If you?re like most people, your pre-travel to-do list includes booking your own flights, checking yourself in and printing or downloading your own boarding pass. These days, you can add baggage handling to your to-do list.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/50000997#50000997
ray lewis Bosses Day 2012 Arlen Specter Winsor McCay Amanda Todd washington nationals Gary Collins
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? Pound for pound, spider silk is one of the strongest materials known: Research by MIT's Markus Buehler has helped explain that this strength arises from silk's unusual hierarchical arrangement of protein building blocks.
Now Buehler -- together with David Kaplan of Tufts University and Joyce Wong of Boston University -- has synthesized new variants on silk's natural structure, and found a method for making further improvements in the synthetic material.
And an ear for music, it turns out, might be a key to making those structural improvements.
The work stems from a collaboration of civil and environmental engineers, mathematicians, biomedical engineers and musical composers.?
"We're trying to approach making materials in a different way," Buehler explains, "starting from the building blocks" -- in this case, the protein molecules that form the structure of silk. "It's very hard to do this; proteins are very complex."
Other groups have tried to construct such protein-based fibers using a trial-and-error approach, Buehler says. But this team has approached the problem systematically, starting with computer modeling of the underlying structures that give the natural silk its unusual combination of strength, flexibility and stretchiness.
Buehler's previous research has determined that fibers with a particular structure -- highly ordered, layered protein structures alternating with densely packed, tangled clumps of proteins (ABABAB) -- help to give silk its exceptional properties. For this initial attempt at synthesizing a new material, the team chose to look instead at patterns in which one of the structures occurred in triplets (AAAB and BBBA).
Making such structures is no simple task. Kaplan, a chemical and biomedical engineer, modified silk-producing genes to produce these new sequences of proteins. Then Wong, a bioengineer and materials scientist, created a microfluidic device that mimicked the spider's silk-spinning organ, which is called a spinneret.
Even after the detailed computer modeling that went into it, the outcome came as a bit of a surprise, Buehler says. One of the new materials produced very strong protein molecules -- but these did not stick together as a thread. The other produced weaker protein molecules that adhered well and formed a good thread. "This taught us that it's not sufficient to consider the properties of the protein molecules alone," he says. "Rather, [one must] think about how they can combine to form a well-connected network at a larger scale."
The results are reported in a paper published in the journal Nano Today.
The team is now producing several more variants of the material to further improve and test its properties. But one wrinkle in their process may provide a significant advantage in figuring out which materials will be useful and which ones won't -- and perhaps even which might be more advantageous for specific uses. That new and highly unusual wrinkle is music.
The different levels of silk's structure, Buehler says, are analogous to the hierarchical elements that make up a musical composition -- including pitch, range, dynamics and tempo. The team enlisted the help of composer John McDonald, a professor of music at Tufts, and MIT postdoc David Spivak, a mathematician who specializes in a field called category theory. Together, using analytical tools derived from category theory to describe the protein structures, the team figured out how to translate the details of the artificial silk's structure into musical compositions.
The differences were quite distinct: The strong but useless protein molecules translated into music that was aggressive and harsh, Buehler says, while the ones that formed usable fibers sound much softer and more fluid.
Buehler hopes this can be taken a step further, using the musical compositions to predict how well new variations of the material might perform. "We're looking for radically new ways of designing materials," he says.
Combining materials modeling with mathematical and musical tools, Buehler says, could provide a much faster way of designing new biosynthesized materials, replacing the trial-and-error approach that prevails today. Genetically engineering organisms to produce materials is a long, painstaking process, he says, but this work "has taught us a new approach, a fundamental lesson" in combining experiment, theory and simulation to speed up the discovery process.
Materials produced this way -- which can be done under environmentally benign, room-temperature conditions -- could lead to new building blocks for tissue engineering or other uses, Buehler says: scaffolds for replacement organs, skin, blood vessels, or even new materials for use in civil engineering.
Elliott Schwartz, professor emeritus of music at Bowdoin College, says: "For centuries, mathematics, logic and science have provided important models for musical structures, processes, and our understanding of sonic materials. The present research may well lead to one more important chapter in this ongoing story of mutual interaction."
It may be that the complex structures of music can reveal the underlying complex structures of biomaterials found in nature, Buehler says. "There might be an underlying structural expression in music that tells us more about the proteins that make up our bodies. After all, our organs -- including the brain -- are made from these building blocks, and humans' expression of music may inadvertently include more information that we are aware of."
"Nobody has tapped into this," he says, adding that with the breadth of his multidisciplinary team, "We could do this -- making better bio-inspired materials by using music, and using music to better understand biology."
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
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/JH39QKo8_v8/121128112157.htm
splunk dark shadows iau msft etan patz obama dog doug hutchison
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010 file photo, Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, seen at center, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It suddenly seems like Dubai is rediscovering its old habits. That means breathless hype is now back in vogue. Construction plans are again peppered with superlatives. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, file)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010 file photo, Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, seen at center, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It suddenly seems like Dubai is rediscovering its old habits. That means breathless hype is now back in vogue. Construction plans are again peppered with superlatives. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, file)
FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008, An Emirati man examines a graphic city map of Dubai, depicting new real estate developments, during an exhibition entitled Cityscape exhibition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It suddenly seems like Dubai is rediscovering its old habits. That means breathless hype is now back in vogue. Construction plans are again peppered with superlatives. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
FILE - This Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010 file photo shows the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It suddenly seems like Dubai is rediscovering its old habits. That means breathless hype is now back in vogue. Construction plans are again peppered with superlatives. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
FILE- In this Feb. 22, 2012 file photo, the city lights of Dubai, United Arab Emirates are featured in this image provided by NASA and photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. It suddenly seems like Dubai is rediscovering its old habits. That means breathless hype is now back in vogue. Construction plans are again peppered with superlatives. (AP Photo/NASA, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? Dubai is suddenly rediscovering its old habits.
That means relentless hype and construction plans loaded with superlatives. Case in point: A proposed Taj Mahal replica four times bigger than the original.
Leaders, too, are back swaggering with a mojo that seems aimed to wipe away memories of the city's humbling fiscal collapse just three years ago.
