Obama gets green-carpet treatment in Boston, as dollars roll in

The president raked in at least $3 million for his reelection bid during a trip to Boston on Monday. Though Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, Obama leads him there in fundraising and in the polls.

By Mike Eckel,?Contributor / June 26, 2012

Standing under the massive pipe organ at Boston's Symphony Hall, President Barack Obama addresses supporters during a campaign fundraiser on Monday, June 25, 2012.

Stephan Savoia/AP

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No, that wasn?t a rock concert rattling the rafters and raising the roof at Boston?s august Symphony Hall.

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Nor was it a religious revival shaking the 112-year-old hall?s gilded balconies and snarling the city?s already notorious rush-hour traffic.

It was merely Barack Obama storming through town Monday evening to rake in some cash for his reelection campaign and to bask in a rapturous reception from supporters and donors, deep-pocketed and not.

The president?s star quality may have dimmed since 2008, but it hadn?t among the adoring 1,800 people who ponied up between $250 to $2,500 to see the Democratic incumbent offer up grist on Republicans, taxes, immigration, job creation, and even a barb on the Red Sox that got boos. (This is sports-mad Boston, don?t forget.)

On a day when the US Supreme Court offered a mixed bag of fraught judicial opinions, the thunderous ovations and millions of dollars he pulled in gave affirmation that for now Mr. Obama doesn?t have much to worry about in the blue-state Bay State.

?The debate in this election is not whether we have more work to do. Of course, the economy is not what it needs to be. Of course, there are too many folks still struggling. Of course, things should be better. These challenges were built up over years. They weren?t created overnight. They won?t be solved overnight,? he said.

?But the big thing is with this election is how do we grow the economy back together? How do we create more jobs? Moving forward, how do we find more opportunities? How do we pay down our debt? How do we reclaim that basic bargain that makes America the greatest nation on Earth? How do we do it?? he asked.

Both Obama and his likely Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have raised substantial amounts of money in the state, though neither has spent much time campaigning here.?Obama has netted more than $7.7 million in contributions this election cycle, as of the end of May, according to federal campaign filings. Monday's visit brought in at least $3 million more. By contrast, Romney has collected nearly $4.9 million in direct contributions from state residents.?

Monday?s visit most likely will be Obama?s last before November. Polls show Obama with a solid lead over Romney here.

So while stumping votes wasn?t the priority during the one-day visit, stumping for dollars was. The Symphony Hall event was bracketed by an even more elite pair of gathering in the Boston area: one at a posh bistro in the city?s swanky South End with 25 supporters who reportedly paid $40,000 each to attend, and later on, a fundraising dinner with 100 people at a private home in one of the state?s wealthiest towns. Tickets reportedly cost $17,900 per person and $35,800 per couple.

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I'm Sorry for Cursing - Colon / rectal cancer: Scan Day

I've been at the cancer center pretty much all day.? I actually got home around 3pm and would have updated right away, but I needed some time and Eli needed some attention.? Sometimes I need a little space from results.

The results of the scan weren't terrible, but they weren't super good either.? 10% growth, a couple of millimeters in some of the tumors in my lungs, which is considered within the margins of error.? The doc said he wasn't worried, but he didn't call this scan stable either.? Everyone is assuring me that it could be as simple as the person doing the measuring being a different person this time.? The plan is to keep on the same chemo and wait and see.

So it's kind of medium news.? I guess.? Honestly, I'm disappointed.? I pitched a bit of a fit in the car before leaving the cancer center.? I feel like I'm a good person, I have a nice family who needs me, and why do I have to keep going through this?? Deep down, and once I got some space, I know that this has nothing to do with how good of a person I am.?

I'm feeling really down right now.? That's not really a good mindset to go into chemo with, but what can you do?? This isn't all sunshine and roses, it's real and sometimes real is ugly.? Please pray that I can lean on God to help me straighten my head out and get ready for tomorrow.

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Euro zone turmoil may prolong London's Olympic revamp

LONDON (Reuters) - When Bill Hanway began designing a 20-25 year blueprint to revamp the area of east London that will host this summer's Olympic Games, he factored two to three recessions into his plans.

What the Aecom executive failed to foresee back in August 2003 was the failure of Lehman Brothers, or any possible euro zone implosion.

But now the severity of the downturn which began in 2007 means the revamp timeline may be extended, Hanway said. He declined to say by how much, but one source familiar with the situation said it could be five to 10 years.

"What happened in 2007 was an aberration," said the serene, shaven-headed New Yorker, who is also the brains behind a post-Olympics revamp in south-west Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city hosting the Games in 2016.

"No masterplan project could claim to accommodate or predict this range of economic fluctuation," Aecom's executive director of operations said, emphasising the flexibility needed to plan the 741-acre site in London's Lower Lea Valley.

In July 2005, London beat rivals including Paris and New York to host the Games, its winning bid built around the regeneration of an area of east London more famous for its noxious industries, slaughterhouses and polluted waterways.

The post-Games plan is an increasingly important factor when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selects a host city. The now-derelict and graffiti-covered venues of Athens, which held the Games in 2004, are a reminder of why.

FINAL GREEN LIGHT

The London plan is due to receive its final green light by planners on Tuesday.

Development of the east London site, the majority of which is publicly-owned, will be overseen by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), which will let venues to new operators once the Games are over and oversee the phased sale of leasehold land to housing developers.

The biggest impact of the financial crisis on the 9.3 billion pound ($14.6 billion) London Olympics project to date was a 2009 decision by the British government to fund development of the athlete's village itself rather than sell to developer Lend Lease, a deal that came with the associated risk of debt finance.

The 11 tower blocks housing 16,000 athletes and officials will be turned into 2,818 homes after the Games, work that requires the installation of kitchens, as competitors eat in communal dining halls. The site was bought by a joint venture that includes the development arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund for 557 million pounds in August.

Other changes enforced by the unexpectedly harsher economic climate will include a greater emphasis on job creation when the LLDC selects the future tenant for the media centre once the world's press have left town, Hanway said.

The contract to operate the aquatics centre and the multi-use arena as leisure venues after the Games was also packaged into a single, more financially viable, deal.

Otherwise the message was "don't panic", said Jason Prior, chief executive of planning, design and development at Aecom who oversaw the London project. "We had a long-term view and couldn't over-react to the collapse of Lehman Brothers."

