3 essentials for weight loss success

If you?re doing something?anything?to improve your health and fitness this year, I salute you. It?s so easy to let ourselves slide . . . to get really good at not looking below the neck when we see ourselves in the mirror.

Getting back in shape isn?t easy, despite the pixie-dust solutions plenty of people want to sell you. Which is why I want to make sure that your hard work pays off and gets you the results you want.

So here are my three best (and dead simple) tips to ensure success:

1. Choose a weight loss diet that provides enough calories and protein

You might think that the whole point of any diet is to slash calories to the bone in order to shed fat fast. But it doesn?t work that way.

Yes, you have to reduce calories in order to burn fat. But there?s a sweet spot you need to find. Cut too few calories, and your fat loss will be agonizingly slow. (Actually not a bad thing if you are quite patient.)

Cut too many, and the consequences to your metabolism are devastating. (A good chunk of my brand-new free webinar is devoted to this very point. Go to the bottom of this post to learn how you can view it.)

And unfortunately, women are much more likely to err on the side of eating too little.

Another term for ?very low calorie? diets? Starvation!

What about protein? Women in general tend not to consume enough of this macronutrient, even though it?s essential for making sure that what you lose during a diet is fat rather than muscle tissue.

No, you don?t have to be a big-time carnivore (although it helps). You can also get high-quality protein from dairy products, eggs, and soy and good-quality protein from legumes and other plant foods.

2. Follow a food plan that teaches you healthy eating habits

Sounds like a no-brainer, but many popular weight loss diets are based on the notion of following a ridiculous and unsustainable way of eating for a limited time.

I?m talking about plans that cut out whole food groups (e.g., carbohydrates or fats), make you drink your meals, involve intermittent fasting, or in other ways force you to eat (or not eat) in a way that nobody can maintain for long.

Here?s what?s wrong with that: the minute you drop the weight (presuming you do), you?re likely to return to the old eating habits that got you into trouble in the first place.

Why wouldn?t you?

The diet you?ve been following has taught you nothing about how to eat right under normal circumstances?how to make healthy, calorie-controlled choices day after day in a normal food environment.

A good fat-loss plan teaches you new ways of eating that you can maintain for a lifetime: what to choose (most of the time) and in what quantities. During your time on the fat-loss diet, you master new eating skills so that once you?ve gotten to your ideal weight, you can make a seamless transition into maintenance.

3. Form an exercise habit?don?t use diet alone to get lean

Not long ago I read a research report that said only about 17 percent of dieters were also exercising. Here are three reasons why exercise is truly essential:

It protects your lean mass (i.e., your muscle) while you?re dieting. This matters because the amount of muscle you have helps determine your metabolic rate. Lose muscle, and your metabolism slows down?simple as that.

It burns calories. If you?re exercising?whether by taking a daily walk or working out at a gym?you lose fat more quickly simply because you?re expending energy through movement.

It will help you maintain your fat loss. Very few people who lose weight actually keep it off. There are many reasons (including the fact that they didn?t learn a new way of eating), but one of the biggies is not having an exercise habit.

A couple of U.S. scientists have spent decades studying successful ?losers??people who have lost, on average, more than 50 pounds and kept it off for several years. One of their key strategies is following a daily exercise routine.

If you?d like to learn more about how to avoid devastating diet mistakes, view my free webinar. Don?t wait?it?s online for a limited time. Find out how just below this post.

Comments or questions? Drop me a note!

Mary is a weight-loss and body-transformation coach for women and an NSCA Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist. Her online Body-Transformation Bootcamp teaches effective, no-BS strategies for fat loss and fitness, geared especially for the over-40 female. You can find Mary at PrimeFitnessforWomen and on Facebook.

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Source: http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/3-essentials-for-weight-loss-success/

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Microsoft Looking for Windows Phone 8 'App Star'

Microsoft is looking for the next big app. Redmond today launched a new developer contest that will place the winning app in a primetime U.S. TV ad.

Dubbed Windows Phone Next App Star, the competition is open to Windows Phone developers worldwide, and aims to bring them more visibility and customers.

Anyone who has a Windows Phone app published in at least one country by March 5 can participate. Microsoft will then narrow it down to the top 64 apps. Running in conjunction with the NCAA basketball tournament, Redmond will seed each app into brackets, at which point users will vote for their favorites, until a winner is selected.

"Two apps enter, one app leaves," senior director of Windows Phone apps Todd Brix said in a video about the contest. "Consumers all over the world get to vote and decide who should be the Next App Star. Based on user ratings and Redmond's own quality metrics, each week's field will be narrowed to 32, 16, eight, four, and two, until the grand-prize winner is chosen.

Prizes will be handed out along the way, starting with a Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone and a one-year free Dev Center subscription for everyone who makes it into the top 64.

The last app standing will be featured in a Windows Phone primetime television advertisement sometime in the late spring or early summer, according to Brix.

Last year, Microsoft reached a milestone 75,000 certified Windows Phone 8 apps.

To participate, registered developers can visit the Dev Center to opt in by March 5, and Microsoft will automatically enter into the competition your catalog of published apps. Newcomers or those who want to tweak an existing application must register now and publish before the March cut-off date.

"This isn't just about picking the most popular app in the Store," Brix wrote in a blog post. "Windows Phone Next App Star is about giving developers a shot at being the next big hit. You don't have to be a longtime developer on the Windows Phone platform ? even a newcomer can win fans and win big."

Microsoft helped to introduce its Windows 8 operating system in February by unveiling a handful of new apps to launch with its consumer preview, including PuzzleTouch Jigsaw, Air Soccer, Pew Pew, SigFig Portfolio, and Elements Weather.

For more, see PCMag's review of Microsoft Windows Phone 8 and the slideshow above.

For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/breakingnews/~3/vR5PptOZZ6g/0,2817,2414279,00.asp

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Police: Church vandalized with graffiti, feces

York, PA -

Pennsylvania State Police are asking for help in finding out who vandalized a Shrewsbury Township church earlier this month, according to a news release.

Police said that between Jan. 6 and Saturday, someone marked a door at the New Freedom Church of the Brethren, 15660 Country Club Road, with graffiti, and also left feces in the parking lot.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 717-428-1011.

Source: http://www.ydr.com/rss/ci_22376354?source=rss

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Armstrong admits to doping during Winfrey interview -report

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - His fall nearly complete, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong finally confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs in an interview on Monday with Oprah Winfrey, USA Today reported.

Although American media had widely speculated that Armstrong would admit to cheating in the interview, neither Winfrey nor Armstrong would confirm the report, in which the newspaper cited an anonymous source.

