application for saving and improving human life."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America.

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

Journal Reference:

M. Locatelli, E. Pugliese, M. Paturzo, V. Bianco, A. Finizio, A. Pelagotti, P. Poggi, L. Miccio, R. Meucci, P. Ferraro. Imaging live humans through smoke and flames using far-infrared digital holography. Optics Express, 2013; 21 (5): 5379 DOI: 10.1364/OE.21.005379

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/bXDcFd2sAks/130226101454.htm

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France mulls extending piracy laws to include streaming and direct downloads

ISPs in the US are just getting around to enforcing a "six strikes" policy against illegal P2P sharing, but France is now contemplating a crackdown on the streaming and direct downloads of pirated content. Hadopi, the government organization behind the country's existing "three strikes" law, released a new report that proposes websites take a page from YouTube's book and actively monitor content by using recognition algorithms and the like to take down things that are presumed illegal. If a site weren't to cooperate after a round of warnings, it might face penalties including DNS and IP blocking, domain name seizures and even financial repercussions that involve having their accounts with "payment intermediaries" (think PayPal) suspended. As for enforcement of this potential government mandate, the dossier posits that it could lean on internet service providers instead of hosting services, which according to EU law, can't be forced to conduct widespread surveillance. For now, these suggestions aren't being made policy, but Hadopi is mulling them over.

[Image credit: keith.bellvay, Flickr]

Filed under: Internet

Comments

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Hadopi (1, translated), (2, PDF)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/03JfX-000qg/

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Local Business Networking and Referral Group Seeking New ...

Business Networking International?is a professional networking association with chapters across the globe, including many here in New England.? The mission of BNI is to help members increase their business through a structured, positive, and professional "word-of-mouth" program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.

Successful chapters of BNI already exist all over the Rhode Island, including in Warwick, Wakefield, Middletown and Portsmouth.? The member lists are varied, which has allowed each group to generate a great deal of continuing referral business.?

A new group is being formed in Newport and interested professionals of all fields are encouraged to apply.? The list of members currently includes professionals from?Keller Williams Realty,?Province Mortgage, Inc., and?Sayer Regan & Thayer, LLP.?

To get more information on joining the group, please contact Adam Thayer at?AThayer@srt-law.com, Samantha Leduc at?SLeduc@provincemai.com, or Connor Dowd at?ConnorDowd@kw.com.?

To get more general information on BNI, please visit their website at?www.BNI.com.

Here are some quick bits of information from the BNI website, explaining the amazing benefits of joining:

Why Join BNI? - Benefits of Membership

? Increased exposure to many other people and businesses.

? Substantially increased referrals.

? Tools to network more effectively, including an orientation CD giving the "Formula for Success" in BNI, a badge, a vinyl card holder to carry members' business cards, referral slips, marketing materials for your chapter and much, much more.

? Participation in up to 52 networking meetings per year.

? Bi-monthly newsletters with educational material on networking, public speaking, and business.

? Participation in business tradeshows (where you'll have an opportunity to market your chapter and your business).

? Free periodic workshops on networking.

? And much, much more!!!

Last year alone, members of BNI passed 6.5 million referrals, which generated more than $2.8 billion dollars (U.S.) worth of business for its members! BNI is a business and professional networking organization that allows only one person per professional classification or specialty to join a chapter.

Source: http://bristol-warren.patch.com/blog_posts/local-business-networking-and-referral-group-seeking-new-members

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

France's Hollande juggles trade and rights in Moscow

PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande will aim to balance French concerns over Russia's human rights record with a push to boost trade ties during a debut Moscow visit on Thursday that could prove a diplomatic obstacle course.

An encounter in Paris last June between the newly-elected Socialist Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin bristled with tension, unlike the cozy meetings between Putin and Hollande's conservative predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

Aides on both sides want to avoid the full-frontal clash on rights that marked German Chancellor Angela Merkel's trip to Moscow last year, when she accused Moscow of stifling dissent.

Moreover, with the French economy edging closer to recession and domestic demand moribund, Hollande needs all the outside help he can get to kickstart growth, and will be pushing for Russian business to step up investment in France.

Yet everything from Moscow's support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in defiance of the West to Putin's very public relish at actor Gerard Depardieu's decision to take Russian nationality for tax reasons means the scope for misunderstandings is great.

"You can get on with someone without loving them," veteran Russia specialist Helene Carrere d'Encausse said of the strained pragmatism she saw defining the visit, whose high-point is an 1100 GMT joint news conference with Hollande and Putin on.

Hollande aides insist that, aside from Syria, the positions of Paris and Moscow converge in several areas - notably on Mali, where Russia has backed a U.N. resolution which is a key part of French efforts to extricate its soldiers and put African troops in the front line against al Qaeda allies.

RIGHTS RECORD

Russia sees Tuesday's move by major powers to offer Iran some sanctions relief in return for a halt of some atomic work as a sign that France and other Western states are moving closer to its thinking on an issue that has divided the U.N. Security Council for years.

"In bilateral ties I see no major problems," said Alexei Pushkov, head of foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament's lower chamber.

"From my contacts with the French lawmakers I get the impression they have a calm attitude towards Russia. Of course there is come criticism, but not to the extent that can be heard in the U.S. Congress or the German Bundestag," he added.

