latest breaking news: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Every single junk food meal damages your arteries, new study reveals

ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? A single junk food meal -- composed mainly of saturated fat -- is detrimental to the health of the arteries, while no damage occurs after consuming a Mediterranean meal rich in good fats such as mono-and polyunsaturated fatty acids, according to researchers at the University of Montreal-affiliated ?PIC Center of the Montreal Heart Institute. The Mediterranean meal may even have a positive effect on the arteries.

The findings are being presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, which runs in Toronto until Wednesday, by the head of the study, Dr. Anil Nigam, Director of Research at the Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre (?PIC) and associate professor at the university's Faculty of Medicine.

Bad fat vs. good fat

Dr. Nigam undertook the study to compare the effects of junk food and typical Mediterranean meal on the vascular endothelium: the inner lining of the blood vessels. By measuring endothelial function, it is possible to determine how easily the arteries will dilate after a temporary, five-minute occlusion, following the consumption of the two types of meals. This is a very interesting analysis for researchers to perform as endothelial function is closely linked to the long-term risk of developing coronary artery disease.

The study also revealed that participants with higher blood triglyceride levels seemed to benefit more from the healthy meals. Their arteries responded better to the Mediterranean meal compared to people with low triglyceride levels. "We believe that a Mediterranean-type diet may be particularly beneficial for individuals with high triglyceride levels, such as patients with metabolic syndrome, precisely because it could help keep arteries healthy," Dr. Nigam said.

Mediterranean meal vs. junk food meal

The results were established in 28 non-smoking men, who ate the Mediterranean-type meal first and then the junk food-type meal one week later. Before beginning, the men underwent an ultrasound of the antecubital artery at the elbow crease after fasting for 12-hours to assess their baseline endothelial function. The researchers then tested the effects of each meal. The first was composed of salmon, almonds, and vegetables cooked in olive oil, of which 51% of total calories came from fat (mostly monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fats.) The second meal consisted of a sandwich made of a sausage, an egg, and a slice of cheese, and three hash browns, for a total of 58% of total calories from fat: extremely rich in saturated fatty acids and containing no omega-3s. At two hours and four hours after each meal, participants underwent further ultrasounds to assess how the food had impacted their endothelial function.

Dr. Nigam and his team found that after eating the junk food meal, the arteries of the study participants dilated 24% less than they did when in the fasting state. In contrast, the arteries were found to dilate normally and maintain good blood flow after the Mediterranean-type meal.

"These results will positively alter how we eat on a daily basis. Poor endothelial function is one of the most significant precursors of atherosclerosis. It is now something to think about at every meal," Dr. Nigam said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universite de Montreal.

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

Journal Reference:

J. Cantin, S. Lacroix, J. Tardif, A. Nigam. 390 Does the Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet Influence Baseline and Postprandial Endothelial Function? Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 2012; 28 (5): S245 DOI: 10.1016/j.cjca.2012.07.367

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/XG-An2GzqNA/121030062007.htm

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EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores

Today marks the launch of the UK's first 4G network, with EE switching on its service in 11 cities: London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton. If you don't have access immediately, you might not be waiting long, as the company promises 2,000 square miles of 4G network will be added every month from now on. This £1.5 billion investment means five cities will join the exclusive list before Christmas, and in the longer-term, 98 percent population coverage is expected by the end of 2014. Wired services aren't being forgotten -- EE Fibre Broadband is also available from today with the potential to serve 11 million locations with speeds of up to 76 Mbps. Want to learn more about the new services? Then head to one of the 700 EE stores (rebranded Orange and T-Mobile locations) opening this morning. If your bank account can handle it, that is.

Continue reading EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet, Mobile

EE switches on 4G in 11 UK cities, offers fiber broadband to 11 million sites and opens 700 stores originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/30/ee-4g-launches-in-11-UK-cities/

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In wake of superstorm Sandy, Romney faces scrutiny for past comments on disaster relief (Star Tribune)

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Disney buys 'Star Wars': Were we wrong about George Lucas all along?

The news that 'Star Wars: Episode 7' is on its way and that Disney has bought the 'Star Wars' franchise from George Lucas raises the prospect that the world is only now beginning to understand his vision for the classic trilogy. Disney buying 'Star Wars' could cause a 'Lord of the Rings'-like universe expansion.

By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / October 31, 2012

'Star Wars: Episode 7' and Disney buying the 'Star Wars' franchise could be only the beginning of a universe expansion for the series.

Fred Prouser/Reuters

Enlarge

Is it possible that we are only now understanding what "Star Wars" really is?

Skip to next paragraph Mark Sappenfield

Staff writer

Mark is deputy national news editor for the Monitor.

EMC to Acquire Silver Tail Systems - Arik Hesseldahl - News ...

Data storage giant EMC just announced that it has reached a deal to acquire Silver Tail Systems.

This is the privately held company that specializes in detecting fraud on the Web, and the reason venture capitalist Marc Andreessen was speaking so highly of security companies when he spoke at D: All Things Digital in 2011. His firm, Andreessen Horowitz, led Silver Tail?s $20 million B round.

Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, and EMC says it won?t be material to the 2012 fiscal year.

I just got off the phone with Scott Weiss, the partner at Andreessen Horowitz who led the firm?s investment. Weiss, you may remember, is the founder of IronPort Systems, now part of Cisco Systems, and became a partner at AH in March of 2011. He?s also a director at Silver Tail.

Silver Tail, he says, will essentially become part of RSA, the security branch of EMC that operates more or less independently within EMC.

Weiss told me that when AH made its investment, Silver Tail had about a dozen employees, two paying customers and a lot of promise. ?I made 10 reference calls before doing the deal, and the customers made sure I knew they were not on the fence,? he said. ?Some even told me they thought Silver Tail was charging too little.?

That?s not a bad sign. So, what does Silver Tail do, anyway? Banks and insurance companies and Web commerce companies use it to keep track of incoming traffic to their sites in real time, and to distinguish good traffic generated by normal customers from bad traffic generated by criminals probably trying to do bad and shady things that more often than not break the law.

It does this using a form of predictive analytics on live Web traffic, at a massive scale. Among the ways to tell good guys from bad are the speed with which they move from one page within a site to another, and the kinds of data they look for. Traffic that?s outside the norm gets flagged for additional scrutiny. Given that the normal patterns are known, there are almost never any false positives. Weiss told me that Silver Tail?s customers include ~~Merrill Lynch~~E-trade and Citibank.

Update: So I?m hearing from sources familiar with the deal that the purchase price was in the neighborhood of $300 million to $400 million. I?m going to try and narrow that down a little bit.

Also, I just got off the phone with Silver Tail CEO Tim Eades and RSA CEO Art Coviello. Here are a few more details on the deal. Eades is calling it a ?match made in heaven,? in part because of RSA?s knowledge in understanding the specific needs and buying patterns that large enterprises have when it comes to security.

