New research: Friends with benefits relationships (FWB). | UBC ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Despite the fact that FWB relationships have become very common, there's still little research examining the nature and impact (both positive and negative) of these types of relationships. This recent study was just published ...

Source: http://ubcpsych350.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/new-research-friends-with-benefits-relationships-fwb/

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Improve Your Ranking Through Social Media Optimization Services

Social media optimization services and search engine optimization are different things attract to visitor any web site pages, today discuss on SMO services activity to interact with customers only to become a valuable but also a key element that is Google, Yahoo, MSN organic search rankings for your business impacts. Miracle Web Solutions Company India (Delhi) is using social media strategy and promotes product and services ethical way for search engine.

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One of the most important things of social media, if you have more members in your commodity then more values of social optimization activity and affect your business or services online.

There are some benefits of Social activity ?

Increased awareness of the company and productGaining traffic to WebsitesYou can develop targeted marketing activitiesIncrease your latest or new businessContent travel easy wayMeasure your discussion about your services and product

You can create a presence on the popular networks such as face book, twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus, You tube, Anyone can join and create a profile on networking websites and shared your information and business services to everyone.

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Today, one of the most popular components is internet and Internet marketing networking web site facilities attract users all ages, which communicate to anyone through networking Web Site. SMO Company in India is one of the crucial aspects of Internet marketing services. Social media optimization refer to online process promote your business or product with Networking platforms, Face book, Twitter, You Tube, LinkedIn, Google Plus hub pages, Squidoo etc.

Our media optimization activity of my company miracle web solutions

There are various activities of our company that are carried out such as Guest posting, web 2.0 blog submission, Article submission services, press release distribution, video optimization submission, PDF submission, PPT submission, review posting and more activity execute by our networking website optimizer team members and increase brand, product or services visibility online through social activity generate more traffic to your website and get more revenue from web site.

I am a content writer and social media optimizer professional; today write a new article on social media services platforms focus point on SMO Company India and SMO Services India

Source: http://webdiana.net/social-media/improve-your-ranking-through-social-media-optimization-services.html

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First scientific method to authenticate world's costliest coffee

Public release date: 21-Aug-2013
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The world's most expensive coffee can cost $80 a cup, and scientists now are reporting development of the first way to verify authenticity of this crme de la crme, the beans of which come from the feces of a Southeast Asian animal called a palm civet. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Eiichiro Fukusaki and colleagues point out that Kopi Luwak (Indonesian for "civet coffee") is the world's costliest coffee, often fetching $150-$200 per pound. Palm civets eat coffee berries, digest the soft fruit surrounding the bean and excrete the bean. Workers retrieve the coffee beans and clean, ferment and roast them. The price makes Kopi Luwak a tempting target for fraud, with ordinary coffee sold as Kopi Luwak or real Kopi Luwak adulterated with cheap beans. Fukusaki and his team decided to find a way to scientifically identify the real deal.

They describe identifying unique chemical fingerprints that can be used to identify authentic Kopi Luwak and distinguish pure Kopi Luwak from Kopi Luwak that has been mixed with cheaper coffee. "This is the first report to address the selection and successful validation of discriminant markers for the authentication of Kopi Luwak," the scientists state.

###

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 21-Aug-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

The world's most expensive coffee can cost $80 a cup, and scientists now are reporting development of the first way to verify authenticity of this crme de la crme, the beans of which come from the feces of a Southeast Asian animal called a palm civet. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Eiichiro Fukusaki and colleagues point out that Kopi Luwak (Indonesian for "civet coffee") is the world's costliest coffee, often fetching $150-$200 per pound. Palm civets eat coffee berries, digest the soft fruit surrounding the bean and excrete the bean. Workers retrieve the coffee beans and clean, ferment and roast them. The price makes Kopi Luwak a tempting target for fraud, with ordinary coffee sold as Kopi Luwak or real Kopi Luwak adulterated with cheap beans. Fukusaki and his team decided to find a way to scientifically identify the real deal.

They describe identifying unique chemical fingerprints that can be used to identify authentic Kopi Luwak and distinguish pure Kopi Luwak from Kopi Luwak that has been mixed with cheaper coffee. "This is the first report to address the selection and successful validation of discriminant markers for the authentication of Kopi Luwak," the scientists state.

###

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 163,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/acs-fsm082113.php

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Golden iPhone? kind of a stretch but it's wild rumor time for Apple

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/techspot/posts/709307782418939

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Analysis: Summers-led Fed might raise rates faster than Yellen

By Alister Bull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barring another financial crisis or slide back into recession, the next head of the Federal Reserve is likely to oversee a gradual normalization of monetary policy.

But that pace, including the first interest rate hike, might be somewhat quicker under former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers than under current Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen, the two top contenders for the job, if their own comments are any guide.

Moreover, a Summers-led Fed would appear less likely to extend or expand the use of the extraordinary measures that the central bank has undertaken during the tenure of current chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term expires in January.

The distinction between Summers and Yellen is perhaps best illustrated by remarks they delivered at separate events in April.

Yellen, a strong supporter of Bernanke's policies, in a speech to business editors in Washington, exhorted the Fed to keep its focus on efforts to foster a lower unemployment rate, even if it comes at a cost of stronger-than-desired inflation.

By contrast, Summers, in a separate, closed event in California later that month, raised doubts that the unemployment rate could drop all that much lower without kindling unwanted levels of inflation.

He also was skeptical about how effective the Fed's massive bond buying program, known as quantitative easing, has been in promoting economic growth.

CONTINUITY

"Both Yellen and Summers are unlikely to commit the mistake of premature policy tightening, and that risk is probably somewhat lower with Yellen than Summers," said Michael Feroli, an economist with JP Morgan in New York.

That said, commitments the Fed has already undertaken make quick changes unlikely whoever gets the job, as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard noted on Thursday.

"I would expect a lot of continuity in policy, and I think any new person coming in would want that continuity. They don't want to come in and really rock the boat a lot. So I would expect a smooth transition," Bullard said in Louisville.

But slight differences in how the new Fed chair views policy could matter a great deal if the economy fails to recover as expected, or if there is a debate about how long to hold interest rates near zero once unemployment has fallen further.

The Bernanke-led Fed has already committed to keeping rates ultra-easy until unemployment hits 6.5 percent, and at least one official advocates lowering this forward guidance to 5.5 percent in order to hold down borrowing costs.