REAL-LIFE SIMCITY

"We've always talked about the Olympic Park as another of London's great estates," he said, referring to the city's aristocratic landowners who have guarded their ancestral good fortune by taking a long-term view of real estate over several hundred years.

Like a real-life version of the computer simulation game SimCity, Aecom uses software to calculate each square metre of housing, schools, dental surgeries and outdoor parks for the area's 14,000 future inhabitants, in addition to the number of swimming pool lanes, police officers and fire stations.

The aim is to attract and retain a mixed group of residents, including the middle classes, to a wider area that is one of the most socially deprived in Britain.

"We knew this wouldn't be the next Mayfair or Kensington," said Prior. "If we create a 'nappy valley' in east London we will have succeeded," he said, referring to the popular description of areas attractive to affluent young parents.

Two primary schools, one secondary school and nine nurseries will play a crucial role in ensuring wealthier families stay. "Bluntly, parents move to be near decent schools and they act as massively important glue in communities," Prior said.

Striking a balance between housing that residents can both afford and aspire to live in was also important. There will be up to 6,870 new homes and the target is 35 percent affordable and social housing and 65 percent private housing, which includes four bedroom townhouses.

"One of the big complaints from the Mayor of Newham at the outset was that once people could afford to, they left the area," Hanway said.

"What will be interesting is what happens in 10 to 15 years when the children of young families leave home or go to university," said Sarah Elliott, Aecom's head of planning in Europe.

GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE

She is responsible for the software the company developed several years ago to plan such large-scale regeneration projects, which has also been used in Abu Dhabi and Australia, and will monitor population changes through regular surveys.

"We have calculated the floor space people will need right through from nursery schools to sheltered accommodation for old aged people," she said.

There was human input too. Prior and Hanway began work on the Olympic plan in an office in the north London borough of Islington, a neighbourhood they took inspiration from for its Georgian architecture, leafy squares and the gentrification it underwent when affluent people, including former British prime minister Tony Blair, moved in after the 1960s.

"One of the lessons of Islington was that although it has a high proportion of social housing it became a very desirable place to live because of the quality of its housing stock and its accessibility," Prior said, referring to the myriad transport links around the Olympic site.

Masterplanning a 300 acre area of Rio de Janeiro faces the challenge of a Brazilian economy and middle class that are growing at high speed, Hanway said. Discussions about striking the delicate balance between low and higher-cost housing are still underway.

The only certainty around both projects is that the lessons of Athens have been learned, Hanway said, a plan in which Aecom had no involvement.

"We probably won't ever see that level of disuse after the Games again."

($1 = 0.6354 British pounds)

(Editing by Ossian Shine)

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Real Estate As An Investment ? Discover the ... - Green Real Estate

Real Estate will undoubtedly become a part of an entrepreneur?s portfolio.

In fact, the advantages of real estate make it the largest investment vehicle for most entrepreneurs who have reached a net worth exceeding $1 Million.

Leverage

Property is an Asset. Banks love to lend money to purchase assets.

Real estate investment financing is a big business for the banking industry. You cannot borrow money from the bank to buy stocks and bonds or invest into other ?Paper assets?.

If you want to buy $100,000 worth of stock, you will need $100,000, no question.

However, if you want to buy an investment property for $100,000, chances are you can put down 10% ? $10,000 and borrow the rest. You now control a $100,000 investment without actually having to part with that much money.

If you then sell that property later on and net $110,000, you have received a 100% ROI. You invested $10,000; you netted an additional $10,000, effectively doubling your investment.

If you purchase $100,000 worth of stock and sell it for $110,000, you have only achieved a 10% ROI, with a $100,000 of capital, which theoretically could have bought 10 houses at or below $100,000.

Paper assets such as stocks definitely are vehicles for wealth, but this illustrates one of the many advantages of real estate.

Appreciation

One of the other advantages of real estate is appreciation. In the long term real estate generally appreciates. If you currently own investment property and have owned it for at least the last 20 years, historically the value of that real estate will have grown significantly.

Real estate markets can vary from one metropolis to another, and within those markets are smaller markets that show higher cap rates and profit margins.

I can say from my position here in Chicago as being a relatively stable market in relation to other parts of the US. Even with a modest average of 5-6% appreciation annually in the Windy City, the equity and value of property exponentially adds up.

Passive Income

Income is one of everyone?s favorite advantages of real estate.

Income-producing assets are the cornerstone of long-term financial stability. If you are forced into an early retirement or otherwise suffer a loss of earned income, it is nice to have a source of passive income.

In the best of times it builds your cash reserves while also growing in equity value.

Passive or residual income through real estate has-been and always will-be a reliable income stream for many people.

Depreciation and Tax Advantages

Through depreciation, value is received in the form of lower taxes.

As a self employed professional or business owner, you essentially make your money first, then pay taxes later, ?writing off? your various expenses to reduce your tax liability.

Depreciation is a major write-off on one?s tax returns, leaving more money working for you at the end of the year.

Additionally, the interest you pay on any mortgages is another write off which helps maximize value.

Even for ?W-2? income earners these are two major advantages of real estate.

Deferred-Tax Advantages

Finally, one of the most unknown benefits of investment property is through deferring capital gains with the 1031 Tax Exchange.

When you sell an investment property you pay capital gains taxes.
With a 1031 Tax Exchange, as long as you are buying real estate equal-to or greater than the previous property, you can do it without paying capital gains tax.

So if you?re selling an investment property for $500,000, you?ll need to buy another ?like-kind? property at $500,000, or higher.

It?s the Monopoly strategy.

Remember the last time you played Monopoly? First you build 1 green house and then two, then three and finally three green houses are all lined up.

Instead of building a fourth house, you ?sell? all the green houses and trade-up to a big red Hotel and really rake in the dough.

What you have done is leveraged the total value of the houses, without paying 10?s or 100?s of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes, to ?trade up? to a larger piece of real estate that can ultimately more generate more profit while incorporating economies of scale by managing more units with less resources.

Beyond these all these advantages of investing in real estate, it is fundamentally a sound investment. Investing in the life?s necessities is usually wise and people will always need a place to live and populations will continue to grow.

