springtime clair: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

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Ways To Make Camping Fun For Everyone | Content for Reprint

Author: Greg James | Total views: 0 Comments: 0
Word Count: 773 Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 6:06 AM

Camping is a great activity and can be done with those around you that you love. Yet, many never try it because it sounds so hard to do. As long as you have the information you need ahead of time, camping is very easy. Continue reading this article for some excellent camping tips that will make you an seasoned camper quickly.

Remember that everything you bring will get dirty on your trip. Being prepared for the inevitable is the best way to avoid unneeded stress. Have fun in nature and don't be afraid to get dirty! You can get back to normal after returning home.

Make sure you know how to use a compass and map before you go camping. You can get lost in the woods even if you have been to the area before. You will be able to avoid possible tragedy when you learn how to use both of these life saving items.

After your trip, be certain you leave the campsite cleaner than it was when you found it. You will want to bring trash bags for cleaning up all refuse. Do not leave food there, either. A golden rule for departing a campsite: leave only your footprints behind.

Safety procedures should be acknowledged when you're out camping. Keep away from animals, both large and small. Even small animals in the wild can be dangerous. This should not have to be said, but never feed any bears you see.

Never assume that you will find enough wood to burn, because rain can change that in an instant. Bringing your own small supply of wood and keeping it dry is a wise decision.

Learn how to use a map or a compass before going camping. Even if you know what your campsite is like, you may still get lost because a lot of areas look similar around where you are. You can prevent disaster by knowing how to use these lifesaving items.

Never assume that you will find enough wood to burn, because rain can change that in an instant. It's important that you bring extra wood with you that you can keep in a dry area.

If you have any type of medical issue, no matter how minor, you should always discuss camping with a medical professional beforehand. He or she can tell you about important things you may not have thought about for your trip that can affect your health in a harmful way. Maybe only one small thing needs to be done that won't interfere but will make your camping trip less dangerous for you.

Have you just bought your first tent and want to begin camping? It's vital to learn all that you can before you leave about your tent. You should know what you need and how to do it before you actually have to do it. This will also help you be able to accomplish the task quickly and efficiently once you arrive at your campsite, even if it is near dark.

Find the softest, flattest ground possible to set up your tent. If you pick out a sloped or a rocky spot it can make sleeping and hanging out in the tent very uncomfortable. Also, put a tarp down on your site to repel water in the best fashion.

Buy yourself some camping pillows for your trip. The typical pillows will become sticky in hot and humid climates. The will also pull moisture from the air and mildew will form quickly. Pillows specifically designed for camping will not draw in wetness like regular pillows will.

For a cheap and disposable tarp to place under your tent, save an old shower curtain! You can also use it as a way to control run-off as you are washing or cooking. Instead of getting rid of an old shower curtain, use it for your next camping trip.

Improper food packing leads to food poisoning in many campers each year. Food poisoning can happen when food is spoiled, which is something you risk when you take food not properly preserved, vacuum sealed or canned. Make sure you keep all perishable food on ice, but keep the drain open!

Now that you've reached the end of this article, you are ready to do some planning. Camping is not intended to be an intense event, but there is a bit of know-how required to make it stress free. Use the information shared here and have a great trip!

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Both these companies make great products, but they do so utilizing completely different technologies So which is best, and further more which is the better choice when considering purchasing a dive watch

2: The Role of Agility Training for Tennis Players

Agility is such an important component when it comes to an athlete being fast. Tennis requires the athlete to be fast over short distances, in multiple directions and have the ability to develop explo

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Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/recreation-and-leisure/sports/ways-to-make-camping-fun-for-everyone.htm

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Buried in debt, Spain?s fishermen blame EU policies

POSTED: 02:36 a.m. HST, Sep 30, 2012

CADIZ, Spain >> Millions of Spaniards took advantage of cheap financing to buy new houses during Spain?s decade-long economic boom and housing bubble beginning in the late 1990s. The country?s fishermen, many encouraged by European Union subsidies, did much the same for their own homes away from home: new boats.

