Wednesday 31 October 2012

5 things to watch for in the final week of the presidential race between Obama, Romney (Star Tribune)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/259247956?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Five iPhone 5s in five days: win an iPhone gift card, courtesy of Tanga!

Five iPhone 5s in five days win an iPhone gift card, courtesy of Tanga!

Day one has come and gone, but we are just twenty percent of the way through our weeklong mission to give out five iPhones. Today's contest is made possible by Tanga, an e-tailer known for offering tech magazine subscriptions on the cheap as well as closeout prices on just about anything you can think of. Tanga is hooking the lucky winner up with an Apple gift card with enough credit to cover the no-contract cost of an iPhone 5, which means you have more flexibility in choosing a carrier. So head below, read the rules and leave a comment to enter again! You have until Saturday to get your entry in, but the longer you wait, the easier it is to forget -- believe us, that happens to us all the time. (At least, we think it does.)

Continue reading Five iPhone 5s in five days: win an iPhone gift card, courtesy of Tanga!

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Five iPhone 5s in five days: win an iPhone gift card, courtesy of Tanga! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/30/iphone-5-tanga-giveaway/

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Link Building Strategy in Now a Days | SEO & Internet Marketing ...

SEO Link BuildingInformation technology is the in thing in the present world, more so in the business scene. The increase in the use of technology in recent years has changed the way we do business and much more anything else. In the Internet era, advancements in the fields of technology and information mean that the world is fast shrinking into a very small community. Nowadays, running a website for your business is considered standard practice with its main focus being to get the maximum number of traffic. This is not going to happen on its own, which is where link building as an e-commerce strategy comes in.

Link building is one of the steps you will have to take in order to increase the amount of traffic to your website. There are strategies to go for that you can use to build links that will help spread the word about your business. You need to have tips that will help you to build links for your site with the aim of increasing the traffic. You should consider the link building strategy of spreading your links through social media marketing. In the information and technology era, large numbers of people are to be found in the virtual world.

Many of the people on social media have accounts in different social media platforms and you can reach them by registering yourself or your website in the social media websites. You do this by posting the link of your website on these social media websites. Another way to work at link building is to comment on others? blogs and post links. By commenting on other people?s blogs and write ups you are opening yourself by posting your website?s link on the forum where you have commented. This improves the probability of other people visiting the blog, click, and get into your website.

Press releases help spread the message fast thus it is important to use them to spread the link. There is no shortage of websites that you can use to post press releases free of charge. This is an effective link building strategy that is set to work when taken advantage of due to the fact that it does not cost you a lot of money if any. You can use press releases about different aspects of your company and post them in the websites. You should hyperlink them properly so as to compel readers of the releases to come to your website.

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About Author : Saptarshi MasidSaptarshi Masid has written/shared 3 articles on this website.

Saptarshi is a search specialist and writer who has created content for various online outlets throughout his career. In the UK seo.org.uk has helped him improve his knowledge of SEO techniques and the SEO Positive blog is a useful source of information in this area.


Saptarshi is a search specialist and writer who has created content for various online outlets throughout his career. In the UK seo.org.uk has helped him improve his knowledge of SEO techniques and the SEO Positive blog is a useful source of information in this area.

Source: http://www.seo4world.com/link-building-strategy-in-now-a-days.html

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Monday 29 October 2012

How You Can Save Money With Your International Sim Card

With the current economic hardships, it has become extremely important for people to save on all expenses. This is especially important for business people who are used to travelling internationally on a regular basis. As a businessperson, you should strive to significantly reduce the cost of every international trip that you take. There are many ways of achieving this although not all of them are very effective. One simple and effective way of saving on your international trip is to get an international sim card. This is an easy way to be cost effective especially when you consider the amount of money you spend making international calls if you are using your local sim card.

As a businessperson, you need to communicate with your customers, workers, partners, and other business related persons on a regular basis. However, because some of these people are far away in foreign countries, reaching them can be quite expensive. However, with a world phone and an international sim card, you will be able to make international calls to any destination without having to dig deeper into your pocket. Most of the international telephone service providers provide a standard rate for all international calls. This can really help you to make calls to various destinations without any extra charges. This can also help you to settle most of your business matters on the phone saving the cost of having to travel to different places.

Buying your sim card from a reputable international telephone company is very important. This is because most of the well-established telephone companies provide their customers with various fantastic offers to entice them to use their services instead of the competition. For example, companies will always try to keep their rates simple and affordable. They also provide other incentives such as less monthly service fees, less connection charges, as well as little or no limited usage for lower rates.

Another simple way of saving money on your international calls using an international sim card is to replace your sim card with a local one from the country that you are visiting. This means that you will be receiving all local calls free and your outgoing calls will be significantly cheaper. The only inconvenience that you are going to face when you replace your sim card with an international card is that you will be given a new number which most of your customers and partners are not familiar with.

