Friday, November 30, 2012

Murder-suicide with 'sharp-edged weapon' happened during class

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) ? A man wielding a sharp-edged weapon killed one person in a Casper neighborhood Friday before killing a male teacher and himself in front of students in a community college classroom, causing a campus-wide lockdown as authorities tried to piece together what happened.

Police found the suspect and teacher dead at a science building on the Casper College campus, which was locked down for about two hours, school and police officials said. The other victim, a woman, was found in a street about two miles away.

Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said the murder-suicide took place in a classroom with students present, but he didn't know how many students or what the class topic was.

He said investigators were still trying to determine a motive.

Walsh said an "edged weapon" was used it at least one of the killings, but he didn't offer specifics and it was unclear if the same or a similar weapon was used in all of the deaths.

The attacker wasn't believed to be a Casper College student and it appeared he knew the victims, Walsh said. No names were released.

"We're locating next of kin and working on notification absolutely as fast as we can," Walsh said.

He added authorities didn't believe there was any further threat to the community.

"I want to emphasize that this is a horrible tragedy," Walsh said. "And I want the city to ... just feel safe right now. There is no one at large."

The attack at the two-year community college in Casper, about 250 miles northwest of Denver, occurred just before 9 a.m. in a classroom on the science building's third floor. All students and staff were evacuated from the building.

The college sent out a campus-wide alert via text message and email within two minutes of receiving word of the attack at 9:06 a.m., school spokesman Rich Fujita said. The lockdown ended at about 11 a.m. after school officials received word that police were no longer searching for a suspect, Fujita said.

There are fewer classes on Fridays than any other day of the week at Casper College, so only between 1,500 and 2,000 of the college's 5,000 students were there, he added.

Political science instructor Chris Henrichsen said he was showing the film "Frost/Nixon" to his Wyoming and U.S. government class when he stepped into the hall to get something for a student and was told a homicide had occurred on campus.

He went back to his classroom, where students were getting messages about the campus lockdown on their phones.

"We locked the door and waited for further instruction," Henrichsen said.

The students were later sent home, but some who parked near a different campus building where the attack occurred had to leave their cars there, Henrichsen said.

About two miles away, Dave Larsen said he was headed to the gym when he drove past a body in a gutter with two people standing over it, one talking on a cellphone.

Larsen lives about a block from the location of the body, a well-kept neighborhood of mostly single-story houses.

Emergency vehicles had the street blocked off Friday afternoon.

Police provided some details in a news conference streamed live by the Casper Star-Tribune (http://trib.com/).

Walsh said 33 law enforcement officers from different agencies responded to the college after receiving reports of the attack. He said authorities first thought it might have been an "active-shooter-type situation."

"We quickly contained the building and started a sweep through the building," he said.

Walsh said that within minutes of the initial call, there was another report of a traumatic injury about two miles southwest of campus. That victim was found in the street, the Star-Tribune reported.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day at the school, one of seven community colleges in Wyoming.

A meeting was held in the afternoon for the 150 teachers and students who remained. College president Walt Nolte addressed them, calling it the worst day of his more than 40 years in higher education. He encouraged the community to come together, Fujita said

"It is particularly painful because of our size," Fujita said of the small, tight-knit campus.

Counselors were speaking to students and planned to be available through the weekend. About 450 students live on campus.

Classes were to resume on Monday.

"We agreed it doesn't do any good to just set the students loose. It makes the most sense to have them come back to campus, where they can get help if they need help and come to terms with what happened," Fujita said.

Walsh said police train for such incidents but had no warning of Friday's violence.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, who went to the campus Friday evening, said it was too early to assess security precautions at the college.

"There's no sense in doing that now until we understand fully what has taken place," he said.

The governor added that the focus now "should be on the victims' family, the community college family, the president, the trustees and the students, and making sure we're attending to any of their needs."

Casper College opened in 1945 as the state's first junior college and moved to its current site 10 years later. The campus consists of 28 buildings on more than 200 acres. The college provides more than 140 academic-transfer, technical and career programs.

Wyoming has only one four-year university, the University of Wyoming in Laramie, which serves more than 13,000 students.

Casper is Wyoming's second-largest city with a population of about 56,000. Wyoming residents refer to it as the "Oil City" because it's a hub for the state's oil industry.

___

Associated Press writers Ben Neary in Cheyenne and Matt Volz in Helena, Mont., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-wyo-murder-suicide-happened-during-class-235147631.html

bill rancic nflx jennifer hudson chicago blackhawks giuliana rancic giuliana rancic elie wiesel

Is Puerto Rico the Greece of the Caribbean ... - Yahoo! Finance

European nations defaulting on loans and requesting bailouts have become fairly common in the past few years, but now it appears that this trend might be crossing the Atlantic. Global markets and U.S. officials are becoming increasingly concerned that Puerto Rico will have to default and declare bankruptcy.

Puerto Rico is currently crawling out of a five-year recession. The unemployment rate is in the mid-teens, government pensions are only 6% funded and GDP growth is moving at a snail's pace.

"There are aspects of Puerto Rico that are quite similar to [Greece]," says Robert Donahue, managing director at Municipal Market Advisors. He explains that the similarities include "high government employment, the [unregulated] tax system, the pension system, and the weak economy."

So is Puerto Rico the Greece of the Caribbean?

"We hope not," Donahue tells The Daily Ticker. Still, he's warning potential investors that Puerto Rico is a systemic risk.

Pensions for government workers could run dry as soon as 2014, and the once lucrative Puerto Rican pharmaceutical industry left the commonwealth when tax incentives expired.

Taxes are a serious issue for the island nation where many businesses don't report income to the government and there is no auditing agency to make sure that they do. The government has instituted a lottery for those who pay the island's 7% sales tax, but the initiative has so far been unsuccessful.

Unemployment has been in the mid-teens for the past six years, and many Puerto Ricans are desperate for work. This is part of the reason why Alejandro Garcia Padilla was elected president in the country's recent election -- he promised to create 50,000 jobs in the next 18 months.

Padilla is not in favor of austerity measures and his party seems to have little interest in resolving the nation's pension problems. This signals more trouble for the already distressed nation.

Puerto Rican municipal bonds have appeared to be a lucrative investment for many U.S. citizens; they yield high interest rates and are tax-free for investors in all 50 states. But is Puerto Rico a safe investment?

"We see Puerto Rico as the weakest of all states by far," says Donahue. "Debt as a percentage of GDP dwarfs any other state. Do we think they're going to default? Certainly not. What we want is to raise the attention of investors in America that there are risks in Puerto Rico and that the path they're on is unsustainable."

There has also been increasing chatter about Puerto Rico becoming America's 51st state. Early in November, 61% of Puerto Ricans voted for U.S. statehood. President Obama has said that he supports whatever the Puerto Rican people decide in regards to statehood.

Will Puerto Rico become America's 51st state? Don't count on it, says Donahue.

"We believe that this was a political maneuver to turn out voters on Election Day," he explains.

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook!

More from The Daily Ticker

U.S. Refuses to Label China a 'Currency Manipulator' but All Countries Manipulate Their Currencies

Capping Mortgage Interest Deduction Could Have "Chilling Effect" on Housing: Sharga

SEC Chairperson Job Is 'Thankless': HBR's Justin Fox

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/puerto-rico-greece-caribbean-141121081.html

open marriage department of justice doj dept of justice weather chicago swizz beatz mpaa

Kelly Clarkson Slams U.K. Publication for Misleading Cover, Quotes

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/11/kelly-clarkson-slams-uk-publication-for-misleading-cover-quotes/

congress censored jerry yang stop sopa justified southland sopa blackout

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Cancer Nanotechnology Conference

Saturday, December 1, 2012, 8:00am

Thayer School

Nanoparticle delivered hyperthermia mechanisms and enhancement is the overriding theme of this all-day workshop. Speakers will cover a range of issues including nanomaterials, delivery to tumors, nanotoxicology, designed targeting, and hyperthermia technology and biological effects. Participation is welcome in the form of poster presentations, to be viewed on breaks and at the final reception.

