রবিবার, ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Holiday Inn Mayfair, London (Hotel Reviews ? Hotel ? Standard)

recommended by Paul Oswell



If you're anything like me, then you've probably shunned Mayfair as an impossible unaffordable place to stay. What's there? Hotels where the afternoon tea service costs as much as a night in an average property, and there are no prices on anything as if you need to ask, then you definitely can't afford it.

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That's what I figured, anyway, until that is I was lucky enough to stay at the Holiday Inn Mayfair. Wait a minute, I hear you ask, what's the catch? Is it in some werdly unfashionable part of the neighbourhood, hidden behind some bins? Well, no it isn't. It's in a prime spot right next to Green Park, the tube station of the same name and all of the blatant swankery of this plum part of town.

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I would go one further, in fact, and say that it's in a near-ideal location within Mayfair, being as it is equidistant from both the West End AND Hyde Park, so whether it's the capital's most famous shopping district or it's best-loved greenery you're after, you don't have far to walk either way.

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Anyway, with much relief on a satisfyingly hot day, I took a minute's stroll from Green Park tube to the bright lobby, where the staff were as welcoming as the weather. Professional and courteous, I heard them speak at least four languages in the short time I was checking in, which verges on showing off, and would be if they weren't all so damn charming.

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The hotel itself is a big city hotel, some 200 or so rooms and as busy as you'd expect for central London. There's a feeling of space, though, and even though it was peak season, I didn't feel at all crowded.

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The rooms are fairly standard, but noticeably bright and clean, colourful and airy. And many of them have stirring views of some of the capital's well-known views, the grand buildings around Green Park, the bustle of tourists and central London life. It's all quite pleasing.

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The pleasantry continues downstairs in the hotel's bar and restaurant, Nightingales. The decor is modern, stylish without being stuffy and it's an affordable option, particularly in these parts.

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I encountered the serving staff under unusual circumstances. I was late down for breakfast, and they delayed clearing the last of the tasty buffet to let me sit down and grab a bite and a coffee. Due to a weird timetable that day, I was also first down to lunch (I'm not usually such a glutton, just it would be a long time before I could eat again) and so there was a slightly awkward (on my part) "here I am again" moment as the same breakfast staff sat me down.

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No matter, the lovely server sat me down and we made a few jokes about my appetite and a potentially eggy situation was made perfectly enjoyable by the personal touch. Oh, and the food - at both breakfast and my lunch two hours later - was light, fresh and delicious.

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I had a few minor business tasks that again, the reception desk were happy to help me with, and with that I was on my way, stepping out into Mayfair, feeling all the while as if I'd found a loophole in the law that says you have to spend a fortune to stay here. The sunshine seemed even brighter that morning.

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For a quote or to book a room at Holiday Inn London Mayfair please contact 0871 942 9110 and quote ? IKSOP? or log onto? http://www.hilondonmayfairhotel.co.uk/

Berkeley St 3, London, UK

Contact tel: +44 0871 9429110

Cost standard double room: ???

Services fitness equipment, hotel restaurant, hotel bar, creche/listening service, room service, business services, internet access, wheelchair accessible, concierge, air-conditioning

Useful links
Holiday Inn London Mayfair


Source: http://www.thetraveleditor.com/article/9552/Hotel_Reviews_Hotel_Standard_Holiday_Inn_Mayfair_London.html

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UPDATE 1-Golf-Mickelson and Bradley put U.S. 6-3 up

Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:35pm BST

* Mickelson and Bradley win third match together

* Give U.S. 6-3 lead over holders Europe (Updates after Mickelson and Bradley win)

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

MEDINAH, Illinois, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley drew first blood for the United States with a record equalling 7&6 victory over Englishmen Lee Westwood and Luke Donald in Saturday morning's foursomes at the Ryder Cup.

The in-form American duo won their third match of the week together after Mickelson had struck a brilliant approach to within a foot of the cup at the par-four 12th to put the U.S. 6-3 ahead of holders Europe.

Their margin of victory matched the 7&6 wins earned by Hale Irwin and Tom Kite over Ken Brown and Des Smyth at the 1979 Ryder Cup, and by Paul Azinger and Mark O'Meara over Nick Faldo and David Gilford in 1991.

"We've had so much fun," a smiling Mickelson, playing in a record ninth Ryder Cup for the U.S. this week, told reporters. "The crowd has provided so much energy, and it's brought our best golf out."

Mickelson and Bradley's sizzling form helped spark a fast start by the U.S. who were 5-3 ahead after the first day at Medinah Country Club and went on to grab early leads in all four matches on Saturday.

Though Europe began to mount a fightback in glorious morning sunshine, the U.S. led in one match out on the course, trailed in the second and were all square in the third.

Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker were two up on Northern Irishmen Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell after 11 holes while Zach Johnson and Ryder Cup rookie Jason Dufner were all square with Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Spaniard Sergio Garcia after 11.

In the top match, Englishmen Justin Rose and Ian Poulter were two up on Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson with five holes to play in a tight, fluctuating battle.

Cup veteran Mickelson and rookie Bradley had triumphed twice together on the first day amid a flurry of fist pumps and high-fives and they continued that sizzling form with five birdies on the front nine.

Bradley, winner of last year's PGA Championship, sank a curling 12-footer to birdie the par-four ninth before furiously pumping his right fist as the crowd erupted in deafening cheers.

The U.S. duo went six up at the 10th before sealing victory with a par at the 12th where the out-of-form Englishmen bogeyed.

Europe, under the captaincy of Jose Maria Olazabal, field one of their strongest ever lineups but face a challenging task to retain the trophy with the U.S. having lost only three times on home soil since the matches began in 1927.

"We do have to change the momentum," Spaniard Olazabal said after his team were outplayed by the Americans on the opening day. "We need to have a great day tomorrow, both morning and afternoon sessions." (Editing by Larry Fine and Julian Linden)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/UKGolfNews/~3/c_gqWHgFqkk/golf-ryder-foursomes-update-idUKL3E8KT00B20120929

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Israel disappointed over Argeninean, Iran ministers? meeting

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) -- Israel expressed ?disappointment? over the Argentinean decision to accept an Iranian invitation to bilateral talks.

?The Government of Israel received with great disappointment the news about the Argentine acceptance of a meeting with the Islamic Republic of Iran on a Foreign Ministers level. Iran does not come with clean hands to this dialogue about global terrorist acts,? the Israeli government said in a statement on Saturday.

Argentina?s Foreign Minister, H?ctor Timerman, who is Jewish, met Sept. 27 with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi, at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to discuss the AMIA bombing case.

Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds injured in a July 18, 1994 bombing of the AMIA building, the Jewish community?s main complex in Buenos Ares, Argentina. Iran is accused of directing the bombing that the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah is accused of carrying out.
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The United States government also came out against the talks. ?Iran has had a nearly twenty years to comply with the requests from Argentine justice on the issues of the bombing of the Israeli embassy and the AMIA building. I?m not necessarily optimistic that they will respond any more positively now then they have in the past,? Roberta S. Jacobson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs said during a news conference. ?Right now is the time for the international community to remain united in isolating Iran, ?she added.???

Local Jewish leaders of AMIA, relatives of the victims and the leadership of DAIA, the Jewish political umbrella, told JTA that next week after Sukkot they will meet to clarify the position of the Jewish community with regards to the negotiations between Argentina and Iran. A strong document against the bilateral approach is expected.

The Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires said in a statement: ?The report on the investigation by the task force of the Attorney General in Argentina determined accurately, and without a doubt, that the decision to bomb the AMIA building was taken by the leadership of the Iranian government. We hope that the delegation of Argentina keep this evidence during their meetings with the Iranians?.

Following their meeting, Timerman, and Salehi issued a joint statement announcing that they would continue negotiations through government officials in Geneva next month. ?This process will not be interrupted until they both find a mutually agreed solution to the all matters between both governments related to the AMIA case ? in order to explore a legal mechanism that is not at odds with the Argentine or Iranian legal systems,? the statement said

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On July 18, 1994 a car bomb destroyed the AMIA building, killing 85 and injuring about 200. It was the second terrorist attack to occur in Argentina. On March 17, 1992, a car bomb destroyed Israel's embassy, killing 29 and injured 242. Iran is believed to be behind both bombings. No one has been convicted in the attacks.