Although replacing your sim card with an international sim card is a wise decision, there are several important factors that you have to bear in mind. For instance, you have to ensure that the company that you choose to purchase your sim card and world phone from is reliable. It must also be able to provide telephone services to countries that you are planning to visit. Another important point to consider is the rates. The communications services provider that you choose should have affordable rates that can help you to save as much money as possible. Remember the whole essence of replacing your sim card is to reduce the cost of making calls.

When traveling internationally make sure you do your research and get a global sim card or an international cell phone or a world phone. Find out how these phones can save you big money on your international roaming fees.

When traveling internationally make sure you do your research and get an international cell phone or a world phone. Find out how these phones can save you big money on your international roaming fees.
http://www.brightroam.com

Source: http://www.articlesbd.com/articles/264765/1/How-You-Can-Save-Money-With-Your-International-Sim-Card/Page1.html

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Up to 40 percent may vote early in election: Obama ahead

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Early voters could account for up to 40 percent of all ballots cast in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, and polls of people who already voted show President Barack Obama with a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Both candidates have been urging supporters not just to vote but to do it early as Republicans and Democrats campaign vigorously - particularly in key battleground states - to lock up as many votes as possible before Election Day on November 6.

Polls of people who say they already have voted show Obama with a lead in many of the states. The Obama campaign, which benefited from early voting in 2008, has focused heavily on urging supporters to vote early in this election as well.

Obama leads Romney 54 percent to 39 percent among voters who already have cast ballots, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks. The sample size of early voters is 960 people with a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

About 18 percent of registered voters already have cast ballots, the Reuters/Ipsos polling data showed. Around a quarter of minority voters - who tend to support Obama - and almost a fifth of white voters have cast ballots, the data showed.

Allison Gilmore voted during her lunch break at a community center in Arlington, Virginia. Like many who vote early, Gilmore was not sure she could make it on Election Day.

"I don't know how busy I'll be at work, (with) childcare - and I want to make sure I get my vote in," said Gilmore, 35, who declined to say for whom she voted.

Another voter, Myrna Levey of Cleveland, Ohio, said she voted early for Obama, by mail through an absentee ballot.

"It's more convenient," said Levey, 74. "They moved our voting place several blocks away and it is no longer in walking distance."

RECORD NUMBERS

Early voting, which began in some states in September, is now underway in nearly all 50 states, either by mail-in or in-person voting. Political scientists who specialize in early voting predict that a record 35 to 40 percent of all U.S. voters will cast their ballots before the November 6 election.

"In some of the battleground states, rates are even above that," said Michael McDonald, a political science professor at George Mason University in Virginia who runs the U.S. Elections Project and tracks all early votes (U.S. Elections Project: http://elections.gmu.edu/early_vote_2012.html).

"There's a lot of activity out there with both the Romney and the Obama campaigns organizing and mobilizing their supporters to vote early," McDonald said.

According to McDonald's data, states such as Iowa and Ohio - both of which are considered pivotal in the election - show a faster pace of early voting than in 2008.

A main reason for the increase in numbers of people voting early is that Republicans, who were caught flat-footed by Obama's strong performance in early voting in 2008, have put more emphasis on it this time around, experts said.

The parties have been sending out dueling memos in the past few days with each side claiming to have the upper hand in early voting.

As a sign of the importance the Democrats place on early voting, Obama became the first sitting president to vote early when he cast his ballot in Chicago on Thursday.

The two parties spent a lot of time in court this year battling over early voting laws in states such as Florida and Ohio as Democrats accused Republicans of trying to limit early voting to suppress the turnout of working-class and minority voters.

In the end, Ohio was ordered by the courts to allow early voting to all until the eve of the election. And while Florida cut the number of days of early voting, it agreed to extend the number of hours on each day to satisfy critics.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Chicago; Patricia Zengerle in Arlington, Virginia; Sam Youngman in Cincinnati; and Gabriel Debenedetti and Maurice Tamman in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/40-percent-may-vote-early-u-election-obama-005022787.html

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Friday 26 October 2012

Two children fatally stabbed in New York apartment, nanny held: reports

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IVECO Capital Adds Cassiopae Front-to-Back Leasing & Loan ...

IVECO Capital Adds Cassiopae Front-to-Back Leasing & Loan Software in France

Cassiopae announces that the French companies of the IVECO Capital Group ?(?Iveco Capital France?) are now ?live? on its state-of the-art Cassiopae V4 lease and loan management software.

Iveco Capital France uses Cassiopae software to manage its front-to-back office functions, including scoring and risk analysis, for more than 30,000 contracts. The project implementation was completed in 12 months.

Iveco Capital France is composed of the French subsidiaries of Fiat Industrial S.p.A., operating? in the financial services sector. Iveco Capital Group as a whole brings together over 25 Iveco financial services companies, operating in 14 countries and in all major European markets. The company helps clients in the purchase of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, coaches and buses, either new or used.

?With Cassiopae?s solution, we now have a single application to manage the entire lifecycle of our contracts from the point of sales to the back office. It is easier to get good information and performance indicators to help us improve our business development and quickly serve our clients,? said Agostino Policicchio, Regional Manager at IVECO Capital Group.

