Sunday 31 March 2013

Hands-on with Divekick's minimalist two-button controller (video)

DNP Handson with Divekick's minimalist twobutton controller video

Just a couple days after we got our hands on Tenya Wanya Teen's crazy 16-button arcade stick, we were treated to its polar opposite; Divekick's two-button controller. Created by Iron Galaxy Studios just to show off the game at PAX East, the controller consists of two buttons slightly larger than the palms of our hands; the yellow one denotes a jump or dive, while the blue corresponds to a kick. As a parody of the fighting genre, Divekick's gameplay avoids complicated combo moves, is incredibly simple and immensely enjoyable, if we do say so ourselves.

Unlike traditional fighting games, the health bars are essentially meaningless, as a single power hit can take down your rival. Therefore you're focused on just the most basic movements -- a common one involves jumping in the air, tapping the other button for the downward kick, and then tapping it again to fly backwards. As for moving your character about, a jump and kick combo will get you charging towards your foe. Some characters let you fly when jumping, while others reward pressing buttons simultaneously. From our few minutes mashing the controller, it seems that timing and position are more important than ever with such fundamental mechanics, and ones that we picked up pretty quickly. We especially enjoyed kicking our adversary in the head to make them dazed and vulnerable in the early seconds of the next round.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2aK2Yg3bu48/

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Rubio: Reports of immigration deal 'premature' (The Arizona Republic)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295769323?client_source=feed&format=rss

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A few Ridiculous Financial Tips, Part 2 |

"In 2008 housing prices are going to BLOW, dude..."

?In 2008 housing prices are going to BLOW, dude??

Personal finance is a world filled with ideas and opinions that are in conflict with one another.? Like the U.N, except without those silly Spaniards.? While all sides to all personal finance issues generally have their merit, even those encouraging people to spend freely and take on as much debt as they like.? After all, that is why we have personal bankruptcy laws in the country, right?

Idiocy aside, sometimes well-meaning advice (at least in my opinion) gets pushed to the outer limits of rationality. When I come across such advice I generally take note and list add it to my ?A Few Ridiculous Financial Tips? series.? All of the advice to follow is not my own.? I present the advice and basic rational, and then my feelings on it.? Please note that all of the advice below would benefit you financially; this is indisputable.? What the authors of such advice are missing is how alienating, cheap (not thrifty), ignorant and time consuming some of the advice and rational can at times be[1].? Put bluntly: the authors of these tips are overly prescriptive, general, and specific.? On to the ridiculous!

FICO scores don?t really matter. The argument here, which is truly less an argument than a series of related facts, is that?the only true use a high FICO score has is to attain a better rate on your mortgage, saving you a lot of money.? Oh, and?that people with high FICO scores tend to leverage them, which translates to more spending and monthly bills.? As I said, this is more a series of related facts about FICO scores than an actual point.? Let?s try to extrapolate one. Could the point be that it doesn?t matter if you have a high FICO, unless you want to own property?? This would be pretty dumb, as, for example, landlords check your FICO before renting to you to determine if you are financially reliable.? To boot, a high FICO acts as a safety net if the situation ever arises where you need to take on debt to avoid a larger catastrophe, such as you buy a house and although you have an emergency fund, the appraiser missed the fact that the roof is in need of replacing.? The author of this ridiculous piece of advice makes the point that FICO scores shouldn?t be overly focused on, and to that point we agree, but you should definitely care if you have a good FICO score.? I?m going to bet this author?s FICO score is lower than Magic Johnson?s white cell count.

Instead of paying down debt, save for the long term. The idea is apparently that by saving for the long term compounding interest on the investments will far outgrow the extra interest paid on the debt.? Yes, this gem includes credit card debt, which can be over 20%.? If you follow this plan you will end up more broke than Alan Iverson. I discuss reasons why one might not want to pay down debt as fast as possible, but generally this is for the extremely financially savvy.? So if you are the typical American, you can play this game on a selective basis, but if you do it with your credit cards or any other high interest debt you are letting yourself be misguided by advice worse than Michael Jackson?s doctor?s prescription assignments.?

Don?t pay back student loan debt.? Screw the reasoning behind this hair-brained piece of intellectual diarrhea. If you follow this piece of advice, which is not from the financial community but can be heard commonly enough in college towns across the nation, do yourself a favor and just buy a slut-suit and a set of six inch glass hooker heels because you are going to be Sallie Mae?s bitch.

What do you think about this advice?

Like or love this article? ?Hate it? ?I hate you. ?Let?s squash our beef by following each other on Facebook, Twitter, and joining each others mailing list. ?Links below, and above.

Related articles you are sure to enjoy more than a Sunday treat:


[1] Of course, we are all responsible for defining our own version of Enoughness.? Should you agree with any of the listed ?ridiculous? tips then have at it.? To further note, I will never reveal the ridiculous piece of financial advice?s author; they know who they are?

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Source: http://snarkfinance.com/2013/03/29/a-few-ridiculous-financial-tips-part-2/

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Confederate flag at old NC Capitol coming down

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? A Confederate battle flag hung inside the old North Carolina State Capitol last week to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War is being taken down after civil rights leaders raised concerns.

The decision was announced Friday evening, hours after the Associated Press published a story about the flag, which officials said was part of an historical display intended to replicate how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. The flag had been planned to hang in the House chamber until April 2015, the 150th anniversary of the arrival of federal troops in Raleigh.

"This is a temporary exhibit in an historic site, but I've learned the governor's administration is going to use the old House chamber as working space," Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz said Friday night. "Given that information, this display will end this weekend rather than April of 2015."

Kim Genardo, the spokeswoman for Gov. Pat McCrory, said the exhibit that includes the Confederate battle flag will be relocated, possibly across the street to the N.C. Museum of History.

The decision was a quick about-face for the McCrory administration, which initially defended the display. Many people see the flag as a potent reminder of racial discrimination and bigotry.

State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison had said Thursday the flag should be viewed in what he called the proper historical context.

"Our goal is not to create issues," said Hardison, a Civil War re-enactor and history buff. "Our goal is to help people understand issues of the past. ... If you refuse to put something that someone might object to or have a concern with in the exhibit, then you are basically censoring history."

