Friday, 30 November 2012

Year-End Investing: Risk On vs. Risk Off | Breakout - Yahoo! Finance

Pop Quiz: What do the Biotech (XBI), Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Financial (XLF) sectors have in common?

Answer: 1) They are all high-beta, and 2) Paul Schatz, president of Heritage Capital thinks you should own all three groups.

First a definition then we'll get to Mr. Schatz's explanation. Beta is a measure of stock or sector's price movement relative to the stock market as a whole. High-beta stocks typically move in the same direction as the market only more so. In a falling market investors want to sell beta, in a rising market the opposite is true. Being long beta is tantamount to being in a "risk-on" posture.

By inference Schatz thinks the market is poised to go higher, but there's a catch.

"To me we're in a rental period," he explains in the attached video. "I'm not into owning any of these names or sectors or the market."

Related: Don't Bet Against a Santa Claus Rally: Detrick

The key words are "rent" and "own." Like so many grinding their way through the last few years, Schatz has found that the best opportunities involve playing the emotions on the Street rather than a pure fundamental approach. It's not that Schatz is a gun-slinging trader. He's just pragmatic.

Schatz's outlook over the near term is higher but the magnitude of the rally depends on the nature of the move. He has two scenarios. His most bullish take is that the current rally is on its last legs leaving us poised to revisit November lows. If so, investor skepticism will lead to a 2 - 4 month rally that could see the S&P 500 top out somewhere over 1,500, if not more.

Related: Seller's Remorse Will Drive Stocks Higher Through Year End: Kilburg

Should the market not see any pullbacks and the current rally extends 2 - 4% higher from current levels, Schatz sees nothing less than a collapse to below the lows of last June sometime in the first quarter of 2013. Such a scenario means stocks would drop 10% before it's worth nibbling on the long side for the long or short term.

As for things Schatz would hang onto for longer than 4 - 6 weeks, he says one of his biggest positions remains long-term U.S. Treasuries (TLT). As screwed up as the country may seem, owning our debt remains as "risk-off" as you can get.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/end-investing-risk-vs-risk-off-153530380.html

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Asia stocks rise on US data, budget talks

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets posted gains Friday on optimism over a pair of positive U.S. economic reports and growing expectations that Washington will resolve a budget impasse before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the release of an 880.3 billion yen ($10.7 billion) stimulus package by the Japanese government helped boost the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent to 9,480.26 in early trading.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.7 percent to 22,059.10 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8 percent to 4,512.90. South Korea's Kospi was nearly unchanged at 1,934.73. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand also rose.

Investment sentiment was boosted by signs of improvement in the world's No. 1 economy.

The Commerce Department raised its estimate of third-quarter growth to an annual rate of 2.7 percent ? much better than the 2 percent rate estimated a month ago. A drop in claims for unemployment benefits. Additionally, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by 23,000 to 393,000 last week, the Labor Department said. The figures were in line with expectations.

Investors have been tracking the talks between the White House and Congress over the "fiscal cliff," a reference to sharp government spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start Jan. 1 unless a deal is reached to cut the budget deficit. Economists have been warning that failure to resolve the issue will severely impact the U.S. economy, the world's largest.

Analysts said the focus of attention will likely remain on the U.S. in coming weeks, especially now that countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund have agreed to carry on funding nearly bankrupt Greece.

"For the day ahead, the 'fiscal cliff' will likely remain in focus while economic data are expected to take a back seat given a relatively light data calendar," said analysts from Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

No major progress was reported after contentious talks in Washington on Thursday, with Republican House Speaker John Boehner rebuffing a proposal by President Barack Obama because it lacked "sensible spending cuts." But it is widely expected that a compromise will be reached before the deadline.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was down 35 cents to $87.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.58 to close at $88.07 on Thursday on the Nymex.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2997 from $1.2972 Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 82.44 yen from 82.15 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-stocks-rise-us-data-budget-talks-030813076--finance.html

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CSN: Cubs spent $400K to replace Wrigley grass

November 27, 2012, 3:07 pm

During the 2012 season several Cubs players voiced their complaints about the Wrigley Field playing surface, with one player calling it ?by far the worst in the major leagues."

That led to Cubs management doing an extensive study on every field in baseball and the amount of time that each field is used for ?non-baseball activities,? which can cause considerable wear and tear on the playing surface.

At the conclusion of the 2012 season the decision was made to completely remove the current field and replace it with all new sod and dirt to bring the field up to a more acceptable level for the players.

In addition, the Cubs are expected to curtail the number of activities that are held at Wrigley starting with the 2013 season. From concerts to soccer games to corporate events, the field has gotten more play and more use than any other baseball only stadium in the sport.

When Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney was informed on Tuesday that the Cubs had decided to completely replace the playing field at Wrigley Field, he was quick to praise the team's ground crew who labored day and night to make the old surface playable.

"Our grounds crew did an amazing job trying to keep the playing surface in as good a shape as possible. However, when you have as many events going on as they do at Wrigley from concerts to corporate events it is very hard to maintain," Barney told CSNChicago.com.

At a cost of $400,000 the Cubs elected to completely tear out the old grass and dirt and replace it with a new blend of dirt and a Kentucky Bluegrass that was trucked in from Colorado. The sod is the exact same that was recently installed at Busch Stadium in St. Louis when the Cardinals replaced their outfield.

Barney, who is currently hard at work along with center fielder Brett Jackson with the Cubs hitting coaches in Arizona, is excited to get back to playing at the Friendly Confines.

"My teammates and I are excited to play on a new and improved playing surface at the greatest ballpark in baseball. It is great to see that our front office is doing all they can to make our field the best in the game."

Wrigley Field's infield was improved when a new drainage system was put in place a few years ago, and the crown was removed. Barney said he wanted to make it clear that the Wrigley grounds crew was not to blame for the hard field, but pointed to all the events that take place at the ballpark, specifically mentioning the concerts.

"It's hard on them to get this thing ready to play every day," he said. "They work really hard to do that. The truth is, it is that field that people say (bad things) about. But it's your baby. You've got to say it's the best field you've ever been on and just go from there."

Tags: Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs, Ryne Sandberg, Darwin Barney

Source: http://www.csnchicago.com/11/27/12/Cubs-completely-redo-Wrigley-playing-sur/nbcsportscubs.html?blockID=806771&feedID=10336

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Thursday, 29 November 2012

How To Do Your Own Manicure ? Eight Easy Steps To Do Manicures

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Eight Easy Steps To Do Manicures You need a regular manicure to keep your hands beautiful. Both of your hands tolerate a great pressure because we do everything with these hands. Constant handling of detergent, water and other household products make the skins of our hand rough, chapped and ugly. To get back their original look and to keep your hand charming you need at least a weekly manicure.

But it is not possible to go to parlor every time you need manicure because money and time matters. You can do your own manicure at your own home and that too spending very little money. Regular doing of manicure will make you a manicure expert one day. This article will give you tips on how to do your own manicure.