"We do not anticipate the future," said Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum in announcing plans Sunday for a new "desertopolis" that will bear his name. "We build it."
It all rings very familiar. The same type of super-charged ambition reshaped Dubai beginning in the 1990s and left an impressive legacy including the world's tallest skyscraper, a villa-studded island shaped like a palm, malls packed with top retailers and tourist and business networks that are the envy of the Middle East.
But it also helped drive the emirate over the edge.
The global financial crisis smacked Dubai particularly hard after years of increasingly shaky construction funding schemes, where state-linked developers often used money collected for one unfinished project to start another. As credit dried up, the deeply indebted Dubai government had to scale back sharply just to meet its bills. It took a $10 billion bailout from oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi in 2009 just to give it some breathing room to begin selling off assets and negotiating with creditors for billions more owed by the city-state.
Now ? with another generation of outsized projects on the drawing boards ? some are questioning whether the pre-bust creed of bigger-is-better still makes sense in a more cautious world.
The Great Recession pummeled the type of high-risk investors who would once sink money into a project that was still just a plot of sand and desert brush.
But Dubai is still betting heavily on long-term appetite for the kind of self-contained, mega-scapes that were among the main casualties of its fiscal meltdown. The new wave of projects also marks an important shift for Dubai away from housing-oriented developments toward more entertainment and tourism, particularly with visitors from China sharply on the rise. The proposed Mohammad bin Rashid City ? named after Dubai's ruler ? includes a shopping complex that will surpass the world's largest, the Dubai Mall, just down the road.
Nick Maclean, the managing director of property advisers CB Richard Ellis Middle East says the investment climate is on the rebound. Dubai's economy grew a healthy 4.1 percent for the first six months of 2012 compared with the same period last year, officials said Monday. But Maclean and others still cast wary eyes on frontier areas such as desert outskirts where many of the giant projects are planned.
"We tell developers that the time is not right for them to build speculatively because we see very limited demand," he said in an interview this month with Big Project Middle East, which follows major development initiatives in the region.
Consider the marketing push ahead for the proposed satellite city: 100 hotels, a theme park in collaboration with Universal Studios, a green space somewhere in size between London's Hyde Park and New York's Central Park, and the mother of all malls.
But there's no lack of confidence from its namesake. "The current facilities available in Dubai need to be scaled up in line with the future ambitions of the city," said Dubai ruler Sheik Mohammad.
Another planned development ? literally just over the horizon ? delves even deeper into the Dubai's penchant for alternative realities such as an indoor ski slope or an archipelago shaped liked the world's continents.
The lavishly named Falconcity of Wonders was first unveiled during the height of Dubai's white-hot growth five years ago, but later fell victim to the financial crisis. It's now back on the agenda with ethnic-themed sections that include replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Giza Pyramids and the leaning Tower of Pisa.
So far, the only significant outrage from abroad is over a proposed version of the Taj Mahal ? the "Taj Arabia" ? that's four times larger than the original in Agra south of New Delhi.
"It is patently wrong and absurd," a former Agra legislator, Satish Chandra Gupta, told Indian media.
The developers, however, predict it will be a major draw for wedding parties among Dubai's large Indian community and growing tourism from the subcontinent.
The Indian outreach doesn't end there. A Bollywood theme park is part of a $2.7 billion five-park complex announced Monday by the office of Dubai's ruler. It also seems to be Sheik Mohammad's grand response to the fiscal nosedive that shutdown plans for several theme parks, leaving more than one colorful gateway-to-nowhere in the desert.
"Hubris," said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain's Durham University, referring to the blitz of new mega-projects.
Associated PressAmerican Music Awards 2012 oregon ducks oregon ducks rob gronkowski Susan Rice Coughing eddie murphy
Chassis Brakes International Group, a French portfolio company of?KPS Capital Partners, has acquired substantially all of the assets of?Autocast and Forge Pty Ltd., an Australian cast iron foundry for the automotive industry.?www.kpsfund.com
First Reserve Corp.?has agreed to acquire?Ameriforge Group Inc., a Houston, Texas?based maker of forged components, sub-systems and fully-integrated systems to markets like energy and transportation, from an affiliate of?TanglewoodInvestments Inc.?No financial terms were disclosed.www.ameri-forgegroup.com
The Gores Group?has acquired?DMN Ltd., a British provider of mobile communications network engineering support and staffing. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which was done in partnership with company founder David Matton.?www.gores.com
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.?is in talks to acquire Brazilian health insurance company?Golden Cross Planos de Sa?de?SA, according to Valor Econ?mico. The deal could be worth around $530 million, with Deutsche Bank managing the process.?www.goldencross.com.br
Lincolnshire Management?has acquired?National Pen Co., a San Diego?based provider of direct mail promotional pens and other products, from?Berwind Corp.?No financial terms were disclosed. Harris Williams & Co. managed the process.?www.nationalpen.com
Madison Dearborn Partners?has invested an undisclosed amount into?Aderant Holdings, an Atlanta?based maker ofbusiness management software for law and professional services. Existing Aderant shareholder Vista Equity Partners and company management will retain "significant ownership positions."?www.aderant.com
Mason Wells?has acquired?Whitehall Specialties Inc., a Whitehall, Wis.-based maker of custom imitation and processed cheese products. No financial terms were disclosed.www.whitehallspecialties.com
Monomoy Capital Partners?has acquired the assets of?MPI LLC, a Southfield, Mich.?based maker of metal components for powertrain systems, hydraulic systems and other safety-critical automotive and industrial applications. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller was?Revstone Industries LLC.www.mcpfunds.com
TPG Capital?has completed its previously-announced acquisition of?FleetPride, an aftermarket distributor of heavy-duty truck and trailer parts, from?Investcorp?and?Ridgemont Equity Partners. The deal was valued at more than $1 billion.?www.fleetpride.com
Versa Capital Management?has acquired Peterborough, N.H.-based outdoor retailer?Eastern Mountain Sports?from?J.H. Whitney & Co.?for an undisclosed amount.?www.ems.com
Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers:?GetTermSheet.com
Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/11/27/private-equity-deals-249/
yom kippur yom kippur avengers soa andy williams andy williams Lady Gaga
ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? You may have received CPR training some time ago, but would you remember the proper technique in an emergency? Would you know what to do in the event of an earthquake or a fire? A new UCLA psychology study shows that people often do not recall things they have seen -- or at least walked by -- hundreds of times.
