Chesapeake Energy hires Anadarko executive as CEO

By Anna Driver

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp on Monday named a top executive at rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp to head the No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer, which has suffered a governance crisis and liquidity crunch over the last year.

Chesapeake hired Robert Douglas Lawler, senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at Anadarko, to fill the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon in April.

Shares of Chesapeake were up 4 percent as Lawler's appointment ends a three-month search for McClendon's replacement.

Lawler, who takes over as CEO on June 17, faces a number of challenges in his new job. Several years of low natural gas prices and Chesapeake's heavy spending to acquire oil and gas properties in shale formations have left the company saddled with about $13 billion in debt.

Chesapeake has forecast a funding shortfall of $3.5 billion this year and said it will sell up to $7 billion in assets to help cover the expected gap between operating cash flow and capital expenditures.

"He is coming into a company that has serious challenges," said Fadel Gheit, an oil company analyst Oppenheimer. It's a mine field that he has to navigate through, but he's very experienced and I feel he will live up to the challenge."

Lawler, 46, worked for 25 years at Anadarko and Kerr-McGee, which Anadarko acquired in 2006. The petroleum engineer has experience in both onshore and offshore operations and was mostly recently responsible for big projects including Anadarko's liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique.

Lawler should help "to turn the page on the Aubrey McClendon saga that has consumed the story for the past year," Wells Fargo analyst David Tameron said in a research note and others noted that he would bring needed capital discipline to Chesapeake.

Under the watchful eye of top shareholders O. Mason Hawkins of Southeastern Asset Management and Carl Icahn, Chesapeake has cut spending this year and is focusing on drilling its best properties while producing higher quantities of more valuable crude oil.

Hawkins and Icahn took control of the board last June after McClendon was stripped of his title as chairman of the company he co-founded in 1989.

McClendon's departure came after a tumultuous year during which a series of Reuters investigations led to civil and criminal investigations of the company.

Chesapeake also faces probes by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into a perk that gave McClendon a stake in company wells, and by the U.S. Department of Justice into possible antitrust violations over Michigan land deals.

A internal probe by Chesapeake into the land deals and the well program found no intentional wrongdoing on the part of McClendon, the company said in February.

Steven Dixon, Chesapeake's chief operating officer has been acting as interim CEO. At the time of his appointment in late March, the company created a three-person office of the chairman, that included Dixon, Chairmen Archie Dunham and Chief Financial Officer Domenic Dell'Osso. With the appointment of Lawler, the office of the chairman will be discontinued, the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma company, said.

Dunham will continue as the company's non-executive chairman, Dixon will continue as COO and Dell'Osso remains CFO.

Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen said the company would name a replacement for Lawler soon.

Chesapeake shares rose 82 cents to $21.09 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has gained 22 percent so far this year.

(Reporting By Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Maria Ajit Thomas in Bangalore and Ernest Scheyder in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Jeffrey Benkoe and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chesapeake-energy-hires-anadarko-executive-ceo-wsj-052728182.html

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Eurovision returns to ABBA's homeland with pop and kitsch

By Mia Shanley

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Bare-chested Irish drummers, a Ukrainian giant and a much-discussed lesbian kiss will be on display at this Saturday's Eurovision final in Sweden which - love it or hate it - promises plenty of pop, kitsch and barefoot ballads.

Some 26 countries will compete for the jewel in the crown of European pop in the homeland of former Swedish supergroup ABBA, one of Eurovision's most successful winners.

Denmark's 20-year-old Emmelie De Forest looks set to steal the show with bookmakers putting her as a clear favorite, trailed by Norway, Ukraine, Russia and Azerbaijan.

Her song - "Only Teardrops" - could keep the show in the Nordics for a second year running, moving it just across a bridge that separates Sweden and Denmark after Loreen won last year's contest for Sweden with dance track "Euphoria".

"It's just quite a catchy song - it's sort of true Eurovision," said Jessica Bridge, a spokeswoman for bookmaker Ladbrokes, of Denmark's entry. "It's euro-pop, and I think it's just struck a chord with people really. I think that's the one."

Ladbrokes has Denmark on 4/6 odds, making the barefoot blonde who performs against a flaming backdrop one of the strongest contenders ever to go into a Eurovision final.

Highlights will undoubtedly include a 2.4 meter (7 feet 8 inches) tall Ukrainian who carries singer Zlata Ognevich onto the stage, representing her inner strength, and Eurovision's first lesbian kiss featured in Finland's "Marry Me", which has drawn media controversy.

Eurovision was started in the 1950s with the aim of uniting Europe after World War II. Today, it has an audience of 125 million - more than the Super Bowl in the United States - and has served as a launching pad for the likes of ABBA, Julio Iglesias and Celine Dion.

And despite an ever-increasing number of TV music contests ranging from Pop Idol to the Voice, fans say the nearly six-decade-old show stands in a category of its own.

"It is special - it's such great variation from all these different cultures," Thomas G:son, who co-wrote last year's winning song and has penned tunes for the Jonas Brothers, told Reuters.

"You can think: What is he wearing? What is she singing? This is crazy! That's what makes it interesting and fun. There is such great variation."

G:son has written the song for Georgia this year, which made it through to the final, but says his other favorite is Dutch contender Anouk, a singer-songwriter who will be belting out her dark and edgy ballad "Birds".

ABBA NOSTALGIA

To promote talent over politically and geographically motivated block voting, professional judges now account for 50 percent of a performer's score. The other half comes from telephone and SMS votes received for each contestant, with fans unable to vote for their own country's entry.

After two semi-finals held this week, 20 countries moved to Saturday's final while Britain, Italy, Spain, France and Germany got free passes as they are the biggest contributors to Europe's broadcasting union. Host Sweden also automatically qualified.

Britain, which has not won since 1997 and finished second from last in 2012 with septuagenarian crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, looks unlikely to buck its losing streak this year.

Ladbrokes says Britain's entry, Bonnie Tyler - famed for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in the 1980s - is entering the contest with the weakest odds of any British contender in a decade.

Sweden meanwhile is reveling in the moment.

ABBA the Museum, showcasing the musical history of Sweden's most famous Eurovision winner, opened its doors in Stockholm just this month, welcoming tourists on a pop nostalgia trip.

Mattias Hansson, the head of the museum, said the response has been overwhelming, boosted no doubt by Eurovision hype.

Hansson recalls when ABBA won Eurovision in 1974 with "Waterloo".

"I was five years old. I remember the star-shaped guitar that Bjorn played - that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," he said of Bjorn Ulvaeus, a former ABBA member.

But asked about prospects for an ABBA a reunion on Saturday, Hansson broke into a roaring laugh.

