Friday, June 29, 2012

Philadelphia Restaurant Review: No-brow Americana at Square ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Well, I guess she had just witnessed me drink that sorority-sister punch. And at least her Tourettic comment was authentic. Too much of the food and drink here felt contrived. Levin has talent. I've tasted its fruits, elsewhere and (too rarely) here.

Source: http://www.phillymag.com/articles/philadelphia-restaurant-review-no-brow-americana-square-peg/

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Below Are Tips To Follow When Purchasing Commercial Properties

Before you even start looking for real estate, your business needs should be in line. You should be aware of the exact specifications you will need for your office space. If you expect significant company growth in the near future, you may want to invest in an office that is larger than your current requirements. Given the current state of the market, it can save you a lot of money in the future.

Always remain calm and patient when dealing with the commercial real estate market. Do not rush into investments, or make decisions impulsively. If the property doesn?t suit you in the end, you may regret your hastiness. Realistically, it can take upwards of a year to find the right investment in your local market.

Any new space you acquire might need some improvements prior to you occupying it. In some cases, all that is required are simple changes like moving the furniture around or giving the walls a new coat of paint. However, in other cases, reconfiguration of the walls will be required. The contract you negotiate should clearly spell out whether you or your landlord will pay for these changes, or whether the cost will be shared and in what proportions.

If you are planning to rent your commercial properties once you purchase them, opt for solidly constructed buildings that are simple in their design. These will attract potential tenants quickly because they know that these properties are well-cared for. This sort of building is virtually maintenance-free, so there will be fewer headaches for owners and tenants.

Before you start looking for a commercial property, decide what your goals are. Decide if you are going to use the property for your business or lease it. Before you even start looking for a property, your goals should be clear and specific.

Prior to making any purchase, be certain that you?re dealing with a corporation or firm that truly takes care of their clients. Otherwise, you could end up having costly, but avoidable, consequences from your deal.

Every prospective real estate purchase should include thorough onsite inspections; it is equally important to verify the inspectors? credentials. This should be especially noted for those who work in pest removal since there are actually a number of non-licensed people who work in this area. You want to avoid a future liability that can come after the sale, if the inspection was not correct.

Don?t ever assume you?ve finished learning about the commercial real estate market. Instead, you should always remember that you have plenty more to learn, and should take advantage of tips such as the ones you just read. Doing this will help strengthen the position you have in the market. Use your intelligence, as well as the information you just learned, so that you can make money.

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Dream Sequences

The Town of Lost Souls

You're on a bus traveling across the country with 14 other people. You all had reasons for traveling, but that no longer matters because this bus' last stop is in the seemingly deserted town of Glenshire. Your only option is survive!

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Town of Lost Souls?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Hey guys I just wanted to let you know watsup with these dream sequences because I'm making this up as I go and I didn't intend to do this from the start. This is what's going to happen, every rime the fog consumes the town one player will get to write a short segment about the old Glenshire before it was abandoned. In the segment they may use any character they control, but not any other character, not even in a mention (exp: in the bar scene I wouldn't say that there was someone that looked like Cur) unless they have permission from that character's owner to do so. You may however use any previous segment to base your segment on. (exp: you can use the bar scene as long as you don't change the events or interact with any other character that isn't your own) I know this sounds confusing, so if there are questions message me. As far as the segment you have complete control over everything your character does. IMPORTANT: make sure you end your segment with a part where the town is being tormented by the demon in the fog, again it doesn't have to be the same one I did.

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CaesarTheSeventh
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Video: SCOTUS to rule on health care



>>> just after 10:00 a.m . eastern time tomorrow, we will know if the u.s. supreme court is going to let stand the obama health care law or not. whatever they say will affect all americans. parts of that law are already in effect. children can be covered on their parents policies until the age of 26 and they can't be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. also in effect already, prepreventive screens like mammograms, colonoscopies. the big provision is the mandate requiring every american to have insurance. by 2014 , no adult can be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions and there can be no annual dollar limit on the amount of coverage a person can receive. so having said all that, a lot at stake. our justice correspondent pete williams is at the court tonight. pete, you know as much about the court as anyone i know, so here is the question. they can uphold, they can strike it down, and don't they have a number of options in between?

>> exactly right. if they say the individual mandate, the requirement to have health insurance is unconstitutional, then the question is how much of the rest of this 1,000 page long law will stand. the obama administration says if the mandate goes away, that's a big revenue stream for insurance companies , then likely the things that will cost the insurance companies more will have to go, too, such as pre-existing condition coverage for adults and things the insurance companies can't vary rates based on a person's age or sex or medical condition .

>> pete williams we'll be speaking with you tomorrow night as we review what the court has to say. pete williams .

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Biomarker test for rheumatoid arthritis proves effective in study

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) ? A simple blood test may help physicians track the progression of rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In a paper published online on June 26, 2012, in Arthritis Care and Research, the UAB-led international research team says that a blood test measuring 12 biomarkers for RA is a valid and potentially useful tool in managing the disease.

"Previously, the disease activity of RA was assessed through clinical observation by a physician, noting the number of tender and swollen joints and assessing pain and functional abilities," said Jeffrey Curtis, M.D., associate professor in the division of clinical immunology and rheumatology and lead author of the study. "This blood test measures the underlying amount of RA activity within the joints using sophisticated biochemical means intended to reflect the underlying pathophysiology of the disease. A highly reproducible, easily standardized blood test that measures multiple biologic pathways to augment a physician's and patient's clinical assessment has not been previously available to physicians."

