equestrienne quadraphonic: September 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

World powers urge Syria opposition to unite

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? Western nations and allies in the Middle East meet Friday to urge Syria's fractured opposition to unite, seeking a new path for ending the country's conflict amid deadlock between major powers on the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hosting talks among the Friends of Syria ? a coalition which includes the United States, the European Union and the Arab League ? on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, seeking to encourage better cooperation among groups which oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The talks, which don't include Russia, China or Iran, take place with the Security Council at a stalemate on efforts to halt the 18-month long conflict, which activists say has led to more than 30,000 deaths.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence and enter negotiations on a political transition, paralyzing the U.N.'s most powerful body and denting chances of any progress during the General Assembly.

Clinton has decried Assad's "murdering of his own people," while Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ? who will address the General Assembly on Friday ? has accused the U.S. and other countries of encouraging terrorism in their stance on Syria.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said it is "shocking" that the Security Council had been unable to act, while British Prime Minister David Cameron denounced the deaths of Syrian children as "a stain on those who have failed to stand up to these atrocities," a reference to Russia and China.

Britain's Middle East minister Alistair Burt said Thursday that Friday's meeting would seize on tentative signs that Syria's opposition is becoming more willing to work together. "What we hear is that they do understand the need to make more progress themselves," he said.

"Our message has been consistent," Burt added. "No-one is asking them to form a unified, single party ? but to have a clear set of objectives addressed towards minorities and the people of Syria as to what they would do."

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that he was developing a 12-nation group to work on developing a solution to Syria's crisis, but declined to say which countries may be involved or what steps the body might take.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has also invited Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to join a contact group aimed at ending the conflict, though the Saudis have not yet participated. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal was addressing the General Assembly on Friday.

"We don't want to close any options off that might be helpful in the process, but we struggle to understand how someone so involved in supporting the regime, and therefore perpetuating the cycle of violence, can be part of the answer," Burt said, referring to Ahmadinejad.

Libya's new Prime Minister Mustafa Abu-Shakour and foreign ministers of Germany and South Korea are also scheduled Friday to address the General Assembly.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-28-UN-General%20Assembly/id-95e3734588ba407f915c754c816fc40a

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Macedonian Media Moguls in Politics Face Deadline :: Balkan Insight

Macedonian parliament

Boris Stojmenov, MP and head of the small VMRO-Macedonian party, which is part of Nikola Gruevski's government, has until September 30 to decide whether to step down as a parliamentarian, or risk losing ownership of Kanal 5 TV.

?All possibilities are open,? his son Emil Stojmenov says, adding that ?although what they are demanding is ridiculous, we will respect the legal deadline and decide this by Friday?.

Five months ago, Macedonia's Broadcasting Council, SRD, issued a deadline for the three big national broadcasters, Kanal 5 TV , Sitel TV and Kanal 77 Radio, to regulate their ownership or risk losing their licenses.

By law, public office holders and members of their close families cannot own electronic media.

Earlier this week Ljubisav Ivanov-Zingo, another MP and leader of the Socialist Party, announced that he intended to quit as an MP in order to allow his son, Goran, stay in charge of Sitel TV.

Kanal 5 and Sitel are the most prominent private national TV broadcasters and the two? MPs? involvement in the stations has long been a matter of controversy.

Meanwhile, Goran Gavrilov, the owner of Kanal 77, a radio station broadcasting nationwide, who is brother of Biljana Kazandziska, a legislator from the opposition Social Democrats, has proposed transfering his ownership to his son and wife so that a conflict of interests could be avoided.

The SRD has not yet approved his plan.

?The situation is absurd? we have a legally sustainable solution and the SRD has to make a decision,? Gavrilov complained to the newspaper Dnevnik on Tuesday.

This spring, the European Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fuele, mentioned resolving problematic media ownership issues as a precondition for the country?s progress towards EU membership.

The need to improve media freedom and independence has been regularly pinpointed in the annual progress reports on Macedonia issued by the European Commission.

Source: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonian-legislators-mull-resignations-over-media-ownership

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Small Business Trends - Social Media - Traffic

Small business owners have a small ecosystem within their own communities and surrounding communities to attract visitors to their brick and motor store fronts and websites. Understanding your our own community and surrounding communities is paramount to your localized success in whatever business you?re in for long lasting foot traffic and web for their success. A recent study found that most "niche" small business sites get 11 times more traffic than there large competitors by focusing on their niche and customers.

The small business community has a great opportunity to build a long relationship with their customers by understanding where they live, what they need and how they shop. By utilizing social media to get your customers involved with your products is so much more important than in it was 20 years ago because people get text messages, offers and news directly to their phone. Most small businesses don't have the time to learn everything about social media and how to drive traffic in just a couple of days. One of the biggest things a small business owner can do is understand how people interact with them locally and how they found their business.

Here are some ways to help you understand your customer base and drive customers via web and to your store:

1. Ask them how did you find out about our store?
2.

Where do you live?
3. Can you share your e-mail?
4. Have small 4x6 flyers that offer your physical address, twitter address and Facebook address. Offer them a small coupon for a "like" on your Facebook page.
5. Once you understand where your customers are from create a "blog" on your website or through Blogger on Google.
6. Write articles about your industry, products or services and link the article to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This will help create a local presence.
7. Each month sent out an email with a coupon to your customers. This will create more foot and web traffic. Within the email add a code they must bring with them or add in when they check out your site.
8. Once you understand which customers are engaged you then can offer them ways to spread the word through their Facebook and Twitter accounts and have them share those coupons with their friends of friends to have them stop by your site or store.