For the study, 54 people who work in the same building were asked if they knew the location of the fire extinguisher nearest their office. While many of the participants had worked in their offices for years and had passed the bright red extinguishers several times a day, only 13 out of the 54 -- 24 percent -- knew the location.
When asked to find a fire extinguisher, however, everyone was able to do so within a few seconds; most were surprised they had never noticed them. The researchers found no significant differences between men and women, or between older and younger adults.
"Just because we've seen something many times doesn't mean we remember it or even notice it," said Alan Castel, an associate professor of psychology at UCLA and lead author of the study. "If I asked you to draw the front of a dime or the front of a dollar bill from memory, how well could you do that? You might get some elements right. Do you know who the president is? On the dime, is he facing left or right? Does it say 'In God We Trust' on the front of the dollar or the back? Do you know what else it says? You've seen it so many times, but you probably haven't paid much attention to it."
Castel said that not noticing things isn't necessarily bad, particularly when those things are not important in your daily life. "It might be a good thing not to burden your memory with information that is not relevant to you," he said.
But with safety information, such as knowing where fire extinguishers are or what to do in an emergency, being prepared can, of course, be very useful.
"When you're on an airplane, do you know where the life vest is and what to do in the event of an emergency?" Castel asked. "You've been told many times, but how would you respond under stressful conditions, when there could be smoke and people screaming?"
A few months after being asked the location of the nearest fire extinguisher, the study participants were asked again if they knew where the closest one was. All of them knew.
"We don't notice something if we're attending to something else," Castel said. "Fire extinguishers are bright red and very conspicuous, but we're almost blind to them until they become relevant."
What does this tell us about the importance of training, whether for emergencies or something as common as learning a new computer program?
Castel stresses that making errors during training is useful. As with the fire extinguisher exercise, errors -- or simple oversights -- can teach us that we don't know something well and need to pay more attention in order to remember it.
"It's good if errors happen during training and not during an event where you need the information," he said. "That's part of the learning process."
The study is published in the journal Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
Castel's co-authors are Michael Vendetti, a UCLA psychology graduate student, and Keith Holyoak, a UCLA professor of psychology. The study's participants work in UCLA's psychology building.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Stuart Wolpert.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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/living_well/~3/Wodd1rtKU3c/121126151058.htm
cspan state of the union drinking game oscar noms capital gains tim thomas oral roberts les paul
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?This is a great infographic on buyers and sellers. I found some surprising info and some that was not so surprising. It is great to see that the percentage of buyers that use an agent is up so much..I think the most surprising to me was the percentage of buyers and sellers that are first timers. ?Especially the buyers, since it is so hard to get a loan right now.. I thought that number may be way down.
What do you think? Any surprises in the info? Do you find it helpful at all? ?
Source: http://rainingcatsandblogs-snt.com/post/3532150/who-is-buying-and-selling-in-2012-infographic
boxing day radio shack finish line elizabeth taylor ups dancing with the stars
LONDON (AP) ? The Rolling Stones made a triumphant return to the London stage on Sunday night in the first of five concerts to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut as an American-oriented blues band.
They showed no signs of wear and tear ? except on their aging, heavily lined faces ? as frontman Mick Jagger swaggered and strutted through a stellar two-and-a-half hour show. He looked remarkably trim and fit and was in top vocal form.
The Stones passed the half-century mark in style at the sometimes emotional gig that saw former bassist Bill Wyman and guitar master Mick Taylor join their old mates in front of a packed crowd at London's 02 Arena.
It was the first of five mega-shows to mark the passage of 50 years since the band first appeared in a small London pub determined to pay homage to the masters of American blues.
Jagger, in skin-tight black pants, a black shirt and a sparkly tie, took time out from singing to thank the crowd for its loyalty.
"It's amazing that we're still doing this, and it's amazing that you're still buying our records and coming to our shows," he said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Lead guitarist Keith Richards, whose survival has surprised many who thought he would succumb to drugs and drink, was blunter: "We made it," he said. "I'm happy to see you. I'm happy to see anybody."
But the band's fiery music was no joke, fuelled by an incandescent guest appearance by Taylor, who played lead guitar on a stunning extended version of the ominous "Midnight Rambler," and Mary J. Blige, who shook the house in a duet with Jagger on "Gimme Shelter."
The 50th anniversary show, which will be followed by one more in London, then three in the greater New York area, lacked some of the band's customary bravado ? the "world's greatest rock 'n' roll band" intro was shelved ? and there were some rare nostalgic touches.
Even the famously taciturn Wyman briefly cracked a smile when trading quips with Richards and Ronnie Wood.
The concert started with a brief video tribute from luminaries like Elton John, Iggy Pop and Johnny Depp, who praised the Stones for their audacity and staying power. The Stones' show contained an extended video homage to the American trailblazers who shaped their music: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and others. The montage included rare footage of the young Elvis Presley.
The Stones began their professional career imitating the Americans whose music they cherished, but they quickly developed their own style, spawning hundreds ? make that thousands ? of imitators who have tried in vain to match their swagger and style.
The concert began with some early Stones' numbers that are rarely heard in concert, including the band's cover of the Lennon-McCartney rocker "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the Stones original "It's All Over Now."
They didn't shy away from their darker numbers, including "Paint It Black" and "Sympathy for the Devil" ? Jagger started that one wearing a black, purple-lined faux fur cape that conjured up his late '60s satanic image.
He even cracked a joke about one of the band's low points, telling the audience it was in for a treat: "We're going to play the entire "Satanic Majesty's Request" album now," he said, referring to one of the band's least-loved efforts, a psychedelic travesty that has been largely, mercifully, forgotten.
He didn't make good on his threat.
He also made fun of the sky-high ticket prices, which had exposed the band to some criticism in the London press.
"How are you doing up in the cheap seats," he said, motioning to fans in the upper rows of the cavernous 02 Arena. "Except they're not cheap seats, that's the problem."