Summers might be less inclined to back such a move if the news on the economy continued to be mixed.

Yellen's strong support for the importance of driving down long-term unemployment, even if that meant inflation rising a bit, could be more open to such an aggressive move.

She has also laid out a so-called 'optimal policy path' that would permit a bit more inflation than the Fed's 2 percent goal in order to push down long-term unemployment, which she views as even more damaging to the nation's economic health.

As a result, there is a broad body of public written and spoken commentary in which she has articulated an approach which would not diverge much from the path already laid out by Bernanke, and might even be more dovish.

SUMMERS NO HAWK

In contrast, most of Summers' recent comments have been on fiscal policy, where his advocacy for government intervention might infer a readiness to maintain Fed stimulus.

But he has talked about monetary policy on at least two occasions in the last year, and these remarks make clear he is no hawk in the sense of the fierce Fed critics who blame the central bank's dramatic action for stoking a looming inflation.

Indeed, he argued in favor of additional quantitative easing in a Reuters opinion piece published on June 3, 2012.

"Many in both the U.S. and Europe are arguing for further quantitative easing to bring down longer-term interest rates. This may be appropriate given that there is a much greater danger from policy inaction to current economic weakness than of overreacting," he wrote.

And in his most comprehensive monetary policy remarks, at an April conference in Santa Monica, California, hosted by Drobny Global Advisors, he explicitly played down the dangers of inflation.

SKEPTIC

But he also voiced reservations about the benefits of further aggressive bond purchases, saying that "QE in my view is less efficacious for the real economy than most people suppose," according to a transcript of his comments obtained by Reuters.

That view could be significant if the economy fails to recover.

The Fed expects to scale back bond buying later this year and end the program by mid-2014. It may want to consider delaying that wind-down, or even increasing purchases from a current $85 billion monthly pace, if growth disappoints.

A Summers' Fed might resist extending the program from worry it will not have much benefit, but carries mounting costs, which he hinted at the April conference by pointing to signs that emerging market credit "is starting to look a little frothy."

That market subsequently has cooled substantially due to signals the Fed is nearing the point of reducing its purchases.

Furthermore, he has also signaled a gloomy view on how fast the economy can expand in the future without overheating, noting that the natural rate of unemployment may have risen and its potential rate of growth may have declined.

"To the extent that view is accepted, it should operate in the direction of leading one to expect the beginning of the tightening phase to happen sooner than is now supposed by many," Summers told the invitation-only event in Santa Monica.

That hint of doubt in his mind about how much slack might be left in the economy if the jobless rate reached 6.5 percent could translate into a readiness to raise interest rates faster once the threshold is breached.

"He might be more likely than Yellen to support raising the funds rate target soon after the 6.5 percent threshold is met," said Laurence Meyer at Macroeconomic Advisers.

"We suspect that Summers might be inclined to raise rates more quickly than Yellen after the first rate hike," the former Fed governor wrote in a client note.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-summers-led-fed-might-raise-rates-faster-100448218.html

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Oil leaks from submerged Philippine ferry

AFP - Philippine authorities said Sunday they were unable to stop fuel leaking from a ferry that sank, as oil spread to coastal villages, fishing grounds and mangroves more than five kilometres (three miles) away.

The St Thomas Aquinas ferry sank on Friday night after colliding with a cargo ship just outside the port in Cebu, the Philippines' second biggest city, leaving at least 34 people dead.

Authorities were focused Sunday on trying to find 85 people missing and believed inside the ferry, about 30 metres (100 feet) under water, but the leaking oil added a new front to the disaster response.

"You can see it coming out of the sunken vessel. It is bunker fuel and it is black," Cebu coastguard commander Weniel Azcuna told AFP.

"It has affected a lot of shorelines here in Cebu and (the neighbouring island of) Mactan."

He said there was about 120,000 litres (31,700 gallons) of bunker fuel, and divers had been unable to reach the source of the leak.

Among the areas affected were Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town in Mactan island, and Talisay city in Cebu, which all host popular beach resorts.

Cordova also has protected mangrove areas while Talisay has a thriving fishing industry.

At Cordova, roots of mangroves were coated in black oil at low tide, according to an AFP reporter who visited the area, which is more than five kilometres from where the ferry sank.

Herons and egrets waded amid shallow water that had a rainbow sheen of oil.

Azcuna said that because the hole could not be plugged, the coastguard and a company contracted by the ferry operator were spraying a chemical dispersant to try and break it up.

He could not say how much of the fuel had leaked out already.

An official with the ferry operator told ABS-CBN television the company intended to bring in foreign experts who could safely pump out the remaining fuel.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20130818-oil-leaks-submerged-philippine-ferry

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GOP ramps up war on IRS

By PATRICK TEMPLE-WEST
August 13, 2013

---

Tea Party Republicans are teed off

Two Republican lawmakers on Tuesday demanded that an Internal Revenue Service official who triggered investigations into the tax agency?s scrutiny of conservative political groups turn over personal emails.

Lois Lerner, former head of the IRS tax-exempt division, apologized in May for the extra review given to Tea Party and other conservative groups seeking exemptions under a section of the tax code that allows limited political activity.

In a letter to Lerner, the Republicans said they had concerns about some emails she had sent from her IRS account to a personal account.

Those transfers could indicate that she had sent IRS documents to an outside email address, adding a hurdle to the investigations, said Representatives Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan.

The two are leading a probe into the matter for the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Lerner is on administrative leave from the agency. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

An IRS inspector general?s report in May found agency employees improperly screened tax-exemption applications from conservative groups based on their names, using ?Tea Party,? ?Patriot? and other key words as criteria.

Democratic President Barack Obama asked then-acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller to resign in the days after the disclosure, and the FBI opened an investigation.

On Monday Republicans accused the IRS of continuing to screen applications from Tea Party groups based on their names. The IRS, which said in June it had stopped such activities, disputed the allegations.

?The IRS has taken decisive action to eliminate the use of inappropriate political labels in screening tax-exempt status applications,? the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

Republicans are using the affair to try ?to smear the White House,? said Democratic Representatives Elijah Cummings and Sander Levin in a column in The Washington Post on Tuesday.

Chris Krueger, an analyst who tracks Washington politics for Guggenheim Securities, said Republicans will work to prolong the controversy and try to link it to the IRS? role in implementing Obama?s healthcare insurance program.

