Protesters shut down western Libya's main oil refinery

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Wounded soldiers protested outside western Libya's main oil refinery on Thursday, closing operations for a second time this month, a company spokesman said, and raising fears of a petrol shortage in the war-battered country.

A large crowd of veterans of the civil war which ousted Muammar Gaddafi last year massed outside the plant run by the Zawiya Oil Refining Company demanding compensation and treatment, said staff.

"We are in a state of total shutdown ... the demonstrators are preventing employees from entering the refinery and fuel trucks are unable to leave," said Zawiya spokesman Essam al-Muntasir.

"Many of them (the veterans) want the government to send them abroad to receive treatment or they want to get more money from the government as compensation for their efforts," he added.

A number of protests outside refineries have posed a significant challenge to Libya's new government which is dependent on oil for the lions' share of its revenues.

The administration is still struggling to impose order on a vast and divided country still awash with arms and militias after the fall of Gaddafi.

A similar protest in early November forced the refinery to shut down for two days, hitting fuel supplies in Tripoli.

A Zawiya security official who refused to be named said the protesters had set up check points to stop vehicles coming in.

Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said on Wednesday a shutdown at the refinery could cause a new shortage.

"We have enough fuel stored in Tripoli to last us 25 days but the problem is that protesters are not allowing trucks in or out of the fuel storage areas of the refinery," he said.

Tripoli residents formed long queues at petrol stations to fill up their tanks on Wednesday night after hearing the news of the latest protest.

The Zawiya refinery, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, has a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day and provides 40 per cent of western Libya's oil needs.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/protesters-shut-down-western-libyas-main-oil-refinery-065453667--finance.html

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Google's Ingress is a gold mine for augmented reality

The new game sees players do battle via smartphones as they roam their city?? but it's paving the way for something even more interesting

THERE'S a battle raging on Massachusetts Avenue. I'm hopelessly outnumbered, trying to take control of a patch of land at the edge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. My fighter name is Spottiswoode. I try to seize control of the enemy portal, but get knocked back, losing health. They're too strong here.

This isn't real life. Well, not quite. I'm playing a game called Ingress, which sees players fighting for control of real-world landmarks or monuments - dubbed portals - in their cities. It was released as a mysterious, invite-only beta two weeks ago by a Google spin-off called Niantic Labs. It represents a big step towards ubiquitous, accurate augmented reality (AR), in which real-world objects are annotated with a virtual layer of information that is displayed on a smartphone's camera.

Ingress runs as an Android app, tied to the real world through GPS. You and your smartphone need to be within range of a portal to interact with it. "Exotic matter" (XM) is collected as you explore your town and allows you to take control of a portal. You can then link it with two other portals to create a triangle. Your side now "owns" that territory.

Right now, the area around MIT and Harvard University is a sea of green, the colour of the "Enlightened", with small pockets of blue-coloured "Resistance" up towards Medford and to the south near the Boston Red Sox's stadium. This mix of physical and virtual reality, using accurate location data to tie them together, places Ingress somewhere between a map and full-blown AR.

But it feels like more than just a fun new game. There are rumours that Google's much-hyped AR goggles, dubbed Project Glass, may launch in 2013. Vital to its success will be detailed info overlaid on what wearers see as they walk around outside. Even if the goggles don't emerge next year, a detailed record of where all the Ingress players wander - and the establishments they visit en route - is still a data gold mine for Google to use to improve its location-based services.

Players in less well-covered areas can also suggest that landmarks of interest to them should become new game portals by snapping a geotagged photo with their smartphone.

"This is classic Google," says Blair MacIntyre, director of the Augmented Environments Lab at Georgia Tech, Atlanta. "They may get information about new monuments, and that actually helps them generate more interesting search results, because these are the things that local people say are interesting."

Such photos will show buildings from many angles and could be used to create models that would help computer-vision systems recognise them later. This would help solve a major issue with current AR apps. "Accuracy is one of the biggest problems for AR," says Tobias H?llerer at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "The element missing in commercial products is computer vision."

So while Ingress isn't AR in its own right, its features pave the way for it. "It clearly has AR in mind," says H?llerer. "The data will be immensely valuable."

As I cycle home from work, I stop near a location I'd scouted out previously, one with a weak enemy portal. I attack, using built-up XM to destroy the enemy infrastructure before planting my own, surrounding the portal and turning it blue. On Ingress's built-in chat client, a player called Igashu praises my handiwork. "Good job, Spottiswoode," he says. I feel proud and move on, plotting my next assault upon the enemy's portals.

Virtual guide points out the sights

You can't beat having a local show you around their city, one who knows exactly where you are and points out fascinating details about your surroundings. Now a new smartphone app from Google called Field Trip aims to do just that. The app, only available on Android phones in the US for now, uses Wi-Fi or GPS to place you, then feeds you relevant information about your location, alerting you to interesting places as you pass near them.

The user decides how much or how little info they want, and alerts range from historical facts about buildings to reviews of restaurants and local money-off deals. For those behind the wheel, a driving mode announces details aloud.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Buy Online And Have Your Personal Tablet Pc at Affordable Price ...

Tablet Computer is a blend of notebook Computer and private digital assistant (PDA). This is a slate-shaped Pc with a touch screen and the user operates it with a digital pen, a stylus, or even a finger. This is an superb device for a mobile particular person. If you travel much and need to have to be connected with the planet all the time then Table Computer is an perfect gadget for you. Featuring cutting-edge technology and excellent usability, it is gaining recognition quickly. In the domain of the individual technology, the Tablet Computer is 1 of the newest innovations and it has been exclusively developed for the students and businessmen. It functions wireless features and the ideal choice to verify emails and maintain essential files and info at the fingertips.

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Tablets make very good e-readers with some of the pre-installed applications. They provide instant switch on and off and provide you access to anything you require which includes motion pictures and music. Tablets are far greater than older laptops as they are more affordable and include far more modern day apps and games. They are good for business purposes and meetings. Tablets are ideal for a communal photo sharing knowledge and are a boon for insurance coverage adjusters, actual estate people and salespeople. These on the web dealers provide good quality, reputable, credible and reasonably priced gadgets and its accessories.

Source: http://www.techmobiz.com/buy-online-and-have-your-personal-tablet-pc-at-affordable-price.html

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Bickering trumps bargaining on looming 'cliff'

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures as he speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio gestures as he speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney holds up a copy of the President's Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction, during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, as President Barack Obama was having a private lunch with former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., center, followed by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., left, arrives for a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For the first time since the Nov. 6 election, partisan bickering trumped bargaining Thursday as Democrats and Republicans vied for the political high ground in talks to avoid year-end tax increases and spending cuts that threaten harm to middle class pocketbooks.