French officials insist Putin's embrace of Depardieu after his decision to seek exile from French taxes on the rich will not jar relations - even with the actor's outing this weekend to the Chechnya region where rights groups accuse security services of extrajudicial killings and other abuses.

But Hollande is under pressure at home to raise human rights concerns including the fate of Putin critics such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 49, once Russia's richest man and now serving 13 years jail on fraud and tax evasion charges.

"The last year has been the worst for human rights in Russia in recent memory, and Hollande should not miss this chance to persuade Putin to turn things around," said Rachel Denber of New York-based Human Rights Watch, pointing to new laws which she said restricted public assembly and Internet content in Russia.

The two leaders may broach delicate energy issues, with the European Union seeking to wind down its gas reliance on Russia and Moscow angry over EU efforts to force dominant suppliers such as Russia's Gazprom to sell off infrastructure.

But Paris is keener to focus on raising Russian investment in France, which at around one billion euros only accounts for a 12th of the value of French investment in Russia.

While no major deal is due to be announced, small economic cooperation pacts, plans to facilitate visas and student exchanges are likely to be announced.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/frances-hollande-juggles-trade-rights-moscow-131910312.html

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Best Tips for Crafting With Trash - Articles :: Networx

undefined It's not nice to call someone or something "trashy". After all, trash gets a bad rap. A lot of the things that get thrown away are prime materials for DIY projects. Not that I am giving you unfettered permission to hoard garbage, but I am suggesting that if you need inspiration or materials for a DIY project, you might find it in your recycling or garbage bin. We love creative reuse and upcycling, and over the years we have published tens of articles about ways to reuse trash. These six articles are some favorites.

Top 20 Ways to Reuse Tin Cans: This article taught me how to make a DIY planter out of a tin can, which was one of the best "trash-to-treasure" discoveries for me ever.? Sayward Rebhal, a DIY painter near San Diego and green lifestyle blogger, shared other awesome tips, as well. Highlights are: Use a coffee can with a lid as a DIY bag dispenser; build a wine rack from large tomato cans; use clean empty cans in the kitchen as biscuit cutters or forms for mini cakes; make old-fashioned candle holders.

9 Awesome Uses for Junk Mail: Los Angeles gardener and organic food expert Jordan Laio found nine good ways to craft junk mail into anything but junk. Agricultural uses include folding it to make seedling pots, and shredding it and using it as mulch. Other uses for junk mail are: Craft it into a bookmark; use it to make handmade recycled paper; use it as packing material; and make festive decorations from junk mail.

We Tested It: Alternative Uses for Fast Food Products: For a minute, we had a bona fide comedy writer working for us. He's gone on to work in television, but we can still enjoy his work in the Networx archives. Noah Garfinkel went out looking for ways to turn fast food products into cool crafts. He made a six-pack carrier out of hamburger boxes, a remote-control holder from a fries box, and a handy toilet paper holder from a Happy Meal box. You'll never look at fast food the same way.

8 Uses for Yogurt Containers: Buying a carton of yogurt in a plastic container (especially one with a tight-fitting lid) is like being given a free Tupperware. OK, maybe it is not as good as actual Tupperware, but you get the point. In addition to food storage, you can use yogurt containers as measuring cups, ice pop molds, circle templates, scoops, and pen storage.

How to Repurpose Newspaper Around the House: Did you know that you can make a dining room table pad from newspaper? It's an old-fashioned tip, and this article is chock full of old fashioned tips for crafting with, or just plain reusing, newspaper.

Wicked Awesome Uses for Mason Jars: I am not sure why anyone would throw away a Mason jar, but people do. Mason jars are DIY craft gold. Lanterns, snow globes, hanging storage, and flower vases can all be made from Mason jars, and more.

Chaya Kurtz writes for Networx.com.

Source: http://www.networx.com/article/best-tips-for-crafting-with-trash

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Common Core Spelling Standards | Pennington Publishing Blog

Common Core Spelling Standards

*****

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts provide instructional challenges for all conscientious upper elementary and middle school teachers. In addition to the Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening Strands, teachers are expected to teach the grammar, mechanics, language application, spelling, and vocabulary Standards of the CCSS Language Strand (Standards L. 1-6). When establishing instructional priorities to address these Standards, many teachers have placed spelling (Standard L. 2) on the back-burner.

It?s not that teachers devalue spelling instruction. Instructional time and the diverse instructional needs of our students are the key instructional concerns. Teaching is reductive-spending time on this takes away from that. Instructional decision-making is largely about establishing priorities. So, curricular materials must afford teachers the choices to reflect those priorities.

Recently I attended an all-day introduction to the Common Core State Standards sponsored by my school district. As expected, the changes in the reading standards assumed the vast amount of instructional attention. Writing standards were allotted an hour and listening and speaking standards a mere ten minutes. A passing reference was given to the language standards of grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. However, spelling (Language Standard 2.0) was not mentioned.

Perhaps our trainers were taking their cues from the minimal references to spelling in the Language Strand of the Common Core State Standards. Following are the spelling standards from Grades 4?8:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2e?Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e?Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.2b?Spell correctly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2b?Spell correctly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.2b?Spell correctly.

