N.J. Death with Dignity Act would be first assisted dying law on East ...

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A bill is being proposed in New Jersey that would allow terminally ill people to self-administer medications that would end their life in a dignified manner.

Democratic Assemblyman John Burzichelli introduced the Death With Dignity Act. Assisting another person with suicide in New Jersey is currently a crime.

According?to the Los Angeles Times, a person would have six months or less to live and would need to make at least two verbal requests and one written request to receive the medication. Two doctors have to certify that the patient is terminally ill, and the same two doctors have to assure that the person is making the decision voluntarily, and send the patient to counseling first.

There would be a 15-day waiting period after the first request is made, according to Burzichelli's measure. He told CBS New York, ?People should have the right, in my opinion, to control their body. This is a matter of personal conscience, a matter of personal faith, and a matter of personal choice.?

Patients who had impaired judgment will not be eligible for the law, according?to Newsmax, and hospitals maintain the right to forbid their doctors from writing the prescription for the fatal amount of medication.

Burzichelli is uncertain if the final version of his measure will need a public referendum.

Oregon and Washington are currently the only U.S. states that have the right-to-die law, according? to gantdaily.com. Since it took effect in Oregon in 1997, 596 people have died from self-administered drugs. The law passed in 2009 in Washington, and 213 people have made the choice.

Source: http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/healthquest/death-with-dignity-act

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Romney shifted on energy as presidental politics beckoned

POSTED: 02:39 a.m. HST, Sep 30, 2012

WASHINGTON >> Mitt Romney, true to his roots as the son of an auto executive, was talking about cars.

It was May 2006. Romney, the Massachusetts governor, was chatting up his Montana counterpart about his vision for an energy-efficient car of the future ? lightweight and narrow, with tandem-style seating, so that two vehicles could drive side by side in one highway lane.

?He was getting animated about all these little cars that would be driving around in these lanes,? Brian Schweitzer, the Montana governor, recalled in an interview. Schweitzer, a Democrat, laughed, thinking about how Republicans might react. ?I said, ?Mitt, if you ever run for president, don?t ever talk about that again.??

Today, as the Republican nominee for president, Romney is far more apt to talk about oil drilling than energy-efficient cars. He has presented a plan to open up more land and coastline to oil and gas drilling, grant speedy approval to the Keystone pipeline to transport crude oil from Canada to the United States, end wind and solar power subsidies and curb regulations that discourage burning coal for electricity. It is an agenda far different than the one he outlined in his early days as governor.

He populated his Massachusetts administration with environmentalists, including one, Gina McCarthy, who now runs the clean air division of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Barack Obama. He railed against the ?Filthy Five,? high-polluting power plants in the state. He issued a ?climate protection plan? and lauded it as ?among the strongest in our nation.? Under his direction, Massachusetts helped create a regional cap-and-trade program ? anathema to most Republicans ? intended to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists believe cause global warming.

But at the last minute, Romney refused to sign the greenhouse gas pact that his aides had spent more than two years negotiating; industry opposed it, and some former Romney policy advisers say his political team feared that it would doom his chances for the presidency. A current campaign policy adviser, Oren Cass, said Romney simply evaluated the proposal and ?concluded the costs imposed on the economy would be too high.?

Today in Massachusetts, environmentalists credit Romney with helping to promote smart growth and reducing air pollution by putting in place tough regulations curbing certain toxic emissions from power plants. They also praise him for signing into law a bill embracing oil spill prevention measures. But many feel betrayed by his surprise reversal on the climate change pact.

?He was ahead of his time and very progressive,? said Jack Clarke, who was appointed to an ocean management task force by Romney and now directs public policy at Mass Audubon, a conservation group. ?But by the end of his administration, he seemed to have gotten Potomac fever. The conservation agenda he had didn?t seem to be a core conviction.?

A POLICY DEVELOPS

Romney got an up-close lesson in conservation growing up in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where his father, George, ran the American Motors Corp. The car company, which like its competitors marketed big, gas-hungry cars, was struggling. George Romney turned the company around by marketing the Rambler ? a boxy, no-frills but fuel-efficient vehicle. Time Magazine put him on its cover.

?One of the most anticipated announcements at our house every year was the winner of the Mobil Economy Run, and Rambler often won because it achieved 30 miles a gallon or more ? not bad even by today?s standards,? Romney wrote in his book, ?No Apology.? ?Dad called his competitors? cars ?gas guzzling dinosaurs,? a term that he helped make popular.?

Decades later, when he was governor, Romney remarked to an adviser, Rob Gray, that ?we?d be a lot better off in this country if we had European gas prices? because Americans would buy more energy-efficient cars. He also invited Amory B. Lovins, the head of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit research organization devoted to energy efficiency, to meet with him in Boston. While Lovins ?shared his vision of a 75 mpg hybrid automobile built with high strength steel and composites,? Romney wrote, ?I shared my own dream for a super-efficient commuter vehicle.?

When Romney ran for governor in 2002, he fashioned himself ?in the tradition of New England Yankee Republicans,? Clarke said ? a tradition in which ?the environment is a nonpartisan issue.?
He was animated by ideas like smart growth and sustainable development, former aides say. He wanted high-density housing clustered near public transportation, pedestrian-friendly urban areas and parks. To carry out his vision, he created an Office of Commonwealth Development, headed by an uber-secretary who would integrate policy in housing, transportation, energy and the environment.

The man Romney installed in that job was Doug Foy, who had spent 25 years at the helm of the Conservation Law Foundation, an advocacy group that had sued Massachusetts numerous times on matters ranging from air pollution to cleaning up Boston Harbor. Foy says he found Romney ?intellectually struck? by environmental concerns, though he filtered them through a business-friendly lens.

He would ask, ?Is there a role for government, or do you just let the market rip?? Foy recalled.

Foy?s hiring rankled business executives. Environmentalists, though, were thrilled.

?It was like Nixon to China,? said Ian Bowles, a Democrat who later served as energy secretary to Deval Patrick, the current Massachusetts governor. ?Here was a left-leaning Republican who was going to be able to accomplish things on the environment that Democrats had not been able to do.

Here?s the CEO of the most powerful environmental group, going to take on a super-secretariat with the governor saying all the right things on greenhouse gases, smart growth and the clean tech industry.?

One of the first issues Romney and Foy tackled involved an aging coal plant in Salem, Mass., that was spewing dirty particulates and was required by state regulations to clean up by 2004. The plant?s owner wanted extra time. The governor said no; three weeks into his administration, he denounced the company at a news conference.

