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4 Your Money: Smart tips on charitable giving | KFOR.com ...

Posted on: 5:09 pm, November 29, 2012, by KFOR-TV, updated on: 04:35pm, November 29, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY ? This is the season of good will to all, a time when people take time to think of others. In addition to giving gifts and planning holiday get-togethers, many people are also dipping into their pockets to make donations to worthy charities. While that?s a good impulse, it?s important to do your charitable giving wisely. The Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants (OSCPA) provides this advice on ways to make your money the most productive.?

Know your goals. When confronted with an urgent call for help from a charitable organization, think first about what other causes are important to you. In fact, before you begin receiving end-of-year appeals, it may be a good idea to decide exactly how much money you have to give to charity, then brainstorm ideas about the causes you care about most. You can?t say yes to every worthy effort, and creating this kind of charity budget will help you focus on the best choices for your donations.?

Be specific. Let?s say you?ve decided you?re interested in charities that help homeless dogs and cats. Before you make your donation, consider whether you have more specific goals in mind. Do you want to give your money to feed or provide medical care for animals in shelters in certain areas? Do you want to support spaying and neutering programs? Do you want your money to be used to support adoption efforts? Determine what your goals are and focus on organizations that have a history of achieving them.

Don?t give to an unknown cause.?Even if a group supports the right cause, there are a number of questions you should ask before you donate your hard-earned dollars to it: How much do I know about this group? Am I confident that it is a legitimate organization that will use my money to benefit the cause it?s espousing? Am I sure that the group will not sell my name and contact information to telemarketers? For more information, look over the organization?s financial statements and consider turning to sources such as Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), which provides free ratings on a wide variety of charities. Some donors are disappointed to find out how their money is used, with a large amount going to administrative and other expenses rather than to support the cause. Of course, all charitable organizations will have to cover administrative costs to keep operating and pay salaries that attract talented people who can help them achieve their missions. CharityWatch (www.charitywatch.org), which also rates charitable organization, recommends that 60 percent of a donation should go to program services, with the rest spent on fundraising and general administration. Keep in mind, though, that the numbers don?t always tell the full story. If you have a question about how a group spends its money or how well it meets its goals, don?t hesitate to contact them and ask for some perspective.

Understand what?s tax deductible.?Did you spend $200 to attend a charity dinner? If the value of the dinner you received was $75, then you can only deduct $125 for your donation. You must subtract the value of any benefit you receive from a donation before deducting it on your tax return. Remember, too, that no donation is deductible unless you itemize your deductions on your tax return and unless you give to a qualified organization in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service. IRS Publication 526 (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/index.html), Charitable Contributions, offers more details.?

Have more questions about the best ways to spend your money? Your local CPA can offer the advice you need. Turn to him or her for with all your financial questions. For more money tips, visit www.KnowWhatCounts.org, where you can sign up for a free e-newsletter, get a free CPA referral and more.?

Source: http://kfor.com/2012/11/29/4-your-money-smart-tips-on-charitable-giving/

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Games / Falling Gems 2.1.0 -iphone apps - apps.su

Current Version Info about iphone apps ipa?/? Games?/? Falling Gems
- Online scores with Facebook integration.
- Now its possible to reset your scores through the Options screen.
- Fixes for iOS 4.x.

One of the most addictive games ever created for the iPhone and iPod touch just got better with version 2.1! Now with online scores and Facebook integration!
Play in the challenge mode with combos, bonuses, shining stars, new gems to be unlocked and multiple levels of ever-increasing difficulty, or choose the Classic or Endless modes!
_________________________________ ______
Falling Gems is a real gem for the iPhone. -- appbite.com
You too would see yourself coming back again and again to better your score. It is that addictive and exciting. -- iPhoneFootprint.com
_________________________________ ______
Falling Gems is an insanely addictive game based on the classic match-three concept with the addition of innovative features, designed from the ground up for the iPhone and iPod touch!
The rules are simple: swap adjacent gems to make sets of three or more gems of the same color.
Straight line, L-shaped and other forms are all valid!
Gameplay is intuitive: just swipe your finger on the screen to swap gems.
And remember they fall with gravity! Just rotate your device to make gems fall in different directions.
Perfect for killing time at the airport, during boring classes or at the office!
Additional features:
? Game state is automatically saved when you receive a call or close the app.
? No boring stories to read, just pure gameplay!
? Color-blind mode.

iphone apps ipa created by , have iphone apps rating 6.18 / 21033. This App is available at the iphone apps Games.

Source: http://apps.su/program/3155/falling-gems.html

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Think Thin: Sharp?s New 4K 32-Inch Monitor Is 35 mm Thick

Think Thin: Sharp’s New 4K 32-Inch Monitor Is 35 mm Thick
Sharp announced a 32-inch 4K resolution professional monitor Wednesday. Besides being among the first 4K monitors to hit the market, the whisper-thin wonder has the thinnest frame of any monitor currently available.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Hhyj26Grse4/

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Research discovery could revolutionize semiconductor manufacture

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? A completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker, allowing for cheaper semiconductors. The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature.

Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.

Behind the discovery is Lars Samuelson, Professor of Semiconductor Physics at Lund University, Sweden, and head of the University's Nanometre Structure Consortium. He believes the technology will be ready for commercialisation in two to four years' time. A prototype for solar cells is expected to be completed in two years.

