Preparing Your Home and Family During National Hurricane ...

Hurricane season is upon us, beginning in June and running through November for the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. This week marks National Hurricane Awareness Week, a time for all homeowners and communities to ensure that they are properly prepared for hurricane season.

Hurricanes and high winds from associated storms can affect thousands if not millions of homeowners. One of the most common effects of such emergencies experienced by homeowners is the loss of power. In fact, more than 6.2 million homes in 23 states were left in the dark last year after the power went out during Hurricanes Irene and Lee. In Connecticut, 808,332 households experienced outages lasting an average of 4.4 days.?

While you cannot completely reduce your risk of being affected by a hurricane-related power outage, backup power can keep your home and family safe while utility power is down. Here are a few of the many ways that portable and automatic backup generators benefit homeowners during a power outage:

1. The most important home appliance that a standby generator will power during a hurricane is your basement sump pump, decreasing the risk of water damage to your home and possessions.
2. In the case of severe storms and destruction, portable generators power emergency lights to ensure safety during evacuation.
3. Community evacuation shelters rely on automatic backup power to manage operations and provide relief to hurricane victims.
4. If storms cause power outages during times of extreme heat or cold, an automatic backup power source will turn on to keep the furnace or air conditioning units running.
5. Backup power can also save families hundreds of dollars in food costs, eliminating the risk of spoiled refrigerated and frozen foods while utility power is down.
6. In our networked world, Internet, TV and radio provide important severe weather updates to keep communities safe and informed. If the power goes out in the wake of a hurricane, a backup power source will keep these technologies running.
7. Automatic backup power helps maintain normalcy in the aftermath of a hurricane-related power outage, keeping the doors open to vital businesses, such as grocery stores and pharmacies.
8. Portable and automatic backup generators provide power to traffic signals to ensure all drivers remain safe during times of evacuation as well as necessary commutes while power is down.
9. An automatic backup generator can save lives for those on power-dependent health equipment, such as kidney dialysis machines or respirators, keeping this essential equipment running during a power outage.
10. In areas prone to flooding, emergency portable generators power pumps that drain water from ditches, floodplains and dikes, preventing further damage to the affected area.

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For more information on how generators can be used during hurricane and hurricane-related blackouts, stop by your local Generac dealer or www.facebook.com/generacpowersystems.

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Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.

Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.

So far, only the Arctic has reached that 400 level, but the rest of the world will follow soon.

"The fact that it's 400 is significant," said Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo. "It's just a reminder to everybody that we haven't fixed this and we're still in trouble."

Carbon dioxide is the chief greenhouse gas and stays in the atmosphere for 100 years. Some carbon dioxide is natural, mainly from decomposing dead plants and animals. Before the Industrial Age, levels were around 275 parts per million.

For more than 60 years, readings have been in the 300s, except in urban areas, where levels are skewed. The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal for electricity and oil for gasoline, has caused the overwhelming bulk of the man-made increase in carbon in the air, scientists say.

It's been at least 800,000 years ? probably more ? since Earth saw carbon dioxide levels in the 400s, Butler and other climate scientists said.

Until now.

Readings are coming in at 400 and higher all over the Arctic. They've been recorded in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and even Mongolia. But levels change with the seasons and will drop a bit in the summer, when plants suck up carbon dioxide, NOAA scientists said.

So the yearly average for those northern stations likely will be lower and so will the global number.

Globally, the average carbon dioxide level is about 395 parts per million but will pass the 400 mark within a few years, scientists said.

The Arctic is the leading indicator in global warming, both in carbon dioxide in the air and effects, said Pieter Tans, a senior NOAA scientist.

"This is the first time the entire Arctic is that high," he said.

Tans called reaching the 400 number "depressing," and Butler said it was "a troubling milestone."

"It's an important threshold," said Carnegie Institution ecologist Chris Field, a scientist who helps lead the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "It is an indication that we're in a different world."

Ronald Prinn, an atmospheric sciences professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said 400 is more a psychological milestone than a scientific one. We think in hundreds, and "we're poking our heads above 400," he said.

Tans said the readings show how much the Earth's atmosphere and its climate are being affected by humans. Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels hit a record high of 34.8 billion tons in 2011, up 3.2 percent, the International Energy Agency announced last week.

The agency said it's becoming unlikely that the world can achieve the European goal of limiting global warming to just 2 degrees based on increasing pollution and greenhouse gas levels.

"The news today, that some stations have measured concentrations above 400 ppm in the atmosphere, is further evidence that the world's political leaders ? with a few honorable exceptions ? are failing catastrophically to address the climate crisis," former Vice President Al Gore, the highest-profile campaigner against global warming, said in an email. "History will not understand or forgive them."

But political dynamics in the United States mean there's no possibility of significant restrictions on man-made greenhouse gases no matter what the levels are in the air, said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow of the libertarian Cato Institute.

"These milestones are always worth noting," said economist Myron Ebell at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. "As carbon dioxide levels have continued to increase, global temperatures flattened out, contrary to the models" used by climate scientists and the United Nations.

He contends temperatures have not risen since 1998, which was unusually hot.

Temperature records contradict that claim. Both 2005 and 2010 were warmer than 1998, and the entire decade of 2000 to 2009 was the warmest on record, according to NOAA.

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

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Breitbart Blogger Dana Loesch Lies on CNN: 'Nobody Believes Obama Wasn't Born in Hawaii' (Little green footballs)

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Gay and Lesbian Couples Seek Freedom to Marry in Illinois

CHICAGO ? Seeking recognition for their shared love and commitment and protection for their families and loved ones, nine couples filed a lawsuit today to challenge the constitutionality of an Illinois law that denies gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry.