"We are not confirming any specific details regarding the interview at this time," a spokesman for Oprah's network OWN told Reuters.

The report did not say which drugs Armstrong admitted to using, and the American's attorney and his spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Armstrong, 41, has always vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs and had never tested positive to a doping test. But the evidence against him has been overwhelming.

Oprah, on Twitter, offered little more herself other than to say Armstrong came prepared for the interview, which will be broadcast on Thursday.

"Just wrapped with @lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY," Winfrey tweeted.

But the television host hinted she would provide some more snippets, confirming she would appear on CBS television on Tuesday morning to talk about the interview.

CBS reported Armstrong had indicated he may be willing to testify against others involved in illegal doping and was in talks about repaying part of the taxpayer money he earned during his career.

The unconfirmed reports about his admissions followed Armstrong's apology to the staff of the cancer foundation he had started over difficulties they may have experienced because of the doping controversy.

"He had a private conversation with the staff, who have done the important work of the foundation for many years," said Livestrong Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane.

"It was a very sincere and heartfelt expression of regret over any stress that they've suffered over the course of the last few years as a result of the media attention," she said.

Shortly after, Armstrong joined his legal team to meet with Winfrey for an interview described as "no-holds-barred."

The interview was supposed to take place at Armstrong's Texas home but was switched to a hotel in downtown Austin after news crews camped outside his house before dawn.

SWIFT FALL FROM GRACE

A former cancer survivor who went on to become the greatest cyclist the world has seen, Armstrong's fall from grace has been as swift and spectacular as his rise through the French alps.

Long dogged by accusations he cheated his way to the top, an October report from the U.S. anti-doping body USADA ultimately triggered his rapid slide.

USADA exposed Armstrong as a liar and a cheat, describing him as the ringmaster of the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," involving anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, blood transfusions and other doping.

Former Armstrong teammates at his U.S. Postal and Discovery Channel outfits, where he won his seven successive Tour titles from 1999 to 2005, testified against him as well as admitting to their own wrongdoing.

The mountain of evidence was overwhelming, and when Armstrong decided not to fight the charges against him, his Tour de France victories were quickly nullified. He was banned from cycling for life.

His sponsors, which had remained loyal to him, began deserting him and he stood down as chairman of Livestrong. Legal issues began to mount.

His former teammate Floyd Landis, a self-confessed cheat, filed a lawsuit against him for defrauding the U.S. government, while the London-based Sunday Times is suing Armstrong to recover about $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel lawsuit.

Armstrong could also be forced to pay back amounts including $7.5 million to SCA Promotions, a Dallas-based company that paid him a bonus for his Tour de France wins.

Throughout it all, Armstrong remained silent, unrepentant and seemingly unconcerned as the cycling world was left reeling by the revelations.

That was until last week, when he announced he had agreed to an interview with Winfrey, prompting speculation he was ready to confess he cheated.

(Additional reporting by Frank Pingue, writing by Julian Linden, editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/armstrong-admits-doping-during-winfrey-interview-report-012657188--spt.html

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India Trip to Examine Issues in Child Survival: How Science and Engineering Help

Back in October, I opened my email to find an interesting invitation for me to apply for a trip to India as part of a special International Reporting Project bloggers? trip focusing on child survival and related issues of health and development.

The trip described in full

?The trip will focus on issues of child survival in India. Among the topics we will examine are the development of vaccines, child malnutrition, tuberculosis, polio, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, access to clean water and hygiene, privatization of health care and its affect on child survival, and the impact of agricultural and rural development on child survival. The program will include meetings and site visits in Delhi and Mumbai, with a visit to a rural area. Participants would be asked to be as active as possible in blogging or reporting in any format about the trip. We would encourage blogging during the trip, and afterwards. Multimedia content is encouraged.?

And I thought, ?How could I turn down the opportunity to have an all expenses paid trip to India and have the opportunity to share this experience with everyone in my online audience??

I?m not a journalist at all. I consider myself an educator and an ?accidental? new media and social media expert. I expect then it is my presence online that captured the attention of the International Reporting Project that sees the face of reporting and journalism changing, and recognizes that people like me, ones who are enthusiastic about sharing their favored topics with the world, have a valid voice and a role to play in disseminating information.

I am invited to go on expense paid trips with an increasing frequency as my online presence grows stronger, in order to share the topic of the trip with my online audience through social media, my website, Joanne Loves Science and at Scientific American. I?ve had some fantastic opportunities to share new and interesting science and technology. I love to learn and experience new things in the realm of science and engineering. These trips provide me these opportunities and more excitingly is that I can share them with anyone who will listen!

I pitched the angle that I would like to examine India?s children?s health issues from the standpoint of how science and engineering are working on these challenges. I plan to meet and interview scientists and engineers to hear their stories and understand what motivates them to tackle these issues. I hope my time there will give a glimpse of the great need for science and engineering to step in and help ameliorate these serious health issues and perhaps even motivate some young people to consider a STEM career as a way of applying their talent to solve healthcare challenges. In addition, as a mother of four children, and the child advocate I am in general, I expect my heart to be touched by the struggles these children face daily.

I have been accepted to go on this trip and will be sharing with all of you with as much frequency as possible what I learn about children?s health issues and how science and engineering are making great strides in these areas. (Speaking of which, yesterday was the two year anniversary of India being polio-free!)

Here is the official press release:

?The International Reporting Project (IRP) has selected ten innovative journalists and new media experts from around the world to participate in a ten-day trip to India on February 17-27, 2013.

The new media journalists will meet with a wide range of Indians and explore issues of child survival in India. Among the topics we will examine are the development of vaccines, child malnutrition, tuberculosis, polio, HIV/AIDS, maternal health, access to clean water and hygiene, privatization of health care and its affect on child survival, and the impact of agricultural and rural development on child survival.

?This trip represents IRP?s renewed focus on using innovative tools to report on critical, under-covered international issues,? said John Schidlovsky, director of the Washington-based IRP.

The new media journalists, their affiliation and their countries of origin are:
? Hagit Bachrach, CFR.org ? Israel?
? Joy Doreen Biira, KTN Kenya ? Uganda?
? Jose Miguel Calatayud, freelance ? Spain?
? Jennifer Uloma Igwe, Nigeria TV Authority ? Nigeria
?? Mark Kaigwa, Afrinnovator.com ? Kenya?
? Leon Kaye, freelance ? United States
?? Joanne Manaster, freelance ? United States?
? Lindsey Mastis, Feature Story News ? United States?
? Tando Ntunja, freelance ? South Africa?
? Roshanak Taghavi, freelance ? United States

Follow them on our Twitter list to receive updates during the trip.?

