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Thursday, February 28, 2013
185K spyware images sent to Aaron's computers
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Court documents in a class-action lawsuit against furniture rental company Aaron's Inc. allege spyware installed on rented computers secretly sent more than 185,000 emails back to the company, including some capturing webcam images of naked children and people having sex.
The documents filed Wednesday in federal court in western Pennsylvania say the Atlanta-based rental company hasn't informed at least 800 customers whom plaintiffs say were targeted by spyware made by a Pennsylvania company.
Attorneys say the emails sometimes contained pictures secretly taken by the computers' webcams or other sensitive information including Social Security numbers.
Aaron's says it disagrees with the claims in the lawsuit and will defend the case vigorously. The company also says that certain independent franchisees used the spyware, not stores operated by Aaron's, Inc.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/185k-spyware-images-sent-aarons-234000284.html
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'Circle of Life' beats Sudden Death on 'Idol'
Fox
By Craig Berman, TODAY contributor
Up until this week, Zoanette Johnson?s role has been to provide the comic relief on the ?American Idol? audition and Hollywood clip shows. She looked like the traditional contestant who is brought along for drama in the early stages, then quickly hustled out the door before she actually gets a chance to make the live rounds.
Wednesday night was her first night to perform unfiltered, without having her work sliced and diced by the producers and editors. And while it?s still hard to see her being anything other than the ?Vote for the Worst? candidate for season 12, she at least showed a bit of what the judges see in her -- that is, if you?re not too cynical to think they actually see anything besides an oversized personality with a big, but perhaps uncontrollable, voice who gets people talking.
Johnson received the much-coveted spot at the end of the show, and her song choice was brilliant. Her version of ?Circle of Life,? complete with the animal-print outfit, got three out of four judges out of their seats for a standing ovation, and the platitudes seemed to go on forever.
?Zoanette! Zoanette! Zoanette! Good Lord!? Keith Urban said. ?I love that I have no clue what you?re gonna do. I sometimes wonder if you do too.?
Nicki Minaj got teary. ?The reason that you make me so emotional is that when I think of you coming from Liberia ? I am so proud of you. I don?t care what people say about you. You?re the person that we?re going to remember after tonight! You?re unforgettable! You?re a superstar! That song was such a smart choice, because it matches who you are, where you?re about to be, where you?re from.?
?I?m proud that this place right here gives people like you and me that came from absolutely nothing, from a country that we probably didn?t think we?d make it out alive -- it gives us a shot,? Minaj added.
Point of fact: Minaj was actually a pretty big deal in the music business before signing up to be a judge, so she didn?t need ?Idol? to get her shot. But let?s continue.
?I know a lot of people out there were wondering what the judges were thinking, what Zoanette was doing out there,? Randy Jackson said. ?That was the reason she?s here. That spirit that you have is the spirit of the lion, the champion. That?s what it?s about.?
There were indeed a lot of people wondering what the judges were thinking ? but perhaps not as many who were wondering what Randy himself was saying Wednesday. It just wasn?t his night for useful or memorable commentary, and part of the effect of the hipper panel of judges is that it accentuates how pass? and predictable he can be.
Mariah Carey completed the love fest. ?I?m so proud and happy for you. It?s almost like your spirit is too big to be contained, and that?s what you wanted to give tonight,? she said.
That?s was the closest to the truth. Johnson is over-the-top in every respect, and how she was portrayed over the first two months was designed to make her seem like a lovable loon rather than a serious singer. That changed on Wednesday -- sort of.
It?s indisputable that she?s the one who made Wednesday?s show memorable, and the judges in their loud praise gave people a reason to root for her, always important in a popularity contest. It?s also indisputable that if she had a quieter personality, she never would have made it this far.
Part of the problem that ?Idol? women have had over the past five seasons has been their tendenency to be solid but boring, easily cast aside in favor of the men. Nobody?s ever going to call Zoanette Johnson boring, and that?s a big reason she?s still here.
In other news, Janelle Arthur, Aubrey Cleland, Breanna Steer and Candice Glover also advanced. ?Arthur had to survive a surprisingly average performance to win the last spot, while Juliana Chahayed has to be cursing the fates that had her singing this week instead of last week. Her toned down ?Skyscraper? was excellent, but the 15-year-old showed just enough nerves that she missed the cut. Melinda Ademi was also good enough to advance on a different day, but not amongst this group.
Based on their performances since January, Arthur and Glover are both stronger candidates to win than Johnson. But based on how much the judges seem to love her, Johnson could last a lot longer than people think.
What did you think of Johnson's performance? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
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NY to exempt TV, movies under state's new gun law
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? New York sought to combat violence by rushing the nation's toughest gun control measure into law after the Connecticut school shootings that killed 26 people, but the state is now carving out an exemption to make sure movie and TV producers can stage running gun battles on Manhattan streets.
Movie and TV productions have long been courted by New York and other states with tax breaks in exchange for the jobs and glamour of the industry. Hollywood is also a major campaign fundraising stop for New York politicians.
"We spend a lot of money in the state bringing movie production here, post-production here, so obviously we would want to facilitate that," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who wants to expand the film and TV tax credit.
He said movies and TV may use fake guns that wouldn't be subject to the new law but the industry wants "certainty." The revised law would allow them to use real weapons without real ammunition.
"There's no reason not to make a change like that to give an industry comfort, especially when it's an industry we want to do business in the state," the governor said.
Film and television producers have spent more than $7 billion in New York since the state began offering tax breaks in 2004, the governor's office says. New York has been the stage for recent films including "Spider-Man 3," ''The Nanny Diaries," ''Sex and the City 2," and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Most of Woody Allen's films are made in New York City, and many TV shows including "Louie" turn to the city for their backdrop.
The Hollywood exemption is just one of the revisions planned for the state law that was passed in January before the Obama administration and other states offered their legislative responses to the Dec. 14 rampage in Newtown, Conn. Other changes to the New York law would allow police officers to keep their high-capacity handguns and take a loaded gun on school grounds without permission from school officials.
However, the need for a "cleanup" bill also means the fight over the law may not be over after all.