What you now have created is a wheel of local and regional business that can affect your business daily. Most successful small business owners will tell you by engaging your most active customers by offering them deals to share with their friends could have a 25% to 30% lift consistently in their business.

Being a small business owner is challenging every day but if you are on the right side of online and traditional marketing those days become easier because you are constantly engaged with your best customers who have the ability to share your business with their friends by incenting them to share your success.

Source: http://small-business.ezinemark.com/small-business-trends-social-media-traffic-7d37cde9ba46.html

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Japan industrial output, core CPI fall in August

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2012 file photo, people shop around at a clothing stall in Tokyo. Data released Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 showed core consumer prices, excluding food, continued to fall last month in another sign the world's third-biggest economy remains in the doldrums. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's manufacturing contracted further in August, dropping 1.3 percent from the previous month on weakening auto and electronics output, as anti-Japanese riots in China darkened an already bleak outlook for both economies.

Data released Friday also showed core consumer prices, excluding food, continued to fall last month in another sign that Japan, the world's third-biggest economy, remains in the doldrums.

The weaker industrial output is the fourth straight month of decline and reinforces expectations that Japan's growth will shrink in the quarter that ends in September. It follows a 1.2 percent decrease in July.

Data for the first 10 days of September show exports to the world plunging 20 percent year-on-year, said Takashi Shiono, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo.

"September exports will probably be very disappointing," he said. The friction with China over disputed islands in the East China Sea, which boiled over into sometimes violent protests in many Chinese cities, will "have an impact on exports in September."

Despite those gloomy trends, other economic data showed the unemployment rate improved slightly, to 4.2 percent, while core consumer prices, minus fresh foods, fell 0.3 percent. That reflects persistent deflation, which also drags on economic growth.

Weak global and domestic demand is weighing on manufacturers, particularly electronics makers, who are facing intense competition from South Korean, Taiwanese and other Asian manufacturers. The strong yen, which erodes overseas earnings and makes Japanese-made products relatively more expensive, is also eating into profits.

The lift some Japanese industries got from reconstruction following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami is waning as rebuilding slows following the initial rush.

Given these factors, Japan's central bank followed the lead of the U.S. Federal Reserve last week in extending its monetary easing, hoping to help spur lending and other business activity while forecasting that the recovery could pick up momentum late in the year.

Japan's industrial production fell 4.3 percent in August from a year earlier, as factories reduced output of electronics and components, communications equipment, chemicals and large passenger cars, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

Output is expected to fall further, by 2.9 percent, in September, the ministry said, a forecast that likely takes the China problem into account, and to remain flat in October. Although Chinese authorities have acted to quell the recent anti-Japanese turmoil, it forced many factories to close temporarily and is hitting sales of Japanese-brand vehicles, further darkening the outlook for manufacturing.

An overall slowdown in China's economic growth has also hit demand for construction materials, iron and steel and other industrial inputs.

But the weakness in output also reflects deliberate efforts to keep inventories under control, Shiono said.

___

Follow Elaine Kurtenbach on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ekurtenbach

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-28-AS-Japan-Economy/id-40345f26e4f249828f859e19048b2b3b

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Asteroid's troughs suggest stunted planet

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? Enormous troughs that reach across the asteroid Vesta may actually be stretch marks that hint of a complexity beyond most asteroids. Scientists have been trying to determine the origin of these unusual troughs since their discovery just last year. Now, a new analysis supports the notion that the troughs are faults that formed when a fellow asteroid smacked into Vesta's south pole. The research reinforces the claim that Vesta has a layered interior, a quality normally reserved for larger bodies, such as planets and large moons.

Asteroid surface deformities are typically straightforward cracks formed by crashes with other asteroids. Instead, an extensive system of troughs encircles Vesta, the second most massive asteroid in the solar system, about one-seventh as wide as the Moon. The biggest of those troughs, named Divalia Fossa, surpasses the size of the Grand Canyon by spanning 465 kilometers (289 miles) long, 22 km (13.6 mi) wide and 5 km (3 mi) deep.

The origin of these troughs on Vesta has puzzled scientists. The complexity of their formation can't be explained by simple collisions. New measurements of Vesta's topography, derived from images of Vesta taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft last year, indicate that a large collision could have created the asteroid's troughs. But, this would only have been possible if the asteroid is differentiated -- meaning that it has a core, mantle and crust -- said Debra Buczkowski of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. Because Vesta is differentiated, its layers have different densities, which react differently to the force from the impact and make it possible for the faulted surface to slide, she added. "By saying it's differentiated, we're basically saying Vesta was a little planet trying to happen."

Her team's research will be published online this Saturday in Geophysical Research Letters.

Most asteroids are pretty simple. "They're just like giant rocks in space," said Buczkowski. But previous research has found signs of igneous rock on Vesta, indicating that rock on Vesta's surface was once molten, a sign of differentiation. If the troughs are made possible by differentiation, then the cracks aren't just troughs, they're graben. A graben is a dip in the surface that forms when two faults move apart from each other and the ground sinks into the widening gap, such as in Death Valley in California. Scientists have also observed graben on the Moon and planets such as Mars.

The images from the Dawn mission show that Vesta's troughs have many of the qualities of graben, said Buczkowski. For example, the walls of troughs on simpler asteroids such as Eros and Lutetia are shaped like the letter V. But Vesta's troughs have floors that are flat or curved and have distinct walls on either side, like the letter U -- a signature of a fault moving apart, instead of simple cracking on the surface.

