Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Gingrich Slams Obama, Says Small Business Gaffe Akin To ...

Former Romney primary rival and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came out swinging yesterday on behalf of the Republican nominee, hitting Obama for his small business gaffe and comparing the president?s misstep to denigrating an Olympic athlete for winning a gold medal.

Speaking Monday at a small electronics store in Arlington, VA, the former presidential candidate hammered President Obama on his now infamous?comment, and compared small business owners to Olympians to stress the?absurdity?of the president?s?ideological?slip.

?You watch the Olympians. I can imagine Obama?s speech saying, ?You didn?t win that gold medal, everybody won the gold medal.? Well, that ain?t how it works. Those Olympians work very hard and long hours. They practice. They learn. They struggle to achieve something. And we honor those who work hard and in America the small business leaders go out and work hard and have been the key to our economy, the key to our future.?

Gingrich, part of Mitt Romney?s ?We Did Build This!? campaign,?which featured 18 events across 12 states, saw fit to set aside his past criticisms of Romney and joined the effort to recognize small businesses and the American entrepreneurial spirit. ??It is very easy to support Governor Romney when the alternative is Barack Obama,? Gingrich said. ?I am very comfortable saying that given that choice, Governor Romney is an enormously better choice for the President of the United States and for the future of the country.?

And the fate of that future, Gingrich said, largely depends on the success of American small businesses.

?Remember,? Gingrich told the cameras and crowd of reporters, ?Steve Jobs started Apple as a small business. Bill Gates started Microsoft as a small business. Henry Ford started Ford as a small business. It is the growth of small business which has made America great and Obama has failed to understand that, which explains why his economic policies are such a disaster.?

Obama is, as Gingrich described, ?so clearly contemptuous of work ethic and American achievement and small business leadership, that the longer this argument goes on, the better it is for Romney and the better for clarifying who Obama really is.?

Who Obama is not, Gingrich explains, is a moderate or a Democrat committed to reform like former President Bill Clinton, who was Gingrich?s political rival in the 1990s.

Gingrich is looking forward to Clinton?s significant role in the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this September, calling it ?a terrific opportunity for those of us who served with President Clinton to point out that Barack Obama is no Bill Clinton.?

Gingrich continued to?delineate?between Obama and Clinton, stating, ?There is a huge gap between Bill Clinton?s effort to take the Democratic Party to the center and Barack Obama?s effort to take it to the Left. So I think in a funny way, having President Clinton at the Democratic Convention may highlight the difference between the two choices and remind us that Obama really is a failed Left-wing president with high unemployment, high deficits, huge regulatory policies, and a very very bad foreign policy.?

And that?s just in Obama?s first (possibly last?) term.

Source: http://redalertpolitics.com/2012/07/31/gingrich-slams-obama-says-small-business-gaffe-akin-to-discrediting-olympic-gold-medal-winners/

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Am I Cheating? Fidelity And On-line Dating - Consumer Electronics ...

On-line courting is one of the fastest rising industries within the UK today. Day by day, a whole bunch of 1000?s of us go surfing to one or more of the growing variety of websites available; some looking for critical relationships, others for friendship and companions, and still others for casual flings and that additional ?bit on the aspect?.

Some websites declare to be purely for genuine singles in search of dedicated, long run relationships, others flip a blind eye to, and even actively encourage, married or cohabiting members who might or could not use the sites with the blessing of their spouse or partner. After all many individuals who use online dating sites do so purely for chatting and exchanging messages and never meet face to face; with the steady development of the Internet as a communication software because it?s inception, it has change into increasingly possible for netizens to conduct deeply involved, real time relationships with individuals they?ve by no means truly met.

So what does this change with regard to the old methods of doing things? When does an online relationship turn into ?intimate?? Are you able to fall in love with an avatar, and can you cheat on someone, or with someone, who?s in a special time zone?

A latest examine by Dr Martin Graff of the University of Glamorgan confirmed that our perceptions of what does and does not represent ?cheating? on-line are affected by a variety of factors ? most prominently, and perhaps unsurprisingly, by the extent of data relationship site customers are ready to reveal about themselves; Dr Graff explains

?From this examine, it seems that the higher the extent of typed disclosure, then the stronger the notion of infidelity.?

Seemingly, within the absence of the ?nonverbal cues? on which face to face interaction depends so strongly, how a lot we are ready to present away about ourselves is the first indicator of how intimate our on-line relationships are and by extension, the degree of unfaithfulness inherent within the actions of non single website users.