This event is sponsored by the Dartmouth Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and includes participants from across the disciplines of engineering, immunology, surgery, and medicine.

Free and open to the public. Registration required.

For more information, contact Kathy Burnham at 603-646-3860 or kathy.j.burnham@dartmouth.edu.

Source: http://feeds.engineering.dartmouth.edu/~r/thayer-events/~3/mK5KiPlQkmA/

unemployment rate unemployment rate jesse ventura keri russell drew barrymore bill o brien portland trailblazers

Video: Gilda Radner?s charity changes its name

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50002191/

bks new dark knight rises trailer khloe and lamar oklahoma city thunder rajon rondo sunoco titanic ii

Jerramy Stevens Arrested: Hope Solo's Husband in Jail For Probation Violation

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/11/jerramy-stevens-arrested-hope-solos-husband-in-jail-for-probatio/

BestBuy.com Kohls Black Friday www.walmart.com Macho Camacho Rise of the Guardians Pumpkin Pie Jack Taylor

Challenge to Corday's Appointment Lacks Standing | Daily Business ...

Home
> Legal, News Item, People > Challenge to Corday?s Appointment Lacks Standing



A complaint filed last June by a Texas bank and two non-profit organizations challenged the validity of Richard Cordray?s recess appointment as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) because the Senate was technically not in recess, according to HousingWire. The bank, State National, contends the CFPB?s Unfair, Deceptive and Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP) caused the bank to leave the mortgage lending business. The CFPB filed a motion to dismiss the case because the bank lacks standing, meaning State National cannot show sufficient connection to and harm from the appointment, nor does it have authority to challenge the constitutionality of a recess appointment. MHProNews has learned several governmental agencies, including the Treasury Department as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission, agree the bank and the other two organizations do not have standing.

(Image credit: CNNMoney)

Categories: Legal, News Item, People Tags: acts, CFPB, constitutionality, governmental agencies, MHProNews, mortgage lending, profit organizations, recess appointment, Richard Cordray, securities and exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission, Senate, Treasury Department, validity

Source: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/daily-business-news/challenge-to-cordays-appointment-lacks-standing/

cyber monday deals small business saturday small business saturday Johnny Manziel best cyber monday deals best cyber monday deals macaulay culkin

Wall Street gains on hopes for "fiscal cliff" deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks turned higher on Wednesday on investors' hopes that a compromise could be reached to avoid the "fiscal cliff" after comments from U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama.

Shares of Costco Wholesale Corp jumped 5.5 percent to $101.81 after the retailer became the latest company to announce a special dividend in case taxes jump next year.

The market sharply pared losses in volatile late morning trading after Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said he was optimistic that a deal on the "fiscal cliff" to avert large tax hikes and spending cuts could be reached. That helped reverse a slide of 1 percent.

Adding to the more positive tone, the president, speaking later in the day, said he hoped to get a deal done before Christmas.

For weeks now, the market has been swinging back and forth on headlines from Washington. Wednesday's gyrations served to once again highlight the extent that the impasse is affecting the market and the likelihood of more volatility to come.

"There's only one issue in front of the financial markets, and it's the debate on the fiscal cliff," said Jack De Gan, chief investment officer of Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

"That's the only issue out there, and I think in the short term, there's not much that we can do other than watch, and try to anticipate what's going to happen."

One possible result of the deficit-reduction talks is a rise in the tax rate on dividends, prompting some companies to issue special dividends or move up plans for dividends.

The latest example is retailer Costco, which said it will pay a special dividend of roughly $3 billion to investors - the largest payout so far from any company ahead of a likely increase in the dividend tax. Costco also posted monthly same-store sales that beat forecasts. [ID:nL5E8MS8MP] Costco's stock hit an intraday high of $102.14, close to its 2012 high of $104.43 set on October 10.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 79.75 points, or 0.62 percent, to 12,957.88. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 5.87 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,404.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 9.04 points, or 0.30 percent, to 2,976.83.

Knight Capital Group Inc shares jumped 14.1 percent to $3.39 on news that Getco LLC has sent a proposal for a merger between Getco and Knight Capital at a price of $3.39 per share, according to a regulatory filing.

Obama is meeting on Wednesday at the White House with chief executives from top corporations, including Goldman Sachs , Deloitte LLP and Caterpillar Inc , to discuss U.S. fiscal problems.

"While there's little that the president and vice president could do at today's meeting to improve moods in America's corner office, we still believe a legislative compromise will be reached before 'fiscal cliff' detonates," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank, in Chicago.

"In the meantime, we expect daunting headlines and emotional market volatility."

On the earnings front, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc forecast quarterly and full-year earnings well ahead of analysts' expectations, helped by an expanded lineup of single-serve coffee makers and drinks. The company's stock surged 24 percent to $35.91.

The S&P 500's drop of 1 percent in the morning was partly caused by data that showed U.S. single-family home sales fell in October, casting a shadow over what has been one of the brighter spots in the U.S. economy.

Housing stocks fell after the data. The PHLX housing index <.hgx> slipped 0.5 percent. D.R. Horton Inc , the biggest U.S. home builder, fell 1.2 percent to $19.34.

(Reporting by Ed Krudy; Additional reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-flat-lower-open-092827816--finance.html

eric cantor pope joan pope joan paul pierce strawberry festival knicks strikeforce tate vs rousey

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Boracay&#39;s Acqua Sports/Recreation Activities | Satellite Travel Inc

Jet Ski Rentals P 4,000/hr P2,500/30 mind, P1,500/ 15 min
Banana Boat Minimum of 5 Passengers 300/pax/15min.
Fly Fish Sailing Minimum of 3 passengers P600/pax/15min
Speed Boats Minimum of 10 passengers (**additional pax for P500) P5000/hr
Para Sailing Minimum of 3 passengers P500/15min*solo
Island Tour Minimum of 5, Maximum of 10 Pax P 5,000/hr
Helmet Diving Minimum of 3 Passengers P550/pax/30min
Massage P400/pax/hr (whole body)
ATV P 700/pax

Bugcar (buggy) P1,200/pax
Discovery Dive P2,500/pax/hr
Hydro Zorb minimum of 3 passengers P500/pax
Zorb HArness minimum of 2 passengers P480/paxPrices are subject to change depending on gas price levelPlease feel free to contact us:521-6638/521-3611/450-8270 Fax 521-8706
satellitetravel@yahoo.com.ph
satellitetraveinc2@yahoo.com

ATVbanana boatdiscovery divehydro zorbisland tourjetskimassagepara sailingrecreationspeed boatsspeedboatstourstravel

Source: http://satellitetravelincweb.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/boracays-acqua-sportsrecreation-activities/

lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek sturgis sturgis

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

How to Build a List from Scratch: List Building Strategies That Really ...

?

how to build a list from scratchIt is very simple to build a list from scratch however most people do not know how to implement list building strategies that will skyrocket their emailing list.

?

?

So, let?s start with the reasons for having a list. When you are building your business online; you need a way to communicate with your prospects and/or customers.

?

?

However with the absence of a physical storefront; you have no way to capture their attention.

?

?

This is why having your own list is crucial to your success.

?

?

People do business with people that they know, like, and trust. Most people do not purchase products from some unknown person who dropped a link in their inbox. People hate being sold; but they love to buy.

?

?

If a person is on your list; that means that they are interested in your products and services.

?

?

?

?

Borrowing a List

?

?

Affiliate marketing is a great way for newbies and experience marketer?s to make money online. Affiliates are ready to help sell your product online to make a profit of the sales.

?

?

If you are involved in affiliate marketing you sell the products of others to your own client list.

?

?

Another way to borrow a list is to use Solo Ads to promote your offer. When you purchase a solo ad, the client already has a list you can promote to. The important task here is to know exactly what you are paying for.

?

?
?

Developing Your Own List

?

?

Developing your own list may be time- consuming at first. However, there are ways to collect names and emails that are targeted to you.

?

?

If you have a website, consider adding an opt-in page. By offering something for free, like a free report or eBook, people will opt into your website in exchange for the free content.

?

?

Whether you continue to build the relationship and if the content is valuable, most of your opt-ins will stay on your list.

?

