Sunday, September 30, 2012

Leisure Fitness Opens 22nd Fitness Equipment Super Store in ...

Leisure Fitness is a Specialty Home Fitness Equipment retailer with over 20 locations from Northern New Jersey and as far south as Southern Virginia.

Englishtown, NJ (PRWEB) September 29, 2012

On September 10th, 2012 Leisure Fitness opened its 22nd store. The new

Leisure Fitness ? Englishtown, NJ

store is located at 455 Route 9. This is Leisure Fitness? seventh location in New Jersey, with more locations coming soon.

The store location was most recently known as Joe?s East Coast Fitness, and has been a fitness equipment store for 27 years. Joe Dalzell, former owner of East Coast Fitness, will be joining the Leisure Fitness team in a hybrid role of Commercial and Residential Sales based out of the Englishtown, NJ store.

Leisure Fitness offers high-quality fitness equipment to meet your home, office, and corporate needs. Equipment includes ellipticals, treadmills, recumbent and upright bikes, home gyms, rowing machines, free weights, and accessories.

The store will have a full selection of top brands including; Precor, Life Fitness, Landice, Inspire Fitness, LifeSpan Fitness, Spirit Fitness, ElliptiGO, Bodyguard, AbCoaster, Body-Solid and more.

Leisure Fitness operates under the philosophy that to reach a wellness destination people must have education and motivation. Therefore, Leisure Fitness provides a professional, educated staff of fitness experts who are knowledgeable about all of the equipment?s capability and performance specifications as well as what equipment is right for any of the countless individual needs that their customers can and will have.

To promote wellness in the community, Leisure Fitness is offering free Corporate Wellness Seminars to major employers in Englishtown and surrounding communities. Other organizations that have taken advantage of these seminars include Princeton University, Siemens, Wawa, FBI, Johns Hopkins Hospital Systems, and Astra Zeneca.

Dan Lahey, Manager for the Englishtown Store, said, ?Leisure Fitness is excited to serve the Englishtown community?s fitness needs and to provide health and fitness guidance to meet there fitness goals.? Dan has over 5 years of industry experience in the New Jersey market.

Leisure Fitness is passionately committed to providing the tools that will help its customers get fit and stay fit. All the products displayed and sold at Leisure Fitness are carefully reviewed to insure that every item is of the highest quality and engineered to deliver results. Once becoming a member of the Leisure Fitness customer family, Leisure Fitness makes every effort to continue to motivate and educate their customers with a variety of services designed to keep people moving towards their fitness goals and beyond.

If you?d like more information about Leisure Fitness please visit LeisureFitness.com, or contact store manager, Dan Lahey, at (732) 972-3434. If you are interested in Corporate Wellness Seminars, please call Anne Stephenson, at (302) 224-5062.

Anne Stephenson
Leisure Fitness
302-224-5062
Email Information

Source: http://www.gymrat-fitness.com/leisure-fitness-opens-22nd-fitness-equipment-super-store-in-englishtown-nj-bringing-home-fitness-equipment-and

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Iraqi prisoners escape from prison; 12 killed

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Prisoners seized weapons and clashed with security guards in an hourslong standoff that killed 12 people, including 10 guards, and allowed dozens of al-Qaida-linked inmates to escape before ending Friday in Saddam Hussein's hometown, Iraqi officials said.

The security breach drew sharp criticism of Iraqi security forces, which have been unable to stabilize the country almost a year after U.S. troops withdrew. Officials said that reinforcements had to be sent from Baghdad to help put down the riot and prisoners burned all the prison records, complicating efforts to track down those still on the run.

The riot erupted on Thursday night when several inmates at the Tasfirat prison in Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, broke into a storage room, grabbed weapons being kept there and overpowered the guards, according to a spokesman for Salahuddin province where the city is located.

The prisoners then exchanged gunfire with security troops inside the facility before breaking out hours later. By Friday morning, government troops had regained control of the prison, the spokesman Mohammed al-Assi said.

"Everything is under control now. Our security forces are chasing the escaped prisoners and have already recaptured some," al-Assi said in a telephone interview.

Iraq has been struggling to keep terror suspects behind bars since U.S. forces turned over legal custody of their detainees to the government. In July 2011, detainees linked to al-Qaida escaped at least twice from a Baghdad area prison known as Camp Cropper shortly after the U.S. handed it over to Iraqi authorities.

The jailbreaks have deeply embarrassed Iraq's government, which is eager to demonstrate it can control its justice system.

A provincial health official, Raed Ibrahim, confirmed that 12 people died in the violence ? 10 prison guards and two inmates. He said 32 people were wounded in the clashes at the prison.

Qutaiba al-Jubouri, a lawmaker from the province, said 81 inmates, including some who were on death row, managed to escape but 36 had been recaptured. He said the prison warden Lt. Col. Laith al-Sagmani was wounded during the clashes and inmates slit the throat of a police captain.

"This is a regrettable security breach," said al-Jubouri, adding that an investigation will follow, "starting with the commanders of the security forces" at the prison.

He added that special forces were sent to Tikrit from Baghdad in order to put down the rioting. Security forces later dismantled three car bombs that were found parked near the prison.

Prisoners seized police uniform inside the prison during the riots and they wore the uniform as a kind of deception in order to mislead the security forces, according to two provincial security officials.

Another lawmaker, Hakim al-Zamili, said the inmates burned all the prison records during the rioting, suggesting the jailbreak was an inside job.

"This incident shows that Iraqi security troops are still unable to control the situation and that they are still being infiltrated by terrorists," al-Zamili said.

He blamed delays in implementing the death sentences and the soft treatment in the country's prison for the jailbreaks, adding that "the death sentences should be implemented on the terrorists as soon as possible instead of letting them plan for attacks or escape from their cells."

Prison escapes have frequently occurred in Iraq.

The Tikrit prison itself was moved to a different location after 16 prisoners, including five al-Qaida-linked inmates awaiting execution, made their escape after plying open the bars on a prison bathroom window with a pipe wrench in September 2009.

At the time, the entire prison staff and the provincial prison official were detained for questioning. Six of the escaped inmates were later captured.

In 2010, a dozen detainees held on terrorism charges broke out of a prison in the southern city of Basra, disguised in police uniforms. And last year, al-Qaida smuggled weapons and grenades into a prison in Mosul, supposedly one of the country's most secure detention centers, and attempted an ultimately unsuccessful jailbreak that left 17 dead.

In other violence Friday, gunmen shot dead the former governor of Basra, Mohammed al-Wailie, as he was driving his car in the center of the southern city, the police said. Hundreds of people, including senior Basra officials, participated in al-Wailie's funeral.

In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, gunmen shot dead Sunni cleric, Mohammed Hussein as he was leaving the mosque after ending night prayers, according to Kirkuk police commander Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report in Baghdad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-prisoners-escape-prison-12-killed-191415426.html

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Producer Kathleen Kennedy Updates About Jurassic Park 4: It's All ...

It?s been over a decade since we last got a Jurassic Park movie, and the rumors of a fourth film have been floating around the internet nearly as long. The long-gestating project gained a bit of forward momentum this past July when Rise of the Planet of the Apes screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver were hired to rewrite the script. According to producer Kathleen Kennedy, however, we probably still have a while before we?ll see a fourth Jurassic Park film, because they want to make sure they?ve got a story and a script that makes it worth revisiting the franchise.

