Eric Chua : Life, Business and Real Estate in Singapore ? Internet ...

Marketing online is something so common that almost everyone has tried it in some form or fashion. Even if you were only trying to get friends on a social networking site, then you?ve employed Internet marketing before. Don?t let your failed attempts stop you from trying. If you haven?t experienced success yet, it?s probably just because you haven?t yet received the right information.

Make occasional changes and improvements to the links that you include in your ongoing e-mail campaigns for your Web marketing business. If you information is redundant you will likely bore your customers instead of encouraging them to purchase products. Variety is the key to keeping your readers engaged.

Producing online videos that include tags can help your online marketing campaign succeed. Also include a link to your site embedded in the video description. You will see a dramatic increase in the number of regular visitors who come to your site.

TIP! Consider posting user polls on your website to get feedback on issues important to your market. This can give you great ideas for new content, and help you populate your site with information your readers really want.

Most mobile phone companies let you add a dedicated work number to your existing phone. A dedicated number is a great way to keep your business and personal lives separate.

With any kind of marketing, you are going to run into setbacks. The best thing to do is deal with them and keep on going. When you feel discouraged, remind yourself that success may be just around the corner. Make sure you have everything ready to go when you are ready to get started in your venture. This can be time consuming work. Always stay focused, and remember the work will pay off later.

In the world of Internet marketing, always keep an eye on the competition. Find out how their website is doing, what is liked about it, and what they may be doing wrong. You can gather a tremendous amount of information from other people in your industry. This can help you to move ahead or not repeat their mistakes.

TIP! You should take the time to look at how others respond to your content, promotions, and even your business as a whole. As soon as you?ve initiated an online promotion or event, be sure to monitor the responses of people on forums and blogs.

There are interesting psychological studies available to you about Internet marketing and site design. These psychological responses can greatly influence the way that site visitors connect with your brand. This includes every detail of your site, from colors to layout. Acting on this information can help you maximize your potential profits.

Always offer freebies to visitors to your website, even if they consist of no more than a handy checklist or some good advice. One easy freebie to offer is an article specifically geared toward your business. Offer something your audience will find valuable, such as tips or exclusive content. This will help your customers become more informed about your industry and show them that you know their concerns and are willing to help them succeed.

Create emails that specify a distinct action that you want your readers to take. You can try subscribing to a publication or going to a website. This can also help you measure your email marketing success as those actions are trackable.

TIP! Create a list of FAQs about your product. For all questions or issues on the site, you should have a good response that helps to alleviate any concerns the customer may have.

A great way to participate in link-sharing or advertising in general is to have a professional-looking ?Advertise with Us? badge built on your site. Those who enjoy your site can link their site to yours.

Whenever you correspond online, include links to your business webpage in your signature. If you add your link to your forum signature, it will appear at the end of every post you make. It should appear at the bottom of your emails as well. Signatures are a great way to spread the word about your site as well as increasing its page rank in search engines. Make sure to include a line of catchy text that encourages viewers to follow the link.

The information in this article has had a lot of success in the past and if used right, you too can be successful. There is no one recipe for Internet marketing success. Were that the case, everyone would be on board. However, with the right motivation and commitment, you can take this information and transform it to gold.

TIP! Few things incite potential customers to make a purchase like a juicy, limited-time offer. You can offer free shipping for those who order within the next 10 minutes or free gift wrapping; any kind of added incentive will do.

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Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/internet-marketing-strategies-that-can-make-you-money

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Florida governor asks Obama to block possible ports strike

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida's Republican governor wants President Barack Obama to invoke federal law and order a cooling-off period if nearly 15,000 longshoremen walk off the job in a looming strike that would be a big blow to the state's economy, according to a letter he sent the president this week.

The International Longshoremen's Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance grouping of shippers and ports have been bargaining since March but reportedly remain far from a deal covering cargo handling at 15 ports on the U.S. Gulf and eastern coasts.

In October, when a previous contract expired, the sides agreed to a 90-day extension of terms that runs out on December 29.

Florida ports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale would be directly hit by a strike or lockout but a stoppage would also rattle overall transport and trade, which accounts for 550,000 jobs in the state and $66 billion in economic activity, Florida Governor Rick Scott said in a letter dated Thursday.

"The threat to national safety and security that would result from mass closure of ports cannot be overstated," Scott told Obama.

Scott said Obama had the power under 1947's Taft-Hartley Act to prevent or interrupt a work stoppage at the ports. Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush both used Taft-Hartley, which calls for 80-day cooling-off periods and mediation, Scott said.

"The Taft-Hartley Act provides your administration with tools that can help avoid this threat," Scott said. "On behalf of the State of Florida, I respectfully request that you invoke the act when the contract ... expires at the end of the month."

(Reporting By Michael Connor in Miami; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/florida-governor-asks-obama-block-possible-ports-strike-225639458.html

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AT&T lights up more LTE cities ahead of the holidays

The holidays may be looming, but AT&T continues to add more cities to its growing 4G LTE network. Following a handful of other cities earlier this week, today sees six more additions to the network, for those with LTE-compatible phones  --

• Lancaster, Pa.
• Ogden, Utah
• Hartford, Conn.
• Bowling Green, Ky.
• Lexington, Ky.
• Boise, Idaho

Seeing AT&T LTE reception for the first time this morning? Feel free to gloat in the comments.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/nMEYMpxVC04/story01.htm

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Video: Holiday shoppers take a stress test

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/50276142#50276142

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Obama on Inouye: Another Interesting Speech (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Bells toll for victims one week after shooting

Ben Toby of Sandy Hook visits a memorial to the Newtown shooting victims during a heavy rain in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. The shooter, Adam Lanza, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Dec. 14, and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before killing himself.? (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Ben Toby of Sandy Hook visits a memorial to the Newtown shooting victims during a heavy rain in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. The shooter, Adam Lanza, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Dec. 14, and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before killing himself.? (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, center, stands with other officials to observe a moment of silence while bells ring 26 times in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, in honor of the victims who were killed last Friday during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, center, stands with other officials to observe a moment of silence while bells ring 26 times in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, in honor of the victims who were killed last Friday during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Officials including Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy observe a moment of silence on the steps of Edmond Town Hall while bells ring 26 times in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. The chiming of bells reverberated throughout Newtown, commemorating one week since the crackle of gunfire in a schoolhouse killed 20 children and six adults in a massacre that has shaken the community and the nation. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Bell ringer Tony Furnivall ring one of twelve bells in the belfry of Trinity Wall Street Church, on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012 in New York, joining a nation-wide toll for a moment of silence to mourn the 20 children and six adult victims killed last week at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Ct. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? The chiming of bells reverberated throughout Newtown on Friday, commemorating one week since the crackle of gunfire in a schoolhouse killed 20 children and six adults in a massacre that has shaken the community ? and the nation ? to its core.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gathered with other officials in rain and wind on the steps of the Edmond Town Hall as the bell rang 26 times in memory of each life lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The gunman also killed his mother before the massacre, and himself afterward.