The Senate will soon hold a confirmation hearing for Obama?s nominee to head the IRS, John Koskinen. That hearing will be ?a grand stage? for Republicans to revisit the matter, Krueger said.

___

Copyright? ? 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Copyright? ? 2013 Capitol Hill Blue

Source: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/48741

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GODLY PERSPECTIVES: FRIENDSHIPS GOD'S WAY

There is a radio station I listen to in the mornings. The DJ's make a show once a year about how they?go through their list of friends and "weed".? They actually sit back?and decide what is?healthy for them and what is no longer healthy as far as?friends go. ?I used to think it was callous and rude, but after living the life like we all do I have come to believe that we need to take our friendships and relationships?more seriously.? Do we spend more time and care?thinking about what we may "weed" from our closets? ?We need to ask ourselves questions about people in our lives.? Things like, "Does this person help me in my Christian walk?", "Am I good for this person?", "Is this relationship beneficial to each of us?.? Think of questions you might ask yourself to take stock of the friendships you hold in your lives right now...WHAT kind of friendships are they? What is happening within the relationship?

Before we can think about anything else it might be beneficial to take a practical look at the types of "friendships" that exist. I put quotes around this word "friendships" because we all know that a "good" and healthy friendship is based upon mutual interests.? The first type of friendship is a mutual friendship. If we have things in common with a person we are naturally drawn to that person, and visa versa. That is a BEGINNING.? Similarities in other things play into this as well. It is helpful and beneficial? and important if two people are of like mind and?are of similar maturity levels. These factors are important to keep a mutual friendship healthy and happy!? These types of friendships take time to develop; they aren't made complete over night. Once?similar interests are?discovered it is very important to develop the relationship slowly as?the two people learn more of each other and "work" together within the framework of the new friendship.? This is a joyful experience, and folks, rather rare. So take your time with a new friend and allow it to grow naturally.? I see the framework of a healthy mutual friendship in Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"


Other types of "friendships" have different characteristics. There is a mentoring friendship. This is where one friend has a bit more maturity and is helping another in times of need with wisdom and knowledge that may be of help to a less experienced, less knowledgeable person. These types of friendships are important for people at different stages in their lives, for BOTH parties. It gives the one being mentored a chance to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the more "mature" person, and it helps the mentor in the relationship to use what they have learned to help another person. Philippians 2:4?" do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." So we learn that it is important to help.? It is also important to note that a mentoring friendship is not the same as a mutual friendship. We must take care within this relationship to understand that the mentor will need to take care of themselves and make sure their balance of life is kept in tact.?We all need a rest now and then! Clear boundaries are important within this relationship so the benefits can continue for both parties. The third type of friendship is the mentee. This is the person seeking counsel or help from the mentor.? This relationship is important?so that?a less knowledgeable or person needing help can learn from the one who is a little further down the road in experience, wisdom, or knowledge. It can be a very rewarding experience. We have all most likely been in a situation at a job for example where one who has been there longer can help us learn from their experiences and knowledge. It is important that the mentee realizes that their needs may be overwhelming at times and to understand that the mentor has a life beyond the needs he or she may be experiencing. It is hard to be in a situation where you are needing help. Practical or personal issues can be difficult to wade through at times. The mentee needs to take time to put into action the suggestions of the mentor.? The mentee/mentor relationship can quickly become out of balance if there are only entreaties of need without any effort?on the part of the mentee?to take advantage of the knowledge and wisdom of the mentor. Everyone has needs and times of being "needy" in life, but we must recognize that this relationship is not a mutual friendship born from mutual interests and similar maturities...this relationship CAN grow to a mutual friendship, but that can not happen until the mentee has learned and grown to a similar place.? It might not ever get there, but the relationship can be a good one if healthy boundaries are kept and the two individuals find themselves in similar places at some point.? Again, this is not a process that happens over night.

Also important to note for a mentee that if your needs happen to be very encompassing at the moment you may want to find a few mentors of like mind so as not to find yourself in a situation of need and your mentor not available.? It is also a biblical wisdom as found in Proverbs 15:22 "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."?Be sure in this situation to be taking advantage of the knowledge and wisdom you have been given and not just moving from house to house with your need.?

?Now, within these frameworks what does God expect of us in our relationships or friendships? There are many scriptures regarding our relationships with each other, so let's just look at a few that might help wade through our responsibilities to each other and ourselves as God would have it.

A great place to start is found in John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." This would indicate a sacrificial type of love for each other.? I can see this in each of the relationships above.? Within this sacrificial type of love we need to employ love of each other and not take advantage of each other on either side of the coin.? Mutual respect can and should exist within the framework of each of these relationships for them to continue in a healthy way!

Jesus tells us the framework that makes us His friends...what can we learn and apply to each?us in the?above relationships? John 15:14 "You are my friends if you do what I command." and NO, we don't get to boss each other around...think hard about this one!!

Look at the wisdoms within Proverbs...

Proverbs 17:17 "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." our job is not to take advantage of a loyal friend,?but to accept help with grace and gratitude.? On any given day we can be on either side of this line!

Proverbs 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." If you are lucky enough to have a trusted friend or mentor, understand that some things said may not be easy to hear. II Timothy 3:16 is a good measure to remember when we are searching for Godly wisdom "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,"

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." If we have the right attitude within any of the types of friendships discussed above, this is a blessing!

Proverbs 18:24 "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."

I encourage you to take some time to evaluate your relationships in life...if you have a mutual friend, REJOICE, if not, let time wisdom guide you in that direction.? If you are a mentor or a mentee take heed...do not take advantage of the other.? If your lines are fuzzy and you don't know what kind of relationship read through this again (I didn't make it up, I studied the topic) and see if you can clarify your lines and set boundaries if needed so the relationships can be healthy and Godly!

GOD BLESS!

Source: http://godlyperspectives.blogspot.com/2013/08/friendships-gods-way.html

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Loretta Lynn's eldest daughter dies at 64

Celebs

Randee Dawn TODAY contributor

9 hours ago

Getty Images file

Loretta Lynn in 2012.

Country legend Loretta Lynn is mourning the loss of her eldest daughter, Betty Sue Lynn, who died on Monday from complications of emphysema, reports the Associated Press. She was 64.

