Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Demi Lovato Reveals Why She Used to Cut Herself

Demi Lovato has been through a lot in the past couple of years, and for the most part she's been open about her past struggles with substance abuse and eating disorders. But she's been relatively quiet about her issues with cutting until now.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/demi-lovato-reveals-why-she-used-cut-herself/1-a-473373?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ademi-lovato-reveals-why-she-used-cut-herself-473373

meteor shower tonight annie oakley edc paranormal activity 4

Advice Of Mobile Web Marketing | articlereference.net

If you are not that sure about what mobile marketing is, or what all would be categorized under it, then you are not alone. There are many people who either did not know that it was its own branch of marketing or they just ignored it. Read this article to obtain a good background about the subject.

To assure the emails you send out are effective, make them mobile friendly! Give them the option of clicking on phone numbers instead of links, and make sure any pages your links take them to look good on a mobile device. More and more people are checking their email from their phones, and emails should be put together with this in mind.

Mobile marketing is one of the most personal ways that you can keep in touch with your customers. This is important to know because you can specialize content directly to the customers that you wish to target. It is a marketing technique that actually shares in the person?s lifestyle.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, avoid large files such as photos in your mobile marketing message. When including a link in the message, make sure to use an URL shortener. These steps will help you keep your message short and concise, which greatly reduces loading time and helps to keep your customer interested.

Ask customers for their cell phone numbers. The easiest way to do this is with your current email subscribers. When they fill out the form to subscribe, you can ask them to add their phone numbers in for alerts or special deals. This is a quick method of gaining new customers for mobile marketing. Visit plush stuffed animals wholesale ? some insights for smart guidelines.

Don?t overdo. Be aware that different people have different mobile pricing plans, so one message from you could put them over their SMS limit; how receptive do you think they?ll be to your messages when you cost them too much money? Send out the fewest mobile messages per day that you can.

Use scannable QR codes to introduce your brand to customers. Link a QR code with a discount or coupon that is only found on the mobile application, product information, short video or another relevant item of value to the user. This is effective at getting customers familiar with your brand.

In conclusion, there are quite a few important tips to consider when it comes to mobile marketing and this article is one of the best sources you could have come across. Just remember everything you learned here and your mobile marketing plan should prove to be a great success.

Check out our web-site for intelligent facts: a background in calgary roofing services & Click Here For Info.

Source: http://articlereference.net/reference-education/advice-of-mobile-web-marketing.html

temptations work hard play hard tim ferriss wmt human nature arkansas football howard johnson

Monday, July 16, 2012

Think U.S. grads have it tough? Meet Europe's class of '12

Athina Prassa in Athens mastered English in four years studying at a private university. It's a skill that may not help her much as she hunts for work while hard-right thugs roam her blighted neighborhood.

Lucy Nicholls in London graduated from fashion school brimming with optimism. It took just a week for real life to step in: She fell victim to a scam that left her broke and desperate for work.

Rafael Gonzalez del Castillo in Madrid has pulled countless all-nighters to win a degree in his passion, architecture, just as Spain's building bust has littered the country with abandoned buildings.

Moira Koffi in Paris left her widowed mom in Normandy for "bohemian life" at the Sorbonne. Now the communications grad is heading into the real world.

Lutz Henschel in Berlin graduated near the top of his class with a degree in electrical engineering in Europe's top economy. Since January he's sent out nearly 40 applications, and is still chasing his dream of working in renewable energies.

Meet AP's Class of 2012: five talented and vibrant university graduates who face a rocky future as they emerge from the cocoon of student life and head into the worst economic crisis Europe has seen since the end of World War II, one that threatens to engulf an entire generation.

They're excited. They're scared. They're full of hope. And full of uncertainty.

The Associated Press will follow them over the next 12 months as their lives unfold in the crisis ? through text, photo and video dispatches, as well as webcam diaries and tweets straight from the graduates themselves. The tapestry of their lives will help illuminate the story of Europe's crisis itself, as their futures are shaped by the continent's soaring youth unemployment, corrosive debt, migration trends and aging population.

Europe's turmoil has profound implications for the future of young people everywhere. After all, the European Union is this interconnected world's biggest economy, and it's struggling badly.

Austerity is eroding an envied way of life. Long-cherished certainties about cradle-to-grave welfare are evaporating. As leaders scramble to extinguish one debt fire after another, the futures of ordinary people grow dimmer.

Europe's rapidly graying societies are creating even more of a burden on this generation of young people who are finding it so hard to carve out a future.

Those twin crises will challenge Lutz as he leaves his studies in Europe's strongest economy, even with its low youth unemployment rate of 8 percent.

They will haunt Lucy and Moira in Britain and France, where more than a fifth of all young people are unemployed.

Athina and Rafa worry they'll have to move abroad to survive. In Greece and Spain, youth unemployment is above 50 percent.

"I don't think this time is suitable for fulfilling your dreams," Athina says. "That can happen later."

This is the AP Class of 2012:

ATHINA PRASSA, 22

"Want to see my fridge?" Athina asks a visitor.

She's a natural optimist but it's hard to keep up the cheer as she gazes at the lonely milk carton and container of butter on empty shelves.

"There are days," she says, "where I forget what it's like to eat meat."

Athina left her family home on the island of Lemnos four years ago to study at the private Hellenic-American University in Athens. Her parents were able to pay for her studies but not much more. It meant she ended up in a crime-ridden neighborhood notorious for its extreme-right thugs, where she lives rent-free in an apartment owned by her godmother.

Her parents sent her 100 euros ($120) a week at first, then cut it back to half that when they couldn't afford more.

Now she's on her own.

"My parents can't send me money anymore to live here," she says. "I'm really scared about the future."

She longs to work in Athens but is worried the crisis will force her to leave Greece.

She says the hard times, brought on by years of profligate spending in Greece, have taught her some valuable lessons: "It's funny, but I think the crisis has turned me into a better person, because I definitely hate money right now. ... I see how people go crazy about money."

She despises the anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party that roams her neighborhood.

Through all the turmoil, Athina still holds onto her dreams. She wants to work in fashion. She wants to backpack around Europe. She wants to visit America.

And she still manages to have fun with her friends in Athens ? which she calls "a jungle" ? by taking advantage of the beaches and free concerts and art exhibitions.

At a recent gallery event, Athina stood staring at a photograph of a demolition site. Spray-painted over it in red was one word: FUTURE.

LUCY NICHOLLS, 22

Lucy sits against a backdrop of rose-patterned wallpaper emblazoned with the word "Wish," the name of the fashion magazine that's her graduation project.

She's presenting it at a London show called RAW to launch Middlesex University fashion grads like herself, exuding a mixture of confidence and jitters.

The fashionista with artsy glasses and bright red hair has paid a Lithuanian company 2,000 pounds ($1,550) to print 500 copies of WISH, which she's planning to ship to customers.