But Jagger seemed more mellow than usual, chatting a bit about the good old days and asking if there was anyone in the crowd who had seen them in 1962, when they first took to the stage.
He said 2012 had been a terrific year for Britain and that the Stones nearly missed the boat, playing no role in the celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympics, or the new James Bond film.
"We just got in under the wire," he said. "We feel pretty good."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rolling-stones-mark-50th-london-show-170252403.html
jr smith chris anderson rondo suspended bay bridge downton abbey season 3 presidents day band of brothers
The Sunday sunshine was a boon to many who wanted to get their Christmas lights up ? including the small army of family and friends working on West Seattle?s biggest and brightest display at the Menashe family?s home in the 5600 block of Beach Drive. They started work at 8 this morning, Josh Menashe told us, and by the time we stopped by about five hours later, they?d made a lot of progress. We got to meet two exuberant helpers ? two of Jack and Linda Menashe?s grandchildren, Jacob Menashe?s daughters Sophia and McKenna, who were riding in the cherry picker:
The girls helped show us some of the new/newer decorations waiting in the yard ? including candy canes taller than they are:
Here?s the biggest of the light-laden stars waiting to be put up around the property:
And while some of the shrubbery already was decked with bulbs, more lights ? in boxes and tubs ? waited to be added to the mix:
The Menashes will continue working on their display throughout the week, and they?re expecting to officially turn the lights on at 7 pm this Saturday (December 1st) ? if you want to be there, that?ll give you (and us!) time after the West Seattle Junction Christmas Tree Lighting celebration, (5 pm Saturday). Another date to note ? the evening of December 15th, Santa will be at the house for photos, as a benefit for the West Seattle Food Bank.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
All contents copyright 2012, A Drink of Water and a Story Interactive. Here's how to contact us.
Header image by Nick Adams. ABSOLUTELY NO WSB PHOTO REUSE WITHOUT SITE OWNERS' PERMISSION.
Entries and comments feeds. ^Top^
bcs national championship bcs championship bcs national championship 2012 university of alabama national championship game bcs game lsu vs alabama
Syrian Expatriates Organization in association with MSA of Salt Lake Community College and the Middle Eastern studies Association- Brigham Young University- Salt Lake City, UT cosponsor a community event with a Christmas Boutique Fundraiser, for the benefit of ?Don?t Leave Syrians Cold? campaign directed to benefit Syrians living under extremely harsh conditions, inside the country and in the refugee camps.
Salt Lake City, UT (PRWEB) November 26, 2012
Syrian Expatriates Organization in association with Muslim Student Association of Salt Lake Community College and Middle Eastern Studies Association at Brigham Young University sponsor a community event on Saturday December 1st-2012 at Son?s of Utah Pioneer, 3261 East Louise Ave, Salt Lake City, with a Christmas Boutique Fundraiser, for the benefit of ?Don?t Leave Syrians Cold? campaign directed to support Syrians living under extremely harsh conditions in Syria and in the refugee camps.SEO views this project as significantly important at this time. It highlights one of the major challenges facing Syrians and their families on a daily basis. SEO would like to create a public awareness in the United States about the suffering of Syrians out in the cold winter. According to an article published in VOA on Nov 20th -2012 ?Hundreds of thousands of children who have fled the fighting in Syria are at risk from cold and disease as winter approaches, according to aid agencies. There are fears that scores of vulnerable children could die in the makeshift camps that litter the border regions in countries like Lebanon and Iraq.?
http://www.voanews.com/content/winter-poses-deadly-risk-for-syrian-children/1549867.html
SEO, together with MSA of salt lake community college and the Middle eastern studies Association- Brigham Young University- Salt Lake City, UT extend their invitation to local communities to participate in this community event. The entire generated fund will go to help alleviate the suffering of Syrian facing the harsh winter with limited heating resources, cloths and blankets.
Please Join SEO in this fund raising event on Saturday Dec. 1st, 12:00 pm- 6:00 p.m. at Son?s of Utah Pioneer, 3261 East Louise Ave, Salt Lake City.
Dr Samah Bassas, Salt Lake City
Phone: 801 22872 28
The Syrian Expatriates Organization is a leading nonprofit organization of Syrian Americans and Syrian Canadians that reflects the diversity and talent of the Syrian nation. Its mission is to support the establishment of a free and democratic Syria. In addition, the SEO provides humanitarian relief to those in need and works to promote the social, political and economic development of Syria.
Sawsan Jabri
Syrian Expatriates Organization
74-769-4017
Email Information
elvis presley elvis presley vanessa bryant vanessa bryant Prince Harry naked Prince Harry Vegas Melky Cabrera
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Nov-2012
Share ] Contact: Susan Hendrix
Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
301-286-7745
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
On Nov. 23, 2012, at 8:54 a.m. EST, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the ESA/NASA mission the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, show that the Nov. 23 CME left the sun at speeds of 375 miles per second, which is a slow to average speed for CMEs. This is the third Earth-directed CME since Nov. 20.
Not to be confused with a solar flare, a CME is a solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later. When Earth-directed, CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when CMEs successfully connect up with the outside of the Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. In the past, CMEs of this speed have not usually caused substantial geomagnetic storms. They have caused auroras near the poles but are unlikely to cause disruptions to electrical systems on Earth or interfere with GPS or satellite-based communications systems.
###
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is the United States Government official source for space weather forecasts.
[ | 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.
Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 Share ] Contact: Susan Hendrix
Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov
301-286-7745
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
On Nov. 23, 2012, at 8:54 a.m. EST, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection or CME. Experimental NASA research models, based on observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the ESA/NASA mission the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, show that the Nov. 23 CME left the sun at speeds of 375 miles per second, which is a slow to average speed for CMEs. This is the third Earth-directed CME since Nov. 20.
Not to be confused with a solar flare, a CME is a solar phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later. When Earth-directed, CMEs can cause a space weather phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when CMEs successfully connect up with the outside of the Earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere, for an extended period of time. In the past, CMEs of this speed have not usually caused substantial geomagnetic storms. They have caused auroras near the poles but are unlikely to cause disruptions to electrical systems on Earth or interfere with GPS or satellite-based communications systems.