?In this project, the challenge was the time to market. For many internal business reasons, we needed to deliver a front-to-back system in one year?s time, data migration included. With the help of IVECO IT in France and in Italy, we accomplished our goal,? said Franck Jacovlev, EMEA Asset Finance Market Director for Cassiopae.

About IVECO

Iveco, a Fiat Industrial Group company, designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, quarry/construction site vehicles, city and intercity buses and special vehicles for applications such as firefighting, off-road missions, defense and civil protection. With approximately 25,000 employees, Iveco manufactures in 11 countries around the world, using the most advanced technologies. The company also operates in Europe, China, Russia, Australia and Latin America. Approximately 5,000 sales and service points in over 160 countries guarantee support in any geographic area where there is an Iveco vehicle at work.

About IVECO CAPITAL

Iveco Capital Group operates in 14 countries and provides support to Iveco customers in all main European markets, supplying a range of flexible financial products and services tailored to help operators realize the maximum benefit from their commercial vehicle fleet. To date Iveco Capital has provided its services to more than 55,000 customers, ranging from owner-operators through to multi-national blue-chip companies. More than 112,000 vehicles have been delivered to customers, supported by a range of financial services products, including Contract Hire, Operating Lease, Finance Lease and Hire Purchase.

Source: http://cassiopae.com/iveco-capital-adds-cassiopae-front-to-back-leasing-loan-software-in-france/

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The Reference Frame: PBS Frontline: Climate of Doubt

PBS, a major U.S. Public TV station, has aired this 54-minute documentary, The Climate of Doubt:

See also additional PBS material on the program.

The program ? starting with some video sequences from the latest Heartland Climate Skeptics Conference in Chicago ? was largely criticized by Joe Bast of Heartland, Tom Harris of Canada, and some pre-program comments were mentioned by Chris Horner and The Heartland Institute. Gavin Schmidt posted the video on Real Climate, mostly to boast that he has appeared for a few seconds, too.

I think that a viewer will have no doubts that the creators of the program are hostile towards the skeptics ? due to the constant usage of offensive words such as "contrarians" and due to the hostile faces of the host (especially John Hockenberry), among a few other reasons. On the other hand, I think that this program has done a relatively fair and open job when it comes to the revelation of the information for the viewers, especially the information about the changes of the debate in recent years.


?

It seems to me that most of the viewers understood that the climate skeptics are damn reasonable, educated, and kind of nice people. There are many of them ? the number of "visible" climate skeptics among scientists isn't really lower than the number of "visible" climate alarmists.

While the program tried to claim otherwise, I guess that an intelligent viewer will understand that using a World War II analogy, the climate change controversy is like the war and the alarmists resemble the Axis powers while the skeptics are like the Allied forces. The Axis powers may be more tightly packed, they may demand a stricter discipline from themselves and from everyone else, and they may be spending more time by spreading the idea that their ultimate victory is inevitable. But even from their programs, an intelligent viewer must understand that the Allied forces are at least comparably powerful, they may be right, they seem to offer observations and arguments that are almost certainly right even now, they may already be winning battles, and they may soon celebrate the final victory in the war.

The idea that the Axis powers have some unbreakable superiority is a meme that just the most intellectually limited viewers may be eager to buy ? at least I hope so ? and I am kind of not afraid of it. I don't think it's too important what the people who can easily be brainwashed by a transparent propaganda think. What matters are the skeptical people who began to be somewhat interested in the issue, who understand other things, and who won't be fooled easily. And I am confident that this PBS program only helped those people to fall in love with the climate skeptics.

But the hostile tone towards climate skepticism notwithstanding, the program acknowledged that the bulk of America went pretty much skeptical in recent years. Surprisingly, it also acknowledged that Al Gore is a divisive asshole who helped the skeptics to strengthen even more. The viewers could hear some short "excerpts" from the skeptics who speak about the actual science ? although the scientific "technicality" were not the main focus of the documentary.

At some points, both alarmists and skeptics are saying things. And such segments often reminded me of the first Obama-Romney debate. For example, around 10:30, you may compare John Kerry and Myron Ebell. Kerry is subdued and seems to have developed bad conscience. He seems to admit a sequence of recent defeats and the non-existence of the actual consensus. Ebell speaks confidently, as a person whose words have already been pretty much established.

So I believe that this program, a mixture of an apparently prejudiced tone against the climate skeptics and some facts about the skeptics' victories, their decency, education, arguments, upward trend of their influence, and their rather large number as well as the subtle hints about the alarmists' dishonesty that may be seen in the program, despite the clear attempt to create a pro-alarmist program, will help America to become one additional little bit more skeptical again.

I would grade this program on the recent years in the climate debate: B. The biased language and the narrator's apparent bias penetrating the program is my only complaint.

Source: http://motls.blogspot.com/2012/10/pbs-frontline-climate-of-doubt.html

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Thursday 25 October 2012

Syracuse native will interview Jim Boeheim about prostate cancer tonight on radio

Dr. Stacy Loeb, a urologist in New York City, hosts a Men's Health radio show on Sirius XM 81 twice a month on Wednesday nights.

