Microsoft, Nokia roll out big software update for the Lumia 920, 820 on AT&T

2:07 PM

AT&T (T) customers who own the Nokia (NOK) Lumia 920 or the Lumia 820 are getting an early Christmas present this week. Nokia and Microsoft (MSFT) on Wednesday started rolling out a significant over-the-air update to both Lumia models on the AT&T network that will boost Bluetooth reliability and connectivity, add enhancements to Nokia Messaging, improve start-up performance and enhance the devices? battery management. Nokia says that this update is only available to customers of AT&T and Canadian wireless carrier Rogers so far, but adds that it is ?working with our operator partners in all regions to ensure the highest quality experience in every market? and that it is ?working closely with Microsoft? to deliver these updates to other markets in early February 2013.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBoyGeniusReport/~3/zYI94OW4K_g/

the bachelor good morning america red meat bachelor ben jon hamm kim kardashian law school rankings jon hamm

Analysis: High stakes for Cuba in Chavez's cancer battle

By Marc Frank

HAVANA | Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:19am EST

HAVANA (Reuters) - As Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recovers in Havana from his fourth cancer operation, Cubans face renewed worries about their economic future if the country's top ally dies or has to step down from office.

Cuba has staked its economic well-being on the success - and generosity - of Chavez's self-declared socialist revolution, much as it did with another former benefactor: the Soviet Union.

Cubans vividly remember the great depression of the 1990s that followed the demise of the Soviet Union, and they worry about the communist-run island plunging into similar economic hardship if Chavez loses his struggle with cancer.

In the 1990s, they suffered through severe shortages of food, consumer goods and oil. Prolonged electricity blackouts made daily life miserable in what the government called the "special period".

"I remember those days. No lights, no transportation, no food. Nothing of nothing. It drove you crazy and it can't happen again," said Havana handyman Domingo Garcia.

Recalled Marlen Perez, an operator at the state telephone monopoly: "I had to ride a bicycle to work and I'm too old for that now."

The gravity of Chavez's condition became clear when, before returning to Cuba to be operated on last week, he named his vice president and foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, as his preferred successor if he cannot continue in office.

Between bouts of cancer, Chavez won a new, six-year term in October, but if he has to step down in the first four years of his new mandate, a new election must be held within 30 days.

In politically polarized Venezuela, where Chavez's opponents do not hide their disdain for Cuba, their victory at the polls would have huge consequences for the heavily indebted island which relies on lucrative barter contracts with Venezuela, such as exchanging thousands of medical personnel for oil.

One economist warned that if a loss of Venezuela's support were to destabilize the Cuban economy and cause a new round of serious shortages, there could be bouts of social unrest.

"Take away the preferential terms for our oil and the billions of dollars for our services and there is no doubt we would be in very serious trouble," he said, requesting anonymity due to a ban on speaking with journalists. "I doubt many people would put up with another crisis, even if it was only half as bad as the last. There would be serious unrest."

HELPING LATIN NATIONS

Chavez's government offers economic help to allies around Latin America, but Cuba is the biggest beneficiary, receiving 60 percent of its energy needs on preferential terms.

Ahead of Chavez's re-election, opposition candidate Henrique Capriles made clear that the distribution of oil to Cuba and other countries at reduced prices or in barter deals would end if he won the presidency.

Capriles, who won 45 percent of the vote in the October election, would likely be the opposition candidate again if Chavez died or had to step down.

While a change of government in Venezuela would clearly be bad for Cuba, Capriles would be unlikely to cut off all ties.

"It is potentially a serious blow, but it is unlikely that the entire relationship with Venezuela would end because the opposition has said it would continue to pay for Cuban medical personnel," Phil Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said.

"Even a steep drop in revenues from Venezuela would not be as severe as the loss of the Soviet bloc support. Cuba is on a better international footing today," he said.

Soon after Chavez won his first election in 1998, Fidel Castro anointed the young and vitriolic firebrand as his revolutionary successor in Latin America.

The two men became close friends and as leader of oil-rich Venezuela, Chavez proved to be a crucial ally for Cuba, which has faced a U.S. embargo for half a century. Today, the worst horrors of the "special period" are just painful memories.

President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother in 2008, has strengthened relations with Venezuela even as he forged closer ties with other oil-producing nations such as Brazil, Angola, Algeria and Russia.

ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE

Cuba and Venezuela have formed more than 30 joint ventures over the years, most of them based in Venezuela.

They range from a fishing fleet, to port and rail repair, to hotels, agriculture, nickel and steel production and just about all of Cuba's downstream oil industry.

In 2011, Venezuela accounted for $8.3 billion of Cuba's $20 billion in foreign trade. It pays Cuba an estimated $6 billion or more annually for the services of 40,000 doctors, nurses and other professionals, local economists say. That is around 60 percent of the foreign exchange Cuba earned from services.

Venezuelan banks provide soft credits for dozens of development projects across the island.

"Venezuela's support for Cuba reduces the risk of investing in and trading with the country," a foreign banker said, asking his name not be used. "They lose that and things might dry up."

Most Cuban economists point out that the economy has become more diversified over the last 20 years with the development of tourism, pharmaceuticals and increased oil and nickel production. But they say it remains far too dependent on Venezuela for comfort.

Many Cubans expect that if Chavez fades Maduro will win the election, thereby ensuring the continuity of Venezuela's support - but the mere possibility of a major change is nerve-wracking.

"If we return to a situation similar to the fall of the Soviet Union, it would be horrible," said Garcia, the handyman.

Raul Castro, since taking over for his brother, has initiated an overhaul of Cuba's state-dominated economy and has loosened various regulations on daily life, allowing people to buy and sell property, own mobile phones and travel.

Venezuela's economic largesse has helped cushion the economic pain of moving away from a bankrupt paternalistic system to a less centralized and more market-oriented model.

No matter what happens now, most experts agree that as the man Cubans pinned their hopes on falters, the pace of reform and Cuba's opening to foreign investment will have to pick up.

"The old model started to decay with the expanding role of Raul Castro and pragmatist reformers," said Mauricio Font, director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies in New York.

"Other things being equal, a substantial loss of Venezuelan support would thus make clearer to Cubans the urgency of structural change."