###
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is the United States Government official source for space weather forecasts.
[ | 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/2012-11/nsfc-cte112612.php
dow jones Bbc News Selena Gomez ariel winter Paige Butcher David Petraeus Petraeus
MA LTC - A Restrictions: none - NH Non Resident Pistol
Utah Concealed Firearm Permit
NRA Member - NES Green - GOAL Member
Sharon Fish & Game Club Member
Florida Class Complete - Non Resident App in Progress
?There?s no such thing as a good gun. There?s no such thing as a bad gun.
A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing.
A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys.?
~ Charlton Heston
Source: http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179386-My-first-video-game-console-1975
photos doomsday clock nate robinson sharia law sharia law new hampshire primary results molly sims
Cable and internet are two monthly bills that most of us see as untouchable. But you can get by without either.?
In this 2009 file photo, a Time Warner Cable truck is parked in New York. Hamm argues that cable television is far from a necessary expense ? and in certain cases, you can get by without Internet, too.
Mark Lenhihan/AP/File
EnlargeI?ve talked over the last few days about the value of reviewing monthly bills and subscription services. Today, I?m going to look at two bills that people often think of as ?untouchable,? but which essentially just boil down to expensive entertainment.
Skip to next paragraph Trent HammThe Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.
' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
I?m looking at you, cable/satellite bill. I?m looking at you, too, internet bill.
Let?s look at each of these bills separately.
First,?a cable/satellite bill is purely for entertainment.?There?s essentially no information that you can get from your cable box that you couldn?t get elsewhere, and honestly, the vast majority of what it?s used for is entertainment.
The question is whether or not you could get equivalent entertainment (or information) from other sources. Is there anything you?re getting from your cable box that you couldn?t really get from your DVD player, a roof antenna, and a converter box ? and no longer have a monthly bill?
With just local television, you can get the necessary news and weather alerts and a wide diversity of programming (especially since, with the advent of digital television, you can get ten to twenty channels almost everywhere). With a DVD player, you have access to lots and lots of movies, especially in conjunction with a Redbox kiosk.
What about the internet bill? I?ll agree that?many people use the internet for work-related purposes, but it?s also used largely as a source of entertainment in the home.?Web browsing, movie watching, gaming ? they?re all forms of entertainment enabled by internet access.
Again, can you find these entertainments elsewhere? Would a digital converter box and an antenna on the roof suffice for television programming? Could you use other resources, such as a library, for your other internet needs?
For many people, these two bills add up to well over $100 per month. In some cases, the bill can touch $200 or $300 a month. That?s a pretty big impact on a person?s monthly finances.
It?s well worth considering an alternative plan, at least in the short term, so that you can get control of your finances again. Eliminate the internet or the cable box (or both) from your home for a while and breathe a sigh of relief at the reduced monthly bills.
For many people today, I?d suggest choosing the internet over the cable box if you?re choosing between the two. There is a lot of entertainment that can be found online ? often enough to replace the regular programming given to you by cable or satellite services.
Looking for another way to cut back on monthly entertainment bills? Consider cutting back on your mobile data plan. How often do you really use it for useful things that aren?t purely for entertainment?
The goal isn?t to live a spartan lifestyle. The goal is to stop paying for stuff you don?t use ? or things that you can already get through another service ? and put that money to better use in your life.
This post is part of a yearlong series called ?365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),? in which I?m revisiting the entries from my book ?365 Ways to Live Cheap,? which is available?at Amazon?and at bookstores everywhere.?
?
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/gW3AKLd6DSQ/The-case-for-getting-rid-of-cable
orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson humber raffi torres michael mcdonald jon jones vs rashad evans
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://iskander1988.blogspot.com/2012/11/ramgopall987456ramgopall987456-hobby.html
google maps 8 bit mirror mirror robyn texas relays meniscus the colony kids choice awards
Editor?s note:?Ross Rubin?is principal analyst at Reticle Research and writer for Engadget. No, the Flomio FloJack doesn't track stolen boats with GPS. In the spirit of the Square credit card reader, the device plugs into the headphone jack of mobile iOS or legacy Android mobile devices to read and write data via NFC.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KjnVd24Qvhc/
tupac back tax deadline death race buffet rule carlos santana baa dodgers triple play
Mobile shopping is exploding. No surprise there, since people are shifting from PCs to tablets in large numbers, and shopping on tablets, by most accounts, is a far better experience than shopping on either computers or smartphones.
What is surprising is that Google seems to be losing big as this shift happens, according to a new study from ChannelAdvisor, an e-commerce software firm which helps big retailers sell on platforms like Amazon, eBay, and search engines.
So far this month, Amazon and eBay's sales are way up over last year?41.5% and 24.5% respectively. Sales through search and comparison shopping engines are flat or down.
At the same time, sales are strongly shifting off of PCs?an environment where shopping typically starts by typing what you're looking for into a search engine?and onto tablets and smartphones, where it's much more common to shop with an app.
ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo gives an example: Imagine you're buying a flat-screen TV, an HDMI cable, and a Blu-ray player. On Google, he points out, those are three separate searches?and for each one, you have to evaluate a merchant, figure out shipping, and check out. On Amazon and eBay, you can get all of those items with a single checkout.
And on mobile, he says, Amazon and eBay's advantage in simplicity is "amplified."
Remember, Google makes most of its money off of searches with "commercial intent"?searches where a consumer wants to buy something. If Amazon and eBay are satisfying that intent, swooping in with custom-built apps that are all about shopping, before the customer ever gets to a search box, Google is in trouble.
No wonder Google executives are terrified of Amazon.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ebay-google-mobile-shopping-2012-11
nba all star weekend malin akerman jeff carter chomp national enquirer kate gosselin helicopter crash
6 hrs.
DETROIT --?General Motors said Wednesday that it will buy Ally Financial's operations in Europe, China and Latin America as it tries to build a global finance unit to make low-interest car loans and boost sales.
The auto giant's U.S. loan business, GM Financial, will pay $4.25 billion for the Ally assets, helping GM to better compete in markets where other automakers already have their own loan operations. Automakers with their own finance arms often subsidize loans and leases to boost sales.