Curtis says the test emphasizes the activity of underlying biological pathways rather than external signs and symptoms and should therefore provide information that is different from, and complementary to, clinical assessment. He suggests the test may also help assess treatment response in patients. The test could show in just a few weeks whether a particular therapy is effective, rather than within three to four months as in current practice.

The blood test, called Vectra DA, is a multi-biomarker disease activity, or MBDA, test, developed by Crescendo Bioscience? of South San Francisco. It is basically a measure of inflammation, looking for the presence of 12 cytokines, which are biomarkers, or biological red flags that can indicate the presence of disease.

Curtis says previous studies had selected the 12 biomarkers used in the MBDA from a list of 396 candidates and determined an algorithm that weighted the significance of each biomarker and produced a composite score. The new MBDA score correlated significantly with the DAS28-CRP score, a commonly-used composite metric used in clinical trials of RA treatments that assesses swollen joints, tender joints and the presence of a protein associated with inflammation.

"The MBDA score is a complementary tool that could provide physicians with an objective, consistent and biologically rich measure of RA disease activity," said Curtis.

Curtis says there are indications that the test could also prove valuable as a predictor of potential disease flare-ups, and also as a predictor of future joint damage, although those potential applications have yet to be demonstrated.

Researchers examined 512 patients drawn from three registries of patients with RA. Patients were diverse in terms of geographic location and disease characteristics.

Collaborators on the study include researchers from Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; Crescendo Bioscience; Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston; Rheumatology Associates of Long Island, NY; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; and Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto.

Curtis reports that he receives research support from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and various pharmaceutical companies. He has also served as a consultant for Crescendo Bioscience.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Alabama at Birmingham, via Newswise.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Jeffrey R. Curtis, Annette H. van der Helm-van Mil, Rachel Knevel, Tom W. Huizinga, Douglas J. Haney, Yijing Shen, Saroja Ramanujan, Guy Cavet, Michael Centola, Lyndal K. Hesterberg, David Chernoff, Kerri Ford, Nancy A. Shadick, Max Hamburger, Roy Fleischmann, Edward Keystone and Michael E. Weinblatt. Validation of a novel multi-biomarker test to assess rheumatoid arthritis disease activity. Arthritis Care and Research, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/acr.21767

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Distance of Pride (Song-Fic(ish) Contest 23/06/12)

So, yeah, this is something that sort of, could've been a song-fic and didn't really turn out as I'd wanted. Still, I'm posting it because I think Madam Toe of Saws will appreciate the subject matter. :P All for you, Saw-toe!

The Distance of Pride

?Father?? The soft pitter-patter of tiny, slippered feet wasn?t enough to penetrate the thick wooden door that separated father and daughter, and neither was the terrified whisper that came from the girl?s mouth. ?Father??

Knock, knock, knock.

The girl was little older than five, but the serious expression on her pale, gaunt features spoke of a life of little sunlight or joy. From outwith the large, stately manor, a flash of light escaped from the sky, and with it came the unholy crash of thunder.

?Father!?

The hallway, once again dark, felt all too large to the small child, but the shadows still seemed close enough to reach her. Finally, the door before her swung open, drowning the infant in light.

Then an altogether less friendly shadow passed over her, and she was forced to take a step back just to see the face of her supposed saviour.

?What is it??

?The sky is breaking again,? came the girl's harried whisper. A warble passed through the thin voice, and the man sighed.

?I have no time for your impertinent, childish behaviour. Return to your room at once.?

The girl was flabbergasted; go back to her room? But it had taken so long to get here, hiding from the shadows, the thunder and the lightning all at once! ?I?m scared.? Any fool could see it. Why could the smartest man in her world not admit to witnessing the fear in her eyes, the tremble of her tiny body?

?What you are is?? The man cut himself off, another harsh sigh replacing words that would surely have been harsher, had the child known what they meant. ?Return to your room. I have no time for this.?

And then the door closed, and the five-year-old Galletti heiress was left, once again, in the blackened hallway. Turning her back on what she had imagined could be safety, the girl strayed further down the hardwood corridor and found another source of light. This light provided warmth and was made all the better by the soft, comfortable armchair perched before it. The end-table beside the hearth held only a stack of books inches high, and it was a small, leather-bound tome that drew the child?s attention from her perceived demise and fear.

***

?You should be asleep. The initiation begins early.?

?I know, Father. I just? The storm bothers me.?

Father and daughter, once again, encountered one another in the dark hallway that led from the stairway to the library and Michele?s office.

?All it is, this noise and light, is the world refreshing the air,? the eldest offered, attempting comfort despite a terrible history of providing such.

?Perhaps that?s what fears me,? the girl replied, eyes focussed not on her father, but the doorway at the end of the corridor. ?Perhaps the idea that things around me can change without my input is what is so worrying.?

?You?re referring to the initiation.?

?It was never my dream, Father.?

A silence built between them, threading through the nothingness that separated them both physically and emotionally. Their voices were level and calm, but the tension grew as if they?d been yelling at one another.

?My family has always been party to the House, Cloasse. That, you cannot change. ? As if tired by the conversation, Michele gestured to the library with a heavy-handed movement. ?If you must spend your time there, I implore that you do it usefully.?

?There is no such thing as time wasted when one is in a library, Father,? the teenager replied, managing a weak smile. Their relationship since her return had been strained, but far better than it ever had been prior to her departure.