(Editing by David Adams, Kieran Murray and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/18/us-cuba-venezuela-idUSBRE8BH0K120121218?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

southland sopa blackout protect ip act jim caldwell internet blackout jessica capshaw seattle times

NYT Discovers Energy Revolution

Is the New York Times?finally catching on to America?s energy revolution??In a?recent op-ed, NYT?columnist Roger Cohen let his?readers in on the good news that America is set to become an energy exporter by the end of the decade, reshaping geopolitics and boosting the American economy. With a roaring energy boom and better demographics than other developed countries, America may not be in decline after all:

[America's shift to exporter status] is just eight years away. . . . According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States?imports around 8 million barrels of crude oil a day, so the predicted turnabout is dramatic. With those imports, notably those from the Middle East, go forms of political dependency and expediency that have long exacted a price on the United States.

Several developments lie behind this looming geostrategic shift. The first is the advent of shale oil and natural gas production made possible by new technologies. The second is the increase in oil production from deep water offshore operations. Between them, by somewhere between 2020 and 2030, these new sources are expected almost to double U.S. domestic oil production, currently running at between six and seven million barrels a day.

The energy revolution will also improve our standing?relative to?our chief rival:

In the Middle East, the equation switches when China becomes more dependent on a steady oil supply and more concerned on an economic basis about the region than the United States.

Right now, as Jaffe noted, China can operate in the knowledge that Middle Eastern instability costs the United States above all. If the Iran problem festers, for example, so be it. But facing a United States that is energy independent, as its own energy needs and costs rise, Beijing may well be prodded into a different strategic assessment.

Bullish on America op-eds in the NY Times? No, it?s not a sign of the apocalypse, but of the gradual realization that the energy revolution is real and that good things are headed our way.

Analyzing the consequences of America?s new energy abundance is going to become a major industry in the foreign policy world. We?re glad Via Meadia?readers got there first.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WalterRussellMead/~3/_saBVZduEbE/

mark zuckerberg mark zuckerberg maurice jones drew Yash Chopra George McGovern braxton miller braxton miller

Amazon smartphone reportedly set for 2013 launch

In the aftermath of Friday's Newtown school shooting, we've heard tales mostly horrifying and occasionally heroic, from surviving witnesses and mourning citizens alike, but this one lies somewhere in between, all the more unshakeable. One six-year-old Sandy Hook student played dead in her first-grade classroom, her family pastor said late Sunday, with the kind of quick thinking that ended up saving her life but now leaves her with the unshakeable memories of watching all her classmates being shot and killed. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-smartphone-reportedly-set-2013-launch-183034222.html

mary tyler moore x games pro bowl pro bowl 2012 rick santorum daughter gainesville 2012 royal rumble

The Mystical Ones

In this quiet little society, everyone seems to be completely normal. But who is "everybody"?

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Mystical Ones?. 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.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "The Mystical Ones"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

Do you see this man up here? ^^ He's my future husband!! Bless Your Face

SmilingNutella

Member for 0 years

---

---

Post a reply

RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.

If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.

Who is online

Registered users: *Reckless*, 0neTailedf0x*, AdmireAtStuff*, Ageha, Akantha, Alexa [Bot], Alisa, almostinsane, Aniihya, AntleredRabbit, Aryutsuki*, Asher MstrImmortalis*, Asper, AugustArria*, AvidSmoker*, Azrieldemourn, bandgeek*, Banshee, barney_fife*, BekaL101, Blackbird26*, blacksky, BraceBlaze*, breathebabyx*, CalleighElizabeth*, CarliaRhian123*, ceh12*, Celaira, Centi85*, ChaoticMarin*, CharlotteV, CherryRed, chrono*, Chynacat32*, CielleAmor*, cirrus_sd*, claw*, Cloasse*, CNAGamer*, Colonel_Masters*, CookieCupcake*, CptxMorgan*, cucumbersome*, Curtsive*, CussingChild, DA_SHADOW_PHOENIX, Dante Angelico*, DarKnight36, dealing with it, Deallo*, delfiler, DemiKara*, desire99600, Digital_Muse*, Disarmhxc*, Dmitrij Rosha, DMSabre*, Dreamalot106*, Drygionas*, DuBois_Scarlett, Emerald.x, Endgame*, Erik7622*, EverFidelis*, Exabot [Bot], Eyliel, Fabricator*, Fadded, fauxtruth*, FizzGig*, Flexar, flickery*, FollowerOfDarkPaths, Forget~Me~Not*, freakofnature*, Fredalice*, Genesis Rhapsodos, Ghost_Scar, GK061490, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Grace Lynn*, Gustof26*, Gypsy*, HadoukenLSD*, Half-Dragon*, HansenetteHeart*, HereMeNow, Holy|Orders*, Horseygirl, Howlkin Stranger*, iCat*, ichigomew*, Igari*, Imagine That!, ISpeakTheTruth, JakeMcCloud217*, jukuma, Kaname_Takashi, kexia, Kiss the Rain Away, KittyKLL*, KiwiDreamweaver, kr9q, KrazyTigger, Kura Ravengade*, Kuroe*, Lady Inali, LazuliMetempsychosis*, legacy14*, Leon21, Lifecharacter*, Liliepanda*, lilyboo12, Little Fox*, Lloyd999*, Lost Whisper*, LRmember, LUCYstuck, LunaSpirit, Majestic-12 [Bot], MaliceInWonderland, MarMaou, masato22*, Mathew Littlepaw*, MaxStokes*, Mayadasi, MegaKooala12*, Mela, mistsong99*, mjlavalleejr, mlijn12, Modesty, Mr. Crow*, Mr_Doomed*, Mrs. Sara Banner*, MsCatnipz*, MSNbot Media, NateStei, Nemo, NeonBursts*, Nevan*, Nevermore90, nightwolf, No-one-special*, noonshine, NotAFlyingToy*, Nulix*, OhEmGeeJoker, OperatorZ*, OverTheRainbow*, PinkPeppercorn*, Polarisbear12, popper1066*, PrinceSakuma, Princess Awinita, PrincessLala17, Protoman X, punkwithflute*, Purpl3_Flam3s*, Qaida, R.T.M.X., Raize*, RawkFist*, rdaydreamer*, ReaperGirl4, RedRaine, Rulke*, RydeDawg*, Rylie Renae, saphiresyphira*, Scarlet Loup*, ScarletMagi5*, Scorpion01, Seirei*, shadereen*, Shadetree76*, Shiki29*, Shugo Seikatsu*, SilverStar89, Sintacts*, SkullsandSlippers, Skylee1*, Slipshock, Smokescreen*, Sokka25*, Something?*, Sonadira, Sorella*, Starlight77, Stella11, SugarPlum2*, Sweet Angel Jocelyn, Syn_Maxwell*, Tainted Twinkee, Talisman, TemplarWarden*, Temple*, Terrus*, Tessla, The Illusionist*, The Painkiller*, thebagel264*, TheFlag, theLogophile, TheNoremac42*, TheWanderer*, ThomasR95*, Thundergod1020, Tiko, tornadofan2, TrueDefiance, TurtleSoup, umbra Alastor*, Vackattack, Valor*, velvetwizard*, Venom0861, VindicatedPurpose*, Vinn, viper45*, VitaminHeart*, ViviOrunitiaFF9*, WalterF*, WaltJRimmer, wolfoftheage*, Wudgeous, Wysteria, Xavier_Blitz, XianEvermor*, Xiiver*, Yahoo [Bot], yomiel*, Young Link, YoungJae, Yuiop705, Zaya06*, Zenia, zeno3111*, ~Keiko~