"I have been sitting beside Bjorn 100 times during our launch, and I have seen him say "no" so many times that I am actually starting to believe him," he said. "I guess that's good for the museum, because it keeps the mystery alive."

(Reporting by Mia Shanley; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eurovision-returns-abbas-homeland-pop-kitsch-121720835.html

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Grifters Increase Their Internet Attacks

Consumers were victims of nearly 290,000 online frauds and lost more than $525 million in 2012, up 8 percent from 2011. Larry Greenemeier reports.

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Internet scams have been around almost a long as the Internet itself, but that doesn?t stop people from falling for them. The latest report from the FBI?s Internet Crime Complaint Center says consumers were victims of nearly 290,000 online frauds and lost more than $525 million in 2012. That?s up 8 percent from 2011.

Overall, the most fraud complaints came from California, nearly doubling second-place Florida.

The most common Internet crime last year involved crooks posing as car dealers and advertising online to sell cars they didn?t actually own. The victims paid via the Web, sight unseen. They got taken for a ride, but not in a new car.

The second most popular crime, ironically, was spam supposedly from FBI Director Robert Mueller himself, telling people they were entitled to large sums of money if they paid his agency to obtain the necessary paperwork. Seems believable. Why wouldn?t nation?s top law enforcement official do the agency?s clerical work too?

A tip for fighting fraud: government agencies don?t send unsolicited e-mails.

?Larry Greenemeier

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=24b305d6dec656f92314b24ebaaa5cb1

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HTC Pledges To Pump Up ?One' Production While Samsung's New Flagship Ships Like Crazy

Oh HTC. You've produced one of the finest Android smartphones ever (seriously, just look at all these reviews), but you've faced more than your share of challenges when it came to actually pumping your top-tier One smartphone. As it happens, that may all soon change. FocusTaiwan reported earlier today that HTC is preparing to pump out more of its wonderful Ones in short order -- Jack Tong, the company's North Asia president, noted that this month's production capacity for the flagship device is twice that of April, and that surge will only continue into June.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mUW-i29QH8g/

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GROUPON: We Can Be A $100 Billion Company - Business Insider

The co-CEOs of Groupon, Eric Lefkofsky and Ted Leonsis, stopped by our offices this afternoon, along with CFO Jason Child and other senior Groupon executives.

They had some interesting things to say.

Groupon, you may recall, is a four year-old digital commerce company based in Chicago. Groupon invented the "daily-deal" industry, grew faster than just about any other company in history, rejected a $6 billion cash buyout offer from Google, and then went public in late 2011 at $20 a share.

Then the company blew its numbers.

And the growth of the U.S. business screeched to a halt.

And the international business imploded.

And the stock collapsed to ~$2 a share.

And the young, charismatic CEO, Andrew Mason, got canned.

Now, Groupon's business appears to be stabilizing, and the stock has recovered to about $7 a share. The co-CEOs, Lefkofsky and Leonsis, have run the company for several months, and they will continue to run it for at least another couple of months until a new CEO is hired.

Leonsis, who also owns the Washington Capitals, was still mourning the team's shocking loss to the New York Rangers in the first round of NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. But he put the nightmare Game 7 behind him and focused on Groupon.

Here's what we learned:

The Vision

Groupon's vision is to become a gigantic mobile local commerce company--the Amazon or eBay of local. Instead of just pumping out "daily deals" via email offers, Groupon wants to become the place you go (via your mobile device) to find everyday deals and discounts on a full range of products and services wherever you happen to be. The company will eventually offer deals and discounts with merchant clients in many more categories of products and services than it does today.

Groupon generated about $2.5 billion of revenue last year. ?Leonsis believes the company can eventually generate $100 billion of revenue per year.

For context, Amazon generated $61 billion of revenue last year. Walmart generated $470 billion.

The search for a new CEO

Groupon has actually not yet retained a search firm to hire a new CEO. It will do so in June, after the next board meeting.

Lefkofsky and Leonsis said they haven't hired a new CEO yet because they wanted to run the company for a while to be sure they knew what kind of CEO they wanted to hire.

The new CEO will not bring the "vision" for Groupon. The vision is already there. The new CEO will either buy into the existing vision, or he or she will presumably have a short stay at the company.

Eric Lefkofsky

I had never met Eric Lefkofsky before. ?Based on some of what I had read about him, I had a vision of a cold, calculating puppet-master who dispatched orders (and CEO pink slips) from a dark room somewhere. I was surprised to discover that Lefkofsky is affable and charming, in addition to smart. He should put himself in front of TV cameras more. He puts a good face on the company.

Lefkofsky, Groupon's original investor, took a lot of heat for selling $300 million of stock a year before Groupon went public, in a deal in which nearly $1 billion of new investor cash went to existing investors instead of to Groupon. But he hasn't sold a share since.

The International business isn't hopeless

The growth of Groupon's U.S. business has flattened, but it's still doing okay. The international business, meanwhile, has imploded. Lefkofsky and Leonsis don't think the international business is hopeless, however. Eventually, they think, it will stabilize and then begin to grow again.

Groupon is still generating cash and, by one measure, growing

Given some of the rhetoric around the company in the 18 months since the IPO, you might think it was on death's door.

It isn't. ?

Despite all the trouble it has experienced, Groupon is still modestly growing its revenue (+8% year over year in Q1) and still generating positive operating income ($21 million in Q1).

It's true that the company's gross margin has dropped, so gross profit is shrinking, and the growth of the "goods" business has hurt the company's once-impressive cash flow, which has now gone negative.

But Groupon has plenty of liquidity--north of $1.1 billion of cash. And the business does appear to be stabilizing.

The bottom line

If Groupon can eventually grow to $10 billion of revenue, let alone the $100 billion that Co-CEO Leonsis mentioned, Groupon's shareholders should be amply rewarded. (The company's market value is currently about $5 billion).

The capabilities of the new CEO will be important, as will the staunching of the bleeding of the international business. And the company will have to demonstrate that it can become a destination for consumer-driven commerce, rather than a "push" driven email deals company.

But the massive local opportunity outlined by Lefkofsky is real. And Groupon is in an excellent position to make this vision a reality.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-we-can-be-a-100-billion-company-2013-5

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5 Online Business Opportunities To Boost Your Income | Content for ...

Author: Brian Blogs | Total views: 76 Comments: 0
Word Count: 722 Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 9:18 PM

Why not take advantage of your computer and Internet access and start an online business?