"When I first suggested the idea of getting rid of the substrate, people around me said 'you're out of your mind, Lars; that would never work'. When we tested the principle in one of our converted ovens at 400?C, the results were better than we could have dreamt of," he says.

"The basic idea was to let nanoparticles of gold serve as a substrate from which the semiconductors grow. This means that the accepted concepts really were turned upside down!"

Since then, the technology has been refined, patents have been obtained and further studies have been conducted. In the article in Nature, the researchers show how the growth can be controlled using temperature, time and the size of the gold nanoparticles.

Recently, they have also built a prototype machine with a specially built oven. Using a series of ovens, the researchers expect to be able to 'bake' the nanowires, as the structures are called, and thereby develop multiple variants, such as p-n diodes. A further advantage of the technology is avoiding the cost of expensive semiconductor wafers.

"In addition, the process is not only extremely quick, it is also continuous. Traditional manufacture of substrates is batch-based and is therefore much more time-consuming," adds Lars Samuelson.

At the moment, the researchers are working to develop a good method to capture the nanowires and make them self-assemble in an ordered manner on a specific surface. This could be glass, steel or another material suited to the purpose. The reason why no one has tested this method before, in the view of Professor Samuelson, is that today's method is so basic and obvious. Such things tend to be difficult to question.

However, the Lund researchers have a head start thanks to their parallel research based on an innovative method in the manufacture of nanowires on semiconductor wafers, known as epitaxy -- consequently, the researchers have chosen to call the new method aerotaxy. Instead of sculpting structures out of silicon or another semiconductor material, the structures are instead allowed to develop, atomic layer by atomic layer, through controlled self-organisation.

The structures are referred to as nanowires or nanorods. The breakthrough for these semiconductor structures came in 2002 and research on them is primarily carried out at Lund, Berkeley and Harvard universities.

The Lund researchers specialise in developing the physical and electrical properties of the wires, which helps create better and more energy-saving solar cells, LEDs, batteries and other electrical equipment that is now an integrated part of our lives.

Besides Lars Samuelson, the other authors of the article are: Magnus Heurlin, Martin Magnusson, David Lindgren, Martin Ek, Reine Wallenberg and Knut Deppert, all employed at Lund University, except for Martin Magnusson, who works at start-up company Sol Voltaics AB.

About semiconductors Semiconductors are materials that neither conduct electricity as well as metals, nor stop a current as effectively as insulators -- silicon and germanium are two examples. These properties may not sound attractive, but in actual fact they are excellent. The reason is that we can influence the conductive capacity of the materials, for example by introducing impurity atoms, known as doping. Materials with different types of doping can be combined to manufacture products such as transistors, solar cells or LEDs.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Lund University.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Magnus Heurlin, Martin H. Magnusson, David Lindgren, Martin Ek, L. Reine Wallenberg, Knut Deppert, Lars Samuelson. Continuous gas-phase synthesis of nanowires with tunable properties. Nature, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nature11652

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/_Sy3gopuJIw/121128143942.htm

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৭ নভেম্বর, ২০১২

In show of power, China lands first jet on aircraft carrier

On Sunday, China landed a jet on its aircraft carrier for the first time. The vessel only recently came into service, and is part of a initiative to boost military spending.

By Reuters / November 25, 2012

A carrier-borne J-15 fighter jet on China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. China has successfully landed a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, which entered service two months ago, the country's official news agency confirmed Sunday.

Zha Chunming/Xinhua/AP

Enlarge

China?has carried out its first successful landing of a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier, state media said on Sunday, a symbolically significant development as Asian neighbours fret about the world's most populous country's military ambitions.

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The home-built J-15 fighter jet took off from and landed on the Liaoning, a reconditioned Soviet-era vessel from?Ukraine?which only came into service in September this year.

China?ushered in a new generation of leaders this month at the 18th?Communist Party Congress?in?Beijing, with outgoing President?Hu Jintao?making a pointed reference to strengthening?China's naval forces, protecting maritime interests and the need to "win local war."

China?is embroiled in disputes with the?Philippines?and?Vietnam?over?South China?Sea islands believed to be surrounded by waters rich in natural gas. It has a similar dispute with?Japan?over islands in the?East China?Sea.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/u6_-KS1Swyc/In-show-of-power-China-lands-first-jet-on-aircraft-carrier

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Automatically Create Evernote Template Notebooks with AppleScript

Automatically Create Evernote Template Notebooks with AppleScriptIf you're an avid user of Evernote then chances are you use a system where your notes use a specific template. You could go about copy and pasting these to create a bunch of them, but Apple blog TUAW shows off how to use AppleScript to automatically create a notebook with formatting filled in for you.

Template notebooks are great if you do a lot of repetitive note taking like writing out phone calls, meeting notes, or even project to-do lists. With an AppleScript you can create templates for these notes with just a couple clicks so you don't have to fiddle about with formatting when you're using Evernote. You'll find the guide to do this for yourself with the recently released Evernote 5, as well as a sample AppleScript over on TUAW. If you need some help coming up with template ideas, a few GTD templates might be a good place to start.

Create Evernote 5 template notebooks with AppleScript | TUAW

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/k3uSxSrYO-s/automatically-create-evernote-template-notebooks-with-applescript

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Holiday shopping off to record start

NEW YORK (AP) ? If you make holiday shopping convenient, Americans will come in droves.