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Slow-moving Debby hits Fla., spawns tornadoes

Tropical Storm Debby has hammered more than 300 miles of Florida, where there have also been three reported tornadoes. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

By Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 11:43 p.m. ET --?Tropical Storm Debby whipped Florida with bands of drenching rain Monday while its center was nearly stationary in the Gulf of Mexico. Its slow progress meant the most pressing threat from the storm was flooding, not wind.

Florida governor Rick Scott declared a statewide emergency, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for most of the state's Gulf Coast, as the storm parked offshore.

A tropical storm warning for the coast of Alabama was discontinued early Monday.?Yet even with the storm's center far from land, it lashed Florida with heavy rains and spawned isolated tornadoes that killed at least one person. Another person was missing in rough surf off Alabama.

---

Residents in several counties near the crook of Florida's elbow were urged to leave low-lying neighborhoods because of the threat of flooding.

Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are also evacuating more than 30 percent of production platforms and rigs that are in the path of Debby. The storm is moving slowly, allowing its clouds more time to unload rain.

Tropical Storm Debby is expected to move north throughout the week with as many as 15 inches of rain expected in the state. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

The Coast Guard rescued a family Sunday, who were stranded on a small island on the northwestern Florida Gulf coast due to inclement weather caused by the storm.

Officials at the Coast Guard watch center in Mobile, Ala., received a call around 12:30 p.m. from a man reporting his family of five adults, four children and two dogs were stranded in a vacation house on Dog Island, south of Carrabelle, Fla.

Water was reportedly surrounding the house, and there was no way for them to evacuate to higher ground. The ship that brought them to the island would not return for them due to rough conditions.

Rescue crews from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center deployed a helicopter to the family?s location. The crew hoisted and transported the family, including the dogs, to Carrabelle Airport. No injuries or medical concerns were reported.?

'Heavy rain'
High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast. In several locations, homes and businesses were damaged by high winds authorities believe were from tornadoes.

Practically parked off Florida's Gulf Coast since the weekend, Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and has already led to flooding.

Weather.com severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes warned that?Debby could spawn isolated tornadoes in Florida through Monday.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Florida Gulf Coast from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to Englewood, south of Sarasota.? "Storm surge flooding?is also a significant threat along the Florida Panhandle coast and the western coast of Florida since Debby's circulation is embedded in a rather large wind field," Weather.com reported.

Brad Mcclenny / The Gainesville Sun via AP

Cedar Key Fire Chief Robert Robinson walks on a section of a floating dock that broke loose during a storm surge from Tropical Storm Debby in Cedar Key, Fla., on Sunday.

Forecasters said late Monday that the storm was still in the Gulf of Mexico, 35 miles south of Apalachicola, with sustained winds around 45 mph. It was moving northeast at 2 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The forecast map indicated the storm could inch forward through the week, eventually coming ashore over the Panhandle. However, a storm's path is difficult to discern days in advance.

Underscoring the unpredictable nature of tropical storms, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning Sunday afternoon for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby wasn't likely to turn west. At one point, forecasters expected the storm to come ashore in that state.

"There are always going to be errors in making predictions. There is never going to be a perfect forecast," said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that several tornadoes moved through the area southeast of Tampa, damaging homes.

Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nell Hays said a woman was found dead in a house in Venus that was destroyed in the storm. A child found in the same house was taken to the hospital. No further information was available on the child's condition or either person's age.

Marina's roof torn off
Authorities urged residents to leave low-lying neighborhoods in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties because of flooding. Shelters were open in the area.

Wind tore the roof off a marina in St. Pete Beach, and a pier was heavily damaged, said Tom Iovino, a Pinellas County government spokesman. He said no injuries were reported.

In Orange Beach, Ala., a 32-year-old man disappeared Sunday in rough surf kicked up by the storm, a Coast Guard official said. Further information wasn't immediately available.

As of Sunday, 23 percent of oil and gas production in the region had been suspended, according to a government hurricane response team. Employees have been evacuated from 13 drilling rigs and 61 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm was not expected to result in higher oil and gas prices.

"It's largely a non-event for oil," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Health & Fitness: Self Improvement

The goal setting theory of motivation states that the behavior of people is determined by the different goals that they set for themselves. It further asserts that the efforts people make towards the achievement of a goal are affected by the feedback that these people get. Whether these feedbacks are positive or negative, they do affect the performance of a person. This, in a nutshell, explains the use of performance dialogues in goal setting.

The use of performance dialogues in goal setting lies in 5 different activities:

1) Highlighting accomplishments : this involves an examination of past goals and achievements. Goal setting performance dialogues allow people to take stock of the things that they have accomplished. Dialogues are used because people are only able to see things from one perspective. Through a dialogue, people can make sure that no accomplishments go unnoticed.

This part of the goal setting performance dialogue allows people to see just how much they have accomplished in terms of another goal. This shows them the possibilities of accomplishing another goal. By knowing that they were able to accomplish so much, people are encouraged to set more goals.

2) Identifying any need for improvement : This part of the performance dialogue in goal setting allows people to see any aspect of former goals which needs improvement. By examining these areas, people are able to set better goals and thus, be more successful in achieving them.

3) Showing clear expectations : in this part of a goal setting performance dialogue, people are able to know what to expect when setting the next goal. Because of the first two parts of the goal setting performance dialogue, people know have a clear picture regarding the next goal to come. Because of this, people are able to eliminate any goal that is shown to be a waste of time.

4) Setting the goal : This is the main part of a goal setting performance dialogue. The whole purpose of evaluating past performances is to set new goals. Thus, we can consider this part the application of the performance dialogue in goal setting. In this part, people are expected to apply what they have learned from the dialogue into setting a goal that?s:

a) specific
b) attainable
c) challenging

5) Making plans : the setting of a goal gives people a general idea of the direction to take when they want to accomplish that goal. However, part of the process of a goal setting performance dialogue is actually planning the specific steps to take in order to accomplish an objective. This means that people can apply any improvements that they have made and they can try to avoid any mistakes that they have made in the past.