Hardly the specificity or attention that most parents, teachers, and administrators would desire, especially given the heavy focus on phonics, syllabication, and word analysis in the primary grades and the sound-spelling emphases of CCSS contributors to the appendices.

Indeed, those same authors would readily acknowledge that teaching explicit spelling patterns in conjunction with reading has a solid research base. The spelling-reading (encoding-decoding) connection is well-established at every stage of word study?from sound-spelling relationships in the primary grades to derivational and etymological influences from elementary through high school.

Perhaps their assumption is that all students have mastered the sound-spelling relationships, derivational, and etymological underpinnings of our language by the end of third grade. Our new standards are rigorous, but even so?

So what about students who clearly have not mastered the basic sound-spellings by, say, eighth grade? The Common Core State Standards shy away from this all-too-often reality in many schools. Here is the advice:

?The Standards set grade-specific standards but do not define the intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who are well below or well above grade-level expectations.?

My take is that teachers are going to have to flesh out meaningful spelling instruction beyond the third grade level to benefit our students. Additionally, students who have not mastered those primary grade sound-spelling patterns and sight words deserve our addition in the upper elementary, middle school, high school, and community college settings. We can help students ?keep up? with grade-level instruction and ?catch up? on spelling pattern deficits.

The author of the Pennington Publishing Blog, Mark Pennington, has written a comprehensive Grades 4-8 language series to teach each of the grade-level Common Core Language Standards.?Teaching the Language Strand provides interactive grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling lessons, a complete spelling patterns program, language application openers, and vocabulary instruction. Simple sentence diagrams, error analysis, mentor texts, writing applications with sentence combining and sentence manipulation, and formative assessments are woven into each lesson. Students learn to apply these language standards in both the writing and reading contexts. Each instructional component includes diagnostic assessments and remedial worksheets to help the teacher easily individualize instruction. Previews of the grade-level teacher guides and student workbooks are available on the author?s?website.

Spelling/Vocabulary Common Core Language, Common Core Spelling, Spelling Standards

Source: http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/spelling_vocabulary/common-core-spelling-standards/

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How To Expose Your Business To More People Effectively |

Feb 25, 2013 by INC Staff Writer

In business, exposure is important in making sure your business will grow. ?That is not some new trend that just emerged to the surface in recent years. ?That has always been a key principle when it came to achieving success within the world of business. ?If you were not able to effectively expose your business to an overabundance of people then you would not have any traffic flowing into your business. Without any traffic flowing into your business, you will not have any conversion and then that creates a ripple effect that has an adverse reaction for your sales, revenue and the overall stability and longevity of your business. ?Even though many things may have changed about the way that businesses are ran today, that is one of the principles that will always apply regardless of what the digital age may bring about. ?There are many ways to succeed in gaining more exposure for your business. ?What are some of the key area that should be considered when trying to increase your overall exposure?

Target Your Core Demographic Directly

Your primary objective when it comes to advertising and exposure should be to target your core demographic directly. ?Among the most successful ways to increase the exposure for your business are through good old-fashioned word of mouth, direct mail marketing and SEO marketing. ?Professional experts that work for a SEO marketing company may be of great assistance to you in this regard. By providing your clients with more reasons to pay attention to your company, you will be able to get a better return on your investment.

How to Increase Word of Mouth

One of the oldest methods of increasing your exposure to a wider range of clients is through word of mouth. In order to make sure that your current clients are passing along positive information about your company, you need to make sure to offer better service to existing clients. Rather than focusing all of your energy on bringing in new clients, have specific employees whose job is solely marketing so the rest of the company can focus on stellar customer service.

The Effects of Direct Mail Marketing

Purchase a list of addresses you can send mail to. These lists can be expensive, but when you purchase the bets leads, you will get the best results. Direct mail is effective either through traditional mail or through email. Either way, it is necessary to invest time and money into structuring the right message to gain the best results.

Cost Effectiveness of Investing in a SEO Marketing Company

More businesses than ever are turning to investing in a quality SEO marketing company. The digital age has drastically changed the way that businesses are operated in the world today, including how they advertise their products and services to prospective and existing customers and clientele. The perfect SEO marketing company seems to be the hidden treasure that more and more business owners and executives are digging for and discovering during their extensive journeys of driving their businesses toward success. ?This form of marketing is more cost effective than any other form of marketing with better than 40% of all SEO marketing company campaigns resulting in returns of better than 500%. This is the kind of ROI that results in rapid growth and a better bottom line.

Glenn is a content writer that has been writing articles and blogs about business investments and online marketing for over ten years. He also enjoys writing articles about the benefits of investing in a quality SEO marketing company and helping business owners and executives understand the value of that investment. wandelingen

Source: http://www.industrynewscorp.com/how-to-expose-your-business-to-more-people-effectively/

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Narisawa in Tokyo tops Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list

Yoshihiro Narisawa of two Michelin-starred Narisawa in Tokyo

Announced in Singapore yesterday, Yoshihiro Narisawa?s two Michelin-starred Tokyo venture was also named the Best Restaurant in Japan at the awards.

Nihonryori RyuGin in Tokyo came second, followed by Nahm in Bangkok in third place; Amber in Hong Kong in fourth; and Restaurant Andre in Singapore in fifth.