Tonight, Loeb will interview SU coach Jim Boeheim about prostate cancer from 6:30 to 7 p.m.

She begins her show tonight at 6 by speaking with Dr. William J. Catalona, Medical Director of the Urological Research Foundation. Dr. Catalona developed the PSA test as a screening for prostate cancer. After Loeb's conversation with Boeheim, she will interview Sports Illustrated reporter Jack McCallum, who is also a prostate cancer survivor.

Boeheim was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December 2001. He has talked frequently about his condition and his treatment with the idea that his candor could help raise awareness about prostate cancer.

Loeb, a Syracuse native and big SU basketball fan, is a urologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.


-Donna
dditota@syracuse.com
315-470-2208

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2012/10/syracuse_native_will_interview.html

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Apple camera RAW update for OS X supports Canon EOS M, Nikon D600, compulsive photography

Canon EOS M

Not every update Apple makes to its RAW support in OS X merits attention, but when a new revision covers several of the biggest camera launches of the year in one fell swoop, we'll have our eyebrows raised. The company's not very elegantly titled Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.01 supports the unprocessed photos from Nikon's 'starter' full-frame DSLR, the D600, as well as a handful of hotter mirrorless cameras like the Canon EOS M, Nikon 1 J2, Panasonic Lumix G5 and Sony NEX-F3. Those who aren't keen on swapping lenses still get native RAW support for higher-end compacts like Canon's PowerShot G15 and Sony's Cyber-shot RX100. Provided you're running the necessary OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, Apple just gave you free rein to pick a cutting-edge camera and shoot (in full detail) to your heart's content.

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Apple camera RAW update for OS X supports Canon EOS M, Nikon D600, compulsive photography originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/25/apple-camera-raw-update-supports-canon-eos-m-nikon-d600/

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Longtime MMA figure Jeff Blatnick dies

Jeff Blatnick, a longtime figure in MMA as a judge, official and announcer, died after complications from heart surgery at the age of 55.

Blatnick was involved with the UFC from its early days. He was the commentator for UFC 4 through UFC 32, and as the UFC's first commissioner was instrumental in the sport's evolution into the regulated sport we know today. He stuck with the sport as a well-respected judge.

Nick Lembo, the head of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, remembered Blatnick as key to the growth of MMA.

"Jeff will always be a crucial part of the formation and growth of MMA. He was a great judge and even refereed here. Far more than that, he was one of the best men I ever was graced with the pleasure of calling my friend," Lembo said to Cagewriter.

UFC president Dana White also remembered Blatnick by tweeting, "RIP Jeff Blatnick."

Before Blatnick started with MMA, he was a highly decorated wrestler. He qualified for the Olympic team in 1980, but didn't compete because of the boycott. In 1982, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma. He fought back to make the Olympic team again, and Blatnick won Olympic gold in 1984. Though a return of cancer forced his retirement, he continued to support wrestling as a coach and commentator.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/longtime-mma-figure-jeff-blatnick-dies-191006039--mma.html

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The 9 Friends You Should Dump Right Now | Men's Health News

Two guys having a drink

"It's not you . . . actually, yeah, it's you."

True friends are not like clothes?you don?t toss ?em out just because they?re out of style. That said, every guy has at least one or two buddies that, sooner or later, will go the way of the cargo shorts or Birkenstocks you wore back in college. You?ve just outgrown them.

And that?s OK, because while research has shown that positive relationships both improve your health and extend your life, negative relationships have just the opposite effect, according to a new study from the University of Utah. Put simply, stressful or frustrating friendships can be unhealthy, the Utah research shows.

So how do you know when it?s time to punt on a friendship? Here are the nine types of friends you might have to dump?and how to let them down easy. (For more guy wisdom and great life advice, sign up for our FREE Best Life newsletter.)

1. The Player
He?s about one thing and one thing only: getting laid. You loved having him around during your single years, but he?s still gunning for new ?conquests? every weekend, and your wife thinks he?s an ass. You love the guy, but his routine has been stale since Clinton was still in office.

Keep or cut: ?Your friend isn?t a bad guy. He?s simply at a different phase of life than you are,? says Irene Levine, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and author of Best Friends Forever.? You don?t have to stop hanging out with him completely, but you do have to put the concerns of your wife or girlfriend first, explains?Guy Blews, author of Smack Therapy and Realistic Relationships. ?Put yourself in her shoes and think about how you?d feel if she kept going out with the town slut,? Blews says. ?You?d worry, and you?d be right.? Blews advises letting The Player play his game with someone else for a while. ?You?ll be able to reconnect again when he settles down,? Levine adds.

2. The Sports Fanatic
He watches every game?pro or college?in all four major sports . . . plus soccer. When he?s not updating his fantasy team, he?s emailing you ESPN.com articles or calling to ask whether he should bet $100 on the Vikings this weekend.?You used to be as passionate about sports as he is, but now you?ve got more important things to think about, like a kid and a mortgage.