"No substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" over the past two weeks toward averting the "fiscal cliff," House Speaker John Boehner declared after a private meeting with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Capitol. "Unfortunately, many Democrats continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement that will reduce our deficit."

Democrats said any holdup was the fault of Republicans, who are balking at President Barack Obama's plan to raise tax rates on incomes higher than $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Republican aides later said Geithner had proposed passage by year's end of tax increases totaling $1.6 trillion over a decade, including the rate hikes sought by Obama.

They said the White House is also seeking year-end approval for an unspecified amount of new spending to renew expiring jobless benefits, help homeowners hit by the real estate collapse and prevent a looming Jan. 1 cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients.

The GOP said the White House was offering unspecified spending cuts this year. Those would be followed next year by legislation producing savings from Medicare and other benefit programs of up to $400 billion over a decade, a companion to an overhaul of the tax code.

At his news conference, Boehner, R-Ohio, blamed the White House and members of Obama's party for refusing to propose detailed savings from the government's huge benefit programs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rebutted moments later. "We're still waiting for a serious offer from Republicans," the Nevada Democrat said at a news conference. He noted that GOP leaders have refused the president's call to extend expiring tax cuts for the middle class while letting them lapse at upper incomes.

At the White House, presidential press secretary Jay Carney said flatly, "There can be no deal without rates on top earners going up."

Taking a confrontational, at times sarcastic tone, he said, "This should not be news to anyone on Capitol Hill. It is certainly not news to anyone in America who was not in a coma during the campaign season."

The White House also circulated a memo that said closing loopholes and limiting tax deductions ? a preferred Republican alternative to Obama's call to raise high-end tax rates ? would be likely to depress charitable donations and wind up leading to a middle class tax increase in the near future.

With barely a month remaining until year's end, the hardening of positions seemed more likely to mark a transition into hard bargaining rather than signal an end to efforts to achieve a compromise on the first postelection challenge of divided government.

Boehner suggested as much when one reporter asked if his comments meant he was breaking off talks with the White House and congressional Democrats.

"No, no, no. Stop," he quickly answered.

"I've got to tell you, I'm disappointed in where we are, and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple weeks. But going over the fiscal cliff is serious business."

At issue is a bipartisan desire to prevent the wholesale expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and the simultaneous implementation of across-the-board spending cuts. The potential spending reductions, to be divided between military and domestic programs, were locked into place more than a year ago in hopes the threat would have forced a compromise on a deficit reduction deal before now.

Economists in and out of government warn that sending the economy over the "cliff" would trigger a recession.

To avoid the danger, Obama and Congress are hoping to devise a plan that can reduce future deficits by as much as $4 trillion in a decade, cancel the tax increases and automatic spending cuts and expand the government's ability to borrow beyond the current limit of $16.4 trillion.

In the first few days after the elections, Boehner said he was willing to accept a deal that included new revenues, a long-time Democratic demand, and Obama has said he will sign on to savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other benefit programs that Democrats have long defended from proposed Republican cuts.

At the same time, both sides have worked to tilt the bargaining table to their advantage. As part of that effort, Obama travels to Pennsylvania on Friday to campaign for his tax proposal.

Boehner, who will begin a second term as House speaker early next month, has appealed to his rank and file to remain united. At a closed-door meeting this week, he displayed polling data that showed the public would rather see loopholes closed than rates raised as a means of raising revenue for the government.

Speaking with reporters after his closed-door session with Geithner, Boehner accused the president of holding "campaign-style rallies" rather than engaging in serious bargaining.

Reid, too, cited polls, saying the public favors the sort of balanced approach to deficit cutting, tax increases included, that Obama backed in his race against Republican Mitt Romney.

Polls of voters taken as they left their polling places on Nov. 6 showed 60 percent said taxes should go up on income over $250,000 or for everyone, including 77 percent of Democrats, 42 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents.

At the same time, 63 percent said that taxes should not be increased to reduce the federal budget deficit, a view shared by 50 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of independents and 81 percent of Republicans.

"Republicans know where we stand," Reid said at his news conference. "We're still waiting for a serious offer from Republicans."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was more emphatic.

Referring to a meeting at the White House more than a week ago, he said both sides agreed to a two-part framework that would include a significant down payment in 2012, along with a plan to expand on the savings in 2013.

"Each side said they'd submit a down payment. We have. Our preference is revenue. What is theirs?" he said, speaking of the Republicans.

In addition to sessions with Boehner and Reid, Geithner also met during the day with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and top House Democrats.

Said McConnell, in a statement: "To date, the administration has remained focused on raising taxes and attending campaign-style events, with no specific plans to protect Medicare and Social Security or reduce our national debt in a meaningful way." He added, "And today, they took a step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff."

___

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Julie Pace, Alan Fram, Stephen Ohlemacher and Andrew Taylor contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-11-29-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-ab9d64b5dede49de8c60bc74b2c92b50

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3 Tips on Self-Love & Relationship Readiness

By?J. Cameron Gantt

When it comes to?love?and?relationships, the fabulous Earth Kitt once said ?It?s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.?

These are some of the things that keep many singles on what I like to call a ?hamster wheel? of bad relationships and it all stems from not being comfortable in your own skin. We all crave companionship in some form and we all deserve to a shot at finding love but the truth is, until you can master the art of?loving yourself, you will never be able to love or accept love from anyone else.

Luckily, it?s never too late to start nurturing the relationship you have with yourself and it?s never too late to start using that energy to attract a healthy, authentic and fulfilling relationship with someone else.

Be Honest
If you can?t be honest with yourself, how can you be honest with others? Honesty is important for any genuine relationship, especially the one we have with ourselves. Sometimes, I think that we forget to separate the fantasy of what we want from the reality of what we need. As a result, we find ourselves lost, confused and sometimes desperate looking for a way out. This is the point where people usually find themselves stuck because instead of focusing on the root of the problem, they are focusing on the quick fix.

The truth can be scary, but you have to take the good with the bad and own it. If it?s a positive truth, then live by it. If it?s a negative truth, then you have the option of either working towards changing it or working towards accepting it.

This honesty will bring you clarity within yourself and will also allow you to be more honest and clear about what you need in a relationship.

Stop, Look and Listen!
Pay attention to your actions and reactions. It easy for us to get distracted with responsibilities and find ourselves stuck on autopilot. A lot of times, I find that people get caught up taking on responsibilities and emotions that really serve them no purpose. It?s wasted energy.