Maybe extra surprisingly, the study also showed that the time of day at which on-line encounters happened was also a key think about establishing infidelity, concluding that

?Exchanges later within the night have been perceived to be extra infidelitous, than those which might happen in the day or early evening.?

Dr Graff?s research is ongoing and subsequent phases will have a look at the issues of jealousy and belief in the0020context of on-line relationships.

In the end the jury continues to be out on precisely what constitutes online infidelity and indeed relationships over the web as a whole. It?s doubtful that an agency conclusion will ever be reached because the world of online courting and relationships, as in ?actual life?, will all the time be immensely subjective because of the differing moral requirements and emotional responses of the people involved. Research like Dr Graff?s can nevertheless present an enchanting perception into the human causes and effects of the fashionable world, and the way these are formed by the route of our rapidly creating and changing communications technology.

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Source: http://blog.ilove3c.com/2012/07/30/am-i-cheating-fidelity-and-on-line-dating/

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The Best Proof Yet That Apple's Next iPhone Will Look Entirely Different [Iphone 5]

Assembled new iPhone components and pretty new iPhone renders are helpful, but they can only get you so far. After all, they've been wrong before. But now we've finally got hard evidence that Apple's next handset is going to be an entirely different animal, along with a strong suggestion that the iPad Mini is no myth. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cX4A629UZEE/the-best-proof-yet-that-apples-next-iphone-will-look-entirely-different

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HBT: Greinke strong, but loses Angels debut

Without the injured Mike Trout at the top of the lineup, the Angels got nothing going offensively Sunday ?and took a 2-0 loss to the Rays in Zack Greinke?s debut.

Greinke, who was acquired from the Brewers on Friday, was strong in striking out eight over seven innings, but Jeremy Hellickson was better, blanking the Angels on two hits over six innings. Kyle Farnsworth, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney ? the last two former Angels ? finished the Rays? second shutout in two days.

The loss was Greinke?s first in a home start since July 31, 2010, when he was still a member of the Royals. He went 15-0 during his 23 starts at Miller Park as a member of the Brewers.

Greinke allowed both Rays runs after pitching scoreless ball for five innings. The Rays led off the sixth and seventh innings with doubles and scored one run each time. The second run came on a wild pitch.

Greinke has now gone six straight starts without a win. He?ll miss the four-game showdown in Texas this week and make his next start against the White Sox on Friday. That could work out for him; he had his best start of the year against the White Sox in interleague play, pitching nine scoreless innings back on June 22.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/29/zack-greinke-gets-no-help-in-losing-angels-debut/related/

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Monday, July 30, 2012

Is Social Media relevant when creating good marketing campaigns ...


Marketing has changed extensively since the advent of the internet. Most businesses believed that internet marketing would be a great way to level the playing field when it came to retail marketing allowing for smaller companies to be seen. What most companies failed to realize was that only a small percentage (very small) was able to survive in an e-commerce based market. This wasn?t?because the people were not paying attention. In fact they were paying attention more than ever. The age of internet marketing slowly allowed?the age of customer service to slowly creep in as well.

One would?be blind not to see that social media networks have been some of the most successful performers on the Internet in the last few years. Say the word ?Facebook? in nearly any part of the world and it will be recognized. With the advent of Social Media companies have had to rearrange their strategies even more because the internet has allowed businesses to become more engaged with their consumers. Consumers have more of a voice and now have the power to decide more than ever how a company grows. People are willing to pay more money for a product with better service than they are willing to pay a cheaper price for horrible service.

Naturally, companies both large and small see these as avenues for a new target audience that was previously unheard of. What may come as a surprise, however, is that while 66% of all companies have a Facebook page and 51% have a twitter account, a mere 16% say that their marketing efforts have been fully utilized and integrated into their existing campaign strategies!

Most companies are still in the very early stages of taking this next step. Just as the ?dot com? revolution is still being talked about, many believe that the social network revolution may provide companies with an opportunity to grow as never before. By taking advantage of all the benefits of social media a company can expect:

  • Higher Customer Satisfaction
    When a company is seen as being active on social media sites, it has just established itself as having its proverbial ?finger on the pulse? of modern society. In a very real way, people take notice and assume that the company has something to say, that it is part of the community rather than simply a static web page. Conveying the reality that a human is creating information on the site rather than it just being a regular website plays a huge part in he customer experience.
  • Better Marketing Communications
    Any marketing campaign is only as good as its effectiveness in reaching the client. As the saying goes, you can have the best product in the world but if the buyers are not located, it will remain a dream as opposed to a reality.
  • Better Return on Investment
    This final factor should be the most obvious and, at the same time, the most motivating. It only stands to reason that with a larger target base, sales and publicity will naturally increase. One important thing to remember is that there are few if any costs when dealing with social sites.