Officials didn't make any formal remark, and similar commemorations took place throughout the country.

Though the massacre does not rank as the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history ? that happened at Virginia Tech ? the tender age of the victims and the absence of any apparent motive has struck at Americans' hearts and minds. The gunman used a military-style assault rifle loaded with ammunition intended to inflict maximum damage, officials have said.

The White House said President Barack Obama privately observed the moment of silence.

Just a week after the attack on the first grade students and members of the school's staff, gun control has taken a front burner in Congress, where previous mass shootings produced only minimal legislative reaction. Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that the Obama administration would push to tighten gun laws.

The National Rifle Association, at its first public event since the shootings, called Friday for armed police officers to be posted in American school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings."

Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the nation's largest gun-rights lobby with 4.3 million members, said at the Washington news conference that, "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

He blamed video games, movies and music videos for exposing children to a violent culture.

Though security was tight, the briefing was interrupted twice by people holding up signs that blamed the NRA for killing children. The protesters were taken from the room.

Newtown schools superintendent Janet Robinson told The Associated Press on Friday that consolidating the first grade classes at Sandy Hook Elementary School is part of the process of preparing for the students' return Jan. 3 to a refurbished middle school in Monroe. She said most of the classes will remain intact, except the first grade where 20 students were killed. She said one of the three classes has a single remaining student.

Traffic stopped in the streets outside the town hall in Newtown early Friday as bells rang out to honor the dead.

Malloy, taking deep breaths with his hands folded in front of him, was joined by the Newtown superintendent of schools, lawmakers and other officials as bells rang out at the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church.

Firefighters bowed their heads around a memorial filled with teddy bears, other stuffed animals and a New York Giants pillow. Some hugged and onlookers shook their hands afterward.

"When I heard the 26 bells ring it just melted my soul," said Kerrie Glassman, of Sandy Hook, who said she knew seven of the victims. "It's just overwhelming. You just can't believe this happened in our town."

Among those who gathered in Newtown was a group of 13 survivors of the 2005 school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota. The group drove nearly 1,500 miles to support and comfort the families and survivors. They brought gifts intended to bring a message of resilience and hope, including a plaque that survivors of the 1999 Columbine shooting gave to them after their experience.

"This is just something we had to do," said Ashley Lejeunesse, 23, who was also in the Red Lake classroom.

The chiming of bells reverberated throughout the nation, and there were observances around the world.

In Washington, religious leaders from a broad range of faiths gathered at Washington National Cathedral to call for their congregations to lobby Congress to enact gun control and mental health reforms to address pervasive gun violence. In a garden beside the National Cathedral, they paused to listen as a funeral bell tolled.

In New York City, bells at the historic Trinity Church near the World Trade Center tolled 28 times. In Massachusetts, bells in churches around the state, including Boston's historic Old North Church, rang in honor of those killed in the attack. A moment of silence was observed throughout Colorado, and bells rang out in Denver, while in Wyoming, St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne and other places of worship rang bells 26 times. In Ohio, places of worship from Cincinnati to Cleveland and beyond tolled their bells 26 times, and schools across the state marked the moment with silence.

In Alabama, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, governors invited citizens to take part in a moment of silence.

In the west African nation of Liberia, 20 children from a school sponsored by the Newtown Rotary Club gathered at the U.S. Embassy to give their condolences. Each child from the Caroline Miller School in Monrovia placed a flower on a poster bearing the name of a victim of the shooting.

When the bells tolled to honor the victims of last week's shooting rampage, they did so 26 times, for each child and staff member killed.

There is rarely a mention by residents of the first person police said Adam Lanza killed that morning: his mother, Nancy, who was shot in the head four times while she lay in bed.

A private funeral was held Thursday in New Hampshire for Nancy Lanza, according to the police chief in Kingston, N.H., where her funeral was held. About 25 family members attended.

The Newtown area weathered more funerals Friday, with five planned.

A standing room-only crowd filled the St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church in Trumbull for the funeral of Mary Sherlach. The school psychologist who rushed toward the gunman during the shooting was remembered as a caring professional, a fan of the Miami Dolphins and a woman who ultimately put the lives of others ahead of her own.

Investigators have said that Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast, visited shooting ranges several times and that her son also visited an area range.

Authorities say Adam Lanza shot his mother at their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said Nancy Lanza was shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Adam Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive-drab utility vest, during the school attack. Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the rampage.

Friends and acquaintances have described him as intelligent, but odd and quiet.

Friends said he would stare down at the floor and not speak when she brought him into a local pizzeria. They knew that he'd switched schools more than once and that she'd tried home schooling him. But while she occasionally expressed concern about his future during evenings at the bar, she never complained.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Melia, John Christoffersen, Eileen Connelly, Susan Haigh and David Klepper in Newtown.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-21-Connecticut%20School%20Shooting/id-968813c3749d4e33a7ef4f35a279d6a7

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Wells Fargo Web site troubles persist, U.S. OCC issues cyber alert

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co customers on Friday had trouble accessing the bank's Web site for a fourth day, as a federal regulator reiterated the need for banks to have systems in place to ward off cyber attacks.

A spokeswoman for the No. 4 U.S. bank by assets said some customers may have intermittent access to their online banking, although the high volume of traffic that has flooded the site has declined.

"Our technical teams have been working around the clock to ensure our Web site is accessible to our customers," bank spokeswoman Bridget Braxton said. The bank has been posting apologies on its Twitter account.

Since September, a hacker activist group called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters has said it was targeting major banks with so-called denial of service cyber attacks. These attacks can disrupt service by deluging Web sites with high traffic.