A statement from the family released to the press revealed the details, indicating Betty Sue died in Waverly, Tenn, near her mother's ranch in Hurricane Mills.

Betty Sue is the second of Loretta's children to precede her in death; in 1984 her son Jack Benny Lynn, then 34, drowned on the family's property reported People magazine at the time. Betty and Jack's father, Oliver Vanetta Lynn, died in 1996.

"The Lynn Family appreciates all your prayers, love, and support of our family. Betty was Loretta's oldest daughter. Betty leaves two daughters Lynn Markworth and Audrey Dyer," a statement on Loretta's website indicated.

Loretta Lynn's life was portrayed her autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter," which was the title of one of her biggest hits. It was made into a movie in 1976.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/loretta-lynns-eldest-daughter-dies-64-6C10791940

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China?s Consolidated Coast Guard Rocking The Boat?

The New York Times?s Jane Perlez reports that China has sent four ships to patrol disputed islands in the East China Sea in the past week in addition to flying an early-warning aircraft between Okinawa and Miyako, all part of a recently consolidated coast guard force intended to pressure Japan. ?The report claims that the increase of Chinese and Japanese maritime vessels ?has raised alarm in Washington about clashes that could lead to larger conflict.? However, the unified Coast Guard may make China?s activities easier to regulate:

At a conference on maritime safety in Beijing last week, four retired American admirals, three retired American defense attach?s and a group of American maritime experts met with Chinese officials to discuss the ramifications of the strengthened Chinese Coast Guard.

The new coast guard is a ?positive development,? said Susan L. Shirk, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, who organized the conference for the?University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Vessels belonging to the fisheries law enforcement agency have been particularly aggressive in the South China Sea over the past few years, and this kind of behavior may be modified under the new structure, she said.

?It?s good for China?s neighbors and the United States because we know who is responsible and who we can hold responsible,? Ms. Shirk said. ?As they develop a sense of professionalism in accordance with international law, it should make for lower risk of accidents.?[Source]

The South China Morning Post reports that China?s revamped coast guard has ?made waves? in Japan, prompting a potential early summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Xi Jinping:

Abe called on Friday for an unconditional meeting between his country and China as soon as possible. While Abe?s call drew a cool reaction from Beijing, his adviser, Isao Iijima, said Chinese leaders were considering it and he believed they would respond positively.

?I feel they are troubled by it, they are deeply thinking about it,? Iijima said when asked about the call for a summit.

?I don?t think it will take that long? before they meet, he said on the sidelines of a speech in his hometown in central Japan.[Source]

Read more about about the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island disputes via CDT.

Source: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2013/07/chinas-coastguard-rocking-the-boat/

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Twin City Golf Tournament Day 2

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Mideast Peace Talks to Resume Monday in Washington

The U.S. State Department says Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will resume in Washington Monday for the first time in three years.

These revived talks come as the Israeli government has approved the release of long-held Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overcame strong opposition within his Cabinet to secure Sunday's approval of the prisoner release by a vote of 13 ministers in favor to seven against, with two abstentions.

Under the Cabinet decision, 104 Palestinian prisoners will be released in four stages during a period of the U.S.-proposed peace talks with the Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who voted in favor of the releases, said they will be carried out "only if" the Palestinians prove to be a "serious" partner in the planned negotiations.

Abbas' government has said Israel must free long-held prisoners in order for negotiations to proceed. Israeli media have said the prisoners include Palestinians convicted of decades-old deadly attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces.

The Israeli Cabinet's offer to release such prisoners drew opposition from ultranationalist ministers who said it would be a reward for "terrorism." Israeli media said Netanyahu told his ministers the prisoner decision was "difficult" for him and the families of those killed, but also necessary to renew the peace process.

Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/mideast-peace-talks-resume-monday-washington-israel-palestinians/1711813.html

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One Chance, One Summer

RolePlayGateway is proudly powered by obscene amounts of caffeine, duct tape, and support from people like you. It operates under a "don't like it, suggest an improvement" platform, and we gladly take suggestions for improvements or changes.

The custom-built "roleplay" system was designed and implemented by Eric Martindale as of July 2009. All attempts to replicate or otherwise emulate this system and its method of organizing roleplay are strictly prohibited without his express written and contractual permission; violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

? RolePlayGateway, LLC | with the support of LocalSense

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/3OBq1h_Y9h0/viewtopic.php

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Trade union threatens to shut Scotland's only oil refinery over staff suspension

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EXCLUSIVE By Paul Hutcheon

Stephen Deans was suspended at the Ineos facility at Grangemouth amid claims he was involved in a bid to manipulate the contest to select a Westminster candidate in the town.

However, the company reversed its decision after Unite promised to "shut your factory down" by launching a strike.

Labour has been dogged for months by the row over Unite's alleged activities in the battle to select a party candidate for the Falkirk seat.

Unite, Labour's biggest donor, recruited around 100 new members to the party in an attempt to help its favoured candidate, Karie Murphy, get the nomination.

A Labour investigation prompted leader Ed Miliband to criticise Unite and resulted in Murphy and Deans being suspended by the party.

Deans was both the chairman of the Falkirk West constituency party and chairman of Unite in Scotland during the controversy. His day job is at Ineos where, according to an internal Unite document, many of the new recruits were signed up.

"Last, but very much not least, is the exemplary Falkirk ... Using similar methods to Garston and Paisley, but at a much more intense level, led by the potential candidate, and very much supported by the local activist base, especially at Ineos we have recruited well over 100 Unite members to the party in a constituency with less than 200 members."

At the union's executive committee meeting last week, Unite's convener at the Ineos plant, Mark Lyon, said Deans had also been suspended by the company.

On a webcast on the union's website, he hit out at the "lies" told in the media about the Falkirk fiasco, adding: "Stevie had been suspended from work. It was an opportunistic attack, to try and attack him.

"Every action that Stevie Deans and every other member of our branch has taken has been within rule, within company procedures. It's been in all respects legal ...

"The General Secretary has been involved in discussions and we're dead grateful for that. Pat Rafferty [Unite's Scottish secretary] has been involved in discussions with the company as well."

Lyon claimed that the employer reinstated Deans following a meeting of hundreds of workers last week: "The message was clear: you can either reinstate Stevie, and let's get back to some sort of sanity and normal business, or we'll shut your factory down and there will be strike action taken."