Speaking to Coming Soon, Kennedy emphasized that they didn?t want to make a fourth film simply because they can:

It?s really hard to keep these things going when there?s an expectation and a desire by the public and the audience to keep certain franchises going. As filmmakers, we often sit there going, ?Okay. We have to answer the question, ?Why do another one?? If you can?t answer that question, you shouldn?t be doing it. It?s tough. We?re trying to come up with a story that makes sense and isn?t going to disappoint people and is, hopefully, going to get people excited and reinvigorate the franchise. We?ve got to start with a script and the story.

It?s nice to hear a producer stress the importance of actually having a solid script before they actually start shooting. You would think that would be a given, but we?ve all seen countless cases where a movie that has good potential is hamstrung by a flawed, sloppy script (*coughcoughPrometheuscough*). With a franchise like Jurassic Park, where it?s been so long since the last installment, it would be all too easy to rush out a lazy cash-in sequel. But Men in Black proved that you can revitalize a dusty old franchise if you do it right.

With Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver on script duties, Jurassic Park 4 might actually have a shot. Their Apes movie found a way to reintroduce the franchise in a big way, going on to earn nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. Even better, it was actually a pretty good flick. If they can work the same magic on Jurassic Park, we might actually get a worthwhile story instead of just a new excuse to sell dinosaur toys.

Source: http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/producer-kathleen-kennedy-updates-jurassic-park-4-writing.html

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Response to ?Adopt a Kid, Not a Cause? ? Together for Adoption

by Dennae Pierre Published Sep 28, 2012

As a foster and adoptive mother, I am always happy to come across articles on adoption. Megan Hill?s thoughts on whether or not adoption should be considered a cause communicated to me her ?desire for her children to know that they are loved and wanted by her. I can say a hearty ?amen? as an adoptive mother who never wants my children to think of themselves as a cause. There is much to agree with Megan, so?throughout this article I desire not to pit her ideas about adoption against ours, but rather show how her viewpoint scratches the surface and why Together for Adoption feels it is necessary to go deeper.

The Desire to Have Children

We have children because we want them. That is an easy way to describe the prospect by which people begin to have a family, but is it enough to stop there? As thoughtful Christians, we must ask ourselves, why do we want children?

The first few pages of the Bible show us that procreation is very much a part of God?s mission. God entrusted Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth with image-bearers. These image-bearers were to spread the image of God all over the face of this earth. Why? Not to meet the instinctual need of Eve to nurture a child, although that was a result. It was not to secure Adam?s family line, although that happened as well. The primary reason was to spread God?s name throughout the earth.

From the beginning, there has always been something very missional about having children. We certainly don?t think God called our first parents to ?be fruitful and multiply? so they could ?rescue? a few children. This mission was broader, wider, and deeper.? Our children, biological or not, are part of the mission God entrusted to us.

What?s in a Name (?Adoption?)?

This is a piece of the backdrop that hangs behind the word ?Adoption? for us. When Together for Adoption speaks of ?Adoption? we are talking about something specific and distinct. We are not talking about adopting orphans. We do not believe that adoption is about embracing a diverse kingdom or fulfilling our duty to the needy. The word ?Adoption? in our name refers to the doctrine of adoption. We believe adoption is all about salvation. Adoption is a wonderful way to describe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dan Cruver, the founder of Together for Adoption, says it wonderfully, ?I don?t know if you have ever thought about it like this, but God is an adoptive Father. Jesus, our Elder Brother, is God the Father?s eternal, only-begotten, natural Son. We believers are His sons through adoption. This identity is fundamental to who we are. As adopted sons, we enjoy all the rights and privileges of the relationship that God the Father enjoys with his eternal Son. To be God?s sons through adoption means that we are co-heirs with Jesus. This is an amazing reality and an eternal privilege! We will forever be God?s sons through the miracle of adoption.?

All of this, I am sure we agree on, but let me explain why this matters when it comes to orphan care. Of course families who adopt must want and love children, but much more is needed if we are to, on a macro level, meet the needs of the hundreds of millions of orphaned children and on a micro level, unselfishly love and care for the children in our individual homes in a way that provides answers and healing to their painful losses.

On a macro level, our message is not just for people who are currently involved in orphan care. It is necessary to remind the church of the doctrine of their adoption precisely to awaken their minds to the idea of loving some of the most vulnerable children in our world. We believe our message is necessary because the global orphan crisis is massive and unacceptable. 130+ million orphans will never get their physical and emotional needs met without the Church taking extreme action. What should motivate the Church to social action? Every single time, it needs to be the gospel. If we remove the gospel as the main motivation for the church to take action, we are left with individuals being motivated out of works righteousness.

What the Crisis Needs

The worldwide orphan crisis cannot be solved by Americans adopting children. Together for Adoption has not suggested that every Christian needs to ?adopt? children or even that every orphaned or vulnerable child needs to be adopted. Roughly 130,000 children?are adopted in the United States each year. That is a miniscule drop in the bucket of the 130 plus million children orphaned or at risk of being orphaned. Families ?wanting children? is necessary, but not enough to solve the world orphan crisis. We need a movement of believers who will not rest until the suffering cry of orphans is answered. If we want that type of movement to happen within the worldwide Church and to happen in a way that brings great glory to God, then it must be motivated out of the good and wonderful work Christ did for us, not from our own desires.

We need Christians in impoverished nations to care for orphans. We host our conferences in places like Haiti and Nicaragua because the only way many orphans will ever get their needs met is through an indigenous foster care and adoption movement. What will call, empower, and sustain a family already living in poverty to welcome that nephew or niece to their table? Only the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

We need Christians to work to prevent orphans. Systemic changes in the foster care system, addressing poverty, HIV/AIDS, and malaria, and finding creative ways to come around a single mom to truly be her family are a few of many the ways orphan prevention can happen. This can only happen in a way that brings glory to God and truly meets the needs of these individuals through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We need churches full of people who understand what it means to have been adopted into the family of God so that they support, encourage, and walk with families who adopt children. Adoptive moms often say that they do not feel understood or loved by their church members? callous or heartless comments in relation to their adopted children. The theology of adoption rightly taught and applied will create a Christian culture where that does not happen.

Those are just a few of the countless examples of why, on a macro level, our message is necessary. However, on a micro level, there are innumerable examples as well. As Megan Hill wrote in her blog post the adoption-blogging world well documents that adoption is not an easy task. It is well known that there are difficulties and pain involved. It should never be romanticized. I became involved with Together for Adoption after speaking to multiple couples who had decided to disrupt their foster care placements. Since then, I have spoken with families who have dissolved their adoptions. Many of the women I speak with are depressed and crushed under the weight of their children?s extreme needs.

Dissolution of adoption should never happen. Christians need to be equipped to endure with joy the suffering involved with a difficult foster care placement until that child can be reunited with their biological family or placed with a forever family. The theology of adoption can equip Christians to have a persevering love with difficult children who resist our love.

There is a great need for children to be adopted that are older or who have special needs. Many of us may be called to welcome in a teenager??at the cost of our own desires for healthy babies. The gospel, in particular the doctrine of adoption, equips Christians to make self-denying choices like these. It equips us to make these choices not as a part of a personal crusade to save the world one child at a time, but as a part of God?s mission to display his love and glory to everyone, especially the most vulnerable.

We must have a love that is so unique, so counter-cultural that we are able to love children that the world does not want, the kind of children that the world would deem undesirable and unlovable. This unique love can only come after drinking from the well of God?s love for his Son, which, by the wonderful grace of adoption, has been poured out to us.

