Santa Clarita housing update reports for Christmas Week 2012

It has been a while since we have produced our Resources for the Cities Within the Santa Clarita by bullet points. ?This is our weekly real estate update for the Cities that compose the Santa Clarita Valley. ?While the holidays are not as ?active? as other parts of the year, we have been watching as there is a lot of real estate inventory entering escrow with with regard to properties for sale in the SCV.

Watching the current trends and numbers in Single Family Residences can be seen with our Newest Market update reports for the Santa Clarita Valley Cities. ?Click on each of the links(at the bottom of this page) to view each city with more detail. And click through twice on each link?

Here is a break down on the report for Castaic California and the Single Family Residences therein:

For the week of December 24, 2012 in Castaic CA we have seen as the Median list prices have reduced to a level of $329,999.00. ?This is a downward trend for Castaic CA. ?This report is referencing Single Family Homes only. ?Condo?s and Town-homes are part of a different report we will be posting tomorrow at this very Same Sellers real estate blog for Santa Clarita Ca.

We have noted that there is a price per square foot decrease to $164.00 a square foot. ?However, the Days on the market, the times it takes a property to sell has increased to 108 days. When we see this trend we can determine a couple of things. ?Lending is becoming more difficult to obtain, getting approved for loans and to close them, is like pulling teeth ?We can also deduce that the property involved has some sort of ?requirement? in order to sell. ?It may be a short sale that has to be negotiated. ?It could also be a Foreclosure that is waiting on investor approval. ?Both of these scenarios could increase the ?days on market times?.

Over 1/4 of homes that are for sale experienced a price decrease during this week from the week before. ?In today?s Castaic real estate market, that typically has to do with the appraisers in the employ of the Buyers seeing that the home is worth less than the amount they had the home listed for. ?The fault could be with the seller, with the bank (if a short sale) or with the bank (if a foreclosure). ?When the buyers appraiser does their job in appraising the home for sale, they may come in with a very different number. ?This is when we start seeing price reductions in the current Santa Clarita real estate market.

Prices typically increase when we have other real estate factors at play. ?It could be that during the short sale approval process, the bank determines that the home is being sold at less than fair market value. ?This could be the fault of the agent undercutting the real estate market or potentially the short sale seller being misinformed. ?The bank who owns the asset, in doing their due?diligence, determines that the home should be sold for more than the agreed upon list price and for more than the current offer that is in place. ?So, they increase the price of the home. ?That is what we have seen in this?numeric?- an increase of 4%.

All of these reports and their data are?obtainable for you by email. ?All you have to do is to visit our Reports Pages for Santa Clarita real estate. ?Visit and subscribe to any of the reports you desire. ?You can choose from full city reports for the Santa Clarita valley or by zip codes, thereby narrowing the results of your real estate data. ?The reports get emailed to you very week so you can see what we talk about on our Santa Clarita sellers blog.

To access the Santa Clarita real estate and market reports data pages ? click here.

VALENCIA CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

STEVENSON RANCH CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

SAUGUS CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

SANTA CLARITA CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

NEWHALL CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

CASTAIC CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

CANYON COUNTRY CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

Acton CA real estate housing market update December 25, 2012

We placed the homes sold chart combined with the median sales prices for Castaic CA below on this interactive graph. ?This renders the Single Family Residence history and it?s current days on market?time-frames? ?We are happy to supply you with the data and if you want more with regard to the other Cities in the Santa Clarita Valley ? Please head over to our Santa Clarita real estate website(paris911 dot com) and type into the macBoX the word ?Prices?. ?Or you can click here to get to our Santa Clarita Housing prices pages.

Connor and Paris MacIvor are Realtors in Santa Clarita CA with the REMAX of Valencia CA Brokerage.? They realized at the beginning of their real estate career the importance of being able to be there for their clients - 100% of the time. This blog is about Seller Representation and constant real estate market updates by Factual Numbers provided by the independent Research Firm we hired for our Real Estate sellers and buyers.? Enjoy the Data by The Paris911 Team at REMAX of Valencia CA.

Tagged as: castaic ca, market in santa clartia, Market Update, market updates, santa clarita housing, santa clarita real estate, santa clartia housing, update reports

Source: http://realtor.paris911.com/2012/12/26/santa-clarita-housing-update-reports-for-christmas-week-2012/

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Packing Pro (for iPhone)

I once left for spring break without any socks, which may sound like the precursor to a wild story, except I was headed to Rochester, New York, to ride out a blizzard at my friend's father's apartment. We got to town, hit up the mall, and I bought a six-pack of cheap socks. If I had written a packing list or had an app to help me prep my trip, such as Packing Pro (for iPhone) ($2.99), chances are I would have forgotten the socks regardless. Life rolls like that sometimes. You know you ought to pack socks and you simply don't, even if it's written down.

To pay $3 for an app that reminds me to pack socks?or medication, sunscreen, a light jacket, a knitted cap, and my swimsuit?seems frivolous even to someone as into organization as I am.

For some, however, it might be the very specificity of the reminders in this indie app that make it worth the modest cost.

Checklist Planning and Packing
Packing Pro helps you pack, and that's just about all it's designed to do. You work from a sample list of items to pack or create your own and tick off items as they go into your luggage.

It has a handful of other reminders, too, like booking reservations and watering the plants before you leave home, which you can save into checklists to guide your harried soul while you're running around your apartment like a chicken with its head cut off worried that you'll miss your flight if you dally a moment longer.

The default palette puts before you a lackluster brown color scheme and insipid fonts (using excessive italics) that suggest perhaps what's inside is equally uninspiring?however, the lack of visual panache really does not speak to the attention to detail that went into creating sample packing lists. They are comprehensive and thorough, and at any time you can create a new item, which you can classify to any one of dozens of pre-programmed categories.

Moreover, you can change the color scheme and fonts, but, ultimately, no one should waste her time customizing the look of a single-utility app that's overpriced to begin with. Theme customization options turn out to be just one fatty area. The app needs a lot of tightening.

From the homescreen, I created several packing lists, a few from sample lists and a few from scratch, but based on real travel experiences as I tried to think through the kinds of things I would genuinely need. Packing Pro's sample lists range from "male" and "female" to "camping" and "business." The sample female list did have more than I imagined it might, but all the other sample lists are male-oriented. Where are the bras and sports bras? The business sample list includes three ties, a suit jacket, and a handkerchief, but not pantyhose, jewelry, or tampons.

Pack It Up, Pack It In...
As mentioned, I could always add the items that I wanted to include by either writing them in as special entries or finding them on other lists to add--except that customizing a packing list proved to be much more time-consuming than packing on the fly, forgetting my socks, and picking up a few pairs when en route to my destination. Again, there's fat to trim. The app requires heavy-handed tightening and simplification to be more useful.

If Packing Pro were a 99-cent iPhone app, I would have scored it slightly higher than the three-star grade it got. It's not a terrible app, but it costs too much for such a single-purpose tool.

More iPhone App Reviews:
??? Google+ Mobile App (for iPhone)
??? Packing Pro (for iPhone)
??? Google Maps (for iPhone)
??? Yahoo! Mail (for iPhone)
??? Gmail (for iPhone)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/4d5kEpAZOgI/0,2817,2413593,00.asp

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Businesses, city leaders say in Oakland, economy is rebounding ...