An estimated 10,000 opponents of the new law are expected to descend on Albany on Thursday to try to persuade lawmakers to take advantage of an unexpected second shot at the law critics claim is unconstitutional.
The law was passed in a flurry of closed-door negotiations, without public hearings or a three-day review required of bills under the state constitution. The measure was debated, passed and signed within hours, just days before President Barack Obama proposed his measures including tougher gun control.
"Had they not rushed this bill through, this bill would never have become law," said Assembly Republican leader Brian Kolb. "This opposition would have been mobilized ... this bill would do nothing to prevent the tragedies."
Most opponents have rallied around a call for repeal of the law, which would be impossible to pass through the Assembly led by New York City Democrats who have long championed gun control measures. But the cleanup bill provides an opportunity for lawmakers to submit more substantive changes.
Others are considering a strategy of blocking the bill from passage, which could bolster the chances of a pending lawsuit that seeks to overturn the law.
The law bans a broader array of military-style weapons, restricts ammunition magazines to seven rounds from 10, creates a more comprehensive database of people barred from owning guns, and makes New York the first state to require background checks to buy bullets.
Therapists, doctors and other mental health professionals will be required to tell state authorities if a patient threatens to use a gun illegally. Mental health advocates are also seeking amendments to the law they say may interfere with treatment of potentially dangerous people and discourage them from seeking help.
Cuomo and Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who co-sponsored the gun control legislation, said he and legislators are only discussing technical changes at this time.
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Illegal music file-sharing down 'significantly'
Illegal music file-sharing "declined significantly," down by 17 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, according to The NPD Group.
With more services available, such as Spotify, Last.fm and Pandora for streaming and buying music, and giant digital music retailers like Amazon and Apple, consumers have more choices than ever for getting music legally, easily and relatively cheaply.
"For the music industry, which has been battling digital piracy for over a decade, last year was a year of progress," said Russ Crupnick, NPD's senior vice president of industry analysis, in a statement about the research group's findings, part of its "Annual Music Study 2012" report.
NPD's findings come on the heels of a recent report that says music sales actually saw a small gain, 0.3 percent, in 2012 to $16.5 billion, the industry's first revenue increase in 13 years, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Meanwhile, a new, U.S.-based Copyright Alert System is kicking in this week to target consumers who use peer-to-peer software to illegally share music, as well as movies and TV shows. The alert system will be used by five major Internet service providers to notify a customer whose Internet address has been detected sharing files illegally.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing peaked in 2005, NPD said, when about 20 percent of Internet users ages 13 and older used P2P services, such as LimeWire (now shut down), to download music. In 2012, "that number fell to 11 percent."
P2P services are still out there, of course. But The NPD Group notes that the volume of illegally downloaded music files from P2P sites "also declined 26 percent, compared to the previous year."
Also down: the "number of music files being burned and ripped from CDs owned by friends and family fell 44 percent, the number of files swapped from hard drives dropped 25 percent, and the volume of music downloads from digital lockers decreased 28 percent."
The NPD Group says the main reason for the reduced sharing is the "increased use of free, legal music streaming services. In fact nearly half of those who stopped or curtailed file sharing cited the use of streaming services as their primary reason for stopping or reducing their file-sharing activity."
"In recent years, we?ve seen less P2P activity, because the music industry has successfully used litigation to shut down Limewire and other services," said Crupnick. "Many of those who continued to use P2P services reported poor experiences, due to rampant spyware and viruses on illegal P2P sites."
NPD's research was based on 5,406 completed online surveys in the U.S., a spokesman told NBC News. The survey was done between Dec. 12, 2012 and Jan. 9, 2013.
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Wary of crises, Americans tune out budget cut talk
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio wraps up a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, where he and GOP leaders challenged President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in four days. Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. He is followed by Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas is at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio wraps up a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, where he and GOP leaders challenged President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in four days. Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. He is followed by Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas is at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., and the Senate GOP leadership, face reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, to answer questions on the looming automatic spending cuts, following the weekly Republican strategy session. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. answers questions on the looming automatic spending cuts following a Democratic strategy session, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Reid also responded to House Speaker John Boehner who used salty language earlier in the day to prod the Senate to act on legislation to replace the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops to warn just what could happen if automatic budget cuts kick in. Americans are reacting with a collective yawn.
They know the shtick: Obama raises the alarm, Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of holding a deal hostage, there's a lot of yelling on cable news, and then finally, when everyone has made their points, a deal is struck and the day is saved.
Maybe not this time. Two days before $85 billion in cuts are set to hit federal programs with all the precision of a wrecking ball, there are no signs that the White House and Republicans in Congress are even negotiating. Both sides appear quietly resigned to the prospect that this is one bullet we just may not dodge.
Still, for all the grim predictions, Americans seem to be flipping the channel to something a little less, well, boring. They wonder, haven't we been here before?
It's like deja vu, says Patrick Naylon, who runs an audiovisual firm in San Francisco: "The same stuff, over and over again."
Texas native Corby Biddle, 53, isn't losing sleep over the cuts. No way the government will let vital services collapse, he said as he visited tourist attractions this week in downtown Atlanta.
"It will get resolved. They will kick the can down the road," Biddle said.
Usually, that's exactly what happens. Even the cuts behind the current panic were originally supposed to kick in on Jan. 1 ? part of the fiscal-cliff combo of spending cuts and tax hikes that economists warned could nudge the nation back into recession. For all the high drama, lawmakers finally acted on New Year's Day, compromising on taxes and punting the spending cuts to March 1.
And the blunt instrument known as the "sequester" that's set to deliver the cuts? That too was the progeny of another moment of government-by-brinksmanship, a concession that in 2011 made possible the grand bargain that saved the U.S. from a first-ever default on its debt.
Even if the current cuts go through, the impact won't be immediate. Federal workers would be notified next week that they will have to take up to a day every week off without pay, but the furloughs won't start for a month due to notification requirements. That will give negotiators some breathing room to keep working on a deal.
But you can only cry wolf so many times before people just stop paying attention.
"I know you guys must get tired of it," Obama told a crowd in Virginia on Tuesday. "Didn't we just solve this thing? Now we've got another thing coming up?"
