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Click here to read Facebook Copyright Law (For Idiots)

We already explained just how worthless that Facebook copyright privacy status update gobbledygook is. But just in case you or one of your friends needs it spoken outloud to you because word-things are too hard, College Humor breaks it down for you in plain English. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/l3fKrX2Enwg/facebook-privacy-law-for-idiots

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Unite union official warns bus passengers to expect many more strikes

2:50pm Wednesday 28th November 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

A senior Unite official has warned bus passengers to expect many more strikes until a pay dispute is settled.

Roger Dillon, Unite regional organiser for buses in north London, claims communication has broken down with employer Arriva London North over the 24-hour strike, which is due to start at 3am tonight.

He said further strikes are likely in the New Year as he does not believe the industrial action, which is set to involve 2,300 trade union members, will convince Arriva to increase drivers? pay in line with inflation.

Mr Dillon, who will join the picket line outside Enfield and Wood Green bus garages tomorrow, said: ?It has taken us a long time to get to this point and we are very disappointed because we believed that we were going to sort something out.

?We didn?t want it to come to this but now it has, we are in for the long haul.?

A total of 51 bus routes are expected to be affected with Transport for London (TfL) warning passengers to expect severe delays or cancellations to their journeys.

Extra pressure is also expected to hit Tube stations, with TfL pinpointing Wood Green, Turnpike Lane, Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters and Victoria Tube stations as particular trouble spots.

Mr Dillon said bus drivers, who have not been given a pay rise since 2010, were offered a ?600-per-year pay increase by Arriva. However, the union is calling for a percentage increase to their annual wage, which trade union members are prepared to discuss with their employer.??

A planned strike was called off on Wednesday, November 14, but Mr Dillon claims Arriva ? which provides approximately ten per cent of bus services for TfL - is no longer in talks with the union to cancel tonight?s action.

He said: ?Nobody is in talks with us now. We have been waiting for the phone call all day thinking that someone wanted to talk to us but right now we are just getting the flags and banners ready.

?We can?t sit around waiting for the call.?

The Unite official said he believes the public will understand the industrial action because they will have noticed bus drivers have not been given a pay rise despite fares increasing annually.

Source: http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/newsheadlines/10075584.Union_official_warns_bus_passengers_to_expect_many_more_strikes/?ref=rss

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Otterbox Defender for iPad mini (Video Review)
November 28th 2012

The Defender is Otterbox's most protective case and is now available for the iPad mini. It features multiple layers of protection with an inner hardshell, outer plastic cover, and a hard cover. The case also features a built-in screen shield/protector. The hard outer case also doubles as a stand for iPad typing or viewing.

The iPad mini Defender is currently available in Black, Crevasse (reviewed), and Blushed. It retails for 44.99 - $69.95.

Purchase @ Amazon

Otterbox

Connect with Insanely Great Mac

Related posts:

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Web Sites And Search Engines: What To Know About Search Engine Optimization
The Best Search Engine Optimization Tips Online
Search Engine Optimization Tips For Online Business Owners
Your Best Guide For How To Get The Most Out Of Search Engine Optimization

Source: http://www.websitehostdirect.com/a-short-guide-to-search-engine-optimization/

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Updated 6:08 p.m.

The director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced today he will leave the position in January 2013 after more than three years implementing broad changes to the country's patent system.

David Kappos was widely respected among intellectual property lawyers for his grasp of issues regarding patents in the age of software and the internet, as well as his knowledge of how to implement change in a large organization like the patent office.

Kappos was also known for reducing the backlog of patent applications and worked hard to bring the best talent to the patent office, including reinvigorating the patent trial appeal board and the examining corps, said Michael Messinger, a partner at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox and an adjunct professor for patent prosecution at George Mason University School of Law.

"He was one of our best commissioners in the [last] 30 years," Messinger said. "He really understood that we're in the knowledge economy and understood well the role of patents in promoting innovation in the U.S. economy."

Kappos led the office during a time when intellectual property was in flux, said Gary Hoffman, a partner at Dickstein Shapiro with more than 35 years of experience with IP issues. That meant implementing new decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and other appeals courts that weren?t always the easiest to understand, such as what constitutes a patentable idea.

"He was the best you could have" at implementing Supreme Court decisions, Hoffman said. "He probably did a better job trying than anybody else could have."

Kappos' main task over the last year was implementing the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which was signed in to law in September 2011 and is reshaping the U.S. patent system. Kappos received praise from one of the bill's authors, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

"He and his team have set the PTO on course to implement the key provisions of the Act, which will improve the patent system for decades to come," said Leahy. "Director Kappos's leadership of the PTO has been applauded by Democrats and Republicans, and by all sectors of the business community."

Not all of those provisions have been put into place yet, making this a critical time for direction at the PTO. "He?s launched it, it?s aimed very well," Messinger said. "The timing of his departure is going to make it even more important that we all look at making sure the implementation process keeps going with the quality standards that Kappos set."

Kappos also took on the backlog of patent applications, and was willing to engage the patent office unions and staff and look at the work flow processes that govern how examiners carry out their work, Messinger said.

Kappos, a lawyer since 1990 who also has a degree in electrical and computer engineering, has been working in the intellectual property field since then. Before joining the PTO, Kappos was vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property at IBM, where he managed worldwide intellectual property operations, the PTO website states.

The White House did not immediately name a replacement for Kappos. Nor was it immediately clear what Kappos will be doing next. In October, The National Law Journal identified Kappos as one of a dozen government lawyers who are most likely to be sought after in the private sector.

Kappos could not be reached for comment, but made a statement through the patent office communications staff:

"I believe we have made great progress in reducing the patent backlog, increasing operational efficiency, and exerting leadership in IP policy domestically and internationally," Kappos said in a written statement. "Thanks to the entire USPTO staff for their dedication and hard work. I wish them the very best as they continue their efforts to support the U.S. economy by promoting and protecting innovation."