There is so much that can be said about the influence has had on all companies. How do you believe Social Media can help or hinder a company. Leave your comments below or on our Facebook page.

Marketing is changing and PrecisionIR can help keep you in the spotlight. Visit www.precisionir.com for more information.

Source: http://blog.precisionir.com/2012/07/30/is-social-media-relevant-when-creating-good-marketing-campaigns/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-social-media-relevant-when-creating-good-marketing-campaigns

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Silas Redd: Recruiting the PSU Back May Have Led to an NCAA Violation for USC

It looks like going after Penn State running back Silas Redd may cost Lane Kiffin and USC more than they had hoped.

According to YahooSports.com, the Trojans may have committed a secondary NCAA violation while recruiting Redd.?

Backup quarterback Max Wittek was quoted in the L.A. Times on Friday, saying that he had spoken with Redd.?

"I told him I was sorry to hear about everything that came down and that it was obviously a difficult situation," Wittek?told the paper. "But I tried to sell USC to him a little bit. I'd love to have him here."

"He said thanks for reaching out, that he was definitely interested and was just trying to take the right steps to decide what he was going to do."

Wittek played Pop Warner football with Redd, so it is understandable that he would want the Penn State running back to join him at USC. Nonetheless, players are not allowed to comment on recruits to the media. Therefore, his words may result in a secondary NCAA violation.?

While a secondary violation likely won't warrant a big punishment, USC should be a little bit more careful while recruiting Redd. Lane Kiffin was particularly cautious during Pac-12 media days, declaring that he could not talk about recruits.

While many student athletes don't know about this minor rule, it seems like Kiffin would have made it more clear to his players that they can't publicly talk about Redd to the media, especially considering how valuable the Penn State running back could be.?

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1276797-usc-football-recruiting-silas-redd-may-have-led-to-an-ncaa-violation

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Gooseneck Outdoor Lighting Best For Home ... - IdeaMarketers.com

Gooseneck Lights,Gooseneck Lighting,G - Gooseneck Outdoor Lighting Best For Home Security And Curb Appeal   Gooseneck Lights,Gooseneck Lighting,G
by Noel Almirante
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Gooseneck Lights,Gooseneck Lighting,G More Details about Gooseneck Lights,Gooseneck Lighting,G here.

You have newly build fence in your home and you are happy with it. ?It is like protecting your home against trespasser or some people with bad intentions. ?It is like putting some extra security for your family. ?You know that this will lessen your worries and you can put at ease that even animals like dogs cannot go to your garden and destroy your nice landscape. ?It is also your way of telling people in your community that you value your privacy and the fence will protect it for you. ?Your fences being installed in just simple but will surely give you some safety in the long run.

Since you have your new fence, you also need proper lightings at night. ?It is very important to consider the lights in your surroundings if your concern is the safety of your family. ?You can use the gooseneck lighting because this will give a suitable amount of light during the night. ?You will soon realized the advantage in your part because you will easily see people that passes your property of you also be sure that if someone pays u a visit at night, you will easily recognized them because of the lights coming from the gooseneck lighting. Gooseneck lights is the best alternative for you because you will greatly enjoy the lights spread in the night. ?It will also add to the beauty of your fence since it has an elegant design to give a nice appearance. ?It is not just an ordinary lamp but it is design for the purpose of enhancing the appearance of your area. ?The designs are unique and the durability will last for a long time. ?Many may be thinking that it will be a waste of time buying it because you may change it every year but the gooseneck lights can sustain the test of time. The gooseneck outdoor lighting is design to resist the changing weather that is why, even it is expose to the sun and rain, it will not easily destroy or brittle. ?The materials are very tough that the money you spend in buying the product will not put into waste. ?It is also a better purchase on your end because you know that you will use it for long. ?The lights during the night are very important for the security of your property and family that is why it is better to install proper lighting. ?Your fences will be useless if you cannot see at night who will try to break in into your property.

For more information and resources on gooseneck outdoor lighting and sign hardware please visit blogs for architectural lighting and signs ideas.

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Source: http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=3437249

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Emotional Intelligence Coaching For Skill Enhancement In ...

Anderson & Anderson, APC is Certified by Multi Health Systems to administer and interpret the internationally recognized Bar On EQ-I Assessment. In addition, this instrument is used by Anderson & Anderson as an adjunct for coaching ?disruptive physicians? as well as the general public.