Coviello, who essentially runs RSA as an all-but-independent company within EMC, says that?s how Silver Tail will run initially. ?At RSA we take the same Hippocratic Oath-like approach that EMC does with acquisitions, that of ?first do no harm.? Silver Tail has tremendous momentum and we?re certainly not going to upset that,? he told me. ?That said, we have a specialized sales organization that understands the unique use cases of the Silver Tail technology.?

Here?s a hint at what kind of momentum. Eades told me that when Silver Tail recently deployed its product with a ?large bank? with 21 million customers, it accomplished it within two days. Not bad.

EMC?s announcement is below:

HOPKINTON, Mass. and MENLO PARK, Calif., Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ ?

News Summary:

EMC Corporation announced it has signed an agreement to acquire privately-held Silver Tail Systems, a leader in real-time web session intelligence and behavioral analysis.

Silver Tail?s innovative technology enhances RSA?s position in the rapidly growing Web Fraud Detection market and complements RSA?s anti-fraud solutions that help leading banks and retailers thwart sophisticated cybercrime attacks.

Silver Tail?s pioneering product portfolio has witnessed rapid adoption by some of the largest brands in financial services, ecommerce and federal government.
Silver Tail?s Big Data approach to fighting cybercrime will help accelerate RSA?s strategy to leverage data analytics and adaptive risk-based controls for broader consumer and enterprise security use cases.

Full Story:

EMC? Corporation (EMC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Silver Tail Systems, a leader in real-time web session intelligence and behavioral analysis. Upon closing, Silver Tail will operate within the RSA security division and is expected to extend the capabilities of RSA?s Identity Protection and Verification (IPV) solutions, as well as other areas across RSA?s enterprise security portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to certain closing conditions. The acquisition is not expected to have a material impact to EMC GAAP or non-GAAP EPS for the full 2012 fiscal year.

The rapid evolution of malware and advanced online threats has left growing numbers of online banking, ecommerce and government web sites and their customers vulnerable to attack, account takeover and fraud. In response to this evolution organizations historically have focused on building fraud detection and security strategies that try to identify what a bad transaction looks like, creating solutions that must always play catch-up to the latest threats.

Silver Tail Systems? web session intelligence is the response to this evolution in threats and fraud, using a Big Data-driven approach to gather and analyze mass quantities of information in real time and at scale to deepen visibility into web sessions and mobile traffic. The information is fed into Silver Tail Systems? behavior analysis engine to review at both user and population levels to detect anomalies, IT security threats, fraud, insider threats, business logic abuse and other malicious activity.

Silver Tail Systems has been recognized as a leader by prominent industry analysts for its innovative approach and disruptive technology. Silver Tail?s solutions are deployed globally in large customer environments, helping to secure online banking traffic and ecommerce and government web sites and portals. Their team has extensive experience in building high-performance solutions that provide monitoring for upwards of 330,000 clicks per second for some of the largest ecommerce and banking providers on the market today.

Within RSA, Silver Tail is expected to contribute to multiple areas across RSA?s enterprise security portfolio. Silver Tail?s products will add a disruptive fraud-fighting technology designed to install and begin providing value in a matter of days, lowering complexity and cost of ownership. In addition, it is expected Silver Tail?s core transaction and behavioral analysis technology will help further extend the security analytics capabilities across RSA?s enterprise security solutions portfolio.

Executive Quotes:

Art Coviello, RSA Executive Chairman and Executive Vice President, EMC Corporation

?The industry is well beyond the point of providing effective security using static, perimeter point tools that fail to keep up with dynamic cyber attackers. Customers need better intelligence, analytics, and the ability to respond in real time which is a capability that Silver Tail?s products do extraordinarily well to help foil web-based attacks. Silver Tail offers proven anti-fraud solutions that complement RSA?s portfolio of risk-based and adaptive products and services.

?We see tremendous opportunity with Silver Tail at the intersection of Big Data and Security to leverage our collective expertise and technologies to move beyond the hype to execute on the vision of intelligence-driven security that is risk-based, agile and contextual. Together RSA and Silver Tail can deliver compelling solutions that leverage session intelligence and Big Data analytics to help our customers gain better visibility and control risk.?

Tim Eades, Chief Executive Officer, Silver Tail Systems

?Stopping cybercrime has never been harder than it is today. The recent attacks on the North American banking infrastructure are stark reminders of the pace of innovation in the cybercriminal ecosystem, the convergence of the fraud and info-security attack techniques and the profound responsibility of the CISO to help defend against these attacks.

?Silver Tail pioneered an approach that uses web session intelligence to provide unmatched visibility and the behavioral analysis that detects these threats and protects web-based platforms around the world. Together with RSA, we have an incredible opportunity to extend these capabilities beyond what we do today to protect web-based platforms. Silver Tail?s session intelligence technology demonstrates the capacity to expand the awareness and intelligence of what is occurring on the network with context, helping to rapidly sift through data to identify unexpected behavior and apply controls against advanced threats and malicious attacks.?

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20121030/emc-to-acquire-silver-tail-systems/

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U.S. markets shut on Tuesday, focus shifts to Wednesday

REUTERS - Hurricane Sandy will close U.S. stock markets for a second day on Tuesday, as Wall Street turned its attention to whether markets would be able to resume functioning on the month's final trading day on Wednesday.

U.S. stock markets closed on Monday due to weather for the first time in 27 years. Bond markets closed early, at noon, as winds and waves from Hurricane Sandy lashed the Eastern seaboard.

NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group, the largest two U.S. exchange operators, said they intend to reopen Wednesday, conditions permitting. The bond markets will also close on Tuesday, with traders aiming to reopen on Wednesday.

Wednesday is a key trading day because it marks the end of the month, when traders price portfolios. With New York still to feel the full impact of the storm Monday evening, fears remained that wind damage and possible power outages could test the ability of markets to reopen. New York's mass transit system, which most employees use to get to work, also remained shut and it was unclear when service would be restored.

Fierce winds and flooding were felt along hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline and heavy snows were forecast farther inland at higher elevations as the center of the storm moved ashore along the coast of southern New Jersey or Delaware on Monday evening.

The broad effects of the market shutdown were beginning to become more apparent by late Monday, as analysts estimated banks and trading firms could lose tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

Some companies postponed their quarterly earnings reports, and banks closed branches in the Northeast, while promising to waive certain fees in hurricane-threatened areas.

Disaster modeling company Eqecat said the storm is likely to cause insured losses of $5 billion to $10 billion, and economic losses of $10 billion to $20 billion.

The trading closure also threatened to delay IPOs of at least six companies, while Facebook Inc employees were prevented from selling shares in the social media company after a "lock-up" on trading expired.