Click here for complete coverage on the 2012 elections from JTA.

Click to write a letter to the editor.

Source: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/09/30/3108331/israel-disappointed-over-argeninean-iran-ministers-meeting

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Palestinian man shot by Israeli troops near Gaza border

Israeli Defense Forces fired on Palestinians near the Gaza border on Friday, killing one.

Palestinian medical officials told Agence France Presse that the man who died was a fisherman named Fahmi Abu Rayash. His brother was also wounded, and they were brought into Beit Lahiya hospital late on Friday morning.

Hamas officials claimed that 22-year-old Rayash was killed while fishing on the beach in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

There were conflicting claims from the Israeli and Palestinian sides, with a spokesman for the IDF saying they were not aware of an incident involving soldiers firing upon a fisherman.

More on GlobalPost: Israel disappointed about Argentina's talks with Iran

Reuters noted, "Israeli army patrols deem the Gaza border area off limits because militants try to attack them by planting explosive devices or shooting at them."

The IDF troops said they fired on the suspects' legs as they allegedly approached the Gaza - Israel border on Friday.

An IDF spokesman said, "We initiated the stop-suspect-procedure, calling out for them to stop. Verbal warnings were ignored," according to The Jerusalem Post.

In a separate incident, an Israeli Navy boat fired shots near a Palestinian boat that strayed into sea waters that are off limits, said an IDF spokesman.

AFP noted that Israel imposes a strict maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

More on GlobalPost: Omar Khadr, Guantanamo detainee, heads back to Canada

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/120929/palestinian-man-shot-israeli-troops-ne

Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/120929/palestinian-man-shot-israeli-troops-ne

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Denny Hamlin takes pole at Dover International Speedway - NASCAR News | FOX Sports on MSN

Updated?Sep 29, 2012 8:42 PM ET

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DOVER, Del. (AP)

Could it really be true love between Denny Hamlin and Dover?

So far, it's at least a crush.

His performance Sunday will really determine the fate of this relationship.

Trying his best to adjust his approach toward his least favorite track, Hamlin's reignited courtship produced fantastic results Saturday when he turned a lap of 159.299 mph to win the pole at Dover International Speedway.

Hamlin has been open in his disdain for the 1-mile concrete oval and knew he'd have to conquer his Dover demons to keep his driven bid for his first career Cup championship rolling along.

Hamlin, third in the points standings, turned to a sports psychologist for advice. The message for Hamlin was this, ''Let your challenge for the week be to fall in love with this track.''

Hamlin says the good karma, and a great No. 11 Toyota, all played a part in the turnaround.

''I think that right now we have everything rolling,'' Hamlin said. ''That part of it is giving me a ton of confidence.''

Hamlin is six points behind Brad Keselowski and seven points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson starts 11th as he chases history at Dover. He raced his way into the track's history books in June with his seventh win on the concrete, matching the mark held by Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

No active driver owns the track like the five-time Sprint Cup champion. Johnson led 289 of the 400 laps and looked every bit like the driver who swept the two Cup races at Dover in 2002 and 2009. Johnson also won at Dover on Sept. 26, 2010 and he won the September 2005 race.

Dover has traditionally given Hamlin fits. He has an average finish of 20.5 in 13 career starts at Dover. He finished 36th or worse during a four-race stretch from 2007 to 2009. He's said he just doesn't like the track known as the Monster Mile.

Here's a curve. On Saturday, he talked about winning.

''We've got a car that's very capable of staying in the front and hopefully we'll have a shot to win,'' Hamlin said.

Hamlin won his 12th career pole, third this season, and, no surprise here, his first pole at Dover. He had never started better than third.

Hamlin praised crew chief Darian Grubb, who led Tony Stewart to the championship last year, for putting the No. 11 in position to take the pole.

''I think there's a lot of drivers out there that could be able to do what I do with the cars that Darian has been giving me the last few weeks,'' Hamlin said. ''I'm going to give him pretty much all the credit and ride his back as long as it will hold me.''

Nine other Chase for the Sprint Cup championship drivers filled the top 13. Clint Bowyer starts second and Martin Truex Jr. is third. Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon start sixth and seventh. Kasey Kahne, Keselowski, Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick are ninth through 13th. Stewart starts 24th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 25th for Sunday's 400-mile race.

''We didn't have a good car in practice and we didn't find any good speed or find any good balance,'' Earnhardt said. ''It's going to be a tough day, I think. It's going to be a tough race for us. We are just going to have to work hard and see what happens.''

Truex had a nice qualifying run on the site of his only career Cup victory. Truex, from nearby Mayetta, N.J., finished ninth and 17th in his first Chase races and is 10th in the standings, 34 points behind Johnson. He posted the fastest time in the first practice Friday and has the speed needed to race into contention for that long-awaited second win.

''We felt good about our car yesterday on long runs,'' Truex said. ''We had good long run speed. That's what it takes here. We'll see if we can get it done tomorrow.''

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/denny-hamlin-takes-pole-at-dover-international-speedway-092912

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শনিবার, ২৯ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

BASEBALL: Jered Weaver wins 20th to keep Angels alive

Jered Weaver earned his 20th victory of the season in the Angels' 7-4 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday. (Tim Heitman / US PRESSWIRE)

ARLINGTON, Texas - It has been dismissed as an old-fashioned measure of a pitcher's worth, wins having been superseded by the WHIPs, FIPs and BABIPs of new-age stat-ology.

But Jered Weaver has a bit of the old-fashioned ace in him.

Weaver became the first 20-game winner in the American League this season and only the seventh pitcher in Angels history to win 20 games in a season, holding the Texas Rangers to two runs in seven innings of a 7-4 victory Friday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

"It's a great personal accomplishment, no doubt," Weaver said. "Go back to the no-hitter (in May) - I never thought in a million years I would throw a no-hitter in the big leagues. And I never thought I would win 20 games in the big leagues.

"A lot has to go your way to get to that and the guys picked me up again tonight. ... It's a great personal accomplishment, like I said. But I'm all for winning the World Series before any of that stuff."

Weaver's effort did little to move the Angels closer to that goal. The Oakland A's and Baltimore Orioles also won Friday, leaving the Angels the same familiar 2 1/2 games out of the first wild-card spot (the Orioles) and two out of the American League's final playoff spot (the A's). The Tampa Bay Rays did finally lose, snapping an eight-game winning streak and dropping a game behind the Angels in the wild-card race.

Weaver is in another race, competing with Rays left-hander David Price,

Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander and Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez (primarily but not exclusively) for the AL Cy Young Award. Weaver finished second to Verlander last year, but Friday's win puts him first in the American League in wins, win percentage (.833) and WHIP (1.00) with the lowest batting average (.213), on-base percentage (.262) and OPS against (.597) while sitting third in ERA (2.73).

"We're not in a pennant race without him, obviously," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "If you just look at what he's done virtually every start, I don't think there's a more consistent pitcher in our league.

"No doubt, he's a frontrunner (for the Cy Young Award). I think he's pitched the way you would expect an ace to pitch. He's had the type of year a Cy Young winner has."

Source: http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_21659811/baseball-jered-weaver-wins-20th-keep-angels-alive?source=rss

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Google offers up more high-res places in Maps / Earth, intros additional 45-degree imagery

Image

Google's mapping offerings are getting a little bit better this week. The software giant's announced the addition of a slew of high-res aerial and satellite images for 17 cities and 112 countries / regions -- it's a long list, so your best bet is accessing the source link below to check out all of the offerings. Google's also adding 45-degree imagery in Maps for a total of 51 cities -- 37 in the US and 14 outside -- letting you check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the buildings of Madison, Wisconsin from an all new angle. Forget the plane tickets -- all you need for your next vacation is a browser and an overactive imagination.