Infertility and Adoption

Lastly, I would like to briefly speak to the infertility issue. Infertility is a great loss and terrible suffering for so many.? Anyone who has walked the painful road of infertility will tell you that adoption cannot solve that problem. Being able to adopt a child into your family is a blessing in and of itself. I have heard countless women express to me how thankful they are for their adoptive children and how they hope their child never thinks that they adopted them because they were infertile. As Megan Hill rightly says, we adopt our children because we want them, because we loved them. But it goes beyond that. We adopt them because they needed us and not because we need them.

Parenting never goes well with biological or adoptive children when we seek our children to meet a need within us. Rather, we make the sacrifices we do, joyfully, to raise our children out of an overflow of what God has done for us. Of course, we can agree that our children bless us. Children are a sanctifying grace from the Lord. Our children are a wonderful gift, but that gift must always remain in the place God intended it to be. A gift that points us to the wonderful gift giver who meets all our wants and desires with himself, our Father God.

Adopting simply to meet our own desire for a child also minimizes the pain and loss that child experiences. The loss of their biological family is a loss that happened only as a result of our broken and sinful world. How thankful I am to be my children?s mother. And yet, I weep every time I pray for their biological mother who is unable to be their mama. I adopted my children to meet their deep, desperate need for a mother, which means they experienced a deep and painful loss. As their mother, I wish I could protect them from the pain of the loss of their biological family. I wish when we had our ?why?? discussions I could make it as simple as ?because I wanted children.? But that would not answer the hurting cry of their heart that knows this is not the way it was meant to be.

Instead, I give my children a larger story in which they can live in as I paint a picture for them of our God who deeply understands their loss. I show them our God who experienced even greater loss; the loss of his only begotten Son and that terrible and horrific loss was the greatest act of love this universe has ever known. It is the very loss that restored me into a relationship with God. The God who adopted me into his family through the sweet blood of Jesus is the same God that has filled me with a deep love for them.

?

Source: http://www.togetherforadoption.org/?p=15396

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Information Technology Parks to boost Philippine Business Process ...

Home ? Editorial ? Information Technology Parks to boost Philippine Business Process Outsourcing industry

Manila, Philippines ? INFORMATION Technology (IT) Parks are rising in the provinces and in Metro Manila to provide the infrastructure and connectivity needed to boost the robust growth of the country?s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. The new IT Parks outside Metro Manila are in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bi?an, Tarlac, Baguio, Cabanatuan, Dasmari?as, Dumaguete, General Santos, Lipa, Naga, San Fernando, and Urdaneta, and in the municipalities of Marilao, Bulacan; Bacong and Sibulan, Negros Oriental; Rosario and Silang, Cavite.

BPO firms are the predominant locators in IT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. The government offers tax incentives to BPO firms, including value-added tax and income tax exemption. The IT-BPO industry is today one of the country?s biggest job creators. In 2011, the sector recorded $11 billion investments and created 638,000 jobs. For 2012, it expects $13 billion revenues on a labor force of 764,000. By 2016, it projects $27 billion revenues and jobs for 1.3 million Filipino workers.

The rising demand for call center services leads the BPO boom. The Philippines holds a major portion of the global outsourcing market, due to the English proficiency of Filipinos. Call centers count among its clients giant multinationals. Pharmaceutical firms outsource their medical transcriptions in the country.

This year, several grants and subsidies were earmarked by various agencies and institutions for the sector?s educational and technical development. The Asian Development Bank granted P27.3 million in technical assistance for skills enhancement. State universities nationwide were allocated a budget of P125 million to fund IT-BPO-based programs. A P450-million subsidy was set aside by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for training. The Information and Communication Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology allocated P350 million to support the IT-BPO industry.

We wish Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Dr. Lilia B. de Lima and Information and Communication Technology Office Executive Director Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Louis Napoleon C. Casambre, all the best and success in their unwavering support to promote the global competitiveness of the information and communication technology sector. CONGRATULATIONS AND MABUHAY!

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Source: http://www.tempo.com.ph/2012/information-technology-parks-to-boost-philippine-business-process-outsourcing-industry/

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When Falls the Coliseum ? Probably the fault of the top 1%

Scott Stein is editor of When Falls the Coliseum and author of the novels Lost and Mean Martin Manning. His short fiction, book reviews, and essays have been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The G.W. Review, Liberty, National Review, PopMatters.com, and Art Times. He is an associate teaching professor of English at Drexel University.

Source: http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2012/09/27/probably-the-fault-of-the-top-1/

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In Iran, sanctions bite and currency collapses

Raheb Homavandi / Reuters file

A money changer holds Iranian rial banknotes as he waits for customers in Tehran's business district in this January 7, 2012 file photo.

By Ali Arouzi, NBC News correspondent

TEHRAN ? Even though threats of war with Israel are almost a daily occurrence, what?s really on people's minds in this city is the economy.

The United States, the European Union and the U.N. have imposed tough economic sanctions against Iran, blocking access to the international banking system and curbing sales of Iranian crude oil as a way to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.

As a result, Iran?s currency, the rial, is in a constant state of flux, but mostly on a downward trajectory. These days, it seems to fall in value against the dollar on an hourly basis. On Tuesday the currency hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar, trading at 26,500 to the U.S. dollar on the open market, according to Persian-language currency tracking website Mazanex.?

?Our money is becoming more and more worthless every day,? said Sarvenas Sadi, an elderly woman doing her daily shopping in Tehran earlier this week.

She picked up a handful of limes and exclaimed, ?These were 100 percent cheaper last year!?


Asked whether she ever though she would see the currency devalue so much, she replied, ?Never! I remember before the [1979] revolution $1 was worth 70 rial, now it?s worth 26,000! Who would have ever have thought!?

Iranians feel the pain of sanctions: 'Everything has doubled in price'

Did she think things would ever balance out and the price of goods would come down to what they were before. ?Unfortunately I don?t think so. The thing with Iran is that once the price of something goes up, it never comes down again.?

So what?s the solution?? ?Eat less limes,? she jokingly replied.?

AP

Two potential Iranian customers look at fabric bolts in Tehran's old main bazaar in this picture taken July 14, 2012.

Manufacturing hit hard
The financial situation is affecting people from all classes. Thousands of workers have been laid off and have not been paid back wages because companies have simply run out of money. Majid, a 32-year-old mechanic who used to work for a large car company was recently laid off and is owed six months? salary.

?They are laying off people left, right and center. I doubt there will be a company left by the New Year,? he said, giving just his first name because of the sensitivity of the issue in Iran. Persian New Year will be on March 21, 2013.

The car industry, one of the biggest manufacturing sectors in Iran and a massive employer, has been affected dramatically; Iranian media have reported a 30 to 50 percent drop in car and component production in the past six months. Iran was the 13th-largest auto maker in the world in 2011, producing 1.6 million vehicles.

The Iran Khodro Company, the country?s leading vehicle manufacturer, had become the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Middle East,?Central Asia?and North Africa. ?The company won the annual national prize for export activities in 2006 and 2007 with Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria and Bulgaria among their key consumers.

But higher prices, due to the soaring costs of components as a result of the sanctions, have caused a drop in demand.

Israel's Netanyahu: Draw 'clear red line' to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons

For instance, France's Peugeot Citroen halted shipments of vehicle kits for assembly in Iran earlier this year, saying international sanctions barring transactions with the country's banking system made it difficult to obtain sales financing.

Sanctions have taken a toll on the Iranian economy. The government is reluctant to admit it. Inflation is high. The number of young unemployed is a growing concern. NBC's Ali Arouzi reports.?