?

Consider offering a contest or draw online. The names and email addresses are valuable for future marketing ventures.

?

?

A squeeze page is a great way to develop your mailing list. Your customer simply enters his name and email address and you offer them something of value in exchange.

?

?

Once you have an email address, follow up!

?

?

Use their contact information to offer valuable content to your subscribers. Also make sure that you are using good sales copy that describes your product, its features, and benefits you are offering your customers.

?

?

Another great choice for building a list is html pop-ups. Many marketers avoid using pop-ups. Most people on the internet use pop-up blockers. However don?t let this stop you! Not everyone use pop-up blockers and those that do will often check pop-ups anyway just out of curiosity.

?

?

Here are a few more ways to draw attention and create a list:

?

?

  • One time offers
  • Pop-ups
  • Free draws

?

Now that you know how to build a list from scratch, let?s start generating leads!

Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/lakishacopeland/blog/how-to-build-a-list-from-scratch-list-building-strategies-that-really-work/

virginia beach crash stephen hawking marion barry virginia beach jet crash ridiculously photogenic guy amanda bynes dui ghost ship

Naked Lady Gaga finds 35 fans in her garage

By Rebecca Macatee, E! Online

Lady Gaga had some unexpected party guests this Thanksgiving in Peru. Thirty-five Little Monsters snuck into the "Cake" singer's garage and were discovered on a security camera by Gaga as she noshed on Turkey Day leftovers ... in the buff.

Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

"Thanksgiving story: woke up for leftovers in kitchen (naked) -- stumbled on security camera revealing 35 monsters in my garage. #why #iloveu," she tweeted.

Gaga gets animated for holiday window display

"#MONSTERFACT when gaga is asleep try to break into the garage, sing loud as possible, + ring the doorbell repeatedly," she added. "#happening now #badkids"

"i should be mad i guess except I tried to figure out how to slide stuffing under the door, but there's no cat-flap," she joked. Besides a few dozen uninvited fans, Lady Gaga was joined by her family in Peru for the holiday. She tweeted?that it was "so special" to spend Thanksgiving together and reminded?her Little Monsters she's "thankful for all of you."

Also in TODAY Entertainment:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/11/26/15455546-naked-lady-gaga-finds-35-fans-hiding-in-her-garage?lite

benson henderson 2012 dunk contest edgar vs henderson berkshire hathaway ufc 144 james jones james jones

Friday, November 23, 2012

?????? ??????? - loans personal injury - Fast Payday Loans With ...

How can you obtain bank loan or even advance loan?


Rating Score :

A?proval : 94 %.

Get Cash in : less then 24 hours

Benefits : No fax , No credit check , Real fast money ... and more !

Based on your condition associated with house, job status as well as income, it is possible to be eligible for that loan up to $1500, even though some loan providers will lend a maximum of $500. You will have a possibility to observe how much you be eligible for before accepting any kind of mortgage loan contract.


There is certainly an essential legal difference between a gift and also a bank loan. A really nice relative as well as good friend could give you $5000 with regard to vehicle repairs, for example. In case there's no hope associated with repayment, the money may very well be a gift. The actual provider couldn't file suit with regard to repayment later within a city suit. When the borrowed funds supplier designates the amount of money just like a loan and also the consumer pays back again even a dollar, the cash can be viewed as a legitimate bank loan and also the loan provider can demand repayment anytime. Little statements legal courts spend a lot of time identifying no matter whether a financial transaction including money will be a gift or perhaps bank loan. For this reason paperwork is important when creating personal financial loans to pals or family.

The needs for getting credit are pretty straight forward. If you are employed, having a regular monthly income regarding $800 or even more, and also have a checking account, you satisfy the basic qualifications. Some loan companies within our network could have additional requirements.

Cash financial products are usually unprotected financial loans removed upon the next salary. Because they're short-term financial loans, they can be small; varying from $100 to $1500 and also payment comes to the next pay day. They might be very useful regarding conquering a quick fiscal crisis, however really should not be thought to be a long-term financial option.

payday loans in pennsylvania

Many home loan programs tend to be addressed by finance institutions or other expert lenders. They could make use of a variety of criteria to determine in case your potential consumer is actually skilled for a financial loan. Past credit rating is virtually usually regarded, together with existing earnings as well as assets. The objective of the credit can be an issue-a established investment chance could have much more appeal than an misguided idea for any new eating place. 1 essential point could be the profits to debt percentage in the customer. May the customer manage to pay for the bank loan back along with interest? Skilled loan providers basically 'sell' money, so consumers should be aware just how much financing really 'costs' when it comes to real money.

Related topics:

Payday Installment Loan Direct Deposit Up To 1500. Your zip select e.g. 62279 IL

Payday Loans 85029 Online no faxing application process and approval. Your state or zip select e.g. 36539 AL

The Loan Star To make it you don?t even need to leave your home! Your state select 41615 KY

Source: http://vikcheroky.livejournal.com/370864.html

cesar chavez winning lotto numbers lottery tickets mega lottery sag aftra mega mill power ball

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Watch Out For These Common Internet Scams ... - Business Insider

The holiday shopping season is here, and shoppers are expected to dig deeper into their pockets.

A new survey by Accenture shows consumers will spend about $582 on average just for holiday shopping this year.

Moreover, an incredible 23% of consumers are expected to spend more than $750 on holiday gifts, increasing holiday spending from previous years.

However, this year more than 50% of consumers are switching to shop online to find discounts for holiday gifts and to avoid the madness of Black Friday?bargain hunters.

But as more people shop online for discounts, cyber criminals are waiting to take advantage. Therefore, NerdWallet has listed the latest online scams for this holiday season.

1. Smartphone Scams

Because smartphones are so portable and convenient, more and more people are using their smartphones for online shopping. Lawyer, Professor at Bentley University, and Scam Expert, Steven J.J. Weisman, Esq., cautions online shoppers when using smartphones and mobile devices:

?The biggest scams that online shoppers are not aware of is the great risk presented by shopping with their mobile devices and smart phones.?Tainted phony apps can be downloaded on to your mobile device or cell phone that will install keystroke logging malware programs on your devices that will steal all of the information from your smartphone including your Social Security number, your credit card number and your passwords. The combination of people often not even thinking to password protect their phones and mobile devices?as well as failing?to utilize security software for their phones and mobile devices puts them in great damage of identity theft.?

Many people aren?t aware of the dangers of shopping on their smartphones because we rarely hear of people?s phones being hacked, but in fact, personal and financial information is downloaded from mobile devices every day without the user?s awareness. Weisman suggests some ways to protect yourself when using your smartphones for online shopping: ?Don?t download apps except from legitimate sources such as Apple?s App Store. Your smart phone and other mobile devices should be password protected with a hard to break password.? These devices should also have security software installed to protect you from viruses and malware.? This software should be constantly updated.?

2. Aid to Hurricane Sandy Victims

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, there are now scams out there that target and take advantage of natural disasters and anything tragic in the news. If you plan to donate funds or material goods to aid Hurricane Sandy victims and rebuilding efforts, make sure you are donating to a credible charity organization. Do not click on links from unsolicited spam emails and beware of organizations with names that sound similar to reputable charities. Here are some more Hurricane Sandy scam tips from the Herald-Dispatch.

3. Unsolicited Emails

Don?t click on links or open attachments in emails from people that you don?t recognize. Scammers often send phishing emails to steal your personal information or hack into your computer especially during the holidays when people are looking for shopping deals. According to Derek Manky, Senior Security Strategist at Fortinet, ?Spammers and scammers love the holidays, because they know a large number of people on the Web during that time have their wallet open and are looking for bargains. And while it may be really tempting to click on an email link that says, ?Great Deal on iPads? 50% off!? be careful! By clicking on that link, you could be taken to a compromised Website that downloads malware onto your computer.?

There are all kinds of different malware attacks that can result from unsolicited phishing emails. ?That malware can then be used to capture your computer key strokes, download additional malware, such as fake antivirus applications, or simply turn your computer into a spam generator,? says Manky. The Security Strategist also offers suggestions on what to do if you see unsolicited emails in your mailbox: ?If the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. But if you?re still tempted to click on that link, place your cursor over the link (without clicking on it) and check the URL where you would be directed had you clicked on it. If you don?t recognize the URL, stay far away.? Also, avoid emails with suspicious attachments or emails that ask you to update your account information or change your password because your personal information may get compromised.