Tips to Do Manicures

Remove Old Nail Polish

To start your manicure you have to remove the old nail polish you have on your nails. Buy a good quality nail remover for this purpose. A cheap one of lesser variety may damage your nails. Take a cotton ball and make it wet by the removing lotion. Then rub the ball on your nails to make your nails nail polish free. While removing it be careful that the cotton ball touches the skin around your nails as little as possible because nail polish remover dries the skin around your nails.

Soak Your Hand In Warm Water

After that you need to make nails and the skins of your hands soft. Most of the people have very rough skin on their hands. Take a bowl of warm water. Squeeze one lemon and sprinkle pinch of salt in it. Add few drops of coconut or olive oil in it. Now soak your hands in this warm water for about 10 minutes. This will help to make your hand soft.

Trim Your Nails

After removing it from the warm water, trim your nails if you need. Regular trimming of hands is needed to avoid the unequal breakage of the nails. Make the edge of the nails smooth by rubbing it with the file. But do not rub harshly because it may damages the enamel of the nail.

Wash Your Nails With Soapy Water

Eight Easy Steps To Do Manicures

After trimming, apply some shampoo or any mild type of liquid soap on your hand. Rub and make rich leather. Take a soft brush and rub gently in corners on the nail. It will help to remove dirt from the nails.

Exfoliate

Some people have very dry skin on their hands. It is because they do not remove their dry skin and it accumulates on the skin. Apply an exfoliation cream on your hand and massage gently. It will help to remove the dead skin from your hand and will make your hand soft. Moreover, it helps to remove the dull and drab look of your hands and enhance the glow of the skin.

Also Read

Manicure Tips for Beautiful Hands
How to Do A Manicure At Home in 6 Easy Steps
Simple and Easy Steps to Do Manicure at Home
Safety Measures During Manicure

Wash and Dry Your Hands

After exfoliation, wash your hands with plain warm water. Pat your hand completely dry.

Apply Cuticle Cream and Moisturizer

Eight Easy Steps To Do Manicures

Apply cuticle cream on your cuticle and massage it with the help of your thumb. Then massage a good quality rich moisturizer on rest of your hands. After massaging for 10-15 minutes remove the excess moisturizer and cuticle cream with the help of a towel.

Apply Nail Polish

Now take a nail polish that goes with your skin color. Apply your first coat and wait for 10-15 minutes so that the first coat gets dry properly. Repeat the process.

So there is nothing to worry, you can do manicure of your own and can make your hands beautiful without spending much money and without taking other?s help.

Eight Easy Steps To Do Manicures, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Source: http://www.ayushveda.com/magazine/eight-easy-steps-to-do-manicures/

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Quick Tips To Grow Hair Faster Naturally - Ayushveda

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Quick Tips To Grow Hair Faster Naturally Long hairs have always been identified with youth and beauty in all the cultures. Poets have written long verses about beauty of a woman with long hair. It is, therefore, natural for women folk to cultivate the desire to have long locks. Ironically, modern age curses like poor nutrition, stress, overuse of chemicals do not let the hair grow long. If your hair do not grow or tend to stabilize after achieving certain length then this article is meant for you.

Here, we will present you some tips which will make your hair grow faster.

How to Grow Hair Faster

Massage your Hair Daily

The simplest way to help hair grow quicker is by massaging your scalp daily. Experts believe that new hair take time to sprout through the layers of dirt, oil, grime and skin cells therefore massaging hair daily at bedtime for 10 minutes gives way to the hair follicles to grow. Be gentle when you massage your hair otherwise you will break your hair before growing.

Trim Regularly

If you want to grow your hair faster then be regular with their trimming. It may sound contradictory but the fact is that hairs tend to get damaged at the ends and damaged hairs do not grow. So, it is important to trim your hair every two months. Ask your hair professional to trim only split ends so that length may remain maintained.

Use Right Type of Shampoos and Conditioners

It is important to choose right kind of shampoos and conditioners for maintaining hair health. If you choose wrong shampoos and conditioners for your hair type then they will not let your hair grow to their optimum and will make them weak as well.

Quick Tips To Grow Hair Faster Naturally

So, if you have dry hair then b which are hydrating, if you have damaged hair then go for nourishing products and if you have oily hair then go for products containing citrus extracts which help in controlling oil secretion.

Eat Well

It is very important to eat right kind of foods for hair growth. If you constantly live on a junk diet and want to grow your hair then it will be next to impossible to do so. Your hairs need nutrients like iron, zinc, vitamins, protein and calcium to grow optimally. Feed your hair good diet and see the difference within a couple of months. Include eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy products in your diet.

During winters, if you find it hard to munch on raw fruits and vegetables then saut? them, make stir fries and consume them. The idea is to give your hair and body adequate nutrients on daily basis. Make it a habit to snack on healthy foods like a handful of nuts or seeds, a fruit smoothie or a clear vegetable soup.

Also Read

How to Grow Hair With Care
Useful Tips for Healthy Hair Growth
Top 3 Natural Treatments for Hair Growth
Tips for Faster Hair Growth
Home Remedies for Hair Growth

Use a Suitable Hair Pack Every Week

Good hairs require good nourishment from inside as well as outside. For providing your hair nutrition from outside, go for a weekly hair pack. If you have dry hair, go for olive oil, honey and egg yolk combo, if you have oily hair go for weekly vinegar rinses and egg white and curd combo.

People with normal hair can go for yogurt and ripe banana hair pack. The idea is to provide hair nourishment and hydration. Fenugreek seeds soaked overnight and ground into a fine paste can be used for any hair type. Fenugreek hair pack promotes hair growth and adds luster to hair.

Manage Stress

Any kind of stress ? physical or mental, is bad for hair. Stress leads to hair fall and brings hair growth to a halt. To avoid stress, learn to meditate or practice deep breathing exercises.

Quick Tips To Grow Hair Faster Naturally

These techniques calm our mind from within and teach us how to handle stress. There are many techniques of meditation, you can choose and practice one of them, which suits your ideology and temperament most.

Stay Away from Harmful Ways of Styling Hair

If you are too much into blow drying and brushing your hair then it can damage your hair permanently. In fact heat and friction are two biggest enemies of long hair as they damage the outermost covering layer of hair making it prone to breakage and splitting.

Always use a fine toothed comb for your hair and before blow drying use a heat shield spray on your hair to ward off evil effects of blow drying. You can also achieve waves by braiding damp hair and then opening them after a while. This method can minimize your regular use of blow drier.

The above mentioned tips can help your hair grow faster and people fall in love with your crowning glory.

Quick Tips To Grow Hair Faster Naturally, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

Source: http://www.ayushveda.com/magazine/quick-tips-to-grow-hair-faster-naturally/

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The Reconstruction of Rome - NYTimes.com

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Source: http://mediterraneanmediacenter.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-reconstruction-of-rome-nytimescom.html

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Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Medicare, social program cuts: Will Democrats go along?

