Friday, October 18, 2013

NewsGator tunes social collaboration suite for 'Aha!' moments


NewsGator wants its Social Sites add-on for SharePoint to handle companies' innovation cycles with a beefed-up set of capabilities for brainstorming, idea evaluation, concept development and execution.


Social Sites, an ESN (enterprise social networking ) product, has an existing "ideation" module that's called Idea Stream and is mainly for brainstorming, but NewsGator released on Tuesday a broader "innovation" edition of the full suite.


[ Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter| For a quick, smart take on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today.]


With Social Sites for Innovation, NewsGator wants to tap further into the demand for enterprise software that lets companies solicit ideas from employees, collect and manage their contributions and distill the suggestions into concrete plans.


In fact, last month Mindjet, which makes project-based collaboration software, merged with Spigit, which specializes in innovation management, to offer enterprises tools that help from idea creation to completion of projects. Other NewsGator rivals provide various levels of innovation management functionality for their broader ESN suites.


Social Sites for Innovation can be used with on premises and private cloud implementations of SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013.


The product replaces the existing, more limited Idea Stream module, which costs $5 per user per year, according to Jen Keyerleber, senior solutions manager at NewsGator.


"Current customers who own the Idea Stream module are able to expand their innovation process by purchasing the new [Social Sites for Innovation], which accesses of all of their existing ideation campaigns to take advantage of [its] end-to-end innovation capabilities," she said.


Ahead in the roadmap are plans to extend Social Sites for Innovation for use not only internally among employees but also by a company's customers and partners, Keyerleber said.


Social Sites for Innovation can be bought via a subscription or a perpetual license, which are both priced per user. Cost depends on the size of implementations.


For example, a subscription for 5,000 users to Social Sites for Innovation is $12.50 per user per year, on top of the $17.50 per user per year for the core Social Sites suite, which is required.


Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.


Source: http://akamai.infoworld.com/d/applications/newsgator-tunes-social-collaboration-suite-aha-moments-228807?source=rss_applications
Related Topics: Witches of East End   ricin   james spader  

Thursday, October 17, 2013

OKI B731dn


The OKI B731dn is the new flagship model of OKI's B700 line of mono laser-class printers, and is capable of printing a prodigious volume of documents for a mid-sized workgroup. Intended for mid-sized workgroups, it offers a high maximum monthly duty cycle, good standard and optional paper capacity, and solid output quality. One downside is that in our testing, it was slow for its price and rated speed.




The B731dn uses an LED-based print engine, which is essentially the same as a laser, except that it uses LEDs instead of a laser as a light source. The printer measures 16.1 by 17.1 by 19.6 inches (HWD), larger than you'd want to share a desk with, and weighs 59.5 pounds. The front panel houses 5-line backlit monochrome display and an alphanumeric keypad for password-protected printing. On the printer's side is a forward-facing slot for a USB thumb drive.





Paper Handling

The B731dn has good paper handling features and options, befitting its massive monthly duty cycle (280,000-page maximum, with a recommended maximum of 30,000 pages). Its standard paper capacity is 630 sheets, split between a 530-sheet main tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose tray, and it includes an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. Maximum paper capacity is 3,100 sheets, when you add a second 530-sheet tray ($223.99 direct) and a 2,000-sheet feeder with casters ($700.99). Alternately, you can add up to 3 optional 530-sheet trays if you don't go with the feeder.



The B731dn offers Ethernet (including Gigabit Ethernet) and USB connectivity; I tested it on an Ethernet network with drivers installed on a PC running Windows Vista.


OKI B731dn



Speed and Output Quality

I timed the B731dn, rated at 55 pages per minute, on our business applications suite (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing), at an effective 9.4 pages per minute (ppm), essentially tied with the OKI B721dn's 9.5 ppm despite the latter being only rated at 49 pages per minute. (The rated speeds are based on text-only printing, while we test with a combination of text pages, graphics pages, and pages of mixed content.) It's also slower than its predecessor, the OKI B730dn, rated at 52 pages per minute, which I tested at 12 ppm in 2011; the B730dn is still being sold.



The B731dn was considerably slower than the Editors' Choice Dell B5460dn, rated at 62 pages per minute, which zipped through the same test at 18.7 ppm.
The Editors' Choice HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M601DN, rated at 45 pages per minute, turned in a speed of 13.4 ppm, while the HP LaserJet Enterprise 600 Printer M602DN, rated at 52 pages per minute, tested at 14.1 ppm.



Graphics output was typical of a mono laser, good enough for internal business use, but whether you'd distribute it as, say, PowerPoint handouts to a client you were seeking to impress depends on how picky you are. Very thin lines in one illustration did not show at all. The printer did poorly in an illustration that contains a gradient from very dark to very light tones, showing little distinction between them. Some backgrounds looked slightly blotchy.



Photo quality was also typical of mono lasers. The printer is capable of printing out recognizable images from Web pages, but whether you'd consider the output good enough for use in a client newsletter depends on how picky you are. There was frequent dithering in the form of graininess. In certain prints there was a loss of detail in bright areas. Two photos showed slight banding (a regular pattern of faint striations).



The OKI B731dn's running costs of 1.3 cents per page, based on price and yield figures provided by the company, are reasonably low; lower than the OKI B721dn's and HP M601dn's 1.7 cents per page and just higher than the HP M602dn's 1.2 cents per page.



The OKI B731dn brings a lot to the table: A prodigious monthly duty cycle, good standard and optional paper capacity, solid output quality, reasonably low running costs. But if you're in need of the high-volume printing that the B731dn affords, speed will likely be a factor, and in our testing it was slow for its price and rated speed. If that's not an obstacle, the B731 is a capable and otherwise well-rounded workhorse mono laser capable of anchoring a busy workgroup.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/laMz9HgmR9Q/0,2817,2425905,00.asp
Similar Articles: Emily Ratajkowski   pirate bay   Michael Girgenti   vanessa hudgens   DJ Khaled  

Lenovo reportedly considering a bid to buy BlackBerry

According to the Wall Street Journal, Lenovo has supposedly signed a non-disclosure agreement with BlackBerry to take a look at the Canadian company's books. Rumor has it that the Chinese manufacturer is considering a bid to buy the ailing BlackBerry, a move that isn't entirely shocking considering ...