She concedes her optimism verges on the "cocky."

But she also has a dose of realism: "I'm going to need money very soon. Luckily the magazine is going to bring in a tiny, weeny little bit ... But I'm going to need a job pretty soon, that's for sure."

A week later, disaster strikes: The printing company has gone bust and disappeared with her money.

Now she's broke and needs a job fast: "I realize because of this catastrophe with the magazine I need work now. I really, really need to be making money."

The setback doesn't keep her down for long: She's picked up some freelance photography work for a London PR agency that's helping her pay the bills. Meanwhile, she has revamped her resume to wade into her first real job hunt.

Lucy says her teachers didn't prepare her for life: "We don't get told anything about industry or the real world. We didn't ever get told about what jobs were really out there."

Half-English, half-French, Lucy comes from a rural town in Surrey, south of London. She says her father warned her about how hard life can be: "You have to be prepared to be living off beans."

Fluent in French, she says she could try Paris for a while ? but things aren't much better there, and in any case she sees her future in the British capital.

"I've been told by everybody London is where it's at, London is where you've got to be."

RAFAEL GONZALEZ DEL CASTILLO, 24

Rafael ? or Rafa as everyone calls him ? is a budding architect in a nation that's gone through one of the worst building busts in modern times.

He loves his field. He loves Spain. But he fears his future lies abroad.

Like millions of other young Spaniards trapped in the nation's devastating economic spiral, he says he'll jump at any opportunity for rewarding work ? be it in Sudan, Chile, Alaska or Mongolia.

He just presented his final project ? a design for urban greenhouses and terraced farmland on the marshy banks of a river ? at Madrid's Polytechnic University. If it's approved by a jury, he'll officially be an architect in October.

Then what? A stroll through the wasteland.

The construction industry was crushed by the implosion of a real estate bubble in 2008. It's ground zero of Spain's economic crisis, with more than 1 million jobs lost in that industry alone.

Rafa, however, keeps on dreaming.

An actor in the university drama troupe, he talks a mile a minute with charm and eloquence, gushing enthusiasm for his chosen profession. He loves his studies so much he'd do it all over again ? despite the doom that hangs over the industry.

Rafa refuses to believe that after a five-year journey through one of Spain's most demanding schools, what awaits him is the edge of a cliff and a plunge into the dead-end jobs in bars or supermarkets that many of his fellow college grads are taking up to get by.

He breaks into this riff: "Since I was little, they told me, 'when you get to middle school, you will fail some subjects.' I did not fail. 'When you get to high school, your grades will go down.' They did not. 'When you get to university, you will fail.' OK, I have failed a few subjects, but I got by. So I do not want to be told again that there is not going to be any work. I simply do not believe it.

"It all depends on me."

Gonzalez is not angry about his plight. He says everybody in Spain is to blame ? consumers hooked on loans, banks that threw around the money, politicians who sat back and watched it all inflate dangerously.

"In the end," he says, "it is all of us at least a little bit."

MOIRA KOFFI, 22

Moira worries if she'll have a job when she gets back from vacation in Greece.

She worries about how she'll live in Paris once she has to leave student housing.

Above all ? following big gains by far-right parties in France, Greece and elsewhere ? the African-French communications grad worries about a racist wave engulfing Europe: "It's like the 1930s again. I don't get why people can recreate this atmosphere of hate and fear. It's crazy."

Moira just handed in her thesis at the Sorbonne, capping three years of study.

She started out as a journalism major, but switched to corporate communications when crisis hit in 2008.

"I wanted to be a journalist, but then I heard about everyone who couldn't find jobs," Moira says.

But by the time she graduated the downturn had expanded, and now half of France's new graduates have no work.

"Can it get any worse?" she says with a wry laugh. "Well, maybe if the European Union explodes."

Moira has had time to come to terms with the crisis. Its start coincided with her move to Paris four years ago. Leaving her widowed mother teaching school in a small town in Normandy, Moira made her way in the capital as countless young students have before her, counting her centimes and enjoying "la vie boheme" ? bohemian life.

The Sorbonne helped her find a short-term apprenticeship at a public relations agency, where she handles social media campaigns.

The four-day-a-week job ends in September. She wants to stay on, but there are no guarantees.

Moira budgets carefully, keeping expenses to around 600 euros ($750) a month. She goes out less than she did when she first moved to Paris, taking up hobbies like dressmaking and baking muffins. Her most recent creation? A "beautiful and classy" black dress. It's nearly finished after six months of work.

LUTZ HENSCHEL, 27

Lutz picks up his diploma in a soaring hall adorned with a sculpture of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. He savors a glass of champagne. Listens to the music.

With a masters in electrical engineering in Germany, Europe's most successful economy, he knows his prospects are brighter than those of millions of other university graduates across the continent.

But since finishing his studies in January, Lutz has sent out nearly 40 applications and been through about 15 interviews, only to keep hitting a brick wall.

"At the beginning I felt disappointed because I believed that I was the reason for the rejections," he says. "But now I think that a lot of companies have too high expectations."

Even facing a shortage of skilled workers, elite German companies have been notoriously unwilling to hire students straight out of university. Lutz sees himself trapped in a Catch-22: "They expect a graduate to have specific knowledge and experiences which I think is impossible to have right after graduation."

The Berlin native who teaches karate on the side dreams of a job in renewable energy.

This month he took a six-hour train journey south for an interview with German engineering giant Bosch.

Two days later, it was an hour-and-a-half train ride north for an interview with a German-Danish company that builds wind farms.

He's confident that the latest interview went well: He got to talk to real engineers, not just HR reps.

"It's a little bit discouraging at first, because everyone is saying, 'you are sought so much, you're an electrical engineer, everyone wants you,'" Lutz says. "But then you get out, and it's not true."

On the eve of the launch of Class of 2012, Lutz's fortunes turn. He sends out this tweet:

"I got my first official job offer! I will stay in Berlin, building elevators."

Developing electric circuits for elevators is a far cry from Lutz's ambition of making the world a better place through green technologies, but it's a start.

"How awesome," he tweets.

___

This story was reported by Efty Katsareas, Theodora Tongas and Elena Becatoros in Athens; Cassandra Vinograd and Tom Rayner in London; Greg Keller in Paris; Daniel Woolls and Hernan Munoz Ratto in Madrid; Kerstin Sopke and David Rising in Berlin. It was written by Joji Sakurai in London.

___

Follow The Class of 2012 on the AP Big Story page:

http://bigstory.ap.org/topic/class-2012

___

Follow The Class of 2012 on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/AP/class-of-2012

More video from Yahoo! News:

Global Markets Update: Euro Continues to WeakenCNBC's Kelly Evans reports on all the market moving events from Europe, including a look at equities; weighed down by earnings worries.


