Professional Business Marketing ? Business people 3/31

Papke attends

Wayne Papke, with Investment Centers of America Inc. in Bismarck, joined top representatives at the recent ICA national educational conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Johnson hired

Nancy Johnson has been hired as executive director of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association.

Johnson has written for publications such as Corn and Soybean Digest magazine and has done consulting for companies in agriculture. She has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural marketing, strategic planning and implementation and the use of media.

Dawson with SWCA

Jim Dawson has joined the Bismarck office of SWCA Environmental Consultants as a project manager to expand services to oil and gas clients in the Williston Basin.

Dawson holds a master?s degree and a bachelor?s degree in geology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

He has more than four decades of experience in Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, and North Dakota and is a certified hazardous materials manager.

Hoeven gets award

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., retired Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., have been named recipients of the National Emergency Management Association?s 2013 Congressional Award for their commitment to and support of emergency management and homeland security issues and policy.

John Madden, NEMA presidents, said the three were instrumental in helping border states create partnerships with Canadian provinces and streamline homeland security and emergency management grant processes.

Doerr recognized

Gary Doerr, a transportation engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation?s bridge division, is this year?s recipient of the Bruce Nelson Distinguished Service Award.

The award presented by the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers Bismarck Chapter recognizes professional engineers from Chapter 3 for their contributions to NSPE/NDSPE, the engineering profession, their communities and to humanity.

Doerr has served in all leadership positions for Chapter 3 and the state society.

Byers honored

Jon Byers, an assistant attorney general in the North Dakota Attorney General?s Office, received the Outstanding Service Award in Prosecution from the National Children?s Advocacy Center .

It was presented at the 29th National Symposium on Child Abuse in Huntsville, Ala.

Byers was integral in starting the CAC movement in North Dakota and has worked to improve state legislation to protect children.

He serves on the board of the Dakota Children?s Advocacy Center and is an active member of the Children?s Advocacy Centers of North Dakota board and the Alliance for Children?s Justice in North Dakota.

Howard certified

Dr. Richard Howard, an interventional cardiologist with Sanford, is now certified by the National Board of Echocardiography in adult transthoracic echocardiography.

Certification follows training and completion of a competency examination.

Howard is also certified in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology.

Four join DEI staff

Four people recently joined the staff of Dakota Eye Institute in Bismarck.

Gail Sharpe is a technician. From North Carolina, she is a 2012 graduate of the Ophthalmic Medical Assistant Program at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, N.C.

Michelle M. Hager is an ophthalmic technician. A North Dakota native, she is a 1999 graduate of Bismarck State College with a degree as a medical administrative assistant. She has six years of eye clinic experience.

Cheryl Rising is a family nurse practitioner. A Minnesota native, she earned her bachelor of science in nursing degree from Moorhead State University and her master?s in the family nurse practitioner program at the University of North Dakota. Rising holds national certification as a family nurse practitioner as well as in neuroscience and geriatric nursing.

Kathy Morrison is a scribe. She has 10 years of experience at St. Luke?s Cataract and Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, Fla. Morrison is from Grand Rapids, Mich.

Two hired in sales

Christy Gross and Heath Knuth have joined the sales staff at Cedric Theel Toyota in Bismarck.

Gross, a native of Aberdeen, S.D., has been in sales for 15 years.

Knuth recently relocated from Fargo, where he was an elementary school teacher and tennis coach.

Moon with Starion

Jennifer Moon has joined Starion Financial as a personal banker at the south Bismarck location.

Moon has several years of banking and customer service experience. She is a graduate of the University of Phoenix, earning a bachelor?s degree in business management.

Three promoted

Three people have been promoted at Cornerstone Bank in Bismarck.

In the mortgage department, Jon Leet is now VP mortgage loan officer and Joe Sheehan is SVP mortgage banking.

Jeanne Mohn was promoted to AVP senior credit administrator.

Leet started with Cornerstone as a mortgage loan officer in 2008 and has 30 years of banking experience.

In 2008, Sheehan was hired as a VP mortgage banking. He has 15 years of banking experience.

Mohn started as a customer relations representative in 2007.

Mabin attends

Mike Mabin, president of Agency MABU, recently attended a national marketing workshop for agency principals. Presented by Second Wind, it focused on digital and transmedia marketing.

Artham certified

Dr. Surya Artham, an interventional cardiologist at Sanford Clinic in Bismarck, has completed his board certification for cardiovascular disease through The American Board of Internal Medicine.

The certification requires previous certification in internal medicine and the completion of oral and written examinations.

Artham joined Sanford Health in 2012.

Aldinger recognized

Eric Aldinger of Planningteam Financial Advisors in Bismarck, was recognized as Investment Centers of America Inc.?s most promising new representative at the company?s national conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The annual event earlier this month featured workshops and educational sessions.

Thompson chosen

Sandy Thompson has been named by the state Department of Human Services as regional director of West Central Human Service Center in Bismarck and Badlands Human Service Center in Dickinson.

Thompson had been the director of the Specialized Child and Family Services unit at the Bismarck human service center for nearly 15 years. Her appointment follows the retirement of Tim Sauter.

Thompson is a licensed addiction counselor with more than 20 years of experience.

She has a master?s degree in management from the University of Mary and a bachelor?s degree in addiction studies from Minot State University.

Sales leaders

Shirley Thomas and Heidi Hilzendeger are Bianco Realty?s associates of the month for having the most sales in February.

They have been licensed Realtors since 2001 and 2012, respectively.

Urlacher recognized

Loran Urlacher has been named aviation technician of the year by the North Dakota Professional Aviation Mechanics Association and was honored at the North Dakota Upper Midwest Aviation Symposium.

Urlacher has been an aircraft mechanic for 22 years and has worked for Bismarck Aero Center for the last three years. He is the shop supervisor to seven maintenance technicians.

Safe driving cited

Four interstate drivers with Jobbers Moving Storage, Bismarck, have received safe driving awards from Allied Van Lines, for which Jobbers is an agent: Mike Loran, 28 years; Larry Ormsby, 12 years; Susan Holliday, five years; and Jarvis Leintz, two years.

Pfeifer promoted

Courtney Pfeifer was recently promoted to general manager at The Ground Round in Bismarck.