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Google offers up more high-res places in Maps / Earth, intros additional 45-degree imagery originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/28/google-offers-up-more-high-res-places-in-maps-earth-intros-ad/

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Ryan readies for 3-day debate camp

By NBC?s Alex Moe

ON THE CAMPAIGN CHARTER HEADING TO OHIO -- The same day as the first presidential debate of the 2012 election, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will begin a three-day debate camp.

Campaign spokesman Brendan Buck told reporters aboard the Ryan press charter Saturday afternoon Rep. Ryan will head to the battleground state of Virginia on Wednesday for an extended debate prep session, commonly referred to as ?debate camp.?

No reason for selecting Virginia was given, however, advisers in the past have said the camp would likely be in a battleground state, likely in the Eastern time zone, and ?somewhere where there aren?t distractions.?

Mitt Romney, who will be debating President Barack Obama in Denver on Wednesday, held his own debate camp in Vermont in early September.

Portman joins Romney for debate prep in Vermont

Ryan?s first formal debate prep day was Sept. 9in Oregon with his most recent formal debate practice session held this past Sunday in a hotel in Janesville, Wis. Ted Olson, the former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, has been playing the part of Vice President Joe Biden during practice sessions and is expected to be in the Old Dominion state next week as well.

Paul Ryan holes up for debate

Ryan and Biden will debate just once during this election in Danville, Ky., on Oct. 11? exactly two months after Ryan was tapped as Romney?s running mate, also in Virginia where debate camp will occur.

The campaign told the traveling press a few weeks ago that the seven-term Wisconsin congressman has been going through large white binders -- ?organized by issue areas? -- of policy information, research, and news of the day since the Republican National Convention ended at the end of August.

While there has not been much discussion regarding the VP debate in terms of debate expectations -- as most eyes are on the first presidential debate in four days -- two Ryan advisers appeared to downplay expectations for the House Budget Chairman when they spoke to the traveling press in Reno, Nev., in early September.

?Vice President Joe Biden served over 30 years in the United States Senate, he has run for president twice and has severed as vice president for the past four years. He is one of the most experienced debaters in American political life and we definitely don?t take the challenge lightly,? an adviser said.

Ryan focuses heavily on raising money Sunday and Monday -- holding fundraisers throughout Connecticut and New York City ? before heading to the key state of Iowa for four campaign events. He will then turn his focus to debate prep leading up to the final weekend before the debate in Kentucky.

Source: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/29/14152305-ryan-readies-for-3-day-debate-camp?lite

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The Best Daily Deals in London - Citywide - Velo ... - About London

Welcome to London! Your Guide to London. The Friends of the Regent Palace have lived and worked in London for many years. We have a detailed knowledge of London, feel free to ask us about Places to visit, places to stay and things to do. London Tours, Attractions, Hotels and Events.

Source: http://www.all-about-london.com/2012/09/the-best-daily-deals-in-london-citywide_28.html

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Simulations uncover 'flashy' secrets of merging black holes

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? According to Einstein, whenever massive objects interact, they produce gravitational waves -- distortions in the very fabric of space and time -- that ripple outward across the universe at the speed of light. While astronomers have found indirect evidence of these disturbances, the waves have so far eluded direct detection. Ground-based observatories designed to find them are on the verge of achieving greater sensitivities, and many scientists think that this discovery is just a few years away.

Catching gravitational waves from some of the strongest sources -- colliding black holes with millions of times the sun's mass -- will take a little longer. These waves undulate so slowly that they won't be detectable by ground-based facilities. Instead, scientists will need much larger space-based instruments, such as the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, which was endorsed as a high-priority future project by the astronomical community.

A team that includes astrophysicists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is looking forward to that day by using computational models to explore the mergers of supersized black holes. Their most recent work investigates what kind of "flash" might be seen by telescopes when astronomers ultimately find gravitational signals from such an event.

Studying gravitational waves will give astrophysicists an unprecedented opportunity to witness the universe's most extreme phenomena, leading to new insights into the fundamental laws of physics, the death of stars, the birth of black holes and, perhaps, the earliest moments of the universe.

A black hole is an object so massive that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravitational grip. Most big galaxies, including our own Milky Way, contain a central black hole weighing millions of times the sun's mass, and when two galaxies collide, their monster black holes settle into a close binary system.

"The black holes orbit each other and lose orbital energy by emitting strong gravitational waves, and this causes their orbits to shrink. The black holes spiral toward each other and eventually merge," said Goddard astrophysicist John Baker.

Close to these titanic, rapidly moving masses, space and time become repeatedly flexed and warped. Just as a disturbance forms ripples on the surface of a pond, drives seismic waves through Earth, or puts the jiggle in a bowl of Jell-O, the cyclic flexing of space-time near binary black holes produces waves of distortion that race across the universe.

While gravitational waves promise to tell astronomers many things about the bodies that created them, they cannot provide one crucial piece of information -- the precise position of the source. So to really understand a merger event, researchers need an accompanying electromagnetic signal -- a flash of light, ranging from radio waves to X-rays -- that will allow telescopes to pinpoint the merger's host galaxy.

Understanding the electromagnetic counterparts that may accompany a merger involves the daunting task of tracking the complex interactions between the black holes, which can be moving at more than half the speed of light in the last few orbits, and the disks of hot, magnetized gas that surround them. Since 2010, numerous studies using simplifying assumptions have found that mergers could produce a burst of light, but no one knew how commonly this occurred or whether the emission would be strong enough to be detectable from Earth.

To explore the problem in greater detail, a team led by Bruno Giacomazzo at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and including Baker developed computer simulations that for the first time show what happens in the magnetized gas (also called a plasma) in the last stages of a black hole merger. Their study was published in the June 10 edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The simulations follow the complex electrical and magnetic interactions in the ionized gas -- known as magnetohydrodynamics -- within the extreme gravitational environment determined by the equations of Einstein's general relativity, a task requiring the use of advanced numerical codes and fast supercomputers.

Both of the simulations reported in the study were run on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. They follow the black holes over their last three orbits and subsequent merger using models both with and without a magnetic field in the gas disk.

Additional simulations were run on the Ranger and Discover supercomputers, respectively located at the University of Texas, Austin, and the NASA Center for Climate Simulations at Goddard, in order to investigate the effects of different initial conditions, fewer orbits and other variations.

"What's striking in the magnetic simulation is that the disk's initial magnetic field is rapidly intensified by about 100 times, and the merged black hole is surrounded by a hotter, denser, thinner accretion disk than in the unmagnetized case," Giacomazzo explained.

In the turbulent environment near the merging black holes, the magnetic field intensifies as it becomes twisted and compressed. The team suggests that running the simulation for additional orbits would result in even greater amplification.

The most interesting outcome of the magnetic simulation is the development of a funnel-like structure -- a cleared-out zone that extends up out of the accretion disk near the merged black hole. "This is exactly the type of structure needed to drive the particle jets we see from the centers of black-hole-powered active galaxies," Giacomazzo said.

The most important aspect of the study is the brightness of the merger's flash. The team finds that the magnetic model produces beamed emission that is some 10,000 times brighter than those seen in previous studies, which took the simplifying step of ignoring plasma effects in the merging disks.

"We need gravitational waves to confirm that a black hole merger has occurred, but if we can understand the electromagnetic signatures from mergers well enough, perhaps we can search for candidate events even before we have a space-based gravitational wave observatory," Baker said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Bruno Giacomazzo, John G. Baker, M. Coleman Miller, Christopher S. Reynolds, James R. van Meter. General Relativistic Simulations of Magnetized Plasmas Around Merging Supermassive Black Holes. The Astrophysical Journal, 2012; 752 (1): L15 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/752/1/L15

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/zg8MOGPtlkE/120927153118.htm

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Can Your Business Benefit From SEO? ? Nuve SEO Website

So, some slick talking salesman is trying to sell you SEO services. He might sound very convincing and you might really want to believe everything that he?s saying but you worry that you?re going to lay out a whole bunch of money and be stuck in a contract without much to show for it. Times are tough and you sure could use a boost to your business. What should you believe?