"If you go two days, you really start to create some serious financial stress for some players that need to get something done," said Jim Paulsen, of Wells Capital.

As Hurricane Sandy began battering the U.S. East Coast on Monday, many Wall Street employees stayed home. Major Wall Street banks had planned to open with skeleton staffing, but with the stock and options markets closed and the bond market closing at noon, many people said they had little to do.

"There's nothing to do, so I'm just relaxing," said one New York-based equities trader at a large global investment bank, who spent most of the day in his pajamas, staying in touch with his boss and clients via phone and email.

Steve Gerbel, who runs hedge fund Chicago Capital Management, said that when he called a Goldman Sachs Group Inc trading desk on Monday, he got to talk to employees from its Salt Lake City office for the first time.

Since markets were closed, Gerbel said he would spend most of the day dealing with paperwork that he typically put on the back burner, and his employees would do the same, or clock out early.

"I predict my office will never be cleaner than it will be today," he said.

The weather also canceled financial conferences, leaving companies that had flown executives into New York over the weekend scrambling to find ways to keep them busy. One firm offered media interviews with portfolio managers stranded in the city after a conference they were attending was canceled.

For operations and back-office staffers, it was a busy day, as workers struggled to keep data centers and company systems up and running.

LIKE HERDING CATS

Earlier on Monday, equities trading executives pressed the stock exchanges to clearly communicate their plans to avoid a repeat of Sunday night's uncertainty.

Market participants and regulators decided late at night on Sunday to shut the stock and options markets, reversing a plan to keep electronic trading going on Monday, leaving some people complaining about confusion.

The biggest problem with the New York Stock Exchange's initial plan to trade exclusively over its ARCA electronic system was that the contingency plan that it had created in March had not been vetted by many brokerage firms, sources familiar with the situation said.

The decision to close the stock and options market came on Sunday night after SIFMA, the Wall Street trade group, held a conference call around 11 p.m. ET (0300 GMT) to debate whether to close, said a brokerage executive, who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media.

"It was like trying to corral cats," the executive said.

NYSE spokesman Richard Adamonis declined comment on friction with the brokerage community over the on-again, off-again decision to open trading during the storm.

"Through the storm, SIFMA has and will continue to work with a variety of market participants to ensure smooth market function," spokeswoman Liz Pierce said in an email.

On Monday, the industry tried to avoid a repeat of the confusion. A decision to close the markets on Tuesday had been announced by early afternoon, after an industry-wide call that included regulators, broker-dealers and executives.

BONDS AND IPO PRICINGS

On the conference call on Sunday evening hosted by SIFMA, with big banks, exchanges and other industry representatives, banks pushed for bond markets to open in New York on Monday, at least temporarily, to help secure short-term funding needs for themselves and their clients. The bond markets were open until noon, on an abbreviated schedule.

Many cautious clients took care of funding needs through Wednesday, according to a source at a large global investment bank. If firms or their clients need to get trades done during the rest of the week while markets are closed in New York, they can trade out of bank offices in Asia or Europe, he said.

The stock market's closure means companies that were looking to go public may have to wait. Six initial public offerings scheduled to price later this week will likely have to be pushed back, equity capital markets sources said. They said decisions were being made now between underwriters and the issuers.

"We can't market some of these deals while no one is on the other side of the phone," said one equity capital markets banker at a large Wall Street bank. Some deals may be pushed back to next week after the election, the source said.

Restoration Hardware, the highest profile of the public offerings set to launch this week, is still on track to price Thursday night, a source familiar with the matter said.

Radius Health, which was set to price its $61.8 million IPO later this week, is in a "wait-and-see mode," said Chief Financial Officer Nick Harvey. "We haven't made any decisions yet," he added.

CME Group Inc , the exchange operator, said it would reopen trading in stock-index and interest-rate futures and options Monday evening.

CME will start up equity-index trading at 6 pm ET (2200 GMT), and close it back down at 9:15 ET (1315 GMT) Tuesday to coordinate with the closure of U.S. stock markets.

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel, Chuck Mikolajczak, John McCrank, Jed Horowitz, Olivia Oran, Lauren Tara LaCapra, Carrick Mollenkamp, Richard Leong, Ann Saphir and Ryan Vlastelica; Writing by Rick Rothacker; Editing by David Gaffen, Paritosh Bansal, Lisa Von Ahn and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-markets-shut-tuesday-focus-shifts-wednesday-061026387--finance.html

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The Golden Rule of Website Design | iPixel ... - Singapore web design

So you might ask ?How do I design my website?? The answer is to focus your website on solving a problem. People are on the internet to find answers ? create your website to meet that need. Find a niche and provide high-quality, unique content people are looking for.

You can make your website a huge success by focusing on solving users? problems. Take Google for example ? their website is an extremely simple, clean design that contains their logo and a box for you to enter what you are searching for ? nothing on the webpage distracts the user from the solution they offer. When you visit google?s website there is no question who they are and what they do. They are focused on quickly providing the visitor with relevant search results. That is why they have one of the most successful websites ever created.

All other elements of?website design are secondary to filling the visitor?s need. They will simply click away to the next website looking for a solution if you can?t help them.

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Source: http://www.ipixel.com.sg/blog/web-design/the-golden-rule-of-website-design/

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Pressey factor looms large for 15th-ranked Tigers

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) ? Unlike football, Missouri's transition to the SEC might not be so difficult when it comes to the other marquee sport.

Only two players are back from Frank Haith's 30-win debut season, and just one starter, but that's preseason SEC player of the year Phil Pressey. A third cog is back on the front line after a year lost to injury, and then there are all of those blue-chip pickups for the AP national coach of the year to put on the floor when he's ready.

After setting career highs with 10.3 points, 6.4 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals, Pressey spent his summer competing at the LeBron James, Chris Paul and Deron Williams elite camps. Fellow guard Michael Dixon was perhaps the nation's best sixth man with a 13.5-pint average last season, and is a second-team preseason all-conference choice.

Forward Laurence Bowers returns from a left knee injury for his senior season needing just 26 blocks to become No. 2 on the school career list and 126 points for 1,000.

Perhaps it's a team that could finally end Missouri's Final Four drought. Last spring, the Tigers won the Big 12 tournament and were a No. 2 seed in the West before getting upset by Norfolk State in their NCAA opener.

"I really think so," Bowers said. "From a talent standpoint, and just all the intangibles, we have a really good chance. Now, obviously, we've got to still work. You can have all the talent in the world, and if you don't have work ethic it doesn't matter."

There's already a bump in the road, with Dixon and freshman Dominique Bull suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed violation of team rules prior to the exhibition opener. There is still plenty of time to get everyone aboard before the SEC opener Jan. 8 at home against Alabama.