I?d like to thank the IRP for somehow finding me on their radar and inviting me for this exciting project.

I also extend thanks to the School of Integrative Biology at UIUC for their incredible support of the outreach I do for science.

GoPro cameras are outfitting me with a new Hero3 to help me document this trip. Thank you, GoPro!

Photo: ?We ? the solution? on Flickr

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=415a92909799de09ce450010d498fa66

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Small Business: How to Get It Ready for Engagement Marketing ...

For MSPs serving the small business / mid-sized business vertical, it is critical to stay one step ahead of IT trends. SMBs (small and mid-sized businesses) often have a longer sales cycle than their larger competitors, and being able to anticipate their IT needs helps MSPs establish the kind of personalized relationship that keeps SMBs from turning to big technology providers. According to new 2013 predictions from marketing solutions vendor Constant Contact, MSPs will have an opportunity this year to help their SMB clients perform engagement marketing.

As defined by Constant Contact, engagement marketing consists of applying social media, mobile and location-based technologies to individually tailor marketing efforts. The following is a brief review of three specific IT trends Constant Contact expects SMBs to move toward in 2013 to create?engagement marketing initiatives:

Email by Permission

According to Constant Contact, email usage among consumers is actually still growing, with more people expected to have email addresses in 2013 than in 2012. However, consumers now expect to only receive relevant emails they have granted the sender permission to send them, and irrelevant or unwelcome emails will pose a serious threat to SMBs? brand image. MSPs should deliver email management solutions and services that effectively obtain and track recipient preferences to ensure maximum return on email campaigns with minimal brand damage.

Searching for Mobile

The continuing growth of mobile web access, search and app usage means SMBs must make their marketing information available via mobile search and provide mobile-optimized web experiences. Truly creating a mobile-centric customer experience, whether through responsive design or creating separate mobile sites and apps, is a time-consuming task requiring specialized knowledge ? in short the perfect service for an MSP to offer.

Social Media Comes of Age

Once thought of as an extra feature that was nice to have but not necessary, social media has become a business-critical ?must have? for any company?s marketing efforts. Larger organizations have realized this fact in the last couple of years, and Constant Contact expects SMBs to catch on in a big way during 2013. As with the mobile customer experience, the social customer experience is a unique environment requiring careful design and execution by trained experts.

In addition, collecting and measuring social performance data is a notoriously difficult task that even eludes many large organizations. Developing social media expertise is a must for any MSP that wants to fully meet the marketing needs of SMB clients, or for that matter clients of any size, this year and in the years to come.

Read More About This Topic

Source: http://www.mspmentor.net/2013/01/14/small-business-how-to-get-it-ready-for-engagement-marketing/

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Tax: Doors Closing On Tax Dodge Schemes | Stuff.co.nz

Tax loopholes used by multinationals to avoid paying billions of corporation tax could be closed within two years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's top tax official told BusinessDay.

New Zealand threw its weight behind the OECD's work to shore up taxation last month when Revenue Minister Peter Dunne ordered Inland Revenue to actively engage in the OECD's "Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting" (Beps) project.

That followed statements of support for Beps from British Chancellor George Osborne, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, and the French and Australian governments.

Beps' goal is to clamp down on controversial tax avoidance schemes, including those reportedly used by the likes of Google, Starbucks, Microsoft, Apple and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to avoid paying billions of dollars in corporation tax.

Labour Party revenue spokesman David Clark said in November that the New Zealand arm of the world's most used online social networking tool, Facebook, paid only $14,497 in tax during 2011 up from $5238 in 2010.

"For a company that has 2.2 million users in New Zealand and makes billions worldwide, that's barely believable. It appears Facebook is using the ?double Irish' tax technique. That's where it uses Irish Facebook, which pays just 12.5 per cent tax, to determine revenue and expenses. This ensures the company can put most of its revenue through countries with low-tax systems," Clark said.

"It's not just Facebook that structures its affairs to take advantage of a low-tax Irish counterpart. Google New Zealand does it too. That company paid just $109,038 tax on $4,447,898 in revenue. That's 2 per cent. These companies should pay the right amount of tax here. That's only fair."

CHANGES COMING

Speaking to BusinessDay from Mexico, OECD tax policy director Pascal Saint-Amans, said momentum for action was building and it could result in the biggest changes to international tax rules since the 1920s.

"For a few years now, press campaigns have been raising awareness of the fact that laws can result in very low taxation of multinationals, particularly those involved in the digital economy.

"There is a strong push from some key ?G20' countries to address this issue quickly, which is new. Look at the debate in New Zealand which has been very supportive and enthusiastic in supporting our work."

The OECD's governing body on tax is due to meet on January 21 to consider a draft report on Beps that would then be submitted to the next meeting of the G20 in Moscow on February 15, he said. Saint-Amans hoped that would lead on to a "comprehensive action plan" in June or July.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt inflamed public opinion in Britain in December when he defended rorts such as the "double Irish" and "Dutch sandwich" accounting schemes that news agency Bloomberg said had resulted in the company paying just 2.5 per cent tax on its profits outside the US in 2010 and avoiding US$2 billion (NZ$2.3b) in taxes last year. Schmidt said Google was very proud of its tax arrangements and "proudly capitalistic".

A Google spokesman said it made a broad contribution in New Zealand for example by helping thousands of local businesses grow online and making charitable donations of its products, and it complied with the law.

Saint-Amans said multinationals were generally acting legally but some had been too "aggressive" and he encouraged them to follow the spirit as well as the letter of tax laws.

"My response to [Schmidt's comments] is to conduct properly the work on Beps," he said.

Businesses represented on the OECD's Business and Industry Advisory Committee had been supportive of Beps, he said. "We have worked with businesses to eliminate double taxation and we want them to support us in our work to eliminate double non-taxation."

Saint-Amans warned of dire consequences if the effort lapsed. "If we do nothing we will put corporate income tax in jeopardy. The other risk which is even bigger I think is that China, India, South Africa and some others will put in place some very harsh withholding taxes to protect themselves. Then you would have the mess of double-taxation or triple-taxation which will not be good for business or governments. If we want to use the political momentum, we need to go fast."

The contribution of corporate income tax to GDP had not yet collapsed, he said. But the declining contribution of multinationals had been disguised by a shift from personal to corporate tax as small businesses chose to become incorporated to take advantage of a global trend toward lower corporate tax rates.

Although Irish and Dutch laws have been blamed for some of the rorts, Saint-Amans said both countries had expressed support for Beps.

"It is not about bashing businesses who use what is available to them, or the fault of any country.