The best thing about business opportunities over the web is they will provide you with the flexibility and additional income stream that you need without requiring high start up capital. There are a lot of business opportunities available, but not all of them are suitable for you, so you need to be careful in choosing one. Here are some winning ideas that will help you make money online:

1. Sell products and services on social networking sites.

The tremendous popularity of social networking sites provides people with a new income stream. The best thing about using these sites for your money-making ventures is you already have a circle of friends and networks, which can be your instant clients. Find out what your friends like most about you. If the majority of them notice your good taste in fashion, you can take advantage of that by selling clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry, bling-bling, and other fashion accessories.

Also, if you love baking, you can try making cakes and pastries and sell them to your friends. The secret here is to make delicious food stuff and give them a very attractive packaging. Try to make customized cookies, cakes, and cupcakes and post photos of them in your account, and you'll be surprised by how many inquiries and orders you'll get.

2. Set up a blog and monetize it.

If you're into writing, you can earn money by setting up a blog and monetizing it once it gained a good number of visitors. You can achieve that by regularly updating your blog with high-quality and helpful articles. It helps if you focus on a niche--blog about your hobbies and interest and it won't feel like a task for you.

The easiest way to monetize your blog is to post Google ads and earn commission for every click through the ads. You can also try to put affiliate ads. These ads from merchants make you earn commissions per click, per visitor, or per purchase made by the visitor you've sent to the merchant site. The trick here is to choose merchant products related to your niche or to the content of your blog.

3. Try drop shipping.

This online money making opportunity isn't that familiar, but you can earn a good amount from this. Drop shipping means using your site to sell products that are not yours. Unlike affiliate marketing where you only need to send potential buyers to the merchant's site, in drop shipping you'll be the one to process the orders as well as the credit card payment plus the applicable shipping and handling fees. However, you'll not be responsible for the packaging and delivery. You can sell the products at their suggested online retail price and the distributor will charge you at wholesale price. That's where your profit will come from.

4. Start an online travel agency.

Americans work so hard throughout the year and reward themselves by travelling in places they've never been before. The problem is most of them don't have enough time to prepare and process all the documents and travel essentials they need. That's where your online travel agency comes in. You can provide a wide range of services from booking their flights and accommodation to planning their itinerary. Some travel agencies also offer visa processing assistance. To be efficient enough and be the first to know about promos and price markdowns, you need to have good relationships with various airlines, hotels, and tour guides.

5. Put up an online auction business.

This is an ideal business opportunity for people who don't have enough time to spend in front of the computer. All you have to do is to take a picture of the things you want to sell, register in online auction sites like eBay, and presto! You can start selling brand new, pre owned, and used items. You just need to give an honest description of the product's condition and give it a reasonable price. At first, you need to offer really good bargain, so you'll get more positive feedback from your customers and build up a credible image.

Brian Blogs is a part time internet marketer, currently blogging in the Empower Network program. He invites you to visit his website for free training on building an affordable home business. For more inside information, go below….nhttp://www.empowernetwork.com/truestory3.php?id=srecuocs01

Related to: Business Opportunities - how to make money online - commissions - Business Opportunity - money making opportunity - internet marketing - online business - Work From Home - drop shipping - blogging

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1: Article Marketing Strategy: Putting Together a "Class Schedule" For Your Article Topics

Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."

by: Steve Shaw on: Sat, 23 Apr 2011

2: Why You Need To Build Multiple Streams of Income For Yourself

Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.

by: Michel Maling on: Sat, 29 Sep 2012

3: Understanding Online Business Success

Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.

by: Mike Christie on: Sat, 29 Sep 2012

4: What is Cyber Marketing And Why It Is So Important For The Success Of Your Website

Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.

by: WJaegel on: Tue, 18 Dec 2007

5: The Best Way To Optimise Your Website SEO For Google Panda

If you want your SEO to work you now need to concentrate on appeasing Google Panda, and to do this you need to know what Google Panda's spiders/bots will be looking for. Find out here how to search engine optimise your website for the latest Google Panda algorithm, and achieve the success you deserve.

by: K Damian Qualter on: Mon, 26 Mar 2012

Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/internet-marketing/5-online-business-opportunities-to-boost-your-income.htm

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Observation of second sound in a quantum gas

May 15, 2013 ? Second sound is a quantum mechanical phenomenon, which has been observed only in superfluid helium. Physicists from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Trento, Italy, have now proven the propagation of such a temperature wave in a quantum gas.

The scientists have published their historic findings in the journal Nature.

Below a critical temperature, certain fluids become superfluid and lose internal friction. In addition, fluids in this state conduct heat extremely efficiently, with energy transport occurring in a distinct temperature wave. Because of the similarities to a sound wave, this temperature wave is also called second sound. To explain the nature of superfluids, the famous physicist Lev Landau developed the theory of two-fluid hydrodynamics in Moscow in 1941. He assumed that fluids at these low temperatures comprise a superfluid and a normal component, whereby the latter one gradually disappears with decreasing temperature. Until now superfluidity has experimentally been observed only in liquid helium and in ultracold quantum gases. Another example of a superfluid system is a neutron star, and evidence also been found in the atomic nucleus. Superfluidity is closely connected to the technologically important superconductivity, the phenomenon of zero electrical resistance at very low temperatures.

Observation of temperature waves

Ultracold quantum gases are ideal model systems to experimentally observe quantum mechanical phenomena such as superfluidity. In these experiments hundreds of thousands of atoms are cooled in a vacuum chamber to almost absolute zero (?273.15 ?C). By using lasers the particles in this state can be controlled and manipulated efficiently and with high accuracy. "Despite intensive research in this field for over ten years now, the phenomenon of second sound has proven elusive for detection in quantum gases," says Rudolf Grimm from the Institute of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. "However, in the end it was amazingly easy to prove." In the laboratory, Grimm's team of quantum physicists prepared a quantum gas consisting of about 300,000 lithium atoms. They heated the cigar-shaped particle cloud locally with a power-modulated laser beam and then observed the propagating temperature wave. "While in superfluid helium only one entropy wave is generated, our Fermi gas also exhibited some thermal expansion and, thus, a measurable density wave," explains Grimm the crucial difference. It was also the first time that the Innsbruck physicists were able to measure the superfluid fraction in the quantum gas. "Before us nobody had been able to achieve this, which closes a fundamental gap in the research of Fermi gases," says Rudolf Grimm.

Confirming a theory after 50 years

The research work, published now in the journal Nature, is the result of a long-term close collaboration between the physicists in Innsbruck and the Italian scientists. The theoretical physicists from the Trento Bose-Einstein Condensation Center led by Sandro Stringari and Lev Pitaevskii adapted Lev Landau's theory of the description of second sound for the almost one-dimensional geometry of the Innsbruck experiments. Actually Lev Pitaevskii was one of Lev Landau's pupils. "With this model it became easy to interpret the results of our measurement," says Rudolf Grimm. "Moreover, our colleagues from Trento intensely supported our experiment conceptually. The results represent the pinnacle of the collaboration with our partner university in Trento and it is a vital indication for research cooperation within the European Region the Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino." In June the University of Innsbruck will award an Honorary Doctorate to Lev Pitaevskii for his close collaboration with the local scientists.