The BarOn EQ-i measures one?s ability to deal with daily stresses, demands and pressures, and helps predict one?s success in both professional and personal relationships. The feedback can help you determine what you need to work on to increase your success at work and in interpersonal relationships.

The BarOn EQ-i is an excellent instrument for self-growth and as an adjunct to the coaching process. It can also be used in employee development programs and to aid in the hiring decisions. Research indicates that there is a strong correlation between emotional intelligence and job performance, making the BarOn EQ-i the ideal screening tool to aid in selecting potentially successful employees.

The BarOn EQ-i includes four validity measures and a reliable correction factor rendering scores for the following components;

Intrapersonal Scales

Self-Regard

Emotional Self-Awareness

Assertiveness

Independence

Self-Actualization

Interpersonal Scales

Empathy

Social Responsibility

Interpersonal Relationship

Adaptability Scales

Reality Testing

Flexibility

Problem Solving

Stress Management Scales

Stress Tolerance

Impulse Control

General Mood Scales

Optimism

Happiness

Skills associated with emotional intelligence are acquired and can be improved through training, making the BarOn EQ-i an incredible instrument for identifying potential areas for improvement and for measuring the effectiveness of organizational development programs.

Cost of assessment: $150

Two hour feedback? $250

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Source: http://angerblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/emotional-intelligence-coaching-for-skill-enhancement-in-interpersonal-relationships/

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NOLAfans: Peter King: Postcard from camp: Saints... http://t.co/5h6vLYDs #NFL #NewOrleans

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Source: http://twitter.com/NOLAfans/statuses/229642141717106688

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

REWIND: International Business News #31

REWIND: International Business News #31
  • Google and the European Union are nearing a settlement deal on an antitrust investigation into the search giant?s dominance in the internet market in areas of search, travel, and other industries. The E.U. said that Google may have abused such dominance in search and advertising by promoting its own businesses at the expense of its competitors. The settlement may require changes to the company?s business practices that could have an effect on users worldwide. The Federal Trade Commission and regulators in other nations are following the case closely.
  • There is no end in sight for the world?s largest environmental litigation debacle as dissent erupts among the plaintiffs who won an $18.2 billion verdict against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court.? After an 18-year legal battle, the plaintiffs, farmers and indigenous Amazonian Indians, won the biggest single pollution judgment ever for harm caused by oil exploration and production in eastern Ecuador. Chevron, however, has stated that it will not pay the judgment as the verdict was part of a fraudulent conspiracy involving attorneys, judges, and government officials in both the United States and Ecuador. ?Chevron maintains that any pollution remaining in the rainforest was caused by Petroecuador, Ecuador?s national oil company. In addition, one group of Amazonian Indians in the class of plaintiffs currently represented by New York practitioner, Steven Donziger, are filing a suit against Donziger, alleging that Donziger is not representing their group?s interests and requesting that he explain how his team plans to spend the billions of dollars from the judgment.
  • From the patent dispute between Apple Inc. and Korean manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co., to automotive litigations involving Japanese and Korean corporations, to the increasing number of deals and disputes in emerging economies like Brazil and India, law firms are finding a need for attorneys with language skills and are hiring them in droves.? The attorneys are often brought on as temporary hires and offer the firms more bang for the buck with both legal and linguistic skills.? The mass hires typically happen when the firms are under deadline to review a large number of documents in a short timeframe.
  • ?There will be many commercial interests looking to gain at this summer?s London Summer Olympics.? Indeed, the endeavor involves significant sums, including a budget of $14.5 billion from the British government, $4.87 billion in broadcast fees and sponsorship raised by the IOC for the summer Olympics and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and another 700 million pounds raised by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.? The IOC has also entered large corporate sponsorship contracts with eleven global sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, McDonald?s, and Panasonic, which for the period of 2009-12 has generated $957 million. Sponsors may pay in cash or kind, so some, like French consultant firm, Atos, are providing information technology services for the games. Although such companies believe that the Olympic sponsorship will have a positive effect, some are more cautious and believe that the Olympic boost will be less than expected.

Source: http://www.bizwithoutborders.com/rewind/rewind-international-business-news-31/

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Creepy robot baby now creepier with torso and floppy arms

18 hrs.

A robot baby being built as part of a neuroscience research program in Japan has just gotten a torso, including arms that flop around like an infant?s sans swaddle.