North Carolina NAACP president Rev. William Barber was shocked Friday when he was shown a photo of the flag by the AP.

"He is right that it has a historical context," Barber said. "But what is that history? The history of racism. The history of lynchings. The history of death. The history of slavery. If you say that shouldn't be offensive, then either you don't know the history, or you are denying the history."

Barber couldn't immediately be reached Friday night, after the decision to take down the flag.

Sessions of the General Assembly moved to a newer building a half-century ago, but the old Capitol building is still routinely used as a venue for official state government events. McCrory's office is on the first floor, as are the offices of his chief of staff and communications staff.

The Republican governor was in the House chamber where the Confederate flag hangs as recently as Thursday, when he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of his new Highway Patrol commander.

The presentation of the Confederate battle flag at state government buildings has long been an issue of debate throughout the South. For more than a decade, the NAACP has urged its members to boycott South Carolina because of that state's display of the flag on the State House grounds.

Prior to taking his current job in North Carolina in 2006, Hardison worked as director at the Mississippi home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which is operated as a museum and library owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group has led the fight in the South for the proud display of the Confederate flag, which it contends is a symbol of heritage, not hate.

Hardison said the battle flag was displayed with other flags described in the diary of a North Carolina woman who visited the Capitol in 1863. A large U.S. flag displayed in the Senate chamber is reminiscent of a trophy of war captured from Union troops at the Battle of Plymouth.

"I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful to recreate this?" Hardison said. "I think we were all thinking along the same vein. ... The Capitol is both a working seat of government, in that the governor and his staff has his office there. But it is also a museum."

Hardison pointed out that the national flag used by the Confederate government, with its circle of white stars and red and white stripes, is still flown over the State Capitol dome each year on Confederate Memorial Day. The more familiar blood-red battle flag, featuring a blue "X'' studded with white stars, was used by the rebel military.

David Goldfield, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and author of the book "Still Fighting the Civil War," said the battle flag can hold starkly different meanings depending on a person's social perspective.

"The history of the Confederate battle flag, how it was designed and formulated, how it has been used through the years, clearly states that it is a flag of white supremacy," Goldfield said. "I know current Sons of Confederate Veterans would dispute that, saying 'Hey, I'm not a racist.' But the fact remains that the battle flag was used by a country that had as its foundation the protection and extension of human bondage."

___

Follow Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/confederate-flag-old-nc-capitol-coming-down-234855125.html

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Apple Working on Dedicated iOS Game Controller? [Updated] - Mac ...

Pocketgamer reports that Apple spoke with a number of developers at the Game Developers Conference this week about providing game support for a new, official iOS game controller. Apple was rumored to have a physical game controller in the works for the iPhone last year, but nothing has yet seen the light of day.
Two iCade Game Controller Products
Of course, there's no official word yet, but Apple has been active during the conference talking to developers about its plans and ensuring plenty of games will support the joypad at launch.

It's been operating a meeting room at the show, albeit booked under a pseudonym company name to avoid media attention.

However, speaking anonymously, multiple developer sources have confirmed the news to PocketGamer.biz.

Back in 2008, Apple applied for a patent relating to a Wiimote-like controller, but there is no indication that patent is related to this effort.

There are a number of third-party game controllers including the iCade line and an Atari Joystick. However, these third-party efforts have been hampered by a lack of widespread support from developers.

MacRumors had heard previously that Apple had originally supported accessory makers in their quest to make official dock-connector game controllers, but then the approval process was mysteriously halted. Some had speculated at the time that Apple was working on their own game controller solution.

For what it's worth, none of our GDC contacts have heard anything to corroborate the Pocketgamer story, and there is no indication of when or if such a controller might launch.

Update 1:33 PM: The Loop's Jim Dalrymple has quashed the rumor, responding to Pocketgamer's report with a simple "Nope".

Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/29/apple-working-on-dedicated-ios-game-controller/

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Saturday 30 March 2013

Oklahoma warns 7,000 dental patients of HIV, hepatitis risk

By Steve Olafson

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Health officials are notifying some 7,000 people to warn they may have been exposed to HIV and other infectious diseases at an Oklahoma dental practice where improper sterilization procedures and rusty surgical tools were discovered, authorities said.

The investigation was launched after a patient of Dr. Wayne Scott Harrington of Tulsa was diagnosed with hepatitis C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to a complaint filed against the oral surgeon.

When it was determined the patient was not engaged in behavior associated with blood-borne diseases, investigators visited Harrington's office and found an array of violations, according to the complaint, filed by the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry on Tuesday.

The magnitude of the suspected violations and the number of patients involved were "unprecedented," said Susan Rogers, executive director of the Board of Dentistry, on Friday.

Harrington, 64, surrendered his license and is cooperating, officials said.

He has operated a Tulsa practice and maintained a satellite office in a suburb for about 35 years and has treated a large number of infectious disease carriers, the complaint said.

He is one of only a handful of dentists who accept Medicaid patients in the area, officials said.

The complaint says drug vials and needles were used multiple times on different patients, causing risk of cross-contamination. A separate set of instruments used for infectious disease carriers appeared rusty, it said.

The autoclave used to sterilize instruments was not being used properly and was not regularly tested, the complaint said.

Also, Harrington's drug cabinet and drug logs were in disarray, it said.

Harrington could not be reached for comment.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-warns-7-000-dental-patients-hiv-hepatitis-181713782.html

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Friday 29 March 2013

Hear the Work of Poet Nikki Giovanni Tonight, at the South Dallas ...

My laundry list of life regrets is full of squandered chances, like when I missed Justin Timberlake at Gypsy Tea Room in 2005. Still, none sits higher than the time I passed on a lecture by Nikki Giovanni. The poet, activist and educator stopped by Mountain View College to perform her work and looking back, I can't even remember why I sat the evening out. Go ahead and file that under My Greatest Errors.

Needless to say, the opportunity to see her again, especially in such an intimate setting, won't come twice, but today life offers a re-do, of sorts. The literary hero will be honored at 8 p.m. this evening as part of a Women's History Month celebration at the South Dallas Cultural Center, and while she will not be present, her work will be. It's March's installment of "Queerly Speaking," an open mic event offered by Fahari Arts that's dedicated to artistic expression in the creative gay community.