The scientists' measurements also showed that the bottoms of the troughs on Vesta are relatively flat and slanted toward what's probably a dominant fault, much as they are in Earth-bound graben.

These observations indicate that Vesta is also unusually planet-like for an asteroid in that its mantle is ductile and can stretch under a lot of pressure. "It can become almost silly putty-ish," said Buczkowski. "You pull it and it deforms."

Buczkowski and her colleagues' arguments for differentiation of Vesta are interesting, said planetary scientist Geoff Collins of Wheaton College, in Norton, Mass, who specializes in tectonics, the structure and motion of planetary crusts. "On many much smaller asteroid bodies, we've seen very narrow troughs that look just like cracks on the surface," said Collins, who was not involved in the new study. "But nothing that looks like a sort of traditional terrestrial graben that you'd find on Mars or the moon where things have really been pulled apart."

But Collins is not yet fully convinced that Vesta's troughs are graben. An example of rock-solid evidence of graben on Vesta that has yet to be discovered, he said, would be an obvious crater that had been torn in two by a trough.

There are other qualities of Vesta that could be clues to how the troughs formed. For example, unlike the larger asteroid Ceres, Vesta is not classified as a dwarf planet because the large collision at its south pole knocked it out of its spherical shape, said Buczkowski. It's now more squat, like a walnut. But if Vesta has a mantle and core, that would mean it has qualities often reserved for planets, dwarf planets and moons -- regardless of its shape.

The origin of that funny shape is the centerpiece of a different hypothesis about how the troughs formed. Britney Schmidt of the Institute for Geophysics in Austin, Texas, believes the south pole collision knocked Vesta into its current speedy rate of rotation about its axis of about once per 5.35 hours, which may have caused the equator to bulge outward so far and so fast that the rotation caused the troughs, rather than the direct power of the impact. "It's an enigma why Vesta rotates so quickly," said Schmidt, who was not a part of the current study.

Dawn has already left to explore Ceres, so all the data it will retrieve on Vesta is in hand. Buczkowski said scientists will continue to sort that data out and improve on computer simulations of Vesta's interior. As those analyses come along, she said she will keep an open mind toward any revelations that come to light, but she doesn't expect her conclusion will change. "I really think that these are graben," she said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Geophysical Union.

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

Journal Reference:

Debra L Buczkowski, Paul M. Schenk, Lucille Le Corre, Vishnu Reddy, R. Aileen Yingst, Scott Charles Mest, David A Williams, W. Brent Garry, Olivier S. Barnouin, Ralf Jaumann, Carol A. Raymond, Danielle Y Wyrick, Christopher T. Russell, Kaushik Iyer, Eliezer Kahn, Jennifer Scully, Andreas Nathues, Bob Gaskell, Thomas Roatsch, Frank Preusker. Large-scale troughs on Vesta: A signature of planetary tectonics. Geophysical Research Letters, 2012; DOI: 10.1029/2012GL052959

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/most_popular/~3/AciuPY1OcdE/120926143519.htm

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Coral hotspots found off US East Coast

A survey of underwater canyons off the U.S. East Coast found a number of previously unknown hotspots for deep-sea corals.

The exploration, the first to look for corals and sponges in the area in decades, is helping researchers develop a computer model to determine where other coral hotspots might be found.

The survey took place over a two-week stretch in July. Researchers aboard the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Henry B. Bigelow ship looked for corals in submarine canyons off New Jersey, and connected to Georges Bank, a large elevated area of seafloor about 60 miles (100 kilometers) offshore that stretches as far south as Cape Cod, Mass., and north to Nova Scotia.

"The deep-sea coral and sponge habitats observed in the canyons are not like those found in shallow-water tropical reefs or deep-sea coral habitats in other regions," said Martha Nizinski, chief scientist of the research cruise, in a statement.? "We know very little about the distribution and ecology of corals in the canyons off the Northeast coast. Although our explorations have just begun, we've already increased our knowledge about these deepwater coral habitats a hundred times over."

The researchers took thousands of photographs of the coral using a remotely operated camera towed behind the ship. The corals observed live at depths between 650 and 6,500 feet (200 to 2,000 meters). Although no specimens were collected during this expedition, the thousands of images taken will be analyzed in the coming months to determine what types of coral live there.

Science news from NBCNews.com
1. Take 360-degree tours of the Great Barrier Reef
  Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Thousands of images from Australia's Great Barrier Reef and other coral locales are being stitched together into an eye-popping array of 360-degree panoramas ? but this project isn't just about pretty pictures.
2. Vampire squid sucks up garbage, not blood
3. A clock to keep time after universe dies
4. Is the uncertainty principle misunderstood?

More than 70 deepwater canyons, ranging in depth from 330 to 11,500 feet (100 to 3,500 m), exist along the Northeast's continental shelf and slope. Few are well studied, and many are likely home to as yet undiscovered life-forms.

Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main.? Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on? Facebook? and Google+.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49183854/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Emphasize Your Potential Rather Than Your Accomplishments When Selling Yourself [Interviews]

Emphasize Your Potential Rather Than Your Accomplishments When Selling Yourself A person's track record of success is the most important factor determining whether he or she gets hired, right? Well, maybe not. According to Stanford and Harvard Business School studies, we have an unconscious preference for potential over actual, proven success.