Sarah Kirnon and her business associate were putting the finishing touches on their new restaurant in Old Oakland?Miss Ollie?s, specializing in Afro-Caribbean fare?days before it was scheduled to open. In the kitchen, spices were still in their packaging: cardamom, cumin, dried and smoked habanero peppers.? Tables were stacked in front. The grill shone brand new.

But Kirnon, 43, who has worked as a chef since she was 19, said she wasn?t nervous about the opening. This location, on Washington Street and 9th, was perfect, with its floor-to-ceiling windows. Kirnon would be cooking food she loves, that she grew up eating in the Caribbean. ?I grew up in a house with lots of aunts and uncles, and eating was one of the things that brought us together,? Kirnon said. ?That?s what we wanted to do here?not just be a restaurant, but a community where people come together.?

And?crucial to her business plans?Kirnon obtained financial backing for Miss Ollie?s from a few investors. Oakland officials, in particular Mayor Jean Quan, say this is not accidental.

?Oakland is in the best financial shape we?ve seen in a decade,? Quan told reporters last month, in a special hour-long event to present encouraging news about the city?s economy. ?I?m happy to report that unemployment is down, and jobs and city revenue are both up.?

Public and private revenues here?are on the upswing, Quan said.?Donna Hom, the city?s interim budget director, said Oakland brought in more money in sales taxes, business taxes and property taxes for the fiscal year 2011, compared to 2010. In total, the city collected $5.6 million in sales taxes for all of 2011; $13.6 million in property tax revenues, and a surge of new business licenses that netted $7.7 million for the last budget year.

?Oakland is recovering at a similar speed as the greater Bay Area, and marginally faster than the nation,? Hom said. ?A few economic indicators are the drop in unemployment, and the increase of sales taxes and business taxes.?

Unemployment figures that show Oakland?s joblessness rate is at 13.1 percent, according to the most recent data from the state?s Economic Development Department. That?s still much higher than the statewide rate of 7.9 percent, and ?Alameda County?s 8.6 percent unemployment rate. But for Oakland, it?s a step up.? ?In January 2011, the city?s jobless rate was more than three points higher?16.6 percent.

?The city is continuing to grow,? Quan said.

The rosy numbers defy the narrative of Oakland as a city in struggle. The city is facing a soaring crime rate, with homicides reaching a five-year high, and Oakland?s police department spent years embroiled in a federal investigation that finally reached a resolution this month. Strict departmental oversight by an independent observer looms, following a federal court-ordered investigation that questioned the department?s use of force. Oakland leaders must also contend with public and political criticism for their decision to lay off off nearly 200 police officers in July 2010, shrinking the force to 627, down from 803.?But Quan said in a phone interview last week that the city?s growth will give her resources to accomplish two of her major goals for the next five years: putting more police officers on the streets, and creating more economic development programs to draw businesses to the city.

?Of course we need to do better?we have a lot of challenges, but I?m not going to lay off any police officers this year,? Quan said. ?We?re getting major projects off the ground, and that?s good news for the city. I?ll be able to focus on public safety and job growth.?

Quan was referring to large development projects that appear finally to be underway, such as the 170-acre Oakland Army Base development; Coliseum City, a proposal that would bring in investors to build restaurants and new retail to the city?s sports arena; and West Oakland and Lake Merritt neighborhood growth plans that are intended to bring in more housing and retail.

Some of Quan?s recent budget numbers are based on numbers that don?t really reflect sustained growth in Oakland. Some of the revenue increases come from one-time payments, such as redevelopment funds and city audits.? For example, when Gov. Jerry Brown decided in 2010 to dissolve the 400-plus redevelopment agencies throughout the state, cities had to hand their redevelopment funding over to the state.? A portion of that money is being redistributed to Oakland, though, so the city can pay for a team to wrap up the former redevelopment agency, while maintaining basic services.

One-time-only revenues also resulted from city audit projects, such as the one that tracked landlords who rent out their residential property but hadn?t previously registered as a business. The landlords this audit located were required to buy business licenses last year.

But the overall numbers, along with a study by an outside economist, show that much of the growth here is real.

Jon Haveman, chief economist for the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a nonprofit research firm that produces studies on economic trends in the Bay Area, backed up the optimistic outlook forecast by city budget experts.??Oakland is definitely showing signs of recovery,? Haveman said. ?It?s growing at about the same pace as the state as a whole?faster than the nation, but slower than the two other regions of the Bay Area, San Francisco and Silicon Valley.?

Since January 2011, when unemployment was at its highest in Oakland, more than 4,000 new businesses have opened, according to the city?s Business Tax License center. (It?s harder to track how many business closed during the same time period; the city doesn?t track that data closely.)

The new enterprises span a wide range of genres: Harry?s Oakland Auto Service, an East Oakland repair shop that opened in January 2011; the Park Boulevard Yoga Center, in the hills; the Corner Grocery, on International Boulevard; and Homeroom, a popular mac-and-cheese restaurant in Temescal. There?s Flores Drywall, Pape Chiropractic, Bat Girl Designs, Casa Jimenez Super Burrito Truck, and Top Dog Pet Sitting and Dog Walking.

New businesses help stabilize the city?s economy by bringing in taxes, in the form of both business licenses and ongoing sales taxes. In Oakland, all new business owners?from the mom-and-pop business, to the family renting out its spare bedroom, to large corporations?are required to pay for what?s called a business tax license, or a permit to operate. The owner buys a license in the first year, and then renews it every year by paying a tax on the amount of income he or she brings in.

Oakland netted more than $40,000 in sales taxes in 2011, a 17 percent increase from 2010. That?s a greater increase than those of Emeryville and Berkeley, which grew 3 and 4 percent, respectively. Of the 14 cities in Alameda County, only Piedmont and Livermore surpassed Oakland?s growth.

The city?s economy has taken at least one small hit because of the 2012 federal interference of the pot industry in Oakland, including Oaksterdam University, city budget planners said.? But they declined to say what effect that?s had on the economy.

?The dispensary industry was rolling, but it?s questionable how much a burgeoning industry affected our overall numbers,? said Bradley Johnson, an analyst in the city?s budget and revenue division.??Would it be a problem if it went away?? he asked. ?Sure, but would it be catastrophic to business or sales taxes? No.?

Quan and City Administrator Deanna Santana assert that despite the city?s reputation for lofty, failed financial recovery ideas, this time they have a strong five-year plan, based on projections that reflect what the economy has done in the past, instead of projections about the future. And the city has an $83 million general fund reserve, of which $30 million is available for things like police services and roads repairs.

The city?s five-year financial plan, detailed in an 88-page document, lays out a financial strategy funding two police academies a year through 2018, at the cost of $6.5 million per academy, Quan said. It is also intended to plan for delayed infrastructure upkeep projects on roads, as well as obligatory costs for public employee retiree and healthcare benefits.

?There were times that the city had no reserve, so the fact that we have the mandated reserve money is huge,? Quan said. ?What we?re projecting is, if our economy continues to grow, we?ll be able to bring our police force up in a few years.?

A report by the Oakland-based private real estate investment firm Marcus and Millichap found that a large chunk of the city?s sales tax revenue comes from big retailers, such as Target, which is on the Oakland-Emeryville border. Oakland receives one-third of the sales taxes generated there, while Emeryville gets the rest. Other leading Oakland stores also belong to popular chains, including Safeway, Trader Joe?s, Peet?s Coffee and Tea, Bevmo! and Walgreens.