The scientists are supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the European Research Council (ERC).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/GcKiFLVR44s/130515131508.htm

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Sony's Xperia A Android 4.1 smartphone announced for NTT DoCoMo

Sony is adding another option to its smartphone lineup with this Xperia A it just announced in Japan. Spotted a few days ago in an FCC filing, the SO-04E will be released on the 17th on NTT DoCoMo. It slots in a step below the Z and ZL models on the spec sheet however, with a 1,280 x 720 4.6-inch LCD. It shares most of their internals, with a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU and Android 4.1, which are nice, but not the latest out (Snapdragon 600 and Android 4.2.) It also packs a 2,300mAh battery, 13MP rear camera and 0.3MP front camera. Like all of the phones announced today in NTT DoCoMo's summer push it supports LTE, and it will have NOTTV access after an update this fall.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

Comments

Source: NTT DoCoMo (PDF), (2)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/3Nv3mMLxjeE/

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Bollywood star Bachchan hopes for Hollywood roles

NEW DELHI (AP) ? Bollywood's biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan, is willing to explore more Hollywood movies now that he's done his first.

Bachchan says he has never been offered Hollywood films before the 3-D extravaganza "The Great Gatsby," which opens the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.

The 71-year-old said that at his age, it is difficult to expect that certain roles will come his way. "But yes, if there are people who want to cast me, I don't mind if something is offered," the Hindustan Times newspaper quoted him as saying in an interview published Tuesday.

The Indian screen legend has acted in more than 180 Indian films in a career spanning four decades.

Bachchan portrays Meyer Wolfsheim in director Baz Luhrmann's take on the classic American novel.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Mcguire and Carey Mulligan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bollywood-star-bachchan-hopes-hollywood-roles-080413117.html

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Top 10 Food Festivals Worth a Special Journey | The FlipKey Blog

by Emily Monaco

Ever since the Michelin brothers introduced their guide to culinary greatness in 1933, food and travel have been?inseparable.? The Michelin Guide doesn?t cover food festivals, but if you want to discover the international chefs who are worthy of one or more stars, then traveling to a festival is an unbeatable experience. Get inspired this year by taking your taste buds on a food and wine tour of some of the best gustatory events in the United States. Celebrating everything from seasonal ingredients to creative new presentations, a trip to a food festival is the perfect excuse for a vacation. In time for the next few months of travel planning, we present our top 10 list of travel-worthy food festivals across the country.

May

New Orleans Wine & Food Experience, New Orleans, LA May 22?25
Where better to start than the New Orleans food and wine festival! New Orleans is one of America?s most up-and-coming food cities. It boasts both a strong traditional food culture and a plethora of new chefs quickly gaining renown in the national and international foodie circles.

The four-day festival opens with wine dinners on Wednesday May 22nd, with perfect pairings of food and wine. On Thursday, two unique wine tastings are on offer, where the surroundings are just as scrumptious as the wine. According to some reviewers on Yelp, these tasting events can get crowded, but the Royal Street Stroll is always a crowd-pleaser.

On Friday and Saturday, treat yourself to a wine seminar?this year?s topic is ?What?s Hot in Wine and Food.? You?ll also find Grand Tastings featuring 175 wineries and 75 chefs, and the Gateaux Show, a celebration with Champagne and cake.

The closing activity is a gala event, aptly named Funkin? it Up, in true New Orleans style. The intimate 10-person party is designed to raise money for the John Besh Foundation. But starting at 10 PM, everyone can bring the funk for the after party.

June

Aspen Food & Wine Classic, Aspen, CO June 14?16
If you?re traveling to Aspen in June, it?s most likely for the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. In mid-June, the mountain paradise welcomes the world?s most accomplished wine and food professionals for an adults-only event, so leave the kids at home and head to Colorado!

Events welcome such famous speakers as Jacques and Claudine P?pin, Top Chef winner Kristen Kish, Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, Ming Tsai and more. These events are divided into 7 categories: cooking demo, wine seminar, reserve wine tasting, panel discussion, grand tasting, private grand tasting and trade only. The events span everything from talks on cooking techniques to how-tos for rolling sushi! Each talk lasts 45 minutes, and several talks happen at once, so be sure to check out the online schedule ahead of time to decide which events are important to you.

For even more information about this delicious festival, check out Food & Wine?s top 10 tips for visiting the food and wine classic.

August

Maine Lobster Festival, Rockland, ME July 31?August 4
In August, head up north for the Maine Lobster Festival. Maine lobsters are recognized the world over as some of the best; see why at this family-friendly five-day seafood extravaganza.

On Wednesday, arrive at noon for the first day of the festival. Free shuttle buses from Oceanside High School and Rockland Middle School take you to the main events: exhibition tents, booths and vendors that allow you to learn about the Maine lobster, as well as taste and try.

At the food tent, you?ll find lobster rolls, lobster wraps and lobster Caesar salads. But the day isn?t just devoted to the lobster itself. Not only can you taste other fresh Maine seafood like haddock, clams, mussels and shrimp, but there are also other activities to keep you and the kids entertained.

Take advantage of the art show, which takes place all day, the coronation rehearsal on the main stage, and tours of the US coast guard station. Thursday-Saturday you?ll find more of the same, with the addition of the Big Parade!

Sunday, the festival is free for all ages for the family fun day. There?s also the road race and 5k walk, and a 1-mile kids? fun run, to get athletes of all ages involved in the festival. Signups for The Great Crate Race begin at 7am on Sunday. With so much going on in five days, it?s no wonder that the festival was voted one of Outside Magazine?s best summer festivals!

September

Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, Honolulu, HI September 1?9
The unique cuisine of the 50th state is showcased in this early autumn festival. Dinner galas, demonstrations showing off local ingredients, and a cooking competition are just some of the events you?ll be privy to at this festival.

The signature event is the Master Chefs gala series: Around the World with Seven Chefs. This lavish, seven-course dinner pairs some of the most delicious dishes with amazing wines. But don?t take our word for it: past participants like blogger, peanutbutterfingers, have fallen in love with this festival?s paradise locale and delicious food and drink. The opportunity to meet celebrity chefs is also a major draw.

October

Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, Disney/Orlando, FL September 27?November 11
Disney?s Epcot Center brings the delights of international cuisine to your back door (or at least your vacation rental?s back door), with its annual International Food and Wine Festival. The Festival offers nearly 30 international food and beverage marketplaces, including European, American, African, Oceanic and Asian stands. There?s so much to try at this festival, that it?s helpful to consult the experts in advance for tips on what to try.