On Tuesday, the group said in an Internet posting that it would target the "5 major US banks." In a similar posting last week, it forecast attacks against banks that included PNC Financial Services Group Inc and U.S. Bancorp, which reported some disruptions.

A PNC spokesman on Friday said the bank's systems were operating normally. Spokespersons for Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and U.S. Bancorp declined to comment. Citigroup Inc could not be immediately reached.

In its alert on Friday, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks and thrifts, said groups launching denial of service attacks had varying motives, from gaining public attention to diverting the attention of banks while launching simultaneous attacks to commit fraud or steal proprietary information.

"Banks need to have a heightened sense of awareness regarding these attacks and employ appropriate resources to identify and mitigate the associated risks," the alert said.

Banks should have sufficient staffing during attacks, work with third-party providers and share information with other banks, the OCC said.

Of five major banks, Wells Fargo on Friday had spurred the most complaints from users about access problems, according to the Web site SiteDown.co, which tracks customer reports. It listed 576 "downtime reports" in the past 24 hours.

Wells Fargo says it has 21 million active online banking customers.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, N.C.; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wells-fargo-troubles-persist-u-occ-issues-cyber-193240930--sector.html

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KB Home 4Q results beat Wall Street expectations

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- KB Home's fourth-quarter net income dropped 45 percent compared with the same quarter last year when the builder logged some hefty gains, but it easily beat Wall Street expectations as revenue soared along with its backlog.

Potential future housing revenues in backlog climbed 35 percent to $618.6 million. That signifies the best fourth quarter since 2007, when the housing crisis was beginning to unfold.

Net orders rose 4 percent to 1,557.

Homes delivered climbed 6 percent to 2,122 homes and the average selling price jumped 14 percent to $270,700.

President and CEO Jeffrey Mezger said the company saw increased demand for bigger homes with more design options, which pushed average selling prices higher.

"We anticipate housing demand will continue to strengthen, particularly as more households facing rising rental costs consider the benefits of homeownership and emerge from the sidelines," Mezger said.

The entire housing sector appears to be gaining traction, thanks in part to low interest rates and a thinning of available homes that had been driving prices down sharply for years.

On Thursday, the economists expect the National Association of Realtors to report that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes likely rose last month to their highest level in more than 2? years,

On Monday a new survey released by the National Association for Business Economics showed that top business economists believe that modest growth will be ongoing in 2013, led by rising demand for housing.

For the period ended Nov. 30, KB Home earned $7.7 million, or 10 cents per share. That compares with earnings of $13.9 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier. That year-ago figure included $26.4 million from a financial services gain and the company booked additional gains on a loan guaranty.

The 10 cents-per-share profit breezed past Wall Street expectations of 6 cents per share, according to a poll of analysts by FactSet.

It was the same story with revenue, which rose 21 percent to $578.2 million. Analysts that follow the company were predicting revenue of $562.9 million forecast.

KB Home's full-year loss narrowed to $59 million, or 76 cents per share. In the prior year the Los Angeles company lost $178.8 million, or $2.32 per share.

Annual revenue increased 18 percent to $1.56 billion from $1.32 billion.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kb-home-4q-results-beat-120859271.html

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Microsoft Confirms Buggy Patch Tuesday, Promises Fix

One of the updates included in Microsoft?s last Patch Tuesday cycle of the year breaks down fonts in a number of applications installed on Windows 7, including Quark Xpress and CorelDraw.

In addition, it appears that many more software solutions are actually affected by the bug, including Microsoft?s very own Word and PowerPoint, with plenty of users reporting similar issues on the company?s support forums.

Microsoft says it?s currently investigating the issue and a workaround to solve the problem should be released anytime soon.

?We are aware of an issue with MS12-078 that could cause select fonts to stop working once the update is installed. We are actively investigating this issue and will take appropriate actions as necessary to help protect our customers,? Dustin Childs, group manager, Response Communications, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, told us in a statement.

Until Microsoft launches this patch, users have no other option than to manually uninstall the Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2753842) or use System Restore to reset any recent changes.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Confirms-Buggy-Patch-Tuesday-Promises-Fix-315850.shtml

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On-demand synaptic electronics: Circuits that learn and forget

Dec. 20, 2012 ? Researchers in Japan and the US propose a nanoionic device with a range of neuromorphic and electrical multifunctions that may allow the fabrication of on-demand configurable circuits, analog memories and digital-neural fused networks in one device architecture.

Synaptic devices that mimic the learning and memory processes in living organisms are attracting avid interest as an alternative to standard computing elements that may help extend Moore's law beyond current physical limits.

However so far artificial synaptic systems have been hampered by complex fabrication requirements and limitations in the learning and memory functions they mimic. Now Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe and colleagues at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan and the University of California, Los Angeles, in the US have developed two-, three-terminal WO3-x-based nanoionic devices capable of a broad range of neuromorphic and electrical functions.

In its initial pristine condition the system has very high resistance values. Sweeping both negative and positive voltages across the system decreases this resistance nonlinearly, but it soon returns to its original state indicating a volatile state. Applying either positive or negative pulses at the top electrode introduces a soft-breakdown, after which sweeping both negative and positive voltages leads to non-volatile states that exhibit bipolar resistance and rectification for longer periods of time.

The researchers draw similarities between the device properties -- volatile and non-volatile states and the current fading process following positive voltage pulses -- with models for neural behaviour -- that is, short- and long-term memory and forgetting processes. They explain the behaviour as the result of oxygen ions migrating within the device in response to the voltage sweeps. Accumulation of the oxygen ions at the electrode leads to Schottky-like potential barriers and the resulting changes in resistance and rectifying characteristics. The stable bipolar switching behaviour at the Pt/WO3-x interface is attributed to the formation of the electric conductive filament and oxygen absorbability of the Pt electrode.