Since then, they have run into problems: declining fish stocks, tighter quotas on catches, rising operating costs and a sharp economic downturn that has slashed both fish prices and demand.

The impact has devastated much of Spain?s coastal economy. It has also generated intensifying criticism of EU policies that, environmental groups and experts say, have increased fishing communities? dependency on subsidies to make up for the decline in both revenues and fish populations, even as the bloc continues to pay generous subsidies to scrap older vessels to upgrade Europe?s fleet. The new boats are typically bigger and more powerful, adding pressure on declining fish populations.

Coastal regions, they warn, are in the grip of a vicious downward spiral, with steep economic and environmental costs that they are urging leaders to halt.

?Spain has been one of the worst examples of using public money to modernize and increase the capacity of the fleet,? said Saskia Richartz of Greenpeace in Brussels, the group?s EU oceans policy director. ?We have now reached a crisis point, with a generation of fishermen whose boats are owned by banks and who have no fish to catch.?

In coastal areas like Sanlucar de Barrameda, a town in the south near Cadiz, as fishermen struggle to repay the mortgages on their vessels, many say they resent that bloc policies distorted their financial incentives and then left them high and dry once Spain?s economic crisis hit.

The EU stopped directly financing boat purchases in 2005 to curtail the size of Europe?s fleet, but for many here the damage was already done. Jose Antonio Diaz Leon, the president of the fish market of Sanlucar, home to about 100 fishing boats, estimated that ?95 percent of the owners here have a mortgage on their boat, which many simply can no longer afford.?

Among Sanlucar?s disillusioned is Jose Odero, who bought a new boat worth almost $650,000, with twice the tonnage of his previous vessel. Although the world financial crisis was already under way at the time, Odero said he had no difficulty securing a bank mortgage and had felt confident that the investment would translate into higher revenues. He declined to say whether he received an EU subsidy.

The investment was ?a massive mistake,? Odero said, as quota restrictions, falling fish prices and rising fuel costs left his income stagnant. This year Odero was forced to ask his bank to delay his mortgage payments of about $1,025 a month.

?I?ve been given a bit more time, but I?m slowly drowning in financial problems,? Odero added. ?I would love to sell my boat now, but there?s nobody willing to pay decent money for it.?

His story is repeated in places like the northwestern city of Vigo, Spain?s biggest fishing port, where fishing helps sustain about 60,000 of its 300,000 residents, according to local officials.

Claudio Fernandez Ibanez, chief executive of Hermanos Fernandez Ibanez, a fish brokerage house in Vigo, said many fishermen had no choice but to scale back or shut down.

?Those who have not managed to amortize fully their boat purchase costs before the crisis are now really suffering, trying to sell unaffordable boats for which there is really no demand,? he said.

Given the economic crisis, he said, Spanish consumers are downgrading to cheaper and largely imported fish, with prices for products like swordfish dropping 40 percent this year.

?The EU is putting all the focus on the environmental impact of fishing and ignoring completely our economic problems,? he said.

Wholesalers like Santiago Manzanares are sharing the pain. Sando, his family-owned distributor of frozen fish to Vigo-area restaurants, has had a 40 percent drop in revenue from a year ago, Manzanares said. Before the crisis, Sando would buy enough supplies in June to cover the whole summer. This year ?we?ve been stocking only a week ahead, given how uncertain demand has become,? he said.

On a recent day, as inspectors working for Spain?s agriculture ministry boarded a boat to measure nets and check the catch stashed on ice in the holds, the captain, Enrique Yegua, confessed that he was less concerned about any possible violation of regulations than about falling prices. Usisa, a producer of canned seafood that Yegua supplies, was now paying less than 30 cents per pound of mackerel, down almost 7 cents from two years ago, he said.

?We?re being inspected a lot, but what will determine whether I continue working is not a possible fine but whether fish prices continue to fall,? said Yegua, fishing in the Gulf of Cadiz.

While European politicians are negotiating over the fisheries policies that they will pursue after 2013, Spain remains by far the largest beneficiary of European subsidies, receiving slightly more than a quarter of a European fisheries fund worth $5.5 billion.