?He strongly wanted to clean up the air,? said Eric Kriss, who founded the private equity firm Bain Capital with Romney and followed him to the Statehouse to become finance secretary. The governor and his entourage drove to Salem, where Romney confronted angry pickets ? coal workers who said he was costing them their jobs.

?I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people,? Romney thundered. ?And that plant, that plant kills people.?

?NO REGRETS? STRATEGY

By the time Romney took office in January 2003, Massachusetts was already developing a ?climate protection plan? focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Back then Romney ? who has said he believes that ?climate change is occurring? and that ?human activity is a contributing factor,? though he is not certain how much ? simply avoided the question of the scientific evidence, which prompts skepticism from some conservatives.

?We didn?t have a big conversation about the science,? said Sonia Hamel, who advised Romney on climate change.

The resulting 53-page document, released in 2004, laid out a blueprint for what Romney called his ?no regrets? strategy. It called for, among other things, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 ? a pledge adopted in 2001 by a bipartisan group of New England governors ? and it promoted hybrid cars and ?clean, fuel-efficient vehicles for the state fleet.? Romney argued that no matter what people believed about climate change, the measures would be good for the economy.

In New York, another Republican governor, George E. Pataki, wanted to do even more. In the summer of 2003, Pataki invited Romney to participate in regional negotiations to develop a cap-and-trade program ? a market-based trading system to regulate emissions from power plants, in which businesses would buy and sell pollution credits ? for states in the Northeast. Romney said he was open to the idea.

Power companies and other businesses lobbied against the plan, saying it would drive up electricity costs. At a clean energy conference in November 2005, though, Romney spoke favorably of it.
?This is a great thing for the Commonwealth,? he said, according to The Boston Globe, arguing that the pact would prompt businesses to develop clean and renewable energy technology.

But the following month, after more than two years of intense negotiations between Massachusetts and eight other states ? Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont ? Romney started getting cold feet. Hamel, who was leading the negotiations for Massachusetts, said Romney?s chief of staff, Beth Myers, insisted that Romney would sign on only if the deal included a limit on what power plants would have to pay to emit pollution ? a condition that New York and several other states opposed.

Myers declined to be interviewed. Hamel saw Myers? involvement as a sign that Romney?s political team was concerned about how the plan would affect his presidential ambitions. Franz Litz, the chief negotiator for New York, said he viewed Romney?s new conditions as ?a ruse.?

But Eric Kriss, the Bain co-founder, said the process simply reflected Romney?s decision-making style.

?I think he just didn?t get comfortable at the very end, but he didn?t want to stop a creative activity,? Kriss said. ?It was like that at Bain Capital. He would let some partner pursue some deal, and at the end he would say, ?I know you worked on this for six months, but we?re not going to do it.??

The other states eventually went ahead without Massachusetts (and Rhode Island, which also dropped out), and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as ?REGGIE,? became the first market-based regulatory program in the nation focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Massachusetts has since joined under Patrick, but in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, has announced his intention to drop out.

On Dec. 12, 2005, in an interview on national television, Romney embraced drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ? a position that, like his withdrawal from the cap-and-trade negotiations, aligned him more closely with the right wing of his party.

A few days later, the governor informed the people of Massachusetts that he would not be seeking re-election ? a sign, many residents believed, that he had set his sights on the presidency.

Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/Romney_shifted_on_energy_as_presidental_politics_beckoned.html

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Construction Industry CMIC Sonora Bet to new generations ...

The Mexican Chamber of Construction Industry (CMIC), Socially Responsible Company (ESR), has trained in free at more than 350 college students in new ways of building in 3D projects for developing software with electronic planes Building Information Modeling (BIM), to position Sonora at the forefront in the development of all kinds of works. CMIC Chairman of Delegation Sonora, Jesus Roberto Ayala Sitten, said that through the Training Institute of Construction Industry (ICIC), it is intended that the new generation of professionals in the industry have all the necessary tools so that are the best trained in the country, Latin America and the world

The 50 percent of students qualified belong to the University of Sonora and the rest are from the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (UVM), Durango Santander and Tecnol?gico de Monterrey. This preparation process also involved professors from different universities because the purpose of the CMIC is that top-level institutions impart to students subjects that the labor required for their professional development, to be prepared in the workplace requiring productivity, competitiveness and high performance. Sitten CMIC Ayala said that Sonora, continues to push very hard planning new construction in three dimensions, which is a method of building more practical and economical.

He said that in the United States and can not use the program ?AutoCAD? which is a computer aided drafting, and now the whole procedure and plannings of the buildings are fully digital and three-dimensional. He said the buildings now require programming in Building Information Modeling (BIM), modern and versatile method that allows you to build all types of construction such as roads buildings, structures, cut and fill mining, among others.

Therefore, business Chamber members, architects, builders and students majoring in engineering and architecture from different universities in the state have participated in the training of this advanced software that calculates space, cost and dimensions on buildings to create and also detects failures built for correction, Jesus said Roberto Ayala Sitten.

Source: http://www.optimizacijaspletnihstrani.net/construction-industry/construction-industry-cmic-sonora-bet-to-new-generations.html

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30 years ago, the CD started the digital music revolution

11 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

The digital music revolution officially hit 30 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1982. While you may be surprised to learn?that the heralds of the coming age were, in fact, the Bee Gees, it probably comes as less of a shock to learn that Sony was at the very heart of it. After years of?research and an?intense period of?collaboration with Philips, Sony shipped the world's first CD player, the CDP-101. Music???and how we listen to it???would never be the same.

Today the CD player might be seen as something of a relic, since our smartphones, iPods and satellite radios provide seamless access to not only our entire music libraries, but to nearly every artist or track available. We can dictate any song or album to an app and have it playing in seconds, or download a new single by visiting an artist's Facebook page.

In such a world, the idea of carrying around a disc loaded with just 10 or 12 tracks and switching it out every hour sounds positively stone-age.?But the MP3 and streaming media are not just the CD's replacements, but its descendants. The future of music in fact made its unofficial debut, believe it or not, in the hands of the Bee Gees.

It was on the BBC show Tomorrow's World in 1981?that the Bee Gees publicly?demonstrated CD technology (and a new album, Living Eyes) for the first time. Artists were excited about the format ? the prospect of a high-quality, track-separated, non-degrading medium was enticing, though many were still skeptical of digital encoding. But music industry heavies like David Bowie and renowned conductor Herbert von Karajan were quick to embrace it, and soon the likes of Dire Straits would hit a million sales and cement the CD's position?as the new standard for music.