In the series of studies, the researchers found that participants who evaluated job candidates preferred the one who scored highly on a test of leadership potential over the one who had two years of experience and a high score on leadership achievement.

This same unconscious preference was revealed in other fields:

The researchers showed how we prefer artwork and artists with potential to win awards over those that actually have, and prefer restaurants and chefs with the potential to be the next big thing in dining over the ones who have already made their name. In a particularly clever study, they compared two versions of Facebook ads for a real stand-up comedian. In the first version, critics said "he is the next big thing" and "everybody's talking about him." In the second version, critics said he "could be the next big thing," and that "in a year, everybody could be talking about him." The ad that focused on his potential got significantly more clicks and likes.

The researchers theorize that because potential is less certain, it is more interesting to us and we tend to pay more attention to it. All that extra processing could lead (unconsciously) to a more positive view of a person or company.

So if you don't have any experience in a job you want, don't worry about it. Focus your pitch on your future rather than on your past, Harvard Business Review recommends, and use the power of potential to your advantage.

The Surprising Secret to Selling Yourself | Harvard Business Review via The Career Artisan

Photo by Sergej Khakimullin

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/M3ilzZn1IvQ/emphasize-your-potential-rather-than-your-accomplishments-when-selling-yourself

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The word that I try not to use (except when referring to bumblebees); the word I do not necessarily want associated with me or my family; the word that personally sparks annoyance when others use it as a reason for not keeping in touch, or getting their work done. (but only because this word has become so twisted and poisoned)

Busy.

We choose how Busy we are. I know a mama, she?s dear to my heart, and she?s always Busy. It is as if we sometimes can?t not be Busy. It is as if we become afraid of silence, afraid of space, afraid of moments of peace, quiet and nothing.

When we look at our ?to-do? lists, and I love my to-do lists ~ they keep me focused and allow me to make leaps and bounds toward accomplishing important tasks and projects tied to promises. But when? we look at our lists, how often are they muddied up with things that we don?t truly have to do? Or at least we don?t have to do them today?

How many of those items can we delegate, minimize or just plain dump. Does it really matter if? Will anyone notice if? Will our lives truly be better if? Does it have any meaning? Or is it just clutter?

Here?s to decluttering our to-do lists. And I tell you, each time you scratch something off because it truly doesn?t matter, or won?t matter in a couple days, the feeling is empowerment.

Just think how many moments can be saved and used in better ways!

: Revolution ~ available original painting by Katie m. Berggren

Best of love to you in your moments,

Love & Sincerely, Katie
www.kmberggren.com

Source: http://kmberggren.com/2012/09/the-b-word/

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Who is Amanda Bynes, why is she in trouble?

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/09/17/13867060-who-is-amanda-bynes-and-why-is-she-in-trouble?lite

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Sales Pro: General Sales Manager - Managed Office Solutions

Job ID: 79743

Job Views: 42

Location: Bristol, Bristol

Job Category: Property

Employment Type: Full time

Salary:

Posted: Sun Sep 16

Keywords (tags):

Job Description

Sales Manager ? Managed Office Solutions
Bristol
35k Base, 50k OTE plus Excellent Benefits

Our client is a leading provider of managed office solutions with close to 1000 locations in 400+ cities spanning more than 70 countries worldwide. Founded some 20+ years ago they now employ in excess of 2000 people globally and due to continued growth they now have an exciting opening for a General Sales Manager to be based in Bristol.

As a General Sales Manager you will primarily be responsible for sales, with oversight responsibility for operations at the above location. More specific duties will include marketing, pipeline development, fiscal accountability, operations, profitability, location appearance and success. Managing the entire sales cycle from lead/enquiry you will negotiate and close opportunities of varying value within both the SME and Corporate community. The role will also involve the man-management of non sales focussed employees. Contact Certus Sales Recruitment for further information on this exciting opportunity and global organisation.

The ideal candidate will be degree educated (business or hospitality preferred) and able to demonstrate a proven record of 2+ years sales management experience. You will be comfortable selling a conceptual product, and be able to quickly identify buying signals. You will possess highly developed social skills with the ability to network at high levels, be approachable, presentable and professional with high energy levels and the initiative to drive your business forward. Key requirements for this role include management experience, the ability to work with financials and proven customer service and sales ability.

In return the successful candidate can expect a base salary of 35k with an uncapped OTE of 50k and a full benefits package.

Certus is an established and experienced specialist sales recruitment and marketing recruitment consultancy, providing sales and marketing recruitment services to the business to business marketplace throughout the UK. We are experts in the recruitment of internal and external (field sales) sales professionals from Graduate & Sales Trainee through to Sales Manager and Sales Director levels. With specialist Sales divisions covering: Commercial Sales, FMCG, Information, Financial, Medical and Pharmaceutical, IT/Technology (Software, Hardware, Telco and Services), Media, Rec2Rec and a Marketing division covering everything from Marketing Executives through to PR Managers and Marketing Director level positions; we are well positioned to deliver cost effective recruitment solutions in a timely manner. To find out more about Certus, please visit http://www.certussales.com and http://www.certusmarketing.com

Contact Details

Source: http://www.salesprorecruitment.co.uk/display-job/79743/General-Sales-Manager---Managed-Office-Solutions.html

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Chicago teachers strike enters 2nd week

CHICAGO (AP) ? Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is turning to the courts to try to put an end to a teachers strike that's entering its second week and has left parents scrambling to make alternative child care arrangements for at least two more days.

