Country?s debt at ?comfortable level?, says UDA boss

Nur Jazlan said ?there?s no country in the world that tables a budget surplus?. ? File pic

JOHOR BARU, Sept 30 ? The people should not be concerned over the national debt as it is still at the low level compared with European countries, the United States and developing countries, according to UDA Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed

The Pulai MP said the country?s debt at 53.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) is still at the comfortable level.

?The debt rate (at 53.7 per cent) is manageable by the government and is considered to be low compared with European countries and the US.

?Compared with developing countries, (the debt) also still at lower and comfortable level. As long as we can pay our immediate interest requirement, we are still safe,? he said here today.

Nur Jazlan, who is also a chartered accountant, urged the rakyat not to be influenced by the opposition who claimed that the country?s debt was high.

He said the country also does not have any problem in tabling a budget deficit, considering the various sources of wealth that can be utilised to accommodate the deficit.

?There?s no country in the world that tables a budget surplus... they all propose budget deficit and loans, the only difference is that Malaysia has room to implement a budget deficit as we have various sources of wealth to accommodate the deficit,? he said.

Malaysia can depend on revenue from commodities and oil as well as assets that can be liquidated to accommodate the deficit.

Budget 2013 announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last Friday targeted to reduce the budget deficit to four per cent next year compared with 4.5 per cent this year.

Apart from that, Nur Jazlan said the country still has ample room to improve its taxation system to enable it to increase revenue from tax collection.

He said it was wrong to introduce an ?austerity budget? now as it would give an impact to investor?s confidence as well as the country?s economy.

?A Budget that shrinks the country?s economy will give negative impact to the economic performance and damage the rakyat,? said Nur Jazlan.

He also lauded the government?s move to allocate a huge fund to ensure the young generation living in big towns nationwide are capable of owning their own houses. ? Bernama

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tmi/news/allnews/~3/rB4myhco9sI/story01.htm

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Wedding: Elizabeth Worthington & Tanner Shamblin

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Source: http://theleafchronicle.com/article/20120930/ANNOUNCEWAVE/209300301/-1/rss06

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Alabama head coach Nick Saban made team watch Tim Tebow?s ?Promise? speech to get ready for Ole Miss

As the number one team in all of college football gets ready to face Ole Miss later tonight, Alabama head coach Nick Saban used a memorable speech from the college career of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow to keep his squad from taking the Rebels lightly.

Saban told his players to watch clips from a speech that Tebow made at a post-game press conference after his 3rd-ranked Florida Gators had been upset by Ole Miss back in 2008.

During his weekly press conference, Saban commented about using the past to provide his team with motivation:

?I saw a video tape a couple of weeks ago when we played somebody about Tim Tebow giving his famous speech after they were undefeated for a year and won the national championship and were going undefeated the next year and had won 20-some games in a row or whatever.

?Guess what? Guess who? Guess when? Somebody beat them. At home, in their place and then there was the famous speech. ?It?s never going to happen again.? Well, do you have to have an ?I told you so? game and does somebody have to give that speech for you to do what you need to do to realize what?s at stake, to realize the opportunity you have to have a very successful, significant season if you can play one game at a time and respect the people you play, and play to your very best each and every time that you play??

What do the players think of Saban?s Tim Tebow gambit? Well, here are comments from junior cornerback Dee Milliner about the speech:

?They?ll have it playing. Then we?ll come in certain groups and watch it. We?re trying to not let it be us that same way that happened to them. We?re not trying to make it have a loss and then we have to give a big speech after it because we lost the game,? says Milliner.

***

Nick Saban references Tim Tebow, shows memorable speech to team [Al.com]

Source: http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2012/09/29/alabama-head-coach-nick-saban-made-team-watch-tim-tebows-promise-speech-to-get-ready-for-ole-miss/

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Debate About Debates (TIME)

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HP takes Open webOS 1.0 live, shows it supersized on a TouchSmart (video)

WebOS loyalists have been waiting a long, long time for HP's September launch of Open webOS, but the company has made good on its promise with not a moment to spare. Open webOS 1.0 is now available with core browser and e-mail apps, the Enyo 2.0 framework and enough hooks to allow porting to a platform of choice. To prove this last point, HP has gone so far as to port the software to a TouchSmart all-in-one -- a device just a tad larger than a Veer 4G. Lest anyone be hasty and get visions of developing a custom build for the TouchPad, though, they'd do well to remember both HP's disclaimer ruling out legacy support as well as word of the holes that exists in the current Open webOS release. The company needs time to offer open-sourced media support, a Bluetooth stack, advanced network management, faster rendering and newer versions of both Qt and WebKit. The curious can nonetheless try the OS in an emulator today, and intrepid developers can start building their own projects with the code and tools found at the source link.

Continue reading HP takes Open webOS 1.0 live, shows it supersized on a TouchSmart (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Tablets, Mobile, HP

HP takes Open webOS 1.0 live, shows it supersized on a TouchSmart (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/28/hp-takes-open-webos-1-0-live/

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Sydney Writers' Centre- Travel Writing with Sue White & Many More ...

Sydney Writers? Centre- Travel Writing with Sue White & Many More Writing Courses

Imagine landing in an exciting destination ? New York, Spain, Prague, take your pick ? and experiencing sights and sounds you once only dreamt of. Imagine staying in beautiful hotels, sampling the cuisine and browsing in hidden shops and markets.

I?m not writing about some fictional scenario that?s never actually going to happen. I?m describing what you could experience as a travel writer. And, as you can see from student Jocelyn Pride?s comments below (in our Student Success section), it actually happens.

This is not some fantasy. If you?re interested in Travel Writing, then you just have to take the first step. And that?s enrolling in our 5-week course in Travel Writing. The best part is that we have two options to choose from ? on campus or online.

You?ll discover:
about the different types of travel articles and why they suit different markets.
how to speak the language ? understanding the industry lingo.
how to develop the right angle for your travel story so it doesn?t resemble a six
hour holiday slideshow.
how to structure your articles, using photos and trip notes effectively.
how to research travel stories, plan your itineraries and find interview subjects on the road.
how to write without ever getting on a plane ? discovering your hometown or state.
how to stay out of trouble by following travel writing ethics.
the best way to approach editors and pitch your story to perfection.
and MUCH more!

Travel Writing with Sue White
Monday 8 October 2012 (for five weeks)
Time: 6.30pm ? 8.30pm
Cost: $395

If you prefer to study online here?s the next online course.

Online course: Travel Writing with Sue White
5-week online course starting Monday 1 October 2012
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

TIP: Avoid false joiners
Sometimes when you?re writing, it?s easy to get carried away and let your sentences go on, and on, and on. One way of allowing this to happen is to use false joiners. False joiners are words such as however, consequently, moreover, therefore, nevertheless, indeed and similarly. These words are sometimes used as conjunctions but in fact, they?re adverbs and can?t join two sentences together without some help.