?I am proud of you,? Michele added, almost uncertain, as his daughter began the short walk from what she considered an uncomfortable conversation to a safe haven of knowledge. ?Of what you?ve become.?

His admission received no reply, but the small smile with which he was graced assured the Galletti patriarch that his daughter did indeed hear him. It would?ve warmed his heart to know that his daughter valued his beliefs, but the truth of the matter was that Cloasse?s House initiation was mere hours away, and binding another generation of his family to the established and well-respected aggregation had been his only goal since the words ?Fletcher Godeaux? had been uttered in relation to his only child. He had to ensure that she remained with him, with the House, and if feeding her underdeveloped ego did that, then who was he to deny himself an easy solution?

No, Michele considered as he returned to his desk, it was never her dream, but they will know her name, and our family will only grow stronger in the eyes of the House.

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House moving ahead with plans for contempt vote

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, goes to the House Rules Committee to argue procedures as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on whether Attorney General Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress because he has refused to give the Oversight Committee all the documents it wants related to Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed gun-smuggling probe involving Mexican drug cartels, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, goes to the House Rules Committee to argue procedures as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on whether Attorney General Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress because he has refused to give the Oversight Committee all the documents it wants related to Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed gun-smuggling probe involving Mexican drug cartels, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., meet on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, before their news conference on the contempt vote in the House against Attorney General Eric Holder. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(AP) ? The Obama administration and House Republicans refused to find a middle ground in a dispute over documents related to a botched gun-tracking operation, and the GOP plunged ahead with plans for precedent-setting votes Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in civil and criminal contempt of Congress.

The votes are expected hours after the Supreme Court will capture the nation's attention with its ruling on the legality of President Barack Obama's health care law. Even without that diversion, the contempt issue throws both parties temporarily off-track in their efforts to focus on the economy in an election year.

There's little question that Republicans will get the votes they need, not only from their own majority but from Democrats aligned with the National Rifle Association ? which has said it's keeping score. The NRA has said it believes the administration was using the flawed Operation Fast and Furious to make the case for more gun control.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the longest serving House member and normally an NRA supporter, said Wednesday he would not back the contempt resolutions but instead wants the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to conduct a more thorough investigation.

The criminal contempt resolution would send the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who is under Holder. The civil contempt resolution would allow the House to go to court in an effort to force Holder to turn over documents the Oversight committee wants. In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The House is unlikely to get the documents anytime soon, because President Barack Obama has invoked a broad form of executive privilege, which protects from disclosure internal documents in executive branch agencies.

In nearly three hours of arguments before the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats squared off with oft-repeated arguments that have turned a major constitutional issue into a political food fight.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and chairman of the Oversight panel, told the Rules Committee that the documents sought were essential to learn who in the administration produced a February, 2011 letter denying that Operation Fast and Furious allowed guns to "walk" from Arizona to Mexico. The Justice Department has already given Issa's committee 7,600 pages on the operation itself. The documents now sought covered a period after the operation was shut down.

Referring to Justice Department officials, he asked, "When did they know we were lied to and what did they do about it?" It took 10 months before the administration acknowledged the false information. Issa said he had no evidence that Holder knew of the gun-walking tactics.

Issa also said closure is needed for the family of a U.S. border agent, Brian Terry, who was killed in a firefight with Mexican bandits in 2010. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene.

The ranking Democrat on Issa's committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, countered, "Why are we rushing" toward the first-ever vote to hold a sitting attorney general in contempt? He said he was certain that the dispute could be worked out.

"It has all the trappings of a witch hunt," said Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee. She also said, "I don't think there's any way we're doing justice to Brian Terry with what we're doing today."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that the public would view the vote as "political theater" and "gamesmanship."

Carney said the Justice Department and the White House on Tuesday had shown House Republicans a representative sample of the documents they were seeking. He said the administration's offer would have provided "unprecedented access" to internal communications about how it responded to congressional inquiries into the Fast and Furious program.

Ironically, the documents at the heart of the current argument are not directly related to the workings of Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed guns to "walk" from Arizona to Mexico in hopes they could be tracked. The department has given Issa 7,600 documents on the operation.

Rather, Issa wants internal communications from February 2011, when the administration denied knowledge of gun-walking, to the end of that year, when officials acknowledged the denial was erroneous. Those documents covered a period after Fast and Furious had been shut down.

In Fast and Furious, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Arizona abandoned the agency's usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. Instead, the goal of gun-walking was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who long had eluded prosecution and to dismantle their networks.

Gun-walking long has been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Fast and Furious. The agents in Arizona lost track of several hundred weapons in the operation.

___

Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Shrewd Actions To Improve Home Based Business

Establishing a house company is a goal for many people. The bait of environment your very own hours and becoming your very own supervisor is quite attractive, but it is important to understand the reality of managing a work from home business. Please read on for several fantastic ideas to assist you to develop and manage your business successfully.

Grow to be quite successful at control your cash stream. You ought to be managing income like no down the road because it will make or bust your business. Know which providers can hold out and who should be compensated immediately. Generally have some profits available for urgent matters and only obtain once you know when you are able pay it rear

An effective home business hint is always to get your personal business cards. From the professional planet, developing a business cards is not only crucial, it?s expected. Possessing a nice and clean, presentable organization card can help a lot in helping your home-based business look more professional. You can order them at low costs when you search online.

If you find that you?re combating with members of the family or close friends who are assisting you to free of charge with your home-based business, fire them. Finishing your own personal romantic relationship is not really worthwhile, so find someone else who can help you out and won?t rub the improper way. I?m confident anyone you fire will wind up being happier in the end!