As you can see, there are a lot of advantages offered by performance dialogues in goal setting. A dialogue can happen either internally or externally. An internal dialogue occurs within a person in which he or she evaluates his or her performance objectively and changes his or her goal based on this evaluation. An external dialogue occurs between a person and his or her superior. The superior gives an evaluation of the person?s performance regarding his or her goals and thus, paves the way for new goals to be made and accomplished. Because of performance dialogues in goal setting, people can direct their efforts efficiently.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a Performance Dialog in Goal Setting and Feedback for Your Organization
2. Setting Performance Goals for Success
3. The Importance of Family Literacy Goal Setting

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EU fiscal pact clears another hurdle in Germany

In this photo provided by the Italian Prime Minister Office, Italian Premier Mario Monti, left, talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting in Rome, Friday, June 22, 2012. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain gathered in Rome on Friday to seek agreement on ways to pull Europe out of its crippling debt crisis. Merkel, Hollande, Rajoy and host Mario Monti got together to push for consensus to give momentum to a crucial summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on June 28 and 29. (AP Photo/Cristiano Laruffa, Italian Prime Minister Office, ho)

In this photo provided by the Italian Prime Minister Office, Italian Premier Mario Monti, left, talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting in Rome, Friday, June 22, 2012. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain gathered in Rome on Friday to seek agreement on ways to pull Europe out of its crippling debt crisis. Merkel, Hollande, Rajoy and host Mario Monti got together to push for consensus to give momentum to a crucial summit of European Union leaders in Brussels on June 28 and 29. (AP Photo/Cristiano Laruffa, Italian Prime Minister Office, ho)

BERLIN (AP) ? Chancellor Angela Merkel's government says it has reached a deal with Germany's 16 states to secure the timely ratification of the European Union's new treaty enshrining fiscal discipline.

The agreement struck during talks at Berlin's Chancellery on Sunday paves the way for a vote by both houses of parliament on the legislation Friday.

Merkel's government needs the opposition's and the states' support to garner the necessary two-thirds majority for the treaty's ratification. To win over the opposition, Merkel has agreed to push for the introduction of a financial transaction tax and measures to promote growth in Europe.

Saxony-Anhalt state governor Reiner Haseloff said the government agreed, among other steps, to grant the states more money for child care centers and public transportation projects. He did not specify an amount.

Associated Press

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Louisiana Sex Offenders Must Post Status on Facebook

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. GOVERNING reserves the right to remove
comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered
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Hoaxing Author Shot Himself for Publicity, but Motives Vary

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Ashton Eaton sets world record in decathlon

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) ? Ashton Eaton likes to compare decathlons to life ? the ups and downs, the good and bad, the setbacks and comebacks.

Over two dreary days that finally closed with a bright ray of sunshine, Eaton found out just how good life can be.

He's the world-record holder in the decathlon, the cream of the crop in the hallowed and history-filled event that has long identified the world's greatest athlete.

Needing a personal best in the grueling finale, the 1,500 meters, to get the record, Eaton came through Saturday night in the U.S. Olympic trials, running the last event in 4 minutes, 14.48 seconds to finish with 9,039 points and beat Roman Sebrle's 11-year-old mark by 13 points.

"It's like living an entire lifetime in two days," Eaton said. "It doesn't mean that much to the rest of the world, but to me, it's my whole world. To do the best that I possibly could in my world makes me pretty happy."

Eaton joined the likes of Bruce Jenner, Dan O'Brien, Bob Mathias and Rafer Johnson among the Americans who have held the world record. He did it on the 100th anniversary of the first Olympic decathlon ? and many of the American greats who have made history in the event were on hand to watch Eaton.

"I thought he showed some real courage," Johnson said. "He hung in there and figured out a way to win. He was brilliant in everything he did."

He won seven of the 10 events and did most of it in terrible weather ? drizzle, rain, cold and then, finally, sunshine as he got ready for the final 1,500-meter push.

"It's like the 11th event," runner-up Trey Hardee, the defending world champion, said about the weather. "I hope when they put his name in the record books, they'll put every parenthesis, asterisk and every other mark you can put down. Every athlete out there tries to act like that stuff doesn't bother them, but it does."

Eaton, the 24-year-old and a former NCAA champion for University of Oregon, needed to beat his personal-best time of 4:18.94 in the 1,500 by at least 2.57 seconds to break the mark. He did that, and then some.

When it was over, he bent down and put his hands on his knees, then brought them up to cover his mouth. Tears were falling ? elation and shock at the same time. Adding to the fun, he did it at Hayward Field, his home field in college and the site of some of his biggest triumphs. None, of course, any bigger than this one.

"It's a feeling that you get, even if you're off pace," Eaton said of the sensation he calls 'Hayward Magic.' "I was so tired before the 15 (hundred). I felt like sleeping. As soon as the gun is fired, it all goes away."

After the initial celebration ended, he took the mini American flag he'd been handed as a newly minted member of the U.S. Olympic team and stabbed it into the turf near the scoreboard that displayed his accomplishment: "World Record Decathlon. Ashton Eaton. 9,039 points." Photographers lined up for the historic shoot. Certainly, Eaton will own a copy or two by the time this celebration is over.

"The kid is phenomenal," said Bryan Clay, the defending Olympic champion, who fell in the hurdles and finished 12th. "There's no other way to describe him."

What to do for an encore?

We'll see in six weeks in London, where he'll go in as the favorite, along with Hardee, who finished 656 points back and was every bit as much a fan as an opponent when the last race was over.

"I don't think it changes anything for the Olympics," Hardee said. "It was his before we started yesterday and it still is now. It hasn't sunk in for Ashton. For me, it's something down the road that I'll tell my kids, my friends, my nephews about. I'll say, 'See, I saw it. I've got the pictures to prove it.'"

While Eaton earned his place in history, the women's 100 final provided a much less-concrete result.

After a long review, race officials determined Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh finished in a dead-heat for third place, each at 11.068 seconds. Only three spots are available at the Olympics and USA Track and Field officials huddled late into the night, trying to solve a problem for which there is no written solution. Carmelita Jeter won the race in 10.92.

Elsewhere, Lolo Jones' leaned at the finish line to earn the third and final Olympic spot in the 100 hurdles by 0.04 seconds. Dawn Harper won in 12.73. Tyson Gay made it through his first 100 heat cleanly, while LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards-Ross all advanced in the 400.

Nobody, however, covered more ground, or did it better, than Eaton.