He added: "Stevie started back at work this morning."

Lyon was sitting next to Unite general secretary Len McCluskey when he made the speech.

The Grangemouth facility is of major industrial importance. A strike in 2008 over pensions led to panic buying of petrol across the country.

The industrial action also resulted in BP closing the Forties pipeline system, which is responsible for delivering almost a third of Britain's North Sea oil production.

Two Unite sources confirmed Deans worked for Ineos.

A union insider said Ineos had been unhappy at the company's name being mentioned in connection with the Falkirk debacle.

Lyon's remarks were followed by a speech by McCluskey, who said: "I want to express my support for Stevie Deans and Karie Murphy. Our union will stand by them."

He described Labour's report into Falkirk as a "shoddy farce" and a "disgrace".

Police Scotland last week confirmed its officers would not be investigating the Falkirk debacle.

However, the Information Commissioner is believed to be looking into aspects of the row.

Scottish Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone said: "It just shows that no matter how damaging this has been for the Labour party, neither they nor Unite seem able to bring this matter to a reasonable conclusion.

"In the 1970s this country was brought to its knees by exactly this kind of petty squabbling, and I can't believe lessons from the past have just not been learned."

An SNP spokesperson said: "This shows how completely out of control the Labour Party situation in Falkirk is. We have been calling on Johann Lamont for weeks now to get a grip ? but Scottish Labour say London is in charge.

"This row should have been sorted ages ago ? without resorting to wasting police time ? but the person who is supposed to be in charge of the Labour Party in Scotland appears completely helpless."

A Unite spokeswoman declined to comment.

Neither Deans nor an Ineos spokesman returned the Sunday Herald's call.

Source: http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/political-news/trade-union-threatens-to-shut-scotlands-only-oil-refinery-over-staff-suspension.21710944

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Lehigh University to discuss Stabler land plans with Upper Saucon Township officials

Lehigh University officials plan to meet with Upper Saucon Township supervisors next month to discuss their ideas for developing several hundred acres recently donated to the school.

Township Director of Community Development Sharyn E. Heater said Lehigh officials are slated to attend the board of supervisors' Aug. 12 meeting. It will be the first time university and Upper Saucon officials have met publicly to talk about the land, which was a gift from the Donald B. and Dorothy Stabler Foundation.

Heater doesn't know what Lehigh has in mind for the land but said school officials indicated they're working to craft a "thoughtful" development plan that will serve both the school and community's long-term needs.

Lehigh spokesman Jordan Reese said university President Alice Gast will be on hand but that university officials do not intend to present formal development plans during the meeting. Additional information about Lehigh's plans for the land may be available closer to the meeting date, he said.

A sign at Route 378 and Center Valley Parkway in Upper Saucon indicates Lehigh is gearing up to develop the property. The sign reads, "Prime Development Land: The Stabler Campus -- Lehigh University," and bears the school logo, as well as that of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate firm headquartered in Chicago with offices nationwide.

Calls to a number listed on the sign and Jones Lang LaSalle's headquarters were not immediately returned.

Gast, in an April 2012 email about the Stabler Foundation gift, said the land likely would be used for multiple purposes: an expansion of the Bethlehem-based school, commercial development and preservation of open space.

An expansion in Upper Saucon would make Lehigh the township's third college. DeSales University and Penn State Lehigh Valley also are located in the municipality.

The Upper Saucon land is about three miles from Lehigh's main campus in Bethlehem and one mile from its Goodman Campus in Lower Saucon Township. The university owns about 1,600 acres combined in the city and Lower Saucon; the Upper Saucon property acquisition grew the school's land holdings by nearly 50 percent and made it the township's largest landowner, officials have said.

Heater said the land, about 755 acres, comprises 20 separate properties, the largest of which surrounds The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley and is roughly bordered by Interstate 78 and Routes 309 and 378.

The land encompasses both sides of Center Valley Parkway and neighbors the former Center Valley Club golf course, which closed in October 2011. Like Lehigh's land, the club also has ties to Stabler, though not the foundation. Sierra Management Co., of Doylestown, Pa., bought the property from Stabler Land Co. for $3.6 million in 2007, according to Lehigh County property records.

Sierra President Greg Kessell hopes to present plans for developing the 203-acre property before the end of the year.

"We're trying to figure out the best way to develop the property with multiple uses," he said, but declined to specify when Upper Saucon officials can expect to get a look at what's in the works. "It should be happening relatively soon."

Kessell said the plans involve an adjacent but separately owned 17-acre property and the development may include a hotel and a medical facility. Publicly discussing the plans in any more detail could put them in jeopardy, he said, adding, "The contracts are being negotiated."

When the club closed in 2011, Bank of America was eying the property as the potential site of a corporate data center. The bank also looked at land in Lopatcong Township for a similar purpose but eventually ruled out plans for both properties.

The club property's proximity to I-78, Olympus' North American headquarters and other Stabler Corporate Center occupants make it well suited for a hotel, but any development at the site is bound to be complicated, Heater said. The golf course was built atop underground zinc mines and the property is traversed by Saucon Creek, includes wetlands and sits in a flood plain, she explained.

A development plan would have to address all of those issues in keeping with township and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection regulations, Heater said.

"He has this big piece of property," Heater said of Kessell, who hasn't spoken recently with township officials about his plans. "We're all curious to see what he's going to come in with."

Contact Lehigh County suburbs reporter Precious Petty at 484-894-3854 or ppetty@express-times.com.

Like Lehigh County on lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook

Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/lehigh-county/index.ssf/2013/07/lehigh_university_president_to.html

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Pope dons Indian headdress after Brazil speech

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Pope Francis has delighted a crowd in Rio de Janeiro by donning a colorful Indian headdress handed to him by a member of a Brazilian tribe.

It came after the pontiff spoke Saturday at Rio's Municipal Theater to an audience mostly made up of Brazil's political, business and cultural elite.

After the talk, he was greeted by well-wishers on stage, including a few Indians.

A bare-chested indigenous man who told the O Globo newspaper he was from the Pataxo tribe met the pope while wearing a reed skirt, ornate red-bead necklace and large nose and ear piercings.

The man took off his feather headdress and handed it to the pontiff.