Have the appropriate software for your home company. Appropriate application, such as such things as data processing application, PDF creation software program, and sector-distinct software applications not only make you a lot more fruitful and much more rewarding, they also help it become very easy to adhere to restrictions and spend your taxation. Most enterprise software program also has totally free and affordable alternatives should you shortage funds.

Provide a totally free product or some other object on your site for every single visitor. This is usually a computer piece for targeted traffic to print out from your website, like a bash invitation or children?s online game. You can also get an online affiliate product that has no cost to the site visitor but earns an affiliate payment for each referral.

Price your cost for your supplies and labor so that you can figure out what your selling price must be. An over-all principle is your retail industry expense should be 2 to three times your total cost so as to make an ample amount of a profit for your enterprise to make sensation.

Now you are armed with an improved knowledge of a few of the troubles involved with operating a home based business, you may truly feel more confident about advancing with your own ideas. A prosperous home business will help boost your financial scenarios and help to insulate you throughout downturns from the economic system. Additionally, it can offer an excellent way to bring the family unit jointly to be effective to popular objectives.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Observe Your Ratings Decrease With These Useful Ideas |

Among the funnest recreational sports to try out is golf. Consider the following write-up if you want in becoming much more educated in terms of playing golf, rendering it more likely so that you can become successful.

It is vital that you preserve all of your thoughts concentrate on the chance that you will be generating next time it is your choose golf swing. Don?t let the result of the previous chance, or any impending difficulties, effect the way you golf swing that team. Stressing about prior mistakes will screw up your swing, so move ahead.

Introduce you to ultimately your playing companions before starting your upcoming circular with total strangers. You would like to have a great partnership along with your lovers because you will end up tinkering with them for about the subsequent four hours. Proceed to start your company and enjoy your online game while casually generating discussion with some other golf players.

An excellent playing golf tip to help with the golf swing would be to synchronize the motions of the body with the golf swing. First-timers assume that the durability inside their golf swing comes entirely through the forearms, however that only using your biceps and triceps will give you an extremely weakened shot. You will get far better results once your physique is sync along with your hands and fingers.

Spend some time training in the variety to boost your swing. You should certainly shift your excess fat, and avoid inclined backwards after the impact. Somewhat increase your top-most foot although accomplishing your backswing. When you adhere to with your foreswing, permit that ft . to go back to the earth.

When you don?t already know your enjoying lovers, introduce on your own before you begin another spherical of playing golf. You will find a really societal component to the bet on golf because of the extended amounts of time you find yourself messing around with the group. You greet them, possess some relaxed discussions to ensure even though you get rid of, you can still be within an upbeat disposition.

It?s essential to understand how to correctly score a game. Since the game of golf rankings tend to be used as a way of judging a player?s ability, it?s vital that you comprehend them. Each struck on your ball is named a stroke with each heart stroke is recorded. After you have done an opening, you add up just how many strokes it required you, and you also then get the complete rating for that distinct opening. Getting the very least amount of cerebral vascular accidents feasible is definitely the goal!

Success about some golf balls prior to taking the first picture. Get those training pictures and steer clear of starting your rounded cool.

Keep good posture. If you?re not sure, make your toes continue to and faucet your feet up and down. You will be able to faucet your feet with a bit of work. This can be hard if you?re leaning very far over the soccer ball, or it will likely be too straightforward if you?re inclined too much again.

To improve strength, don?t deliver the group very far back again once you golf swing. By yanking the membership back again you are able to improve the power of your swing, but overdoing your golf swing throws your position off and you could fully overlook the tennis ball or perhaps lead to an accident to yourself.

During your generate, the rear of your front side foot should line up using the golf ball. Normally, the ball needs to be put specifically in between each of your respective feet when you golf swing. The soccer ball may be off of centre while in shots which can be located on a slope.

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Insight: Baltic countries' austerity lesson for Europe - Just do it

RIGA (Reuters) - Near a former Soviet naval base and dilapidated Cold War-era housing estate, this 84-year-old Latvian plywood factory is the kind of success story of which EU policymakers dream as they struggle with economic meltdown in southern Europe.

Workers in yellow and blue uniforms eye digital camera readings of an endless stream of plywood on conveyers, new automation that has helped this firm survive what many describe as the world's deepest recession. Steam hisses nearby, part of a novel water recycling scheme that has cut energy costs.

Some 15 percent of workers were fired after sales in 2009 plummeted a third. The remainder saw wages cut and four day weeks. But now production of the company, with more than 2,000 workers, exceeds pre-crisis levels, part of a cog in a Baltic economy that is now Europe's fastest growing.

"Things were very difficult here," said Latvijas Finieris manager Arvis Svanks over the din of hot, humming machines in a factory the size of several football pitches. "But you can say with some reason that the crisis made us stronger."

Three small states, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, were known as "Baltic tigers" in the boom years before 2007. But housing bubbles and excessive spending saw economic collapse. Latvia's economy plummeted 18 percent in 2009.

But there was little talk here of these countries, with their currencies pegged to the euro, devaluing out of the crisis. Latvia and Lithuania kept their pegs. Estonia joined the euro in 2011, when others questioned the value of the common currency. Latvia wants to join in 2014.

Instead, some of Europe's harshest austerity programs were an act of faith in the idea of "internal devaluation" - those countries could boost growth by cutting wages and increasing productivity rather than allowing their currencies to fall. It is a policy that the European Union sees as the only way out for countries like Greece and Spain.