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iUkFLC2Hkc4/
Related Topics: zac efron   yom kippur   Cal Worthington   kim zolciak   Rafael Caro Quintero  

Government open again, Obama bemoans damage

President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)







President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)







National Park Service employees remove barricades from the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Barriers went down at National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers began returning to work throughout the country Thursday after 16 days off the job because of the partial government shutdown.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)







A man crosses Pennsylvania Ave., NW, in front of the Justice Department, in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. After 16 days of being off the job, thousands of furloughed federal workers are returning to work now that the government shutdown has been resolved. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)







President Barack Obama walks out to make a statement to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. The Senate voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown and the measure now heads to the House, which is expected to back the bill before day's end. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)







Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to the chamber for the vote on a Senate-passed bill that would avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. The end to the rancorous standoff between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House was hastened by the imminent deadline to extend the debt ceiling to avoid a national default. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)







(AP) — The government unlocked its doors Thursday after 16 days, with President Barack Obama saluting the resolution of Congress' bitter standoff but lambasting Republicans for the partial shutdown that he said had damaged the U.S. economy and America's credibility around the world.

"There are no winners here," Obama said just hours after signing a last-minute measure from Congress that was free of the Republican demands that had started the standoff. The deal allowed federal workers to return Thursday morning and headed off the threat that the nation would default on its debts, at least for this year.

"The American people are completely fed up with Washington," Obama said in stern remarks at the White House. The nation's credit rating was jeopardized, economic growth and hiring were slowed and federal workers were temporarily deprived of paychecks, Obama said, all because of "yet another self-inflicted crisis."

In hopes of averting another standoff when the just-passed measure runs out, Congress' four top budget writers met over breakfast to begin new budget talks. Obama urged them to put aside partisan differences and brinkmanship tactics to find common ground.

He also sought to assure governments and investors around the world that the "full faith and credit of the United States remains unquestioned."

"We'll bounce back from this," Obama declared. "We always do."

The House and Senate voted late Wednesday night to end the shutdown that began when Republicans tried unsuccessfully to use must-pass funding legislation to derail the president's landmark health care law.

Early Thursday, Obama signed the measure and directed all agencies to reopen promptly. The government unlocked office doors, carried barriers away from national monuments and lifted entrance gates at parks across the country.

The relief felt by furloughed federal employees was tempered by worry that the truce might not last much past the holidays. Congress approved government funding only through Jan. 15.

To head off a default, the package gives the government the authority to borrow what it needs through Feb. 7. Treasury officials will be able to use bookkeeping maneuvers to delay a potential default for several weeks beyond that date, as they have done in the past. Among the maneuvers, officials can suspend contributions to one of the pension plans used by federal retirees.

In the meantime, lawmakers will try to find agreement on how to replace this year's across-the-board spending cuts with more orderly deficit reduction.

"I hope this is the end of this," said Vice President Joe Biden, who greeted workers returning to the Environmental Protection Agency with hugs, handshakes and muffins. But Biden acknowledged, "There's no guarantees of anything."

The small group of lawmakers tasked with steering Congress out of three years of budget stalemates and standoffs offered no promises.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the group's goals were "to get this debt under control, to do smart deficit reduction and to do things that we think will grow the economy and get people back to work."

"We believe there is common ground," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said after their meeting.

The impasse furloughed about 800,000 workers at its peak, before civilian Defense Department employees were called back. It closed down most of NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department and halted work not considered critical at other agencies.

"We're back from the #shutdown!" the Smithsonian Institution crowed on Twitter, announcing that museums were reopening Thursday. The U.S. Capitol's visitor center planned to resume tours. "Closed" signs started coming down at national parks and offices across the nation, hours after the deal was sealed in Washington.

Congress agreed to pay federal workers for the missed time. No such luck for contractors and all sorts of other workers whose livelihoods were disrupted.

"More business. More money," cab driver Osman Naimyar said happily, noting the growing crowds of commuters on Washington streets. He lost about a fifth of his normal fares, he said, while federal workers stayed home and tourists disappeared from the National Mall.

Standard & Poor's estimated the shutdown has taken $24 billion out of the economy, and the Fitch credit rating agency warned Tuesday that it was reviewing its AAA rating on U.S. government debt for a possible downgrade.

Obama and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill were the decisive victors in the fight, which was sparked by tea party Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. They prevailed upon skeptical GOP leaders to use a normally routine short-term funding bill in an attempt to "defund" the 2010 health care law known as "Obamacare."

"We fought the good fight. We just didn't win," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, conceded. He was given positive reviews from Republicans for his handling of the crisis, though it again exposed the tenuous grasp he holds over the fractious House GOP conference.

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said the American people disapproved of how Republicans, and also Democrats and the president, handled the budget gridlock.

"Hopefully, the lesson is to stop this foolish childishness," McCain said Thursday on CNN.

The shutdown sent approval of the GOP plummeting in opinion polls and exasperated veteran lawmakers who saw it as folly.

"It's time to restore some sanity to this place," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said before the vote.

The agreement was brokered by the Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and its Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. They stepped in after the House was unable to coalesce around a Republican-only approach.

McConnell is up for re-election next year, and the tea party opponent he faces in the Republican primary issued a statement criticizing him for making the deal.

"When the stakes are highest, Mitch McConnell can always be counted on to sell out conservatives," Matt Bevin said.

The Senate approved the legislation by an 81-18 vote. The House followed suit by a tally of 285-144, with 87 Republicans in favor and 144 against. Democrats unanimously supported the bill, even though it kept across-the-board funding cuts they opposed.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Jessica Gresko and Connie Cass contributed.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-17-Budget%20Battle/id-a8fa0bd95d0c426fa6adb2dad657b5ba
Category: oarfish   Valerie Harper   breast cancer awareness   Teen Beach Movie   RIPD  

Why U.S. Taxpayers Pay $7 Billion A Year To Help Fast-Food Workers





New York City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn speaks at a fast-food workers' protest outside a McDonald's in New York in August. A nationwide movement is calling for raising the minimum hourly wage for fast-food workers to $15.



Richard Drew/AP


New York City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn speaks at a fast-food workers' protest outside a McDonald's in New York in August. A nationwide movement is calling for raising the minimum hourly wage for fast-food workers to $15.


Richard Drew/AP


If you hit the drive-thru, chances are that the cashier who rings you up or the cook who prepared your food relies on public assistance to make ends meet.


A new analysis finds that 52 percent of fast-food workers are enrolled in, or have their families enrolled in, one or more public assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps) Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).


