A-list actor Matt Damon may have quit the Bourne series, but he didn't give up on buying what was described in the brokerbabble as the "best house in Pacific Palisades." We first heard rumors of the transaction back in May, but now the property records are in and the details confirmed. Damon indeed forked over $15M for the Grant Kirkpatrick-designed mansion with 35-foot ceilings, seven bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a five-car garage, and a pair of maid's room. ? Matt Damon Buys in Pacific Palisades [Zillow Blog] ? Rumors Swirl Around Matt Damon's Possible $15M Purchase [Curbed National]
There's a big mystery in Tampa. Who is the "TBA" who will address the convention Thursday night just before Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney?
It's a prime slot on the final night of the convention. The convention hall has been buzzing with the possibility - almost the expectation at this point - that it will be Clint Eastwood, who endorsed Romney earlier this year.
You'll recall that some Republicans were frustrated by Eastwood's appearance in that Chrysler Super Bowl ad about "halftime" in America. Romney, of course, opposed the auto bailout that saved Chrysler.
I talked with Diane Sawyer about the Eastwood question on "World News." Take a look after this piece by Jon Karl:
LONDON (AP) ? J.K. Rowling is building two tree houses fit for a wizard.
Despite some complaints from neighbors, the City of Edinburgh Council said Thursday it has approved the Harry Potter author's application to create the large tree houses in her garden for her children.
The structures, each about 40 feet (12 meters) high, feature tall conical roofs and turreted windows in the style of Hogwarts Castle in the Harry Potter movies.
Artist impressions submitted to the council show that they will be built on wooden stilts and are connected by a rope bridge. Other features included are lanterns above the doors, a spiral staircase, balconies, a trap door, and a steel slide.
Several neighbors had written to object, saying the tree-houses may be visible from the road through a gap in the conifers that shield the development and could affect the area's landscape.
But the council granted Rowling's request, saying the development will not have a negative impact on the conservation area.
Rowling, 47, lives in a 17th-century mansion in an Edinburgh suburb with her husband and three children.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Living a healthy lifestyle into old age can add five years to women's lives and six years to men's, finds a study from Sweden published on the British Medical Journal website.
The authors say this is the first study that directly provides information about differences in longevity according to several modifiable factors.
It is well known that lifestyle factors, like being overweight, smoking and heavy drinking, predict death among elderly people. But is it uncertain whether these associations are applicable to people aged 75 years or more.
So a team of researchers based in Sweden measured the differences in survival among adults aged 75 and older based on modifiable factors such as lifestyle behaviours, leisure activities, and social networks.
The study involved just over 1,800 individuals who were followed for 18 years (1987-2005). Data on age, sex, occupation, education, lifestyle behaviours, social network and leisure activities were recorded.
During the follow-up period 92% of participants died. Half of the participants lived longer than 90 years.
Survivors were more likely to be women, be highly educated, have healthy lifestyle behaviours, have a better social network, and participate in more leisure activities than non-survivors.
The results show that smokers died one year earlier than non-smokers. Former smokers had a similar pattern of survival to never smokers, suggesting that quitting smoking in middle age reduces the effect on mortality.
Of the leisure activities, physical activity was most strongly associated with survival. The average age at death of participants who regularly swam, walked or did gymnastics was two years greater than those who did not.
Overall, the average survival of people with a low risk profile (healthy lifestyle behaviours, participation in at least one leisure activity, and a rich or moderate social network) was 5.4 years longer than those with a high risk profile (unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, no participation in leisure activities, and a limited or poor social network).
Even among those aged 85 years or older and people with chronic conditions, the average age at death was four years higher for those with a low risk profile compared with those with a high risk profile.
In summary, the associations between leisure activity, not smoking, and increased survival still existed in those aged 75 years or more, with women's lives prolonged by five years and men's by six years, say the authors.
These associations, although attenuated, were still present among people aged 85 or more and in those with chronic conditions, they add.
"Our results suggest that encouraging favourable lifestyle behaviours even at advanced ages may enhance life expectancy, probably by reducing morbidity," they conclude.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
D. Rizzuto, N. Orsini, C. Qiu, H.-X. Wang, L. Fratiglioni. Lifestyle, social factors, and survival after age 75: population based study. BMJ, 2012; 345 (aug29 2): e5568 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e5568
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Early menopause: A genetic mouse model of human primary ovarian insufficiencyPublic release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Quinn Eastman qeastma@emory.edu 404-727-7829 Emory University
Scientists have established a genetic mouse model for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), a human condition in which women experience irregular menstrual cycles and reduced fertility, and early exposure to estrogen deficiency.
POI affects approximately one in a hundred women. In most cases of primary ovarian insufficiency, the cause is mysterious, although genetics is known to play a causative role. There are no treatments designed to help preserve fertility. Some women with POI retain some ovarian function and a fraction (5-10 percent) have children after receiving the diagnosis.
Having a mouse model could accelerate research on the causes and mechanisms of POI, and could eventually lead to treatments, says Peng Jin, PhD, associate professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine.
The results were published online recently in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
The paper was the result of a collaboration between researchers at Emory and the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Dahua Chen, PhD, associate director of the State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, is the senior author and postdoctoral fellow Cuiling Lu is the first author. Stephanie Sherman, PhD, professor of human genetics at Emory, is a co-author.
The mouse model builds on research on women who are carriers of a "premutation" for fragile X syndrome, a leading cause of inherited intellectual disability.
The mice have a fragment of a human X chromosome from a fragile X premutation carrier. Other non-genetic mouse models used to study menopause include surgical removal of the ovaries, or exposure of mice to a chemical, 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide, which depletes the ovaries.