Environmental groups have denounced such subsidies, which have encouraged many boat owners to upgrade and then scrap boats within just a few years. Between 1994 and 2006, owners of 860 European vessels ? 326 of them Spanish ? used subsidies this way, according to a study by Fishsubsidy.org, a project financed by EU Transparency, which analyzes the disbursement of European public money.

Manuel Varela Lafuente, a fisheries expert and professor at the University of Vigo, said larger Spanish operators should reduce their reliance on subsidies, especially for fleet modernization. But he added, ?we?re also talking about a country full of small fishing communities that simply cannot survive the current economic crisis without subsidies.?

On Aug. 16, the agriculture ministry temporarily closed the anchovy fishery by the Gulf of Cadiz, saying it had reached the EU quota. The local fishing association warned that the ban could ruin 100 boat owners. Such steps have increased dependence on ?compensation subsidies,? which pay fishermen for the fish they can no longer catch, sustaining what is verging on a phantom industry.

Environmentalists say such subsidies continue to warp the industry?s economic incentives. Until 2013, according to Greenpeace, Spanish fishermen will receive domestic and EU subsidies worth almost a fifth of the value of their catch, equivalent to around $10,000 per fisherman per year.

In one of the more daunting estimates of decline, a study published a year ago by Oceana, which promotes ocean conservation, said that of the bloc?s 27 countries, 13 had been getting more subsidies than the value of the fish that arrive in their ports.

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

lines and colors :: a blog about drawing, painting, illustration, comics ...

Younger Mona Lisa
Though it has been known of for some time, a painting known as the ?Isleworth Mona Lisa? was officially unveiled in Geneva yesterday by the Mona Lisa Foundation.

The painting was uncovered by an English art collector, Hugh Baker, in 1913, and kept in his studio in Isleworth, London for several years, which is how the name was appended.

The Mona Lisa Foundation, a Swiss consortium, has kept the painting in a bank vault in Switzerland for the last 40 years. Backed by a research physicist from the U.S., a forensic image expert and an Italian expert on Leonardo?s work, the foundation has put forward a 300 page publication documenting their investigation and suggesting that the painting was indeed painted by Leonardo, and is the first portrait of the Italian noblewoman, portraying her at a younger age.

It is larger than the hyper-famous painting in the Louvre, and is painted on canvas rather than on wood, Leonardo?s usual preferred surface.

This, and other factors have led other experts to call the suggested attribution into question. They assert that the painting is likely a copy painted by another artist shortly after the original, in which the copyist has projected a younger version of the subject (see my recent post on the Mona Lisa copy from Da Vinci?s workshop in the Prado in Madrid).

In this version, the woman?s expression is less enigmatic, obviously a smile (though still, as I have pointed out, asymmetrical in the degree to which each side is turned up).

The Mona Lisa Foundation website has a variety of images and resources, including an interactive comparison in which they have juxtaposed the two versions, with the facial features matched up as closely as possible, allowing you to reveal more or less of each version with a slider.

It will be interesting to see if other experts are permitted access to the Isleworth painting and, if so, what conclusions are drawn.

I will say one thing, which is usually the bottom line for me in my assessment of any work in which attribution is in question ? whatever the results from the experts regarding who painted it, this looks like a beautiful painting.

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Source: http://www.linesandcolors.com/2012/09/28/leonardos-younger-mona-lisa-or-mona-wanna-be/

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Soapy 'Won't Back Down' gets a failing grade

Walden Media

Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "'Won't Back Down."

By David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

The jury is still out on a solution to the national education system crisis, but the verdict is delivered with a heavy hand and a stacked deck in the formulaic "Won?t Back Down." Simplifying complex school-reform hurdles into tidy inspirational clich?s while demonizing both teachers? unions and bureaucracy-entrenched education boards, the movie addresses timely issues but eschews shading in favor of blunt black and white. It?s old-school Lifetime fodder dressed up in Hollywood trappings.

