While big chunks of the industry may be feeling gloomy, the artist formerly known as IBM's PC Division keeps on raking in money. Lenovo's third quarter earnings report reveals that the company sold $9.4 billion worth of hardware, keeping $200 million of that back for itself in net profit. It's also seen its Chinese smartphone business turn a profit, and is now eyeing Russia as the next land ripe for conquering. Lenovo's corporate mattress is so stuffed that it probably smells of money, as the company has squirreled away $4.2 billion for a rainy day, or, you know, something else.
Personality disorders are a form of mental illness.? People with personality disorders have difficulty understanding an relating to people and situations.? Approximately 15% of adults in the US are affected by one or more personality disorders.? Some are more common in men than women and vise versa. The Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of the American Psychiatric Association defines personality disorders as ?an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that differs markedly from the expectations of the individuals culture, is pervasive and inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood,? is stable over time, and leads to distress or impairment.?? People that suffer from a personality disorder have extreme difficulty coping with other people. They are usually rigid and inflexible.? They do not deal with the everyday demands and changes in life well.? Most of the time people with a personality disorder believe their patterns of behavior are normal and correct while it?s everyone else that is wrong.? This behavior makes it very difficult for them to participate in social gatherings. So what is a ?personality??? Our personality is the individual behavior styles and patterns that create our individuality and character.? This includes how we think and feel as well as our attitudes how we perceive the world around us.? When people have a healthy personality they are able to handle normal stressors and are able to develop good relationships with their family, friends and co workers. Our personality develops throughout our childhood and is generally determined by the interaction of two factors, inherited tendencies and environment.? Inherited tendencies are the parts of your personality that you get from your parents like being shy or happy and outgoing, which is called your temperament.? This? is the ?nurture? part of the debate over nurture vs nature.? The environment refers to the surrounding and events that occurred while you were growing up.? It includes the type of relationship you had with your family members as well as others.? Were your parents loving and supportive or abusive?? All these aspects create the ?nurture? part of the debate over nature vs nurture. The DSM-IV-TR categorizes 10 different personality disorders into three clusters, A, B and C.? Cluster A disorders include paranoid personality disorders, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal disorder.? Cluster B disorders include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.? And cluster C disorders includes avoidant personality disorders, dependent personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorders. Personality disorders are conditions that you will need to manage throughout your life.? However, there are some personality disorders that become less intense as you reach middle age and later.? People with personality disorders are at risk for other problems including substance abuse, depression and suicide even homicidal tendencies.? People suffering from personality disorders in cluster B are highly susceptible to impulse control issues, substance abuse and suicidal behavior.? People with one or more personality disorders have a higher chance of developing other psychiatric and mood disorders than the general population.
Kimberly Allen is a registered nurse with an AND in nursing. She has worked in ACF, LCF and psychiatric facilities, although she spent most of her career as a home health expert. She is now a regular contributor to HealthAndFitnessTalk.com, dispensing advice and knowledge about medical issues and questions. You can reach her with any comments or questions at? mussatti3@gmail.com.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Kid Rock says his new partnership with Harley-Davidson is a dream deal, and as the owner of multiple Harley bikes, he didn't feel like he was compromising his integrity or risking a backlash from fans.
The Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker is sponsoring Kid Rock's upcoming tour, named for his most recent release, "Rebel Soul."
The partnership announced Monday also includes an exclusive line of limited-edition, cobranded "Rebel Soul" merchandise featuring a line from the song: "I can't hear you over the rumble of my freedom."
Kid Rock said Tuesday the deal "just makes sense" because Harley is "something I've used that I've loved for a long time before this deal came about."
The tour begins Friday in Kansas City and will end Aug. 31 at Harley's 110th anniversary celebration in Milwaukee.
BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A retired U.S. Army sergeant who underwent a double arm transplant after losing both arms and both legs in Iraq was discharged from The Johns Hopkins Hospital on Tuesday, saying he was anxious to get back to an active life.
Sgt. Brendan Marrocco, 26, of Staten Island, New York, had the successful bilateral arm transplant surgery six weeks ago at the renowned Baltimore hospital.
"I feel like I'm getting a second chance to start over," Marrocco said at a news conference announcing his discharge. "I'm just looking forward to everything I would have wanted to do over the last four years."
Driving, swimming and hand cycling top his list, he said.
A roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2009 cost him all four limbs.
"I hated having no arms," Marrocco said. "I was alright with having no legs."
Double-arm transplant surgery is rare, and doctors said this was the first such successful procedure to be conducted at Johns Hopkins. Also, officials have said Marrocco is the first U.S. soldier in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to survive losing all four limbs.
W.P. Andrew Lee, the doctor who headed the transplant team, said although the surgery was successful, it will be a few years before Marrocco's nerves regenerate and he regains significant use of his arms.
"The progress will be slow, but the outcome will be rewarding," Lee said.
Dr. Jamie Shores, an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery and a member of the surgical team, said Marrocco had exceeded doctors' hopes by finding creative ways to use his new limbs despite the medical team's cautious expectations for his mobility at this stage.
"We're the ones holding him back at this point," Shores said.
Marrocco wheeled himself into the news conference, during which he pushed his hair back several times with his left arm. He said his right arm and both hands have little or no feeling or movement.
"We'll get there," Marrocco said. Visibly in high spirits, the war veteran laughed and joked and said a positive attitude and stubborn nature helped sustain him through his ordeal.
"If it really meant something to me, I would go through hell to do it," he said.
Marrocco's family said that besides his pain, he has been upbeat.
"He really hasn't had any low points," said Michael Marrocco, his brother.
Doctors said Marrocco will spend up to six hours a day in physical therapy.
The rare surgery took 13 hours and involved 16 doctors who volunteered from plastic surgery, orthopedics and other disciplines, the hospital said.
It was largely funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, with the remainder of the cost contributed by the hospital, according to Lee.
