Wednesday, November 30, 2011

LA police move in on Occupy camp

An Occupy Los Angeles supporter sits in a tree house at the demonstration's encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stated Friday that the protestors's campsite will be dismantled, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday. (AP Photo/Bret Hartman)

An Occupy Los Angeles supporter sits in a tree house at the demonstration's encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stated Friday that the protestors's campsite will be dismantled, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday. (AP Photo/Bret Hartman)

(AP) ? Police have moved in on the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall and began arresting protesters who defied an eviction notice.

Officers began a raid on the camp early Wednesday, two days after a deadline passed for protesters to clear out. Police took also took similar action in Philadelphia, telling members of the movement they would have to leave and arresting six protesters who had crossed into a street at the site outside City Hall.

About half of some 500 tents in Los Angeles remained after the Monday morning deadline and the remaining protesters showed no sign of leaving.

The Los Angeles encampment is one of the largest still remaining in the country. Police have removed protesters in other cities. Some of those instances involved pepper spray and tear gas.

The movement against economic disparity and perceived corporate greed began with Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan two months ago.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-30-Occupy%20Protests/id-05ac6dda31b5416aabc63d37a0385cf6

drosselmeyer drosselmeyer pacific standard time local time lsu alabama earthquake when is daylight savings 2011

Is transparency bad for science?

Is transparency bad for science? [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jayne Fairley
Jayne.fairley@sagepub.co.uk
44-207-324-8719
SAGE Publications

As thousands more emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) are leaked on the internet, the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, 'Dark Matter', calls for a debate into science and transparency.

Emails were previously leaked from the CRU back in 2009. In his article, 'Information Gap', leading science writer Fred Pearce argues that 'if CRU had been more open with its data from the start, a great deal of time and angst on the part of its scientists and a great deal of public uttering of paranoid nonsense from climate deniers would have been avoided'.

Within the scientific community, there is resistance to data sharing and the belief by some that transparency is damaging scientists' work. Earlier this year, Nobel laureate and president of the Royal Society Sir Paul Nurse said that FOI was being used to harass scientists and has called for new guidelines. But Pearce argues that, 'the world is increasingly unwilling to accept the message that "we are scientists; trust us". Other people want to join the scientific conversation. Good scientists, interested in finding truth, should want to encourage them, not put up the shutters'. For the full article, go to: www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/climate-change-secrecy-freedom-information

In 'Secret Trials', Deborah Cohen from the British Medical Journal, reveals the consequences of what can happen when critical evidence is unavailable to the medical profession. The article brings together her investigations into secrecy within the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry for the BMJ, Panorama and Channel 4. For the full article, go to www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/science-medicine-secrecy-drug-studies-lives-risk

Also in this issue: Tracey Brown, managing director of Sense About Science, shows how damaging libel litigation can be for scientists and how frequently it has become a tool to intimidate and silence criticism. Richard Smith calls for open access, veteran whistleblower Peter Wilmshurst questions a culture of silence, Michael Blastland considers our fear of uncertainty and Sam Geall looks at environmental cover-ups in China.

The science issue will be launched with a high profile debate between Sir Mark Walport, the Director of the Wellcome Trust, author and journalist George Monbiot, Professor David Colquhoun and the philosopher Baroness Onora O'Neill. The Data Debate: is transparency bad for science? will be held on Tuesday 6 December, 6.30pm, at Imperial College London. To register for a free ticket, go to: http://fs16.formsite.com/indexoncensorship/form8/index.html 1

###

For more information or to arrange an interview with any of the contributors, contact Pam Cowburn: tel: + 44 (0)20 7 324 2533, mob: + 44 (0) 7749 785 932, email pam@indexoncensorship.org

Notes to Editor

Launched in 1972, Index on Censorship is the only magazine devoted to protecting and promoting free expression. International in outlook, outspoken in comment, and publishing some of the world's finest writers, Index exposes stories that are suppressed, publishes banned writing, initiates debate and gives breadth to news that has often been "dumbed down" in the world's media. Recent issues have tackled the debates on obscenity and defamation, free speech in China, and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with contributions from Nadine Gordimer, Jonathan Dimbleby, A.C. Grayling, Bernard-Henri Lvy, Ivan Klima, Anthony Julius and Martin Rowson among others. www.indexoncensorship.org

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Is transparency bad for science? [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Jayne Fairley
Jayne.fairley@sagepub.co.uk
44-207-324-8719
SAGE Publications

As thousands more emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) are leaked on the internet, the latest issue of Index on Censorship magazine, 'Dark Matter', calls for a debate into science and transparency.

Emails were previously leaked from the CRU back in 2009. In his article, 'Information Gap', leading science writer Fred Pearce argues that 'if CRU had been more open with its data from the start, a great deal of time and angst on the part of its scientists and a great deal of public uttering of paranoid nonsense from climate deniers would have been avoided'.

Within the scientific community, there is resistance to data sharing and the belief by some that transparency is damaging scientists' work. Earlier this year, Nobel laureate and president of the Royal Society Sir Paul Nurse said that FOI was being used to harass scientists and has called for new guidelines. But Pearce argues that, 'the world is increasingly unwilling to accept the message that "we are scientists; trust us". Other people want to join the scientific conversation. Good scientists, interested in finding truth, should want to encourage them, not put up the shutters'. For the full article, go to: www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/climate-change-secrecy-freedom-information

In 'Secret Trials', Deborah Cohen from the British Medical Journal, reveals the consequences of what can happen when critical evidence is unavailable to the medical profession. The article brings together her investigations into secrecy within the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry for the BMJ, Panorama and Channel 4. For the full article, go to www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/science-medicine-secrecy-drug-studies-lives-risk

Also in this issue: Tracey Brown, managing director of Sense About Science, shows how damaging libel litigation can be for scientists and how frequently it has become a tool to intimidate and silence criticism. Richard Smith calls for open access, veteran whistleblower Peter Wilmshurst questions a culture of silence, Michael Blastland considers our fear of uncertainty and Sam Geall looks at environmental cover-ups in China.