"While the fragile X premutation is a leading cause of POI, I think this model will be useful and relevant for all women with this condition," Jin says.
Women with the fragile X premutation account for around two percent of spontaneous POI cases and 14 percent of familial POI cases. About 20 percent of women who carry the fragile X premutation experience POI, the disorder now called fragile X-associated POI, or FXPOI.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by the expansion of a "triplet repeat" in a gene (FMR1) that is important for signaling in the brain. In fragile X syndrome, the triplet repeat -- three DNA letters (CGG) repeated many times -- forces the gene to shut off.
For a woman who carries the premutation, the triplet repeat is not large enough to shut the gene off. There is a risk that it will expand in her children enough to generate fragile X syndrome. In addition, the triplet repeat appears to have an effect on the woman's ovaries, independently from its influence on the FMR1 gene.
Jin says studying mice that have an analogous genetic alteration will help scientists understand what's happening to the ovaries in POI. It appears that the RNA coming from the premutation impairs development of the ovarian follicles, the structures in which eggs/oocytes mature.
The research team found that a quarter of premutation-carrying female mice are infertile. When they are housed with male mice, those that do have pups have them a month later on average (12.5 weeks of age compared to 8.5 weeks), and they have fewer pups.
Puberty occurs at roughly five weeks of age in mice, and the premutation mice have alterations in their ovaries already before puberty. At 25 days of age, there are a reduced number of mature follicles in ovaries of the female mice carrying the premutation. Those mice also have altered levels of hormones resembling those of women with POI, such as elevated FSH (follicle stimulating hormone).
The research team found that in the ovaries of mice with the fragile X premutation, ovulation-related genes are less active. In addition, two cellular signaling pathways (Akt/mTOR) are less active in the ovaries, suggesting that drugs that affect those pathways could be used to treat POI.
###
The research in Jin's laboratory was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS051630 and NS067461). Chen's laboratory is supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Basic Research Program of China and the National Science Foundation of China.
Reference: C. Lu et al. Fragile X premutation RNA is sufficient to cause primary ovarian insufficiency in mice. Hum. Mol. Genet. (2012) doi:10.1093/hmg/dds347
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Early menopause: A genetic mouse model of human primary ovarian insufficiencyPublic release date: 30-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Quinn Eastman qeastma@emory.edu 404-727-7829 Emory University
Scientists have established a genetic mouse model for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), a human condition in which women experience irregular menstrual cycles and reduced fertility, and early exposure to estrogen deficiency.
POI affects approximately one in a hundred women. In most cases of primary ovarian insufficiency, the cause is mysterious, although genetics is known to play a causative role. There are no treatments designed to help preserve fertility. Some women with POI retain some ovarian function and a fraction (5-10 percent) have children after receiving the diagnosis.
Having a mouse model could accelerate research on the causes and mechanisms of POI, and could eventually lead to treatments, says Peng Jin, PhD, associate professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine.
The results were published online recently in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
The paper was the result of a collaboration between researchers at Emory and the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Dahua Chen, PhD, associate director of the State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, is the senior author and postdoctoral fellow Cuiling Lu is the first author. Stephanie Sherman, PhD, professor of human genetics at Emory, is a co-author.
The mouse model builds on research on women who are carriers of a "premutation" for fragile X syndrome, a leading cause of inherited intellectual disability.
The mice have a fragment of a human X chromosome from a fragile X premutation carrier. Other non-genetic mouse models used to study menopause include surgical removal of the ovaries, or exposure of mice to a chemical, 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide, which depletes the ovaries.
"While the fragile X premutation is a leading cause of POI, I think this model will be useful and relevant for all women with this condition," Jin says.
Women with the fragile X premutation account for around two percent of spontaneous POI cases and 14 percent of familial POI cases. About 20 percent of women who carry the fragile X premutation experience POI, the disorder now called fragile X-associated POI, or FXPOI.
Fragile X syndrome is caused by the expansion of a "triplet repeat" in a gene (FMR1) that is important for signaling in the brain. In fragile X syndrome, the triplet repeat -- three DNA letters (CGG) repeated many times -- forces the gene to shut off.
For a woman who carries the premutation, the triplet repeat is not large enough to shut the gene off. There is a risk that it will expand in her children enough to generate fragile X syndrome. In addition, the triplet repeat appears to have an effect on the woman's ovaries, independently from its influence on the FMR1 gene.
Jin says studying mice that have an analogous genetic alteration will help scientists understand what's happening to the ovaries in POI. It appears that the RNA coming from the premutation impairs development of the ovarian follicles, the structures in which eggs/oocytes mature.
The research team found that a quarter of premutation-carrying female mice are infertile. When they are housed with male mice, those that do have pups have them a month later on average (12.5 weeks of age compared to 8.5 weeks), and they have fewer pups.
Puberty occurs at roughly five weeks of age in mice, and the premutation mice have alterations in their ovaries already before puberty. At 25 days of age, there are a reduced number of mature follicles in ovaries of the female mice carrying the premutation. Those mice also have altered levels of hormones resembling those of women with POI, such as elevated FSH (follicle stimulating hormone).
The research team found that in the ovaries of mice with the fragile X premutation, ovulation-related genes are less active. In addition, two cellular signaling pathways (Akt/mTOR) are less active in the ovaries, suggesting that drugs that affect those pathways could be used to treat POI.
###
The research in Jin's laboratory was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS051630 and NS067461). Chen's laboratory is supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Basic Research Program of China and the National Science Foundation of China.