Affeto, the robo-baby, is creepy in its realism, which is what the team from Osaka University aims to accomplish as they use robotics to study ?how humans? higher cognitive functions develop,? according to a project description.

Ultimately, the robot will be used in behavioral experiments. For now, the researchers are trying to ?build a realistic child robot with a muscle-skeletal system.??

The torso?s flexibility comes from 22 pneumatic actuators in its body.

In the video below you can see that Affeto?s torso is approaching the realistic stage. At one point, it hits itself in the face with ?babyish looseness,? Endgadget notes.?

The robot?s face has the thousand-mile stare of a well satiated or exhausted infant, but that may be because the team has yet to pair the torso with the robotic head, which was demonstrated in Feb.?2011.

Stay tuned.

??via Engadget?

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News?Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/creepy-robot-baby-now-creepier-torso-floppy-arms-913774

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Wholesaler settles claims it inflated drug prices

By Karen Freifeld, Reuters

Drug wholesaler McKesson Corp has agreed to pay $151 million to settle claims by 30 states that it inflated pricing information for more than 1,400 brand name drugs.

The settlement, announced Friday, resolves claims by the states, which said the inflated drug prices cost their Medicaid programs millions.

New York and California led negotiations for the states and were major beneficiaries of the settlement.

McKesson, based in San Francisco, said it continues to believe the claims are without merit.

According to court papers, McKesson marked up prices by 25 percent when reporting to First Databank, a publisher of drug prices that most state Medicaid programs use to set payment rates.

"This settlement holds McKesson accountable for attempting to make millions of dollars in illegal profits," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in the statement.

New York will receive $64 million of the $151 million in restitution, Schneiderman said.

California will receive more than $23 million, according to California Attorney General Kamala Harris. "We cannot allow dollars meant for patients to be diverted to inflate corporate profits," Harris said in a statement.

Illinois will receive $10 million, Lisa Madigan, attorney general for that state, said in a statement.

McKesson said that it does not set the "average wholesale price" benchmark used by most states to set payment rates. "We did not manipulate drug prices and did not violate any laws," the company said.

"However, given the inherent uncertainty of litigation, we determined that this settlement was in the best interest of our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders," it said.

McKesson agreed to pay $190 million in April to settle the federal portion of the Medicaid costs.

Medicaid, a health care program for people on low incomes, is jointly funded by the federal government and the states.

Federal and state governments have recovered more than $2 billion from drug companies alleged to have reported inflated pricing information, said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey.

McKesson reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Thursday well above forecasts, helped by cost cuts and lower-than-expected taxes, but its revenue came in below Wall Street projections.

Its shares were down 50 cents at $91.76 in early afternoon trading.

The case is U.S., ex rel. Morgan v. Express Scripts Inc et al, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 05-01714.

Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/27/12995368-drug-firm-to-pay-151-million-to-settle-overcharging-claims?lite

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Battle Poker v2 USA PSN PSP-PLAYASiA | 0Sce.com

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Facebook Phone Rumors and Two Other Stories You Need to Know

Welcome to this morning?s edition of ?First To Know,? a series in which we keep you in the know on what?s happening in the digital world. Today, we?re looking at three particularly interesting stories.

Facebook Building a Phone With HTC for Mid-2013 [REPORT]

[More from Mashable: Major Tech Companies Partner to Fight Government Regulations]

According to a Bloomberg report, Facebook has partnered up with HTC to build its own smartphone, scheduled for launch mid-2013.

The device was slated for a release this year, but the plans were pushed back, Bloomberg's sources say. Facebook is also said to be developing a modified OS for the smartphone, with a team of former Apple employees assembled for this purpose.

[More from Mashable: One Woman?s Quest to ?Change the Ratio? in Tech]

Rumors of a Facebook phone have been swirling around for years, but they never materialized. However, this latest report confirms a New York Times report from May 2012, which also said Facebook is building a smartphone.

Google Fiber Announcement Coming Today

Google is slated to give a Google Fiber-related announcement today, July 26. Google Fiber is a project to build a broadband internet network infrastructure with fiber-optic cabling in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. We will be watching https://fiber.google.com/ closely.

Nokia Maps to Get Groupon Integration

The upcoming version of Nokia Maps, 2.5 will get a route planner feature and Groupon integration, WP7forum reports. The new version should arrive on the Windows Marketplace soon.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-phone-rumors-two-other-stories-know-054702059.html

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Leave Your Old Package Behind And Save Money On Auto Insurance

When obtaining auto insurance be sure to include anyone that would be likely to drive your vehicle. If someone that isn?t covered on your insurance crashes your car, the insurance company has no liability to pay a claim on said accident. Additionally, you could be held responsible for damages done by someone else who was driving your vehicle.