The science issue will be launched with a high profile debate between Sir Mark Walport, the Director of the Wellcome Trust, author and journalist George Monbiot, Professor David Colquhoun and the philosopher Baroness Onora O'Neill. The Data Debate: is transparency bad for science? will be held on Tuesday 6 December, 6.30pm, at Imperial College London. To register for a free ticket, go to: http://fs16.formsite.com/indexoncensorship/form8/index.html 1

###

For more information or to arrange an interview with any of the contributors, contact Pam Cowburn: tel: + 44 (0)20 7 324 2533, mob: + 44 (0) 7749 785 932, email pam@indexoncensorship.org

Notes to Editor

Launched in 1972, Index on Censorship is the only magazine devoted to protecting and promoting free expression. International in outlook, outspoken in comment, and publishing some of the world's finest writers, Index exposes stories that are suppressed, publishes banned writing, initiates debate and gives breadth to news that has often been "dumbed down" in the world's media. Recent issues have tackled the debates on obscenity and defamation, free speech in China, and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with contributions from Nadine Gordimer, Jonathan Dimbleby, A.C. Grayling, Bernard-Henri Lvy, Ivan Klima, Anthony Julius and Martin Rowson among others. www.indexoncensorship.org

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2011-11/sp-itb113011.php

battlefield 3 release battle field 3 battle field 3 dana wilkey dana wilkey chuck liddell chuck liddell

Monday, November 28, 2011

Share Investing Tools and Methods at Jewish Online Donations

anthony trister forex arbitrage

Technical analysts utilize charts to show the historical past of worth motion for just a specific stock, in order to finest appraise the probable path of future movements. The technical analyst has countless equipment at their disposal which can be both directly, or indirectly, derived from your stock worth. The technical analyst takes advantage of these indicators to aid their decision about when to enter, or exit a trade, dependent on which type of opportunity they can be hoping to exploit. For the technical analyst, there is a few main styles of investing opportunity:

one. Trend investing;
2. Break-out investing; and
three. Reversal investing.

Trend investing is the most frequent and most intuitive strategy to promote investing. The concept of pattern investing is to enter a trade in the course of a well established uptrend, riding in the back again of increasing costs, and near out before the pattern comes to an conclusion. Trend investing seriously isn?t about hoping to capture all the uptrend, but fairly a sizeable part. The philosophy of pattern investing is finest remembered utilizing the following analogy:
When ingesting supper, it can be greater to get countless small-scale parts and be pleased, than to try to fit all of it in a single mouthful and choke.

Trend investing performs greater in markets which can be in reality trending. Even though noticeable, traders can normally strive to apply investing techniques which can be not suited for the present-day investing setting and promote sentiment. Coming into positions depending on pattern investing indicators in the non-trending or marginally bearish promote is going to be destined for failure. As a rule of thumb, if a stock is investing underneath its 150-day heading ordinary, then the stock is much more than probably in the long-term downtrend state. If it is usually underneath its 21-day heading ordinary, then the stock is much more than probably in the short-term downtrend state. As a pattern trader, it is usually preferable that worth motion is over the two the 21-day and 150-day heading averages.

An idea normally disregarded by traders is promote support. In order to substantiate that a stock is trending strongly, and along with the backing of your promote, entry indicators ought to arise on moderately major quantity. Believe it or not, typically, all upward worth movements inside the pattern should be accompanied by major quantity. This could be quantified utilizing the 50-day quantity heading ordinary, also because the 5-day heading ordinary. It?s always preferable to get the volume of stock traded for just a specific provider over its 50-day heading ordinary, also because the 5-day heading ordinary over the 50-day heading ordinary.

Different types of indicators often utilised in investing tendencies are:

? ADX;
? On Harmony Quantity (OBV);
? Numerous Shifting Averages (MMAs);
? Relative Strength index (RSI); and
? Price Oscillator.

A break-out trade develops soon after a stock has knowledgeable a pause in trending activity (i.e. durations of consolidation, accumulation, or other comparable non-trending worth activity). Once the worth breaks absent from this period of non-trending activity, the chance arises for just a break-out trade. As a general rule, the more time the inaction time (the time wherever a stock worth flat-lines), the more substantial the reaction (the better the improve in worth when the time period of inactivity expires). Break-out trades are a favourite among those that are equipped to recognise the chance, because they present high-probability trades at a decreased danger.

Different types of indicators often utilised in investing break-outs are:

? Bollinger bands;
? OBV;
? Shifting Regular Convergence -Divergence (MACD); and
? Stochastic Oscillator.

Reversal trades will probably look comparable to break-out trades, in spite of this, this are fundamental variances. Inside a break-out trade, worth activity stalls briefly, in advance of exploding in the specific path. Reversal trades, because the name suggests, involve a complete reversal from an individual pattern path for the opposite. That may be, worth motion reverses the pattern path with out a time period of consolidation, accumulation, or any noticeable time period of non trending activity. Reversals arise most commonly soon after there was a sharp downward rally in worth motion ? in the blind worry the market brutally drives costs downwards only to realise that in the strategy the stock is now significantly undervalued. This presents the chance to acquire a stock at a drastically discounted worth along with the promote behaves accordingly.

This investing opportunity presents the best volume of danger, but may produce the biggest volume of gain for that alert trader. Traders attempting to find these prospects has to be wary of your ?dead cat bounce?, wherever shares can rebound soon after a significant decreased stage giving the indication of a reversal trade, only to unexpectedly run from momentum and go on the downwards plummet. Sector support has to be monitored very carefully for this type of trade.

Different types of indicators often utilised in investing break-outs are:

? Trend lines;
? OBV;
? Count-back entry;
? MACD;
? Bollinger bands;
? RSI; and
? Stochastic Oscillator.

Presented that pattern investing is the most primary kind of method to choose from for the technical analyst, it is usually normally highly recommended that this type be undertaken for brand spanking new traders for the promote. At the time assurance happens to be constructed along with the trader is now highly effective utilizing this type of trade, surveying for break-out trades can follow. Reversal investing presents the best difficulty, and will be undertaken final.

forex arbitrage scam I suggest that you bookmark this perfect forex arbitrage so that you can find your way back easily

Source: http://www.jewishonlinedonations.com/?p=7455

dennis the menace dylan ratigan dylan ratigan occupy occupy midnight madness midnight madness

American student arrested in Cairo arrives in US (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? At least one of three American students arrested during protests in Cairo arrived back in the U.S. on Saturday, nearly three days after an Egyptian court ordered their release.

Gregory Porter, 19, landed in Philadelphia after flying from Cairo to Paris. He and two other U.S. students had been arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square last Sunday after officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday morning on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said.

All three young men were studying at the American University in Cairo.