Everything you do should serve your purpose. If you find yourself in a place where you feel like you are just going through the motions, take a time out to stop and reevaluate things. No matter how big or small the task at hand or how major or minor the info you are receiving, ask yourself: How will my actions or reaction to this situation serve my purpose?

Eliminate The Negative Self-Talk
We all have our good days and bad days and sometimes, insecurities can get the better of us. It would be unrealistic to say that you should never have a bad day ever. It just doesn?t work that way and anyone who says that they are 100% confident all the time has a good poker face.

A lot of confidence issues stem from comparisons we make between ourselves and the lives of those we know. Those comparisons are reinforced with negative self-talk and that talk is what tricks us into thinking that we are not good enough.

When you find yourself lost in a sea of negative self-talk, just replace it with positive talk. Look at your accomplishments, big or small, and celebrate them. If something is really bothering you, transform that bad juju into productive energy and get to work on changing that situation.

When you do get into a relationship, you will be better equipped to?love?that person, flaws and all.

via YourTango

?

?

Source: http://www.ericrobersonmusic.com/2012/11/28/3-tips-on-self-love-relationship-readiness/

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Brewer rejects Az health-insurance exchange, triggering federal ...

Posted Nov 28, 2012, 9:27 pm

Joe Henke Cronkite News Service

Gov. Jan Brewer announced Wednesday that Arizona will not create a state-based health exchange but will leave that job to the federal government, as detailed in the Affordable Care Act.

Brewer said the decision was one of the more difficult ones of her career in public office, but that ultimately there were too many unknown variables to proceed with a state-run exchange.

?There simply remains too much we don?t know about how a state-based exchange would function and its ultimate cost to taxpayers,? Brewer said in a prepared statement released by her office. ?Without clear federal guidance and instruction, I cannot in good conscience commit the taxpayers of my state to this costly endeavor.?

But some health officials in the state, while not criticizing the decision, worried that the governor may have just traded one unknown for another.

?We don?t know how much a federal exchange would involve,? said Pete Wertheim, spokesman for the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. ?Is it a one-size-fits-all, or a look at a state?s needs? How will decision-making occur??

Arizona becomes the latest state to reject a role in the health-insurance exchanges, one of the many aspects of the federal health reform law sometimes called ?Obamacare.?

The exchanges are supposed to be virtual marketplaces where small businesses and uninsured low- and moderate-income consumers can buy coverage. Exchanges are to be up and running by 2014, when the law?s ?individual mandate? kicks in, requiring all Americans to either have health insurance or face the possibility of having to pay a penalty.

States were given the option of setting up their own exchanges or having the federal government do it for them. But many governors who opposed Obamacare ? like Brewer ? delayed a decision until after this fall?s elections, on the chance that the health reform law could be overturned by a new Congress or new administration.

States now have until Dec. 14 to tell the federal government whether they plan to set up their own exchange or not. As of last week, 18 states were in, 20 were out and five were going into exchange partnerships with the federal government, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Seven ? including Arizona at the time ? were still undecided.

Brewer said her decision ?comes following an extensive research and outreach process during which my team of health advisers conducted public hearings and met with HHS (the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), patient advocates and representatives of Arizona hospitals, health providers, insurers, tribal groups and other members of the health care community.?

The decision was quickly criticized by several Democratic lawmakers in the state.

?This exchange is one of the key areas in the Affordable Care Act that provides local people the flexibility to make decisions about what is best for local communities,? said Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, the House minority leader, in a prepared statement. ?The governor just signed over a lot of power to the federal government.?

Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor, D-Tucson, called it ?a missed opportunity to establish healthcare solutions that are tailor-made for the unique needs of our state.?

?I would think the governor would want to be involved in decisions affecting the well-being of Arizonans,? Taylor said in a statement.

But Chic Older, executive vice president of the Arizona Medical Association, whose office had worked with Brewer?s on the issue, agreed with the governor that there are still a lot of questions.

?The Affordable Care Act is a fact and it?s complex for every one of us,? Older said. ?Many, many aspects of it are open to interpretation.

?This was probably, for the governor?s office, very difficult and without the attached certainty, hard to go forward with without knowing the ultimate cost and the cost-benefit,? he said.

Older said the medical association usually advocates for local control and that it supported a state-run exchange, but only from a procedural standpoint. And he noted that Arizona is not alone in declining to establish a state-based health exchange.

?It?s not like Arizona is the only one,? Older said. ?They?re in good company. There are a number of states that have made the same decision.?

An earlier deadline for states of Nov. 15 was pushed back after the Republican Governors Association sent a letter to President Barack Obama ?seeking clarification on critical outstanding questions related to the federal health care law.?

Older said the states were left with a lot to digest in a short amount of time.

?This is the hand we have been dealt and we will go with it,? he said.

Wertheim said he hopes the state?s decision can be revisited if circumstances change.

?We would prefer state-based, but we respect Gov. Brewer?s decision and we have to move forward,? he said. ?We?re disappointed, but ready to move on to the next challenge.?

Cronkite News Service reporter Khara Persad contributed to this report.

- 30 -

Source: http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/112812_health_exchanges/brewer-rejects-az-health-insurance-exchange-triggering-federal-operation/

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'Psych' star Dule Hill and wife separate

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Nicole Lyn and Dule Hill in 2011.

By Natalie Finn, E! Online

Dule Hill couldn't have seen this one coming when he got married.?The "Psych" ?star filed for a legal separation from actress wife Nicole Lyn, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for why things didn't work out.

The pair's official date of separation is listed as July 21 -- 11 days after their eighth wedding anniversary -- in court documents filed Nov. 6 and obtained by E! News.

Djimon Hounsou and Kimora Lee Simmons split after five years

Hill, who's perhaps most famous for playing presidential aide Charlie Young on "The West Wing" for seven years, filed his petition using his full first name, Karim Dule Hill.

Lyn had a recurring role as an intern on "The West Wing" before she married Hill, and she had a guest spot on "Psych" in 2007 in addition to appearances on "The L Word" and the short-lived "Welcome to the Captain."

Celebrity splits

Hill, 37, and Lyn, 34, did not have any children together and this was the first marriage for both.

The seventh season of "Psych" ?premieres on USA in February.