Medicare, Obamacare, and other social programs are at the heart of a disconnect over the 'fiscal cliff' in Washington. Republicans appear willing for tax increases but only if Democrats accept big cuts in Medicare and other social programs. ?

By Andrew Taylor,?Associated Press / November 28, 2012

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada pauses as he meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, following a Democratic strategy session. Republicans appear ready to agree to tax increases, but only if Democrats accept big cuts in Medicare and other social programs.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Enlarge

Republicans' newfound willingness to consider tax increases to avert the "fiscal cliff" comes with a significant caveat: larger cuts than Democrats seem willing to consider to benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the president's health care overhaul.

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The disconnect on benefit programs, coupled with an impasse between Republicans and the White House over raising tax rates on upper-bracket earners, paints a bleak picture as the clock ticks toward a year-end fiscal debacle of automatic tax increases and harsh cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs.

Democrats emboldened by the election are moving in the opposite direction from the GOP on curbing spending, refusing to look at cuts that were on the bargaining table just last year. Those include any changes to Social Security, even though President Barack Obama was willing back then to consider cuts in future benefits through lower cost-of-living increases. Obama also considered raising the eligibility age for Medicare, an idea that most Democrats oppose.

"I haven't seen any suggestions on what they're going to do on spending," a frustrated Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday. "There's a certain cockiness that I've seen that is really astounding to me since we're basically in the same position we were before."

Well, says Obama's most powerful ally on Capitol Hill, the Democrats are willing to tackle spending on entitlement programs if Republicans agree to raise income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans ? a nonstarter with Republicans still in control of the House.

"We hope that they can agree to the tax revenue that we're talking about, and that is rate increases, and as the president's said on a number of occasions, we'll be happy to deal with entitlements," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday.

But Reid speaks only in the most general terms, wary of publicly embracing specific ideas like boosting Medicare premiums or raising the program's eligibility age.

At the White House, Obama met with a group of small business owners. Participants described the hour-long meeting as a listening session for Obama, with the business owners urging him to reach an agreement.

"They had one message for the president, which is they need certainty. Please get this deal done as soon as possible. They very much want consumers out there knowing that they're going to have money in their pockets to spend. That's why it's so important to pass the extension of the tax cuts for 98 percent of consumers, 97 percent of all small businesses," said Small Business Administration head Karen Mills.

Obama planned to meet Wednesday with more than a dozen leaders from large corporations, including Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo!, Brian Roberts of Comcast and Arne Sorenson of Marriott.

Obama hits the road on Friday, visiting a Pennsylvania toy factory and broadcasting his case to extend current tax rates for all but those families making more than $250,000 a year.

Private White House negotiations with top aides to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and others are cloaked in secrecy, with no evidence of headway.

"There's been little progress with the Republicans, which is a disappointment to me," Reid, a key negotiator, told reporters on Tuesday. "They talked some happy talk about doing revenues, but we only have a couple weeks to get something done. So we have to get away from the happy talk and start talking about specific things."

Republicans say it's Obama and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill who are holding back, and they point to a balance of power in official Washington that is little changed by the president's re-election. Republicans still control the House, despite losing seats in the election. Democrats control the Senate.

"Democrats in Congress have downplayed the danger of going over the cliff and continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement to reduce the deficit," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Just last year, Obama and top Democrats were willing during budget negotiations with Republicans to take politically risky steps such as reducing the annual inflation adjustment to Social Security retirement payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare, which provides health care coverage to the elderly.

Now, with new leverage from Obama's election victory and a playing field for negotiations that is more favorable to Democrats than during the talks of the summer of 2011, Democrats are taking a harder line, ruling out any moves on Social Security and all but dismissing ideas like raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65.

"The election spoke very strongly about the fact that the American people don't want to cut these programs that actually really sustain the middle class in America and allow people to become part of the middle class," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"I think they feel somewhat emboldened by the election," said GOP Rep. Tom Price of Georgia. "How could you not when your president is re-elected after running four straight years of trillion dollar-plus deficits?"

Indeed, Obama could be in position to blame Republicans if an impasse results in the government going over the fiscal cliff. Democrats already are portraying GOP lawmakers as hostage-takers willing to let tax rates rise on everyone if lower Bush-era tax rates are not extended for the top 2 percent to 3 percent of earners ? those with incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint filers.

"One thing Republicans have to realize ? we're in much better shape in January," said Harkin, referring to a time when taxes would have already risen and Democrats would be offering to cut taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans. "Fiscal cliff? I don't care."

Obama's opening position in the negotiations calls for $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over the coming decade, balanced by just $340 billion in cuts to rapidly growing health care programs, generally taken from health care providers instead of beneficiaries. That balance would have to change for Republicans to sign onto any agreement.

Given the crunch of time and the complexity of issues such as tax reform and wringing savings from programs like Medicare, negotiators are working on a two-track process: an initial "down payment" of deficit cuts next month, coupled with work next year on overhauling the tax code and curbing entitlement programs.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a leading Senate liberal and a member of Obama's special 2010 deficit panel ? which drafted a bold deficit reduction plan blending painful entitlement cuts with $2 trillion in higher tax revenues ? weighed in with a demand that any short-term down payment avoid politically sensitive safety net programs.

"Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff," Durbin said in a speech at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/wdNnZOhSBLs/Medicare-social-program-cuts-Will-Democrats-go-along

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Syrian war clouds Turkish plan to clear land mines

AKINCI, Turkey (AP) ? For two people walking into a Turkish minefield, they looked awfully assured.

The pair strode in from Syria on a recent afternoon, following a faint track across the grassy plain. They slipped into Turkey through a fence near a vacant military watchtower and vanished into an olive grove.

Such hazardous crossings are a smuggler's tradition at the border, where Turkish plans to clear a vast belt of land mines have been clouded by Syria's civil war. Last week, Turkey asked NATO allies to deploy Patriot missiles as a defense against any aerial attacks from Syria after shells and bullets spilled across the border, killing and injuring some Turks.

Starting in the 1950s, Turkish forces planted more than 600,000 U.S.-made "toe poppers" ? mines designed to maim, not kill ? and other land mines along much of its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria, which runs from the Mediterranean Sea to Iraq. The aim was to stop smugglers whose cheap black market goods undercut the Turkish economy and later to thwart Kurdish rebels from infiltrating Turkey's southeast.

However, the mines also killed and maimed civilians, took arable land from Turkish farmers and are now considered by many as a crude method of policing.

Turkey says it plans to clear anti-personnel mines on the Syria border by 2016, missing a March 2014 deadline required by the international Mine Ban Treaty. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a Geneva-based group that won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, has criticized Turkey for its slow progress.

The European Union has committed ?40 million ($52 million) to demining and surveillance equipment near Turkey's borders with Iran and Armenia on the basis that Turkey could eventually become the EU's most eastern border. Turkey, adjacent to the Middle East and Central Asia, has long been a drug trafficking route and a transit point for migrants who enter Europe illegally.