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/hTYpb2LPUyE/viewtopic.php

martin luther king jr i have a dream speech packers score ricky gervais napoleon dynamite michelle williams the descendants the descendants

Exit polls: Conservative LDP wins Japan election

In this Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 photo, supporters of Japan's largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gather with national flags during a parliamentary election campaign in Tokyo. Japanese were voting Sunday, Dec. 16 in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the LDP, once-dominant conservatives, back in power after a three-year break ? and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

In this Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 photo, supporters of Japan's largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) gather with national flags during a parliamentary election campaign in Tokyo. Japanese were voting Sunday, Dec. 16 in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the LDP, once-dominant conservatives, back in power after a three-year break ? and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

A boy places his grandmother's vote into a ballot box at a polling station in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Voters cast their ballots Sunday in parliamentary elections which are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled Japan for most of the post-war era. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

A girl places her mother's vote into a ballot box at a polling station in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Voters cast their ballots in parliamentary elections which are likely to hand power back to a conservative party that ruled Japan for most of the post-war era. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan casts his ballot for parliamentary elections in Funabashi in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Japanese were voting Sunday, Dec. 16 in parliamentary elections that were expected to put the once-dominant conservatives back in power after a three-year break ? and bring in a more nationalistic government amid tensions with big neighbor China. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA AND FRANCE

Election workers count votes at a ballot counting center in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party won a clear majority in Japanese parliamentary elections Sunday, media exit polls showed, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with rival China. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party stormed back to power Sunday after three years in opposition, exit polls showed, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with rival China.

The results were a sharp rebuke for the Democratic Party of Japan, showing widespread unhappiness for its failure to keep promises and get the economy going.

The victory means that the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will get a second chance to lead the nation after a one-year stint in 2006-2007. He would be Japan's seventh prime minister in six-and-a-half years.

Public broadcaster NHK's exit polls projected that the LDP, which ruled Japan for most of the post-World War II era until it was dumped in 2009, won between 275 and 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament. Official results were not expected until Monday morning. Before the election, it had 118 seats.

The LDP will stick with its long-time partnership with the Komeito, a Buddhist-backed party, to form a coalition government, said Yoshihide Suga, deputy secretary general of the party. Together, they will probably control about 320 seats, NHK projected ? a two-thirds majority that would make it easier for the government to pass legislation.

With Japan stuck in a two-decade slump and receding behind China as the region's most important economic player, people appeared ready to turn back to the LDP, which led Japan for so many decades. To revive Japan's stagnant economy, Abe will likely push for increased public works spending and lobby for stronger moves by the central bank to break Japan out of its deflationary trap.

Voters also appeared to back the LDP's vows to build a stronger, more assertive country to answer increasing pressure from China and threats of North Korean rocket launches. Abe has repeatedly said he will protect Japan's "territory and beautiful seas" amid a territorial dispute with China over some uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

"I feel like the LDP will protect Japan and restore some national pride," Momoko Mihara, 31, said after voting for the Liberal Democrats in the western Tokyo suburb of Fuchu. "I hope Mr. Abe will stand tall."

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which won in a landslide three years ago amid high hopes for change, suffered a crushing defeat, capturing less than 100 seats, exit polls showed, down sharply from its pre-election strength of 230.

The results were a rebuke to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democrats for failing to deliver on a series of campaign pledges and for doubling the sales tax to 10 percent to meet growing social security costs as the population ages and shrinks.

The new government will need to quickly deliver some sort of results ahead of upper house elections in July.

The LDP may also have benefited from voter confusion over the dizzying array of more than 12 parties, including several news ones, and their sometimes vague policy goals.

One of the parties, the right-leaning, populist Japan Restoration Party, won between 40-61 seats, NHK projected. The party is led by the bombastic nationalist ex-Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, both of whom are polarizing figures with forceful leadership styles.

Abe, 58, is considered one of the more conservative figures in the increasingly conservative LDP.

During his previous tenure as prime minister, he pursued a nationalistic agenda pressing for more patriotic education and upgrading the defense agency to ministry status.

It remains to be seen how he will behave this time around, though he is talking tough toward China, and the LDP platform calls developing fisheries and setting up a permanent outpost in the disputed islands, called Senkakus by Japan and Daioyu by China ? a move that would infuriate Beijing.

During his time as leader, Abe also insisted there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Chinese, Korean and other women into prostitution in military brothels during Japan's wartime aggression in Asia. He later apologized but lately has suggested that a landmark 1993 apology for sex slavery needs revising.

He has said he regrets not visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals, during his term as prime minister. China and South Korea oppose such visits, saying they reflect Japan's reluctance to fully atone for its wartime atrocities.

The LDP wants to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to strengthen its Self-Defense Forces and, breaching a postwar taboo, designate them as a "military." It also proposes increasing Japan's defense budget and allowing Japanese troops to engage in "collective self-defense" operations with allies that are not directly related to Japan's own defense.

It's not clear, however, how strongly the LDP will push such proposals, which have been kicked around by conservatives for decades but usually make no headway in parliament because they are supported only by a fairly small group of right-wing advocates.

Toshiyuki Kataoka, a 67-year-old retiree from Chiba, east of Tokyo, said that the Democrats proved to be novices running the country. "It was someone driving on a learner's permit," he said. But he said he would be willing to support them again because he's worried about the nationalistic influence of the LDP. "Japan does seem to be turning to the right, and I don't want to be a part of that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-16-AS-Japan-Election/id-f6ce021cdc4b43e5a132437547ec1961

packers Dancing With The Stars All Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt space shuttle Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple awkward

Breakfast Links for 12/13/12 - Leave Your Snakes Home; Jedi ...

BREAKFAST LINKS 12/13/12:

Arlene Sanchez-Walsh, Patheos/Re-Generacion: ?When I started teaching a class on global Pentecostalism this fall, I think the word was out that I was Pentecostal, and one of my students was stunned that I did not show up the first day of class in a long skirt, long hair, and no make-up?to which I added, that ?I?d also left my snakes at home.?