Start your weekend with selections by one of the strongest, and most challenging voices of modern poetry. Giovanni's work focuses on identity and the individual, and as a champion for human rights and equality, she's a more than apt closing voice for Women's History Month. You might not remember anything you else you do today, but you'll remember the effect hearing her work performed had on you.

"Woman" - Nikki Giovanni

she wanted to be a blade
of grass amid the fields
but he wouldn't agree
to be the dandelion

she wanted to be a robin singing
through the leaves
but he refused to be
her tree

she spun herself into a web
and looking for a place to rest
turned to him
but he stood straight
declining to be her corner

she tried to be a book
but he wouldn't read

she turned herself into a bulb
but he wouldn't let her grow

she decided to become
a woman
and though he still refused
to be a man
she decided it was all
right

Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixmaster/2013/03/my_laundry_list_of_life.php

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40 years on, Vietnam troop withdrawal remembered

Forty years ago, soldiers returning from Vietnam were advised to change into civilian clothes on their flights home because of fears they would be accosted by protesters after they landed. For a Vietnamese businessman who helped the U.S. government, a rising sense of panic set in as the last combat troops left the country on March 29, 1973 and he began to contemplate what he'd do next. A North Vietnamese soldier who heard about the withdrawal felt emboldened to continue his push on the battlefields of southern Vietnam.

While the fall of Saigon two years later ? with its indelible images of frantic helicopter evacuations ? is remembered as the final day of the Vietnam War, Friday marks an anniversary that holds greater meaning for many who fought, protested or otherwise lived the war. Since then, they've embarked on careers, raised families and in many cases counseled a younger generation emerging from two other faraway wars.

Many veterans are encouraged by changes they see. The U.S. has a volunteer military these days, not a draft, and the troops coming home aren't derided for their service. People know what PTSD stands for, and they're insisting that the government take care of soldiers suffering from it and other injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Below are the stories of a few of the people who experienced a part of the Vietnam War firsthand.

___

SERVICE RIBBONS UNWORN

Former Air Force Sgt. Howard Kern, who lives in central Ohio near Newark, spent a year in Vietnam before returning home in 1968.

He said that for a long time he refused to wear any service ribbons associating him with southeast Asia and he didn't even his tell his wife until a couple of years after they married that he had served in Vietnam. He said she was supportive of his war service and subsequent decision to go back to the Air Force to serve another 18 years.

Kern said that when he flew back from Vietnam with other service members, they were told to change out of uniform and into civilian clothes while they were still on the airplane in case they encountered protesters.

"What stands out most about everything is that before I went and after I got back, the news media only showed the bad things the military was doing over there and the body counts," said Kern, now 66. "A lot of combat troops would give their c rations to Vietnamese children, but you never saw anything about that ? you never saw all the good that GIs did over there."

Kern, an administrative assistant at the Licking County Veterans' Service Commission, said the public's attitude is a lot better toward veterans coming home for Iraq and Afghanistan ? something he attributes in part to Vietnam veterans.

"We're the ones that greet these soldiers at the airports. We're the ones who help with parades and stand alongside the road when they come back and applaud them and salute them," he said.

He said that while the public "might condemn war today, they don't condemn the warriors."

"I think the way the public is treating these kids today is a great thing," Kern said. "I wish they had treated us that way."

But he still worries about the toll that multiple tours can take on service members.

"When we went over there, you came home when your tour was over and didn't go back unless you volunteered. They are sending GIs back now maybe five or seven times, and that's way too much for a combat veteran," he said.

He remembers feeling glad when the last troops left Vietnam, but was sad to see Saigon fall two years later. "Vietnam was a very beautiful country, and I felt sorry for the people there," he said.

___

A RISING PANIC

Tony Lam was 36 on the day the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam. He was a young husband and father, but most importantly, he was a businessman and U.S. contractor furnishing dehydrated rice to South Vietnamese troops. He also ran a fish meal plant and a refrigerated shipping business that exported shrimp.

As Lam, now 76, watched American forces dwindle and then disappear, he felt a rising panic. His close association with the Americans was well-known and he needed to get out ? and get his family out ? or risk being tagged as a spy and thrown into a Communist prison. He watched as South Vietnamese commanders fled, leaving whole battalions without a leader.

"We had no chance of surviving under the Communist invasion there. We were very much worried about the safety of our family, the safety of other people," he said this week from his adopted home in Westminster, Calif.

But Lam wouldn't leave for nearly two more years after the last U.S. combat troops, driven to stay by his love of his country and his belief that Vietnam and its economy would recover.

When Lam did leave, on April 21, 1975, it was aboard a packed C-130 that departed just as Saigon was about to fall. He had already worked for 24 hours at the airport to get others out after seeing his wife and two young children off to safety in the Philippines.

"My associate told me, 'You'd better go. It's critical. You don't want to end up as a Communist prisoner.' He pushed me on the flight out. I got tears in my eyes once the flight took off and I looked down from the plane for the last time," Lam recalled. "No one talked to each other about how critical it was, but we all knew it."

Now, Lam lives in Southern California's Little Saigon, the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.

In 1992, Lam made history by becoming the first Vietnamese-American to elected to public office in the U.S. and he went on to serve on the Westminster City Council for 10 years.

Looking back over four decades, Lam says he doesn't regret being forced out of his country and forging a new, American, life.

"I went from being an industrialist to pumping gas at a service station," said Lam, who now works as a consultant and owns a Lee's Sandwich franchise, a well-known Vietnamese chain.

"But thank God I am safe and sound and settled here with my six children and 15 grandchildren," he said. "I'm a happy man."

___

ANNIVERSARY NIGHTMARES

Wayne Reynolds' nightmares got worse this week with the approach of the anniversary of the U.S. troop withdrawal.

Reynolds, 66, spent a year working as an Army medic on an evacuation helicopter in 1968 and 1969. On days when the fighting was worst, his chopper would make four or five landings in combat zones to rush wounded troops to emergency hospitals.