Illinois' current law excludes these couples from the recognition and protections that come with the universally recognized relationship status of marriage, and limits them instead to civil union status. Six states and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex couples to marry.

Today?s lawsuit comes one year after Illinois implemented civil unions for same-sex couples and just two weeks after President Barack Obama from Illinois endorsed the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The couples are represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Illinois. In a separate case filed today, Lambda Legal is representing 16 same-sex couples seeking the freedom to marry. The coordinated cases signal the organizations' shared commitment to ensure that the government treats all families fairly.

The lead plaintiffs in the ACLU case are Tanya Lazaro and Elizabeth ?Liz? Matos of Chicago?s Northwest Side. Lazaro is a Chicago Police Department detective and Matos works as a system analyst for a trading firm in Chicago. Tanya and Liz have a two-year-old girl Jaiden and, just recently, had a second girl Sophia. The parents of two girls, they rejected getting a civil union.

?Our relationship is not about some legal benefits and protections, but about love for one another,? said Lazaro. ?We love each other; we are committed to one another. Anything short of marriage does not recognize that love and commitment.?

?It is remarkable that Tanya risks her life each day to go out into the City of Chicago and keep people safe, but the law does not recognize fully the family that we have built together,? said Matos.

A number of the plaintiffs sought a civil union after they became available in 2011 although some chose to wait for marriage. In the complaint, these couples describe how it feels to be relegated to a legal status that sends the message that the state regards their relationships as inferior. Couples also report multiple ways in which they are reminded that many people do not understand civil unions, nor do they afford civil unions the same respect as marriage.

The other plaintiffs in the case include:

• Lynn Sprout and Katherine ?Kathie? Spegal, of Champaign, have grandchildren ages to 22-years-old to 6-years-old, with another on the way;
• Ross ?Randy? Walden and Robert ?Bob? Carey, from Springfield, have been together for seven years, meeting after Randy lost his previous partner to cancer and was denied access to his partner?s hospital room and almost missed the chance to be with him at his death;
• Michelle Mascaro and Corynne Romine, of suburban Oak Park, who have been together more than 20 years and adopted three children;
• Tim Kee and Rick Wade, a couple from downstate Marion, who have spent their entire lives in the Marion area and been together as a committed couple for more than 15 years, live in the home passed on to Rick by his grandmother and attend the church where Tim was baptized;
• Carlos Briones and Richard Rykhus, of Evanston, are the fathers of seven-year-old Ty and share a passion for education, with Richard serving on the board of education for the local elementary school board;
• Suzanna ?Suzie? Hutton and Danielle Cook, of Bloomington, are both educators who, when they told their colleagues about their civil unions, had to make a joke about their relationship being ?civilized? to address their colleagues? discomfort with an announcement that highlighted the inadequacy of their civil union;
• Kirsten and Tanya Lyonsford of Aurora met at work 13 years ago when they played a game of ?Diversity Bingo? and found that they both identified as gay/lesbian. They are parenting two young children; and
• Edwin ?Ed? Hamilton and Gary Magruder, of Plainfield, who have been together as a couple for more than 48 years and are both retired educators.

?What defines a marriage is love and commitment, our hopes and dreams for a life with the person we most love in all the world,? said John Knight, director of the ACLU of Illinois? LGBT Project. ?Creating civil unions ? a separate, novel and poorly understood status for gay and lesbian couples ? does not honor the devotion of our families, nor fully protect them, but instead sends a powerful message that our families are inadequate and undeserving. It is time for Illinois to join the growing list of states that provide same-sex couples with the dignity and respect that can only come through marriage.?

The ACLU and the ACLU of Illinois are assisted in the lawsuit by the Chicago office of Mayer Brown.

A copy of the complaint filed today is available here:
www.aclu-il.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/COMPLAINT-FINAL-with-electronic-sig.pdf

More information, including videos and photographs of the couples, is available at www.aclu.org/illinoisfreedomtomarry

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Erie Gay News
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Erie PA 16502
(814) 456-9833
info@eriegaynews.com
Co-editors Michael Mahler and Deb Spilko

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Oil rises above $91 amid Iran nuclear concerns

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Web Development Solutions for your Business | Scholarspride.com

Today businesses cannot survive the stiff competition without web development needs. Every business, company needs a strong online presence and that presence can only be achieved through a well designed and well developed business website, which reaches out to the customers and the prospective customers. The web hosting companies, which are truly successful, are the ones, which offer all the web development services rolled into one. The web development companies today offer web ecommerce, web design, ecommerce web design, translation service and the service should also be a magento developer or a magento ?specialist.

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There are many web development and web hosting companies, which provide all these services under one roof. While choosing a web hosting company, businesses should choose the most reliable name for web hosting in the region. A reputed and successful web hosting company will design their services to cater to the needs of the client and the company will also hope that all prospective clients will find the perfect fit for all their e-commerce needs. Some of the most web design singapore and web ecommerce companies will offer Web 2.0 capabilities, targeting the global marketplace, credited SEM consultants and reliable web serviced maintenance.