Missouri is loaded with experience, especially for a school that lost Marcus Denmon and Kim English to the NBA draft, plus center Ricardo Ratliffe. The transfer class of Keion Bell, Jabari Brown, Alex Oriakhi and Earnest Ross is considered among the best in history by one publication, and Bell, Oriakhi and Ross started the exhibition opener.

The 6-9 Oriakhi played on the 2011 national title team with Connecticut and has one year of eligibility remaining. Brown (Oregon) and Ross (Auburn) are 6-5 guards and Bell (Pepperdine) is 6-4. Ross has SEC experience and led the team in rebounding during its European tour in August.

Better still, Brown practiced with the team last year.

"It helped me a lot, because I wasn't as far in the dark in terms of what to expect, in terms of how Coach Haith does things," Brown said. "I got to see firsthand for all of last year, start of conference play."

There's no doubt about the focal point. It's the elusive, fearless Pressey.

Missouri always had the inside recruiting track, given Pressey began his college career playing for Mike Anderson, whom he grew up calling "Uncle Mike." Anderson was a college teammate of Pressey's father, former NBA star Paul Pressey. Now at Arkansas, Anderson knows all too well what he left behind.

"I've known him all his life," Anderson said. "Phil is the epitome of a point guard, he's like a coach on the floor. I think he's ahead of his time. Obviously, he's got to go out and play and prove it, but I think he'll be up to that challenge."

Pressey is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award given to the nation's top point guard. Last year as a sophomore, he broke the school single-season record with 223 assists and his 74 steals is second-most. He is 158 assists and 61 steals shy of school career records.

Pressey and Dixon have piled up 569 assists as teammates and with 212 more will become the top assist tandem in school history in just three seasons.

"Only time can tell how good we can be," Pressey said. "We're going to work every day, and I think we can have a terrific season."

Missouri was the nation's top shooting team last season with 50 percent accuracy, and also was the best at assist/turnover ratio. The Tigers were in the top 10 in scoring (80.4 points), scoring margin (14.1 points), 3-point percentage (39.8 percent), turnovers (10.2) and turnover margin (4.1).

Haith's new team hit the ground running in the exhibition opener, going up 27-3 early against Division II Northwest Missouri State on Monday, and opens the regular season Nov. 10 at home against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. There are games against NIT champion Stanford and either Louisville or Northern Iowa in the Battle 4 Atlantis Nov. 22-24 and with the other side of the draw including Duke.

The Tigers begin a home-and-home series with UCLA, playing on the road this year Dec. 28, and they have a three-game winning streak in the annual Braggin' Rights game against Illinois in St. Louis, with this year's matchup set for Dec. 22.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pressey-factor-looms-large-15th-ranked-tigers-204556657--spt.html

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Europe rights court condemns Poland in abortion rape case

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Poland for the inhumane and degrading treatment of a 14-year-old rape victim whom the authorities tried to stop having an abortion.

The girl's right to a private and family life had been flouted in 2008, the court ruled, saying she had been arbitrarily detained after being briefly placed in a home to separate her from her mother, who favored an abortion.

"The court was particularly struck that the authorities started criminal proceedings for illicit sexual relations against the adolescent who, according to the prosecutor and medical reports, should have been considered the victim of sexual abuse," the Strasbourg judges said in their verdict.

It said that Poland had violated article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights - "prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment".

A staunchly Catholic country, Poland's legislation on abortion is amongst the strictest in Europe and the Strasbourg court has already twice condemned it for failing to ensure the law on the subject is respected.

The hospitals in the southeastern city of Lublin did everything to dissuade the girl from having an abortion, sending her to see a priest before refusing to carry out the operation. Officials alerted local media to the story, prompting harassment of the girl by anti-abortion campaigners.

The abortion was finally carried out by a hospital in the northern port city of Gdansk, some 500 km (310 miles) from the girl's home.

In its ruling, the court said the case highlighted the huge gap in Poland between the statute book - which should have allowed the girl an abortion under a 1993 family planning law - and how doctors and local officials behave.

Although the case against the girl for illegal sexual relations was eventually dropped, so was the one against her alleged rapist, the court said.

The court, which has jurisdiction in the 47 countries of the Council of Europe and is not part of the European Union, awarded the girl 30,000 Euros in damages and her mother 15,000 euros.

(Reporting By Gilbert Reilhac; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/europe-rights-court-condemns-poland-abortion-rape-case-170650796.html

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AP PHOTOS: Scenes from the Romney campaign

Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., right, jokes whether or not he should sign a photo of Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney backstage at a campaign event at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Marion County Fairgrounds, in Marion, Ohio, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, second from right, sings "Cool Water" with The Oak Ridge Boys backstage at a campaign event at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Marion County Fairgrounds, in Marion, Ohio, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. They are holding iPhones to check their pitch. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, aide Garret Jackson, second left, and U.S. Secret Service agents get into an elevator as they arrive at their hotel for the evening in Mansfield, Ohio, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks on his phone at the back of his bus after the last campaign rally of the day at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Marion County Fairgrounds, in Marion, Ohio, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, chief strategist Stuart Stevens, right, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, second left, and senior adviser Kevin Madden, second right, sit on their bus after a campaign rally at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Marion County Fairgrounds, in Marion, Ohio, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

After waking up in Tampa, Fla., Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney walked down a hotel hallway carrying his own bags as he prepared to leave one swing state behind and make his way to another. Accompanied by a few Secret Service agents, he got into his SUV. The interior was surprisingly cramped.

An AP photographer was granted behind-the-scenes access by the Romney campaign to accompany Romney as he traveled Sunday to the critical battleground state of Ohio with just days to go before the election. Pool photographers who regularly travel with Romney requested the access to the campaign. The Obama campaign has not offered such access so far.

On this particular morning, the mood was casual and light. Romney joked with aides, who readily returned the ribbing. Soon after wheels-up for Ohio, advisers convened a strategy meeting in the front of the plane with senior adviser Kevin Madden and chief strategist Stuart Stevens looking over their iPads and MacBooks. Romney was taking notes on a paper writing pad.

Landing at Dayton International Airport, Romney was met on the plane by Sen. Rob Portman, who had brought him a cookie bearing his image and also a page of a local newspaper that had endorsed his candidacy for president. Greeted by running mate Paul Ryan on the tarmac, the group boarded a campaign bus for the two-hour ride to Celina.

In between making hands-free conference calls on their iPhones, they watched Sunday football on the motorcoach's television screens. Romney made himself snacks of peanut butter and honey sandwiches and also had a banana with peanut butter, which he scooped out of a jar with a plastic spoon.

Upon arriving at a campaign event, Romney regularly meets with supporters backstage for photos, or "clicks" as they're called. After that, while he is being introduced, he waits in a holding area, or "green room." A video monitor is available for him to watch the podium as speeches are made before his entrance.