The investment firm?s report underscores Quan?s confidence. It also found that Oakland could do better in capturing sales taxes. Their figures show that in 2010, Oakland lost taxes on $232.5 million in grocery store sales, and $1 billion on sales of things like clothing and shoes, because shoppers took their business to competing cities like Emeryville and San Francisco.

But Haveman, the economist who studies Oakland, attributed the city?s growth to a surge of new business and development in the Bay Area as a whole, as well as relatively low rental rates here and the availability of retail space.

?A big part of the recent growth in the East Bay is coming from the fact that commercial rental markets in Silicon Valley and San Francisco are seeing very large rent increases, so the East Bay is looking much better from a cost perspective,? Haveman said. ?It?s also true that economic activity in one part of the Bay Area will lead to growth in other parts of the Bay Area, largely because people may work in San Francisco, but they?re living in the East Bay. So people will take their money they earn, for example, in San Francisco, and spend it in Oakland, where they live.?

Aliza Gallo, an economic development manager with the city of Oakland, said that in the past two years, the city has reorganized its Office of Economic and Workforce Development to target new business growth in depressed commercial areas that have already started to see a boom, like Temescal.??We?re marketing Oakland as a friendly place to do business, and we?re already seeing some of that growth,? Gallo said.

Gallo said healthcare, and the restaurant industry here, are two good examples of businesses that are growing. ?Healthcare is a major industry that?s emerging,? she said. ?We?re working with healthcare providers to look forward at trends, and look for business development opportunities. We?re asking things like, what does the Affordable Care Act mean for Oakland, and what kind of opportunities are there for us to be a part of that industry??

Back at Miss Ollie?s in Old Oakland, business is booming. Crowds regularly fill her 50-seat space during lunchtime, and Kirnon is looking forward to opening for dinner soon.

?I?ve had this kind of place in mind since I was a child,? Kirnon said on a recent day, sitting in her new space as a construction crew pounded nails and drilled screws next to her. ?This place is named after my grandma, so I feel like she?s watching over me.?

Source: http://oaklandnorth.net/2012/12/18/businesses-city-leaders-say-in-oakland-economy-is-rebounding/

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Healthy Hannah's Picture Book Joins in the Fight Against Childhood ...

LAS VEGAS, Nev., Dec. 18, 2012 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) ? A new book, ?Healthy Hannah?s Fitness Fables: A Promise to Yourself? (ISBN: 978-0-9852773-0-7) published by KidsProsper Publishing, pairs father-daughter authors in the fight against childhood obesity.

?Childhood obesity is a problem that requires multi-pronged efforts,? says Jay England, co-author. ?We have to stay on top of the issue and the earlier you introduce healthy habits to children, the more likely they will practice healthy habits and engage in fitness as they grow older. Young minds are naturally curious and eager to learn new things. And, it?s easy to begin. It?s as simple as doing a basic clapping game or showing them pictures of different fruits and vegetables.?

The Center for Disease Control estimates that there are currently 12.5 million children who are overweight or obese in America. So, the launch of ?Healthy Hannah?s Fitness Fables? is not only timely, but badly needed. Children?s fitness begins at home.

The characters in ?Healthy Hannah?s Fitness Fables? guide children on a healthy rhyming adventure about exercise and nutrition. Through playful and entertaining illustrations, one by one, Healthy Hannah, Maxwell Muscle, Low-Fat Larry, and Aerobic Annie delight in a healthy and fun journey from birth through adulthood.

Jay believes that the best time to introduce fitness to children is right out of the womb.

Dr. Allen Marino, an emergency room physician in Las Vegas, agrees: ?The great thing about this picture book is that it explains healthy habits in a way that children of all ages can understand. The rhyming story line starts as a baby and takes the reader all the way through adulthood, to show examples of fitness throughout the life cycle,? Marino says.

Hannah England, Jay?s daughter and co-author, believes that learning healthy habits is a process.

?No one should be in a hurry or expect too much too soon,? she says. ?For instance, I always wanted sugary soda with dinner when we ate out. However, after some light-hearted persuasion from my dad, over time, I drank less soda and eventually replaced it with water. If my dad had forced the issue, I may have rebelled and kept on drinking soda.?

?Healthy Hannah?s Fitness Fables? is 38 pages and currently available in hardcover; an e-book is in the works. It is illustrated by a former personal trainer, Joe Romano II.

?Joe?s illustrations really helped bring the characters? anatomy and exercise portions of the book to life,? Jay says.

The authors can be reached at: JayandHannah@Healthy-Hannah.org. The book can be found on: www.Healthy-Hannah.org/ or Amazon.com.

About the Authors, Jay and Hannah England:
For more than 15 years, Jay England has worked as a personal trainer. As a kid growing up in Palm Springs, Calif., he stayed fit by chasing desert iguanas with his dog. He served eight years in the U.S. Navy and has degrees in business and kinesiology.

Hannah England is a hardworking student and plays school sports. She lives with her dad in Las Vegas and enjoys working out with him.

NEWS SOURCE: KidsProsper Publishing :: This press release was issued on behalf of the news source by Send2Press(R) Newswire, a service of Neotrope(R). View all current news at the Send2Press for Journalists Portal: Send2PressNewswire.com/ .

About National News Desk

National news from leading U.S. wire services including other nodes in the Neotrope? News Network. Business, entertainment and technology news stories of regional and national interest.

National news from leading U.S. wire services including other nodes in the Neotrope? News Network. Business, entertainment and technology news stories of regional and national interest.

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Source: http://californianewswire.com/2012/12/18/CNW13079_005501.php

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New form of cell division found: Natural back-up mechanism during faulty cell division

Dec. 17, 2012 ? Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center have discovered a new form of cell division in human cells.

They believe it serves as a natural back-up mechanism during faulty cell division, preventing some cells from going down a path that can lead to cancer.

"If we could promote this new form of cell division, which we call klerokinesis, we may be able to prevent some cancers from developing," says lead researcher Dr. Mark Burkard, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology in the Department of Medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Burkard presented the finding on Dec. 17 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco.

A physician-investigator who sees breast cancer patients, Burkard studies cancers in which cells contain too many chromosomes, a condition called polyploidy.

About 14 percent of breast cancers and 35 percent of pancreatic cancers have three or more sets of chromosomes, instead of the usual two sets. Many other cancers have cells containing defective chromosomes rather than too many or too few.

"Our goal in the laboratory has been to find ways to develop new treatment strategies for breast cancers with too many chromosome sets," he says. The original goal of the current study was to make human cells that have extra chromosomes sets. But after following the accepted recipe, they unexpectedly observed the new form of cell division.

Until now, Burkard and most cell biologists today accepted a century-old hypothesis developed by German biologist Theodor Boveri, who studied sea urchin eggs. Boveri surmised that faulty cell division led to cells with abnormal chromosome sets, and then to the unchecked cell growth that defines cancer. With accumulated evidence over the years, most scientists have come to accept the hypothesis.

Normal cell division is at the heart of an organism's ability to grow from a single fertilized egg into a fully developed individual. More than a million-million rounds of division must take place for this to occur. In each division, one mother cell becomes two daughter cells. Even in a fully grown adult, many kinds of cells are routinely remade through cell division.