More in TODAY Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/11/28/15509302-psych-west-wing-star-dule-hill-and-wife-separate?lite

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Honing and Developing My Personal Writing Style--Guest Post by ...

by Kellie Larsen Murphy, @aguiltymind I have always been a writer. In high school, I served as yearbook editor. In college, I sequenced in a series of English classes. Early in my business career, I took creative writing after work. In recent years, I've worked for several magazines as a freelance writer. So, writing a novel should have been easy. Right? Hmmm. Not so much. Actually, writing the novel was not the hard part. Writing a good novel was.

When I wrote my first manuscript, I was very excited. I sent out query letters. I attended writing conferences. I got some interest. Hooray! But then I came down to earth. How do I know the book wasn't very good? Well, the rejection slips were one way but more importantly, an agent was kind enough to write me a long letter and tell me specifically what was wrong with it. First, she said, the book was too long. In fact, that manuscript was twice the length of what most debut novels should be. Second, she said the story was interesting but the pacing was slow and the action took too long to happen. Finally, the chapters were overly wordy and (surprise!) too long. But, she also said there was potential in my writing. I had just buried it in too many words. Thankfully, I listened.
To learn to use words economically, I entered short story contests and, happily, earned some awards. I truly believe this is a great practice for writers who are developing their writing style. Not only will you challenge yourself, you will get honest feedback from the judges. Choose contests with varying lengths. Can you tell your story in 2500 words? 1500? How about 500? I also took on freelance writing assignments that were often limited to 1000 words. Essays, too. Today, I find word limits easy but only because I listened to constructive criticism from someone who was in a position to give it.
My new novel, A GuiltyMind, is built on short chapters to create suspense. This aspect of my writing style is the direct result of the work I put in on contests and freelance assignments. And how do I know it works? Well, I have been fortunate to speak with several book clubs that have chosen A Guilty Mind and one recurring comment is how they enjoyed the short chapters. As a writer, I love when someone says, "Well, I was super tired but the chapters were short so I thought I'd stay up and read just one more?"
Don't Be Intimidated and Test Your Work
Sometimes, it's easy to be in awe of another writer's ability and lose faith in yourself. I once took a creative writing class where one of the students was so good, such an intuitive writer, that the rest of us hung our heads. Our work probably wasn't all that bad but when she read her stories out loud, she took us all to another place and time. Yet, in spite of her skill, I've never heard of her again and don't know if she is still writing today.
Don't be intimidated by rejections either. Try to learn where you can improve your style. While your friends and family are wonderful, they may not be qualified to tell you where your style needs work. Test your style on your writing group, beta readers, or even your book club if they are willing. My own book club read the first draft of A Guilty Mind and their feedback, questions, and criticism helped shape the final manuscript.
Don't Be Afraid to Start Over
Starting over can be anything from a rewrite to starting an entirely new novel. This is what I did. While I haven't permanently abandoned that first manuscript, a new story was buzzing in my brain and I couldn't wait to write it - especially with all that I had learned. That story, A Guilty Mind, was born. Still, it wasn't a cakewalk. I wrote several drafts. I chopped chapters. I added an entirely new character in one of the later drafts. The point is, don't be wedded to the words. Starting over, whether it's just a paragraph or several chapters allows you to tell the story in the best way possible, always honing and developing your style over time.
Your Style Will be Your Own

While finding the time to work on my next novel is sometimes a challenge, finding my style isn't. Writing this book in a voice that fits the genre and me is easier than ever. All it took was listening, practicing, and not giving up.

Kellie Larsen Murphy is a freelance writer for several regional and southern magazines. An avid reader and book club enthusiast, she'd enjoy meeting you on her blog where she posts about her publishing journey. A Guilty Mind, the first in a series of psychological suspense novels featuring Detective Michael Cancini, was published in September. You can follower her on twitter @aguiltymind.

Source: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2012/11/honing-and-developing-my-personal.html

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Syrian jets bomb rebel bases near Turkey border

BUKULMEZ, Turkey (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes bombed two rebel bases near the Turkish border on Monday sending hundreds of people fleeing across the frontier.

The attacks on the Free Syrian Army positions (FSA) in Atima and nearby Bab al-Hawa came a day before NATO and Ankara were due to start assessing where to station surface-to-air missiles on the Turkish side of the 900-km (560-mile) boundary.

Turkey, a big supporter of rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, has repeatedly scrambled jets along the border. It has also responded in kind when shells from the conflict have landed inside Turkey, underlining fears Syria's 20-month-old revolt could spread to destabilize the region.

Ankara has rejected Syrian complaints that the NATO Patriots were "provocative" and stressed they would be used only to defend Turkish territory, not to create a no-fly zone inside Syria that rebels have long demanded as a way to neutralize Assad's massive air power.

Syrian planes dropped around six bombs on a rebel base near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, said activists.

"There were lots of people injured ... I saw many wounded people on the border before I was brought here," FSA member Mahmoud Ahmad told Reuters after arriving in Turkey for treatment.

The attack also flattened tents being set up nearby for displaced people inside Syria by a Turkish charity, but no one was inside them at the time, Turkey's state-run Anadolu agency reported. Reuters television footage showed tattered shelters and a bomb crater near a line of tanks.

Two Syrian jets fired five rockets at an FSA base in Atima, around 2km (1 mile) from the border, said opposition activist Ahmed, who lives nearby. "Three have hit farm areas and another two hit buildings near the base."

Rebels fired anti-aircraft guns at the jets but they were flying too high to be hit, activists said. "I think the reason for the raid may have something to do with increased weapons movements (from Turkey)," Ahmed said.

Several hundred Syrians fled into Turkey after the Atima raid and were being taken care of by the Turkish army.

The Turkish Anatolian news agency said an anti-aircraft shell fired during clashes in another Syrian border town, Harem, hit the roof of a house in the Turkish district of Reyhanli but caused no casualties.

Syrian rebels have been tightening their hold on farmland and urban centres to the east and northeast of Damascus, and have seized a string of military bases in the past 10 days.

PATRIOT DEPLOYMENT

A joint Turkish-NATO team will start work on Tuesday assessing where to put Patriot missiles, how many will be needed and the number of foreign troops to be sent to operate them.

Turkey is reluctant to be drawn into the fighting, but the proximity of Syrian bombing raids to its border is straining its nerves. It is worried about its neighbor's chemical weapons, the refugee crisis on its border, and what it says is Syrian support for Kurdish militants on its own soil.

Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which started with peaceful demonstrations for reform but grew into demands for the overthrow of 42 years of dynastic rule by Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking to the Austrian paper Der Standard, urged Assad to consider a political settlement with the opposition.

"The military option is not sustainable. The conflict should be resolved via a political process. (Assad) should realize that he has gone too far, too deep, and how can he continue this way? He should listen to what his people would like," he said.