"More importantly, the way to address the problem is to make the use of such instruments impossible. We need an overall, comprehensive, global answer and to do that we need to go back to basics."

Saint-Amans said there was no magic bullet but designing general anti-avoidance rules and better rules surrounding controlled foreign companies (CFCs) was "definitely part of the project".

Inland Revenue said in its briefing to Dunne that while many technology multinationals did not have a significant presence in New Zealand so might pay little tax here regardless, tightening up international tax rules would reduce their incentive to conduct their business here from overseas.

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Comments

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8173134/Doors-closing-for-tax-dodge-schemes

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Amateur Radio Community Honors Special Member

The local amateur radio community cames together to honor a special member.

The Western Reserve Amateur Radio Club hosted its annual post-holiday dinner meeting in Canfield Sunday.

The meeting had another purpose, to present Mike Austin of Warren with long range ham equipment that speaks.

Austin?is visually impaired and just passed his test to be a general class operator.

Unfortunately,?he was sick but the club had nothing but good things to say about his contributions.

"He's a very very key radio operator here in the Valley because he's, for someone whose visually impaired, he's the Network Control Operator, he is there and he's available and this piece of equipment that we want to present him with today would extend his reach beyond just the Valley," said Vice President of the Western Reserve Amateur Radio Club, Robert Webster.

The club spent about a year raising the money to buy the equipment.

Source: http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Amateur-Radio-Community-Honors-Special-Member/PIZ4IHe4K02eZOwOnW5N_g.cspx?rss=3107

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[iPad] iPad Facetime: International Use?

I dont know about adjusting time - but I recently used FT over wifi on my iPhone in Europe.

My sister-in-law frequently FT's us/sister from Europe.

__________________
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Source: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1524558&goto=newpost

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Peyton's OT pick hurts

By PAT GRAHAM

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 2:50 a.m. ET Jan. 13, 2013

DENVER (AP) - Usually more comfortable in the pocket, Peyton Manning scrambled to his right to avoid pressure.

And usually so accurate, the Denver Broncos quarterback threw a pass across his body - an ill-advised toss he's gotten away with a few times over his career.

This time, he wouldn't.

Late in the first overtime, Manning tried to thread the ball to Brandon Stokley, only to have the pass intercepted by Corey Graham. A few plays after switching sides to start the second extra period, Justin Tucker hit a 47-yard field goal to help the Baltimore Ravens rally for a 38-35 win in an AFC divisional game on a bitterly cold Saturday.

Like that, Manning was once again left out in the cold. He's now 0-4 in playoff games in which the temperature at kickoff is less than 40 degrees.

Manning even wore gloves on each hand to fight off the frigid conditions as temperatures that started out at 13 degrees dipped into single-digits. He heated up, too, only to cool off at the end.

"I wouldn't say I'm shocked," he said. "That's not the right word. I'm disappointed."

This loss may even sting a little more than any other for Manning. The Broncos were winning late in the game when Joe Flacco hit Jacoby Jones for a 70-yard TD with just 31 seconds left in regulation.

Soon after, the Ravens snapped the Broncos' 11-game winning streak and ended Manning's impressive comeback from four neck operations that kept him out all of last season.

"I accomplished a lot more this year than I thought I would have and I think the team exceeded expectations as well," Manning said.

To add insult, it was here, in this stadium, where Manning's predecessor, Tim Tebow, connected with Demaryius Thomas for a game-winning TD in overtime against Pittsburgh in the playoffs last season.

"I don't feel sorry for us," Broncos defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson said. "We just didn't make the plays we've been making all year. We've just got to get the job done."

After Tucker's kick, Manning began a slow walk to the other side of the field, where he worked his way into a circle of reporters that surrounded Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis. Once inside, he gave Lewis a quick hug before trudging off the field.

Lewis will play another week, his retirement party on hold.

Manning, well, his season is done. He made a costly throw at a costly time. Just like former Minnesota QB Brett Favre, who threw a bad pass in the NFC championship game against New Orleans three years ago that was intercepted and ultimately resulted in a loss.

"He (Manning) is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and for us to come in here and confuse him the way we did, and make the plays we did?" Lewis said. "We gave up two big special teams touchdowns, but the bottom line is, but we kept fighting."

The speedy Trindon Holliday had a big afternoon as he became the first player in the postseason to return both a kick and a punt for a touchdown.

And, still, it wasn't enough.

Manning finished 28 of 43 for 290 yards and three scores. But more memorable than those touchdowns will be his fumble and two picks.

Fumbles happen, especially when being sacked and trying to tuck the football back against his body. The play was reviewed and the ruling of fumble upheld. Not that Manning expected anything different.

"Probably a fumble," Manning said. "I tried to kind of double-clutch and I lost the fumble. ... It was certainly a possession I'd like to have back."

A familiar theme for Manning on this day.

And that first interception? That happens, too - it was tipped and Graham returned it for a 39-yard score.

The other interception, though, that's a throw he's made a handful of times over his 15-year career, especially with good friend Stokley the one running the route.

"Bad throw," explained Manning, who's thrown 32 postseason TD passes, which is tied for fourth all-time with Dan Marino. "Probably the decision (wasn't) great, either. I thought I had an opening and I didn't get enough on it. I was trying to make a play and it's certainly a throw I'd like to have back."

After all, one of Manning's most memorable completions in this comeback season was a TD toss at Carolina in November, where he rolled to his right, stopped and twisted, then threw across the field to Stokley.

NFL Films had Manning hooked up for sound that day. Coming off the field, he called that throw an example of "Rule No. 1 that you never do." But, Manning told Stokley, sometimes you throw caution to the wind.

This time, it didn't work out.

Now, Manning has an entire offseason to think about breaking "Rule No. 1."

"It's a grind," Manning said. "It does require a lot of work and a lot of energy. That's why it's disappointing, because of how much hard work and effort and time and extra meetings and extra workouts we put in to get to this point. That's part of it.

"You want it to go perfect and to win and keep going, but it's not the way it always works."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Falcons finally over the hump

Matt Bryant's 49-yard field goal with 8 seconds left gave the Atlanta Falcons a 30-28 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Atlanta will play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game next Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50445427/ns/sports-nfl/

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To fully eradicate polio, India must go beyond its own borders | Siddharth Chatterjee

A child is administered polio drops by health workers at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. India has now been free of the disease for two years. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP

On Sunday, India marks two years since a child was crippled by polio. This is a remarkable public health victory for a country long considered the most difficult place to end polio. Thanks to India's success, we are now closer than ever to eliminating polio, with only 222 cases worldwide last year.