Apple has released a software update?? iOS 6.1 ? which gives you the ability to purchase movie tickets through?Fandango using Siri, supports LTE?capabilities?for a bunch of carriers around the world?and adds the ability to download individual songs from iCloud.
You can find a complete list of the newly supported LTE-capable carriers on Apple's website.?(There's now support for LTE connectivity for 36 additional iPhone carriers and 23 additional iPad carriers around the world.)?
iOS 6.1 is available is compatible with the?iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third- and fourth-generation?iPad, iPad Mini, iPad 2,?and fourth- and fifth-generation?iPod Touch. You can snag it by?connecting your device to iTunes and hitting the "check for updates" button. (Alternatively, head into your gadget's "Settings" menu, select the "General" tab, and tap the "Software Updates" option to download the update over?the air.)
Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.
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Investors who said they lost money in Bernard Madoff?s fraud may not pursue a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for missing the swindler?s Ponzi scheme, a federal appeals court said on Monday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California said a federal district judge correctly dismissed their lawsuit seeking to hold the SEC responsible under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Citing a 2009 report by the regulator?s inspector general, investors led by Dichter-Mad Family Partners LLP in Florida said they would not have invested with Madoff had the regulator availed itself of ?multiple opportunities? to stop the fraud.
They said they instead relied on the regulator?s ?implied stamp of approval? prior to investing, and sought to recover losses they attributed to SEC negligence.
But the 9th Circuit in an unsigned order said the plaintiffs? claims fell within the regulator?s ?discretionary functions,? depriving courts of jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
?I respectfully disagree with the decision, and intend to seek further appellate review,? Richard Gordon, a lawyer who is one of the plaintiffs and argued the appeal, said in a telephone interview.
SEC spokesman John Nester said in an email: ?The decision speaks for itself.?
Monday?s order upheld an April 2010 ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson in Los Angeles.
In April 2011, a Manhattan federal judge dismissed a similar lawsuit by two other Madoff investors.
An exhaustive August 2009 report by SEC Inspector General David Kotz outlined how the regulator failed to uncover Madoff?s fraud by missing many red flags, disregarding tips, and failing to follow up properly on leads.
Madoff, 74, pleaded guilty in March 2009 and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.
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What is a ?fixed? ticket price? Well actually there is no such thing as the cost of a particular ticket usually varies greatly throughout its life. You see a ticket is like any other commodity in that its value gets smaller as its likelihood of sale diminishes. In the case of an air ticket the value hits zero as soon as that aircraft takes off with an empty seat on it. An airline flight seat is more perishable than a bunch of ripe bananas.
It has taken a while but airlines have now recognised this having competed and mainly lost to no frills companies that work on the ?stack them high and sell them cheap? business model. Now you have the most conservative of the major airlines of the world discounting their prices to produce full flights. Everyone is working on the same concept which is to sell their seats at the maximum price they possibly can but shift them nonetheless.
I challenge anyone to run a straw poll on price paid on any airline flight and I can almost guarantee that they would all be different. Much depends on the popularity of the service as the ?rush hour? peak aircraft will always be able to charge a premium for the exclusivity of what they have. If you are flying to Paris on business on a Monday morning there is no point in arriving early afternoon so you, like everyone else in that situation, pays extra to go early and do a full day?s work.
So how do airlines work out their fares? Firstly they look at the trends. They see how that flight did previously going back a considerable distance. They calculated who paid what and when. They identify when they booked and how often people then cancelled. Then they look at how full the aircraft was and what prices people paid who occupied those seats. They learn from this information and build a pricing plan. The vast majority of airlines invest in ?yield management? as a way of optimising seat usage and making money.
I would say the price of a seat in a particular cabin on an airline can change over 50 times from first being put on the market up to departure time. Get it right and you have a full aircraft and no wastage. Get it wrong too often and you go out of business or need a government bail out!
Everyone knows that only individual private travelers and tourist book and pay early so the prices initially start low. Closer to departure date you get the more thrifty business traveler and those that need to go more suddenly so the price goes up. Three to four days out you have the business traveler. They need flexibility and they have to go so they get hit with the highest fares. The day before, if there are any seats left, they are discounted for the last minute traveler who is looking for cheap deals and can risk being turned away.
This is the sort of basic model that is used today. Within that there are prices for groups booked together, ships crews, tour operators and numerous others. Success or otherwise is measured by filling that last seat however they can, and at the best price for the airline. Most planes are overbooked by airlines as they even gamble on how many folk will turn up on the day. This is especially true when an airline operates different classes as they feel safer overbooking economy seats if they can upgrade any surplus into business class. This happens a lot.
Another method of selling large volumes of seats is through consolidators and wholesalers. These people have a lot of customers and they buy seats at low net prices from airlines for resale to their own market. Airlines get less but they have outsourced the responsibility of selling them to a third party.
How do you get the best ticket price? The only way is to book when others do not. Either early or risk a last minute attempt. It is like a game of chess really, except your competitors employ ?grand masters? to play their pieces!
Since their launch in 2011,?Chromebooks?have slowly been gaining steam. Lenovo just thew their hat into the Chrome OS arena along with Acer and Samsung with a?Chromebook designed for education. Starting at $199, Chromebooks do one thing: launch Chrome and connect to the web. In a world of tablets and smartphones, do Chromebooks matter?at all?in your opinion? Would you buy one/recommend buying one? What do you like or dislike about the idea of a Chromebook? Will businesses get on board? Consumers? What do you think Google is trying to accomplish with the Chromebook? Are Chromebooks (and Chrome OS) an important challenger to Microsoft and Apple? Here?s the Think Tank to give you their opinion:
No, But It?s Perfect for the Google Universe
As of now, I would not buy a Google Chromebook. This is not to say everyone should not buy a one. For most people, the Chromebook is a perfect device since 95 percent of the time the only app most people use is a browser to access the Internet and; for those who primarily live in the Google universe, this is the perfect portable device.