The mood continued to be jovial, with Romney joking around with sports equipment in one holding room and singing with The Oak Ridge Boys in another holding room in a different city.

At the end of a long day of campaigning, Romney took advantage of a quiet moment at the back of his bus to make some phone calls. He later came up to the front of the bus to watch the final game of the World Series with aides, before arriving at a modest hotel in Mansfield. He headed up an elevator for the night, surrounded by Secret Service agents.

_____

Follow Charles Dharapak on Twitter: https://ja.twitter.com/CharlesDharapak

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-29-AP-Romney-Behind%20the%20Scenes/id-ee4bf998474c4da6b66d92a8f0b619a5

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State-by-state look at Sandy's impact

Hurricane expert Bryan Norcross reports from the Weather Channel headquarters on Sandy's slow-moving churn toward the Northeast, where portions of the East Coast are under siege. Ten states are under a state of emergency, and hundreds of thousands of homes lost power so far during the slow-moving storm.

New York
Utility companies said tens of thousands of customers were without?electricity on Monday, and officials warned that millions could be without power for days following Superstorm Sandy. Hours before the?Sandy was expected to make landfall, the storm lashed the region with furious winds, blinding rain and flooding.?A mandatory evacuation of more than 375,000 people in low-lying parts of New York City was issued shortly after the entire transit system was brought to a slow, grinding halt Sunday.

Sandy flooding begins, 'only going to get worse'

A storm surge of 11 feet is possible, the highest of all coastal areas being hit by Sandy. The New York Stock Exchange and other U.S. financial markets shut down for Monday and Tuesday and thousands of flights were canceled at the city's major airports. New York power company Con Edison shut off power to part of lower Manhattan to allow for quicker restoration after the storm passes.

?Don?t be fooled, don?t look out the window and think it doesn?t look so bad," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. "The worst is still coming. Irene levels are currently being seen in the region right now. These forecasts for this surge are really extraordinary. They are talking about surges we?ve never seen before.?

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

After strong winds and heavy rain washed out bridges and damaged homes in multiple countries, the hurricane looks toward the northeastern U.S.

New Jersey
Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City on Monday evening after hammering the state with strong winds and flooding rains and bringing rail and road travel to a near standstill.?Police in coastal towns were going door to door Monday as more than 1 million people were given mandatory evacuation orders, and thousands were already without power.

Gov. Chris Christie said Monday rescue boats are ready to be deployed if needed. More than 300,000 residents in New Jersey are without power, and in Atlantic City the water continues to rise. WCAU's Chris Cato reports.

"Staying on the barrier islands for 36 hours is stupid. Don't be stupid; get out. Go to higher, safer ground," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at a Sunday afternoon press conference, adding?that residents should "be prepared to stay in your homes for an extended period of time ... perhaps without power or water."

See readers? storm images: share yours, if you can do so safely

Police have sealed off Point Pleasant Beach in New Jersey, and a mandatory evacuation order is in effect. There are fears that Hurricane Sandy could wipe out entire sections of the town. NBC's Ron Allen reports.

Connecticut
One tenth of all Connecticut residents?-- 360,000 people --?were asked to?evacuate their homes as officials had warned the storm surge could cause massive flooding along the state's coastline.?Power outages were also pervasive Monday, and state officials estimated more than 35,000 people could be without power for as long as 36 hours in the days to come.

John Minchillo / AP

Transportation shuts down and streets empty in preparation for Hurricane Sandy.

"In order to ensure the safety of residents and their belongings, the town has coordinated to establish a strong police presence in evacuation areas," East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. told NBCConnecticut.com.

View complete coverage from NBCConnecticut.com

Delaware
Water?covered some major roads on Monday, and residents scrambled to prepare for a week of misery. Hundreds of people fled to shelters as rough surf pounded the coast. On Sunday, Delaware Governor Jack Markell ordered the evacuation of 50,000 coastal residents as the storm threatened to bring up to 12 inches of rain, winds of up to 80 mph and a wall of water as high as 11 feet. ?

Hugh Phillips, 69, and his wife, Martha, were among the first to leave their home in the Long Neck area of Sussex County, an area prone to flooding. ?We were told to get the heck out,? Hugh Phillips told The Associated Press. ?I was going to stay, but it's better to be safe than sorry.?

Washington, D.C.
The region?s entire public transit system was suspended Monday, the largest mass shutdown in the city since Hurricane Isabelle in 2003. Schools, colleges and universities also closed their doors in anticipation of power outages and dangerous road conditions. Some extended their closures into Tuesday and Wednesday. Winds in the city were blowing from about 20 to 36 mph and officials expected them to get stronger later in the day. Washington-area utility providers warned residents to prepare for power outages that could last for weeks.

Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter warned residents Sunday that the city was directly in the path of the storm and asked them to?leave right now if they live in a flood-prone, low-lying area. Schools, businesses, and city governments?were closed Monday and transit services were suspended, as many residents took shelter at evacuation centers.

?This is a great, old northeastern city, which is one of our great qualities,? Mayor Nutter said. ?But one of the challenges is it?s a great, old northeastern city with old infrastructure, tons of trees and power lines, all of that can be affected by a storm like this. This is all hands on deck.?

Maine
Officials predict coastal flooding and beach erosion, and utility crews have been brought in from Canada to handle anticipated power failures.?Many Mainers hustled with their worst-case scenario preparations, scooping up generators, flashlights and bottles of water. Many schools and universities closed.

But some residents on Maine's islands took a wait-and-see approach. ?They?ll pretty much stay in denial until they see it arrive,? Al Bleau, head of Peaks Island's Community?Emergency Response Team,?told the Bangor Daily News. ?They see all these big storms that form and then nothing happens (locally)."

Rhode Island
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee urged residents to "make the decision now" to evacuate from coastal and low-lying areas ahead of the storm. Chafee toured coastal areas of Rhode Island, including Narragansett, and early Monday afternoon urged people to consider evacuating before the storm worsens. A decision to shut down highways, including Interstate 95, was under consideration, the governor said. Several hundred members of the Rhode Island National Guard were on standby, ready to provide support to municipalities, NBC 10 in Providence reported.

North Carolina?
Two U.S. Coast Guard?helicopters rescued 14 crew members that had abandoned the?HMS Bounty, a tall ship built for a 1962 movie, about 90 miles off the coast. Efforts were underway to search for two other crew members. Those rescued?were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City in North Carolina where they were met by emergency medical services personnel,?the Coast Guard said. The storm lashed barrier islands and rendered several homes and businesses nearly?inaccessible.