Since last year, nearly 200,000 Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey, mostly through border posts or areas known to be free of mines. A Syrian man and two children were reported killed in August, however, by an explosive in an area of Mardin province that had been mined by the Turkish military. Syrian forces last year were also suspected of laying some mines to stem an embarrassing refugee flight into Turkey.

A Turkish smuggler in the border village of Akinci, south of the city of Gaziantep, said he has charged Syrian refugees up to 25 Turkish lira ($14) each to lead them through Turkish minefields. He has also acted as a lookout, monitoring shifts of Turkish military sentries and telling another smuggler who escorts Syrian clients, usually before dawn.

"I don't know where they are going. I don't care," said the gaunt man, who would not give his name and claimed he was desperate for cash. "I know it's risky for me, but I have to do it."

According to lore, villagers used to enter the Akinci mosque, which lies beside a minefield, for prayers and then sneak out the back into Syria for business.

On foot, mule or motorcycle, smugglers traditionally brought in items from Syria, including tea, gasoline, cigarettes, electronics and livestock, to sell for a profit in Turkey. The Syrian war has disrupted but not extinguished the trade among communities that were abruptly divided when the border was drawn in the last century.

Some smugglers try their luck at border posts, which became easier to cross when visa requirements were removed in 2009 after the warming of ties between Turkey and Syrian President Bashar Assad, now an enemy because of his attacks on the Syrian opposition. A few weeks ago, a Syrian man was detained while trying to enter Turkey with gold bars in his waistband.

Approved traffic moves the other way, as Turkey and other nations that oppose Assad send logistical and humanitarian aid to Syrian rebels and civilians. While Turkey says it is not arming the insurgency, Syrian rebels have told The Associated Press they receive some weapons and ammunition from the Turkish side with only sporadic interference from border patrols. According to rebels, these weapons are bought with funding from rich Syrians or sympathetic Gulf Arabs.

Fences are down and cars can cross in some parts adjoining Syria's Idlib province, an opposition stronghold.

The first mines on the Syrian border were planted after smugglers killed two customs agents in 1956. Turkey laid more mines in the 1980s and 1990s, at the height of its war with the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which was backed by Syria. Turkey is again worried about possible infiltration by Kurdish rebels who are cheered by an autonomy grab by their ethnic brethren in Syria.

The Turkish defense ministry told the AP it started evaluating bids from demining companies in July and would sign contracts once the assessment is complete.

"Developments in Syria to this day have not affected our plans or work," the ministry said. NATO said it is assisting with "technical preparations" for the mine clearance.

Cenk Sidar, managing director of Sidar Global Advisors, a Washington-based consultancy, said he believed that Turkey would sign contracts but wait until the Syrian civil war is resolved.

"According to plans, the government will build electronic border surveillance systems simultaneously with the demining. Even this seems too risky at this point," Sidar wrote in an email. "It may take a few years, and some qualified/selected firms may change their pricing or conditions due to the increasing instability."

Between 2010 and 2011, a Turkish firm, Nokta, and a partner from Azerbaijan cleared more than 1,200 mines around an archaeological site, Karkemish, on the Syrian border. They found anti-tank mines and M14 mines known as "toe poppers." It was hard to work with metal detectors because the soil also contained remnants of coins and other ancient fragments; some mines had to be dug out by hand rather than detonated to avoid damaging cultural treasures.

There is no reliable data for casualties from mines laid by the Turkish military, whose fight with the PKK has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The rebels, who regularly target security forces with mines and roadside bombs, took up arms in 1984 in the name of Kurdish rights; Turkey and the West label them terrorists.

Residents around Akinci recalled a villager who lost a limb to a mine several years ago while cutting trees for military sentries. Halil Kaya, 64, said he had heard of several dozen people over the decades who were killed or injured by mines. A deep furrow runs down Kaya's right forearm from a Turkish military bullet in his days as a smuggler.

Mehmet Dagdeviren, 49, said the Turkish military had softened and now might only fire warning shots at smugglers. He interrupted the chat to take a phone call, then rushed to a car and drove away.

A delivery from Syria needed collection.

___

Umut Colak in Akinci, Turkey, Bulut Emiroglu in Istanbul and Ben Hubbard in Beirut contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-war-clouds-turkish-plan-clear-land-mines-085245388.html

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Is Jessica Simpson Pregnant? See Her Cutest Mom Moments

Rumors are buzzing that the new mom is already expecting baby no. 2! Look back at her cutest moments with baby Maxwell

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/jessica-simpson-family-photos/1-b-487974?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ajessica-simpson-family-photos-487974

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Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Israel, militants begin talks on truce details

Palestinian school children walk in the rubble left days after an Israeli strike destroyed the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Israel launched its offensive on Nov. 14 in a bid to halt months of Palestinian rocket attacks. It says it inflicted heavy damage on Gaza militants, but the territory's armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into Israel before a cease-fire was declared Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian school children walk in the rubble left days after an Israeli strike destroyed the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Israel launched its offensive on Nov. 14 in a bid to halt months of Palestinian rocket attacks. It says it inflicted heavy damage on Gaza militants, but the territory's armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into Israel before a cease-fire was declared Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A Palestinian schoolgirl is seen through a hole in a blackboard days after an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Israel launched its offensive on Nov. 14 in a bid to halt months of Palestinian rocket attacks. It says it inflicted heavy damage on Gaza militants, but the territory's armed groups fired hundreds of rockets into Israel before a cease-fire was declared Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel and Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip began indirect talks Monday in Egypt aimed at forging a new era of relations between the bitter enemies following a cease-fire that ended the heaviest fighting in nearly four years.

The talks, being mediated by Egypt, were the first negotiations since the cease-fire took effect last Wednesday, halting eight days of airstrikes targeting militant groups in the Palestinian territory and rocket attacks that reached deep into Israel.

Israel launched some 1,500 airstrikes in a bid to end rocket attacks out of Gaza, while the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant groups fired a similar number of rockets at Israeli cities. More than 160 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians were killed. Palestinian attacks killed Six Israelis, including four civilians and two soldiers.

Now that fighting has subsided, Egypt is working with the sides on carrying out the second phase of the agreement: negotiating new border arrangements for the impoverished coastal strip.

The negotiations will not be simple. The militants want Israel to lift what remains of its blockade of Gaza, imposed five years ago after Hamas seized control of the territory from its Western-backed rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. While Israel has eased the blockade in recent years, key restrictions remain in place on exports out of Gaza and the entry of badly needed building materials into the territory.

The Palestinians are hopeful that Egypt's new Islamist government will ease its own restrictions on movement in and out of the territory. Egypt still limits foot traffic through the Rafah border crossing. The militants also hope to turn the Rafah terminal into a major cargo crossing.