Most SEO companies might tell you that they can?t guarantee anything an that search engines can be fickle at times. This is the truth. Search engine algorithms change multiple times a day and it can be nerve racking to watch your website bounce around from page to page. It can actually become a type of addiction as you watch your website climb in the rankings and then plummet to the depths of search engine hell only to arise again higher than it was before. You will feel great when your site is on top and want to fire your SEO guy when your site slips. But will all this stress be worth it in the end and can SEO help your business? That?s the bottom line.

You are the only one that can answer that question honestly. If you look at the statistics and see that a certain number of people search for your service or product in a month then you know how big your target audience is. You then can calculate that approximately 75 percent of those searching will click on a top spot. Out of that number you can roughly calculate that 25 percent will convert into customers or sales. If you know how much one customer is worth to you over a lifetime and then subtract the cost of advertising using SEO then you can get a good idea of whether search engine optimization is worth your while.

Figuring out whether SEO is going to be a profitable form of advertising for you is just about math. Try not to get too caught up in the speach that you might hear from your SEO guy about the power of the internet and about what your competitors are doing and paying for pay per click advertising. They might be losing their shirt or up to their ears in debt from some other service provider, wishing that they hadn?t jumped on the SEO train.

SEO really isn?t a whole lot different than traditional forms of advertising. For some, it might be a temporary loss leader to grow your client base. For others, it really can improve income and the bottom line immediately. There are many other things that you can do to make search engine optimization worthwhile such as changing your website to improve conversions, capturing leads in the form of mailing lists and social media and targeting customers from related markets. What can you do to build loyalty and be perceived as the best at what you do? SEO is only a piece of the puzzle and it?s up to you to convert that internet traffic, who are your potential customers, into loyal, paying customers.

The internet has replaced newspapers and telephone books as the place where people go to find service providers and businesses. People are searching for everything on the internet. They make their decisions based upon your website and they will go to the internet first when looking for everything from a divorce attorney to a dog walker. If you can get your name, telephone number and your website in from of them, you stand a very good chance of winning their business. That?s what SEO is all about. It?s all about being the first name they see when they search for what they?re looking for.

So, if you wonder if SEO services might benefit your business, do the math and look for someone with a proven record who will work with you to make your business more successful. Find someone that is willing to put their reputation on the line for you and who wants to build a relationship with you and not just take you for a ride.

Check out this cool website to learn more about SEO. See how SEO services can help you and your business long term.

Source: http://nuve.com.au/search-engine-marketing/can-your-business-benefit-from-seo/

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MIT Researchers Show Dash Font Choice Affects Distraction

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Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/HoZ4sjdVvF8/mit-researchers-show-dash-font-choice-affects-distraction

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বুধবার, ২৬ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Enacting a Carbon Tax Can Cure Many Ills | Global Warming is Real ...

It can seem counter-intuitive, but passage and enactment of a carbon tax would have far-reaching positive effects on the US economy and society, stimulating investment, innovation and economic growth, and making US business and industry more competitive. So asserts 35-year energy and aerospace industry veteran Jim Hartung, now the president of energy information services provider GlobalEnergySolutions.org.

Several organizations have proposed variants of a US carbon tax, all of which incorporate mechanisms that both shield lower income individuals from its regressive nature while also building in incentives to reward those who lower their fossil fuel consumption and hence emissions while penalizing those who increase theirs.

Opponents have pounced on the counter-intuitiveness of carbon tax proposals, asserting they would further stifle economic recovery and growth by raising energy costs, disproportionately affecting lower income Americans. Exactly the opposite would be true, Hartung argues in his Sept. 13 op-ed on Energy Pulse.

Carbon Tax: Keystone for Building a Better America, and World

Hartung explains the three principles upon which his carbon tax proposal is based:

  1. It should include both a tax and tax credit. Entities that extract carbon from the ground, import carbon, or emit other greenhouse gases are taxed. Entities that remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent it from ever entering the atmosphere receive a tax credit.
  2. The level of the tax and tax credit should reflect the external costs of fossil fuels, such as the indirect costs of oil imports, air pollution, and global warming.
  3. The tax and credit should begin at a reasonable starting level and increase slowly to their full level over several years, so energy consumers have time to adjust to the true cost of energy.

To illustrate how the carbon tax would work and the benefits it would yield, Hartung puts forward the example of a carbon tax and tax credits of $20 per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) and equivalent greenhouse gases, increasing to $100 per ton in 2025 and thereafter, with annual adjustments for inflation that if enacted in fiscal 2013 would come into effect in 2015.

How a Carbon Tax Would Work

An initial carbon tax of $20 per ton would add 20 cents to the cost of a gallon in 2015, which is actually much less than the volatility in prices at the pumps Americans have been experiencing, he notes. Amounting to an additional $1 per gallon of gasoline, the $100 per ton in 2025 carbon tax would incorporate the true external costs of fossil fuel production and consumption into carbon fuel prices, costs that have never been incorporated in energy prices before, he explains.

Analyzing the benefits his proposed carbon tax would produce, Hartung writes, ?There are many obvious and a few not-so-obvious benefits of this carbon tax. Because it localizes responsibility to those entities that produce and use fossil fuels, it elicits more responsible actions from both energy producers and energy consumers.?

Each substantial in their own right, the benefits of such a carbon tax encompass:

  • Energy efficiency improvements 10%-20% above Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections over the next twenty years by ?replacement of inefficient technologies and development of new high-efficiency technologies?Since the US now spends more than $1 trillion annually for energy, each 10% increase in efficiency saves more than $100 billion in annual energy costs.?
  • Enhanced energy security as a result of further declines in US oil imports by making enhanced oil recovery?that includes CO2 sequestration in depleted oil fields. The Dept. of Energy (DOE) estimates as much as 137 billion barrels of additional oil could be produced in this manner in the US, Hartung notes.
  • Enhancing US competitiveness, by making the US an energy exporter. No longer in need of Canadian crude oil, both ?the US and Canada could be exporting energy and energy products worth $100 billion to $200 billion annually in 10 years.?
  • Adding to US? comparative advantage in energy. ?By making the US and energy exporter, the carbon tax ensures that energy remains less expensive here than in energy-importing countries.?
  • Reductions in air pollution. The Harvard Medical School estimates that air pollution from coal-fired power plants in the US alone costs between $66 billion to $216 billion per year. ?The carbon tax remedies this by bringing all energy costs to their true value by 2025,? Hartung states.
  • Stopping global warming. The carbon tax could result in the US being ?carbon-neutral? in about 50-70 years and help other nations achieve the same goal ?before [global warming] causes severe harm to the world?s population, economy and ecosystems? by reducing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously increasing carbon sinks.
  • Boosting economic growth. The true cost of energy was about 13% of GDP in 2011 with the currently excluded external costs of fossil fuels added in, according to Hartung. That distorts energy market prices in the favor of greater fossil fuel consumption. By leveling energy costs and putting them on an apples-to-apples basis, the carbon tax ?decreases the true cost of energy to about 9% TO 11% of GDP by 2025 and 5% to 7% of GDP by 2050. The resulting secure, clean, and affordable energy stimulates sustainable economic growth.?
  • Tax reform and simplification. The carbon tax less carbon credits would net the government more than $2 trillion in new taxes over the next 10 years and about $20 trillion by 2050, Hartung asserts. Internalizing now externalized fossil fuel costs would also mean we could phase out all the bewildering variety of ?unsustainable government mandates, tax credits, and subsidies for alternative and renewable energy resources.?

Concluding his advocacy, Hartung writes:

?The U.S. is in a unique position to benefit from a carbon tax because of the size and competitiveness of its energy markets, the quantity and diversity of its domestic energy resources, and the breath and depth of its technological, business, and entrepreneurial capabilities.

?Most other countries will also benefit from implementing their own carbon tax. The U.S. can encourage them by bilaterally eliminating carbon import taxes from countries that have a similar carbon tax in place. Enlightened self-interest will trigger a domino effect, as most countries will want to secure the advantages of a carbon tax and avoid carbon import taxes on their exports to the U.S. market.?