Vermont
Sandy's approach comes less than 14 months after the state was devastated by Tropical Storm Irene, the most significant natural disaster to hit the state in almost a century, according to The Associated Press. Gov. Peter Shumlin declared a state of emergency to provide access to National Guard troops. The University of Vermont canceled classes. People were starting to report power?outages and damage, according to Vermont Public Radio.?Red Cross officials were preparing to open shelters as needed. The storm was expected to start affecting southern Vermont Monday afternoon, with potentially hurricane-force winds starting later in the day, according to local media reports.

?At this point we do feel that we are adequately prepared,? Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn in Waterbury told The Burlington Free Press. ?We?ve really focused on our outreach to the public this time."

Massachusetts
More than 172,000 people were without power, Boston.com reported. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shut down all subway, bus and commuter rail service at 2 p.m. on Monday.?In Cape Cod, huge waves crashed and flooded Chatham Fish Pier, where winds were clocked as high as 62 mph, according to WHDH-TV.

Maryland
Maryland's governor urged people to stay off the roads for the next 36 hours because of the threat of flooding.

"Don?t put yourselves or your families in jeopardy, or your first responders," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported. "This will be unlike any storm we've had to weather."

The storm?s presence was felt in Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, where snow was falling due to a cold front moving in from the west.?

As of 5 p.m. Monday, more than 46,600 Baltimore Gas and Electric Company customers were without power. That number was expected to rise sharply.?

Virginia
The worst coastal flooding appears to be over, but a lot of rain and wind are still to come, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Power blackouts are likely still to come and officials warned that almost 1 million could ultimately lose electricity. A high tide and storm surge Monday flooded streets and yards throughout coastal areas of the state, but there were no reports of injuries or major damages.

?This really is a strange storm," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said on MSNBC?s Morning Joe. ?We?ve got coastal flooding, tropical storm and hurricane-force winds at the coast, eight to 10 inches of rain at the coast and then in Southwest Virginia we have blizzard warnings, up to a foot or two feet of snow.?

Still, some Virginians seem unaffected by the storm.

?I?m just sitting back watching TV and hoping the electricity doesn?t go out,? Lonnie Moore of Tangier Island, Va., told the Times-Dispatch.

West Virginia
Highway crews?on Monday began what could be a week of snow removal in some areas, as forecasters predicted as much as three feet of snowfall, the Charleston Gazette reported. Forecasters also expanded a blizzard warning Monday to at least 14 counties and predicted wind gusts approaching 50 miles per hour after 4 p.m. The Weather Channel's winter expert Tom Niziol said higher elevations could see 18-24 inches of snow. Monday. Several shelters were put on standby, and power crews were mobilized to handle potential failures, the Associated Press reported.

New Hampshire
Gov. John Lynch declared a state of emergency, urging motorists off the roads on Monday. He also directed non-essential state workers to be released early from work. The governor placed 100 New Hampshire Guard soldiers on active duty.

Ohio
Rain and wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour were felt Monday and could blow through the Columbus area over night, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The National Weather Service issued a high-wind warning for much of central Ohio beginning at noon Monday and running through 6 p.m. Tuesday. Forecasters were predicting the worst weather conditions between 8 p.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday. They also said the light rain could change to a snow mix by midnight with light accumulation possible. Residents of low-lying areas and along Lake Erie were also warned to watch for flooding. ?

Michigan
Some 800 miles away from the coast, the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for one county and a high wind advisory for a 14-county region, the Michigan News reported. Forecasters cautioned that winds could reach 40 to 50 miles per hour.

Tennessee
The first snowfall of the season was likely to pound areas of the state, the National Weather Service predicted. There were already four inches of snow on the ground in areas of the Great Smoky Mountains Monday, and forecasters said the higher elevations in eastern Tennessee could get up to 17 inches of snow before the storm subsides Wednesday, the News Sentinel reported. Additionally, flights to Nashville International Airport were being cancelled Monday.

NBCNews.com's Andrew Mach and Sevil Omer contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/29/14781430-a-state-by-state-look-at-hurricane-sandys-impact?lite

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Charlie Lister still at the top in greyhound racing | bettor.com

Charlie Lister still at the top in greyhound racing ?

When racing, there is a marked difference between horses and dogs, but training has to be one standardised measure in both the sports. The devotion and sincerity that is required for grooming and conditioning a winner, cannot be put to comparison no matter which sport it is. Some really famous and highly accomplished trainers in greyhound racing are Charlie Lister, Mark Wallis, Nick Savva, Seamus Cahill and Chris Allsopp.

Each one of them has produced an enviable line of winners who have brought back the prize money to the kennels at multiple occasions.

The one who sparks out the brightest among all the above mentioned trainers is, Charlie Lister. Until 2011, he had won six Greyhound Derbies and every other significant racing title possible. Even at seventy-one, the brilliant trainer is successful and famous than many others.

He was awarded the OBE title at the end of 2011, to which his response was really humble.

"I've had a good year with the finals we've won but I never dreamed I'd get anything like this - it's unbelievable," he said.

"I thought it was a bit of a wind-up when I first heard about it but it's good for me and it's good for greyhound racing."

One of the most famous and prestigious greyhound derbies is the English Derby, and Charlie Lister has won it at six occasions. He won the Derby back-to-back in 2010 and 2011, first with Bandicoot Tipoki and then, Taylors Sky, who bestowed the trainer with yet another honour.

He set a track record by winning the race in 28.17 seconds.

Rapid Ranger trained by Charlie Lister won the race in 2000 and 2001, and after a year?s gap, he won the title with, Farloe Verdict.

The first time that Charlie Lister won the honour was in 1997 with his under charge, Some Picture, who completed the trip in 28.23 seconds after being entered as the favourite entry.

Winning the Derby with Taylors Sky, made the champion trainer, Charlie Lister, surpass the record of Leslie Reynolds.

Twice the iconic trainer has missed striking a hat-trick in winning the most affluent greyhound derby.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/Charlie-Lister-still-at-the-top-in-greyhound-racing-a195688

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Celebrating Motherhood: Thankful to be in the race

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day, I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."

Source: http://www.celebratingmotherhoodeveryday.com/2012/10/thankful-to-be-in-race.html

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Romney Suffers from "Auto Neurotic Prevarication" in Ohio | Crooks ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The federal investments in both companies combined with the arranged marriage between Fiat and Chrysler saved the American auto industry and with it over a million U.S. jobs. Which is what makes Mitt Romney's claim in May that "I'll take a ..... which reminds me of the classic line from braveheart, when the english king, longshanks, makes his catty deduction that 'the problem with scotland is that it is filled with scots'. managed bankruptcy of the american car industry ...

Source: http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/romney-suffers-auto-neurotic-prevarication-in-ohio

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The Weather Company Sees 'Record-Breaking' Programmatic ...