Attacks by mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's forces have become increasingly effective and deadly. The president, from Syria's Alawite minority which is linked to Shi'ite Islam, has responded with devastating artillery and air bombardment.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled their country and more than 2 million more have been displaced. The opposition said last week $60 billion would be needed for reconstruction.

With winter coming, the suffering will grow as displaced families seek food, medicine and shelter. The U.N. chief said only 40 percent of needed humanitarian aid has been made available.

EUPHRATES DAM CAPTURED

The military installations rebels have captured in the last 10 days include a major facility in the northern province of Aleppo and several bases around the capital Damascus.

On Monday activists said rebels took control of the Tishreen dam on the Euphrates river, east of the city of Aleppo. Internet video footage showed gunmen inside what appeared to be the control room, undamaged following the rebel capture.

Other footage showed rebels opening up ammunition boxes, including one marked RPG (rocket-propelled grenades), which they said were seized from Assad's forces holding the dam.

On Sunday rebels said they had captured a helicopter base east of Damascus, their latest gain in a battle that is drawing nearer to Assad's seat of power in the capital.

The Marj al-Sultan base, 15 km (10 miles) from Damascus, is the second military facility on the outskirts of the city reported to fall to Assad's opponents this month. Activists said rebels destroyed two helicopters and taken 15 prisoners.

"We are coming for you Bashar!" a rebel shouted in an internet video of what activists said was Marj al-Sultan. Restrictions on non-state media meant it could not be verified.

The rebels have been tightening their hold on farmland and urban centres to the east and northeast of Damascus while a major battle has been under way for a week in the suburb of Daraya near the main highway south.

"We are seeing the starting signs of a rebel siege of Damascus," opposition campaigner Fawaz Tello said from Berlin. "Marj al-Sultan is very near to the Damascus Airport road and to the airport itself. The rebels appear to be heading toward cutting this as well as the main northern artery to Aleppo."

Assad's core forces, drawn mainly from his Alawite sect, are entrenched in the capital.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Erika Solomon in Beirut, Jonathon Burch in Ankara and Michael Shields in Vienna; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-jets-bomb-rebel-bases-near-turkey-border-032620562.html

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Floods claim fourth life and leave worst insurance bills for five years

Firefighters recover the body of an elderly woman from her flooded house in the devastated centre of St Asaph, north Wales

Flooding in Britain has claimed a fourth life and brought misery to hundreds more homes, as torrential rain moves away into the North Sea leaving the worst insurance bills for five years in its wake.

Firefighters in the devastated centre of St Asaph, the small but historic north Wales community which was given city status by the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee, recovered the body of an elderly woman from her flooded house, one of 500 local properties damaged or evacuated.

The tragedy follows drownings in the West Country earlier in three days of downpours and floods which have seen the number of damaged houses top the 1100 mark. Emergency teams remain on duty at Malton and Norton in North Yorkshire, where six pumps are keeping the river Derwent at bay, and in York where the river Ouse is expected to peak on the morning of Wednesday 28 November.

The historic city is used to flooding in streets beside the river, which bisects the walled core, but a complex defence system involving the smaller river Foss holds all but exceptionally high water at bay. Extra sandbags were deployed by the York Flood Group, an emergency command structure convened when the Ouse rises by over four metres for more than a day.

The Environment Agency repeated warnings elsewhere that the break-up of solid downpours into fragmented showers did not mean that the threat of flooding was over. On Tuesday there were 181 flood warnings and 216 flood alerts covering the whole of England, with the highest total (111) in the Midlands and the smallest (6) in the usually damp north west which this time lay just to the north of the path of the wet fronts. Rising levels in the river Severn and the Thames from Oxford downstream have emergency teams on standby.

John Curtin, Environment Agency head of incident management said: ?Further flooding is expected in the next few days and communities across the country, particularly in north east England, north Wales and Northamptonshire, are urged to remain especially vigilant.?

The heaviest insurance bill since 2007 has been estimated by the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which suggests that damage from flooding so far this year is likely to reach ?1bn, compared with losses of ?3bn in 2007 when successive severe floods across England and Wales forced thousands of people from their homes.

Mohammad Khan, insurance partner at PwC, said the period from April to June was the wettest since records began and insurance losses from the flooding were then estimated at ?500m. Using summer flood damage as a proxy to the recent flooding across the UK, he estimates the total cost this year to now add up to around ?1bn.

Since the 2007 floods, the Environment Agency has become more active and more people have signed up to its text message alerts, meaning they are better prepared when the worst weather hits.

But talks between the government and the industry have hit a deadlock. The ABI called on the government to do its bit to ensure affordable flood insurance for high-risk households, following the government?s refusal to provide a temporary overdraft facility to a proposed not-for-profit special insurance fund for 200,000 high-risk households. This would be used to pay claims if there were 2007-style floods in the early years of the scheme before it had built up its reserves.

?No country in the world has a free market for flood insurance with high levels of affordable cover without some form of government involvement,? said the ABI?s director general Nick Starling.

The prime minister, David Cameron, visited the village of Buckfastleigh in Devon, which suffered flash flooding after torrential rain at the weekend.

He said: ?It is obviously very traumatic when communities are hit by flooding like this but what I found are people are incredibly steadfast and have behaved incredibly bravely at handling the flood and now we need to help them with the recovery.

?We have to make sure their insurance pays out, make sure the Environment Agency puts in place good flood defences, make sure there are better warning schemes. There are always lessons to learn and I wanted to come here and hear it for myself.?

He defended the coalition government?s record on flood defences in spite of cuts at the Environment Agency overall and in the flood budget specifically. He said: ?We are spending over ?2 billion on flood defences over the current four-year period, which is 6% less than was spent over the previous four years. As well as that, we are actually encouraging private and other money into flood defences and making sure they are more efficient as we build them. I am convinced we are going to provide flood defences for another extra 145,000 homes over the period ahead.?

The Environment Agency said that defences had generally held up well although unusual conditions outwitted some, especially the back-up of drains from land saturated by one of the wettest summers on record. This caused flooding to three properties in Malton where ?9.3 million defences finished in 2002, two years after disastrous flooding swamped 400 homes, have generally proved effective.

Transport disruption also defied the emergency services? best efforts with standing water from the sheer scale and persistence of the rainfall bringing major roads and rail services to a halt. The East Coast mainline is getting back to normal after almost a day?s breakdown of services between London, York and Scotland and the A1M, whose three day closure after flooding in September cost the economy a estimated ?250 million, was only briefly shut in one direction at Catterick in North Yorkshire during the worst of the weather.