The PTO has cut the backlog of unexamined patents from over 750,000 to approximately 605,000, or 20 percent, despite an average increase of 5 percent in applications each year. It also reduced the amount of time that it takes to receive a first action on a patent application from 27 months to about 16 months.

Source: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2012/11/kappos-leaving-pto-after-efforts-to-reshape-us-patent-system.html

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Sir Roy Calne is a pioneer of organ transplants ? the surgeon who in the 1950s found ways to stop the human immune system from rejecting implanted hearts, livers and kidneys. In 1968 he performed Europe?s first liver transplant, and in 1987 the world?s first transplant of a liver, heart and lung.

This fall, along with Dr. Thomas E. Starzl of the University of Pittsburgh, he received a 2012 Lasker Award for ?the development of liver transplantation, which has restored normal life to thousands of patients with end-stage liver disease.?

We spoke for two hours immediately before the awards ceremony. An edited and condensed version of the interview follows.

When you were studying medicine in early-1950s Britain, what was the prevailing attitude toward organ transplantation?

It didn?t exist! While a medical student, I recall being presented with a young patient with kidney failure. I was told to make him as comfortable as possible because he would die in two weeks.

This troubled me. Some of our patients were very young, very deserving. Aside from their kidney disease, there was nothing else wrong with them. I wondered then if it might be possible to do organ transplants, because kidneys are fairly simple in terms of their plumbing. I thought in gardening terms. Might it not be possible to do an organ graft, replacing a malfunctioning organ with a healthy one? I was told, ?No, that?s impossible.?

Well, I?ve always tended to dislike being told that something can?t be done. I?ve always had a somewhat rebellious nature. Just ask my wife.

When did you first think it might be a real possibility?

Around 1957. I was teaching anatomy at Oxford. I attended a lecture there by the great biologist Sir Peter Medawar, who showed slides of successful skin grafts between white mice and black mice. Though he insisted that there was ?no clinical application whatsoever,? I wondered, ?Why couldn?t we do something like that with kidneys??

Afterwards, I began to devote myself to the two main obstacles to transplantation. One was surgical and the other immunological. In America, at that time, Tom Starzl, then at Colorado, and Francis Moore at Harvard were separately working on the surgical techniques. But I was in Britain, and there was no one there who could teach me. And so I worked out the surgical problem for myself. I taught myself how to transplant kidneys in dogs.

Once I?d done that, the big problem was to find some way to prevent the immune system from rejecting the transplanted organs. I sought some way to make the immune system temporarily malleable, as it is in the fetus. If you performed the transplant during a period of plasticity, the hope was that you could avoid rejection. In those days, the only described method for doing that was X-ray irradiation, shutting down the immune system by destroying it.

Well, that didn?t work. It just made the dogs desperately ill and it didn?t stop rejection. That led me to wonder if there wasn?t some other method of immunosuppression we could consider ? a drug perhaps?

How long did it take you to find something effective?

The first sign that we might have something came in 1959, when we tried the anti-leukemia drug 6-mercaptopurine with dogs who?d had kidney grafts. Some lived quite a long time. And this was a big step. It changed something that had been total failure to a partial success. Even Peter Medawar thought we were on to something.

But cyclosporine was the real watershed. We tested it in my laboratory at the University of Cambridge during the mid-1970s. By 1977, it had moved the success rate from 50 percent to 80 percent. That really changed attitudes. Before cyclosporine, you had only 10 centers around the world doing organ transplants. Afterwards, it was 1,000. And now we had a whole new problem: not enough donor organs to meet demand.

Is there any solution to the shortage of donor organs?

I think an ?opt out? program would work better than what you currently have in the United States. They are doing this in Spain, and it has worked very well. It offers the option for people to say ?no? to have their organs used after death. If they don?t take it, this is regarded as permission. This changes the atmosphere and the perception.

Are you intrigued by the ethical questions your discoveries have brought?

Well, one of the reasons we have them is that the results are so good. If we hadn?t had successes, we wouldn?t have ethical concerns.

Still, it?s one thing to transplant organs from deceased donors and another to pressure people to donate while alive. My profession has been very cavalier about taking organs from live donors ? especially livers. Sometimes adults are willing to donate half their livers because of tremendous pressure from their families. With half a liver, there?s a definite mortality rate, probably around 1 percent, maybe 2 percent, for the donor.

I?ve seen tremendous disruption in families where a wife said, ?My husband wants to give half his liver to his brother, but he?s the breadwinner in our family and I don?t want him to do it.?

What about the growth of ?transplant tourism,? where patients from wealthy countries travel to poorer ones to find organs?

That?s terrible ? verges on the criminal, really. We?ve heard stories where a well-respected surgeon is asked to go to a third world country, and he gets there and the recipient has cirrhosis and the donor is his ?cousin.? In fact, the donor is probably some poor peasant who is apparently being paid for it. One hears of disasters where the surgeon has to work in countries with poor facilities and both the donor and the recipient have died. The surgeon returns home to this horrible news.

These kinds of events can occur in countries where power is abused. We can just imagine what would have happened in Nazi Germany if organ transplantation had existed in the 1930s.

You did a lot of your early experiments on dogs and pigs. What do animal rights activists think of your work?

They once sent me a bomb. I was suspicious and phoned up the army ? who blew it up. This was right around the time cyclosporine was first being used. A BBC director did a program on a child who?d been saved with it. And after that, I had no more trouble with animal rights. Not because they loved me. But that they thought it wouldn?t do them any good if they killed someone treating children.