The terror of those missions comes back to him at night, along with images of the blood that was everywhere. The dreams are worst when he spends the most time thinking about Vietnam, like around anniversaries.

"I saw a lot of people die," said Reynolds.

Today, Reynolds lives in Athens, Ala., after a career that included stints as a public school superintendent and, most recently, a registered nurse. He is serving his 13th year as the Alabama president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and he also has served on the group's national board as treasurer.

Like many who came home from the war, Reynolds is haunted by the fact he survived Vietnam when thousands more didn't. Encountering war protesters after returning home made the readjustment to civilian life more difficult.

"I was literally spat on in Chicago in the airport," he said. "No one spoke out in my favor."

Reynolds said the lingering survivor's guilt and the rude reception back home are the main reasons he spends much of his time now working with veteran's groups to help others obtain medical benefits. He also acts as an advocate on veterans' issues, a role that landed him a spot on the program at a 40th anniversary ceremony planned for Friday in Huntsville, Ala.

It took a long time for Reynolds to acknowledge his past, though. For years after the war, Reynolds said, he didn't include his Vietnam service on his resume and rarely discussed it with anyone.

"A lot of that I blocked out of my memory. I almost never talk about my Vietnam experience other than to say, 'I was there,' even to my family," he said.

___

NO ILL WILL

A former North Vietnamese soldier, Ho Van Minh heard about the American combat troop withdrawal during a weekly meeting with his commanders in the battlefields of southern Vietnam.

The news gave the northern forces fresh hope of victory, but the worst of the war was still to come for Minh: The 77-year-old lost his right leg to a land mine while advancing on Saigon, just a month before that city fell.

"The news of the withdrawal gave us more strength to fight," Minh said Thursday, after touring a museum in the capital, Hanoi, devoted to the Vietnamese victory and home to captured American tanks and destroyed aircraft.

"The U.S. left behind a weak South Vietnam army. Our spirits was so high and we all believed that Saigon would be liberated soon," he said.

Minh, who was on a two-week tour of northern Vietnam with other veterans, said he bears no ill will to the American soldiers even though much of the country was destroyed and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese died.

If he met an American veteran now he says, "I would not feel angry; instead I would extend my sympathy to them because they were sent to fight in Vietnam against their will."

But on his actions, he has no regrets. "If someone comes to destroy your house, you have to stand up to fight."

___

A POW'S REFLECTION

Two weeks before the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, Marine Corps Capt. James H. Warner was freed from North Vietnamese confinement after nearly 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He said those years of forced labor and interrogation reinforced his conviction that the United States was right to confront the spread of communism.

The past 40 years have proven that free enterprise is the key to prosperity, Warner said in an interview Thursday at a coffee shop near his home in Rohrersville, Md., about 60 miles from Washington. He said American ideals ultimately prevailed, even if our methods weren't as effective as they could have been.

"China has ditched socialism and gone in favor of improving their economy, and the same with Vietnam. The Berlin Wall is gone. So essentially, we won," he said. "We could have won faster if we had been a little more aggressive about pushing our ideas instead of just fighting."

Warner, 72, was the avionics officer in a Marine Corps attack squadron when his fighter plane was shot down north of the Demilitarized Zone in October 1967.

He said the communist-made goods he was issued as a prisoner, including razor blades and East German-made shovels, were inferior products that bolstered his resolve.

"It was worth it," he said.

A native of Ypsilanti, Mich., Warner went on to a career in law in government service. He is a member of the Republican Central Committee of Washington County, Md.

___

TWO-TIME WITNESS

Denis Gray witnessed the Vietnam War twice ? as an Army captain stationed in Saigon from 1970 to 1971 for a U.S. military intelligence unit, and again as a reporter at the start of a 40-year career with the AP.

"Saigon in 1970-71 was full of American soldiers. It had a certain kind of vibe. There were the usual clubs, and the bars were going wild," Gray recalled. "Some parts of the city were very, very Americanized."

Gray's unit was helping to prepare for the troop pullout by turning over supplies and projects to the South Vietnamese during a period that Washington viewed as the final phase of the war. But morale among soldiers was low, reinforced by a feeling that the U.S. was leaving without finishing its job.

"Personally, I came to Vietnam and the military wanting to believe that I was in a ? maybe not a just war but a ? war that might have to be fought," Gray said. "Toward the end of it, myself and most of my fellow officers, and the men we were commanding didn't quite believe that ... so that made the situation really complex."

After his one-year service in Saigon ended in 1971, Gray returned home to Connecticut and got a job with the AP in Albany, N.Y. But he was soon posted to Indochina, and returned to Saigon in August 1973 ? four months after the U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam ? to discover a different city.

"The aggressiveness that militaries bring to any place they go ? that was all gone," he said. A small American presence remained, mostly diplomats, advisers and aid workers but the bulk of troops had left. The war between U.S.-allied South Vietnam and communist North Vietnam was continuing, and it was still two years before the fall of Saigon to the communist forces.

"There was certainly no panic or chaos ? that came much later in '74, '75. But certainly it was a city with a lot of anxiety in it."

The Vietnam War was the first of many wars Gray witnessed. As AP's Bangkok bureau chief for more than 30 years, Gray has covered wars in Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and "many, many insurgencies along the way."

"I don't love war, I hate it," Gray said. "(But) when there have been other conflicts, I've been asked to go. So, it was definitely the shaping event of my professional life."

___

DEDICATION TO A YOUNGER GENERATION

Harry Prestanski, 65, of West Chester, Ohio, served 16 months as a Marine in Vietnam and remembers having to celebrate his 21st birthday there. He is now retired from a career in public relations and spends a lot of time as an advocate for veterans, speaking to various organizations and trying to help veterans who are looking for jobs.

"The one thing I would tell those coming back today is to seek out other veterans and share their experiences," he said. "There are so many who will work with veterans and try to help them ? so many opportunities that weren't there when we came back."

He says that even though the recent wars are different in some ways from Vietnam, those serving in any war go through some of the same experiences.