That's right: With a median wage of $8.69 per hour for front-line fast-food jobs – cooks, cashiers and crew — workers are taking home a pay check, but it's not enough to cover the basics, according to the authors of "Fast Food, Poverty Wages."


"The taxpayer costs we discovered were staggering," says co-author Ken Jacobs of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley.


"The combination of low wages, meager benefits, and often part-time hours means that many of the families of fast-food workers have to rely on tax-payer funded, safety net programs to make ends meet," Jacobs told me by phone.


The report finds that the fast-food industry's low wages, combined with part-time hours and lack of health care benefits, creates demand for public assistance including $3.9 billion per year in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits. Add on another billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamp assistance. Earned Income Tax Credit payments (a subsidy to low-wage workers) amount to about $1.95 billion per year.


Contrary to the assumption that the typical fast-food worker is a teenager living with his or her parents, the report finds that the vast majority of front-line fast-food workers are adults who are supporting themselves – "and 68 percent are the main wage earners in their families," Marc Doussard of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a co-author on the paper, says in a press release about the study.



He says about a quarter of those working these jobs in fast-food restaurants are parents supporting children at home.


The report was funded by Fast Food Forward, a group campaigning for higher wages.


The analysis comes as a campaign for $15 per hour wages has garnered significant attention around the country. Over the last year, workers in cities nationwide have temporarily walked off their jobs to protest low wages.


But, some more conservative-leaning economists say raising wages would do nothing to curtail the taxpayer spending on public assistance programs.


"I don't think raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would solve that problem," Michael Strain, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, told me during a phone interview. He describes himself as a center-right economist.


Strain says raising wages to that level would have unintended consequences: Namely, fast-food companies would slow down their hiring. And this would lead to more workers looking for jobs — and potentially needing to rely on more public assistance.


Strain says the $7 billion taxpayer bill is not necessarily problematic.


"I think the system seems to be working the way it is — not that it's working perfectly," he says, adding, "In general, the government is making sure these people's basic needs are met, which is an appropriate role of government."


At the same time, Strain argues, fast-food businesses are paying their workers wages that they judge to be equal to the value these workers are adding to the production process.


"If we were to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, I think most economists, including me, would argue that that would result in a lot fewer workers," since fast-food companies would slow-down on hiring.


Ken Jacobs disagrees.


"I think there's very good evidence on what's happened when wages have been improved for low-wage and fast-food workers," Jacobs says.


He points to a fast-food company, In-N-Out Burger, as an example of an employer that pays higher-than-average wages, yet is still profitable.


And, Jacobs says, some municipalities are raising minimum wages, such as San Jose, Calif., where the minimum wage is set to increase to $10.15 per hour in January of 2014. And there are proposals in states including Maryland to phase in hourly minimum wage hikes as well.


Jacobs argues that it's possible that employers may see a small decline in profits, but when wages are raised, "you do find a significant decline in turnover (of workers), which is cost-saving for employers."


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/16/235398536/why-u-s-taxpayers-pay-7-billion-a-year-to-help-fast-food-workers?ft=1&f=1001
Category: Claire Danes   katy perry   Big Brother 15   The White Queen   Jake Peavy  

Michel Martin's Movie Suggestions For Politicians

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

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/16/235384253/michel-martins-movie-suggestions-for-politicians?ft=1&f=46
Related Topics: bob costas   foxnews   Government Shutdown 2013   elvis presley   Jennifer Rosoff  

Firefighters serenade Judi Dench in London

LONDON (AP) — Judi Dench has been serenaded by firefighters as she arrived for the London premiere of her latest film.


Dench walked the red carpet in Leicester Square Wednesday for the London Film Festival screening of "Philomena."


The movie tells the true story of Irishwoman Philomena Lee's quest to track down the son she was forced to give up for adoption 50 years earlier.


Members of the Fire Brigades Union, drinking at a pub after a protest march against pension cuts, spotted the 78-year-old star, chanted "We love you Judi" and broke into a rendition of Beatles song "Hey Jude."


The Stephen Frears-directed film also stars Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith, a journalist who helped Lee in her search and wrote a book about her story.


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/firefighters-serenade-judi-dench-london-194452510.html
Tags: veep   houston texans   nadal  

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Iran nuclear talks end on upbeat note; more in Nov

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton smiles during a press conference after two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Talks between Iran and six world powers have ended an upbeat note, with the European Union's top diplomat Ashton calling them "very important," in efforts to end international tensions over Tehran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)







EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton smiles during a press conference after two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Talks between Iran and six world powers have ended an upbeat note, with the European Union's top diplomat Ashton calling them "very important," in efforts to end international tensions over Tehran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)







Switzerland's Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, left, speaks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, during a meeting besides of the two days of closed-door nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Martial Trezzini, Pool)







EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton briefs the media after two days of closed-door nuclear talks on Iran during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Talks between Iran and six world powers have ended an upbeat note, with the European Union's top diplomat Ashton calling them "very important," in efforts to end international tensions over Tehran's nuclear program. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)







(AP) — Nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers ended on an upbeat note Wednesday, with top Western and Iranian negotiators announcing a follow-up round early next month while speaking of significant progress in efforts to reduce fears that Tehran may be seeking atomic arms.

Despite abandoning the pessimistic tone of previous meetings, however, negotiators refused to reveal details on what — if any — concessions Iran offered. That gives potential traction to skeptics who can claim the conference was aimed more at building trust and silencing critics at home than in resolving the thorny issues that have blocked progress over a decade of talks.

Iran denies suspicions that it wants nuclear arms and has resisted incentives and tough penalties aimed at curbing its atomic activities. But since reformist Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, senior officials from Rouhani on down have pledged to meet international concerns in exchange for an easing of crippling economic sanctions.

The post-meeting optimism expressed by senior Western and Iranian officials suggested that Tehran had put forward serious proposals at the two-day talks. Catherine Ashton, the EU's top diplomat, spoke of "a very intensive and, I think, a very important meeting," while Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said he hoped for "the beginning of a new phase" between his country and some of its most vehement critics.

"I believe that both sides are serious about finding a resolution, that both sides want to find common ground," Zarif said. "And I hope that my counterparts ... will also take back home the fact that Iran is interested in resolving this issue."

Zarif led the Iranian delegation while Ashton convened the talks. Past sessions were often punctuated by months-long pauses as the two sides tried to find common ground. Ashton said, however, that the negotiations would reconvene Nov. 7-8 in Geneva.