He opened his pursuit Friday by setting world-best marks for the decathlon in his first two events, the 100 (10.21 seconds) and long jump (27 feet). He had a mark of 46 feet, 7 1/4 inches in shot put, cleared 6-8 3/4 in the high jump and ran the 400 in a driving rainstorm in 46.70 seconds to finish the first day in the mix for the world record.

He returned Saturday to more dreary weather, but didn't falter. The results: 13.70 seconds in the 110 hurdles, 140-5 inches in the discus, and 17-4 1/2 in the pole vault. His javelin throw of 193-1 meant he would need to top his personal best to set the world record.

The sun finally peaked out shortly before Eaton made it to the starting line, illuminating his green and black shirt and neon orange shoes. He waved to the crowd, toed the starting line, took an early lead, stayed on pace the entire time and crossed the line with nearly 2 seconds to spare.

Eaton also overtook O'Brien's American record of 8,891 points, which he set in 1992 ? nine years before Sebrle became the first man to break 9,000 points.

"He didn't have any letdowns," O'Brien said. "It's real easy when you're way ahead to have that letdown. That's what separates him from even myself. I don't know if I would've run my guts out in the 1,500."

Eaton's record adds another chapter to a rich history of decathlon success in the United States.

Jim Thorpe won the first Olympic decathlon in 1912. In 1976, Jenner put the event squarely in the spotlight, winning the Montreal Olympics and becoming a celebrity when he returned home. He was on the front of the Wheaties box back then, and the fact that he's still on the front of it now ? as part of a retro marketing campaign ? speaks volumes about how far the event's stature has fallen over the last few decades.

But that hardly diminishes this latest accomplishment.

"It pleases me to be in that fraternity with a kid that carries on a great tradition in a very classy way," Johnson said.

All this, Eaton said, was more than he expected. He came to Eugene simply hoping to make his first Olympic team. He'll leave with a spot in the history books.

"It's not just numbers," he said. "It's all the little stuff that you guys don't get to see that kind of makes this thing possible. There's really very few words to describe it, so unfortunately, I'm brief in that respect."

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Windows Phone 8: Should a phone act more like a PC?

Microsoft rolled out Windows Phone 8, an operating system that resembles Windows 8 for PCs. While the software is not identical across devices, programmers will have an easier time moving applications from one to another.

By Troy Wolverton,?San Jose Mercury News / June 21, 2012

Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft, introduces the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system in San Francisco, Calif., June 20, 2012.

Noah Berger/REUTERS

Enlarge

Struggling to keep pace with Apple and Google,?Microsoft?on Wednesday unveiled a new version of its mobile phone operating system in hopes of attracting more attention from consumers and developers.

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Unlike Windows Phone 7, the upcoming Windows Phone 8 will share its foundation with the company?s new Windows 8 software that will run on PCs and tablets. That will allow software developers to more easily design applications that can run on multiple devices. It should also allow programmers to create much more sophisticated games for Windows Phone devices.

The updated software will also add a wide range of new features, such as support for multi-core processors, near-field communication radios and high-resolution screens. It also will include a new mobile ?wallet? application that will let device owners pay for items with their phones and use them to access coupons and store loyalty cards.

?This is a huge release,? said Joe Belfiore, a corporate vice president at?Microsoft?who oversees its Windows Phone efforts.

But the release also represents an effort by?Microsoft?to catch up with the competition. Many of the new features in Windows Phone 8 are ones already present in Google?s Android and Apple?s iOS software.

Microsoft?hopes to jump-start interest in its mobile software. Since the company launched Windows Phone 7 in the fall of 2010, it?s already initiated a media blitz, released a medium-sized update and convinced mobile phone giant Nokia to focus its smartphone efforts on the software.

But the company?s efforts have largely failed to generate excitement. Windows Phone devices represented less than 2 percent of the total smartphones shipped worldwide in the first quarter of this year. That share of the market is smaller than that held by?Microsoft?s?older Windows Mobile software right before Windows Phone 7 debuted.

Microsoft?officials left several pertinent questions unanswered about the software. They declined to say when it will be available, for example, announcing only that it would be out later this year. They even declined to disclose when programmers will be able to download a software development kit, which is crucial for creating new apps for the operating system, saying only that it will be out later this summer.

Meanwhile,?Microsoft?risks upsetting its user base. Current Windows Phone users won?t be able to upgrade their devices to Windows Phone 8. And newer apps designed for Windows Phone 8 won?t run on Windows Phone 7.

The announcement comes two days after?Microsoft?revealed plans to get into the computer hardware business by making its own tablets running Windows 8. While CEO Steve Ballmer headlined that event in Los Angeles, he was not at the Windows Phone event here.

The Windows Phone announcement comes a little more than a week after Apple unveiled iOS 6, the latest version of the software that underlies the iPhone and iPad. Next week, Google is holding an event in which it is expected to discuss new features in Android.

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India overtakes US as Nigeria's biggest export market

Map of Nigeria.

The author has posted comments on this articlePTI | Jun 23, 2012, 06.00PM ISTPAUL OHIA ABUJA: India has overtaken the US to become Nigeria's largest market for exports, according to the first quarter Trade Statistics released by the oil-rich African country's National Bureau of Statistics.

The moving of the US to the second position is seen as a major development for Nigerian and Indian trade relations, given that the US had remained the country's largest export market since 1964.

In a broader context, the NBS data also reveals that during the quarter, India-Nigeria bilateral trade reached USD 5.15 billion in the first quarter or within 0.5 per cent of the US which, for the moment, retains the top-spot.

NBS put the total value of Nigeria's exports in the first quarter of 2012 at about USD 30 billion, showing that exports to India reached USD 4.2 billion, compared to USD 3.7 billion credited to the US in the period under review.

Nigeria's export to India is mostly crude oil and cashew nuts while India exports pharmaceutical goods, machinery, electronics and rice.

The US was trailed by the Netherlands with USD 2.9 billion, followed by Spain with USD 2.4 billion and Brazil which recorded USD 2 billion.

High Commissioner to Nigeria Mahesh Sachdev said it is indicative of a trend of consistent robust growth.

"If this growth persists, India can be expected to emerge as Nigeria's largest trading partner in the next quarter. Interestingly, Nigeria was India's 14th largest trading partner last year." he added.

Sachdev said an important take-away from this data-set is the trade deficit of USD 3.7 billion that India had with Nigeria.