In return, Israel wants an end to arms smuggling into Gaza. Iranian-made weapons have made their way into Gaza through a circuitous route that ends with underground tunnels along the Egyptian border.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media, said Israel is prepared to take steps to help Gaza's civilians but would be wary of doing anything that could strengthen Hamas. In particular, he said the issue of arms smuggling would be high on the agenda.

"Our assessment is that successfully preventing the rearmament of Hamas and other groups is an integral element of maintaining long-term peace and quiet," the official said.

Yasser Othman, Egypt's top diplomat in the West Bank, confirmed the talks had begun.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official in Gaza, said the group's economics minister, Ziad al-Zaza, was leading the Palestinian delegation. He gave no further details, and it was unclear whether any timeline was imposed for implementing the deal.

But militant leaders already have said they will not give up the vast arsenals they have accumulated. In the recent fighting, Hamas and Islamic Jihad unveiled new rockets capable of striking deep into the Israeli heartland, in addition to anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.

In an interview Monday, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called him and Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to offer congratulations after their battle with Israel.

"Iran has been providing us with the support we needed to defend ourselves in the face of the Zionist occupation. Iran supported us militarily and financially and with everything we need to stand steadfast on our land," Shallah said. "We appreciate that and hope that all the Arab countries do the same."

He also said he hoped the latest fighting would inspire Palestinians in the West Bank to rise up against Israel as well.

Abbas, an outspoken critic of violence, has governed in the West Bank since Hamas overthrew his forces in Gaza in 2007. The rival governments repeatedly have failed to reconcile.

After four years of deadlock in peace efforts with Israel, Abbas this week is asking the United Nations to grant the Palestinians upgraded observer status and recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. The motion, largely symbolic, is expected to pass easily in the U.N. General Assembly.

In a statement, Hamas announced that its supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, called Abbas to welcome the decision to go to the U.N.

Israeli officials ? backed by the Obama administration ? strongly oppose the move in the belief it is an attempt to bypass negotiations, but they have not said how they will respond.

___

Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Cairo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-26-ML-Israel-Palestinians/id-96e63625274647d9b0c48a6b83fc5f70

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92% Skyfall

All Critics (276) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (253) | Rotten (23)

'Quantum of Solace,' was a dour, dire letdown. This picture's a substantial bounce back, and easily the best Craig Bond picture. Emotional depth and all.

Sam Mendes' 'Skyfall': sleek, slithery, sensual

The cool accomplishment of Skyfall, 23rd in the Broccoli franchise, is that it seems a necessary, rather than mandatory, addition to the year's popular culture.

Among the most ambitious imaginings of Bond to date: dark, supple, and punctuated with moments of unanticipated visual brilliance.

Mendes' approach to action is classical and elegant - no manic editing and blurry unintelligible images here - but what makes the movie special is the attention he pays his actors.

"Skyfall" is a different kind of Bond movie, one that works just fine on its own terms, but a steady diet of this might kill the franchise. One "Skyfall" is enough.

Sentimental touches underscore the fun and frivolity of Bond's past while relishing the brutal landscape of the modern day super-spy.

This makes the list of truly great 007 films alongside the list of Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live And Let Die, Licence To Kill, Goldeneye and Casino Royale.

Worlds collide in this near-brilliant, meticulously refined 21st-century redefinition of James Bond.

Sam Mendes has done a magnificent job, creating both a relevant and timeless entry into the Bond canon, while deftly adding homages to the series' past.

...tough and grim but still spry ... feels like something of a rearguard action in the case of the British Empire.

Sometimes the old ways are the best. This is a theme and repeated line running throughout the new James Bond film Skyfall and never has it been more true.

Skyfall does what all of the best franchise entries do: it makes you want to see the next one immediately. Consider me (physically) shaken and (emotionally) stirred.

Not the best Bond movie ever but a very good one; a little darker but still unsettled as to what type overall it wants to be.

Too often this martini is sloppy, not smooth.

This is one of the 50-year-old series' most exciting and commandingly compelling entries. Yes, James Bond is back to being James Bond.

Seen against the ineffectual backdrop of 2008's Quantum of Solace, this is a return to form but it doesn't exceed Craig's impressive debut as Bond in 2006's Casino Royale.

Skyfall is not, of course, ''darker'' or more serious than previous Bond films, but it's more knowing about its own conventions.

Breathes fresh life into the genre.

A lot of critics are claiming this to be the best Bond film ever made; they may well be right-to some degree. It's certainly the most poignant-which, in what is ostensibly an action film, is a feather in Mendes' cap to be sure.

James Bond's 23rd official feature film gives the iconic secret agent something to stew over: an existential crisis.

Suffers from unconvincing plotting, and a third act so bad it brings the roof of the whole endeavour caving in

Even die-hard Sean Connery fans will have to admit there's another actor who can portray James Bond when they see 'Skyfall.'

Mendes does a superb job maintaining tension - and releasing it from time to time so we can take a breath, have a laugh, sit back from the edge of our seat - as he shows how seriously the James Bond character can be taken, without breaking it

Establishing a sense of urgency from the outset, the 23rd Bond film hits its tall target with a bonus back-story, character establishment and strong storyline to balance the action. As a consequence, we are offered a film that is uniquely Bond

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skyfall/

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How PRWeb Helps Distribute Crap Into Google & News Sites

?What?s the use of PRWeb?,? tweeted Megan McCarthy of Reuters, trying to digest how that service ended up circulating a fake Google acquisition story. Come along, Megan and others, and I?ll explain one of the sorriest uses, getting crap into Google News and out into news sites.

For those who somehow missed today?s big tech news, PRWeb ran a press release saying that WiFi provider ICOA was being?acquired?by Google for $400 million. Plenty of outlets carried the news, until denials from both parties started circulating.?Instead, the release?appears to have been written by someone trying to pump up ICOA?s stock.

It?s a big embarrassment for PRWeb, which has now issued its own statement?on the matter:

PRWeb transmitted a press release for ICOA that we have since learned was fraudulent. The release was not issued or authorized by ICOA. Vocus reviews all press releases and follows an internal process designed to maintain the integrity of the releases we send out every day. Even with reasonable safeguards identity theft occurs, on occasion, across all of the major wire services. We have removed the fraudulent release and turned the matter over to the proper authorities for further investigation.

Others will delve into what Vocus ? the company that owns PRWeb ? does to supposedly ensure that someone who says they?re posting news on behalf of a company really is representing that company. I?m going to focus instead on the idea that PRWeb is apparently reviewing all press releases to ensure the ?integrity? of them. That will help explain why, in this day when any company can instantly issues press releases, a service like PRWeb still exists.

This Is Integrity?

It?s all about distribution. In the past, you?d get a press release out and hope newspapers might pick up the story, often using the release as a basis for writing their own stories ? ones that might be fact-checked, or sourced with others, or get turned into something other than a promotional item.