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The magento platform is very important and useful for web development and e-commerce today. A magento professional in the guise of the web development company serves two purposes of getting the best web design, and web hosting service hand in hand with a magento development. The requirement of translation service in this age of global communication cannot be denied and when you have the same web hosting company providing you this service as well then it will be shame not to hire the web hosting company for your internet ecommerce requirements. It is important to have good people who have prior experience of working on ecommerce platform

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A good way to find the best and most reputed ecommerce and web development and hosting service in the region is to run an online search. Today searching for anything and finding it is very simple thanks to the internet. Companies and businesses should use the internet and conduct online searches to find the best names in the field of ecommerce web design, magento specialist, and open source ecommerce and web design singapore. There are many web hosting services, which provide all these services, but you should be prudent about the web hosting and development agency you are choosing.

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Checking the website of the magento ecommerce service provider who also claims to be a magento development should also be checked. On checking the website more information about the agency, the various services, its inception and details about the other clients can also be gathered. An ecommerce platform is the need of the hour in today?s electronic age and while there are open source ecommerce offering services, careful scrutinization of the agency is required. You cannot just hand over your web ecommerce needs just to any name you find online. A magento professional or a magento specialist is also needed just as much as a web development service is required and for the leader in web hosting and magento development you should log onto http://www.2ezasia.com

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The importance of relationships | Happy Mums At Home

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When I successfully auditioned for a contemporary dance group as a teen, I squeaked the news, at a rabid pace to my dad.? When I won a scholarship at university, my closest friends knew, that the drinks were on me that night! ?Every time I have a had a particularly affirming session with a client, or achieved a business goal, the first person I want to share that with is my husband.

Think about your most recent accomplishments or joyful moments.Who was there??Who did you race to share the news with?

I?m guessing that you shared it with someone close to you ? a good friend, sibling, partner or parent.

Happiness is only real when shared ~ Chris McCandless, Into the wild

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Our relationships are important

When the magic moments take place in life, we naturally turn to those that matter. ?Through sharing, those meaningful experiences become firmly cemented in our memory banks.

Why? Because people matter.

Relationships enhance our life experience exponentially,particularly the relationships we have with those closest.

So why is it that the ones we are closest to, too often become the ones we most take for granted?

Have you ever been completely feral with your spouse and in the next moment, switched to the best version of yourself, when you answered the phone, or had some friends stop by?

Doesn?t that seem wrong?

Aren?t we supposed to give our best to the ones we love the most?

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Losing sight of what really matters

I love my work.? I am beyond grateful to be doing work that helps improve the lives of others. ?I enjoy the connection and sense of community that I get to experience every day, with clients, colleagues, through my blog and on social media.

As trite as it may sound, I am motivated to leave a pin-prick of meaning on the tapestry of life.

However, the danger of doing something you love so much is that you can easily lose sight of what really matters. ? You can get so caught up in the process of creating or being completely available to others, yet closed to those that matter the most.

You can lose sight of the fact that its? significance dulls if you are continually flying solo.

And it doesn?t just pertain to work does it?

What happens to our relationship when we have kids?

How many of us get so caught up in the business of parenting that we neglect the one that helped bring those kids into the world in the first place?

I can readily attest to the fact that when I became a mum, much of my focus shifted from my relationship as a couple, to the relationship with my baby.

The immediacy and urgent nature of a baby?s needs often ensure that it.

But what happens a year later, or five years later, when you are still so consumed by your children?s needs that your spousal relationship becomes secondary?

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A poignant reminder by Fiona from My Mummy Daze,? echoes with meaning for many women, who are missing their husbands..

Fiona wrote about the easy intimacy of life ?before-children?, and pining for the way it was:

I miss those quiet,?uninterrupted?chats and staying up chatting in the wee hours. But they are now few and far between.

Simple things like finding time to finish off a conversation or getting a moment to apologise for the latest argument or snappy comment are hard to find.

Her story happily concludes with a successful date night, where she quietly observes the ?charming, funny, intelligent guy? she first met, years ago.

Message received.

If you are fortunate enough to be in a loving partnership with the father of your children, take some time to reaffirm that relationship on a regular basis.

Lets stand in a place of responsibility for our love.

We can keep giving out the same lame excuses that are as as equally tired as we profess to be, or we can make a move today to lessen the gap and improve the quality of connection with those we love.

We can keep living our lives, oblivious or silently observing the damage from afar, thinking we will make it better another day, when we are less busy, less distracted and more inclined.

Or, we can get back to that familiar place of knowing, and do something about it, today.

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3 Ways to Take Your Freelance Writing to the Next Level

I consider writing for a living to be a pretty sweet career opportunity. And if you?re reading this blog, I imagine you do too. But as great as freelance writing can be, it does have limits. You?re essentially charging people for your time, even if you don?t bill on an hourly basis. You can?t mass produce freelance work the same way you can with products.

You can grow your freelance writing business in a number of ways ? such as charging more and improving your productivity. You can also change target markets to work with higher paying clients. But even that has limits, especially if you?re not interested in working with the next tier of client (such as not wanting to take on corporate work when you?re happy working for small businesses).

Don?t get me wrong. You can earn a great living as a freelance writer. And for most people, they?ll probably be happy with their income when they reach the higher end of their specialty. And that?s fantastic. But some freelancers will want to continue to grow beyond that point.

I?m one of those writers. I love writing for clients. But sometimes it isn?t enough to satisfy the growth junkie in me. So I moved beyond solely taking on freelance work. If you?re interested in doing something similar, there are several ways you could go about it. Let?s look at a few examples.