Reference: C. Lu et al. Fragile X premutation RNA is sufficient to cause primary ovarian insufficiency in mice. Hum. Mol. Genet. (2012) doi:10.1093/hmg/dds347
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Your business will grow when you use Internet marketing to its best potential, and you will capture new clients along the way. The following article can help you successfully market on the Internet. By following these suggestions you will have an increased chance for marketing success.
?Limited? is a strong keyword to include. People buy things over the internet because they want something new and different. They want something new and fresh. Should you provide limited edition merchandise, your customers will require the product to be dissimilar and realize they should purchase it quickly soon as it could sell out.
Partner with other online businesses to create interesting combination deals that will attract customers and help you share your customer bases. This tactic is a sound strategy to create connections between multiple markets. This has a cumulative effect of boosting overall revenue. One example of this business style is the online reservations agent, who negotiates pricing for people booking a hotel, car and airline ticket at the same time. This strategy is ideal for businesses with complementary or supplemental products that are linked, yet are not considered substitutes or rivals.
You should always use email marketing as an advertising strategy. Any newsletter you create for customers should be interesting, while also containing important information. You want the subscriber to feel like you are providing valuable information to them via email, not spam. After customers leave your website, you can keep in touch with them through newsletters.
Put a signature link in all of your emails, even personal emails. In many ways, your e-mail signature is like a business card, so write a memorable signature that you would be happy to share with everyone on the Internet. By including your signature, you offer everyone you email a link to your business.
You can improve your online business by carefully analyzing your top competitors. If you check out your competition, you can find what you need to do. If you have a particular service other websites seem to be lacking in, make sure to highlight these on your site in an effort to beat the competition.
One key part of your Internet marketing strategy should be keeping tabs on your competition. Research what your competition is doing and the things that are helping them as well as hurting them. Learn from what successful businesses are doing. You can avoid their mistakes and move more quickly towards your goals.
Educate your customers about your products and how their lives will be improved by purchasing them. Encourage viewers by having them imagine that their life can be made easier or better with your product. Your advertising copy should read as if the customer is enjoying the special features and benefits of the product, even as they are reading the ad.
In your advertisements and in your content, utilizing the word ?guaranteed? is a successful strategy. People need to know that they are not risking a lot by buying from you, so a guarantee is always a good thing. A guarantee makes people feel confident about trying a new product.
Recruit experts and authorities in your field to interview with you. Always get permission before publishing to your site so you won?t have legal blowback. You could write articles based on your interviews and post them on article directories. This can get you sales, credibility and more traffic.
Have you considered making a video to showcase some of your products? Within the video?s description, be sure to include a link to your website. By using this technique, you will increase the amount of visitors to your website.
When doing online marketing, offering your visitors discounted prices is one way to encourage them to purchase from you. You should always have some kind of promotional offer going on and base your marketing campaign on advertising these offers. You can encourage them to order by telling them how much they can save by buying an item at the discounted price.
Use banners on your site that are not just typical banners. Make them look enticing so that they engage customers. Most people tend to avoid banners, so this approach will help entice them.
By offering to donate a portion of your profits to charity you can generate interest, trust and, ultimately, sales. Most people like to help those in need, so this can be a good sales strategy that creates a win-win situation. This should be advertised clearly (but not excessively) to your website visitors. You do not give a large percentage of your profits to a charity for this to be a good marketing strategy.
Internet marketing can give your company more visibility. When regular advertising doesn?t give you the exposure you desire, Internet marketing is a handy tool. Use the tips in this article to get started, and market your business online.
Enjoy the Journey
P.S.?If you would like to increase your marketing exposure and use the internet to the fullest to promote your business, generate leads and grow your team, take a look at what we have available to help youTAKE A LOOK and observe how we can increase your productiveness.
To say that the World Wide Web has changed our way of life is an understatement. Not since the telephone has a technology so impacted the lives of everyone worldwide. The field of business is no exception. Modern-day enterprises depend heavily on the Internet as a tool for promotion. Processes like e-mail harvesting, auto responding e-mails and banner advertising are not only effective marketing methods, they are relatively inexpensive. With all these advanced marketing methods at one?s disposal, it may be tempting to think that traditional ways of business promotion are not only outdated but are even undesirable. This, however, is far from the truth. In fact, a professional looking printed brochure design can be just as effective in promoting your business as the most extensive Internet-based marketing strategy.
First of all, printing brochures can serve purposes that online documents, by their very nature, cannot meet. Brochures are particularly useful for people who might prefer having a brochure on hand, to refer to them whenever necessary. Even in today?s technological society, not all people rely on computers as their top source of information.
Another advantage that businesses can get for printing brochures is that they make great giveaway items. If a business has launched an e-mail harvesting campaign, they can send brochures to those who signed up. Likewise, providing brochures bearing the company?s logo design is a practical way for a business to introduce what the company is all about to prospective customers.
There is no denying that the Internet can help companies reach millions of people in a short period of time. But a company should also not forget potential customers near their base of operations. Distributing printed brochures featuring what the company is all about is a great way to pique the curiosity of local clients and customers. One must remember that branding doesn?t stop with the creation of a website or the application of best SEO practices. Branding should include ?real world? strategies such as an interesting brochure design.
To sum it up, brochures are far from being obsolete. The Internet did not replace this traditional marketing tool at all. In fact, the Internet actually gave way to the creation of more affordable and more creative brochures. One only has to search online for a professional design agency in Singapore that can help them produce brochures suitable for their marketing needs. Reputable design agencies can help elevate a company?s branding on the web and everywhere else, reaching markets both local and international.
Related articles on Brochure Design or visit www.breworks.com
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Expecting Ann Romney and Michelle Obama to pick out a nice frock and take the stage to assure Americans that their men are swell husbands and fathers may sound like a holdover from the 1950s, but it's a relatively recent convention tradition.