Three out of 4 Americans say they aren't following the spending cuts issue very closely, according to a Pew Research Center poll released this week. It's a significant drop from the nearly 4 in 10 who in December said they were closely following the fiscal-cliff debate.
Public data from Google's search engine shows that at its peak in December, the search term "fiscal cliff" was about 10 times as popular as "sequestration" has been in recent days. Even "debt ceiling," not a huge thriller for the web-surfing crowd, maxed out in July 2011 at about three times the searches the sequester is now getting.
"We're now approaching the next alleged deadline of doom. And voters, having been told previously that the world might end, found it did not in the past and are becoming more skeptical that it will in the future," said Peter Brown of the nonpartisan Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
And let's face it: When it comes to policy issues that can really put an audience to sleep, "sequestration" is right up there with filibuster reform, chained CPI and carried interest.
For all the angst about layoffs, furloughs and slashes to government contracts, the markets don't seem to be rattled, either. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, after falling below 13,000 at the height of the fiscal cliff debacle, has been buoyant ever since, spending the last month hovering just below 14,000.
"I shrug my shoulders because I don't believe any of those severe cuts will go through," said Karen Jensen, a retired hospital administrator who stopped to talk in New York's Times Square. "Life goes on as it has before."
But if the Obama administration hasn't managed to convince Americans these spending cuts could be the real deal, it's not for lack of trying.
Each day the cuts grow nearer sees a new dire warning from the White House about another government function that will take a hit if they go into effect ? what White House chief of staff Denis McDonough has called a "devastating list of horribles." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Monday that her agency will be forced to furlough 5,000 border patrol agents. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said 70,000 preschool kids could be removed from Head Start. Fewer air traffic controllers could mean 90-minute delays or longer in major cities, and visiting hours at all 398 national parks are likely to be cut, the administration has said.
The White House has circulated 51 reports ? one for each state, plus the District of Columbia ? localizing the effects of the cuts. On Tuesday, Obama took his cautionary tale to a shipbuilding site in Newport News, Va., calling attention to how the cuts could impede the military. The White House says in Virginia alone, about 90,000 civilians working for the Defense Department would be furloughed, for a nearly $650 million reduction in gross pay.
"The president needs to stop campaigning, stop trying to scare the American people, stop trying to scare the states," Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said Monday after governors from both parties met with Obama behind closed doors. "Now's the time to cut spending. It can be done without jeopardizing the economy. It can be done without jeopardizing critical services."
The age-old Republican desire for a scaled-back federal government makes it clear why, on the one hand, the GOP isn't scrambling to avert the cuts ? especially when Obama insists on more tax revenues in any deal to turn them off. On the other hand, Obama is banking on polls that show if the cuts go through, Republicans are likely to bear most of the blame.
Both parties agree that if you're going to cut spending, an indiscriminate mechanism like the sequester is the wrong way to do it. After all, the whole point of the endeavor was to set in motion ramifications so unbearable that lawmakers would be forced to come together and hash out a better plan before the deadline.
Count James Ford of Louisville, Ky., among those still holding out hope.
"They'll come up with something to keep the thing going," he said. "They always do."
___
Associated Press writers Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Jake Pearson in New York and Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.
___
Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
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Euro zone sentiment rises for fourth month in February
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Economic and business confidence in the 17 countries using the euro improved for the fourth straight month in February, the European Commission said on Wednesday, as factories saw their order books filling up.
Economic sentiment in the euro zone rose by a better-than-expected 1.6 points to 91.1, continuing a recovery started in November last year, the Commission said.
The euro hit a session high against the dollar after the data release, before slipping back slightly to trade around 1.3093 by 1035 GMT.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 89.8.
The euro zone was managing to eke out a small recovery, but it was too soon to be optimistic about a broader trend, Capital Economics economist Ben May said.
"Clearly the Italian election and the political uncertainty and the market uncertainty that resulted from that is potentially another trigger for a new downward leg in business and consumer sentiment, and given that this survey predates that I think you certainly wouldn't want to assume you are going to see this continued upward trend in sentiment over the months ahead," he said.
The Commission also said business morale increased by 0.36 points to -0.73, reaching a level last seen in May 2012.
The European Central Bank's unprecedented decision last year to buy the bonds of governments who ask for help calmed the euro zone crisis dramatically, removing the risk for businesses of a break-up of the currency bloc.
The mood in factories brightened in February and managers told the Commission they saw rosier outlooks on expected production and on the size of overall order books. Morale in services also drove the rise in confidence, with service confidence up slightly as managers revised past evaluations.
Optimism was due to "sharp improvements in managers' assessment of the past business situation, and to a lesser extent, their views on past demand", the Commission said.
Consumer confidence increased marginally in the euro zone, by 0.3 points. Consumers were more positive about the future economy in general, but pessimistic about their own ability to save money over the next 12 months.
For graphic on the data, click here:
http://link.reuters.com/bas36s
For European Commission data click on:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm
(Reporting By Ethan Bilby; editing by Robin Emmott and Rex Merrifield)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-sentiment-rises-fourth-month-february-100856216--business.html
90% No
All Critics (58) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (6)
Nominated by the Academy as the year's best foreign-language film, No grabs you hard, no mercy, and keeps you riveted.
Larra?n's unarguable point is that, in politics, if we wait for good to issue only from the pure in heart, we will be waiting a very long time.
[Lorrain has] made a few daring choices here, not all of which work.
A troubling, exhilarating and ingeniously realized film that's part stirring political drama and part devilish media satire ...
For anyone fascinated by the political process and the powers of persuasive advertising, No is a resounding yes.
It hangs on three ideas...While each...is intriguing, the execution of all is less than satisfying.
Larra?n's script is punctuated by dark bursts of humour, and the filmmaker knowingly navigates his audience to a nail-biting - though never cloying, and fully warranted - climax.
It makes the superficial Mad Men seem like, well, a commercial. Buy, buy, buy.
A fascinating period re-creation if not an especially compelling drama.
Evocative and suspenseful, the film is a fascinating glimpse into recent history and the democratic process.
The film highlights the sad fact that logical arguments don't win political debates or elections. Sloganeering and advertising do.