It was no foregone conclusion. Some IMF officials had urged devaluation in Latvia. But with pressure from an EU worried about contagion, Swedish banks concerned about exposure and a central bank wanting euro membership, austerity was chosen.

Latvia's economy grew 5.5 percent in 2011, and 6.9 percent in the first quarter of the year. Unemployment, which reached more than 20 percent, has fallen to around 16 percent. It is a similar trend across the Baltics.

"There is this debate about growth versus austerity," Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said at his government palace. "Latvia is a country in the EU 27 that has done most about austerity and is currently the fastest growing EU economy. There is probably not so much a contradiction between these terms."

The other side of the story is not far away from the factory in the housing estate surrounded by overgrown vegetation, in hospitals and schools falling apart, and a fall in wages that has had thousands, including middle class professionals, receiving food parcels from the Samaritans. The Baltics have some of the highest income inequalities in Europe.

The "Baltic model" has become part of a debate about how Europe can survive. It has spilled over into social media. When Nobel laureate Paul Krugman questioned Estonia's model this month, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves called the economist "smug, overbearing and patronizing."

Back on the ground, Latvijas Finieris corporate development manager Gatis Kepitis poured over data showing the turnaround. He appeared uneasy mentioning 15 percent job cuts, struggling to find a polite phrase to describe them. He preferred to discuss a 60 percent rise in productivity between 2007 and 2011.

This is the kind of export-dependent company that in theory would have benefited from devaluation. Kepitis is not convinced.

"Exports would have gained something from devaluation but it would have been short term gains," he said. "The basic issue remains unsolved. You have to get more competitive. You have to be ready to adapt to new conditions. You get none of this with devaluation."

That experience was echoed across Latvia. Unit labor costs - a rough guide to a country's staff costs per unit of production - fell 27 points from 2008-2011 (with a base year of 2005), according to Eurostat. That compares to a fall of four points for Spain, and a rise of seven points for Greece.

Policy makers say, diplomatically, they hold no lessons for the rest of Europe. But the temptation is occasionally too much.

"As prime minister I don't want to use other examples," Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip told Reuters.

"But let's say - Spain for example. They started to stimulate their economy knowing the structure of the economy was not sustainable. Now despite all those stimulus packages their unemployment rate is 25 percent."

Policymakers concede there were many special cases in the Baltics that set it apart. Public debt was far lower and there was a degree of political consensus. Latvia needed a 7.5 billion euro bailout, around a third of its GDP. The equivalent would be unaffordable for southern Europe.

Economic statistics were accurate from the start, meaning the full extent of the crisis was evident, unlike Greece.

"Greeks can learn a lot from Latvians and from Baltic countries" said Martins Kazaks, Swedbank's chief economist in Latvia. "But that doesn't mean it can be repeated."

Nor is it the only path. Iceland, another small economy, chosen devaluation after the 2008 banking collapse.

While Greeks are in their fifth year of a recession, Iceland has bounced back to growth after just two years with capital controls and making foreign creditors rather than domestic ones take the biggest hit.

FRONT LOADING AUSTERITY

But if there is one lesson for the Baltics, officials drill in the need of quick cuts and reforms - such as freeing up the labor market - before voter and market fatigue sets in.

"It's a very pro austerity message," said Estonia's new central bank head and ECB member Ardo Hansson.

"Get ahead of the curve, and try and do it rather resolutely. The key is to reach bottom rather quickly. Yet in some other countries it is stretched out so long people are a bit exhausted. Maybe some don't believe that a bottom exists."

For countries where public civil servants suffered up to 30 percent wage cuts, the Baltics offer a degree of political consensus unseen in much of southern Europe. Dombrovskis and Ansip even got reelected in 2011.

One international official arriving in Riga in 2009 said he was surprised by how quiet the streets were. He had expected protests, even riots. In Estonia, the biggest protests were not against austerity, but from ethnic Russians over the removal of a Soviet-era Bronze Soldier victory statue in 2007.

Some of this was due to ethnic politics - in Estonia and Latvia the opposition, mainly parties rooted in the ethnic Russian minority, found it hard to widen its reach to protest austerity packages.

"The issue of the social cost has been hidden through the Russian lens," said Rainer Kattel, professor of public administration and European studies at Tallinn Technical University in Estonia.

The Baltics were also mindful of the days of Soviet rule.

"Yes, there is high unemployment," said Daiga Auzina-Melalksne, chairman of the Nasdaq exchange in Riga. "But people remember here the Soviet times, when you plotted potatoes in you back garden to survive."

SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER AUSTERITY

The Latvijas Finieris factory, with sales of 169 million euros in 2011, is now looking at new export markets to make up for potential lost sales in southern European markets.

Unemployment is still high in Latvia, at around 16 percent. But while at the height of the crisis, the Good Samaritans in Latvia distributed food to 100,000 people, around five percent of the population, that is down to 16,000 parcels.

Dombrovskis expects economic growth to be around 4 percent this year. But there are concerns about the impact of an extended euro zone crisis on exports. By 2014, his government will face payments on Latvia's public debt, which increased from 10 percent of GDP to more than 40 percent during the crisis. This could act as a drag on growth.

His government is now pushing for five percentage point cuts in income tax, a move that has international officials worried that Latvia is spending more than it should.

The recent resignation of his justice minister to protest moves to repay Jewish organizations from the Second World War has raised some concern that the coalition could split apart.

But overall there is a cautious mood of optimism.