A champion of sustainably sourced ingredients, Narisawa impressed judges with its ?unfettered imagination? and ?sense of drama?.

Passionate about the natural world, among Narisawa?s signature dishes are ?Soil? soup, ?Water? salad and ?Bread of the Forest.?

Narisawa has featured on the World?s 50 Best Restaurants list for the last four years, ranking at number 12 in 2011 and winning the Best Restaurant in Asia award for three consecutive years.

China dominated proceedings at the awards with 16 entries in the top 50 and the aforementioned Amber named The Best Restaurant in China.

Duongporn Songvisava was voted the Asia's Best Female Chef

Duongporn Songvisava was voted Asia?s Best Female Chef

Hot on China?s heels was Singapore with 10 entries in the top 50, including Andre at number five, which was voted the Best Restaurant in Singapore.

Japan came third in terms of entries, with nine restaurants in the top 50.

Meanwhile, Paul Pairet of Mr & Mrs Bund (#7) and Ultraviolet (#8) in Shanghai won the lifetime achievement award, while Duongporn Songvisava of Bo.lan in Bangkok won the Veuve Clicquot Asia?s Best Female Chef award.

Restaurants in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia also made the list, while modern French establishment Jaan in Singapore was named ?One to Watch.?

?We launched Asia?s 50 Best Restaurants to recognise the region?s growing restaurant industry and diverse gastronomic landscape.

?It?s exciting to see so many innovative and creative chefs pushing Asia?s culinary boundaries and supporting Asia?s growing influence on the global culinary stage,? said William Drew of William Reed Business Media, founder of the awards.

Asia?s 50 Best Restaurants list is created by over 900 international leaders in the restaurant industry, including food critics, chefs and restaurateurs.

Source: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2013/02/narisawa-in-tokyo-tops-asias-50-best-restaurants-list/

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Bernanke signals continued support for low rates

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Reserve's low interest-rate policies are giving key support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment, Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday. Bernanke signaled that the Fed's efforts to keep borrowing costs low will continue.

In a statement, Bernanke acknowledged that the Fed's aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to keep rates low could eventually ignite inflation or unsettle investors. Several Fed policymakers said at their most recent meeting that the Fed might have to scale back its bond purchases because of those risks.

But Bernanke, delivering the Fed's semiannual report to Congress, said the risks remained contained for now.

On budget policy, Bernanke urged Congress to replace the automatic spending cuts due to start Friday with more gradual reductions in budget deficits in the short run.

Bernanke's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee is being watched by investors concerned about the doubts raised by some Fed officials about whether the bond purchases should continue. The bond purchases represent the third round of a program intended to strengthen sectors such as housing and autos through lower borrowing costs.

"Keeping longer-term interest rates low has helped spark recovery in the housing market and led to increased sales and production of automobiles and other durable goods," Bernanke said.

Bernanke addressed concerns that the Fed's purchases, which have pushed its balance sheet above $3 trillion, could trigger high inflation.

"Inflation is currently subdued and inflation expectations appear well-anchored," he said. "We do not see the potential costs of the increased risk-taking in some financial markets as outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more-rapid job creation."

Bernanke said that over the past six months, the economy has grown moderately but unevenly. He said the pause in growth seen in the final three months of 2012 "does not appear to be a stalling-out of the recovery." He said growth appears to have picked up in the past two months.

Shortly before Bernanke spoke, several reports pointed to surprising economic strength: Americans' confidence in the economy rebounded this month, new-home sales jumped in January to the highest level since 2008, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago and profits of U.S. banks jumped last quarter to the highest level in six years.

On the battle in Washington over how to restrain budget deficits, Bernanke said it's important not to cut the deficit too much while economic growth remains fragile. He noted that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the automatic spending cuts that take effect Friday would trim growth by 0.6 percentage point this year.

"Congress and the administration should consider replacing the sharp, front-loaded spending cuts required by the sequestration with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run," Bernanke said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-26-Bernanke/id-b55e253eeca84e2c9f247e5f2168cd29

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Edmonds Military Wire: Baby Boomers cause generational stress ...

Home ? Blog ? Featured ? Edmonds Military Wire: Baby Boomers cause generational stress

Edmonds Military Wire: Baby Boomers cause generational stress

Mike Schindler By Michael Schindler

According to Stress in America, a study commissioned by the American Psychological Association, Millennials are the most stressed demographic. This not only impacts our military and Veteran populations, but every community across America ? yes, even Edmonds. Real change is required.

The study goes on to state, ?While Millennials (ages 18 to 33) and Gen Xers (ages 34 to 47) report the highest average stress levels, Boomers (48 to 66) and Matures (67 years and older) join them in reporting levels that are higher than they consider healthy. Stress has also increased for a considerable number of Americans, regardless of age.?

And guess who is responsible? The Baby Boomers. Yep, I said it. I called out the white elephant. Now before I get lynched, let me explain.

It?s all about the money ? or lack thereof ? and the Boomers are responsible for teaching and implementing the ?I?ve got mine and we?ll figure out how to get yours later? attitude. Surveys show that money tops the list of stress sources (76 percent of respondents identified it as a problem), followed by work (70 percent) and the economy (65 percent).