Using a technique borrowed from cinema verit? documentaries, the director succeeds in making us feel as if we're living each moment right alongside his politically-charged characters.
It's a perfectly fine movie, but given its fairly radical storyline, the filmmaking tends to hew toward the safe and the familiar.
"No" gives a fresh look at the little known history of a country whose duly elected government under Salvador Allende was overthrown in a military coup led by Pinochet in 1973.
Savvy, often brilliant ...
Bernal plays the creative type perfectly. His big eyes always seem to be seeing things that others don't, and through his calm, methodical demeanor, you can sense the wheels turning in his head.
No quotes approved yet for No. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/
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Ciao: Tens of thousands jam St. Peter's Square to bid farewell to pope at final master class
VATICAN CITY - Tens of thousands of people have flooded St. Peter's Square to bid farewell to Pope Benedict XVI at his final general audience, the weekly appointment he kept to teach the world about the Catholic faith.
Hours before Benedict was to arrive, St. Peter's was overflowing and pilgrims and curiosity-seekers were picking spots along the main boulevard nearby to watch the event on giant TV screens. Some 50,000 tickets were requested for Benedict's final Wednesday master class, but Italian media estimated the number of people actually attending could be double that.
With chants of "Benedetto" erupting every so often, the mood was far more buoyant than during Benedict's final Sunday blessing and recalled the jubilant turnouts that often accompanied Benedict at World Youth Days and events involving Pope John Paul II.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ciao-tens-thousands-jam-st-peters-square-bid-084350326.html
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10 Signs We're Not In Another Real Estate Bubble (Part 1) - Seeking ...
Over at Yahoo! Finance, the headline for one of the most popular articles screams, "Housing Already Shows Signs of a New Bubble." The exact same sentiment is being shouted from the rooftops at Forbes, too: "Home Builders Could Become Heartbreakers Again." We're less than one year into a legitimate recovery in prices, and already the pundits can't help but sound the alarm about another possible "bubble"? Give me a break! Forget Rodney Dangerfield, the residential real estate rebound gets "no respect." Don't worry. We're nowhere close to another peak. Nor has the profit potential for housing-related investments suddenly vanished. Here are 10 hard facts to prove it?
1. Too Far, Too Fast? Nope!
Housing market bears point to the meteoric rise of homebuilding stocks as proof that the recovery has been too robust, too soon.
The S&P 1500 Homebuilder group is up 170% since hitting a low in August 2011. In the last year alone, many individual homebuilder stocks, like KB Home (KBH), PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) and Ryland Group (RYL), doubled in price.
As Bespoke Investment Group aptly points out, though, "Remember that 'too far, too fast' is relative." And, in this case, short-term relativity can be deceiving. It turns out that the S&P 1500 Homebuilder group is still down 55% from its 2005 high, despite the impressive run-up over the last 18 months. Too far, too fast? I don't think so!
2. Peak Activity? Nope!
Actual homebuilding and sales activity haven't peaked, either. Based on the January data, single-family housing starts remain almost 200% below the peak hit during the last boom. And they're more than 60% below the long-term average since 1962. As far as existing home sales, we're still about 40% below peak levels.
3. RFI is Back in the Black.
Ever since 2005, the real estate market has been a drag on the U.S. economy. More specifically, residential fixed investment (RFI) weakened GDP growth.
Not anymore! In the fourth quarter, RFI added 0.4% to GDP growth. In dollar terms, RFI needs to increase another 40% just to hit the long-term average since 1995. So forget being near a top. The latest data indicates that "the housing rebound is fairly entrenched at this point," as RBS Securities' economist, Omair Sharif, puts it. Entrenched? with plenty of room to run, too.
4. Less Distressed.
Any talk about the housing market wouldn't be complete without mentioning the unending onslaught of foreclosures and short sales, which naturally hold back a recovery ? particularly in prices. But (surprise, surprise) "distressed sales" are becoming less and less of a factor.
Notices of defaults, scheduled auctions, bank repossessions and other filings fell 28% in the last year, according to RealtyTrac. Perhaps even more telling is the fact that new foreclosure filings are at their lowest levels since June 2006. As RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist says, "We're now well past the peak of the foreclosure crisis." I'll say!
In all fairness, foreclosure filings are still running hot ? at about twice the pace experienced in 2005. But we can't overlook the progress being made. In many hard-hit markets, foreclosure sales now account for a dramatically smaller portion of the market (see table below). Take Las Vegas, for instance. In January 2012, foreclosures accounted for a staggering 45.5% of sales. Fast forward to today, though, and that figure has been more than cut in half, to 12.5%, according to calculations by economist, Thomas Lawler.
If we look at the short sale data, a similar trend is developing, too.
(click to enlarge)
Add it all up, and as Bill McBride of Calculatedriskblog.com says, "In every area that reports distressed sales, the share of distressed sales is down year-over-year ? and down significantly in most areas." That means conventional sales are picking up, which is "a major continued improvement for the market," according to Trulia.com's Chief Economist, Jed Kolko. I agree. And once again, the data points to a market on the mend, not in bubble territory.
5. No More Negative Equity for You!
Aside from short sales and foreclosures, the other main factor holding back the real estate market has been the number of homeowners sidelined because of negative equity. But that's becoming less and less of an issue, too. Thanks to rising prices, nearly two million homeowners were freed from negative equity over the last year, according to a report from Zillow. Of course, the number of homeowners underwater remains high, at about 13.8 million. But that just means the real estate recovery has much more room for progress.
That's it for today. In my next column, I'll share five more signs ? backed up by hard data ? that the real estate recovery is here to stay. I'll also share a handful of ways to profit from the continued boom. So stay tuned.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
THE RESET: Obama can cheer progress on nominations
Although scant progress has been made toward averting deep automatic budget cuts that begin Friday, President Barack Obama can welcome some forward motion elsewhere ? on Cabinet nominations and on the economy.
After contentious confirmation hearings, the nominations of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to be defense secretary and former White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew as Treasury secretary both advanced Tuesday.
The Senate overcame Republican delaying tactics, voting 71 to 27 to move ahead on Hagel. Sixty votes had been required. The Senate was expected to confirm Hagel as early as later Tuesday.