As for me, I?m firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem so a Chromebook really would not be a good choice for me. I also work with and edit photography and video so my computers needs are more than just a browser. Along with a 27 inch iMac, the MacBook Air is my notebook computer of choice.
I believe the Chromebook is a transitional device. As tablets and other tablet like device (like smartphones) gain more power and usability, these are the devices that will continue to gain traction. It?s ultimately about portability, versatility and connectivity. A tablet is portable in that you can tuck it under your arm (or in your pocket in the case of the iPad Mini and other 7 inch models,) versatile in that you can use peripherals such as keyboards to add specialized functionality when needed and connected in that most tablet devices have 3G and LTE data connectivity built-in and all have wifi so you can be online from anywhere.
So to answer the question: Would I buy a Google Chromebook? My answer is no but I suspect for most average people who have data needs that are mostly satisfied through a web browser, the answer is a resounding YES!
Marty (@martymcpadden) is the founder and CEO of PodJamTV Productions who also?blogs for the Huffington Post.
Yes and No; It Depends
I ordered a couple of Acer Chromebooks to test out (I wanted to give the Samsung model a try, but they were consistently sold out all across the web) and I have to say I really like them, surprisingly. I can?t replace my normal computing routine with a Chromebook at the moment? I?m too dependent on Adobe Creative Suite which demands a lot more power and obviously needs to be installed locally. But, for many people I know and work with, the Chromebook is perfect?it not only does everything they need, it?s cheap. I wouldn?t be surprised if the Chromebooks became free someday as Google does it?s best to keep people using it?s search, especially in the face on new Facebook Graph Search competition. I wish I could get away with just a web browser? but I still can?t quite do it. If I could, I?d happily use a Chromebook (although I still prefer my MacBook Air, given a choice). It turns on quick, has some nice built-in features like the ability to snap windows (ie Chrome) to either side of the screen. I have an iPad, and I love it, but I am a device guy?a Chromebook is nice to have around just cause? I can pick up and use it anywhere without really worrying if it gets messed up/dropped/scratched/stolen. It?s almost disposable. Secretary?s (and who are we kidding, some executives) can get by on a Chromebook no problem (it has an HDMI out as well for connecting to a monitor or TV). So, yes, and no.
No, But I?d Recommend a Chromebook to My Grandma
It?s not in my budget because if I bought a Chromebook, I?d have to buy another laptop to get actual work done. I don?t need two laptops.
When I think of netbooks, I associate them with crappier versions of every other computer on the market. Who wants one laptop for getting stuff done, and one craptop for checking email and tweeting? No thanks. I?ll use my iPad for that.
So, no. I would not buy a Chromebook. I thought netbooks were dead anyway now that we have iPads. That said, I would recommend a Chromebook to my Grandma if she asked me what kind of computer she should get that isn?t an Apple.
I?m not entirely sure what Google?s M.O. is with Chromebook, but tablets like the iPad have clearly struck a cord with a demographic that historically hasn?t considered using social media or even getting online. The Chromebook may be able to do something that netbooks couldn?t ? get people to buy them. If they do, it will be the OS that earns Google a win for netbooks.
Chad Halvorson (@chadworks)?is the CEO of?thisCLICKS, makers of?When I Work, a cloud-based mobile employee scheduling software.
No, Because I Have an iPad
Personally, I wouldn?t buy one, but that?s only because I have an iPad already. As a parent and educator, I think there?s absolutely a market for an affordable tool like this. With its low price point, it could even help to bridge the ?Digital Divide? by enabling more people to access the Internet. The Chromebook doesn?t directly compete with Microsoft or Apple, because those companies are reaching for a higher-end market. This could be a useful tool for consumers who otherwise would be priced out of the tablet or laptop market.
Essentially, Chromebooks are good for one thing: accessing the Internet using Chrome. This is fantastic, provided users can do all the things they?d generally want to do online. Video playback on some major sites ? including Netflix ? doesn?t work properly on the Chromebook, which limits the appeal of this tool for recreational and educational purposes. If they can sort that out, this could be a viable option for a largely untapped market.
Kerry O?Shea Gorgone (@KerryGorgone) is an attorney, new media specialist, and educator teaching Internet marketing at Full Sail University in Florida.
No, But I?d Buy One for My Son
No, I wouldn?t buy a Google Chromebook, well, at least not for myself. I?m seriously considering buying one for a certain someone in my family who just happens to have a birthday right around the corner, though (hint, hint).
I have a Macbook Pro that I?m very happy with. However, I do wish the Google Chromebook had been an option back when I purchased my Mac laptop, which certainly didn?t come cheap. Ranging between $199 and $249, a Chromebook would have been a much more budget-appropriate choice.
I would consider purchasing a Samsung Chromebook for my almost 12-year-old. (Shh! Don?t tell him.) It would be a perfect low-cost first laptop for him. As a 6th grader who wrestles a grip of homework, reports, and presentations, he has to quickly create, edit, cloud share, and email text documents, spreadsheets, and image and video files on the fly. He could easily do all of that (via Google Drive, Gmail and such) and much more (IM and explore the web, hopefully not too much) with a Chromebook, all while seamlessly syncing it with with his Android smartphone.
Despite rumors that Chromebooks only do one thing (access the Internet and not much more), they?re actually packed with quite a few top notch built-in apps and utilities, including a native media player, photo editor, and many more built-in geeky goodies. Plus, I hear they?re pretty much bulletproof when it comes to viruses and malware.
Bonus: With a Chromebook, my tween (and don?t tell him I called him that, he?d be mortified) could easialy listen to music and stream movies via YouTube and Google Play. Both are nearly impossible to sanitize in terms of age-appropriate content, though. Chromebook at his fingertips, my son could even chat with up to nine friends all at once via Google Hangouts, though I?m not sure I?m quite ready for him to take the way-too-public required Google+ social media plunge.