Take a class on safe and defensive driving to save money on your premiums. The more knowledge you have, the safer a driver you can be. Insurance companies sometimes offer discounts if you take classes that can make you a safer driver. Besides the savings on your premiums, it?s always a good idea to learn how to drive safely.

When you are shopping for car insurance be sure to calculate all of the costs before taking the policy. You may be paying higher premiums for less coverage if you do not take the time to find out exactly what it is that you are paying for. Keep the deductibles in mind as you are calculating the cost.

One of the best things that you can do to get cheaper auto insurance is decrease your annual mileage. Most insurance companies will give you a quote based on 12,000 miles a year. If you can work something out by decreasing this number your insurance premium should go down as well.

Car insurance costs can be cut down if you know what to do. Make sure that your car falls into the low risk category, you add a spouse when you can, tell the insurance company that you have children, and keep a clean driving record. If you are over 25 years old your premiums will go down as well.

Be careful about what kind of repairs your insurance will cover. Some insurances send their customers to specific shops, which might cut costs by using cheap parts or not replacing everything that needs to be. When you choose an insurance, make sure they will pay for repairs and let you choose where you will get your car fixed. Or get a lifetime guarantee on the work performed.

Insuring a young driver can be a harrowing ? and expensive! ? proposition. Many insurance companies offer ?good student? discounts for young drivers; these should be taken advantage of whenever possible. Insurers reason that a dedicated student who excels in his or her classes is more likely to be a cautious driver. Smart insurance customers will cash in on this reasoning.

Keep your insurance budget in mind when you are actually purchasing your car. Even if you are not out looking to purchasing a new vehicle, if you ever are, keep this in mind. Certain automobiles are much more costly to insure than others. That sports car could end up costing you loads of money even years after its purchase.

If you want to save even more money, check into getting all your insurance needs through the same company. Most insurance companies will offer a discount on their insurance if you have more than one policy with them, such as your homeowner?s insurance or renters? insurance. This can reduce your rates.

Every state has specific legal requirements for minimum auto insurance. Property damage and bodily injury liability are the usual requirements. Ensuring that a driver?s insurance meets these requirements is the driver?s responsibility, not the insurance company?s. Wise drivers research their local insurance laws and learn their legal minimums, to ensure that they get proper coverage.

Research the auto insurer you plan to get coverage through. Researching what others have to say online about the company may save you time and money. You may have found a great low cost insurance policy, but if the company is known for hassling customers who file a claim, you could have larger money headaches down the road with them.

When considering auto insurance, remember to look for your available discounts. Did you attend college? That could mean a discount. Do you have a car alarm? Another discount may be available. Remember to ask your agent about what discounts are available so that you can take advantage of the cost savings!

When it?s time for you to renew your auto insurance policy, ask your agent to tell you about any discounts that are offered by the insurer. There might be new discounts available to you at this time, and unless you ask, you might miss the opportunity to take advantage of those cost savings.

Even though you might see it as a sign of being a good friend to someone, do not allow anyone else to drive your car that is not on your policy. If they get into an accident, you will be forced to pay a hefty deductible and it will negatively affect your record. The only exception, is if their insurance fully covers them and your car while they are driving it.

As you age, check with your auto insurance company about discounts. If you have a long history of safe driving habits, your age might qualify you for further rate reductions. Most insurance companies have a sweet spot around fifty five to seventy years of age for age-related discounts on their policies.

Have an alarm, immobilizer or tracker installed in your car. Reducing the risk of theft saves money for everyone. Having an alarm, immobilizer, or tracker installed in your car can save you some grief and a bit of money on your car insurance policy. Check to make sure that your provider offers discounts for having it installed first.

As was mentioned earlier in this article, everyone who owns a car needs to buy quality auto insurance. When shopping around for an auto insurance policy, it is important to educate yourself on the different types of policies available so that you can choose wisely and make a good decision. Apply the advice from this article to help you find the perfect auto insurance.

Delmer Mana shares knowledge about a href=?http://www.silverfieldcars.co.uk/?MGB/a

Source: http://answers.apostoliccm.com/2012/07/leave-your-old-package-behind-and-save-money-on-auto-insurance/

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Facebook posts first earnings as a public company: $1.18 billion in revenue, 955 million users

Facebook revealed its Q1 earnings in an SEC filing leading up to its big IPO earlier this year, but it's now officially out with its first earnings report as a public company. For Q2 of 2012, it brought in $1.18 billion in revenue, up 32 percent year-over-year and slightly better than what analysts were expecting, while GAAP net income sat at a loss of $157 million (down from a profit of $240 million a year ago). On a non-GAAP basis, though, net income is actually up from $285 million to $295 million.