India's polio-free status came against all odds: an enormous population, widespread poverty, poor health and physical infrastructure, and pockets of insecurity. I contracted polio as a toddler. I was one of the lucky ones and recovered completely, but thousands of other children have grown up damaged by polio.

At this important two-year milestone, the stakes are higher than ever for India, which will not be certified as eradicating polio unless it remains without a case for another year.

It is vital that India remains vigilant and continues its effort to prevent polio from returning. The threat to the country is real, especially given its proximity to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where active polio transmission remains. Since 2000, 44 countries that had been polio-free have suffered outbreaks.

I saw this firsthand in 2005 when I was working with Unicef, the UN children's fund, in Somalia. After two years without a case, polio returned, paralysing 228 children. It took another two years of intensive, wide-scale response activities and massive funding for Somalia to be polio-free again.

I am heartened to see India taking this threat seriously and accelerating (pdf) efforts to ensure children under the age of five remain protected. India is continuing its polio vaccination campaigns and surveillance efforts, with more than 98% of children vaccinated in the highest risk states last year. These efforts will continue this year with the mobilisation of 2.3 million vaccinators in two nationwide campaigns, which will each immunise nearly 172 million children.

India is also focused on protecting the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach children, deploying 450 mobile teams to immunise children from migrant populations by reaching them at train stations and during major festivals, such as Diwali. The programme is providing these children with access to other vaccines and life-saving interventions, often for the first time. India has set up immunisation booths along the borders with Pakistan and Nepal, and annual immunisations of all Hajj pilgrims.

But to sustain eradication, India's work must go beyond its own borders. Because it has a vested interest in ensuring that polio is eliminated everywhere, the programme in India is sharing lessons learned with the remaining polio-endemic countries by providing technical and strategic support. Last year, the Indian government and polio partners hosted delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan to share best practices, and India sent several missions of surveillance medical officers to Nigeria.

The government has shown incredible commitment to end polio, including $2bn in financing. The eradication programme engaged whole communities, forming important partnerships ? with the World Health Organisation, Unicef, the Indian Red Cross and non-governmental organisations ? and accessing children even in areas of insecurity, such as several states with violent Maoist insurgencies.

India must now ensure that government commitment, local leadership, accountability, programme management and community engagement continues.

But the threat of reinfection remains. India's fight won't be over until global eradication is achieved. A polio case anywhere threatens children everywhere, so the international community must play its role and ensure the global programme is fully funded and implemented. Global funding shortfalls have already led to cancelled and scaled-back vaccination campaigns, heightening the risk of outbreaks.

India's success has pushed us to the verge of eradication and shows that it is possible. We must all seize this time-limited opportunity to end polio forever.

? These are personal views of Siddharth Chatterjee, who works at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He has been involved in polio eradication campaigns in South Sudan, Darfur and Somalia. Follow him on Twitter: @sidchat1

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/jan/13/eradicate-polio-india-borders

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Could janitors be one school's line of defense?

Montpelier, Ohio police chief Jeff Lehman about guns in Montpelier schools, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 in Montpelier, Ohio. The school in the state's northwest corner says four of its employees will begin carrying handguns later this year after completing a training course. (AP Photo/The Blade, Lori King) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; SENTINEL-TRIBUNE OUT; MONROE EVENING NEWS OUT; TOLEDO FREE PRESS OUT

Montpelier, Ohio police chief Jeff Lehman about guns in Montpelier schools, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 in Montpelier, Ohio. The school in the state's northwest corner says four of its employees will begin carrying handguns later this year after completing a training course. (AP Photo/The Blade, Lori King) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; SENTINEL-TRIBUNE OUT; MONROE EVENING NEWS OUT; TOLEDO FREE PRESS OUT

Officials at Montpelier Exempted Village School in Montpelier, Ohio, have approved armed janitors to provide safety for students, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 in Montpelier, Ohio.(AP Photo/The Blade, Lori King) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; SENTINEL-TRIBUNE OUT; MONROE EVENING NEWS OUT; TOLEDO FREE PRESS OUT

Montpelier Exempted Village School District superintendent Dr. Jamison Grime talks about guns in Montpelier schools, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 in Montpelier, Ohio. The school in the state's northwest corner says four of its employees will begin carrying handguns later this year after completing a training course. (AP Photo/The Blade, Lori King) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; SENTINEL-TRIBUNE OUT; MONROE EVENING NEWS OUT; TOLEDO FREE PRESS OUT

Montpelier Exempted Village School District parent Teresa Hickman talks about guns in Montpelier schools, Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 in Montpelier, Ohio. The school in the state's northwest corner says four of its employees will begin carrying handguns later this year after completing a training course. (AP Photo/The Blade, Lori King) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; TV OUT; SENTINEL-TRIBUNE OUT; MONROE EVENING NEWS OUT; TOLEDO FREE PRESS OUT

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) ? A rural school district in Ohio is drawing attention with its plans to arm a handful of its non-teaching employees with handguns this year ? perhaps even janitors.

Four employees in the Montpelier schools have agreed to take a weapons training course and carry their own guns inside the district's one building, which houses 1,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, school officials said.

"It's kind of a sign of the times," Superintendent Jamie Grime said Friday.

The Toledo Blade reported that the employees were janitors, but school officials would not confirm that to The Associated Press, saying only that they are employees who don't have direct supervision over the students in the northwest Ohio district.

The four employees who will carry guns all volunteered to take part, Grime said. The school plans to pay for them to attend a two-day training course.

"Putting a firearm in a school is a huge step," Grime said. "We're going to do it properly. These people need the proper training."

The move comes as districts and lawmakers across the nation weigh how to protect students following the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and after the National Rifle Association called for an armed officer in every U.S. school. The gunman in Newtown used a rifle to kill 20 students and six educators.

Lawmakers in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri and South Dakota are looking into legislation that would allow teachers and other school employees to have guns.

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst called Friday for state-funded, specialized firearms training for teachers and administrators. School districts would decide who would carry weapons but not be required to participate, and training would include how to react during a shooting.

In Arizona's Maricopa County, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has said he plans to post armed volunteers on school perimeters.

Residents in a Dayton, Ohio, suburb crowded into a school meeting this week to talk about whether staff members and teachers should be armed. Reaction was mixed, according to The Dayton Daily News.

"We need more good guys with guns. That's the sad reality of the situation," said Jim Rigano, a Springboro school board member.

Other states are trying clamp down on gun sales and bans on assault rifles.

In Montpelier, school officials began reviewing security plans after Newtown and decided teachers should not be armed because their first priority in an emergency should be locking doors and protecting students, Grime said. The school already has security cameras and locked doors, and requires visitors to be buzzed into the front entrance.