In the broadest terms, Daniel Barnz?s film, co-written with Brin Hill, is a dramatized counterpart to Davis Guggenheim?s 2010 documentary "Waiting for Superman,? which pointed to charter schools as the only way out of the public-education quagmire. That film was partly financed by Walden Media, the backers of this Fox release, suggesting that the problem of underperforming inner-city classrooms is a pet cause for the company.

VIDEO: "Won't Back Down" trailer

In Barnz and Hill?s by-the-numbers screenplay -- which trumpets that vaguest of catch-all legitimization banners, ?Inspired by actual events? -- the catalyst for much-needed change at Adams Elementary School in Pittsburgh is crusading Everymom Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Her dyslexic daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) is stuck in a class with a teacher (Nancy Bach) who is a monster of job-secure complacency, and a principal (Bill Nunn) too mired in unionized paralysis to help.

A single mother working two jobs and unable to afford tuition at better alternatives, Jamie bones up on the ?fail-safe? maneuver, the film?s equivalent of the parent trigger law. That controversial legislation -- on the books in some form in a handful of states and under consideration in many others -- allows concerned parents and teachers to intervene in floundering public schools. In the film?s example, it primarily means getting past restrictive union controls and a do-nothing education board.

The absurd idea that the parents of an entire student body are too apathetic to worry about their kids? education until Jamie comes along like some rocker-chick Erin Brockovich is just one of the film?s condescendingly movie-ish conceits. Played with grating one-note pluckiness by Gyllenhaal, Jamie overcompensates for her lack of a college education by self-consciously sprinkling her conversations with words like ?trepidatious.? Yet, darned if this scrappy dynamo doesn?t get the whole community galvanized.

Even more objectionable is the depiction of the burned-out staff at Adams. They mill around in the break room bitching about teachers like Malia?s, saying, ?The only thing the district does well is protect its mistakes.? But the general lack of motivation is palpable, and even Nona Alberts (Viola Davis), a committed educator like her mother before her, has lost faith in her profession.

The only exception at Adams appears to be Teach For America do-gooder and soulful hunk Michael Perry (Oscar Isaac), who leads his class in line-dancing numbers, accompanying them on ukulele as they sing about ?Goin? to College.? Naturally, this makes Jamie swoon.

A perfunctory romance blooms, but Michael vacillates in his support for Jamie?s cause. Preferring to focus his commitment on his class only, he is reluctant to stray from union-sanctioned guidelines. Jamie?s sole consistent ally is Nona, who risks alienating the entire teaching staff, including her feisty pal Breena (Rosie Perez). While she?s worn down by the challenges of a broken system, not to mention the end of her marriage and the learning difficulties of her own son (Dante Brown), Nona reluctantly gets with the empowerment program.

However, this is another one of those movies where a tenacious white person leads the charge to save inner-city kids, achieving a miracle transformation through sheer force of will. While Nona is the insider with the education experience, she?s second fiddle throughout the fight, getting much of her dignity not from the script but from Davis, who could do this role in her sleep.

In order to provide a gossamer-thin semblance of balance, Barnz and Hill plant one jaded idealist apiece in the teachers? union and the education board. That essentially leaves Holly Hunter and Marianne Jean-Baptiste playing variations on the same role, both of them primed for redemption as they rediscover their buried convictions. Elsewhere, the opposition is reduced -- most notably by Ned Eisenberg?s belligerently uncompromising union chief -- to a force of obstinate blindness as to what?s good for the kids, and for the majority of disillusioned teachers.

Given the disingenuous way in which this lumbering movie pushes obvious buttons and manipulates the audience?s emotional investment while conveniently skimming the issues, it?s a mystery how some of these names got roped in.

Following her breakout work in "The Help," this is a particularly unhappy use of Davis? considerable talents. Hunter also is too smart an actor to be stuck playing the transparent construct of a compromised Norma Rae. Lance Reddick (The Wire) is given an entirely thankless role as Nona?s businesslike departing husband, while Ving Rhames is on hand literally to deliver a speech as principal of the exemplary Rosa Parks Elementary School during a lottery draw for new students.