Veja a Fonte da mat?ria

Source: http://tvmeioambiente.com.br/noticias/floods-claim-fourth-life-and-leave-worst-insurance-bills-for-five-years/

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6 Tips on Marketing Your Online Content | Business 2 Community

Content marketing is a simple phrase. It involves just two key elements.

?Content? which can be articles, videos and images in all their various multi-media formats.

?Marketing? which means taking that content and letting the online world knows it exists. In essence it is implementing strategies and tactics of making your ideas spread.

Marketing your content is a challenge in a world where there are over 2 billion internet users who are bombarded with emails, streams of tweets and banner ads.

The process of content marketing involves the creation of material that is informative but is also written on a perspective which shows your business in a positive light. Good content marketing will create interest in your business, attracting traffic to your website and hopefully, sales or conversations as well.

Great content will position your business as a thought leader in its industry and it will also educate, inform, entertain and inspire.

There are many ways of doing content marketing but not all methods yield the positive results! Here are six tips to get you started on marketing your own content:

Tip 1: Drip feed your content

There is a tendency to create too much content, unleash it on the Internet and then expect it to carry traction throughout the year but this isn?t always a good idea. News and current events change all the time which means your target audience may not be searching for the same things as they were searching for two or three months ago. Publish content consistently and persistently making your sure the content you produce has some relevancy to current events and what your target audience may be interested in at the present time.

Tip 2: Monitor old content

Use Analytics and visitor level call tracking software to monitor your content. Once you find out what types of articles seem to be the most effect, you will have a better idea as to what types of content your target audience are interested in. The success of your content will be measured in many ways but broadly speaking, an article that produces a high level of the following would be considered good content:

• High Traffic
• Prompts interest and enquiries
• Generates sales

Tip 3: Make use of social media

Once your content has been published, the main objective is to get as many people to see view it who may be interested in your business and leveraging social media is an excellent place to start in order to achieve this. Posting content on your social media accounts will bring your content to those following your social media accounts. If these people like your content, they may choose to share it with their followers and a snowball effect is created which may possibly result in your content going viral!

In addition to this, we already know that Google uses social media signals when deciding your positions in the search results so an article that gets a good number of ?Likes?, shares, comments, tweets, +1s is likely to improve your search engine positions as well.

Tip 4: Aim for quality not quantity

Hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of content are created every day. A web surfer is spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing content to read. Creating an interesting title will definitely be effective in getting a user to click on your article rather than the next person?s article but a poorly written, uninteresting article will just get scanned and then discarded. This means no social love and definitely no enquiries or sales.

Find out what your target audience are interested in and create high quality, engaging, thought provoking content that they would be interested in. no doubt in the time needed to create one high quality article, you could?ve possibly created two, or maybe three low quality articles but that one high quality article will prove more beneficial than three lower quality ones.

Tip 5: Incorporate the right amount of SEO

Your article needs to be able to turn up in search engine results pages (the holy grail is to be on page one at the top of the page) and then by having the right headline and description attract the right people. To do this, you should include some relevant keywords into your article but don?t overdo it. Adding too many keywords may result in the article losing its readability factor. As a general rule you should always add keywords but the article should be written for a human, not a search engine.

Tip 6: Inform rather than sell

People receive sales pitches all the time, be it in the electrical store, through the post, a popup advert on the Internet or whilst passing a billboard. They?ve become very good at noticing a blatant attempt to make them purchase something which is why all marketing articles should aim to inform rather than sell a product. Provide genuinely useful information on a topic which would allow you to mention your product or service along with some of its merits. A well written article will make the reader come to a conclusion without sounding like a sales pitch.

At the centre of any content marketing strategy is the creation of high quality content. Once high quality content has been created, it needs to be promoted and monitored using web analytics and call tracking solutions. Do this and you will well on your way to having a successful content marketing strategy.

Author: Rashed Khan????

Rashed Khan is a seasoned blogger who enjoys guest posting on Business and technology related topics. Rashed is currently guest posting on behalf of Epicor who specialise in Enterprise Resource Planning, Distribution and Manufacturing software?. View?full?profile

Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/6-tips-on-marketing-your-online-content-0340457

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Everplaces Comes Out Of Beta With App Individually Tailored For Travellers

Location-based note-sharing app Findery, which famously had to change its name in July, thinks it might be onto a winner, creating a site for people to bookmark locations. But in fact, it was pre-dated by a European startup which today comes out of beta. We've been tracking the slick Everplaces since March - we called it a Pinterest for location - and have been impressed with its ability to create a destination app for travellers out of allowing them to bookmark and share interesting locations. It now launches a full-blown new iOS app.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CSfkSO1IyrY/

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UN climate talks open in Qatar

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? U.N. talks on a new climate pact resumed Monday in oil and gas-rich Qatar, where negotiators from nearly 200 countries will discuss fighting global warming and helping poor nations adapt to it.

The two-decade-old talks have not fulfilled their main purpose: reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are warming the planet.

Attempts to create a new climate treaty failed in Copenhagen three years ago but countries agreed last year to try again, giving themselves a deadline of 2015 to adopt a new treaty.

A host of issues need to be resolved by then, including how to spread the burden of emissions cuts between rich and poor countries. That's unlikely to be decided in the Qatari capital of Doha, where negotiators will focus on extending the Kyoto Protocol, an emissions deal for industrialized countries, and trying to raise billions of dollars to help developing countries adapt to a shifting climate.

"We all realize why we are here, why we keep coming back year and after year," said South Africa Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who led last year's talks in Durban, South Africa. "We owe it to our people, the global citizenry. We owe it to our children to give them a safer future than what they are currently facing."

The U.N. process is often criticized, even ridiculed, both by climate activists who say the talks are too slow, and by those who challenge the scientific near-consensus that the global temperature rise is at least partly caused by human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil.

The concentration of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide has jumped 20 percent since 2000, according to a U.N. report released last week.

A recent projection by the World Bank showed temperatures are on track to increase by up to 4 degrees C (7.2 F) this century, compared with pre-industrial times, overshooting the 2-degree target that has been the goal of the U.N. talks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-26-Climate%20Talks/id-ed2748444c63419fbd04124f1e246ea0

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Give the gift of premium Web services

18 hrs.

Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker

As you're trying to come up with great gifts for the holidays, software likely isn't the first thing that comes to mind. It can make a great gift for the right person, though, especially when they're not willing to shell out the cash themselves (as so few people are). Here are some of our favorite (and your favorite) premium Web services that not only boost productivity, but dish out a little holiday cheer too.