Majid, the mechanic, said he is looking for work elsewhere but it is proving very difficult. ?There are not many jobs going and it is getting me more and more depressed.?

Oil sales to travel - down
The oil sector has been hit hard too.? The Iranian Labor News Agency reported that a letter on behalf of 20,000 oil workers from across the country was sent to Labor Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami complaining that they had not been paid in months. The letter demanded an increase to the worker?s salaries of $120 to $285 a month, adding that at the current rate they were "way below the poverty line.??

Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a prominent Iranian member of parliament, said oil exports in June-July had dropped to "around 800,000 barrels per day," according to a report by ISNA news agency. That?s a low not seen in more than two decades, and less than half the 2.3 million barrels per day exported just a year ago.

But Minister of Petroleum Rostam Qasemi was quoted by ISNA saying that overall oil production this year "will be the same as last year."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a firm deadline for Iran to halt its nuclear program, using a simple drawing to warn the UN that Iran will soon reach the point of no return in its development of nuclear weapons. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

The strangling of the economy isn?t just affecting blue-collar workers.

Middle-class Iranians had become accustomed to foreign travel ? to Dubai, a playground for Iranians only an hour and half away, Turkey, one of only a few countries that does not require visa?s for Iranians, and Thailand. But the cost of travel to any of these destinations is prohibitive to many.

More Iran coverage from NBC News

Maryam, a travel agent in Tehran who also only gave her first name, estimated that the number of travelers has been halved in a year. ?The price of tickets and organized tours increased almost a hundred fold. They say that this will boost domestic holidays, but I think that is even too expensive for most people.?

This was evident to me last month flying back to Tehran from London via Dubai. Usually the flight from Dubai to Tehran is jammed, but not this time. Business and first class were full with the super-rich of Iran, but 70 percent of the plane which makes up the economy class was almost empty.

As the American mission in Afghanistan winds down, dangers still abound for U.S. troops ? the most recent incident involved a Taliban gunman who fired on a U.S. Marine outpost in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

Expected to get worse
Mehdi is a young entrepreneur who imports computers and accessories who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said people are just not buying in Iran right now. His biggest wish was that the value of the rial would just stay fixed against dollar ? even if it was at an unfavorable rate ? just so consumers would know how much things would cost in a weeks? time, a day or even in the next few hours.

While the sanctions have certainly taken a major bite out of the economy and are hurting people from all walks of life ? it does not seem to be making the government authorities buckle. If anything it seems to have stiffened the government?s resolve and things are set to become even more difficult in the not too distant future. ?

Britain, France and Germany are urging their European Union partners "to further step up the pressure" on Iran. Further sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic's energy, finance, trade and transportation sectors are expected to be formally adopted on Oct. 15.

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

More world stories from NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14137979-iranian-our-money-is-becoming-more-and-more-worthless-every-day?lite

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Yahoo! CEO Reveals New Direction | Small Business Trends

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announced her plans to turn the iconic tech giant around on Tuesday. Some critics insist the new plan is big picture and short on specifics. Small businesses, too, must sometimes reinvent themselves. Here is a closer look at the new Yahoo! battle plan and some thoughts for how you can turn your small business around when necessary.

Project Personalization

A new direction. In an ?act of radical transparency? Tuesday, new Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer introduced her plans for a new direction. Mayer sees the company?s strength as its ?personalization? in arenas ranging from e-mail to advertizing to content. Mayer?s other thoughts were less specific, but seemed to rally the troops at the company-run URL?s Caf?. The trick to turning your business around is to have a plan. All Things Digital

A new team. As part of her efforts to rejuvenate Yahoo!, Mayer has been recruiting a new team. The latest addition, also announced Tuesday, is Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman. Assembling new talent or restructuring an existing team must be part of any business turnaround. What other steps are necessary to re-imagine your brand, product, or service? Read on! Yahoo! Inc.

Reinventing Your Brand

Keep it simple. Keep it safe. Another important step toward breathing new life into your business may be easier than you think. Instead of adding features to your products or services, making them more like your competitors, try focusing on one small feature that differentiates your product or service from all the rest, and simplify the buying decision for consumers by setting yourself apart. M4B Marketing

Perfect pitch. It?s not just your product or service features, but how you pitch them to your customers that really matters. Here are two case studies shared by blogger Diana Pohly that may give you a better idea of how to effectively put your offers into words. Telling your customers what sets you apart is an important step toward distinguishing your brand in the marketplace. Step By Step Marketing

Unleash your marketing Ninja. In the second post of this series, guest blogger Nicolas Dalleva talks about the analytics that will help you know your customers as well as they know themselves. Segmenting your customers lets you learn more about their behavior and buying trends individually and as a group, while helping you to remember that the customers you serve are people, not just numbers. Keep Up With The Web

Watch your mouth. The way you talk about selling to your customers betrays how you think. While selling is all about you, blogger David Brock suggests we change things up a bit. Let?s focus on the customer and fulfilling their needs instead of our desire to make a sale. Focusing on serving customers first by helping them make a decision about your product may seem obvious, but it may also be the key to transforming a business. Partners in Excellence

Make some measurements. Once you?ve got your team in place, measure their performance. Guest blogger Jessica Sanders makes this simple suggestion and then outlines some tools that will help you do it. Here are three creative ways to manage your team?s performance and improve your company at the same time. Make sure the team you?ve got is accomplishing what is needed to set your brand apart. bizCompare

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/yahoo-ceo-reveals-new-direction.html

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

In New Guinea, peace comes with a price

Local restitution rulings quelled years of warfare in a nonstate society

Web edition : 2:02 pm

After 15 years of intense warfare, Papua New Guinea?s Enga society recently gave peace a fighting chance. Outdoor village courts, which had formerly settled local disputes, resolved many bloody conflicts between Enga clans by determining how much communities should compensate one another for murders and other offenses.

The Enga demonstrate that small-scale societies can devise effective, sophisticated means for peacemaking, say anthropologist Polly Wiessner of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and Nitze Pupu, a lawyer and researcher at the Enga Tradition and Transition Center in Papua New Guinea. Their analysis appears in the Sept. 28 Science.

Researchers have documented higher rates of murder and warfare in many hunter-gatherer groups and village-based societies than in modern nations (SN: 2/6/88, p. 90). The new work underscores an often overlooked tension in nonstate societies between the constant danger of violence, particularly from young men, and efforts to restrain lethal conflicts, usually organized by women and older men, says Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker.

?These homegrown peacemaking measures are not sufficient to maintain law and order in complex societies, where the might of a state is needed,? Pinker says. ?And the Enga, even at their most peaceable, have homicide rates several times higher than those of modern Western nations.?

Enga villagers grow sweet potatoes and raise pigs in highland Papua New Guinea. The researchers consulted historical accounts of 84 Enga wars going back 350 years. Village court data on 501 clan wars that took place between 1991 and 2010, records from 129 village court sessions and national census data were also analyzed.

Wars among bow-and-arrow?wielding Enga clans broke out shortly after sweet potatoes reached their island 350 years ago. Around 1850, clans began making peace with enemies via payments of pigs and other valuables.

Village courts were established in 1974 to rule on local disputes and expanded in 1982 to handle clan conflicts.

In 1990, young Enga males aligned with hired mercenaries began using guns to conduct ambushes and raids on various clans, causing a spike in warfare. Clan wars killed 4,816 people between 1991 and 2010, about 1 percent of the Enga population. Today, Enga clans consist of 350 to more than 1,000 people.