Under Boomer leadership, whether at home or in government, Gen Xers were the first generation to be left ?worse off? than the previous generation ? and the cycle continues.

And kids feel their parents? stress. According to Sue Shellenbarger with The Wall Street Journal, ?Most parents ? 69 percent ? say that their stress doesn?t affect their children. But the kids disagree: 91 percent of 8- to 17-year-olds said they can tell when their parents are stressed out, and many ?feel sad, worried, and frustrated as a result.??

Arianna Huffington (I?m working on being fair and balanced) even chimed in and stated, ?It?s reasonable to assume that higher levels of stress put the Millennials at higher risk for all sorts of destructive downstream consequences, from diabetes and obesity to anxiety and depression. Not surprisingly, work is one of the biggest causes of stress. The job numbers are grim, and even those lucky Millennials that land a decent job often face a workplace rife with destructive definitions of success.?

And then there is Sequestration. Those impacts are not going to be pretty. Take Fort Drum ? WWNY News reported that thousands of civilians will likely experience furlough ? I can tell you that Fort Drum?s training budget is 25% less than it was the month before, some brigades will deploy without a training rotation (not good ? this is when body bags fill up) and the installation could see a military force reduction of up to 8000 troops?and this won?t be unique to Fort Drum.

So, aside from assigning blame, which doesn?t solve anything and just creates a good headline and a defensive environment (forgive me Baby Boomers), what are we to do?

We need to think outside the box.

Some have taken that to new levels like committing a crime?because at least they?ll be able to collect unemployment.

I?m not suggesting we follow or encourage that channel of thought.

What I?m suggesting is that we first understand that ?business as usual? has gotten us to where we are today and we need to change. That is step one.

Step two?and Bottom line: we need to truly understand what the economic drivers are for our city and what future ones we need to embrace. We need to attract new business and talent into our city that will support the economic drivers. We need to reshape programs and policies so that we see an ROI ? and we need to engage the next generation?new thought leaders?and encourage input.

We have incredible leaders cycling out of our military ? many are proven, disciplined, understand hard work, have little regard for politics but understandcompleting a mission successfully, and know that team work is vital. What are you doing to attract this talent to your business, church, organization?or city?

Michael Schindler, Navy veteran, and president of Edmonds-based Operation Military Family, is a guest writer for several national publications, author of the book ?Operation Military Family? and ?The Military Wire? blog. He is also a popular keynote and workshop speaker who reaches thousands of service members and their families every year through workshops and seminars that include? ?How to Battle-Ready Your Relationship? or ?What Your Mother-in-Law Didn?t Tell You.?? He received the 2010 Outstanding Patriotic Service Award from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2013 and is filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://myedmondsnews.com/2013/02/edmonds-military-wire-baby-boomers-cause-generational-stress/

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In shift, Syrian regime says it's ready to talk to rebels

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in Moscow that the Assad government wanted to engage in 'dialogue with anyone?who's willing for it, even those who carry arms.'

By Arthur Bright,?Staff writer / February 25, 2013

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem attends a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, unseen, in Moscow on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013.

Ivan Sekretarev/AP

Enlarge

For the first time since the Syrian civil war began almost two years ago, a top member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government today offered to engage in talks with rebel leaders to find a diplomatic resolution to the fighting. But the opposition leadership has reportedly dismissed the offer, insisting that the president must first step down.

Skip to next paragraph Arthur Bright

Europe Editor

Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor.? He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog.? He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

Nokia Pulls Away Its Name From Its Mapping And Navigation Services, Rebrands As ?HERE? To Push More Cross-Platform Business

Nokia is taking one more step to push its mapping and devices services as a standalone business. Today, the company announced during the handset maker's press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it would be rebranding all of its Nokia-branded mapping and navigation services as "HERE" going forward.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Uuouunigm_8/

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Is historical claim behind the mystery group of (armed?) Filipinos in Borneo?

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Huge Protest Vote Leaves Italy Facing Deadlock