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/class-2012-5-europe-grads-face-rocky-future-103458282--finance.html

johan santana viktor bout ncaa hockey role models ferdinand porsche gregg williams theraflu

770,000 Users Demand YouTube-to-MP3 Conversion

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/770-000-users-demand-youtube-mp3-conversion-162639737.html

made in america icam patrice o neal. osteopathy osteopathy diphtheria diphtheria

Car Racing Video games Air Max Pas Cher For the Computer system

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://offers2book.com/2012/07/car-racing-video-games-air-max-pas-cher-for-the-computer-system

masters 2012 andy kaufman tom watson kawasaki disease resurrection masters tickets one direction

Sunday, July 15, 2012

A visit to the Grand Mosque of Rome

YoutubeJuly 15, 2012. (Romereports.com)?Italy has become the home to a growing number of immigrants from Northern Africa. Many of them come in search of work and a new life. With them they bring their language, culture, and also their religion. Many of them are Muslim and find a place to worship at the Great Mosque of Rome.

Dr. Abdullah Ridwan is the head of the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy. Since 1998 he has worked to help these new immigrants build a new way of life. He says in the past decade the numbers of Muslim immigrants has sharply increased in Italy.

Dr. Abdullah Ridwan

Secretary General, Islamic Cultural Center of Italy

?Between 2003 and 2010 the Muslim population was doubled, it passed from 600,000 to 1.2 million in the space of ten years.?

The Arab Spring of 2011 created hundreds of thousands of refugees, as they fled to escape the sometimes violent revolts that took hold in much of the Middle East. Many of these refugees fled to nearby Italy.?

Dr. Abdullah Ridwan

Secretary General, Islamic Cultural Center of Italy

?With the Arab Spring, there was approximately 50,000 people that arrived here because of those changes that took place in Tunisia and in particular in Libya.?

Besides welcoming new members of Muslim community, the Mosque of Rome is also open to visitors and tourist throughout the year. On this tour a group of Italian school children learned about the common Abrahamic roots of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.?

Dr. Abdullah Ridwan

Secretary General, Islamic Cultural Center of Italy

?You can see that groups of school children come here to visit and to learn about our religion, to learn about Islam, but also in a way open oneself to others, to facilitate this knowledge, and this way of living together.?

In one year the Mosque receives between sixty and eighty thousand visitors. It serves not only as a house of worship and meeting place for Muslims, but also a way for others to learn about the Islamic faith.?

AE

FF

JM

PR

Source: http://www.romereports.com/palio/a-visit-to-the-grand-mosque-of-rome-english-7296.html

new years wake forest wake forest old dominion insync the duchess the duchess

DaveZABC5: RT @Ourand_SBJ: This NYT story, on Paterno cutting a sweetheart deal as the scandal played out, will dominate sports talk radio today. h ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/DaveZABC5/statuses/224182510454710272

the shins atomic clock daylight savings time john mccain game changer selection sunday corned beef recipe

Movie Review: 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' a Perfectly Mediocre Film ...

Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano), Diego the Sabertooth Tiger (Denis Leary), and Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) get stuck on a giant ice cube in "Ice Age: Continental Drift."

Our gang of misfits runs into Pirate Captain Gutt (voiced by Peter Dinklage) on board the iceberg. This is followed by laughs, some slapstick and a few musical numbers.

There's nothing in any way really awful about "Ice Age: Continental Drift" in 3D, just as there's no particular reason to recommend it. These guys just want to get off this iceberg and go home. As family offerings go, it's perfectly mediocre.?

This fourth installment in the "Ice Age" series continues to distort geological history here on Earth. Our planet's original great big single continent began to break up and drift apart into the modern continents a few hundred million years before any of these creatures evolved, but never mind. This is no time to start putting the series to the test of realism.

The Flick-O-Meter gives "Ice Age: Continental Drift" a three out of five. The movie is as comfortable and predictable as any Saturday morning cartoon but the laughs here are starting to feel a bit prehistoric.

Let me know what you think. Head to my Facebook page. It's called TheBrettside, and click like.

See this locally at Carmike Cinemas 12 in Snellville.

Source: http://snellville.patch.com/articles/movie-review-ice-age-continental-drift-a-perfectly-mediocre-film-for-whole-family

capybara duggars peter facinelli bobby rush supreme court justices 19 kids and counting danny o brien

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Children of NYC mom who killed husband pen book

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2011 file photo, Barbara Sheehan leaves a New York courtroom as her trial breaks for the day. Sheehan, who was accused of fatally shooting her retired police officer husband, was eventually acquitted of murder when the jury believed that she shot him in self-defense. Sheehan?s adult children have written a book about their mother?s ordeal entitled, ?In Bed With the Badge: The Barbara Sheehan Story.? The book will be published Tuesday, July 17, 2012, through Changing Lives Press, and also as an e-book. (AP Photo/Rick Maiman, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2011 file photo, Barbara Sheehan leaves a New York courtroom as her trial breaks for the day. Sheehan, who was accused of fatally shooting her retired police officer husband, was eventually acquitted of murder when the jury believed that she shot him in self-defense. Sheehan?s adult children have written a book about their mother?s ordeal entitled, ?In Bed With the Badge: The Barbara Sheehan Story.? The book will be published Tuesday, July 17, 2012, through Changing Lives Press, and also as an e-book. (AP Photo/Rick Maiman, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2011 file photo, Raymond Sheehan, the son of Barbara Sheehan, leaves a New York courtroom as proceedings in his mother?s murder trial break for the day. Believing that she shot and killed Raymond?s abusive father in self-defense, the jury went on to acquit his mother on the murder charge. Raymond and his sister, Jennifer, have written a book about their mother?s ordeal entitled, ?In Bed With the Badge: The Barbara Sheehan Story.? The book will be published Tuesday, July 17, 2012, through Changing Lives Press, and also as an e-book. (AP Photo/Rick Maiman, File)

(AP) ? Jennifer and Raymond Sheehan say their lives changed forever ? for the better ? the day their mother shot their retired police officer father to death.

Neither witnessed the shooting on Feb. 18, 2008. When they got the call, they expected to hear that their mother was dead. They figured her end was only a matter of time after years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their father, Raymond Sr.

So when Raymond Jr. learned it was his dad who was dead, he felt an immense relief. "Like a weight lifted off my shoulders," he said.

But there was more stress to come. Their mother, Barbara, would be tried for murder and their family's dark, disturbing secrets would be cracked open in court.

Less than a year after Barbara Sheehan was acquitted for fatally shooting her husband 11 times at their Queens home, her children have published a book about the ordeal.

"In Bed With the Badge: The Barbara Sheehan Story" goes on sale Tuesday. It details her life and descent into abuse and despair, and includes notes and recollections from Raymond and Jennifer and from family friends who witnessed the abuse.

The two siblings said they focused the account on their mother ? and not their own experience ? because they hoped her story would serve as a cautionary tale for other abused women and help them see the early warning signs.