Terry Waite, The Guardian: The Plight of Christians in Lebanon

Tim Dalrymple, Patheos/Philosophical Fragments: ?I?m less disturbed by the 176,000 who ticked off ?Jedi Knight? than the 14 million who chose ?No religion.??

Elizabeth Evans Hagan, The ABP News Blog: Discerning God?s Direction

Roger E. Olson, Patheos/Roger E. Olson: ?I propose that we, Americans and especially Christians, rediscover and re-value the power of negative thinking.?

Christy Thomas, The United Methodist Reporter: A Hand Up ? Not a Hand Out

Joe Carter, Patheos/Joe Carter?s Commonplace: ?The same secularists who think that playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City while listening to gansta rap has no affect on children act as if hearing ?Merry Christmas? will turn little Johnny into a Pat Robertson clone.?

John Stossel, Real Clear Politics: Government Gone Bad

Richard Dahlstrom, Patheos/Fibonacci Faith: ?Though waiting has fallen on hard times in our instant society, anticipation is still alive and well.?

Matt Miller, Washington Post Opinions: Obama?s Trump Card on the Debt Limit

Robert C. Crosby, Patheos/Robert C. Crosby: ?I never knew a case where God used a discouraged man or woman to accomplish any great thing for him. Let a minister go into the pulpit in a discouraged state of mind, and it becomes contagious: it will soon reach the pews, and the whole church will be discouraged. ? It seems as if God cannot make large use of such men.?

James Downey, PostPartisan: Too Big to Fail, To Big to Indict

?

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/philosophicalfragments/2012/12/13/breakfast-links-for-121312-leave-your-snakes-home-jedi-knights-and-faith-positive-negative-thinking/

how to make moonshine joel osteen emmy rossum jay z and beyonce the big chill tony blankley charles barkley

US students far from first in math, science

WASHINGTON (AP) ? American fourth-graders are performing better than they were four years ago in math and reading, but students four years older show no such progress, a global study released Tuesday revealed.

Although the U.S. remains in the top dozen or so countries in all subjects tested, the gap between the U.S. and the top-performing nations is much wider at the eighth-grade level, especially in math.

"When you start looking at our older students, we see less improvement over time," said Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which coordinated the U.S. portion of the international exam.

Even where U.S. student scores have improved, many other nations have improved much faster, leaving American students far behind many of their peers ? especially in Asia and Europe.

With an eye toward global competitiveness, U.S. education officials are sounding the alarm over what they describe as a recurring theme when American students are put to the test. Lamenting what he described as "sober cautionary notes," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said it was unacceptable that eighth-grade achievement in math and science are stagnant, with U.S. students far less likely than many Asian counterparts to reach advanced levels in science.

"If we as a nation don't turn that around, those nations will soon be out-competing us in a knowledge-based, global economy," Duncan said.

American students still perform better than the global average in all subject areas, the study found, although students from the poorest U.S. schools fall short.

But the U.S. is far from leading the pack, a distinction now enjoyed by kids in countries like Finland and Singapore who outperformed American fourth-graders in science and reading. By eighth grade, American students have fallen behind their Russian, Japanese and Taiwanese counterparts in math, and trail students from Hong Kong, Slovenia and South Korea in science.

The results of the study, conducted every four years in nations around the world, show mixed prospects for delivering on that promise. A nation that once took pride in being at the top of its game can no longer credibly call itself the global leader in student performance. Wringing their hands about what that reality portends for broader U.S. influence, policymakers worry it could have ripple effects on the economy down the line, with Americans increasingly at a competitive disadvantage in the international marketplace.

Elevating the skills needed to compete with emerging countries has been a priority for President Barack Obama, who has pledged to train 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next decade. "Think about the America within our reach: a country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs," he said this year in his State of the Union address.

Asia continues to dominate the top echelon of scores across subject fields. The tiny city-state of Singapore takes first place in eighth-grade science and fourth-grade math, with South Korea scoring nearly as high. Singapore takes second place to South Korea in eighth-grade math, with Taiwan in third.

The results also lean toward Asian nations when it comes to advanced levels of learning. In Singapore, 4 in 10 eighth-graders achieved the "advanced benchmark" in science, which requires an understanding of complex and abstract concepts in physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences. About 2 in 10 make the grade in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. In the U.S., it's about 1 in 10.

Reading skills are a major strength for American students. Only a few points separate American students from the top-scoring students in the world. In Florida, which took part in the study separately, reading scores are second only to Hong Kong.

"We cannot rest until every child has gained the power that comes through reading," said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a prominent education advocate. "If Florida can do it, every state can and must."

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and its sister test, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, are used to measure knowledge, skills and mastery of curricula by elementary and middle school students around the world. Students in rich, industrialized nations and poor, developing countries alike are tested. In 2011, 56 educational systems ? mostly countries, but some states and subnational entities like Hong Kong ? took part in math and science exams. Fifty-three systems participated in the reading exam, which included almost 13,000 American fourth-graders.

"These kinds of tests are very good at telling us who's ahead in the race. They don't have a lot to say about causes or why countries are where they are," said Brookings Institution senior fellow Tom Loveless, who in previous years represented the U.S. in the international group that administers the test.

Other findings released Tuesday:

? Some U.S. states that were measured separately were clear standouts, performing on par with or better than some top-performing Asian countries. Eighth-graders in Massachusetts and Minnesota score far better in math and science than the U.S. average. But in California and Alabama, eighth-graders fell short of the national average.

? Racial and class disparities are all too real. In eighth grade, Americans in the schools with the highest poverty ? those with 75 percent or more of students on free or reduced-price lunch ? performed below both the U.S. average and the lower international average. Students at schools with fewer poor kids performed better. In fourth-grade reading, all ethnic groups outperformed the international average, but white and Asian students did better than their black and Hispanic classmates.

? Boys in the U.S. do better than girls in fourth-grade science and eighth-grade math. But girls rule when it comes to reading.

? On a global level, the gender gap appears to be closing. About half of the countries showed no statistically meaningful gap between boys and girls in math and science.

The tests are carried out by the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement, a coalition of research institutions. The U.S. portion of the exams is coordinated by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics.

___

Online:

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study: http://nces.ed.gov/timss/

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-students-far-first-math-science-182128982--finance.html

macauly culkin joe namath stefon diggs nazi ss naomi watts andrej pejic steve jobs fbi

HSBC to pay $1.9 billion in money-laundering case

1 day

Reuters

HSBC has agreed to pay a record $1.92 billion fine to settle a multi-year probe by U.S. prosecutors, who accused Europe's biggest bank of failing to enforce rules designed to prevent the laundering of criminal cash.