The fearsome and punishing effects from Hurricane Sandy along the east coast the past few days has contributed to a series of record-breaking events across The Weather Company?s cable and digital properties. In particular, The Weather Channel?s parent company tells AdExchanger? that on Friday, the amount of ad dollars coming in from programmatic channels exceeded any other day since it started accepting such buys earlier this year.

While Global Chief Revenue Officer Curt Hecht said that the company wouldn?t be releasing specific revenue figures related to programmatic buys it has received, he did say that activity reflects the new strategies and backgrounds that Hecht, the architect of Publicis Group?s digital buying and trading desk hub, the? VivaKi Nerve Center, and CEO David Kenny, his former VivaKi colleague, have brought into The Weather Company?s sales operations.

?We set a record on Friday in terms of programmatic revenue and since landfall is happening right now, I assume that trend will continue through the duration of the storm,? Hecht told AdExchanger. ?Similarly, our video, mobile revenue via programmatic is like nothing we?ve seen to date. Part of it is embracing the exchange marketplace and knowing how to optimize against it. Part of it is the amount of inventory based on the audience flow.?

Craig Schinn, VP, Reporting & Analytics for Accordant Media, confirmed the trends that The Weather Company is seeing with a regard to programmatic buying. ?Through the data we have so far today, RTB impressions are up 13 percent vs. the average Monday (same hours) in the prior month,? he said.? ?This is well beyond the normal growth of RTB, and indicative that Frankenstorm is driving massive spikes in internet usage, and opportunities within RTB.?

John Slade, SVP of Product Management at Rubicon Project,? told us that Rubicon?s marketplace of premium inventory has seen significant shifts in advertiser spend that are likely attributable to the marketer?s interest in reaching audiences interested in or affected by Hurricane Sandy. Naturally, sites in the ?news? category are in high demand from audiences and the advertisers who want to buy them.

?As you know, the traffic increases combined with the advertiser spend shifts can result in immediate revenue opportunities for publishers,? Slade said. ?However, it?s important to remember those opportunities are not without risk, as publishers need to be very sensitive with regard to the types of ads that run on their sites in highly sensitive times.? A poorly placed ad, such as an ad promoting tourism in Atlantic City or an ad promoting flood insurance, could easily damage a publisher?s reputation with its consumers.? Therefore, it?s important for publishers who may have advertising opportunities related to Sandy to ensure they are working with a technology partner who can ensure they are helping protect their brand from ads that could be found offensive in these particular times.?

The amount of online activity and focus on portable devices and digital platforms like social media led The Weather Channel to rebrand as The Weather Company a few weeks ago. But the relationship between the company and its advertisers and viewers, especially those who turn to the cable channel and its mobile and web-based versions, is what appears to be coming together at this moment. Being a known quantity that tends to specialize covering events like Hurricane Sandy also helps The Weather Company not overplay the disaster and alienate consumers.

Among the content decisions The Weather Company made in advance of the storm was to live-stream its cable network?s video on YouTube for the first time. This afternoon, a live feed was launched on Yahoo?s homepage. Advertisers were ready for the moment, just as The Weather Company was ready with a fuller multi-platform strategy. On top of the mobile app and web-usage that has been growing, with a great deal of thanks from its My Friend?s Weather, which is a collaboration between The Weather Company and Facebook. The social media tool uses Facebook Connect to bring Weather.com users to Facebook, so the social network?s members can share info about their own meteorological situation.

Here?s some stats The Weather Company supplied to us:

Live stream ? 5MM total live video stream starts between The Weather Company?s live stream on weather.com, YouTube & wunderground.com; 165k concurrent users (that?s almost the same as the network on a typical day), and over 1.2MM hours streamed ? 50 percent of those traffic numbers are occurring on weather.com, the other 50 percent are on YouTube.
TV ? On TWC, Saturday?s preliminary time period data for P25-54/Total Day points to a 500%+ gain over quarter-to-date levels.
weather.com ? Today (Monday) is shaping up to be the largest in history on weather.com. As of 7pm on Monday, the site has registered 20oMM pageviews. The site?s previous record was scored during a colossal snowstorm in Feb. 2011 with 144MM. The site was on pace to hit 300MM by late Monday night. On Sunday, weather.com saw 105MM page views (the fifth highest page view ever) and 40MM video streams (#1 all-time video day). Top 10 day for daily visits and visitors (21MM and 14MM, respectively)
Mobile web ? #2 all-time page view day with 16.3 million (behind last year?s ?Colossal storm? on 2/1/11 ? 17 million). As we saw with Joplin and Tuscaloosa last year, mobile activity on web and apps is likely to pick-up further if there are power outages.
Mobile and tablet apps ? #1 all-time day for page views (109 million page views) and #1 all-time day for video starts (1.6 million video starts) across mobile and tablet apps combined
YouTube stats ? Stream began Sunday evening, and it is a homepage spotlight on YouTube in the U.S. As of this morning, there had been 1MM playback starts, 20,000 peak concurrent users, 141,000+ hours streamed with an average view time of 8.5 minutes. I just checked it, and there have been almost 7 million video views ? and 65,000 viewers are watching it live right now.
My Friends? Weather on weather.com: As of this morning (Monday) ? 80,000+ authenticated users (users who have signed in through Facebook on weather.com to see who of their friends are affected by the storm).?Uptick started Wednesday and really took off on Friday ? new authenticated users by day saw three successive record highs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

One other advantage The Weather Company has during a disaster like this is that each of its platforms reinforce usage of the other. In turn, that inspires advertisers to be ready in advance and increasingly, in real-time.

?In the cable upfront every year, there are marketers who know that these severe weather events are very important to their respective businesses,? Hecht said. ?Therefore, when something?s about to hit, they?re ready to go, they?re budgeted. That?s one variation that we see. That will typically be insurance, home improvement, retail and power supply companies like batteries and generators. They know us, we know them, as we?ve been around for 30 years.?

For those that don?t want to commit and take it on the fly, programmatic buying is an easy option. Hecht wouldn?t identify individual marketers buying programmatically, but he did say the marketers tended to be in the core categories mentioned above, with travel-related advertisers also buying in real-time.

?We?re pulling higher ratings right now as a result of the storm, so if those marketers want to deliver on their media plan, it?s a good opportunity to buy that audience that has shifted to us and away from their regular viewing habits,? Hecht added. ?On the digital side, if you go to Weather.com, you?ll see Traveler?s and Duracell wisely bought My Friend?s Weather. Both of them are benefiting from a record event in pageviews on our site and apps. What?s interesting here is Facebook and Weather Company coming together to provide the same level of public service that we have traditionally provided through cable TV.?

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Source: http://www.adexchanger.com/platforms/the-weather-company-sees-record-breaking-programmatic-revenue-related-to-hurricane-coverage/

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Officials keep close eye on nuclear power plants as Sandy's winds whip

Though no nuclear power plants have been taken offline so far, officials along the east coast are overseeing plants carefully as hurricane Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey.?