Note: Most of these are monthly subscriptions, so you can gift them however you like. Giving someone a few months or a year of a service is a great gift that you can tweak for your budget, and leave yourself room for the same gift next year if they really like it.

If a service doesn't offer a gift option, you can always use a prepaid credit card and give it to them for use with the service you're gifting.

SUBSCRIPTIONS?UNDER $5 A MONTH?

A personalized domain name
It?may sound silly for the No.?1 item on our list, but it's the cheapest subscription you can give, costing only $3.99 a year (that's 33 cents a month), and it's something everyone should have. They may not know it, but a personalized domain name can come in extremely handy, and will only get more important as time goes on. They can post their online CV or resume there, redirect it to their Twitter or Facebook page, and further control how the Internet sees you. The quicker you snatch it up before someone else with the same name, the better. We've linked to Namecheap below, since that's your favorite domain registrar, but check out our Hive Five for a few other options.

Crashplan+
If you have a friend who still isn't backing up their data, it's the perfect time to give them the gift of bulletproof backup thanks to Crashplan. Even if they're backing up to an external drive, that isn't good enough???they need something in the cloud so no matter what happens, their backups are always accessible and they don't become another sad story of lost data. Crashplan is our favorite option, being cheap and easy to set up, so get them in the habit now. If you're particularly cheap, RobotTaco notes that you can get a free subscription right now from this page.

LastPass and Xmarks Premium
If you know someone with multiple computers, the gift of synchronization can be a wonderful thing. Give them a combined subscription to LastPass and Xmarks for their passwords, bookmarks, history, open tabs, and everything else so they're able to browse easily from any computer.?

Xmarks is convenient, but LastPass is the most important app here, as it gives you the enhanced security everyone should have???make sure they create good passwords and turn on two-factor authentication, while you're at it, so they don't fall prey to the ever-increasing number of hacks happening nowadays.?

The pro versions give you access to the mobile apps for each service, more secure two-factor authentication with a thumb drive or YubiKey, plus an ad-free experience and priority support. You can buy each service separately, but buying them both together gets you a pretty sweet discount.

Pandora One
Everyone loves Pandora, but no one likes ads interrupting their music. Reader jrod3737recommended a subscription to Pandora One as a gift for just about anyone: it not only ditches the ads, but lets you use the Pandora desktop client, customize your experience with skins, and listen to higher quality audio all day long. You can either buy a month-to-month subscription or grab an entire year for a discounted price.

Evernote Premium
Evernote is still your favorite note-taking application, and it's only gotten better lately. If you know someone that isn't using Evernote yet???particularly if they need some extra organization in their life??a subscription to Evernote Premium is a great way to get them started. A premium subscription gets you more space per month, offline notebooks, collaborative notes, better speed, PDF search, priority support, an ad-free experience, and more. It's the perfect way to take someone's organization from good to awesome with one simple download.

SUBSCRIPTIONS UNDER $10 A MONTH

Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime's combination of two-day shipping and sizable library of streaming TV shows and movies makes a fantastic gift for?...?well, anyone who ever uses Amazon. And if they don't use Amazon, they will once they can buy anything with free two-day shipping. Of course, you could always share your two-day shipping benefits with them, but getting them their own subscription lets them stream movies too, which is always nice???especially if they have a home theater PC or streaming set-top box in their living room.

Netflix and Hulu Plus
For the true TV addict, grab them a subscription to Netflix and/or Hulu Plus so they can watch all their favorite movies and TV shows on demand. Netflix is great for movies and TV shows alike, while Hulu Plus is particularly good for watching current seasons of shows as they air. Both subscriptions let you stream to a set-top box, too, and are the perfect companions for ditching an expensive cable subscription. Grab one or both for your friends and help set them free from the shackles of cable TV.

Spotify Premium
If your friend has truly embraced streaming and switched to Spotify for their music-listening needs, they need a premium subscription.?

Not only will it get rid of the ads (which the cheaper "Unlimited" subscription will also do), but it gives them higher-quality audio and lets them listen on their iPhone or Android phone, truly completing the Spotify experience.

?It may not be ready to replace most people's libraries, but if you know someone whose fallen in love with it, you should help them go all-out with a Premium subscription.?

Alternatively, if you don't like Spotify, you can grab them a subscription to one of the other great music services out there, like Grooveshark or Rdio.

FOR THE BIG SPENDERS: SUBSCRIPTIONS $10 A MONTH AND UP

A VPN for privacy and international browsing
A VPN (virtual private network)?may seem like an ultra geeky gift, but it's something not everyone knows they need, and nobody wants to pay for. However, it can be useful for all sorts of people, but especially good for users looking for an extra bit of privacy (like bittorrent users) or, as reader JeshuaSanmentions, those living internationally (who?want to watch Hulu or listen to Spotify when it isn't available in their country). Every user is different, so hit the link below to see some of the VPNs we recommend.

• Choose a VPN (Subscriptions range from $7.99/month to $38/month)
  

Extra Dropbox space
Dropbox is one of our all-time favorite Web services, and while you can grab a lot of space for free, sometimes you just need to pony up for a premium subscription. A subscription to expanded space can be great for students, video editors with large files, or people that just want to sync their large musicor photo libraries across computers. Alternatively, you can also grab someone one of the cheaper options, like Google Drive, Skydrive, or Box.

A special thanks goes out to everyone who provided suggestions last week! It made putting together these guides a lot easier, and a better fit for you.

More?from Lifehacker:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/give-gift-premium-web-services-1C7209890

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Raw Five-Point Preview: Nov. 26, 2012

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-11-26/five-point-preview

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What's all the Hype about Self Esteem? | LifeScape

Posted by Julia Skeesick on Nov 23, 2012 in Blog | 0 comments

?It seems there is way too much talk about self esteem but despite all the discussion and well intended efforts to bolster it, healthy self esteem remains mysterious and elusive for many.

The more I learn about ?and work with people the more I believe a healthy self esteem is the foundation a of a healthy happy life.

That being said I can recall, especially when I had school age children, lots of odd ideas about what it was, how to instill it and in particular how to avoid squashing it. Some of this information was good, ?some really missed the mark and did not foster real self esteem and may have done the opposite.