Among first ladies, politically savvy Nellie Taft was the first to attend a national convention ? and it was the opposing party's. Gazing up silently from a front-row seat in 1912, she intimidated Democratic speakers into muting their criticism of her husband, Republican President William Howard Taft.
Eleanor Roosevelt's unscripted plea for unity quieted a 1940 convention upended by war in Europe. In the television age, first lady Pat Nixon said a few informal words, and petite Nancy Reagan greeted her husband's colossal image on a video screen.
It wasn't until 1992 that Barbara Bush pioneered the wifely testimonial.
She was assigned a prime Republican convention slot in hopes that her matronly charm would steady her husband's wobbly re-election bid. Mrs. Bush praised "the strongest, the most decent, the most caring, the wisest" man she knew and declared, "However you define family, that's what we mean by family values."
"She's the first first lady to have prepared remarks," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian of the National First Ladies' Library. "And without saying anything overtly political, she's talking about the political issues of that period."
George H.W. Bush lost. But Mrs. Bush proved the potential of putting an adoring spouse in front of millions of TV viewers.
So every four years, the wives come out.
"The wives are in a unique position to talk about their husbands in more personal terms, rather than policy terms," said Martin Medhurst, distinguished professor of rhetoric and communication at Baylor University. "And a lot of people vote on personality."
In 1996 both the first lady and her rival, Elizabeth Dole, spoke at a convention. Dole, wife of Republican candidate Bob Dole, left the stage to mingle Oprah-style with the crowd. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton talked up her husband, Bill, and responded to conservative criticism of her credo "It takes a village to raise a child."
"The face-off between Elizabeth Dole and Hillary Clinton in 1996 is probably the rhetorical high point of those conventions," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert on political speech and director of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. "Each one very effectively makes the case for her husband, and the press played it as the battle of the wives."
And what wives: Both went on to serve in the Senate and run for president ? stirring thoughts that someday a man will grace the convention stage as the nominee's supportive spouse.
No matter what Mrs. Romney and Mrs. Obama say this year, they won't match the gravity of the first convention when a first lady spoke.
Adolf Hitler's forces had overwhelmed Western Europe and begun bombing the British coast when Democrats gathered in Chicago in 1940. The delegates rallied behind Franklin Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term but rebelled at his choice for running mate and fought over how to help Britain without being drawn into war. The president stayed away, instead dispatching Mrs. Roosevelt to persuade the fractious crowd to unite for the good of the nation and a world in peril.
"We cannot tell from day to day what may come," she told them. "This is no ordinary time."
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As the income gap between rich and poor widens, a majority of Americans say the growing divide is bad for the country and believe that wealthy people are paying too little in taxes, according to a new survey.
The poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center points to a particular challenge for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose party's policies are viewed by a wide majority as favoring the rich over the middle class and poor.
The poll found that many Americans believe rich people to be intelligent and hardworking but also greedy and less honest than the average American. Nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, say the rich don't pay enough in taxes, while 26 percent believe the rich pay their fair share and 8 percent say they pay too much.
Even among those who describe themselves as "upper class" or "upper middle class," more than half ? or 52 percent ? said upper-income Americans don't pay enough in taxes; only 10 percent said they paid too much. This upper tier was more likely to say they are more financially secure now than 10 years ago ? 62 percent, compared to 44 percent for those who identified themselves as middle class and 29 percent for the lower class. They are less likely to report problems in paying rent or mortgage, losing a job, paying for medical care or other bills and cutting back on household expenses.
The findings come at the start of this week's Republican National Convention and as both Romney and President Barack Obama seek to appeal to a broad swath of financially struggling voters who identify as middle class. Romney supports an extension of Bush-era tax cuts for everyone including the wealthiest 2 percent, and says his policies will benefit the middle class by boosting the economy and creating jobs.
"The fact that Romney may be viewed as wealthy doesn't necessarily pose problems for his candidacy," said Kim Parker, associate director of Pew Social & Demographic Trends, noting that people see the wealthy as having both positive and negative attributes. "The challenge for Romney lies more in the fact that large majorities say if he is elected president, his policies would likely benefit the wealthy."
The results reinforce a tide of recent economic data showing a widening economic divide. America's middle class has been shrinking in the stagnant economy and poverty is now approaching 1960s highs, while wealth concentrates at the top. A separate Pew survey earlier this year found that tensions between the rich and poor were increasing and at their most intense level in nearly a quarter-century.
In fact, well-off people do shoulder a big share of the tax burden. Though households earning over $1 million annually comprise just 0.3 percent of all taxpayers, they pay 20 percent of all federal taxes the government is projected to collect this year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group that studies tax policy. The figures included income, payroll and estate taxes. In contrast, households earning $50,000 to $75,000 a year accounted for 12 percent of taxpayers and contributed 9 percent of federal taxes, the center's data showed. Some 46 percent of households pay no federal income tax at all, although they do pay payroll, excise and other taxes.
According to the latest findings, about 63 percent of Americans say the GOP favors the rich over the middle class and poor, and 71 percent say Romney's election would be good for wealthy people. A smaller share, 20 percent, says the same about the Democratic Party. More Americans ? 60 percent ? say if Obama is re-elected his policies will benefit the poor, while half say they'll help the middle class and 37 percent say they'll boost the wealthy.
"The Great Recession was not an equal opportunity disemployer," said Sheldon Danziger, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan who describes the gap between rich and poor as the widest in decades. "College graduates, whites and middle-aged workers had fewer and shorter layoffs than high school graduates, blacks, Hispanics and younger workers. And, only a small percentage of the rich work in the hardest-hit industries, like construction and manufacturing."