Stands cover locales not usually included in Epcot?s traditional international pavilions; the variety is much wider and offers a great way to get to know some traditional foreign fare. Food is usually offered in small plates format, at $3 to $10 a plate. Much of the food is fusion influenced, though you will find a handful of authentic dishes, like the escargots at the French booth.

The festival also offers signature dining experiences with some of the most famous celebrity chefs. The wine portion of the festival makes it more of an adult-friendly event, with wine seminars and lots of international drinks to sample. Previous participants have found that bringing children can make it a stressful event, but as long as you follow these tips from Evan Levy, the festival can be enjoyable for everyone. He recommends doing advanced planning and figuring out ways to share the responsibility of looking after kids so that you can have some ?adult time? to enjoy talks and 21+ events.

NYC Wine & Food Festival, New York, NY October 17?20
Of course, foodie favorite New York City enters the running, with its wine and food festival in October. This Food Network-sponsored festival takes advantage of the plethora of celebrity chefs working for the network to host this year?s 6th annual festival. Over 500 chefs and culinary personalities will make appearances at this event, where proceeds benefit the Food Bank for New York City and No Kid Hungry campaign.

For the wine portion of the festival, 100 wineries and spirits producers will be making appearances. The Grand Tasting, one of the most popular events of the festival, combines both food and drink for an eating extravaganza in the heart of Manhattan. Together, the unique dinner experiences, tastings and seminars make this festival a key event for foodies.

January

Key West Food & Wine Festival, Key West, FL January 22?26
In January, head down to the Florida Keys for January?s Key West Food and Wine Festival. This culinary spectacle offers a great variety of events, including guided wine tastings and tasting seminars of some of the best international wines, a screening of El Camino del Vino, tasting dinners, planned strolls (including food and wine tastes, of course). Food blogger, Claudia Miller, explains that local restaurants, ?present their most creative tidbits paired with wine? at the ?Wine Around? neighborhood strolls.

For the beer lovers, there are even beer seminars to try. This addition is no surprise, with the recent rebirth of home- and craft-brewing enthusiasts. Don?t miss the Key West Shrimp Boil, for a taste of classic Florida fare.

February

South Beach Wine & Food Festival, South Beach, FL February 20?23
In February, the South Beach Food and Wine Festival sponsored by FOOD & WINE magazine, offers more than 50 events over the course of the four-day festival, featuring 200 renowned chefs and culinary personalities, including Food Network stars. These chefs offer demos, book signings, and of course several different samples. Previous guest chefs have included such famed faces as Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri. It?s a lineup that some foodies, including Lindsay, The Lunch Belle, consider worthy of an annual trip.

As for the wine portion, over 150 wineries will be in attendance. This relatively young festival has become one of the most renowned in the world, with events like the Grand Tasting, featuring tents filled with foods, wines and other spirits. The ticket price for this festival is increasing every year, but for practiced foodies who can fill their bellies; it?s worth opening your wallet. Tickets usually sell out fast, so don?t wait to get yours.

March

Charleston Wine & Food Festival, Charleston, SC March 6?9
The Charleston Wine and Food Festival celebrates the unique food culture of Charleston, with several events sponsored by the Culinary Institute of Charleston, including seminars, dinners and hotel packages.

The soul food shuffle is an all-day event, taking place on the Friday, which shuttles participants all through the heart of Charleston to take advantage of its soul food history. You?ll be guided to some of Charleston?s most beloved soul food venues, including an unmarked local favorite, famous for its fried chicken, made to order. But wine enthusiasts beware: this event is dry!

Luckily, the culinary village features both food and wine tasting tents, so those looking for the wine portion of this festival won?t be disappointed. Over 80 food and beverage vendors from all over the country offer tastings, demos, panels and talks. And retail events allow you to pick and choose items to bring home!

April

Taste of Vail, Vail, CO April 2?5
At the Taste of Vail, seminars on food and wine are as varied as they are delicious. Everything from cigar and bourbon tasting, Belgian beer seminars, olive oil exploration and wine varietal evaluation is on offer in this ski town chow-down.

Wine dinners include several different options. Local chefs show off their best, with signature events like the Colorado Lamb Cook Off and Apr?s Ski Tasting in the heart of Vail Village. This party-turned-competition is the perfect opener to the festival. There?s also the famed Mountain Top Picnic, held at 10,350 feet above sea level. The gourmet picnic can be accessed on skis or by gondola. The final major event is the Grand Tasting at the Vail Marriott.

With new restaurants being added every year, the event is growing in popularity. The Taste of Vail is an event that allows everyone to come together at one of the most popular ski resorts and enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes!

Whatever foodie festivals you may choose to attend this year, be sure to plan ahead. Most of the festivals sell out early, and if you have certain events or seminars in mind, book early to avoid disappointment. By planning ahead, you can ensure a fantastic experience at any one of these culinary extravaganzas!

Emily Monaco is native New Yorker, living and writing in Paris since 2007. She loves discovering new places and, of course, their local cuisines! Read about her adventures in food and travel at tomatokumato.com or follow her on Twitter at @emiglia

Source: http://www.flipkey.com/blog/2013/05/15/top-10-food-festivals-worth-a-special-journey/

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Ice melt, sea level rise, to be less severe than feared: study

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - A melt of ice on Greenland and Antarctica is likely to be less severe than expected this century, limiting sea level rise to a maximum of 69 cm (27 inches), an international study said on Tuesday.

Even so, such a rise could dramatically change coastal environments in the lifetimes of people born today with ever more severe storm surges and erosion, according to the ice2sea project by 24, mostly European, scientific institutions.

Some scientific studies have projected sea level rise of up to 2 meters by 2100, a figure that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called a worst case that would swamp large tracts of land from Bangladesh to Florida.

Ice2sea, a four-year project to narrow down uncertainties of how melting ice will pour water into the oceans, found that sea levels would rise by between 16.5 and 69 cm under a scenario of moderate global warming this century.

"This is good news" for those who have feared sharper rises, David Vaughan, of the British Antarctic Survey who led the ice2sea project, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"But 69 cm is a very real impact ... it changes the frequency of floods significantly," he said. And seas would keep rising for centuries beyond 2100, in a threat to coastal cities and low-lying islands such as the Maldives or Tuvalu.

Ice2sea said a thaw of Antarctica, Greenland and glaciers from the Alps to the Andes would contribute between 3.5 and 36.8 cm to sea level rise this century. The fact that water expands as it warms would add another 13 to 32 cm, Vaughan said.

Some other scientists disputed ice2sea's projections.