As the researchers conclude, "These capabilities open a new avenue for circuits, analog memories, and artificially fused digital neural networks using on-demand programming by input pulse polarity, magnitude, and repetition history."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), via ResearchSEA.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Rui Yang, Kazuya Terabe, Guangqiang Liu, Tohru Tsuruoka, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, James K. Gimzewski, Masakazu Aono. On-Demand Nanodevice with Electrical and Neuromorphic Multifunction Realized by Local Ion Migration. ACS Nano, 2012; 6 (11): 9515 DOI: 10.1021/nn302510e

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/strange_science/~3/LkxkRQGtx0U/121220161427.htm

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Iron Man Arc Reactor Ring Box Was the Perfect Proposal For a Comic Book Nerd

Eddie Zarick is a clever man. First, he has a girlfriend who is a comic book nerd and loves Iron Man ("She always calls me Tony Stark for all of the projects I have going," he says). Second, he can make stuff like this cool motorized Iron Man arc reactor, which opens to reveal a proposal ring. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vKRTTxj7w_o/iron-man-arc-reactor-ring-box-is-the-perfect-proposal-for-a-comibook-nerd

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The Music Club, 2012

Nicki Minaj at the 26th Annual ARIA Awards 2012 in November in Sydney, Australia.?

Photo by Caroline McCredie/Getty Images

Dear Jody, Ann, Jason, and Will,

Once upon a time I spied on you all, Bud Light Lime in my hand?and now here I am, receiving your 3:30 a.m. drunk texts. Or, if you don?t speak Kitty Pryde, what I am saying is: longtime reader of the Music Club, first-time caller, thrilled to be passing notes with y?all about the state of music in the Year of Our Lord Carly Rae Jepsen, Two Thousand Twelve.

Jody, I want to start off with the question you asked in your initial post, wondering if pop music was getting quieter or if there just happened to be fewer kids on your lawn this year. It?s an astute observation, and I agree that it?s probably a natural reaction against EDM?s omnipresent (borderline hegemonic, at press time) influence and the Skrillex-ification of pop radio. In a year when even Taylor Swift could tell you where the drop was, it only makes sense that you stand out when you quiet down. That was the appeal of a couple of my favorite singles this year: Usher?s cyborg slow jam ?Climax,? Nicki Minaj & 2 Chainz? flatly carbonated ?Beez in the Trap,? Jessie Ware?s slinky Sade nod ?Sweet Talk,? and the hush menace of Zebra Katz?s vogue anthem ?Ima Read.?

But I think 2012 was the year we began to see a certain kind of quietude and smallness manifest as something more than just a production style. Earlier this year my colleague Carrie Battan coined the term ?recession pop? in an article about a crop of up-and-coming, indie-leaning pop artists like Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX, Blood Orange, and Solange (also known as Ivy Blue Carter?s aunt), all of whom are less interested in appealing to mass audiences and more concerned with making pop on their own creative terms. When Battan describes ?recession pop,? she?s mostly talking about minimalist sonics and noncommercial career arcs, but I want to extend the term to describe a thematic change I saw ripple across both mainstream pop and underground music this year, which felt like a response from a youth culture coming of age without the promise of the institutions that were there for their parents: job security, Social Security, marriage, etc. (What good is a cultural paradigm shift if it can?t be encapsulated in a hashtag, you ask? Well, all I?m really saying here is #YOLO.)

I?ll get to my albums and track lists in a minute, but I hope I?m not being too predictable when I say that no other 2012 record for me even came close to Frank Ocean?s sprawling, poetic, eccentric, invitingly human Channel Orange. Will, I?m right there with you on the Fallon performance of ?Bad Religion? being one of the defining and most goose-bump-inducing musical moments of the year. As Jody was saying, our musical experiences are now as screen-centric and hyperactive as a ?Call Me Maybe? supercut, but something about ?Bad Religion? made my brain X out of all its other proverbial Firefox tabs?it was one of those ?I remember what I was wearing and what the weather was like? moments that the Internet seems, at its peskiest, hellbent on eradicating. For me, ?Bad Religion? made time stop. Of course some (though not all: that augmented chord in the chorus is a killer) of the performance?s impact came from the back story: Ocean had just posted a note on his Tumblr revealing that the first person he?d fallen in love with, at age 19, was a man. But to me, and a lot of others who?ve written eloquently about him, the radicalism of Frank Ocean wasn?t about the fact that he?d ?come out??it was about the fact that he didn?t.

I loved his response in a recent GQ interview, when asked if he identified as bisexual: ?You can move to the next question. I?ll respectfully say that life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences, and the same sentiment that I have towards genres of music, I have towards a lot of labels and boxes and shit.? So maybe I?m being a little generous with my definition of #YOLO (a hashtag acronym coined by either Drake or Fritz Lang, meaning ?You Only Live Once?), but I see it not so much as dancing ?til the world ends in one giant, sky-cracking dubstep drop, but instead a fitting motto for a generation of young people beginning to privilege ?dynamic experiences? and ambiguity over continuity (not to mention, as anyone who?s graduated college post-recession will tell you, short-term contract work over long-term job security and benefits). Jason, your analysis of how race functions with regards to Ocean?s success and universal critical acclaim is very sharp, and it?s a conversation I want more people to be having about him. But on some level I do find it inspiring that his message of ?dynamic experiences? has resonated across race and genre lines. I don?t think Frank Ocean is the face of gay America, or the average white indie listener?s relationship with black music, but I see him representing a new kind of freedom: of a generation beginning to forge identities not around sexual orientation?or marital status, or work life?but life experiences. I heard a lot of music this year questioning institutions, identities, and timelines?reflecting the realities of a lot of people in or around their 20s right now. Maybe we can think of this as?if The Year of the Girls Think Piece hasn?t surpassed its annual quota on the M-word?millennial pop.

And another reality that cropped up in a lot of music I heard in 2012: the Life of the Single Lady. I doubt I was alone in feeling, a few years ago, that Beyonce?s refrain of ?if you like it, then you shoulda put a ring on it? wasn?t exactly reflective of how a lot of young women were feeling: as Kate Bolick wrote in her much-discussed Atlantic cover story ?All The Single Ladies? last year, as many as 43 percent of young women see the institution of marriage becoming ?obsolete.? And even those that still want to walk down the aisle are, on average, doing so much later in life. So I was glad this year to hear a more nuanced take on modern female singlehood from a voice decidedly quieter than Beyonce?s. One of my favorite, criminally underheard records of 2012 came from Alabama?s Katie Crutchfield, who records her emotionally direct lo-fi songs under the name Waxahatchee. She wrote and recorded the searing American Weekend (which reminds me of an early Mountain Goats record, or Sebadoh, but cut through with a distinctly and, in the indie world, still much-needed female perspective) while snowed in at her parents? house, and the resulting record echoes with this quality of isolation, searching, and unabashed self-destruction (?I don?t care, I?ll embrace all my vices,? begins the best song, ?Grass Stain?). I have been foisting this record on everybody this year; it broke my heart in about a thousand places the first time I heard it. There?s also a striking, emotionally candid song called ?Rose, 1956,? which seems to be about watching her grandmother succumb to illness (?your breaths are short and urgent, and it is unsettling?), but it?s intercut with the refrain, ?You got married when you were 15,? a line Crutchfield delivers with simple astonishment, as though she?s imagining how different her own life would be if that were her generation?s norm. Its cover scattered with vintage family photos of women, American Weekend is?like one of my favorite records of last year, EMA?s Past Life Martyred Saints?at times a meditation on the anxieties of matrilineage, but it?s also a record full of love songs for people who?ve grown up internalizing Facebook?s ?It?s Complicated? as a viable relationship status. ?You don?t wanna be my boyfriend,? she sings, a little unsure, on ?Be Good.? ?And that?s probably for the best.?