From Freelance to Firm

If you think you?d be happy managing a business as opposed to doing all of the writing work alone, you might consider transitioning from freelance writing to running a firm of some sort. For example, if you?ve written SEO content for years, you might consider running a broader SEO firm that specializes predominantly in content creation. You would manage the company, find the clients, etc., and you would hire contractors or employees to write the content. You could certainly take on some of the writing yourself too.

You might also create a larger company such as a consulting firm. For example, if you?ve written successful sales copy for years, you might launch a consulting firm that combines marketing consulting and copywriting. Again, you could still do a lot of the work for clients yourself, but you could also bring in employees or contractors who let you increase your total incoming business.

You don?t even have to stick to a services-oriented firm. For instance, my own company ? 3 Beat Media ? involves client services, Web development / publishing, and book / e-book publishing. And there are plans to move into other forms of media in the future.

Publish Books and E-books

Speaking of books and e-book publishing, as writers one of our biggest challenges is moving beyond the limits of time. There are only so many billable hours. And while that time can be re-sold to a degree (such as selling limited rights to multiple clients), you generally can?t resell your work indefinitely. But you can sell many copies of books and e-books.

Books and e-books (and reports) give you a way to turn your writing into products that can be sold over and over again. You can expand your freelance writing business by adding one or more products to the mix, or even transition entirely to publishing if you prefer. If nothing else, selling products can help bridge the income gaps if you go through the feast / famine cycle.

Offer Add-On Services

I mentioned this briefly above in reference to starting a larger firm with employees or contractors (like adding consulting services to your copywriting work). But you can do the same thing independently on a freelance basis, especially if you?re on the top-end of your market where there are fewer prospects willing to pay top-tier rates. Instead of trying to grab more of these prospects, you can find ways to up-sell your existing clients with new but related services.

For example, if you write press releases. you might consider offering press release distribution services as well. Or if you write Web content, you might offer social media marketing services to promote that content. Think about what clients might do with your writing, and offer to do it for them ? for a fee.

How else might you move beyond freelancing if you want to continually grow your income potential? Tell us how you did it, or share your ideas, in the comments.

About Jennifer Mattern

Jenn is a professional blogger and freelance business writer. She has worked as a writer since 1999, and began blogging in 2004. She owns All Freelance Writing as well as several other sites and blogs covering indie publishing, social media, and small business. She expects to release her first book for freelance writers, The Query-Free Freelancer, in 2012 and she is the author of the Web Writer's Guide e-book series.

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Family of doctor in bin Laden hunt slams trial

Jamil Afridi, right, brother of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi speaks at a news conference in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, May 28, 2012. The brother of a doctor sentenced to 33 years for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden, says that his brother is innocent and Pakistani trial that convicted him was a sham. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Jamil Afridi, right, brother of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi speaks at a news conference in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, May 28, 2012. The brother of a doctor sentenced to 33 years for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden, says that his brother is innocent and Pakistani trial that convicted him was a sham. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Jamil Afridi brother of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, talks on the phone after a news conference in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, May 28, 2012. The brother of a doctor sentenced to 33 years for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden, says that his brother is innocent and Pakistani trial that convicted him was a sham. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Jamil Afridi, left, brother of a Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, holds a a news conference in Peshawar, Pakistan on Monday, May 28, 2012. The brother of a doctor sentenced to 33 years for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden, says that his brother is innocent and Pakistani trial that convicted him was a sham. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? The family of the Pakistani doctor sentenced to 33 years in prison for helping the United States track down Osama bin Laden said Monday the man is innocent and dismissed his trial as a sham.

The conviction of Shakil Afridi last week added another pressure point in Pakistan's already fractured relationship with the U.S. Senior American officials have urged Pakistan to release the doctor, regarding him as a hero who worked to stop the terrorist leader. Islamabad views Afridi as a traitor who colluded with a foreign intelligence agency in an illegal operation on Pakistani soil.

Also Monday, two suspected U.S. missile strikes pounded militant hide-outs in a tribal region close to Afghan border, killing nine alleged insurgents, officials said. There have been five such attacks this week. The strikes have also raised tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan.

Afridi ran a vaccination campaign on behalf of the CIA to collect blood samples of bin Laden's family at a compound in Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaida leader in May 2011. The samples were intended to help the U.S. match the family's DNA to verify his presence in the garrison city.

Afridi's older brother Jamil and two lawyers representing the doctor said at a news conference in the frontier city of Peshawar that they will appeal the verdict, which was handed down last week in a tribal court whose proceedings were never made public.

"This was a one-sided decision," said Jamil. "All allegations against him are false. He didn't do anything against the national interest."

Afridi was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, the set of laws that govern Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region. The FCR doesn't allow suspects to have legal representation, present material evidence or cross-examine witnesses. Verdicts are handled by a government official in consultation with a council of elders, instead of by a judge.

The raid by American commandos infuriated Pakistani officials who were not told ahead of time or of the CIA operation in their country to track him down. Afridi was arrested in the weeks after the raid. He was convicted and sentenced last week for conspiring against the state.

The lawyers said authorities have not given them documents related to the case, including a copy of the verdict.

Afridi's brother said the doctor had an American visa and pointed out that he stayed in Pakistan after the bin Laden raid for 20 days, and didn't leave the country.

"Had he been guilty, he would have escaped," Jamil Afridi said.

He did not comment on whether he thought his brother should have helped the U.S.

The case puts the family in a delicate situation. Anti-American sentiment is widespread in Pakistan, and people who are viewed as supporting the U.S. or working for Washington are sometimes targeted by militants, especially in the tribal areas.