Porter, who attends Drexel University in Philadelphia, was met at the airport by his parents and other relatives. He is from nearby Glenside, Pa.

"We're thrilled that he's home," said Sharon Sloan of Newtown, Pa., one of the relatives at the airport. "We think it's a miracle, definitely an answer to prayer."

Protests have been going on in Cairo there since Nov. 19, in anticipation of the landmark parliamentary elections due to start Monday. On Friday, the crowd grew to more than 100,000 people, and thousands remained there Saturday.

Gates, who attends Indiana University, was in the air Saturday morning and expected to return to Bloomington, Ind., later in the day, university spokesman Mark Land said.

His parents haven't disclosed which flights their son was taking home and are "really hopeful they can spend a little time with him without having to answer a lot of questions" in the media spotlight, Land said.

He said he spoke to Gates' father, Bill Gates, shortly after his son boarded a flight out of Egypt.

"He said he was doing very well and he was very excited to be on his way home," Land said.

Joy Sweeney told the AP that her son, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo., would fly from Frankfurt to Washington, then on to St. Louis. She said family will meet him when he arrives at the airport late Saturday.

"I am ecstatic," Sweeney said Friday. "I can't believe he's actually going to get on a plane. It is so wonderful."

Sweeney said she had talked with her son Friday afternoon and "he seemed jubilant."

"He thought he was going to be able to go back to his dorm room and get his stuff," she said. "We said, `No, no, don't get your stuff, we just want you here.'"

The university will ship his belongings home, she said.

Sweeney had earlier said she did not prepare a Thanksgiving celebration this week because the idea seemed "absolutely irrelevant" while her son still was being held.

"I'm getting ready to head out and buy turkey and stuffing and all the good fixings so that we can make a good Thanksgiving dinner," she said Friday.

___

Associated Press writers Sandy Kozel in Washington; Rick Callahan in Indianapolis; Kathy Matheson and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; and Dana Fields in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_us/us_egypt_american_students

oregon ducks oregon football lana turner bcs standings bcs standings donald glover julio cesar chavez jr

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Lynn Margulis, Trailblazing Theorist on Evolution, Dies at 73

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Dr. Margulis was a biologist whose work on the origin of cells helped transform the study of evolution.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1d8e605e2f0eea3b9f4f8c0d0bc23f95

walmart black friday raiders chargers san diego chargers san diego chargers vincent jackson veterans day

ANP says suspends Chevron drilling rights in Brazil (Reuters)

SAO PAULO (Reuters) ? Brazil's National Oil Regulator (ANP) said on Wednesday that it is suspending the drilling rights of U.S. oil major Chevron in national territory until it clarifies conditions of the recent oil spill in its Frade field.

The ANP also said it has denied Chevron's request to drill into ultra-deep subsalt areas, which hold huge deposits of oil off Brazil's coast.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/bs_nm/us_chevron_brazil_anp

molokai ashton kutcher twitter sandusky barbados raiders chargers latin grammys latin grammys

Friday, November 25, 2011

Belarus jails rights activist for tax evasion (Reuters)

MINSK (Reuters) ? A Belarussian court on Thursday jailed leading human rights activist Ales Belyatsky for 4 1/2 years on tax evasion charges, sparking an outcry in the European Union and particularly in EU neighboring countries which unwittingly aided his prosecution.

Belyatsky, 49, heads Vesna-96, the best known rights group in the former Soviet republic, which has campaigned for scores of opposition activists prosecuted by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Cries of "Shame!" rang out in the Minsk courtroom from his supporters when judge Sergei Bondarenko handed down sentence, saying it was impossible for him to pass a lesser punishment.

The outcome, in the face of fierce condemnation of the trial in the West, supported the view that Lukashenko has written off relations with the European Union for a while and is not relying

much on Western help to see him through a financial crisis.

With fresh loans from Moscow in his pocket, Lukashenko, once dubbed Europe's last dictator by the United States, appears to be signaling that he will not relax his hardline policies toward the political opposition in exchange for Western help.

High-ranking Belarus financial officials have expressed concern that Lukashenko's hardline policies could endanger possible credit of up to $7 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

But in the past few weeks Belarus has found financial help more forthcoming from Russia. Last week Sberbank and regional lender Eurasian Development Bank announced they would put up a loan of $1 billion to help it over its crisis, which was caused by excessive pre-election public spending.

Russian gas giant Gazprom has also agreed to lower the price of Russian gas to Belarus from next year in exchange for acquiring ownership of Belarus's gas pipeline network Beltransgaz.

"SENTENCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS"

"Sentencing Ales Belyatsky is a sentence for human rights in Belarus. It confirms that the current regime does not respect basic standards of civil rights and freedoms," Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The charge of tax evasion was merely an excuse to again attack the non-governmental sector, which the regime wants to take full control of," it said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis said: "This case must be seen as part of a broader pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Belarus." He called for Belyatsky's release.

Belyatsky was arrested and charged after officials in Poland and Lithuania unwittingly helped his prosecution by supplying information about bank accounts held in his name after a request by Belarus's financial authorities.

The furor that ensued led to a public apology in August by Warsaw and also caused high-level embarrassment in Lithuania.

Senior European Union officials had earlier called for Belyatsky's release, saying the charges against him were "a politically motivated pretext to target his important work to the benefit of victims of repression."

The prosecution had asked for a five-year sentence to be handed down on Belyatsky, who listened to his sentence from inside a metal cage in the courtroom.

Vesna-96 says the money held by Belyatsky in Poland and Lithuania belonged to the organization and was set aside for paying for human rights activities and supporting political prisoners and their families.

It had latterly been used to support families of opposition activists arrested in a police sweep last December after mass street rallies against Lukashenko's re-election for a fourth term.

Two opposition leaders are still in jail for their part in those protests.

The EU and the United States introduced travel restrictions and other sanctions against Lukashenko and other officials after an election widely criticised as rigged.

(Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_belarus_belyatsky

fire island fire island diaspora social network aaron rodgers weather houston weather houston diaspora

5 injured in Spanish tourist hotel gas blast

Spanish police say a gas explosion at a tourist hotel on the Spanish Canary island of Gran Canaria has seriously injured five people.

  1. Don't miss these Travel stories

    1. Storms could dampen holiday travel

      The Weather Channel?s Jim Cantore looks at the gathering storms that could make Wednesday a difficult travel day for millions of people trying to get to their Thanksgiving feasts.