* Graphic image credit: FossilTrax

Related posts:

  1. Climate Change, US Debt and Deficits: House Reps Urge Congressional Colleagues to Put a Price on Carbon US House representatives are once again urging Congressional colleagues to...
  2. Broadband Report Highlights ICT?s Role in Low-Carbon Economy Transformation A new Broadband Commission report illustrates "the kind of transformative...
  3. A Carbon Tax is More Viable than Cap and Trade Pricing carbon is the cornerstone of a blueprint to contain...
  4. Extending Renewable Energy Tax Credits Make a Step Forward in Congress ? National ?Day of Action? in Support Set for Tuesday Last Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 25?12??to...
  5. British Columbia Introduces Carbon Tax British Columbia is leading not just Canada, but the world,...

Source: http://globalwarmingisreal.com/2012/09/25/carbon-tax-how-to-deal-with-a-sagging-economy-tax-reform-and-climate-change-in-one-fell-swoop/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=carbon-tax-how-to-deal-with-a-sagging-economy-tax-reform-and-climate-change-in-one-fell-swoop

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Gut reaction: Morality in food choice

ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) ? We've all heard the saying, "you are what you eat." It turns out the old adage might be true on more than just a physical level. The food you choose may also reflect your personal ethics.

Whether we like it or not, buying food has moral implications ranging from environmental sustainability to social justice to animal welfare. Was the apple you ate at lunch grown in your state, or even your country? How much land and water did it take to produce? Was the farmer who picked it making a fair wage?

Several researchers at Arizona State University are examining the ethical aspects of food production and consumption. They are helping consumers navigate the maze of moral choices involved in filling their plates and their bellies. And they are finding that being morally mindful can lead to better nutrition, as well.

Ethical eats

Where does a chicken or an avocado start its life before making its way to the grocery store? Joan McGregor studies food production and the ethical concerns it raises. One of these, of course, is environmental sustainability.

"We all talk about water, we talk about energy, but we sort of forget that food is a huge consumer of resources," says McGregor, who teaches philosophy in the School of Philosophical, Historical, and Religious Studies in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Sustainability can be tricky to measure, however. For example, most people think shopping locally reduces their carbon footprint. But depending on the type of food, that might not be the case at all. Some foods are more resource intensive than others and generate more carbon during production, even if they don't get transported very far.

Social issues come into play, as well. Buying locally means supporting a local farmer. You might think that's an ethical no-brainer, but consider this: Before the local food movement was all the rage, socially conscious consumers chose fair-trade products (often produced in other countries) because they guaranteed the farmer decent working conditions and a living wage.

"If you're just thinking about welfare or doing good in the world, you might be doing better by buying from some Guatemalan farmer than buying from some Queen Creek farmer," McGregor says. This is just one of many ethical conundrums in the business of food production.

The meat industry presents another set of issues, such as poor treatment of animals on factory farms, a negative impact on the environment and health concerns over hormone and antibiotic use.

"It's more than just 'should I eat meat or not?' It's a question of the way we produce meat. Right now it is incredibly inhumane, but it's also incredibly unsustainable," McGregor says. The major byproducts of meat production are waste and toxins that can be hazardous to human health and to the health of the environment.

Some people substitute seafood for meat. But is fish really more healthy and sustainable? It depends on the type you choose, says Leah Gerber, a conservation biologist in the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Fishing for answers

Gerber recently co-authored a study examining the healthfulness and sustainability of more than 300 different species of fish. To measure healthfulness, she looked at omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that these fats can improve cardiovascular health and boost mood.

Gerber also determined which species had the highest mercury levels, since too much mercury can damage the human nervous system. To gage sustainability, Gerber considered factors like exploitation of the species population and carrying capacity of the ocean environment.

Her analysis found that very large, long-lived fish like the bluefin tuna are typically high in mercury, low in omega-3's and unsustainable. Mercury is a pollutant that gets into lakes, rivers and oceans. Fish and other marine life unwittingly eat it up. As larger animals eat the smaller ones, the mercury "bioaccumulates," or collects in increasing quantities. Large fish high on the food chain contain the highest levels.

Large fish also take longer to sexually mature. As a result, it is difficult to recover their populations when they are overexploited. In general, the least healthful species are also the least sustainable. In addition to bluefin, these include Atlantic cod, swordfish and Spanish mackerel.

Fortunately, fish that are better for your health are also the most sustainable. These include Pacific cod, Alaskan pollock and black rockfish.

Why worry about sustainable fishing? "We need to take care of the ocean and effectively manage fisheries if we want to eat fish in the future," Gerber says, adding that most fish stocks in the world are over-harvested. Global climate change has also added to the problem. As greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase, oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, making them acidic and less hospitable to many fish species.

"There's this perception that the ocean is inexhaustible -- we can just dump stuff in it and exploit it -- but it's not," Gerber says.

Follow your gut

Gerber believes we have an ethical obligation to take care of the environment. By approaching food ethically, we may also benefit our own health. That's because our moral views affect us on an emotional, "gut" level that may have a stronger influence on our behavior than facts.

Consider, for example, a practicing Muslim who doesn't eat pork. She has avoided pork products all her life, and as an adult, doesn't think twice about passing up bacon and pork chops. A gut reaction to the food makes it undesirable to her. It's the same feeling an Orthodox Jew who follows dietary kosher laws might have about eating meat and cheese together.

"These violations of ethical mores are felt to be dirty, disgusting or not sacred in some way," says Eric Hekler, an assistant professor in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at ASU.

These kinds of reactions aren't always religious in nature. Some vegetarians, for example, say they became disgusted by meat after reading about conditions in meat packing plants in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, or watching documentaries about how animals are treated on factory farms.

Hekler is interested in tapping into human morals to produce healthier eating habits. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, he and his colleagues Tom Robinson and Christopher Gardner found that students at Stanford who took a class examining the ethics of food production made more healthy food choices by the end of the class than students who took courses on human health.

"We got people to eat better by focusing more on the environmental and sustainability aspects, rather than focusing just on a message of health," Hekler says. Surveys of the students revealed that those who took his food and society class ate more vegetables and less fatty meat and dairy by the end of the class than students enrolled in the human health courses.

These results suggest that appealing to a person's morals, rather than just giving them facts, could be an effective way to change behavior. In ongoing research, Hekler and his ASU colleagues Punam Ohri-Vachaspathi and Christopher Wharton have gathered survey data from about 600 ASU students to explore ways of linking healthful eating with morality.

Why tap into morals and emotion to change eating habits and behavior? If someone wants to lose weight or improve their health, there is an abundance of information online about the benefits of physical activity and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. But as obesity rates rise, it's clear that facts alone aren't enough.

That could be because ultimately, our gut reactions are stronger than our rational thoughts. Hekler explains this concept with a metaphor first developed by Jonathan Haidt, whose Moral Foundations Theory is a core inspiration for Hekler's research. Haidt says your intuitive, emotional response is like an elephant, while rational thought is the rider.

"There's this intuitive part of you, which is the elephant underneath, and if he really wants those peanuts, the rider can stop him for a short time but will eventually get overwhelmed and tired," Hekler says. He hopes with further research to develop an intervention package that will effectively target the elephant.

Technical support

Even if your gut craves humanely and sustainably produced food, the choices are rarely black and white. There are always tradeoffs, like in McGregor's example of buying food locally.

"It's very difficult to just say, 'this is the right thing.' I think that presupposes a model of morality that's too simplistic," McGregor says. But the more information we have available, the better off we are making choices that reflect our values. That's why McGregor wants to create a smartphone application or online tool to help consumers sort through the moral factors associated with the food they eat.

"I like to believe that people want to do the right thing, but don't always know which option is the right thing," McGregor says. For example, many people would pay a little more for a product if they could check with an app and find out that the alternative was manufactured by a child in unsafe working conditions.

Hekler also wants to use technology to promote healthier behavior. He is analyzing a series of smartphone apps that encourage users to stay active. The apps were first developed at Stanford University with his former mentor and co-director for the project, Abby King.