About 65 percent of Americans say the gap between rich and poor has gotten wider in the past decade, while 20 percent believe it has stayed the same and 7 percent say the gap has gotten smaller. Separately, 57 percent say a widening income gap is a bad thing for society; just 3 percent say it is a good thing.
Asked to estimate how much a family of four would need to earn to be considered wealthy in their area, the median amount given by survey respondents was $150,000. For middle class, the median amount was $70,000.
Many Americans see rich people as more likely to be intelligent (43 percent) and hardworking (42 percent) than average Americans. But the rich are also seen as more likely to be greedy (55 percent). Thirty-four percent of those surveyed say the rich are less likely to be honest than the average person; just 12 percent say the rich are more likely to be honest.
The Pew survey involved telephone interviews with 2,508 adults conducted from July 16 to 26. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
___
AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and reporter Alan Fram contributed to this report.
Forecasters expect that Isaac will be a hurricane by the time it makes landfall, likely on the Florida Panhandle late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The Republican National Convention, which opens in Tampa on Monday, is within the possible strike zone.
By Trenton Daniel,?Associated Press / August 25, 2012
A woman wades through flood waters as she works to save her possessions from her flooded home in Port au Prince, Haiti, on Saturday.Tropical Storm Isaac emerged over warm Caribbean waters on Saturday slightly weaker but ready to regroup after dumping torrential rains on Haiti, where thousands of people remain homeless more than two years after a devastating earthquake.
Logan Abassi/UN/MINUSTAH/Reuters
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Tropical Storm Isaac swept across Haiti's southern peninsula early Saturday, dousing a capital city prone to flooding and adding to the misery of a poor nation still trying to recover from the 2010 earthquake.
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The storm was heading toward eastern Cuba, and forecasters said it poses a threat to Florida Monday and Tuesday, just as the Republican Party gathers for its national convention in Tampa. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said a hurricane warning is in effect for the Florida Keys and for the west coast of Florida from Bonita Beach south to Florida Bay.
At least three people were reported dead. A woman and a child died in the town of Souvenance, Sen. Francisco Delacruz told a local radio station. A 10-year-old girl died in Thomazeau when a wall fell on him, said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's Civil Protection Office.
She said as many as 5,000 people were evacuated because of flooding.
Many, however, stayed. The sprawling seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil was among the areas that flooded.
"From last night, we're in misery," said Cite Soleil resident Jean-Gymar Joseph. "All our children are sleeping in the mud, in the rain."
More than 50 tents in a quake settlement collapsed, forcing people to scramble through the mud to try to save their belongings.
Forecasters said Isaac could dump as much as eight to 12 inches and even up to 20 inches on Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as produce a storm surge of up to 3 feet.
Isaac was centered about 95 miles east-southeast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph.? It was moving northwest at 14 mph.. Tropical force winds extended nearly 200 miles from the storm's center.
Forecasters said the storm was likely to march up the Gulf of Mexico, offshore of Florida's west coast, as a hurricane on Monday, just as the Republican National Convention is scheduled to start. Tampa was within the storm's possible strike zone, but the most likely course would carry it toward landfall on the Florida Panhandle late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Cuba declared a state of alert Friday for six eastern provinces and five central provinces were put on preliminary watch. Vacationers in tourist installations of those regions were evacuated.
State television began an all-day transmission of news about the storm on Saturday.
Radio Baracoa, from the city of Baracoa on the northern coast of eastern Cuba, reported that high seas began topping the city's seawall Friday night. Reports said lower than normal rains had left reservoirs well below capacity and in good shape to absorb runoff.
Cuba has a highly organized civil defense system that goes door-to-door to enforce evacuations of at-risk areas, largely averting casualties from storms even when they cause major flooding and significant damage to crops.
In Port-au-Prince, a city of some 3 million ringed by mountains, authorities and aid workers tried to evacuate people from a tent camp to temporary shelters.
More than a hundred people were at a shelter in a school that President Michel Martelly toured Friday, but after the visit some people began to leave.
"They dragged me from the camp and brought me here," Marlene Charles, thirsty and hungry, said about the aid groups. "There's no way I'm going to spend the night here."
In the Dominican Republic, authorities evacuated people from low-lying areas but, as in Haiti, they encountered resistance. Still, authorities said they evacuated nearly 2,900 people. The majority were transferred to the homes of relatives while about 300 were sent to government shelters.
Flooding was reported in Santo Domingo and Santiago but no reports of injuries.
Organizers of next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa were monitoring storm developments, and authorities said there were no plans to cancel the convention.
Out in the eastern Atlantic, former Tropical Storm Joyce degenerated into a weak low pressure system Friday.
Associated Press writers Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Peter Orsi in Havana and APTN journalist Fernando Gonzalez in Santiago, Cuba; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Ezequiel Abiu Lopez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed to this report.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) ? West Virginia lawmakers should expect to dive into the recent wide-ranging audit of the state's public schools during their upcoming session, but it's not yet clear which recommendations from the 151-page report might make the legislative agenda.
A loan-forgiveness program for teachers in hard-to-fill subject areas or underserved parts of the state was among the proposals discussed during a series of public forums held this summer. Vision Shared, the public-private economic development effort, hosted the eight forums around the state with the help of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
"Most everyone would agree that would be a benefit to improving those school environments and attracting and attaining quality educators," Vision Shared President and Chief Executive Rebecca Randolph said of the loan forgiveness recommendation.
The forums focused on what happens in the classroom as well as on the teachers and administrators in individual schools. Randolph estimated that turnout averaged 45 people, and included parents, business and community leaders, and lawmakers. Vision Shared expects to present a final report this fall on what the forums yielded.