4. Social Media Scams

Droves of people are now connected via social media and constantly sharing daily life updates and popular links on Facebook and Twitter and more. Scammers exploit social media to spread bogus promotions that often require clickers to fill out online surveys to steal their personal information. Executive Director of the?Identity Theft Council?and?CEO of My Security Plan, Neal O?Farrell discusses how scammers use social media to their advantage. ?Facebook is very popular with scammers, and the scams range from infected links to click and like-jacking (where the thieves generate advertising revenue from ?likes? of bogus pages), to fake coupons, competitions, and sweepstakes. If you?re surfing for deals, consider using one of the many free safe surfing tools, like McAfee Site Advisor, that will tell you if a site is suspicious before you click on it.?

Andrew Schrage, co-owner of Money Crashers Personal Finance, emphasizes how common social media scams can be. ?One of the latest scams involves social media. Be wary of any suspicious links you see on your Facebook feed or Twitter account, even if they have been posted by one of your friends. You could end up at a website that downloads spyware onto your computer to steal your personal information.?

If you see your friends sharing suspicious spam links, don?t click on the links but tell your friends that their social media account has been hacked so that they can take action to fix their account.

5. Craigslist Scams

Craigslist continues to be a popular online venue for finding unexpected deals on anything from appliances and furniture to cars and concert tickets. But Schrage from Money Crashers warns that Craigslist scams are abundant. ?If you agree to buy something from a Craigslist seller, only pick it up in person ? do not pay to have it shipped. Be sure to meet in a brightly lit public place, and take a friend along if possible. People have been robbed and even physically injured during Craigslist transactions that go bad.? Also, if you conduct your transaction in person, bring a strong friend so you don?t meet the seller alone and don?t even buy the item if the deal sounds like too good of a bargain.

There are many more nefarious scams out there that target people online during the holiday season but just remember to always be cautious of what you?re doing online can save your personal information and your money from falling into the wrong hands.

6. Unsecure Wi-Fi Hotspots

Scammers know that tablet and smartphone shopping is on the rise and, in turn, take advantage of gadget users. Manky from Fortinet underscores the consequences of using unsecured Wi-Fi hotpots in a jam: ?If you?re a holiday shopper who likes to augment online shopping with actual store browsing and like toting your notebook along for the ride so you can do quick price comparisons, do not connect to an unknown unsecure hotspot. An unsecure hotspot allows hackers to capture any and all data that?s flowing to and from the hotspot, enabling them to intercept logins and passwords, email messages, attached documents and other personal and confidential information.? If you can?t help but jump online while shopping, go to familiar places that offer secure Wi-Fi connections. When you?re connected to a public unsecured Wi-Fi connection, never log into email or social networks or any personal accounts because any of your private data, passwords, or account information could be saved and accessed by any hacker who knows how to take advantage of it.

7. Untrustworthy Search Engine Results

Hackers know that the search terms ?black friday? and ?black friday deals? get millions of searches during the weeks prior to Black Friday. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) attacks will be common especially during the holidays when cybercriminals game the ranking algorithm of search engines like Bing or Google to drive their virus-ridden websites to the front page of key word search lists for popular holiday search terms. Clicking on these links could take unsuspecting deal-seeking shoppers to malicious websites that immediately compromise your computer and steal personal information. When you?re looking for Black Friday deals, be incredibly cautious and don?t click on suspicious URLs even if top search engines display them as the top results. Hover over hyperlinks with your cursor to see if the link directs you to a website that is not what you searched for. Also, if the text preview of the search result is just a list of keywords and not full sentences, the search result will probably lead you to a malware site that you should definitely avoid.

8. Unknown Coupon Websites

Lots of scams target Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers who get lured in by phony coupons that don?t work or lead you to fake websites that just steal your credit card and personal information. These coupon websites that provide these fake coupons only want to steal your identity or surreptitiously install malware on your computer. To avoid unknown coupon websites, don?t fall for unbelievable coupons for hot holiday products like iPad?s and Wii U?s. Do some research to make sure the coupon website is credible, legitimate and not compromised by server attacks. Always maintain up-to-date Anti-Virus protection on all your computers to block any viruses or malware from attacking your computer and compromising your personal information. The FBI provides valuable tips to protect your computer, which includes installing a firewall, turning your computer off when not in use, and frequently updating your Antivirus and Antispyware software.

9. Bogus Email Receipts

When you shop online, every online store big and small sends customers receipts via email soon after your purchase, but beware of fake email receipts for things you never ordered. O?Farrell, Executive Director of the Identity Theft Council, warns ?this is the easiest scam of all. The scammers send you a bogus receipt by email, maybe waiting for the busiest shopping days, for some large purchase you never made. In panic, you open the attached receipt only to find the gift in question is either a piece of malware that takes over your computer, or a link to a phishing web site that tries to steal your personal information.? Make sure you keep track of your purchases so you can immediately delete the bogus email receipts.

10. Gift Card Scams

Giving gift cards as holiday presents is growing in popularity to give to people who are hard to shop for so they can choose something they want. However, gift cards are extremely easy to tamper with since they are just a string of numbers with no identifying name attached to them. In stores, scammers take gift cards off the racks, copy down the gift card numbers and PIN numbers, then replace the gift cards back on the racks. Once they have stolen all the gift card data, the thieves check the gift card balances online or by phone. Once they discover that the gift card was activated, they spend the balance online and steal your money that you intended to gift to someone. When buying a gift card, always check that the gift card was not tampered with and that the protection coating over the PIN number is not scratched off. Also, avoid buying discounted gift cards at online auction sites since those gift cards are probably stolen or fraudulent.

Also, beware of smishing where scammers send you fake SMS texts to try to trick you to claim a desirable prize. Don?t be fooled by texts, emails, or phone calls that you?ve won a gift card in a high dollar amount from a big name store like Best Buy or Walmart. Often, these scams are after your personal information and require you to send money to claim your prize or to divulge your credit card number to remove you from their contact list.

Whether you are shopping for that perfect gift for your beloved or selling products to holiday shoppers, stay vigilant about scammers and never let your guard down online when it comes down to where your money and personal information goes. Be skeptical of everything that sounds too good to be true like free iPad deals or 80% off your entire order. It?s your money and your identity so be especially paranoid about cyber security while shopping online, especially during the holiday shopping season.

DON'T MISS: 5 restaurant tricks designed to make you spend more >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-out-for-scams-during-the-holidays-2012-11

recent earthquakes fbi most wanted list stuttering james van der beek dyngus day indonesia quake stephen strasburg

How are you tracking the Foreclosures in the Santa Clarita Cities ...

With several ways of doing this ?tracking?, one of the things that I would like you to heed is the following warning, ?If you are searching for foreclosures and bank owned inventory ? make sure you are using a local Real Estate agent?s website and resources??

Searching with Local SCV Foreclosure Services:

Giving up your mobile phone number:

Santa Clarita foreclosuresThis could mean the difference between you keeping a cellular number and email address you love or having to change them for another. ?Why? ?Because when you are searching for things like homes, foreclosures, bank owned and auctions, the real estate?syndication?websites know those are ?big trigger? items and people are searching for them hand over fist with millions of inquires a week.

I hate being scammed?

Because they have been built with the ?monetizing of your personal?information? in mind, they work very hard at getting you to give it up. ?While that does not seem like a big deal for some, ask around within your sphere if anyone has ever given away their personal?information?on -line, even innocently, to find out their doing so caused them to be teleported into a SPAM abyss.

How to find a Local Realtor Resource:

It could have been when you were looking for ?cheap homes? or ?best moving companies?. ?Look at the address on the page, is it local? What about the real estate the page is displaying? ?Is if within where you want to buy. ?And I?m not talking about if they have a map of the whole United States ? it should be a bit more localized than that :)

One of the things we love, as Local Santa Clarita real estate agents, is for people to subscribe to become part of our conversation. This is easy and will give you the BEST Santa Clarita housing news has to offer. ?It comes twice a month, no more, no less. ?It?s free and it?s put together by REMAX of Santa Clarita?s Paris911 Team. ?Click here to subscribe to SCV Realtor News and thanks ahead of time for doing so!