The Lasker prize, which you and Tom Starzl just won, is often called the Pre-Nobel. Were the Lasker judges saying to Stockholm, ?Hey, isn?t it time you honored this world-changing discovery??

Well, I don?t know how they work in Stockholm. If you look at the amount of good that resulted from organ transplantation it fits very much into what Alfred Nobel wanted the prize to be used for.

I get a lot of satisfaction a different way. I have a patient and it?s been 38 years since his transplant. He?s just come back from a 150-mile trek bicycling through the mountains. That?s my reward.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/science/organ-transplant-pioneer-talks-about-risks-and-rewards.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) passes during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn (9) passes to a teammate during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Denver Broncos strong safety Mike Adams (20) celebrates a fumble recovery with free safety Rahim Moore (26) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kansas City Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel looks at the clock during the first half of an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Kansas City Chiefs running back Shaun Draughn (20) is tackled by Denver Broncos strong safety Mike Adams, right, during the first half of an NFL football game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Peyton Manning was wooed by the Chiefs early in the offseason, after the four-time MVP had been cut loose by Indianapolis and before he signed a five-year deal with Denver.

On Sunday, he showed exactly why Kansas City was after him.

Manning threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns, and led the Broncos down the field in the final minutes when the Chiefs were frantically trying to get a stop, setting up a field goal that sealed a 17-9 victory and their sixth consecutive win.

It allowed Manning to break a tie with his boss and Broncos vice president John Elway with his 149th win as a starting quarterback, trailing only Brett Favre (186) for most in NFL history.

"Peyton Manning is a Hall of Famer," Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said. "We played pretty good as a defense most of the game, but he made a few plays, one or two more plays than we'd like him to make, and he came up with a victory."

Naturally, Manning was quick to pass the praise to someone else.

In this case, it was Knowshon Moreno, who stepped into the starting lineup after Willis McGahee landed on injured reserve this week and ran for 85 yards. Manning also handed out kudos to Jacob Tamme and Demaryius Thomas, who were on the receiving end of his touchdown throws.

"I've got to tip my hat to Knowshon Moreno," Manning said. "He stepped up today and did a heck of a job. Really an impressive effort by him."

Not so much by the Chiefs offense.

Jamaal Charles ran for 107 yards, but the Chiefs (1-10) were done in by penalties, missed opportunities and a conservative approach that has not yielded a touchdown since the first quarter against Pittsburgh on Nov. 12, a span of more than 11 quarters and 173 minutes.

They could only manage field goals by Ryan Succop for the second straight game.

"It's really about stopping the run," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. "If you can limit that run game, you put the weight on their passing game, which hasn't been that great this year."

Quinn was 13 of 25 for 126 yards and an interception.

"Hats off to our defense," Broncos coach John Fox said. "We struggled a bit against the run, but they're a very good run team. ... Something we work very hard on is the red area, and holding them to three field goals was a key in the game."

Kansas City actually established an early lead for the third straight game on Succop's first-quarter field goal, and seemed to be outplaying Denver (8-3) the entire first half.

They had a chance to go ahead 10-0 when they faced fourth-and-2 at the Denver 4, but Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel elected to kick another field goal against a team that had scored at least 30 points in five straight games, drawing a chorus of boos from the crowd.

"I thought points on the board were important," Crennel said by way of explanation.

Problem was that touchdowns trump field goals.

On the Broncos' final drive of the half, Manning completed five straight passes before finding Tamme on third-and-goal from the Kansas City 7 with 18 seconds left. The touchdown catch, on which the tight end dragged safety Eric Berry into the end zone, gave the Broncos a 7-6 lead and wiped out all the hard work that Kansas City had put in over the first 25 minutes.

Denver's Matt Prater missed his second field goal try of the game early in the third quarter, and Succop's 49-yarder gave Kansas City its first second-half lead of the season.

But once again, a failure to get into the end zone proved fatal.

Manning, who surpassed 3,000 yards passing earlier in the day, rode the legs of Moreno into Chiefs territory, and that's when he lobbed a pass over nickelback Jalil Brown and into the hands of Thomas for the go-ahead, 30-yard touchdown reception late in the third quarter.

"That was a great catch down the sideline against tight coverage," Manning said.

The Chiefs twice had chances to overcome the 14-9 deficit late in the fourth, but they failed to move the ball after taking over at their own 37. After getting it back, Crennel chose to punt on fourth-and-6 at the Broncos 47 after a series of penalties ruined the drive.

It was their last chance to retake the lead.

Denver tacked on a field goal by Prater in the closing seconds, and after Jacksonville held on to beat Tennessee, the Chiefs were left as the league's only one-win team.

"We're frustrated every week. Every time we get a loss, it's frustrating," Charles said. "I don't know when it's going to stop, but hopefully we can did deep down in our souls and find a way to get out of this."

NOTES: Chiefs WR Dexter McCluster (head/neck) and S Kendrick Lewis (shoulder) left the game with injuries. ... Kansas City was 3 for 14 on third downs. ... Chiefs LB Justin Houston had two sacks. ... Broncos LB Von Miller had his 14th sack of the season.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.porg/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-25-FBN-Broncos-Chiefs/id-7560d435baa74c45a2928479f697cee7

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MOSCOW (AP) ? NASA and Russia's Roscosmos have named the two men who will spend a year aboard the International Space Station to gather more data about the effects of weightlessness on humans.

NASA's Scott Kelly and Roscosmos' Mikhail Kornienko will take part in the mission set to start in spring 2015. The space agencies said in a statement Monday that the flight would help reduce health risks for planned NASA missions around the moon, an asteroid and ultimately Mars.

Crews so far have done only six-month stints on the station.

William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator, said the mission "will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit."

Kelly and Kornienko will start training for the mission next year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-russia-name-crew-yearlong-space-mission-145133575.html

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) ? Adam Merchant had a wish and a command for the New York Giants.