In his first comments on Afridi's conviction, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called Afridi's actions a "serious offense" but said he had the right to a fair trial.

"His deed is not good," Gilani said in an interview with Pakistani Geo News TV. "His deed is a serious offense," Gilani said, but Afridi should have an access to the judicial process.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Sunday criticized Pakistan over Afridi's conviction and sentencing, calling it "disturbing."

U.S.-Pakistani relations plummeted to new lows in November, when American airstrikes inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Islamabad to block U.S. and NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.

Pakistan has demanded an apology over the raid and an end to drone strikes against militants along the Afghan border as a precursor to reopening the supply lines.

The U.S. has shown no sign of stopping the covert CIA attacks, which have picked up pace this week after a lull for most of the year.

In the latest attack Monday, a pair of suspected U.S. missiles hit a compound and a vehicle in Datta Khel in North Waziristan, less than 24 hours after another such strike late Sunday had killed five suspected Islamist militants in the same tribal region, Pakistani intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The identities of the dead were not known, but the region is home to al-Qaida militants and insurgents fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

___

Associated Press Writers Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, and Asif Shahzad and Rebecca Santana in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Blind Chinese activist's brother returns to closely guarded village, lawyer says

BEIJING ? ?A rights lawyer says the brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has returned to his closely guarded village in eastern China.

Ding Xikui says he received a message from a friend of Chen Guangfu that said Chen had returned to Dongshigu village. Chen had traveled to Beijing, where he sought legal advice from Ding this past week on how to protect his son from what the family's supporters call retaliation by local officials.

Ding had no further information Sunday, and it was unclear if Chen returned to the village voluntarily.

Chen Guangcheng sought protection of U.S. diplomats last month after escaping abusive house arrest in Dongshigu. It sparked a standoff between Beijing and Washington that resulted in Chen being allowed to go to the U.S. to study.

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California: Anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act ruled unconstitutional

A district court judge in California has become the third federal judge to declare the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples, as unconstitutional.

The controversial act, passed in 1996, was deemed to be discriminatory by Judge Claudia Wilken, becoming the first to throw her weight against the anti-gay measure since President Obama announced his support for equal marriage.

Previously a court in Massachusetts under judge Joseph Tauro, and another in California under Jeffrey White had ruled similarly. Both judgments in California are set for appeals.

DOMA, in defining marriage as ?a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife,? outlaws many federal benefits, most crucially joint tax returns and immigration rights to spouses. This, Judge Wilkens declared, was ?a burdensome legislation that is the product of sheer anti-gay animus, and devoid of any legitimate governmental purpose,? according to the San Fransisco Chronicle.

The judge also overturned another legislation from 1996 which denied same-sex couples federal tax benefits under long-term health insurance plans. This too, she argued, was based on ?moral condemnation and social disapprobation of same-sex couples,? citing congressional transcripts which declared same-sex partnerships as ?an attack on the family,? that would ?undermine the traditional moral values that are the bedrock? of the US.

Five married same-sex couples have filed another anti-DOMA federal lawsuit in New York, and another a third federal case is being heard regarding the constitutionality of DOMA in?Boston.

Discuss this story:

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Discarded data may hold the key to a sharper view of molecules

Friday, May 25, 2012

There's nothing like a new pair of eyeglasses to bring fine details into sharp relief. For scientists who study the large molecules of life from proteins to DNA, the equivalent of new lenses have come in the form of an advanced method for analyzing data from X-ray crystallography experiments.

The findings, just published in the journal Science, could lead to new understanding of the molecules that drive processes in biology, medical diagnostics, nanotechnology and other fields.

Like dentists who use X-rays to find tooth decay, scientists use X-rays to reveal the shape and structure of DNA, proteins, minerals and other molecules.

As X-rays pass through atoms they reflect distinctive patterns, which reveal what atoms are present and how atoms are bonded to each other. However, some data are typically discarded because of concerns over quality. In particular, data derived from edge regions of the pattern ? although very important for understanding the details of structure ? are often overwhelmed by the random errors associated with a weak signal in the midst of a lot of background noise.

Oregon State University biophysicist Andy Karplus and his colleague Kay Diederichs at the University of Konstanz in Germany have now proven that useful information can be gleaned from data that have about five times the noise level that was previously considered acceptable.

"The criteria that have been used in the past are way too conservative," said Karplus. "These data that people have been throwing out are actually good."

The bottom line for crystallographers is the accuracy of their molecular models. The better the model, the better it will predict the pattern created by X-rays passing through a molecule, and the better it will be to develop new drugs and nanotechnologies that operate at the molecular scale.

The new method may be the most important conceptual advance in the past 20 years in how these data are used in modeling, the scientists said. It shows how data from "noisy" parts of the measurement can still provide information, and allows scientists to see directly where the model is limited by noise in the data and where the model is a better estimate of molecular structure than experimental data.

"The question is, 'Where do we cut it off?'" said Karplus. By adding data at incremental steps and showing how the model improved, Karplus and Diederichs showed that scientists had been cutting off their analyses too soon and discarding data that could sharpen their view of molecular structure.

"The big impact on the field will be that every structure determined from here on out will be a little more accurate because people won't throw away data that are okay," Karplus said. "If you have a crummy image of the protein, it will get a little sharper. If you have a good image of the protein, it will also get a little sharper."