Starting in 2005, the number of killings and the length of wars declined steadily. Clan and church leaders, exhausted by years of carnage, turned to village courts as peacemakers. Armed with cell phones and vehicles to reach trouble spots quickly, village court magistrates handed down rulings on how much one clan should compensate another for various offenses.

The Enga?s style of peacemaking represents one way in which small-scale societies tamp down feuds, characterized by members of rival groups committing revenge killings out of a sense of honor, remarks anthropologist Christopher Boehm of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Hunter-gatherer populations also use restitution and other strategies to defuse revenge killings, and have probably done so for at least the past 45,000 years, Boehm adds.

Contrary to their reputation as cauldrons of endless revenge killings, small-scale societies frequently reward adept conflict mediators with perks that include arranging high-status marriages for peacemakers? children, Wiessner says. State societies were built on peacemaking tendencies honed in small-scale societies, she proposes.
Found in: Anthropology and Humans

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345413/title/In_New_Guinea,_peace_comes_with_a_price

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

What's missing from pro-gay marriage TV ads? Gays - KansasCity.com

In one TV ad, a husband and wife talk fondly of a lesbian couple who moved into their neighborhood. In another, a married couple speaks of wanting fair treatment for their lesbian daughter. A third features a pastor talking supportively about gay unions.

Each of these ads ran recently in states with gay marriage issues on the November ballot. What's missing? Gay people speaking for themselves.Four states are voting on gay marriage this fall, and gay rights groups are pouring tens of millions of dollars into key TV markets in hopes of breaking a 32-state losing streak on the issue. But even as gay people and same-sex relationships gain acceptance through pop culture staples such as "Modern Family" and "Glee," the idea is still seen as dicey by media strategists involved in the ballot campaigns, resulting in ads that usually involve only straight people talking about the issue.The decision to keep gays in the background has been widely noticed in the gay community and debated on gay-oriented blogs, with some activists complaining that the move contradicts the central message of the gay rights movement for a number of years."If we don't show ourselves, people aren't going to get comfortable with who we are," said Wayne Besen, director of Vermont-based gay rights group "Truth Wins Out," one of many that presses gays to live openly with pride in who they are.But others counsel deference for the complexities of public messaging, pointing out that the ads are designed to speak to the fears and values of the heterosexual majority, whose vote will decide the issue."The moderate tough guys we need to flip to win a couple of these races are still the ones who say that gays are gross," said Andy Szekeres, a Denver-based fundraising consultant who has worked on several state campaigns and had access to focus group data. "Pushing people to an uncomfortable place, it's something you can't do in a TV ad," said Szekeres, who is gay.The definition of marriage is on the ballot this fall in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. Beyond those, according to the Human Rights Campaign, 37 states prohibit gay marriage while six and the District of Columbia permit it. Gay activists and their allies are hoping that any wins in November would throw new momentum their way at a time when polls nationwide have shown growing acceptance for gay marriage.Six of the seven ads broadcast in the contested states this year have featured only straight people talking about the issue. One ad, which played only in Maine, included a firefighter who talked of being accepted by his colleagues. The ads, along with most that ran in the 2008 campaign in California and in other past statewide races, rely on heterosexual family members and friends of gays talking about how the inability to marry has deprived their loved ones of rights and opportunities they should have.Gay marriage opponents, who also have well-funded campaigns in the four states, plan to begin airing ads soon. In recent interviews, an organizer said the key message is aimed at parents, suggesting legal recognition could result in their kids being told in school and in society that it's OK to be gay.Gay activists who have worked on the marketing campaigns say that in this battle for public opinion, it's better for gays to stay in the background."The simple truth is that we are trying to win over the people that are not yet with us," said Matt McTighe, campaign manager of Mainers United for Marriage, which is pushing the ballot measure to legalize gay marriage in that state. "I'm a gay man, and the general rule of thumb for me is that an ad that meets my emotional needs is not necessarily the thing that's going to change a typical voter's mind about gay or lesbian people."A May 2011 poll by the Pew Research Center found growing acceptance of gay people on a number of fronts, but still plenty of doubts. Fifty-eight percent of poll respondents said gays should be accepted in society compared to 33 percent who said they shouldn't. More people thought gays raising children was bad for society rather than good, though the largest number of respondents were neutral on the question. The same poll found 45 percent support for gay marriage rights, up from 35 percent just two years earlier.The first ad broadcast by Minnesotans United for All Families, which is trying to defeat the state's proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage, is aimed at parents. It features Kim and John Canny - two straight Catholics, Republicans and parents of three daughters from a Minneapolis suburb who discuss coming around to support gay marriage after a lesbian couple with an adopted son moved into their neighborhood.The lesbian couple is briefly glimpsed in the ad, but not heard from.Alexander Zachary, a gay man from Minneapolis, complained that the ads he's seen reflect an "antiquated mindset.""This isn't San Francisco in 1973, where all the gay people live in one neighborhood and all the straight people live everywhere else," he said. "We're not this hidden culture anymore, so why act like it?"Richard Carlbom, manager of the Minnesota campaign, declined to say if future Minnesota United ads would feature gay people. Upcoming ads will "articulate why gay people want to get married," he said.Many straight people "are on a journey on this issue, and the most effective way to encourage them is to show them other people who have taken the same journey," and come to accept gay marriage, Carlbom said.Bil Browning, a Washington, D.C., gay activist and writer, recently called a straights-only ad that ran in Washington state "a heterosexual snoozefest" on his blog. He pointed out that gay activists seem to be using the strategy even though they've yet to win a campaign. In the 32 states where the issue has been on a statewide ballot, gay marriage advocates have lost every time."Maybe it's time to reevaluate these strategies and include our families, actual LGBT people," Browning said. "We're never going to win if we can't show our faces. It looks like we have something to hide, and we don't."

Associated Press reporter Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Wash., contributed to this report. Follow Patrick Condon on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcondonap

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/26/3835081/whats-missing-from-pro-gay-marriage.html

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PFT: Tate insists he caught ball

Tramon Williams, Charles Woodson, Charly Martin, M.D. Jennings, Golden TateAP

What a Monday night. What a controversial ending.

On the final play of a back-and-forth Monday Night Football game, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson chucked a Hail Mary into the end zone, where Seahawks receiver Golden Tate and Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings both leapt into the air and grabbed for it, then tumbled on the ground together, both with their hands on the ball. The officials ruled that it was simultaneous possession, which goes to the offense. Therefore, according to the officials, it was a Seahawks game-winning touchdown with no time left.

But should it have been a touchdown? Or should it have been an interception? Jennings appeared to have a firm grasp on the ball, while Tate just had an arm on the ball ? which would make it a Packers interception, and a Packers win. But the officials standing in the end zone said Tate had the ball, too, and the referee confirmed that call after a replay review. Touchdown, Seattle, on the final play of the game.

But was it the final play of the game? Or would the Seahawks have to try an extra point after that touchdown? Both teams and the officials left the field after the touchdown, and it appeared that the final score would be Seahawks 13, Packers 12. But after a long delay the officials finally told both teams that they had to come back on the field for the Seahawks to attempt an extra point. Seattle made it, and the final was 14-12.

Under the crazy circumstances of the final play it seemed like a lucky win for the Seahawks, but Wilson said after the game that there was nothing lucky about Tate?s catch.

?We practice that all the time and Golden Tate made a play,? Wilson said after the game.