We have to talk more about Carly Rae Jepsen, who I?m?perhaps too optimistically?hoping outlives ?Call Me Maybe,? since I think Kiss was hands down one of the best pop albums of the year (if and only if you delete ?Good Time,? her schmaltzy duet with Owl City, from your iTunes library forever). Kiss also felt emblematic of this shift in female artists, away from writing about long-term relationships (though, we?ll get to you, Tay-Tay) and toward music that almost feels like a nod back to disco, glorifying the ecstasy of the Brief Encounters. Still, slow your roll, Rush Limbaugh?Jepsen?s whole record is noticeably (and maybe to some, refreshingly) chaste. So when I say Brief Encounters, I?m not necessarily talking one-night stands. Unless I am. Enter Ke$ha, Warrior Princess.

In the words of rap game Betty Friedan, we?ve been keeping it PG, but I wanna get a little frisky. Ann, I always enjoy your musings on gender and sex, so I trust you with a question I?ve been grappling with all year: What are we to make of all these female-identified pop stars singing about their dicks? Is this empowering? Or vaguely transphobic? Maybe something in between? There?s Ke$ha?s kiss-off to a (presumably) male ?slut? in ?Thinking of You? (?I?m over it/ So suck my dick?) to?hands down, five of my favorite seconds in music this year?Nicki Minaj?s diva-licious ?dick in your face? interlude in the glorious, hysterical menace that is ?Come on a Cone.? I know we?re both Nicki superfans, so I?m looking forward to talking more about her wild year. And I know you?ll feel me when I say: When I?m asking Ann Powers I?m really asking Ann Powers. Ain?t a metaphor, punch line, I?m really asking Ann Powers.

So much more to discuss, on the NSFW tip! Pussy Riot! Pussy Rings! ?Pussy Is Mine?! A lot of music fans might join me in thinking Webster?s went a little conservative with their Word of the Year choice this year.

P.S., here are my top lists:

1. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
2. Beach House - Bloom
3. Grimes - Visions
4. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
5. Jessie Ware - Devotion
6. Anais Mitchell - Young Man in America
7. Chairlift - Something
8. Bat For Lashes - The Haunted Man
9. Waxahatchee - American Weekend
10. Grizzly Bear - Shields
11. Angel Olsen - Half Way Home
12. Cat Power - Sun
13. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems
14. Daphni - JIAOLONG
15. Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze EP
16. Kendrick Lamar - good kid mAAd city
17. Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
18. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
19. Swearin? ? Swearin?
20. Carly Rae Jepsen - Kiss

1. Grimes - ?Oblivion?
2. Frank Ocean - ?Thinkin? ?Bout You?
3. Chairlift - ?I Belong In Your Arms?
4. Fiona Apple - ?Werewolf?
5. Carly Rae Jepsen - ?Call Me Maybe?
6. Kendrick Lamar - ?Bitch Don?t Kill My Vibe?
7. Jessie Ware - ?Sweet Talk?
8. Icona Pop - ?I Love It?
9. Nicki Minaj & Cassie - ?The Boys?
10. Bat for Lashes - ?The Haunted Man?
11. Usher - ?Climax?
12. Miguel - ?Adorn?
13. Grimes - ?Genesis?
14. Nicki Minaj & 2 Chainz - ?Beez in the Trap?
15. Killer Mike - ?Reagan?
16. Daphni - ?Yes I Know?
17. Four Tet - ?Pyramids?
18. Japandroids - ?The House That Heaven Built?
19. Dum Dum Girls - ?Lord Knows?
20. Solange - ?Losing You?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=08d3c281d69dd08a254f4753ff7b9541

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Cleantech Venture Investing: On the Deathbed or Merely Resting ...

Two weeks ago, I sat on a panel of eminent (that is, other than myself) cleantech venture capitalists at the New England Venture Summit to discuss our sector as we approach the end of 2012.

The basic theme being explored was whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about the current state of affairs for cleantech investing.

As I noted in my opening quip:? ?I have friends on both sides of this issue, and on this issue, I?m with my friends.?

Seriously, it?s easy to understand being pessimistic.? While the data on cleantech venture capital investing activity has been mixed and erratic over the past few years, the qualitative indicators have led to a plethora of articles during 2012 suggesting a cleantech ?bust?.? True, the litany of woes is substantial.

• Several high-profile venture capital firms have retreated from or at least strongly de-emphasized cleantech investing, and other cleantech venture firms are widely thought to be in challenging positions likely precluding a next fund for ongoing viability.
• Valuations on cleantech investment rounds have experienced significant downward pressure.
• While early-stage deals can get done, the trend is towards focusing on later-stage deals, and ventures with long histories but only limited customer traction and modest revenues (less than breakeven) will find it difficult to obtain the next round of capital at favorable terms.
• The Solyndra debacle has been an excruciating black eye for venture-backed cleantech deals in general.
• Very low natural gas prices from the shale bonanza make it difficult for many energy-related cleantech firms to compete economically with their products.
• The Republican party has successfully made cleantech a political litmus test, which in turn means that roughly 50% of the U.S. population views the sector with a general sense of skepticism or disdain.

When you sum this up, it?s pretty tough to be a cleantech venture investor these days.?? But, there?s also a strong case to be made for cautious optimism, too.