And how could he survive without a million games to conquer? It?s a good thing the Chrome Web Store features countless fun (and free!) games, including a few of my son?s favorites, like Motocross Nitro, Mini Ninjas, Need for Speed World, and, yes, the almighty Minecraft.
Final verdict: I?d definitely buy a budget-friendly Google Chromebook over a pricey Macbook for my kids (the other two will want what their big brother has, no doubt). If someone spills Gatorade on it or drops it in the pool, I won?t be out a thousand bucks. As you can see, a killer price is far from the only reason I?d pick one (or three) up for my brood. Now to figure out where I can get one within walking distance of my home?
Kim Lachance Shandrow?(LinkedIn) is a?Los Angeles-based tech journalist who specializes in writing about social media marketing, startups, smartphones, streaming TV, mobile apps and green technology.
Kate and I were talking recently about how blogging and social media have led to every minor thing in life transforming into a major thing. ?We both have been avoiding Pinterest this entire month because the onslaught of Valentine Day stressed us out.? When I was a kid, you went to the store and picked out the little cardboard box with the cartoon character you liked the best on it. ?Inside there were those cheap little paper envelopes that you tried to lick shut but they?d never stay shut. ?Now, if you judge the average Valentine by what you see on Pinterest, we?re all Martha-freaking-Stewart, and the blogosphere is full of tutorials and DIY entertaining and decor ideas for holidays I didn?t know people actually celebrated with things they needed tutorials for.? I actually have a tendency to get caught up in things like that because I LOVE holidays. ??I love traditions. ?I love making things absolutely magical for my kids. ?But I also like having a balance, and making things meaningful. ?I?ve been thinking about Valentines Day lately and wanted to do something with my family that wasn?t about games and candy and presents as it seems every holiday is. ?We get plenty of treats around here, but within our home I wanted to really focus this year on the actual love part of Valentines.
Every Monday night at our house is ?Family Night.? ?We sing a song together, read from our scriptures, have a little lesson/message about a value, and then play a game and have a treat. ?A couple of weeks ago our lesson was about kindness and I blasted back to 1st grade when we learned about ?warm fuzzies? and ?cold pricklies.? ?Did everyone do that? ?I taught my kids all about warm-fuzzies and had them go around in a circle and say something kind about everyone else in the family. ?They loved it. ?And they thought of the cutest things to say.
It reminded me about how important it is to say things and not just show them. ?And how much confidence it instills in a person to receive a compliment, and call out all of the wonderful things about them that you love. ?I remember very specific instances in my life when people did that for me, and what a difference it made. ?I still have a little folded up piece of paper from youth group activity we did when I was about 13 where we exchanged papers and wrote things we admired about the other person on it. ?It says awesome teenage things like, ?Sara is so super sweet to everyone!? and still, it makes me smile every time I read it.
I still cling to a letter my Mom wrote to me when I was a teenager when she noted qualities she loved about me and traits she admired. ?Things I never saw in myself until I read them from her and things I aspired to live up to after that moment. ?I remember having a thoughtful chemistry teacher in high school who pulled me aside after class one day and asked me if I had considered what I would study in college. ?She told me I was bright, and that I had a keen understanding of chemistry, and that the world needed more smart women in the science field. ?Until that moment, I had never considered myself anything but completely average, but that one little compliment set me on a path that eventually led to a college degree in the science field. ?I think about that teacher often and how much confidence she gave me with a few simple words.
Experiences like that remind me of how important it is to express things to the people I love, and especially to help my children recognize in themselves what I see so clearly:? their strengths, their unique traits, their good behavior. ?The things I?m proud of, the things that make me laugh, the things I love.? I love it when my sons see those things in each other, too.
So we did another little family activity. ?I made these little love-notes and thought about each one of my kids. ?This actually takes some time; it caused my husband and I to really ponder about the special attributes of each of our kids and realize how unique they all are.
I filled some out, my husband filled some out, and we had our boys fill a few out for each other. ?That was probably my favorite part; seeing each of them express things they love about their brothers.
It was fun reminiscing about things we?d done together in the past and some of our favorite family moments.
I made the notes little; just perfect for a quick little phrase or two, and perfectly sized to fit inside of those cute little treat bags.? (Mine are all from Orson Gygi)
My kids absolutely love our Christmas advent, and the waking-up-first-thing-in-the-morning-and-checking-it part is probably even more exciting than seeing what was actually in there.
So I packaged up all of our little love notes
and have them waiting to be delivered.
And although I know my little boys will adore hand-written expressions of love from their parents, they will adore them much more if there?s candy involved.? So they?ll get a little of that too.? Packaged in their mail boxes in the days leading up to Valentines day.? And before they can use them to make paper airplanes, I?ll tuck them away for them to read again someday and be reminded of how much they?re loved.
You can use these little notes like I did, or for a fun family night of your own where you read them out loud, or slip them into a lunch box or tape them to a bathroom mirror for someone.? They?re just for sharin? the love, so do that any way you like :)
I?m having technical issues that are preventing me from putting all of these pages together in file, but you can can print them all separately using the links below.? I included all of the little phrases and questions starters I used for my family, plus a sheet of blank notes to use however you like.
Love Notes Set #1 Love Notes Set #2 Love Notes Set #3 Love Notes (Blank)
I am just getting back into roleplaying and I am looking for a like minded roleplayer to share a storyline with.
I really enjoy realistic settings in roleplays and like a mature storyline that has some depth to it. I would like someone who is able to commit to a roleplay and see it through. Although I am only just getting back into roleplaying I can still maintain a good quality post.
It would be nice if you could play either male or female so if there is more than one roleplay we're not always playing the same gender :)
I have roleplayed about animals, love, war, drama, disaster and many more topics so if you are interested in creating a realistic roleplay I'd love to hear from you.