The 15-year-old fan from Barre, Vt., attended practice and then Sunday's game with the Packers thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He wanted the Giants to snap their two-game slide and get out of their offensive funk.

So he ordered the Giants to "play like world champions," and they delivered a 38-10 rout of the Green Bay Packers.

"That was the theme of our meetings," coach Tom Coughlin said.

Eli Manning came back from the bye week with a rested arm, and that offensive slump was tossed aside. The Giants (7-4) said they turned things around for themselves, and for Merchant, who has cancer.

"They have one wish," Manning said after throwing for three scores to set a team record with 200 TD passes for his career. "It is sad when you think about it ? they have one wish, what you want to do, and he wanted to come to Giants practice ... and to a game.

"He said, 'Go show everybody you are the world champions and why you are the world champions and play that way.' Everybody got fired up and played the way we know we can."

The Packers (7-4) certainly did not. The showcase game was decided early as the Giants outscored the Packers 31-10 in the opening half to end Green Bay's five-game winning streak. While New York took a two-game lead in the NFC East, Green Bay fell out of a tie with Chicago atop the NFC North.

The Packers were missing such key starters as linebacker Clay Matthews, defensive back Charles Woodson and receiver Greg Jennings, and it showed. After being manhandled in last season's playoffs by the Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl, the Packers weren't much more competitive this time. Aaron Rodgers was sacked five times, including twice by Mathias Kiwanuka, who spent much of the game at defensive tackle rather than in his usual linebacker spot.

"When your quarterback is under pressure like that, it affected me tonight," coach Mike McCarthy said of his play-calling. "I probably didn't call the best game I've called. You have to protect your quarterback. It's your No. 1 responsibility. That's not what we're looking for."

New York's balanced attack was guided by Manning, who had his first strong game in a month with 249 yards passing.

"I never thought my arm was tired, never felt like it," Manning said. "After a week off, you come back to practice, it felt good, alive, balls coming out with a little pop on it.

"After 10 weeks, it definitely needed a little rest."

Coughlin knew Manning would return with some extra verve.

"There was no doubt he was going to come back and play well," Coughlin said. "I think the rest really helped him. ... Eli said he felt as if he was coming back for the start of the season. I was very confident he would come back and be Eli."

Ahmad Bradshaw gained a combined 119 yards and scored a touchdown. He had the first big play of the night to begin the offensive onslaught.

New York struck early with a brilliantly conceived screen pass to Bradshaw off a fake reverse to Victor Cruz. Bradshaw sped down the field before being caught at the Green Bay 2, a 59-yard pickup that led to Andre Brown's scoring run.

Brown later broke his leg; Coughlin did not say which leg after the game.

"It will be a tough loss, he is an important player," Manning said.

Green Bay didn't flinch, with Jordy Nelson getting behind Corey Webster in single coverage down the right sideline for a 61-yard TD reception from Rodgers.

The scoring flurry went back in the Giants' favor ? and pretty much stayed there ? when Manning hit Rueben Randle in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD. It was the first score for the rookie and Manning's first touchdown throw in four games, and he set it up with, of all things, a scramble in which he laid his shoulder into Packers cornerback Tramon Williams for a 13-yard gain.

"It sparked our sideline," Coughlin said. "It would not be the recommended way. To see him do that kind of sent the message to the rest of our team: Whatever you have to do to succeed, do it."

Webster's interception led to Lawrence Tynes' 43-yard field goal late in the first quarter for a 17-7 lead, and the Giants weren't nearly done. Manning's 9-yard connection with Cruz tied him for the club record with 199 TD passes, and after Osi Umenyiora's strip-sack of Rodgers was recovered by Jason Pierre-Paul at the Green Bay 23, Bradshaw scored from the 13.

The 31 points were the most New York scored in a half all season and nearly equaled the 33 it scored in its two losses before the bye.

And the Giants had more offense in them. Manning threw his 200th TD pass to move ahead of Phil Simms, a 13-yarder over the middle to Hakeem Nicks, who stretched the ball over the goal line as he was tackled.

"There was a different enthusiasm in practices," Manning said, "and I think that paid off in the game."

It paid off for the Giants, and for their young fan.

"It kind of hit home," Justin Tuck said. "You got this kid that don't know us from James and watches us on TV every Sunday and it's so profound."

NOTES; The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips with a knee injury in the third quarter. He was making his first appearance since Week 4, when he was sidelined with a knee problem. ... Giants right tackle David Diehl sustained a stinger in the first half. ... Green Bay lost safety M.D. Jennings (rib), DE C.J. Wilson (knee), and RB Johnny White (concussion). ... Rodgers was 14 of 25 for 219 yards, one TD, one interception and one lost fumble.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/giants-end-slide-rout-packers-38-10-043541395--spt.html

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LONDON (Reuters) - Posting pictures of yourself plastered at a party and talking trash online with your Facebook friends may be more stress than it's worth now that your boss and mom want to see it all.

A survey from Edinburgh Business School released on Monday showed Facebook users are anxious that all those self-published sins may be coming home to roost with more than half of employers claiming to have used Facebook to weed out job candidates.

"Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt," said Ben Marder, author of the report and fellow in marketing at the Business School.

"But now with your Mom, Dad and boss there, the party becomes an anxious event full of potential social landmines."

On average, people are Facebook friends with seven different social circles, the report found, with real friends known to the user offline the most common.

More than four-fifths of users add extended family on Facebook, a similar number add siblings. Less than 70 percent are connected to friends of friends while more than 60 percent added their colleagues online, despite the anxiety this may cause.

Facebook has settings to control the information seen by different types of friends, but only one third use them, the report said.

"I'm not worried at all because all the really messy pics - me, drunken or worse - I detag straight away," said Chris from London, aged 30.