That triumph was a long time coming: development of the format began in the '70s, when both Sony and Philips were independently doing research on an digital,?optical disc format to replace cassette tapes and records. Early work at Sony was led by Norio Ohga, who bravely bore the skepticism of his comrades in order to create and demonstrate the earliest versions in 1976 and 1978.

Meanwhile, Philips was on the same track, so to speak. Their original version, an evolution of the laserdisc, was a whopping 20cm in diameter, but after reflection they brought the size of their prototype down to 11.5cm ? the same size, measured diagonally, as a cassette tape.

In 1979, the two companies decided to work together. They set up a task force of less than a dozen people ? engineers who didn't know if they could trust each other. After breaking the ice, however, the team worked for a year and?managed to arrive at a set of standards, called the "Red Book." The manufacturing process and method of encoding were contributed by Philips, while Sony created the digital error-correction that made reading the data reliable.

The new technology was privately inaugurated in 1980, and the first modern CD pressed was Richard Strauss's "Alpine Symphony." The next year, the Bee Gees went on the BBC, and the year after that the CD as we know it today was born.

That October of 1982, the CDP-101 made its debut in Japan alongside the first run of CD albums, led by Billy Joel's 52nd Street. The device was expensive: ?168,000, ?about $730 at the time, or almost twice that when adjusted for inflation. But home audio wasn't cheap then, and there was a market eager to snap up the new, high-fidelity audio format.

The engineers behind it?had really had a task: everything about the system was brand new. As Jacques Heemskerk, one of the senior Philips engineers on the project, told the BBC in 2007:

It was revolutionary in many fields???the optics were new, the disc was new. At the start of development there wasn't even a laser that would work well enough for our needs.?The most advanced laser at the time had a lifespan of only 100 hours.

So the cost was justified by the complexity and novelty of the hardware. Other manufacturers, like Toshiba, Kenwood, and of course Philips, would produce variant CD players over the course of the next year.?

The first CDs to market, with the notable exception of Billy Joel, were mostly classical. In fact, the capacity of the CD was raised during development from 60 to 74 minutes in order to accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The creators of the format knew that classical music lovers were more likely to appreciate (and more likely?to pay for) the increased quality of the CD system.?

The pop and rock market, however, was still in love with cassettes, which were more portable and more ubiquitous than ever. 1979 had brought the first Walkman, and cassette players were now standard equipment in car radios. The CD was, for the moment, strictly for the home, where your nice speakers and amp would make the improved fidelity sing. Even there, to this day, some audiophiles swear by vinyl records and an all-analog setup.

It wasn't until later in the '80s that things really took off. Dire Straits'?Brothers In Arms?sold a million CDs in 1985, suggesting that the format had finally hit its stride. It wasn't long before other artists were selling millions upon millions of their albums in CD format. The Discman, introduced in 1984, and the CD-ROM format, enabling computers to read the discs, further accelerated uptake.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since that time, hundreds of billions of CDs have been shipped and sold ? the numbers are near-impossible to track, since the easily duplicated?digital data led to an enormous increase in piracy and counterfeiting, not to mention the billions of copies and mix-CDs made by normal users.

Music CDs?peaked in 2000 with global sales estimated?at around 2.5 ?billion. Soon (legal) digital downloads began to replace physical media for many music buyers. Though its numbers are on the decline,?CDs are still produced today on the order of hundreds of millions, and it will be many years yet before the world's CD factories shut their doors.

The size and shape of the CD, as well as its capacity, portability, and versatility, have been a major factor in how music has been developed and consumed for decades. Albums were written to fill it, new formats like the DVD were made in imitation of it, and entire new trends in media resulted from it. The Compact Disc started the digital revolution for music in the '70s, and we're still feeling the effects.

Devin Coldewey is a?contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/30-years-ago-cd-started-digital-music-revolution-6167906

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Heineken pays $6.1 billion as it nets Tiger beer

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Heineken NV says it has sealed a deal giving it control over the Tiger beer brand, paying ?4.7 billion ($6.1 billion) to significantly expand its presence in Asia.

Shareholders of Singapore-based drinks conglomerate Fraser & Neave agreed Friday to sell its 39.7 percent stake in Asian Pacific Breweries, the owner of the Tiger brand, to Heineken. After Friday's deal, Heineken controls 95 percent of APB.

Heineken CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer says the deal will allow the company to expand its presence across the region.

Heineken has been working to increase a longstanding stake of around 42 percent in APB for two months, buying shares on the open market and from smaller shareholders as well as negotiating with rival bidder, Thai Beverage Public Company Ltd.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-28-Netherlands-Heineken-Tiger%20Beer/id-0333abec6bf3491f820beed04321ced3

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BUBBLE TEA COMES TO QUEENS ARCADE | Buzz Magazine

words: BECKY ROBERTS

Bubble tea, the Taiwanese craze that has seen North America and now London bubbling with excitement, is coming to Wales for the first time with a kiosk in Cardiff?s Queens Arcade next to the Animal store. Bubble tea is a refreshing fruit or milk tea drink that originated in Taiwan in the 80s, containing healthy antioxidants whilst being colourful and fun. The Bubblebase kiosk will offer one of the biggest ranges of bubble teas in the UK, from Ceylon black or Jasmine green as a base, to premium peach, honey and tropical paradise teas.

After trying bubble tea in America, 23-year-old Cardiff entrepreneur Kishan Varsani decided to set up his own business in Wales after spotting a gap in the market for the cult drink. Mr Varsani states, ?Bubble tea is extremely popular in other countries and I?m sure it will catch on in Wales too. It?s a very funky and quirky drink and we?re passionate about making it a success here.? Of course the only way to find out whether you like bubble tea or not, is to give it a try for yourself, and Bubblebase is the place to go for those intrigued by the new taste and the hundreds of varieties on offer.

Info: www.bubblebase.co.uk

Source: http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/bubble-tea-comes-to-queens-arcade/

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SKorea: Japan must educate its people about WWII

NEW YORK (AP) ? South Korea's foreign minister said Thursday that Japan's wartime past will overshadow relations between the two staunch U.S. allies until Japan educates its people about crimes committed during colonial rule.

In an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said: "We are victims of Japanese colonial rule."