The proposal was not announced until just before the board voted unanimously Wednesday to arm a select group of employees after consulting with the local police chief and attorneys who reviewed Ohio's concealed carry law. The law prohibits guns in schools except in a few cases, and allows education boards to authorize someone to carry a gun inside schools.

No members of the public spoke out on the measure at the meeting, board President Larry Martin told the Blade. Grime said three people attended.

A letter was sent out to parents after the vote. Only three complained, while close to 150 called or sent emails supporting the idea in Montpelier, a remote city of about 4,000 residents along Interstate 80 near the convergence of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

"It's a place where people hold the Second Amendment close to their hearts," the superintendent said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-11-School%20Employees-Guns/id-442de729053e4733be5d5c508b6bc312

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The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology | Psych ...

What?s the difference between personality psychology and social psychology? In essence, personality psychology focuses on the person, while social psychology focuses on the situation?how people act in different situations, or how situations affect individuals. In exploring how and why the two fields might be integrated, The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology?recounts the history of each subfield, discusses different approaches each takes to research topics, and analyzes the benefits that might come from integrating them.

This is a long reference book, and one not intended for the layperson. However, it turns out that it works quite well as a foundational text for those of us who are not research psychologists but readers simply wishing to learn about psychology.?Each chapter follows a general pattern of explaining the foundational theories in each field, discussing ways these theories can be integrated, or providing new theories or frameworks for integration.

Take the book?s coverage of the Big Five Theory. The ?Big Five? is a personality theory that provides a way to categorize all personality traits into five areas: extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, agreeableness, and emotional stability. When researchers used it to analyze what makes leaders effective, however, the results were mixed. In the chapter on leadership, Daan van Knippenberg states that ?the relationship between personality and leadership effectiveness is modest at best.? Instead, he proposes that social psychology models work better than the Big Five Theory because they analyze leaders ?by taking a person-in-situation approach to leadership effectiveness.? Thus, although personality traits such as extraversion may affect one?s ability to lead, he says, we can gain a more complete perspective by analyzing leadership performance in the context of a given situation.

In a book that covers topics as disparate as motivation, prejudice, friendship, leadership, relationships, helping behavior, and antisocial behavior?each topic explored from the two perspectives of personality psychology and social psychology?a lay reader is likely to find several topics of interest. For example, in a chapter on multiculturalism, Veronica Benet-Martinez describes how the study of multiculturalism can be beneficial to both personality and social psychologists. I found her definition of multiculturalism interesting because it is so inclusive: ?those who are mixed-race and mixed-ethnic, those who have lived in more than one country?those reared with at least one other culture in addition to the dominant mainstream culture, and those in intercultural relationships.? There is no commonly agreed-upon definition of the term, she tells us.

Much of what psychologists have learned in the last few years has been based on new measuring techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). In a chapter called ?Neuroscience Approaches in Social and Personality Psychology,? David M. Amodio and Eddie Harmon-Jones discuss how these relatively new techniques measure brain activity, and describe several theories that have been proposed based on these methods. One theory, that of the mirror neuron system, posits ?a brain network devoted to understanding other people through their actions.? Amodio and Harmon-Jones state that the term mirror neurons refers??loosely to areas of the brain that are activated both when an individual observes the behavior of another person, and when one performs the same behavior??i.e., when one mimics another?s actions.

Out of curiosity, I tried a search of PubMed for mirror neuron, and it brought up more than a thousand articles. I found it interesting to consider how much attention mirror neuron research has attracted, considering what Amodio and Harmon-Jones?say about the theory. They analyze it as having ?intuitive appeal? but state that studies question the validity of the idea, concluding that ?more research will be needed? since ?so many social interactions often require complementary responses?rather than mimicry.? Newer theories, they tell us,?such as mirror-touch synesthesia (a phenomenon thought to be caused by mirror neurons), have been based on what may still be an unproven system.

In the final chapter of this 880-page book, you discover that the editors, Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder, never thought you?d make it. ?Few if any of you who are reading this closing statement will have taken the full journey through the volume that we as editors have taken,??they write. ?Much more likely you have selectively dipped into the volume, visiting topics with which you have considerable familiarity to see how a combined personality and social perspective is represented and perhaps also sampling some less familiar areas that pique your curiosity and invite you to become acquainted with new perspectives.?

As one who read the entire book, I will say that whether or not the authors met their intended goal of providing frameworks to help the two fields work together (and surely scientists will find utility in the proposed modes for integrating the two), their work has value as a summation of research from both areas.

The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology
Oxford University Press, February, 2012
Hardcover, 880 pages
$195

Psych Central's Recommendation: Worth Your Time! +++

Your Recommendation (if you've read this book):

Want to buy the book or learn more?

Check out the book on Amazon.com!

APA Reference
Crook, J. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 13, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2013/the-oxford-handbook-of-personality-and-social-psychology/

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 10 Jan 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

?

Source: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2013/the-oxford-handbook-of-personality-and-social-psychology/

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DWP will allow customers to sell back excess solar energy

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers for the first time will be able to sell back excess solar energy created on rooftops and parking lots under a new program approved Friday by the city utility's board of commissioners.

Described as the largest urban rooftop solar program of its kind in the nation, the so-called feed-in-tariff program would pay customers 17 cents per kilowatt hour for energy produced on their own equipment. The DWP has already accepted more than a dozen applicants and will be taking dozens more as it accepts contracts for up to 100 megawatts of solar power through 2016.

Environmentalists, business supporters and solar vendors were thrilled by the vote. Feed-in-tariff programs help generate jobs and economic activity while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

"Today's vote is a major step forward for the economic and environmental sustainability of Los Angeles," said Mary Leslie, President of the Los Angeles Business Council, a group advocating the Clean LA Solar program since 2009.

Fred Pickel, the city's ratepayer advocate, told commissioners that 17 cents per kilowatt hour was above market rates and could force significant rate increases on DWP customers. Higher DWP bills could drive jobs away, Pickel told the board.

But the board unanimously decided to move ahead, and to reassess the program at regular intervals.

In March, the commission will decide whether to add an additional 50 megawatts of energy to the buyback program. The full 150-megawatt program would create enough solar energy to power 34,000 Los Angeles homes, advocates say.

Once qualified, DWP customers with large multi-family dwellings, warehouses, school facilities and parking lots can sell solar energy at 17 cents per kilowatt hour. The DWP is offering a tiered-pricing schedule that drops to 13 cents per kilowatt hour as energy contracts are reserved, DWP officials said.

Single-family homes generally don't produce enough energy to qualify.