Santa Clarita REMAX foreclosure update:

Your New Foreclosures alert, All Santa Clarita Cities ? NOD filings ? Updated, found a match.

?

Stage Radar ID Street City Zip State Type Sq Ft Beds Baths Sale Date Est. Value Est. Bid

Preforeclosure 513318490 26825 SASSAFRAS CT CANYON COUNTRY 91387 CA SFR 3456 5 4.00 03/15/2013 $482,431.00 $464,013.00

Preforeclosure 23961752 15551 CALLE CABANAS SAUGUS 91390 CA SFR 1296 3 2.00 03/14/2013 $147,763.00 $336,935.00

Preforeclosure 1051370b 18657 VICCI ST CANYON COUNTRY 91351 CA SFR 1595 4 3.00 03/15/2013 $286,417.00 $319,078.00

Your New Foreclosures alert, Paris911?s Sold to Third Alert for Santa Clarita Valley CA, found a match.

?

Stage Radar ID Street City Zip State Type Sq Ft Beds Baths Sale Date Est. Value Est. Bid

Sold to 3rd 50881 24771 SAGECREST CIR SANTA CLARITA 91381 CA SFR 2312 4 3.00 11/21/2012 $484,412.00 $410,500.00

Sold to 3rd 714079b 11714 ADOBE WAY SAUGUS 91390 CA SFR 1457 3 2.00 11/21/2012 $327,761.00 $243,100.01

Your New Foreclosures alert, Paris911?s Santa Clarita Bank Owned Real Estate Alert, found a match.

?

Stage Radar ID Street City Zip State Type Sq Ft Beds Baths Sale Date Est. Value Est. Bid

Bank Owned 23814660 25307 VIA ARTINA VALENCIA 91355 CA SFR 1429 3 2.00 11/21/2012 $312,547.00 $550,614.33

Your New Foreclosures alert, Paris911?s Auction Alert for Santa Clarita Valley, found a match.

?

Stage Radar ID Street City Zip State Type Sq Ft Beds Baths Sale Date Est. Value Est. Bid

Auction 517157261 25665 FROST LN STEVENSON RANCH 91381 CA SFR 2289 4 3.00 12/17/2012 $479,431.00 $564,214.00

Auction 517006282 25765 HOGAN DR G1 VALENCIA 91355 CA CND 1296 3 2.00 12/05/2012 $219,113.00 $334,635.00

Auction 507648424 31904 TIMBER PL CASTAIC 91384 CA SFR 2470 6 3.00 12/05/2012 $339,939.00 $566,427.00

?


Source: http://santaclaritarealestate.paris911.com/2012/11/22/how-are-you-tracking-the-foreclosures-in-the-santa-clarita-cities/

khalid sheikh mohammed masters par 3 gwen stefani overeem laron landry mary j blige burger king islands

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

#9: VIZIO E420i-A1 42-inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED FHDTV | New ...

VIZIO E420i-A1 42-inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED FHDTV by Vizio Buy new: $499.99 2 used & new from $499.99 (Visit the Hot New Releases in Televisions list for authoritative information on this product?s current rank.)

Shop For: #9: VIZIO E420i-A1 42-inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED FHDTV
check price

Source: http://www.wiki-products.com/9-vizio-e420i-a1-42-inch-1080p-120hz-smart-led-fhdtv/

tim tebow jets katy perry part of me video photoshop cs6 beta cate blanchett nfl news tebow tebow jets

Are Justin Bieber And Selena Gomez Back On For Real?

Repeated 'Jelena' sightings in L.A. have fans talking reunion just weeks after couple reportedly broke up.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez at the Billboard Awards
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697759/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-may-be-dating-again.jhtml

bob beckel anna paquin warren buffett 2012 nfl schedule dishonored april 18 delonte west

The Legal Infrastructure of Business: Papa Johns: Better Ingredients ...

Pizza chain Papa John's is facing a $250 million class-action lawsuit for allegedly spamming customers with hundreds of thousands of illegal text messages.?The?lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday, contends that Papa John's violated state and federal law by sending out 500,000 unwanted text messages advertising the chain's products in early 2010. The messages, blasted out to customers through mass texting service OnTime4U, offered deals on Papa John's pizza.

?

The Law

The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 bars companies from sending text message advertisements to customers that have not specifically opted into the service.?In response, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also adopted rules that require anyone making a telephone solicitation call to your home to provide his or her name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity can be contacted. The original rules also prohibit telephone solicitation calls to your home before 8 am or after 9 pm, and require telemarketers to comply with any do-not-call request you make directly to the caller during a solicitation call. The TCPA's constitutionality was challenged by telemarketers soon after it was enacted.?Later, two cases effectively settled this issue and the TCPA was found to be constitutional.

?

Precedents

In 2005, plaintiff Rodney Joffe sued Acacia Mortgage Corporation for sending unsolicited SMS messaging to his cell phone. This case successfully argued that the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) applies here, that unsolicited SMS messaging is using an "automatic dialing system" to make a "call" to a "telephone number assigned to a cellular telephone service."

?

Is it the end of mobile marketing?

With the number of mobile devices on the rise, it becomes imperative to respect consumer choice to not receive marketing messages.?What?s more, unlike with email spam, where a junk folder exists and many filters are put into place to ensure that we never even see most of the spam that is sent to our addresses, mobile device users don?t know how to go about managing this issue.?Companies need to understand that by bombarding consumers with deals, they might be alienating a lot of its consumers.?This practice is not only a slap to the face to the Mobile Marketing Association?s best practices, it?s quickly eroding the benefits of SMS marketing, including high redemption rates and even higher open rates. These metrics have an inverse relationship to the rate of SMS SPAM, and by continuing to allow businesses to import customer phone numbers, SMS SPAM will most certainly rise, pushing down SMS redemptions and open rates. This is the same reason why email marketing has a really low open rate (less than 2%)?

?

Similar concerns were addressed regarding email spamming by the CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

?

Is this enough to stop the spammers?

If a business decides to use spam text message it is first important that they know it is illegal. Perhaps if the companies that sold the spamming technology to other businesses were required to educate the receiving company of the law before retention of the technology then the frequency would drop.? If this education does not work then there is technology available to attempt to filter the spam much as email gets filtered. While this technology is not as perfect as email, most cell phone carriers have options for consumers to attempt to filter some of the spam.? Improving this technology would indeed help consumers with the annoyance of text message spamming.

?

However, these improvements in technology and laws are reducing the efficacy of text message marketing.? As mentioned above the open rate will continue to decrease as cell phones users become more aware of the practices.? At that point, hopefully, cell phone spam will be something consumers learn to live with and don?t have to look at just like email spam today.

?Group:

?

Dhiraj Khandelwal

Jennifer Sagan

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/technology/personaltech/fighting-back-against-spam-texts.html

http://pocketspammers.com/files/2012/11/DSMDB-3115580-v1-FCC_Letterhead.Sig_.pdf

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412119,00.asp

?

Source: http://picker.typepad.com/legalinfrastructure/2012/11/papa-johns-better-ingredients-better-pizza-worse-spam.html

clayton kershaw tyler perry face transplant maundy thursday fab melo google glasses kim kardashian and kanye west

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Many Uses Of A Hot Air Balloon

When you think of hot air balloons, images of family days out and birthday celebrations come to mind. That is because a lot of hot air balloon rides are for celebrations with the family! But balloons actually have a lot more uses then for just commercial use. Read on for all the uses hot air balloons have!

A Helping Hand During Wartime.

In the past, hot air balloons were called up in the line of duty. During the Second World War hot air balloons were used to protect the city of London below. They were adapted and called barrage balloons. They were filled with air and floated up into the London skyline. By doing so, they obstructed the city below from dive bombers. No air craft could get near enough to drop bombs on the city, as the balloons were in the way. They saved thousands of people living in the city of London.