The Seahawks had controlled the first half, sacking Aaron Rodgers eight times and forcing the Packers to punt on all five of their first-half possessions, but Green Bay took control in the second half. The Packers started the second half with a 13-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in a field goal, then had an 11-play, 66-yard drive that resulted in another field goal, then had a 16-play, 81-yard drive that resulted in the go-ahead touchdown. Rodgers was in complete control, and the offensive line was keeping him upright and opening holes for Cedric Benson.

But the Seahawks got the ball with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, trailing 12-7, and they still had a prayer. That?s all they needed. Wilson got Seattle close enough for that one final play, and he made the throw Seattle needed him to make on that one final play.

Even if you think the officials got the final play right (and Packers fans will insist that they didn?t, and Jennings intercepted the pass, not to mention the fact that Tate appeared to push off before jumping up for the ball), the replacement officials were every bit as bad as we?ve all come to expect. An absolutely horrible pass interference call on Packers cornerback Sam Shields late in the fourth quarter sticks out as the worst mistake in a game full of them. This was a crazy game ? a crazy amount of pressure on Rodgers in the first half, a crazy Green Bay comeback in the second half, a crazy Hail Mary on the last play, and crazy officiating. Let?s all go to bed and talk more about this one in the morning.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/25/golden-tate-i-know-i-had-the-ball/related

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: SEPT 25 - Business Insider

Mobile Insights?is the new daily newsletter from?BI Intelligence?that collects and delivers the top mobile strategy news. It is delivered first thing every morning exclusively to?BI Intelligence?subscribers.?Sign up here for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.


Key Takeaways From GigaOm Mobilize 2012 (GigaOM)
Some of the more poignant thoughts from GigaOM's Mobilize conference exemplify a few key themes:

  • Don?t count out HTML5 just yet
  • The ?point of sale? is now everywhere
  • Video is becoming a primary mobile activity
  • Connected homes will only appeal if the solutions are simple and add value
  • Developers need to consider the broadband for their software needs

The future is fast approaching as we?re watching improvements in mobile broadband networks, better software tools, smarter app discovery engines, and hardware cycles that are revving faster than ever.

How To Make Mobile And Social Work (BI Intelligence)
Skyrocketing social networking and mobile usage has led many to speculate on the key business model for mobile-social services. The most common answer is local commerce. But, checking in is not becoming a mainstream activity and local couponing experiments aren't working so well. Here's how it could work:

  • What is social discovery?
  • Contextual relevance
  • Services and experiences, not goods
  • Brand advertising
  • Affiliate payouts

In a research report on Mobile and Social from BI Intelligence, we analyze how another potential solution, social discovery, could become the future for mobile social-apps. Access the full report here.

Getting Brilliant At The Mobile Marketing Basics (ClickZ)
Marketers are simply scared of the unknown. They think branching into mobile is going to come with a whole host of other complications that they don't need to deal with on desktop. That may be true, but there is also a whole host of opportunity as well. So start simple with the basics:

  • A mobile-optimized website
  • Mobile-optimized emails
  • A mobile search presence
  • A mobile ad "pilot" campaign

It's not a lot of additional effort to bring your mobile presence up to benchmark, and the pay-off for your brand could be huge.

Is The QR Code Market Worth It (eMarketer via Social Media Today)
QR codes are the major link between:

  • Print Media
  • Online Media, and
  • Smartphones

eMarketer shows that the usage of QR Code is in a steady pace:

eMarketer

And nearly half of the respondents were strongly interested in discounts via scans:

eMarketer

That said, poorly aligned consumer-brand expectations for mobile barcode-linked content and inadequate user experiences are driving consumers away from mobile barcode use. So if you're using QR codes, you might be wasting your time.

Build A Mobile App That People Want (GigaOM)
It doesn't have to be so difficult. You don?t need to be some kind of infrastructure-loving genius to build a mobile app; and really, you shouldn?t have to be. That was the message from Kevin Lacker, the CTO and co-founder of Parse, who gave some tips on how to build engaging apps. First, to help drive adoption of your app, or at least distribution, he recommended integrating with Facebook. He also said that to keep users coming back, implementing some sort of push notification could make sense. If Parse or other platform plays like it are a success, then mobile development and supporting those apps could be as easy as setting up a Tumblr. Imagine what kind of world that would be.

You Know Who Gets Mobile? eBay Gets Mobile (All Things Digital)
While many other companies are fretting about how they will make money from mobile, roughly 16% of eBay?s revenue this year will be coming from mobile devices. The average transaction on eBay?s mobile apps runs between $30 and $45, in contrast to companies that sell 99-cent mobile games or virtual goods. On the high end, more than 9,000 cars are sold every week through the app, some of which are priced above $100,000. Most sales are coming from the iPhone out of all the smartphone apps, and a lot of transactions are also coming from the iPad and the mobile Web. Check out the infographic:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-mobile-insights-sept-252-2012-9

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A clock that will last forever: Proposal to build first space-time crystal

ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) ? Imagine a clock that will keep perfect time forever, even after the heat-death of the universe. This is the "wow" factor behind a device known as a "space-time crystal," a four-dimensional crystal that has periodic structure in time as well as space. However, there are also practical and important scientific reasons for constructing a space-time crystal. With such a 4D crystal, scientists would have a new and more effective means by which to study how complex physical properties and behaviors emerge from the collective interactions of large numbers of individual particles, the so-called many-body problem of physics.

A space-time crystal could also be used to study phenomena in the quantum world, such as entanglement, in which an action on one particle impacts another particle even if the two particles are separated by vast distances.

A space-time crystal, however, has only existed as a concept in the minds of theoretical scientists with no serious idea as to how to actually build one -- until now. An international team of scientists led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has proposed the experimental design of a space-time crystal based on an electric-field ion trap and the Coulomb repulsion of particles that carry the same electrical charge.

"The electric field of the ion trap holds charged particles in place and Coulomb repulsion causes them to spontaneously form a spatial ring crystal," says Xiang Zhang, a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division who led this research. "Under the application of a weak static magnetic field, this ring-shaped ion crystal will begin a rotation that will never stop. The persistent rotation of trapped ions produces temporal order, leading to the formation of a space-time crystal at the lowest quantum energy state."

Because the space-time crystal is already at its lowest quantum energy state, its temporal order -- or timekeeping -- will theoretically persist even after the rest of our universe reaches entropy, thermodynamic equilibrium or "heat-death."

Zhang, who holds the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California (UC) Berkeley, where he also directs the Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this work in Physical Review Letters (PRL). The paper is titled "Space-time crystals of trapped ions." Co-authoring this paper were Tongcang Li, Zhe-Xuan Gong, Zhang-Qi Yin, Haitao Quan, Xiaobo Yin, Peng Zhang and Luming Duan.

The concept of a crystal that has discrete order in time was proposed earlier this year by Frank Wilczek, the Nobel-prize winning physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While Wilczek mathematically proved that a time crystal can exist, how to physically realize such a time crystal was unclear. Zhang and his group, who have been working on issues with temporal order in a different system since September 2011, have come up with an experimental design to build a crystal that is discrete both in space and time -- a space-time crystal. Papers on both of these proposals appear in the same issue of PRL (September 24, 2012).

Traditional crystals are 3D solid structures made up of atoms or molecules bonded together in an orderly and repeating pattern. Common examples are ice, salt and snowflakes. Crystallization takes place when heat is removed from a molecular system until it reaches its lower energy state. At a certain point of lower energy, continuous spatial symmetry breaks down and the crystal assumes discrete symmetry, meaning that instead of the structure being the same in all directions, it is the same in only a few directions.