Kim, who will meet with Japan's foreign minister later Thursday, also said South Korea would not compromise in its dispute over the tiny Dokdo islands, called Takeshima by Japan, which has further strained ties.

"When the Japanese government claims Dokdo is their territory, Korean people (take) it as another attempt to invade our country," Kim said. "So that's the Korean sentiment and I hope that Japanese government understands this."

But he said South Korea recognizes its shared interests with fellow-democracy Japan, such as coping with North Korea and its nuclear ambitions. Both Japan and South Korea play host to tens of thousands of U.S. troops.

Kim said Seoul wants to expand relations with Japan, including in military cooperation, but only if South Korean public sentiment allows it. In June, they put on hold an intelligence sharing pact after it provoked an outcry in South Korea.

"We have to try to overcome these differences. It's up to the Japanese attitude. While they maintain their attitude ... there should be some limit on the scope of cooperation," he said.

Japan occupied the Korean peninsula for 35 years until the defeat of fascist forces in World War II and also occupied much of China. Japan issued a formal apology in 1993 over its use of Korean women as sex slaves by its soldiers during the war, but has failed to convince South Korea it is truly contrite.

Kim accused Japanese politicians of denying war crimes and said Japan's failure to educate its people properly about the past was the root cause of its various territorial disputes over islands in the region ? including with Russia and Asia's premier power, China.

"It's in sharp contrast with what Germany did to get the support and respect from the neighboring countries" after World War II, Kim said. "If Japan does it, I'm sure they can (get) respect from neighboring countries."

The dispute escalated last month when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit to Dokdo, which drew unusually stern criticism from Japan. South Korea has rejected a Japanese proposal for the dispute to be settled in the International Court of Justice.

On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stuck by Japan's stance on the islands, but said it did not want it to adversely affect relations with South Korea.

The issue stirs particularly strong nationalist passions among Koreans, as Japan's takeover of Dokdo in 1905 presaged its annexation of Korea five years later. South Korea took the islands back in the early 1950s and deploys police there.

Kim said that South Korea remains open to better relations with North Korea, and that it was disappointed when its offer earlier this month to provide flood relief to North Korea was rebuffed as inadequate by Pyongyang.

He also said that since North Korea's failed attempt in April to launch a satellite, "Trust has regressed." The unsuccessful launch was deemed by the U.S. to have military implications and to violate prior agreement by North Korea to suspend ballistic missile testing.

In spite of North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un, setting a somewhat more modern and open style, there has been no practical improvement in relations with South Korea or the United States with Pyongyang.

The United States, China and South Korea are all going through elections or leadership changes late this year, Kim noted, suggesting that any significant resumption of diplomatic activity with North Korea may have to wait.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skorea-japan-must-educate-people-wwii-182325961.html

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Enjoying our last few days as a family of three! - Surviving Motherhood

by Kimberly on September 26, 2012

We have SO been looking forward to the cooler weather this Fall and with the change of Seasons comes lots of fun Fall family activities! Lindsay has been talking about how much fun her kiddos had recently apple picking and sharing delicious recipes for all things Autumn has to offer!

We had a fun weekend recently and decided to head over to Irons Fruit Farm and enjoy our last few days of being a ?family of three?! This year, because of the frost, they aren?t offering u-pick apples but what I do love about Iron?s is the fact that they don?t nickel and dime you during your visit. The hay ride to pick your own pumpkin out from the field is free, you just pay by the pound for whatever pumpkin you choose. I also love all the yummy treats they have on offer, no one beats their home made apple spice donuts! YUM! The cider is also great and so is their offering of a ?whacked apple? which includes a fresh apple, warm caramel, whipped cream and topped with nuts!

The boys loved it!

I was planning to get a bag of apples but decided to wait for now, I have a hankering (errr?the last of my pregnancy cravings?) for apple pie and vanilla ice cream. This might be on my ?list? of food to ask my mom to bring over once the baby arrives!

Check out that baby BUMP! We are 40 weeks officially when we took this pic and now a couple days overdue so she will be getting an eviction notice soon! We?re in no rush for her arrival, just thrilled and excited to meet her! We will have an ultrasound next week and if all continues to look well we?ll wait two weeks before talking about possible induction. I think she will be like her big bro and be a few days late so we will see!
What are your favorite Fall activities to do with the Family?! Any fun Autumn traditions??

Huge 5,000-year-old oak unearthed

26 September 2012 Last updated at 01:19 ET

The trunk of a giant oak tree, thought by experts to be more than 5,000 years old, has been unearthed in a field in Norfolk.

The 44ft (13.4m) Fenland Black Oak, or bog oak, was found buried in farmland at Methwold Hythe, near Downham Market.

Planks cut from the trunk will be dried over seven months in a specialist kiln.

A spokesman said the tree would make "a breathtaking table for public display giving an insight into the grandeur of these ancient giant forests".

Continue reading the main story

This one is worthy of preserving for the interest of the nation?

End Quote Hamish Low Fenland Black Oak Project

Bog oak is generally found buried in farmland.

One of the rarest forms of timber in England, when dry it is said to be "comparable to some of the world's most expensive tropical hardwoods".

Experts believe the Norfolk bog oak is "the largest-ever intact 5,000-year-old sub-fossilised trunk of an ancient giant oak", but think it could be just a section - possibly as small as a quarter - of the original tree.

Standing trees began to perish as water levels gradually rose starting about 7,000 years ago and when they died they tumbled into silt that built up on the forest floor and this led to their preservation.

Hamish Low, of specialists Adamson and Low, said: "This one is so special in that it is intact and, as far as I can tell, sound along its full 44ft length.

"Along with the fact it is impossible to know how long Fenland Black Oaks will continue to rise out of the soil, and their inherent fragility, this one is worthy of preserving for the interest of the nation."

Having taken a team of experts a day on Tuesday to unearth the tree and mill on site to 10 planks, the wood is being transported to London for drying.

Working as the Diamond Jubilee Fenland Black Oak Project, Mr Low will lead a team of apprentice carpenters, in collaboration with the Worshipful Company of Carpenters, to create a 44ft table from the dried oak with the intention of putting it on show to the public.

"Most people in the woodwork business will think it's a ridiculous thing to try and attempt, but they are digging up less and less bog oak and there is very little of it on public display," said Mr Low.

"It's only by developing techniques over 20 years we've even dared to try and attempt this."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-19722595#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Why Businesses Are Switching to Online ... - Social Media Today

Your business is always looking for ways to get ahead and be more successful. ?In this day and age of advanced technology, that can sometimes be a tricky endeavor. Many businesses like yours are using online content marketing as a tool to give them a leg up.