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday charged the bank with failing to maintain an effective program against money laundering and conduct due diligence on certain accounts.

In documents filed in federal court in Brooklyn, it also charged the bank with violating sanctions laws by doing business with customers in Iran, Libya, Sudan, Burma and Cuba.

HSBC Holdings Plc admitted to a breakdown of controls and apologized for its conduct.

"We accept responsibility for our past mistakes. We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again. The HSBC of today is a fundamentally different organization from the one that made those mistakes," said Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver.

In an agreement with the Justice Department, the bank will take steps to fix the problems, pay a fine of $1.256 billion, and retain a compliance monitor to resolve the charges through a deferred-prosecution agreement. Including penalties imposed by other agencies, the bank's fines total $1.92 billion. HSBC also faces civil penalties, to be announced later Tuesday.

The settlement offers new information about failures at HSBC to police transactions linked to Mexico, details of which were reported this summer in a sweeping U.S. Senate probe.

Between 2006 and 2010, HSBC ignored money-laundering risks associated with certain Mexican customers and allowed at least $881 million in drug trafficking proceeds, including proceeds from the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and the Norte del Valle Cartel in Colombia, to be laundered through the bank, according to the Tuesday agreement.

Despite known risks of doing business in Mexico, the bank put Mexico in its lowest risk category, which excluded $670 billion in transactions from the monitoring systems.

"The HSBC settlement sends a powerful wakeup call to multinational banks about the consequences of disregarding their anti-money laundering obligations," said Senator Carl Levin, who led the Senate inquiry.

HSBC said it expected to also reach a settlement with British watchdog the Financial Services Authority. The FSA declined to comment.

U.S. and European banks have now agreed to settlements with U.S. regulators total ling some $5 billion in recent years on charges they violated U.S. sanctions and failed to police potentially illicit transactions.

No bank or bank executives have been indicted. Instead, prosecutors have used deferred prosecutions, under which criminal charges against a firm are set aside if it agrees to conditions such as paying fines and changing its behavior.

HSBC's settlement also includes agreements or consent orders with the Manhattan district attorney, the Federal Reserve and three U.S. Treasury Department units: the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The settlement is the third time in a decade that HSBC has been penalized for lax controls and ordered by U.S. authorities to improve its monitoring of suspicious transactions. Previous directives by regulators to improve oversight came in 2003 and in 2010.

Last month, HSBC told investors it had set aside $1.5 billion to cover fines or penalties stemming from the inquiry and warned that costs could be significantly higher.

Analyst Jim Antos of Mizuho Securities said the settlement costs were "trivial" in terms of the company's book value.

"But in terms of real cash terms, that's a huge fine to pay," said Antos, who rates HSBC a "buy."

"It has been damaging for the brand, albeit not as bad as it might have been," said Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec Securities in London.

"Is it absorbable? Yes. Is it significant? Yes. But in the absence of a broader attack on the business structure or individuals, that explains why the market reaction has been relatively muted today and has been since the allegations came out," he added.

HSBC shares closed up 0.56 percent at 644.8 pence in London,

HSBC said it had increased spending on anti-money laundering systems by around nine times between 2009 and 2011, exited business relationships and clawed back bonuses for senior executives. As evidence of its determination to change, it cited the hiring last January of Stuart Levey, a former top U.S. Treasury Department official, as chief legal officer.

Under a five-year agreement with the Justice Department, HSBC agreed to have an independent monitor evaluate its progress in improving its compliance.

It also said that as part of the overhaul of its controls, it has launched a global review of its "Know Your Customer" files, which will cost an estimated $700 million over five years. The files are designed to ensure that banks do not unwittingly act as conduits for criminal funds.

HSBC's settlement comes a day after rival British bank Standard Chartered Plc agreed to a $327 million settlement with U.S. law enforcement agencies for sanctions violations, a pact that follows a $340 million settlement the bank reached with the New York bank regulator in August.

Such settlements have become commonplace. In what had been the largest settlement until this week, ING Bank NV in June agreed to pay $619 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it violated sanctions against countries including Cuba and Iran.

Other banks that have reached settlements over sanctions violations are Switzerland's Credit Suisse Group, Britain's Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays, and ABN Amro Holding NV, a Dutch bank acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and a bank consortium in 2007.

In the United States, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Wachovia Corp and Citigroup Inc have been cited for anti-money laundering lapses or sanctions violations.

HSBC's failings date to 2003, when the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and New York state regulators ordered it to better monitor suspicious money flows. In 2010, a consent order from the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) ordered HSBC to review suspicious transactions. At the time, the OCC called HSBC's compliance program "ineffective."

In 2008, the federal prosecutor in Wheeling, West Virginia, began investigating allegations that a local doctor used the bank to launder money from Medicare fraud.

Ultimately, the prosecutor's office came to believe the case was "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of suspicious transactions conducted through HSBC, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and reported earlier this year.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/banking-giant-hsbc-pay-record-1-9-billion-money-laundering-1C7541128

Pacquiao vs Marquez 4 kobe bryant pacquiao Jim DeMint Dave Brubeck dallas cowboys frankie muniz

Wedding Dress Bride Stored For 26 Years Is Not Hers

After the Big Day, the wedding dress is often tucked away until a younger woman in the family asks to see it. Imagine one woman's shock when she discovered that the dress she'd been storing for 26 years wasn't hers.

Kim Jones recently took her wedding dress out of its box for the first time since her 1986 wedding, she told The Tennessean. But Jones and her daughter, Emily, quickly realized that something was amiss when they noticed that the dress had sleeves. Jones' dress didn't.

The mix-up may have happened when Jones' mother took the dress to be dry-cleaned after the wedding; the dress appears the same when looking through the box's clear window, so no one noticed it was actually the wrong one.

Emily hopes her mother's original dress can be returned so she can wear it at her own wedding.

?As the only girl in the family, this is the one thing that my mother had for me," she said. "To find out that it wasn?t hers after all these years was very disappointing."

Jones isn't the first woman to lose her wedding dress. An Iowa woman is looking for the owner of a dress found in the middle of the street, and an Australian bride sold chocolate to raise money for a new dress after hers was lost after a local bridal boutique closed up shop.

It's not just dresses that go missing -- click through the slideshow below for some bizarre lost and found wedding ring stories.

• Flushed Down The Toilet

  An <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/13/diamond-ring-lost_n_1423806.html" target="_hplink">Idaho woman</a> was reunited with her ring in April 2012, 18 months after she accidentally flushed it down the toilet. Sewage workers found the diamond ring and returned it to its owner, Mechelle Rieger.