Eureka!

It may sound strange to some, but hot air balloons are used as a means of conducting research. As they are extremely lightweight they can be sent into the sky and record information. Balloons are used regularly to conduct experiments about how weather can affect certain things. For instance, a balloon was launched into the sky over the Mediterranean Sea to better understand extreme weather conditions.

Eureka! Part II

But this research is not only used over seas. Balloons also make excellent flying equipment to explore the rain forest. The rain forest is a vast, dense space, making it difficult to spot any changes to the landscape. Hot air balloons are fitted with cameras and flown over the rain forest canopy. This way they can document how it looks, and then take photos some time later and compare them. This allows experts to learn more about the rain forest, through the use of hot air balloons.

In Need Of Some Assistance?

If so, balloons can show you the way. Balloons are rather large contraptions, which makes them perfect for advertising space! Lots of agencies have cottoned on to this idea and have branded hot air balloons to advertise themselves. This most commonly happens at fairs and festivals, as they are easy to spot from a long distance. More recently, they have been used as a means of signalling a first aid tent, so that those in need can get to help as quickly as possible.

The British School of Ballooning is a family owned business operating many balloons throughout Southern England.For more on balloon rides Surrey visit http://www.hotair.co.uk/location/surrey

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/the-many-uses-of-a-hot-air-balloon-303867

austerity rihanna and chris brown back together pebble beach clive davis cause of whitney houston death keanu reeves whitney houston national anthem

Codecademy&#39;s Zach Sims is leading a movement; now can he build ...

When he was in high school, Zach Sims spent his spare time writing about tech startups and their go-getter founders for a web 2.0-tech blog. Now, as the 22-year-old CEO and co-founder of Codecademy, a startup backed by more than $12 million from some of the tech world?s choosiest venture capitalists, the only story he?s focused on telling is his own.

In the 14 months since its launch, Codecademy has attracted more than a million aspiring hackers with its online courses on programming and web development. ?But more than that, he and his cofounder Ryan Bubinksi have become the faces of an emerging learn-to-code movement, winning kudos from the White House and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Much of that attention is due to the early popularity of the site, the caliber of its investors and exceptional timing ? in an age of smartphones and other connected devices, technology has never been more accessible, and the people skilled in its languages never more in demand.?Rockstar startup CEOs, from Facebook?s Mark?Zuckerberg to Foursquare?s Dennis Crowley to Tumblr?s David Karp,?built their startups (or at least the first iterations of them) with?coding chops. But even those who don?t aspire to that kind of success?believe that, as the economy goes digital and the Internet touches?every part of our lives, understanding computer code, even at a basic level, is the?key to keeping up and remaining employable.

Codecademy may not have been the first to ignite an interest in coding, but Sims has played an active role in fanning it. ?When he talks about Codecademy, it isn?t just in terms of the Ruby, Python and JavaScript courses that they offer. He puts algorithms right up there with reading, writing and math as measures of basic literacy?(even if people don?t learn to write algorithms, he believes they should still understand how they can be used).?Codecademy, to hear it from Sims, isn?t just a platform for getting coding lessons ? it?s a way to stay relevant in a changing world. And programmers aren?t just another?class of skilled workers; they?re the drivers of the future economy.

?We?re building what I think is 21st-century education. It?s interactive, it?s community-driven, and it?s fun. ? It?s not about bringing what?s offline online, it?s about creating a new learning experience for more people on the Web,? said Sims. ?Not only do we want to create more programmers, we want to create people that are just conscious of what they?re doing.?

But while Sims has been expansive on the grander vision, he has been less vocal about Codecademy?s business model. The company has yet to report that it?s earned any revenue, and Sims? challenge now is to build a money-making business amid increasing competition and ongoing debates over how much programming most of us really need to learn.

?[It] concerns me ? this concept that coding is as fundamental as reading and writing. ?For the subset of people who say I love computers and I want to learn to do this stuff, I?m in no way interfering. But don?t tell people that programming is a core skill in life,? said programmer Jeff Atwood, co-founder of Stack Exchange who blogs at CodingHorror.com. ?They?re scaring people [by implying that] if you don?t know this you?re going to fall behind.?

Right place, right time

Sims, who grew up in Greenwich, Conn., said he was drawn to the Internet and entrepreneurship early on. As a 7th grader, he convinced manufacturers in China to sell him iPod cases in bulk, which he then resold on eBay. And in high school, he wrote and managed writers for Rev2.org, an early blog on tech startups and trends.

Soon after arriving at Columbia University in 2008, he joined the Columbia Venture Community. Even though he decided to major in political science, he immersed himself in New York?s tech world, quickly learning how to parlay introductions with local startup founders into internships. In addition to a stint at Drop.io ? which he scored after attending a talk founder Sam Lessin gave on-campus ? he interned at AOL Ventures and GroupMe. Often, he said, he logged long 40-hour workweeks on top of his schoolwork.

Andy Weissman, partner at Union Square Ventures, one of Codecademy?s earliest investors, said that when he first met Sims he was so ?omnipresent? that it didn?t even register that he was still a student. ?He?s someone who seems to have a good ability to be in a lot of the right places at the right time,? said Weissman.

Codecademy founders Zach Sims (left) and Ryan Bubinksi (right)

One of those right places was the office of The Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia?s student newspaper, where he met Bubinski. In addition to sharing Sims? interest in journalism, Bubinski started a campus programming community, the Application Development Initiative, which ultimately influenced some of the pair?s side projects and later their startup.

Even then, Sims was notorious for packing his days ? and even nights ? with activities. ?[In college] it would somehow come out that he was sleeping four hours a night because he was taking two more classes than he was supposed to, working part-time for [a startup], reading two books and fully up on everyday news,? said Hope Weissler, a longtime friend who has known Sims since elementary school. And way before he had a startup to pitch, she said, he had a knack for getting the people around him interested in whatever it is that draws his attention, from the serious (politics and technology trends) to the ?silly? (like the fancy pens and custom notebooks?he favors). Weiss, as well as?others who know him, say Sims is deeply curiosity and has a sponge-like ability to absorb information ? if he?s not devouring a book on his Kindle or reading articles online, he seems to be grilling the experts in his life to learn as much as he can.

The pivot

When Sims and Bubinski decided to apply to startup?accelerator Y Combinator in the summer of 2011, their business idea was a new way to evaluate programmers through quizzes and challenges. But as with so many startups, it was a pivot that got them to where they are now.?While building out their initial idea, Sims struggled to keep up with Bubinksi, who was the better programmer. So barely a couple of of weeks before demo day, they switched gears from their original idea and turned their problem into their business, launching Codecademy as a browser-based, interactive way to learn to code online.

In a matter of days, the site became a viral hit. In its first 72 hours, Codecademy attracted 200,000 users and by October 2011, it had raised $2.5 million from top VCs, including Union Square Ventures, SV Angel and Founder Collective. Before what would have been his senior year at Columbia, Sims dropped out to focus full-time on Codecademy and, since then, it?s raised another $10 million.

The startup also got a big boost from its learn-to-code Code Year initiative, which it launched last December, just in time for resolution season. In the first 48 hours, it spurred 100,000 sign-ups and won a Twitter endorsement from Mayor Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the White House this summer announced a program with Codecademy to train low-income youth. It is also beginning to make some headway with public schools, thousands of which are using curricula and flyers from Codecademy to support after-school computer science clubs.

Lots of options for wannabe developers

But Codeacademy was hardly the first company to offer online programming instruction. Lynda.com, O?Reilly, CodeSchool, Think Vitamin (which later became Treehouse) and others provided wannabe developers with some form of online courses, ebooks, video instruction and tutorials, some of which used interactive, in-browser tools similar to Codecademy?s.

But Sims and Bubinksi recognized that many of the other sites were missing an opportunity to reach a bigger audience. They either relied on one-directional instruction (such as video and text), targeted those who already had some coding experience, or made it daunting for new students to get started. Instead, Codecademy presented a clean, unintimidating interface that promised users ?the easiest way to learn to code? ? for free. ?And, to get started, Codeacademy users didn?t have to click through multiple pages of directions; all they had to do was type their first name into a big box on the homepage.