Why Online Content Marketing

In today?s economy, nearly everyone is connected through some piece of technology, whether it?s a smartphone, tablet, home computer, or more likely, all three. ?This has opened up an entirely new and exciting world for both consumers and businesses. ?Even with the seemingly endless competition that you find on the Internet, there is an amazing amount of opportunity. ?Thanks to the viral power of social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube coupled with continuous improvements in marketing automation functionality, businesses are able to promote their quality content more efficiently than ever. In addition, companies are embracing online content marketing because of its inherent SEO benefits, as well as its ability to drive web traffic, leads, and sales.

Brand Promotion and Online Reach

With online content marketing, businesses create content that speaks directly to their target audience and promote it through their website and social media. In this model, a company?s website plays a duel role as digital storefront and principle content distribution hub. Web-based content is most effective when it includes CTAs that direct visitors to unique landing pages for lead capture, and when it is shared on social media.

As more people integrate mobile social into their daily lives, social content sharing is becoming more prevalent. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook users are now posting over 8 million things on the site each day. That?s a lot of content sharing.

SEO Benefits

In 2011, Google rolled out its historic Panda update, changing the search giant?s algorithm to favor fresh and original online content. Considered by some to be a death blow to traditional SEO, search engine optimization is now one of the most important elements of online content marketing. A recent study of online marketers conducted by SEOMoz and reported by eMarketer found that SEO is still the most commonly utilized inbound tactic for online marketers, with more than half practicing it daily.

There is growing evidence that businesses are continuing to spend more time and resources managing their growing online presence by producing content and optimizing its reach and effectiveness with traditional SEO techniques such as link building and keyword usage. In this way, online content has become the centerpiece of most companies? SEO strategy.

Web Traffic, Leads, and Sales

One of the main goals of online content marketing is to drive quality traffic to your website-traffic that is more likely to convert into relevant leads and eventually sales. This is possible by offering quality content that informs and/or entertains, content that solves a problem or fulfills a need or a want. At the end of the day, the whole point of sales is need fulfillment. Providing your target audience relevant online content is merely a more efficient way to do so.

One caveat: as the old saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Online content marketing takes time. Those expecting to see immediate results are in for a rude awakening. Keep in mind, with online content marketing you are building a complex and (hopefully) long-standing infrastructure that, like any bricks and mortar operation, will grow with time and effort. Consistency is the key. As Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute (CMI) notes, content marketing is not a campaign-it?s a business process.

When properly implemented, online content marketing can be a game changer for your business. Companies are always clamoring to get ahead and be noticed in any way possible, but all it really takes is a little planning and a lot of hard work and dedication. ?You can't simply throw caution to the wind and hope everything plays out the way you're wishing. Instead, you must devise an online content marketing strategy that uses the best of what today's technology has to offer. ?From there, you can begin to build an Internet presence for your company that will spell success.

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Source: http://socialmediatoday.com/chris-horton/847386/why-businesses-are-switching-online-content-marketing

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Romney says Clinton can 'do a man a lot of good'

NEW YORK (AP) ? Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney is unlikely to win Bill Clinton's vote, but that doesn't mean he can't soak up a bit of the popular former president's luster.

The two men stood side by side Tuesday as Clinton introduced Romney before the GOP candidate's speech to Clinton's annual global conference in New York. Clinton recalled working with Romney to save AmeriCorps, and praised the former Massachusetts governor's efforts to persuade fellow Republicans to support the national service program.

Romney, taking the podium, returned the compliment.

"If there's one thing we've learned in this election season, by the way, it is that a few words from Bill Clinton can do a man a lot of good," he said, prompting loud laughter and applause from the crowd.

It was a clear nod to Clinton's speech praising President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this month, and the slight uptick in the polls that Obama enjoyed soon after.

"All I have to do now is wait a few days for that bounce to happen," Romney quipped.

Such moments of bipartisan levity have been rare in a campaign marked by harsh accusations, heavy-handed rhetoric and relentless attack ads between the presidential campaigns and the outside groups that support them.

Obama's campaign currently is running one such ad against Romney that uses a clip of Clinton's convention speech where the former president says Romney wants to "take us back to the policies that got us into trouble in the first place."

But any resentment was noticeably absent Tuesday as Clinton and Romney appeared chummy, patting each other on the shoulder and chatting onstage after Romney's speech.

"That was good," Clinton told the man hoping to dislodge Clinton's party from the White House.

Before the speech, Romney spoke backstage with Clinton and Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, said Romney spokesman Rick Gorka. He declined to say what they discussed.

Clinton has an outsized influence on the presidential election more than a decade after he left office. Both Obama and Romney have pointed to Clinton's economic leadership as an example for the nation, citing prosperity and a federal budget that was balanced under his leadership.

Clinton is using the full weight of those credentials to boost Obama's bid. In his convention speech, he systematically rebutted Romney's attacks on Obama, accusing the Republican of pushing an economic plan that doesn't add up.

The Obama-Clinton political alliance was back on display a few hours later when the two Democrats shared a handshake and a hug on the same stage where Romney had spoken earlier in the day.

Normal protocol, Clinton said, would require him to simply introduce the president and then be quiet.

"I just want to make one comment. I'm going to finish that speech I started in Charlotte," he said, poking fun at himself over a sermon that at times seemed like it might never end.

Obama, before beginning a wrenching speech about human trafficking, thanked Clinton for the warm introduction.

"Although I have to admit," Obama joked, "I really did like the speech a few weeks ago a little bit better."

___

Lederman reported from Washington. AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-says-clinton-man-lot-good-141103450--election.html

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Improved communication could reduce STD epidemic among black ...

September 26, 2012 3:37 pm You are here:Home News Improved communication could reduce STD epidemic among black teenagers Posted by on September 25, 2012 in News | Tags:?Aids, Article, Chicago, Health, Internet, Problem, Research, School, Source, University, White, Work

Source: http://www.humanhealthandscience.com/improved-communication-could-reduce-std-epidemic-among-black-teenagers/news

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National Psychotherapy Day: Therapists Reveal What Therapy Can ...

This post is written in honor of?National Psychotherapy Day, ?a day when clinicians, clients, and therapy advocates will unite to promote the profession, fight stigma, educate the public, and draw attention to the needs of community mental health.? I hope you?ll join us!