So what is self esteem? I like this definition I found on wikipedia:

Self-esteem, is a term in?psychology?to reflect a?person?s overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. It is a judgement of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self. Self-esteem encompasses?beliefs?(for example, ?I am competent?, ?I am worthy?) and?emotions?such as triumph,?despair,?pride?and?shame.^[1]??The self-concept is?what we thinkabout the self;?self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as inhow we feel?about it?.^[2]

Self-esteem is a disposition that a person has which represents their judgements of their own worthiness.^[3]?In the mid 1960s,?Morris Rosenberg?and social-learning theorists defined self-esteem in terms of a stable sense of personal worth or worthiness.^[4]?Nathaniel Branden?in 1969 defined self-esteem as ??the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness?. According to Branden, self-esteem is the sum of?self-confidence?(a feeling of personal capacity) and?self-respect(a feeling of personal worth). It exists as a consequence of the implicit judgement that every person has of their ability to face life?s challenges,to understand and solve problems, and, their right to achieve?happiness, and be given respect.^[5]

Self esteem then is your self regard or perception. High, good or healthy self esteem is what we are after.

This is not ego, arrogance or superficial. It is not based on deeds or accomplishments. It is not fragile, dependent on others or defensive.

It is a quiet confidence, acceptance and a comfortable feeling that is lasting.

I believe that is what we need as our foundation to be our best. This acceptance and appreciation of who we are , a clear understanding of ours as well as others intrinsic worth and value and a belief in our capability to manage our lives.

How does it feel to have that?

If you do not, how much of a difference might you experience in your life if you did?

For me it has been impactful although late coming.

An unstable tumultuous childhood did little to develop a sense of self esteem in my childhood, in fact quite the contrary.

I was in my late thirties with many self help books, classes, religious studies and philosophies under my belt before I came to realize my own self acceptance, worth and esteem.

A workshop by Debbie Ford provide the impetus to bring everything together for me. A moment of transformation where I saw things and saw myself differently? permanently and completely.

It is a life changer; not that one still does not have moments of doubt and absolute idiocy,(many), ?just that those moments do no damage and the sense that all is well remains intact. It is a knowing that you are more than what you do or how you appear. It changes how you look at yourself of course but also it is the truest route to acceptance of others and that is such a pleasure as well.

If you are the fortunate minority that have healthy self esteem enjoy it. It will support and propel you in all your pursuits.

However, if this has been a struggle for you, know that you may count yourself with the majority but need not remain that way.

With an open mind and some effort this can be improved and when it is everything in life improves with it.

What do you think are the top 3 things that make you valuable?

What if those things were gone?

Are you dependent on the good opinion or praise of others for a sense of pride or accomplishment?

Do you become angry or hurt when someone criticizes you?

What might it be worth to discover your worth and find real acceptance and healthy self esteem?

You are worth the effort? believe me

Source: http://www.lifescapesite.com/uncategorized/whats-all-the-hype-about-self-esteem/

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President Obama Supports Small Business Saturday at Book Store ...

President Barack Obama (2R) and daughters Sasha Obama (C) and Malia Obama (R) shop at One More Page Books on Small Business Saturday November 24, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

President Barack Obama made a quick trip to a Virginia bookstore in support of ?Small Business Saturday? over the weekend, the Associated Press reports.

Obama took his daughters, Sasha and Malia, to One More Page Books in Arlington, Va. to encourage shoppers to patronize mom-and-pop businesses after Thanksgiving.? He reportedly encouraged people to consider ?Small Business Saturday? as a local alternative to ?Black Friday? or ?Cyber Monday.?

?From the mom-and-pop storefront shops that anchor Main Street to the high-tech startups that keep America on the cutting edge, small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstones of our nation?s promise,? Obama said in a statement Friday, according to The Hill.

(Photo: Twitter/@whitehouse)

?Through events such as Small Business Saturday, we keep our local economies strong and help maintain an American economy that can compete and win in the 21st century,? he added.

At the store, Obama held up his BlackBerry, apparently looking up a book title as he spoke with shop owner Eileen McGervey. He said ?preparation? was the key to his shopping trips.

President Barack Obama reads from his Blackberry cellphone alongside his daughters Sasha (L) and Malia (R) during a shopping trip to One More Page Books on Small Business Saturday. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

But what about the looming ?fiscal cliff? that is scheduled to crush this exact type of business?? How will they deal with ever-increasing taxes, and the implementation of Obamacare?

Apparently the president brushed off a reporter?s related question, saying only ?we?re doing Christmas shopping.?

The White House says Obama bought 15 children?s books that will be given as Christmas gifts to family members.

?The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/president-obama-small-businesses-are-backbone-of-our-economy-and-cornerstones-of-our-nations-promise/

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Soundgarden Tickets Now on Sale: The Sweet Sound of Reunion

Soundgarden got its start as an American rock band known as The Shemps, with drummer and lead singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto and Kim Thayil as lead guitarist, which began playing Seattle venues in the early 1980s. When Yamamoto left the band, Kim Thayil came onboard to take over as their bassist. Though, Yamamoto never got too far away, and eventually, he joined up with Thayill and Cornell to form A Sound Garden. The band also brought on Scott Sundquist to take over drums, so Chris Cornell could focus on his vocals.

Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands to usher in the grunge movement, which is a style of alternative rock in the 1990s, even though the group wasn't one to sit back on their heels and settle into any one style. With prosperity of talent and caliber at their disposal, this band was not afraid to experiment with their music, producing albums that sounded unique at all times.

Soundgarden finally broke into the mainstream with the release of their debut album, "Superunknown," achieving its biggest success in 1994, through numerous transitions and changes evolved over the years. The album featured Grammy Award-winning singles from the group like, "Spoonman" and "Black Hole Sun," which received plenty of airplay and helped boost sales of Soundgarden albums around the country. Before the group disbanded completely, they released one more album, "Down on the Upside," in 1996.

In spite of the loyal following of its fans, the band managed to develop their successful but short-lived career. The main reason behind the group's break-up in 1997 is conflicts between band members. However, the band is back together again in 2010. The reunion announced by the band is garnering plenty of positive attention and the band is ready for their first public appearance together since their breakup in April 1997. The band has also begun work on a new album together, and fans may catch a glimpse of the new music at the latest concerts at concert venues across the country.

In their musical career, Soundgarden has attained success through many albums and "Superunknown" 1994 was one of their biggest successes and it has debuted as number one on the Billboard charts. Some singles from this album such as "Black Hole Sun" and "Spoonman" has won Grammy awards. Despite of many favorable reviews for various other albums of Soundgarden, none of them could reach the sales or popularity of "Superunknown" album.

Source: http://www.artipot.com/articles/1440977/soundgarden-tickets-now-on-sale-the-sweet-sound-of-reunion.htm

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