* Global markets shaken by fears of new euro zone instability
* Vote is stunning success for populist movement
* Berlusconi stages comeback but cannot govern alone
* Centre-left big losers although will try to form government
By Barry Moody and James Mackenzie
ROME, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A huge protest vote by Italians enraged by economic hardship and political corruption left the euro zone's third-largest economy facing a dangerous vacuum on Monday after an election in which no group won enough votes to form a government.
The result, in which anti-euro parties took more than 50 percent of the vote and a novice populist movement scored a stunning success, rocked global markets with fears of a new euro zone crisis.
Europe's common currency slumped against the dollar and yen and U.S. stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop since November.
With more than 99 percent of returns in from polling stations, results showed the centre-left had taken a slim victory of around 130,000 votes in the lower house of parliament, enough to give it comfortable control thanks to a big winner's bonus.
But no party or likely coalition won enough seats to form a majority in the upper house, creating a deadlocked parliament - the opposite of the stable result that Italy desperately needs to tackle a deep recession, rising unemployment and a massive public debt.
The outcome fanned fears of a new European financial crisis, with prospects of a long period of paralysis and uncertainty in Italy.
"This is the worst possible outcome from the market's point of view ... It seems inevitable that there will be a new election," said Alessandro Tentori, Citigroup head of global rates.
The result was an extraordinary success for Genoese comic Beppe Grillo, leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, who toured the country in his first national election campaign hurling obscenity-laced insults against a discredited political class.
He was set to become the biggest single party in the lower house, riding a potent wave of anger against rampant waste and corruption by ageing political leaders.
His success fulfilled the predictions of some analysts that the most uncertain and closely watched election in years would herald a political revolution. "This is the end of a system, not a government," respected commentator Massimo Franco told Reuters before the vote.
Grillo polled more around a quarter of the vote in a meteoric rise from the 1.8 percent he garnered in his movement's first local political test in 2010.
The result was a humiliating slap in the face for colourless centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who threw away a 10-point opinion-poll lead less than two months ago against Silvio Berlusconi's centre right.
He failed to turn up for a press conference after the result became clear. His deputy, Enrico Letta, as well as outgoing technocrat premier Mario Monti, said responsible forces must form a government and avoid another election. But the result raised a big question over whether that would be possible.
Billionaire media magnate Berlusconi, 76, who staged an extraordinary comeback from sex and corruption scandals since diving into the campaign in December, came in a close second in the Senate race, with an estimated 117 seats.
With almost all results in, the centre-left was set to take 121 seats in the upper house, Grillo 54, and Monti languishing on only 22 after a campaign which never took off. The Senate majority is 158.
Berlusconi, a master politician and communicator, wooed voters with a blitz of television appearances and promises to refund Monti's hated housing tax despite accusations from opponents that this was an impossible vote buying trick.
Grillo has attacked all sides in the campaign and ruled out a formal alliance with any group although it was not immediately known how he would react to his stunning success or how his supporters would behave in parliament.
The next move to solve the crisis will be when head of state Giorgio Napolitano calls in political leaders to discuss how to form a government. But this is not expected until March 10 after the election result is formally confirmed and parliament convened.
Letta said the centre-left, as biggest party in the lower house, had the right to be the first to try to form a government.

DANGER OF NEW ELECTION
Investors fear a return of the kind of debt crisis that took the euro zone close to disaster and brought the technocrat Monti to office, replacing Berlusconi, in 2011.
The results showed more than half of Italians had voted for the anti-euro platforms of Berlusconi and Grillo.
A centre-left government either alone or ruling with Monti had been seen by investors as the best guarantee of measures to combat a deep recession and stagnant growth in Italy, which is pivotal to stability in the currency union.
But the failure of Monti to gain traction at the head of a centrist force, despite support from business leaders and foreign governments, and the weak showing by the centre-left meant they do not have nearly enough Senators to do this.
The upper and lower houses have equal law-making power.
The benchmark spread between Italian 10-year bonds and their German equivalent widened from below 260 basis points to above 300 and the Italian share index lost all its previous gains after projections of the Senate result.

Monti helped save Italy from a debt crisis when Rome's borrowing costs were spiralling out of control in November 2011, but few Italians now see him as the saviour of the country, which is reeling under its longest recession for 20 years.
Grillo's movement rode a wave of voter anger about both the pain of Monti's austerity programme and a string of political and corporate scandals. It had particular appeal for a frustrated younger generation shut out of full-time jobs.
"I'm sick of the scandals and the stealing," said Paolo Gentile, a 49-year-old Rome lawyer who voted for 5-Star. "We need some young, new people in parliament, not the old parties that are totally discredited."
Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, exploited anger against Monti's austerity programme, accusing him of being a puppet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but in many areas Grillo was a bigger beneficiary of public discontent.
Italians wrung their hands at prospects of an inconclusive result that will mean more delays to essential reforms.
"It's a classic result. Typically Italian. It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen," said 36-year-old Rome office worker Roberta Federica.
Another office worker, Elisabetta Carlotta, 46, shook her head in disbelief. "We can't go on like this," she said.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/italy-deadlock_n_2762230.html

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Kantar: Android back on top of US smartphone share in January with Sprint's help

Most US smartphone market share estimates last fall saw Apple retake the lead as it rode a wave of iPhone 5 sales. While there was always a question as to how long that trend would last, new data from Kantar Worldpanel supports beliefs that it was really more of a momentary pop. Android reportedly took back the lead at 49.4 percent of American sales between November and January, improving its overall position versus the same month last year. Not that everyone else was necessarily hurting -- iOS still had a 45.9 percent slice of the pie, and the continued Windows Phone 8 rollout took Microsoft up to 3.2 percent. The real wounds were dealt to a pre-transition BlackBerry and Nokia's outgoing Symbian.