A statement read by Ashton to reporters on behalf of both sides said the talks were "substantive and forward looking."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow's chief negotiator, was more sparing with praise, describing the meeting as "better than many people thought, but worse than what we hoped for."

A senior U.S. official said that while the six powers "got more today than we've ever gotten, there's a whole lot more that we need to get and probably more that Iran wants to get from us. ... There's a lot of detail that needs to be unpacked." The official demanded anonymity as a condition for attendance at a background briefing.

A key six-power concern is enrichment, which can create both reactor fuel and weapons-grade material suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iran currently runs over 10,000 centrifuges which have created tons of fuel-grade material that can be further enriched to arm nuclear warheads. That's a relatively slow process with such reactor-grade material.

But Tehran also has nearly 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of higher-enriched uranium in a form that can be turned into weapons much more quickly. Experts say 550 pounds (250 kilograms) of 20 percent-enriched uranium are needed to produce a single warhead.

With no details disclosed, it was unclear whether Iran had moved toward meeting any of the six-power demands left from the last round of talks in April. These include:

—suspension of enrichment above reactor fuel-grade levels

— freezing of enrichment at an underground bunker believed impervious to airstrikes

— no new centrifuge installations

— placing uranium stockpiles under strict U.N. supervision and shipping out most of the higher-enriched uranium closest to weapons-grade.

In exchange, the six — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — had offered some sanctions relief, but not on oil exports, Iran's main cash cow.

Iranian state TV, which closely reflects government views, said Tehran offered to discuss uranium enrichment levels. The report also said Iran proposed adopting the additional protocols of the U.N.'s nuclear treaty — effectively opening its nuclear facilities to wider inspection and monitoring — if the West recognizes Iran's right to enrich uranium.

But Zarif said implementing the protocols was not an issue "at this stage."

Even if the meeting achieved limited progress, the United States and Iran remain vulnerable to powerful forces back home that may scuttle the process without proof they are delivering on widely diverging goals. Iranian hard-liners want significant sanctions relief, while many members of the U.S. Congress want concrete reduction of the perceived Iranian nuclear threat.

The U.S. Senate's Banking Committee is expected to take up a new package of restrictive measures in the coming weeks, similar to a bill passed by the House of Representatives in July. The House's legislation blacklisted Iran's mining and construction sectors, and committed the United States to the goal of eliminating all Iranian petroleum exports worldwide by 2015. A large majority of senators already have spoken out in favor of the new sanctions.

Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, introduced a Senate resolution Wednesday calling for additional sanctions on Iran.

"No one should be impressed by what Iran appears to have brought to the table in Geneva," Rubio said. "Tehran has broken its word far too many times to be trusted. Due to its complete disregard for previous international agreements, we must take a firm stand in all negotiations regarding the nuclear capabilities Iran is permitted to retain."

Describing the Iranian overture as a "proposed approach," not a proposal, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that she was not aware of any decision the Obama administration had made about whether or not to continue to ask Congress to hold off on placing additional sanctions on Iran until after the second round of talks convenes in early November.

For Iran, any proposed nuclear deal must pass through a potentially difficult review by Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, whose vast portfolio includes oversight of nuclear facilities. Guard commanders have been openly resistant to Rouhani's overtures to Washington and would likely oppose provisions that would appear to reduce their influence or open military sites to greater international inspection.

For the moment, Guard leaders have been appeased somewhat by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei's suggestion that there are time limits — perhaps six months — on attempts to move forward on a nuclear deal with the West. If no progress is shown, hard-liners are likely to increase their demands to end Rouhani's bid.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Murphy in Dubai and Deb Riechmann and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-16-Iran-Nuclear%20Talks/id-7fe352404bc64a258c0082e310af7c92
Related Topics: Eiza Gonzalez   Niall Horan   tibetan mastiff   Eileen Brennan   Bbc News  

EU accuses Turkey of using excessive force during protests


By Adrian Croft


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union accused Turkish police on Wednesday of using excessive force to quell protests earlier this year, urging the government to strengthen oversight of the police and to press ahead with investigations into their conduct.


The criticism was contained in an annual report by the EU's executive Commission into Turkey's progress in meeting the requirements to join the 28-nation bloc.


Turkey began negotiations to join the EU in 2005, 18 years after applying. But a series of political obstacles, notably over Cyprus and resistance to Turkish membership in key members Germany and France, have slowed progress to a snail's pace.


Despite criticism of Ankara's handling of the protests, the Commission backed plans to breathe new life into Turkey's EU bid by opening talks on a new chapter, or policy area, of the membership negotiations, the first to be opened in three years.


EU governments, led by Berlin, postponed plans to open the talks on regional policy in June as a rebuke for the Turkish authorities' handling of the demonstrations.


Protests against the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan swept Turkish cities after police used teargas and water cannon to disperse a sit-in against the redevelopment of an Istanbul park.


Two weeks of clashes with police left four people dead and about 7,500 injured.


"The excessive use of force by police and the overall absence of dialogue during the protests in May/June have raised serious concerns," the European Commission said.


"This underlines the urgent need for further reforms and the promotion of dialogue across the political spectrum, and in society more broadly, as well as for respect of fundamental rights in practice," it said.


The Commission said Turkey had launched a number of investigations into police conduct during the protests.


"These should be followed through in accordance with European standards and those responsible brought to account," it said.


OVERSIGHT


It urged Turkey to push ahead with plans to set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure the independent supervision of police conduct.


Despite the criticisms, the Commission praised judicial reforms in Turkey and Erdogan's announcement last month of a package of reforms designed to salvage a peace process with Kurdish insurgents.


There was no immediate reaction from Turkey.


Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis had complained on Twitter at the weekend about the EU publishing the report during the Muslim Eid al Adha festival, which began on Monday afternoon and lasts all week.


His press adviser confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that the government would not issue a response until after the holiday.


Turkey is deeply frustrated at what it sees as humiliating treatment by Europe, which has turned public opinion in the country against EU membership.


EU governments will consider the Commission's report at a meeting on October 22 and EU sources said they could decide to launch the new round of talks with Turkey in early November.


While Turkey's membership bid has languished, Brussels has moved faster to integrate the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Croatia, which began negotiations on the same day as Turkey, has already joined the bloc and Serbia won a green light in June to start negotiations by next January.


The Commission proposed on Wednesday that EU governments formally recognize Albania as a candidate for membership.