"Going through everything after my mom killed my father, living their experiences, we wanted to show other people the importance of getting out of a bad relationship before it's too late," Raymond Sheehan said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The 22-year-old took the stand in his mother's defense last fall during the trial, which was much more difficult than writing the book, he said. He was grilled on his childhood and admitted on the stand that he thought of suicide, telling of horrific memories where his mother was burned by scalding pasta sauce thrown by his angry father.

"All the personal stuff came out in the trial. That was the big thing," he said. "The book felt almost easy."

The trial was brutal for the family. Jennifer and Raymond took leave from school and from work to be with their mother, who was out on bail after mortgaging two family homes. Aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends filled the courtroom seats, many donning purple ? the color for domestic violence.

And dirty laundry was aired. Jurors heard of the elder Raymond's consistent threats, his physical and verbal abuse, and bizarre sexual habits he forced on his wife, as Barbara and her children testified that he created a culture of fear at home. They said they never told anyone, especially the police, because he said he would kill them if they did.

Prosecutors argued Barbara was a woman happy with her life and a willing participant in her husband's sexual proclivities. They suggested she killed her husband for money. Friends testified the couple seemed normal and happy, and they did not suspect anything violent at home.

But the elder Raymond's children said the 49-year-old former police sergeant put on a nicer face for the public.

In their book, the siblings explore the question of why their mother would stay with an abusive man for more than 20 years. They interviewed her about her past and learned of his manipulative behavior as far back as the first dates.

"I think after this all happened and she realized how bad the psychological and physical abuse was that she was going through even then, she started thinking back and realizing 'Oh, this wasn't normal,'" said Jennifer Sheehan, 26.

The 250-page book includes a robust appendix. "Domestic Violence, How to get Help, Cops as Abusers and other statistics" is designed to give readers some helpful tools, Jennifer Sheehan said.

"We want people to know the signs of what an abuser is and what they do to control you, even from the very beginning," she said.

Raymond is getting married and will be in graduate school in New York in the fall. Jennifer lives in San Diego and works as an oncology nurse. Barbara Sheehan, 50, convicted on one weapons charge and sentenced to 5? years in prison, is out on bail while appealing her conviction.

Barbara Sheehan didn't comment for this story. Her children said she was happy with the book.

A call to Raymond Sheehan's brother Vincent was not returned.

Changing Lives Press is the book publisher. The book costs $24.99. It also will be available as an e-book.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-14-Retired%20Officer%20Killed/id-d2fd5b3b219d40958c31dd52721f6244

greg halman greg halman dancing with the stars results ucla basketball walmart black friday sales walmart black friday sales michelle obama booed at nascar

Journalist union supports RMN mediamen on strike

Friday, July 13, 2012

THE National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said it supports the RMN-Davao Employees Union (RDEU) as they wage a strike to push their just demands for better pay and working conditions.

The RDEU strike came after almost two years of fending off management?s attempts to deprive the union of recognition and then spurning negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement.

Post your condolences to Dolphy's family

If anything, the RDEU has shown uncommon patience in the face of management?s callousness to the workers? just demands that it took them this long to finally mount their strike.

What the RDEU is asking for ? a total of P99,000 monthly in wage increases for all workers, plus improved benefits ? is but a drop in RMN Davao?s P24-million monthly earnings.

?It is clear that sheer greed is behind RMN?s refusal to sit down with the workers to discuss their demands. We call on all journalists to stand by our colleagues in the RDEU and to follow their example by organizing and likewise demand their due,? the NUJP said.

It also waged a call on all media companies to look after the welfare of their workers and provide them with humane compensation and working conditions, as well as assure their safety on risky coverage.

?The measure of a free press is not only in its ability to freely deliver accurate and timely information to the people, something that Filipino journalists and media workers have never stopped doing despite the physical threats and economic deprivations they face, but when those who work in media can do so free of fear for their safety and well-being,? the NUJP added.

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on July 14, 2012.

Sun.Star on social media

DISCLAIMER: Sun.Star website welcomes friendly debate, but comments posted on this site do not necessary reflect the views of the Sun.Star management and its affiliates. Sun.Star reserves the right to delete, reproduce or modify comments posted here without notice. Posts that are inappropriate will automatically be deleted.

Forum rules: Do not use obscenity. Some words have been banned. Stick to the topic. Do not veer away from the discussion. Be coherent and respectful. Do not shout or use CAPITAL LETTERS!

Source: http://rss.sunstar.com.ph/~r/SunStarCagayanDeOro/~3/L8lp1kX47Qw/journalist-union-supports-rmn-mediamen-strike-231851

lance armstrong george lopez bedtime stories micron susan g komen kenyon martin kenyon martin

Assad troops accused of new massacre of 150 Syrians

Syrian troops with tanks and helicopters slaughtered more than 150 people in a central village, rights activists said on Friday, prompting the opposition to call for urgent UN intervention.

Reports of the massacre came after UN Security Council ambassadors held their first talks on rival Russian and Western draft resolutions on Syria, with Moscow spurning calls for sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

No progress was reported, with a July 20 deadline looming. That is the end date of the mandate for the UN mission to the conflict-stricken country, where activists say more than 17,000 people have died since March 2011.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government troops had on Thursday massacred more than 150 people in Treimsa village, while a rebel leader put the toll at more than 200.

If confirmed, the killing at Treimsa in the central province of Hama would rival the massacre at Houla on May 25, when a pro-Assad militia and government forces were accused of killing at least 108 people.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by telephone that the bodies of 30 villagers had already been identified following the sustained attack, which brought Thursday's total death toll in the conflict-torn nation to well over 200.

"Some are estimating higher numbers, but even at around 150, especially considering how small the town is, this might be the biggest massacre committed in Syria since the start of the revolution," he said.

"The army must have got the green light to commit a massacre of this scale, and I bear President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the killing."

The Syrian National Council, the main opposition alliance, urged the UN Security Council to pass a binding resolution against Assad's regime.

"To stop this bloody madness which threatens the entity of Syria, as well as peace and the security in the region and in the world, requires an urgent and sharp resolution of the Security Council under Chapter VII (of the UN Charter) which protects the Syrian people," said.

Chapter VII allows for punitive measures against regimes considered a threat to the peace, including economic sanctions and military intervention.

Syria meanwhile accused "bloodthirsty media" and "terrorist gangs" of being behind the massacre.

"The bloodthirsty media in collaboration with gangs of armed terrorists massacred residents of Treimsa village ... to sway public opinion against Syria and its people and provoke international intervention on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting," state-run news agency SANA said.

Rebel leader Abu Mohamad, chief of a group based further to the north of Treimsa, said the attack using helicopters, tanks and multiple rocket-launchers had killed more than 200 people in the village.

Abu Mohamad said he had been in phone contact with a resident of Treimsa who told him that government forces were on hills a few kilometres (miles) outside the town.