While the method will be an important step for X-ray crystallographers, the scientists said that other physical sciences may also find ways to benefit from this type of data quality analysis. They noted that one branch of science has been using this type of statistical analysis for many years. The field of psychometrics ? the analysis of data from psychological tests ? has used a similar technique called the "Spearman-Brown prophecy formula" to determine the minimum length of such tests.

"Now that we know that very noisy data are useful, this will presumably enable still further improvements as it stimulates new software development to do a better job of handling such weak data," said Karplus.

###

Oregon State University: http://www.orst.edu

Thanks to Oregon State University for this article.

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

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How to keep your cool investing in Europe - Covestor

Author: Charles Sizemore

Covestor models: Sizemore Investment Letter and Tactical ETF

Disclosure: Long TEF

It?s a little early for Christmas in July, but now is the time for investors to be putting together their ?Christmas lists? of sorts.

Recently, I wrote a piece that described an old investment strategy of Sir John Templeton (see ?An Anniversary We?d Prefer to Forget?). ?Sir John would make a list of companies he?d love to own ?if only? they fell to a more attractive price. ?He would then place limit orders to buy those companies at prices substantially below the current market price. ?In the event of a sharp sell off, the limit order would be executed, and Sir John would have his shares at the prices he always wanted.

His rationale for the strategy was simple enough: we humans are instinctively herd animals, and we tend to panic when we see others around us panicking. We lose our independent judgment and we freeze in fear at exactly the moment we should be buying aggressively. Templeton?s move was designed to take his own emotions out of the equation; Sir John understood his own human shortcomings, and essentially gamed himself.

Today, with Europe teetering on the edge of a potential meltdown, ?I?m going to recommend that investors take a similar approach, though mine has the added bonus of adding a little extra income.

I recommend that you make a list of strong multinational companies based in Europe that you are confident can survive Armageddon with their businesses intact.

Ideally, these companies would have significant percentages of their revenues coming from outside of the Eurozone.

Once you have your list of stocks, consider selling deep out-of-the-money puts on them. If prices remain relatively stable or rise, the options expire worthless and you pocket the premium. And if the share prices take a nosedive, the options will be exercised and you will be obligated to buy the shares at the prevailing market price?which was your objective all along. ?And you still get to pocket the premium.

Here a little explanation is needed. ?When you buy an option, whether it be a call or put, your risk is limited to the price you paid for the options. You are buying the right to buy or sell shares at a given price, not the obligation.

Selling, however, is a much trickier business. Your upside is limited to the premium at the time you sell the option. But your downside is much, much bigger. ?In fact, when selling a naked call option, your risk is theoretically infinite. For example, if you sell the right to buy Facebook (FB) at $38 to another investor and the stock rises to $100 the next day, you?re on the hook to buy at the prevailing market rate of $100 and sell at $38. Not an appealing prospect.

Likewise, when you sell a put, you are giving an investor the right to sell you shares at a price that might be far higher than the prevailing market price. So, when selling put options on your list of European stocks you?d like to own, make sure that you have the cash on hand to handle the trade if it is exercised. Don?t get greedy and sell contracts for more shares than you can afford to buy or that you would ideally like to own.

I?m not going to recommend specific put option contracts for you to sell because the entire point of this article was for you to create a list of stocks you like at prices you want to pay. I also want the advice in this article to be general and something that you can use months or years from now; recommending a specific contract would make this article too short-term for my liking.

I will, however, toss out a few company names for you to consider. ?Last week, I recommended Spanish blue chips Telefonica (TEF), Iberdrola (IBDRY) and Banco Santander (STD) (see ?Bargain Hunting in Spain?).

I continue to like all three, and to this list I would add French oil major Total (TOT) and British telecom giant Vodafone (VOD). ?While Vodafone is not a Eurozone stock, it has significant operations in the Eurozone and I would expect its share price to take a tumble in a general market rout.

If you?re not comfortable with options, that?s ok. ?You can accomplish essentially the same thing by placing limit orders like Templeton.

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CASTING CALL: THE U.S. BARTENDER?S GUILD SEEKS

THE NATION?S MIXING STAR

Lights! Camera! Action! Top Bartenders Compete in the

USBG Mixing Star National Finals Sponsored by DISARONNO

LAS VEGAS (May 29, 2012) ? The measure of a great bartender is more than what he or she serves up in a glass. It?s the entire experience shared with the guest ? charisma, presentation, showmanship, armchair psychology (and, of course, the drink itself). On Monday, June 4, the USBG, in partnership with DISARONNO Liqueur, challenges the nation?s top bartenders to show off what they?ve got in front of the camera in The Mixing Star finals, taking place at The Palazzo?s Azure Pool.

WHAT:

Not just another cocktail competition, the USBG Mixing Star National Finals sponsored by DISARONNO seeks a bartender with ?stage presence? and ?star quality? ? the consummate mixologist who exhibits both technical skill and embodies the element of performance and entertainment. Maybe it?s their performance behind the bar ? their shake, their greeting, their bottle flip; maybe it?s their innate social skills ? they don?t just mix drinks, they mix people. Hopeful candidates will compete in a live competition that will be captured on film by documentary filmmaker Bao Nguyen, who is creating the short film, ?Mixing Star: Behind the Bar.?

WHEN:

Monday, June 4, 2012, 7:00 ? 11:00 p.m.

WHERE:

The Palazzo, Azure Pool, 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas

PRIZE:

For weeks, hopeful candidates from across the nation have competed in regional heats for the opportunity to compete in the grand finals. With a trip to Bollywood (Mumbai, India) and a chance to appear in a Bollywood film on the line, these finalists will pull out all the stops to show why they are the Mixing Star.