Therapy isn?t only for people with a diagnosis ? or in crisis. Therapy is a great way to enhance your happiness (or what psychologists call ?well-being?).

As Alison Thayer, LCPC, CEAP, a psychotherapist at Urban Balance, said, ?We focus on eating healthy and exercising to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but we often do not apply the same principles to our mind and mental health. Consider therapy sessions to be the equivalent of providing our bodies with a nutritious meal.?

In fact, therapy is nourishing in many different ways. Below, clinicians share some of the well-known, and not-so well-known, benefits of seeking professional help.

Therapy provides perspective. ?At times of high stress, even the most highly functioning among us loses perspective on the issues we suffer. Talking these issues through with a caring, attentive professional can provide immediate perspective,? according to John Duffy, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens.

Therapy sparks self-awareness. Therapy helps you better understand your behaviors, thoughts and feelings. According to Thayer, ?If you find yourself wondering why you keep on engaging in the same, dysfunctional behaviors or why you can?t find the strength to make changes in your life, therapy can help you identify patterns and triggers to your behavior, and what you would like to experience instead.? It?s also empowering to realize the connection between your thoughts and actions ? and just how much agency you can exert, Duffy said.

Therapy is objective. A therapist can help you see your blind spots without the bias of being part of your life. ?Your therapist, like a football coach on the sidelines, isn?t actually playing in your game of life,? according to Julie Hanks, LCSW, a therapist and blogger at Psych Central. ?Family and friends are still playing on your field, but your therapist isn?t and has a different view.?

Therapy helps you change patterns. ?Therapy helps you recognize and modify your relationship patterns and attachment styles,? Hanks said. While it sounds clich?, our childhoods do affect our relationships, she said. Take the example of a woman whose father was volatile and abused alcohol, she said. Those experiences may color her current world, making her anxious about romantic relationships. Understanding how your early attachment experiences function today can be a huge help in pinpointing and fixing problematic patterns.

Therapy gives you ?me? time. ?Therapy is a place where you can focus on yourself for an uninterrupted hour,? Thayer said. That means that you don?t have to listen to anyone else?s problems or worry whether your conversation is balanced, she said. In other words, ?It?s all about you.?

Therapy lets you unplug. Most of the day we?re glued to our many devices: cell phone, computer, e-reader. In therapy, however, you unplug. And this pause provides many perks. ?This pause can help us take note of how we spend our time, what our priorities are, and what might be an unnecessary or unhealthy distraction,? according to Ryan Howes, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and professor in Pasadena, Calif.

Therapy cultivates connection. Digging deep and discussing your innermost thoughts and feelings in a safe space with a therapist helps you face any fears of intimacy, Howes said. This isn?t just rewarding. It?s also good practice for your relationships. ?Many times, clients will talk with me about a difficult thought or feeling, feel the relief and reward of opening up in that way, and then go tell the same thing to their loved ones,? Howes said.

Therapy lets you unload ? minus the hard feelings. Talking to a loved one is incredibly helpful. But when the issue involves them, it can get tricky. In therapy, however, ?you can unload and vent to someone who isn?t going to be directly impacted by your rant,? Hanks said.

Therapy is a place to be completely candid. Everyone has bizarre dreams or strange thoughts or impulses from time to time, Howes said. ?One of the best parts of therapy is being able to share and explore the ?crazy? thoughts with someone who won?t judge, who is a legally-bound secret keeper, and who may have some insight into these incidents,? he said. ??

Therapy is an opportunity for a positive ending. According to Howes, ?Most of our relational endings in life come in the form of breakups, divorces, deaths, feuds, or drifting away.? The termination phase of therapy occurs when both you and your therapist feel that you?ve worked through your issues. ?[This phase] is a time to reflect on the work you?ve done together, process the feelings about the ending, say everything you want to say to one another, and have a good, clean goodbye,? he said.

Therapy teaches effective coping skills. ?[Therapy] add[s]?additional options and tools to [your] coping toolbox,? Hanks said. Having healthy strategies at your disposal helps you successfully process emotions, cope with stress and lead a satisfying and fulfilling life.

Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. is an Associate Editor at Psych Central and blogs regularly about eating and self-image issues on her own blog, Weightless.

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????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 25 Sep 2012
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Tartakovsky, M. (2012). National Psychotherapy Day: Therapists Reveal What Therapy Can Do For You. Psych Central. Retrieved on September 25, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/09/25/national-psychotherapy-day-therapists-reveal-what-therapy-can-do-for-you/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/09/25/national-psychotherapy-day-therapists-reveal-what-therapy-can-do-for-you/

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When pregnant worker's doctor's note collides with company policy ...

THE PROBLEM: Company policy clearly states that employees are mandated to work overtime during busy periods. An employee did so willingly, until she became pregnant. During the busiest period of the year, she shows up with a doctor?s note explaining that she can no longer work overtime.

What would you do?

The Answer: It might be tempting to refer her to the appropriate policy and tell her no overtime, no job. It could also be illegal. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 provides that women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions must be treated the same way as other individuals with temporary disabilities.

If you refuse to accept the terms and conditions of the doctor?s note presented by the employee, you had better be prepared to turn down a similar request from every other employee with a temporary disability.

Here are some pregnancy-related issues to keep in mind.

• You must accommodate an employee temporarily unable to perform the functions of her job because of her pregnancy-related condition in the same manner as you treat other em??ployees with temporary disabilities, whether by providing modified tasks, alternative assignments, disability leave, leave without pay, etc. If you have made any previous exceptions to your overtime policy ever, this employee?s termination could be found discriminatory.
• An employee must be permitted to work at all times during pregnancy when she is able to perform her job. If an employee has been absent from work as a result of a pregnancy-related condition and recovers, you can?t require her to remain on leave until after her baby is born, for example.
• If other employees who take disability leave are entitled to get their jobs back when they are able to work again, so are women who have been unable to work because of pregnancy. If employees who are sick or injured are excused from overtime requirements, pregnant employees must be given the same consideration.

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The ABCs of SBA Loans - The Bank Roll | The Bank Roll

Simply put, SBA Loans are federally guaranteed commercial loans. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the Federal Government that assists small businesses in many ways, including setting guidelines for SBA loans and backing them with a guarantee. An SBA loan is made through a commercial bank, such as Webster Bank, and guaranteed by the SBA. The guarantee helps reduce the bank?s risk and enables it to provide financing that might otherwise not be available. So, you can apply for an SBA loan by applying through Webster for a commercial loan that is structured according to SBA guidelines.