The fundamental process of cells copying themselves begins with a synthesis phase, when a duplicate copy is made of cell components, including the DNA-containing chromosomes in the nucleus. Then during mitosis, the two sets are physically separated in opposite directions, while still being contained in one cell. Finally, during cytokinesis, the one cell is cut into two daughter cells, right at the end of mitosis.

Burkard and his team were making cells with too many chromosomes--to mimic cancer. The scientists blocked cytokinesis with a chemical and waited to see what happened.

"We expected to recover a number of cells with abnormal sets of chromosomes," Burkard explains.

The researchers found that, rather than appearing abnormal, daughter cells ended up looking normal most of the time. Contrary to Boveri's hypothesis, abnormal cell division rarely had long-term negative effects in human cells.

So the group decided to see how the human cells recovered normal sets of chromosomes by watching with a microscope that had the ability to take video images.

"We started with two nuclei in one cell," Burkard says. "To our great surprise, we saw the cell pop apart into two cells without going through mitosis."

Each of the two new cells inherited an intact nucleus enveloping a complete set of chromosomes. The splitting occurred, unpredictably, during a delayed growth phase rather than at the end of mitosis.

The scientists did a number of additional experiments to carefully make sure that the division they observed was different than cytokinesis.

"We had a hard time convincing ourselves because this type of division does not appear in any textbook," Burkard says.

Over time, they found that only 90 percent of daughter cells had recovered a normal complement of chromosomes. Burkard would like to leverage that statistic up to 99 percent.

"If we could push the cell toward this new type of division, we might be able to keep cells normal and lower the incidence of cancer," he says.

Burkard now thinks that among all those rounds of cell division an organism goes through, every once in a while cytokinesis can fail. And that this new division is a back-up mechanism that allows cells to recover from the breakdown and grow normally.

The group has dubbed the new type of division klerokinesis to distinguish it from cytokinesis. Burkard enlisted the help of Dr. William Brockliss, UW assistant professor of classics, to come up with the name; klero is a Greek prefix meaning "allotted inheritance."

Collaborators on the project include Dr. Beth Weaver, UW assistant professor of cell and regenerative biology; Dr. Alka Choudhary; Robert Lera; Dr. Melissa Martowicz and Dr. Jennifer Laffin.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by Dian Land.

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

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/PjCQj7kK_7U/121217140328.htm

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Guinea to give civil servants 50 percent pay raise

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) ? A labor inspector says that Guinean authorities will give civil servants a pay raise of 50 percent over the next year.

Inspector Mariama Djogo Barry on Monday announced the decision that was agreed upon Friday between the government and Guinea's main trade unions. She said the raises would be applied in three phases of 10, 15 and 25 percent before the end of 2013.

In September, when Guinea was named to the IMF and World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, the unions threatened to go on strike if the government did not give civil servants a 200 percent raise.

Guinean President Alpha Conde then asked for time to respond to the request.

Analyst Diawara Foromo said the increase was a positive first step but more is needed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guinea-civil-servants-50-percent-pay-raise-145350762.html

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Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders in children

Dec. 17, 2012 ? More than one in every ten schoolchildren suffers from a transient tic disorder, and 1% have a particular type of tic disorder known as Tourette syndrome. In this issue of Deutsches ?rzteblatt International, Andrea G. Ludolph of the Universit?tsklinikum Ulm and her coauthors report on the available modes of diagnosis and treatment for these disorders.

Tic disorders usually take a benign course; in about 90% of patients, the tics regress spontaneously in adolescence. Specific treatment is indicated only if the tics are severe or cause evident psychosocial stress. On the other hand, 80% to 90% of all patients with Tourette syndrome have comorbid disorders such as attention deficit?hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. These comorbidities often impair patients? quality of life more than the tics themselves do, and their treatment is, therefore, a priority.

At present, tics cannot be cured, nor is there any treatment aimed at their cause, which remains unknown. Moreover, there is no available treatment that can improve all of the potential symptoms of Tourette syndrome simultaneously while also treating all of its comorbidities. Atypical neuroleptic drugs are the agents of first choice in the treatment of tics, but, before any drug treatment is begun, all patients should first undergo a trial of behavior therapy, whose beneficial effect has been documented by sound scientific evidence. The state of the evidence regarding pharmacotherapy for Tourette syndrome is still poor.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ludolph AG, Roessner V, M?nchau A, M?ller-Vahl K. Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Dtsch Arztebl Int, 2012; 109(48): 821%u20138 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2012.0821

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/KLMixt8_Kcg/121217110647.htm

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Question for Gun-Rights Fanatics: Have You No Sense of Decency?

I?m still brooding over the Connecticut massacre. Here are some points I?d like to add to those I raised in my column on Friday:

One respondent to my previous post chided me for my inflammatory language. Yes, my response was emotional, because I literally get sick thinking about what the hard-core gun-rights folks?and their appeasers?have done to this country. Also, reason and logic aren?t exactly prevailing. Perhaps we need more emotion, outrage, like that dramatic moment in 1954 when lawyer Joseph Welch stood up to the anti-communist bully Senator Joseph McCarthy, asking, ?Have you no sense of decency?? That was the beginning of the end of McCarthyism.

I?m appalled by the recklessness and shallowness of the arguments of some opponents of gun control. Many eagerly seized on the fact that on Friday, a man in China stabbed 22 elementary school children. Should we outlaw kitchen knives? a clever commenter on my blog asked. Crappy comparison. None of the Chinese children died, according to The New York Times. All countries have deranged, violent people, but not all countries make it so easy for madmen to obtain weapons designed for mass murder.

Gun-lovers argue we need more people packing guns, not fewer. That?s almost as stupid as arguing that the world would be safer if more nations possess nuclear weapons. Two recent shootings in Florida show what can happen when armed civilians roam the streets. The first took place last February, when George Zimmerman, a self-styled neighborhood watchdog, shot to death Trayvon Martin, a teenager who lived in the neighborhood. Last month 46-year-old Michael Dunn asked four teenagers in a car to turn down their music. After a heated exchange, Dunn fired eight shots into the car, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis. Dunn has been charged with second-degree murder, according to The New York Times. More guns will surely mean more lethal accidents, suicides, homicides and vigilante attacks.

Okay, now I?m really going to go off the rails. The potential connection between violent entertainment and real violence keeps nagging at me. I love violent flicks, like the latest James Bond and Batman blockbusters, and I?m a staunch believer in free speech. My son grew up playing first-person shooter games, and he?s a kind, considerate young man. Also, the surge in consumption of violent games over the past few decades has not been matched by a corresponding surge in gun violence. In fact, violent crime rates in the U.S. have fallen since the early 1990s. I nonetheless worry about the corrosive moral effects of violent entertainment on young people.

I?m even more worried about the potential link between our country?s hawkish actions overseas and mass shootings here in the homeland. President Barack Obama has signed off on drone attacks that often result in the killing of civilians, including children. There is a cognitive dissonance between our leaders? condemnation of school shootings here and their violent actions beyond our borders.

What I?m trying to say, I suppose, is that I see the Connecticut massacre and similar outbursts of violence as symptoms of a profound American sickness, a pathological infatuation with violence, which is also manifested in our militarism and atavistic adherence to the death penalty. All these forms of violence?whether carried out by crazed individuals or by our own government?violate basic human decency. When will we say, Enough!