People were more commonly friends with former boyfriends or girlfriends than with current ones, the report also found.

(Reporting By Dasha Afanasieva, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-not-fun-click-boss-mum-122306143--sector.html

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cromptonelwanda29 · ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2012)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2012) ? Mental activities like reading and writing can preserve structural integrity in the brains of older people, according to a new study presented November 25 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

While previous research has shown an association between late-life cognitive activity and better mental acuity, the new study from Konstantinos Arfanakis, Ph.D., and colleagues from Rush University Medical Center and Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago studied what effect late-life cognitive activity might have on the brain's white matter, which is composed of nerve fibers, or axons, that transmit information throughout the brain.

"Reading the newspaper, writing letters, visiting a library, attending a play or playing games, such as chess or checkers, are all simple activities that can contribute to a healthier brain," Dr. Arfanakis said.

The researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method known as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to generate data on diffusion anisotropy, a measure of how water molecules move through the brain. In white matter, diffusion anisotropy exploits the fact that water moves more easily in a direction parallel to the brain's axons, and less easily perpendicular to the axons, because it is impeded by structures such as axonal membranes and myelin. "This difference in the diffusion rates along different directions increases diffusion anisotropy values," Dr. Arfanakis said. "Diffusion anisotropy is higher when more diffusion is happening in one direction compared to others."

The anisotropy values in white matter drop, however, with aging, injury and disease.

"In healthy white matter tissue, water can't move as much in directions perpendicular to the nerve fibers," Dr. Arfanakis said. "But if, for example, you have lower neuronal density or less myelin, then the water has more freedom to move perpendicular to the fibers, so you would have reduced diffusion anisotropy. Lower diffusion anisotropy values are consistent with aging."

The study included 152 elderly participants, mean age 81 years, from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a large-scale study looking at risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. Participants were without dementia or mild cognitive impairment, based on a detailed clinical evaluation. Researchers asked the participants to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 the frequency with which they participated in a list of mentally engaging activities during the last year. Among the activities were reading newspapers and magazines, writing letters and playing cards and board games.

Participants underwent brain MRI using a 1.5-T scanner within one year of clinical evaluation. The researchers collected anatomical and DTI data and used it to generate diffusion anisotropy maps.

Data analysis revealed significant associations between the frequency of cognitive activity in later life and higher diffusion anisotropy values in the brain.

"Several areas throughout the brain, including regions quite important to cognition, showed higher microstructural integrity with more frequent cognitive activity in late life," said Dr. Arfanakis. "Keeping the brain occupied late in life has positive outcomes."

According to Dr. Arfanakis, diffusion anisotropy drops gradually beginning at around age 30. "Higher diffusion anisotropy in elderly patients who engage in frequent cognitive activity suggests that these people have brain properties similar to those of younger individuals," he said.

The researchers will continue to follow the study participants with an eye toward comparing the diffusion anisotropy results over time.

"In these participants, we've shown an association between late-life cognitive activity and structural integrity, but we haven't shown that one causes the other," Dr. Arfanakis said. "We want to follow the same patients over time to demonstrate a causal link."

Coauthors are Anil K. Vasireddi, B.S., Shengwei Zhang, B.Eng., David A. Bennett, M.D., and Debra A. Fleischman, Ph.D.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Radiological Society of North America.

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/XzBz8H5HJZ8/121125103947.htm

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Illness, severe injury and death are delicate subjects that are not easy to talk about. The main thing though is that by preparing in advance you can make sure that you receive the kind ? or extent ? of medical treatment you want.

If you want to take full advantage of the benefits of living wills, you should at least have a serious talk with your family, your close friends and your doctor. The most excellent approach would be to discuss these matters in a reassuring and factual manner.

The important conversation should include your philosophy about health care and the things you would want done in certain situations. In case your wishes are faced with intense moral opposition from your immediate family and/or friends, you may consider selecting or appointing someone more in line with your point of view as your health care surrogate. In this way, you will be assured that your surrogate will make decisions that are in accordance with your beliefs.

On the other hand, if you want to speak to your family or friends with the proposition that they also create a living will, be sure to prepare a good explanation to back it all up. You should put in plain words the importance of planning ahead and how these documents could be of assistance in very bad situations.

Without living wills, families could be torn apart and wrecked emotionally while trying to reach a consensus about what would be best for their seriously ill loved one. If this possibility seems unbearable for you to picture out, then make your mind up about whether to create a living will or not. You can never tell what will happen to you a year from now, next month, or perhaps tomorrow. So you might as well be safe than sorry for not making the right choice as early as possible.

Taking Care of the Paperwork

Since these documents are supposed to be legally binding, make sure that everything is put in writing. Every state has its own set of policies regarding this matter. The law in one state, concerning living wills, may not be consistent with that of another state.

You can get hold of the proper forms through your doctor or your health care provider. You can also visit various sites on the Internet to procure state-specific forms, complete with instructions on how you should properly fill them out. In addition, a variety of organizations ? such as the National Hospital and Palliative Care Organization ? also offers appropriate living will forms that are free of charge.

Then again, if you don?t mind shelling out some cash, you may seek advice from an attorney about this matter. This can be a wise move, especially if you have plans of transferring to another state ? with a different set of rules concerning such legal documents.

Once you have completed the proper forms, hand copies of the living will to your immediate family members, friends, and family doctor. If you have appointed your own health care surrogate, don?t forget furnish him or her with a copy as well.

On no account should living wills be stashed in a safe deposit box. Doing so will only make it harder for your loved ones to get hold of the document when the need arises.