?

Categories of SBA Loans:

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• 7(a) Loans and SBAExpress Loans are used to establish a new business or to assist in the operation, acquisition or expansion of an existing business.

?

• Patriot Express Loans are targeted for veterans, active duty service members eligible to retire, Reservists and National Guard members, as well as spouses of any of these service types (plus widowed spouses of any service member who died while in service or of a service-connected disability)

?

• Export Express Loans are targeted for companies that export

?

• 504 Loans are designed to assist small businesses in acquiring fixed assets such as real estate and equipment, and promote economic development in our communities.

?

Advantages

Compared to a conventional loan, SBA Loans offer:

? Lower down payments in many cases

? Longer terms and amortization periods

? Closing costs can be financed on an SBA loan in many cases

?

SBA Loans Can Help Businesses Grow Strong in Many Ways

SBA Loans can be used to finance:

? Working capital ? 7(a) and SBAExpress only

? Inventory ? 7(a) and SBAExpress only

? Line of credit ? SBAExpress only

? Real estate purchase

? Fixed assets/machinery/equipment/furniture/fixtures

? Business purchase

? Business start-up

? Buyout of a business partner

? Refinance debt (10% improvement, current on debt, having a business debt schedule is critical)

? Franchising

?

New SBA Guidelines Give More Credit to More Small Businesses

In 2010, the SBA made some major changes to their lending guidelines:

? Increased the standard used to determine the size of companies eligible for SBA financing to include small businesses with:

? Less than $15 million in maximum tangible net worth, and

? A two-year average net income after Federal income tax of $5 million

? Permanently increased the loan limits of 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million

? Permanently increased the loan limits of SBA 504 loans from $2 million to $5.5 million

SBA loan table

?

For the last three years, Webster Bank has been Connecticut?s #1 SBA lender and an SBA preferred lender throughout our market and in CT, MA, RI and NY.

Are There Restrictions on the Uses of SBA Loans?

Yes, there are certain restrictions for the use of SBA loans. SBA loans cannot be used to finance:

? Existing debt where the lender is in a position to sustain a loss and the SBA would take over that loss through refinancing

? A partial change of business ownership or a change that will not benefit the business

? The reimbursements of funds owed to any owner, including any equity injection, or injection of capital for the purposes of business continuance, until the loan supported by the SBA is disbursed

? Repayment of delinquent state or federal withholding taxes or other funds that should be held in trust or escrow

? An unsound business purpose

?

Have you ever used the SBA program to start or grow a business? What advice do you have for other small business owners?

Source: http://blog.websteronline.com/business/the-abcs-sba-loans/

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Waitrose TV Reveal Interactive Food Streaming Channel - internet TV

Bracknell (England)-based upmarket supermarket chain Waitrose have revealed their intentions?to launch a cookery-based online TV channel by the end of they year, which they claim?will become the ?first purely food-related online video channel from a retailer?.

Working with Red Bee Media, the channel (set to be simply called??Waitrose TV?) will feature?a range of on-demand online videos from the supermarket?s?contracted celebrity chef?personalities such as Delia Smith, Heston Blumenthal, The Fabulous Baker Brothers, Silvana Franco, and?Dhruv Baker?(MasterChef).

The channel will be made available through?both browsers and portable devices, with?six channels and a ?highlights? stream?featured on the ?hub??to provide a range of?recipes and expert guides,?alongside interviews, informative programming based on ingredients and health, and seasonal content for periods such as Christmas.

Additional features of the hub include a more interactive angle, as customers will be able to ?share? their favourite videos via social networking sites, while Waitrose will aim to make money?from their content by including a ?buy ingredients? button on their videos to serve as a direct link to their online store (and the specific Waitrose ingredients for the featured meals).

Waitrose digital editor Courtney Freedman-Thompson said of the plans: ?We know that our customers are increasingly viewing video content online so we wanted to develop Waitrose TV to provide shoppers with new inspiration and recipe ideas in an engaging way. We?ve made it really easy for shoppers to buy ingredients for the recipes they like, so they can cook them at home. We?re delighted to be working with Red Bee Media on this exciting new initiative.?

Red Bee Media?s creative director Andy Bryant reflected the mood on the other side of the partnership, as he summarised: ?With the dynamic growth of TV across multiple platforms, brands now have exciting opportunities to use online video to grow their business. We?re delighted to be working with Waitrose in helping them to implement their innovative online video ambitions.?

While they are notable for a slightly more expensive selection of foods in their range of outlets, will Waitrose?s effort to create digital content be seen as more universally appealing?

Specialist in Sports, TV Shows, Animation, and the platforms that show them...

Matt

Latest TV searches:

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Related News:

1. Jamie Oliver Prepares Food With Product Placement
2. Microsoft Reveal Interactive Adverts For Xbox
3. Samsung Reveal New App For Theatre Streaming
4. Food Network Reveals All-Day Expansion On Freeview
5. NBL Reveal In-House Online Streaming Package

Source: http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/waitrose-tv-reveal-interactive-food-streaming-channel/

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Vans California Brogue Pack - Holiday 2012

Czy masz uko?czone 18 lat?

?

Tak Nie

Vans California zapowiedzia? kolejny tematyczny zestaw przygotowany na czwarty kwarta? tego roku. Tym razem reprezentowa? go b?d? trzy modele - Era, Switchback oraz Classic Slip-On. Po??czy je motyw "brogue", klasycznego eleganckiego obuwia z charakterystycznymi ozdobnymi perforacjami. Spodziewajcie si? ich w sklepach ju? za kilka tygodni.

Source: http://www.tenisufki.eu/feature/9951/vans-california-brogue-pack-holiday-2012

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Is India becoming too expensive for offshoring your IT? - Inside ...

India is synonymous with offshoring. But in this guest post NOA board member Debra Maxwell who is global BPO director at Arvato where heads up the company's $200m global contract with Microsoft, discusses the changing geographies of outsourcing and the factors that make emerging offshoring locations a good bet.

Challenging offshoring cost effectiveness in India: how is the market responding?

By Debra Maxwell,

"India is undoubtedly still a prominent offshoring location, but wage inflation and high staff turnover mean the cost savings aren't as impressive as they once were. At the same time, the necessary skills and infrastructure are improving in several up-and-coming destinations, leading to a shift in the geography of outsourcing. This competition can only be good for companies looking to offshore and their customers; it's driving improvements in quality while keeping costs low.