That scene is one of many such preachy interludes in a dumbed-down agenda film that veers shamelessly between didacticism and soap.

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14138575-soapy-wont-back-down-gets-a-failing-grade?lite

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Syria rebels struggle to advance in new Aleppo offensive

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels struggled to make headway against government forces on Friday in a battle for Aleppo, the country's largest city.

On the second day of an offensive they have billed as decisive, the rebels also threatened to take on local Kurdish militants - a move which would further complicate a war that has already spilled over Syria's borders.

Fighters reached by telephone from Beirut described fierce combat in several neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub and the site of a two-month-long stalemate in the conflict.

Armed with machineguns and homemade rockets, they said they faced a difficult task against an enemy hitting them with artillery and fighter jets.

"We reached the middle of Suleiman al-Halibiya and liberated some neighborhoods so I am still optimistic. But I'm worried about our organization. We can't force the regime out. At best, I think we can advance some of our positions," one fighter said, requesting anonymity.

Other rebels told Reuters that one of the units fighting in the city had been surrounded. Another said some battalions were pulling out of the front line or had never joined the battle.

Rebels from the rural parts of northern Syria had flooded into Aleppo two months ago but were held back by shortages of ammunition and the army's superior firepower.

Aleppo is pivotal to the course of the conflict, in which at least 30,000 people have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in February last year.

World powers have watched the carnage with dismay but have been unable to agree on a way to resolve the crisis, which threatens to destabilize the wider region.

Neither side appears capable of striking a decisive military blow, although a rebel bomb attack wrecked the army's command headquarters in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, showing their growing reach.

WARPLANES IN ACTION

Though the rebels claimed no major gains in Aleppo, government forces appeared to be coming under heavy attack in some quarters.

State television said "terrorist groups" were firing mortar rounds at an area in the southeast of the city, killing three people including two children, and wounding 10 others.

Activist Ahmed Abdelrahman said battles had been waged sporadically throughout the night and that a war plane had bombed a cluster of buildings near the town of Azaz, less than a kilometer from the border with Turkey.

Video published by activists showed frantic residents digging through a collapsed building and pulling out at least one body. Abdelrahman said others were still believed to be buried in the wreckage.

The rebels, who have grown suspicious over some Kurdish militants' ties with Assad, also threatened to confront groups they said were linked to the militant Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) in neighboring Turkey.

Turkey, which has thrown its weight behind the opposition and allows the Syrian rebels sanctuary, is worried about the autonomy-seeking PKK taking advantage of the unrest in Syria to strike inside its borders.

In Aleppo's Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, rebels said they had captured at least eight men from the shabbiha - Syrian slang for pro-Assad militias. Some of the captives were killed, they said.

It was unclear if the victims were Kurds, a stateless ethnic group who stretch over much of the region and have so far been split over their support for the uprising. The current head of Syria's political opposition in exile is a Kurd.

One rebel leader issued a warning to the Kurds through the Facebook page for the Tawheed Brigade, the largest Aleppo unit.

"Tawheed Brigade leader Abdelqadir al-Saleh made a final request by phone to the PKK gangs, to drop their weapons immediately and not drag themselves into a losing battle that is not their fight," it said.

"Whoever carries arms in the face of the opposition battalions will find themselves under fire."

(Reporting by Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-rebels-struggle-advance-aleppo-offensive-113357802.html

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2 more Somali journalists murdered; 1 is beheaded

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? One Somali journalist was shot dead by gunmen on Friday while a second journalist was beheaded and his body dumped in the street, officials and residents said, two attacks that bring the number of Somali journalists killed this year to 15.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest killings, but the deaths fit into a year-long pattern of targeted attacks against Somali journalists. Reporters must watch for attacks from militants and criminals and know that such deaths have been met with judicial inaction in a capital city with crippled government institutions.