(Additional reporting by Daren Butler; editing by Mike Collett-White)



Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-accuses-turkey-using-excessive-force-during-protests-132702876.html
Similar Articles: mariano rivera   chicago fire   world war z   Myla Sinanaj   Carlos Danger  

When Will The Government Run Out Of Money?


In the course of any given month, the government collects billions of dollars in taxes, spends billions more, and borrows money to cover the difference between what it collects and what it spends.


If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling very soon, the government won't be able to borrow money to cover the difference anymore, and won't be able to pay all of its bills.


Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said that, after Oct. 17, the government can't guarantee that it will be able to make all its payments. But the government won't run out of money on the 17th; it will still have about $30 billion left.


The Bipartisan Policy Center predicts the money will run out some time between Oct. 22 and Nov. 1. This graph shows some major payments the government has to make during that window. Note the pile of bills due on Nov. 1.





Notes


The government has many other payments due over this time; this sample shows upcoming bills that are among the largest.




It's unclear exactly when the government will run out of money. That's because the amount of money the government collects in taxes on any given day can vary a lot. Spending can vary, too.


As the Bipartisan Policy Center wrote recently:




For example, in October of last year, about $3 billion in revenue was collected on one Tuesday, just over $6 billion was received on another Tuesday, and almost $11 billion arrived on yet another Tuesday. Furthermore, while spending is subject to less uncertainty than revenue, it still varies. For example, on some days, Medicare spending can exceed $2.5 billion while on other days, it is closer to $1 billion.




NPR's John Ydstie has more on this story today on Morning Edition.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/15/234881198/when-will-the-government-run-short-of-money?ft=1&f=
Related Topics: oarfish   dodgers   Shannon Sharpe   Apple.com   diana nyad  

Aid group calls for humanitarian access in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — A general director of Doctors Without Borders called Tuesday for greater access for humanitarian aid to Syrians suffering in their country's civil war, and urged the international community to show the same urgency to help them as it did to address dismantling Syria's chemical weapons stockpile.


The Syrian conflict, which began as a largely peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011, has triggered a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale, killing more than 100,000 people, driving nearly 7 million more from their homes and devastating the nation's cities and towns. With the country now carved up into rebel- and regime-controlled areas, providing desperately needed food and medical aid has become a colossal — and dangerous — task.


"You have an industrial-scale war, but you have a very kind of small-scale humanitarian response," said Christopher Stokes, a general directors for Doctors Without Borders. "There is a recognition that greater humanitarian access is needed for life-saving assistance, but at the same time we don't see the mobilization."


The United Nations Security Council issued an appeal in early October for immediate access to all areas of the country to deliver humanitarian aid, including across conflict lines. Still, organizations that provide assistance continue to struggle to reach all the people who need it.


Stokes said the aid community has long been told that it's impossible to grant full access to all regions affected by the fighting, and that "one side is always blaming the other" for the impasse.


But the recent agreement to grant international inspectors unfettered access to every site linked to Syria's chemical weapons program "has shown is that it is possible, if the international political willingness is there, to grant access and free movement to aid agencies to go into these enclaves," Stokes said.


"Cease-fires could be organized as was done to allow chemical weapons inspectors in, they could be organized to allow in medical convoys," he said.


Doctors Without Borders says it currently runs six field hospitals in rebel-held areas, and supports 70 medical facilities in contested areas of the country and regions controlled by the government or the rebels.


The Syrian government has not granted the group permission to work in the country, so it is forced to bring in supplies surreptitiously — a high-risk job that Stokes said has become harder.


In the past, it would take a few days to get supplies brought in from abroad into the clinics, he said, whereas now it can take weeks. "There are more checkpoints, and it's harder and harder to get supplies in," he said.


On the ground, the conflict has shown no sign of easing, even on Tuesday as Muslims celebrated the holiday known as Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice.


In the village of Yabroud, several dozen miles north of the capital, assailants detonated explosives on the roofs of Our Lady's Church and the Church of Helena and Constantine, Syria's SANA state news agency reported.


The explosions damaged the crosses, SANA said. It said attempts to detonate more bombs outside the two churches were foiled.


The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group confirmed that several explosions went off, damaging the churches.


There was no claim of responsibility, though SANA blamed "terrorists," the regime's term for rebels. Assad has drawn support from Syria's ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians. The rebel movement is dominated by Sunni Muslims, who are a majority in Syria.


In regime attacks, warplanes bombed targets in the village of Latamneh in the central province of Hama, killing at least three children, the Observatory said. The government also bombed areas of the Eastern Ghouta district, near Damascus, and the southern city of Daraa.


As the fighting continued, Assad attended holiday prayers in a Damascus mosque. Syrian state TV showed him sitting cross-legged on the floor, in the front row of worshippers. Assad continues to appear in public, apparently to send a message of "business as usual" even as large parts of Syria lie in ruins.


Meanwhile, Syrian refugees marked a subdued holiday in the Zaatari tent camp in Jordan. The camp is home to more than 120,000 refugees and has turned into Jordan's fifth-largest city.


A few children bought toys from shops in the camp, as is customary during the holiday, and men attended special Eid prayers, though the refugees said there's no joy in the holiday.


"We feel bad, we feel bad because everyone here has lost his home and family members and his money," said Ibrahim Oweis, a refugee from Damascus.


___


Associated Press writers Maamoun Yousef in Cairo and Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/aid-group-calls-humanitarian-access-syria-153414792.html
Tags: Roosevelt Field Mall   How To Close Apps On Ios7   alex rodriguez   Marion Bartoli   Gia Allemand  

iPad event wallpapers in Retina for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

iPad event wallpapers in Retina for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Our own Derek Kessler has crafted up a stunning set of wallpapers based on Apple's October 22 event invitation.

iPad and iPhone versions above and below (click/tap for full size), Mac, 1080p, 4K, and other huge sizes available via the iMore forums.

If you like them, please let Derek know so we can force him to keep making them!