"One of the most difficult things I ever had to do was to sit down with the mother of a friend of mine who didn't come back and try to console her while outside her office there were people protesting the Vietnam War," Prestanski said.

He said the public's response to veterans is not what it was 40 years ago and credits Vietnam veterans for helping with that.

"When we served, we were viewed as part of the problem," he said. "One thing about Vietnam veterans is that ? almost to the man ? we want to make sure that never happens to those serving today. We welcome them back and go out of our way to airports to wish them well when they leave."

He said some of the positive things that came out of his war service were the leadership skills and confidence he gained that helped him when he came back.

"I felt like I could take on the world," he said.

___

A YOUNGER GENERATION'S TAKE

Zach Boatright's father served 21 years in the Air Force and he spent his childhood rubbing shoulders with Vietnam vets who lived and worked on Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, where he grew up.

Yet Boatright, 27, said the war has little resonance with him.

"We have a new defining moment. 9/11 is everyone's new defining moment now," he said of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil.

Boatright, who was 16 when the planes struck the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, said two of his best friends are now Air Force pilots serving in Afghanistan. He decided not to pursue the military and recently graduated from Fresno State University with a degree in recreation administration.

People back home are more supportive of today's troops, Boatright said, because the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are linked in Americans' minds with those attacks. Improved military technology and no military draft also makes the fighting seem remote to those who don't have loved ones enlisted, he said.

"Because 9/11 happened, anything since then is kind of justified. If you're like, 'We're doing that because of this' then it makes people feel better about the whole situation," said Boatright, who's working at a Starbucks in the Orange County suburbs while deciding whether to pursue a master's degree in history.

___

Flaccus reported from Tustin, Calif., and Cornwell reported from Cincinnati. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt in Hanoi, David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md., and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Ala.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/40-years-vietnam-troop-withdrawal-remembered-172252613.html

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How diabetes drug delays aging in worms

Mar. 28, 2013 ? A widely prescribed type 2 diabetes drug slows down the aging process by mimicking the effects of dieting, according to a study published today using worms to investigate how the drug works.

Following a calorie-restricted diet has been shown to improve health in later life and extend lifespan in a number of animals, ranging from the simple worm to rhesus monkeys. The type 2 diabetes drug metformin has been found to have similar effects in animals but until now it was not clear exactly how the drug delays the aging process.

Researchers supported by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council looked at the effects of metformin on C. elegans worms that were grown in the presence of E. coli bacteria, a relationship similar to that which humans have with the 'healthy' bacteria in our gut. They found that the worms treated with metformin lived longer only when the E. coli strain they were cultured with was sensitive to the drug.

Dr Filipe Cabreiro from the Institute of Healthy aging at UCL, who led the research, explains: "Overall, treatment with metformin adds up to 6 days of life for the worm which is equivalent to around a third of its normal lifespan. It seems to work by altering metabolism in the bacteria that live in the worm, which in turn limits the nutrients that are available to the worm host and has a similar effect to restricting the diet."

Bacteria living in the gut have an important role in helping the host organism to digest and extract nutrition from food. Defects in gut bacteria have been linked to metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. It has also been suggested that gut bacteria may have an impact on the aging process, but this is the first study to suggest a mechanism for how this works.

The team used strains of E. coli with defects in genes that are linked to metabolism and tweaked the levels of nutrients available to tease out which metabolic pathways might be affected by the drug. They found that treatment with metformin disrupted the bacteria's ability to metabolise folate, a type of B-vitamin, and methionine, one of the building blocks of proteins. This limits the nutrients that are available to the worm and mimics the effects of dietary restriction to enable the worms to live longer.

However, when they added an excess of sugar to the diet, the team found that the life-extending effects of metformin were cancelled out. As the drug is used as a treatment for diabetes caused by elevated glucose levels in the blood, this finding is particular relevant for understanding how the drug works in people.

Professor David Gems, who directed the study, said: "We don't know from this study whether metformin has any effect on human aging. The more interesting finding is the suggestion that drugs that alter bacteria in the gut could give us a new way of treating or preventing metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes."

Metformin is currently one of the most widely prescribed drugs and the findings should help to inform how it is used in patients.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wellcome Trust, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Filipe Cabreiro, Catherine Au, Kit-Yi Leung, Nuria Vergara-Irigaray, Helena?M. Cochem?, Tahereh Noori, David Weinkove, Eugene Schuster, Nicholas?D.E. Greene, David Gems. Metformin Retards Aging in C.?elegans by Altering Microbial Folate and Methionine Metabolism. Cell, 2013; 153 (1): 228 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.02.035

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/tv-92dVqdys/130328125106.htm

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Raw politics explains why DOMA got wide support in 1996 (Washington Post)

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

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Thursday 28 March 2013

Deliv Raises $1 Million To Crowd Source Same-Day Local Delivery For Big Brick And Mortar Retailers

deliv_bagOnline shopping is happening at the expense of big national retail chains, which are having a difficult time keeping up with online competition. A new startup called Deliv hopes to provide retailers with a new way to please tech-savvy shoppers, by offering same-day local delivery for the same price ? or less ? than having items shipped.

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

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FBI comes clean on top X-File: 'We never investigated' Hottel UFO memo

FBI

The FBI says a 1950 flying-saucer memo rates as the most popular file in its online document repository.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

The FBI says it never followed up on the most popular file in its online reading room ? a one-page UFO memo that passes along a second- or third-hand report about flying saucers and alien passengers that were supposedly recovered in New Mexico.

The memo, dated March 22, 1950, has been viewed almost a million times over the past two years, the FBI said this week in a blog posting. It was written by Guy Hottel, who was the head of the FBI's field office in Washington at the time, and addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.


In the memo, Hottel discusses an account provided to an FBI agent ... that was attributed to an informant ... who purportedly heard from an Air Force investigator ... that "three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico."

"They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter," the memo read. "Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."

Hottel said he was told that the saucers' control systems might have been disrupted by interference from "a very high-powered radar set-up" that the government had in the area. But he admitted in the memo that "no further evaluation was attempted" by the informant, whose name is blacked out in the online document.