Taking the long view ? which I can to a fair degree, since I?ve been playing in this sandbox in various capacities for nearly 15 years, far longer than most observers ? the situation we face today is not as discouraging as it was in the late 1990s (when only ventures called ______.com could get funded) or in the 2002-2005 era (post-9/11, post dot-com meltdown, post-Enron, still-cheap oil).

A much-needed cleansing of the sector is going on, a case of Schumpeterian ?creative destruction?.? I suspected then, and am pretty convinced now, that a significant cleantech venture investment bubble occurred in the 2006-2008 timeframe.? The confluence of rapidly rising oil and natural gas prices plus greater political consensus about climate change (recall that 2008 GOP Presidential candidate John McCain supported carbon-mitigation policies) drew in not only too-much capital, but also investment professionals that ? in my opinion ? weren?t applying a prudent set of commercial perspectives when making bets in the uniquely challenging cleantech space.

Simply put, venture capitalists drawn into cleantech from other sectors ? either software or healthcare ? because it was the ?new new thing? employed many of the tricks they used (often successfully) in the past, but which don?t necessarily work so well in cleantech.? Combined with ever-increasing sizes of venture funds, which need bigger investments to ?move the needle? (i.e., generate returns upon exit sizable enough to be noticeable), excessive quantities of capital were thrown at a number of cleantech ventures before they were ready to make productive use of such resources.

Using a pricelessly-wise idiom that I first heard from legendary venture capitalist David Morgenthaler:? ?Getting nine women pregnant won?t get you a baby in one month.?

Not surprisingly, too many capital-intensive cleantech deals got funded, focused on a too-narrow set of investment theses, including thin-film solar, lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, and second generation biofuels.

Clearly, there will be a shakeout in cleantech investing.? More ventures will go bust.? More cleantech venture capitalists, and venture capital firms active in cleantech, will withdraw from the space.? Only the strongest will survive.

Yet, those that survive will almost certainly be better prepared to prosper in the next uptick in cleantech venture investing.? And, the deals will be more attractive:? valuations will be lower, business plans and models will be sounder, and leadership teams will be more seasoned.

Yes, there will be a rebound in cleantech.? I?m not going to predict exactly when it will become fully evident, but it must happen.? After all, the overall fundamentals in support of the cleantech thesis still remain:? growing populations and increasing standards of living worldwide who are demanding greater environmental protection while simultaneously competing for finite (in many cases, dwindling) essential resources such as energy, water and food.

The members of the panel on which I sat generally reiterated the same basic themes:? capital-efficiency of scale-up, clear technological differentiation and economic superiority, greater involvement of corporate venture capital as funders, working early with strategic partners (future acquirers) to accelerate market penetration, improved teams with relevant entrepreneurial experience from prior cleantech ventures.

Paraphrasing Mark Twain, the death of cleantech venture investing has been greatly exaggerated.? Although it may be ?stunned?,? it?s not ?just resting? or ?pining for the fjords?, either.

The cleantech venture capitalists who will be successful in the future are today still working hard on their portfolio companies.? Most will not be noteworthy exits.? Some will need to be terminated, others ?worked out? through turnarounds and restructurings, with a few winners coming out at the end of the process.? Not all the winners need to be ?the next Google? or even ?home runs?, but rather solid companies producing good (if not outrageous) rates of return to investors.

This restructuring of the cleantech venture sector will take time and be painful for pretty much everyone involved.? But it?s the price to be paid to stay in the game, and will surely separate those who are truly committed and capable from the ?wanna-bes?.

I intend to remain engaged for the rest of my career, and will be working diligently to continue to earn the right to do so.

Image: Venture Capital via Shutterstock

Source: http://theenergycollective.com/cleantech-blog-neal-dikeman-and-richard-stuebi-et-al/160176/cleantech-venture-investing-deathbed-or-

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Rounding Out The Year- Health, Exercise, Fitness, Workout ...

A few schedule reminders:

12-24 8:00am and 8:30am

12-25 CLOSED

12-26 No 5:30am

12-27 Normal

12-28 No 5:30a

Please keep in mind that the year is NOT OVER and that with hectic schedules workouts get harder and harder to fit in. If you need ?homework? ask and remember that de-conditioning starts after 4 days so get something in!

Launch for STORM is 12/29/12 at 8:30 am and 10:00 am. We will go over the new program, schedule and FAQs. We are looking at having someone come in and do a nutrition piece and will keep you updated on that.

Workout:

Bench 60% x 10 70% x 5 80% x 3

Run 400 meters

Row 500 meters

4 Rounds For Time

(20 min cap)

Source: http://livelongfood.net/rounding-out-the-year/

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Ottenuta la certificazione Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) per gl...

Accelerate ?Assasin?s Creed III,? ?Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,? and ?Far Cry 3? with New GeForce Driv

blogs.nvidia.com

NVIDIA released new GeForce R310 drivers today that are Microsoft Windows certified and optimized for this year?s biggest holiday games.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/NVIDIAItalia/posts/207636786040524

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Time to say goodbye to the payroll tax cut? It's looking that way.

No matter how the 'fiscal cliff' talks end, federal taxes of working Americans appear likely to rise after Jan. 1. That's because the Obama White House isn't pushing to extend the payroll tax cut.?

By Ron Scherer,?Staff writer / December 18, 2012

US President Barack Obama signs a payroll tax cut extension in the Oval Office, in December 2011.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Enlarge

It now appears that all Americans with a job ? no matter what their income level ? will see their federal taxes rise on Jan. 1. That's because, in an effort to resolve the so-called "fiscal cliff," the Obama White House has quietly dropped its plan to extend the temporary 2 percentage point cut in payroll taxes, which are used to fund Social Security.

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For someone who makes about $50,000 a year, the payroll tax will rise by about $19 a week, meaning that earner will have about $1,000 less to spend next year than in 2012. Some may make up for the lost income by eliminating that $4 latte every work day, or cutting back on the frequency of dining out at a sit-down restaurant.

?First paychecks [of the new year] will be about 2 percent smaller,? says Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center in Washington. If someone's gross pay is $1,000 per week this year and all other taxes stay the same next year, that worker will take home $20 less a week in 2013. ?

That may not sound like much money, but for the economy as a whole the payroll tax cut amounted to about $112 billion in 2012 ? or the equivalent of at least $300 for each person in the US.