• Lost In A Pond

  Tim Bucher <a href="http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=361262" target="_hplink">lost his wedding ring</a> in a pond in Decatur, Ill. while fishing with his son in April 2012. He and his wife used the website, LostMyStuff.net to find the ring. A volunteer came to their town and scoured the pond, eventually finding the ring for Bucher.

• Inside Of A Cow

  A <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2101843/Wedding-ring-cows-stomach-years-eaten.html" target="_hplink">wedding ring was discovered</a> inside of a cow's stomach in February 2012 when it landed on a butcher's chopping block. The cow had sucked the ring of a man's hand three-and-a-half years earlier.

• Discovered In A Drain

  Maura Burke <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/wedding-ring-found-after-two-years-in-sewers/story-e6frfkyi-1226341809143" target="_hplink">lost her wedding ring</a> down the drain of her Braintree, Mass. home in 2010. She had prayed for the ring's return but it never materialized. Then, two years later, city workers found the ring in Braintree's drainage system and returned it to its rightful owner.

• Around A Carrot

  Lena Paahlsson <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-04/news/30586331_1_long-lost-ring-wedding-ring-carrot" target="_hplink">lost her wedding ring</a> in her kitchen in Sweden in 1995. Sixteen years later, she and her husband discovered the ring in their garden -- with a carrot growing inside of it. Paahlsson said she believes her ring fell into the sink and got mixed up with vegetable peelings, which were then turned into compost and ended up in her garden.

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Earlier on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/wedding-dress_n_2272856.html

voting hours election results Doug Martin Barack Obama & Joe Biden Am I registered to vote Voter registration snl

German Finance minister doesn't rule out Eurogroup candidacy: paper

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declined to rule himself out as a candidate to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as chairman of euro zone finance ministers, in an interview published on Sunday.

Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, said he would step down as Eurogroup chief at the end of this year or early next, leaving policymakers just four weeks to find a successor to fill a potential power vacuum. He has headed the group since 2005.

Asked by Bild am Sonntag newspaper whether he or his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici would take over the job, Schaeuble replied, "in any case the new person has to drive European integration forward".

The Eurogroup has taken or prepared key decisions during the bloc's debt crisis over the past three years, such as Greece's debt restructuring, the creation of euro zone emergency funds and bailouts of Ireland and Portugal.

Juncker's mandate was initially set to expire in July, and at that time Schaeuble was widely seen as the front-runner to replace him, possibly as part of a deal with France on a rotating chairmanship which would later pass to Moscovici.

But Juncker was persuaded to stay on a few more months to help manage the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Moscovici said last week it was too early to speculate on his candidacy, but he also did not rule himself out.

"The German government wants the candidate to come from the circle of finance ministers, and we have seen that it has proved very worthwhile when the chairman can mediate between different positions," Schaeuble told Bild am Sonntag.

Diplomats have said the irascible Schaeuble, 70, has alienated colleagues in southern Europe and is not currently seen as a likely successor.

Some have called for a government head, instead of a finance minister, to run the group. For many years, Juncker had both roles in Luxembourg, giving him clout in discussions.

Juncker's double role created a convenient link between the euro zone's 17 finance ministers and its heads of state and government, who ultimately make the most important decisions.

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-finance-minister-doesnt-rule-eurogroup-candidacy-paper-114744499--business.html

sun storm tri international criminal court ios 5.1 apple tv update new ipad release pregnant jessica simpson

SWTS 312: This Week in Fantasy Sports-NFL Week 14 - Dec 08,2012

On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.

MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.

Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.

Host Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years. This is a business radio show where he shares all the craziness of small business. It?s that craziness that actually makes it exciting, interesting and totally unpredictable.

The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.

Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.

Hits Radio covers basketball, sports culture and entertainment with past guests including Jason Kidd, Robin Lundberg and Chris Herren.

Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.

Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.

Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.

Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.

The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.

Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.

Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.

Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.

Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-statman/2012/12/08/swts-312-this-week-in-fantasy-sports-nfl-week-14

eminem yankees Tagg Romney Bosses Day Cabin Fever 2 Alexis Wright Zumba binder full of women

The cashew efficacy and role - Health and Fitness Tips

The cashew is a nutrient-rich, sweet flavor of dried fruit can be when the snack food, but also made delicious dishes.

The cashews in fat ingredients mainly unsaturated fatty acids, soften blood vessels, go a long way to protect the blood vessels, prevent cardiovascular benefits.

Rich in grease, laxative, soothing beauty, anti-aging.

Regular consumption of cashew nuts can improve the body?s resistance to disease, increase libido, weight gain.

After sesame and peanut cashew vitamin B1 content, add strength to eliminate the effect of fatigue, tired easily human consumption.

The cashews also has galactagogue efficacy benefit women postpartum milk secretion.

The fat in the cashew mainly composed of unsaturated fats, rather than saturated fat by monounsaturated fatty acid composition, mono-unsaturated fatty acids can lower blood cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein levels, increased high-density lipoprotein levels, no multi-unsaturated fatty acids carcinogenic promote lipid peroxidation potential adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular great benefit.

• The effect and role of olive oil
  Efficacy: Olive oil can protect the cardiovascular system in many ways: Olive oil can prevent the complications of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart disease, heart failure, r...
• The nutritional value and effectiveness of black fungus
  Per 100 grams of black fungus contains iron 185 mg, 20 times higher than the highest iron content of green leafy vegetables spinach, about 7 times higher than the iron in animal foods highest in pig l...
• Tips to prevent dandruff in winter
  As the dandruff is a fungus (Malassezia) infection caused by and, therefore, adjust the patterns of life, avoid eating fried, greasy, spicy foods may play a regulation to protect the scalp to strike a...
• Benefits of drink water fasting in the early morning
  1, Supplementary water Sleep at night, when the human body from urine, skin, breathing consumed a lot of water, the morning after, the body will be in a state of physiological lack of water. One nigh...
• Homemade honey lemon skin whitening mask and shrinking pores
  DIY honey lemon skin whitening mask and shrinking pores. Materials needed: Honey 1 tablespoon, lemon juice 1 tablespoon, 1 tablespoon oatmeal powder, vitamin E capsule 1, a full bloom material con...
• Honey + Banana nourishing and moisturizing mask
  Bananas are very common and cheap fruits, but its very high nutritional value, rich in protein, starch, vitamins and minerals. For the skin, it is a good mask material, deposited directly to the banan...
• The nutritional value of noodles
  1, The noodles are the main nutrients of protein, fat, carbohydrates, etc.; noodles easy digestion and absorption, to improve anemia, strengthening the immune system, balance of nutrient absorption an...
• Lotus root keep skin shine
  Lotus root keep skin shiny. It is rich in vitamin C and minerals, with pharmacodynamic, and its better known role in hemostasis. Lotus root recently demonstrated not only good for the heart, and can p...
• What Foods for Healthy Bones ? building strong bones
  When it comes to building strong bones, there are two key nutrients: calcium and vitamin D. Calcium supports your bones and teeth structure, while vitamin D improves calcium absorption and bone growth...
• Six recreational activities to anti-aging!
  1. Music: the rhythm of a crisp, enchanting music, should?make you pleasant ; At this point, the body fluids of the nervous system is in the best condition. A magnificent, high agitation of the music,...