The army and the shabiha, pro-regime militia who are said to accompany troops to make sure they do not desert, started to bombard Treimsa Thursday around 11:00 am (0800 GMT) and finished around 9:00 pm, according to Abu Mohamad.

But a Hama-based activist who identified himself as Abu Ghazi said via Skype that regime troops started shelling the village earlier, at around 6:00 am.

"That was followed by clashes with the (rebel) Free Syrian Army, but the FSA does not have a big presence in Treimsa and could not fight long," said the activist.

"The number of martyrs is very high partly because the army shelled a mosque where scores of people had taken shelter, to treat the wounded and hide from the bombs."

The village, which had a population of 7,000, he said, "is empty now. Everyone is dead or has run away."

"Almost 30 army vehicles arrived, and surrounded the village completely. There wasn't a single way out," said Ibrahim, another activist from Treimsa. "Anyone who tried to escape through the fields was shot."

Pro-regime militiamen from neighbouring Alawite villages entered Treimsa after the army raided it, Ibrahim said via Skype. "After the shelling, the army came in with light weapons, and the shabiha followed, armed with knives."

Clashes inside the besieged village were vicious, he said, noting that "whole families were killed. There was a real street war for several hours."

Treimsa is located near Qubeir, where at least 55 people were killed on July 6, according to the Observatory. Like Qubeir, Treimsa is a majority Sunni town situated near Alawite villages.

President Assad belongs to the Alawite community -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- although the vast majority of Syrians are Sunni.

Protests broke out across Syria to protest the latest killings in Treimsa, according to amateur videos posted on YouTube by activists.

In New York, the UN Security Council wrangled over a resolution on the future of the troubled UN mission in Syria.

Russia and the Western powers have proposed rival resolutions on renewing the UN mission in Syria and securing the implementation of the peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

The Security Council must hold a vote before the mandate of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, or UNSMIS, runs out next week.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-troops-massacre-over-150-says-rights-group-041041428.html

huntsville al channel 2 news adrienne bailon yelp stock honda classic news channel 5 nashville weather

Using Online Marketing Tactics For Your Products And Services ...

Sometimes, a person gets an idea that can be put into a business model. With the internet developing a business based on an idea, it has never been easier. This article contains tips to help you market your business on the web.

Make sure to take advantage of social media to grow your customer base. Creating a Facebook page allows your customers to provide you with feedback that you can use and that other customers can see. Twitter is a great site that allows you to have informal dialogue with your customers.

Think of a service or some way to help people out that come to your site. Users will come to your site just to get your free offer and if your site is appealing, they may want to use your service. For example, if you have a financial website, consider providing a tax return calculator.

One way to get people to click on your ads is to come up with a discrete image which includes a link to a page that includes a description of the item you wish to sell. Ensure you use the font that you use in your articles and linking it. It will look less like an obvious and ad and more like an integral part of the page.

Put yourself in your customers? shoes. What do they want to gain from visiting your website? Meeting (or even exceeding)their expectations will increase sales of your product. Ask for objective opinions on your site. Ask people you know or get some advice from a forum. It is very important that you do plenty of research and construct a site that will help people get what they want.

Locating the right niche for marketing your web-based business is of the utmost importance. You will have a difficult time selling something to someone that shows absolutely no interest in what you are offering. Well, you may, but the point is that someone who wants to buy baseball cards will look in a different area than someone looking for old Star Wars toys. Knowing who is interested in the product you are selling and spending your effort on attracting them to your business is the smart thing to do.

Make your customers aware of your privacy policy and let them know how you will protect their confidential information. People tend to avoid sending personal information online, so let customers know their personal information is secure.

A simple Internet marketing tip for anyone is to allow your customers to pay for items at a wholesale price if they buy enough of them. You should always be making money on wholesale items you?re selling and it great for increasing the amount you sell.

One way to increase the number of customer contacts is to develop a page asking for email addresses. It encourages visitors to share their email address. It could be a free promotional offer or a discount in return for their email address and name. Then they will receive something useful, and you can put them on your email list.

As this article has shown there are many things to consider when it comes to Internet marketing. The best measure of success is repeated success, and that is true of small businesses and big businesses alike. Every business starts from somewhere, and you can use these tips to start a solid business starting today.

Be sure to visit our friends at SIVA Marketing.

Source: http://internetmarketingforcash.com/?p=1134

channing tatum the vow review luol deng culkin wooly mammoth no child left behind no child left behind

Friday, July 13, 2012

Via illegal cellphone call, North Korean brother reaches out to his South Korean sister

Two siblings reconnected when one took a huge risk to ask for financial help. It is estimated that about $10 million flows into South Korea each year as defectors reach out to try to assist their families.

By Ju-min Park,?Reuters / July 11, 2012

A North Korean defector living in South Korea who requested to be known only by surname, Im, and her whole face not to be photographed, uses her mobile phone during an interview at her office in Seoul. The woman is one of the 23,000 defectors living in the South, with which the North remains technically at war after an armistice ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Lee Jae-Won/Reuters

Enlarge

In May this year, a North Korean defector in her 40s took a call from an unknown number at her office in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

It was from her brother, who she had not seen for more than a decade, calling illegally from North Korea after tracking her down.

He was speaking from a remote mountainside near the border with China, and was in dire need of money to help treat another sister's late stage cancer, she said.

Accompanied by a Chinese broker, the brother had spent five hours climbing up the mountain, avoiding North Korean security and desperately searching for a signal on a Chinese mobile telephone. Contact with anyone in the South is punishable by death in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated states.

The broker was part of a growing group of people, mostly Chinese of Korean descent, who use ties on both sides of the border to funnel money to the North, an illegal and highly dangerous operation.

At first, the defector in the South suspected a trick and demanded the caller answer a question that only her brother could know the answer to.

"I asked him to tell me the name of the train station where we were separated. I am now 40 and we were separated when I was 26," she said, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals against her family. "Then he said he needed money."

Next morning, she wired 15,000 yuan ($2,400) to the broker's account at a bank in China, near the border. His wife confirmed receipt of the funds, informed her husband, and the defector's brother got money in North Korea, a state where the average income is estimated at just $1,200 a year.

Brokers typically charge up to 30 percent fees for such transactions, but by and large, they work well.

"I heard it only took 15 minutes for my brother to get the money (after funds were wired)," said the defector, who is officially listed as dead in North Korea. "Two days later, my brother called me back saying 'Thank you. We will spend your money wisely'."

The woman is one of the 23,000 defectors living in South Korea, with which the North remains technically at war after an armistice ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Some 70 percent send money home to the country they fled, says the Organization for One Korea, a South Korean support and research institute on North Korean defectors. Annual flows are estimated at $10 million a year as defectors try to help out families in a country where many are malnourished and lack access to basic healthcare.