    






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mtt6VO5hM6I/story01.htm
Category: tesla   breaking bad   rosh hashanah   Jameis Winston   Perez Hilton  

Oxford's Library Chooses Its First New Chair Design Since 1936

Oxford's Library Chooses Its First New Chair Design Since 1936


Oxford's Bodleian library—aka the Bod—is one of England's largest libraries, a 414-year-old research hub steeped in tradition and history. For example, only three types of chair have ever been designed for use inside its walls. Until now, that is: According to Co.Design, the library has chosen a fourth design to replace its older models.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/oxfords-library-chooses-its-first-new-chair-design-sin-1445918510
Tags: dexter   djokovic   pharrell   hell on wheels   project runway  

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Google Maps update for iOS brings in-line route previews, tips for beginners

Not sure that Google Maps for iOS is suggesting the best possible route? Thanks to an app update, you'll know the truth at a glance. The new release shows miniature route previews with traffic overlays, making it easier to choose less congested (or simply more interesting) ways to get from A to B. ...


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/d1vioiUKMdM/
Related Topics: fiona apple   big brother   Pretty Little Liars   Linda Ronstadt   blue moon  

What The World's Newspapers Are Saying





A London newspaper stand.



Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP


A London newspaper stand.


Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP


(Editor's Note: Starting this week, we're introducing a weekday feature of headlines from newspapers around the world.)


Britain's Guardian reports on former minister David Maclean, a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, saying Britain's spy agencies may be operating outside the law in the mass surveillance of the Internet. His remarks come amid revelations about surveillance programs unveiled by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.


In the Middle East, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reports on negotiations between Western nations and Iran in Geneva over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. It says the U.S. will continue to pressure Tehran until it has taken major steps to halt the program.


Lebanon's Daily Star reports that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said an international conference to set up a transitional government in Syria must be organized soon.


South Africa's Cape Times says a veteran member of the African National Congress lodged a complaint against a fellow party official for making allegedly anti-Semitic comments in Cape Town last week.


The China Daily reports on Britain's plan to make it easier for Chinese tourists and investors to visit the country.


India's Hindu newspaper says three senior officials were suspended in the wake of the deadly stampede near a temple in the town of Ratangarh in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. More than 100 people were killed in the stampede on a bridge that people feared was near collapse.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/15/234627132/what-the-worlds-newspapers-are-saying?ft=1&f=1004
Category: Capitol shooting   Gta V Cheats   Mayweather vs Canelo results   leah remini   Dennis Farina  

One Roof, Many Generations: Redefining The Single-Family Home





Three generations live under this roof: (from left) 19-year-old Jamie Dusseault, grandmother Jacque Ruggles, mother Marci Dusseault and 22-year-old Chelsie Dusseault. Jamie takes the attached suite.



Peter O'Dowd/KJZZ


Three generations live under this roof: (from left) 19-year-old Jamie Dusseault, grandmother Jacque Ruggles, mother Marci Dusseault and 22-year-old Chelsie Dusseault. Jamie takes the attached suite.


Peter O'Dowd/KJZZ


New homes are back in a big way — literally. This summer, a typical new house in Phoenix was more than 20 percent larger than a resale home as builders across the country add more space to accommodate post-recession lifestyles.


Take Jacque Ruggles' family, for example. Four women from three generations live under one roof.


"I'm the matriarch," Ruggles says. "I'm grandma."


Ruggles makes the monthly $1,789 mortgage payment on the 2,900-square-foot home in Gilbert, Ariz., which she bought new about a year and a half ago. Her daughter Marci Dusseault lives here, too, along with her college-aged daughter named Jamie.


"I'll eventually move out, but right now it's nice to not have to worry about a lot of bills and stuff, and I can focus on school," says Jamie, a student at Mesa Community College.

But the family affair did not stop there. Jamie's older sister moved in last November. Chelsie, 22, had been living on her own for a while, but ...



"Then life happens," says Chelsie, who lost her job and racked up $6,000 in credit card debt. "So I had to move back in."

Their home happens to be made for this type of living. It was designed to include an attached 600-square-foot suite, complete with a kitchenette and living room.


Nineteen-year-old Jamie was the lucky one to move into it. The walls are covered with bright red paint and pictures of her friends. Her mom jokes that Jamie will not be leaving anytime soon.


"She's going to live with me until she's at least 40," Marci says.


A Demand For Bigger Homes


The homebuilder, Lennar, now offers these so-called NextGen floor plans in 18 states. In Arizona, the company says 25 percent of its sales last year were NextGen homes.


And there is competition. Maracay Homes spent 18 months post-recession and $4 million studying demographic trends, says spokeswoman Gina Canzonetta.


Maracay's designers took note of today's struggling adult children moving home and the millions of aging baby boomers who will need affordable places to live for years to come.


"It's the new normal," Canzonetta says. "It's how we live post-recession."


Maracay's attached suites, which are converted into livable space from what would be a garage in a typical floor plan, look a lot like Lennar's. They're equipped with a microwave, stacked washer/dryer and a private door to the home's front courtyard.


With these options and a few others in the main house, Maracay's floor plans "are expanding into the 3,000-square-foot range on average," Canzonetta says.


"The long term is definitely toward larger houses," says Robert Denk, a senior economist for the National Association of Home Builders. He says new homes have gotten bigger since the 1970s, with temporary setbacks during recessions.


Nationally, the median size of a new house is now about 2,400 square feet, up 17 percent since a low point in 2009, but Denk says generational housing is only part of the story.


"We've lost a lot of the low-end buyers," Denk says. "At this point, it's only the higher-end buyers that are in the market at all, and so that's what's pushing the demand for larger houses."


Good For The Family

Back at the Ruggles/Dusseault household, space is still tight — the women also live with four dogs that have a way of making their presence known. Meanwhile, Grandma's shelf space for toiletries in the bathroom has recently vanished in favor of her granddaughter's stuff.

But Chelsie says living together at time like this has been good for the family.


"You know, I don't have any extra money really for food and everything, so I definitely lean on my family a lot for everything," she says. "I'm very appreciative."


When the kids finally do move out, Chelsie's mom and grandma say they'll consider renting out all that extra space. But for now, Marci remains understanding.


"The last few years have been a struggle for all of us," she said. "We've gone through a lot. To be able to be here for each other has been a blessing."


Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/15/230199646/one-roof-many-generations-redefining-the-single-family-home?ft=1&f=1001
Tags: Wally Bayola scandal   Lisa Robin Kelly   BBC  

Business and the GOP - NYTimes.com

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Meanwhile, Republicans are getting a lot of pressure from business, which doesn't like what's happening. And some pundits are already speculating about the possibility either of a split within the GOP or a kind of coup in ...Source: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/12/business-and-the-gop/
Similar Articles: kris jenner   Alexian Lien   Americas Cup   Hiroshi Yamauchi   Asap Rocky  

Review: Bridget Jones older, shallower and boring

"Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" (Alfred A. Knopf), by Helen Fielding


Time has dulled Bridget Jones.