The union and school leaders seemed headed toward a resolution at the end of last week, saying they were optimistic students in the nation's third-largest school district would be back in class by Monday. But teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, saying they needed more time to review a complicated proposal.

Emanuel fired back, saying he told city attorneys to seek a court order forcing Chicago Teachers Union members back into the classroom.

Teachers on the picket line at Mark T. Skinner West Elementary School on Chicago's near West Side declined to comment early Monday ? a second day of silence as the possibility of legal action loomed over them.

The strike is the first for the city's teachers in 25 years and has kept 350,000 students out of class, leaving parents to make other plans.

Working mom Dequita Wade said that when the strike started, she sent her son 15 miles away to a cousin's house so he wouldn't be left unsupervised in a neighborhood known for violent crime and gangs. She was hoping the union and district would work things out quickly.

"You had a whole week. This is beginning to be ridiculous," Wade said. "Are they going to keep prolonging things?"

Months of contract negotiations have come down to two main issues central to the debate over the future of education across the United States: teacher evaluations and job security.

Union delegates said they felt uncomfortable approving the contract because they had seen it only in bits. The union will meet again Tuesday, after the end of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

"There's no trust for our members of the board," Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis told reporters Sunday night. "They're not happy with the agreement. They'd like it to actually be a lot better."

Emanuel said the strike was illegal because it endangers the health and safety of students and concerned issues ? evaluations, layoffs and recall rights ? that state law says cannot be grounds for a work stoppage.

"This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children," Emanuel said in a written statement.

The strike has shined a spotlight on Emanuel's leadership more than ever, and some experts have suggested the new contract ? which features annual pay raises and other benefits ? is a win for union.

"I'm hard-pressed to imagine how they could have done much better," said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "This is a very impressive outcome for the teachers."

With an average salary of $76,000, Chicago teachers are among the highest-paid in the nation, and the contract outline calls for annual raises. But some teachers are upset it did not restore a 4 percent raise Emanuel rescinded last year.

Emanuel pushed for a contract that includes ratcheting up the percentage of evaluations based on student performance, to 35 percent within four years. The union contends that does not take into account outside factors that affect student performance such as poverty and violence.

The union pushed for a policy to give laid-off teachers first dibs on open jobs anywhere in the district, but the city said that would keep principals from hiring the teachers they think are most qualified.

The union has engaged in something of a publicity campaign, telling parents about problems that include a lack of important books and basic supplies.

Some parents said they remain sympathetic to teachers.

"I don't think they're wrong. The things they're asking for are within reason," said Pamela Edwards, who has sent her 16-year-old daughter to one of about 140 schools the district has kept open during the strike to provide meals and supervision.

Others said they understand why teachers are taking their time.

"As much as we want our kids back in school, teachers need to make sure they have dotted all their i's and crossed their t's," said Becky Malone, mother of a second grader and fourth grader, who've been studying at home and going to museums over the last week. "What's the point of going on strike if you don't get everything you need out of it? For parents, it'll be no more of a challenge than it's been in the past week."

___

Follow Sophia Tareen at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-teachers-strike-enters-2nd-week-080313854.html

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Friday, September 14, 2012

Article writer require for natural articles | Article Rewriting | Articles ...

Bids?
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Avg Bid (USD)
$415

Project Budget (USD)

$250-$750

Prepaid Milestone Payment

$ USD

Project ID:
2483161
Project Type:
Fixed

Project Description:

HI there

I need a reliable English Speaking article writer, with excellent spoken and written English to write 5 articles per day.. I am looking for serious writers only and who can give a long term commitment to our projects. The article must contain about 400-500 words , must pass Copyscape as well as the plagiarism checking system , must be well informed and meaningful and well written (high quality), should be well formatted, including headings, bullet points, figures....

Please PM me 2 samples of your own work

Please give me your price based on 150 per month.

Thank you

Skills required:

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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mystery absence of China leader fuels rumor frenzy

BEIJING (AP) ? Where is president-in-waiting Xi Jinping?

Is he nursing a bad back after pulling a muscle in a pick-up soccer game (or maybe in the swimming pool)? Has he been convalescing after narrowly escaping a revenge killing by supporters of ousted local Communist Party boss Bo Xilai? Was he in a car accident? Or is he just really busy getting ready to lead the world's No. 2 economy ahead of an expected leadership transition next month?

Chinese micro-bloggers and overseas websites have come up with all kinds of speculation as to why the current vice president has gone unseen for more than a week. During that span, Xi canceled meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. On Monday, it was the Danish prime minister's turn.

Xi's whereabouts during this sudden absence from the spotlight may never be known. One thing, however, is certain: China may now be a linchpin of the global economy and a force in international diplomacy, but the lives of its leaders remain an utter mystery to its 1.3 billion people, its politics an unfathomable black hole.

So when the presumptive head of that opaque leadership disappears from public view, rumor mills naturally go into a frenzy.

"There is a longstanding practice of not reporting on illnesses or troubles within the elites," said Scott Kennedy, director of Indiana University's Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business in Beijing. "The sense is that giving out such information would only fuel further speculation."

Adding grist to the mill, a scheduled photo session with visiting Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, which the media were asked to cover, was taken off the program. Thorning-Schmidt met with Vice Premier Wang Qishan on Monday and was scheduled to meet Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry claimed the Xi-Thorning-Schmidt meeting was never intended to take place.