Here?s an example of a sentence using a false joiner:

Rambo went home to get his umbrella, however, he couldn?t find it.

It?s actually two sentences: Rambo went home to get his umbrella. and He couldn?t find it.

Because however is technically not a conjunction, it shouldn?t be used to join these two sentences. But, if you do want to clearly link the two sentences, you can use however (or one of the words above). Just make sure you use a semicolon first:

Rambo went home to get his umbrella; however, he couldn?t find it.

Student success ? Jocelyn Pride
We were thrilled to hear from Jocelyn Pride this week. She did our ONLINE COURSE: Travel Writing in 2011 and since then, has scored two overseas famils. She wrote this to us:

Very excited to just land my second major ?famil? [familiarisation tour]. The company that hosted me (and my husband) to go to Alaska in June has just confirmed a trip to Baja Mexico in January. Thank you Sydney Writers? Centre ? you keep proving anything is possible. This time last year I was only dreaming of being a travel writer.

Congratulations Jocelyn! We can?t wait to hear more about your writing successes.
Upcoming courses
Business Writing Essentials

Improve your business writing skills in just one day with this interactive seminar. In Business Writing Essentials you?ll learn the fundamentals of good business writing, including the 11 golden rules you should stick to when writing at work, the right way to write salutations and sign-offs, and how to order information effectively. You?ll also leave with plenty of valuable resources including letter and email templates.

One-day seminar on Friday 5 October 2012
Time: 9.30 am ? 4.30 pm
Cost: $395
Online course: Creative Writing Stage 1

Need some inspiration for your short story, or want to get started on that novel you?ve always dreamed of writing? Our next Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 starts soon. In this course you?ll learn the essential elements of great fiction and how to incorporate them into your story. And you can do the course from wherever you are in the world, whenever it suits you!

Week beginning Monday 8 October 2012 for 5 weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Creative Writing Stage 2

Have you completed our Creative Writing Stage 1 or Writing Books for Children and Young Adults course and want to take your writing to the next level? Our final Creative Writing Stage 2 for 2012 starts soon! In this course, you?ll have a chance to practice what you?ve already learnt and take part in valuable workshopping. You?ll also get practical advice from your presenter and leave with tools and techniques to make your fiction shine.

Five-week course starting Thursday 11 October 2012
Time: 6.30 pm ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

TIP: Principal or principle?
Principal and principle ? they?re often used interchangeably but they shouldn?t be as their meanings are quite different.

Principle, which is always a noun, means an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct. For example:

He has strong moral principles.

It can also mean a fundamental, primary or general truth, or a fundamental doctrine. For example:

Our courses can teach you the principles of good writing.

Principal is an adjective but sometimes acts as a noun as well. It means the first or highest in rank, importance or value; the head of a school or college, or someone who takes a leading part in a play or ballet. For example:

The principal dancer stole the show with her performance.

It can also refer to a sum of money lent or invested. For example:

She was assured that there would be no risk to her principal.

So as you can see, there are a few different uses for just those two spellings. If you?re not sure which one to use, check your dictionary!

Plan ahead ? Thriller Writing
Want to know how to make your thriller an engaging, edge-of-your-seat novel that readers won?t be able to put down? Let best-selling author of The Genesis Flaw and Thirst, LA Larkin, show you how in this five-week course.

You?ll learn the eight ?must haves? of a good thriller, the dos and don?ts of action scenes, how to build pace and suspense in your novel, and much more. This will be your last chance to do the course in 2012 so enrol soon.
Thriller Writing with LA Larkin
Thursday 25 October 2012 (for five weeks)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Writing Bar
We?re a little pre-occupied with travel writing this week (must be the warmer weather), so we asked the wonderful Sue White to share her top three tips for travel writers.

We?re also featuring a guest post from kids? book author, Deborah Abela. As part of her blog tour, she dropped by Writing Bar to share her advice on Writing Ghost Stories for Kids.

The owners of this business have confused their message a bit. ?No obligation free quotes? suggests that quotes will not be obligation free! That?s possibly a quote you?d want to avoid. If they re-wrote the sentence so it reads ?Free quotes, no obligation?, they could avoid the confusion. Or maybe just insert a comma, ?No obligation, free quotes?.
WEBPICK: Famous writers? small writing sheds and off-the-grid huts
They?re small, simple and rustic, but what writer wouldn?t want one? This collection of famous writers? retreats will no doubt inspire a writerly real-estate envy in many of you.

George Bernard Shaw?s shack, dubbed ?London?, is here (so called so his staff weren?t lying when they said he had ?gone to London?), as well as Virginia Woolf?s scenic writing shed. There?s also the rather luxurious cabin of Michael Pollan, which he built himself in the woods behind his home in Connecticut.

How to build your platform as an author (and how I got my book deal)
My new book Power Stories: The 8 stories you MUST tell to build an epic business (Wiley) will be released in a couple of weeks and I?ve had so many questions about how I got my book deal ? and how authors are supposed to promote their own books ? that I wrote it all down (of course)!

If you?re interested, you can check out how to receive these exclusive reports here. To get these free reports you must pre-order by Thursday 27 September 2012.

Other upcoming courses
Online Course: Travel Writing with Sue White
When: Week beginning Monday 1 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle
When: Tuesday 2 October 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00 am ? 5.00 pm
Cost: $450

Seminar: Business Writing Essentials with Tony Spencer-Smith
When: Friday 5 October 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.30 am ? 4.30 pm
Cost: $395

Online Course: Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1 with Sue White/Allison Tait
When: Week beginning Monday 8 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker ? NEW DATE
When: Week beginning Monday 8 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Course: Travel Writing with Sue White
When: Every Monday starting Monday 8 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Build Your Profile on Twitter with Kerri Sackville
When: Tuesday 9 October 2012 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Jeni Mawter
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 10 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Jeni Mawter
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 11 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Writing for the web with Grant Doyle
When: Thursday 11 October 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00 am ? 4.00 pm
Cost: $450

Weekend Course: Travel Memoir with Claire Scobie
When: Saturday 13 October and Sunday 14 October 2012 (2 consecutive days)
Time: 10.00 am ? 4.00 pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Editing Essentials with Deb Doyle
When: Tuesday 16 October 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00 am ? 5.00 pm
Cost: $450

Seminar: From Blog to Book with Kerri Sackville ? NEW DATE
When: Thursday 18 October 2012 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

WEEKEND Course: Food Writing with Carli Ratcliff
When: Saturday 20 October and Sunday 21 October 2012 (2 consecutive days)
Time: 10.00 am ? 4.00 pm
Cost: $395

WEEKEND Course: Write a chick-lit novel with Lisa Heidke
When: Saturday 20 October and Sunday 21 October 2012 (2 consecutive days)
Time: 10.00 am ? 4.00 pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett
When: Tuesday 23 October 2012 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