Keep or cut: ?If you have any desire to find a successful, lasting relationship with a member of the opposite sex, step far away from the sports fanatic,? Blews recommends?only half joking. Levine says ignoring the guy?s constant stream of sports-related phone calls and texts is a good start. He?ll get the message. And if he doesn?t, be blunt. ?Tell him you?re busy at work or at home, or drop other hints that sports aren?t top of mind for you right now,? she says. If that doesn?t work? Let him go. You can talk pigskin with your son anyway.

3. The Single Guy
He?s a hell of a nice guy, but he just can?t seem to find the right person. He also feels the need to talk to you about it constantly, bemoaning his perpetual singledom. You feel bad that you haven?t been able to successfully set him up, but after endless introductions and nights spent as a wing man, there?s only so much you can do.

Keep or cut: Forget subtlety. Tell your friend that life is about more than landing the right woman, and he needs to find some other hobbies in order to be appeal to another person?babe?or bro, Levine says. Either way, tell him you?re done counseling him on relationship woes, Blews adds. ?He?s probably just looking for a shoulder to cry on anyway, so let him blunder his way through things without wasting your time.? Ouch. (Are you the single guy? Discover how to?Land the Woman of Your Dreams.)

4. The Creep
His defining characteristic: totally skeezing your wife out. Sure, he?s funny and he shares your sense of humor, but there?s something about him that reminds you of your less than sterling single days. (The less said about them, the better.) He?s a bad drinker, and he?s done things to or around women that you?d never mention to the Mrs., even though you?re pretty sure he?s harmless . . . probably.

Keep or cut: Unfortunately, some people never grow up, Levine says. ?Life?s too short to spend time with someone you don?t respect and who makes you feel bad?about yourself or your past.? Yes, you may have some shared history and he may make you laugh, but you?re better off without him, she says. ?Separate him from any and all females you have any loving, caring, or protective feelings toward,? Blews adds. ?That includes your mother.?

5. The Old Man
He?s in a hurry to be his father. He was married by 24, and had two kids and a golf club membership by 28. He loves talking about his 401k. His idea of a wild night out is dinner with the wives, a drink afterward at the bar, and home by 10. You appreciate how responsible and mellow he?s become, but you?re not quite ready to pack it in and commit the next 30+ years to playing golf and mowing the lawn.

Keep or cut: This friend can help you get a glimpse of your future, and so he?s a living reminder that you shouldn?t be in such a hurry to get there, Levine says. There?s no reason to break things off, but hang out with him sparingly?like when you need to talk with someone about a big decision, she says. Just don?t subject your wife or girlfriend to his yawn-ologies on personal finance or ?Skins games, Blews advises. (Spice up any friendship?by heading outdoors. Click here to Find Your Next Adventure.)

6. The Cheater
He?s a great friend, and everybody loves him. He?s charismatic and charming, and he?s with a fantastic, funny woman. Your girlfriend gets along great with him and his partner, but there?s one small problem: He?s a shameless, habitual two-timer. You?ve seen him cheat on his girl?or at least try to?every time you?re out on the town without your women, and you know one of these days he?s going to get you in a lot of trouble.

Keep or cut: If you don?t stop hanging out with this guy, you?re going to pay the price, Blews says. Even if you?re not with him when he cheats, you?ll be smeared by association, he adds. If he?s a close friend and you don?t want to send him packing, you have to be upfront with your partner about his behavior, Levine adds. ?Tell your wife or girlfriend about his tendencies and let her know that you only accept these behaviors because they are part of a package,? Levine recommends. But if she?s not cool with that? ?He has to go,? Blews says.

7. The Loser
He?s loyal and dependable, but he?s headed nowhere in a hurry. He?s never had a steady paycheck or even really knew what he wanted out of life, and that doesn?t look like it?s going to change any time soon. He?s always depressed. He plays video games, watches movies, smokes pot . . . and that?s about it.

Keep or cut: ?Don?t be an enabler,? Levine says. Translation: Don?t join him for a Bond movie marathon this weekend. Instead, drop the hint that he needs to talk to someone who can help him gain some direction, like a therapist or a career counselor, Levine advises. Also, try to engage him in something more meaningful and active, like taking a hike or attending a career fair. And if he?s not interested in changing? ?Let go, but be gentle,? Blews recommends.

8. The Living-in-the-Past Friend
You?ve known this guy since high school, and most of the time it feels like he?s still back there. He?s constantly referencing funny stuff that happened to you ?that one time sophomore year,? or ?when you asked that older guy to buy you beer.? It?s fun to reminisce once in a while, but you?re pretty damn tired of hearing jokes about your 11th grade math teacher.

Keep or cut: ?Don?t let him drag his past into your present,? Blews says, adding that this advice holds true for romantic relationships as well. You?re either moving forward or falling behind, he says. ?Friendships can?t be sustained only on old memories,? Levine adds. ?If you like him, plan some new adventures together.? And if neither of you are interested in that? ?Relegate your relationship to a once-a-year get-together over beers,? Blews says. ?That?s what the holidays are for.?