"As I said last week, China's state councilors will meet the Danish prime minister," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. When asked about the rumors of an injury, Hong said "we have told everybody everything," and refused to elaborate.

Most online speculation about the portly 59-year-old Xi has centered on a back problem, possibly incurred when he took a dip last week in the swimming pool inside the Zhongnanhai leadership compound. Another rumor has the back being hurt in a soccer game. It wasn't clear what the sources of the information were.

More dramatically, the U.S.-based website Boxun.com cited an unidentified source inside Zhongnanhai as saying Xi was injured in a staged traffic accident that was part of a revenge plot by Bo's supporters in the security forces. Another member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, He Guoqiang, was also injured in a similar incident, said the site, which acts as a clearinghouse for rumors and unsubstantiated reports. It has correctly predicted some recent political developments and been wildly off the mark on others.

As if to demonstrate the range and randomness of the speculation, Boxun later replaced the report with another saying Xi was merely preoccupied with preparations to take over as head of the ruling party.

This year, China has seen an unusual amount of political intrigue, with the spectacular downfall of Politburo member Bo exposing divisions within the leadership and prompting rumors of nefarious activity ranging from the wiretapping of top leaders to an attempted coup.

The sudden transfer of a key secretary to President Hu Jintao earlier this month also spawned conjecture about a Ferrari crash involving the aide's son and an ensuing attempted cover-up.

Rumors about Xi were churned further by Russian President Vladimir Putin's cryptic remark over the weekend that the start of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders' meeting in Vladivostok had been delayed because Hu needed to attend to an important but unspecified domestic issue.

The tension and uncertainty are heightened by the timing ahead of a generational shift to a new leadership that is to be headed by Xi. Still, in keeping with the China government's proclivity for secrecy, the logistics of the transition remain unknown.

Xi is expected to first assume Hu's mantle as Communist leader at a party congress held once every five years. Yet the dates for the meeting, expected in the second half of October, have yet to be announced, prompting talk that at least some of the seats on the nine-member Standing Committee remain up for grabs.

Recent economic and diplomatic challenges have added to the sense of insecurity.

While China avoided the worst of the global economic slowdown, export growth and domestic demand have both fallen sharply in recent months, prompting forecasters to slash their estimates for economic growth needed to create jobs and fill government coffers.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been deeply unnerved by Washington's new emphasis on military and political ties to China's neighbors in the western Pacific and finds itself enmeshed again in a nagging dispute with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

Wang Xiangwei, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and a longtime state media insider, wrote Monday in his newspaper that Chinese leaders' meetings are planned well in advance and cancellations are extremely rare.

"Barring Xi himself offering a very unlikely explanation today about his canceled meetings last week, the outside world may never know the exact reason, and the rumors are unlikely to fade away," Wang wrote.

Though absent in person, Xi did pop up Monday on the front page of the party academy's official newspaper Study Times alongside a transcript of the speech he delivered nine days earlier.

In the text, he enjoins newly enrolled cadres to use their time on the leafy campus in the northern Beijing suburbs to think critically about major national issues and not spend it "expanding personal contacts and inviting guests to dinner."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-absence-china-leader-fuels-rumor-frenzy-085927838.html

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Report: Teacher shortage looms for California

By Sharon Bernstein, NBCLosAngeles.com

California is facing a shortage of qualified teachers and principals for its public schools, according to a?long-anticipated report released this week.

Fewer aspiring teachers are enrolling in credentialing programs, and jobs in key subject areas -- including special education and mathematics -- are already going unfilled for lack of applicants, the state Task Force on Educator Excellence said.

Those who seek to teach face a working life that is underpaid, unstable and, in the case of would-be administrators, highly political. Working conditions, the group said, are "highly inequitable," with the least experienced and lowest paid teachers generally sent to work in the most difficult conditions.

Read the?report??| ?More from NBCLosAngeles

?Ours is a profession under siege,? State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson wrote in a letter introducing the report. ?At the very moment the need for outstanding educators seems most urgent, talented teachers are being displaced by budget cuts and discouraged by trying working conditions.?

During the school year of 2009-2010, California issued just 16,151 credentials to new teachers ? a 40 percent drop over 2003-2004. During the ten years ending in 2010, the number of students enrolled in teacher preparation programs dropped by half, the report said.

While it is true that teachers have been laid off in the state, many are not choosing to seek new jobs in the profession, the report said.

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Shortages persist, the task force said, in educational fields including special education, mathematics, physical sciences and in the instruction of students who are still learning English.

These shortages are looming even as the state is trying to improve education for California children.

To that end, the task force recommended stepping up mentoring and training programs for new and experienced teachers, and reinstating long-abandoned funding that provided paid time for teachers to prepare lessons and curriculum.

The group also encouraged increased requirements ? as well as more mentoring and support ? for those who wish to become principals.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

Recent efforts to install accountability measures for teachers and low-performing schools also came under fire in the report.

Such measures ? which include efforts to tie teacher performance evaluations to student test scores ? may help to measure performance, but cannot provide teachers with the tools they actually need to improve instruction, the task force said.

?High-stakes testing without investments in school capacity cannot improve education,? the report said. ?In fact, this dangerous combination has driven many accomplished educators out of the profession and, in some cases, caused more harm than good.?