Residents in an area just north of Mogadishu discovered the headless dead body of Abdirahman Mohamed Ali, a 26-year-old sports writer with his hands tied behind his back on Thursday. His body also showed signs of torture. No previous killing of a journalist has involved a beheading, and the method of death could be an indication that al-Qaida-linked militants from al-Shabab were responsible.

"His decapitated body was dumped near a restaurant. We were shocked to see his severed head placed on his chest," Ahmed Abdinur, a resident in the restive Suqa Holaha area, said by phone. "We don't know who beheaded him, but our village has seen several such headless bodies before."

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Ahmed Abdulahi Fanah, a 32-year-old reporter who was working for the Yemeni news agency, the Somali journalists union said Friday. He was shot and killed as he walked out of his home on the way to work, it said.

The killings have made going to work a life-and-death decision for Somali journalists. One female television journalist said she won't risk her life any longer.

"I have decided to leave the country because the time we expected would bring peace and liberty has turned into the worst we have ever seen," Sahra Abdulahi Isse said. "The death threats have increased. ... I will be leaving for Uganda for my own safety."

Most of the 15 deaths appear to have been targeted killings, though last week three journalists were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a cafe popular with journalists and politicians. The day after that attack gunmen shot and killed another journalist.

Most of the killings have taken place in areas of Mogadishu nominally under the Somali government's control. Despite government promises of prosecutions, no arrests have yet been made for any of the killings in 2012.

"The terrible killings of two more journalists within the space of 36 hours makes clear that tackling the culture of impunity surrounding such atrocities can no longer wait," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The new president should make investigating the killings a priority, today."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-28-Somalia-Journalists%20Killed/id-5bec6a0b23634537855dc00ba336b172

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Purchase health insurance - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Improved communication could reduce STD epidemic among black ...

Improved communication could reduce STD epidemic among black teenagers | Human Health and Science September 26, 2012 7:32 am You are here:Home News Improved communication could reduce STD epidemic among black teenagers Posted by on September 25, 2012 in News | Tags:?Aids, Article, Chicago, Health, Internet, Problem, Research, School, Source, University, White, Work

Source: http://www.humanhealthandscience.com/improved-communication-could-reduce-std-epidemic-among-black-teenagers/news

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Threatwatch: New killer virus in the Middle East

Threatwatch is your early warning system for global dangers, from nuclear peril to deadly viral outbreaks. Debora MacKenzie highlights the threats to civilisation ? and suggests solutions

It's one of those stories where bemused interviewers ask, how worried should we be? Two people from the Arabian peninsula picked up a virus no one has ever seen before; one is now very ill, the other has died. The virus belongs to the same family as SARS, another virus no one had seen before when it emerged from China in 2002.

SARS circled the globe and killed almost 800 people, and those are just the ones we know of. Were it not for a landmark global effort in disease control ? and a fair amount of luck ? it would probably still be out there. Is the still-nameless Middle Eastern virus the next SARS?

No it isn't ? yet. But this column is about watching for threats, so we can protect ourselves. And this story is exactly that. We know about this virus solely because of a European Union project set up in response to SARS. It funds scientists to monitor unusual infections ? and spot the next SARS, or whatever, before it's crawling through city tower blocks and international airports.

"If we had known about SARS when it had only infected a few people, we might have stopped it then," says Ab Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who helped set up the system.

Case histories

A 60-year-old Saudi man died in July of pneumonia plus kidney failure. Doctors there sent samples to Ron Fouchier at Erasmus, who caused a storm last year with work that made H5N1 bird flu virus transmissible among mammals.

A man from Qatar with the same symptoms was flown to London for intensive care in September. Rotterdam asked for a sample. Preliminary sequencing suggests both men were infected by the same new virus, says Osterhaus.

The technology now available for sequencing whole viruses within days means new human respiratory viruses are being discovered at the rate of about one per year, says John Oxford of Queen Mary College in London. But sequencing is too expensive to routinely screen every unexplained illness ? without help.

"It's like stamp collecting," says Osterhaus. "You don't know when something is going to turn out to be interesting," so ordinary research funding doesn't cover it. Neither the Saudi nor the Qatar sample would have been sequenced, he says, without the European Union's EMPERIE programme, set up after SARS to watch for novel viruses with the aim of catching the next epidemic before it gets out of control.