Source: http://zahidebooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/living-wills-how-to-plan-for-future.html

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Science and Information (SAI) Conference 2013 will be held in London, a vibrant and historical city which is home to multiple academic institutions and where visitors can enjoy a variety of activities and entertainment from the London Eye to Oxford Street to the ever green London Bridge! The conference will be held over three days, with paper presentations from the international community of authors, including presentations from keynote speakers and state-of-the-art lectures.

SAI Conference aims to be a premier venue for researchers and industry practitioners to share their new ideas, original research results and practical development experiences from Computer Science, Electronics and Communication related areas.

Science and Information Conference 2013 is also technically co-sponsored by IEEE CIS UKRI chapter.

Important Dates
Paper Submission (Deadline) : April 01, 2013
Camera Ready Submission (Deadline) : June 15, 2013
Conference Dates : October 7-9, 2013

Acceptance Notification : Within 4 weeks of Paper Submission

Conference Topics

? Technology Trends
o Cloud Computing
o Distributed Systems
o Parallel and High Performance Computing
o Internet technologies
o Human Computer Interaction
o Ambient Intelligence
o Big Data
o Social Computing
o Software Engineering
o Software Quality
? Communication
o Quantum Computing
o Satellite and Optical Communication Systems
o 3G/4G Network Evolutions
o Mobile Adhoc Networks
o Open Spectrum Solutions
o Communication Protocols
o Cognitive Radio
o Wireless/ Mobile Applications
? Electronics
o Analog Circuits and Signal Processing
o Design Automation
o Computer Aided Network Design
o Assembly and Packaging
o Digital Circuits
o Sensing and Sensor Networks
o E-Waste
o Systems Architectures
? Security
o Biometrics
o Internet Security
o Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
o Web Services and Performance
o Secure Transactions
o Cryptography
o Secure Protocols
o Cyber Law ? Intelligent Systems
o Artificial Intelligence
o Neural Networks
o Fuzzy Logic
o Evolutionary Computation
o Knowledge Management
o Information Retrieval
o Agents and Multi-agent Systems
o Business Intelligence
o Data Mining
o Robotics
? Machine Vision
o Image Processing and analysis
o Virtual Reality
o Motion Detection and Tracking
o Object Recognition
o Video Analysis
o Medical Diagnosis
o Statistical Image Processing
o Color Image Processing
o Segmentation Techniques
o Image Quality
? e-Learning
o Collaborative Learning
o Curriculum Content Design
o Delivery Systems and Environments
o Educational Systems Design
o e-Learning Organisational Issues
o Virtual Learning Environments
o Web-based Learning Communities
o e-Learning Tools
? e-Business
o Enterprise Resource Planning
o e-Business Models
o Digital Goods and Services
o e-Commerce Application Fields
o e-Commerce Economics
o e-Commerce Services
o Digital Marketing
o Web Analytics
Authors are required to submit their papers electronically, in .docx format, and follow the submission guidelines, available at the conference website.
The submission system is accessible through the following link: http://thesai.org/SAIConference2013/Submit

Conference General Chairs
Tony Shan, CTS, USA
Roy Sterritt, University of Ulster, UK

Conference Vice-Chair
Liming Chen, University of Ulster, UK

Complete Conference Committee available at http://thesai.org/SAIConference2013/Committees

Looking forward to your submissions. Happy Submitting!
See you at London!

Source: http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/servlet/event.showcfp?eventid=27108©ownerid=44941

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Children often say that they don't complete their homework or don't pass their tests because the subject in question is "too boring." While children will eventually have to accept that not everything in life is extremely fun, you can help to make math a bit more intriguing to them.

Using Math in Everyday Life

The next time you're out to dinner, let your child be responsible for figuring out the bill. Show him or her how to use a calculator or how to figure out the numbers mentally. You can also have children help you bake at home and ask them to measure out the ingredients. Make a couple of cookies that have the wrong amount of ingredients in them to show how important math is in daily life.

Interdisciplinary Connections

Sometimes, children become bored because they would rather be studying a different subject. You could talk to the teacher(s) about his or her plans for making interdisciplinary connections. Chat with your child's English tutor and maths tutor too. For example, they might be able to come up with some word problems together that stress the importance of both reading skills and mathematical skills.

Math Games

Children generally love to play games, so invest in a few for your home game closet. They do not necessarily have to be all about math, but they can involve math components such as counting money. You could purchase some math flashcards or math trivia, and ask your children to quiz one another. You could also hold a weekly math trivia session in which all of your offspring compete. Offer a prize, one day off from chores for example, to the person who gets the most questions correct.

Field Trips

Even if the school doesn't have any such field trips scheduled, you can go on them independently. Find the home of a famous mathematician that is open for tours, or head to the local science museum. You'll find plenty of displays and experiments that rely upon math. Museums designed for children will likely have interactive activities for them as well.

If you feel that your child is struggling in math, have a talk with the teacher. Maybe he or she has suggestions for what you could do at home to improve your child's experience in math. Essentially, you want to create more of an interest in the subject to encourage your child to learn.

This article was provided to you by Numberworks Maths and English Tutoring. If you need any help on finding the right Maths and English tutor for your child, please visit us at our website for more information.

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/learning-math-the-fun-and-exciting-way-303992

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Written by admin
Posted November 22, 2012 at 7:43 am

Canon PowerShot SX160 IS 16.0 MP Digital Camera with 16x Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3.0-Inch LCD (Black) Premiere Bundle With 16 GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card, Digpro Compact Camera Deluxe Carrying Case by Canon Date first available at Amazon.com: November 22, 2012 Buy new: $159.00 (Visit the Hot New Releases in Digital Cameras list for authoritative information on this product?s current rank.)

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ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2012) ? For the first time, researchers tracking the behavior of emperor penguins near the sea have identified the importance of sea ice for the penguins' feeding habits. The research, published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Shinichi Watanabe from Fukuyama University, Japan and colleagues, Japan describes emperor penguin foraging behavior through the birds' chick-rearing season.