Tags: cashew efficacy, cashew role, nutritional value of the cashew, what about cashew
This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2012 and is filed under Health Tips, Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.hhtip.com/the-cashew-efficacy-and-role-the-nutritional-value-of-the-cashew/

big miracle slab city super bowl snacks appleton super bowl recipes denver weather planned parenthood

Apple licenses HTC hardware and software, but says design patents are off-limits

SYDNEY, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Australia will not consider Bernard Tomic for their Davis Cup tie against Taiwan in February because of doubts about his commitment, Tennis Australia said on Thursday. Tomic, 20, was dubbed "Tomic the Tank Engine" this season after appearing to give up towards the end of a string of matches as he tumbled from a career-high world number 27 to his current ranking of 52. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-licenses-htc-hardware-software-says-design-patents-214808943.html

joe oliver joba chamberlain new york mega millions jetblue jetblue michelle malkin october baby

Snapseed app goes free, finally comes to Android

1 hr.

Rosa Golijan , NBC News

Snapseed, a popular photo-editing app, has ditched its iOS-only label and arrived on Android. Oh, and it's now free, rather than setting users back five bucks.

Since Nik Software???the maker of Snapseed???was acquired by Google in September, it's not exactly a surprise that the app has finally hit Android or that the iOS version has received some little Google-friendly tweaks. (Though some part of me does?wonder why it even?took so long for this to happen.)

The newly released Android app basically looks identical to its iOS counterpart.?All the simple-yet-ridiculously-powerful editing tools are in the same spots and work the same way. You can use a one-tap auto correct tool, tune entire images, crop and rotate at will,?use a "selective adjust" tool to specifically enhance certain parts of photos, toss in filters, add frames, and more.

The latest iOS update adds a new filter option called Retrolux?to the app, updates the frame options, and (unsurprisingly)?throws in a Google+ sharing option.

Snapseed was definitely worth five bucks in the past, so there's little reason to not snag the app now that it's free. You can download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Just keep in mind that your mobile device must be running iOS 5 or Android 4.0 (or higher).?

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+
.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/snapseed-app-goes-free-finally-comes-android-1C7464610

apple apple jcpenney toys r us toys r us kohls target

5 Techniques to Improve Your Communication and Be a Better ...

Leading your team effectively is an art that involves a unique combination of leading,?managing, developing, anticipating, and most importantly communicating?effectively.? Great leadership starts with?effective? communication?skills in the workplace.

Technology has fueled the on-demand expectation that leaders are available to the company for consult 24/7.? This never-ending access can quickly create overloaded and overwhelmed employees and managers.? The demands are coupled with overarching company goals and increased expectations which move along with subtle market changes or chatter on social networks. Effective professional communication skills are essential in an age where things change within minutes is essential to staying ahead of the curve.

While business expectations and the speed at which we must flex and communicate have changed, our employees remain our most valuable organizational asset.? Effective communication in the workplace is essential for their success and growth.? Things like team dynamics and work expectations must be communicated, understood and re-communicated.

• Focus on Organizational Communication.? If you are company leader, communication and a unified brand, starts from the top down, sideways and over and the bottom up; and sometimes that communication occurs all at once.? Organizational communication is essential, but the old-school corporate communication model is gone and consistently changing.? Top-down announcements, doctrines and decrees are no more.? Engagement and a two-way dialogue is key.? According to Harvard Business School in May of 2012, 92 percent of business leaders admitted that?internal communication strategies?were currently in flux.?? Has your organizational communication or even department communication strategy changed for the better?

• Ask Your Team.??Sometimes the simplest answer to improve organizational communication is the easiest.? Sit down with your department or team in a focused group meeting and ask for what communication methods works best.? Be open to a variety of channels including mobile messaging with text, email, instant messaging, in person meetings and phone calls.? Follow up with an online survey and allow for employees to share opinions anonymously.? Honest feedback is honest.? Try not to take their opinions personal.? Your purpose is to improve workplace communication for your team and be an effective leader, and that doesn?t necessarily equate to a well-liked leader.

• Create Boundaries.??Whether it?s for you or your team, build communication systems to help you organize your life.? It could be as easy as setting email rules to help filter out the noise or hiring a personal assistant to run errands or organize your life.? Family and personal time is especially important to my team.? They work hard and should enjoy their time away from work.? Boundaries, trust, and a solid communication plan allow for work to get done while they enjoy time off.

• Set Expectations & Stay Consistent.??It?s hard to keep up with the game if the communication rules continue to change.? Managers? must effectively communicate to set clear expectations either through personal one-on-one meetings with individual team members on a minimum monthly basis.? If a process has changed, take time to explain the why.? This allows for a bigger picture understanding and how exactly the change will impact themselves as an individual, their time, the team, and the organization.

• Schedule Time Together.??Teams who engaged outside of formal work meetings were not only more engaged but productive at work.??MIT?s Human Dynamics Laboratory?found that when call center employees took work breaks together, their efficiency improved by 20 percent and employee satisfaction increasing by 10 percent.? Communication is not always formal.? Sometimes organization communication spawns from the energy and conversation within the team outside of the workplace that drives improvements in communication, engagement, and the flow of work.? The important thing is to regroup and re-communicate it within the group when back in that office setting.

Learning to communicate?effectively as a leader?is a?soft skill?that can be learned and starts with those managers who can observe, adapt and are focused on the dynamic of a great team.? It is easily assessed as part of an?employee performance review, pre-employment hiring assessment, or when creating your manager pipeline for future positions.

Unfortunately, when it comes to improving your company or team?s communication strategy there is no-one-size-fits-all solution.? Each team is unique.? Managers can take cues from the members of their organization through informal and formal means before implementing a customized communication strategy.

?Photo Credit

?