By Josh Lederman,?Associated Press / October 29, 2012

A utility worker from Asplundh cuts away at a tree that fell on power lines on Gilbert Lane in Idetown, Pa., Monday. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, while officials kept a close eye on nuclear power plants.

Mark Moran/The Citizens' Voice/AP

Enlarge

Federal regulators and safety officials at nuclear power plants along the Eastern Seaboard were keeping a watchful eye on wind and water levels, preparing to shut plants down should super-storm Sandy send levels surging.

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Still, by Monday evening, before the storm made landfall along the coast of New Jersey, no plants had been taken offline.

The US agency that oversees nuclear safety, its own headquarters and Northeast regional office shuttered by Sandy, dispatched extra inspectors or placed them on standby in five states, equipped with satellite phones to ensure uninterrupted contact.

Nuclear power plants are built to withstand hurricanes, airplane collisions and other major disasters, but safety procedures call for plants to be shut down when hurricane-force winds are present at the site, or if water levels nearby exceed certain flood limits.

At the Salem and Hope Creek plants in Hancocks Bridge, N.J., which together produce enough power for about 3 million homes per day, officials were watching for sustained winds of 74 mph or greater that would trigger taking the plants offline. The nearby Delaware River posed another hazard if water levels exceed 99.5 feet, compared with a normal level of 89 feet.

Joe Delmar, a spokesman for Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., said that only essential employees had been asked to report to work but that current projections were that the plants would not have to close.

One of the units at Salem had already been offline due to regular refueling and maintenance. That was also the case at Oyster Creek, a 636-megawatt plant in Lacey Township, N.J., roughly 60 miles east of Philadelphia.

In Lusby, Md., the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant was operating at full power ? enough to power more than 1 million homes. Additional staff, both onsite and off, were called in to prepare for the storm. Safety officials there will take the plant offline if sustained winds exceed 75 mph or water levels rise more than 10 feet above normal sea level.

Seventy-five was also the number at Indian Point in Buchanan, N.Y., where officials said they were fully prepared to withstand surging water levels from the Hudson River. At Pennsylvania's Susquehanna plant in Salem Township, officials were ready to activate their emergency plan, a precursor to taking the plant offline, if sustained winds hit 80 mph.

"Our top concern is ensuring that the plants are in a safe condition, that they are following their severe weather procedures" said Diane Screnci of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She said that even though the agency's headquarters and regional office had been closed, its incident response center was staffed, with other regions ready to lend a hand if necessary.

At the Millstone nuclear power complex on Connecticut's shoreline, officials said they were powering down one of the two reactors to 75 percent of maximum output to maintain stability of the electric grid. Millstone spokesman Ken Holt said the grid's stability could be affected if the unit was operating at 100 percent and suddenly went offline, which isn't expected to happen.

Some 60 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia get their power from PJM, the largest regional power grid in the US Contingency plans call for power to be brought in from other areas to replace power lost if a nuclear plant reduces output or goes offline.

"It's done instantaneously," said Paula DuPont-Kidd, a spokeswoman for the grid. "Even if multiple plants go offline at the same time, we'd have to see how adjustments would be made, but for the most part we plan for that scenario."

In August 2011, multiple nuclear plants shut down due to Hurricane Irene, with others reducing power.

Although nuclear plants are built for resilience, their operations get more complicated when only emergency personnel are on duty or if external electricity gets knocked out, as often happens during hurricanes.

"When external power is not available, you have to use standby generators," said Sudarshan Loyalka, who teaches nuclear engineering at University of Missouri. "You just don't want to rely on backup power."

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at?http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/WSp5F1K8uWw/Officials-keep-close-eye-on-nuclear-power-plants-as-Sandy-s-winds-whip

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Kristina England - Writer: So when did you start writing?

I think most writers get this question so I'll answer it for you today.? It's a two-fold question really as most people ask me when I started writing poetry but it's not a good baseline for when I really took pen to paper.

My mother can tell you that as soon as I could speak, I was a storyteller.? I was the child that didn't have an imaginary friend.? I had an imaginary city.? That's right, an imaginary city in my parents' bathroom.? The weird random diamonds scattered across their bathroom wall became windows to apartment buildings in which all my imaginary friends had different lives going on.

My mom would probably have a better idea on how old I was when this city begain but I do know that I was extremely young - probably around 5 years old.?

By the time I was hanging out at my grandmother's house, either my mother or my grandmother decided I needed to write my stories down.? So I got post-it pads in which I wrote stories on multiple stickies at six and seven years of age.?

My mom then trained me on her typewriter and away I went with my first "novella" at 8 years old.? Needless to say, I didn't finish the novella.

What I discovered later on in my teens was anything over three pages long became a never ending project.? I could never tie up the story.? If I kept it short, it wrapped up, but epic was never really my thing.

At 15, I was introduced to "creative writing" in the classroom, which included poetry.? I didn't quite get poetry but I wrote my first haiku and was all excited when it was one of three poems in the class that the teacher submitted to a contest.

I stopped writing for a year around this time as I was a teenager and although I loved telling stories, I wanted to socialize, not sit down in a corner and write.

At 16, I lost my favorite math teacher to suicide and found the need to sit in a corner and write.? I returned to poetry, not fiction, and began to write about my feelings rather than about imaginary characters.? This decision would help me through a year and a half of watching my grandfather deteoriate from Alzheimers and his expected death in December 1998.

I would then turn to writing personal (or confessional) poetry in college and grad school.? It wasn't until after grad school that I returned to storytelling in my poetry - I no longer felt the need to write about me.

There was a point in undergrad that I actually went back to fiction for a year and entertained my dorm room buddies with spooky stories, but it was only a phase as I decided to commit myself to my poetry from that point on.

Why write about this now?? Well, it's always helpful to understand the writer's history.? It also ties into where I am now.? Recently, I not only started writing form poetry, but I've also found myself craving more than poetry.? It's the reason I relaunched Worcester Storytellers.? It's also the reason I started writing fiction again.? I had a failed attempt at a fiction piece a few months ago but it was more because the story didn't feel right.? Yesterday, I had a piece come to me that felt right and so I sat down and have been working on it ever since.

It's funny how everyone's story is different.? Some people picked up the pen due to a major change in their life.? Others, like me, started writing at such an early point in life, we can't even remember not writing.?

The many layers of life and how those layers unfold is what makes it so beautiful and vulnerable at the same time.? It's the challenges that make us think a different way and shift with the tides.? But it's all worth it in the end (at least, I'm a firm believer in that idea).

Source: http://kristinaengland.blogspot.com/2012/10/so-when-did-you-start-writing.html

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012