"It gives us a whole virus discovery machine," says Osterhaus, from screening bats, to sequencing samples from humans, to alerting medics to watch for odd cases. Now they know this family of coronaviruses can kill people, they also know to handle it at safer levels of containment.

Poor transmission

To be the next SARS, the virus has to be transmissible among people, and none of the people who have come into contact with the men, including hospital staff, show any sign of infection. But now that they know what to look for, the Dutch lab and collaborators in the Middle East are testing samples kept from recent pneumonia cases in the region, and the World Health Organization has issued an alert for new cases.

The sequence shows it is not very closely related to SARS, says Osterhaus, although it is from the same subfamily of coronaviruses that is common in bats. "It could be spreading at very low levels in the Middle East, but mostly causing mild disease we don't see. Or it could be only occasionally spilling over into people from bats."

Either way, it will be one more virus that is being watched. "Any evidence of human-to-human transmission causing severe disease would be very worrying," says Peter Openshaw, head of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London. The patients so far could just be unusually severe cases of a generally mild infection, he hopes, and we are picking up the new virus simply because our surveillance has improved.

But that's what watching for threats is all about.

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BenQ: We're not going back to cellphones and laptops, but check out our luxury lamps!

There was a time when the BenQ brand could be seen on laptops and mobile phones, but nowadays you'd have to turn your eyes to projectors, LCD monitors and cameras (in select markets) in order to spot it. If you're in China, you might have even come across the gigantic BenQ Medical Center in Nanjing. That's right, a hospital; and later this year BenQ will be opening another one in Suzhou, which is where the company's Chinese operation is based. Interesting times, right? But as to whether BenQ has any intention to re-enter the two mobile markets in the near future, the answer is a firm "no."

Gallery: BenQ: We're not going back to cellphones and laptops, but check out our luxury lamps!

Gallery: QisDesign lamps

Continue reading BenQ: We're not going back to cellphones and laptops, but check out our luxury lamps!

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Video: Packers' Pickett: 'We got robbed'

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/49170513#49170513

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Guest Column - Commercial Property Executive

September 24, 2012

By Kate Kalmykov

Since 2008, a little-known government program, the EB-5, has grown exponentially in popularity. The EB-5 program has become particularly popular with those in the commercial real estate industry as an alternative, low-interest source of capital.

The Immigration Act of 1990 for the first time permitted a foreign national to qualify for permanent residency (green card status) in the United States, based upon investment under the employment-centered fifth preference category (EB-5). The foreign national who wishes to use the EB-5 category has two basic choices: Find an existing EB-5 investment company or invest directly in his or her own new enterprise.

With the ?individual EB-5? option, the investor will not only be required to commit the EB-5 investment funds to the enterprise but also be expected to be actively involved in the day-to-day management of the business. Individual EB-5s are not limited to one investor; multiple investors can pool funds together to infuse into businesses that they know will create the requisite amount of direct employee positions for each investor (the individual EB-5 requires that the investor demonstrate, after a two-year period, that their investment has resulted in the company creating 10 full-time and permanent positions filled by U.S. workers, whether citizens or permanent residents). The investor must demonstrate that the job creation requirement has been met by submitting evidence that includes W-2s, Form I-9 employment eligibility verification forms and payroll records.

The second and more popular option is to invest in a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) designated ?regional center.? A regional center is an entity, organization or agency that has been approved as such by the USCIS. The regional center focuses on a specific geographic area within the United States and seeks to promote economic growth through increased export sales, improved regional productivity, creation of new jobs and increased domestic capital investment.

A regional center designation is desirable because the job creation requirement can be met not only by demonstrating the creation of direct employment but also through indirect and induced employment. Indirect and induced employment is demonstrated through econometric reports based on recognized economic input/output models. From the investor?s perspective, because of the difficulty of creating 10 direct employees per investor in a relatively short period of time, the regional center EB-5 program has become so popular that today it accounts for approximately 95 percent of all EB-5 petitions.