The state Board of Education and Superintendent Jorea Marple, meanwhile, have begun acting on several audit recommendations, spokeswoman Liza Cordeiro said. The department is looking at software to plan bus routes for all 55 counties, for instance, after the audit report linked computer-aided routing to lower transportation costs but found that all but nine counties map their bus routes manually.
The Cedar Lakes Conference Center hosted hundreds of students this summer for science and Spanish immersion camps, Cordeiro said, after the audit questioned whether the Jackson County facility might get more use if assigned to a different state agency. Cordeiro said the department has also revised purchasing policies and regrouped offices around goals instead of funding sources in the audit's wake.
Conducted by the consulting firms Public Works LLC and MGT, the audit concluded that West Virginia has perhaps the most tightly regulated education system in the country. It describes public schools rigidly controlled by state law and overseen by a department heavy with bureaucracy and largely insulated from voters or other public officials. The audit's report, issued in early January, listed more than 100 recommendations to improve lagging student performance while saving an estimated $70 million annually.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin commissioned the audit, and he included two of its proposals in his agenda for the legislative session that began shortly after the report's release. One gives more flexibility to McDowell County to act on audit findings, as part of a five-year program aimed at rescuing its struggling schools and ailing communities. The other created a statewide program for evaluating both teachers and principals more regularly than previous policy allowed. Cordeiro said the gradually unfolding program will reach 136 schools to varying degrees during the just-begun academic year.
Tomblin awaits the Vision Shared report and a response to the audit from the Board of Education, which recently began an outside review of its findings, said Hallie Mason, the governor's public policy director. Mason said Tomblin also expects groups representing teachers, administrators and school workers to weigh in as well.
"The governor took the report very seriously," Mason said. "We have no intention to have this collect dust on a shelf."
But the governor's office is up for election this year. Legislators can also expect action on the audit if Republican nominee Bill Maloney prevails in November. The Morgantown drilling consultant and business owner narrowly lost to Tomblin in last year's special election to complete an unexpired term. Maloney faults Tomblin, who was previously a longtime legislator and Senate president, for the state's mixed-to-poor showing in national rankings for student achievement.
"The recent education audit raised some valid concerns about how we educate our children," Maloney said in a statement. "We should begin to implement the audit, reform our education system, and ensure that the savings are used in the classroom to better educate our students. "
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Lawrence Messina covers the statehouse for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/lmessina
President Barack Obama, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, sought to steal some of Mitt Romney's thunder as he heads into the Republican National Convention beginning Monday in Tampa, Fla. Obama said Romney's policies would hurt the middle class and enrich the wealthy.
Here are some of the highlights of the 25-minute interview in the White House library:
ROMNEY-EXTREMISM
Said Romney has taken on "extreme positions" that are consistent with the views of many House Republicans and said he would expect the former Massachusetts governor to advance some of those positions if he won the White House. Said he expected Romney to pursue a $5 trillion tax cut, the rolling back of reproductive rights for women and the elimination of tax credits for wind producers if elected.
THE ECONOMY
Acknowledged that the nation's economy has not improved fast enough for many people and "we aren't where we need to be." But said Romney's policies would make things worse for middle-class families while benefiting the wealthy and not offer long-term opportunities for poor Americans trying to get into the middle class.
ROMNEY'S TAXES
Accused Romney of not willing to live up to some of the responsibilities required of someone seeking the presidency, pointing to his unwillingness to release multiple years of federal tax returns. Said when you run for president, you're asking the American people to "put their trust in you" and as a result candidates need to disclose their tax records.
ROMNEY THE BUSINESSMAN
Credited Romney with achieving "extraordinary success" with his business and said he cares "deeply" about his family and faith. But said Romney's view of the economy was "contradicted by the facts" and accused his opponent of pursuing policies that have not benefited the economy in the past.
PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
Called Romney a "very capable debater" and said his opponent performed well in debates during the GOP primaries. But said Romney would face challenges in the fall debates because the arguments he's making "just aren't based on facts."
SECOND TERM AGENDA
Said if he wins a second term, voters will have cast a "decisive view" and expressed hope that Republicans would be willing to end the stalemate in Congress with Democrats. Said he was willing to make a number of compromises, including those that might bring criticism from Democrats, in order to make progress. Said he expected Republicans to make similar compromises as well.
Congratulations. ?Your ticket to career long excellence in sales has just come up. You'll always be top of the achievers list. ?Every target will be exceeded. Every overrider hit. Every day your phone will ring with a new job offer.
"The sales tool kit has advanced dramatically: It now includes sophisticated analytics to identify opportunities, software to discipline processes and produce forecasts, and negotiation expertise to broker complex deals."
"professional sales has entered a new era, requiring skills that aren scarce but teachable?and best taught in a collegiate setting"
We all know?that a well-staffed sales function is vital to business success. Consider, for example, the findings of a series of studies conducted since 1988 by the sales force consultancy Chally Group. Analyzing data from more than 100,000 business decision makers, Chally discovered that 39% of B2B buyers select a vendor according to the skills of the salesperson rather than price, quality, or service features. So business schools must spend a lot of time teaching sales skills, right?
Wrong. Take a look at the curricula of the world?s top-ranked business schools, and you might come away with the impression that sales is unimportant. Most MBA programs offer no sales-related courses at all, and those that do offer only a single course in sales management. Even at the undergraduate level of business instruction, sales courses are sparse.