Just send me a message and we can discuss some ideas :)
Ahead of the grand unveiling of its next-gen BlackBerry 10 OS this week, and fresh from rebranding its app store to BlackBerry World -- to flag up the multimedia content that will be up for grabs alongside the apps -- RIM has revealed a few more details about the multimedia music and video content BlackBerry uses will be able to download from the store.
Hello there! I'm Sam! i'm an 18 year old female and i'm soooooo bored. I only currently have two roleplays going on and my one partners computer is broken so she can't respond and i'm always looking for more people to roleplay with!
I will never only play male characters. I will play male characters if i'm also playing a female but i won't ever play only males. I love romance roleplays, i actually only play romance ones. I also tend to like roleplays filled with drama, you know, just to keep it interesting. I have plenty of ideas, and i would love it if someone else had ideas too!
I will do girlxgirl, guyxgirl, and even guyxguy if we also have girl characters!
I can do as little as one character, or as many as five. Age groups of characters i like it play is from 14 to 25.
I'd prefer someone who is close in age to me, you know i don't want anyone who is young and immature. But i can take someone alot older than me.
Alright well if you want to be my roleplay partner just shoot me a message and i'll discuss limits and ideas with you! :)
Gun rights and gun control advocates demonstrate in the Pennsylvania Capital building Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, in Harrisburg, Pa. As a boycott continued to grow over a ban on assault weapons at next month's Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, gun rights supporters and gun control supporters held rallies at the state Capitol.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke);
Gun rights and gun control advocates demonstrate in the Pennsylvania Capital building Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, in Harrisburg, Pa. As a boycott continued to grow over a ban on assault weapons at next month's Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, gun rights supporters and gun control supporters held rallies at the state Capitol.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke);
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Residents from Newtown, Conn., are joining a march on Washington for gun control on Saturday with parents, pastors, survivors of gun violence and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Organizers said they are expecting thousands of participants for the rally on the National Mall, including about 100 from Newtown and buses from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. Others are flying in from Seattle, San Francisco and even Alaska. They will gather Saturday at the Capitol Reflecting Pool at 10 a.m. and will begin marching down Constitution Avenue toward the Washington Monument at 11 a.m. A rally is planned on the monument grounds at noon.
Molly Smith, the artistic director of Washington's Arena Stage, and her partner organized the march, inspired by the December massacre that killed 20 first graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, she said. The gunman also fatally shot his mother and committed suicide.
"With the drum roll, the consistency of the mass murders and the shock of it, it is always something that is moving and devastating to me. And then, it's as if I move on," Smith said. "And In this moment, I can't move on. I can't move on.
"I think it's because it was children, babies," she said. "I was horrified by it."
While she's never organized a political march before, Smith said she was compelled to press for a change in the law. The march organizers support President Barack Obama's call for a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as well as for universal background checks for gun sales. They also want lawmakers to require gun safety training for all buyers of firearms.
As a theater person, Smith said murdering a child is something you can never show in theater. Even in the Greek tragedy, "Medea," the main character kills her children, but that happens off stage, Smith said.
After the Connecticut shootings, Smith posted something on Facebook and drew more support to do something. The group One Million Moms for Gun Control, the Washington National Cathedral and two other churches eventually signed on to co-sponsor the march. Organizers have raised more than $46,000 online to pay for equipment and fees to stage the rally.
Lawmakers from the District of Columbia and Maryland are scheduled to speak. Actress Kathleen Turner is expected to appear, along with Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund and Colin Goddard, a survivor from the Virginia Tech massacre.
Smith said she supports a comprehensive look at mental health and violence in video games and films. But she said the mass killings at Virginia Tech and Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., all start with guns.
"The issue is guns. The Second Amendment gives us the right to own guns, but it's not the right to own any gun," she said. "These are assault weapons, made for killing people."
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March on Washington for Gun Control: http://www.guncontrolmarch.com/
6677 Camden Ave, San Jose, CA | Get?Directions?? FREE
On Sunday, January 27th, Santa Clara Youth Rugby Club (www.santaclarayouthrugby.com) will be hosting the Los Gatos Lions, Bowling Green and Palo Alto Seahawks Youth Rugby Clubs at Leland High School's all-weather fields.? Santa Clara Youth Rugby practices on Thursday evenings at Calabazas Park, and typically plays games at Butcher Park on Sundays, (depending on field conditions).
Youth Rugby is one of the fastest growing youth sports in the US with over 100,000 participants.? Participation has been growing since it was added to the list of Olympic Sports, it will appear in the 2016 Rio de Jainero Summer Olympics for the 1st time since the US won gold in 1924.? Northern California Youth Rugby is growing future Olympians.
Rugby is a contact sport that incorporates skills found in football, wrestling, basketball, and soccer.? It is a winter sport that typically runs from January-March, with an abbreviated summer "7s" season.? It is a great way to stay fit for spring sports, or get fit for the fall season in the summer.
Please come out to Leland High and? watch and talk with any of our coaches in the blue shirts.? Santa Clara Youth Rugby Club is currently looking for boy and girl athletes ages 7-14.? We look forward to seeing you on the pitch.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House and a bipartisan group of senators will launch separate efforts next week to jumpstart negotiations to overhaul the immigration system, an issue that has languished in Washington for years.
Obama will start his second-term immigration push during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday. The Senate working group is also aiming to outline its proposals at about the same time, according to a Senate aide.
Even before those plans are formally unveiled, there is emerging consensus on several key components, most notably the need for some kind of pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. The White House and Senate Democrats favor addressing immigration through a broad package of legislation, while some Republicans lawmakers prefer to tackle the issue through several separate bills.