CANDIDATES:

Sam Treadway, Boston

Mea Leech, Chicago

Joshua Peter Smith, Denver

Roger Gross, Las Vegas

Patricia Richards, Las Vegas

Armando Conway, Los Angeles

Quinn Johnson, Los Angeles

Lauran September, Los Angeles

Julio Cabrera, Miami

Robert Ferrara, Miami

Mark Kinzer, Miami

Ezra Pattek, Miami

Nathan Gerdes, Portland

Mindy Kucan, Portland

Jake Bliven, San Diego

Victoria D?Amato Moran, San Francisco

Joel Clarke, St. Louis

JUDGES: Paul Sevigny, DISARONNO National Brand Ambassador

David Nepove, USBG National President

Tobin Ellis, West Coast DISARONNO Brand Ambassador

###

ABOUT DISARONNO

The legend of DISARONNO dates back to 1525, when Renaissance artist and Leonardo da Vinci pupil Bernardino Luini was commissioned to paint a fresco in Saronno. To portray the Madonna of Miracles, he chose as his muse a beautiful local innkeeper. She repaid the honor by giving the artist a flask of a fragrant and delicate amber liquor known as amaretto. With its distinctive stopper and iconic square faceted Murano glass bottle, DISARONNO is now the world?s favorite Italian liquor, regarded as an icon of style and sophistication and appreciated as a ?favorite mixer? for contemporary social settings--DISARONNO Sour, anyone?--as well as neat or on the rocks.

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EU urges Greece to stay in euro, plans for possible exit

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders, advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, urged the country to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program.

After nearly six hours of talks held during an informal dinner, leaders said they were committed to Greece remaining in the euro zone, but it had to stick to its side of the bargain too, a commitment that will mean a heavy cost for Greeks.

"We want Greece to stay in the euro, but we insist that Greece sticks to commitments that it has agreed to," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters after a Wednesday evening summit in Brussels dragged long into the night.

Three officials told Reuters the instruction to have plans in place for a Greek exit was agreed on Monday during a teleconference of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) - experts who work for euro zone finance ministers.

The Greek finance ministry denied there was any such agreement but Belgian Finance Minister Steven Vanackere, said: "All the contingency plans (for Greece) come back to the same thing: to be responsible as a government is to foresee even what you hope to avoid."

Two other senior EU officials confirmed the call and its contents, saying contingency planning was only sensible.

In its monthly report, Germany's Bundesbank said the situation in Greece was "extremely worrying" and it was jeopardizing any further financial aid by threatening not to implement reforms agreed as part of its two bailouts.

It said a euro exit would pose "considerable but manageable" challenges for its European partners, raising pressure on Athens to stick with its painful economic reforms.

Greek officials have said that without outside funds, the country will run out of money within two months and there remains the threat that if it crashes out of the euro zone, other member states could be brought down too.

A document seen by Reuters detailed the potential costs to individual member states of a Greek exit and said that if it came about, an "amiable divorce" should be sought with the EU and IMF possibly giving up to 50 billion euros to ease its path.

Although EU leaders' minds will have been focused by that prospect, disagreements have flared over a plan for mutual euro zone bond issuance and other measures to alleviate two years of debt turmoil, such as giving countries like Spain an extra year to make the spending cuts demanded of them.

"The idea is to put energy into the growth motor. All the member countries don't necessarily share my ideas. But a certain number expressed themselves in the same direction," new French President Francois Hollande told reporters.

For the first time in more than two years of crisis summits, the leaders of France and Germany did not huddle beforehand to agree positions, marking a significant shift in the axis which has traditionally driven European policymaking.

Instead, Hollande met Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in Paris to discuss policy, before the pair travelled to Brussels by train.

Despite fears Greeks could open the departure door if they vote for anti-bailout parties at a June 17 election, Spain, where the economy is in recession and the banking system in need of restructuring, is at the front line of the crisis.

After meeting Hollande, Rajoy said he had no intention of seeking outside aid for Spain's banks, which are laden with bad debts from a property boom that bust and still has some way to go before it touches bottom.

But his government said its rescue of problem lender Bankia would cost at least 9 billion euros and it is also seeking ways to help its highly indebted regions meet huge refinancing bills.

SHIFTING SANDS

Socialist Hollande's election victory has significantly changed the terms of the debate in Europe, with his call for greater emphasis on growth rather than debt-cutting now a rallying cry for other leaders.

That has set up a showdown with conservative Merkel, whose primary objective is budget austerity and structural reform.

At his first EU summit, Hollande chose to make a stand on euro bonds - issuing common euro zone debt - despite consistent German opposition to the idea. "I was not alone in defending euro bonds," he said.

Merkel showed no sign of dropping her objections to the proposal, which she has said can only be discussed once there is much closer fiscal union in Europe. "There were differences in the exchange about euro bonds," she said bluntly.

The Netherlands, Finland and some smaller euro zone member states support her.

No major decisions were made at Wednesday's summit, which was intended to promote ideas on jobs and growth ahead of another meeting at the end of June.

But debate was intense, not just over euro bonds but over how to rescue banks and whether to give more time to struggling euro zone countries to meet their budget deficit goals.

"We haven't come together to confront each other ... but we have to say what we think - what are the right instruments, the right methods, the right steps, the right initiatives to raise growth," Hollande said.