Postscript: For good info on gun control, see these pieces by Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, Ezra Klein of The Washington Post, and Mark Follman of Mother Jones. (I found this final source on the link-laden Facebook page of Scientific American?s Bora Zivkovik.)

Credit: chronicle.uchicago.edu

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=14e425b6adcff95b30f4c57e3d4af650

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Bahrain's king should overturn medics' convictions: HRW

DUBAI (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch called on Bahrain's king on Monday to overturn convictions against nine medics for their role in last year's pro-democracy uprising, saying confessions had been obtained by torture and trial proceedings were unfair.

Bahrain, a U.S. ally, has been criticized abroad for the verdicts against the doctors and nurses who treated those injured in the uprising which began in February last year and helped bring world attention to their plight before the revolt was crushed a month later.

In the absence of a political solution, the Gulf Arab kingdom has remained in turmoil with smaller scale protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority against the Sunni rulers and clashes almost daily.

Bahrain's Court of Cassation last week rejected all appeals presented by the medics, all of them Shi'ites, and upheld the previous rulings of prison terms ranging between one month and five years.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, accuses regional Shi'ite power Iran of encouraging the unrest and has promised a tough response to violent protests as talks with the opposition have stalled.

The U.S.-based rights group urged Bahrain's King Hamad to order the release of the medics who were re-arrested on Tuesday, and said "convictions were based in part on confessions obtained by torture and in proceedings that were fundamentally unfair".

"We are reluctant to call on the king to reverse a judicial decision, but time and again we have seen Bahraini courts uphold politically motivated charges against those who peacefully dissent," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch in a statement.

"The courts have failed to uphold Bahrain's obligation to protect free expression and peaceful assembly."

The medics were freed from detention last year after an outcry over allegations of torture. The charges against them included inciting hatred and calling for the overthrow of Bahrain's rulers.

The doctors and nurses say they were victimized for treating protesters and helping bring world attention to deaths at the hands of security forces.

Washington said it was deeply concerned after last week's ruling and Amnesty International said it considered the jailed medics prisoners of conscience.

The Sunni Al Khalifa family used martial law and the help of Saudi-led Gulf troops to put down last year's uprising. Thousands were arrested and military trials were instituted during the martial law period.

Widespread and excessive force during the crackdown, including confessions under torture, was detailed in a commission of international legal experts which published its findings in November and recommended measures to stop them.

Bahrain says it has taken steps to address the brutality of security forces by dismissing those responsible and introducing cameras at police stations to monitor abuses.

But little progress has been made in addressing the grievances that led to the uprising.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bahrains-king-overturn-medics-convictions-hrw-144031476.html

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Activists: Syrian warplanes pound Homs

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian activists say government warplanes have been bombing the central city of Homs, one of the flashpoints of the 18-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Friday's attack is the worst the city has seen in five months. The focus of fighting has shifted to other areas, including Syria's commercial hub of Aleppo, since a government offensive against rebel strongholds in Homs ended in April.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said tanks and mortars as well as aircraft had bombarded the city's Khaldiya neighborhood.

Activists estimate that more than 30,000 people have been killed during Syria's uprising and civil war.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-syrian-warplanes-pound-homs-084127067.html

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Home Cooking Classes with Sista Felicia Begin This Wednesday ...

Peter Van Ness and Sista Felicia

Due to a cancellation there are a few choice openings available in Sista Felicia?s genuine Sicilian American home cooking class, September 12th at 6:30.?

I can hardly wait to learn how to recreate Felicia?s mouth-watering?Traditional Sunday Dinner?dishes and?am simply thrilled to be taking her class this coming Wednesday. I hope to see you there!

Felicia will guide us step-by-step through the process of creating an elegant Traditional Sunday Dinner ~ the dinner that evokes a time and place where family and friends gathered every Sunday to celebrate one another and partake in the bounty of sea and garden.

Come join Felicia and her family in what promises to be a beautiful evening of splendid flavors, taught with unbridled passion from the generous heart of an authentic Italian American home cook, and held in the hearth of her elegant home.

For more information on Wednesday?s availability, as well as the schedule and remaining availability of all of September?s classes, contact Felicia at sistafeliciaskitchen@gmail.com.

To see more photos and a previous post about Sista Felicia?s Kitchen.

Come cook with Felicia?an experience not to be missed!?

Currently creating a documentary film about the Black Swallowtail butterfly. Visit my blog for more information about my landscape and interior design firm- kimsmithdesigns.wordpress.com. Good Morning Gloucester daily contributor. Author/illustrator "Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden"

Source: http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/home-cooking-with-sista-felcia-begins-this-wednesday/

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Video: Of rookie QBs, RG3 shines brightest

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/21134540/vp/48965765#48965765

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Daytrading, Stock Trading, Investing and Forex Trading ? The Value ...

Some go on to make enough to live on, some an especially cushty living and some make a genuine fortune. There are numerous investors who make trading their sole occupation.

Others return to their old job, annoyed and scared of ever doing anything different and giving up on their hopes of the life they actually wish to live. Here's a story about a man?? What if you might leverage a powerful solid research of market factors and patterns, correctly envisioning the best stocks to buy? What if androids can do all of that for you? These are what automated stock market dealing robotic systems do best. What if you had a technique to tell which stocks are intending to make a slaughtering in the market? Spot the ?gainers? earlier without counting on brokers or sly insider information. These systems scan the market steadily for the best emerging stocks. Stocks are influenced daily by foreseeable information and arithmetic.

This suggests you quickly know which stocks are going to make a gain. You can purchase inexpensive early and sell higher later earning masses of bucks each day or thousands of bucks each week on your investment with the best stockmarket trading system. The advantages of an automatic share trading robotic system are giant. As the more well capable you are on the language then you'll get more successful. The best thing about the stock market trader software is the incontrovertible fact that they're programmed to recognise the trends and advise you of which stocks are probably going to be good to make an investment in. * There are new technologies out there now that will seriously improve the probability for successful stock market trading.

They also are comparatively cheap and easy to utilise. If you're think about making an investment in a stock market trader software then it'd be to your benefit to learn all you are able to about the various type and the good points and bad points of every one before purchasing one. This is effective as the market advances in patterns which repeat themselves often each 7 years typically. Some automated stock market trading systems particularly target penny stocks and shares when attempting to find trading prospects. This may be seen and shown by the undeniable fact that we are going into and out of recessions continually whether or not it's larger or smaller one or more times ten years. This is effective because penny stocks and shares are the least expensive, most uncertain and wildly changing investments to be found in the market as it is far easier to persuade their position and price with less trading activity. As an example, the 1st automated securities dealing system pick which was aimed at penny stocks and shares especially which I invested in was priced at $.18 a share.

Source: http://traders101.com/2012/08/28/the-value-of-collaborating-in-ridicule-stock-market-trading-games/

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Arcade Party Ideas For Kids and Teens - Moms & Munchkins

An arcade party doesn?t necessarily have to be held at an arcade. There are plenty of fun & inexpensive ways to set up your own arcade at home. Here you?ll find fun party ideas for invitations, decorations, food, treat bags and of course games! This is a great theme for teenagers who love video games!

Arcade Party ? Invitations:

A fun idea for an arcade invitation is a ticket style invitation inviting them to your newly created home arcade. It could include words like:

• Please join us for the Grand Opening of {Child?s Name}?s Arcade!
• Game On!
• Bring your best game playing skills for {Child?s Name}?s Arcade Championships!
• Let the games begin!
• Calling All Gammers!