?It?s money taken out of the economy that is not available to be spent,? says Mr. Williams.

All those cups of coffee and dinners out have added up to some extra hiring. In 2012, the payroll tax cut was expected to boost gross domestic product by 0.5 percent and 400,000 jobs, according to an August analysis by Macroeconomic Advisers, a St. Louis firm.

The payroll tax cuts date back to 2010, when President Obama proposed ? and Congress agreed ? to cut payroll taxes for individuals for one year, in a bid to help the country recover from the Great Recession. So, in 2011, the payroll tax went from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent on the employee?s contribution to Social Security for earned income up to $110,000. The employer contribution of 6.2 percent remained unchanged.

Then, Congress and the president agreed to renew the payroll tax cut for 2012. Many budget analysts were surprised when Mr. Obama included it again for 2013.

?It was clearly a bargaining chip,? says Pete Davis of Davis Capital Investment Ideas, which advises Wall Street firms on Washington affairs. ?And it was time to cash it in? during the fiscal cliff bargaining.

Getting Congress to agree to continue the payroll tax cut yet again might have been problematic. Many politicians, from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) of California to Sen. Orin Hatch (R) of Utah, were less than enthusiastic about extending it. That is in part because the money that would have come from wage earners? pockets for Social Security was coming instead from the US Treasury?s general fund.

That is alarming to Pamela Tainter-Causey of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

?We?re moving from a fund that is independent to one that is dependent on the general fund,? Ms. Tainter-Causey says of Social Security. ?There could be a time when they say we can?t afford to put the money into Social Security this year.?

Some analysts also ask whether the payroll tax cut was a stimulus that actually served to create jobs. ?If it was designed to encourage hiring, they should have done it on the employers? side,? says Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonpartisan think tank in Dallas.

The analysis from Macroeconomic Advisers, however, disagreed. It said that decreasing employers? payroll taxes would go right into profits and would be an ?ineffective? way to increase hiring.

Ms. Villarreal suggests that it might be too soon to consider the payroll tax cuts kaput.

?To me, nothing is set in stone until the end of the year, until the fat lady sings,? she says. But for now, extending the payroll tax cut seems to be off the table.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/MclnnpwCueI/Time-to-say-goodbye-to-the-payroll-tax-cut-It-s-looking-that-way

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Party in disarray, Berlusconi wants vote delay

ROME (AP) ? Silvio Berlusconi and fellow leaders of his splintering conservative party on Tuesday pressed for a delay in Italy's national elections, now widely expected for mid-February, arguing they need more time to prepare for the campaign.

The scandal-scarred former three-time premier, who is considering running for the post again, said on a state TV talk show that the "rush toward elections" is "useless," and that party leaders need more time to draw up lists of candidates for Parliament.

Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve the legislature as soon as it passes the government's proposed austerity budget law. Premier Mario Monti has pledged to resign as soon as the law passes. Then Napolitano will announce an election date, which officials have indicated would likely be Feb. 17.

Monti, an economist appointed to save Italy from financial disaster and who replaced Berlusconi, hasn't said if he will run. Since late last year, he has headed a non-elected government of technocrats.

The final vote on the budget bill was expected on Friday. But on Tuesday, one of Berlusconi's parliamentary whips, Fabrizio Cicchitto, abruptly announced that his Freedom Party is seeking more time to study the legislation, and added that Feb. 24 would be a "more reasonable date" for the election.

Italian news reports said Berlusconi's forces even were pushing for even a later date, in early March.

Berlusconi agreed a delay was needed.

"Yes, this rush to elections causes total hurry in drawing up candidate lists and it's a useless forcing" of the situation, said the media mogul, who has been flip-flopping on whether he himself will try to gain back the premiership. He has claimed he won't run if Monti does.

Berlusconi's opponents cried foul. Dario Franceschini, Chamber of Deputies whip for the center-left Democratic Party, the conservatives' biggest challenger, accused Berlusconi's party leaders of "delaying" tactics on the budget bill to try to gain "just a few days" more of time to prepare for the campaign.

Opinion polls show Berlusconi's popularity with voters sagging.

But the ex-premier claimed on the talk show that with his frequent appearances of late, after a year much on the political sidelines, that he has gained in popularity and that in an election he could head a ticket snagging as much as 40 percent of the vote. Some polls have given the center-left Democratic Party as much as 30 percent.

When asked on TV if Italians aren't tired of him, Berlusconi replied, with an air of confidence, that "Italians will show with their vote'" if they are.

Some prominent leaders in Berlusconi's party broke with his decision to withdraw support for Monti's government earlier this month and said they would push for Monti to be premier again.

Berlusconi is currently on trial in Milan on charges he paid for sex with an underage woman and used his office when premier to try to cover it up. He denies the charges. The Italian politician has faced a host of legal woes over the past two decades. In October he was convicted of tax fraud and is appealing his sentence.

He has depicted himself as the victim of prosecutors he contends sympathize with the left.

Berlusconi raised eyebrows during his last stretch as premier by hosting "bunga bunga" evenings ? supposedly racy parties featuring many young women ? at his private residences. In an apparent bid at a more respectable image, the 76-year-old Berlusconi recently revealed that he now has a fianc?e, an Italian woman 48 years his junior.

Berlusconi's wife a few years ago announced she was seeking divorce, citing his weakness for young women. They are now separated.

Asked on the talk show Tuesday night how things were going with his new girlfriend, Berlusconi quipped: "Are you jealous?" Then he added that she is a "stimulus" for commitment to work for the country.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/party-disarray-berlusconi-wants-vote-delay-211557304.html

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Why Africa's lions are rapidly disappearing

Africa's lion population has dwindled to 32,000, a nearly 70 percent decline in the past 50 years, according to a new survey by Duke University.

By Jon Gambrell,?Associated Press / December 4, 2012

A lion cub sleeps at a nature reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa. A new study shows that Africa's lion population has shrunk to 32,000.

(AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Enlarge

The lions that roam Africa's savannahs have lost as much as 75 percent of their habitat in the last 50 years as humans overtake their land and the lion population dwindles, said a study released Tuesday.

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Researchers at Duke University, including prominent conservationist Stuart Pimm, warn that the number of lions across the continent have dropped to as few as 32,000, with populations in West Africa under incredible pressure.