The Hottel memo has been in the public record since the 1970s, but it created a huge splash in 2011 when it was added to the FBI Vault, an online repository of public records. Here's how The Sun, a British tabloid, characterized the memo in a headline from those days: "Aliens Exist, Say Real-Life X-Files."

Monday's posting was written to counter such characterizations. The FBI denied that the memo constituted evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial spacecraft ? and?said Hottel's report was never taken all that seriously. Instead, it was considered "an unconfirmed report that the FBI never even followed up on."

The FBI said there was no reason to believe that the memo referred to another famous UFO saga, the purported discovery of a crashed alien spaceship in Roswell, N.M., in 1947. "The Hottel memo is dated nearly three years after the infamous events in Roswell," it said.?

July 9, 2008: NBC's Willie Geist has a little fun with New Mexico flying saucers to mark the anniversary of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

The bureau acknowledged that for a few years after the Roswell incident, Hoover followed up on an Air Force request by ordering his agents to verify any UFO sightings. "That practice ended in July 1950, four months after the Hottel memo, suggesting that our Washington Field Office didn't think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it," the posting said.

There's an alternate explanation for the Hottel memo that makes a lot more sense. Two years ago, when the memo was added to the Vault, paranormal investigator Ben Radford noted that the informant's story matched the description of a UFO hoax that was concocted by a man named Silas Newton. In 1950, Newton was telling tales about flying saucers that had crashed at a radar station near the Arizona-New Mexico border. Newton was later convicted of fraud, and died in 1972.

Ironically, there's a whole different section of the FBI Vault that's devoted to Newton, whom the bureau described as "a wealthy oil producer and con man." To get the story about the connections between Newton's tales and the Hottel memos, check out this thorough debunking on the Above Top Secret forum.

Even though the FBI says the memo "does not prove the existence of UFOs," it's not confirming the Silas Newton story, either. "Some people believe the memo repeats a hoax that was circulating at that time, but the Bureau's files have no information to verify that story," it said.

What do you think FBI Agent Fox Mulder would say? "The truth is out there"? Or "Trust no one"? Feel free to weigh in with your own verdict in the comment section below. ?

Update for 6:35 p.m.: Mark Allin, chief operating officer for The Above Network, says the truth is out there, in the form of the Above Top Secret analysis that I mentioned earlier. "The short story is, without a doubt, 'Case Closed,'" Allin said today in an email. "The memo is based on a hoax that was carried out by a convicted con man named Silas Newton, and it was debunked years ago. It's a pretty good and interesting hoax story, to be certain, but there is no value in it beyond that."

More about UFOs:


Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a114e78/l/0Lcosmiclog0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C270C174894410Efbi0Ecomes0Eclean0Eon0Etop0Ex0Efile0Ewe0Enever0Einvestigated0Ehottel0Eufo0Ememo0Dlite/story01.htm

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Synchrotron yields 'safer' vaccine

Producing vaccines against viral threats is a potentially hazardous business and that's why manufacturers have to operate strict controls to ensure that no pathogens escape.

British scientists have developed a new method to create an entirely synthetic vaccine which doesn't rely on using live infectious virus, meaning it is much safer.

What's more the prototype vaccine they have created, for the animal disease foot-and-mouth, has been engineered to make it more stable.

That means it can be kept out of the fridge for many hours before returning to the cold chain - overcoming one of the major hurdles in administering vaccines in the developing world.

The research, published in the journal PLOS pathogens, was a collaboration between scientists at Oxford and Reading Universities, the Pirbright Institute, and the UK's national synchrotron facility, the Diamond Light Source near Oxford.

?Start Quote

What we have achieved here is close to the holy grail of foot-and-mouth vaccines?

End Quote Dave Stuart Prof of Structural Biology

Diamond is a particle accelerator which sends electrons round a giant magnetic ring at near light speeds.

The electrons emit energy in the form of intense X-rays which are channelled along "beamlines" - into laboratories where they are used to analyse structures in extraordinary detail.

Infectious

Synchrotrons have been used before to analyse viruses at the atomic level, but the technology has advanced considerably to enable scientists to create a stable synthetic vaccine.

"What we have achieved here is close to the holy grail of foot-and-mouth vaccines.

Unlike traditional vaccines, there is no chance that the empty shell vaccine could revert to an infectious form," said Dave Stuart, Life Sciences Director at Diamond, and MRC Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford.

"This work will have a broad and enduring impact on vaccine development, and the technology should be transferable to other viruses from the same family, such as poliovirus and hand-foot-and-mouth disease, a human virus which is currently endemic in South-East Asia."

These human disease threats, like foot-and-mouth, are all picornaviruses.

Viruses are inherently unstable and fragile, but picornaviruses can be studied using X-ray crystallography.

This enables the protein shell of the virus to be analysed at the atomic level - something a billion times smaller than a pinhead.

Pathogen

As with any vaccine, the aim is to prompt the immune system to recognise this outer shell and destroy the pathogen before it has time to lock onto cells and infect them with its genetic material.

In this research the scientists created a synthetic viral shell, but lacking its pathogenic RNA interior - the genetic material the virus uses to replicate itself.

Crucially they were able to reinforce the structure of the viral shell to make it stronger, to improve the stability of the vaccine.

Pre-clinical trials have shown it to be stable at temperatures up to 56C for at least two hours. Foot-and-mouth is endemic in central Africa, parts of the Middle East and Asia, so this would be a significant improvement over existing vaccines.

With current foot-and-mouth vaccines it is difficult to distinguish between immunised livestock and those which have been infected.

That proved to be a major hurdle in controlling the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK in 2001 because it would have prevented the export of livestock.

Polio

But the synthetic vaccine should allow scientists to show the absence of infection in vaccinated animals.

"The foot-and-mouth-disease virus epidemic in the UK in 2001 was disastrous and cost the economy billions of pounds in control measures and compensation," explained Dr Bryan Charleston, Head of Livestock Viral Diseases Programme at the Pirbright Institute.

"This important work has been a direct result of the additional funding that was provided as a result of the 2001 outbreak to research this highly contagious disease."