What's more, the company also confirmed that it has 955 million monthly active users (or what it calls MAUs) as of the end of June, up 29 percent year-over-year. As you can see in the chart after the break, those users are distributed fairly evenly across the world, including 186 million in the US and Canada, 246 million in Europe, 255 million in Asia, and 268 million elsewhere. Daily active users totaled 552 million for the same time period, up 32 percent year-over-year, while mobile users now stand at 543 million, up 67 percent from last year. Not surprisingly, a huge chunk -- 84 percent -- of the company's revenue comes from advertising, which brought in $992 million for the quarter, an increase of 28 percent from last year. That apparently wasn't enough to please investors, though, who have sent the company's stock to a new low of less than $25 (down over ten percent) in after hours trading.

Continue reading Facebook posts first earnings as a public company: $1.18 billion in revenue, 955 million users

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Syria rushes reinforcements to its largest city

In this Tuesday, July 24, 2012 photo, a damaged Syrian military tank is seen at the border town of Azaz, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Aleppo, Syria. Turkey sealed its border with Syria to trucks on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 cutting off a vital supply line to the embattled nation as fighting stretched into its fifth day in the commercial capital of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Turkpix)

In this Tuesday, July 24, 2012 photo, a damaged Syrian military tank is seen at the border town of Azaz, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Aleppo, Syria. Turkey sealed its border with Syria to trucks on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 cutting off a vital supply line to the embattled nation as fighting stretched into its fifth day in the commercial capital of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Turkpix)

In this Tuesday, July 24, 2012 photo, a damaged vehicle from clashes between Free Syrian Army soldiers and Syrian government troops is seen at the border town of Azaz, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Aleppo, Syria. Turkey sealed its border with Syria to trucks on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 cutting off a vital supply line to the embattled nation as fighting stretched into its fifth day in the commercial capital of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Turkpix)

In this image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Syrian medics treat a wounded boy in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

In this image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News and accessed Tuesday, July 24, 2012, a Free Syrian Army solider fires his weapon during clashes with Syrian government troops in Aleppo, Syria. Turkey sealed its border with Syria to trucks on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 cutting off a vital supply line to the embattled nation as fighting stretched into its fifth day in the commercial capital of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

In this image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News and accessed Tuesday, July 24, 2012, a Free Syrian Army solider drives a Syrian military tank in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

(AP) ? Syrian troops rushed dozens of tanks and reinforcements Wednesday toward Aleppo, the country's strategically vital commercial capital, in a bid to crush a rebel advance that has spread to wide swaths of the sprawling city.

As five days of fighting in Aleppo intensified, and with rumors swirling of a final showdown in that city, neighboring Turkey tightened its borders but said refugees will be allowed through.

"We are expecting a big attack on Aleppo," Mohammed Saeed, an activist based in Aleppo, told The Associated Press. "People are worried they might face random shelling while fleeing."

The rebels have made stunning advances over the past week, but the battle for control of Syria, a geographic and political linchpin at the heart of the Middle East, is far from over. And the potential for wider, regional unrest is great.

Israel's foreign minister warned that his country will act immediately if it discovers Islamic militants such as Lebanon's Hezbollah are raiding Syria's chemical or biological weapons stocks.

"For us, that's a casus belli, a red line," Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Israeli officials have reported a run on gas masks. Demand has almost doubled in the past few days, to 4,200 requests on Tuesday from a years-old average of about 2,200, said Merav Lapidot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli postal service, which distributes the masks.

On Monday, Syria threatened to unleash its chemical and biological weapons if it faces a foreign attack.

The White House said Wednesday that the Syrian government's assault on Aleppo with tanks and fixed-wing aircraft illustrates what it called "the depth of depravity" by Assad's regime.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration has seen "credible" reports about the regime's use of military hardware in Aleppo. Carney said Assad was using its forces to "perpetrate heinous violence" against the city's civilian population.

Carney also pointed to defections by two Syrian ambassadors as an indication that officials in Assad's circle are "fleeing government because of the heinous actions taken by Assad."