To put a finer point on it, of the 479 U.S. business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, only 101 have a sales curriculum, and a mere 15 offer either an MBA in sales or some sort of sales-oriented graduate curriculum. Sales may be vital to businesses, but of the 350,000 students a year who earn bachelor?s degrees in business from American universities, and the 170,000 who earn MBAs, only a tiny fraction have been taught anything about it.The news isn?t all bad, however. As we will show, signs point to an increasing awareness among universities that they should invest in sales education. There is a growing consensus that professional sales has entered a new era, requiring skills that are scarce but teachable?and best taught in a collegiate setting. We will share what we?ve learned from building the Center for Sales Leadership at DePaul University and suggest how it might guide the establishment of other such programs in the future. But first let?s explore why sales hasn?t been central to business education in the past.Old-School Sales
Until quite recently, business education might have been perfectly justified in skipping over sales. Time was, the model salesperson was two parts personality and one part product knowledge. The job was to carry a bag, get a foot in the door, and talk up your offering?s features and benefits. Perhaps a formal sales education couldn?t add much to that. Product knowledge was unique to a company and therefore handled by internal training. People skills weren?t considered teachable in any conventional sense. Selling was something to be learned by doing. As with riding a bicycle, you could read about it, but real knowledge came from trying, failing, and trying again.
Meanwhile, it was also true that many people enrolling in MBA programs had already proved they could sell. Graduate schools of business, back when they were fewer, favored applicants with work experience, and much of that experience had been won on the front lines of revenue generation. In seeking a master?s degree, these go-getters wanted to acquire the general management skills their day-to-day jobs didn?t teach. The boom in MBA programs coincided with the rise of marketing as a discipline, and mass producers relied on heavy advertising and strong brands to control the sale and distribution of goods. Sales, in contrast, got little respect.
To the extent that instruction on how to sell was needed, the demand was met by a sales-training industry that included companies such as Axiom, FranklinCovey, and Miller Heiman. Within universities sales was at best a stepchild of marketing. Old-school sales was no-school sales.A Profession Transformed Selling and sales management have come a long way since the days when most business school curricula were designed?so far that the term Sales 2.0 is now commonly used by people (such as the editors of?Selling Power?magazine) who have spent their careers watching the world of revenue generation. That term borrows from Web 2.0, or the idea that the real power of the internet is not to enable traditional content producers to publish more cheaply but to give users a hand in creating content. In the realm of selling, it?s the buyer who is newly empowered. Customers no longer need a salesperson to learn about a company?s offering, much less to place an order. As a result, sales has become more about helping customers define the problem they are trying to solve and assemble a complete solution. The sales tool kit has advanced dramatically: It now includes sophisticated analytics to identify opportunities, software to discipline processes and produce forecasts, and negotiation expertise to broker complex deals.
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Earlier this month, Apple had its claims to a pair of Kodak imaging patents struck down by Judge Gropper for being filed "unreasonably late," risking Kodak's ability to sell the assets. Now, Cupertino is asking Gropper to reconsider for the very same reason, stressing that "a prompt appeal of this order is necessary in view of the prospect that Kodak will seek to sell the patents at issue free and clear of Apple's interests prior to full adjudication of Apple's appeal." In short, Apple's claims were rejected because it was too close to the sale, and now wants to appeal quickly because a pending auction could reassign the patent ownership before it can be reclaimed. Even so, Kodak is no longer sure it wants to sell the digital imaging patents, and made a statement saying that it might decide to keep the portfolio for itself. The lawyers in Cook's kitchen seem hopeful, but realistic, noting additional arguments on the issue may be required, or the appeal might not be allowed to proceed. We'll let you know where this ends up -- Apple's legal team is nothing, after all, if not tenacious.
You?ve just found out that your spouse has cheated.? Or maybe your partner just discovered that you had an affair.? The victim of the affair is angry, hurt, devastated and confused.? The cheater is feeling guilty, defensive and scared.? Where do you go from here?? How do you move on?
If it?s the first time this has happened, it changes the victim?s whole understanding of the relationship.? If it has happened before, then the hard won return of trust is shattered.? Whether it is a fresh wound or an injury to an old scar ? learning of an affair is devastating for everyone involved.? *
So, where do you go from here?
Here are 8 points to help you craft your recovery as a couple.
1. Full disclosure!
The cheater needs to describe what happened in detail.? The details include how he met her, who she was, how did it develop, over what time period, how many times and were there others.? Was he in love with the other woman?? Is he still?? Was the sex similar or different?? This is relevant to find out if there are sexual acts that he?d like to incorporate into his relationship with his partner.? The victim should not react strongly during this discussion or she will risk losing valuable information to her recovery.? Ask questions, explore circumstances, but don?t scream ? you can do that later.
The details of the sex aren?t useful to discuss.? Too many details can create traumatic images for the victim.? The broad strokes are useful- we had sex outside or enjoyed specific positions ? these details are helpful to consider incorporating them into the relationship.? Don?t gloss over the details because it will prevent the healing from beginning ? don?t minimize, tell half truths or say it was the best sex ever.? Be factual without making negative comments about your partner.? Once there is a full understanding of how this happened and who it happened with, you can move onto the next stage of healing.
Some things that will keep you stuck are speaking in generalities about the affair.? Some men will want the fewest words possible.? ?It wasn?t a big deal, I?m sorry and it won?t happen again.? Or ?We had sex, it was a mistake and you don?t know her.?? Or ?I?ve apologized, let?s just move on.?? These are examples of statements that will keep a couple stuck in the first stage of recovery.? It will lead to detective work on the side of the victim to find out the details ? which will further damage the relationship.? Provide up front details at the beginning and apologize.