"I think the numbers are too low," Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, an ice expert and professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, told Reuters. She said ice2sea wrongly assumed a slowdown in the rate of ice discharge from Greenland.

ANTARCTIC SNOW

Sea levels rose by 17 cm last century and the rate has accelerated to more than 3 mm a year. A third of the current rise is from Antarctica and Greenland - equivalent to emptying 138 million Olympic-sized pools into the sea every year.

One factor likely to offset sea level rise, ice2sea said, is that warmer temperatures will result in more snow, especially over Antarctica, locking in the moisture on land. It also played down worries of a runaway melt of Greenland, and of the breakup of major Antarctic ice shelves.

Governments want to know future sea levels to plan sea barriers and regulations for everything from vacation homes to nuclear power plants by the coast. And every extra centimeter means big costs.

A Dutch commission planning to bolster sea defenses, for instance, has advised spending more than 100 billion euros ($130 billion) by 2100 to strengthen dykes and other barriers for a worst case scenario of a 1.2 meter North Sea rise by 2100.

The ice2sea study also said that a survey of experts' opinions showed there was a less than one-in-20 risk that melting ice sheets would contribute more than 84 cm to sea level rise this century. Taken with thermal expansion, that would mean a sea level gain of just over a meter, Vaughan said.

Almost 200 governments have agreed to work out a U.N. deal, by the end of 2015, to combat global warming that would help limit temperature rises and rising seas.

A leaked report by a U.N. panel of climate scientists, due for release in September and drawing on ice2sea data, estimates sea level rise at between 29 and 82 cm by the late 21st century, above the estimates in its last report in 2007 of between 18 and 59 cm.

Many studies since 2007 have had higher upper numbers, including by the World Bank, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a report for the Arctic Council. NOAA put the upper limit at 2 meters. ($1 = 0.7703 euros)

(Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ice-melt-sea-level-rise-less-severe-feared-180053857.html

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Free eye exams for infants via Infantsee program | al.com

?Did you know your infant can get a free vision screening up to 12 months?

The program is called?Infantsee?and most new parents don't know about its existence much less the need for infant eye exams.

Starting at around 6-months-old your baby can receive a comprehensive eye exam for absolutely nothing - free - zip - no cost. No insurance is needed for the eye exam.

There are more than 173 doctors in the Birmingham-area alone, who are members of this program go?here?to locate one in your neighborhood.

THIS IS A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM.

The best bargain is preventing future cost.

1. Possibly prevent corrective surgeries down the road.
2. May save on extra cost focused on developmental delays.
3. Taking care of your child's health and being an informed parent is priceless.?

I've mentioned this before but I wanted to remind new parents.?

Source: http://blog.al.com/bargain-mom/2013/05/free_eye_exams_for_infants_via.html

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Nick Lachey ?Broke Down and Cried Like a Sobbing Child? at Camden?s Birth

"I had a lot of expectations for what fatherhood would be because I thought about it for so long but when it happens, it blows your mind every day," he says.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/4HZ9HDvMPcU/

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19 shot at New Orleans Mother's Day parade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Gunmen opened fire on people marching in a neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 19.

The shooting ? described by the FBI as a flare-up of street violence ? shattered the festive mood surrounding the parade that drew hundreds of people to the 7th Ward neighborhood of modest row houses not far from the French Quarter. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them.

At least three of the victims were seriously wounded. Of the rest, many were grazed and authorities said that overall most wounds were not life threatening. No deaths were reported.

The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged witnesses to come forward with information during a news conference Sunday night at a hospital where gunshot victims were taken.

"These kinds of incidents will not go unanswered. Somebody knows something. The way to stop this violence is for you all to help," he said.

Mary Beth Romig, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New Orleans, said federal investigators have no indication that the shooting was an act of terrorism.

"It's strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans," she said.

As many as 400 people came out for the second-line procession ? a boisterous New Orleans tradition ? though only half that many were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting, said Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas. Officers were interspersed with the marchers, which is routine for such events.

Police saw three suspects running from the scene. No arrests had been made as of early evening.

Outside the hospital on Sunday night, Leonard Temple became teary as he talked about a friend who was in surgery after being shot three times during the parade. Temple was told the man was hit while trying to push his own daughter out of the way.

"People were just hanging out. We were just chilling. And this happened. Bad things always happen to good people," said Temple, who was at the parade but didn't see the shootings.

In the late afternoon, the scene was taped off and police had placed bullet casing markers in at least 10 spots.

Second-line parades are loose processions in which people dance down the street, often following behind a brass band. They can be planned events or impromptu offshoots of other celebrations. They trace their origins to the city's famous jazz funerals.

A social club called The Original Big 7 organized Sunday's event. The group was founded in 1996 at the Saint Bernard housing projects, according to its MySpace page.

The neighborhood where the shooting happened is a mix of low-income and middle-class row houses, some boarded up. As of last year, the 7th Ward's population was about 60 percent of its pre-Hurricane Katrina level.

The crime scene was about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter and near the Treme neighborhood, which has been the centerpiece for the HBO TV series "Treme."

Sunday's violence comes at a time when the city is struggling to pay for tens of millions of dollars required under a federal consent decree to reform the police department and the city jail.

Shootings at parades and neighborhood celebrations have become more common in recent years as the city has struggled with street crime. Earlier this year, four people were shot following an argument in the French Quarter during the last weekend of partying before Mardi Gras. The victims survived, and several suspects were eventually arrested.

Police vowed to make swift arrests. Serpas said it wasn't clear if particular people in the second line were targeted, or if the shots were fired at random.

"We'll get them. We have good resources in this neighborhood," Serpas said.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman and Kevin McGill in New Orleans and AP Radio reporter Jackie Quinn in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/19-orleans-shooting-victims-included-2-kids-000104331.html

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How to Make a Long Distance Relationship Work ? Mix 94.1 Las ...

Long distance relationships suck! I am in one and I can?t tell you how hard it is to say goodbye to my boyfriend and then wait 1, 2 sometimes even 3 weeks to see him. Things get rough, so here are 18 steps to help make any long distance relationship work.

Ask the important questions at the onset, to make sure you are both clear on the parameters of the relationship. Setting parameters such as naming your relationship (dating, seeing each other, boyfriend-girlfriend, engaged) as well as defining exclusive (limited to one person,) or non-exclusive. These can be difficult and awkward questions to ask, but will save you great heartache and misunderstanding down the line. Example: ?Are you open to the possibility of relocating if the relationship should become more serious?? or ?What are you looking to get out of the relationship?? Stating your end goal or ideas will allow each person to maintain what they need.