A Bismarck native, Pfeifer has more than 10 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. At Ground Round, she worked as the assistant manager before becoming the assistant general manager.

4 get Toyota awards

Four employees at Cedric Theel Toyota in Bismarck were recently recognized by Toyota for hard work, dedication and determination in 2012.

Recipients of the Sales Society Bronze are Chad Kay, Ben Sandstrom and Jennifer Holzer.

Serena Jangula was awarded the Comptroller Excellence 100 Percent.

Source: http://lowbrowse.org/business-people-331.html

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Pageonce (for Android)

In times of financial panic, like when you realize your credit card payment is overdue, the Pageonce mobile app (free) proves its worth. The free app, available for Android (the focus of this review), iPhone, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry, lets you see a snapshot of all your account balances and upcoming bills, with bill-payment functionality included, too. You can manage payments to credit card companies, utility providers, lenders, and even small proprietors, such as your landlord.

Don't mistake Pageonce for a complete financial management tool, though. You won't find in it budgeting tools or detailed information about your spending habits, something Editors' Choice Mint.com (free, 5 stars) provides through a fully automated site and mobile app. If your goal is to get a handle on your money, I highly recommend dedicating yourself to Mint. Pageonce is more for checking in on your financial situation and making quick corrections when you need to pay bills. It has one or two other miscellaneous features thrown in, such as the ability to see at a glance many of your travel reward program balances, but the core Pageonce experience on Android is to answer the question, "Do I have enough money in the right places right now?"

Fully Free
It may be worth pointing out that Pageonce formerly locked some features behind a paid Gold membership, but the company has done away with this premium tier. All Pageonce's features and functionality are now totally free.

You can set up a Pageonce account either right on your Android device or from the full Pageonce.com website?and while we're on that subject, I should note that in my review of Pageonce, I point out that the mobile apps meet a need more than the website does. For setting up your accounts, it helps to have a full screen, keyboard, mouse, and additional browser tabs at the ready. But in actually getting use out of Pageonce, I wholly prefer the mobile app over the site. I think the former meets a consumer need better than the latter.

App Features
Inside the Android app, a plus sign at the top of the screen is your key to adding more accounts. Connect any kind of financial account?savings, checking, investment, retirement, loan?and the balance will be counted toward your Pageonce net worth (updated once daily, with a manual refresh option included). As mentioned, you can also connect to online accounts for bills, be they for insurance policies, Internet service, gas and electricity, or phone service. Whenever one of these bills or your credit card bill is near due, Pageonce will let you know via an alert, shown at the bottom of the screen.

The app's main dashboard shows totals for available cash, bills owed and minimum payment due, investment balances, credit card debt, offers (essentially, advertisements for financial services), and Credit Guard (an offer for a credit report and protection service). These six items appear as easy-to-access tiles on the main dashboard.

Other buttons at the top let you manage existing connected accounts, view reports, access your settings, and add new accounts.

The reporting section contains a few interesting bits of information, such as a "file cabinet" that houses previous bill statements, although in testing the app, only two of my connected accounts put any information here, even though I had at least two more accounts that generate a monthly statement.

Another sub-section to the Reports page shows "all your account transactions." This area proves useful when you need to quickly check to see what changed recently in an account if the balance seems off from what you expected it to be. Also under the Reports page is payment history, although it doesn't contain any information prior to the date you connected your financial accounts to Pageonce. And finally, there's "Where your money's going," the place you can actually find real reports. Pie charts and tables detail your expenditures into five simple categories: bills and utilities; insurance; credit cards; loans; and other. In my testing, I found the report just didn't accurately capture what I truly wanted to know about my spending habits, like if I spend much more than I realize eating out, and whether I might be able to cut back on that kind of unnecessary expense to fund something else I need or want. Mint not only has those features, but it does most of the work for me in terms of identifying different kinds of credit card charges.

Bill Pay
The bill pay function is what makes Pageonce worthwhile for some people, namely, those who forget to pay their bills until the day before they're due (or later). ?

You can pay a bill, right from within the app, but the very first time you do so, it isn't exactly a one-two-three process (it does become more streamlined afterward, though). Let's say you want to pay your upcoming credit card bill. First, you have to enter the full credit card account number, even if that card is already connected to Pageonce. Second, you have to enter the complete information, meaning account and routing numbers, from the checking account you want to use to pay. Also, it can take up to two business days for a payment to process. That's typically of any online payment you initiate, however, so it's the same results you'd see from making an online payment right from your service provider's website.

One minor problem: In my account, I had one bill payment already scheduled (which I did outside Pageonce), but Pageonce had no knowledge of it, so had I not been careful, I might have tried to pay the same bill twice and double-taxed my own checking account. One thing I've always appreciated about one particular credit card company's online user account experience is that it pops up a warning if I try to schedule a payment within three days of an existing scheduled payment. You wouldn't believe how often I try to pay my bills more than once.

Security
Pageonce has good security measures in place to keep your financial information safe. You can't transfer money using Pageonce, so no one else can move your money through this service either. All your account info is kept under lock and key. Similar to Mint.com, Pageonce doesn't store any information on the phone itself, and uses bank-level encryption.

The app has a four-digit PIN, which you enter every time you exit the app or your phone goes on standby. Furthermore, Pageonce is VeriSign Secured (i.e., tested and approved by Norton) and TrustE approved.

Pageonce in a Pinch
The Pageonce Android app delivers on its promise to quickly show you your account balances as well as set up a bill to be paid on the fly when you forget to do it ahead of time. If you're the kind of person always getting hit by late charges, give Pageonce a try. But if you're looking for real guidance about how to manage your money and debts, put yourself in the hands of Editors' Choice Mint.com.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/jOypLjNjNmk/0,2817,2409130,00.asp

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Republicans Blast Don Young, Demand an Apology

Don Young

Alaska Congressman Don Young's use of racial slurs in reference to Latinos prompted a strong backlash from his fellow Republican Party members today as both House and Senate leaders demanded an apology from Young.

Young used the derogatory term "wetbacks" to refer to Latino workers on his father's ranch in an interview Thursday. His comments came only a few weeks after the Republican National Committee released a party "autopsy" report on the presidential election that outlined revitalization strategies, which included prioritizing Hispanic voter outreach.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was the first to condemn the congressman's words:

"Migrant workers come to America looking for opportunity and a way to provide a better life for their families. They do not come to this country to hear ethnic slurs and derogatory language from elected officials. The comments used by Rep. Young do nothing to elevate our party, political discourse or the millions who come here looking for economic opportunity," Cornyn said in a statement.