Instead, with PRWeb and other services, you can get whatever you want published and distributed?verbatim?into a wide range of news sources. To illustrate this, let?s start with some published press releases that should all have the required integrity promised by PRWeb.

We?ll begin with a search for releases on the important news topic of viagra:

I?m going to focus on the third release listed, one headlined, ?How to Buy Drugs ? Lowest Price Viagra, Buy Levitra Viagra ? Online Pill Store,? as you can see below:

There?s so much to love in this release. My favorite part is probably the pullout quote, ?Levitra Buy Viagra.? But also, apparently the online pharmacy is both ?trustworthy? and able to sell prescription drugs without customers needing a prescription. I guess that?s because it?s a ?licensed and legal European??pharmacy, which is pretty clear given that big American flag and ?American quality? logo in the press release image, along with a?Canadian?maple leaf and the words ?Canadian Online Pharmacy.?

I have no reason to doubt all of this, to doubt the claims at all, because as you can see from the PRWeb statement, this release was reviewed to ensure it had the right ?integrity? that PRWeb apparently feels it needs to maintain with its service.

Distribution Time!

Once the release was posted, it was then distributed to a range of outlets that PRWeb helpfully itemizes, including Google News and, if you paid extra, through the Associated Press and thus to news outlets like the New York Times to The Oregonian:

As it turns out, the Viagra release above didn?t make it into Google News, perhaps because only the ?Standard? package of $159 was purchased. Google News and news search engines seem to require going up to the ?Advanced? package for $199.

Injecting Integrity Into Google News

That?s OK, we can see how even a release that isn?t directly distributed on PRWeb to Google News can still pollute it, in the ?how to buy viagra??search below in Google News:

All those sites marked ?Hacked? are Google News sources where some or all of the entire article that Google News saw, when it visited the site, was completely different than what the actual article was about. If you?re wondering why Google?s ?Penguin? spam fighting update hasn?t caught this, the answer is likely two-fold:

  • Penguin is applied to Google Web Search, rather than Google News
  • Google News is radically screwed-up

There?s an entire separate article we?ll get to eventually on how the relevancy of Google News seems to have gotten worse recently, with stories being surfaced that can be woefully out-of-date. The fact that all these hacked sites are showing up is just one sign that perhaps Google News needs more attention than it has been getting from Google.

Postscript: Technically, the Penguin update was aimed at fighting spam, not hacking attempts. That?s a bigger reason why Penguin isn?t having an impact on the hacking within Google News. But then again, the people hacking these web sites are doing so with the intent of spamming Google?s results. So, I still count it as a disappointment that you see so much of this happening.

Injecting Integrity Into News Publishers

But let?s move on to that ?News Publisher? item. That, supposedly, is a story from the Houston Chronicle called ?Levitra Buy Viagra.? It was indeed published by the Houston Chronicle, and it was a legit story in the sense that the paper wasn?t hacked. Rather, it?s a PRWeb distributor:

It looks to be exactly the same press release, from the same company, that I mentioned above. I haven?t done a word-by-word match, but at the very least, it?s virtually?identical. Oh, there is one difference. This release was published at the end of October, rather than the end of November. I guess there was that much change with the company that it made sense to issue the same release again just a month later.

Try doing searches for ?lowest price viagra? or ?online pill stores,? and you can see similar things to what I?ve described above happening.

?But wait,? I hear you say, ?No one searches for such things in Google News!? Maybe. Maybe not. But they search for many other things, both in Google News and in Google, where news results may appear. Say, for example, ?vitamin injections,? which generates these results on Google News:

Plenty of news coverage on the topic from the San Francisco Chronicle. Er, make that from the San Francisco Chronicle running PRWeb press releases.

Injecting Integrity Into Bing & Yahoo

It?s not just Google, of course, that gets infected by this madness. Here?s the same search, this time at Bing:

Bless, at least Bing gives me an actual news story up top, sadly from the Daily Mail, but this is Daily Mail fare. But after that, it?s PRweb distribution taking over. I particularly like the stories tagged as being from Yahoo. This is a PRWeb twofer win!

You see, the PRWeb ?stories? on vitamin injections got distributed to Yahoo (here?s one of them), where they became available to those searching on Yahoo News. But in turn, they also became fodder that Bing News carried.

The Legit Way To Buy Links

I haven?t even gotten into the other aspect of why people buy on PRWeb, which is to get links. Links are still an important ranking factor for search engines. Buying a press release through PRWeb is an easy and legit way to effectively buy links, a way that Google doesn?t penalize you for.

Postscript: Doing a little more digging, it appears that the head of Google?s web spam team, Matt Cutts, specifically said way back in 2005 that links from PRweb don?t carry credit. Of course, there are plenty of people who might assume they still do. It?s not like there?s any easy-to-spot notice informing people that Google discounts these links. And the ?Advanced Package? that PRweb pitches as being ?search-optimized? has ?anchor text links? as a selling point.

Fake News About Google In Google

By the way, today?s fake press release that Google had to deny ironically got?visibility?through Google itself. That fake release generated stories that assumed it was true, and around 12:15pm ET today, when the denial stories were picking up, Google was still giving visibility to the incorrect stories:

Bing, on the other hand, got it right with the denial stories showing up.

Related Stories

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: News | Top News



SMX - Search Marketing Expo

Source: http://searchengineland.com/how-prweb-helps-distribute-crap-into-google-news-sites-140597

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Monday, 26 November 2012

New developed drug kills cancer cells for good | Firstpost

London: Aflibercept, a new drug, practically tricks tumours into passivity by flipping molecular switches in cancer?s structure and making them as good as dead.

Trials conducted in the UK, involving more than 1,400 patients, some with advanced bowel cancer, are showing positive results with the novel drug, where patients are reporting ?significant? extension of life.

Pic used for representational purposes only.

Aflibercept had a ?statistically significant survival benefit? compared to conventional drug regimes treating bowel cancer that had spread after initial treatment, the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported.

Rob Glynne Jones, Macmillan clinical lead for gastrointestinal cancer at Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, Middlesex, said: ?The trial results were positive.?

?Around 10,000 patients a year die from bowel cancer and most of them are having some form of chemotherapy so it is theoretically applicable to those. I am sure this drug will have a research programme and they will be extending it to all other cancers,? said Jones, according to the Daily Mail.

Aflibercept is administered as a 30-minute infusion alongside chemotherapy. It is available in the US, and European approval is expected soon.

IANS

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Personal attacks/name calling will not be tolerated. This applies to comments directed at the author, other commenters and other politicians/public figures

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While you do not have to use your real name, any commenters using any Firstpost writer's name will be deleted, and the commenter banned from participating in any future discussions.

Comments will be moderated for abusive and offensive language.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/new-developed-drug-kills-cancer-cells-for-good-535970.html

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Andrew W.K. Nixed By State Dept. as Cultural Ambassador

Singer, rocker, free-form motivational speaker, and general party dude Andrew W.K. caused a stir in the music world by claiming the U.S. State Department had made him a cultural ambassador to the Middle East.