Francis promptly placed it on his own head and flashed the crowd a smile.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-dons-indian-headdress-brazil-speech-162131717.html

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Weekly Podcast Episode 50: A Podcast Milestone Of Apple And Apps

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Two missing from wedding party after New York boat accident

(Reuters) - Two people were missing on Saturday after a boat with a wedding party aboard struck a barge on the Hudson River near New York City, and four others were taken to a hospital with injuries, local authorities and CNN said.

The sheriff's office of Rockland County, New York said the boat hit a construction barge on Friday night below the Tappan Zee bridge, a major transportation link across the Hudson River.

The people taken to a hospital had head injuries and one of them was unconscious when rescued from the badly-damaged boat, said Robert Vancura, of the Rockland County Sheriff's office.

The two missing were a bride-to-be whose wedding was scheduled to be in two weeks, and the best man, CNN reported, quoting a family member.

Police said they suspended the search for the missing overnight but resumed this morning.

The Journal News newspaper said the vessel was a 21-foot (6.4-metre) power boat.

(Reporting by Greg McCune; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-missing-wedding-party-york-boat-accident-143419104.html

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Anti-mafia raids target Rome, Calabria suspects

ROME, July 26, 2013 (AFP) - Italian police said they launched two major anti-mafia operations Friday in Rome and the southern region of Calabria, targeting around 100 people.

The Rome operation, described by Italian media as the largest ever undertaken in the capital region, targeted people who helped lead "illegal activities" in the city and the suburb of Ostia, police spokesman Mario Viola told AFP.

The second, entirely separate operation targeted members of the Ndrangheta in Catanzaro, Calabria, Viola said, adding that no less than 50 arrest warrants were issued for each of the operations.

In Calabria, the arrest warrants concerned "50 to 70 people, including entrepreneurs, politicians and lawyers", Viola said.

According to Italy's news agency Ansa, some 500 police officers took part in the Rome operation, "the largest ever undertaken" by the police in and around the capital. A helicopter, dog units and maritime police took part in it.

The warrants were the result of a long operation in Rome during which investigators uncovered "every criminal step in the mafia organisation," police said, from the adoption of new members into the fold to deals between bosses over territory.

Gangsters were also caught planning murders which they considered "necessary to guarantee and keep control of" profit-making activities in the area.

In Calabria, the heartland of the 'Ndrangheta, arrest warrants were issued for 65 people in Lamezia Terme, in the Catanzaro region, including "businessmen, politicians and lawyers," as well as doctors and prison employees, Viola said.

On top of mafia association, some of them are also accused of playing a role in several murders committed during a mafia-on-mafia war between 2005 and 2011.

The 'Ndrangheta -- whose name comes from the Greek word for courage or loyalty -- has a tight clan structure which has made it famously difficult to penetrate.

It runs an international crime network from its base in the southern region of Calabria and has been linked to operations across western and northern Europe and as far afield as the Americas and Australia.

Its core criminal activities are drug and arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion and illegal construction.

Source: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/89265

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Japan Scrambles Jets: Chinese Military Plane Breaches Int?l Airspace

A frustrating dispute in the south Pacific has all of Southeast Asia on high alert as China has seemingly escalated the conflict by flying a military craft through international airspace near Chinese islands. Reuters reports the Chinese plane was a Y-8 early warning place flew trough Okinawa island and Miyako around noon and later repeated its route over the East China Sea.

Reuters also quotes the Japanese defense minister Itsunori Onodera as saying to reporters, ?I believe this indicates China?s move toward further maritime expansion.?

This is hardly the first time the Japanese have readied the guns in advance of a preemptive strike, presumably by the Chinese. In fact, this is hardly the first time this month.

Tensions over the Diaoyu Islands, also referred to as the Senkaku Islands, have been palpable since last September when Japanese private owners sold three islands to their home country. The islands were purchased officially by the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, who used public money to make the transaction and made his wishes clear in April 2012.

China, immediately feeling provoked by the action, saw protests before sending its ships to trawl what Japan claims are its watery territories. Japan?s newly-elected prime minister, Shinzo Abe, pledged a tough stance that included open dialogue. China responded by pledging to perform a geological survey in January 2013. It would not be long before more allegations emerged: the Japanese had claimed that the Chinese military had placed a weapons lock on two of its own ships, which it vehemently denied.

The issues regarding sovereignty over these 8 tiny islands are complicated indeed; the Japanese, Chinese, and even Taiwan all have directly competing claims for the territory, and for the moment, there seems to be no easy resolution. For the moment, those of us in the western hemisphere can do little more than sit on our hands, count our stocks and bonds, and hope the Asian markets hold solid despite the frustrations emanating from the Diaoyu Islands.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/webpronews/all/~3/uEcb-BYcDkI/japan-scrambles-jets-chinese-military-plane-breaches-intl-airspace-2013-07

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Royal baby name has 'Seinfeld' connections

Pop culture

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper TODAY

13 hours ago

AP file

The royal baby's new name doesn't have a "Seinfeld" connection of course. Or does it?

So there's this royal baby, yada yada yada, and the whole world is celebrating like it's Festivus or something. We don't want to be the biggest jerk at the jerk store, but sometimes people get sick of being told, "Ya gotta see the BABY!" And they didn't even name it Seven, the name Susan's cousin stole from George. Guess those Brits just don't appreciate Mickey Mantle's jersey number.

But wait a minute. Are we seeing a certain "Seinfeldian" trend in the names Prince William and Duchess Kate just announced for the future king?

Take the name George Alexander Louis apart. First there's "George," which yes, we know, Queen Elizabeth's beloved father, but also, a certain Costanza we all know and love.

Then there's "Alexander," which just so happens to be the last name of the actor who played George, Jason Alexander.

And then there's "Louis," after Louis Mountbatten, but also a name that appears in the "Seinfeld" credits. If you don't know that Julia Louis-Dreyfus played Elaine Benes, all we have to say to you is GET OUT! (Add characteristic Elaine double-hand push in there if you like.) And, as the official "Seinfeld" Twitter account pointed out, "Louis" is also George Costanza's middle name.