We seldom get an explanation as to why such shifts take place, but the researchers suggest that a significant chunk of the January switch-up can be assigned to one carrier: Sprint. Its decision to cut the Galaxy S III's contract price to $99 supposedly helped Samsung's flagship climb from 14 percent of Sprint sales in October to 39 percent over the more recent 3-month span. The Galaxy S III didn't play as much of a role elsewhere, Kantar says. Sprint's average contract pricing for Android also dipped to $95 at the same time, helping Samsung alone get 60.3 percent of the network's business as customers snapped up bargains. Big Yellow only played a small part in the overall US market, as you'll see in the detailed charts after the break, but it may have been large enough to tip the balance in OS preferences at the start of 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Google, Blackberry

Comments

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1xF7Gc03YQE/

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Best Thing on the Internet Today MTVs Fake Twitter Hack

Best Thing on the Internet Today: MTV's Fake Twitter Hack

If you've been living under a rock the past few days, you've probably been spending a lot of time on Twitter (there is WiFi under rocks now) and watched with glee as @BurgerKing and @Jeep were hacked, probably by the same person. Never one to shy away from a silly, vacuous controversy, MTV jumped on board the corporate account hack-wagon buzz today by pretending that their own account was hacked by an overzealous BET fan with a tenor that aligned perfectly with the voice behind the real hacks.

Best Thing on the Internet Today: MTV's Fake Twitter Hack

While some were fooled, it came out pretty quickly that the whole thing was a prank. J.P. Lespinasse, self proclaimed "social media pugilist" for BET revealed the prank before it started?in a now deleted tweet and @MTV tweeted a mea culpa. MTV and BET are both owned by Viacom, so while Sumner Redstone may not have signed off on the stunt himself, the hacked acccount meme is officially an instrument of "the man."

Some people were annoyed, including whoever runs the Denny's Twitter account. BuzzFeed seemed put off that day's events?amounted?to a publicity stunt, but we're guessing that's because they fell for it initially and tweeted about it. Even Anonymous felt the need to chime in, tweeting "A hacker wouldn't even waste their time to hack your sorry ass accounts on twitter???Get a life" from the @AnonymousGlobal account.?

In less than 36 hours, the online outlook towards these corporate twitter hacks has gone from frenzied excitement to bored annoyance. Seems it's all in fun until somebody tries to make money off it. At the end of the day MTV has proven that they continue to be the best at what they do: co-opting authentic cultural movements into corporatized units of consumption for commercial gain.

[via Daily Dot]

____

Michael Kolberg is The Sprawl Editor at?Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter for jokes?@mikeykolberg.

For more, follow us on Twitter at?@torontostandard?and subscribe to our?Newsletter.

Source: http://www.torontostandard.com/article/best-thing-on-the-internet-today-mtvs-fake-twitter-hack

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

SwiftKey 4 launches with Flow, personal style detection (hands-on)

SwiftKey has been promising its own answer to Swype ever since it launched the SwiftKey Flow beta late last year, and the company's retort is at last finished. The newly available SwiftKey 4 -- Flow is just a component here -- brings Android writers the promised gesture-based typing along with Flow Through Space, which lets users glide to the spacebar to keep typing rather than pause after every word. The upgrade also expands contextual word prediction to 60 languages, offers simpler corrections and watches for personal typing habits to adjust accordingly -- it should learn whether you're a hunt-and-peck newcomer or a seasoned pro blazing along with both thumbs. The update is free for existing users in both phone- and tablet-sized forms, and it's temporarily priced at $2 (normally $4) to lure in anyone who isn't happy with their existing input methods.

We gave the final version a spin on a Galaxy Nexus, and much of what we saw in the SwiftKey Flow beta holds true with SwiftKey 4. Anyone comfy with a gesture-based keyboard will be happy with the speed and accuracy here, especially when they don't have to lift their finger between words. However, the previous quirks remain as well: Flow Through Space tends to melt down after a few words, so you'll want to stop after "the quick brown fox" before you finish with "jumps over the lazy dog." The style recognition is harder to gauge when this author is an an experienced user who's only had a short while to teach the app any tricks, but the simplified corrections are handy for quickly polishing up a sentence. While we don't feel that SwiftKey is orchestrating a revolution with version 4, it doesn't have to -- the appeal here is not having to give up SwiftKey's generally well-regarded feel to get a feature previously reserved for competitors. It remains our go-to keyboard for those times we don't like what Google or phone designers have to offer.

Show full PR text

SwiftKey 4 Best-Selling Android App Revolutionized with Innovative 'SwiftKey Flow' Gesture Typing

SAN FRANCISCO -- February 20, 2013 - SwiftKey 4 launches today on Google Play with smarter features that make typing on a touchscreen faster, easier and more accurate. Available now at the promo price of $1.99 and as a free upgrade for existing users, the new release features a unique take on gesture typing called SwiftKey Flow.

SwiftKey Flow combines the mind-reading capabilities of SwiftKey's personalized autocorrect engine with the speed of gliding your fingers across the screen. This revolutionary approach to continuous input begins predicting words from the moment a user touches the screen and goes on to predict their next word when they let go. A unique feature called 'Flow Through Space' also makes gesture typing more powerful than ever before by allowing users to enter entire phrases simply by gliding to the space bar between words.

SwiftKey 4 adds to everything that has made the app a bestseller since first launching in 2010. Users can still tap to type, the app constantly learns a user's style to ease the frustration of entering long words and users can further personalize predictions by granting access to their Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, SMS or blog posts.

"Everyone's had embarrassing autocorrect moments," said Ben Medlock, SwiftKey co-founder and CTO. "That's why we built SwiftKey to understand the context of words, not just their spelling. It works from the word go to adjust to you - from the phrases you write to how you touch the screen. It means you don't have to worry about typing, it does all the hard work for you."