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/11/13809187-report-teacher-shortage-looms-for-california?lite

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Russia's Deputy PM says country must shoot for Moon base

By Alissa de Carbonnel

MOSCOW | Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:45am EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia should set itself the "super goal" of building a large base on the Moon it could use to achieve "leaps" in science and to give a new sense of purpose to its troubled space program, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

Calling the task "big, prestigious and political", Rogozin said the country's space industry - which has suffered a string of costly and embarrassing failures - urgently needed a tangible stimulus to force it to focus.

"There is a lot of competition among countries in the space sector and so we must have a big super goal that could pull forward science and industry; that would enable the country to escape from the morass of problems, which have kept us captive for the past 20 years," Rogozin told the Vesti FM radio station.

"Why not try to build a big station on the Moon that would be a base for future 'leaps' of science?".

Russia's renewed focus on the Moon may reflect a scaling back of ambition following a string of space failures and comes as other countries - notably China - are eyeing the Moon with greater ambition. Beijing plans to land its first probe there next year even though it still has a long way to go to catch up with space superpowers Russia and the United States.

Scientists have said the Moon may hold reserves of water and suggested various minerals could possibly be mined there.

The Soviet Union put the first satellite and the first man in space, but those glory days are a distant memory. Crimped budgets and a brain drain mean Moscow has long been absent from deep space and its space program appears to be in trouble.

Last year, a Russian mission failed to return samples from the Martian moon Phobos, and last month the failure of a Proton rocket caused the multi million-dollar loss of Indonesia's Telkom-3 and Russia's Express-MD2 satellites.

"We are losing our authority and billions of roubles," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told officials at a government meeting last month.

Roskosmos, Russia's space agency, has previously floated the idea of a Moon base - possibly built in collaboration with the United States and Europe - and has also spoken of the option of constructing a space station that would orbit the Moon.

It is planning to send two unmanned missions to the Moon by 2020 and there have been reports that it is weighing a manned mission there too.

Russian scientists and cosmonauts have suggested lunar colonizers could take shelter in what they believe is a network of underground caves left by the Moon's volcanic past.

"It's too far and too expensive to Mars," space industry expert Igor Lissov told the state RIA news agency. "We must start with the moon. We must give ourselves realistic goals."

Rogozin said the Moon project could be a jumping-off point for future deep space projects.

Space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said on Monday that Russia would recall the rocket type which caused the multi-million dollar loss of Indonesian and Russian telecom satellites last month.

Such failures for Russia, which conducts some 40 percent of global space launches, risk undermining its standing in the market, strengthening competitors such as Europe's Ariane rocket.

(Reporting By Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/tYneMVS-OoM/us-russia-space-moon-idUSBRE88A0KH20120911

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Tips To Find Out About The Latest Beauty Products | Jackie's ...

Related eBooks

In the daily run of our lives, we get tired and weary so often. Nevertheless it?s important for us to take care of ourselves and always stay beautiful. We can do this by staying up-to-date with the latest beauty products in town. Do you want to know how you can do that? It?s simple, just keep reading; for we will give you a few ways in which you can find out about the latest beauty products.

Start at your home if you want to find out about the latest beauty products. Yes, you can update your knowledge just by sitting at home. But of course you need to put in effort for that. Firstly, subscribe to beauty and health magazines like Elle, Vogue, Allure and so on. These magazines are the best source to keep you updated about the most recent beauty offerings. They almost always have a section dedicated to the new products that have arrived in the market. So grab a copy of these and browse through what products suit you and what don?t. You will also find product reviews there.

Another great source of information for finding out about the latest makeup products would be your girl friends! Yes, just like you even they care about their skin and hair. So if you?ve missed out on any new product you can chat with them and know about any new beauty product in the market. This is a great way to update yourself about latest makeup products. Moreover, you can also get valuable feedback from your friends about the new products that they might have used.

The web is a great source of information for almost everything under the sun. You can expect yourself to become an expert if you diligently follow a particular subject/topic of your interest. You can search for the latest beauty products online and some sites will also provide a review of some products. Blogs of cosmetologists and other beauty professionals will help you to keep yourself abreast with the latest in the beauty world.

You could also check out the supermarket where you may find new products in the beauty section. While you?re there, you may also come across free samples of new beauty products as some companies prefer to market and promote their goods in this way.

If a new beauty product comes in the market from the same parent company that has other established beauty items, then it may sell the new product for free with that established item. This will be for a particular period of time. For E.g. If Garnier comes out with a new hair conditioner, it may sell a small sample for free with its existing range of shampoos.

These are a few tips to help you to out.

The author writes on beauty section in magazine for women.

Author: CD Mohatta
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Feed Your Skin From The Inside

Healthy skin comes from healthy eating so you?ll learn foods which your skin will love. There are unique recipes like the ?Skin Health Smoothie? that will make your skin glow. And if no amount of moisturizer helps your dry skin, you must read this book!

Tips Galore ?
How to look younger with anti aging tips, healthy living tips, skin health tips, time saving tips and beauty tips. Have great healthy skin ... WITHOUT using expensive skin care. Treat skin problems like pigmentation, blemishes, capillaries, dry lips, pimples, blackheads and yes ... wrinkles. New knowledge to empower you like:

What is the ?Acid Mantle??

Myths used purely for increasing sales

Understand the psychology used to get you to buy what you don?t need

Two things you MUST know for healthy skin

What?s TEWL and how it causes your skin to dry out and age?

Be shocked about useless, even damaging, cosmetic ingredients

IMPORTANT: This book is NOT affiliated with any cosmetic company. Nothing will be sold to you! In fact NOT one product brand will be mentioned in the entire 200 plus pages! Just ... UNBIASED INFORMATION.