Communicate in some way every day, more than once if possible. Since you won?t be seeing each other, it?s important to establish and maintain an emotional connection. These don?t always have to be long, in-depth conversations. Tell each other about your little triumphs and tragedies. Ask on for advice. Use an instant messenger program or VoIP for real-time chat, or web cams for that visual connection. E-mail is great so make sure you use it, especially if long-distance phone calls put a strain on your budget. Ensure the e-mails are substantive and detailed, it will show that you care enough to put in the time and effort. Write love letters. Send small gifts, cards, or send flowers for no reason. In this case, quantity is as important as quality. You may discover an advantage over others whose partner is close at hand?you don?t take communication for granted!

Try challenging each other. This is not the same as being controlling. You may find that you can do things for each other that you couldn?t quite find the motivation to do on your own. Perhaps you could motivate yourselves to get some exercise or to cook better or more often. It will give you something to do while you wait to see your partner again, and it will give you both something to strive for and talk about until then.

Remember: Things will get better with time, and even the relationship will become better. Have hope.

Give them a personal object of yours so in a time of need, when they miss you, they are able to hold on to something that once belonged to you. This will provide comfort, happiness, and the thought of being with you.

Work towards a balanced relationship between partners. A relationship must be built on strong foundations of trust, understanding and determination to make it work. The key is to ensure that an equal amount of effort is made by both parties. The two partners should be reasonable about their expectations and willing to cooperate so that the relationship can lead to a happy ending. If these parameters are taken care of, you have nothing to worry about. But don?t forget to ask some questions because if you don?t, your partner may start to think that you?re losing interest.

Because time together is rare, when you do see each other, take as much advantage as possible of your ability to get intimate with each other. You don?t have that privilege during those stretches when you can?t be with each other physically. You?ve got to keep those feelings of excitement and attraction alive or they will wane in time.

Get The Whole List Here

Source: http://mix941fm.cbslocal.com/2013/05/13/how-to-make-a-long-distance-relationship-work/

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Will Obama suffer the ?second-term curse?? (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/305151732?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Cleveland kidnappings: Was Ariel Castro record of abuse a red flag? (+video)

What if Ariel Castro?s past record of domestic violence had resulted in legal action??Could it have led authorities to discover that he was holding three women in his house? Could it have prevented the kidnappings from occurring?

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / May 11, 2013

A woman places a balloon outside the home of Gina DeJesus in Cleveland. Ariel Castro, the man accused of raping and kidnapping DeJesus and 2 other women, who were missing for about a decade before being found alive at his home, may face charges of murder as well.

Tony Dejak/AP

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What if Ariel Castro?s past record of alleged domestic violence had resulted in legal action against him?

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Could it have led authorities to discover sooner that the Cleveland man was holding three kidnapped women in his house? Could it have even prevented the kidnappings from occurring?

Those questions are emerging after details have surfaced that the Ohio kidnapping suspect had several run-ins with the law regarding alleged domestic violence.

The incidents involved the woman, Grimilda Figueroa, with whom Mr. Castro fathered four children.

Now Castro has been arrested and stands accused of kidnapping and abusing three other women and keeping them locked in his house since 2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively.

The Reuters news agency reported Saturday that Ms. Figueroa?s accusations against Castro began as early as 1989 and spanned through 2005. The most recent case involved a request by her for a court order of protection.

The effort by Figueroa raises that ?what if? question.

?If he had violated the order he could have been investigated by police and possibly arrested,? the Reuters?report said. ?That could have been an opportunity to find the women he allegedly held captive, or it could have made things worse if they had been abandoned without him and unable to leave the house.?

But the story of the tension-filled relationship between Figueroa and Castro is also a reminder of how difficult it can be to make charges of domestic violence stick, or to win such court orders of protection against potential abuse.

More than once, Figueroa backed off in her legal efforts. That?s a common challenge when it comes to holding batterers accountable, experts in domestic violence say.

Michael Dvorak, the prosecuting attorney for St. Joseph, County, Ind., is one of many who have publicized the problem.

?Financial dependencies, pressure from the abuser and fear of retribution to themselves or their children are some of the obstacles that victims face? in making charges, he wrote in 2011.

Such factors frequently cause people to recant allegations, never file charges, or refrain from seeking a court order.

And even if Figueroa had won a court order, it?s only possible ? far from certain ? that it would have ultimately led police to discover Castro?s connection to three unsolved abductions.

Castro is being charged with kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight as teens or young women. Additional charges included rape and possibly murder (in connection with allegedly abusing Ms. Knight and depriving her of food during pregnancies that led to miscarriages).

Here?s the timeline for the Figueroa-Castro relationship, as recounted by Reuters:

In 1989, Castro pleaded no contest and was given a year of probation after Figueroa made a domestic violence complaint against him.

On Dec. 26, 1993, Castro was arrested after he came home drunk and began beating Figueroa, police said. Police gathered a detailed report, but when a grand jury considered the incident, Figueroa said she could not remember the abuse.

By 1997, Figueroa had been granted full custody of her and Castro's four children. And by then, she was in a new relationship with another man.

In 2005, Figueroa sought an order of protection against Castro, saying he had threatened to kill her and her children during the previous year and had "abducted" the children.

But that happened about the same time that two of her daughters accused her new partner of sexual abuse. The charges may have come about at the prompting of Castro, some sources say, but they resulted in a sentence of supervision for her partner.

Figueroa decided not to proceed with the request for a protection order, and decided to move to Indiana with her children.

She died last year, with a coroner saying the death was caused by an accidental overdose of painkiller.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/yGE8LRAN6rg/Cleveland-kidnappings-Was-Ariel-Castro-record-of-abuse-a-red-flag-video

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10 Tricks to Make Yourself a Google+ Master

Unless you happen to work for the search giant that created it, Google+ is probably not your social network of choice. Nevertheless, there's a ton of functionality hidden behind its walls, covering everything from photos to local searches as the influence of Google+ stretches across the company's multitude of other products. Here's how to get the most out of it.

We've pulled together 10 of our favorite tips and tricks from the social network that should help you get more out of Google+, or tempt you back to give it another go. We're going to assume you know the basics of Google+?circles, sharing, Hangouts and so on?and focus on some of the features you might not have come across or that have only recently gone live.

1. Save and filter searches

You'd expect Google+ to have a strong search tool, and it doesn't disappoint?type out your query in the box at the top, hit the search button and you'll be presented with a wealth of options to play around with. You can switch between the most recent or the most popular results, limit results to photos or events, search based on a location or save your query for future use. If you choose to view an auto-updated stream of matches as they are posted ("Most Recent") you can click "Pause" to take a breather when you see something you like. (If you leave the Google+ tab open to look at something else, an "Are you still there?" message appears after a few minutes.)