The new features in SwiftKey 4 include:

* SwiftKey Flow - blending SwiftKey's mind-reading next-word prediction and autocorrect with the speed of gesture typing
* Flow Through Space - lets users write entire sentences in one motion without ever having to lift their finger to add a space
* Support for contextual prediction across 60 languages - with new support for Albanian, Bosnian, Javanese, Sundanese, Thai and Vietnamese, all with dynamic auto-correction and next word prediction
* Easier corrections - tap on a word and SwiftKey 4 will move the cursor to the end of the word and offer two alternatives
* Personalized typing style - whether you write inaccurately with two thumbs or more carefully using a single finger, SwiftKey 4 now automatically adapts to how users type to provide more insightful corrections and prediction

Beta versions of the app have been tested by more than 200,000 SwiftKey fans over the last 11 weeks, with more than 2.4 billion characters flowed. A No.1 best-selling app on Google Play in 38 countries, SwiftKey is available in 60 languages and counting. For more information about SwiftKey, visit www.swiftkey.net.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

Comments

Source: SwiftKey

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0gJR7pE1gEg/

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Witness heard "non-stop shouting" before Pistorius shooting

PRETORIA (Reuters) - A witness heard "non-stop shouting" in the home of South African athletics star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the detective leading the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court in a bail hearing that police had found two containers of testosterone and needles in Pistorius' bedroom.

The athlete's defense team said the containers held a herbal remedy taken legally by many athletes, landed some blows to Botha's portrayal of a cold-blooded killing and described inconsistencies and errors in the initial investigation.

Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed "Blade Runner" because of his carbon fiber racing blades, sobbed uncontrollably as Botha presented his testimony about the death of Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

The law graduate and model was in the toilet of the athlete's home when she was shot dead in the early hours of February 14 - Valentine's Day. She was hit in the head, arm and hip.

The shooting and allegations that have emerged at the hearing have stunned South Africa and millions of people around the world who regarded Pistorius, who has no lower legs, as the epitome of physical triumph over adversity.

"One of our witnesses heard a fight, two people talking loudly at each other ... from two in the morning to three," Botha told the court. Pistorius' first call after the incident was to the manager of his high-security complex at 3.19 am, Botha said.

In an affidavit delivered on Tuesday, Pistorius said he woke in the middle of the night and thought an intruder had climbed through his bathroom window and entered the adjoining toilet.

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.

Pistorius - the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympics - then described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief that the intruder was lurking inside.

After four hours of testimony, the hearing was adjourned until Thursday. It is expected to conclude this week, once the defense and prosecution have outlined their central arguments.

It may then be several months before a trial. If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius faces life in jail.

His uncle Arnold said Pistorius was in "extreme shock" and had only started eating again on Tuesday evening. He had spent some of his five days in police custody reading the Bible, he added.

TRAJECTORY

Botha, who arrived on the scene an hour after the shooting, challenged Pistorius' affidavit.

"I believe he knew she was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door," the detective said, adding that the angle at which the rounds were fired suggested they were aimed at somebody on the toilet.

Pistorius had said he moved into the bathroom on his stumps - the reason he felt so vulnerable - but Botha said the shots went in a "top to bottom" trajectory, suggesting Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger.

"It seems to me it was fired down," he said.

One of the spent rounds was recovered from the toilet bowl, Botha said.

He also cited a witness in the upscale gated community near Pretoria where Pistorius lived as saying he heard a shot, followed 17 minutes later by more shots. Another witness spoke of a shot, followed by screams, then more shots, he said.

After a vigorous cross-examination from Pistorius' defense, a rattled Botha halved his original estimate of the distance between the witnesses and Pistorius' home to 300 meters.

Lead defense counsel Barry Roux challenged Botha, describing oversights and slip-ups in the initial police investigation.

He disputed the policeman's reference to "testosterone", saying the substance found in Pistorius' bedroom was a legitimate herbal remedy called "testo-composutim co-enzyme".

Details on the makeup of testo-composutim co-enzyme were not immediately available.

Administering testosterone as an anabolic agent is banned at all times under World Anti-Doping Agency rules for sports people.

"HE WILL BOUNCE BACK"

The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 meters in the London Olympics.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in the country after the gang rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Arnold Pistorius accused the state of launching a 'public trial' by leaking evidence to the media, and reiterated his belief that his nephew would be exonerated and return to the track and public life.

"Truth will prevail," he said in an interview with South Africa's ENCA television channel. "I know the truth. I know exactly what happened. The puzzle is not going to fit where the state wants to fit it."

"He will bounce back and be greater than ever."

The sprinter's sponsors do not share that confidence.

Sportswear giant Nike and French designer Thierry Mugler have both dropped him from future advertising campaigns and cosmetics firm Clarins is recalling a male perfume range bearing Pistorius' signature.

His other sponsors include British telecoms firm BT and sunglasses maker Oakley.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pistorius-bail-hearing-restarts-pretoria-081412153--finance.html

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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Common Core Spelling Standards

Target Your Core Demographic Directly

How to Increase Word of Mouth

The Effects of Direct Mail Marketing

Cost Effectiveness of Investing in a SEO Marketing Company

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Edmonds Military Wire: Baby Boomers cause generational stress

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

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