One app is numbers-based. It records and displays the amount of time users spend being active versus sedentary each day. But the other two apps are focused more on emotions and social relationships. One of them uses a live wallpaper with an animated bird that flies and becomes more lively as the smartphone owner moves around throughout the day. The app employs operant conditioning principles, Hekler explains, rewarding the user with a happy bird as he or she performs the desired behavior -- physical activity.

"As I walk faster, this bird flies faster, is happier and more playful, and sings me songs. Every time I open the phone, I get a subtle nudge about how active I'm being," Heckler says.

The goal is to provoke an emotional reaction in users, motivating them to walk and move more throughout the day. Preliminary results reported at a recent conference of the Society of Behavioral Medicine found that the emotion-based and social-based apps produced favorable results relative to a control group, but the number-based one did not.

Researchers hope that targeting people's morals rather than their rational thoughts will be an effective way to promote healthy and ethical choices.

"We need to connect people's values to their food choices," McGregor says. "That means people need to have access to certain kinds of information that ties food decisions to values about the environment, animals and social justice."

Read more about Gerber's fish study: https://asunews.asu.edu/20120802_sustainablefish

The School of Philosophical, Historical, and Religious Studies and the School of Life Sciences are academic units of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Arizona State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The original article was written by Allie Nicodemo.

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


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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/vSAo-mD_MKk/120926091749.htm

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Useful Tips For An Entertaining-Filled Camping outdoors Journey

25Sep

Camping outdoors is really an activity which can be enjoyable and educational for the entire household. To get the best from your time and effort communing with nature, you need to spend some time to find out just as much about camping outdoors as is possible. Read the suggestions that adhere to and it is possible to organize a journey you are going to remember.

Discover ways to pitch your tent in advance. Initial-time tent pitching might take time, and you could get irritated if your first time is in the particular campsite. In the event you exercise accomplishing this beforehand, it will be very simple to perform after you get to your location. kohls promo code

Specifically if you have young children, you must take into account where to start for those who have inclement conditions one day. Collect jointly a few items to have accessible in case you will need in which to stay your tent. Take a board activity, play doh and craft supplies. Don?t let your family associates feel these materials until it rains so they don?t drop their attractiveness.

Make sure to choose the best site for your personal camping experience. The proper site can make or bust your holiday. Make an effort to pick a site which is not very far away from support should you require it. Go with a site that may be toned and considerably apart from trees. You desire a location which is not even close to critters and near aid. coupons for kohls

When you are slumbering in the tent deliver an area rug or encouraged pad. It is easy to track soil and particles to your tent. This is very uncomfortable and not comfortable to fall asleep on during the night. To battle this, placed a rug outside of the front door and wipe your toes prior to deciding to enter.

While you have go through, there is a good amount of suggestions that will help you enhance the standard of your camping journey. Thousands of people go camping outdoors each year, might it be in their own again back yards or maybe in an spectacular area. Use what you have discovered from this article to guarantee a safe and enjoyable outdoor camping vacation!

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://br41n.com/useful-tips-for-an-entertaining-filled-camping-outdoors-journey

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Some Third-Party Adapters Might Not Work With Your New iPhone [Apple]

If you bought yourself an iPhone 5, and are looking for a cheap, third-party lightning adapter to save a couple of bucks, you might want to hold off. There's an authenticator chip in the official adapters, and third-party adapters probably won't work without it. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/L3lGeFP8KVo/some-third+party-adapters-might-not-work-with-your-new-iphone

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Video: Debate Heats Up on Taxes

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49151257/

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Propecia ? the Queen of Hair Loss Treatment | Health and Fitness ...

Propecia may sound like a fancy girls name but when it comes to dealing with hair loss she is definitely the Queen of hair restoration medications.? Of all the hair loss products on the market there are only two medications that are approved by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as clinically proven to promote hair growth and hair regrowth while reversing baldness.

Finasteride or Propecia is one, and Minoxidil (Rogaine or Foam Rogaine) is the other and these are the only medications that the FDA has approved and only after very extensive clinical trials.

What is Baldness?

Baldness and hair loss is caused by testosterone, and in particular a version of it known as dihydrotestosterone or DHT, the male hormone that makes us look and sound like guys.

The trouble with testosterone and DHT is that after we become adults they start having a very different set of effects on our body.

You may start noticing hair grow out of your nose or out of your ears ? why it does that we have no idea, but we also know that hair loss on our head also starts and we simply don?t buy into all the aerodynamic explanations that keep coming our way.

DHT starts to constrict the blood supply to your follicles and this starts to show initially as thinning hair leading to baldness.? If you don?t start a hair loss remedy pretty soon after baldness sets in then you?ll only be able to get some hair on there if you go get a hair transplant.

A hair transplant is a pretty drastic and expensive way of hair replacement and it?s better to deal with the problem before it gets to that point.? Tackling hair loss as soon as it starts is the best way of dealing with baldness ? remember offense in this case is the best form of defense!

Enter Propecia ? she?ll make your hair stand on end!

Propecia tackles hair loss by directly working on your levels of DHT in your body.

By lowering the level of DHT that leaves less to attack your follicles and so they stay healthier for longer.

Propecia doesn?t just do that though ? Propecia actively works to stop DHT from binding itself to follicles and choking off the blood flow.

How do I buy Propecia?

Before you can get your hands on one of the most popular hair loss treatments you?ll need to get a doctor to write a Propecia prescription for you.

You?ll find you can order Propecia easily and simply online or at your local pharmacy but you?ll find it cheaper online than in town.

How do I take Propecia?

Propecia is just one simple pill that is taken each day.? Your doctor will prescribe a dosage that is suitable for you.

Often you?ll be recommended to use a medicated shampoo such as Nizoral to help keep your scalp and hair in top condition.

Other than that, there?s nothing more to say ? it?s that easy!

How safe is Propecia?

Bottom line, Propecia is safe! It does have the potential for one major side effect, and you need to decide if you?re willing to risk that side effect. And that side effect is possible libido loss.? Yes, you could potentially lose interest in sex and perhaps have issues with getting or maintaining an erection.

So if that particularly huge side effect isn?t an issue for you, then Propecia may be for you..

Propecia went through a five year clinical program to test out how effective it is at hair restoration.? Not only that it was tested rigorously to see what the side effects were and it is perfectly safe when used as instructed, with the one side effect previously mentioned.

Remember, Propecia is only one of two medications that the FDA has approved not only for effective hair loss treatment but also because it is safe to use.? If you want to see how big a deal that is, just take a look at all the hair loss treatments that are out there and ask yourself, why only two are FDA approved!

When should I start Propecia?

The golden rule is that the sooner you start treating your hair loss condition the faster and better the results will be.

Propecia has been clinically tested and demonstrated to help regenerate hair on bald patches on the head and that is a big, big leap ahead compared to other hair treatments.

You?ll find that Propecia is not only simple to use and highly effective but very cost effective.? Many people spend thousands of dollars on hair treatments that simply don?t work.? Because Propecia has had FDA approval you know that it is not only safe but that it works!

I?ve tried tons of hair loss products and review them at my site. You can learn from my mistakes. Want to see what I am using now?? Hint: It?s not what you think.? Visit my web page to find out more ? there?s a plethora of information on every hair loss treatment imaginable.

Source: http://blogforlife.site11.com/propecia-the-queen-of-hair-loss-treatment/

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Source: http://jacintosanford.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/propecia-the-queen-of-hair-loss-treatment-health-and-fitness.html

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Get Paid What You're Worth: 37 Negotiation Tactics for Every ...

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Do you freak out when you hear the word negotiation?

Does your gut turn, palms sweat, and heart pound when it comes down to talking price? Do you self-medicate with Tums and a tumbler of Wild Turkey?

Trust me. I understand. I?m not a natural born negotiator. I hate conflict. I hate rejection. But if writing is your business I?ve learned this: you have to know how to negotiate.

Making a living depends on it. But it doesn?t have to be hard.

As a web writer and direct-response copywriter I?ve studied negotiation. I?ve studied persuasion. I?ve read the best books on influence and listened to the best podcasts.