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2. Fill up your stream

In the event you don't have many active friends on Google+, you can fill up your stream with hot topics and trending stories from other users. Open the "Explore" tab to see popular posts from across the network, tailored to your interests, then use the slider on the right to control how many of these stories appear in your normal news stream.

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3. Find your community

Google+'s groups are called communities, and they're very flexible. You can find huge groups in support of Game of Thrones and cat pictures, or create your own private groups for work colleagues or to plan a holiday trip with friends. If you do put together a community of your own, you can share updates and photos straight to it instead of one of your circles. What's more, your community can have multiple categories for its posts, making it easier to keep track of discussions and shared content. You can also quickly launch events that are restricted to community members.

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4. Bookmark your favorite posts

Circles don't have to have real people inside them. Create an empty circle called "Posts of note" (or something similar) from the Find people tab, then share everything you find interesting to this circle. You can bring up posts from the circle at any time by choosing it from the top of your stream, and share its unique URL with others if you want to.

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5. Add circles to Gmail

You may or may not find the circles system helpful for sorting your friends and contacts on Google+, but you can add these lists to Gmail too ? it gives you another way of organizing your emails and chats on top of the labels built into Gmail itself. Visit the Labels tab of the Gmail Settings page to show or hide your circles, which can also be used in searches and filters via the "circle:" operator if you need them.

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6. Check your profile privacy

Google+ offers up plenty of controls for managing who can see what on your profile. Use the "View profile as" drop-down on your page to see how it looks to the world at large, or enter the name of one of your friends. Under each of the sections on your About page you can click "Edit" to change the audience for your work history, bio, friends and so on, and of course you can limit each of your posts to particular circles every time you share something new. Pay particularly attention to the privacy of personal information (such as your Google Latitude check-ins) that you might not want publicly visible on the Internet.

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7. Link to your content

If you produce anything on the Web, whether it's a local Blogger site or a guest post on Gizmodo, you can associate the link with your Google+ profile. There are some hoops you'll need to jump through first ? it's easier if you have an email address associated with the domain you're trying to link to ? but you can find full instructions here. You'll need to add the site in question to the "Contributor to" section of your profile.

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8. Back up your photos

Google+'s slow takeover of Picasa Web Albums is something of a mess at the moment, but while you wait for Google to untangle the crossover you can automatically upload all of your mobile snaps to a private album on Google+ for safe keeping. You'll need to install the G+ app for Android or iOS, then use the settings page to activate instant uploads ? your pictures will be shrunk to a maximum of 2,048 pixels wide, and you can store an unlimited number of photos. Android users have the option to store images at their original size, in which case the space will be taken out of your Google Drive allocation.

---

9. Hashtags, mentions and text formatting

Google+ includes Twitter-style hashtags, Facebook-style mentions, and text formatting controls that you won't find on either of the more well-known social networks. Create hashtags in the usual way, preceding your tag with "#" or clicking on a hashtag to find matching posts. To mention someone or something, preface it with "+" and start typing until the correct name appears. And to format text, use *asterisks for bold*, _underscore for italics_, and -hyphens for strikethrough-.

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10. Set the mood

If you haven't installed the Google+ Android app, you might not know there's a bonus you don't get from the desktop site or the iOS app (for the time being at least) ? the ability to publish mood emoticons alongside your updates. With Google+'s emphasis on visuals and graphics, they can add some substance to text updates that would otherwise get lost in the stream.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/10-tricks-to-make-yourself-a-google-master-500513750

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Suicide tanker truck kills 3 people in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi officials say that a suicide tanker truck packed with explosives blew up outside the home of an army intelligence officer, killing three people and wounding 18 others in the country's north.

Police officials say that the Saturday blast heavily damaged the house of Brig. Khalaf al-Jubouri in al-Shurqat, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Police said that al-Jubouri's son and nephew were among the dead, but the officer himself was not home at the time.

A hospital official confirmed the casualties. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but insurgent attacks are still frequent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-tanker-truck-kills-3-people-iraq-112541531.html

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How 'human' are birds compared to, say, dogs? - Improbable ...

One possible way of answering such a question might be to examine what kind of names people tend to give to them. Substantial groundwork was laid out in ?La pens?e sauvage? written in 1962 by the eminent French anthropologist and ethnologist (the late) Claude L?vi-Strauss. The book outlined his discoveries regarding subtle differences in the names given to birds, dogs, cows and racehorses etc. Dogs, he found, might have names like Fido or Sultan, whereas birds can be called Claude or Margot. Some have interpreted his findings to mean that that birds are more likely to be given ?human-like? names than are dogs or other pets, and so by extrapolation they might even be considered to be ?more human?. But, 45 years later, this concept has been challenged by by professor Ernest L. Abel Ph.D. (of the Obstetrics/Gynecology dept. at the School of Medicine, Wayne state
University, Detroit, US) who explains, in a 2007 paper for the journal Names: A Journal of Onomastics, (Volume 55,?Number 4, pp. 349-353) ?Birds are not More Human than Dogs: Evidence From Naming?.

?This study tested Levi-Strauss?s hypothesis that birds are more likely to be given human names than are dogs or other pets. The hypothesis was not supported. Instead, dogs (and cats) are much more likely to be given human names. The results were interpreted in terms of the relationships people feel with different kinds of pets. Pets housed outside the home are least likely to be given human names. Inside the house, pets kept in cages are less likely to be given human names than are pets allowed to roam freely within the home.?

The next year, professor Abel went on to further-refine understanding of bird-naming protocols with a paper for the journal Psychological Reports (Volume 102, Issue , pp. 271-272.) in which he explains how ? PARROTS ARE ?MORE HUMAN? THAN CHICKENS.

?Analysis of an Internet database of pets? names showed owners were more likely to give anthropomorphic names to pets living within homes than those living outside.?

For more examples of professor Abel?s work, see these previous Improbable articles :

??Human left-sided cradling preferences for dogs?

??Athletes, Doctors, and Lawyers with First Names Beginning with ?D? Die Sooner?? and

??A Marihuana Dictionary?

NOTE: For reasons of space we can?t list all the professor?s papers? ? such as :

? Sopranos but not tenors live longer.

? Mortality salience of birthdays on day of death in the Major Leagues.

? Football increases the risk for Lou Gehrig?s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

? Heaping in anniversary reaction studies: a cautionary note

? Use of electric blankets and association with prevalence of endometrial cancer

? Birth month and suicide among major league baseball players.

? An improved method for predicting which heavy drinkers become intoxicated.

etc etc etc

The image above is from ?M?tamorphoses du jour? by Grandville, as cited by L?vi-Strauss

Posted by Martin Gardiner on Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 8:00 am under Arts and science.

Source: http://www.improbable.com/2013/05/10/how-human-are-birds-compared-to-say-dogs/

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