In pitching the startup to the public and press, Sims has positioned the company as more of a leader of cause, than a company, with aspirations to expand around the world. ?His abilities as a marketer, to explain in really emotional and simple terms what he?s trying to do? is amazing for someone of his age,? said Weissman. ??He has an innate ability to describe and articulate what they?re doing in ways that matter to lots and lots of people.?

Can Codecademy be more than a ?gateway drug? to coding?

But Codecademy has had its criticisms, too ? from?aspiring hackers,?more seasoned programmers?and education technology observers.?A key part of the company, as well as a key reason investors are so enamored with it, is Codecademy?s reliance on the network effects of its users, who each add to the overall value of the program.?Indeed, more than 25,000 course creators have contributed lessons to the platform. But the quality varies and many say the courses assume too much knowledge on the part of the student. Codecademy chooses which courses to feature and provides some structure so that students can get a tracked experience. But while it launched with courses created in-house, it now mostly?takes the courses submitted by users and retrofits them into a quasi curriculum instead?of creating a curriculum from scratch based a thesis of how people should learn how to code.

?I think it?s a smaller gateway drug into programming, where people can try it and learn about it. But I think they seriously overstate their actual effectiveness,? said Zed Shaw, an experienced software developer and author of several programming books, including ?Learn Python The Hard Way.? ?It?s a complicated topic to teach ? and there?s not a lot of research in how to teach computer science. The idea that you?re going to get a bunch of random programmers, who are notoriously bad at explaining programming, to teach ? it just doesn?t fly.?

A little bit of coding certainly can?t hurt anyone, but is the market for user-generated coding classes really big enough to build a business model around?

Codeacademy has been enormously successful in drawing in users, yet it?s not clear they?re able to get them to stay. Of the 400,000 people who eagerly signed up for Code Year, Sims said only that ?a lot? continued. But one could imagine that, as with most New Year?s resolutions, many people gave it up after realizing the real commitment learning to code requires. Speaking broadly about the site, Fred Wilson, a Union Square Ventures partner and Codecademy investor, recently acknowledged that just a very small percentage of the people who land on Codecademy actually end up making it through the process and able to write software at the end.

Initiatives like its after-school clubs and meetups, which bring an offline component to its online lessons, certainly help the company expand its overall pool of users. But for Codecademy to become a revenue-generating business, it?s still going to have to start giving users, even those that don?t want to become full-on programmers, a tangible reason to stick around. Which could become even harder as more startups like Udacity, Coursera, Khan Academy, and others give it some tough competition.

To his credit, Sims has not shied away such questions and criticisms. He says the company ? just like its co-founder and CEO ? is still evolving.??It?s all a work in progress,? he says. ?I feel like everything is that way.?

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/11/19/codecademys-zach-sims-is-leading-a-movement-now-can-he-build-a-business/

gotye divine mercy cabin in the woods the legend of korra three stooges the three stooges the bee gees

Military Service: Is It ?Creditable? Toward Civilian Retirement?

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

Source: http://www.facebook.com/fedsmith.inc/posts/100787840089269

darlene love free kindle books roasted potatoes turkey recipes turkey recipes happy holidays norad

Monday, November 19, 2012

How To Retire Without Worrying About Social Security ...

By Melvin Pasternak (StreetAuthority | Original Link)

It?s probably the most important retirement question you can ask. But, unfortunately for you and for financial advisors, there?s no right way to answer it. The question is: How should I allocate my assets?

Your decision may?mean?the difference between relaxing on that yacht or chasing the mailman for yoursocial security?check.

Asset allocation?101
Simply stated, asset allocation means diversifying your?investments. It?s best expressed by the adage ?don?t put all your eggs in one basket.?Investing in just one type of security ? be it high-yield stocks or government?bonds?? subjects your portfolio to potentially devastating?market?fluctuations. A study by Brinson, Hood and Beebower found that asset allocation causes more than 90% of volatility in an investor?s returns.

Consider this example from the book The Four Pillars of Investing, by William Bernstein: During the 1973-1974?bear market, investors who only held stocks found themselves down more than 40%. But, investors who diversified by holding 25% stocks and 75% bonds lost less than 1% of their?net worth.

Still, asset allocation is more than just owning both stocks and bonds. How much you hold of each?asset?is just as important as the assets themselves.

For example, during the 2000-2002 bear market, a portfolio comprised of 80% stocks and 20% bonds lost a whopping 25.8%. But, a portfolio with 20% stocks and 80% bonds actually gained 16.5%, according to research in The Boglehead?s Guide to Investing.

Guidelines to proper asset allocation
How to effectively allocate your assets for future market performance is, however, a matter of personal preference and perception. The decision is based on factors like: 1) how much investing knowledge you have, 2) how long you think you might live and 3) how much of a legacy your hope to leave to your family. Each decision will influence your investing strategy.

While there are no hard and fast rules to effective asset allocation, here are some guidelines to a stress-free retirement:

1. Balance risk with reward.

A successful portfolio does just that. Fixed income tends to be more secure, but equities tend to return more over the long-term. In general, based on historical statistics, you can expect equities to return an average of 10% annually, fixed income to return 5% yearly, and cash or equivalents to return 3% in the long-term.

The first step to appropriate asset allocation is to decide how much you want to allocate to lower-risk, lower-return?fixed-income?instruments (such as bonds and?preferred stock) and how much capital you want to put toward higher-risk, higher-return equities.

In addition to stocks and bonds, your?investment?choices might also include money market funds, gold and silver, and insurance products, like annuities. If you?re a collector at heart, then you could try to invest in rare coins or baseball cards.

2. ?Find the right mix.

Although there?s no set rule for how you should allocate your assets, a conventional guideline is the 100 minus your age calculation. Take 100 minus your age as the percentage you should hold in stocks; the balance should be in fixed income. For example, if you?re currently 65, you?ll want keep 35% in stocks (100-65=35) and 65% in bonds (100-35=65).

3. Adjust as you age.

As long as you don?t live beyond age 100, the above formula will suit you fine. But maybe you?re a regular runner on a macrobiotic diet ? or you?ve been blessed with great genes. In that case, there are arguments the calculation should be increased to 110 or 120 minus your age. At 120 minus age 65, you?ll want to keep 55% in stocks (120-65=55%) and the remaining 45% in fixed income. Notice how the allocation of stocks to fixed income increases the longer your expected lifespan.

4. Use an online calculator.

If you find the above ?100/120 minus your age? guideline too general and still feel unsure about how to allocate your assets, you can try a free online calculator, like the ones found here and here. By putting in numbers like the value of your current or planned portfolio and how many years you plan to invest, an asset allocation calculator can help you fine-tune your investment strategy.

5. Have enough capital.

The key to a financially comfortable retirement is to have your assets outlive you. A good target is to have enough capital to comfortably withdraw an average of 4% annually for the rest of your (and your spouse?s) life. This 4% withdrawal guideline is based on an average portfolio growth rate of 7%, minus an average 3%?inflation?rate. Additionally, you?ll want the income from your investments to supplement any pension and old-age income you might receive.

6. Protect yourself from inflation.

Inflation is an important factor to consider in retirement planning. During the past century, inflation has occurred at an average clip of about 3.4% annually. When allocating your assets, think about how factors such as your age and your current level of capital might be affected by future inflation. Plan accordingly. For example, you might want to allocate at least 10% of your investment portfolio to gold. Historically, gold has held or increased its value during high inflation periods.

Action to Take ?>?Asset allocation can be daunting. But, taking the time to plan and design an ideal portfolio is worth its trouble in gold. Consider you age, your risk tolerance and your income needs. Then decide on the investments that are best suited for you. A well-planned allocation strategy may allow you to achieve even the most optimistic retirement dreams.

Note:?Another way to protect your retirement is with??Retirement Savings Stocks.??These little-known stocks could give you an extra $ 25,000, $ 45,000, even as much as $ 55,000 every year? whether the market goes up or down. StreetAuthority Publisher Lou Betancourt just finished a special report on these stocks.?Click here to access it now.