Some of the contracts will be set aside for smaller solar producers to give them a better shot at winning slots, officials said. Customers participating in other solar-incentive initiatives, such as net-metering, do not qualify for the buyback contracts, DWP officials said.

Environmental groups have long pushed for a feed-in-tariff, arguing that it would spur more commercial property owners to go solar. Sacramento and San Diego have their own versions, and Florida is experimenting with buybacks.

Evan Gillespie, campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign, said the vote will allow the DWP to curtail its dependence on out-of-state energy generators. In addition, it promises 4,500 jobs and $500,000 in new economic activity for the city, he said.

"In the 21st century, it is simply unacceptable for 40% of L.A.'s energy to come from aging out-of-state polluting coal-fired power plants,'' Gillespie said.

Following the vote, Toronto-based Solar Provider Group announced that it would expand its operations in Los Angeles by opening an office and hiring 30 people. The company plans to invest up to $50 million by the end of 2016, said president Christian Wentzel.

"This program provides us with the stability we need to enter the U.S. solar market,'' he said.

DWP staffers recommended a 17-cents-per-kilowatt-hour rate as a starting point to reflect the relatively higher cost of buying solar energy compared to other commodities. The cost of getting the program up and running will raise the average residential monthly electric bill by about 4 cents, according to a staff report.

The DWP will hire an administrator and about 30 other people to operate the program, but most of those costs will be reimbursed by program participants, the report said.

Expanding local solar power is a key strategy for the DWP to meet the state-mandated renewable energy level of 33% by 2020.

catherine.saillant@latimes.com

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-solar-rooftop-20130112,0,6087800.story?track=rss

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'Girls' Season Two Preview: What's Next For Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna And Jessa?

HBO stars reveal the challenges their characters will face.
By Amy Wilkinson

Lena Dunham in "Girls"
Photo: HBO

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700067/girls-season-two-preview.jhtml

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Ireland's Commercial Real Estate Recovery

Analysts at property firm CBRE believe Ireland?s commercial property market is swinging into a period of recovery based on performance trends measured during 2012. Although capital value dropped and land value plummeted as much as 90%, experts think the gouging has positioned the market for a comeback, particularly for prime properties. Stabilization of prime yields and improved transaction volume are two factors that suggest 2013 may be the best of a long string of bad years for the Emerald Isle. Overseas investors are expected to drive the recovery to a significant degree, although it?s not expected that the secondary market will benefit. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire.

Last year marked a turning point for the Irish commercial property market following an unprecedented period of decline since 2007 and the outlook for 2013 is busy, according to the latest analysis from property firm CBRE.

In 2102 yields effectively doubled, rents halved, capital values declined by an average of more than 65% and land values declined by as much as 90%, it says in its latest report.

But according to Marie Hunt, executive director CBRE Ireland, the sector is moving into a recovery phase. She pointed out that the prospects for prime property are considerably better than secondary which will inevitably take longer to unwind.

The report shows that despite a challenging economic backdrop, leasing activity in all sectors of the occupier markets held up remarkably well in 2012. Buoyed by measures introduced in the 2012 Budget as well as improving economic indicators, investors started to focus their attention on opportunities in the Irish market and there was a notable year on year increase in the volume of transactions in the investment, hotels and development land sectors in particular.

'In addition to asset sales, we also witnessed the sale of a number of performing and non-performing loan portfolios during 2012. The pace of rental value decline eased as the year progressed and prime rents in all sectors started to show clear signs of stabilisation,' said Hunt.

'Equally, prime yields stabilised and showed signs of hardening towards year end. Banks became more focussed on the assets behind each loan with increased focus on asset management as a tool to minimise losses,' she added.

She pointed out that the most notable trend witnessed in 2012 was the extent to which international investors focussed their attention on the Irish economy and sought real estate opportunities with the greatest proportion of transactions concluded during the last 12 months being international in nature.
?
'Looking ahead it is predicted that the Irish commercial property sector will be largely dependent on economic activity. For Ireland, the market performance will be influenced not just by domestic economic activity but equally economic performance in the UK, the Eurozone and in the US,' said Hunt.

'In any event, we believe that the Irish commercial property market will be largely polarised in 2013, with the prime end of the market clearly entering a recovery phase, supported by continued appetite from overseas investors, many of whom have the ability to bring new forms and sources of funding with them, which will be a welcome boost for liquidity,' she explained.

'On the other hand however, some further slippage in rental and capital values cannot be ruled out for secondary and provincial properties for which demand is weaker and largely limited to domestic cash buyers. There is no visibility on the depth of cash that these buyers have at their disposal which is a concern,' she added.

The firm expects that properties will continue to come to the market on a relatively controlled basis over the course of 2013 with the deleveraging process continuing but at a continued slow pace.?

Hunts said that there is some potential for some limited rental growth to emerge at the prime end of the office and retail sectors in 2013 in some specific locations. The one area where costs have not rebased is commercial rates and this is likely to be the focus of more attention than rental costs during 2013.
?
'We expect to see continued activity in all sectors of the occupier markets. We also expect to see more corporate occupiers weighing up the merits of purchasing buildings as opposed to leasing them, particularly in cases where the price is lower than the replacement cost of the building,' she said.

'We expect to see an escalation in the number of refurbishment projects this year. However, we do not expect to see any speculative office development commencing in 2013 on the basis that rental and capital values are not yet at a level which would render development viable. We are getting closer to this position in prime locations in Dublin 2/4 but speculative
development is not on the horizon for secondary and provincial office locations at this point,' she pointed out.

We could however see some international buyers emerging for strategic sites in Dublin that offer the potential for office and/or residential development in the medium term. We expect to see more hotels assets being brought to the market and a notable increase in the volume of pub properties being offered for sale over the course of 2013 with the buyers for these properties being predominantly local.

This article was republished with permission from Property Wire.

Source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/irelands-commercial-real-estate-recovery-60325.aspx

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U.S. Border Patrol beefs up California coast enforcement

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Border Patrol has assigned more agents to the Southern California coast following an increase in attempts to smuggle people and drugs into the United States by water, a Border Patrol official said.

The agency's San Diego Sector, which employs some 2,600 agents to police 60 miles of land border and 114 miles of coast, has seen maritime apprehensions triple in the past five years while arrests on land have dropped to less than a sixth of 2008 levels.

"We have increased staffing along the coast and we are working with Customs and Border Protection to beef up our assets along the coast," San Diego Sector Chief Paul Beeson told Reuters in an interview. "We see the threat there increasing and we are significantly increasing our presence."