"Great progress has been made over the last few decades in exploring the exciting physics of low-dimensional crystalline materials such as two-dimensional graphene, one-dimensional nanotubes, and zero-dimensional buckyballs," says Tongcang Li, lead author of the PRL paper and a post-doc in Zhang's research group. "The idea of creating a crystal with dimensions higher than that of conventional 3D crystals is an important conceptual breakthrough in physics and it is very exciting for us to be the first to devise a way to realize a space-time crystal."

Just as a 3D crystal is configured at the lowest quantum energy state when continuous spatial symmetry is broken into discrete symmetry, so too is symmetry breaking expected to configure the temporal component of the space-time crystal. Under the scheme devised by Zhang and Li and their colleagues, a spatial ring of trapped ions in persistent rotation will periodically reproduce itself in time, forming a temporal analog of an ordinary spatial crystal. With a periodic structure in both space and time, the result is a space-time crystal.

"While a space-time crystal looks like a perpetual motion machine and may seem implausible at first glance," Li says, "keep in mind that a superconductor or even a normal metal ring can support persistent electron currents in its quantum ground state under the right conditions. Of course, electrons in a metal lack spatial order and therefore can't be used to make a space-time crystal."

Li is quick to point out that their proposed space-time crystal is not a perpetual motion machine because being at the lowest quantum energy state, there is no energy output. However, there are a great many scientific studies for which a space-time crystal would be invaluable.

"The space-time crystal would be a many-body system in and of itself," Li says. "As such, it could provide us with a new way to explore classic many-body questions physics question. For example, how does a space-time crystal emerge? How does time translation symmetry break? What are the quasi-particles in space-time crystals? What are the effects of defects on space-time crystals? Studying such questions will significantly advance our understanding of nature."

Peng Zhang, another co-author and member of Zhang's research group, notes that a space-time crystal might also be used to store and transfer quantum information across different rotational states in both space and time. Space-time crystals may also find analogues in other physical systems beyond trapped ions.

"These analogs could open doors to fundamentally new technologies and devices for variety of applications," he says.

Xiang Zhang believes that it might even be possible now to make a space-time crystal using their scheme and state of the art ion traps. He and his group are actively seeking collaborators with the proper ion-trapping facilities and expertise.

"The main challenge will be to cool an ion ring to its ground state," Xiang Zhang says. "This can be overcome in the near future with the development of ion trap technologies. As there has never been a space-time crystal before, most of its properties will be unknown and we will have to study them. Such studies should deepen our understandings of phase transitions and symmetry breaking."

This research was supported primarily by Miller Professorship and Ernest S. Kuh endowed Chair at UC Berkeley, and the National Science Foundations' Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Tongcang Li, Zhe-Xuan Gong, Zhang-Qi Yin, H. T. Quan, Xiaobo Yin, Peng Zhang, L.-M. Duan, and Xiang Zhang. Space-time crystals of trapped ions. Physical Review Letters, 2012 [link]

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_technology/~3/Kb3Ps_R4bi4/120924144757.htm

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Getting Started with Twitter Ads for Small Business - Deondesigns.ca

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Are you among the one-third of small businesses in the U.S. using Twitter to promote your products and services? If so, you?re on the right track: Research from digital intelligence firm Compete shows Twitter followers are more than 60% more likely to visit your website and more than 50% more likely to make a purchase and recommend your company.

Many companies are content to allow Twitter accounts to grow organically, but some are looking to accelerate growth of their follower base and increase the reach of promotions. To that end, Twitter recently rolled out two new paid advertising options for small businesses, currently available via invitation: Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets.

According to Richard Alfonsi, VP of Global Online Sales at Twitter, ?Promoted Accounts are best for growing a loyal follower base, while Promoted Tweets are best for getting tweets in front of a larger audience to drive more clicks and engagement around a promotion, product launch or event.? Alfonsi notes that businesses of all types see success so far with these new products, from local businesses (such as bakeries, restaurants and photographers) to purely online businesses, such as online retailers and digital publications.

For both offerings, you can control how much you spend each day by setting a daily budget ? you bid how much you are willing to pay for a new follower or an engagement, and an auction determines the price you pay. There are no minimum monthly spend requirements and you can stop your advertising at any time. You also only pay for results, meaning you will only be charged when someone follows your Promoted Account or engages with your Promoted Tweets (an engagement with a Promoted Tweet can be a click, a retweet or a favorite).

When Should I Use Promoted Accounts?

If you?re primarily looking to build a relevant follower base, Promoted Accounts may be for you. Twitter will study your current followers to look for people with similar interests, and when they find a match, they?ll suggest your account in the user?s ?Who to Follow? section. Promoted Account campaigns can also be geo-targeted at the country and city level to reach users in specific locations.

Los Angeles-based photographer Drew Ressler used Promoted Tweets to accelerate his follower growth and find more people who would be interested in his photographs of electronic dance music DJs. He set a maximum budget of $7 per day and targeted Twitter users all over the world. Twitter automatically took care of the rest, identifying other Twitter users who were interested in the electronic music scene and who would be interested in Drew?s work. Drew gained over 1,300 new followers for @Rukes in just two months, at less than $0.30 per follower.

?I just set a budget, and I constantly get 17 to 20 new followers each day,? says Ressler.

When Should I Use Promoted Tweets?

Small businesses wanting to expand the reach of their message plus increase follower base should consider Promoted Tweets. Promoted Tweets are generated directly from your own tweets; Twitter will monitor your account for engagement and promote your best tweets to the top of a user?s feed.

?I?ve used Twitter ads for several months now, and they?ve helped me get to over 37,000 followers,? says nutrition blogger Tom Corson-Knowles. ?I tried both Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets, and I recommend promoting tweets hands down ? it?s had a much higher ROI for me. With Promoted Tweets, you can get targeted traffic to your website by paying per click, and then you get the added benefit of followers and tons of brand exposure on Twitter.?

Amelia Lerutte of luxury dog product company i Love Dogs, Inc. agrees.

?We started using Twitter ads earlier this year. Our initial strategy was to pay for both follows and retweets, but after a couple weeks, we only saw a slight increase in the growth rate for new followers. Since we?re a small business used to optimizing ads to suit our budget, we decided to stop using Promoted Accounts to pay for followers and instead focus on gaining retweets through Promoted Tweets,? says Lerutte.

According to Lerutte, the high volume of retweets the company has received has made the price point of Twitter ads well worth the investment.

?Through the use of Promoted Tweets, our company has a seen a positive increase in the number of natural followers and engagement with our brand on Twitter. We?ve even had our Promoted Tweets retweeted by celebrities. So even though we?re not paying for followers, Twitter ads have allowed us to become a big dog on Twitter, with more than 11,000 followers,? adds Lerutte.

How Should I Measure Results?

According to Alfonsi, the way clients measure results will vary by company and by each one?s business objective.

?Some businesses are trying to grow their community of advocates and measure success by the quality of engagement they?re seeing on Twitter, while others are trying to drive sales and store visits,? says Alfonsi.

Followers and clicks are beneficial, but you?ll see the most impact from your paid Twitter programs ?if you think about the ongoing conversation, not just the immediate payoff,? says Tom Burg, head of North American marketing at advertising technology company Criteo. Burg recommends small businesses think about Twitter ads as a way to create a ?funnel? for their business that eventually leads to a particular action, whether that?s a store visit, a coupon download or a purchase.