The proposals will mark the start of what's sure to be a contentious and emotional campaign in the wake of 2012 election results that saw Latino voters turn out in large numbers to re-elect Obama ? a signal to some Republican leaders that the party needed to change its posture on immigration.
The aim of the Senate group is to draft an immigration bill by March and pass legislation in the Senate by August, said the aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations. The Republican-controlled House would also need to pass the legislation before it went to the White House for the president's signature.
For Obama, a successful push on immigration reform would be a promise kept to the Latino community after he disappointed many by failing to act on the issue in his first term, and it could be central to his legacy. The president met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House Friday to discuss his upcoming proposals.
Following his re-election, Obama pledged to make immigration reform a top second-term priority.
"I think we have talked about it long enough," Obama said during an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" in December. "We know how we can fix it. We can do it in a comprehensive way that the American people support. That's something we should get done."
Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office. The basis for the president's plan is expected to be his 2011 immigration reform "blueprint", which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, increased border security, mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants and improvements to the legal immigration system.
For Republicans, tackling immigration reform could be a way to broaden their appeal among Latino voters who are increasingly key to presidential elections. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November, and 71 percent backed Obama over the 27 percent who voted for Romney.
In the Senate, lawmakers working on the effort include Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, according to Senate aides.
A few other lawmakers have also been involved including Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado and Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah. It's not clear whether all those involved will sign on to the principles the group hopes to roll out next week.
Details of the Senate proposals remain unclear but the principles are expected to address a process toward legalizing the status of unauthorized immigrants already in the country; border security; verification measures for employers hiring workers and ways for more temporary workers to be admitted into the country.
On the path to citizenship, Schumer and Graham have in the past supported requiring illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law, perform community service, pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and learn English before going to the back of the line of immigrants already in the system.
Several of the senators negotiating the immigration principles are veterans of the comprehensive immigration reform effort under then-President George W.Bush. That process collapsed in 2007 when it came up well-short of the needed votes in the Senate, a bitter outcome for Bush and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats' leader on the legislation.
Some Republicans still lament that result as a missed opportunity for the party that could have set the GOP on a different path to reach more Latino voters.
Rubio is a relative newcomer to Senate negotiations on the issue, but he's seen as a rising star in his party and a potential 2016 presidential candidate. As a charismatic young Hispanic leader his proposals on immigration have attracted wide notice in recent weeks. And as a conservative favorite, unlike McCain or Graham, his stamp of approval could be critical to drawing in other conservative lawmakers.
A Republican aide said that Rubio has made clear in his interactions with the group that he couldn't sign on to proposals that deviated from the principles he himself has been laying out in recent media interviews, including border security first, a guest-worker program, more visas for high-tech workers and enforcement in the workplace. As for the illegal immigrants already in the country, Rubio would have them pay a fine and back taxes, show they have not committed crimes, prove they've been in the country for some time and speak some English and apply for permanent residency. Ultimately citizenship too could be in reach but only after a process that doesn't nudge aside immigrants already in line, and Rubio hasn't provided details on how long it all might take.
An open question for the Senate group has been whether Obama would release an actual bill or just his own principles. Republicans in the group tend to believe that a bill handed down by the White House could seriously complicate the process, spooking the GOP by coming off as a purely political move since a White House-written bill would have little chance of actually passing.
Hannover, Germany ? Stress begins in the Morning. Do not use conventional alarm clocks. It harms your health. A new study (National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark) shows that even the wake-up call of a conventional alarm clock puts our body under unhealthy stress. The concentration of the stress hormone ?Cortisol? is more than double compared to when you wake up by yourself. So, you should use a sleep cycle alarm clock.
The new Stress Free Alarm Clock 1.1 ? App (patent pending) for Android and iOS wakes you at a moment when you?re already almost awake. It does not need any sensors, no motion sensors, no acoustic sensors like other sleep cycle alarm clocks. It wakes you definitely in your light sleep phase. Then your brain is already active and in a state similar to when you wake up by yourself.
New study results show: The concentration of the stress hormone Cortisol was tested under various waking conditions: waking both on workdays and on a free day with a conventional alarm clock and waking spontaneously. The results showed that the Cortisol levels in the first 30 minutes after waking with a conventional alarm clock had risen by an average of 100% ? regardless of whether it was a workday or a free day. When the probands woke spontaneously, however, the concentration of Cortisol rose only 39%. This means, conventional alarm clocks induce allmost three times more unhealthy stress in the morning.
Did you know stress and cortisol may have a direct connection to your weight? In recent years, research has shown that how you deal with everyday stress can affect your waistline in particular. This can be a huge threat to your health because abdominal fat is more dangerous ? and increases disease risk more ? than fat located in any other part of the body. Excessive abdominal fat is linked directly to serious health conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
Women in particular have been found to accumulate more fat around their waists while they?re under stress. In fact, a Yale University study showed that even otherwise ? slim persons who are under high stress levels are prone to put on weight on around their abdominal area. When we are stressed out, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol has been proven to encourage fat storage in the abdominal area. The worst part is if you don?t learn to alleviate stress, cortisol levels stay high even when the origin al source of stress has subsided. The prolonged effects of cortisol will cause even more fatty deposits to find their way to your middle even when the stress seems to have passed. Obese persons have significantly higher urinary free cortisol excretion than normal-weight persons.
Higher and more prolonged levels of cortisol in the bloodstream have been shown to have negative effects, such as: weight gain, depression, pain, suppressed thyroid function, blood sugar imbalances, decreased bone density, skeletal muscle wasting, high blood pressure, lowered immunity, impaired erectile function, menstrual abnormalities, fatigue, chronic pain, headache, migraine, fibromyalgia, muscle pain, poor digestion, oily skin, acne and eczema. Elevated cortisol also leads to wrinkles, sagging, and impaired wound healing. Elevated cortisol in pregnant mothers influences cortisol metabolism during the baby?s crucial development periods.