CHINA CONNECTION

Most of the funds flow through China, North Korea's main diplomatic ally and trading partner. With North and South Korea divided by a demilitarized zone, China provides the only land entry into the isolated nation other than a little-used crossing into remote eastern Russia.

There is a two million strong ethnic Korean population in the Chinese provinces near the border and that generally provides the entry point for the southern money, defectors in Seoul said.

Incoming funds from South Korea have become so significant that they have been dubbed the "Mount Halla Stream", named after the tallest mountain in South Korea, said Kang Cheol-hwan, the author of "The Aquariums of Pyongyang," a survivor's account of North Korean gulags.

This has helped offset a decline in funds from ethnic Koreans living in Japan that dominated in the mid-1980s and was known as the "Mount Fuji Stream".

"In the past, pro-Pyongyang people in Japan and some Korean Americans sent money but they grew old and strong sanctions from Japan also took a toll. So the generation providing remittances has changed and it is now the defectors in South Korea who are doing it," said Kang.

Kang declined to comment whether he too sends money home.

Not much is known about how the average North Korean copes, but the country is one of the poorest in the world.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/0owpjqen-og/Via-illegal-cellphone-call-North-Korean-brother-reaches-out-to-his-South-Korean-sister

hatchet leah messer freedom riders 9th circuit court of appeals gisele bundchen tom brady randy travis arrested dickens

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Fossil turtle from Colombia round like car tire

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Paleontologist Carlos Jaramillo's group at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and colleagues at North Carolina State University and the Florida Museum of Natural History discovered a new species of fossil turtle that lived 60 million years ago in what is now northwestern South America. The team's findings were published in the Journal of Paleontology.

The new turtle species is named Puentemys mushaisaensis because it was found in La Puente pit in Cerrej?n Coal Mine, a place made famous for the discoveries, not only of the extinct Titanoboa, the world's biggest snake, but also of Carbonemys, a freshwater turtle as big as a smart car.

Cerrejon's fossil reptiles all seem to be extremely large. With its total length of 5 feet, Puentemys adds to growing evidence that following the extinction of the dinosaurs, tropical reptiles were much bigger than they are now. Fossils from Cerrejon offer an excellent opportunity to understand the origins of tropical biodiversity in the last 60 million years of Earth's history.

The most peculiar feature of this new turtle is its extremely circular shell, about the size and shape of a big car tire. Edwin Cadena, post-doctoral fellow at North Carolina State University and lead author of the paper, said that the turtle's round shape could have discouraged predators, including Titanoboa, and aided in regulating its body temperature.

The width of the turtle's shell probably exceeded the maximum expansion of the Titanoboa's mouth. Its circular, low-domed shape would have increased the area of the body exposed to the sun, helping the cold-blooded turtle warm to a temperature at which it was more active.

###

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: http://www.stri.org

Thanks to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 31 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/121666/Fossil_turtle_from_Colombia_round_like_car_tire

victoria azarenka the flintstones etta james ufc on fox evans vs davis fast times at ridgemont high fast times at ridgemont high

Carribean parasite named after Bob Marley. Could it be loved?

Gnathia marleyi, a tiny crustacean that lives of the blood of fish, has been named for the Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley.?

By Deborah Zabarenko,?Reuters / July 11, 2012

A Caribbean fish, known as the French grunt, that is infested with gnathiids is pictured in this handout photo supplied by the National Science Foundation. The late reggae musician Bob Marley has given his name to a species of parasitic crustacean that infests fish in Caribbean coral reefs. The species is now known as Gnathia marleyi.

Elizabeth Brill/National Science Foundation/Reuters

Enlarge

Reggae immortal Bob Marley has joined Barack Obama and Elvis Presley in the elite club of those who have biological species named in their honor.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

In Marley's case, it's a small parasitic crustacean blood feeder that infests fish in Caribbean coral reefs, now known as Gnathia marleyi.

"I named this species, which is truly a natural wonder, after Marley because of my respect and admiration for Marley's music," Paul Sikkel, a marine biologist at Arkansas State University, said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Plus, this species is as uniquely Caribbean as Marley."

Young Gnathia marleyi hide among coral rubble, sea sponges or algae, launching surprise attacks on fish, which they then infest, eating enough to fuel their growth to adulthood.

Adults don't eat at all, Sikkel said, but manage to survive for two to three weeks on their last feedings as juveniles.

Caribbean coral reefs are vulnerable to diseases, and Sikkel said his team is studying the relationship between the health of coral reef communities and gnathiid populations.

Gnathiids, like the species named for Marley, are the most common external parasites found on coral reefs. They are ecologically similar to land-based, blood-sucking ticks or disease-carrying mosquitoes, the biologist said.

Bob Marley, who died in 1981, was an iconic exponent of the Jamaican-born music known as reggae. One of his standards is "No Woman, No Cry."

President Obama has a lichen named for him and Elvis has a wasp.

Sikkel and his research team described all the life stages of Gnathia marleyi in the current edition of the journal Zootaxia. The research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/_TAozbYmzR8/Carribean-parasite-named-after-Bob-Marley.-Could-it-be-loved

bryce harper may day paulina gretzky paulina gretzky stoudemire jordan hill tony nominations

With 50,000 Videographers, PopTent Raises $5.5 Million From MK Capital To CrowdSource Ads

poptent-250x250High-quality video ads can be expensive to produce, running in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, depending on the ad format. But rather than hire a production agency to do their dirty work, Poptent proposes a better way for agencies and brands looking to produce video ads and other messaging: Crowdsource them. And it's raised a $5.5 million round of funding led by MK Capital to get more advertisers and videographers on board. Poptent has built a platform for crowdsourcing videos from users around the world, which allows brands and agencies to submit various assignments and receive finished videos in return. It's also got a pretty huge network of videographers from around the world -- more than 50,000 from 140 different countries -- who can respond to those assignments, giving advertisers plenty of content to choose from.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/AWGFW7UZJzg/

new years ball drop new years rockin eve new york times square jaws first night ball drop dick clark new years eve

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

ART & ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF 11/7 ? TalkVietnam

National Traditional Boat Races closes

The host team from Quang Tri won first prize in the National Traditional Boat Races on the Thach Han River, which wrapped up on July 10.

The winning team earned seven gold, three silver and four bronze medals. The team from Binh Thuan came in second and An Giang placed third.

This year?s event attracted 240 athletes from seven teams across the country to compete in 200-metre, 500-metre and 1,000-metre races for 18 sets of medals.

The race is part of the framework of the National Tourism Year Northern Central Coastal Area 2012.

Youth Theatre introduces Korean traditional music to Vietnam

A Korean traditional music programme titled ?Cookin? NANTA? will be held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from July 20-29.

Four artists cast as cooks will play household utensils as musical instruments and later instruct a nephew of the manager to cook and make a wedding cake for the party.