The potential hazards of working with viruses was underlined in 2007 when the Pirbright laboratory site was identified as the source of a leak which led to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Polio, another picornavirus, which exclusively affects humans, has been eliminated from nearly every country in the world, although it stubbornly persists in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The need for secure vaccine production will become even more vital should polio be wiped out.

"Current polio vaccines, which use live virus for their production, pose a potential threat to the long-term success of eradication if they were to re-establish themselves in the population.

"Non-infectious vaccines would clearly provide a safeguard against this risk", said Dr Andrew Macadam, a virologist specialising in polio at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Hertfordshire.

"This technology has great potential in terms of cost and biosafety.

"Any design strategy that minimises the chances of accidental virus release would not only make the world a safer place but would lower the bio-containment barriers to production allowing vaccines to be made more cheaply all over the world."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21958361#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Wednesday 27 March 2013

Gmail update for iOS brings swiping between messages without returning to your inbox

Gmail update for iOS brings swiping between messages without returning to your inbox

If going all the way back to your inbox to peruse those Gmail threads on your Apple handset was a little too taxing, relief has arrived. Google has updated said app for the iPhone and iPad to enable swiping between messages without the need to return to the main repository. Version 2.1 also makes wrangling multiple emails at the same time a bit easier. When a message is selected, edit mode kicks into gear for archiving, deleting and other essential tasks via a novel actions bar atop the UI. Swipe over to that iTunes link in order to grab the goods for your device of choice.

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Comments

Source: Google (Gmail Blog), iTunes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/27/gmail-update-for-ios-brings-swiping-between-messages/

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Tuesday 26 March 2013

Suspect in killing of Colorado prison chief had bomb making materials in car

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-killing-colorado-prison-chief-had-bomb-making-212545226.html

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Egypt: Prominent blogger hands himself in

(AP) ? A prominent Egyptian blogger has handed himself in to authorities, a day after the country's prosecutor general ordered his arrest over his alleged role in instigating violence during clashes between supporters and opponents of the country's Islamist president.

Alaa Abdel-Fattah arrived Tuesday at the Cairo office of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah surrounded by dozens of pro-democracy protesters chanting against the rule of Morsi's group, the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood's office in the capital was the focus of Friday street fighting that left some 200 people injured.

Abdel-Fattah is one of five well-known activists named as instigators of violence. They rose to prominence the 2011 uprising against ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and now are protesting Morsi's presidency.

Activists say the arrest heralds a campaign of intimidation against Brotherhood opponents.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-26-ML-Egypt/id-e2a0f892e4de49a093d3dc6112fa8211

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Britain eases rules for start-up banks

By Huw Jones and Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Start-up banks in Britain will not need as much capital as their established rivals starting from April, Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) said, in a move to boost competition.

Under pressure from MPs to increase choice in a sector dominated by five banks, the FSA unveiled sweeping changes to authorise new entrants within six months, a process that currently takes a year or more.

Capital requirements will be lighter for the first three to five years as long as a new bank can show deposits are insured and that it can be wound up easily without destabilising markets.

Additional requirements that were previously applied to cover uncertainties in start-up firms will be scrapped.

A new bank will need a core capital buffer equivalent to only 4.5 percent of its risk-weighted assets, a level that will be increased as the bank expands.

This is well below the 7 to 9.5 percent that applies to Britain's "big five" lenders with 83 percent of retail accounts - HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, RBS and Santander UK.

There will also be reduced liquidity requirements, the FSA said on Tuesday.

"We believe the changes will make a significant difference to the ease with which new firms can enter the UK banking system and, as a result, enable an increased competitive challenge to existing banks," FSA Chairman Adair Turner said in a statement.

Andrew Tyrie, who heads a committee of MPs examining standards within the industry, said the FSA's plans appeared to be a step in the right direction.

"The lack of competition in banking has been reinforced by a regulatory regime favouring large incumbents. Customers have lost out as a result," he said.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will publish its own proposals for stimulating competition in its final report due in May.

NEW LENDERS ALREADY EMERGING

New entrants have already begun to surface in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, looking to fill the gap as the big banks focus on shrinking their balance sheets and building up capital reserves to meet new regulations.

Metro Bank became the first new high street lender to emerge for over 100 years when it was granted a banking licence in 2010. Other new challengers such as Aldermore and Shawbrook have also opened for business but have opted not to open branches.

Metro Bank's co-founder and chairman, Vernon Hill, welcomed the FSA's plans and said the move towards making a quicker decision on a banking licence was the most significant proposal.

"The biggest problem with the approval process is you had to get the entire bank up and running including the IT system before they gave you approval, so we had to invest a very substantial amount of money pretty much out of my pocket while we were all at risk," he said in an interview.

Britain's finance ministry said on Tuesday it was proposing new rules to open up banks' payment systems and stimulate competition. Under one proposal, the regulator would set a 'fair price' at which big banks would be obliged to provide access to their payments infrastructure to smaller rivals.

Philip Monks, chief executive of Aldermore, also said the FSA's initiatives would make applying for a banking licence less onerous and would help new banks compete effectively.

"I think it's good to give start-up banks more certainty in the process and to streamline the process," Monks said.

"It's all very well to have a number of new banks in the marketplace, but when they do get into the market, what you need to do is ensure that they have a level playing field," he added.

Aldermore was founded in 2009 with backing from private equity firms AnaCap and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. Its loan book now totals over 2 billion pounds, and it is the sixth-largest lender in the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), which provides cheap funds for lending to small firms and households.

New entrants still face a big challenge in taking on existing lenders, which have branches across the country and whose payment systems the start-ups still have to use.

Omar Ali, head of the UK banking advisory team at accountants Ernst & Young, said the changes were unlikely to be enough on their own to increase competition.

"Whilst consumers are willing to shop around for secondary banking services like loans, they remain reluctant to move their current accounts and savings to newer players," he said.

The changes are among the FSA's last policy announcements before the regulator is scrapped on March 31.

Approval of new banks will be shared by two new regulators from April 1, with the standalone Financial Conduct Authority handling authorisation of staff and the Prudential Regulation Authority at the Bank of England overseeing capital requirements.

(Editing by David Holmes and Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-makes-easier-start-banks-112105021--sector.html

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Tips On Choosing The Affiliate Program That Suits You | Content for ...