Course: Thriller Writing with L.A. Larkin
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 25 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Pamela Freeman/Cathie Tasker
When: Week beginning Monday 29 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Online Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge/Nicola Robinson
When: Week beginning Monday 29 October 2012 for five weeks
Time: Whenever suits you
Cost: $395

Course: Writing About Interiors, Style and Design with Nigel Bartlett
When: Tuesday 30 October and 6 November 2012 (2 evening classes)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $175

Seminar: Blogging for Beginners with Kim Berry ? NEW COURSE
When: Wednesday 31 October 2012 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

Course: Screenwriting Stage 1 with Tim Gooding
When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 7 November 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Sue White ? NEW DATE
When: Thursday 8 November 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00 am ? 5.00 pm
Cost: $450

Course: Perfecting Your Pitch with Sue White
When: Wednesday 14 November and 21 November 2012 (2 evening classes)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $175

Daytime course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Kate Forsyth
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 15 November 2012 for five weeks
Time: 10.00 am ? 12.00 noon
Cost: $395

Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 15 November 2012 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $395

Seminar: How to Write a Business Book with Valerie Khoo
When: Friday 16 November 2012 (half-day seminar)
Time: 9.30 am ? 1.00 pm
Cost: $295

Seminar: PR and Media Releases that Get Results with Catriona Pollard ? NEW DATE
When: Wednesday 28 November 2012 (one-day seminar)
Time: 9.00 am ? 5.00 pm
Cost: $495

Seminar: Self-publishing ? How to do it with Geoff Bartlett
When: Wednesday 28 November 2012 (two-hour evening seminar)
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

Seminar: How to create and sell your eBook with Anna Maguire ? NEW COURSE
When: Thursday 13 December 2012
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $85

Dates for 2013
Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller ? NEW DATE
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 17 January 2013 for six weeks
Time: 10.00 am ? 12 noon
Cost: $450

Course: Writing Picture Books with Cathie Tasker ? NEW DATE
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 17 January 2013 for five weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30pm
Cost: $395

Course: Introduction to Novel Writing with Pamela Freeman ? NEW DATE
When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 21 February 2013 for six weeks
Time: 6.30 ? 8.30 pm
Cost: $495

2013 WRITING TOURS
Food Writing in Vietnam with Carli Ratcliff ? NEW TOUR
Arrival: Saturday 6 April 2013
Departure: Saturday 12 April 2013

Writing in Bali with Patti Miller
Arrival: Saturday 3 August 2013
Departure: Saturday 10 August 2013

Writing in Paris with Patti Miller
Arrival: Thursday 24 October 2013
Departure: Saturday 9 November 2013

Sydney Writers? Centre
Suite 3, 55 Lavender Street Milsons Point NSW 2061
www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au

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Source: http://thebrainpan.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/sydney-writers-centre-travel-writing-with-sue-white-many-more-writing-courses/

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Mars rover Curiosity finds signs of ancient stream

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Grieving Pet Owners Want Imported Dog Treats Pulled From Shelves

Rita Desollar

Rita Desollar believes chicken jerky treats imported from China killed her German shepherd, Heidi.

The Food and Drug Administration isn't sure, but Rita Desollar of Pekin, Ill., feels she knows what killed Heidi, her 7-year-old German shepherd. She feels it was the chicken jerky strips she bought at her local Walgreen's.

Desollar says on the Wednesday before Memorial Day, she gave two pieces of Waggin' Train jerky to Heidi as a treat. A few days later, Heidi was throwing up and "in a lot of distress," she says. By the time the holiday rolled around on Monday, Desollar says, Heidi was convulsing in her bed. She died that day, before Desollar could even take her to the vet.

"I didn't know what happened or why," she tells The Salt. "I got on the Internet and I typed into Google 'What killed my dog?' What came up took my breath away."

?

Desollar found dozens of posts on various websites from people who claim their dogs got sick from eating the same types of chicken jerky treats - all of them imported from China. She also discovered that the FDA was conducting an active investigation into these treats, but the agency has not found any direct evidence that the treats are causing a problem, so it has not issued any warnings.

There haven't been warnings because the FDA hasn't officially concluded that there's anything wrong with these imported pet treats. Though it has received more than 2,000 complaints about them in the past five years, the FDA's tests haven't turned up any contaminant or adulterant in the treats that would give it a reason to issue a mandatory recall.

The FDA didn't respond to our inquiries, but an FDA official recently told a conference of veterinarians that concerns about the treats might be overblown.

"Two thousand complaints since 2007 is an incredibly small subset of the 15 million animals estimated to consume these treats," Dr. Tracy DuVernoy, with the FDA's Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network, said last month.

DuVernoy didn't rule out a contamination. But she told the veterinarians that, if there is something wrong with the dog treats, it's something the FDA's scientists haven't been able to pin down. "Since a lot has been ruled out," she said, "it might be a very intricate sort of biological response."

DuVernoy was quoted in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association's web coverage of the conference.

We reached out to the Waggin' Train company, but they haven't responded to us yet. We will update this post if and when they do.

While the FDA waits and conducts more testing, Desollar doesn't want retailers to wait. A few weeks ago, she created an online petition demanding that Walgreen's, Walmart, Kroger and other retailers yank the treats off their shelves. Within less than a month, the petition has garnered more than 60,000 signatures.

We contacted several of the retailers on Desollar's list. They said they're waiting to take action until the FDA comes to an official conclusion about whether the pet treats are safe or not.

But Desollar says, at the very least, the stores should give their customers full information about what's already happened.

"Just tell me it's under FDA investigation," she says. "I'll make the decision."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/28/161914346/grieving-pet-owners-want-imported-dog-treats-pulled-from-shelves?ft=1&f=1007

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Colorado Veteran Receives Mortgage-Free Home from Operation Homefront and Chase

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Operation Homefront and Chase presented the keys for a mortgage-free home to a Colorado Springs, Colo. veteran and his family on Thursday, September 20. U.S. Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Jesse Bowser and his wife Pauline were given the home through the Homes on the Homefront program, a nationwide program that awards mortgage-free homes to wounded warriors, service members, and their families.

(Logo:? http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110623/DC25541LOGO)

At his July 21 concert at Mile High Stadium, Country music superstar Tim McGraw congratulated the Bowsers on being awarded their home. McGraw also partners with Operation Homefront and Chase as part of his Homefront program.

The family had a great time at the concert, and was thrilled to move into the new home on Thursday.

"I grew up in Colorado and I'm excited to move back. This new home is a real blessing for me and my wife and will help us build a foundation for the future," says Bowser.

In addition to the Army National Guard, Bowser also served as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps for 10 years and the U.S. Navy for four years. As a third-generation veteran, Bowser served in many part of the U.S. and overseas including Australia, the Persian Gulf and Iraq. He retired in May of this year and plans to attend the seminary so that he can help other veterans who may be struggling to transition back to civilian life.

The City of Colorado Springs is excited to welcome the family back to Colorado.