With either of these options, the investment amount per person is $1 million unless the investor can show that the investment is located in a ?targeted employment area? (TEA), which is defined as either a rural area or an area that has experienced unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average rate. If the area qualifies as a TEA, the required investment amount is reduced to $500,000.

So how does this apply in the commercial real estate context? EB-5 money can be used for almost any commercial real estate project, be it an office building, industrial property, medical center, hotel, mall, retail store, shopping center, multi-family housing or warehouse. Often, a real estate development company that has had trouble securing financing through traditional lending sources or is simply looking for lower-interest financing to include in their capital stack applies for regional center designation. As part of that initial designation application, they often submit an application for pre-approval of their first ?shovel ready? project. The initial application will also include corporate and SEC offering documents such as a private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, limited partnership or LLC agreement, as well as a business plan, econometric report, marketing plan, operational plan or other documentation establishing that the project is shovel ready.

Once approved by the USCIS, the regional center will take the project to market to attract foreign investors. This often involves working with international consultants and brokers to source investors. Those interested in the regional center will subscribe to an EB-5 investment vehicle structured as either a limited partnership or a limited liability company, specifically created for the purpose of financing the development project.

This company may then either obtain an equity stake in the development project or, alternatively, use the EB-5 funds to provide a low-interest loan to the developer. If the project is in a TEA?and most projects administered by regional centers are?investors will contribute $500,000 each to the regional center project and obtain their conditional two-year green card.

At the end of the two-year period, the investor must file a petition to remove conditions of residency with the USCIS. As part of that application, the regional center must provide documentation to the investor verifying that developer completed the project as described in their business plan?i.e., it was built and the funds were expended. By doing so, the USCIS can determine that the jobs both direct and indirect have been created pursuant to the econometric report the investor submitted with their original petition to obtain the conditional green card.

Regional center designation is not a one-time thing. Once obtained, the designation may be used for other projects. If a project is outside the scope of the initial designation, either by industry or by geographic area, the developer may apply for an amendment of their designation. Developers may also adopt other projects under the auspices of their regional center for a fee. Likewise, those developers that are not interested in seeking regional center designation for themselves because of the expense or time involved may choose to have their project adopted by an existing regional center. A final option may be to purchase an existing regional center that is approved by the USCIS but is not in operation.

USCIS policies with respect to the EB-5 program are extremely fluid. Retaining experienced EB-5 counsel to ensure ongoing immigration, securities and tax compliance is the key to creating and maintaining a thriving and successful center or project.

Kate Kalmykov is of counsel at Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. She works regularly with developers, private equity funds and organizations on developing projects that qualify for EB-5 investments, including creation of regional centers, having projects adopted by existing centers and individual EB-5s. She regularly helps to prepare I-924 amendments and exemplar petitions and develops compliance programs. She also counsels foreign nationals on individual or regional center EB-5s, as well as issues related to I-829 removal of conditions.

Source: http://www.cpexecutive.com/guestcolumns/guest-column-adding-eb-5-immigrant-investor-funds-to-your-capital-stack/

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With The Launch Of SB Nation United, Vox Media Moves Into The Publishing Playoffs

Vox Media's 312 SB Nation sites for sports teams around the country are getting a major upgrade today that spans its user interfaces, editorial workflows and ad displays (including for mobile). Publishers who still don't care about perfecting their web products need to pay close attention. Readers will immediately notice fancy new homepages for their favorite teams, with classy site-specific logos, a "cover" of featured stories above the fold, and a well-organized stream of articles and community features further down the page -- right and left-hand navigation bars for tweets, fan posts, fan videos, comments, and more. But the upgrade, called SB Nation United, is really about bringing together and improving all of the tech products that Vox has been developing through SB Nation or its flagship tech site, The Verge, and making them available to any Vox-owned site. Look for the latest, gaming site Polygon, to come pre-loaded with all the features when it launches next month.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hVxx1Cx_ZNs/

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