Arcade Party ? Decorations:

One of the great things about an arcade party is that the games also go towards your party decor. I?ll talk more about games in the next section. To set the scene for an arcade at home, you?ll need plenty of fun arcade signs, neon lights and spotlights. If you can, dim the lights in the party area and use neon & flashing lights instead.

There are also plenty of arcade inspired stuffed animals like Pac Man and Donkey Kong that could be placed around the party area. Here are a few other ideas for signs, tokens on tables, wall decals and more!

Arcade Party ? Activities:

The key to a fun arcade party is plenty of arcade games! Most of us don?t have a home filled with arcade games so you?ll have to improvise a little bit.

To start with, you may want to use small white boards at each game station to record high scores during the party. The person with the highest score at each game could be given a prize at the end of the party. You could also hand out tickets to each player who participates in a game. The players could then use these tickets later to fill their favor bag at the end of the party. I?ll discuss this in a bit more detail later!

Most of the fun games shown below are under $30 and they all fit perfectly into an arcade party theme. You may also want a few timers for some of the games to record how many points players score within a specified time frame.

Some fun arcade game ideas are:

• Video games like racing games and dancing competitions
• Small handheld pinball games
• Over the door hanging basketball games
• Darts to pop balloons on a cork board
• Bowling games
• Whack A Mole (my favorite arcade game!)
• Water guns & shooting rubber ducks
• Claw game for trying to grab prizes out of a clear container (you could also use salad tongs for this and have guests close their eyes and grab a small prize out of a large box ? for even more difficulty, you can blindfold them and spin them around a couple of times)

Arcade Party ? Food:

A fun idea would be to set up a concession stand with food items to ?purchase? with tickets or tokens that the guests are given as they enter the party. Some food ideas are:

• Hot Dogs
• Donkey Kong burgers
• Mario?s Pasta Special
• Popcorn

Arcade Party ? Dessert:

Besides cake and cupcakes, an arcade party could include fun desserts like:

• Pac Man cookies using Pac Man cookie cutters
• Pinballs (regular cake pops iced in grey or silver icing to make them look like pinballs)
• Cotton Candy

Arcade Party ? Favors:

When guests arrive to the party, they can be given small plastic cups with tickets and tokens. The tokens can be used for food at the concession stand and the tickets can be traded in for fun prizes. Each guest can be given a personalized treat bag that they can fill with whatever prizes they choose from the prize area. You can label each prize with how many tickets each one is worth. Guests can then use the tickets they?ve been given or have won during the party to fill their favor bags to take home. Some fun ideas for an arcade party prize area include:

What?s your favorite arcade game?

?

**Disclosure: I am part of the Amazon, Birthday in a Box, Tiny Prints Inc., Beau-coup and Big Dot of Happiness affiliate programs. All opinions expressed here are 100% my own.

Related posts:

Source: http://www.momsandmunchkins.ca/2012/08/26/arcade-party/

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US tries to get Fannie, Freddie back on their feet

By Rachelle Younglai, Reuters

WASHINGTON -- The Treasury on Friday revamped the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to curb chances the giant mortgage finance firms could emerge from government control as the powerful, profit-driven corporations they once were.

The Treasury said it would require the companies, whose massive losses threatened the financial system after the housing bubble burst, to shrink their investment portfolios more quickly and turn over any profits to taxpayers.

Under the previous bailout terms, the companies, which buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them as securities for investors, were required to make a 10 percent dividend payment to the Treasury. At times, they have had to borrow from Treasury just to return the dividends. Now, they simply won't be able to retain any profits.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government at their height of the financial crisis in 2008 as mortgage losses threatened their solvency. Since then, they have drawn a total of $188 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat, while paying more than $45 billion in dividends.

At the start of next year, the Treasury's unlimited support for the companies gets will expire. After December 31, Fannie Mae's bailout funds will be capped at $125 billion and Freddie Mac will have a limit of $149 billion.

This has raised concerns among investors who buy their debt, a worry eased by the new terms.

"The market's worry is that Fannie and Freddie will exhaust this Treasury capital and default on bond payments," the Washington Research Group said in a note to clients. "Just the fear of this could drive up their borrowing costs, which would require them to seek government capital more quickly."

The announcement hit preferred shares of the two firms, driving them down by more than 70 percent in heavy trading, as investors saw the plan as undercutting their ability to ever emerge from government conservatorship as profitable companies. Their common shares also fell.

Their corporate debt, however, rallied as the new policy alleviated the need for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to borrow from the government just to make dividend payments, putting them in better position to service their debt.

"You fixed the major flaw in the initial agreement," said Jim Vogel, interest rate strategist at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee.

With the housing market showing signs of improvement and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reducing their portfolios of loans with poor credit quality, the government-owned companies posted strong profits in the second quarter of this year.

The Treasury said the altered bailout terms would ensure that "every dollar of earnings that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generate will be used to benefit taxpayers for their investment in those firms."

Although the Treasury said the changes would accelerate plans to eventually shut the companies down, the announcement did little to address how that might be achieved or how the government's footprint in the mortgage finance market might shrink. Along with the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finance nine out of every 10 new home loans.

Early last year, the administration unveiled a policy paper that outlined three options to reshape the U.S. housing finance system, but it has yet to provide further details.

While Republicans and Democrats agree on the need to reduce the government's role in housing finance, they disagree on how drastically and Congress has yet to take action.

As part of the new bailout terms, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be required to reduce their investment portfolios at an annual rate of 15 percent instead of the previous 10 percent. That will put them on track to each cut their portfolios to a targeted $250 billion in 2018, four years earlier than previously scheduled, the Treasury said.

Fannie Mae's investment portfolio, valued at $673 billion as of the second quarter, holds distressed loans and mostly mortgages that were originated before 2008. Freddie Mac's investment portfolio was valued at $581 billion as of June.

During the years of the housing boom, their portfolios generated enormous profits.?

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/17/13338973-government-tries-to-get-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-back-on-their-feet?lite

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Romney blocks media from Ryan's 1st Vegas funder

DENVER (AP) ? Mitt Romney's campaign is blocking reporters from covering GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's first meeting with donors in Las Vegas.

Tuesday night's event at The Venetian hotel is expected to draw casino owner and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

The decision to block access marks a break from rules previously established by Romney's campaign.

Reporters usually are allowed to cover President Barack Obama's fundraisers when they are held in public venues.

A Romney aide who was not authorized to speak for the record said the event is closed to the media because it is a "finance meeting" instead of a fundraiser.

But Ryan attended two Denver-area fundraisers on Monday night where media coverage also was prohibited.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-blocks-media-ryans-1st-vegas-funder-190150755.html

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Mortgage Rates

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Rates, points and programs cannot be guaranteed on this web site because rates, fees, APR, and other costs are subject to individual borrower's credit score, loan-to-value, loan purpose, loan amount, and rapid fluctuations in market conditions.

Maximum Loan amount for a conforming loan is $417,000. Loan amounts in excess of $417,000 are considered Jumbo Conforming Loans in most Counties. Rates and APR's are based on amounts of $300,000 for Conforming Loans and $625,500 for Jumbo Conforming Loans. This is not an advertisement for credit as defined by paragraph 226.24 of regulation Z.

Source: http://yourrealestatelife.com/blog/2012/08/05/41-mortgage-rates

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Business travellers in New Zealand keep it professional | Dream ...