The event is organized by the Youth Theatre of Vietnam in co-ordination with the Republic of Korea (RoK)?s Sejung-pia Company to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties.

Photographic exhibition on Vietnam-Laos friendship

Sixty photos of Laos? land and people and Laos-Vietnam friendship will be displayed at the Vietnam Exhibition Centre for Culture and Arts in Hanoi next week.

The exhibition will be held during Lao Cultural Days (July 17-19) to celebrate the 2012 Year of Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Solidarity, the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Laos, and the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty.

On this occasion, there will be cultural, art and sports activities; as well as seminars and forums on trade, investment and tourism promotion.

Photography camp opens in northern region

The photography camp for northern mountainous provinces opened on Sunday in Dien Bien Phu City, Dien Bien Province.

Forty members of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists (VAPA) from 15 provinces and cities are attending the camp, representing Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Son La, Yan Bai, Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Bac Can, Lang Son, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc.

The eight-day camp offers a series of programmes including sightseeing and workshops, aiming to inspire participants to create high quality literary and artistic works featuring the lives of the local people.

The event, sponsored by the VAPA and the Dien Bien provincial Literature and Arts Association, provides an opportunity for VAPA members in the region to meet each other and exchange experiences and ideas.

The organising board will select 80 of the best photos to display at an exhibition promoting tourism in the region.

A life beyond the streets

On July 22, the Sozo cafe on Bui Vien will host an art exhibition featuring, amongst others, the work of new Saigon artist, Le Huynh Minh Hieu. Aimed at raising money for the Green Bamboo Shelter for At Risk Boys, the exhibition will mark a further step in a remarkable journey for Hieu.

Hieu came to Saigon, aged 12, from Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta five years ago. After spending some time living on the streets and earning a living finding work repairing and painting motorbikes, Hieu was taken to the Green Bamboo Shelter on Calmette Street by a concerned xe om driver. It was here, during one of the shelter?s many educational projects, that Hieu discovered his love of ? and talent for ? painting. While all the boys enjoyed learning to paint, it was Hieu who showed the most commitment; sometimes going as far as staying up all night to finish work on a painting.

Hieu?s enthusiasm and skill is there to see in all of his canvasses. In his painting, Hieu seems to find a confidence that most of his life has worked to take away from him. He paints in bold and bright oils. His pictures are bright, colourful and full of life.

However, even art comes at a cost and, as part of its commitment to children like Hieu, the Green Bamboo Shelter has found itself running numerous fundraising events to help keep Hieu in canvass and oil. It?s a significant investment of both time and resources for a shelter for whom funds are clearly in short supply. Hidden down a narrow alley at the bottom of Calmette Street, the Green Bamboo Shelter was founded by Do Thi Bach Phat in 1992 and has been offering an open door to the neediest and most vulnerable of Saigon?s street children ever since. Every day Saigon sees fresh arrivals of children from all over the rural South, each hoping to find work and money on Saigon?s streets. Of these, only a lucky few will find themselves under Miss Phat?s watchful eye.

The reasons children come to Saigon are myriad. It was his parent?s divorce that brought Hieu here, bereavement and sometimes imprisonment bring others. What they all share is poverty. Once in Saigon, these children find themselves easy prey for those looking to get the most from those that have the least. Theft, drugs and prostitution are often the fates awaiting Saigon?s latest young arrivals and, once in, it?s a cycle few of these children will ever break free from.

However, all of this seems a far cry from the quiet top floor room at the Green Bamboo Shelter where Hieu has made his studio. Like his heroes, Picasso and Duong Bich Lien, Hieu has real hopes of living out his dream of being an artist. It?s a life unimaginable from the perspective of the one he left behind. ?I have a hard life? he says, ?painting helps me forget that and relax. When I?m painting, I can make my dreams real.?

The Art For A Better Home exhibition and sale will be at Sozo Cafe on Sunday 22nd July from 12pm ? 10pm. 100% of the money raised will go towards Hieu and the boys of the Green Bamboo Shelter.

VNN/ND/VNS/VOV/SGT

Source: http://talkvietnam.com/2012/07/art-entertainment-in-brief-117/

uppity uppity stuffing brandon mcinerney brandon mcinerney black friday 2011 deals nfl power rankings week 12

Bring it, #Raw1000! The Rock will be at Raw's 1,000th episode on July 23

The 1,000th episode of Raw just got a whole lot more electrifying.

Moments before Monday night's Raw SuperShow went on the air, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tweeted that he will make his return to WWE programming on the 1,000th episode of Raw on July 23.

The Rock tweets that he will be at Raw's 1,000th episode

It's been more than three months since The Most Electrifying Man in All of Entertainment appeared on WWE's flagship program. On the April 2 edition of Raw SuperShow, as The Great One soaked in the cheers following his remarkable victory over John Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII,?he vowed to the WWE Universe that he'd once again become WWE Champion in the future. It's a goal that The Rock reiterated in his tweet Monday night: "As promised ? my goal: THE WWE CHAMPIONSHIP. #RELENTLESS"

What does The People's Champion have planned for the can't-miss 1,000th episode of Monday Night Raw? We'll find out on July 23 at 8/7 CT on USA Network. (COMPLETE COVERAGE OF RAW'S 1,000TH EPISODE)

View Comments

Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/raw1000/the-rock-will-be-at-raw-1000th-episode

j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek sturgis sturgis whitney houston laid to rest

3 Armstrong associates get lifetime USADA bans

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2011, file photo, former cycling champion Lance Armstrong smiles during a news conference at the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Armstrong is asking a federal court to block the latest doping charges against him. The seven-time Tour de France winner filed a lawsuit in Austin, Texas, on Monday, July 9, 2012. Through his attorneys, he argues the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency violates the constitutional rights of athletes when it brings charges against them, and that USADA should not be allowed to pursue charges Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2011, file photo, former cycling champion Lance Armstrong smiles during a news conference at the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Armstrong is asking a federal court to block the latest doping charges against him. The seven-time Tour de France winner filed a lawsuit in Austin, Texas, on Monday, July 9, 2012. Through his attorneys, he argues the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency violates the constitutional rights of athletes when it brings charges against them, and that USADA should not be allowed to pursue charges Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday issued lifetime sports bans to three former staff members and consultants for Lance Armstrong's winning Tour de France teams.

Luis Garcia del Moral was a team doctor; Michele Ferrari was a consulting doctor; and Jose "Pepe" Marti (team trainer) worked for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service squads. All had been accused by USADA of participating in a vast doping conspiracy on those teams.

Armstrong also has been charged and has declared his innocence. Armstrong wants a federal judge to block USADA's case against him from going forward and is expected to refile a lawsuit within days. An Armstrong spokesman declined immediate comment on the USADA bans issued Tuesday.

Under USADA rules, Moral, Marti and Ferrari had until Monday to challenge the allegations in arbitration or ask for a five-day extension. If they did not respond, USADA could impose sanctions.