    2. Flying over Thanksgiving? Here's what to expect
    3. Getting to Grandma's: How travel has changed
    4. Smart strategies to get you through winter travel
    5. Traveling by bus? Choose a safe ride

A Civil Guard spokesman said four hotel employees and a guest were injured when the blast occurred early Wednesday as a truck was delivering propane to the Cordial Mogan Playa hotel in the southwest of the island.

A fire ensued and affected part of the building.

The spokesman said the five were in serious condition and were taken to nearby hospitals.

Spanish news agency Europa Press said the hotel's nearly 1,000 guests were evacuated.

There were no immediate details on the cause of the blast or the nationalities of the injured.

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with police regulations.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45414540/ns/travel-news/

kurt budke regis philbin regis and kelly reno fire regis philbin last show regis philbin last show ray lewis

Thursday, November 24, 2011

50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For [Thanksgiving]

50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For As we prepare to give thanks for our delicious Thanksgiving meals (and impending food comas), let's not forget to pay our yearly tribute to the wonderful developers who bring us our favorite free apps.

When we asked you last week which free apps you're most thankful for, you offered hundreds of votes for great apps (so thank you). We're back now to present the top free apps you nominated and a few of our own favorites. So without further ado, here are 50 free apps for your downloading feast.

  • Dropbox

    Category: Online storage and syncing
    See also: The Cleverest Ways to Use Dropbox That You're Not Using, The Cheapskate's Guide to Getting Free Dropbox Space, How to Get 8GB+ Extra Dropbox Space for Free with Google AdWords, and more Dropbox coverage

  • Google Chrome

    Category: Browser
    See also: The Power User's Guide to Google Chrome, How to Really Browse Without Leaving a Trace, Which Browser Should I Use: Firefox or Chrome?, How and Why Chrome Is Overtaking Firefox Among Power Users, and more Chrome coverage

  • Firefox

    Category: Browser
    See also: Why I've Switched From Chrome to Firefox 4, Top 10 Must-Have Browser Extensions, Which Browser Should I Use: Firefox or Chrome?, and more Firefox coverage

  • Evernote

    Category: Note taking
    See also: Expand Your Brain with Evernote and Clever Uses for Evernote and more Evernote coverage

  • Notepad++

    Category: Text editors
    See also: Five Best Text Editors, AutoSave Adds Reassurance to Notepad++ Editing, and How to Get More Plus out of Notepad++

  • Skype

    Category: VoIP
    See also: our full Skype coverage

  • VLC (Video Lan Client)

    Category: Media Player
    See also: Master Your Digital Media with VLC, Set a Video as Your Wallpaper with VLC, and more VLC coverage

  • Gmail

    Category: Email
    See also: Master the New Gmail with These Tips, Shortcuts, and Add-Ons, How to Set Up Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts (Properly) on iOS, Fix Gmail's Newest Annoyances with These Userstyles and Userscripts, and more Gmail coverage

  • 7-zip

    Category: File Compression
    See also: Hive Five Winner for Best File Compression Tool: 7-Zip

  • TeamViewer

    Category: Remote Desktop
    See also: Download of the Day: TeamViewer (Windows), TeamViewer Arrives on Android for Small-Screen Remote Control and Tech Support, and How Do I Troubleshoot My Parents' PC Remotely?

  • uTorrent

    Category: BitTorrent Client
    See also: uTorrent 3.0 Alpha Adds Web Interface Support for iPad, Android, How to Boost Your BitTorrent Speed and Privacy, and more uTorrent coverage

  • Spotify

    Category: Music Streaming
    See also: Spotify Is the Best Desktop Music Player We've Ever Used, The Essential Spotify Tools, and more Spotify coverage

  • Google Maps

    Category: Maps
    See also: Our complete Google Maps coverage

  • Google Reader

    Category: RSS Newsreader
    See also: Our complete Google Reader coverage

  • Google Voice

    Category: VoIP
    See also: A First Look at Google Voice, The Most Helpful Ways to Use Google Voice that You're Not Using, Top 10 Clever Google Voice Tricks, and more Google Voice coverage

  • HandBrake

    Category: DVD Ripping
    See also: Best DVD-Ripping Tool: HandBrake, Rip DVDs to Friendlier Formats with HandBrake, and Calculate the Perfect HandBrake Video Encoding Settings for Your Device and How to Rip DVDs with Handbrake

  • CCleaner

    Category: Utilities
    See also: CCleaner 2.0 Decrapifies Your PC, Run CCleaner on a Schedule to Keep Your PC Crap-Free, and more CCleaner coverage

  • GIMP

    Category: Image Editing
    See also: Is GIMP better than Photoshop?, Tweak GIMP to be More Like Photoshop, Cartoonify Photos with the GIMP, and more GIMP coverage

  • Wordpress

    Category: Blogging
    See also: The Beginner's Guide to Tricking Out Your WordPress Blog and more Wordpress coverage

  • FileZilla

    Category: FTP Client
    See also: Hive Five Winner for Best FTP Client: FileZilla, FTP File Transfer Across Platforms with Filezilla 3.0, and Build a Home FTP Server with FileZilla

  • ImgBurn

    Category: DVD Ripping
    See also: Download of the Day: ImgBurn (Windows), Hive Five Winner for Best CD and DVD Burning Tool: ImgBurn, and Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster

  • VirtualBox

    Category: Virtualization
    See also: The Beginner's Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox, How to Run Mac OS X in VirtualBox on Windows, and more VirtualBox coverage

  • KeePass

    Category: Password Manager
    See also: Best Password Manager: KeePass and Eight Best KeePass Plug-Ins to Master Your Passwords

  • Launchy

    Category: Utilities
    See also: Integrate Everything Search Tool and Launchy, Take Launchy beyond application launching, Screenshot Tour: Tweaking Launchy, and more Launchy coverage

  • Mint.com

    Category: Personal Finance
    See also: Is Mint Ready for Your Money?, Best Mobile Personal Finance Tool: Mint, and more Mint coverage

  • Paint.NET

    Category: Image Editing
    See also: Download of the Day: Paint.NET 3 (Windows), Pinta Brings Paint.NET's Just-Enough Image Editing to Every Computer, and Basic image editing with Paint.NET

  • Rainmeter

    Category: Desktop Customization
    See also: Best Desktop Customization Tool: Rainmeter and How to Create an Attractive, Customized Desktop HUD with Rainmeter