?This book is a discovery of a whole new world - a world of reality in skincare. We are an integral part of nature, we should be constantly alert to the benefits of nature?s ability to nourish, cleanse, heal, soothe and balance our body. We have a choice! with all the knowledge and commonsense approach in this book, your choice is so easy.? Janice Sarre Smith ND, founder of Janesce

About the Author

Helen Bairstow has been a skin and beauty therapist since 1983. Being the owner of three salons exposed her to information that has been misleading the public to spend money on unnecessary products. Helen's knowledge comes from treating thousands of clients over several decades. Skin care books do not tell you these guarded secrets. Helen is also a Clinical Aromatherapist, having studied aromatherapy in London in 1992. Approaching 50 but, looking years younger, Helen shares skin care secrets of women who don?t look their age.

PS: previously was ?If You Want Great Skin, Throw Away Your Cosmetics" (for hard copy contact helen@greatlook.com.au).

Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/beauty-products/tips-to-find-out-about-the-latest-beauty-products

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Wis. police release video of temple gunman

In this image taken from a Aug. 5, 2012 video from Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy's squad car camera, Lt. Murphy, the first officer on the scene, exchanges fire in the temple parking lot with shooter Wade Michael Page, rear right, as Page emerges from the temple. The video shows Murphy rolling behind a parked car for cover and Page chasing him down, firing multiple shots at him. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says Murphy was hit 15 times. Page killed himself following a firefight with Officer Sam Lenda. (AP Photo/Oak Creek Police Department)

In this image taken from a Aug. 5, 2012 video from Oak Creek Police Lt. Brian Murphy's squad car camera, Wade Michael Page exchanges gunfire with Lt. Murphy, unseen, in the temple parking lot after Page emerged from the temple. The video shows Murphy rolling behind a parked car for cover and Page chasing him down, firing multiple shots at him. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm says Murphy was hit 15 times. Page killed himself following a firefight with Officer Sam Lenda. (AP Photo/Oak Creek Police Department)

OAK CREEK, Wis. (AP) ? A white supremacist who killed a half-dozen people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee last month chased down the first police officer on the scene, pumping round after round into him as he lay wounded behind a parked car, video released Monday showed.

Oak Creek Police Chief John Edwards played the video from Lt. Brian Murphy's squad car before telling reporters that Murphy was shot 15 times, not nine as authorities previously said. His armored vest stopped three of the rounds, Edwards said.

Murphy was shot while tending to two victims of Wade Michael Page's Aug. 5 rampage at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran, opened fire with a 9 mm pistol shortly before Sunday services were to begin. He killed six worshippers and wounded four others, including Murphy, before killing himself.

Page's motive in the shooting spree remains unclear. The FBI is investigating, but U.S. Attorney James Santelle said it could be weeks or months before the agency releases any conclusions.

The squad car video shows a second officer arriving seconds after Page chased down Murphy. Officer Sam Lenda and Page exchange fire, and then Page, barely discernible in the distance, takes a round in the stomach and topples over. A final shot rings out as Page shoots himself in the head.

"Our police officers handled themselves in a professional and heroic manner," Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi said at the news conference where the footage was released. "Their actions probably saved lives."

Police released about one minute of footage from Murphy's squad car and about three minutes from Lenda's in response to an open records request from The Associated Press and others.

Murphy's dashboard-mounted camera shows him speeding to the temple and pulling into the sun-splashed parking lot. He stops in front of two victims, whose bodies were obscured before the video was released. Murphy can be seen on the edge of the screen with his .45-caliber pistol drawn, speaking into his radio.

Edwards told reporters Murphy reported he couldn't see the shooter, had discovered victims and needed an ambulance.

The video then shows Page, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, bursting out of the temple. Murphy spots him and raises his gun. Page runs out of the frame and Murphy rolls for cover behind a parked car, disappearing from view. Page then jogs back into the frame and walks quickly toward Murphy, shooting out the back windshield of a nearby car before moving off-screen again.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said Murphy was hit in the cheek as he rolled for cover and the bullet entered his throat. He tried to raise his gun again, but Page shot him in the thumb, knocking the weapon away. Then Page closed in on Murphy, firing from about 10 feet away, Chisholm said. Murphy told investigators he remembered wondering when Page would run out of ammunition.

"There's a deliberateness about him," Chisholm said of Page. "He intended to kill him."

Murphy did not attend the news conference. He was released from a hospital Aug. 22 and is recovering at home. Edwards said previously that Murphy can speak only in a whisper after being hit in the throat.

The video from Lenda's squad car shows him arriving about 10 seconds after Murphy was shot, bouncing over a median and into the temple's driveway. Page sees Lenda's vehicle and starts walking toward him.

Lenda, a police firearms instructor, throws the car into reverse and then moves forward again before stopping about 60 yards from Page. Lenda said he got out of the squad and hid behind the door with his AR-15 rifle.

Lenda can be heard in the video yelling several times at Page to drop his gun. Page fires and a portion of Lenda's windshield over the steering wheel explodes. Lenda fires six times at Page, who starts walking to his left and then abruptly falls over. A final shot can be heard at the end of the video as Lenda shouts at other officers, asking if they can see Page and if he's crawling.

"He had to be stopped and that's why I decided to shoot," Lenda said Monday. "I'm just an officer who did my job."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-10-Sikh%20Temple-Shooting/id-5dc980e3a7d944e5bff04656dfe438e8

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