Although none lives in the United States, USADA says the ban blocks them from participating in any sport that falls under the World Anti-Doping Agency code.

"The respondents chose not to waste resources by moving forward with the arbitration process, which would only reveal what they already know to be the truth of their doping activity," said Travis Tygart, chief executive of USADA.

There's been no indication from USADA that any of the three men ? who each received the agency's maximum punishment ? is cooperating with investigators.

Armstrong was granted his five-day extension while he files his court case. USADA indicated that Armstrong's former team manager Johan Bruyneel, who also has been charged, has told USADA he will challenge the case in arbitration.

USADA filed the charges against Armstrong and the others in June, laying out what it calls a vast doping conspiracy on Armstrong's teams when he was winning the Tour de France from 1999-2005.

Moral, who lives in Spain, was the team physician from 1999-2003. According to USADA, he helped riders use banned blood transfusion techniques to help boost endurance. He also helped them use banned performance-enhancing drugs including the blood-booster EPO and steroids.

Ferrari, who lives in Italy, was a consulting doctor for Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams from 1999-2006, according to USADA. USADA said Ferrari developed a special mixture of testosterone and olive oil to be placed under the tongue to help riders recover from races and training. He also helped advised riders how to use EPO and avoid detection.

Ferrari's lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment and there was no answer at Ferrari's home. The doctor already was banned for life by the Italian cycling federation in 2002.

Marti, of Spain, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service, Discovery from 1999-2007 and then Astana, helped deliver performance-enhancing drugs to riders in Europe and helped with injections, USADA said.

"Permanently banning these individuals from sport is a powerful statement that protects the current and next generation of athletes from their influence, and preserves the integrity of future competition," Tygart said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-10-Armstrong-Doping/id-5b74de2923e8419b8c289e01c523dd8a

chrome for android hatchet leah messer freedom riders 9th circuit court of appeals gisele bundchen tom brady randy travis arrested

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Renewable energy could provide 80% of US electricity ? but at what cost?

The United States could be getting 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050 and all it would take is doubling the pace for installing renewable energy sources and then doubling it again and somewhere between $320 billion and $1 trillion.

Of course, the costs and the pace of renewable energy will depend upon the demands for power and the rate of technological change for wind, solar and geothermal power.

Those, in a gross over-simplification, are the findings of the ?Renewable Energy Futures Study? ? a monumental, four-volume, 865-page opus ? by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

The ?80 percent by 2050? made a little bit of a pop in the news, but reporters moved on pretty quickly, for truth told, this study wasn?t written for journalists but policymakers.

The report is an intricate assembly of scenarios: low-demand, high-demand, 30 percent renewable energy to 90 percent renewable. Even the central 80 percent scenario comes in three flavors ? no technological improvement, incremental improvement and evolutionary technology ? under three different transmission scenarios.

There isn?t a conclusion. There isn?t a bottom line. That makes it hard on journalists. But at least one intrepid reporter has journeyed into the tall grass ? though in the spirit of full disclosure he did zip through Volume 4 ?Bulk Electric Power System: Operations and Transmission? just to see who did it.

And here?s what I?ve gleaned:

Even if nothing much is done and no new policies enacted ? based on the campaign?s policy document I?ll call this the Mitt option ? renewable energy will grow from 12 percent of power supply in 2010 to 20 percent in 2050.

?High levels of renewable electricity penetration in the United States would be demanding but achievable,? the report notes and adds the caveat that ?any of the scenarios will depend on the decisions made over the next 40 year.?

To get to 80 percent will require doubling and then quadrupling the installation rate of renewable capacity ? adding 20 GW a year for the next 20 years and then 45 GW a year to 2050. That compares with 11 GW of renewable capacity installed in 2009 and 7 GW in 2010.

Of the many variables in the study the one that stood out as having the biggest cost impacts was the rate of technological change. ?What drives the incremental costs is technology,? Trieu Mai, one of the report?s authors said in an interview. ?The other costs have a small effect compared to technology drivers.?

Under one ?no technological improvement scenario? for 80 percent renewable the costs to the electric sector would be $1 trillion. Under the same ?evolutionary technology? scenario costs would be $320 billion.

The cost of solar and wind power have been dropping and in some cases wind is already competitive with fossil fuel generation, so the ?no improvement scenario? is probably overly conservative. The middle ?incremental? technology improvement scenario estimates a cost of $870 billion.

The average annual investment required for this new transmission infrastructure, along with interconnections, ranged from $6.4 billion to $8.4 billion a year from 2011 through 2050. Between 1995 and 2008 the U.S. utility was spending $2 billion to $9 billion a year ? just a little lower that the project range.

The impact on electricity rates varies with the scenarios but the range is $130 to $161 a megawatt-hour compared with a current average rate of $111 ? on the low end a 17 percent increase to transform the nation?s electricity system.

The average household uses about 700 kilowatt-hours a month so if that cost was passed on it translates into an extra $13.30 on the monthly bill. At the upper end it is a consumer-unfriendly $35 extra a month.

As to what renewable energy technologies are deployed ? it depends upon the scenario, stop me if I?ve said that before.

Generally, wind power gets the biggest deployment, followed by hydropower, biomass and solar. If the demand for electricity ? which has been flat since the recession ? ramps up the use a solar jumps.

In the scenario with incremental improvement in renewable energy technology, wind energy supply is significant in most regions, but was most prominent in the Great Plains, Great Lakes, Central, Northwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions. Solar energy was found to deploy most substantially in the Southwest, dominated by utility-scale concentration solar technology, followed by California and Texas, with photovoltaics as well as concentrating solar, and then by Florida and the Southeast region. Biomass supply would be most significant in the Great Plains, Great Lakes, Central, and Southeast region.

To see how and where renewable power supplies will grow, check out this great interactive map.

So what have we learned?

? That it will take construction of renewable energy facilities at a pace far beyond that the county has seen to get to 80 percent ? and it will be a lot easier if demand for electricity starts growing again.

? That the cost of the transition will depend most on the pace of improvements in renewable energy technologies ? but at the low-end with little technology innovation ad low growth in electricity demand it becomes a much more expensive proposition to get to 80 percent.

? What renewable energy resources would be deployed will vary region to region.

One element I haven?t gone into here is the some of the analysis of how the electricity system manages such high levels of renewable energy, which in cases such as wind and solar, are intermittent. Volume II of the study looks at storage technologies ? perhaps for another day.

There are also some eye-opening numbers on cost and performance of different types of generation in a support study, but those are definitely for a blog post to come. I think any of us who got this far are NRELed out.

Source: http://feeds.denverpost.com/~r/dp-blogs/~3/4S4xyM0avNQ/

manu ginobili sports illustrated swimsuit 2012 aretha franklin whitney houston paul williams paul babeu kevin costner budweiser shootout