Kaspars Kasparsons was one of the thousands of Latvians who left Latvia, and his family. He is back in a warehouse after a year as a carpenter in Norway. His wage is 10 percent down on pre-crisis salary. But his wife has found work in a bar.

After years they can afford the occasional visit to the cinema, to take their two daughters out for ice-cream.

"Not everyone is happy. Many friends are very bitter and angry at what happened. Some had 50 percent cuts in wages," Kasparsons said, while his young daughters played nearby in a quiet shopping mall. "But things are getting a better for me.

"Well," he said, thinking as he sipped a coffee. "A little better."

(This story corrects atttribution in paragraph 36)

(Added reporting by David Mardiste in Tallin; editing by Janet McBride)

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Faulty computer modeling caused San Onofre equipment problems

Faulty computer modeling caused the equipment problems that are expected to keep the San Onofre nuclear plant dark through the summer, federal regulators said Monday.

Officials from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave their first public account of the initial findings of their investigation into the plant's problems at a meeting in San Juan Capistrano.

What they did not give was any indication of how long the plant is likely to remain out of service, saying there are still questions plant operator Southern California Edison needs to answer and more inspections the NRC must do.

The plant has been out of service since Jan. 31, when operators discovered a small leak in one of the thousands of steam generator tubes that carry hot, radioactive water used to create steam to turn turbines that generate electricity.

That led to the discovery that other tubes were rubbing against support structures and adjacent tubes, and wearing out more quickly than expected. Eight tubes failed pressure testing, which NRC officials said Monday is the first time in the nuclear industry that more than one tube at a plant has failed.

The wear is a safety concern because tube ruptures can release radiation. The plant's operator, Southern California Edison; the NRC; and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the manufacturer of the steam generators, have been studying the cause and extent of the wear. The NRC has ordered Edison to keep the plant shuttered until it has determined the cause and how to fix it.

"This is a significant, serious safety issue," said NRC regional administrator Elmo Collins. "This is a very difficult technical issue, and to be honest, it's not one we've seen before."

NRC officials said it appears that simulations by Mitsubishi underpredicted the velocity of steam and water flowing among the tubes by a factor of three or four. The high rate of flow caused the tubes to vibrate and knock against each other, leading to the wear.

It was not clear why the computer modeling was so far off. Mitsubishi had no representatives at the meeting and could not be immediately reached for comment. Collins, however, said that ultimate responsibility lies with Edison.

There were also issues with support structures intended to prevent vibration in Unit 3, but apparently not in Unit 2, officials said. In Unit 3, 326 tubes showed the tube-to-tube wear, while only two in Unit 2 did. Many more tubes showed a more common type of wear caused by rubbing against support structures. In total, 9% of tubes in Unit 2 and 12% in Unit 3 showed wear of 10% or more, said Pete Dietrich, Edison's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.

Edison officials said earlier this month that they expect the plant to remain out of service through the summer. With contingency plans in place ? including conservation measures, transmission upgrades and temporarily returning to service two retired generating units at a natural gas plant in Huntington Beach ? energy leaders said they expect California can make it through the summer without rolling blackouts under all but the most extreme circumstances.

Residents of the communities surrounding the darkened plant packed the San Juan Capistrano community center to hear the NRC's report and to ply regulators with questions, while activists took the opportunity to call for the plant to be decommissioned.

Earlier Monday, the environmental group Friends of the Earth filed a legal petition with the NRC seeking to force the agency to put Edison through a license amendment process, including a trial-like public hearing, before the plant can fire up again.

The group contends that when Edison replaced the plant's steam generators, it failed to report a series of design changes that should have been reviewed by the NRC and sidestepped public scrutiny of the changes ? a charge that Edison denies.

abby.sewell@latimes.com

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Leftists poised for victory in French elections

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Full Feeds Service Discontinued

Unfortunatly the time has come for this scraper to come down (seemingly it may come as a shock to some that this is not provided by the BBC). I wrote this back in 2005 and have modified it a couple of times since mainly so that I could more easily consume RSS on the move. In short, I no longer use it, I find consuming live news is not actually something an RSS reader does very well and I face a constant battle against sites trying to use these feeds to monetize BBC content and failing to pay any attention to etag or last modified headers (hello palin-pedia.com et al). Please update your RSS subscription as the last remenants of this will be removed soon , the official BBC RSS feed you are looking for is: http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/health/rss.xml

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Video: Romney invokes Santorum in speech on family (cbsnews)

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

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Online Learning Is The Future | Reference and Education Tops ...

From learning to online learning

Spanish companies developes a high activity for adult education. They have a range of training activities that includes courses approved by varsities, so that they can approach education to employees, with a college degree.

The courses take place in distance mode, whereby the coed receives the material at home and easily done from home. For this, each student must organise study time for the proper development of the course. Is digitized media changing into a king also in education? The answer is YES. Some years ago online learning was nearly a joke and internet marketing did not existed. Today that is a dependable source of money for academies, businesses and, additionally , universities.

An example in Spain (Europe): Rey Juan Carlos School

Online courses, to be recognised by varsities like the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid, in Spain, allow scholars to earn credit may pass valid European system of credit transfer. These credits permit scholars to be recognized for open processes in job boards and oppositions. Each credit in Europe corresponds to 25 hours of work.

Once the scholar has completed the training, organizations progress on to the analysis of the final works, both by tutors and by the business agency comprehensive Continuing Education Middle of the Varsity.