And the Senate Finance Committee approved Lew's nomination, 19-5, to succeed Timothy Geithner, sending it to the full Senate for a confirmation vote in the days ahead.
Also, new private economic forecasts suggest the U.S. economy was stronger at the close 2012 than first reported.
The Commerce Department had said the economy shrank at a 0.1 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter, but it is expected to revise that upward on Thursday to show a slight gain. That would follow upgrades by private forecasters.
That suggests the economy, while sluggish, isn't in recession territory.
Also, home prices rose at a healthy pace in December compared with a year ago, and strong earnings reports came from Home Depot and Macy's.
Obama continued attempting end runs around Congress to rally public support in locales and before audiences that would be hardest hit by the looming "sequester" spending cuts. He spoke Tuesday at Newport News Shipbuilding on the impact of the cuts on defense industries and the Virginia economy.
Republicans accuse him of failing to help negotiate ways to soften the blows while insisting on new tax increases. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., calls him a "road show president."
Democrats counter that Republicans are foot dragging. "It is critical that Republicans and Democrats come together to find a balanced way to avert these drastic cuts," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
__
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reset-obama-cheer-progress-nominations-175409876--politics.html
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New study shows viruses can have immune systems
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Public release date: 27-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Siobhan Gallagher
siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu
617-636-6586
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
A pirate phage commandeers the immune system of bacteria
BOSTON (February 27, 2013, embargoed until 1 p.m. US ET) A study published today in the journal Nature reports that a viral predator of the cholera bacteria has stolen the functional immune system of bacteria and is using it against its bacterial host. The study provides the first evidence that this type of virus, the bacteriophage ("phage" for short), can acquire a wholly functional and adaptive immune system.
The phage used the stolen immune system to disable and thus overcome the cholera bacteria's defense system against phages. Therefore, the phage can kill the cholera bacteria and multiply to produce more phage offspring, which can then kill more cholera bacteria. The study has dramatic implications for phage therapy, which is the use of phages to treat bacterial diseases. Developing phage therapy is particularly important because some bacteria, called superbugs, are resistant to most or all current antibiotics.
Until now, scientists thought phages existed only as primitive particles of DNA or RNA and therefore lacked the sophistication of an adaptive immune system, which is a system that can respond rapidly to a nearly infinite variety of new challenges. Phages are viruses that prey exclusively on bacteria and each phage is parasitically mated to a specific type of bacteria. This study focused on a phage that attacks Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium responsible for cholera epidemics in humans.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Andrew Camilli, Ph.D., of Tufts University School of Medicine led the research team responsible for the surprising discovery.
First author Kimberley D. Seed, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Camilli's lab, was analyzing DNA sequences of phages taken from stool samples from patients with cholera in Bangladesh when she identified genes for a functional immune system previously found only in some bacteria (and most Archaea, a separate domain of single-celled microorganisms).
To verify the findings, the researchers used phage lacking the adaptive immune system to infect a new strain of cholera bacteria that is naturally resistant to the phage. The phage were unable to adapt to and kill the cholera strain. They next infected the same strain of cholera bacteria with phage harboring the immune system, and observed that the phage rapidly adapted and thus gained the ability to kill the cholera bacteria. This work demonstrates that the immune system harbored by the phage is fully functional and adaptive.
"Virtually all bacteria can be infected by phages. About half of the world's known bacteria have this adaptive immune system, called CRISPR/Cas, which is used primarily to provide immunity against phages. Although this immune system was commandeered by the phage, its origin remains unknown because the cholera bacterium itself currently lacks this system. What is really remarkable is that the immune system is being used by the phage to adapt to and overcome the defense systems of the cholera bacteria. Finding a CRISPR/Cas system in a phage shows that there is gene flow between the phage and bacteria even for something as large and complex as the genes for an adaptive immune system," said Seed.
"The study lends credence to the controversial idea that viruses are living creatures, and bolsters the possibility of using phage therapy to treat bacterial infections, especially those that are resistant to antibiotic treatment," said Camilli, professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and member of the Molecular Microbiology program faculty at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.
Camilli's previous research established that phages are highly prevalent in stool samples from patients with cholera, implying that phage therapy is happening naturally and could be made more effective. In addition, a study published by Camilli in 2008 determined that phage therapy works in a mouse model of cholera intestinal infection.
The team is currently working on a study to understand precisely how the phage immune system disables the defense systems of the cholera bacteria. This new knowledge will be important for understanding whether the phage's immune system could overcome newly acquired or evolved phage defense systems of the cholera bacteria, and thus has implications for designing an effective and stable phage therapy to combat cholera.
###
Additional authors are David W. Lazinski, Ph.D., senior research associate in the Camilli lab at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Stephen B. Calderwood, M.D., Morton N. Swartz, M.D. academy professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chief, division of infectious disease and vice-chair, department of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01AI55058, R01AI045746, and R01AI058935.
Seed, K.D., Lazinski, D.W., Calderwood, S.B., and Camilli, A. (2013). A bacteriophage encodes its own CRISPR/Cas adaptive response to evade host innate immunity. Nature, vol 494, issue 7438, pp 489 DOI: 10.1038/nature11927
About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, biomedical sciences, special combined degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical science.
If you are a member of the media interested in learning more about this topic, or speaking with a faculty member at the Tufts University School of Medicine or another Tufts health sciences researcher, please contact Siobhan Gallagher at 617-636-6586 or siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 27-Feb-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Siobhan Gallagher
siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu
617-636-6586
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
A pirate phage commandeers the immune system of bacteria
BOSTON (February 27, 2013, embargoed until 1 p.m. US ET) A study published today in the journal Nature reports that a viral predator of the cholera bacteria has stolen the functional immune system of bacteria and is using it against its bacterial host. The study provides the first evidence that this type of virus, the bacteriophage ("phage" for short), can acquire a wholly functional and adaptive immune system.
The phage used the stolen immune system to disable and thus overcome the cholera bacteria's defense system against phages. Therefore, the phage can kill the cholera bacteria and multiply to produce more phage offspring, which can then kill more cholera bacteria. The study has dramatic implications for phage therapy, which is the use of phages to treat bacterial diseases. Developing phage therapy is particularly important because some bacteria, called superbugs, are resistant to most or all current antibiotics.