  • Revo Uninstaller

    Category: Utilities
    See also: Completely Remove Programs with Revo Uninstaller, Clean Windows Systems on the Go with Revo Uninstaller Portable, and The Best App Uninstaller for Windows

  • Simplenote

    Category: Note Taking
    See also: The Holy Grail of Ubiquitous Plain-Text Capture, Simplenote Offers Synchronized Notes on iPhones-And Now It's Free, mNote Syncs Your Simplenote Notes with Android Phones, and The Holy Grail of Ubiquitous Plain Text Capture

  • Winamp

    Category: Media Player
    See also: Manage your music with Winamp, Control Winamp Remotely from Any Browser, and more Winamp coverage

  • XBMC

    Category: Media Center
    See also: Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap, Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation, Transform Your Classic Xbox into a Killer Media Center, Turn Your XBMC Media Center into a Video Game Console, The Ultimate Start to Finish Guide to Your XBMC Media Center, and mor XBMC coverage

  • CyanogenMod

    Category: Android Custom Firmware
    See also: How to Choose the Right Android ROM for You and more CyanogenMod coverage

  • Eclipse

    Category: Software Development
    See also: Tips for Using Eclipse Effectively

  • Google Calendar

    Category: Calendar
    See also: Our full Google Calendar coverage

  • Inkscape

    Category: Image Editing
    See also: Manipulate Vector Images with Open Source Inkscape

  • LastPass

    Category: Password Manager
    See also: The Intermediate Guide to Mastering Passwords with LastPass, How to Automatically Fill in Repetitive Web Forms (and Avoid Tons of Tedious Typing), and more LastPass coverage

  • Linux

    Category: Operating System
    See also: Our complete Linux coverage

  • Open Office

    Category: Office Suite
    See also: A First Look at OpenOffice.org 3.0, OpenOffice.org 3.2 Improves Startup Times, Office 2007 Compatibility, OpenOffice.org 3.1's Usability Tweaks, Install and Switch to LibreOffice in Ubuntu, and more OpenOffice coverage

  • Opera

    Category: Browsers
    See also: Opera 11 Alpha Brings Chrome-Like Extensions to the Speedy Browser, Top 10 Must-Have Browser Extensions, and Opera's Android Browser Updates to Show Your Data Usage and Bandwidth Savings

  • Picasa

    Category: Photo Manager
    See also: How to Upload and Share Photos on Flickr, Picasa, or Facebook, Picasa 3.5 Organizes Your Photos with Facial Recognition, Picasa Now Offering Virtually Unlimited Photo Storage, Brings Google+ Tagging, and more Picasa coverage

  • PuTTY

    Category: SSH Client
    See also: Put PuTTY in the Tray with PuTTY Tray, Add Tabs to PuTTY with PuTTY Connection Manager, and KiTTY Adds Session Saving, Portability, and More to PuTTY

  • SoundHound

    Category: Music Identification
    See also: SoundHound Is a Near Total Music App Replacement for iPhone and Shazam vs. SoundHound: Battle of the Mobile Song ID Services

  • Thunderbird

    Category: Email
    See also: our full Thunderbird coverage and Backing up Gmail with Thunderbird, Eight Killer Thunderbird Extensions, How to Sync Your Desktop Email Client (Outlook or Thunderbird) Across Multiple Computers, and more Thunderbird coverage

  • Twitter

    Category: Social networks
    See also: Six Ways You SHould Be Using Twitter (that Don't Involve Breakfast), Navigate the New Twitter Like a Pro with Keyboard Shortcuts, Five Best Twitter Clients, How to Deal with Your Biggest Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ Annoyances, and more Twitter coverage

  • Wunderlist

    Category: To-Do List
    See also: Wunderlist Is a Simple, Elegant, and Free To-Do App that Synchronizes Across Your Machines, The Best To-Do App for Windows, The Best To-Do App for Mac OS X, The Best To-Do App for Android, and The Best To-Do App for Linux

  • TrueCrypt

    Category: Encryption
    See also: Best File Encryption Tool: TrueCrypt, Geek to Live: Encrypt Your Data, and How to Add a Second Layer of Encryption to Dropbox

  • AutoHotkey

    Category: Utilities
    See also: Automate Windows with AutoHotkey, Turn Any Action into a Keyboard Shortcut, and The Best Time-Saving AutoHotkey Tricks You Should Be Using

  • Instapaper

    Category: Bookmarking Tool
    See also: Battle of the Bookmark-and-Read-Later Apps: Instapaper vs. Read It Later and more Instapaper coverage

  • Quicksilver

    Category: Utilities
    See also: Hack Attack: A beginner's guide to Quicksilver and Top 10 Quicksilver Plug-ins

  • Pidgin

    Category: Instant Messaging
    See also: Chat Across IM Platforms with Pidgin 2.4, Ten Must-Have Plug-ins to Power Up Pidgin, Use Dropbox to Sync Your Pidgin Profile Across Multiple PCs, and Best Instant Messaging Application for Windows

  • So those are the 50. Dropbox took the lead again this year with 5.52% of the votes, followed by Chrome with 3.76%, and Firefox with 3.17%. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

    .

    Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/MhVqws8v6RY/50-free-apps-were-most-thankful-for

    greg halman love and hip hop dancing with the stars results there will be blood there will be blood role models how to cook a turkey

    Republicans take issue with cuts to defense budget (The Arizona Republic)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/165407488?client_source=feed&format=rss

    bank holidays john galt john galt post office hours post office hours coptic coptic

    Groupon shares sink below $20 IPO price (Reuters)

    NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Shares of Groupon Inc fell for a third day on Wednesday, sinking below the company's initial public offering price of $20 less than three weeks after the daily deal company went public.

    Groupon's shares fell 14.2 percent to $17.22 on Nasdaq, bringing its decline over the last three days to about 34 percent.

    Groupon raised more than $700 million in an IPO in early November, making it the biggest IPO by a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.7 billion in 2004.

    Analysts have cited concerns about increased competition, a greater availability of the company's stock for short-selling, and a sharp reversal of market sentiment that is taking down more speculative companies.

    "The momentum is negative now and it is likely to continue negative until they have something positive about the company," said Edward Woo, a Groupon analyst at Wedbush Morgan.

    "There was a lot of negative sentiment heading into the IPO, the IPO surprised a lot of people, it was much stronger than expected," he said.