Author: Brian Blogs | Total views: 75 Comments: 0
Word Count: 663 Date:

Affiliate marketing plays a huge role in the growth of a business which benefits both the owners and the affiliates. Affiliates are people who own websites or traffic brokers who place a link on their sites or page and course traffic to your business offer. The merchant derives profit from the purchase of customers directed to their products through the links made by the affiliates while the latter gets paid for the customers he or she brings to the merchant.

1. Set a financial goal

This goal does not have to be a specific number or amount but it might be on a percentage basis. Your main purpose in joining an affiliate program is to earn money. Some affiliate programs offer huge percentages in terms of commissions while others are not as generous. Going for programs with bigger commissions would certainly be a wiser choice. The higher the commission they offer, the greater your income.

2. Analyze the different payment schemes and choose the one you think most beneficial on your part

The whole idea of affiliate marketing is earning through commissions. Through a program, the publisher enters into an agreement with the merchant as to how and when the former will be compensated. For example, a pay-per-click system allows an affiliate to be paid every time he or she directs traffic to the merchant's website whether or not the visitor pays. On the other hand, other programs give commission to affiliates for every purchase made by a visitor while others pay you for every visitor who signs up at the merchant's website. Knowing the payment scheme you are

3. Take into account your experience.

If you are a complete newbie to this activity you may want to take baby steps. Find a program that is simple enough to understand and one that is flexible enough wherein you are given an opportunity to train and gain more experience. It is best to start with programs that guide and teach new affiliates on how they work and how to establish a business online. If you are already more experienced and exposed to affiliate marketing and various affiliate programs, you can now explore other options available to you and experiment with different schemes in order to find out which best works for you.

4. Making the most out of the affiliate programs you chose.

A little experimentation never did anyone harm. Although making the right choice of which affiliate programs to use is a big factor in terms of your earning potential, it can even be further enhanced when complemented with awesome content and amazing web design. The more people you attract to your website, the greater the traffic you direct to the merchant's website which means more income on your part. The key to attracting more people is through a great website which means you have to invest in its content and overall look.

5. For higher probability of success, choose the right products to promote.

Affiliate marketing is a modified form of advertising. The affiliate promotes the product of a merchant to earn commissions in return. For a more effective promotion, choose products which you actually believe in and one which you a have substantial background knowledge.

You may have to do some research and background check as to the product being promoted as well as the merchant selling it. This will greatly influence you in the way you convince others to trust the merchant and his or her products. Also, it would be better if you had first-hand knowledge by actually using the product yourself so you can easily share insights and experiences upon using the product. This greatly increases your integrity which in turn gains the trust of people visiting your website. The more the people trust you, the likelier they are to trust the merchant and his or her products.

Brian Blogs is a part time internet marketer who isblogging in the Empower Network program. He invites you to visit his website for free training on how to create a business with an amazing product library of step by step video, audio and software training, For more information, please click the link below nhttp://www.empowernetwork.com/truestory3.php?id=srecuocs01

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1: Understanding Online Business Success

Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.

2: Why You Need To Build Multiple Streams of Income For Yourself

Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.

3: What is Cyber Marketing And Why It Is So Important For The Success Of Your Website

Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.

4: Article Marketing Strategy: Putting Together a "Class Schedule" For Your Article Topics

Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."

5: The Best Way To Optimise Your Website SEO For Google Panda

If you want your SEO to work you now need to concentrate on appeasing Google Panda, and to do this you need to know what Google Panda's spiders/bots will be looking for. Find out here how to search engine optimise your website for the latest Google Panda algorithm, and achieve the success you deserve.

Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/internet-marketing/tips-on-choosing-the-affiliate-program-that-suits-you.htm

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Monday 25 March 2013

Serial killer suspect Felix Vail abused women in relationships ...

Mary Horton Vail

Mary Horton Vail

Control, isolation and verbal, emotional and physical abuse defined Mississippi native Felix Vail?s relationship with his first wife, Mary, her friends and relatives told The Clarion-Ledger.

It was a pattern Vail allegedly repeated with at least three other women.

All those characteristics are hallmarks of domestic violence, experts say. And domestic violence, they add, often escalates into homicide.

Vail?s wife Mary drowned. Another wife and a girlfriend disappeared. The FBI has investigated Vail, the last known person seen with all three, as a serial killer suspect.

The Calcasieu Parish Sheriff?s Office has reopened the Oct. 28, 1962, drowning of Mary Horton Vail, who had bruises on the back of her neck, according to her autopsy report.

Jack Levin, co-director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University, said domestic violence tends to be repeated ?and can escalate sometimes into murder.?

In three-fourths of intimate partner homicides,?the man physically abused the woman before the killing took place, according to a study by the National Institute of Justice.

Click here to read more about Felix Vail?s alleged abuse of these women.

And here?s a video update:

Source: http://blogs.clarionledger.com/jmitchell/2013/03/25/serial-killer-suspect-felix-vail-abused-women-in-relationships-friends-say/

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Quake rattles Guatemala, no reports of damage

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake struck Guatemala close to the capital on Monday, though residents of Guatemala City felt little movement from the deep tremor and emergency services said there were no initial reports of damage or injuries.

The epicenter of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake, initially reported as a magnitude 5.8, was only 6 miles (9.5 km) southeast of Guatemala City but it was at a depth of 124.6 miles (200 km), lessening its effect.

Two Reuters witnesses in the city said they did not feel the quake, nor did they see people running outdoors as is often the case when powerful tremors hit.

David de Leon, a spokesman for Guatemala's emergency agency, CONRED, said he had no reports of damage or victims.

A magnitude 6.2 quake is capable of causing severe damage.

Last November, more than 50 people were killed in a 7.5 magnitude quake in Guatemala in San Marcos state, a mountainous region near the Mexican border.

That earthquake was the strongest to shake the country since 1976, when a magnitude 7.5 quake centered about 99 miles (160 km) northeast of Guatemala City killed some 23,000 people. (Reporting by Mike McDonald and Sofia Menchu; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quake-hits-guatemala-no-initial-reports-damage-000621739--sector.html

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