House Speaker John Boehner followed quickly with a statement of his own:

"Congressman Young's remarks were offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds. I don't care why he said it - there's no excuse and it warrants an immediate apology."

Representative Joaquin Castro tweeted the following:

"@ castro4congress: Congressman Young, your words are disgusting. fb.me/F07xSx8T" @ repdonyoung

- Joaquin Castro(@JoaquinCastrotx) March 29, 2013

Sen. John McCain also responded online:

Don Young's comments were offensive and have no place in our Party or in our nation's discourse. He should apologize immediately

- John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) March 29, 2013

RNC Chair, Reince Priebus released this statement:

"The words used by Representative Young emphatically do not represent the beliefs of the Republican Party. As I have continued to say, everyone in this country deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Our party represents freedom and opportunity for every American and a beacon of hope to those seeking liberty throughout the world. Offensive language and ethnic slurs have no place in our public discourse."

Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi called for an apology from the congressman.

Congressman Young should fully apologize for deeply offensive comments that were not appropriate in his youth or now.

- Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) March 29, 2013

Alaskan Senator, Lisa Murkowski reassured constituents that she did not condone Young's comments on her Facebook page:

"I want to tell Alaskans that I've heard the reports of Don Young's interview. Regardless of the time or the context, that term is inappropriate and offensive."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-blast-don-young-demand-apology-192021851--abc-news-politics.html

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How Ryan Gosling Became A Stunt Bike Badass For 'Pines'

'Place Beyond the Pines' stunt coordinator explains to MTV News how the star transformed into a daredevil.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Ryan Gosling in "The Place Beyond the Pines"
Photo: Atsushi Nishijima/ Focus Features

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704551/ryan-gosling-place-beyond-the-pines-stunts.jhtml

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How Did Dinosaurs Have Sex? [Excerpt]

See Inside

Once considered beyond the reach of science, insights into the love lives of these extinct giants are emerging

By Brian Switek

Image: Amy Martin

In Brief

• Scientists historically skirted the subject of how dinosaurs had sex, out of modesty and an absence of evidence.
• But studies of the closest living relatives of dinosaurs are providing insights into their probable reproductive anatomy.
• And computer models can test the plausibility of putative mating positions.

Adapted from My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs, by Brian Switek, by arrangement with Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright ? 2013 by Brian Switek

I was shuffling through Chicago's O'Hare international airport when I saw it: a magnificent, towering skeleton of a dinosaur. At first I thought it was a mirage created by my travel-addled brain. But the scene did not evaporate as I approached. Pillarlike forelimbs and brawny shoulders supported a long swerve of neck bones leading up to the dinosaur's small, boxy skull, which peered over the top of a banner touting the airport's Wi-Fi, as if looking to the tarmac beyond to check the latest departures and arrivals. I stopped and stared at the behemoth?a replica of Brachiosaurus inherited from the Field Museum in Chicago?mentally filling in the internal organs, muscles and skin of a creature that at 85 feet long is one of the largest dinosaurs ever found. And then a strange thought bubbled up in my mind: How did such a gargantuan animal have sex?

Giddy and tired, I envisioned a pair of amorous Brachiosaurus standing in a clearing in a conifer forest some 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. But try as I might, I couldn't quite figure out the mechanics of what should come next. Could the male rear up to mount the female? Could the female support his weight? Wouldn't her massive tail get in the way? Alas, my flight started boarding, so I had to part ways with the skeleton, but I continued to ponder the mating mystery on the plane. It has captivated me ever since.

Dinosaurs must have had sex to reproduce. As in nearly all modern-day reptiles, males would have deposited sperm inside females, which would later lay fertilized eggs containing developing dinosaur embryos. Yet although scientists have managed to deduce quite a bit about dinosaur biology, the nuts and bolts of dinosaur sex remained largely unknown?in part because studying the sexual behavior of animals was taboo historically and the topic seemed so beyond the reach of science that very little could be said about dinosaur mating with confidence. Not all hope is lost, however. Dinosaur fossils have furnished clues to such intimate details as when during development these reptiles reached sexual maturity and how they attracted mates. Meanwhile studies of birds and crocodilians?the closest living relatives of dinosaurs?hint at what the external reproductive anatomy of dinosaurs looked like. And computer modeling offers the possibility of testing theories about how these giants managed to do the deed itself. Much remains to be discovered, but scientists are slowly drawing back the curtain on dinosaur amour.

Lock and Key

Signs of sex are hard to find in the fossil record of any creature. Among the rare examples are 47-million-year-old turtles that died while copulating and a pair of 320-million-year-old sharks that might have been courting when they were rapidly buried. Sadly no dinosaur skeletons have been found locked in romantic embrace. And not even the most beautifully preserved of these beasts retain remains of their reproductive organs.

For insights into the private parts of these extinct animals, scientists have had to turn to their closest extant relatives: birds and crocodilians. Birds are living dinosaurs, a specialized lineage that evolved around 150 million years ago and continues to thrive today. Crocodilians?a group that includes the alligators, gharials and crocodiles?are the closest living relatives of the group formed by extinct dinosaurs and modern birds. A trait present in both birds and crocodilians is likely to have been present in nonavian dinosaurs as well. One such trait is a cloaca?the single end point for the reproductive, urinary and intestinal tracts in both sexes of birds and crocodilians and probably, by extension, dinosaurs. Thus, an Apatosaurus's genitals would not be visible as it plodded by. Instead they would have been concealed in the cloaca, which would have appeared only as a slit underneath the dinosaur's tail.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ce5f12d3e06cd930ceed5d325db8d9aa

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Scientists image deep magma beneath Pacific seafloor volcano

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Since the plate tectonics revolution of the 1960s, scientists have known that new seafloor is created throughout the major ocean basins at linear chains of volcanoes known as mid-ocean ridges. But where exactly does the erupted magma come from?

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego now have a better idea after capturing a unique image of a site deep in the earth where magma is generated.