The course technique is as follows:

  • The scholar receives at home or at the address provided course material. The material includes manual, logbook, assessment test and media.
  • Each student is assigned a personal tutor to lead you and help you along the way. The mentor contacts the scholar and explains the process and roads.
  • The evolution of learning is done in detail through constant monitoring. This includes monitoring phone calls and emails made by the mentor or student.
  • The average time of development of each course guaranteed by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos is roughly 45 days.
  • The scholar submits the final work to be evaluated according to the clamor for quality learning.
  • Upon bill of the work analyzes the guardian, if the result's optimal, the scholar receives official certification recognised by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid.

Now it is time for judging. Maybe the future arrived, because it?s just here.

BM Formacion Ocupacional developes cursos gratuitos para trabajadores in Spain

Related posts:

  1. There Are Online Career Courses To Help You Decide Your Future
  2. Alternative Learning Opportunities Through An Online College Program
  3. The Benefits Of Learning The Arabic Language Online
  4. Primary Colleges And Universities Offering No Cost Online Courses For Lifelong Mastering
  5. What The Experts State When To Pertains To Online College Education

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Car bombing kills 20 in Pakistan tribal region

(AP) ? A car bomb exploded at a crowded bazar in a northwestern Pakistani tribal region near the border with Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding over 50 others, hospital and government officials said.

Several shops and vehicles were also badly damaged in the attack in the town of Landi Kotal in the Khyber tribal region near the main border crossing point of Torkham, government administrator Khalid Mumtaz told The Associated Press.

He said hundreds of people were in the bazar when someone parked the explosive-laden car and minutes later the bomb exploded.

TV footage showed the charred skeleton of the car used in the attack and local residents rushing to help take the victims to hospitals.

One of the wounded, 45-year-old Khan Mohammed, said he was sitting with a nephew in his shop when he saw a vehicle stopping in the street. Moments later he heard a massive blast.

"Something hit me in my shoulder and I fainted," he said, speaking from a hospital bed. He said two of his nephews who were outside the shop at the time of the explosion were killed and that he was worried for friends hurt in the attack.

Hospital official Farooq Shah said 20 people were killed in the blast, and some of them were in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the morning blast, but the suspicion fell on Pakistani Taliban who often target security forces and public places with bombings and shooting attacks.

The Pakistani army has carried out several operations to flush out Islamist militants in Khyber, which is one of the two routes for NATO supplies across the border into Afghanistan.

Also Saturday, violence erupted in the southwestern town of Kucklak after a man allegedly tried to burn the copy of Islam's holy book. Angered over the incident, residents rallied and torched a police station and five vehicles, said police official Shaukat Ali Khan.

Khan said the man who allegedly tried to burn Quran has been arrested and that the police were trying to restore order.

Associated Press

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Michael Radou Moussou: The Unmotivated Electorate

Greece is a Democracy, not a Republic. That makes it the only state in the world in which supreme power is held by the elected representatives of the people, without being a Republic. Although the difference is minor, it is essential. In a Republic, the people are king. In a Democracy, it's the 'demos' -- the bodies of people that form the various communities that constitute the 'kratos' -- state -- which guarantees the unity of the nation.

According to the Constitution, Greeks decide over their lordship only on two levels: national and local.

On a national level, the prime minister draws the main lines of state policy. He also decides to thrust his power and authority upon whomever he chooses. Offices are allocated in principle to party members. Occasionally a ministry may be assigned to a personality of exceptional skills such as a technocrat, for instance. All elected members of parliament have to move to Athens, where the seat of the government lies, in order to partake in the national administration, distancing themselves from their constituency.

On the local government level, the mayor of a town acts in the same way as the prime minister. (In fact, tenure of this office for the cities of Athens and Salonika is considered a stepping stone in the ladder of power.) Yet on the tighter community level, elected officials in these local councils remain in direct contact with their constituency, sharing its interests and grief. They try to adapt their course of action according to the needs of the inhabitants and to advise both City Hall and Parliament. Unfortunately, they often go unheard.

The general election of June 17 is like no other election in the history of our country.

For the past 38 years, ever since the restoration of Democracy following a seven-year long military government, the Greek electorate has been polarized into two political factions, representing on one hand the center-right (headed by the New Democracy party -- symbolized by the color blue) and on the other the center-left (the socialists, led by PASOK -- green). They have been alternating to power with a third force (the Communist Party -- red). All other parties were considered negligible. This polarization dug deep, dividing trenches in society and leaving very little room for crossovers. Athens, for instance, was partitioned into "blue" and "green" districts with an occasional "red" neighborhood, making it easy for a politician to target supporters during a national election campaign. In fact, general elections were always considered as periods of heightened emotions, during which people were invited to vent their frustration and enthusiasm. Politicians would give speeches in squares filled with supporters and would debate each other in shouting matches on live TV. Kiosks were set up by parties in every square, posters splattered all over the walls of the city, leaflets would cover the pavements, while loudspeakers bellowed political jingles. And in order to let off steam, people would heat-up outdoor caf?s with political discussions and arguments.

This year's election is very different. In Athens, a large number of stores have closed down even in prime areas, office buildings lie vacant and graffiti is now covering walls. The marks of the economic crisis are way too visible to be ignored. In my 18 months into office at the community of Central Athens, the city has been faced with the increasing lack of funds that goes hand-in-hand with the curtailing of services. In fact, we are constantly trying to restructure our means in order to minimize the collateral damage and the inevitable breakdown in infrastructure. For instance, a pavement is restored only when considered dangerous, and one becomes more lenient in allowing a business to start in order to help the ailing economy.