    One reason for that strength was the fact that Groupon sold only about 6 percent of itself in the IPO, creating a scramble for the stock. It was one of the lowest floats of the past decade.

    LivingSocial, Groupon's closest rival, which is part owned by Amazon.com Inc, announced plans on Monday to offer more than 20 deals with national merchants over the crucial Black Friday shopping period.

    Daily deal companies often subsidize national deals, making them less profitable than offers run with local merchants. The national deals usually bring in lots of new customers, but put pressure on profit margins.

    Analyst say Groupon shares were also lower because it became easier this week to short, or bet against, the company.

    In the first week after the IPO, there was little stock available for short sellers, who have to borrow shares before they can sell them. If the stock drops, they can buy it back at a lower price, return the shares to the lender and pocket the difference as profit.

    Woo has a price target of $22 and a "neutral" rating on Groupon's stock. He says that may come down if the stock is not able to bounce back soon.

    "It is a little surprising at how quickly it's happening," said Woo. "But on the other hand the valuation was very high to begin with."

    (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/bs_nm/us_groupon_shares

    weather denver ambition dorothy rodham rick hendrick plane crash marco rubio marco rubio no shave november

    Wednesday, November 23, 2011

    Spanish conservatives win general elections

    Spain's opposition conservatives swept commandingly into power and into the hot seat Sunday as voters enduring a 21.5 percent jobless rate and stagnant economy dumped the Socialists ? the third time in as many weeks Europe's debt crisis has claimed a government.

    As thousands of jubilant, cheering supporters waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags and blue-and-white party ones gathered outside Popular Party headquarters, their leader and future Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy thanked Spaniards for their support, then sounded a somber note of warning.

    "It is no secret to anyone that we are going to rule in the most delicate circumstances Spain has faced in 30 years," he said. "For me, there will be no enemies but unemployment, the deficit, excessive debt, economic stagnation and anything else that keeps our country in these critical circumstances."

    Other than promise tax cuts for small- and medium-size companies that make up more than 90 percent of all firms in Spain, the 56-year-old Rajoy has not specified how he will tackle Spain's unemployment nightmare.

    Rajoy faces the towering task of restoring investor confidence and lowering Spain's soaring borrowing costs with deficit-reducing measures, while not dragging an already moribund economy into a double-dip recession. It only just climbed out of one last year that was prompted by the bursting of a real estate bubble.

    With 97 percent of the votes from the election counted, the Popular Party won 186 seats compared to 154 in the last legislature. The Socialists plummeted from 169 to 110, their worst performance ever.

    The PP thus won an absolute majority and resounding mandate from a deeply troubled electorate. It needed 176 votes for such a cushion in the lower chamber of Parliament, the main one.

    Rajoy said he has not promised miracles and there will be none, but that the PP has shown in the past ? it ruled from 1996 to 2004 and got Spain into the euro along the way ? it gets things done. He appealed to Spaniards to join together and resurrect the economy.

    "We stand before one of those crossroads that will determine the future of our country, not just in the next few years but for decades," said Rajoy, loser of the previous two elections.

    Earlier, as he waited for Rajoy to speak, one supporter, David Cordero, said he was happy with the prospect of change so as to create jobs and protect social services like state-paid health care and education.

    "This is what this country needs right now," he said.

    1. Only on msnbc.com

      1. How Huguette Clark's millions were spent
      2. Anti-Thanksgiving? Complaining may be good
      3. Flying over Thanksgiving? Here's what to expect
      4. Changing lives at birth in Bali
      5. Lobbying firm's plan to undermine Occupy
      6. Guide us to the top Science Geek Gifts
      7. Captain: Wagner responsible for Natalie Wood death

    The conservatives won roughly 45 percent of the votes and the Socialists took 29 percent, according to official election results. In the last elections in 2008, the latter won by about 4 points.

    The new numbers show Spanish voters have shifted decidedly to the right as they confront their worst economic crisis in decades and choose new leaders to pull them out of it.

    As part of that mess, the country is also at the forefront of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, with the Spanish government's borrowing costs rising last week to levels near where other eurozone countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to request huge bailouts from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

    Besides the recent changes in which Greece and Italy replaced their governments with teams made up of technocrats, Ireland and Portugal ? which also required huge bailouts to avert default ? also saw their governments change hands.

    Spanish Socialist party candidate Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba conceded defeat. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose popularity plummeted as the crisis deepened and enacted austerity measures that doomed him among supporters, did not seek a third term in office, or speak publicly Sunday night.

    But Perez Rubalcaba said his party would fight to protect the welfare state from social spending cuts that Rajoy will almost certainly make to meet EU-mandated deficit reduction cuts his party has pledged to fulfill.

    In the Senate, with 58 percent of the votes counted, it was 134 for the PP and 50 for the Socialists. Another few dozens seats in that chamber are not elected directly.

    One surprise outside the economic realm is that a new pro-independence Basque coalition called Amaiur won seven seats and now outnumbers the region's traditionally strongest party, the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, with five.

    This comes about a month after the armed Basque separatist group ETA declared an end to its armed campaign, saying it would seek independence through strictly peaceful means.

    Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45378321/ns/world_news-europe/

    anna chapman kim kardashian ghost hunters honda generator honda generator cc sabathia ruth madoff

    Spotify to announce 'what's next' on Nov. 30

    Spotify

    By Rosa Golijan

    The folks behind?popular music streaming service Spotify?have some "exciting news" to share on November 30?? or at least so an invitation to their press conference tells us.

    The invitation is pretty slim on details. We know that the event's theme is "what's next for Spotify" and that it?will be?hosted by the company's?co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek (as well as "a special guest or two").

    Anything beyond those details is pure speculation.

    Is Spotify planning to?begin allowing U.S.-based customers to purchase songs directly through the service (as Europe-based users may already do)? Will there be a snazzy new set of mobile apps? Has the company finally figured out a way to cure my addiction to horrible pop music?

    We'll have to wait until November 30 to find out.

    Related stories:

    Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.

    Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8931178-spotify-to-announce-whats-next-on-nov-30

    eastman kodak eastman kodak melissa gorga melissa gorga pueblo co pueblo co pineapple express

    Tuesday, November 22, 2011

    To Build Or Not To Build, That Is The Windows Phone App Dev Question

    tobe2A while back, I used one of my phone reviews as a platform to make a desperate, but necessary, plea to developers: Please build cool apps for Windows Phone 7.5. Come to find Microsoft had been making the same plea for a while, with an entire program dedicated to courting developers through the migration. It's called BizSpark, and they recently held an event in New York called Mobile Acceleration Week (just one in a series of Mobile Acceleration Weeks that take place worldwide), in which 12 startups were offered hands-on training and support to build apps for the platform. Obviously these developers had above-and-beyond support from Microsoft, but I was somewhat surprised to find that many of them are pretty infatuated with the platform. Some talked up the OS's enterprise-friendliness, while others bragged about how quickly they can build for WP7 compared to iOS and Android, while others simply prefer their app on a Metro UI. From the way that developers in general have been so hesitant to make the shift, I simply had to ask, "Why are developers — at least the ones who've moved over to WP7 — so gung-ho about Mango?" Microsoft's senior director of Windows Phone apps seemed to have the answer: "we give a f%*k."

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/d5bPy9QM7LU/

    bcs rankings bcs standings 2011 rhodes scholarship rhodes scholarship ufc 139 results adrian peterson chicago bears

    High-Energy Guru Is Building the World's Biggest Tesla Coils [Monster Machines]

    You don't have a Tesla coil? And you call yourself a mad scientist. You should take a lesson from electrical engineer Greg Leyh and build yourself a pair of 118-footers. That'll show those fools who laughed at you in evil medical school, that will show them all!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!! *Lightning Crash* More »


    Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/POjxpe0_gZE/the-worlds-biggest-tesla-coil-is-about-to-have-some-competition

    rumpelstiltskin occupy oakland occupy oakland yahoo.com/mail david nelson david nelson frank gore

    Video: GOP candidates: Pass the Kleenex?



    >> politics now, a softer side, we don't often see on the campaign trail, gathered close around a table, six of the republican candidates shared personal stories of tragedy and losses that they have endured. several of them getting emotional, even tearing up at times. nbc's mike viqueira reports.

    >> reporter: raw emotion on display at an iowa faith and family forum this weekend. herman cain breaking down as he described learning in 2006 he was gravely ill with cancer.

    >> walking out of that surgeon's office, after he had just told us stage four --

    >> take your time.

    >> i said i wasn't going to do this.

    >> reporter: the gathering of social conservatives , a key voting balock in iowa , saw gop candidates get off script and speak from the heart, tearing up as they revealed personal hardships. rick santorum spoke of his infant daughter, born with a rare and often fatal genetic condition and his struggle to cope.

    >> rib holding that finger.

    >> reporter: the gop field is still unsettled. since july, one candidate after another surged, peaked in polls and then collapsed, taking turns as the conservative option to the one republican who stayed near the top, mitt romney .

    >> thank you.

    >> reporter: romney skipped the iowa forum staying in hanew hampshire where he was endorsed by senator ajyotte. jon huntsman was a surprise guest on "saturday night live".

    >> you're kind and good looking.

    >> reporter: the latest gop alternative to romney, newt gingrich , but after a series of controversies, including reports his firm may be between $1.6 million and $1.8 million working with mortgage giant freddie mac , some say gingrich's surge won't last.

    >> the last thing they look for is someone who has been around washington for so long, not only was he speaker of the house , he also was able to build all the organizations that have taken in so many millions of dollars from the corporate clients that the american electorate is tired of.

    >> reporter: one other speaker in iowa last night, rahm emanuel . he was chief of staff here at the white house , now mayor of chicago. he had plenty of ridicule to go around for the republican candidates. but he singled one out in particular, mitt romney , calling him a flip-flopper on major issues. lester?

    >> mike viqueira at the white house , thank you.

    Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45377803/

    pumpkin bread linus pauling chris cooley chris cooley stevan ridley breast cancer awareness month breast cancer awareness month

    Monday, November 21, 2011

    Theodore Forstmann, big in 80s takeover wave, dies (AP)

    NEW YORK ? Theodore J. Forstmann, a longtime Wall Street financier who was a major player during the wave of corporate takeovers in the 1980s, including the battle for RJR Nabisco in 1988, died Sunday at the age of 71.

    The cause was brain cancer, according to a statement from sports marketing giant IMG, where Forstmann served as chairman and CEO.

    A pioneer of the buyout business, celebrity bachelor and free market proselytizer, Forstmann cut the figure of a swashbuckling risk taker. But in buying companies, he tended to be more careful and conservative than did rivals. Famously, he backed down from buying RJR Nabisco in the late 80s when the price got too high. His instincts turned out right. The winner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, struggled for years to wring profits from the company.

    Forstmann was the senior founding partner of investment firm Forstmann Little & Co., a big player in the leveraged buyout, or LBO, a deal financed at least in part with debt. The company completed dozens of leveraged buyouts of a wide array of companies, including Dr. Pepper, Yankee Candle, baseball card maker Topps, Ziff-Davis Publishing and IMG.

    Forstmann Little, founded in 1978, would buy companies it believed would rise in value, do what it could to lift their value and then sell them.

    In the 1980s, the firm he helped found became one of Wall Street's most successful specialists in LBOs. Its deals generated lofty returns for its partners and outside investors, which included many corporate pension funds.

    In a 1996 interview with The Associated Press, Forstmann said his interest in deal-making was sparked in childhood, while reading a biography of Howard Hughes. "This guy loved doing deals," Forstmann said of Hughes.

    Forstmann went to Yale University as an undergraduate, then on to Columbia University for law school. He spent some time as an attorney before establishing Forstmann Little & Co., with then-partner Brian Little.

    Forstmann's first takeovers were small ones, as he only had so much money to spend. Things picked up as the 1980s unfolded and the firm's successes brought in more investors.

    "I never went to business school. I was basically never in an investment banking firm worthy of mentioning," Forstmann told the AP. "I've always been a guy who had ideas."

    Forstmann eventually became a big critic of the industry he helped create. In the 1980s, he lit into rivals for borrowing money from investors in junk bonds, or IOUs issued by the riskiest companies, to finance their deals. Later, he complained that there were simply too many people in the take-over business. The result: Buyout firms had to pay sky-high prices for their targets to beat competitors, and so might have trouble wringing profits out of the deals.

    He turned out right again ? but maybe not in the way he imagined.

    In the tech mania of the late 1990s, Forstmann himself ended up overpaying for two firms ? XO Communications and McLeod Communications USA. Both eventually filed for bankruptcy.