Using electromagnetic technology developed and advanced at Scripps, the researchers mapped a large area beneath the seafloor off Central America at the northern East Pacific Rise, a seafloor volcano located on a section of the global mid-ocean ridges that together form the largest and most active chain of volcanoes in the solar system. By comparison, the researchers say the cross-section area of the melting region they mapped would rival the size of San Diego County.

Details of the image and the methods used to capture it are published in the March 28 issue of the journal Nature.

"Our data show that mantle upwelling beneath the mid-ocean ridge creates a deeper and broader melting region than previously thought," said Kerry Key, lead author of the study and an associate research geophysicist at Scripps. "This was the largest project of its kind, enabling us to image the mantle with a level of detail not possible with previous studies."

The northern East Pacific Rise is an area where two of the planet's tectonic plates are spreading apart from each another. Mantle rising between the plates melts to generate the magma that forms fresh seafloor when it erupts or freezes in the crust.

Data for the study was obtained during a 2004 field study conducted aboard the research vessel Roger Revelle, a ship operated by Scripps and owned by the U.S. Navy.

The marine electromagnetic technology behind the study was originally developed in the 1960s by Charles "Chip" Cox, an emeritus professor of oceanography at Scripps, and his student Jean Filloux. In recent years the technology was further advanced by Steven Constable and Key. Since 1995 Scripps researchers have been working with the energy industry to apply this technology to map offshore geology as an aid to exploring for oil and gas reservoirs.

"We have been working on developing our instruments and interpretation software for decades, and it is really exciting to see it all come together to provide insights into the fundamental processes of plate tectonics," said Constable, a coauthor of the paper and a professor in the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at Scripps. "It was really a surprise to discover that melting started so deep in the mantle?much deeper than was expected."

Key believes the insights that electromagnetics provides will continue to grow as the technology matures and data analysis techniques improve.

"Electromagnetics is really coming of age as a tool for imaging the earth," said Key. "Much of what we know about the crust and mantle is a result of using seismic techniques. Now electromagnetic technology is offering promise for further discoveries."

Key also has future plans to apply electromagnetic technology to map subglacial lakes and groundwater in the polar regions.

###

University of California - San Diego: http://www.ucsd.edu

Thanks to University of California - San Diego for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 37 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127485/Scientists_image_deep_magma_beneath_Pacific_seafloor_volcano

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Thousands in NYC living in hotels after Sandy (Providence Journal)

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Pope reluctant to be pope: What does it mean?

Pope Francis, bottom left, greets the faithful at the end of his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Francis has called for an end to the violence and looting that has accompanied the weekend coup in the Central African Republic in his first such appeal for peace since becoming pope. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis, bottom left, greets the faithful at the end of his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Francis has called for an end to the violence and looting that has accompanied the weekend coup in the Central African Republic in his first such appeal for peace since becoming pope. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis is given a paper cut-out heart with writing reading "Hurray Pope Francis" as he driven through the crowd during his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis kisses a baby handed to him as he is driven through the crowd during his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis is driven through the crowd during his first general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Francis has called for an end to the violence and looting that has accompanied the weekend coup in the Central African Republic in his first such appeal for peace since becoming pope. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis' ring is seen as he delivers his blessing as he is driven through the crowd during his general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? He still goes by "Bergoglio" when speaking to friends, seems reluctant to call himself pope and has decided to live in the Vatican hotel rather than the grand papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace.

It might seem as if Pope Francis is in a bit of denial over his new job as leader of the world's 1.2-billion Catholics. Or perhaps he's simply changing the popular idea of what it means to be pope, keeping the no-frills style he cultivated as archbishop of Buenos Aires in ways that may have broad implications for the church.

The world has already seen how Francis has cast aside many trappings of the papacy, refusing to don the red velvet cape Benedict XVI wore for official occasions and keeping the simple, iron-plated pectoral cross he used as bishop and archbishop.

On Thursday, his belief that a pope's job is to serve the world's lowliest will be on display when he washes the feet of a dozen young inmates at a juvenile detention center in Rome. Previous popes have celebrated the Holy Thursday ritual, which re-enacts Christ's washing of his disciples' feet before his crucifixion, by washing the feet of priests in one of Rome's most ornate basilicas.

Such moves hint, even at this early stage, only two weeks into his papacy, at an apparent effort by Francis to demystify the office of pope.

Unlike his predecessors, he doesn't sign his name "Pope Francis," ending his official correspondence simply "Francis."

To those closest he is still Bergoglio, and this week, Italian state radio broadcast a voice mail he left wishing a friend Happy Birthday. "It's Bergoglio," the pope said, using the surname he was born with.

Even on Day One, Francis didn't acknowledge he was pope.

Speaking on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election the night of March 13, Francis told the tens of thousands gathered there that the cardinals' task during the conclave had been to "give Rome a bishop."

And bishop of Rome is the title he has emphasized repeatedly ever since ? not vicar of Christ, or any of his other official titles.

"I do think there is something about trying to reduce the awesomeness, the grandeur and majesty of the papacy," said John Allen Jr., Vatican columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. "Part of this is just his personality. He's never liked pomp and circumstance."

Indeed. Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio never lived in the ornate church mansion that Pope John Paul II stayed in when visiting, preferring simple rooms in a downtown building, warmed by a small stove on frigid weekends when the heat was turned off. He did his own cooking and rode the bus to get around town.

In that same vein, Francis announced this week that he wasn't moving into the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace and would stay instead in the Vatican's Santa Marta residence, the antiseptically clean, institutional-style hotel where he and the 114 cardinals who elected him pope were sequestered during the conclave.

Calling the hotel home, Francis indicated that he wants to live in a community with ordinary folk, not the gilded cage of the Apostolic Palace.

He will eat in the common dining room as he has for the past two weeks, and celebrate 7 a.m. Mass in the hotel chapel as he has each day, inviting Vatican gardeners, street sweepers, hotel workers and newspaper staff to attend.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the decision to stay put in the hotel had been taken "for now."

"We'll see how it works," he said.

In one concession, Francis did move in recent days from the hotel's cramped Room 207, where he had stayed as cardinal, into Room 201, the larger papal suite, which has a study and sitting room to receive guests. The furnishings are a step up from the simple fare of the rest of the hotel: dark wood armoires and a bed with a matching headboard carved with an image of Christ's face.