It's estimated that U.S. shoppers hit stores and websites at record numbers over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation on Sunday. They were attracted by retailers' efforts to make shopping easier, including opening stores on Thanksgiving evening, updating mobile shopping applications for smartphones and tablets, and expanding shipping and layaway options.

All told, a record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over the four-day weekend starting on Thanksgiving, up 9.2 percent of last year, according to a survey of 4,000 shoppers that was conducted by research firm BIGinsight for the trade group. Americans spent more too: The average holiday shopper spent $423 over the entire weekend, up from $398 last year. Total spending over the four-day weekend totaled $59.1 billion, up 12.8 percent from 2011.

Caitlyn Maguire, 21, was one of the shoppers that took advantage of all the new conveniences of shopping this year. Maguire, who lives in New York, began buying on Thanksgiving night at Target's East Harlem store. During the two-hour wait in line, she also bought items on her iPhone on Amazon.com. On Friday, she picked up a few toys at Toys R Us. And on Saturday she was out at the stores again.

"I'm basically done," said Maguire, who spent about $400 over the weekend.

The results for the weekend appear to show that retailers' efforts to make shopping effortless for U.S. consumers during the holiday shopping season worked. Retailers upped the ante in order to give Americans more reasons to shop. Stores feared that consumers might not spend because of the weak job market and worries that tax increases and budget cuts will take effect if Congress fails to reach a budget deal by January.

Retailers, which can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue in November and December, were hoping Thanksgiving openings and other incentives would help boost what's expected to be a difficult holiday shopping season. The National Retail Federation estimates that overall sales in November and December will rise 4.1 percent this year to $586.1 billion. That's more than a percentage point lower than the growth in each of the past two years, and the smallest increase since 2009, when sales were nearly flat.

Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, said retailers can be encouraged by the first weekend of the holiday shopping season.

"Retailers and consumers both won this weekend, especially on Thanksgiving," he said.

Here were the trends that emerged over the weekend:

? Online wave: According to comScore, which tracks online spending, online sales rose 26 percent to $1.04 billion on Black Friday compared with a year ago. On Thanksgiving, online sales rose 32 percent from last year to $633 million. And online sales on Black Friday were up 26 percent from the same day last year to $1.042 billion. It was the first time online sales on Black Friday surpassed $1 billion.

? Thanksgiving shopping: Many stores, including Toys R Us and Target, opened on Thanksgiving evening this year. No data is out yet about how much shoppers spent on that day, but it appears that consumers took advantage of the earlier start: According to the National Retail Federation's survey, the number of people who shopped on Thanksgiving rose 23.1 percent. That compares with a 3.1 percent increase for Black Friday.

Linda and James Michaels of Portland, Ore., were among those shopping on Thanksgiving. They hit up the big sales on the day and got everything they were hoping for that night.

They picked up remote control cars and some Mickey Mouse items on sale at Toys R Us. Then they went a few doors down to Target and scored the last Operation game on sale for $7. They were even able to pick up some pajamas and shoes along the way for the kids. In total they spent about $300.

"I felt lucky that I caught the deals and there was no craziness, no fighting," said Linda Michaels. "I was nervous."

ShopperTrak, which analyzes customer traffic at 40,000 U.S. stores, plans to release sales data for Thanksgiving later this week, but the firm is estimating that retailers generated $700 million in sales on the holiday.

? Black Friday flop: It appears that the Thanksgiving openings may have hurt sales on the day after.

Black Friday is still expected to be the biggest shopping day of the year, but sales on that day slipped to $11.2 billion, down 1.8 percent from last year, according to ShopperTrak. That's below ShopperTrak's estimate that Black Friday sales would rise 3.8 percent to $11.4 billion.

Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman at Taubman Centers, which operates 28 malls across the country, said that Thanksgiving openings hurt business. Based on a sampling of 10 malls, sales growth was unchanged up to mid-single digits on Friday, and unchanged up to low single digit on Saturday.

"It was a different feeling," she said. "It was a good Black Friday, but I don't think it was great."

The disappointing sales on Black Friday may have been the result of shoppers like Miguel Garcia, a 40-year-old office coordinator.

"I can't deal with all that craziness," said Garcia, who was at a Target in the Bronx borough of New York City on Saturday. "Compared to what I saw on TV yesterday, this is so much more comfortable and relaxed. I can actually think straight and compare prices."

___

AP writers Rodrigue Ngowi in Watertown, Mass., Juan Carolos Llorca in El Paso, Texas, and Candice Choi in New York contributed to this report

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/holiday-shopping-season-off-record-start-215624082--finance.html

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Leave a comment - Green Lake Loop

By Molly Cartwright, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, Molly@CooperJacobs.com, 206-841-6800, on November 25th, 2012

Green Lake Pathway of Lights Returns this Saturday, December 8 2012
Green Lake Community Center and Seattle Parks and Rec are continuing the tradition!? Join our Green Lake community this Saturday December 8th from 5:00 to 8:00pm for the Green Lake Pathway of Lights.? Rain or shine this event won?t disappoint!? Admission is free and you?re encouraged to bring a luminaria or candle.? Local musicians will perform at four sites around the lake:

  • The Green Lake Community Center on the east side
  • The Green Lake Small Craft Center (the Aqua Theater) on the south side
  • The Bathhouse Theater (Seattle Public Theatre) on the north side
  • The Arch on the east of side of the community center/pool.