Until now, scientists thought phages existed only as primitive particles of DNA or RNA and therefore lacked the sophistication of an adaptive immune system, which is a system that can respond rapidly to a nearly infinite variety of new challenges. Phages are viruses that prey exclusively on bacteria and each phage is parasitically mated to a specific type of bacteria. This study focused on a phage that attacks Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium responsible for cholera epidemics in humans.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Andrew Camilli, Ph.D., of Tufts University School of Medicine led the research team responsible for the surprising discovery.
First author Kimberley D. Seed, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Camilli's lab, was analyzing DNA sequences of phages taken from stool samples from patients with cholera in Bangladesh when she identified genes for a functional immune system previously found only in some bacteria (and most Archaea, a separate domain of single-celled microorganisms).
To verify the findings, the researchers used phage lacking the adaptive immune system to infect a new strain of cholera bacteria that is naturally resistant to the phage. The phage were unable to adapt to and kill the cholera strain. They next infected the same strain of cholera bacteria with phage harboring the immune system, and observed that the phage rapidly adapted and thus gained the ability to kill the cholera bacteria. This work demonstrates that the immune system harbored by the phage is fully functional and adaptive.
"Virtually all bacteria can be infected by phages. About half of the world's known bacteria have this adaptive immune system, called CRISPR/Cas, which is used primarily to provide immunity against phages. Although this immune system was commandeered by the phage, its origin remains unknown because the cholera bacterium itself currently lacks this system. What is really remarkable is that the immune system is being used by the phage to adapt to and overcome the defense systems of the cholera bacteria. Finding a CRISPR/Cas system in a phage shows that there is gene flow between the phage and bacteria even for something as large and complex as the genes for an adaptive immune system," said Seed.
"The study lends credence to the controversial idea that viruses are living creatures, and bolsters the possibility of using phage therapy to treat bacterial infections, especially those that are resistant to antibiotic treatment," said Camilli, professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and member of the Molecular Microbiology program faculty at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University.
Camilli's previous research established that phages are highly prevalent in stool samples from patients with cholera, implying that phage therapy is happening naturally and could be made more effective. In addition, a study published by Camilli in 2008 determined that phage therapy works in a mouse model of cholera intestinal infection.
The team is currently working on a study to understand precisely how the phage immune system disables the defense systems of the cholera bacteria. This new knowledge will be important for understanding whether the phage's immune system could overcome newly acquired or evolved phage defense systems of the cholera bacteria, and thus has implications for designing an effective and stable phage therapy to combat cholera.
###
Additional authors are David W. Lazinski, Ph.D., senior research associate in the Camilli lab at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Stephen B. Calderwood, M.D., Morton N. Swartz, M.D. academy professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and chief, division of infectious disease and vice-chair, department of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01AI55058, R01AI045746, and R01AI058935.
Seed, K.D., Lazinski, D.W., Calderwood, S.B., and Camilli, A. (2013). A bacteriophage encodes its own CRISPR/Cas adaptive response to evade host innate immunity. Nature, vol 494, issue 7438, pp 489 DOI: 10.1038/nature11927
About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, biomedical sciences, special combined degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical science.
If you are a member of the media interested in learning more about this topic, or speaking with a faculty member at the Tufts University School of Medicine or another Tufts health sciences researcher, please contact Siobhan Gallagher at 617-636-6586 or siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/tuhs-nss022513.php
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Analysis - Emerging deadly virus demands swift sleuth work
LONDON (Reuters) - The emergence of a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has already killed half those known to be infected requires speedy scientific detective work to figure out its potential.
Experts in virology and infectious diseases say that while they already have unprecedented detail about the genetics and capabilities of the novel coronavirus, or NCoV, what worries them more is what they don't know.
The virus, which belongs to the same family as viruses that cause the common cold and the one that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), emerged in the Middle East last year and has so far killed seven of the 13 people it is known to have infected worldwide.
Of those, six have been in Saudi Arabia, two in Jordan, and others in Britain and Germany linked to travel in the Middle East or to family clusters.
"What we know really concerns me, but what we don't know really scares me," said Michael Osterholm, director of the U.S.-based Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a professor at the University of Minnesota.
Less than a week after identifying NCoV in September last year in a Qatari patient at a London hospital, scientists at Britain's Health Protection Agency had sequenced part of its genome and mapped out a so-called "phylogenetic tree" - a kind of family tree - of its links.
Swiftly conducted scientific studies by teams in Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere have found that NCoV is well adapted to infecting humans and may be treatable medicines similar to the ones used for SARS, which emerged in China in 2002 and killed a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected.
"Partly because of the way the field has developed post-SARS, we've been able to get onto this virus very early," said Mike Skinner, an expert on coronaviruses from Imperial College London. "We know what it looks like, we know what family it's from and we have its complete gene sequence."
Yet there are many unanswered questions.
SPOTLIGHT ON SAUDI ARABIA, JORDAN
"At the moment we just don't know whether the virus might actually be quite widespread and it's just a tiny proportion of people who get really sick, or whether it's a brand new virus carrying a much greater virulence potential," said Wendy Barclay, a flu virologist, also at Imperial College London.
To have any success in answering those questions, scientists and health officials in affected countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan need to conduct swift and robust epidemiological studies to find out whether the virus is circulating more widely in people but causing milder symptoms.
This would help establish whether the 13 cases seen so far are the most severe and represent "the tip the iceberg", said Volker Thiel of the Institute of Immunobiology at Kantonal Hospital in Switzerland, who published research this month showing NCoV grows efficiently in human cells.
Scientists and health officials in the Middle East and Arab Peninsular also need to collaborate with colleagues in Europe, where some NCoV cases have been treated and where samples have gone to specialist labs, to try to pin down the virus' source.
"ONE BIG VIROLOGICAL BLENDER"
Initial scientific analysis by laboratory scientists at Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) - which helped identify the virus in a Qatari patient in September last year - found that NCoV's closest relatives are most probably bat viruses.