Some business?travelers?mix their professional and personal commitments when travelling to a variety of destinations. However, this cannot be said of travellers from New Zealand who concentrate wholly on business matters when mandated by the company to travel to a particular destination for one reason or another. Some of the non professional activities that New Zealand business travellers are least known for include the extension of business trips, visiting family or sometimes friends, giving invitations to friends to join them on the trips. However, these are common with other business travellers.

Furthermore, business travellers also avoid the temptation of using credit cards offered by their company to purchase personal items. Surveys indicate that their main objective while travelling for business to different travel destinations is to network and building professional relationships for the benefit of their company. Other unique features of business travellers from New Zealand is that men still dominate business travel, do personal hotel booking which is determined by the hotel location, travel in last six months of the year among others.? With such findings from the 2012 survey on business travel, it is a confirmation to employers in New Zealand that their money is being used well.

New Zealand business travellers keep corporate travel ?strictly business? ? World News Report

Liked this post? Share it! Leave a comment below to tell us what you think.

Source: http://www.dreamholidayblog.com/business-travellers-in-new-zealand-keep-it-professional/

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IOC, FINA and others defend China's teen swimmer

LONDON (AP) ? Olympic organizers and swimming's governing body leapt to the defense of China's world record-breaking teen sensation Ye Shiwen on Tuesday, with the sport's president saying suspicions that she doped were "crazy" and motivated by jealousy and the IOC stressing its confidence in the drug-testing program.

"We need to get real here," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams. "These are the world's best athletes competing at the very highest level. We've seen all sorts of records broken already all over the place."

Adams said the top five athletes in each event, plus two others, are tested as part of "a very, very strong drug-testing program, and we are very confident if there are cheats we will catch them."

"We can't stop speculation. It is inevitably a sad result of the fact that there are people who dope and who cheat," Adams said. "It's very sad we can't applaud a great performance. Let's give the benefit of the doubt to the athletes."

Ye won the 400-meter individual medley on the opening day of the Olympic swimming competition, and was the favorite to win the 200 IM on Tuesday evening, too.

The 16-year-old Ye sliced through the last lap of the 400 in 28.93 seconds ? faster than the 29.10 American winner Ryan Lochte posted in the last 50 of the men's race. Ye's time was 4:28.43, more than a second faster than the previous world record set by Australia's Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games in a now-banned bodysuit.

John Leonard, head of the American Swimming Coaches Association but not a member of the U.S. Olympic staff, was among those openly questioning Ye's legitimacy. The Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying the last 100 of her race "was reminiscent of some old East German swimmers."

"History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I put quotation marks around this, 'unbelievable,' history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved," Leonard was quoted as saying.

Asked about Leonard's comments, FINA president Julio Maglione told The Associated Press that people are free to say "stupid things" if they want.

"It's a big mistake," Maglione said of Ye's doubters. "The people that said this is crazy."

He said FINA spends $1 million to drug-test the top 30 swimmers in the world two or three times a year and "swimming is absolutely clean."

He said that he has absolutely no suspicions about Ye and that her critics are jealous because China is becoming a swimming power.

"It's best for the swimming," Maglione said. "Not only two or three countries. We have now 15 countries that take medals, 20 countries. That is important that many countries in the world take medals."

The anti-doping chief for China's General Administration of Sport, Jiang Zhixue, said Chinese athletes, including swimmers, have passed nearly 100 drug tests since they arrived in London. FINA's website shows Ye also underwent three out-of-competition drug tests from June 2011 to February this year.

"Some people are just biased," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Jiang as saying. "We never questioned Michael Phelps when he bagged eight gold medals in Beijing."

Australian coach Ken Wood, who has a contract with the Chinese Swimming Association and has trained 20 of China's swimmers in London, accused Ye's doubters of double standards.

"They are just laying it on, especially the Americans because they are losing the whole damn meet," Wood told the AP by phone from Australia. "They are creating double standards."

He said China is extremely strict about adhering to its anti-doping rules. He said a group of about a dozen Chinese swimmers ? including some now in London ? who came to his academy to train a few years ago were temporarily suspended from competing after drug testers couldn't find them where they had said they would be. The swimmers mistakenly listed the pool, instead of their nearby rented accommodation, as the place to find them for drug tests, he said.

"What happened was the drug testers came around and said, 'Where are the Chinese?' I said they are not training now," Wood said. "They couldn't find them when they wanted to."

"So the Chinese Swimming Association immediately banned them and said, 'Right. Oh, they can't swim anymore,'" he told the AP. "That's how stringent they are."

He wrote to the CSA explaining that the mistake was a language issue and that the swimmers had given the wrong address. Chinese authorities later wrote back saying they accepted his explanation, and the swimmers were reinstated, he said. "They did suspend them and I had to write a letter," he said.

"They reinstated them and sent me a letter and said, 'Thank you very much. We have no reason to doubt the veracity of your statement.'"

He said the Chinese swimmers are subjected to frequent doping tests.

"They hit them all the time," he said. "Some of the swimmers got tested three times in one week."

Sebastian Coe, head of the London organizing committee, said it would "very unfair to judge an athlete by a sudden breakthrough."

"What you tend to forget is probably the 10 years of work that's already gone in to get to that point," he said on ITV News. "You need to look back through her career. I think you've got to be very careful when you make judgments like that, but, yes, it is an extraordinary breakthrough."

John Brewer, a board member of UK Anti-Doping and director of sport at the University of Bedfordshire, also talked down doubts about Ye.

"Drug testing procedures in place at the London 2012 Olympics are extremely rigorous, and the storage of samples for eight years after the games makes doping a very high-risk strategy," he said. "We should not be surprised by exceptional performances since gold-medal winning athletes are inevitably different to the rest of us due to their talent, training and lifestyles."

China, with 1.3 billion people, "has a vast pool of talent to choose from ... so we should not be too surprised when an individual with exceptional talent emerges," he added.

Ye is known for her large hands and feet, but otherwise she's smaller than other swimmers at 5-foot-7 (1.72 meters) and 141 pounds (64 kilograms).

"One of the interesting things about swimming is people don't swim the same way," said Bob Bowman, Phelps' coach. "They have to swim the way their body is made, so that's what she's doing. She's taking advantage of her size."

"I don't think that 4:28 is an impossible time in the 400 IM, I think it's a perfectly logical time for someone to go," he said of her world-record swim. "The girl has good technique. She had an amazing last 100 but people do amazing things sometimes."