The deal, which still must be approved by regulators, is expected to close in stages next year. Ally will get a $550 million premium over the book value of the assets, which was $3.7 billion in the third quarter, Ally said in a news release.
Ally, which was GM's financial arm until it was taken over by the U.S. government in the 2008 banking industry meltdown, is selling off assets to raise money to repay the government for a $17.2 billion bailout. So far Ally has repaid $5.8 billion, leaving a balance of $11.4 billion. The company used to be called GMAC Financial Services.
The move will help GM by restoring a unit that once was highly profitable before the meltdown, said Argus Research analyst Bill Selesky. It also will help GM grow in countries in which the middle class is expanding, he said.
"They believe that future growth will largely be determined by growth in emerging-market economies. They believe this is where the future of auto lending is going, to higher-growth geographies," he said.
GM will give $2 billion to GM Financial to make the purchase, the automaker said in a statement. The deal includes Ally's operations in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. It also includes Ally's 40 percent interest in a Chinese joint venture auto financing company.
GM Financial's assets will double to about $33 billion, and liabilities including debt will rise to $27 billion from about $12 billion today, GM said in the statement.
"GM is entering the most aggressive rollout of new vehicles in its history and this acquisition will make us an even more formidable competitor by ensuring that competitive financing is available to our customers and dealers around the world," said Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said.
In exchange for bailing out Ally, the U.S. government got 74 percent of the lender's common stock, plus $5.9 billion worth of preferred stock.
Ally last month sold its Canadian operations to the Royal Bank of Canada for $4.1 billion and a Mexican insurance business for $865 million. With the GM deal, Ally will have about $9 billion in additional cash. It could use the money to buy back the preferred stock, but Ally spokeswoman Gina Proia said no decision has been made on how to repay the government.
Privately held Ally has been looking at an initial public stock offering to get more money back the government, but that's been put on hold until stock market conditions improve.
The acquisition by GM is another step toward reassembling its global financial arm, which had been a profit center before the 2008 mortgage meltdown. GM sold a 51 percent stake in GMAC in 2006 when it was starved for cash. The new owners, led by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, ran into trouble in 2008 with bad mortgage loans and had to be bailed out by the government.
Ally Financial Inc. will now focus on its U.S. auto lending and bank holding company businesses. In May its mortgage lending and servicing subsidiary Residential Capital LLC or ResCap, filed for bankruptcy protection, severing Ally's ties to the troubled unit. Toxic mortgages made by ResCap caused most of Ally's financial problems. ResCap has since accepted a $3 billion buyout offer from a unit of Ocwen Financial Corp.
GM also owns nearly a 10 percent stake in Ally.
In the third quarter Ally made a $384 million net profit, reversing a loss from a year ago mainly because it didn't have losses from ResCap.
Ally said its global automotive services business continues to be strong, with the loans it financed increasing and improving during the third quarter, despite increased competition among lenders for automotive loans.
Meanwhile, retail deposits at its Ally Bank division increased by 22 percent, and customer accounts grew by 24 percent, the company said.
In October Ally repaid $2.9 billion of the debt it issued under a government program that backed hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. bank debt during the financial crisis. The program is separate from the bailout. Ally said last month that it plans to repay in December the remaining $4.5 billion guaranteed under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. program.
AP Business Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.?
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/gm-buying-ally-assets-europe-latin-america-1C7208003
cab calloway melissa gilbert deadliest catch dwts sean hannity bobby petrino fired buffett rule
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/googlemoneyscam
red sox white sox chuck colson ufc 145 results orrin hatch marlon byrd charles colson
In a photo, date unknown, provided by Grinnell College Athletics, Grinnell basketball player Jack Taylor poses for a photo in Grinnell, Iowa. Taylor, a point guard, scored 138 points for Division III Grinnell against Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night, Nov. 20, 2012, in Grinnell, shattering the NCAA scoring record. Grinnell won 179-104. (AP Photo/Grinnell College, Cory Hall)
In a photo, date unknown, provided by Grinnell College Athletics, Grinnell basketball player Jack Taylor poses for a photo in Grinnell, Iowa. Taylor, a point guard, scored 138 points for Division III Grinnell against Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night, Nov. 20, 2012, in Grinnell, shattering the NCAA scoring record. Grinnell won 179-104. (AP Photo/Grinnell College, Cory Hall)
After a poor shooting weekend, Grinnell guard Jack Taylor was given the green light to shoot his way out of a slump.
It only took 108 shots for Taylor to make a mockery of the college basketball record books.
Taylor scored 138 points to shatter the NCAA scoring record in Division III Grinnell's 179-104 victory over Faith Baptist Bible on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa.
Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis., made 27 of 71 3-point attempts, was 52 of 108 overall from the field and added seven free throws on 10 attempts in 36 minutes.
"It felt like anything I tossed up was going in," Taylor told The Associated Press.
Rio Grande's Bevo Francis held the NCAA scoring record with 113 points against Hillsdale in 1954. In 1953, Francis had 116 against Ashland Junior College. Frank Selvy is the only other player to reach triple figures, scoring 100 points for Division I Furman against Newberry in 1954. The previous Grinnell record was 89 by Griffin Lentsch last Nov. 19 against Principia.
Under coach David Arseneault, the Pioneers press and shoot 3s like nobody else in the country in any level. They've led the nation in scoring for 17 of the past 19 seasons while ranking first nationally in 3-point shooting for the 15 of those past 19 years. But none of them have had a night quite like Taylor ? who never saw this coming.
Taylor recently transferred to Grinnell, located about 50 miles east of Des Moines, after playing one season for Wisconsin-La Crosse. He struggled in his debut at the nearby Wartburg Tournament over the weekend by hitting only 11 of 41 shots ? including only 6 of 34 3-point attempts Still, he averaged 23.5 points a game.
But Taylor started Tuesday's night game off slow ? at least according to his standards. His coaches figured the best way to get him on track was for him to keep chucking, so that's what Taylor did.
"Maybe my cold shooting from the weekend was affecting me," Taylor said. "But then they started to drop."
Taylor had 58 points at halftime.
Then he got hot.
Taylor was 32 of 58 shooting ? including 18 3s ? in the final 20 minutes and averaged an astounding four points a minute in the second half.