Tagged as: communication skills in the workplace, effective communication in the workplace, improving organization communication, leadership, organization communication, professional communication skills

Article by Eric Friedman

Eric Friedman is the Founder and CEO of eSkill Corporation, a leading provider of Web-based skill testing for pre-employment and training. The company's founding vision was to create software that can customize a skills test to fit the knowledge requirements for any job position. Holder of an MBA from MIT?s Sloan School of Management and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Brown University, Eric has helped launch five startups since 1992. With 20 years in the game, he is now sharing his vast experience on eSkill?s blog, while mentoring his team and constantly expanding his company. Connect with him on LinkedIn? or eSkill's Twitter, @eskillcorp.

Like this post? Want more from Blogging 4 Jobs? Subscribe via RSS to get updated with all the latest content.

Source: http://www.blogging4jobs.com/business/5-techniques-to-improve-your-communication-and-be-a-better-leader/

derek fisher lyrid meteor shower hippocrates andrew breitbart red wings penguins the band

Clinton says "desperate" Assad could use chemical arms

BEIRUT/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Washington fears a "desperate" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could use chemical weapons as rebels bear down on Damascus, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, repeating a vow to take swift action if he does.

Rebels fighting to overthrow Assad said they had surrounded an air base near Damascus, a fresh sign the battle is closing in on the Syrian capital, a day after NATO agreed to send air defense missiles to Turkey.

The Western military alliance's decision to send U.S., German and Dutch Patriot missile batteries to help defend the Turkish border would bring European and U.S. troops to Syria's frontier for the first time in the 20-month-old civil war.

Heavier fighting erupted around Damascus a week ago, bringing a war that had previously been fought mainly in the provinces to the centre of Assad's power. Fighters said on Wednesday they had surrounded the Aqraba air base, about 4 km (2.5 miles) outside the capital.

"We still do not control the air base but the fighters are choking it off. We hope within the coming hours we can take it," said Abu Nidal, a spokesman for a rebel force called the Habib al-Mustafa brigade.

He said rebels had captured a unit of air defense soldiers, killing and imprisoning dozens while others escaped.

Syria's state news agency said the army was still firmly in control of the base, but did not comment on rebel claims that they were surrounding the area.

Accounts like this from Syria are impossible to verify, as the government has restricted media access to the country.

For several days, Western officials have repeatedly focused on what they say is a threat that Assad could use poison gas.

After meeting other NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Clinton said: "Our concerns are that an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons, or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria.

"We have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line and those responsible would be held to account," she added.

U.S. officials have said this week they have intelligence that Syria may be making preparations to use chemical arms.

Syria, which has not signed the international chemical weapons treaty banning the use of poison gas, says it would never use such weapons on its own people. Those comments were reiterated by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Maqdad in a television interview with Sky News.

"ASSAD WILL NEVER LEAVE"

Maqdad made the first appearance by a government official for over a week, since fighting around the capital intensified.

He laughed off media reports that he had passed on a letter from Assad exploring the possibility of asylum during his recent trip to Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

"This is funny, this is laughable," he said. "I assure you 100 percent that President Assad will never ever leave his country."

But the rebels have been making advances across the country in recent weeks, despite punishing air raids, and have stepped up fighting outside Damascus. Wednesday saw fighting in a semi-circle of suburbs on the capital's eastern outskirts.

"The shelling is so loud, it feels like every other minute there is an air raid or an artillery shell hitting. We were woken up early by the sounds of the shelling in the eastern suburbs today," Ayman, who lives near the suburb of Jaramana, said by Skype.

Most of the areas being shelled are pro-opposition, apart from Jaramana, seen as a pro-government or neutral area, where town elders have refused rebel requests to pass through.

A rebel unit said fighters had attacked a checkpoint on the outskirts of Jaramana. Heavy fighting was also reported in the suburbs of Saqba, Irbeen, and Zamalka, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The army's strategy has been to divide Damascus, Assad's seat of power, from the countryside where rebels are increasingly dominant. Air raids and artillery have pounded rebel-held suburbs near the city for more than a week, in what activists call the worst shelling yet in the area.

A Syrian government source said the army had pushed rebels back 9 km (5 miles) from the capital.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the government, the opposition and their foreign allies to end the bloodshed, which he said had killed more than 40,000 people.

"I am urging again that the parties immediately stop the violence and those countries who may have influence on both parties should be exerting their utmost efforts to influence them to stop," he said at a news conference in Kuwait.

"And those countries that may be providing military equipment and other assistance should stop."

MISSILE DEFENCE

NATO's decision to send air defense missiles to the Turkish frontier is a first military step into the region by an alliance that has so far refused to repeat the kind of armed intervention that helped toppled Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year.

NATO says the Patriot missiles are purely defensive. Syria and allies Russia and Iran say the move increases regional instability and could set the stage to impose a no-fly zone.

Turkey, a NATO member hostile to Assad and hosting thousands of refugees, says it needs the air defense batteries to shoot down any missiles that might be fired across its border. The German, Dutch and U.S. batteries would take weeks to deploy.

"What it does do, of course, is send a very powerful signal," Lieutenant General Frederick Hodges, commander of NATO's new land command headquarters in the Turkish city of Izmir, told Reuters.

"The Assad regime, the father and now the current Assad, have in desperate times taken desperate steps, so this is a very clear signal about what is not going to be allowed. NATO is not going to allow an expansion of what the Assad regime is doing."

A Turkish foreign ministry official said: "The Patriots were requested to create a counter-measure to every possible kind of threat, first and foremost short-range ballistic missiles, because we know they have them."

Cengiz Candar, a veteran commentator at Turkey's Radikal newspaper who travelled with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Brussels this week, said the government was worried about some of Syria's 500 missiles falling into the wrong hands.

"The minister and his team were of the view that Syria was not expected to use them against Turkey, but that there was a risk of these weapons falling into the hands of 'uncontrolled forces' when the regime collapses," Candar wrote on Wednesday.

Fighting continued for a seventh day near the highway leading to Damascus International Airport, which opposition activists say has become an on-off battle zone.

Fighting around Damascus has led airlines to suspend flights and prompted diplomats to leave, adding to a sense the fight is closing in. Hungary said on Wednesday it would shut its embassy.

(Additional reporting by Peter Apps in London, Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft in Brussels, Nick Tattersall in Istanbul, Jonathon Burch in Ankara and Krisztina Than in Budapest; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nato-warns-syria-not-chemical-weapons-101125045.html

hoekstra best superbowl commercials 2012 best super bowl ads chrysler super bowl commercial madonna half time show fiat 500 abarth madonna halftime