Three names, three (or four) "Seinfeld" connections. Now that name's sounding a little better to us Yanks. We might even have to send the little royal guy a chocolate babka or a beltless trenchcoat. And now Will and Kate have a few years to start working out a cover story on why an eventual little brother will be dubbed Cosmo Kramer.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/yada-yada-yada-royal-baby-name-has-seinfeld-connections-6C10737154

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Zoologger: The pint-sized sabre-toothed opossum

Species: Monodelphis dimidiata
Habitat: Ripping the heads off insects in Uruguay, south-east Brazil, south-east Paraguay and central and northern Argentina

To anyone who has watched a wildlife documentary or gone on safari, it's only too obvious how the powerful claws and jaws of today's big cats can combine to devastating effect. Until about 11,000 years ago, though, a different kind of feline prowled the Earth ? one with the kind of overbite that no amount of orthodontic work could fix. Our ancestors were probably familiar with the strategy sabre-toothed cats like Smilodon used to put their impressive canines to work, but for evolutionary biologists the giant teeth have always been something of a mystery: no living predator has anything quite like them.

Almost no living predator, that is. There are suggestions that the clouded leopard may show a primitive form of sabre-toothedness ? although there is some debate over whether or not its teeth are large enough relative to its skull for it to qualify as a true sabre-toothed cat. But in any case, the leopard is so rare and poorly studied that its hunting behaviour is almost as much of a mystery as that of the extinct cats.

Then there's the South American short-tailed opossum. This animal is clearly not a cat. In fact, as a marsupial, a class of mammals that keep their young in a pouch, it's a very long way from the cat family in evolutionary terms. But could the 10-centimetre-long creature be the best living equivalent of sabre-toothed cats?

Small but vicious

It's certainly got the temperament. The short-tailed opossum has a reputation for vicious behaviour. It crunches through the heads of insects, de-hairs hairy caterpillars and, given the chance, will attack mammals ? even ones larger than itself ? by biting them on the throat until they suffocate.

There's reason to believe that sabre-toothed cats may have employed a similar kind of strategy to attack and kill their prey. Large canines may be fearsome weapons, but their size makes them prone to fracture ? and yet very few fossil sabre-toothed cats have broken teeth. Going for the neck rather than biting down on a bony part of the body might explain how the cats avoided snapping their teeth.

To judge the opossum's sabre-toothed credentials, Ernesto Blanco at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, and his colleagues collected 44 South American marsupial predators, including four specimens of the short-tailed opossum. Using calipers, the team took a series of measurements from each skull and compared them with each other, and with measurements taken from the skulls of extinct sabre-toothed animals.

Big teeth, weak bite

They found that relative to skull size, the short-tailed opossums' canines really are significantly larger than those of other marsupials. They can also open their jaws unusually wide but their bite is relatively weak ? as modelling studies have suggested was the case with sabre-toothed cats. Blanco says this indicates the opossums may be evolving along similar lines.

They would not be the first sabre-toothed marsupial to walk this earth, says Virginia Naples, a sabre-toothed cat researcher at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. "An [extinct] South American sabre-tooth predator, Thylacosmilus atrox, has been loosely categorised as an opossum," she says.

Blanco and his colleagues think male short-tailed opossums may have gained their large teeth initially for sexual display rather than for hunting: competition between males is particularly acute because these opossums breed only once in their lifetime.

Naples has another theory: she thinks the sabre-tooth adaptation evolved so the opossum could kill prey larger than its body size would suggest. By going after larger prey, not only do you get more food per kill, but you face less competition from predators who find these prey more of a challenge than you do.

If her idea is correct, it could explain why short-tailed opossums are willing to go after prey larger than themselves ? although thankfully, they appear to consider humans too large to tackle.

Journal reference: Journal of Zoology, DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12050

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Total Recall: Woody Allen's Best Movies

We count down the best-reviewed work of the Blue Jasmine director.

He's never been a blockbuster filmmaker, but with more than a half century in Hollywood under his belt -- and dozens of movies along the way -- Woody Allen's consistently prolific output stands as a continuing testament to the ability of brainy, low-budget cinema to find an audience, even during an era in which superheroes, sequels, reboots, and remakes seem to exert an ever-stronger grip on the box office. Love him or hate him, Allen's one of the few directors left who can film people sitting around talking and turn it into a wide release -- and with his latest, Blue Jasmine, arriving in theaters this weekend, we knew now would be the perfect time to pay tribute by looking back at his best-reviewed efforts. Call your therapist, because it's time for Total Recall, Woody Allen style!

---

92%

After suffering relatively lukewarm reviews for 1987's September and 1988's Another Woman, Allen enjoyed a rebound -- and picked up a pair of Academy Award nominations -- for 1989's Crimes and Misdemeanors, which found him writing, directing, and starring alongside Martin Landau in a rather pensive drama that interweaves the stories of an adulterous opthalmalogist (Landau) and a struggling filmmaker (Allen) for whom love and romance are fraught with difficulty (or even danger). Calling it "A relative of Hannah and Her Sisters in its duplex structure and of The Purple Rose of Cairo in its bitter theme," the Washington Post's Rita Kempley bestowed praise befitting Crimes' parallel narrative, calling it "two movies in one, a blend of Allen's satiric and pretentious dramatic styles."

---

93%

While it would be inaccurate to say that Allen's work went unappreciated during the 1990s and aughts, critical accolades were no longer in such ready supply, and his box-office profile -- which never approached mega-blockbuster heights even during his 1970s and 1980s peak -- lost more than a bit of its luster. But things turned around for 2011's Midnight in Paris, a late-period smash that brought Allen some of the warmest reviews (and the highest grosses) of his career while telling the the fantasy-infused comedic tale of an ennui-addled screenwriter (Owen Wilson) who heads out for a melancholic walk on the streets of Paris and ends up taking much more of a journey than he bargained for. "Woody Allen seemed to have lost his fizz as a filmmaker of late," observed Jason Best for Movie Talk, "and then he uncorked the sparkling Midnight in Paris, a comic fantasy with all the effervescence of vintage champagne."

---

96%

One of Allen's more critically successful late-period movies, 1994's Bullets Over Broadway found him stepping completely behind the camera in order to tell the tale of a naive 1920s playwright (John Cusack) whose budding Broadway career threatens to derail itself almost before it's begun, thanks to the cascading series of compromises forced when he accepts financial backing from a mobster who insists his talentless girlfriend (Jennifer Tilly) be given a role in the show. Sadly met with indifference at the box office, Bullets made a direct hit with critics like Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle, who called it "Woody Allen at his best -- a gem of a Broadway fable with a crafty premise, a raft of brilliant actors at the top of their form and a bouncy, just-for-pleasure attitude."