The leaders discussed broad measures to stem the fallout from a winding up or restructuring of bad banks, EU officials said, with the European Central Bank pressing for the bloc to stand behind its struggling lenders but with Merkel's approval seen as far from guaranteed.

At the heart of the discussion are proposals from the European Commission for a legal framework to wind up or reorganize insolvent banks so as to avoid a repeat of the multi-trillion-euro taxpayer bailouts during the financial crisis.

Another suggestion is for the euro zone's rescue funds to be allowed to recapitalize banks directly, rather than having to lend to countries for on-lending to the banks. But that is another idea with which Germany is uncomfortable.

Having rallied on Tuesday, European stocks dropped 2.2 percent as investors priced in a lack of dramatic policy action. The euro tumbled against the dollar to its lowest since August 2010 and Spanish and Italian borrowing costs climbed.

A German two-year debt auction gave a stark illustration of how money is dashing for safe havens. Investors snapped up the 4.5 billion euros of paper on offer even though it came with a zero coupon - offering no return at all.

SEARCH FOR GROWTH

With the euro zone registering no growth in the first quarter and threatening to slip back into recession, policymakers touted three ideas to provide stimulus:

- 'Project bonds' backed by the EU budget to finance infrastructure projects alongside private sector investment.

- Doubling the paid-in capital of the European Investment Bank, the EU's co-financing arm, to a little over 20 billion euros.

- Redirecting structural funds which tend to flow to poorer countries, to other areas where they might reap more immediate growth rewards.

Even if all three proposals were to be activated quickly, economists say they will not provide a sufficient shot in the arm to the euro zone and the wider EU economy.

(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski, John O'Donnell, Catherine Bremer and Marine Hass in Brussels and Julien Toyer in Madrid. Writing by Mike Peacock, editing by Anna Willard and Giles Elgood)

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Marketing or small business marketing knowledge can be seen as set of skills which you can obtain and used in order to attract large number of buyers from the market, you will also learn how to keep them. If you want to directly impact your companies profit and also gain expertise in one of the most dynamic business area, this section is for you.

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There is a reason why is so. The Department of documentary research Cambridge University found that the average person in the urban environment receives between 1,500 and 3,000 promotional messages per day. Investments in advertising grow at impressive rate, but it also reduces confidence in the ads. The budget for local advertising company has doubled in the last four years, but regardless, the force of the marketing attack on the investment market is melted down because potential customers distrust. One out of eight TV viewers believes that television ads are truthful regarding the product. This trend of declining confidence is evident in every medium, including the Internet.

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Can I Withdraw From Purchasing Property? | REALTOR.com? Blogs

Q: I signed a sale and purchase agreement with a condition from the seller stating that they accepted my terms except for one condition which said ?subject to their banks approval in the next four working days.? From my side I have got all finance and info ready but they have not informed me of the bank?s approval. It is past seven working days. I had put a little deposit to the agent?s trust account on the condition that they will inform me of their seller?s banks approval in four days. Can I cancel this agreement now since they hve no met their condition?
?Taz

A: Yes you may cancel. They did not get you the information in time. They are probably having a hard time with their bank and it seems like they are in a short sale situation. If so, this could go on for months. Hope this helps.
Joan Flood is a Realtor? with Dagmer Chew HomeStead Real Estate Co in Cape May, NJ.

A: Dear LA Buyer,

From what you described, yes, you can cancel your offer and get a full refund of your earnest deposit. In fact, your check may not even be cashed yet, so they might be able to simply hand you your check.

Denise
Denise Shur is a Realtor? with 1:1 Realty in San Jose, CA.

A: This question should be answered by your real estate agent and your attorney who knows the situation and the contract details.
Teri Andrews Murch is a Realtor? with Lyon Real Estate in Auburn, CA.

A: Check with a lawyer for specific advice, but it sure sounds to me like you can cancel as you have described the contract terms.
David Welch is a Realtor? with RE/MAX 200 Realty in Winter Park, FL.

Are you interested in having a qualified REALTOR answer your questions? Click through to Ask a REALTOR? now.

Are you a REALTOR who would like to answer consumer questions? Click through to become an Ask a REALTOR? participant.

Related posts:

1. Is Earnest Money Required In A Short Sale Situation?
2. Why Is It Taking To Long To Close On A Foreclosed Property?
3. Can I Cancel My Contract With A Realtor If I Have An Offer On A House?
4. My Short Sale Offer Failed, Who Is Responsible For Returning My Deposit?
5. An Offer Has Been Signed, Should We Show The House Again Before Closing?

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Samsung's GSM-only dual-SIM Galaxy Ace Duos kicks off its world tour in Russia next month

While Samsung's Galaxy Ace Duos has already burst onto the scene in India pulling double duty on GSM and CDMA networks, the company today announced its dual-SIM GSM-only cousin will begin shipping in June in Russia, before rolling out to Europe and other regions later. Running Android 2.3 on an 832MHz processor and flashing a 3.5-inch HVGA screen, that dual-SIM capability is the highlight, with Samsung's "Dual SIM always on" feature that forwards calls from the phone number on SIM 2, even if the user is on a call through SIM 1. Bill Bellamy and all others in need of such features can check the press release after the break for a few more details, or the gallery below to get a look from a few more angles of this son of the original Galaxy Ace.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos

Continue reading Samsung's GSM-only dual-SIM Galaxy Ace Duos kicks off its world tour in Russia next month

Samsung's GSM-only dual-SIM Galaxy Ace Duos kicks off its world tour in Russia next month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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