Warm drinks and treats will be available at those locations, as will donation bins for nonperishable food items for Northwest Harvest.

* Musicians and volunteers wanted *

?Representing home buyers and sellers in Seattle?s most popular neighborhoods?

Source: http://www.greenlakeloop.com/2012/11/25/green-lake-pathway-of-lights/

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Syrian rebels report capture of air base near Damascus

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Sunday they had captured a helicopter base 15 km (10 miles) east of Damascus after an overnight battle, the second military facility on the outskirts of the capital to fall to President Bashar al-Assad's opponents this month.

An Internet video which activists said was filmed at the Marj al-Sultan base showed rebel fighters carrying AK-47 rifles touring the facility. An anti-aircraft gun could be seen positioned on top of an empty bunker and a rebel commander was shown next to a helicopter.

"With God's help, the Marj al-Sultan airbase in eastern Ghouta has been liberated," the commander said in the video. Eastern Ghouta, a mix of agricultural land and built-up urban areas, has been a rebel stronghold for months.

Activists said two helicopters were destroyed in the attack as well as a radar station, and that 15 personnel were taken prisoner.

With severe restrictions by Syrian authorities on non-state media, independent verification was not possible.

Footage from Saturday evening showed rebels firing rocket-propelled grenades at the base, and what appeared to be a helicopter engulfed in flames.

Last week rebels briefly captured an air defense base near the southern Damascus district of Hajar al-Aswad, seizing weapons and equipment before pulling out to avoid retaliation from Assad's air force.

(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-capture-air-east-damascus-102801375.html

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Vitamin B2 let your muscles stronger | Health and Fitness Tips ...

Exercise a strong muscle is every man?s dream.People all know, the body muscle rely on protein intake, but if only complement protein, no supplement vitamin B2, fill more protein is no good.

This is because in many vitamins, vitamin B2, is most likely to lack. It is involved in the synthesis of body protein metabolism, and maintain the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes, an important role in muscle development. Vitamin B2 is found primarily in animal organs, such as liver, kidney, heart, milk, eggs and red meat also contain vitamin B2. However, animal offal contained higher fat than not to excess consumption. You can also choose milk and eggs, the ordinary trainer every day to eat 4 to 5 eggs, milk, not more than 500 ml.

Green leafy vegetables, beans, wild vegetables and nuts food (such as walnuts, chestnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, seeds, etc.) also contains vitamin B2, these food for people who do not eat offal, is also a very good choice.

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Tags: muscles stronger, Vitamin B2 muscles stronger
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2012 and is filed under Health Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.hhtip.com/vitamin-b2-let-your-muscles-stronger/

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Online Marketing News: Create A Content Matrix, Pinterest Images ...

Infographic Content Marketing Media Matrix For Small Business

Content Marketing Media Matrix For Small Businesses

This new infographic from PRWeb provides a guide to finding what type of content is best for promoting your business depending on your audience as well as you?re services or products. ?Use this infographic to find out what will work best for your content marketing strategy.

DMA Finds Marketers Bullish on Growth of Digital and Direct Marketing
According to this recent article, 75% of marketers say that they?re bullish about growth prospects for digital and direct marketing. ?This is slightly up from a previous survey taken 2nd quarter, in which 72% said that they were bullish about growth prospects. ?Via BtoB.

5 Tips for Creating Pinterest Images That People Love to Share
Good images on social sites like Pinterest can increase your traffic, get you a higher number of pins and repins, and ultimately improve your presence on Pinterest. ?This article shares 5 tips for creating Pinterest-friendly images. ?Via Social Media Examiner.

Yahoo?s Ad Sell-Through Rate on Its Log-in Page Has Plummeted
A recent report shows that Yahoo?s log-in page ? where users sign into their Yahoo services and email ? only had an ad present for 47% of the days in the first half of fourth quarter. ?Via Adage.

Longer Online Videos Beg for New Ad Strategy
Online audiences are not only consuming more and more videos, they?re staying glued to the screen for much longer. ?This presents a new opportunity for advertisers and marketers to rethink their ad strategies. ?Via ClickZ.

TopRank Team News

Jolina Pettice ? Reality Check: Is Small Business Saturday Actually Working?
As we head into the shopping season, we have been discussing with many of our small business clients how to take advantage of Small Business Saturday.?From campaigns to email marketing to content; are you counting on Small Business Saturday to drive sales and acquire new customers??Check out this post from Inc. about the inception of this movement and whether it?s proving effective for the small business owner.?Via Inc.

Rob Bayne -?Majestic SEO New Feature: Bucket Lists!? Don?t Just See Links, Manage Them
If you are doing Penguin analysis, link building, or competitor research, a new feature of MajesticSEO you will probably want to become familiar with is the bucket list.? Similar to making something a favorite or bookmarking, adding a link to your bucket allows you to not only keep track of that link, but also to run bulk reports and comparisons on everything in your bucket. ?Via Majestic SEO.

Brian Larson ? Are You Paying Too Much for Your PPC Keywords?
Bid management tools can be critical to keeping SEM costs in check by effectively managing keyword bids. But alas, not all tools are created equal. Search Engine Land analyzes Forrester?s research on the best PPC bid management providers in this post from Chris Sherman. Is your provider on the list? ?Via Search Engine Land.