The good news is, despite the fact that stress is an unavoidable part of life, there is something you can do about it. The first thing: Use a sleep cycle alarm clock. Stress Free Alarm Clock for iOS and Android is the best, it requires no sensors. To keep cortisol levels healthy and under control, a clinical neuroscientist developed and patented an innovative sleep cycle alarm clock app.
Compared to conventional alarm clocks, the new Stress Free Alarm Clock gives an individual wake up, which adapts itself to the users? particular needs within a few nights. This patented alarm clock leads to a gentle and stress free wake up. Sudden, abrupt waking in the morning as with loud, conventional alarm clocks and the associated release of stress hormones from the adrenal gland will be avoided by using this novel and intelligent self adapting, personal sleep cycle alarm clock. Health benefits are weight loss, stress reduction, increase of skeletal muscle mass, pain reduction, enhanced male virility, enhanced erectile function, improvement of cognitive performance, improvement of fatigue, chronic fatigue and better general health and physical fitness.
Stress Free Alarm Clock is very easy to use. In order to be woken up smoothly, sleepers will be guided from the deep sleep phase or dream phase into the light sleep phase by gentle sounds. Unlike the hitherto existing sleep cycle alarm clocks, Stress Free Alarm Clock does not require any additional implement such as wristband motion sensors, sound sensors or movement sensors. Users simply set their desired wake up time. After waking up, they merely slide a finger across the screen to stop the alarm. Everything else is taken care of by the patented and intelligent system.
Device Requirements: * iPhone 3GS/4/4S/5, iPod touch (3rd/4th/5th generation), and iPad * Requires iOS 4.3 or later * 1.0 MB
Pricing and Availability: Stress Free Alarm Clock 1.1 is only $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Health & Fitness category. It is also available for Android.
Stuerenburg (Hannover, Germany) is an agile Neuroscience team specialized on the implementation of intelligent and easy to use Android and iPhone applications. Copyright (C) 2013 Stuerenburg. All Rights Reserved. Android, Google, Google Play, Google logo, Google play logo, Apple, Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Natural gas companyEQT Corp. posted sharply lower net income for the fourth quarter because natural gas prices fell, but strong sales and an increase in gas reserves buoyed shares Thursday.
Net income for the fourth quarter fell 47 percent to $48 million on revenue of $490 million. When adjusted to remove the effect of an interest rate hedge and expenses relating to the sale of a retail division, the company earned 48 cents per share for the quarter.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to earn an adjusted 44 cents per share on sales of $423 million.
EQT shares rose $1.28, or 2.2 percent, to $60.90 in afternoon trading.
A boom in U.S. natural gas production and mild winter temperatures that reduced heating demand have increased supplies of natural gas, and lowered prices.
For the quarter, the company's revenue per thousand cubic feet of gas fell 16 percent from $5.22 to $4.39. For the full year, average prices fell 21 percent, the company said.
Company revenue for the year was flat compared with 2011 at $1.6 billion. The company's net income fell 62 percent to $183 million. The company's results were inflated in 2011, however, because of sales of a pipeline and processing center.
After adjusting for these one-time items, the company's per share earnings fell 32 percent to $1.49, from $2.19.
But for the year the company's natural gas production rose 33 percent to a record 256 billion cubic feet, driven by an 85 percent increase in production from the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania.
The company's proved reserves of natural gas ? an important indication of what the company can hope to produce in the future ? increased 12 percent to 6 trillion cubic feet.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Logitech's chief executive said his company will decide within 90 days whether to sell the video-conferencing arm it bought in 2009 for $405 million after this week writing down the unit's value by more than half.
The LifeSize video conferencing unit has failed to shake up a market dominated by Cisco and Polycom and where Chinese giants Huawei and ZTE are making inroads, while global revenues in the segment have slid as economic uncertainty persists.
Any of the above four companies could be potential buyers for a small niche player in the $3 billion a year market, analysts said.
"This is such a tough market, and that's the biggest driver of the impairment," Logitech's newly anointed CEO Bracken Darrell told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"It's not an easy decision. Is this an asset that makes more sense for us to own or for someone else to own?" Darrell said, adding that the unit was well positioned for success among small and medium sized businesses.
The company also wants to sell its remote controls and digital video security businesses, and to develop more products for smartphones, touch-screen tablets, and for computer gamers.
"It's important to note we're going to shrink the company first and make it more profitable, and then focus on areas where we think we can grow," said Darrell after the company reported lower year-on-year sales for the fifth consecutive quarter.
"PC gaming is an area we haven't grown in because we didn't launch any new products, but we're going to do that now. Mice, keyboards, headsets," said Darrell, a former executive at household appliance maker Whirlpool.
Founded in a farmhouse near the small Swiss town of Romanel-sur-Morges in 1981, Logitech became a rising technology star when it marketed the first modern computer mouse, developed at the nearby Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
Since then the Swiss-American company has shipped more than a billion mice and introduced a successful line-up of PC accessories including keyboards, cameras and speakers.
After peaking in 2007, Logitech shares have fallen more than 80 percent as the relentless rise of touch-screen tablets and smartphones packed with accessories gnawed away at sales of the mice and other plug-in peripherals Logitech had nurtured.
Darrell rejected the idea that add-on products were unlikely to attract users who increasingly want peripherals such as cameras built in to their smartphones and tablets, and said Logitech's 'mobile boombox' wireless speakers are now one of its top sellers, along with its iPad cover.
"We relaunched a keyboard cover, we call it the other half of the iPad, it's now our top selling product," Darrell said. "What we do seems to fit in this mobile space when we get it right."
A full-scale security suite includes antivirus protection, firewall, spam filter, parental control, and some form of privacy protection. However, none of those features will do you a bit of good if the entire computer is stolen. The most exciting addition in ESET Smart Security 6 ($59.99 per year direct; $79.99 for three licenses) is a full-featured anti-theft system that will help you recover a lost or stolen computer.