"I don't think reality has set in yet," Taylor said.
Faith Baptist's David Larson also had a big game, scoring 70 points on 34-of-44 shooting.
Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks were amazed by Taylor's feat when they heard about it after their victory in New Orleans.
"I never heard of nothing like that. That's like a video game," Anthony said, an incredulous look on his face. "How can you shoot 100 times, though?"
He joked that from now on when someone asks if he's taking too many shots, he'll mention "that someone shot it 108 times."
Raymond Felton also was astounded by the 108 shots.
"His elbow has got to be sore," Felton said.
___
AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.
___
Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP
Associated Presssan francisco earthquake san francisco earthquake terminator salvation terminator salvation deron williams jarhead montrose
If you?ve been generating home-made pasta to get a little though you?ve most likely tried to discover a technique to absolutely dry it within a practical way. Laying it out on a kitchen towel isn?t the very best way for the reason that it?s complicated to acquire all the areas entirely dry. What you?ll need is often a proper stainless steel dish rack.
Racks are an inexpensive kitchen accessory. But they could make a big difference inside the quality of the pasta. That is simply because completely drying your pasta is among the small tricks to getting your batch come out perfectly. So if you?re going to get a drying rack, listed here are some things you need to appear for.
1) It should be sturdy. A good pasta drying rack can hold about four pounds of pasta. And it should not sway when it is fully loaded.
two) It should really be simple to assemble and take apart. You do not choose to devote also a great deal time getting the rack out due to the fact then you will not use it. The very best racks could be very easily stored within a cabinet drawer when they are not in use.
three) It should have excellent height ? say 18 inches or extra. You do not want your pasta noodles dragging on your counter tops. They will not dry suitable.
4) It really should be easy to clean. You just want some mild soap and some water but your rack shouldn?t have some many nooks and crannies on it that it is difficult to obtain to them all.
five) It really should be somewhat decorative. Your drying rack doesn?t need to be the showpiece of one?s kitchen nevertheless it must fit in at the least a bit. If you?re lucky sufficient to discover a thing that fits properly, you might even be tempted to leave it out all of the time.
Creating your own personal pasta could be a lot of fun ? in particular if you get to eat it as well. So get your self an excellent drying rack and go out and make some excellent pasta!
Find out extra concerning the pasta drying rack to determine if it is correct for your kitchen needs.
Source: http://www.bacg2010.org/shopping-and-product-reviews/11/04/54/
katy perry divorce brock lesnar retires new years wake forest wake forest old dominion insync
Arriving just after its debut on Windows Phone 8, Skype's updated its Android app, with a focus on improving the tablet experience. Surely thanks to improved Google tablet sales, Skype references that it's optimized the new UI for the Galaxy Tab 2, the Nexus 7 and ASUS' Transformer Prime, among a few others. Menus and navigation are both repurposed to make use of the extra space, and while the navigation home screen still exists on the phone version (which hasn't changed, design-wise), you'll be staring at your contact list most of the time when using it on a tablet. In fact a persistent tab on the left side of the screen will take you to recent calls and the base contact list, while settings, search and the phone dialer all reside in the top right corner.
Video calls are generally better with bigger slabs, offering more screen real estate to beam your friends, family and co-workers to. However, tablets aren't well known for their camera skills, and our camera output was obviously far sharper on the Note II than on the Nexus 7. Supplanting Messenger as Microsoft's chat app of choice, you'll also be able to login with (and combine) your Microsoft account and this was relatively painless on both the phone and tablet. Skype has also updated the app with its latest SILK audio codecs, attuned specifically for human speech and -- more importantly -- varying internet speeds. After some initial 'robot voice' while connecting, we soon had no issues with several international video calls through WiFi. Hardware demands for Skype's latest encompass the minimum of Android 2.1 OS and an 800MHz processor or faster and if you pass those requirements, the source below is ready to offer you the download.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Skype (Google Play)
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/20/skype-version-3-0-arrives-on-android-devices/
rand paul mark kirk florida gop debate freddie mac kristin cavallari oscar nominations rough riders
Following the extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples over the pond in Maine and in Maryland, TCS wonders whether or not same-sex couples in the UK should still be restricted to 'civil partnerships' as opposed to civil marriages. Should we be wary of an institution that "could destabilise societal morals and children's welfare", or is it time for homosexuals to move closer to socio-cultural parity with heterosexuals?
YES: Same-sex marriage makes perfect symbolic sense and it's high time for our nation to move forward, argues Matthew Ridley.
The debate sparked by the coalition government's policy of allowing same-sex civil marriage in this country has become more heated than most expected. Emotions run high on both sides. I do not want to argue here that opponents of same-sex marriage are bigoted or evil; they are simply wrong. Same-sex marriage makes sense. Here's why.
Firstly, it has real benefits. Civil partnerships may provide the same legal rights as marriage, but they carry none of its historical and cultural significance. Symbolism matters, and calling same-sex relationships 'marriages' would be an important symbolic step - for the first time, same-sex couples would feel fully included in the traditions of a society that for centuries persecuted them. Young LGBT people would learn that accepting their sexuality does not mean rejecting the cultural norms they were brought up into. Young straight people, far less homophobic than any generation before them, would be less inclined to reject the concept of marriage as old-fashioned and discriminatory.
Opponents will respond that such benefits are minor in comparison with the costs of same-sex marriage. They say that the government can't 'redefine' a word like marriage and that perhaps the next step after allowing same-sex marriage will be polygamy, or incestuous marriage. These are not arguments, just attempts to avoid the issue at hand. Any change in the law 'redefines a word', and polygamy and incest are separate issues for separate debates. Each time we exclude a particular group from a legal contract, that exclusion must be justified on its own merits. Societies where the state arbitrarily treats different groups differently are societies without the rule of law.
The only plausible difference between gay and straight couples that might justify excluding gay ones from marriage is that gay couples can't naturally procreate. The argument goes that marriage is an institution established for the sake of children, where couples commit to providing a secure environment for their offspring. Allowing same-sex couples to marry would send a message that marriage is not about children, but personal fulfilment, and we'd neglect its true purpose.