Daily we hear stories of people defaulting on their loans, of demoralized professionals whose salaries have undergone cuts, of younger professional forced to move back to their family homes. Unemployment has climbed nationwide to over one million, a staggering figure for a country of about 10 million. In the children's day-care stations (where low-income parents leave their children for the day in order to go to work) the struggle to keep them open has been an uphill battle. Yet, the most horrific side-effect of this economic downturn are the undernourished children. More and more school directors are contacting us, asking us whether our soup kitchens could provide meals for starving children. Faced with a humanitarian crisis, on top of the notorious inflexibility of the public sector, we explained to our underpaid staff the gravity of the situation, only to see them rise to the challenge.

With such a bleak picture, it comes as no surprise that the electorate reserved a punitive vote to the existing political system. The first round of general elections that took place on May 6th gave no mandate to anyone. In fact, it was as if the people demanded from all parties involved to collaborate in a government of national unity to deal with the financial woes of the country. The politicians decided to ignore this and go for a second round, in the hopes of obtaining a clear mandate.

As the days went by it became clear that the electorate was not willing to give a majority to a single party. In an effort to rally the people, fear and anger were mobilized

Anger centers around SYRIZA (a group of 13 small, left-wing political parties loosely bound together in a coalition of post-modern communism, stretching from liberal to radical). SYRIZA, which has grown to a now minor political force, is the great winner of the election. It has risen into second position and is headed by Alexis Tsipras, a young man of small stature with a formidable drive and a huge ambition. Franklin Delano Roosevelt as his idol, Tsipras preaches with a messianic zeal to restore the cut-down wages back to their former heights, to give the unemployed back their jobs, to punish the banking system for having open-handedly given mortgages to the ones that can no longer pay their installments, and to drive a stick into the heart of all evil by cancelling the memorandum. The young, the unemployed, and the employees of the huge public sector, who fear losing their jobs, have joined his ranks. Where Tsipras is going to find the funding to materialize his ambitious plans for social reform and how is he going to negotiate with the leaders of Europe for better terms, once he denounces the memorandum, well, that bridge will be crossed when Mr. Tsipras comes to it.

Fear motivates the supporters of the right-wing party of New Democracy, headed by Harvard alumn Antonis Samaras. A controversial figure, Mr. Samaras violently denounced the first 'memorandum,' drafted by the European Union to reduce Greek public debt. He endorsed the second 'memorandum,' however, about a year later. In this camp, they preach fear of the economic crisis, fear of abandoning the euro and going back to a national currency and above all, fear of Tsipras.

The other supporter of this trend is also the big looser of this election: the socialist former government. PASOK was the great success story of the last 38 years of Greek politics (rising from nothingness and ruling the country for more than two thirds of the period) came tumbling down denounced as the architect of the 'memorandum'

Anger and fear being the two motivational forces of the Greek electorate, are not promising signs for a creative administration. In fact, Greeks are now resigned to choose between the lesser of two evils. On one hand, the evil that is familiar and has been already tested, the side effects of which brought the country to its present state. On the other, the evil that leads through uncharted territories with unimaginable consequences if things go wrong.

For the past two years, Greeks have been under a constant pressure. They not only feel desperate by the decrease of their standards of living, but also humiliated by the derogatory treatment of their fellow Europeans. Yet no candidate in the Greek election seems to be addressing the one ingredient that could make a great difference in this deterioration: the sense of honor deeply engrained in every Greek. Handled correctly, such an acknowledgement could make an immense difference, not only in the life of every Greek, but also in the restructuring of their country.

Michael Radou Moussou is an elected councilor in the Municipality of Athens.

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RI.gov: RI Workers' Comp Assessment Rate Announced

The RI Department of Labor and Training has proposed an assessment rate for Workers' Compensation insurers of 6.75 percent for the coming year, effective July 15, 2012. This rate has remained level every year since 2008. Director Charles J. Fogarty explains, "By keeping the assessment rate level for 2012, the department has acted on Governor Chafee's advice to minimize any additional governmental costs to area businesses."

The proposed Workers' Compensation assessment rate will be subject to public comment for a 20-day period ending July 5, 2012. During this time, interested persons may submit data, views, comments and/or arguments in writing to the Division of Workers' Compensation, P.O. Box 20190, Cranston, RI 02920-0942, ATTN: Matt Carey. Comments may also be submitted electronically to mcarey@dlt.ri.gov.

Each year, the Workers' Compensation assessment rate is recalculated, based upon the projected costs to fulfill the responsibilities of RIGL 28-37-1(b) pursuant to RIGL 28-37-13(c). These responsibilities include the funding of the Workers' Compensation Court, the Workers' Compensation Fraud Unit, the Workers' Compensation Education Unit, the Workers' Compensation Advisory Council, the Donley Rehabilitation Center and other administrative and operational costs associated with the Workers' Compensation program in Rhode Island.

Workers' Compensation is insurance to provide medical expenses and lost wages to employees who are injured while working. Employers are required to have workers' compensation insurance to cover these benefits. The Division of Workers' Compensation at the RI Department of Labor and Training monitors the workers' compensation system, ensuring claims are paid correctly and that all required employers with one or more employees maintain insurance coverage. It also provides rehabilitative services, including physical therapy, work hardening, vocational services and psychological services through the Donley Rehabilitation Center in Providence. To report an employer without coverage or to report incidents of Workers' Compensation fraud, contact the Workers' Compensation Hot Line at 462-8100 option 7.

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