Unlike other species like Adelie penguins, emperor penguins spent much more time diving for food, and only used about 30% of their time at sea to take short breaks to rest on sea ice. The birds did not travel for long distances on the ice, or use it for other activities. The study also suggests that these short rest periods on sea ice may help the penguins avoid predators such as leopard seals.

Though sea ice conditions are known to affect penguin populations, the relationship between ice levels and penguins' foraging has been unclear because of the difficulties of tracking the birds at sea. Watanabe says, "The monitoring technique developed in this study will help to understand the relationship."

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Journal Reference:

Shinichi Watanabe, Katsufumi Sato, Paul J. Ponganis. Activity Time Budget during Foraging Trips of Emperor Penguins. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (11): e50357 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050357

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/52CILUFhG3w/121121210255.htm

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Kim Kardashian is heading to Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon in hopes of bringing peace to the region.

Kim Kardashian is heading to Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon in hopes of bringing ?peace to the region.

She was enthusiastically greeted upon her arrival in Egypt.

Sources close to Kim tell WWN that Kardashian is going to make appearances at some Millions of Milkshakes shops opening in the Middle East. ?There she will give her ?peace speech? and hopes that she will bring everyone together in love for her.

Kim also plans on meeting with leaders in the region.

As one source said, ?Kim wants to be a beacon of light for the Mideast, ?so she can use her celebrity to help those in need and raise awareness about important issues in the area.?

Kim will be under the constant protection of a private security squad ?and has her own personal Marine to be with her at all times.

Kanye West wasn?t happy to learn about the Marine accompanying his girlfriend.

Newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi plans on meeting with Kim privately to discuss the future of Egypt-Israeli relations.

After arriving Kim spent time in the Dead Sea. ?She plans on giving pictures of herself to everyone she meets in the Mideast.

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Source: http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/52795/kim-kardashian-on-mideast-peace-mission/

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Yet another startup is wading into the crowded waters of music streaming today: Radical.FM, a web-based service that combines on-demand streaming and curated radio stations with a platform for artists to create and broadcast their own public playlists.?But while companies like Pandora, Spotify and Rdio build out businesses based on advertising and subscription services, Radical.FM is trying something a little different: in the spirit of public radio, it?s pushing its catalog of 20 million tracks in a wholly-listener-supported model to fund its operations.

Radical.FM is founded by Thomas McAlevey, an American expat seasoned radio entrepreneur, who founded an FM station in Sweden,?Bandit 105.5, ?The Rock Home of Stockholm?, and sold it to RTL in the 1990s. He then started?Tomsradio, an early effort in the Internet radio space. That was live from 2000 to 2003, and had 40,000 listeners at its peak.

Radical.FM is based around a catalog of 20 million tracks, IFPI-licensed music from all major recording labels, the company says. As for the listening options, there are essentially three: an on-demand streaming service where users can create and share playlists of music; a radio service where you can access curated radio stations complete with DJs commenting and shaping the playlists; and something called ?RadCasts,? a further set of radio stations where independent artists can create and share playlists of their own music. The services are available online and via the mobile web, and have options for sharing built into them, either via playlists, through Facebook and Twitter sign-ins, and through an on-screen chatting service.

Although the plan is to take the service multinational, for now Radical.FM has only been turned on in full in Sweden ? yes, Spotify?s backyard.

This isn?t a deliberate attempt to go after Spotify directly. It happens that Sweden is where McAlevey lives.

He points out that there are other advantages to launching first over there. ?Sweden is a hotbed for streaming music services, a country full of early adopters, and it has a forward-thinking music industry,? he says. ?It is a perfect place to ?test run? a game-changing new service like Radical.FM before we add the label-music aspect of Radical to the US and the world.?

?Taking on Spotify on their home turf is kind of fun, too,? he adds.

Radical.FM seems to be confident that listener support will be enough to run the service ? and then some. Ten percent of all donations will be passed on to charity. ?We believe that a corporation can do well while doing good. We believe everyone is entitled to enjoy great music, even the young and unemployed,? says McAlevey. ?And we believe that users and artists will appreciate and support our noble efforts so that we can continue to be free and ad-free, worldwide, indefinitely.?

Radical.FM has a number of challenges ahead of it. They include whether the company will be able to attract consumers to its new platform ? free or not. And once they are there, Radical.FM will have to convince them it?s worth staying, either to stream its catalog of on-demand tracks or to dip into its pre-programmed, DJ or indie-artist-led radio services. That?s before Radical.FM even sees whether it can remain financially viable on user contributions alone. Playing around with the beta version of the site (screenshot below), you come to appreciate what a major feat it is to develop a service that doesn?t have people guessing at what to do and just feels like second nature to use.

Still, in a world where digital listening is increasing?and?overall radio listening is in decline, and companies like Spotify still have yet to turn a profit, it?s as good a time as any to see whether alternative models like Radical.FM?s have a chance of coexisting with the rest of the mix.

Radical.FM is an independently owned and operated webcasting facility. It is the personal broadcasting and music service that enables anyone to discover, connect, and communicate in real time. Radical.FM marries the interactive nature of Internet with the programming expertise of the entire broadcast radio industry. Radical.FM is a comprehensive user tailored music and other audio content radio station (like Pandora?) with on-demand playlist functionality (like Spotify?) that adds social networking and personal broadcasting capabilities (including RadCasting and the ability...

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/19/radical-fm-wants-to-go-after-spotify-with-an-ad-free-listener-supported-streamed-music-service/

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Pinnacle Airlines rejects lease in Eagan?