Francis' initial refusal to move into the hotel's papal suite is perhaps understandable, given the reluctance with which he accepted the job in the first place.

On Wednesday, the Vatican revealed what Francis said in the Sistine Chapel when he was formally asked if he accepted the outcome of the vote. "I am a big sinner. Trusting in the mercy and patience of God, in suffering, I accept," he answered.

The decision not to take up residence in the Apostolic Palace might also signal a desire to keep his distance from the dysfunctional Vatican government Francis has inherited. One of his major tasks will be to rid the Vatican bureaucracy of the mismanagement, petty turf battles and allegations of corruption that were revealed in leaks of papal documents last year.

Francis does go to work each day at his "office" in the Apostolic Palace, where he meets with various Vatican officials. He uses the ornate Clementine Hall for larger audiences, such as his first formal addresses to representatives of the world's religions and the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

In his March 20 audience with religious leaders, Francis sent an important signal about his view of the papacy and its relationship with other Christians. He addressed the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, as "my brother" ? a fraternal nod to a church that split from Rome 1,000 years ago and has remained separated in part over disputes about the primacy of the pope.

To make that message abundantly clear, Francis' chair was on the ground ? the same level as all the other religious leaders ? and not on a raised platform. Two days later, when Francis greeted diplomats accredited to the Holy See, his chair was up on a platform.

"To have a simpler view, less grandiose sense of the trappings of the papacy might be saying, 'I want to be able to relate to you at a different level,'" said Anton Vrame of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese in the U.S.

Francis' gestures, choices and emphasis were clearly an indication of his personality and the simplicity for which Jesuits are known, Vrame said.

"Is it a further simplification of the papacy that we've seen over the years? Potentially. It remains to be seen," he said.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-27-EU-Vatican-Reluctant-Pope?/id-e5a7180b15934e7f8474a74d1e251640

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Russia seeks to underpin Afghan security after NATO pullout

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia wants play a role in keeping Afghanistan stable after the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops by maintaining government military hardware on Afghan soil, a senior military official said on Wednesday.

In a meeting with foreign military attaches in Moscow, Sergei Koshelev underscored that Russia is worried about threats to its security after the pullout of most foreign forces from Afghanistan, which borders ex-Soviet states in Central Asia.

"We cannot fail to be concerned by the danger of the restoration of a regime on Afghan territory that would foster the spread of terrorism, drug trafficking and instability," said Koshelev, the Russian military's point man for foreign ties.

Russia, mindful of the 1980s war of occupation that killed thousands of its soldiers and contributed to the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, has rule out sending troops to Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

But it has supported U.S. and NATO operations since then by allowing transit across its territory and contributed small arms and ammunition to Afghan security forces, as well as selling helicopters and training Afghans to maintain them.

NATO is set to wrap up its combat mission in Afghanistan and most members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are to withdraw by the end of 2104.

"With the withdrawal of ISAF, keeping the weapons and equipment of the Afghan national security forces in repair and working condition will be of major importance," Koshelev said.

He indicated that at a conference it plans to host in late May on European security, Russia would like to discuss "the creation of repair facilities on the territory of Afghanistan to keep their military equipment in working condition."

He also said Russia wants closer cooperation between its security alliance with Central Asia and other ex-Soviet states on the one hand and NATO on the other in combating threats that could emerge from Afghanistan.

"I am not talking about political dialogue but about the possibility of determining concrete projects the militaries would be responsible for," he said, without proposing any specific projects.

(Editing by Toby Chopra)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-seeks-underpin-afghan-security-nato-pullout-172222520--sector.html

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Richmond CA Bankruptcy Lawyer Recognized For Helping Locals ...

If you are having financial difficulties, a Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer is there with all kinds of help. There are many things to know about current laws concerning bankruptcies and a trained and experienced attorney keeps up with all the important changes. Here are some reasons to consult qualified legal advice when one is not sure what to do.

When the economy stumbles many people lose their jobs, and it is through no fault of their own. Once this occurs, it may be very difficult to meet certain financial obligations. Yet, one does not have to endure these kinds of difficulties when qualified help is at hand.

When major illness strikes a family it can be devastating. In fact, it can easily deplete savings. One may have to take care of a pile of medical expenses, and it does not take long for these bills to completely overwhelm most families. There may be no possible way to pay them.

If you cannot pay all your bills, you could be placed under an enormous amount of stress. Bill collectors and credit services may be calling your home at all hours of the day and evening. In fact, you may be afraid to answer your phone because of harassing calls.

There are ways to take care of creditors and services that call and harass you. Your trained attorney can help you put an immediate stop to these things. You have someone you can trust that provides important advice. This way, you know exactly what to do and are less likely to make mistakes.

Your Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer is familiar with all the problems that you are experiencing. Once you call a legal professional you can rest assured that your financial problems will soon be a thing of the past. This is a great way to reduce a lot of stress and help you relax and sleep well at night. Your attorney is trained to guide you through a very difficult time.

Find a review of the benefits you get when you consult a Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer and more information about a reputable attorney at http://www.dowebankruptcylaw.com now.

Source: http://bestfinance1.com/richmond-ca-bankruptcy-lawyer-recognized-for-helping-locals-during-tough-times

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US launches new batch of graphic anti-smoking ads

This image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a poster from their anti-smoking advertising campaign, launched on Thursday, March 28, 2013. The ad is part of the second round of a graphic ad campaign designed to get smokers off tobacco. The CDC says they believe the last effort convinced tens of thousands to quit. (AP Photo/CDC)

This image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a poster from their anti-smoking advertising campaign, launched on Thursday, March 28, 2013. The ad is part of the second round of a graphic ad campaign designed to get smokers off tobacco. The CDC says they believe the last effort convinced tens of thousands to quit. (AP Photo/CDC)

This combination of images provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows posters from their anti-smoking advertising campaign, launched on Thursday, March 28, 2013. The ads are part of the second round of a graphic ad campaign designed to get smokers off tobacco. The CDC says they believe the last effort convinced tens of thousands to quit. (AP Photo/CDC)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Government health officials launched the second round of a graphic ad campaign Thursday that is designed to get smokers off tobacco, saying they believe the last effort convinced tens of thousands to quit.