"This figure is obviously too high to be sustainable. Consequently, both sides need to ensure that more Indian products are imported into Nigeria so that the momentum of growth in bilateral trade can be maintained," he said.

This data, Sachdev said, is consistent with official Indian data which puts the bilateral trade in 2011 at USD 16.4 billion, with Indian exports to Nigeria at USD 2.6 billion (up 38 per cent annually) and India's imports from Nigeria at 13.728 billion (up 34 per cent annually).

He gave a figure from India's Department of Commerce for the financial year that ended June 12 2012 which shows the country's exports to Nigeria in the first quarter of 2012 increasing by nearly 4 per cent over previous quarter.

Sachdev pointed out that in recent weeks, India has permitted global unrestricted exports of agricultural products such as wheat, rice, sugar, milk powder and other goods which are needed by Nigeria.

He said he hoped Nigerian stake-holders would take steps to source these items from India as this would promote a more balanced bilateral trade.

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Iran sanctions trap Apple clerks, customers alike

By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

Updated:?3 pm ET?

An Apple store employee refused to sell an iPad to an Iranian American customer, citing company policy that aims to comply with U.S. sanctions on trade with Iran, WSBTV in Atlanta reported this week. The customer left empty-handed, in tears, and complained of discrimination to the reporter.

The case is more complicated than that, legal experts say. The incident and others like it highlight a dilemma created by the U.S. trade embargo against Iran ? and other sanctioned countries, including Cuba, Syria and North Korea ? which makes even the humblest sales associate responsible for enforcing the embargo?s provisions.?

?

Those employees ? as well as the store and the company ? could be hit with civil and criminal penalties if they sell products to customers who they have reason to believe will export them to Iran in violation of the embargo, legal experts say. But if the same clerk refuses service on the basis of the customer?s language or ethnic background, they may run afoul of civil rights laws.

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"If I walked in and told them I want to buy this and send it to a friend in Iran or Cuba, they can?t sell it to me," said Clif Burns, an export control attorney at Bryan Cave, a law firm in Washington, D.C. "If they had that information, they were absolutely within their rights" to refuse the sale.

"The tricky question is if you hear someone speaking Farsi?(also called Persian)?? then the issue is: Should you be more alert to the possibility that they might export the item to Iran? And by being more alert in that situation are you in violation of civil rights statutes? It?s not any easy question."

Under U.S. sanctions against Iran ? dating to 1987 and expanded several times since ? exports to the Islamic republic are illegal, with exceptions for items in a few limited categories, such as books, movies, agricultural goods, medicine and medical supplies. These sanctions are enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Commerce Department?s Bureau of Industry and Security. Sanctions are not intended to affect the sale of goods used in the United States.

"There is absolutely no U.S. policy or law that would prohibit Apple or any other company from selling its products in the United States to anyone intending to use the product in the United States, including Iranians and Persian-speakers," said Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.

Click here?for an overview of the sanctions from the Treasury Department

But the government does not spell out how an individual working in a retail store should judge whether a customer intends to send or carry a product to a country under sanctions, and technically the onus could fall on store clerks. And Burns says anyone in the chain who touches a transaction that violates of the sanctions can be held liable if they knew or should have known that the item was being shipped to a sanctioned country.

"The standard applies to the retail clerk, shipping manager, corporate headquarters," said Burns.

Individuals can be fined up to $250,000 and up to five years in prison for export sanctions violations. Corporations can be hit with a $1 million criminal penalty, he said. "In theory there?s no intent (to commit a crime) requirement. They will look at whether you knew or should have known."

In reality, there are only a few reported cases of retailers denying individual sales on this basis, all involving Iranian Americans and Apple stores.

Apple: Silence
Apple did not?initially respond?to requests for comment.

After this report published, Apple spokesman Steve Dowling contacted msnbc.com with the following statement:

"Our retail stores are proud to serve customers from around the world, of every ethnicity. Our store teams are multilingual and diversity is an important part of our culture. We don't discriminate against anyone."

In the case of Sahar Sabet, from the WSBTV report, who was refused purchase of an iPad at an Apple store in Alpharetta, Ga., some of the facts are unclear. She said the clerk refused to sell her an iPad after hearing her speak Farsi with her uncle. The iPad was intended as a gift for her cousin in Iran, according to the report, but it was unclear how or if the clerk was aware of that.

Calls to Sabet were not returned. A call to the Apple store at North Pointe Mall in Alpharetta was referred to corporate headquarters.

A second Iranian American interviewed in the report also said he was barred from purchasing something at an Apple store in the Atlanta area when he was helping an Iranian student buy an iPhone. Zack Jafarzadeh said he and the friend were speaking Farsi when the sales rep denied their purchase. "We never talked about him going back to Iran or anything like that," Jafarzadeh said, according to the report.

The Council on American Islamic Relations, a non-profit rights group, says it was in discussions with Apple to revise its policy even before this week's news story, because of a complaint from an Iranian American who was refused a purchase in an Apple store in northern California in March.

Watch the Top Videos on msnbc.com

In that case, a sales associate refused to sell him anything ? even things he was buying for his own use ? after he mentioned that he intended to send an iPod Nano to Iran as a gift for a relative, Rachel Roberts, civil rights coordinator for CAIR, told msnbc.com.

"He claims that when he asked the associate how he could get the items he needed, she told him to go to a different Apple store if he wanted service and to not reveal that he is Iranian," Roberts said ? adding that he found that answer to be degrading and inconsistent. Ultimately the store made an informal apology and sold him items for his personal use, Roberts said.

"The concern ? is how store employees balance their obligations under embargo law and civil rights laws," said Zahra Billoo, an attorney for CAIR in San Francisco, adding that the U.S. government should clarify how retail stores should comply. The other concern, she said, is "how employees are being trained to implement this."

Apple's policy regarding sanctions, published on its website, is closely tailored to the language of the U.S. trade law itself.

The National Iranian American Council, a nonprofit organization, said the Apple stores were "overzealously enforcing the sanctions." "In singling out Persian-speakers for interrogation about how they intend to use Apple products, these Apple employees are clearly engaging in racial profiling," the group said in a statement.

But the group provided a fact sheet on sanctions and conceded that "it also appears to be the case that many Iranian Americans do not understand the implications of how U.S. sanctions on Iran affect them."

The very notion that sales clerks could have to make decisions on purchases under the sanctions raised red flags for?some observers.