?Eventually it?s all about getting to a call to action,? adds Burg. ?With Twitter, you?re paying if someone clicks, but you should measure based on a cost-per-action model. Once they clicked, did they do the action you wanted them to, like download a whitepaper or a coupon??

To measure beyond followers and engagement, in addition to using Twitter?s results reporting, you can also use Google Analytics to see how much site traffic is coming from Twitter. You might also consider creating a special landing page where you can drive Twitter users, or develop Twitter-specific codes or coupons to track customers who find you through these funnels, writes Lisa Barone in Small Business Trends.

How Can I Get Started?

While these two offerings are currently available on an invitation-only basis, businesses can request access by filling out this form. Alfonsi says Twitter expects these products to eventually reach millions of small businesses, and the company will steadily increase the number of participants in the program in the coming months.

Just remember: Prior to kicking off your program, make sure your overall Twitter presence is robust.

?Before you spend money to promote your tweets or your Twitter account, you better be certain that there is something there worth following,? adds Barone. She recommends first creating a solid Twitter strategy and letting it run for a month or two to build up a history of quality tweets and engagement. This will not only help you to attract people but will also help Twitter match you with the right kind of users.

Also be prepared to make the most of each click: What offer or content awaits users on the other side? Make sure what you?re offering is compelling, so it?s worth paying to get people there.

Have you tried advertising on Twitter? Share your experience in the comments section.


More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum

- Marketing to Women? Keep These 3 Facts in Mind
- Everything You Need to Know About Foursquare?s New Merchant Tools
- How to Master Social Media Like a Famous Comedian

Article source: http://mashable.com/2012/09/22/twitter-ads-small-business/

Source: http://www.deondesigns.ca/blog/getting-started-with-twitter-ads-for-small-business/

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Cats and Computers are Not a Good Mix! | Nerds On Site Blog ...

Flickr User dougwoods

Cat lovers will attest to the pleasure of having an affectionate kitty snuggling up to you while you answer an email, or post to face book. However, that cute little pussycat can be causing your computer all sorts of difficulties! Lost data or the loss of productivity due to computer problems makes cats and computers not a good mix.

A recent computer cleanup was urgently required largely due to pet hair. The householder had two different cats, as well as an elderly dog. The fan that cooled the computer was so blocked with cat hair it caused the fan to shut down and it resulted in a fried computer. A periodic cleaning behind the computer would have made a great deal of difference.

It is also not advisable to have the sweet bundle of fur walk across your keyboard. The hair that is shed, gets lodged in the keys, and can cause a variety of difficulties. If you use a mouse pad with a rolling ball, you may also find pet hair plugging it too. As well, cat urine is not a good lubricant for your computer, and it happens more often than you would like to think.

Having your LCD screen covered in scratches because your cat attacked the critters on the screen is frustrating. So try to keep your kitty away from the work area around your computer, for dust free, and cat hair free results.

There are software utilities that can be used to discourage cats from walking on your computer. When a cat-like typing pattern is detected, it emits a sound that is unpleasant to cats. One source quoted the number of cat owners that are backing up their data daily, as being at less than 10 percent; while the number of cat owners that should be backing up their data daily is 100 percent! Cats do have a way of ?pouncing? when we would rather they hadn?t. Set your computer to auto save frequently and don?t lose your data.

Another good practice is to not place a computer directly on a carpet. The fan will suck up the pet hair and lint which will require the cleaning of the fan area on a much more regular basis, or risk the overheating problem.
Keep the printer paper tray retracted as much as possible, to prevent accidental breakage.

You can keep your keyboard covered when you shut down, or you might store it by standing it upright. If you want to prevent a cat from chewing on cords, they can be sprayed with a commercial cat repellent, or a mixture of Tabasco and water, but be sure to unplug the cords before you apply the protective coating.

When you leave the room, remember to turn off the computer. This will allow it to cool down, and make it less appealing to your feline friends. Have a cover over the computer will keep stray hair and dust out too.

One last tip for when you clean the cat hair and dander off your monitor: do not spray a liquid directly onto your monitor. This can lead to liquid dripping down the screen and causing malfunctions. If you would like to use a damp cloth on your monitor, spray the liquid directly onto the cloth instead.

Many people are now deciding that cats and computers don?t mix, so despite your mutual enjoyment of sitting together, keeping the computer room door shut, might prove to be the best method for keeping your computer problem free.

This post is from Susan Brooks, a Nerd living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. You can find her on twitter (@susanthenerd), or email her susan.brooks(at)nerdsonsite(dot)com.

Source: http://www.nerdsonsite.com/blog/2012/09/23/cats-and-computers-are-not-a-good-mix/

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Canada and Alaska Holidays and having a Family Adventure ...

Enjoy a guest post Jason?Deen of Canada and Alaska holidays.

For?those with families that are always on the go and love the outdoor lifestyle, an adventure holiday in either Canada or Alaska could be the ideal break for you. Adventure holidays offer excitement and fun. The whole family will enjoy being together.

Canada-Victoria-Glacier

The Mountain Exhaled, Victoria Glacier at Lake Louise Park, Alberta ? Photo by laszlo-photo (on Flickr)

Types of Adventure Holidays

There are many different?adventure holidays for families?available throughout?Canada and Alaska.?Alaska and?Canada holidays have a wide range of adventurous activities including white water rafting, bear spotting, visiting national parks, canoeing, horse riding, hiking and cycling. There are opportunities available to walk along glaciers in British Columbia or take a swim in the clear waters of a river or lake. With many rivers fed by the glacial waters, there is plenty of picturesque scenery with lakes, waterfalls and forests to be explored.

Adventure holidays can be designed to take into account the age of the children involved, so holidays aimed at younger children will have shorter hikes or biking routes than those aimed at teenagers. It is important when you are booking an adventure holiday to make sure you are with families with children of similar ages to yours so that the activities can be aimed at the ages of the children involved.

Places you will visit

Canada?and?Alaska holidays allow you to visit some of the many national parks spread throughout the countries. Whilst on a family adventure holiday the main parks and scenic places you will visit could include Wells Grey Provincial Park, Jasper National Park,?Icefields?Parkway, Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Paul Lake Provincial Park. These parks have stunning scenery, mountains, snow covered glaciers and ample opportunity to experience the outdoors. The national parks are home to many different species of animals and birds and can be a wildlife lover?s paradise. With a diverse and protected landscape the different national parks can make you feel like you are in a completely different country even when you are only an hour away from the last stop.

Alaska-Log-Cabin

Fresh Snow, Log House, Anchorage, Alaska ? Photo by Wonderlane (on Flickr)

Where you will be staying

Whilst?on your adventure holiday you may stay in many different types of accommodation. You could be camping out under the stars or staying in an authentic Canadian log cabin. Whilst in your arrival city you will stay in a hotel before transferring to your adventure holiday location. If you wish to book a few extra days at the beginning or end of your holiday to stay in your arrival or departure city, this is a good way of getting used to the environment before setting off on your adventure or relaxing once you have finished your adventure.

Taking a family holiday where you face the challenges of adventurous pursuits can bring your family closer together. Whilst holidaying in the outdoors you can spend nights relaxing around the campfire discussing the adventures of the day. Challenging your children to take on the activities on offer will give them confidence to succeed when they return home from holiday.

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AUTHOR BIO ? Jason?Deen?writes regularly on?Canada and Alaska holidays?for a range of holiday websites and blogs. Having teenage children of his own, Jason has been on many different adventure holidays for families with his own family throughout their childhood.

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Source: http://www.thedepartureboard.com/canada-and-alaska-holidays-and-having-a-family-adventure

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