Unfortunately for rockers and partiers worldwide, it won't be happening.

W.K., whose given name is Andrew Wilkes-Krier, posted to his website announcing the State Department had invited him to travel to Bahrain in December to "promot[e] partying and world peace":

The US Department of State in partnership with the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, has invited Andrew to visit the Middle East to promote partying and positive power. In the tradition of the American Jazz Ambassadors who traveled the world in the mid 20th century as examples of American culture and spirit, Andrew has been invited by the State Department to travel to the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain and share his music and partying with the people there. Andrew will begin his journey sometime in December, 2012 and will visit elementary schools, the University of Bahrain, music venues, and more, all while promoting partying and world peace.

Andrew says: "This is a tremendous invitation. I'm very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I've never been before. And I feel very privileged and humbled by the chance to represent the United States of America and show the good people of Bahrain the power of positive partying. I can hardly wait for this adventure!"

But a State Department spokeswoman on Monday called the plans a "mistake."

"We had a Bahraini entity that approached the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy, who I take it is pretty popular there in Bahrain. That was initially approved, and then when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of U.S. government funds," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at a briefing.

"I think the conclusion was when they looked at the body of his work that we didn't need to be part of this invitation," Nuland said. "There may have been some preliminary conversations with him. But he is not going to be going to Bahrain on the U.S. government's dime."

Andrew W.K. made a name for himself with the 2001 album "I Get Wet," which featured metal-inspired pop-rock songs almost exclusively about partying. W.K. later hosted a show on MTV2 in which he received letters from troubled fans and attempted to help with their problems. He currently hosts the Cartoon Network show "Destroy Build Destroy."

W.K. has made a career of promoting the idea of partying, explaining it as a life ethos in free-form motivational speeches, where he stresses positive thinking and self-empowerment through partying and rock music.

The singer isn't taking the State Department rebuke so well.

He posted an update to his website on Monday, including a promotional flyer for his Bahrain appearance bearing red, block letters reading "CANCELED BY THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT." Read Andrew W.K.'s update:

BREAKING NEWS: After a year of planning and development, the US State Department has unexpectedly canceled their plans for Andrew's trip to the Middle East this week, after changing their minds and deciding that it was "a mistake and not appropriate." More information and a statement from Andrew, coming soon.

The singer also tweeted: "They can cancel our party in the Middle East, but they can never cancel the party in our hearts. #StayPositiveStayParty."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/andrew-w-k-nixed-state-dept-cultural-ambassador-001417712--abc-news-politics.html

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Foot Health ? Toe Nail Anti-Fungal Liquid and Cream Products ...

Summary. Maintaining healthy toe nails is essential. Fungus can cause nail discoloration, and when left untreated, fungus can cause nails to increase in size resulting in painful conditions. When treated in time, a simple topical liquid or cream is enough to restore nails to health.

The Fungi Cure product (by Alva-Amco) shown above is a liquid that penetrates nails to thoroughly eliminate fungus with a 25% Undecylenic Acid solution. [Buy Now]

The?Tineacide Antifungal Cream?product (by Blaine Labs) shown below is a cream that contains 10% Undecylenic Acid solution combined with some natural antiseptic/anti-fungal ingredients such as Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil, and Aloe Vera. [Buy Now]

Source: http://www.resourcesforlife.com/docs/item6255

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Activist Post: Surveillance Grid Moves Ahead With VoIP Spy ...

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

Once upon a time, privacy was not a word that was foreign to the English language. In that time long ago, police and governments would often have to manufacture an incident (like 9/11) in order to successfully push for more legal powers to monitor private conversations or access data without a warrant.

However, in 2012, the premise of the invasion of privacy is no longer necessary. Now, the debate itself is a foregone conclusion that agencies will be granted greater power to surveil the populace. The only question taken into consideration is what might be the best method that these organizations can utilize in order to take advantage of these coming powers.

Such is now the case with various Internet chat services like Skype and other companies or products utilizing Voice over IP technology, which law enforcement complains makes the task of eavesdropping on ?suspects?? communications much more difficult.

As explained by MassPrivateI in the article, ?Police want to covertly eavesdrop (spy) on voice over IP chats,? Voice over IP software allows for individuals to ?make phone calls over the Internet by converting analog audio signals into digital data packets.?

The article continues by stating,

Because of the way the packets are sent over the Web, sometimes by a 'peer-to-peer' connection, it can be complex and costly for law enforcement agencies to listen in on them. This has previously led some countries, like Ethiopia and Oman, to block VoIP services on 'security' grounds. In the United States and Europe, too, VoIP has given authorities a headache. The FBI calls it the going dark problem' and is pushing for new powers to force Internet chat providers to build in secret backdoors to wiretap suspected criminals? online communications.

In other words, law enforcement is irate that a technology exists that does not allow them to easily and illegally monitor the private conversations of American citizens. This, of course, ignores the fact that government technology is light years ahead of anything available to the average person. Thus, to believe that surveillance technology for VoIP software does not exist already is clearly naive.

Regardless, as is always the case when law enforcement and government claim they do not have enough sweeping power to ?keep us safe,? they are swiftly granted more.

In this case, however, it is the private sector (joined at the hip with the government, military, and intelligence agencies at the highest levels) that is rushing in to save the day. Specifically, Dennis Chang, President of Sun Valley-based company VOIP-PAL, has recently obtained patents to what has been termed a ?legal intercept technology? that would allow a host of government agencies to ?silently record? VoIP communications.

Predictably, Microsoft has also applied for a similar patent that would allow an agency to ?secretly intercept? communications via VoIP, amend the communications content, and store it. Although only recently announced to the public, the patent was filed as far back as 2009.

Chang?s VOIP-PAL patent was filed even earlier in 2007.

In the Microsoft patent, Patent Number 20110153809, it is stated that data that is linked with a request to establish a communication is ?modified to cause the communication to be established via a path that includes a recording agent.?

Among the possibilities of the types of modification that may occur during this process, ?adding, changing and/or deleting data within the data" are all potential methods of alteration.

After the data has been modified, it is then passed to a protocol entity which uses the data to establish a communications pathway than includes a recording agent which is then ?able to silently record the communication? according to the patent application.

Yet one should not be under the impression that this secret intercept surveillance technology is directed only at programs like Skype. As MassPrivateI writes,

The technology could allow the monitoring of conversations, voice messages and video conferences over a variety of devices, including smartphones, laptops and gaming devices.
. . . . . . .
Communications that can be intercepted may be conducted over computers, laptops, set-top boxes, programmable consumer electronics devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, gaming devices, printers, computing devices in automobiles and home media centers, the application states.
With this new technology, individuals can be identified by their usernames and subscriber data, as well as by billing records that can associate usernames with names and addresses. This would make not only calls available for easy interception, but also ?any other data streams such as pure data and/or video or multimedia data.?