"I trust the testing service and I know that Michael was tested nonstop and we're very careful about what goes into his body, and I assume that other competitors are, too," Bowman added.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wilson in London contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ioc-fina-others-defend-chinas-teen-swimmer-164926172--oly.html

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New Obama Web Ad: 'Steadfast' (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/238461312?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Friend: Md. man held in shooting plot gentle giant

This image provided by by Mike Cochran shows Neil E. Prescott in an undated photo. Cochran, a friend of Prescott, says the Maryland man accused of threatening to shoot up his workplace is a "gentle giant" who collected weapons and had expressed concerns about break-ins near his apartment complex. Cochran tells The Associated Press on Saturday, July 28, 2012, that he thinks Prescott did not intend for his comments to be taken seriously. Cochran says Prescott was known for having a sarcastic sense of humor. (AP Photo/Mike Cochran)

This image provided by by Mike Cochran shows Neil E. Prescott in an undated photo. Cochran, a friend of Prescott, says the Maryland man accused of threatening to shoot up his workplace is a "gentle giant" who collected weapons and had expressed concerns about break-ins near his apartment complex. Cochran tells The Associated Press on Saturday, July 28, 2012, that he thinks Prescott did not intend for his comments to be taken seriously. Cochran says Prescott was known for having a sarcastic sense of humor. (AP Photo/Mike Cochran)

This undated handout photo provided by the Prince George's, Md. County Police shows weapons found in the possession of a suspect who they say was plotting a shooting in his workplace. Police in Maryland say a man who called himself "a joker" and threatened to shoot up his workplace was in the process of being fired. Police say the 28-year-old man was taken into custody Friday morning. Investigators said he was wearing a T-shirt that said "Guns don't kill people. I do." He was taken into custody for an emergency mental health evaluation and charges are pending. (AP Photo/Prince George's County Police)

Prince George's County, Md. Police Chief Mark Magaw answers questions at the Prince George's County Police Headquarters in Palmer Park, Md., Friday, July 27, 2012, after a news conference to discuss a suspect who police say was plotting a shooting in his workplace. A Maryland man calling himself "a joker" is accused of threatening to shoot up the business from which he was about to be fired and was wearing a T-shirt that read "Guns don't kill people. I do," when he first talked to officers who arrested him, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Prince George's County, Md. Police Chief Mark Magaw speaks at a news conference at the Prince George's County Police Headquarters in Palmer Park, Md., Friday, July 27, 2012, to discuss a suspect who police say was plotting a shooting in his workplace. A Maryland man calling himself "a joker" is accused of threatening to shoot up the business from which he was about to be fired and was wearing a T-shirt that read "Guns don't kill people. I do," when he first talked to officers who arrested him, police said Friday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Prince George's County Police Chief Mark Magaw listens at left as Deputy Chief Henry Stawinski, with the Bureau of Forensic Science and Intelligence, speaks at a news conference at the Prince George's County Police Headquarters in Palmer Park, Md., Friday, July 27, 2012, to discuss a suspect who they say was plotting a shooting in his workplace. Police in Maryland say a man who called himself "a joker" and threatened to shoot up his workplace was in the process of being fired. Police say the 28-year-old man was taken into custody Friday morning. Investigators said he was wearing a T-shirt that said "Guns don't kill people. I do." He was taken into custody for an emergency mental health evaluation and charges are pending. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? To his friends, Neil E. Prescott was a "gentle giant" ? a physically towering young man with a background in computers and electronics and a sarcastic, even biting, sense of humor that people close to him knew to shrug off as innocuous.

But police say they had no choice but to take it seriously when Prescott threatened to shoot up his workplace and referred to himself as "a joker," comments that raised particular alarm in the wake of last week's mass shooting at a Colorado theater during the latest Batman movie. The man accused in those shootings dyed his hair reddish-orange, and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said the man called himself the Joker ? a reference to Batman's nemesis.

Prescott, 28, was taken into custody early Friday at his apartment in Maryland, where officers found several thousand rounds of ammunition and a cache of about two dozen weapons including semi-automatic rifles and pistols. He was receiving an emergency psychiatric evaluation at a hospital and had not been charged as of Saturday afternoon.

Two friends told The Associated Press Saturday that they couldn't imagine that Prescott, who was in the process of being fired or already had lost his job, intended to be taken seriously when he allegedly told a supervisor: "I'm a joker and I'm gonna load my guns and blow everybody up."

"Neil's the kind of guy who had the ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and not mean anything by it. So to him, he thinks it's funny," said Wesley Weber, who said his friend, at 6 feet 7 inches, was a "gentle giant" prone to bouts of exaggeration and inappropriate jokes who "talked big but didn't walk the walk."

"He has the ability," Weber added, "to say things that could be taken out of context."

Another friend, Mike Cochran, said Prescott has a history of wearing T-shirts with sarcastic, provocative and even inflammatory messages and is "no stranger to sarcasm regardless of political correctness." When first approached by officers, police say, Prescott was wearing a shirt that said "Guns don't kill people. I do."

"The Neil I know made those comments sarcastically in an environment where he felt he could make them without being taken seriously," Cochran said in an email.

Friends say that over the years, Prescott had shown deep interest in hobbies like such as computer software, electronics and ham radio. His clique of friends at one time gathered at parties to play multi-player video games and consume the highly caffeinated Jolt cola, Weber recalled. A sometime disc jockey, he'd also spin house music at Baltimore nightclubs and was the DJ for Cochran's bachelor party in 2005.

In recent years, though, he'd cultivated a passion for collecting firearms. He'd practice his shot at the training range, friends said, and communicate online with fellow gun enthusiasts about the ins and outs of firearm equipment and gun laws. At least some of the firearms recovered from his apartment in Crofton, near Annapolis, appear to have been legally owned, authorities said.

A search for Neil Prescott on a website that tracks users' online activities led to a profile that appears to be him on mdshooters.com, a website for Maryland gun hobbyists. On it, he trades advice about firearms with a display of technical know-how while at times expressing concern about break-ins near his apartment and detailing interactions with the police.

Cochran, who also posts on the site, said he doesn't know when Prescott started his gun collection but that he had been anxious about home invasions. He said he received one message from Prescott last November that said, "Might be sleeping in tomorrow, just had a suspicious male at my door. Notified PD but am gonna be lookin out tonight. Some crazy breakins near me recently."

In March, he provoked a spirited back-and-forth on the site when he complained that two police officers responding to a possible break-in at a nearby apartment "told me never to answer the door on my own property carrying." He said he called a sergeant to complain about the directive.

Last week, he was still on the site, talking with fellow users about 30-round magazines and boasting about his night-vision goggles.

"During the power outage i spent lots of time loading mags and mounting lights, when the zombie apocalypse comes i'll be ready," he wrote.

Maryland state court records for Prescott list only a speeding ticket in 2007. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Police say Prescott, an employee of a subcontractor for software and mailroom supplier Pitney Bowes, made the threats during two Monday morning phone conversations with a supervisor. The supervisor, who declined to comment Saturday to a reporter who came to his house, said the comments made him afraid, especially because he was aware of Prescott's weapons' cache.

Prescott at one point said he wished to see his supervisor's "brain splatter all over the sidewalk," but also acknowledged that he shouldn't be saying such things over the phone, according to a search warrant applications. The threats were reported to the police, who paid an initial visit to Prescott's apartment on Thursday before taking him into custody Friday morning.

Cochran said he's known Prescott since 2001, when they were colleagues at a technical support outsourcing company. He said Prescott was a network engineer.

"With his skill set and education he would have had no problems finding other work with good pay. Neil did not at any point indicate to me that he had problems with where he was working," Cochran wrote.

Pitney Bowes spokeswoman Carol Wallace said Prescott had not been on any company property in at least four months. It wasn't clear why he was losing his job.

Weber said he thought the remark was inappropriate, but that it was bound to receive more attention now than it may have years ago, especially one week after the Colorado shooting.

"We live in a different world now," he said.

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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://twitter.com/etuckerAP

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Associated Press writer Brian Witte and AP researcher Judith Ausuebel contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-28-Maryland%20Shooting%20Plot/id-cf159662a1314bc4ab145a71968ea7b0

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