Sam Giehll ? Marketing and Thanksgiving: A Tempest of Myths and Facts
When it comes to your metrics and marketing efforts, there is a fine line between fact and myth. This post addresses facts ? like the existence of social media ROI ? and wraps them up in a metaphorical Thanksgiving themed bow. An excellent read for the holiday, or any day. ?Via Adobe.

Evan Prokop ? Mobile Proves to Be Incredibly Profitable for Auto Dealers
Summary: A recent study showed that an astonishing 40% of people searching for cars on mobile end up buying a car the same day and 36 percent within the hour.? Interestingly, only 1% of mobile users reported using an auto industry app. ?Via Search Engine Watch.

Time to Weigh In:?What types of images have you found appeal most to your Pinterest audience, Facebook Fans, and Twitter Followers? ?How do you think Yahoo?s low ad sales will affect the number of people using their service? ?Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!


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? Online Marketing Blog, 2012. | Online Marketing News: Create A Content Matrix, Pinterest Images Tips, Video Ad Strategy, Yahoo Ads Plummet | http://www.toprankblog.com

Source: http://internetwebsitedesign.biz/online-marketing/online-marketing-news-create-a-content-matrix-pinterest-images-tips-video-ad-strategy-yahoo-ads-plummet

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#SciAmBlogs Friday - used toilet paper collection, college football rankings, plant paleoart, Mendeley, Thanksgiving for addicts, and more.


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- Rob Dunn ? Giving Thanks: Scientists Seek World Record for Most Pieces of Used Toilet Paper Collected

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- David Bressan ? Plant Paleoart Through the Ages

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- Cassie Rodenberg ? I Invited Homeless Addicts to My House for Thanksgiving Dinner

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- Kevin Zelnio ? Wild Sex Matters

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- Hadas Shema ? Interview with Dr. Victor Henning, Mendeley

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- Darren Naish ? The All Yesterdays Launch Event

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- Khalil A. Cassimally ? Khalil?s Picks (23 November 2012)

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- Jason G. Goldman ? You?re Not As Special As You Think

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- Evelyn Lamb ? Statistician Creates Alternate Model for College Football Rankings

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Bora ZivkovicAbout the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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Earth's 'Hum' Helps Probe Planet's Interior

The global "hum" of the Earth is now helping scientists probe the planet's deep interior, a group of researchers say.

Since this hum ? called seismic noise, which is generated by sources such as storm-driven ocean waves ? is detectable everywhere on Earth, it could help scientists analyze the innards of the planet worldwide, investigators added in a new study detailed in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Science.

Traditionally, researchers peer into the interior of the Earth by analyzing seismic waves generated by earthquakes. The way seismic waves zip through the planet depends on physical properties of the Earth's innards, such as rock composition, temperature and pressure. As such, the way the waves behave offers useful clues about details of Earth's geology that are otherwise largely hidden from view.

"With these waves, seismologists produce images in a way similar to medical imaging," researcher Michel Campillo, a seismologist at Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, told OurAmazingPlanet.

The problem with this strategy is that it depends on earthquakes. "Large earthquakes are rare ?fortunately!" Campillo said. Quakes also mostly recur in specific places, which leads to some areas being imaged well but leaving others relatively obscure.

In addition to seismic waves from earthquakes, the interior of the Earth is pervaded by seismic noise, a collective hum resulting from the bombardment of Earth's surface by a variety of sources, such as the swelling of oceans during storms.

"The noise was regarded as useless and even problematic since it hides slight earthquake signals," Campillo said.

Tracking noise

However, in recent years, by analyzing large amounts of seismic data collected over time, investigators successfully followed ambient seismic noise waves as they rippled across Earth's surface. Now scientists reveal they can also use ambient noise to image Earth's deep interior. The advantage of this strategy is that "ambient noise imaging can be applied in regions without earthquakes," Campillo said.

The scientists installed 42 seismic recording stations in northern Finland and compared seismic noise signals between each station. By filtering out earthquake signals and ambient seismic noise surface waves, they were able to reconstruct how ambient seismic noise rippled through the Earth.

"Finland was a good place because it is a place with very old and homogeneous crust," Campillo said. Its old age meant it had little in the way of new activity to confuse readings, while its uniform nature meant there was little diversity of material to complicate findings.

Geo toolbox

Using this data, the researchers imaged the transition zone separating the upper and lower layers of the Earth's mantle, the main layer just below Earth's crust. The top of the mantle was about 9 miles (15 kilometers) thick and 255 miles (410 km) from the Earth's surface, while its bottom was about 2.5 miles (4 km) thick and 410 miles (660 km) from the Earth's surface. The differences between top and bottom are due to changes in crystal structure resulting from how pressure varies according to depth.

"These changes of microstructures result in increase of seismic speeds, which we eventually detect when waves are reflected on the layers where they occur," Campillo said.

Ultimately, ambient seismic noise might not only help researchers scan the mantle transition zone ? where the upper and lower layers meet ? but also probe all the way down to the core-mantle boundary.

"Ambient noise is another element in the geophysicist's toolbox," Campillo said. "Our study suggests that it could be developed everywhere, allowing for new collections of observations at the global scale."

Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/earths-hum-helps-probe-planets-interior-154026867.html

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'Dallas' star Larry Hagman dies at 81

Tony Gutierrez / AP file

Actor Larry Hagman poses in front of the Southfork Ranch mansion made famous in the television show, "Dallas," in Parker, Texas, Oct. 9, 2008.

By NBC News staff and wire

Updated at 7:30 a.m. ET: Actor Larry Hagman ? who became a global icon playing the cunning J.R. Ewing in the television series "Dallas" ? died on Friday at the age of 81, NBC Dallas-Fort?Worth reported.

Hagman?was at Medical City Dallas Hospital when he died Friday afternoon from complications of his recent battle with cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing members of his family.

Linda Gray, who played J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress' spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email.?

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," Gray said in a statement. "He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously."

'Who shot J.R.?'
Despite his fragile health, the actor had returned to Texas from his home in California to film season one of TNT?s "Dallas" reboot and part of season two.

The original show, in which Hagman played a conniving businessman who people loved to hate, ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS.?

The "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger series ending in 1980 -- which left it unclear if he was alive or dead -- broke viewing records and led to weeks of speculation about what had happened.?In a later interview, Hagman said after the episode he went to England because he "wanted to get out of the country," but "England went stark raving nuts." Ewing survived.


"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," the family said in a statement, the Morning News reported. "Larry?s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."

A statement from Warner Bros. described Hagman as "a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history."

"He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the 'Dallas' family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time," the statement added.

Earlier in his career, Hagman was known for his role as Maj. Anthony Nelson, the master-turned-husband of a beautiful genie played by Barbara Eden in the sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie."

In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.?

After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life.?

"It's the same old Larry Hagman," he told a reporter. "He's just a littler sober-er."?

Hagman was born on Sept. 21, 1931, in Texas, to?Benjamin Jack Hagman and Mary Martin.?His father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray.

He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a big name in Hollywood and a Tony winner on Broadway, where she starred in "Peter Pan" and "The Sound of Music."?

Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in "The Taming of the Shrew." In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of "South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston.?

'Big laughs, big smiles'
Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap "The Edge of Night." His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the "I Dream of Jeannie" role opposite Barbara Eden.?

After hearing of Hagman?s death, Eden paid tribute to him on Twitter and Facebook.

?Amidst a whirlwind of big laughs, big smiles and unrestrained personality Larry was always, simply Larry,? she wrote on Twitter.??Larry Hagman not just a great actor, not just a television icon, but an element of pure Americana. I'll miss him.?

In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner.

He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California.?

Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be "spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry."?

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/24/15398595-larry-hagman-tv-villain-jr-ewing-on-dallas-dies-at-81?lite

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After 'Psycho,' a shower of violence in movies

NEW YORK (AP) ? For his first professional acting job, a 22-year-old Anthony Hopkins took a train from South Wales to Manchester. With time to kill on a rainy day, he dropped off his bags and headed to the movies, where a long queue wound outside the cinema.

"It was packed," Hopkins recalls. "I sat down and I didn't know what the hell I was in for. I had heard stories about it. When it got to the shower scene, I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life."

The movie was, of course, Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," a film that 52 years after its shocking premiere still hasn't released audiences from its subversive thrall. The film, which Hitchcock called "a fun picture," was revolutionary in its violence, its sexiness, its sympathy to the perspective of the criminal mind ? and, perhaps above all, its technique.

"What if someone really good made a horror picture?" wonders the British director, played by Hopkins, in the new film "Hitchcock."

Directed by Sacha Gervasi, it depicts the making of "Psycho" with a keen focus on Hitchcock's relationship ? and profession indebtedness ? to his wife Alma Reville (played by Helen Mirren).

It is only the latest example of the undying fascination with "Psycho," a film that ushered in a new darkness in American movies, one with a playful sense of irony toward violence but also a serious treatment of that which had previously been considered mere "schlock." Though Hitchcock made a dozen films that could easily be labeled masterpieces, none seized audiences with the same power as "Psycho."

Made for just $800,000 at the end of Hitchcock's contract with Paramount (which distributed the film but left Hitchcock to finance it himself), "Psycho," based on Robert Bloch's novel, went on to gross $32 million ? the biggest hit of his career. The director famously handed out manuals to theaters with explicit directions not to let anyone in after the movie began. Though most critics dismissed the film then, some finally began to consider Hitchcock an artist of the highest order ? most notably Robin Wood, who called "Psycho" ''perhaps the most terrifying film ever made."

"We are (taken) forward and downward into the darkness of ourselves," wrote Wood. "'Psycho' begins with the normal and draws us steadily deeper and deeper into the abnormal."

That "Psycho" killed off its star ? Janet Leigh ? after just half an hour was only one of its many unheard of elements. Scenes of Leigh in her underwear were unusual for their time, too, and prompted lengthy negotiations between Hitchcock and the sensors. Even a flushing toilet ? considered a vulgar sight ? had never been seen in such a big movie.

Of course, the infamous shower scene in which Leigh's Marion Crane meets her demise ? immediately recognizable from the "screaming violins" of Bernard Herrmann's score ? is the film's piece de resistance. The ruthless slicing wasn't of flesh, but of film: 70 shots in 45 seconds, a perfect marriage of montage and murder. A prop man sounded the scene by knifing casaba melons.