Of course, it is now becoming well-known that governments and other militant privacy violators do not necessarily even need such technology. Nor do they even need the legal authority for access. This is because major companies like Skype have been notorious for easily surrendering users? personal data, even at times volunteering to submit the information to the requesting agencies. In a recent report by RT, it was described how Microsoft-owned Skype eagerly handed over the data of one of its users to a Texas-based intelligence firm.

Yet the legal authority to grind the boot of the state further into the face of American privacy is not being neglected either. Considering the recent announcement regarding the infamous Senator Patrick Leahy?s revision of a bill allegedly designed to protect American?s privacy into one that actually eviscerates privacy even more, there should be little doubt that the global surveillance control grid is moving ahead unabated.


In the end, the new VoIP surveillance software is yet one more block in the Berlin wall of surveillance and globalized control. As the Brookings Institution has already stated, the labor and cost needed to monitor, evaluate, and store every form of communication and data within the borders of the United States is minuscule when compared to other products.

With this in mind, anyone who believes those in control of these technologies are merely making wish lists for the future will find themselves both surprised and disappointed soon enough.

Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions?and Dispatches From a Dissident.?Turbeville has published over 175 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV.? He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.?

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Source: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/11/surveillance-grid-moves-ahead-with-voip.html

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Complete Auto Loans Announces Huge Online Savings ... - Finance

by wolverine on November 25, 2012


Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 24, 2012

Some consumers who are trying to get a car loan may find the process to be more hard then anticipated. Shopping for a car looks fun for rich people but most car shoppers don?t have a pile of money stashed away to blow on a dream car. For those car shopper who have struggled with finances applying for terrible credit auto loans is the best option. With a terrible credit auto loan a consumer is able to find a safe and reliable car, up to $ 40,000, that will last them for years to come.

Unfortunately most auto lenders charge terrible credit auto loan applicants a fee just to apply for a loan. Often these terrible credit auto loans will not even accept the car shopper for enough money to buy a decent car. Their goal is to simply draw desperate car buyers into a trap where they pay huge interest rates on a used vehicle which may accrue more future debt for the consumer. That?s why Complete Auto Loans is here for consumers. Their lending process is meant to help people who need a terrible credit auto loan to not only get approved quick but get approved with quality auto lenders at low rates. Their online car loans network has been developed with precision to give consumers the best rates on their next auto loan.

For a car shopper who is interested in understanding how well the system really works, it?s quite simple. The process of getting a terrible credit auto loan approved starts with Complete Auto Loans national network of auto lenders and automobile dealers. Their lenders and dealers specialize in helping people who struggle with a terrible credit history to get a zero or no money down auto loan. With such a fantastic and simple process college students are jumping on board to get student auto loans before heading to college. After the applicant has been approved they can generally get their money within 24 hours.

About Complete Auto Loans

The loan service provided by Complete Auto Loans boasts of speed and simplicity, claiming to qualify terrible credit auto loans within the time frame of one minute. With Complete Auto Loans, consumers are guaranteed a 100% acceptance rate and loan approval that is free of cost, quick, and that lays aside any type of credit history.

Keith Eneix

Complete Auto Loans

Source: http://finance.only-the-news.com/complete-auto-loans-announces-huge-online-savings-for-bad-credit-auto-loans/

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Sunday, 25 November 2012

Boertala.com ? Online Build Own Business Network Your Online

Many online business owners and marketers use a variety of tools to make their business successful. Good strategies include maintaining a web site, publishing an ezine, joining affiliate programs, advertising on other people?s ezines, and much, much more. As any good Internet ?guru? will tell you, getting your name and product ?out there? is the most important part of your success. So, the general rule is: Use as many strategies as possible.

What I suggest is that you take this rule one step farther. What I think works best is combining as many of the strategies together, as possible. In other words, when you can, build your own network, using the tools you already have in place. And I?m using the word network, as it relates to networking your online systems ? not in the sense of a prospect or client network, though I have some tips on that, near the end of this article.

So, let?s break down this concept. Suppose you have a web site that promotes a product or service. You probably have a sales letter, some testimonials and a merchant account, so people can buy your product. Now, what I would suggest next, if you don?t already have it, is your own ezine (online magazine, operated by an e-mail autoresponder). You get visitors to subscribe to your ezine, using a pop-up or another type of FREE subscription form on your web site. Again, this may not be new to most people, but here?s another spin on it. In addition to your pop-up or basic sign-up form on your site, why not add a page to your site, with a link on your home page, that does nothing but promote your ezine.

You see, many people pass up your subscription form, because they are afraid of SPAM, or they don?t know enough about your ezine. Will it interest them? Or, will it just bombard them with more advertising?

A separate page can explain exactly what the ezine does, promote articles that you have in it, even give a sample issue, so prospects can see what they are getting. Be sure to have several subscription forms on this page between sections of your text, so people have plenty of opportunity to subscribe. Also, be sure that visitors are linked back to your home page, once they?ve subscribed, so they get back to looking at your product. Any good autoresponder will have this feature, which is crucial, because although you desperately want people signing up for your ezine, you also want them to read your sales letter and, hopefully, buy your product.

Make sure your ezine articles always link back to your web site, so you are constantly promoting yourself. After all, this is really what ezines are for.

Another part of good online networking is to set up affiliate programming, in a similar fashion to the aforementioned ezine promotion. That is, instead of just offering your own product as an affiliate program, set up a separate page on your web site for affiliate programs you use. So, you might have a link on your home/sales page called ?Other Great Products.? Obviously, you can use your own creativity for this title.

This link will take visitors to a site that promotes other products, for which you gain a commission as an affiliate. If you are unfamiliar with affiliate programs, visit ClickBank, the largest free affiliate program on the Internet. Most Internet marketers only offer their own product to people, who want to join affiliate programs, or they may offer just one other related product, with a link on their home page.

Plus, don?t forget any other web sites of your own. Always be sure to link to them on all of your URLs and in your ezine articles. The key to building your own online network is to be sure you have promotional pages for all of your products and affiliates on your web sites and to link everything together. Remember, you want every visitor on your e-mail list, and you always want them landing back on your promotional pages.

One final thought. Promoting your business network offline is also critical to your success. Some basic techniques I use are:

? URL on return address stickers

? Business cards with ezine address and web site

? Fliers at community businesses and public places (be sure your community knows you above all others)

? Free seminars in regional communities, discussing my topic (remember, you don?t need to make money here ? all you want is to get your name out there and to get e-mail addresses, so you can add them to your ezine list)

? Teach a class at a community college (get more e-mail addresses)

? Give free information away at community festivals, like Home Days

? Advertise in your local Money Saver magazines. It?s cheap, and it reaches tens of thousands of people, who love cheap or free stuff.

? Anything else you can think of that get people to your site and to your ezine

Stay positive. Building a network takes time and hard work, but it?s well worth it in the end.

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Source: http://www.boertala.com/build-your-own-online-network.html

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