"The responsibility for enforcement should fall on border patrol, law enforcement, the U.S. post office, customs -- government agencies," said Nahal Iravani-Sani, president of the Iranian American Bar Association. As it is, the law "promotes dishonesty and invites profiling.?When you come down to it, it's absurd."

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What's Up Finland? English | After Sales Engineer, ABB Oy, Helsinki

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Positioned in the Product Engineering and Quality department, you will provide global technical support for frequency converter drives, their modules and software. ... You write and speak Finnish and English fluently.

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Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment announces 2012 Environmental Venture Project awards

Public release date: 21-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rob Jordan
rjordan@stanford.edu
650-721-1881
Stanford University

5 teams will receive seed funding for research tackling global sustainability challenges

The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded five new Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grants for interdisciplinary research aimed at finding practical solutions to major environmental and sustainability challenges.

Five innovative research projects will receive grants totaling $825,000 over two years to tackle a broad range of challenges. The projects were selected from an initial pool of 26 letters of intent submitted to a faculty committee led by Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellows Chris Francis and Jamie Jones.

The Stanford Woods Institute has awarded more than $7.2 million in EVP grants to interdisciplinary research teams from all of Stanford's seven schools since the annual program started in 2004.

"We continue to be impressed by the level of innovation and creativity among our faculty," Francis said. "I was also particularly pleased and excited to see how our outreach efforts are beginning to pay off. This year we saw the involvement of many investigators not previously funded by the EVP program, as well as from Stanford departments and schools that have been underrepresented in the past."

2012 Environmental Venture Projects

Recovery of Entropic Energy at Wastewater Treatment Plants Discharging to Saline Environments: Wastewater treatment plants that discharge treated wastewater to saline environments do not currently recover energy from the salinity difference between the treated wastewater and the saline environments. This project will use specially designed batteries to tap the salinity difference to produce electricity, helping to convert wastewater treatment plants into power plants, among other applications.

Craig Criddle (Civil and Environmental Engineering / Stanford Woods Institute) and Yi Cui (Materials Science and Engineering).

Determining the Drivers and Consequences of Hypoxia in Nearshore Marine Ecosystems: An Integrative Engineering and Ecophysiological Approach: Hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, is an escalating threat to marine life and ocean economies. This project will combine physiology, ecology and oceanography to understand how increasing climate change-related hypoxia will affect coastal marine ecosystems and fisheries. The project's data will help state and regional organizations devise better management and adaptation strategies for marine life and coastal environments.

Oliver Fringer (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Fiorenza Micheli (Biology) and George Somero (Biology)

Is Corporate Environmentalism Profitable? Experimental Investigations of the Effects of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumption, Employment and Political Activity: Firms engage in environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) when they go beyond the requirements of current environmental law. This project will conduct a series of experiments to study how ECSR affects public consumption, employment and political activity. The results could give companies confidence that environmentalism makes economic sense and could give policymakers the ability to better distinguish when regulations are necessary.

Neil Malhotra (Graduate School of Business), Michael Tomz (Political Science) and Benot Monin (Graduate School of Business)

Trace Organics in Recycled Water: Analysis of Plant Uptake and Processing: There is no effective and feasible way to completely remove N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a carcinogenic disinfection byproduct, from contaminated reclaimed wastewater. This project will look at how plants cope with NDMA and help predict and model how food crops irrigated with contaminated reclaimed water might serve as a vehicle for human exposure to NDMA. This will aid in predicting the impact of contaminated reclaimed water on food safety and in designing remediation systems.

Elizabeth Sattely (Chemical Engineering) and Dick Luthy (Civil and Environmental Engineering / Stanford Woods Institute)

Rapid Detection of Water-Borne Pathogens and Pathogen Indicators by Digitization and Concentration of Report Enzyme Fluorescence in Microfluidic Picoliter Droplets: Every year, millions die from preventable water-borne diseases. This project will develop a rapid and low-cost detection method involving a probe that lights up in the presence of water-borne pathogens and their indicators. The technology could revolutionize the way water is tested by putting the tools in the hands of citizens. The resulting wealth of citizen-collected data could lead to improved public health policies.

Sindy Kam Yan Tang (Mechanical Engineering), Jianghong Rao (Radiology and Chemistry) and Alexandria Boehm (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-Jun-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Rob Jordan
rjordan@stanford.edu
650-721-1881
Stanford University

5 teams will receive seed funding for research tackling global sustainability challenges

The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment has awarded five new Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grants for interdisciplinary research aimed at finding practical solutions to major environmental and sustainability challenges.

Five innovative research projects will receive grants totaling $825,000 over two years to tackle a broad range of challenges. The projects were selected from an initial pool of 26 letters of intent submitted to a faculty committee led by Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellows Chris Francis and Jamie Jones.

The Stanford Woods Institute has awarded more than $7.2 million in EVP grants to interdisciplinary research teams from all of Stanford's seven schools since the annual program started in 2004.

"We continue to be impressed by the level of innovation and creativity among our faculty," Francis said. "I was also particularly pleased and excited to see how our outreach efforts are beginning to pay off. This year we saw the involvement of many investigators not previously funded by the EVP program, as well as from Stanford departments and schools that have been underrepresented in the past."

2012 Environmental Venture Projects

Recovery of Entropic Energy at Wastewater Treatment Plants Discharging to Saline Environments: Wastewater treatment plants that discharge treated wastewater to saline environments do not currently recover energy from the salinity difference between the treated wastewater and the saline environments. This project will use specially designed batteries to tap the salinity difference to produce electricity, helping to convert wastewater treatment plants into power plants, among other applications.

Craig Criddle (Civil and Environmental Engineering / Stanford Woods Institute) and Yi Cui (Materials Science and Engineering).

Determining the Drivers and Consequences of Hypoxia in Nearshore Marine Ecosystems: An Integrative Engineering and Ecophysiological Approach: Hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, is an escalating threat to marine life and ocean economies. This project will combine physiology, ecology and oceanography to understand how increasing climate change-related hypoxia will affect coastal marine ecosystems and fisheries. The project's data will help state and regional organizations devise better management and adaptation strategies for marine life and coastal environments.