It has also left her neither wiser, more relaxed nor comfortable with the person she's become and the people she counts as her friends.


That's both good and bad because in Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy," the British heroine — whose sense of self was so strong and so entertaining in the first two novels that it created an archetype of self-determination belaboring amusing bouts of self-confidence — is lost amid social media, parental responsibility and trying to impress the moms at school.


So how, now, is Bridget Jones at 51? Content in marriage to Mark Darcy? Happily ensconced in having quit smoking, raising two children and avoiding the trap of being a smug married woman?


In a word, no. Darcy is dead and Bridget is a single mother to their two children, dating a man whose age is around half her own while her best mates find themselves vacillating between adult responsibility and living their lives as the unfettered and unbound twenty- and thirty-somethings they used to be.


It's been nearly 20 years since "Bridget Jones's Diary" was published in 1996, vaulting Fielding from freelance reporter to one of Britain's best-known and most popular writers. The 1999 sequel, "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," continued Bridget's bold, if not brassy, tales.


But it seems that fear of being a 51-year-old single parent raising two young children in the age of social media is too much for her.


Fielding strives throughout the book to add relevance to her character's life and all of its foibles, mishaps and happy accidents. It's just not enough, though not for lack of trying. Perhaps that's an echo of the time that Bridget and her readers live in, with the short bursts of information, a focus on the quick and a general intolerance for taking time to do things.


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/review-bridget-jones-older-shallower-boring-211157185.html
Category: American Horror Story   new iphone   Michael Ansara   jimmy fallon   emmy nominations  

Monday, October 14, 2013

Secretly-filmed movie plumbs Disney's dark side

Movies











6 hours ago

Is Disney World the happiest place on Earth? Not to director Randy Moore, whose new horror film "Escape from Tomorrow" shows the dark side behind the hugely-popular theme park's smiles.

Moore filmed his low-budget, black-and-white movie guerrilla-style, with hand-held personal cameras (and no permission from Disney) on the grounds of Disney World. But as he told TODAY's David Gregory, he holds no personal grudge against Mickey Mouse.

"I went there religiously as a kid," he said, adding he'd visit his father in Orlando each summer, and "we had a great time." But when he took his wife (who is not from the U.S.) and children to Disney World, she "had an awful, awful experience." 

After seeing it through her eyes, Moore began to see the "cracks in the veneer," and came up with his story, which focuses on a recently-fired father losing his grip on reality as he tries to keep things normal with his family while on vacation at Disney World.

But obtaining official permission to film on the grounds of Disney World was not likely to be forthcoming, so Moore decided to let his film set arise organically from a regular day at the park. After rehearsals in his hotel room, his small cast and crew would infiltrate the crowds and just film away. "Cameras are pretty ubiquitous at Disney," he said. "We went in there like tourists and shot every day."

Disney declined to comment on the film to NBC News, and has made no moves to sue the filmmakers. That may be a wise decision, said The Hollywood Reporter's Matt Belloni.

"They don't want to let this movie have the benefit of a fight with a big company like Disney," he said.

Stay tuned: The film's website has a counter of how many days they can go without being sued. 

"Escape from Tomorrow" is currently in theaters.








Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/escape-tomorrow-movie-digs-disney-worlds-dark-side-8C11381620
Category: tampa bay rays   drew brees   harry potter   Christopher Lane   Edward Snowden  

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Cadillac's ELR Will Hit Market In January - Business Insider

cadillac elr detroit auto show naias 2013

Alex Davies / Business Insider

The Cadillac ELR at the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.



In January, Cadillac will begin selling its first electric car for a base price of $75,995. That luxury price makes it a direct competitor to Tesla's Model S.

So how does the plug-in hybrid ELR compare with the all-electric Model S? 


In terms of styling, the ELR is similar to the Cadillac CTS, ATS, and XTS sedans. That's a good thing — we like all those cars.


Running on electricity and gasoline, its range should exceed 300 miles, which matches the Model S (though Tesla uses only electric power).


Both cars come with various luxury bells and whistles, plus the promise of good service and a solid warranty.


The cheapest Model S starts for $71,070, not including a $7,500 federal tax credit. GM anticipates that the ELR will also qualify for that credit, which depends on IRS certification.


Without getting behind the wheel of each, we can't make a final call. But right now, we'd buy the Model S — if only because it is widely recognized as a remarkable, revolutionary vehicle, and the ELR is unproven so far.


So why the Tesla-level price tag for the Cadillac entry? It's especially surprising given that in August, GM slashed the price of the Volt by $5,000, a tacit admission that few consumers are willing to pay a large premium for cars that offer limited range.


Karl Brauer, a Kelly Blue Book senior analyst, said Cadillac must hope to follow the lead of the Model S, but cautioned, "I'm not sure that level of enthusiasm, and pricing, will transfer to the ELR."


Eric Ibarra, director of residual value consulting at KBB, called the ELR pricing "a bold move," but notes "Cadillac has proven quite successful lately at pricing its products with a 100% premium compared to its non-luxury brands."


So the message from GM seems to be: The ELR will be just as good as a Model S, and it's worth just as much of your money.


Here's where GM's size advantage over Tesla comes in: It can afford a failure. If sales of the Model S suddenly stopped tomorrow, Tesla would quickly go out of business. If no one buys an ELR, it will hurt GM financially, but won't kill it.






Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/cadillacs-elr-january-sales-tesla-model-s-competitor-2013-10
Tags: chicago fire   9/11 Memorial   What Does the Fox Say   the league   Don Jon  

Sunday, August 4, 2013

What's annoyed you more. The nerf or bad business ethics ...

I?m curious to know, but what are people more annoyed about?

Whenever there?s a nerf, people will always be complaining. It?s only natural. Everytime something changes there is always a number of people unhappy and wanting everything to go back to the way it was. It happens when the Youtube or Facebook layout changes. And even everywhere else. To be honest, I don?t have any problems with these changes. It?s good that they?re focusing on making each ship class more balanced and even if it doesn?t fit now, at least that?s their goal in mind and they?re heading towards that. I don?t know how the escort class got hit, but it?s happened to the strikes before and its happened to lines when their accuracy got reduced. These aren?t major severe changes that have made the ship useless. I guess it just means you?ll have to adapt. Maybe it?ll be more difficult and maybe there are some tweaks needed here or there, but nothing is perfect at the end of the day.