9. The Undependable Dude
He says he?ll be there at 6 but shows up at 8?if at all. You make weekend plans and he bails at the last minute, without offering to pay for the ticket you bought for him. Every time you get together you have a great time, but you can?t count on him, and that?s becoming a problem now that you have a career, a partner, and better things to do than wait around to see whether he?ll show up.

Keep or cut: Read him the riot act, Levine advises. ?He may simply be clueless about his behavior, and so could turn it around.? Or just start showing up late yourself, Blews says. If he doesn?t get the message, it?s probably time to say sayonara, Blews adds. (For more subtle clues it?s time to she your pal, here are 7 Reasons to End a Friendship.)

If you like this story, you?ll love these:

Source: http://news.menshealth.com/9-friends-you-should-dump/2012/10/23/

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National Guard Soldier Challenges University Policy

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - At the University of Northern Iowa a National Guard soldier is challenging university policy. The soldier says he's filed a formal grievance with the school. Specialist James Roethler was one of the nearly three thousand Iowa National Guard soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in 2011. After coming home, he enrolled at UNI but still has mandatory military obligations. Now, he's fighting to be able to make-up an exam that could affect his grade.

Specialist James Roethler heads to theater class with a reminder of his service strapped on his backpack.

"I got deployed to Afghanistan at the age of 18 and that afforded me some benefits to go to college,? said Specialist James Roethler.

But with those benefits came struggles like juggling academics with military obligations. The two came head-to-head last week when his Psychology professor moved a test from Wednesday to Friday.

"I went to talk to her and she said well you can't take it,? said Roethler.

Roethler went to a four day drill and missed that test.

"We are serving our country and we can't get out of that obligation without going AWOL,? said Roethler.

His teacher said he and another soldier in the class could drop that grade but couldn't miss any other exams. University policy reads "Students must adhere to each faculty member's policies regarding attendance and make-up work."

So that left Roethler with only one option, file a formal grievance. At a formal hearing he'll have to explain why he missed class and a university panel will decide if he should be awarded a make-up test. Plenty of hurdles, Roethler doesn't think service members should have to jump through.

"If you get sent to active duty status, then they have to make certain allowances. There isn't one regarding drill status or reserve status and I think there should be one implemented,? said Roethler.

University spokesperson Stacy Christensen says, quote "this is the first time the university has ever had a military service grievance." She added, "The University wants to look at the policy again with the policy committee this year."

UNI was selected three times in the top 15-percent of schools that are doing the most to embrace America's veterans. That's an honor from the G.I. Jobs Magazine. Again, the university says they will review their current policy while considering its growing veteran student population. Roethler says he wants to make-up that quiz and he wants to see a formal policy change as well.

Source: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/National-Guard-Soldier-Challenges-University-Policy--175506481.html

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Wednesday 24 October 2012

GOP candidates in close races disavow rape remark

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Taliban leader says insider attacks will increase

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Taliban insurgents will increase the number of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 52 foreign troops so far this year, the movement's reclusive leader said Wednesday.

In an emailed statement congratulating Muslims as they prepare to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, Mullah Mohammad Omar urged "every brave Afghan in the ranks of the foreign forces and their Afghan hirelings ... to strike them."

"Jihadist activities inside the circle of the state militias are the most effective stratagem. Its dimension will see further expansion, organization and efficiency," he said. "Increase your efforts to expand the area of infiltration in the ranks of the enemy."

Also Wednesday, NATO said in a statement that two of its soldiers died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. It did not provide further details about the attack or the nationality of the victims.

The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops ahead of a planned handover to the Afghans in 2014. It has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.

The attacks have not been limited to members of the NATO-led international coalition. More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this in attacks by their own colleagues.

The Taliban leader also claimed his fighters were winning the war and vowed to continue the struggle "against the invaders who have invaded our country until the occupation ends completely."

"We told the enemy 11 years ago that their coming (to the country) will be easy but their presence and exit will be full of complications," he said.

Omar also exhorted his fighters to "pay full attention to the prevention of civilian casualties," saying the enemy was trying to blame them on the insurgents.

Last week the United Nations called on the Taliban leadership to stop the use of homemade roadside bombs and mines. The Taliban say they use only remote-controlled roadside bombs which ? unlike the mines automatically activated by pressure-plates ? allow a bomber to choose the time of the blast and specifically target coalition troops and their Afghan allies.

But the world body says that insurgent-placed homemade bombs, also known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, continue to be the deadliest weapon for civilians. IEDs killed 340 civilians and injured a further 599 over the past nine months, an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to the same period last year, the UN said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-leader-says-insider-attacks-increase-170535713.html

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Tuesday 23 October 2012

Hackers use next-gen 'botnets' against US banks

By Bob Sullivan

Have some critical online banking transactions to do? You might want to plan them for a Monday or Friday.? A group of malicious hackers is having its way with online banks lately, seemingly knocking sites offline at will.? The latest victims are HSBC and Ally Bank, but virtually every major bank has been targeted by the group since the attacks began five weeks ago.?

The attacks seem straight out of a movie plot: An anonymous note is posted online -- usually on a Monday or early Tuesday -- declaring that week's victims. The targets then are besieged at some point during that Tuesday through Thursday stretch. On Friday, the group seems to rest.