"As more of our men and women return home to our city, it is imperative that we all do that is necessary to ensure these heroes and their families get the support they need so they can once again become a part of our community's fabric. To ensure veterans and their families are connected to necessary resources, the City of Colorado Springs is proud to be a part of the Peak Military Care Network (PMCN)," stated Council President Scott Hente.

"We are thrilled that Operation Homefront has helped bring another hero to Colorado Springs," said Council member Merv Bennett.

"The PMCN is an innovative and holistic approach to meeting the diverse needs of our military members, veterans, and their families," explained Kathleen Hatten with the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments. "As another military family now calls Colorado Springs home, we want them and all military families to know that the community of Colorado Springs stands with them, ready to help connect them to educational resources, workforce readiness efforts, and much more."

Operation Homefront's mission is to provide assistance to service members and their families, and is excited to be able to place a family in a city that is willing to help.

"Operation Homefront is thrilled to match the Bowser family with a home in the Colorado Springs," said Jim Knotts, Operation Homefront CEO. "Having lived there as a cadet at the Air Force Academy, I know first hand that Colorado Springs takes great care of their veterans.? What's more, the city recognizes that our military service members are a national asset, and the community is stronger for having them.? Jesse is a great example of a warrior who will continue to serve his country and his community by working with other veterans.? Colorado Springs is lucky to have Jesse and Pauline make their new home there."

Military families can apply for the Homes on the Homefront program by logging on to www.OperationHomefront.net/HomesOnTheHomefront

About Operation Homefront:
A national nonprofit, Operation Homefront leads more than 4,500 volunteers, with nationwide presence, and has met more than 590,000 needs since 2002.? A four-star rated charity by watchdog Charity Navigator, nationally, 94 percent of total revenue donated to Operation Homefront goes directly to assist service members.? More information is available at www.OperationHomefront.net ?

About Chase:
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.3 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. Chase serves more than 50 million consumers and small businesses through more than 5,500 bank branches, 17,500 ATMs, credit cards and mortgage offices, and online and mobile banking as well as through relationships with auto dealerships. More information about Chase is available at www.chase.com.

About Peak Military Care Network (PMCN):
More information on PMCN can be found at http://pikespeak.co.networkofcare.org/veterans/

SOURCE Operation Homefront

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-veteran-receives-mortgage-free-home-operation-homefront-222700098.html

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Is the Plastic in Boxed-Wine Liners BPA-Free?

EVIL SPIRITS?: Boxed wines have many environmental advantages over bottled, but some of the plastic bags inside the boxes contain BPA, a synthetic chemical that has been linked to a range of human health problems. Bota Box, pictured here, and many other box wines come in BPA-free packaging. The simple way to know is to read the labels when you're wine shopping. Image: Flickr/Peter Knocke

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Dear EarthTalk: I am a retailer and have had customers ask whether the plastic bags in wine boxes are BPA free or not. What can I tell them??Chris Tod, via e-mail

The short answer is: ?It depends.? A fairly recent innovation in wine packaging, the so-called Bag-in-Box (BIB) dispenser makes use of a plastic bag with a nozzle surrounded by a corrugated cardboard box. The whole package sits easily on a shelf and usually features a built-in spout for easy pouring and resealing. The main benefit is that each box can hold about four bottles-worth of wine, and the BIB technology prevents oxidation, keeping the wine fresh for up to six weeks after the seal has been broken initially.

Besides costing less to manufacture than glass bottles, the Bag-in-Box apparatus, invented by Scholle packaging a half century ago, weighs significantly less, stacks more efficiently (meaning more wine can go with each container load) and will not shatter if dropped. As such, they are easier to transport, which keeps costs down and reduces the carbon footprint of the entire distribution process. While U.S. wine buyers traditionally have viewed wine in a box as cheap and unsavory, several American and European wineries are working to turn that view around by putting out award-winning vintages by the box. Eco-conscious yet no less discriminating wine consumers are helping to drive the growing demand for boxed wines in the U.S., which currently command about 10 percent of U.S. supermarket wine sales.

But boxed wine may have an environmental dark side: Some of the plastic bags inside the boxes contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic chemical that has been in use for four decades to strengthen plastic food containers and other items but recently has been linked to a range of human health problems. ?A growing amount of scientific research has linked BPA exposure to altered development of the brain and behavioral changes, a predisposition to prostate and breast cancer, reproductive harm, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease,? reports the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

The bags are made out of #7 plastic, a catchall category typically containing mixed types of plastic (?polycarbonate?), combined for various practical reasons. As more and more research comes to light, many environmentalists and public health advocates are warning consumers to avoid storing any food or drinks in containers made out of #7 plastic, as there is likelihood that BPA could be part of the mix.

Most wineries offering boxed wines make it clear if their plastic bags do not contain BPA. For one, Scholle Packaging, inventors of the BIB system and one of the largest wine box manufacturers, uses only BPA-free #7 plastic in their bags. Perini, Campo Largo, Bota Box and many other box wines come in BPA-free packaging. The simple way to know is to read the labels when you?re wine shopping.

Also, don?t think that by avoiding boxed wine you are necessarily avoiding BPA. Researchers have found that the plastic stoppers so many of us use to cap an unfinished bottle, not to mention the lining of concrete vats used to store wine at many wineries, contain and can leach BPA into your glass. That?s not to say that all wine contains BPA; quite the contrary, in fact, as most bottled wine still never comes into contact with plastic and as such does not carry any BPA-stigma. Regardless, the more you know, the safer you can be?so that the worst thing you get from your wine is a hangover.

CONTACTS: Scholle, www.scholle.com; NRDC, www.nrdc.org; Bota Box, www.botabox.com.

EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d8de4653f95cd035ebbf7d065631c982

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Ready for your close-up? Distance at which facial photos are taken influences perception, study shows

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." For people in certain professions -- acting, modeling, and even politics -- this phrase rings particularly true. Previous studies have examined how our social judgments of pictures of people are influenced by factors such as whether the person is smiling or frowning, but until now one factor has never been investigated: the distance between the photographer and the subject. According to a new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), this turns out to make a difference -- close-up photo subjects, the study found, are judged to look less trustworthy, less competent, and less attractive.

The new finding is described in this week's issue of the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Pietro Perona, the Allen E. Puckett Professor of Electrical Engineering at Caltech, came up with the initial idea for the study. Perona, an art history enthusiast, suspected that Renaissance portrait paintings often featured subtle geometric warping of faces to make the viewer feel closer or more distant to a subject. Perona wondered if the same sort of warping might affect photographic portraits -- with a similar effect on their viewers -- so he collaborated with Ralph Adolphs, Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology, and CNS graduate student Ronnie Bryan (PhD '12) to gather opinions on 36 photographs representing two different images of 18 individuals. One of each pair of images was taken at close range and the second at a distance of about seven feet.

"It turns out that faces photographed quite close-up are geometrically warped, compared to photos taken at a larger distance," explains Bryan. "Of course, the close picture would also normally be larger, higher resolution and have different lighting -- but we controlled for all of that in our study. What you're left with is a warping effect that is so subtle that nobody in our study actually noticed it. Nonetheless, it's a perceptual clue that influenced their judgments."