In my twelve years as a writer I?ve also participated in hundreds of negotiations ? small and large. I?ve used them successfully, and I?ve used them poorly. So I?m not an armchair business philosopher here just spouting advice.

I?m a solider who?s seen combat. And lived to tell about it.

What you?re about to read are thirty-seven negotiation moves that can help you make more money. These are negotiation moves that I?ve used in my career as a freelance writer.

They are easy to understand. The hard part is having the guts to use them (see negotiation move no. 36).

And get this: you don?t have to be a writer to use these tactics. Everyone ? no matter their station in life, career or desires ? has to negotiate. And it?s a lot more fun (and profitable) when you know how to do it.

So, let?s get started.

1. Think win-win

Negotiation is not a zero-sum game. It?s not a way to manipulate and fleece people. And it?s definitely not a way to make you filthy rich at the expense of other people.

If that is how you view negotiation, then you will not last long.

Negotiations are about building a relationship, so if either side is not happy at the end, then it wasn?t a negotiation. Negotiate until both sides are happy (see no. 30 for an alternative move).

2. Determine what you want to make

Never enter a negotiation without first establishing a position you will be satisfied with.

However, this should NOT be an absolute number. Instead, it should be a range ? $2,400 to $2,800 ? with an itemized list of essential (read: non-negotiable) and non-essential (I?ll tell you why that is important in a minute) requirements.

Write these down if it helps you to remember.

3. Build value first

Your first task as a negotiator is to show people what you can do. They need to see the value.

For example, say a potential client asks for the cost to write a 1,000 word sales letter for a landing page. Instead of whipping out the cost, explain to her everything you will do: research, dig through analytics, gather testimonials for proof, write a rough draft, present for evaluation, revise and so on.

Make the image in her head of what you do grow, because there is a really good chance it is tiny.

4. Avoid saying price first

After you?ve built the value, next you?ll want to ask: ?How much is that worth to you?? If she tells you ? good. You know where she stands. You can work with that.

More than likely, though, she?ll tell you she doesn?t know. Either she won?t honestly know because she didn?t do her homework, or she does know but doesn?t want to name her price first.

She wants to see where you stand. So she?ll tell you to go first. If that happens, use the next negotiation move.

5. Always go high

When you are facing a negotiator who refuses to name a price, shrug, and simply go high.

Really high.

And then wait for her response.

6. Suck in your teeth

Sometime a negotiator will be the first to name a price. And if she is a good negotiator she?ll low ball you.

She wants to draw you out. See your financial position. Don?t give in. Instead, flinch.

?Flinch? is the classical term used. I wrote ?Suck in Your Teeth? because most of my negotiations happen over the phone or email where people can?t see you. So they need to hear your shock.

In an email, you can simply tell them their offer sounds pretty low. Or tell them they?ll have to do better than that. Then wait.

7. Keep your mouth shut

Silence will eat most people alive.

The silence makes them uncomfortable so they keep talking. And when people are talking they are bound to say something you can use ? like their price range.

8. Ask for a budget

Another way to flush out someone?s financial position is to simply ask them if they have a budget.

Yeah. We have a budget.
Okay. What is it?
We have $1,250 set aside for copywriting.

Your job is to decide what work ? if any ? you will do for that amount.

9. Price each item

Legend has it that a shady Brooklyn optician would sell eye glasses piece by piece. He?d get the buyer to agree on the frames and the price, and then go to ring up the order. The buyer would then ask about the glass and nose piece.

?Oh,? the optician would say, ?those cost extra.?

The trick is to get a client to agree on all items before you disclose the final price. Once they are committed it?s hard to say no (see move no. 33).

I don?t like this gambit. I don?t like it used on me and I don?t like to use it. However, I?ve found this move to be effective when a client starts to nibble ? you know, ?Hey, do you mind adding X while you?re at it??

Your response: ?Sure, I can do it for Y. Are you okay with that??

10. Recruit a champion

If you can get someone on your side from the other party during a negotiation, then you?ll have a little leverage, if not a lot.

To be honest, almost all of my work has come from knowing someone on the inside. But how exactly do you go about recruiting that champion? It?s a long-term strategy where you use a combination of tools like blogs, Twitter, conferences, and the phone.

And patience.

You might get a regular follower on your blog. You trade emails, tweets, meet him at a conference. He introduces you to someone else. You do a little work for him. And then he introduces you to someone else.

Bingo: work out the wazoo.

11. Float a trial balloon

You?ve seen this tactic in action ?

News about a particular political action is ?leaked.? The goal is to get the public?s reaction to the idea. NY Governor Cuomo did this recently with gas drilling.

Some speculate that Google?s Glass Project, which amounted to a video concept, was a trial balloon. They?re basically looking to see if there is mass appeal.

Have an idea you?re not sure how a potential client will react? Float a trial balloon. Just say, ?Hey, what do you think about X?? Then wait for their reaction.

12. Slice it up

Early in my career I used to approach companies and offer to re-write their web content. Not many people bit, but when they did, they always asked about price. Happy to have someone interested, I?d build value and then drop the bomb on them.

Most of the time they flinched ? and never called or emailed back.

I learned instead to slice the project down into easy-to-swallow chunks. This enticed them to hire me. As I delivered on my smaller promises and built trust, I simply asked for more.

And it came.

13. Go half way

Remember when I said from the start that a successful negotiation was a win-win situation? Well, this is a strategy that can help you overcome that relationship-spoiling gridlock.

The idea is to demonstrate that you?re willing to concede the balance of a difference.

For example, if your gig requires travel, offer to split the difference of those expenses, keeping the deal alive.

If it is worth it, go half way.

14. Pad the deal

The more working parts to a negotiation means the more options you have when it comes to conceding.

Bulk up on conditions. However, the trick is knowing what?s essential and what?s not.

For example, ?I can?t do this job without direct access to your data. Oh, you don?t allow that? Well, while it?s not my normal policy, I guess I can be hand fed that info.?

Keep this in mind: you are only conceding on non-essentials. Don?t budge on the essentials (see move no. 2).

15. Resist short time frames

Imagine you get a mover and shaker on the phone. She wants to talk to you about a writing project. You are stoked! You say hi, she says hi, and then jumps right into the negotiation.

You can tell this will be a short phone call. A very short one.

Never negotiate under that kind of pressure. False deadlines will trip you up. Instead, politely interrupt, point out that you can tell she?s busy and ask if there is a better time to talk when she has more time. Or just ask for more time.

16. Find space to think

Say she says, ?No, there isn?t a better time.? She?s polite, but firm. She?s a great negotiator.

You shrug, go on with the call. You make an offer, she counters immediately and you are not sure what you should do next. Is that a good offer? Are you missing something?

Probably.

All you need is more time to think. Tell her you need to use the bathroom. Your dog is on fire. Or pretend like the call is breaking up.

Whatever you do, get space to think before you agree to anything.

17. Change the negotiator

Another way to deal with a difficult negotiator (which can also mean superior negotiator) is to reset the rules by speaking to someone else.

This works great if you are dealing with a start up or small company where there are two founders. If one is proving impossible, ask to speak to the other.

18. Shift their benchmarks

Ever had a potential client trot out their perfect solution ? and it wasn?t you? In fact, it?s your competitor.

But who or what they trot out doesn?t matter. You?ve been given valuable information. They?ve just shown you their standard to which they judge all others.

Your job is to change that standard. ?You know that guy knows nothing about online marketing, don?t you? Zero experience. I?ve got twelve.?

19. Check the facts

This tactic works lock-step with the one above (no. 18). If you can trot out a fact or evidence that questions their claims or backs up yours, then you are on your way to turning the tables in your favor.

Listen: I?m not suggesting you approach this like a jerk. Don?t laugh or taunt. You?ll shut them down. How you trot out these specific facts is just as important as what you trot out.

Oh, I can totally understand why you would believe that. But did you know that if you look into their data, X doesn?t actually do what they say? There was a huge scandal in TechCrunch ?

Objective facts will change the game in your favor. Do your homework.