Such an argument might sound reasonable, but is in fact ludicrous. As far as straight couples are concerned, allowing same-sex marriage doesn't change the usefulness of getting married at all. This is why all the evidence shows that same-sex marriage laws have no effect on rates of opposite-sex marriage, or births out of wedlock. Studies also show that many same-sex couples can, and do, raise children just as well as opposite-sex ones. If marriage does protect children, I would say that all kids, not just those with opposite-sex parents, deserve such protection. Besides, marriage isn't just about children; we know this because straight couples who will never have children, or would make incredibly bad parents, can still get married.
Some worry that if same-sex marriage is allowed, anti-discrimination laws will force churches to hold weddings that contradict their beliefs. This will not happen in the UK; the Equalities Minister has expressly stated as much. But as for other countries, if this is the only thing that worries you, it's anti-discrimination law you have an issue with, not same-sex marriage.
What I really want to get across is that same-sex marriage is not an issue of 'left' versus 'right', nor one based on value judgements or emotions. It's just common sense. It makes a few people much happier and it protects children from the Wrong Impression. Now, as a nation, let's move on.
Matthew Ridley is a second-year Economist at Trinity
NO: Gay marriage could constitute a slippery slope towards societal decline, suggests Sarah Weidenmuller.
Hail wedded love, mysterious law, true source, Of human offspring, sole propriety, In Paradise of all things common else. John Milton, Paradise Lost
As society confronts the constitution and nature of marriage, the 'wedded love' which captivated Milton in his seminal epic, it is this article's contention that same-sex marriages would be harmful to the institution of marriage, to societal morals, and to the welfare of children. The answer to the question above, therefore, is a gentle but firm "no".
In the first instance, marriage would be drastically redefined for everybody. Take a look at the British government's 'Equal civil marriage' consultation this year. To conciliate religious groups and ostensibly protect them from successful legal action if refusing to conduct same-sex marriages, it proposed that such couples would only be eligible for a civil (not a religious) marriage ceremony. Yet this will not prevent the 'what' of marriage being redefined for the whole of society, regardless of its restriction on the 'where' or 'how'.
So what exactly is the purpose of marriage? Since Christians are often on the opposing side of this debate, and since no Cambridge student can deny that the Bible's influence on British national identity and history has been considerable, reflect upon one quotation from its very first chapter:
'Then God blessed [male and female], and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it ..."
The instruction to "fill the earth" was preceded by a blessing; it was a loving command, the blueprint for the building of families and nations. Whether or not you adhere to the Christian faith, it is impossible to deny that one purpose of marriage is procreation in a loving, committed relationship: families, and by extension nations, cannot be built in any other meaningful way.
At this point, some unpleasant - but empirical - evidence must be posited. On the website of 'The Couples Study', an independent study by a same-sex couple into non-monogamous male-couple relationships, there is an illuminating section entitled 'Research on Non-Monogamy'. The very first statistic cited is that '[m]ost research shows that approximately two-thirds of long-term male couples who have been together for five years or more are honestly non-monogamous'. Additionally, four studies are cited 'which document that only one third of male couples are sexually exclusive'. (They do, however, also cite one study which has not reached this conclusion). How can one promote same-sex relationships with the gift of 'marriage' in the face of such statistical trends?
The above evidence seems to suggest that same-sex relationships have a fundamental inability to satisfy. So when the foreword to the Government's 'Equal civil marriage' consultation claims that 'if commitment and marriage is a good thing we should not restrict marriage only to opposite-sex couples', it is using a good observation to reach a wrong conclusion. The wedding vows long cherished in this country promise union 'till death us do part'; but the reality of monogamous union in same-sex marriages would be deeply questionable.
Thus, they could not meet the familial needs of coming generations. The healthiest and most balanced environment for any child to grow up in is in the presence of a loving father and mother; the two sexes are complementary, not substitutionary. For Christians, this conclusion is derived from Biblical principles such as 'In the Lord ... woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman'; and many non-religious thinkers would surely agree with this principle. Although the new intolerant 'tolerance' of British society increasingly sidelines the "no" side to this debate, I gently remind the reader that this nation's destabilisation and decline awaits if same-sex couples are given equal marriage rights.
Sarah Weidenmuller is a third-year Historian at Murray Edwards
Frank Ocean Gay scarlett johansson bill clinton andy roddick Costa Rica Earthquake sandra fluke kellie pickler
New York real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman is unveiling a new brand identity and returning to its original name.
DOTTIE HERMAN
Effective immediately, the Douglas Elliman name will be adopted by all of the company?s businesses including residential and commercial real estate, title services, relocation services, property management, as well as the firm?s Development Marketing division.
Founded in 1911, Douglas Elliman is credited with shaping today?s New York real estate industry. The firm is the largest residential brokerage in New York and fourth largest in the nation, operating a network of over 70 offices and 4,000 real estate professionals throughout New York City (including Brooklyn and Queens), Long Island, The Hamptons and Westchester/Putnam.
Through a strategic partnership with Knight Frank Residential, Douglas Elliman?s global reach extends across 43 countries and six continents.
?Douglas Elliman is an iconic brand and trusted name that stands for vision, integrity, service and innovation,? said Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Douglas Elliman.
?We are proud to build upon this legacy by focusing on the needs of today?s consumer through sharing information, so they can make one of life?s most important decisions with complete confidence. As a result, we have had tremendous success building long-lasting relationships with consumers in all markets we service.?
To commemorate the firm?s Centennial in October 2011, Douglas Elliman unveiled a new brand initiative, AskElliman, a comprehensive platform that allows consumers to ask questions through their website, elliman.com and receive real-time answers from a team of top industry experts. The company has also re-launched its magazine, Elliman.
HOWARD LORBER
?A return to our historic Douglas Elliman identity further propels us to the top of the real estate industry,? added Howard M. Lorber, chairman.
?We are continuing our leadership position by expanding into new markets, through forward-thinking, new technology, and interacting with our clients on a global scale.?
Source: http://www.rew-online.com/2012/11/19/douglas-elliman-drops-the-pru/
Kristen Stewart Rupert Sanders Photos 2016 Olympics TD Bank mountain lion hanley ramirez Christian Bale visits victims Perez Hilton