    In 1988, Forstmann made clear his distaste for deal making greased by junk bonds. The AP quoted him as saying "Today's financial age has become a period of unbridled excess with accepted risk soaring out of proportion to possible reward."

    "Every week, with ever-increasing levels of irresponsibility, many billions of dollars in American assets are being saddled with debt that has virtually no chance of being repaid," he said.

    During the furious bidding for RJR Nabisco Inc., Forstmann's protestations about the rampant use of expensive junk bonds ? which carried interest rates sometimes as high as 18 percent ? were ignored. Rival takeover firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. ended up buying RJR in what was then the biggest takeover in U.S. history.

    KKR's $24.5 billion purchase of food-tobacco giant RJR Nabisco Inc. was announced in November 1988 after a bidding brawl that some considered a symbol of corporate gluttony. That deal saddled RJR with heavy debt.

    In 1988, the dollar amount of mergers and acquisitions financed largely with borrowed money totaled more than $200 billion.

    International Management Group, a sports and celebrity management and marketing firm that has represented Tiger Woods, Joe Montana and Derek Jeter, was sold to Forstmann Little in 2004 in a cash deal valued at more than $700 million.

    He signed "The Giving Pledge" earlier this year, where America's wealthiest people pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.

    Forstmann was a philanthropist and co-founder of the Children's Scholarship Fund in 1998, which focuses on helping parents send their children to schools of their choice.

    He was also a director of the International Rescue Committee and helped establish a medical program for war-injured children in Bosnia. He was a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and also served on the board of directors at Freedom House, Empower America, the Robin Hood Foundation, the CATO Institute, and the Preventative Medicine Research Institute.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obit_forstmann

    jcole jcole j cole j. cole j. cole joe namath austin weather

    Sunday, November 20, 2011

    Obama sending Clinton to repressive Myanmar (AP)

    BALI, Indonesia ? Seizing an opportunity for historic progress in repressive Myanmar, President Barack Obama is dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the long isolated nation next month in an attempt to accelerate fledgling reforms.

    The move is the most dramatic sign of an evolving relationship between the United States and Myanmar, which has suffered under brutal military rule for decades. But Obama said Friday there had been "flickers of progress" since new civilian leadership took power in March.

    "If Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said as he announced Clinton's trip while on a diplomatic mission to southeast Asia.

    Clinton will be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar in more than 50 years.

    In exploring a breakthrough engagement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, Obama first sought assurances of support from democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. She spent 15 years on house arrest by the nation's former military dictators but is now in talks with the civilian government about reforming the country.

    The two spoke by phone on Thursday night while Obama was flying to Bali on Air Force One.

    By sending in his chief diplomat, Obama's is taking a calculated political risk in a place where repression is still common. He warned that if the country fails to commit to a true opening of its society, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But he said that the current environment is a rare opening that could help millions of people "and that possibility is too important to ignore."

    Myanmar is subject to wide-ranging trade, economic and political sanctions from the U.S. and other Western nations, enforced in response to brutal crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters in 1988 and 2007 and its refusal to hand power to pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi's party after the 1990 elections.

    Suu Kyi's lawyer, Nyan Win, welcomed news of Clinton's visit.

    "It is time for the U.S. to make such a high level visit. This is going to be a very crucial visit," Win said.

    Senior Obama administration officials said the U.S. wants to see a number of actions from Myanmar going forward, including the release of more political prisoners; serious internal domestic diplomacy between the government and ethnic groups, some of which have been in civil war for decades; and further assurances with regards to their interactions with North Korea.

    The administration's policy toward Myanmar has focused on punishments and incentives to get the country's former military rulers to improve dire human rights conditions. The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Myanmar but made clear it was open to better relations if the situation changed.

    Myanmar's nominally civilian government has declared its intention to liberalize the hard-line policies of the junta that preceded it. It has taken some initial steps, such as easing censorship, legalizing labor unions, suspending an unpopular, China-backed dam project and working with Suu Kyi.

    Officials said Clinton would travel to Myanmar Dec. 1, making stops in Yangon and Naypyitaw.

    A U.S. opening with Myanmar would also contribute to Obama's goals of rebalancing power in the region, as Burma's military leaders for long had close ties to China.

    Beijing has poured billions of dollars of investment into Myanmar to operate mines, extract timber and build oil and gas pipelines. China has also been a staunch supporter of the country's politically isolated government and is Myanmar's second-biggest trading partner after Thailand.

    Administration officials stressed that the new engagement with Myanmar was not about China. They said the Obama administration consulted with China about the move and said they expected China to be supportive. They argued that China in fact wants to see a stable Burma on its borders, so that it doesn't risk problems with refugees or other results of political instability.

    Human rights groups welcomed Obama's announcement as an opportunity to compel further reforms.

    "We've been arguing a long time that political engagement and political pressure are not mutually exclusive," Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International's Southeast Asia researcher, told The Associated Press, adding that Clinton "should not miss the opportunity in this historic visit to pressure the government and speak very clearly that the human rights violations taking place there need to stop."

    Elaine Pearson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the Burmese government must realize that a visit by Clinton "puts them on notice, not lets them off the hook for their continually atrocious human rights record."

    Obama was to see Burma's president during the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, that brought him to Bali. The two have met before, at an ASEAN meeting in Singapore, when Thein Sein was prime minister.

    ASEAN announced Friday that Myanmar would chair the regional bloc in 2014, a significant perch that Myanmar was forced to skip in 2006 because of intense criticism of its rights record.

    Obama was to attend a meeting Friday afternoon with the heads of ASEAN, whose 10 members include host Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The group will expand for the East Asia Summit, a forum that also counts China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the U.S. as members.

    The president held one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the summit with leaders from India, Malaysia and the Philippines. Administration officials said Obama raised the issue of Myanmar in his meetings with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.

    Earlier, in a move promoting American trade, Obama presided over a deal that will send Boeing planes to an Indonesian company and create jobs back home, underscoring the value of the lucrative Asia-Pacific market to a president needing some good economic news.

    Obama stood watch as executives of Boeing and Lion Air, a private carrier in Indonesia, signed a deal that amounts to Boeing's largest commercial plane order. Lion Air ordered 230 airplanes, and the White House said it would support tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.

    ____

    Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon and Alisa Tang in Bangkok contributed to this report.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_re_as/as_obama

    sand dollar sand dollar just dance 3 just dance 3 cliff lee cliff lee the raven