Melvin Pasternak, Ph.D.,? is an experienced market technician. He designed a course for TD Waterhouse titled ?Winning in the Stock Market,? which combined ??Read?More

Melvin Pasternak does not personally hold positions in any securities mentioned in this article.
StreetAuthority LLC does not hold positions in any securities mentioned in this article.

TheTradingReport

Source: http://www.thetraderswire.com/how-to-retire-without-worrying-about-social-security/

bill obrien reggie mckenzie epiphany exorcism jersey shore season 5 mark driscoll unemployment rate

REVIEW: Nokia's New Windows Phone, The Lumia 920 (MSFT, NOK, T)

Steve Kovach, Business Insider

I got really excited when Nokia unveiled its first flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

It was unique, not just another black slab with rounded corners and a home screen full of static app icons. I test a lot of phones, and it was refreshing to finally see one that didn't pretend to be an iPhone.

But by the time I had a chance to use the Lumia 900, I was mostly disappointed in the final product Nokia delivered. The screen was dull compared to other top-tier smartphones. The camera wasn't nearly as good as Nokia boasted. And Microsoft still had problems getting developers to make great apps for the phone.

Unsurprisingly, the Lumia 900 didn't sell very well.

Just seven months after the Lumia 900's launch, Nokia is giving it another go with a new phone called the Lumia 920, which AT&T sells for $100 with a two-year contract.?

Despite a few hardware upgrades like a sharper screen, wireless charging, and very capable camera, the Lumia 920 feels like Nokia took three baby steps forward but one gigantic leap backward.

Click here for photos of the most important new features in the Lumia 920 >

Hardware, Design, And Performance

At a time when companies like Samsung, Apple, and HTC are releasing sleek and light phones, Nokia launched a tank instead. On paper, it doesn't seem that bad. The Lumia 920 weighs 185 grams, while the iPhone 5 weighs 112 grams and the Galaxy S III weighs 133 grams. But when you hold the Lumia 920, that extra weight does make a difference. I barely notice the iPhone 5 when it's in my pocket, but the Lumia 920 feels like a brick. I let a few of my non-tech savvy friends try the Lumia 920, and they came to the same conclusion. The Lumia 920 is going to be too fat and heavy to appeal to most people.

I know a lot of you will argue that Nokia made the Lumia 920 so large so it could fit in a lot of advanced hardware components, but there are plenty of devices out there with similar features that still manage to be thin and light. Most notably, there's HTC's slim new Windows Phone 8x, the Lumia's chief rival.

But if you can get past the size and weight, the Lumia 920 is an attractive phone, mostly because it's so unique. It comes in a variety of colors ?? I tested the lipstick-red model ?? and there's no mistaking it for an iPhone or one of the myriad Android clones out there. That's a good thing.?

?

The Lumia 920 is one of the first devices to run Microsoft's new mobile operating system called Windows Phone 8, which supports high-end hardware features like sharper screens, faster processors, and NFC chips that put phone on equal footing with other premium smartphones. The Lumia 920 takes advantage of all those capabilities, and it's a nice step up from the inadequate hardware specs found in the Lumia 900.?That's great, but it still feels like the Lumia 920 is playing catch up with the competition on the hardware level. And that's not going to be good for the Nokia when the next generation of smartphones hit the market in a few months.

Steve Kovach, Business Insider

There's one aspect where the Lumia 920 blows away other smartphones: the camera. Nokia overpromised and underdelivered last time around with the Lumia 900's camera, but the opposite is true with the Lumia 920. I don't think Nokia adequately expressed just how good this camera is. Photo quality is incredible, but I really liked the dedicated camera shutter button on the side. Holding it halfway down allows you to auto-focus the image, just like a normal DSLR or point-and-shoot digital camera. It's not enough to make me want to run out and buy a Lumia, but it did make me wish other phones had cameras this good.

Battery life was also really good. I got well over a day's woth of use out of the Lumia 920, and standby time among the best of any smartphone I've used.?

Windows Phone 8

On its own, Windows Phone 8 is a great operating system. I reviewed it in length here, so I won't repeat myself too much. But I will hit the two important points:

  • The Windows Phone platform still has an app shortage problem.?I'm not talking about the?number of apps available in Microsoft's store, but the quality. It's still missing some major ones like Instagram, Hulu, and Dropbox. Microsoft says the selection is getting better, but there's still little incentive for developers to bring the next blockbuster app to Windows Phone as there aren't enough people using the OS yet.
  • The interface is gorgeous and intuitive.?I love Microsoft's Live Tiles and think they're the perfect hybrid between the boring app icons on the iPhone and the heavy widgets on Android. With Windows Phone 8, you can adjust the Live Tiles to display more or less information, depending on its size, making your home screen incredibly customizalke, yet inviting and useful.

All of these features (good and bad) are at the core of the Lumia 920 experience. The problem is, as good as Windows Phone 8 is, there's nothing in it compelling enough to choose it over Android or iOS. It's still too little, too late.

Click here for photos of the most important new features in the Lumia 920 >

Steve Kovach, Business Insider

Should You Buy It?

I only see two reasons to buy the Lumia 920. 1.) If you're intrigued by the Windows Phone platform, but don't think it's worth a heavy investment, then the $100 price tag will be perfect for you. 2.) You feel a strong affinity to Nokia (as it seems a lot of people do) and you absolutely must have the company's latest and greatest device.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are a significant number of people who fit into either of those two categories. There are plenty of great phones out there for the same price as the Lumia. Most are better.

Click here for photos of the most important new features in the Lumia 920 >

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/uqyyHkbmNIw/nokia-lumia-920-review-2012-11

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

Leader, My Leader: Do You Inspire ?Willing Action??

?

Leadership has been defined as ?the ability to inspire willing action?

Emphasis is placed on the ?willing.? But to understand leadership, we need to delve a little deeper than that.

One thing which experience has proven over and over again down through the ages is that when any group of people are thrown together for any length of time or for any project, a leader will emerge from the group ? one to whom they will listen and give their confidence and support.

Their position on the organisation chart or their title alone cannot make a person a genuine leader. They must have certain traits and skills, or they will surely fail. In business, it has been shown again and again that these skills can be learned and the traits can be developed in any individual who is willing to exert an effort based on strong desire and a true hunger for success.

Generally, a leader or teacher does not actually ?develop? another person. They encourage and inspire that person to develop themselves from within. Thus, leadership is, in a large sense, self-initiated.

Once we understand and identify the methods and characteristics of admired leaders, we can take steps to develop these skills and traits ourselves. We can analyze ourselves ? honestly, ruthlessly, objectively ? and identify which skills we need to acquire or improve (and those which we need to play down).

However, it is my view that the ?perfect leader? has yet to be born. We all have room for self-improvement. If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader ? what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills ? we will at least have made a good start. We should analyze every genuine leader we know and try to learn which qualities influenced us to consider them a good leader.

And that is what I have done: My first experience of leading was thrust upon me at the tender age of eight years old, when I captained my soccer team ? since then I have always been the captain ? it is as well, because I am not a very good follower, however hard I have tried.

Does your leader inspire you into willing action ? or uninspire you into unwilling action?

Final question: Are great leaders born or made? It seems that everyone has a view on that ? every man, his dog, and most of his dog?s best friends: I?ll share my views?shortly?.watch this space.

?

News: Later today, Steven Rosen is?offering his excellent new book??52 Sales Management Tips? FREE on kindle. You can grab your copy HERE

Meanwhile, over at Top Sales World, I am interviewing Mike Schultz from Rain Group, who opines that ?95% of Product Training is Ineffective? HERE?and over on Top Sales Management, you will find me deep in conversation with Tibor Shanto ? ?Why we Need a Balanced Approach to Business Generation? HERE

Missed yesterday?s post? Simply scroll down.

If you enjoyed today?s post, please be kind enough to share by clicking on one of these buttons ?

Source: http://www.thejfblogit.co.uk/2012/11/19/leader-my-leader-do-you-inspire-willing-action/

Skyfall Chicago Marathon 2012 texas rangers steve jobs meningitis bobby valentine bobby valentine