It is not unusual for viruses to jump from animals to humans and mutate in the process - high profile examples include the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS and the H1N1 swine flu which caused a pandemic in 2009 and 2010.
Yet further work by a research team at the Robert Koch Institute at Germany's University of Bonn now suggests it may have come through an intermediary - possibly goats.
In a detailed case study of a patient from Qatar who was infected with NCoV and treated in Germany, researchers said the man reported owning a camel and a goat farm on which several goats had been ill with fevers before he himself got sick.
Osterholm noted this, saying he would "feel more comfortable if we could trace back all the cases to an animal source".
If so, it would mean the infections are just occasional cross-overs from animals, he said - a little like the sporadic cases of bird flu that continue to pop up - and would suggest the virus has not yet established a reservoir in humans.
Yet recent evidence from a cluster of cases in a family in Britain strongly suggests NCoV can be passed from one person to another and may not always come from an animal source.
An infection in a British man who had recently travelled to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, reported on February 11, was swiftly followed by two more British cases in the same family in people who had no recent travel history in the Middle East.
The World Health Organisation says the new cases show the virus is "persistent" and HPA scientists said the cluster provided "strong evidence" that NCoV, which like other coronaviruses probably spreads in airborne droplets, can pass from one human to another "in at least some circumstances".
Despite this, Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britain's University of Reading, said he believes "the most likely outcome for the current infections is a dead end" - with the virus petering out and becoming extinct.
Others say they fear that is unlikely.
"There's nothing in the virology that tells us this thing is going to stop being transmitted," said Osterholm. "Today the world is one big virological blender. And if it's sustaining itself (in humans) in the Middle East then it will show up around the rest of the world. It's just a matter of time."
(Editing by Anna Willard)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-emerging-deadly-virus-demands-swift-sleuth-132307091.html
Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Mentors. Patrons and Sponsors
A couple of weeks ago I attended a very interesting panel and live music event put on by Tom Sebastian and John Berg, co-presidents of Swirl, an advertising agency in San Francisco and Bob Weir and Chris McCutcheon from TRI (Tamalpais Research Institute) studios in San Rafael, California. The event, named The Patron Project, took place at TRI's state-of-the-art studio in San Rafael. There were about 150 attendees, mostly from the music industry.
The objective of The Patron Project is to begin an important conversation about the role of patrons in the arts and the role of brands and how brands can better support artists.?The panel was composed of legendary musicians including: Bob Weir, Sammy Hagar, Lukas Nelson (Willie's son) and Jerry Harrison. There were also several professionals from the entertainment industry including, Kevin Eagan from Microsoft's e-commerce, Simon Fleming-Wood from Pandora, Jason Fisher from Redbull Media House, Gunnar Larsen from Dolby Laboratories and Dax Kimbrough formerly from EMI Music/Capitol Records.
Bob Weir set a context for the dialog reminding everyone about the critical importance that patrons have played through the ages including, for example, the vital role that the Medici's played in supporting artists during the Renaissance Age. Then, the question was raised exploring the difference between sponsors and patron's--- sponsorship, was pointed out, usually involves a time-limited commitment and the financial?backing for one of more specific events. Patronage, on the other hand, focuses on the long-term development and financial backing of artists.
The benefit of Patrons underscores the vital role that seasoned veterans in the music industry can play in the success of younger musicians as they come up in the industry. However, the role of patrons goes well beyond musicians and extends to many of the others arts including: writers, painters, dancers, sculptors, actors, etc. In the new economy with an explosion of online media distribution channels, social media as well as blogs, wikis and other new media tools, calls for creative ways to get visibility and create a following. In a sense, the transformation that is occurring in the music industry is similar to the changes affecting the print industry; the old media tools such as print media and television are being superseded by the Internet and digital distribution methods.
In addition to the critical role of Patrons, it's helpful to think of the role of mentors in helping young artists perfect their craft and navigate the seas within their industry. Mentorship (originally from Greek mythology, Mentor as Odysseus trusted counselor) brings together the notion of a patron with the benefits of a trusted counselor and teacher. In a way, a mentor is a step closer to the artist and provides a nurturing and wise counsel that so many youth yearn for as they enter the arts profession. I've noticed in several conferences, the young participants are hungry for mentors who can help guide them as they contemplate getting experience and building their skills ranging from technical know-how to leadership and personal growth.
A huge thank you to the creators and developers of The Patron Project for courageously planting seeds for a conversation that is needed and will undoubtedly spread far and wide. This is a welcomed dialog that applies to people in all areas of the arts. I look forward to seeing additional events that generate new ideas for young artists to succeed.
Source: http://thriveability.blogspot.com/2013/02/mentors-patrons-and-sponsors.html
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What It Takes to Succeed in a Nonprofit Collaboration - Money and ...
Collaborations and mergers among nonprofits certainly aren?t new, but much of what nonprofit leaders know about them comes from our for-profit counterparts.
Nonprofit collaborations are no better and no worse than those done by for-profits. They?re simply different. As I wrote in a previous post, for-profit collaborations and mergers are driven by financial motivations including cost savings, but charities are unlikely to reap any savings for years, if at all. For nonprofits, the primary driver to merge or collaborate should be to help them achieve their missions. Mergers and collaborations are strategic tools. They do not have to be a last resort.
The Great Recession and the protracted recovery have sparked renewed interest in nonprofit collaborations. But resources dedicated to helping them carry out their plans are scarce, so many groups don?t know where to begin.
For two years, the Nonprofit Finance Fund has worked with five major grant makers on the Catalyst Fund for Nonprofits, which provides guidance and technical assistance for Boston-area organizations that are exploring, planning, or implementing strategic collaborations and mergers. And in an effort to demystify the process for all nonprofits, the fund has produced two free publications?a case study and a report about the first two years of the Catalyst Fund?s work.
The case study tells the story of one nonprofit merger, and the report includes interviews with 40 people involved in various ways with mergers or collaborations: those who have provided financial support, executives and board members of groups that received support?and of some that were denied support?as well as consultants and others.
So what are we learning about successful collaboration? What does it take?