In his book "The Moment of 'Psycho': How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder," the critic David Thomson argues that the influence of "Psycho" is everywhere in movies, including "Bonnie and Clyde," ''Jaws," ''Taxi Driver," many of the films of Stanley Kubrick and even the James Bond movies. "Psycho," Thomson writes, let "the subversive secret out," after which "censorship crumpled like an old lady's parasol."

"It's one of the most influential films ever made," says Thomson. "It's the beginnings of a flood of violence. Violence becomes more acceptable in film. It's a whole new attitude to the criminal personality. It becomes more interesting in a way that had never really operated before. It celebrates the director. (Hitchcock) was taken with a new seriousness after that, and in turn, directors were."

In the famous interviews with French director Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock said he was most interested in "all the technical ingredients that made the audience scream" and hoped that "Psycho" would be "a film that belongs to filmmakers." That's certainly been true, as "Psycho" has inspired perhaps the most obsessive ode in Hollywood history, the near frame-by-frame 1998 remake by Gus Van Sant.

In the every-decade polling done by film magazine Sight & Sound, Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (released two years before "Psycho" to largely negative reviews) earlier this year displaced Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" as the best film of all time, according to voting critics. Among the directors who have voted for "Psycho" in past Sight & Sound polls is the Australian filmmaker Michael Haneke, maybe the only living director who ? as proven by his upcoming film "Amour" ? shares both Hitchcock's skillfulness and his attention to audience manipulation through violence.

Also among filmmakers who have voted for "Psycho" is Errol Morris who, years after seeing it, pursued an interview with the real-life inspiration for Anthony Perkins' character, the serial killer Ed Gein, at the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Wisconsin.

Morris was then a graduate student at U.C. Berkley, but the extensive interviews he did with Gein (he believes the only ever done) helped set Morris on the path that would be his life's work ? films that might in some way be summarized by a scene in "Psycho" that deeply affected Morris. Near the end of the film, a psychiatrist offers a pat, insufficient explanation of Gein's psychosis, which Pauline Kael called "arguably Hitchcock's worst scene."

"You feel that all psychological explanation is defeated," says Morris. "It's the ultimate noir idea, that somehow psychological explanation isn't enough. It's defeated by some kind of mechanism that stands behind all of our plans and our thoughts, our machinations. It's the feeling of being haunted by the inexplicable and the unknown."

In "Hitchcock," which is partly based on Stephen Rebello's book, "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho," Gervasi imagines the director communicating with Gein. A more complex picture of Hitchcock is also seen in the recent HBO film "The Girl," which shows the making of "The Birds" and Hitchcock's alleged tormenting of his star actress, Tippi Hedren.

Fearing a negative portrait, the Hitchcock estate didn't allow the use of "Psycho" footage or dialogue for "Hitchcock." But the film nevertheless takes pleasure in recreating and imagining the circumstances of making a film that still transfixes ? that in shrill violin notes, shrieked a revolution.

"It was a point in history where we were going from an idealistic, stylized imagination of what America could be, to this very visceral, brutal, violent period where the president is getting killed and people are getting assassinated," says Gervasi. "Here we are 52 years later talking about the shock of a film. I mean, that's a pretty powerful film."

___

Follow Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/psycho-shower-violence-movies-135903940.html

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Dunes that saved NY island from Sandy are now gone

Frank Eltman / AP

Pilings that once held a walkway over dunes leading to the beach are all that remain outside a boarded up home in Ocean Beach, N.Y.

By Frank Eltman, Associated Press

OCEAN BEACH, N.Y. -- New Yorkers who cherish Fire Island as an idyllic summertime getaway feared the worst when the 32-mile-long barrier island took a direct hit from Superstorm Sandy's powerful surge. The wall of water swamped nearly the entire island, destroyed or washed away about 200 homes and scraped sand dunes down to nothing.

Still, residents are counting their blessings.

That's because more than 4,000 structures survived, at least enough to be repaired. And some are crediting the carefully maintained wall of dunes, ranging from 10 to 20 feet tall, with taking the brunt of the storm's fury.

"The dunes were demolished, but without their protection it would have been much worse," said Malcolm Bowman, a professor of physical oceanography at Stony Brook University.


Evidence of the hit the dunes absorbed is everywhere. A half-mile from the ocean, a blizzard of sand covers bicycles up to the handlebars. Wooden pilings are all that remain of stairs and walkways that passed over dunes and led down to the beach. A football-field-size network of concrete blocks that once sat under 6 feet of sand lay bare in the autumn sunshine. Houses on stilts that once peeked over sand berms now sit naked to the surf.

New Yorkers know Fire Island as their own private paradise, a close-to-home getaway that's accessible only by ferry and feels like a different country. The strip of beaches five miles off the south shore of Long Island is three-fourths undeveloped and includes a national wilderness area.

It has just 300 permanent residents, but on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the population is swelled by 75,000 visitors who rent homes ranging in size from multilevel palaces to rustic bungalows. A couple of communities are favorite destinations of gay and lesbian visitors. Cars are banned in the summertime; denizens get around on bikes and boardwalks and tote their gear in red toy wagons.

Because of its remoteness, officials have only begun in the past week or so to allow the residents, and the others who own vacation homes and businesses, to return and assess the damage.