That subtle distance warping, however, had a big effect: close-up photos made people look less trustworthy, according to study participants. The close-up photo subjects were also judged to look less attractive and competent.

"This was a surprising, and surprisingly reliable, effect," says Adolphs. "We went through a bunch of experiments, some testing people in the lab, and some even over the Internet; we asked participants to rate trustworthiness of faces, and in some experiments we asked them to invest real money in unfamiliar people whose faces they saw as a direct measure of how much they trusted them."

Across all of the studies, the researchers saw the same effect, Adolphs says: in photos taken from a distance of around two feet, a person looked untrustworthy, compared to photos taken seven feet away. These two distances were chosen by the researchers because one is within, and the other outside of, personal space -- which on average is about three to four feet from the body.

In some of the studies, the researchers digitally warped images of faces taken at a distance to artificially manipulate how trustworthy they would appear. "Once you know the relation between the distance warp and the trustworthiness judgment, you could manipulate photos of faces and change the perceived trustworthiness,'' notes Perona.

He says that the group is now planning to build on these findings, using machine-vision techniques -- technologies that can automatically analyze data in images. For example, one application would be for a computer program to have the ability to evaluate any face image in a magazine or on the Internet and to estimate the distance at which the photo was taken.

"The work might also allow us to estimate the perceived trustworthiness of a particular face image," says Perona. "You could imagine that many people would be interested in such applications -- particularly in the political arena."

The study, "Perspective Distortion from Interpersonal Distance Is an Implicit Visual Cue for Social Judgments of Faces," was funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by California Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Katie Neith.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Ronnie Bryan, Pietro Perona, Ralph Adolphs. Perspective Distortion from Interpersonal Distance Is an Implicit Visual Cue for Social Judgments of Faces. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (9): e45301 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045301

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/1sy62PxYMKc/120926153030.htm

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Weight Loss For Children : Help Me Lose Weight. | How Can You ...

?

Weight Loss has become mainstream media over the past 20 years, if not longer. Everyone wants to know How To lose weight fast, keep the weight off, and the easiest ways to stay fit. Everyone wants to jump on the ?next big thing? and hope that there train will come rolling in. The sad truth is that most of these people fail to lose weight. If they do, they can?t keep it off for very long.

Why is that? Well, for starters, weight loss isn?t a temporary solution. Since being chronically overweight or obese is a long term problem, weight loss needs to be viewed as a long term solution.

Did you or your child put on an extra ten pounds at one meal? What about one Christmas dinner? (well, that one might be possible, but hopefully not likely).

If you or your child didn?t gain all the weight in one sitting, what makes you think you can lose it all that fast? Common sense dictates that problems created over a period of time need to be solved over a similar period of time. Do you see now why we are targeting childhood obesity? We want to minimize the amount of time people are overweight and at risk for various health issues related to obesity. So if your child has only been overweight for a year or so, we can help to bring them back to the healthy weight in the same period of time, or much shorter depending on your efforts and determination.

If on the other hand an adult has been overweight for 15 years, then their weight loss process will take considerably longer.

The reason? Well, simply put, they have spent the past 15 years developing bad habits that now need to be broken and ideas about food that need to be reversed. Are we saying it will take just as long to lose the weight as it did to put it on?

Absolutely Not! However, it will take longer if you or your child has been overweight for a longer period of time. A good rule of thumb to get back into acceptable shape is one-two months of healthy living for every year of unhealthy living. So, if your child has been overweight for just a year, it will take only two months to get them back down to the proper weight and size. That is, of course, assuming that all the proper steps are followed.

There are three main steps that need to be adhered to in order to get to a healthy weight and stay there.

The three P?s are:

- Patience

- Planning and

- Persistence

Patience: This isn?t a race. You aren?t competing against the neighbor?s kids to get your kid in fighting shape by the next wrestling match. Instead, you need to focus on pacing yourself and your child so that the goal of weight loss can be achieved. You want your child to understand the value of patience in everything, and you need to understand that by being patient you are more likely to withstand the downturns when they come and bounce back.

Planning: Just throwing caution to the wind and picking up food at a whim is what got your child where he is today. Planning will take all of the guess work out of what you need to stock in the house so that the weight loss will be automatic. I gained 20 pounds after getting out of the Navy, and I felt gross. When you leave a regimented lifestyle and just pick out whatever sounds appetizing for the moment, you lose. No one can win without a plan. You?ve heard the term ?Failing to plan is like planning to fail? right? Well it?s no different here. You absolutely need to plan how to go about losing weight (you and your kids). We are here to help.

Persistence: Persistence is needed in order to see the plan through to completion. Without persistence you are going to fail. Nothing in life comes easy, whether you would like to think so or not. This is especially true in weight loss. Even Kirstie Alley wasn?t able to lose all of her love handles in one try, nor was it immediate. She implemented the three P?s and lost weight (at least the first time).

Health Issues And Tips Designed as Educational Information, to helpsolve health Issues, with Tips on exercise,Weight Loss, Addictions, SleepDis-orders, Depression and much more.

Short term goals The best way to feel as though you are making progress in any endeavor is to make short term goals.

How short? Well, that depends on you. Do you forget what you had planned for the day by lunch time? In that case, make daily and weekly goals. You can also set biweekly, monthly, and yearly goals.

An example of how to make a weekly goal would be:

- Instead of trying to get your child down three sizes in the next month, focus on how to get them eating fewer calories in the next week.

- Don?t go out for fast food or pizza this week

- Make lunches for your child for every day of the week

- Make a weekly dinner meal plan that you can actually implement

- Go for a 30 minute walk every evening after dinner

For monthly goals, try these out:

- Only go out for dinner four times this month (that includes fast food, pizza, and dine in type restaurants)

- Take part in an outdoor activity as a family every weekend

- Turn a nightly walk into a run once a week for the next month

- Read one book on weight loss and fitness

- Join a new group activity that you haven?t done before and attend the classes for one straight month (this can be the YMCA, a yoga class, dance class, martial arts, etc. Make it tailored to your child?s likes and dislikes)

Goals need to be specific and attainable. You don?t want your goal to be ?Lose two inches this month.? You can have that thought, or even overall long term goal, but you need to have short term goals that drive you towards that end. If your short term goal is too broad, you won?t be able to focus on smaller things that get you there. Your short term goals need to be small, focused, and attainable. Don?t make them easy goals, push the envelope a little, but don?t make them unattainable either.

For instance, don?t make a goal of losing ten pounds this week. Instead, make a goal of reducing your caloric intake by 100 calories daily. This will aid in losing those ten pounds down the road, but it won?t happen over night.

Remember: - Patience - Planning and - Persistence

Keeping these 3 P?s in mind, you will get where you want to be, and so will your Children!