In the past two years, agents have apprehended some 1,300 people, seized more than 200 vessels and recovered more than 135,000 pounds (61,235 kg) of drugs along the coast between the Mexican border and Rancho Palos Verdes, Border Patrol spokesman Steven Pitts said.

In 2008, by comparison, there were 230 apprehensions, 33 vessels seized and no drugs recovered, Pitts said.

Crossings by water, which usually involves heading miles out to sea, running parallel to the coast and then coming back to shore, are dangerous. Since 2010, five illegal border crossers have died at sea, Border Patrol spokesman Steven Pitts said.

"The transnational smuggling organizations do not care about the human lives they put in danger," Pitts said. "We often find no safety equipment on the boats, or safety equipment that doesn't work properly."

In 2008, the San Diego sector recorded about 162,000 arrests on land, while the first 10 months of fiscal year 2012 yielded about 26,000 such arrests, Pitts said.

Authorities say the decline in arrests on land have been a result of "hardening the border" - adding miles of intensified border fences, as well as cameras and sensors - as well as a big increase in patrolling.

The Pew Hispanic Center released a study in April that cited the hardening of the border and the decimation of the job market - the main attraction for many illegal border crossers - as the main causes for the steep decline in illegal immigration.

Meanwhile, smugglers have taken to the sea, often in wide, open power boats called pangas carrying people or marijuana.

Last month a panga launched in Mexico and loaded with pot rammed a U.S. Coast Guard boarding party near Santa Cruz Island, killing one Guardsman and injuring another.

Pangas aren't the only vessels being used - Border Patrol agents routinely pick up single passengers dropped off by personal watercraft along the California coast near the border, officials said. They have also captured several dive scooters, or motorized propellers divers hold like a kickboard in the water.

(This story corrects description of items seized in final paragraph to dive scooters, not mini-submarines in January 9 story)

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-border-patrol-beefs-california-coast-enforcement-012609089.html

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Wal-Mart will meet with Biden gun task force on Thursday

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Wednesday it would send a representative to Washington to meet with Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday to share the company's position on the responsible sale of firearms.

At first, Wal-Mart was not going to send anyone to Biden's meeting, saying its senior leaders could not be in Washington this week and that it spoke in advance with Biden's office to share its perspective, spokesman David Tovar said.

"We underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate," Tovar added.

After December's Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting, which President Barack Obama called the worst day of his presidency, he asked Biden to come up with a broad range of ideas to curb the nation's gun violence. Others set to meet with Biden this week include the National Rifle Association.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and largest U.S. gun seller, said that it works to strike the right balance between serving hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that it sells firearms responsibly.

"We have had ongoing conversations with the (Obama) administration, Congress, (New York) Mayor Bloomberg's office, sportsmen groups, suppliers and others to listen and share our thoughts and experiences," Tovar said.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wal-mart-meet-biden-gun-task-force-thursday-160723094--sector.html

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Discussing business ethics | UKZAMBIANS

Posted on January 9, 2013 By Website Editor Business

THE?issues of business ethics are so fundamental and require some elucidation in the unchanging nature of business. The definitive concept I will follow on ethics is that of distinguishing good from bad universally-based on the nature of man momentarily aside from religious believes.

Already this broad understanding leads to subjectivity because what is good to one may not necessarily be good to the other. The act of deciding what is good or bad depends on a lot of factors centered on the belief system of someone. Sir Adrian Cadbury said ?The glue which holds a company together is its beliefs and values rather than its structures and systems.?

I am alive to the fact that this is a highly philosophical topic but without delving into that debate of different schools of thought I will focus on a few lessons I have learned hoping they can add some value on this broad and widely debated topic. In this article we will look at the general business ethics before narrowing down to the insurance context next week.

To streamline the understanding of the highly subjective ethics topic we need to understand the purpose of business as Dr Myles Munroe says ?where purpose is not known then abuse is inevitable?. Understanding the purpose of business will help us separate non-business values from those that can be universally applied to the business world regardless of its nature. In other words the starting point is to determine whether an issue affects business and if so then falls within the topic.

The definitive purpose of business according to Elaine Sternberg in her book entitled ?Just Business??is ?maximizing long term owner value through selling goods or services ethically??

Any other definition departs from the co-existence of a business. As long as this statement is met any decision that is made is a right decision provided it is made by the right people and for the right reasons at the right time.
In other words when required to make a decision one should ask him/herself ?does the decision maximize long term owner value and is it ethical?

The first part of the definitive purpose is easier to understand but it is the second part of ?ethically? that usually has a lot to explicate.

There are two fundamental principles that support ethics namely ?ordinary decency and distributive justice.?
These fundamental principles lead us to the rephrasing of the definitive purpose of business to ?maximizing long term owner value through selling of goods or services while upholding the principle of ordinary decency and distributive justice.?

Ordinary decency is about ?treating equals equally.? As Elaine Sternberg puts it; ?it is not the general ?niceness? but rather it consists of fairness and honesty and refraining from coercion and physical violence, typically within the confines of the law.?

This is the basic necessity of a business and other factors such as courage, responsibility and integrity refer to the way in which more fundamental values are pursued. Sir John Harvey-Jones said ?Business is based on trust and trust is based, in turn, on clarity and understanding.?

Therefore when faced with a situation to make a decision the second thing after considering whether the decision will affect long term owner value is to weigh it against the principle of ordinary decency.

One must ask him/herself whether the decision to be made is fair, or is it an honest one or does it involve any coercion or physical violence, or is it illegal? The positive answers to these questions should enable that person proceed with the decision at hand.

The principle of distributive justice asserts that organizational rewards should be proportional to the contributions made to the organisational ends by employees. Those who contribute more should receive more.
Let me ask a question; ?should a junior employee be paid more than his boss in an organisation?? This question raises an ethical issue and according to the forgoing principles the question should be answered based on the level of contribution of the two towards the organisational ends.

If the junior staff?s contribution is more, then it is ethical or rather right for him to earn more than his boss. Organisations with this approach are more objective rather those that reward employees based on seniority. Performance should rather take precedence than position or seniority.

This is why it is ethical to ?poach? someone who will contribute more to the organisation by offering them more pay than currently being offered to employees on the same position.

The same can be said about Executives earning much more money than their juniors; their contribution to the organisation is ideally much more than the rest.

Contribution should also take precedence to qualifications. The later should actually help someone improve their contribution. That why it is said that ?a director who cannot cope with confrontation, who is not prepared to ask hard questions and demand satisfactory answers, is as unqualified for the job as one who cannot understand a profit and
loss account..?

Times of Zambia

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Source: http://www.ukzambians.co.uk/home/2013/01/09/discussing-business-ethics/

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