Oliver Fringer (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Fiorenza Micheli (Biology) and George Somero (Biology)

Is Corporate Environmentalism Profitable? Experimental Investigations of the Effects of Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumption, Employment and Political Activity: Firms engage in environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) when they go beyond the requirements of current environmental law. This project will conduct a series of experiments to study how ECSR affects public consumption, employment and political activity. The results could give companies confidence that environmentalism makes economic sense and could give policymakers the ability to better distinguish when regulations are necessary.

Neil Malhotra (Graduate School of Business), Michael Tomz (Political Science) and Benot Monin (Graduate School of Business)

Trace Organics in Recycled Water: Analysis of Plant Uptake and Processing: There is no effective and feasible way to completely remove N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a carcinogenic disinfection byproduct, from contaminated reclaimed wastewater. This project will look at how plants cope with NDMA and help predict and model how food crops irrigated with contaminated reclaimed water might serve as a vehicle for human exposure to NDMA. This will aid in predicting the impact of contaminated reclaimed water on food safety and in designing remediation systems.

Elizabeth Sattely (Chemical Engineering) and Dick Luthy (Civil and Environmental Engineering / Stanford Woods Institute)

Rapid Detection of Water-Borne Pathogens and Pathogen Indicators by Digitization and Concentration of Report Enzyme Fluorescence in Microfluidic Picoliter Droplets: Every year, millions die from preventable water-borne diseases. This project will develop a rapid and low-cost detection method involving a probe that lights up in the presence of water-borne pathogens and their indicators. The technology could revolutionize the way water is tested by putting the tools in the hands of citizens. The resulting wealth of citizen-collected data could lead to improved public health policies.

Sindy Kam Yan Tang (Mechanical Engineering), Jianghong Rao (Radiology and Chemistry) and Alexandria Boehm (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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Internet Business Expert: How to Keep Your Online Business Going ...

The overall economy is expected to grow just 2 percent. The times may be dire in 2012, but you can be sure that internet marketing has still much potential to reach. In order to keep your online business afloat, there are some ways you could keep your online business going.

Set Goals
Start your year by setting goals for your internet marketing regardless whether you are getting started or already in the midst of your business. If you do not have a goal, you will not be sure of your direction and what you are doing to achieve. Take that goal and live and breathe it. Set steps to reaching these goals.

Promote your service/products
If you are starting out in internet marketing, launch that product or service that will solve a problem. Businesses are created to solving problems. Google provides real data on the number of searches for product or service on a monthly basis and this will be a good guide to check whether the product or service that you are going to launch popular.

If business owners have an existing online business, upgrade or incorporate more interactive websites eg social media, blogging and real-time updated approach. You will have to try to get your articles and information into as many prospects hands as possible. It is important to get your tailored marketing campaigns to reach prospects at the right time with the right message. As internet marketing is a fast moving industry, always look out for new tools that will help business owners better analyse their customer behaviour.

Focus on Marketing
Marketing is the key to your online business. Many business owners focus on the wrong things or do things the old ways, your business will increase in tiny steps or continue spluttering along. Internet marketing is a fast moving industry. Business owners should be able to able use effective marketing strategies.

Mobile marketing is an example of the fastest increase that you will see in 2012's digital marketing landscape. As more people are using mobile devices to access the internet more than ever before, it is expected to grow at astonishing rates over the next few years. You will not be tapping on potential customers if you are not planning to use mobile marketing. There are a lot of new and exciting marketing strategies formulated every day in an attempt to penetrate into the mobile marketing. In January 2011, there were statistics that show that out of 600 million Facebook users, 1/3 of them were accessing their Facebook accounts using mobile devices. That amount to 200 million users. These figures indicate the impact mobile marketing will have on your sales, profits and ROI in your online business.

Video marketing is also on the rise and should keep growing through 2012. Picture speaks louder than words. Marketers are starting to comprehend that people would rather watch an entertaining video than reading an e-book in PDF file or a plain textbook. People attention span is short. They want to get information fast and in an entertaining manner. "How-to" instructional videos are ideal for people searching to find immediate solutions. These videos are the best way to show that you are knowledgeable in your niche, and that show you as an authority and expert.

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How To Stop Science Alienation Syndrome

How can we fix it? By requiring even more science education?but changing it dramatically. All high school students should have to take four years of science, instead of the minimal two usually required for graduation. Along with that, we should also offer separate ?science tracks??something like the old tracks for vocational or college-bound students. Those who want to specialize in science could take math, physics, and complex chemistry (and the kind of genetically detailed biology that my son disliked). Nonmajors, by contrast, would focus on what I think of as science of the everyday?things like kitchen chemistry, CSI-style crime investigation, the biology of health, and a class in the physics of sports that would include playing the games.

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Fund for bullied New York grandmother tops $330k... and rising

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Mesothelioma Lung Cancer ? Asbestos Lawyers, Attorneys ...

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Where You?re From and Where You?re @

But in 2012-era hip-hop, Harlem (and Brooklyn, and Detroit, and Miami, and Atlanta, and Toronto, and on and on) is becoming less a specific place that an artist hails from and tailors her sound to reflect, and more an aesthetic option, among many, that she can gesture toward or ignore as she sees fit. Another notable hip-hop rookie is the smooth-talking A$AP Rocky, who also comes from Harlem, but who stresses to interviewers how geographically unrestricted his style is: A product, he says, of an adolescence spent devouring not only New York titans like Eric B. and Rakim (his parents named him after the latter artist) but also acts like DJ Quik, from Los Angeles, and UGK, from Port Arthur, Texas. In his songs, Rocky is as comfortable maneuvering through the slow-mo sludge of Texas screw-music as he is aping the singsong pitter-patter of Cleveland?s Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and he?s no less convincing for this carpet-bagging. Many of his tracks fall into a new, Internet-born sub-sub-genre, nicknamed ?cloud rap? for its diaphanous textures and foggy melodies. Cloud rap?s other main practitioners hail from the Bay Area (Lil B, Main Attrakionz), Seattle (Keyboard Kid), and New Jersey (Clams Casino), all of them collaborating with each other via broadband connections?cloud has a nice double meaning in this context. We listen to an artist like Atlanta?s Young Jeezy, in part, for his blunt evocation of place: run-down drug houses, musty strip joints, classic cars orbiting the perimeter. We listen to an artist like A$AP Rocky for rich evocations of everywhere and nowhere.

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