20. Control the agenda

There is more than one way to skin a cat. And there is more than one way to spoil a good negotiation.

Anarchy is one of them.

Anarchy is what you get when nobody is in control of the meeting. Recently I was involved on a project with a team of really smart people. Unfortunately, we accomplished little because there was no agenda.

The next time we met, however, I volunteered to take the meeting notes. And demanded we determine what we wanted to accomplish in the next ninety minutes. Once that was determined, I held them to those goals.

It was an efficient and effective meeting because I established rules that we were all expected to follow.

21. Trot out credentials

Hands down, if you have two candidates with equal experience, skills and education, but one has a degree from Harvard and the other one from a small college in Montana, the person from Harvard is going to get the job.

This may not seem fair, but it?s life.

Live with it, and get those endorsements.

22. Push them against deadlines

Deadlines are great tools for getting people off of their duffs. It works in copywriting, and it also works in selling yourself in a negotiation.

Pretend you just finished a project and you?ve got about three weeks before you start your next one. Email some past clients and say, ?Hey Name, now might be a good time to write that sales page we talked about. I?m free for the next three weeks. After that I won?t be able to get to it for four months.?

You?re bound to get a bite or two.

23. Build tension with delays

This is just a variation of ?Ask for Time.? Most people in negotiations want out of the situation as soon as possible. They?re busy or hate the conflict.

Whatever the reason, use that momentum.

There is an exquisite example of the effective use of delays in the book You Can Negotiate Anything. The author, Herb Cohen, is working against a presumed deadline?his flight leaves at noon on Monday. The other party knew this and delayed until the eleventh hour. Cohen is exasperated at this point and basically gives away the farm.

The lesson: get a new flight home.

24. Present a bleak picture

This is a variation of the Pain-Agitate-Solve formula. Identify with their pain point, and then tell them how awful it?s going to be if they don?t do anything about it.

You know, I can totally understand your desire to preserve your cash in this economy. But freezing your marketing budget will only dry up your pipeline, and that?s not what you want to do when your current customers start bailing because they can?t afford your service.

At that point connect the dots for him: you are the solution to his problems.

25. Pull out your empty pockets

Your favorite uncle hears you?re a copywriter. He?s got a business. He recycles road kill fur into fun little hats for children. He doesn?t understand why, but he?s not making any money. He hears you are a copywriter and offers to hire you.

What do you do?

You refuse him. But you do it politely. ?Uh, yeah, you know I just can?t help you. That?s out of my field. I don?t have the knowledge.?

See, it?s not about desire. It?s about ability. You just don?t have it.

26. Use ?we? and never ?I?

This is technical and minor, but it works.

When discussing projects with clients I always use the word ?we? and not ?I.? My goal is to demonstrate to them that I?m in this for the long haul. I?m not a hired gun. I?m a partner.

This changes the scene from a win-lose to a win-win. My buy-in proves that my success equals their success, which communicates that I?m going to work hard for them.

27. Appeal to fame or greed

If you open the right hand drawer of my desk one of the first things you?ll see is a box of old business cards.

Open the box, pull out a card and you?ll see on the front the standard fare: name, address and so on. Flip the card over and you?ll see this tag line: ?I can make you rich, powerful or famous.? I then list ways in which I can do that.

My wife hates that business card. Thinks it?s tacky. But it works. Look at Ramit Sethi?s I Will Teach You to Be Rich. He?s built an empire in teaching people how to solve their financial problems. And so can you.

28. Flatter the other party

Okay. This is a cheap trick. But it works. And to be honest, people know it works ? and they don?t care. They like their egos stroked.

Point out how beautiful the website is.

Compliment her on her name or her nose (okay, maybe not her nose).

Just say something nice. It will go a long way.

29. Say ?I?m not happy?

This is a basic building block to negotiations. You should say this throughout the process until you reach a point you can accept, and both sides are happy.

But you can also use this after the negotiations are over and you?re plowing through the work.

You know, this is taking me a lot longer to do because of X, Y and Z, which were added later. I?m not making any money now. We need to revisit our terms.

Notice I didn?t actually come right out and say ?I?m not happy.? I just stated the facts. Not a single whiff of emotion.

30. Don?t commit to promises of paradise

Sneaky people like to trade on promises of paradise.

You know, we can?t pay you now. But if this works out, we?ll have a whole lot more work for you. Like a lifetime?s worth. And plenty of champagne and lobster for an army.

Run away. Run far, far away (see move no. 37).

31. Pit mom against dad

Parents will recognize this ploy instantly. Child complains that dad is being mean. Mom tells dad to stop being mean (this can go either way ? mom being mean and so on).

Any power the parents had together is effectively diminished. This works in the business world, too.

If you are dealing with two or more people on the side of negotiation, introduce information that might get them quibbling with each other. Could be statistics or a study that demonstrates one of them is wrong. You gain position when the other side is divided.

32. Talk to decision makers

Before you begin negotiating ask, ?Will you be the person making the decision on this??

If they say no, then ask who will be making the decision. Then ask if you can talk to that person.

If that?s not possible, then you may just have to deal with it. But that?s okay. You?ve got 36 other moves you can use.

33. Get the other side to commit

Commitment is a strong negotiation tactic. It?s one of the six principles of influence Cialdini taught us in his book.

Here?s how it works: start with a small commitment. Just make it a simple yes or no.

?Do you want this by Friday??

?Do you want me to write a companion Facebook post??

?Do you want this in Word??

All of these smaller commitments will lead to an easier larger commitment when it comes to closing the deal.

Why does this work? People who start something do not like to appear inconsistent. They want to finish what they started.

It takes effort and humility to break off a commitment. What will the other side think of you? The trick is to not care (see the second-to-last tactic).

34. Work it like a call girl

Not really.

The point is to avoid getting stiffed on the back end by asking for payment up front. Just make it part of your non-negotiables (see no. 2)

If asking for all of the moula up front is too strong, request half.

35. Be confident

One of the best ways to lose a negotiation is to be insecure. You?ll either get taken advantage of or you?ll agree to terms you don?t like because you are too scared to state your terms.

Plus, your objections or statements may not instill confidence if the other party senses you are insecure. They?ll wonder if you can even pull off the job.

Raise your chin and your voice. Look people in the eye. State clearly and concisely want you want. And don?t flinch (unless it?s appropriate).

36. Stop caring about the outcome

Remember the last time you were a nervous wreck? Maybe it was before a first date or first interview. More than likely you really wanted this date or interview to work out.

You really cared about it.

Now think about the last time you sauntered into an interview, ate all the peanuts from a jar on the table and stared at the ceiling. The outcome didn?t matter to you. So you were relaxed and confident.

That sort of indifference will not only help you to think clearly, but it will also allow you to pull off one of the best negotiation moves ever.

See the last move ?

37. Walk away

In the end, after all options have been exhausted and you?re still not happy, exit the negotiation.

Get up, and walk away.

Of course, this means you have to have options. If you?re desperate, then walking away will not help. If you?re emotionally tied to the outcome, then the other party has a hook in your nose. You can?t walk away.

I cannot tell you how powerful it is to be able to shrug your shoulders and say, ?Well, I guess this isn?t going to work out. Talk to you later.? It?s a good place to be in.

In conclusion ?

Let me make a suggestion to you: print this out. I know it?s long, and will eat a lot of paper, but it will pay you back anytime you find yourself on the other end of a negotiation.

And trust me. That can happen at just about any time.

You could find yourself working through a blog post, look down and see a client?s name show up on the screen. You pick up and start talking. And you realize he?s just made you some kind of offer. That?s happened to me more times than I can count.

And let me repeat: while this advice is directed towards writers, anyone can benefit. Entrepreneurs. Accountants. Mothers. School principals. You name it, we all have to negotiate.

Now it?s your turn. Share your favorite negotiating move in the comments ?

About the Author: Demian Farnworth is a freelance writer who hustles the finer points of web copy at the blog The CopyBot. Follow him on Twitter or Google+.

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Source: http://www.copyblogger.com/freelance-copywriter-negotiation/

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