2. The Victim needs to be fully heard.
Why is it hard to move on?? Because the victim often wants the cheater to know exactly how she feels.? The cheater needs to listen, without interrupting, reflect back what they?ve heard and keep listening until the victim feels fully understood.? Studies show that the number one reason people hold a grudge is because the perpetrator hasn?t taken the time to hear their grief and verbalize understanding and apologies.? There needs to be a time limit on this or it can become a weapon in which the cheater is subjected to months of rage that keeps both parties stuck.? If you seem to be at this point, try to determine a timeline for the expression of rage ? it?s okay to feel anger at different times in recovery, but it?s important to try to move forward if the relationship is to heal.
3. The cheater needs to end the cheating relationship.
This should be done in the presence of his partner ? ideally on speaker phone.? Keep it short and factual.? The victim should not be active in the conversation; screaming or other degrading behavior is not useful.? Perhaps a simple comment, such as ?Stay out of our marriage? is acceptable, but beyond that it can get ugly.
4. Transparency!
There needs to be transparency, in all areas, to encourage the development of trust.? Don?t have burner cell phones, extra email or social media accounts.? Provide the passwords to all of your accounts and be open to the victim?s access.? Have bank statements and credit card statements available to both parties, as these create a paper trail for an affair.? Be where you say you?re going to be and do what you say you?re going to do.? Don?t lie about anything, because it is a further violation of trust.? If someone hits on you, don?t enjoy the attention but start talking about your wife and then tell your partner about the interaction and how you handled it.? Don?t flirt and play the victim, treat the opposite sex like you would a sister or male pal.? If you wouldn?t behave around your spouse in a certain way, then don?t do it when she isn?t there.
5.Commit to preventing future affairs.
What made you vulnerable?? Where were you when you first had contact with this person?? Had you been drinking or cruising online?? Were you out of town?? Was it a workplace environment?? Once you answer these types of questions you will develop of ?Relapse Prevention Plan. ?
6. Relapse Prevention Plan is a plan in which you look at triggers for affair (eg. drinking, being out of town, arguments in the relationship?) and how to cope without cheating.? When these triggers occur, you know that you are vulnerable to cheating.? Develop a plan for each trigger that will prevent another affair.? Decide, as a couple, how to handle the situations ? this will make you feel like a team again.? For example, if you met the other woman while out of town on business, then consider measures to help you during those times.? The measure could include inviting your partner on trips if appropriate, checking in early or avoiding late night outings or partying.? Tell the victim how she can help ? give her a positive role in the plan and work together.? Celebrate your successes!
7. Behaviors the victim should avoid.?
The victim needs to be aware that some behaviors, while understandable, aren?t good for a relationship.? They include:
1. Playing detective.
Don?t check up, follow him, track his cell phone after the first few weeks or month.? If he is having an affair again, it will come out, but these behaviors will drive the cheater away and become a self fulfilling prophecy.? Initially, yes, it is appropriate and understandable, but after a month you are beating yourself up and risk becoming obsessed.? You can?t control him and have a healthy relationship.
2. Being a victim or a martyr.
?Poor me? or behaving like a doormat doesn?t make you a better person.? No one likes a doormat.? Pick yourself up, shake yourself off and be the strong woman you know you are.? Be the best partner you can be ? if your partner cheats again, you?ll know you did everything you could for the relationship.
3. Using the affair as a weapon in an argument.
You two are arguing about a topic?say where you are going on vacation ? please stay on point.? Stick to the topic of vacations and compromises that are win-win.? Don?t devolve into statements like ?You should go wherever I want to go, after all you?ve put me through.? Or ?We?re going to Tahiti and that?s that.? You owe me.? ??Eventually the cheater will get sick of this false power you hold and begin to resent you ? which is a relationship killer.
4. Refusing to look at their own role in the affair.
Be aware of what you might have contributed to the marital schism. ?The goal is to have the best relationship possible and not to be ?right? to his ?wrong?.? It isn?t the victims fault, but there might be changes needed to make to improve the relationship.? Better communication, more sex, more couple time, getting the kids out of the bed ? these are all examples of ways the victim can assess their needs and work on enhancing their relationship.? This should be done with the partner.
8. Marriage counseling.
The affair is a symptom of something.? It could be a symptom that the cheater is narcissistic or that he has impulse control issues or a drinking problem.?? An affair might be a symptom of specific marriage problems that need to be addressed.? Marriage counseling is a good starting point to determine what caused the affair and how to prevent it from happening again.? After a full analysis, then individual therapy might be indicated to address individual issues.? Marital therapy will help you both be happy in your marriage and prevent these problems from returning.? The goal is to make the relationship so strong, that no one and nothing can come between the two of you again.
About the author
About the author
Carolyn Kelley is a licensed psychotherapist and author who?s been a practicing since 1992.? She has experience in treating individuals, couples and families struggling with a variety of issues including: relationship conflicts, parenting dilemmas, depression, body image, stress and anxiety.?? She?s worked with families in suburban Washington, DC before relocating to south Florida and is currently in private practice in Boca Raton.
Ms. Kelley North has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and Oprah Winfrey Network and is the author of a book on relationships.? The book, How to Win Dates and Influence Relationships was influenced by her cousin?s work, Dale Carnegie!? She currently lives with her husband and two children in south Florida.
To know more about Carolyn, visit her website, www.CarolynKelley.com.
Good luck and follow Carolyn @Savvyshrink for more relationship tips or subscribe to her blog at www.savvyshrink.com.
* We all know that women are equal opportunity offenders, but for easier reading we will refer to the cheater as male and the victim as female.? Furthermore, it is understood that it can take two to create an environment ripe for affairs, but, let?s keep it simple by using the terms cheater and victim.
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Public release date: 30-Aug-2012
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