---

98%

Following the Oscar-winning Annie Hall, Allen reunited with Diane Keaton for their sixth collaboration, 1979's Manhattan, the story of a neurotic TV writer caught in a(n admittedly unlikely-seeming) love triangle between a teenager (Mariel Hemingway) and an intellectual (Keaton). Adding another pair of Academy Award nominations to Allen's growing stack (including one for Best Screenplay), it rounded out his 1970s hot streak with typically neurotic flair -- and another round of unbridled love from critics like Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York, who wrote, "This is a deeply self-critical film about immaturity and the gift of real love. Many films can be said to put an epitaph on the decade, but few remain as relevant."

---

98%

The word "iconic" gets thrown around a lot more often than it should, but this movie fits the description -- a film that so perfectly expresses its creative principals' gifts that when you say "Woody Allen and Diane Keaton," the picture that leaps to mind for most film fans is a black-and-white still from Annie Hall. Keaton's career was already well on its way in 1977, but her performance here rocketed her into Hollywood's upper echelon, earning her a Best Actress Oscar and heaps of critical accolades for a performance of a character who'd form the (often misunderstood) template for countless quirky-but-lovable leading ladies in subsequent rom-coms, and she wasn't the only one who enjoyed recognition for the film; Allen picked up a pair of Oscars of his own (for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), as well as heaps of praise from critics like TIME's Richard Schickel, who observed, "Personal as the story he is telling may be, what separates this film from Allen's own past work and most other recent comedy is its general believability."

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927941/news/1927941/

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Vice President Joe Biden will spend some time in Hawaii this weekend. He's sched...

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4 High Profit Tips for Your Business - Brian Tracy

Written By Brian Tracy | Business Success | July 23rd, 2013 | No Comments ?

The race is on and your customer knows it.? There has never been more competition for profit in business than there is today.? And the competition is going to get even more intense in the months and years ahead.

You can save yourself years of hard work and frustration by applying these 4 great ideas for higher profitability.? They can change your business life forever.

1) ?Develop a Clear Mission for Your Business

For you, your business and your people to perform at a high level everyone needs a clear vision of what the business stands for and where it is going.? The first question you have to answer when defining your mission is this.? Why does your business exist at all?

FREE FINANCIAL REPORT:?The Way to Wealth

A mission must always be defined in terms of how your business serves and benefits other people.? A good mission statement will contain a method by which the mission is to be achieved.? In addition, a good mission statement will contain a measure so that an objective third party can assess whether or not the business is living up to the mission that it set for itself.

2) ?Determine Exactly What Business you are in

It?s absolutely amazing how many people are not quite sure what business they are in, even though they work in that business all day long.? Now you always define your business from the point of view of your customer.? You always define the business you are in, in terms of what your products or services do for your customer.? What effects do your products or services have in the lives and work of your customers?? What are the specific benefits that your customers enjoy from using your products or services?

So what business are you in today, from the point of view of your customer?? In addition, what business will you be in tomorrow with the way things are going in your industry?? Or what business should you be in if you want to survive and thrive in this dynamic and competitive environment?

And finally, what business could you be in if you were to make the critical changes necessary to lead your field?? Remember, the very best way to predict the future is to create it.? And, as Michael Kami, the strategic planner once said, ?Those who do not plan for the future cannot have one.?

Whatever business you are in today, it is probably going to change dramatically in the years ahead.? Your job is to be a master of this change, not a victim.? Determining exactly the business you are in and being willing to change to be a major player in this business is a major key to your profitability.

3) Determine Exactly Who Your Customer Is

This is the central question of all marketing, sales, and profitability.? The ability to accurately answer this question, ?Who is my customer,? is the primary determinant of the success of your business.

Define your customer as accurately and as precisely as you can.? For example, what is your customer?s age, education, income, position in their business or company or industry, value base, philosophy, and background?? Where exactly is your customer located geographically?? Where is he or she located within specific businesses or organizations?

Especially, what does your customer consider value?? What is your customer willing to pay for?? What does your customer want or need that he or she is not now getting from someone else?? Why does your potential customer buy from your competitors?? What would you have to do to get your non-customers to switch to your products or services?? What special benefits would you have to offer them?

Keep practicing ?zero based thinking,? with your customers and with your markets.? If you were not now serving this market with these products and services, would you start up again today?? And who is your customer likely to be tomorrow, next year, or in five years?? Who could your customer be if you were to change your product or service offerings?? Who should your customer be if you want to be a high profit business in the future?

Finally, what changes do you need to make in your business to be able to attract and keep the high profit customers of tomorrow.? This is perhaps the most important question that you ask and answer day after day, in building and maintaining a high profit business.

4) Develop Competitive Advantage or Don?t Compete

This is very important.? Your business life depends for its very survival on your ability to develop and maintain a meaningful competitive advantage of some kind.? What is it that your company does really well?? Where do you perform at a high level?? What is the area of excellence of your key products or services?

Your competitive advantage is the aspect of your product or service that makes you superior in a meaningful way to your competitors?? Your area of competitive advantage is always defined in terms of what your customer wants, needs, and is willing to pay for.

Every company that survives and thrives has a specific and valued competitive advantage that customers recognize and appreciate.? Every company that gets into trouble is a company that has either lost its competitive advantage relative to its competitors in the marketplace, or it?s a company that never had one at all.

Your ability to develop, maintain and protect your competitive advantage is the absolutely indispensable pre-requisite for company growth and high profitability.? And since your market is changing so rapidly you must continually ask, ?What will my competitive advantage be tomorrow, based on the way things are going??? What should your competitive advantage be if you want to rise to the top of your field?? What could your competitive advantage be if you were to make the necessary changes in your product and service offerings?

The major competitive advantages today are: faster, cheaper, or easier; or all three combined with superb and timely customer service.? All the most successful and most profitable companies offer high quality products and services, and they offer them quickly.? In addition, they give excellent customer service which they continually improve.? As the result, they are among the most profitable and fastest growing companies in their industries.? And so should you be.

Thank you for reading this article about your customer and business life. Please share and comment below!

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Tags: business life, your business, your customer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 at 8:43 am and is filed under Business Success.

Source: http://www.briantracy.com/blog/business-success/4-high-profit-tips-for-your-business-your-business-your-customer/

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