On the surface, ESET Smart Security looks almost the same as ESET's standalone NOD32 antivirus. However, you'll notice some important differences as soon as you install it. In particular, the suite encourages you to immediately configure the online console from which you manage anti-theft features. The firewall also pops up right away asking what sort of network you're connected to: home, work, or public.
Good Antivirus Protection Like ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6, this suite offers antivirus protection that's good, not great. You'll want to read the antivirus product's review for full details; I'll provide a summary here.
Malware on four of my 12 test systems gave ESET serious problems either with installation or with completing a scan. Tech support unleashed a whole arsenal of diagnostic and remedial tools, but in the end I spent almost five hours on the phone with a support technician who provided manual remote-control repair.
Between the scanner itself, the threat-specific cleanup tools, and tech support, ESET detected 76 percent of my malware samples and scored 5.6 points for malware cleanup. That's a fraction above the average, but well below the 6.6 points earned by Norton Internet Security (2013) and Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete 2013. Over a third of current products detected all rootkits; ESET caught 80 percent. See How We Test Malware Removal for an explanation of my malware removal test.
ESET did a good job keeping malware out of my clean test system, blocking many downloads at the URL level. When presented with an already-downloaded collection, it wiped out most threats on sight and detected others during installation. Overall it detected 89 percent of the samples and scored 8.9 points for malware blocking. This score is also slightly above average, but just slightly. Webroot owned this test, with a near-perfect 9.9 of 10 possible points. For a full run-down on how I test malware blocking, see How We Test Malware Blocking.
As in my hands-on tests, ESET gets good marks from the independent testing labs. However, it didn't take the top rating in dynamic testing by AV-Comparatives, and it achieved AV-Test certification by a relatively small margin. Bitdefender Internet Security 2013 and other top products get high marks across the board. The chart below summarizes recent test results. For more about the independent labs, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.
Shared Phishing Protection The new editions of both the full security suite and the standalone antivirus now offer phishing protection. If you accidentally click a link that goes to a fraudulent site, they'll steer you to a safe warning page. In testing, I found that ESET's detection rate lagged 48 percentage points behind that of Norton (the consistent antiphishing champ) and 8 points behind unaided Internet Explorer 8. To be fair, only a third of current antiphishing products can beat IE in my test. Still, ESET's phishing protection could use a little work.
The article How We Test Antiphishing spells out the details of my antiphishing test.
By Brenton Henry- Observer Media - Thursday, January 24th, 2013.
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St. John?s Antigua- Representatives of the United States Embassy in Barbados met yesterday with local authorities in talks geared at resolving the country?s decade-old online gambling dispute.
Ambassador Colin Murdoch, speaking after the meeting which lasted most of the day, said the twin island nation is pushing for a reasonable solution to the matter.
?The government of Antigua & Barbuda is doing everything in our power to get a reasonable settlement from the United States,? Murdoch said through the US-based public relations firm LEVICK which the country hired last September.
Also forming part of the meeting was staff of members of the United States Congress and other government officials.
?We have negotiated with the US in good faith as we have done for the last decade,? Murdoch said.
He added, ?We have prevailed in our case at the WTO on numerous occasions, and we are prepared to pursue the remedies provided under international trade law.?
US Embassy staff were in Antigua & Barbuda for the meeting, however other meetings were conducted by phone.
Murdoch gave no indication of the outcome of the talks nor did he reveal what was on the day?s agenda.
The meeting follows a ?threat? issued by Washington cautioning the twin island nation not to pursue retaliatory action against America.
A World Trade Organisation ruling entitles government to US $21 million in damages annually over America?s decision to crack down on the online gaming sector.? The US has failed to honour the ruling.
Investors who said they lost money in Bernard Madoff?s fraud may not pursue a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for missing the swindler?s Ponzi scheme, a federal appeals court said on Monday.
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Since their launch in 2011,?Chromebooks?have slowly been gaining steam. Lenovo just thew their hat into the Chrome OS arena along with Acer and Samsung with a?Chromebook designed for education. Starting at $199, Chromebooks do one thing: launch Chrome and connect to the web. In a world of tablets and smartphones, do Chromebooks matter?at all?in your opinion? Would you buy one/recommend buying one? What do you like or dislike about the idea of a Chromebook? Will businesses get on board? Consumers? What do you think Google is trying to accomplish with the Chromebook? Are Chromebooks (and Chrome OS) an important challenger to Microsoft and Apple? Here?s the Think Tank to give you their opinion:
Kate and I were talking recently about how blogging and social media have led to every minor thing in life transforming into a major thing. ?We both have been avoiding Pinterest this entire month because the onslaught of Valentine Day stressed us out.? When I was a kid, you went to the store and picked out the little cardboard box with the cartoon character you liked the best on it. ?Inside there were those cheap little paper envelopes that you tried to lick shut but they?d never stay shut. ?Now, if you judge the average Valentine by what you see on Pinterest, we?re all Martha-freaking-Stewart, and the blogosphere is full of tutorials and DIY entertaining and decor ideas for holidays I didn?t know people actually celebrated with things they needed tutorials for.? I actually have a tendency to get caught up in things like that because I LOVE holidays. ??I love traditions. ?I love making things absolutely magical for my kids. ?But I also like having a balance, and making things meaningful. ?I?ve been thinking about Valentines Day lately and wanted to do something with my family that wasn?t about games and candy and presents as it seems every holiday is. ?We get plenty of treats around here, but within our home I wanted to really focus this year on the actual love part of Valentines.
Ahead of the grand unveiling of its next-gen BlackBerry 10 OS this week, and fresh from rebranding its app store to BlackBerry World -- to flag up the multimedia content that will be up for grabs alongside the apps -- RIM has revealed a few more details about the multimedia music and video content BlackBerry uses will be able to download from the store.