Effective leadership.? The level of organizational change dictated by a collaboration or merger requires leadership from many people close to the nonprofit. Leaders?both board and staff?with prior collaboration experience can be invaluable assets, lending perspective and raising important issues.? And a talented and organized chief financial officer can help facilitate the exchange of information and reporting that is a critical part of due diligence.
Part of what makes leaders effective in nonprofit collaborations is the ability to build trusting relationships. In the merger featured in our case study, between two agencies that provide services for the homeless, an executive reflected that early in the process ?someone should have held a cocktail party? to help build personal relationships between staff and board members. In her experience, when conversations got tense or an agreement felt elusive, personal relationships helped move conversations forward.
Clear and aligned objectives.? Partner organizations with a strong sense of their own priorities are often better positioned to achieve the common goals of their collaboration. We?ve found that when organizations have recently undertaken a strategic-planning process, their reasons and goals for collaboration were clearer and it was more likely to be a success. In my experience, it?s when the goals of the groups were unclear or conflicted that the collaborative venture can stall or stop altogether. The simple question, ?What are we trying to achieve together and why?? can lead to candid conversations among partners and help prevent roadblocks. The motivations and goals of the partners don?t have to be identical, but articulating them clearly fosters transparency and helps manage expectations throughout the process.
Resources and expertise.? The reality is that strategic collaborations are expensive and require professional guidance. Experts can provide technical assistance and help with governance, finance, program design, and legal issues, and they can facilitate challenging discussions and negotiations. In Catalyst Fund ventures, nonprofits rely on the fund?s technical assistance but are also urged to tap experts on their board or draw on staff members who have collaboration experience. Pro bono help is great when you can get it, but expert assistance isn?t always free.
Costs can add up, and the participating groups may need additional dollars for advisory services, new technology, severance pay, or a re-direction of staff time. Once the merger is complete, the groups may be able to save money, but there is a long time horizon for realizing those savings.
Sources of financial support for collaborations, like the Catalyst Fund, can go a long way, but there?s a limit to how much they can do. In Boston, we aren?t able to support every proposal, and as groups that we do support move closer to their objectives, their needs may grow beyond the level that the fund can finance.
As the landscape of the social sector changes, it?s incumbent upon all grant makers and donors who care about preserving, improving, and expanding programs and services to support these strategic organizational tools.
At the Catalyst Fund, we hope that insights from our work supporting collaboration can help change inaccurate perceptions about nonprofit collaborations and mergers?and we are not alone. Grant makers in Charlotte, N.C.; Cuyahoga County, Ohio; New York City, and across California have also been working together to advance strategic collaboration in their communities. Their work, too, is enriching the available body of knowledge and building a track record of inspiring examples.
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Nintendo Wii Mini arriving in the UK on March 22nd
When Nintendo's Wii Mini landed in Canada, as far as we were concerned, the land of Due South was welcome to it. After all, the company had robbed the budget model of its internet connectivity, backwards compatibility and its, you know, charm. Unfortunately, Nintendo now feels that the UK deserves its own opportunity to be underwhelmed by the hardware, and so will launch the system in Blighty on March 22nd. Naturally, there's no word yet on pricing, but we'd get even tetchier if Nintendo tried to price it over, say, £70.
Source: Games Industry
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/R9jxXb8Coy4/
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Marissa Mayer, Who Just Banned Working From ... - Business Insider
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Last Friday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer banned employees from working remotely. Human resources boss Jackie Reses sent out a memo?telling all remote employees that, by June, they needed to be working in?Yahoo?offices.
This upset many employees ? mothers in particular.
According to All Things D's Kara Swisher, some?of these are pointing out that Mayer doesn't understand their plight.
Mayer ? who had a baby last fall ? is a working mother, but she's able to bring her kid to work.?
That's because when Mayer had her son last fall, she paid to have a nursery built in her office.
Not all Yahoo haves that kind of money or clout.
?I wonder what would happen if my wife brought our kids and nanny to work and set em up in the cube next door?,? the husband of one remote-working Yahoo employee asked Swisher.
On Sunday, we posted a report explaining WHY Mayer made a move that's obviously angering so many people >>
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Debt Consolidations | Jugglingart.Org
Debt Consolidations
People usually consider debt consolidation once they experience debt issues. Debt consolidation is the method of taking out one big mortgage to pay off all of your debts, leaving you with just one fee to think about, which is usually a smaller quantity than all of your debts.
Remember that whenever you are in debt and you cannot afford to pay back, whether you have borrowed the money or goods you have purchased on credit, it is not the wisest thing to be thinking about borrowing even more money.There are circumstances in which a debt consolidation loan may improve your situation, but they are significantly less typical than most people suppose. The danger is that individuals are attracted from the simplicity of the single payment, and the lower monthly fee. It is essential to look beyond that to the total amount you will have to pay back again, compared for your current debts. The reason the monthly payment is much less is generally since the new loan is distribute over a much lengthier time. When you add up how much you are paying back in total over the lengthier period, you will often find that the consolidation loan is actually costing you much more than your old debts.
The circumstances in which a debt consolidation mortgage might be a useful thing to complete are in case your outdated debts are at an especially high price of curiosity and the rates of interest around the new loan will be a lot reduced. In the event you do consider out a new consolidation mortgage, do not be tempted to go over all your debts with it. You need to checklist all your debts so as of the rate of interest you're paying on them, and only use the mortgage to cover the ones which are in a greater price than you'll be having to pay for the consolidation mortgage.
Equally, as there are specific circumstances whenever a consolidation loan may be useful there is also circumstances when alarm bells ought to ring and you should avoid them. The occasions when you should definitely avoid using out a debt consolidation loan are when you have taken one out previously and it has not solved your issues, or in the event you strategy to make use of it to spend off credit score card debts so that you can carry on utilizing the cards once more. In these conditions, the debt consolidation mortgage is nearly certain to simply include for your problems.
The sole truly efficient way to deal with financial debt problems is to negotiate together with your creditors to concur repayment terms which you can afford. Assist and advice with this is accessible, although not from businesses having a curiosity in selling you a consolidation mortgage or any other commercial financial debt solution.Source: http://www.jugglingart.org/2013/02/debt-consolidations.html
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