However, regarding the RCS ducts, mainly for lines. For a very long time now everyone?s been using them and upgrading it to +lvl10s. Firstly, line equipment is incredibly expensive compared to the other two classes. And secondly, flying a line with avoidance was needed. Otherwise you?d simply absorb every hit without putting a dent on the other line with avoidance. You were pretty much a flying potato. Now after this update, they?ve rendered them useless. I?m sure 95% of the people, if not all, would have invested into something else if the avoidance was originally like this. But they haven?t even cared about all the time, money/griding and effort put into upgrading this equipment? The least they could do is give some sort of compensation on this. Doesn?t have to be full. Even just partial. This isn?t a simple nerf, it?s a huge change.

And to add to that, quite simply, why did they have a happy hour upgrade sale on engine parts right BEFORE the update was applied? Why not have it AFTER the changes? Why not give any warning that the equip you?re upgrading now is going to be very different tomorrow? Nothing. It?s simply obvious that they only cared about getting as much money as they can. It?s all just bad business ethics.

So despite all this unpleasant nerfing, it?s the bad business ethics that?s getting to most people, especially line pilots. And I?m damm sure that if they reduced the strike avoidance to exactly how they did it with the lines, you?ll be in the same position complaining that all that time, grinding/money and effort has just gone to a complete waste, and annoyed that they?ve not even given any sort of compensation.

But I could be wrong. Is it the nerf or their bad business ethics? And why?

And I?m not making a direct comparison with strike avoidance to line avoidance. But the idea that you invest so much time or money into something, and it?s just taken away from you without any care for that time or money put in.

And I?m also not saying they shouldn?t have reduced value of the RCS ducts. God-mode lines needed to be fixed and changing the values has done this. But they should have given some compensation for this change.

Source: http://en.board.bigpoint.com/bsgo/showthread.php?t=534379

bats hunger games review jeff saturday jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers

Samuel L. Jackson Joins Matthew Vaughn's Secret Service

[unable to retrieve full-text content]He's the bad guy.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1928046/news/1928046/

rajon rondo brazil Dick Van Dyke pro bowl victoria azarenka Royal Rumble 2013 senior bowl

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Ex-vice president at Tiffany pleads guilty to stealing $2.11 million in jewelry

Brendan Mcdermid / REUTERS

Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun departs Manhattan Federal Court in New York on July 2.

By Nate Raymond, Reuters

NEW YORK - A former executive at jeweler Tiffany & Co pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $2 million worth of jewelry from her one-time employer.

Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, a former vice president of product development, pleaded guilty to a count of interstate transportation of stolen property less than a month after she was arrested in connection with the theft.

Among the items were bracelets, earrings and pendants made of diamonds, platinum and gold.

Under a plea agreement, Lederhaas-Okun, a resident of Connecticut, has agreed to forfeit more than $2.11 million and pay $2.24 million in restitution.


Prosecutors said she had been allowed to check out jewelry from Tiffany for reasons that included showing items to potential manufacturers for cost production estimates.

Rather than bringing the jewelry back, Lederhaas-Okun allegedly would report the items missing or damaged. Prosecutors said Lederhaas-Okun subsequently sold some, if not all, of the items to a jewelry reseller.

After Lederhaas-Okun left the company in February in a downsizing, Tiffany took inventory and found she checked out 165 pieces that had not been returned, according to the complaint filed at the time of her arrest.

While Tiffany conducts daily inventories of items worth more than $25,000, the complaint said each piece was worth under $10,000.

Court documents don't name Tiffany, instead calling it a "international jewelry company based in midtown Manhattan."

But a spokeswoman for the luxury New York store had confirmed at the time of Lederhaas-Okun's arrest on July 2, that it was the one cited in court papers. Tiffany declined comment Friday.

U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan set sentencing for December 10. Federal sentencing guidelines would place her sentence at 37 to 46 months.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2f36fc62/sc/2/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C260C1970A31770Eex0Evice0Epresident0Eat0Etiffany0Epleads0Eguilty0Eto0Estealing0E2110Emillion0Ein0Ejewelry0Dlite/story01.htm

Mlk Quotes Elder Scrolls Online joe biden lupe fiasco jason wu jason wu Mavericks Surf

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Some kingly history behind Prince George's name

LONDON (AP) ? In choosing to call their first child George Alexander Louis, Prince William and his wife, Kate, selected a first name steeped in British history.

While "George" means farmer and earth worker ? not trades typically associated with U.K. royals ? it has been borne by six British kings, four of whom served in a row.

Below, a look at the British monarchs called George who preceded the 2-day-old prince now third in line to the throne.

GEORGE I: The German-born, first king of Britain from the House of Hanover ? which provided six British monarchs ? acceded to the throne in 1714. The king ? who spoke German, French and a little English ? ruled until his death in 1727.

GEORGE II: Initially unpopular, George II gained greater respect as his reign lengthened. He was the last British king to fight alongside his soldiers, at the age of 60. Because his oldest son had died, George II's grandson inherited the throne upon his death in 1760.

GEORGE III: Upon succeeding his grandfather, George III became the third Hanoverian monarch and the first to be born in England and use English as a first language. He ruled for nearly 60 years, during which time the American colonies declared independence. Once George III became mentally unfit to rule, his eldest son acted as Prince Regent from 1811. The monarch died in 1820.

GEORGE IV: Prior to assuming the throne, George IV secretly and illegally married a Roman Catholic. He later married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, who he tried unsuccessfully to divorce after assuming the throne in 1820. He was known as much for his marriage difficulties as for his interest in art. His only legitimate child died in childbirth, so the crown went to his brother upon his death in 1830.

GEORGE V: He assumed the throne in 1910, and made hundreds of visits to troops and wounded servicemen during World War I. His legacy also includes starting the sovereign's annual Christmas Broadcast ? a tradition that began in 1932. He died one year after celebrating his silver jubilee, leaving his son Edward to take the throne.

GEORGE VI: The father of Queen Elizabeth II was the most recent King George, memorably portrayed in the Oscar-winning film "The King's Speech." His first name was actually Albert, but he selected George ? his fourth name ? to use as sovereign in honor of his father, George V, and to create stability and continuity in the monarchy following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kingly-history-behind-prince-georges-name-205110376.html

Champions League Everett Golson June Carter monsanto Neymar mermaids Memorial Day Quotes