Achieve Your Maximum health Potential Website & Blog site provides new and exciting techniques to aid world health enhancement. Offering articles, videos and alternative products to help people obtain their optimum health & fitness. Covering topics such as good health care, wellness, alternative exercising, yoga, skin care, body care, vitamins, anti-aging, weight loss & fitness.

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Source: http://howcanyouloseweighttoday.com/2012/09/25/weight-loss-for-children-help-me-lose-weight/

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Ryan: Obama's Policies 'Blowing Up In Our Faces'

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took the Romney-Ryan campaign to Ft. Collins, Colo. for a town hall meeting today, where he said President Obama has a made "a string of broken promises" on the economy and foreign policy.

Asked whether Mitt Romney will be more aggressive during the presidential debates with President Obama than John McCain was four years ago, Ryan said there is a difference between 2008 and 2012: Obama's record.

"This is a president, a man who campaigned with all this glorious rhetoric, all this hope and change, promising all these grand things, and he's failed to deliver on all these big promises," said Ryan.

"President Obama cannot run on his record. We will point that out, but you know what he's gonna try to do? He's trying to divide this country, put people against each other, distract this country to try and win an election by default, and we're not gonna let him get away with that," he said. "Plus, we owe you alternatives. We are not simply asking you to fire Barack Obama because he's not worth rehiring. We are asking you to fire Barack Obama because we are worth hiring because we have better ideas, because we have solutions that fix the problems in our country, and we're not gonna duck these tough issues."

Ryan highlighted Obama's remark that Washington could not be changed from the inside.

"The economy is barely growing, and President Obama has no idea how to get it growing again. He has no idea," Ryan said. "If this president can't change Washington, I say it's time to change presidents and elect Mitt Romney the next president of the United States."

When asked why the federal government provides foreign aid to "countries that hate us," Ryan said, "This is one area where we have to cut spending."

He then turned to international issues, telling his audience the president's foreign policy "is blowing up in our faces."

"Look around the world," Ryan said. "It looks like Tehran in 1979, but in about a dozen capitals around the world. They are burning our flags at our embassies. They're climbing our walls at our embassies. They're taking down our flags and putting up the flags of the Muslim Brotherhood. They just killed four of our diplomats in Benghazi, and Iran is that much closer toward a nuclear weapon."

Ryan said when the government "is not clear and forceful" on speaking out for American values it projects weakness.

"It sends one message and one message alone: Weakness. We are projecting weakness abroad, and Mitt Romney will not do that," he said. "We believe in speaking out for our values, we believe in a strong national defense, and we believe in peace through strength, because that keeps us more peaceful. And that means watching how we spend that money, too."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ryan-obamas-policies-blowing-faces-204647179--abc-news-politics.html

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Cassidian and Astrium Services enhance Tetrapol through Satellite ...

• Possibility to interconnect regional Tetrapol networks over satellite
• Live demonstration took place in a small Brazilian city situated on the Amazon, to simulate the harsh environmental conditions
• Showcase exhibiting simultaneous voice, video and internet transmissions to separate handheld devices

Cassidian and Astrium Services have rendered Tetrapol a new dimension by creating a possibility to interconnect regional networks over satellite. A live demonstration recently took place in Brazil with the purpose to showcase an end-to-end communication?s solution for border surveillance and to demonstrate what features can be added to a Tetrapol network when interconnected via satellite.

Secure radio communication via Tetrapol networks from Cassidian are already in use by the Brazilian federal police department, Departamento de Pol?cia Federal. Nine regional Tetrapol IP networks ensure reliable coverage from the country's Atlantic coast to the Brazilian borders with Peru, Venezuela, Argentina and seven other countries. Tetrapol regional networks are usually interconnected using terrestrial connections. In remote areas like the Amazon Forest where terrestrial telecommunication?s infrastructure is poor or nonexistent, the Astrium Services? SKYWAN technology can now enable the interconnection of several networks over satellite with DAMA technology to share bandwidth between all the nodes. Thanks to the scalability of the Tetrapol solution, a wide set of Tetrapol services can be offered with a tactical temporary or permanent regional coverage. The satellite link also provides Internet access, video and other applications in parallel to the Tetrapol voice communication to remote locations, rendering the data transmission capabilities next to endless.

Oriximin?, where the demonstration took place, is a small city situated on the Amazon in the North of Brazil, is best reached by a four hour boat trip from the city of Santar?m. Its remote location was chosen to simulate the harsh environmental conditions that border surveillance groups face on a daily basis. Attending the demonstration were representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as well as several federal agencies involved in border surveillance. Astrium Services and our partner Cassidian presented a powerful showcase exhibiting simultaneous voice, video and internet transmissions to separate handheld devices, all while maintaining perfect network stability and excellent voice quality.

Captain Alb?rcio from the Brazilian National Force says: "We have been seeking a solution like this for over four years. The National Force is required to operate faultlessly also in remote areas throughout Brazil, like the Amazon Forest and on the outmost points of the Brazilian Border. This all-in-one solution provided by Astrium Services and Cassidian combines satellite communications with digital radio trunk in such a way that the troops will have mission-critical digital radio and Internet access in the midst of the jungle and can stay connected with our headquarters in Bras?lia. Beyond that we have the possibility to connect with the radio backbone of the Federal Police which will allow us to have access to information from all Brazilian States. For sure it will increase the safety and the effectiveness of our operations. "

Through its ND SatCom product range, Astrium Services is a leading global supplier of satellite-based broadband VSAT, broadcast, government and defence communication networks and ground station solutions. Its innovative technologies are deployed in broadcast and media, enterprise and telecom environments, as well as government and defence, worldwide. The ND SatCom team and technologies hold more than 30 years of experience in providing a reliable source of secure, comprehensive and tailored engineered solutions, satellite networks and systems.

Tetrapol is an open, digital, purpose-built professional mobile radio (PMR) technology designed for professional users in public safety, the military or utility and transport industries. Professionals around the world rely on Tetrapol to provide secure, reliable voice and data communications. With 85 networks in more than 30 countries, more than 1,850,000 users are covered by Tetrapol.

Source : European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. (Paris: EAD.PA)

Published on ASDNews: Sep 25, 2012
?

Source: http://www.asdnews.com/news-45149/Cassidian_and_Astrium_Services_enhance_Tetrapol_through_Satellite_Communications.htm

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Exclusive: L.A. billionaire, Guggenheim plot AEG bid

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Los Angeles billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has joined forces with financial services firm Guggenheim Partners to make a bid for Anschutz Entertainment Group, the sports and real estate company, according to three sources with knowledge of the deal.

Soon-Shiong, whose fortune is estimated at more than $7.2 billion, is also expected to bring in additional partners to join the group, the sources said. Guggenheim recently led a local group in the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club.

AEG's assets include the Los Angeles Kings professional hockey team, the Staples Center in Los Angeles and more than 120 sports or entertainment venues around the world.