The ads feature sad, real-life stories: There is Terrie, a North Carolina woman who lost her voice box. Bill, a diabetic smoker from Michigan who lost his leg. And Aden, a 7-year-old boy from New York, who has asthma attacks from secondhand smoke.

"Most smokers want to quit. These ads encourage them to try," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC campaign cost $48 million and includes TV, radio and online spots as well as print ads and billboards.

The spending comes as the agency is facing a tough budget squeeze, but officials say the ads should more than pay for themselves by averting future medical costs to society. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. It's responsible for the majority of the nation's lung cancer deaths and is a deadly factor in heart attacks and a variety of other illnesses.

Last year's similar $54 million campaign was the agency's first and largest national advertising effort. The government deemed it a success: That campaign triggered an increase of 200,000 calls to quit lines. The CDC believes that likely prompted tens of thousands of smokers to quit based on calculations that a certain percentage of callers do actually stop.

Like last year, the current 16-week campaign spotlights real people who were hurt and disfigured by smoking. Terrie Hall, a 52-year-old throat cancer survivor makes a repeat performance. She had her voice box removed about a dozen years ago.

In last year's ad there's a photo of her as a youthful high school cheerleader. Then she is seen more recently putting on a wig, inserting false teeth and covering the hole in her neck with a scarf. It was, by far, the campaign's most popular spot, as judged by YouTube viewings and Web clicks.

In a new ad, Hall addresses the camera, speaking with the buzzing sound of her electrolarynx. She advises smokers to make a video of themselves now, reading a children's book or singing a lullaby. "I wish I had. The only voice my grandson's ever heard is this one," her electric voice growls.

One difference from last year: The new campaign tilts more toward the impact smokers have on others. One ad features a Kentucky high school student who suffers asthma attacks from being around cigarette smoke. Another has a Louisiana woman who was 16 when her mother died from smoking-related causes.

The return of the campaign is already being applauded by some anti-smoking advocates, who say tobacco companies spend more on tobacco product promotion in a week than the CDC spends in a year.

After decades of decline, the adult smoking rate has stalled at roughly 20 percent in recent years. Advocates say the campaign provides a necessary jolt to a weary public that has been listening to government warnings about the dangers of smoking for nearly 50 years.

"There is an urgent need to continue this campaign," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.

It would seem like a bad time for the CDC to be buying air time ? the agency is facing roughly $300 million in budget cuts as part of the government's sequestration cuts in federal spending. However, the ad money comes not from the CDC's regular budget but from a special $1 billion public health fund set up years ago through the Affordable Care Act. The fund has set aside more than $80 million for CDC smoking prevention work.

Frieden argues that the ads are extremely cost-effective ? spending about $50 million a year to save potentially tens of thousands of lives.

"We're trying to figure out how to have more impact with less resources," he said.

The ads direct people to call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. PlowShare Group, of Stamford, Conn., is again the advertising company that put the ads together.

___

Online:

CDC campaign: http://www.cdc.gov/tips

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-03-28-Anti-Smoking%20Campaign/id-1fb7c6344de64c08badd50a132c85752

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Storify Announces A Paid VIP Plan With Liveblogging And Collaboration Features, Partners With BBC

Storify has become a useful tool of media organizations trying to capture newsworthy or entertaining social media conversations for their readers, with its ability to combine tweets, photos, and more into an embeddable conversation. Today the company is announcing a VIP plan with features designed specifically for "media organizations, publishers or anyone wanting to deeply integrate social curation and storytelling into their site." The plan includes the ability to update a Storify story in real-time (useful for live blogging), to customize the appearance of a story with CSS, to receive priority technical support, add custom sources, and to share stories privately. Co-founder Burt Herman told me via email that the first two features will probably make the biggest difference for readers, while the private sharing could be useful for newsroom collaboration, and also for communication within companies and PR agencies. (So for example if a brand becomes embroiled in a big social media controversy, Storify might be a good way for an agency to capture what's going on, but that's probably not something they'd want to highlight publicly.)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/XWXSlRXgN6M/

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Laminate with pad over OSB - DIY Home Improvement, Remodeling ...

---

I am planning to install laminate (12 mm with pad) in my master bedroom. I've already removed the carpet
Subfloor is OSB, in relatively good shape. I only have 2 or 3 boards with seams not even. I will sand those area
Even though the laminate I've already bought have the pad attached, I would like to use a sound insulation such as 1/4" cork or the Bellawood Premium underlayemt from LL
Does the cork need to be glued on the subfloor, or can it be floating?
Can I work directly on the OSB, or am I better to staple down a 1/4" plywood (underlayment rated) with narrow crown staples?
Thanks

Source: http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f13/laminate-pad-over-osb-15758/

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The art of the nap: Tilda Swinton at MoMA

NEW YORK (AP) ? It's not the kind of performance that will win her another Academy Award, but Tilda Swinton certainly has them buzzing at the Museum of Modern Art.

But keep it down, please. She's trying to sleep.

The "Moonrise Kingdom star has been engaging in a different kind of performance art. She's presenting a one-person piece called "The Maybe," in which she lies sleeping in a glass box for the day. The first performance was over the weekend, and the museum won't say if there's a schedule for when exactly it will come back for six other performances.

On Monday, the display drew a line of spectators that wound through a whole second-floor gallery into a museum hallway.

Erwin Aschenbrenner, a bemused German tourist, said it "just what you'd expect to see at MoMA."

The actress "is so pale and not moving in there that she looks like she's dead," said Robbie von Kampen, 20, a philosophy major at Bard College, north of New York City.

But after about seven hours a day of the shuteye pose on a white mattress in the glass box ? with only a carafe of water and a glass to get her through ? Swinton can stretch and walk off into the Manhattan night. But only when spectators leave.

So what's the point?

"This makes me think about myself, looking at her," said Quinn Moreland, 20, also a Bard student, majoring in art history.

"You don't usually get to stare at somebody like this; it makes me self-conscious," she explained.

Added von Kampen, "Yeah, it's socially unacceptable ? it's kinda creepy."

No one, not even museum curators, could say whether the thin, mostly immobile Swinton is actually getting some sleep while people stare at her.

At least Swinton was comfortable. She wore a pair of grubby sneakers, dark sporty slacks and a checkered shirt. Her glasses lay on the mattress.

But no snacks were in sight. And none could be offered in the closed chamber.