"Do you want attacks to be stopped? Stop the insults," the group declared in last week's warning message. "Insults" refers to the now infamous "Innocence of Muslims" online video that was initially blamed for last month?s mob attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. (This week?s attack targets, if there are any, have not yet been published). ?

The bank attacks are remarkable because they seem unstoppable, even with advance warning. Just how bad are banks suffering at the hands of attackers? Rodney Joffe, senior technologist at Internet infrastructure provider Neustar, said the best some banks can do to prepare is to have a sincere-sounding apology at the ready, backed up with a plan B that points customers to an alternative method of communication such as a call center.

"There is in fact no way to defend against it properly," said Joffe, who has helped banks try to recover from the attacks.? "We can mitigate the attacks to some extent, but it is very difficult to keep systems up?This is one of our worst nightmares."

The criminals identify themselves in their warnings as the "al-Qassam Cyber Fighters," purportedly part of Hamas' al Qassam military wing. The basic attack is nothing new:? It?s a denial of service attack designed to make the banking websites unavailable. Bank sites are flooded with bogus Internet traffic so they are overwhelmed, and can only give the equivalent of a busy signal to customers.? But these attacks are very different, experts say, because of the sheer amount of bogus traffic that's generated.

With online banking services broken, consumers flood banks with phone calls, creating headaches for customers and banks alike.

"It's customer service nightmare for banks. They just aren't set up for this," Joffe said.??

But the biggest nightmare, he said, is that banks don't "defeat" the attacks with countermeasures. The criminals simply stop and turn their attention on another target, leaving bank security officials wondering when they might be victimized again. Capital One, for example, has suffered at least two separate service disruptions.

As provider of backup content delivery for many of the world's largest websites, Akamai Technology handles denial of service attacks every day, and it has dealt with the current wave of attacks.?? Mike Smith, director of Akamai?s incident response team, says the attacks succeed through a simple matter of arithmetic.

Banks buy, at most, an Internet pipe that can handle 20 gigabits-per-second of Web traffic, he said. The attackers are generating about 50 gigabits-per-second, making any tool that could filter out bad requests inadequate.

"It's fairly brute force, rather than laser scalpel," he said.?

Banks could consider tripling the bandwidth they buy, he explained, but that would be a huge waste of money during non-attack time s... and the criminals might just increase their bogus traffic anyway.? "It's all an arms race," he said.

How are criminals able to marshal such enormous traffic resources?? They are employing a new kind of electronic army, experts said. Until now, most denial of service attacks involved large "botnets" -- armies of compromised desktop computers -- that could number 100,000 or more.? These were clumsy, hard to coordinate and often limited by bandwidth purchased by home users. In this attack, criminals are taking control over web servers that have access to much wider Internet traffic pipes -- computers that host popular website blogs, for example.? As a result, criminals can attack with refined armies of only 1,000 to 2,000 compromised servers, while still wielding a devastating cyberweapon against bank websites.?

Adding to the complexity for victims, such compromised servers are also harder to knock offline than home PCs in botnets, Joffe said, because they are often intertwined with legitimate businesses that are reluctant to voluntarily go offline to clean them up.

"It's not a new kind from a technical prospective, it's just able to generate overwhelming volumes of traffic that are indeed quite noteworthy," said Dmitri Alperovitch, chief technology officer at CrowdStrike, a startup focused on cyberespionage defense.

With a smaller, more powerful botnet, "attacker economics" favor the criminals, Smith said. It's easier for them to replace servers that are cleaned up, and it's much easier for them to stop and start attacks.

"They have much more command and control over the nodes," Smith said.

It's unusual for attackers to announce their targets ahead of time, but Smith said their reason for doing so is fairly obvious.

"What they are trying to do is amplify the bad public relations efforts element for banks," he said.?

Banks turn out to be a juicy target for denial of service attacks because their systems are easily turned against each other, Smith said.? Thanks to numerous fraud-checking tools, every request made at a bank site generates multiple responses from bank servers ?? ?log files, IP-checking tools, device-ID verification tools, etc. -- ?amplifying the effect of every bogus request.? In fact, while banks have beefed up fraud checks, they have done little to protect against denial of service attacks through the years, Smith said.

"Criminals have never wanted the sites to go down, because they need to sites to be up to commit fraud against the bank," he said.?

But even filters that find and deflect bogus website traffic wouldn't help much against these determined and sizable attacks, he said.?

"Most enforcement mechanisms don't have the capacity to deal with this much traffic," Smith said.

Given the remarkable scope of the attack, there has been much speculation by U.S. government officials -- openly and on background -- ?that the attacks could only be directed by a state-sponsored group, and represent an aggressive act of cyberwar perpetrated by agents of the Iranian government.? Both Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have openly blamed the attacks on Iran, with Panetta calling the incident a "pre 9/11 moment." Several intelligence officials have told NBC News that they believe Iran is behind the attacks.