Founded by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, AEG is close to breaking ground on a $1.2 billion football stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The project is awaiting a commitment from a National Football League team to relocate to the facility.

Soon-Shiong, an avid sports fan who owns a small piece of the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers, is particularly interested in bringing a professional football team to Los Angeles, and aims to buy a team or encourage one to move so it can play in the new stadium, said one source.

None of the sources were authorized to speak publicly because the talks are private.

AEG, which is operated by its president, Tim Leiweke, said on September 18 that it was exploring a sale of the company and had retained Blackstone Advisory Partners. Blackstone is assembling a list of potential buyers and is expected to provide interested ones with financial information in the next few weeks, a person close to the bidding told Reuters last week.

Leiweke is expected to answer questions on Monday in front of a city council committee about his company's impending sale and its impact on the plan to build the NFL stadium.

A spokesman for Soon-Shiong and a spokeswoman for Guggenheim had no comment. AEG's spokesman also declined to comment.

L.A.'S WEALTHIEST MAN

Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and onetime professor at UCLA's Medical School, created and sold two pharmaceutical companies for a combined $8.6 billion. He is believed to be the wealthiest person in Los Angeles, according to Forbes magazine.

This spring, Soon-Shiong and hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen were among the unsuccessful bidders for the Dodgers.

Soon-Shiong is also a 5 percent owner of the NBA's Lakers, which required him to win approval of the league. The AEG buyer will need NBA approval as well because AEG also owns a small stake in the Lakers.

Soon-Shiong intends to put together a broad group of local investors, similarly to how Guggenheim assembled its $2 billion purchase of the Dodgers in May, said one of the people familiar with his plans. That investor group included basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Soon-Shiong attended the New York Giants-Carolina Panthers NFL game last week as a guest of Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. The Panthers owner is the former chairman of the NFL's stadium committee.

In a statement to the Times earlier in the week, a representative of Soon-Shiong wrote: "Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is keenly aware that AEG is in play. We have the utmost respect for Phil and Tim and what they have accomplished in entertainment and sports and in revitalizing the downtown community."

"We clearly are interested in furthering this legacy for Los Angeles," the statement added.

AEG owns entertainment venues in 17 of the top 50 U.S. markets, according to its website. It owns the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer team, possibly best-known for star David Beckham, and AEG Live, which promotes concerts and other live events.

Guggenheim has more than $160 billion in global assets under management, according to its website.

Soon-Shiong, 60, has been increasingly active in civic causes. Born in South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents, he has made large donations to two Los Angeles-area hospitals, including one to reopen the problem-plagued Martin Luther King Jr. hospital in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods. His family foundation has pledged $1 billion to create a national healthcare information highway.

Last year, he founded NantWorks, a venture that aims to use ultra-low power semiconductor technology and super-computing to improve education, healthcare and other social services.

(Reporting by Ronald Grover in Los Angeles and Nadia Damouni in New York editing by Jonathan Weber, Andrew Hay and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-l-billionaire-guggenheim-plot-aeg-bid-185349254--sector.html

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Syrian warplanes bomb Aleppo, kill 3 children

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian warplanes bombed two buildings on Monday in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least five people including three children from the same family, activists said.

The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could very well rise with more people feared to be buried under the rubble of the two destroyed buildings.

Aleppo-based activist said Mohammed Saeed said the raid came before dawn. He added that the aim behind such strikes on residential areas is to "terrify the people and try to turn them against the Free Syrian Army rebel group.

"The regime wants people to say that had the Free Syrian Army not entered the city, the regime wouldn't have bombed us," Saeed said.

The fight for Aleppo, a city of 3 million that was once a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad, began in late July and is critical for both the regime and the opposition. If it falls to the opposition, it would be a major strategic victory in the civil war, giving fighters a stronghold in the north near the Turkish border. A rebel defeat, at the very least, would buy Assad more time.

Activists say nearly 30,000 people have already died in the uprising against Assad's rule that began 18 months ago, inspired by the other revolts around the Arab world against authoritarian rulers.

The Observatory the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the airstrikes on the southern neighborhood of Maadi destroyed the targeted buildings. An amateur video showed people digging through a pile of rubble in search of survivors.

Fighting and shelling have been a daily occurrence in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and commercial capital, since late July when rebels attacked it and took over several neighborhoods. Repeated attacks by government troops to regain control of the areas have so far been unsuccessful.

The battle for Aleppo has marked the first time that the regime has used helicopters and warplanes regularly to strike from the air, bringing an even heavier toll of civilian casualties than before when military forces relied heavily on often indiscriminate artillery and tank shelling.

The Observatory said five people were killed in the latest airstrikes while the LCC said eight died. The LCC said the dead included three children from the same family. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said the death toll could rise with more people feared buried under the rubble.

The Observatory and the LCC reported violence elsewhere in the country including attacks by government troops backed by helicopter gunships on the southern town of Sheikh Miskeen in Daraa province.

The Observatory said rebels and troops were fighting near the military air base of Tabaqah in the northern province of Raqqa. Last week, rebels captured a major border crossing with Turkey in Raqqa.

The latest attacks came as the U.N.'s top human rights body prepared to vote on a resolution next week that would condemn abuses in Syria, call for perpetrators to be held accountable and extend the mission of a U.N. expert panel which has been collecting evidence of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The draft resolution was submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday by Arab countries including Morocco, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Kuwait. It is likely to receive a majority in the 47-nation council when it goes to a vote at the end of next week.

The Geneva-based council received a report earlier this month from the Commission of Inquiry it appointed to investigate abuses in Syria. The panel reported that an increasing number of 'foreign elements,' including Islamic militants, are now operating in Syria. The panel also submitted a confidential list of Syrian officials who it said could be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

___

Associated Press writer Frank Jordans contributed to this report from Berlin.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-warplanes-bomb-aleppo-kill-3-children-115911243.html

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Intel confirms next-gen, dual-core Medfield + LTE plans

The current crop of "Medfield"-based Intel Atom chips for smartphones has  one major disadvantage compared to much of the ARM-based competition -- it doesn't support 4G LTE connectivity. Regent Intel-based phones like the Motorola RAZR i and Orange San Diego are 3G/HSPA-only, single-core devices. Though these chips boast Intel's Hyperthreading technology for improved multitasking, the chip giant is keen to move into true multi-core territory, while implementing 4G LTE support, allowing it to move into the U.S. market.

Speaking with TechCrunch, Intel's Director of Product Marketing Sumeet Syal said the company was readying LTE products "later this year and ramping into 2013." In the U.S. market in particular, Motorola would be the manufacturer to watch for future LTE-connected Intel-powered phones. Moto has partnered with Intel to develop multiple devices over the next few years, and it's already started with the RAZR i in Europe.

In addition, it should come as no surprise to see Intel readying dual-core Medfield chips to take on higher-end ARM offerings. Syal told TechCrunch "Our next gen product will be a dual-core but again that product will also have hyper threading so essentially… you will also have dual-core with four threads."