Swinton also starred in a glass box in 1995 at London's Serpentine Gallery ? seven days, eight hours a day ? in an exhibition seen by 22,000 people.

The next year, she repeated the spectacle at the Museo Barracco in Rome.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/art-nap-tilda-swinton-moma-222107593.html

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AngelBrook Falls

This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "AngelBrook Falls"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

"I'll miss the winter, A world of fragile things, Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree, I know you hear me,I can taste it in your tears." -My Last Breath, Evanescence

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/93wosm3MD0s/viewtopic.php

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Latest genomic studies of wheat sheds new light on crop adaptation and domestication

Mar. 25, 2013 ? The advanced online publication version of Nature today presents two manuscripts that provide an unprecedented glimpse into the adaptation and domestication of wheat. The two projects sequenced and analyzed two ancestral wheat genomes of Triticum urartu and Aegilops tauschii, respectively, throwing light on the biology of the world's primary staple crop and providing valuable new resource for the genetic improvement of wheat.

Wheat is a globally important crop due to its enhanced adaptability to a wide range of climates and improved grain quality for the production of baker's flour. Major efforts are underway worldwide to increase its yield and quality by increasing genetic diversity and analyzing key traits related to its resistance to cold, drought and disease. However, the extremely large size and polyploid complexity of the wheat genome has to date been a substantial barrier for researchers to gain insight into its biology and evolution.

These achievements are the results of joint efforts led by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and BGI.

The first manuscript, led by teams at IGDB and BGI, presents the genome of Bread wheat (T. aestivum, AABBDD), the progenitor of the Wheat A genome. Using a whole-genome shotgun strategy and Next-generation sequencing (NGS), researchers identified a large set of gene models (34,879) and abundant genetic markers with the potential to provide a valuable resource for accelerating deeper and more systematic genomic and breeding studies. For example, they found the T. urartu homolog of OsGASR7 might be a useful candidate for improving wheat yield. The discovery of 2,989,540 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) is useful for the future development and characterization of genetic markers. The researchers also reported genomic evidence of the role of repeat expansion in the enlargement of genome size during the evolution of the Triticeae tribe of grasses.

Ae. tauschii (DD), also known as Tausch's goatgrass, is a diploid goat grass species which has contributed the D genome of common wheat. Around 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, it crossed with the tetraploid wheat T. turgidum (AABB) in rare hybridization events that resulted in the hexaploid wheat T. aestivum. However, the modern strategy of breeding for hybrid vigor has been accompanied by marked changes in patterns of gene expression.

The second manuscript, led by teams at CAAS and BGI, focuses on the genome sequencing and analysis of the wild diploid grass Ae. tauschii. They found that more than 65.9% of the Ae. tauschii genome was composed of 410 different transposable element (TE) families, and the expansion of the Ae. tauschii genome was relatively recent and coincided with the abrupt climate change that occurred during the Pliocene Epoch. They also found the expansion of the micro-RNA miR2275 family may contribute to Ae. Tauschii' s enhanced disease resistance. Remarkably, a higher number of genes for the cytochrome P450 family were identified in Ae. tauschii (485) than sorghum (365), rice (333), Brachypodium (262) and maize (261). This family of genes has been found to be important for abiotic stress response, especially in biosynthetic and detoxification pathways.

Shancen Zhao, Project Manager of BGI, said, "Genetic improvement of crops is the key output of breeding research. The genomic data provides a valuable resource for botanists and breeders to comprehensively understand wheat's genetic diversity and evolutionary history.The two studies also represent a major step forward for improving this vital crop in the face of global climate change, growing human population, and bio-energy. " Providing the global agricultural community with these resources new resources for crop improvement and in keeping with the scientific community's goals of making all data fully and freely available, the huge amounts of data (1.5 terabytes) are available in the GigaScience database, GigaDB, in a citable format (see: http://dx.doi.org/10.5524/100050 and http://dx.doi.org/10.5524/100054), and are available as raw reads in the NCBI SRA database (Accession # SRP005973 and SRP005974).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BGI Shenzhen.

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

---

Journal References:

1. Jizeng Jia, Shancen Zhao, Xiuying Kong, Yingrui Li, Guangyao Zhao, Weiming He, Rudi Appels, Matthias Pfeifer, Yong Tao, Xueyong Zhang, Ruilian Jing, Chi Zhang, Youzhi Ma, Lifeng Gao, Chuan Gao, Manuel Spannagl, Klaus F. X. Mayer, Dong Li, Shengkai Pan, Fengya Zheng, Qun Hu, Xianchun Xia, Jianwen Li, Qinsi Liang, Jie Chen, Thomas Wicker, Caiyun Gou, Hanhui Kuang, Genyun He, Yadan Luo, Beat Keller, Qiuju Xia, Peng Lu, Junyi Wang, Hongfeng Zou, Rongzhi Zhang, Junyang Xu, Jinlong Gao, Christopher Middleton, Zhiwu Quan, Guangming Liu, Jian Wang, Huanming Yang, Xu Liu, Zhonghu He, Long Mao, Jun Wang. Aegilops tauschii draft genome sequence reveals a gene repertoire for wheat adaptation. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature12028
2. Hong-Qing Ling, Shancen Zhao, Dongcheng Liu, Junyi Wang, Hua Sun, Chi Zhang, Huajie Fan, Dong Li, Lingli Dong, Yong Tao, Chuan Gao, Huilan Wu, Yiwen Li, Yan Cui, Xiaosen Guo, Shusong Zheng, Biao Wang, Kang Yu, Qinsi Liang, Wenlong Yang, Xueyuan Lou, Jie Chen, Mingji Feng, Jianbo Jian, Xiaofei Zhang, Guangbin Luo, Ying Jiang, Junjie Liu, Zhaobao Wang, Yuhui Sha, Bairu Zhang, Huajun Wu, Dingzhong Tang, Qianhua Shen, Pengya Xue, Shenhao Zou, Xiujie Wang, Xin Liu, Famin Wang, Yanping Yang, Xueli An, Zhenying Dong, Kunpu Zhang, Xiangqi Zhang, Ming-Cheng Luo, Jan Dvorak, Yiping Tong, Jian Wang, Huanming Yang, Zhensheng Li, Daowen Wang, Aimin Zhang, Jun Wang. Draft genome of the wheat A-genome progenitor Triticum urartu. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature11997

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/wDyDhBmn6bc/130326112310.htm

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Pa. groundhog's handler taking blame for forecast

PITTSBURGH (AP) ? An Ohio prosecutor who light-heartedly filed a criminal indictment against the famous Pennsylvania groundhog who fraudulently "predicted" an early spring said he may consider a pardon now that the animal's handler is taking the blame.

Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle, told The Associated Press on Monday that the animal rightly predicted six more weeks of winter last month, but he mistakenly announced an early spring because he failed to correctly interpret Phil's "groundhog-ese."

"I'm the guy that did it; I'll be the fall guy. It's not Phil's fault," Deeley said.

Butler County, Ohio, prosecutor Mike Gmoser told the AP that he's reconsidering the charges in light of the new evidence and may issue a full pardon.

"Frankly, he is a cute little rascal, a cute little thing," Gmoser said. "And if somebody is willing to step up to the plate and take the rap, I'm willing to listen."

The Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, a borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, attracts worldwide attention each year. But the attention stretched well beyond Feb. 2 when Gmoser last week issued an indictment as winter-like weather continued across much of the nation even as spring began.

"Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design cause the people to believe that spring would come early," Gmoser's indictment said. The penalty? Death, Smoser said, tongue firmly in cheek.

Deeley said this is the second year in a row he's misinterpreted Phil's forecast. "Remember, last year at this time it was 80 degrees and Phil had predicted six more weeks of winter," Deeley said.

Under normal circumstances, Deeley's interpretation of the forecast is infallible, as long as he clings to the gnarly, magical "Arcadian" cane while the rodent whispers the forecast into his ear. Deeley still doesn't know what went wrong, but he said the borough is nonetheless pleased to still be in the news more than six weeks later ? although there's more snow on the ground, and local schools were closed Monday.

"We couldn't have generated this much publicity with a $10,000 ad campaign," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pa-groundhogs-handler-taking-blame-forecast-135937251.html

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Jesse James: Married to Alexis DeJoria!

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Classic Retweet Adds Old Retweeting Option to Twitter's Web Interface

Chrome: If you want to add some commentary to someone else's Tweet, Classic Retweet for Chrome adds the option for an old-style retweet option to Twitter's web interface.

The extension adds a "Classic Retweet" button next to Twitter's standard retweet button in your timeline. Clicking it brings up a new tweet window with "RT," the user, and the tweet already filled in, allowing you to add your commentary or make edits. It's a simple concept, but it can save you a few seconds of copy and pasting. A lot of Twitter clients have this feature built in, but with Twitter shutting them down left and right, it's nice to have the option on the web interface.

Classic Retweet (Free) | Chrome Web Store via AddictiveTips

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/nj9EKnaiwNo/classic-retweet-adds-old-retweeting-option-to-twitters-web-interface

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Dress for success without breaking the bank

Keeping up with the dress code at your new workplace doesn't have to mean shelling out big bucks on a new wardrobe. Mix and match pieces and a little help from your co-workers is a good place to start. ?

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / March 23, 2013

Sales consultant James Field adjusts the tie display at bespoke Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard in central London last month. Hamm recommends asking co-workers for tips on building a new, work-appropriate wardrobe on a budget.

Andrew Winning/Reuters/File

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Monica writes in:

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

Recent posts

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At my new job, everyone dresses incredibly well. Everyone is wearing expensive ? or at least expensive-looking ? suits and other businesswear. My wardrobe is simply not up to snuff. Catching my wardrobe up to the level of everyone else is going to be really expensive. Do you have any suggestions??

First of all, I view it as a completely reasonable thing to dress at an appropriate level in the workplace. If your workplace has a dress code, whether informal or formal, then you should measure up to that dress code.

That being said, I don?t think it?s realistic nor expected that you immediately have a $10,000 wardrobe if you?re new to the environment. There may be a subtle expectation that you eventually reach that level, but I don?t think you need to go out tomorrow and get thousands of dollars in debt to play catch-up.

If I were in your shoes, I?d actually use this situation as an opportunity. You are in a great position, being new in the workplace, to establish some relationships in the office, and your clothing situation is a great opportunity to do so.

Look around your office and identify a few people that you consider to be very sensible and potentially compatible with your personality. If you pay attention, you?ll be able to find people who are more sensible than others. What people use mass transit for their commute? What people drive more sensible cars? What people are solid and reliable in the workplace and are liked by everyone? Look for those people.

Then, approach those people individually and privately and ask how they put their wardrobe together. Where did they shop? How do they seem so well put-together? Don?t be afraid to add some compliments when you ask, as everyone likes to be flattered.

Be honest about your financial situation. Make it clear that you?re new and that you don?t have a lot of accumulated money.

I have approached people ? and been approached by people ? in situations very much like this one. Each time, it has become the source for a good relationship. Most of the time, people like to help others, and they particularly feel flattered if you?re coming to them specifically for advice. That?s a great first step for a good workplace relationship and/or friendship.

Another point of advice: buy modular clothing, especially at first. Buy clothes that can be easily mixed and matched to give the appearance of different outfits so that you?re not having to buy as many articles of clothing at once.

I?ll openly confess that I find this pretty easy to do for my own dressy clothing, but I am rather unfamiliar with the specific needs of professional clothing for women. My only experience in that department is through Sarah?s clothing, and she seems to indicate that mixing and matching works reasonably well for her, too.

For myself, anyway, I have a suit and several pairs of dress pants, but I have several shirts and a number of ties. Most of the permutations of shirt, pants/suit, and tie work well together, so it can appear like I have a lot of dress clothes when I actually have very little. Since there are clearly some combinations that don?t work well, I don?t wear a combination unless both Sarah and I think it looks good.

The result of this is that I don?t have to invest in lots of different clothes to make a variety of nice clothing work. I just have to maintain compatible clothes and replace the individual pieces as needed (which isn?t too often ? I rarely have to ?dress up? for professional or personal purposes).

If you use that clothes-buying strategy along with the tactics and tips suggested by your new workplace acquaintances, you?ll not only build a solid wardrobe at a very passable cost, but you?ll also build a much stronger professional network.

The post Dressed for Success appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/8Ftcsbd9UDQ/Dress-for-success-without-breaking-the-bank

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