Posted: 3:56 pm Wed, November 21, 2012
By Chris?Newmarker Finance and Commerce
Tags: bankruptcy, Chapter 11, Joe Williams, Pinnacle Airlines, Rick Morphew, Spectrum Commerce Center
3:56 pm Wed, November 21, 2012

Pinnacle Airlines has rejected its lease at the Spectrum Commerce Center in Eagan as it goes through its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams confirmed Wednesday.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Business & Economy, Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://finance-commerce.com/2012/11/pinnacle-airlines-rejects-lease-in-eagan/

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Source: http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20121118/SPORTS/311180057/1112/

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FILE This Nov. 6, 2012 file photo shows New Hampshire Gov.-elect Maggie Hassan in Manchester, N.H. When Hassan won the New Hampshire governor's race, it wasn't just a victory for Democrats. Unions spent millions to elect Hassan because she can block a Republican legislature from gutting their organizing and bargaining ability. From California to Maine, unions used their political muscle to defeat ballot initiatives against them and elect labor-friendly governors and lawmakers. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? From California to Maine, unions used their political muscle in the recent elections to help install Democratic governors, build labor-friendly majorities in state legislatures and defeat ballot initiatives against them.

The combination of union money and member mobilization helped Democrats take control of state legislatures in Maine and Minnesota.

In Michigan, voters repealed a law that allowed cities in financial distress to suspend collective bargaining contracts. But unions lost there on an effort to make collective bargaining rights a part of the state constitution.

In New Hampshire, unions helped Maggie Hassan win the governor's race. Unions spent millions backing Hassan with television ads and an extensive get-out-the-vote operation because she opposes a right-to-work bill to ban labor-management contracts that require affected workers to be union members or pay union fees.

In perhaps their most important victory, unions defeated a California ballot measure that would have prohibited them from collecting money for political purposes through payroll deductions.

"The unions must be fairly happy with themselves," said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "These are positive signs, particularly saving their political life in California."

While re-electing President Barack Obama was labor's highest Election Day priority, unions invested major resources in state races where they have been fighting efforts by governors and state lawmakers to restrict bargaining rights or dilute union power.

The victories could mark a turnaround of sorts for unions nearly two years after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced plans to strip teachers, nurses and other public employees of most collective bargaining rights. Walker, a Republican, justified the move as necessary to trim the state's budget shortfall.

Since then, unions have been fighting dozens of measures around the country targeting labor rights. They failed earlier this year to recall Walker from office, but a judge has declared parts of the Wisconsin law unconstitutional.

It wasn't all good news for unions on election night. They lost a first-of-its-kind ballot effort in Michigan that would have enshrined collective bargaining rights in the state constitution.

Unions saw the measure as a way to prevent Republicans from passing a right-to-work law that would have ended unions' ability to collect fees from nonunion workers. Critics said it would cause the repeal of dozens of state laws and interfere with local officials trying to control their budgets. One union-backed group spent at least $6.5 million on TV ads supporting it.

Labor's victories came at a steep cost. Unions and other Democratic interests poured at least $75 million into the effort to defeat California's Proposition 32.

Unions are not so much thriving as surviving.

"Thanks to union dues, it's a self-replenishing stream," said Bill Whalen, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution. "They still have a sea of money to spend and they prove quite adept at winning political arguments."

After playing defense in more than a dozen states for the past two years, unions see no other choice. Public employee unions now make up a majority of the nation's 14.8 million union members, but they have taken a hit as state and local budgets shrink, forcing layoffs and cuts to salaries and pension benefits.

The 1.3-million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the nation's largest public employee union, has lost about 10 percent of its active members since 2009. The National Education Association, which represents public school teachers, lost more than 100,000 members since 2010.

"I'm not going to be cocky about anything," AFL-CIO political director Mike Podhorzer said. "There are still plenty of Republicans in office and we don't expect them to change their spots overnight."

Next to winning Obama's re-election, defeating Proposition 32 in California was labor's top goal. Prohibiting unions from collecting money for political activities through paycheck deductions would have deprived them of tens of millions of dollars for donations to candidates and financing campaigns.

In New Hampshire, unions were worried that the state legislature had passed right-to-work measures in the previous two legislative sessions. But lawmakers could not override a veto by Democratic Gov. John Lynch. Hassan's victory gives unions similar protection.

In Minnesota, gaining Democratic control of the state legislature could help the Service Employees International Union change a state law to allow the union to organize more than 12,000 day care providers in the state.

Perhaps the largest issue looming for public employee unions in the next few years is the shortfall in government pension systems, which have sunk deeper into the red as the recession has taken its toll. Cities and states around the country ? led by Republicans and Democrats alike ? have been reducing promised benefits to public workers and retirees as they attempt to cover shortfalls. States need about $1.4 trillion to fulfill their pension obligations, according to the Pew Center on the States.

Over the summer, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board approved new accounting rules for pensions that will make some underfunded plans look worse when the rules begin to go into effect late next year. State and local governments will have to print their total unfunded liability on the front of financial statements.

"It's going to help identify those plans in serious trouble, which could help policy makers and the public be aware of the need for action," said David Draine, a researcher who tracks pension changes at the Pew Center.

That could increase pressure on elected officials to reduce benefits and make bargaining more difficult for unions.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-20-Unions-Politics/id-387ac7f5b5d44940bb9044e337986d88

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Facebook Copyright Law (For Idiots)

Union official warns bus passengers to expect many more strikes

Unite union official warns bus passengers to expect many more strikes

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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A Conversation With Roy Y. Calne: Organ Transplant Pioneer Talks About Risks and Rewards

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Monday, November 26, 2012

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

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SAI Conference 2013 : Science and Information Conference 2013

Learning Math The Fun And Exciting Way

Friday, November 23, 2012

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Emperor penguins budget time for short rests on ice during chick-rearing season

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Dempsey gets landmark first victory as coach

Unions flexed muscles in state campaigns