It's just the beginning for Intel on Android, and we expect there'll be more to see starting early next year at CES.

Source: TechCrunch

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/_ww2hR60YIM/story01.htm

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Fort Campbell Suicide Prevention Efforts Target a Killer ? Clarksville ...

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Fort Campbell, KY ? While suicide has long been believed to be a silent killer, the command at Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division believe the warning signs often sound the loudest alarms. Knowing those warning signs can mean the difference between life and death.

?We would like our soldiers to look at brain injuries and illnesses much in the same way they look at physical injuries and illnesses,? said Maj. Gen. James C. McConville, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell. ?Prevention and early intervention are the secrets to success. Our Soldiers don?t have problems going to see a doctor when they are physically injured or ill, yet they are sometimes reluctant to do so with behavioral health issues. Knowing this, we are putting embedded behavioral health teams at the brigade level to provide this service at the point of need and make it more convenient to get.?

The Department of the Army has designated September as Army Suicide Prevention Month. Communicating with others is the first step toward preventing suicide. Reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness ? it is a sign of strength.

As part of the U.S. Army?s Suicide Prevention Month, Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division will host several events throughout the week to educate, train and prepare soldiers, families and civilians on spotting the warning signs of suicide. Community members will also receive briefings on how to live healthier by making better decisions on how to handle the stressors that come with Army life. The week culminates with a Suicide Stand Up Day, September 27th-28th, with training seminars led within soldiers? units. A wellness walk, September 29th, beginning at 9:00am at the Sportsman?s Lodge, will provide a healthy, family-friendly way to deal with any lingering frustrations or stress in the tradition of a German Volksmarch.

During the Suicide Stand Up Day, soldiers will participate in ASIST, or Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, a program aimed at educating community members on how to spot warning signs of risky behavior and how to effectively intervene, as well as group discussions with their unit leaders, and training facilitated by master resilience trainers. Units will also lead esprit de corps events for additional team building and to balance out the weight of the issues discussed.

Soldiers are not the only ones in training on how to handle stress and prevent suicide. In addition to suicide prevention training traditionally offered, families and Department of the Army civilians also received the ASIST training and are encouraged to participate in the Wellness Walk September 29th. Family members have also started to receive resilience training that follows the model of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, balancing the mind, body, spirit, and emotions. Some units have even taken to combining soldiers and their spouses for couples? resilience training classes.

?Resilience training helps to empower the soldiers and family members at Fort Campbell. Resilience is not just about coping with the ups and downs of a deployment, but helps to teach skills that are useful in our daily lives,? said Jennifer Sztalkoper, one of the spouse master resilience trainers for the 4th Brigade Combat Team. ?For example, getting stuck at the gate, when a person is late for formation or a family readiness group meeting, may bring on feelings of anger or anxiety and panic. Resilience training gives soldiers and family members the tools that they can pull on when such a situation arises so they do not start screaming at the gate guard or ruin the rest of their day.?

For Sztalkoper, who is also a military spouse, the issue of suicide was not introduced to her by life with the Army.

?As a child of a parent who committed suicide, I only wish that my mother had knowledge of such resiliency skills such as ?Hunt the Good Stuff,? A-T-C (the relationship between an event, our thoughts, and consequences), and put it in perspective,? she said. ?I can only speculate on whether these skills could have been helpful in giving her a new perspective on her life and how to deal with the challenging moments.?

Soldiers need support from their leaders, battle buddies and families, a group McConville calls the ?Golden Triangle.? With that in mind, Fort Campbell and 101st Airborne Division leadership has taken a holistic approach to preventing suicide within the ranks, by including families, Department of the Army civilians and outside organizations such as the USO Fort Campbell in the efforts.

?We didn?t want education to simply stop with the soldiers and families,? said JoJo Huber, health promotion officer for the community health promotion council. ?Through programs offered by Army Community Services within the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, we knew we could reach spouses and family members and teach them the warning signs and how to deal with their own stress as well. Reaching out to organizations on post like USO Fort Campbell seemed like a natural next step because we need our community to support our efforts as well.?

USO Fort Campbell came through with a new program offered in October for military couples. The Oxygen for Your Relationship seminar has been featured at military installations across the nation as part of the USO?s Warrior and Family Care mission.

?At USO Fort Campbell, we are continually exploring new ways to support our community. We?re excited to bring the Oxygen for Your Relationship train-the-trainer and seminar to Fort Campbell as part of our mission to lift the spirits of America?s Troops and Families,? said Kari Brown, director of USO Fort Campbell. ?The seminar includes a relationship assessment, the intensive training session, and an ongoing support network. This support network is a particularly important component, as it includes access to a virtual resource center that includes training videos, articles, and live-streaming videos of experts so couples can continue strengthening their relationship after they leave the seminar.?

The USO Fort Campbell will begin offering the seminars to military couples in the Fort Campbell community starting this fall.

One of the more traditional aspects of suicide prevention is the medical community?s involvement, and ensuring prompt access to quality health care is an essential component to the Fort Campbell community?s approach to suicide prevention. Recently, embedded behavioral health teams, a mixture of active duty and civilian personnel, were implemented at the 1st and 4th Brigade Combat Team footprints, and offer services within close proximity of soldiers.

?Placing embedded behavioral health assets in the brigade footprint creates ease of access for junior enlisted soldiers who may not have their own transportation, and it also demystifies the image of a mental health clinic by simply being there,? said Capt. Ashley Chatigny, 4th Brigade Combat Team clinical director for embedded behavioral health. ?The added bonus for commanders is that they now have a relationship with these professionals who can help them deal with concerns about their soldiers or personnel.?

Making behavioral health care convenient is critical, Chatigny said, and that is why the medical community at Fort Campbell and within the 101st Airborne Division has decided to embed health professionals so close to where soldiers spend so much time.

?We are working to fill positions so that all the brigade combat teams can stand up embedded behavioral health teams in the near future,? she said.

Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians and family members deserve healthy, supportive environments and the Fort Campbell and 101st Airborne Division community is committed to raising awareness of the tools and resources available to prevent suicide and increase resiliency.

Fort Campbell and 101st Airborne Division soldiers save lives every day in combat. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, this community can save lives too.

For more information on health promotion resources available at Fort Campbell and to download a copy of the September 2012 Fort Campbell Community Resource Guide, please visit the Fort Campbell Community Resource Guide webpage.

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Topics

101st Airborne Division, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Air Assault, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Army Suicide Prevention Month, Ashley Chatigny, ASIST, Department of the Army, Fort Campbell KY, German Volksmarch, James C. McConville, Jennifer Sztalkoper, Kari Brown, Oxygen for Your Relationship, Resiliency Training, Soldiers, Sportsman's Lodge, Suicide, Suicide Stand Up Day, U.S. Army, USO Fort Campbell, Wellness Walk

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Source: http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2012/09/24/fort-campbell-suicide-prevention-efforts-target-a-killer/

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