Retired electrical contractor Hyman Portnoy, whose two-story oceanfront home in the village of Ocean Beach suffered damage to its large deck, said rebuilding the dunes is a major concern.

USGS via AP

Part of Ocean Beach, N.Y., is seen before and after Superstorm Sandy.

"We haven't got any protection now," he said. "I'd be satisfied with anything. I'd be satisfied with a pile."

Suzy Goldhirsch, president of the Fire Island Association, which represents businesses and homeowners, noted that homeowners in many Fire Island communities ? there are 17 different villages and hamlets ? pay part of their property taxes to maintain the dunes.

But she expects the federal government will be asked to fund some of the dune restoration, arguing that maintaining the barrier island serves to protect not just Fire Island, but also the homes of the 3 million Long Islanders on the mainland.

Critics of federal funding of beach and dune replenishment say U.S. taxpayers shouldn't pick up the tab for beaches enjoyed by only a fraction of the population. Replenishment backers counter that Congress has approved recovery funds for other disasters including Hurricane Katrina and last year's tornadoes in Missouri.

The work of replacing sand dunes that washed away in the storm is already under way. Workers are scooping up sand from the streets, putting it in bags and piling it up where the dunes once stood.

Ocean waves demolished at least nine houses, left in splinters on the oceanfront, and about 200 others are severely damaged and likely to be condemned. Dozens of other homes appear uninhabitable without major repairs. Others are covered in muck several inches deep.

"Decimated," Ocean Beach artist Kenny Goodman said last week as he returned to the shop he has owned for a quarter-century. When he first saw the damage from flooding in his store, he said, he was "really overwhelmed and sad ? it's just a gigantic loss."

Goodman, a New Yorker who has been coming to Fire Island for 40 years, said he plans to rebuild his shop. "It will be different. Maybe by my grandchildren's time it will be back," but he also lamented, "It won't be like it was."

The Atlantic Ocean breached the narrow island in three places. Two of the breaches are being closed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the National Park Service is evaluating whether a third breach should be closed by the Army Corps or allowed to close naturally.

As far as rebuilding, many jurisdictions ? federal, state, county, town and local ? will have a say in what can and can't be rebuilt, said Fire Island National Seashore Superintendent Chris Soller. New York state has regulations about who can rebuild in some designated coastal erosion zones, although an official with the town of Brookhaven, which oversees some of the westernmost communities of the island's 17 hamlets and villages, said special variances could be issued in some cases to allow rebuilding in those zones.

Fire Island, like many Northeast communities harmed by Sandy, is beginning to reassess where and how to rebuild, Goldhirsch said.

"It's part of a new national dialogue," she said. "The governor has said he wants to rebuild smarter and better, and I think we have to think about how we are going to do this so it's better in the future. We have a lot to think about; there are no easy answers, no one answer."

Political leaders need to come up with a long-term plan for future development on the island, said Bowman, the Stony Brook professor.

"Not just a rapid-fire reaction to a catastrophe; this is going to happen again," he said. "Some of these things are going to be very expensive decisions, and we need a longer perspective."?

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/23/15390793-nys-fire-island-saved-from-sandy-by-dunes-but-those-are-gone-now?lite

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Thinking of a real estate career in 2013 - REIWA Views

Real estate careers can be very rewarding.

One of the strong attractions to working in real estate is that people of most ages can confidently start a career. This is different to many other professions, which tend to require training at a young age and a lengthy internship.

A real estate career requires considerable professional education, but life experience can also be a great advantage.

Real estate offers a wide selection of career paths including property sales and property management in the residential, commercial and rural sectors. There are also exciting opportunities in property development, business broking or working as a buyers agent.

The State Government regulates qualifications for employment in the real estate sector and has a keen interest in seeing high standards are maintained.

The starting point for most real estate careers is work as a registered real estate sales representative. This involves completing a course in property studies either at REIWA or another real estate training provider.

To qualify for registration as a sales representative or property manager in Western Australia you must be aged over 18 and hold a current police clearance.

Commonwealth industrial relations law means that sales representatives may be paid a base salary and don?t have to rely on commissions alone. Property managers are generally paid a salary.

A real estate salesperson must be employed by a licensed real estate agent who operates an agency. The requirements for a real estate license are more onerous if you are thinking of eventually running your own business.

In order to be a licensed agent you must have completed a Diploma in Property Services (Agency Management) which can be undertaken as a one year part-time course at REIWA or elsewhere. A property degree from Curtin University would also satisfy the educational requirements for licensing as a real estate agent.

Other requirements for licensing include two years experience in negotiating real estate transactions, current police clearance and various other requirements which typically apply to any type of business operator.

People can commence their real estate careers from 18 years of age having had experience in an unrelated field. More people are entering the sector with tertiary qualifications and with broad interest in all sectors of the market.

Experience in real estate work can be transportable, as some other states and territories recognise WA?s qualifications in their jurisdictions.

Real estate can be a challenging yet rewarding career. There is a continuing demand for top quality property managers and for professional sales consultants with long term goals.

If you have been thinking about this move for a while then get in touch with REIWA soon.

Perhaps the New Year might herald your new career?

This article was originally published on reiwa.com.

Image by Jose via Flickr.

Source: http://reiwaviews.com.au/2012/11/thinking-of-a-real-estate-career-in-2013/

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