"Lion numbers have declined precipitously in the last century," the study, published Tuesday by the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, reads. "Given that many now live in small, isolated populations, this trend will continue. The situation in West Africa is particularly dire, with no large population remaining and lions now absent from many of the region's national parks."

Fifty years ago, nearly 100,000 lions roamed across the African continent. In recent years, however, an ever-growing human population has come into the savannah lands to settle and develop. That has both cut down the amount of land lions have to roam, as well as fragmented it, researchers said.

?The word savannah conjures up visions of vast open plains teeming with wildlife.? But the reality is that massive land-use change and deforestation, driven by rapid human population growth, has fragmented or degraded much of the original savannah.? Only 25 percent remains of an ecosystem that once was a third larger than the continental United States,? said? Pimm in a statement released by Duke?s Nicholas School of the Environment.

Using satellite imagery, the researchers determined the amount of land now available for lions that remains wild and minimally impacted by human growth. Those lands are rapidly diminishing, and more territory will likely be lost in the next 40 years, the report said.

Of 67 isolated locations in Africa where human populations are low enough to allow lions to survive, only 10 were deemed "strongholds" where lions have an excellent chance of survival.

Five countries in Africa have likely lost their lions since a 2002 study was run, the report said. Only nine countries contain at least 1,000 lions, while Tanzania alone has more than 40 percent of the continent's lions, it said.

"An obvious caveat is that areas for which we detect little conversion of savannahs to croplands may still suffer human impacts that make them unsuitable for lions," the report said. "Over-hunting for trophies, poaching ? of lions and of their prey species ? and conflict with pastoralists may not have any visual signal to satellites. Even where there are low human population densities and areas designated as national parks, there (may) not be lions within them."

The report calls for more mapping and studying to be done to ensure the lions' protection.

The lion research was funded by National Geographic?s Big Cats Initiative, a long-term effort to halt the decline of big cats in the wild through assessment efforts, on-the-ground conservation projects, education and a global public-awareness campaign.?

RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/oS2kz78mDFs/Why-Africa-s-lions-are-rapidly-disappearing

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Jack Hanlon, actor in Our Gang films, dies in Nev.

RENO, Nev. (AP) ? Jack Hanlon, who had roles in the 1926 silent classic "The General" and in two 1927 "Our Gang" comedies, died Thursday in Las Vegas, family members said Sunday. He was 96.

The precocious, freckle-faced Hanlon was a natural as a child actor from 1926 to 1933, said his niece, Wendy Putnam Park of Las Vegas.

"He was absolutely the sweetest, most charming man," Park told The Associated Press. "He loved talking about being in the movies if you brought the subject up. He loved sharing stories about being in them."

After a small role with Buster Keaton in "The General," he played mischievous kids in two of Hal Roach's "Our Gang/Little Rascals" films: "The Glorious Fourth" and "Olympic Games."

Hanlon also played an orphan in the 1929 drama "The Shakedown," and got an on-screen kiss from Greta Garbo in the 1930 film "Romance."

He appeared in eight more "talkies," including "Big Money" with Clark Gable, in the 1930s before calling it a career at the age of 16. He rarely made more than $5 a day.

His friend, Bob Satterfield, told the Las Vegas Sun that he watched the Our Gang films and "The General" with Hanlon.

"He told me it was like watching someone else because it was a lifetime ago ... Jack led a full life," Satterfield, a Southern California high school activities director and silent film buff, told the Sun.

After leaving Hollywood, Hanlon became an Army paratrooper and mover for Allied Van Lines. He had resided in Las Vegas for 18 years, Park said, and lived in his own home until October when he moved to an assisted living center.

"Surprisingly, he was in good physical shape until two months ago," Park said. "He liked being independent and watching old movies on TV. He basically died of old age."

He will be buried in Santa Monica, Calif., along with his wife of 37 years, Jean.

Survivors include two other nieces and a nephew.

Associated Press

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Running, Not Weights, Burns Fat

If you want to burn fat, it's better to hit the treadmill than the weight room, a new study suggests.

The results show aerobic workouts are better than resistance training for reducing fat mass.

And a workout that combines the two activities ? lifting weights in addition to running ? is no better at burning fat than running alone, the researchers said.

The findings contradict the idea that resistance training can help with weight and fat loss by improving metabolism, the researchers said.

But the findings don't mean that resistance training is not useful. The study found that resistance training was better at increasing lean body mass than aerobic training alone. And for older adults who are experiencing muscle loss, resistance training is beneficial, the researchers said.

But for young, healthy adults who want to lose weight, aerobic training may be the way to go.

"Balancing time commitments against health benefits, our study suggests that aerobic exercise is the best option for reducing fat mass and body mass," said study researcher Cris Slentz, an exercise physiologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. "It's not that resistance training isn't good for you; it's just not very good at burning fat," Slentz said.

The study involved 234 overweight and obese adults who did not have diabetes, and did not exercise regularly before the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three workouts: a resistance training workout (consisting of three days of weight lifting per week); an aerobic workout (running 12 miles a week); or a combination workout (three days of weight lifting plus 12 miles of running a week). The workout regimens lasted eight months.

The aerobic training group and the combination group lost more weight and fat mass than the resistance-training group.

Despite requiring double the exercise time, the combination workout did not reduce body mass and fat mass beyond what was seen in the aerobic training group, the researchers said.

While some studies suggest resistance training can improve metabolic rate, and thus allow people to burn more calories, the new results do not suggest this. Regardless of participants' metabolic rate, they did not lose more weight or fat mass with resistance training.

"No one type of exercise will be best for every health benefit," said study researcher Leslie Willis, an exercise physiologist at Duke. "However, it might be time to reconsider the conventional wisdom that resistance training alone can induce changes in body mass or fat mass due to an increase in metabolism, as our study found no change."

Although a focus on weight loss is understandable, "when considering the big picture, I like to encourage individuals to pursue a complete exercise program ? including both aerobic exercise and resistance training," said Barbara Bushman, a professor at Missouri State University's Department of Kinesiology who was not involved in the study. "If time is limited and it comes down to one or the other, this study, as well as [statements from the American College of Sports Medicine] would seem to be in agreement that aerobic exercise along with dietary restriction are of the greatest benefit," Bushman said.

The study is published in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Pass it on:?Aerobic workouts are best for fat loss.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/running-not-weights-burns-fat-052236784.html

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