Smith, however, says it's important not dismiss the possibility that old-fashioned online fraudsters are using the protests over the "Innocence of Muslims" film? as a cover to simply steal money from banks. As evidence, he points to a warning issued by the FBI on Sept. 17, which indicated that some banks had already been hit by denial of service attacks to help perpetrate wire fraud -- with thefts as high as $400,000. The website attacks serve as a diversion, and when consumers flood customer service phone banks, criminals who've stolen bank logins have an easier time slipping fraud through bank systems, the alert said.? In also predicts precisely the kinds of attacks banks are suffering through now.

"In some of the incidents, before and after unauthorized transactions occurred, the bank or credit union suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against their public ?website(s) and/or Internet Banking URL," the warning said. (PDF)? "The DDoS attacks were likely used as a distraction for bank personnel to prevent them from immediately identifying a fraudulent transaction, which in most cases is necessary to stop the wire transfer."

Smith said that same denial of service distraction technique was successfully employed by another group last year, making fraud -- and not geopolitics -- a likely motivator for the attacks.

"Maybe the intelligence world knows some things we don't know, but we haven't seen them prove it other than some public officials making statements," he said.? "But when you look at Al Qassam, until last month they were suicide bombers and restaurant shooter ... associated with physicals attacks, and overnight they acquired the capability to take banks offline? That I don't believe."

Robert Windrem, a senior investigative producer for NBC News, said there is "some level of disagreement" between ?law enforcement and intelligence officials about the real source of the attacks.

"The disparity in certainty (that Iran is behind the attacks) is due to the way law enforcement and intelligence look at the same incident," he said. "Law enforcement deals with forensics, and the intelligence agencies deal with intelligence. Intelligence is looking at it from the source, whereas law enforcement is looking at it from the effect side."

Experts agree on this point: With cybercrime, pinpointing a source can be nearly impossible. Smart criminals cover their tracks with numerous layers of compromised computers, across several state and international boundaries. The painstaking work of obtaining legal documents necessary to perform forensics on compromised computers, track bogus traffic, then examine the source of that traffic can take months. Meanwhile, attackers come and go within minutes.?

But the good news for banks is this: Website disruption, while a serious nuisance for bill payers, is hardly the end of the world. Backup systems, such as phone service in-person teller service, remain in place. Consumers are inconvenienced, but that's the extent of the disruptions so far.

"Ultimately, there is a very low impact on a bank," Smith said.? "It's more perception than anything. ? Websites are a cheaper way to do customer care, but they do have a manual fallback that's unaffected."

?

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Source: http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/22/14624198-why-your-banks-website-might-go-down-soon-and-why-hackers-seem-unstoppable?lite

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Health insurance costs after retirement ? Ask The Experts - Federal ...

Q. If I take the $15,000 retirement incentive being offered now, (I have 25 years under FERS, am a Postal Service employee, and am 64 years old), will my Blue Cross premiums go up? If so, by how much? I now pay $81.68 a month.

Also, if I decide to get married, my family option now would be $203.61 a month. How much would these premiums be if I take the retirement incentive? I must make the decision by Dec. 3.

Is the FERS pension amount taxed? If so, is it taxed by income and Federal Insurance Contributions Act? My gross pension amount is $1,288 a month. How much, approximately, would be left over after taxes and health care subtractions?

A. The easiest way to compare the cost of your Blue Cross/Blue Shield Standard premiums is to show you the difference between what Postal Service and non-Postal Service employees will be paying in 2013.

A Postal Service employee would pay $64.71 every two weeks for self-only coverage and $152.92 for self and family. A non-Postal Service employee would pay $85.71 for self-only and $200.14 for self and family.

When a Postal Service employee retires, his health benefits premiums are the same as those for all other non-Postal Service employees and retirees. And they are paid on a monthly, rather than a biweekly basis. In 2013, the BC/BS monthly rate for retirees will be $186.14 (self-only) and $438.63 (self and family). To find out how your annuity would be taxed, go to www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p721.pdf, and read the Internal Revenue Service?s Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Retirement Benefits.

Tags: annuity, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, FERS, FICA, HEALTH INSURANCE, IRS, Postal Service, RETIREMENT, self and family, self only plan, taxes

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Source: http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-retirement/2012/10/22/health-insurance-costs-after-retirement/

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ARM posts healthy Q3 profits: up 22 percent thanks to smart TVs and other growing markets

ARM posts healthy Q3 profits up 22 percent thanks to smart TVs and other new markets

British chip designer ARM has just revealed its accounts for Q3 2012 and they show a familiar pattern: namely, a double-digit rise in both revenue (up 20 percent to £144.6 million) and pre-tax earnings (up 22 percent to £68.1 million). According to Reuters, the company is attributing its latest bout of success to making "further inroads" into growing markets like smart TVs and microcontrollers. Of course, all of this is stands in stark contrast to the traditional x86 PC world, where giants like Intel and AMD have been struggling with weak demand.

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ARM posts healthy Q3 profits: up 22 percent thanks to smart TVs and other growing markets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/arm-q3-2012-financials/

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caner scanner: Travel And Leisure: Destination Tips Article Category

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