While cost will always be the overarching driver for offshoring, smart companies are looking for the right mix of cost and quality from their offshoring arrangements - be that accurate data transactions or excellence in customer service or both.

To really challenge India as a major destination for offshoring, emerging locations need to have a combination of attributes at their disposal. The ease of doing business is a key consideration, including the level of government support, political stability, accessibility and security. Investment in infrastructure is another prerequisite; including access to technology, decent internet bandwidth and a reliable electricity supply. With these factors in place, those countries with a large, highly-skilled and university-educated workforce with the right language capabilities are creating the right environment for successful offshoring.

But the destinations that really stand out from the crowd are those that deliver commonality between your business or customer base and the location. No matter what the cost benefits are, it's easy to be put off when it's difficult to communicate with agents in offshore locations due to language or cultural differences.

For this reason, we often see French companies outsourcing to Morocco and Spanish speaking business going to Mexico. So, India was an obvious choice for English-speaking companies. But we're now, for example, seeing the Philippines emerge as an alternative destination, especially for American companies, thanks to the neutral accent and employees' familiarity with American culture and society.

Indeed, a recent study by GlobalEnglish showed that of the 30 countries with the largest labour forces, the Philippines scores highest in terms of workers' fluency in English -- above India, Canada, and, astonishingly, the UK.

The final consideration should be about the type of service you're looking to offshore. Not all destinations are equally strong across front and back office services. Some, like China, are perhaps strongest in ITO, whereas the Philippines has always been recognised for providing good voice services but is increasingly delivering growth in BPO.

One size doesn't fit all, so I for one welcome the addition of new destinations on the global offshoring map, and the choices and diversity they bring."

Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2012/09/is-india-becoming-too-expensive-for-offshoring-your-it.html

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Imelda Marcos' vast shoe collection ruined

MANILA, Philippines?? Termites, storms and neglect have damaged part of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos' legendary stash of shoes and other vanity possessions, left behind after she and her dictator husband were driven into U.S. exile by a 1986 popular revolt.

Hundreds of pieces of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos' clothing, including the formal native see-through Barong shirts he wore during his two-decade rule, have also begun to gather mold and fray after being stored for years without protection at the presidential palace and later at Manila's National Museum, officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The Marcoses fled the Philippines at the climax of the army-backed "people power" revolt, which became a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes worldwide. Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 and his widow and children returned home years later.

They left behind staggering amounts of personal belongings, clothes and art objects at the palace, including at least 1,220 pairs of Imelda Marcos' shoes.

More than 150 carton boxes of clothes, dress accessories and shoes of the Marcoses were transferred to the National Museum for safekeeping two years ago after termites, humidity and mold threatened the apparel at the riverside palace. There they deteriorated further as the fragile boxes were abandoned in a padlocked museum hall that had no facilities to protect such relics and that was inundated by tropical storm rains last month due to a gushing leak in the ceiling, museum officials said.

7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes off Philippines

Museum staffers, who were not aware the boxes contained precious mementoes from the Marcoses, opened the hall on the fourth floor of the building after noticing water pouring out from under the door. They were shocked to see Marcos' shoes and gowns when they opened the wet boxes, officials said.

Workers hurriedly moved the boxes to a dry room and some were later brought to a museum laboratory, where a small team of curators scrambled to assess the extent of the damage, a process that may take months given the huge volume of the apparel. Some items have obviously been damaged by termites and mold beyond repair, according to museum curator Orlando Abinion, who is heading the effort.

"We're doing a conservation rescue," Abinion told the AP. "There was termite infestation and mold in past years, and these were aggravated by last month's storm."

Watch NBC News video online

"It's unfortunate because Imelda may have worn some of these clothes in major official events and as such have an important place in our history," he said.

1. Only on NBCNews.com

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Two AP journalists saw a badly tattered box at the museum with damaged and soiled leather bags and designer shoes of Imelda Marcos' bulging out. Termites damaged the heel and sole of a white Pierre Cardin shoe. Other shoes had been warped out of shape or messed by stains.

About 100 of Ferdinand Marcos' Barong shirts were squeezed tight into another box, some still attached to plastic hangers. A white Barong shirt on top, with the colorful presidential seal emblazoned on its pocket, looked disheveled with reddish stains and a sleeve nearly torn off.

Imelda Marcos, now a member of the House of Representatives, was not immediately available for comment Sunday.

'A little fixing up'? Philippines hides slum behind wall ahead of poverty conference

Her massive shoe collection, including top U.S. and European brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of excess in the Southeast Asian nation, where many still walked barefoot out of abject poverty.

Ferdinand Marcos' successor, democracy icon Corazon Aquino, accused him of stealing billions of dollars during his 20-year rule and ordered many of his assets seized.

The clothes and shoes of the Marcoses were not among the assets allegedly stolen by them and sequestered by the government following the dictator's fall, according to Presidential Commission on Good Government official Maita Gonzaga. The government has so far recovered $2.24 billion worth of cash, bank accounts and prime real estate from the Marcoses and their cronies, she said.

After the 1986 revolt, Aquino had Imelda Marcos' shoes displayed at the presidential palace as a symbol of the former first lady's lavish lifestyle. The shoes were then removed from public view and stored in the palace basement when Aquino stepped down in 1992.

PhotoBlog: Life and death continue amidst the floods in the Philippines

Imelda Marcos claimed many of the shoes were gifts from Filipino shoemakers in suburban Marikina city, the country's shoemaking capital, for endorsing their products. Marikina officials borrowed 800 pairs of her shoes in 2001 for a shoe museum, which has become a tourist spot. Massive flooding, however, damaged dozens of pairs of Marcos' shoes in Marikina in 2009.

About 765 pairs, including famous brands like Gucci, Charles Jourdan, Christian Dior, Ferragamo, Chanel and Prada, survived the Marikina floods. The shoes still look remarkably new due to meticulous museum care, which includes displaying them in airtight and dust-free glass cabinets in an air-conditioned gallery, away from direct sunlight. The shoe collection draws a daily crowd of 50 to 100 Philippine and foreign tourists, who almost always leave in awe, museum manager Jane Ballesteros said.

"The first word they utter is 'Wow,' followed by the question, 'Was she able to wear all of these?'" Ballesteros said. "When I say, yes, look at the scratches on the soles, the next reaction is, 'Really?'"

"It's amusing," Ballesteros said. "Her shoes never fail to astound people years after."

More world stories from NBC News:

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49136772/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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