Still, after 17 months of fighting and a death toll that activists say has reached 19,000 people, the government remains far better armed than the rebels and willing to launch attacks from the sky, strafing neighborhoods with helicopter gunships. In Aleppo, witnesses also have reported warplanes unleashing sonic booms.

The rebels are disorganized and disparate, unable to communicate on a national level or hold territory for long. After a rebel rush on the capital, Damascus, last week ? including a brazen bombing that killed four regime insiders ? the government routed the fighters by calling in attack helicopters and heavy weapons that devastated entire neighborhoods.

Regime forces followed up the shelling with door-to-door searches in Damascus that were still going on Wednesday to flush out remaining rebel sympathizers.

The escalating bloodshed prompted two more defections by Syrian diplomats Wednesday ? the envoy to Cyprus and her husband, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, according to the opposition Syrian National Council. The announcement follows the televised appearance late Tuesday by Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, who confirmed his defection and said Syrians must work together to build a new country.

It was his first public appearance since he left Syria earlier this month. French officials later confirmed that he was in France. Tlass is the son of a former Syrian defense minister.

Turkey's decision to seal its border to trucks Wednesday comes as fears mount that the 17-month-old crisis in Syria will spread. Syria's close ties to Iran and Hezbollah mean that the conflict has the potential to draw in the country's neighbors.

Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said there are no Iranian troops in Syria and that the Syrian government is capable of confronting terrorists ? the regime's term for its opponents ? the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Wednesday. Vahidi was reacting to reports that accuse Iran of deploying troops in Syria to help quell the armed uprising against Assad's government.

Turkey was a Syrian ally before the uprising began in March 2011, but Ankara is now among the harshest critics of Damascus. Turkish territory along the countries' 566-mile (911-kilometer) border is used as a staging ground for rebel fighters as well as a haven for thousands of refugees. Before the uprising began, the border was the transit point for food and construction materials that Turkey exported to the entire Middle East.

"We have serious concerns over the safety of Turkish trucks regarding their entry and return from Syria," Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said, adding that three border crossings were in rebel hands. Syrians seeking refuge or to resupply would still be allowed in.

The battle in Aleppo is just 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Turkish border. Aleppo is Syria's largest city, with a population of about 3 million.

On Wednesday, Saeed, the Aleppo activist, described fierce battles in neighborhoods all over the city, including some near the center.

Aleppo's historic old city at the center is a U.N. world heritage site.

"Shooting and clashes are going on nonstop," Saeed said.

There are no immediate prospects for international action in Syria or the kind of NATO air campaign that tipped the scales against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. NATO and the U.N. have all but ruled out foreign military intervention, in part out of fears that it would only make the country's problems worse. The U.S. and its allies have shown little appetite for getting involved in another Arab nation in turmoil.

Russia, Syria's longtime ally and a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, has ensured that the kind of U.N. resolutions that allowed Western military action in Libya would not be repeated in Syria. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized new European efforts to enforce an arms embargo as "unilateral sanctions" and a "blockade."

The new commander of the U.N. observer force, Lt. Gen. Babacar Gaye, and the U.N. official for peacekeeping operations, Herv? Ladsous, were in Damascus on Wednesday to assess the prospects for a U.N. peace plan that is being widely ignored.

Half of the 300-member U.N. observer force, meant to monitor the nonexistent cease-fire, has left the country.

"I think diplomats have to be optimistic and that's no joke, I think we have to hope," Ladsous told reporters. "We have to hope that the whole process gains traction, that the vicious circle of violence can cease, and that some political solution and first and foremost some political dialogue can get started."

___

Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Beirut, Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Natalya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-25-Syria/id-0c15b3ccbf5548719c48939af0197b24

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The illusion of enterprise risk management ? a paper review ? Eight ...

Introduction

Enterprise risk management (ERM) refers to the process by which uncertainties are identified, analysed and managed from an organization-wide perspective. In principle such a perspective enables organisations to deal with risks in a holistic manner, avoiding the silo mentality that plagues much of risk management practice.? This is the claim made of ERM at any rate, and most practitioners accept it as such.? Unfortunately,? most of the available critiques of ERM? are written for academics or risk management experts. In this post I present a simplified version of a critique of ERM discussed in a paper?by Michael Power entitled, The Risk Management of Nothing.

I?ll begin with a brief overview of ERM frameworks and then summarise the main points of the paper along with some of my comments and annotations.

?ERM Frameworks and Definitions

What is ERM?

The best way to answer this question is to look at a couple of well-known ERM frameworks, one from the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and the other from the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

CAS defines ERM as:

? the discipline by which an organization in any industry assesses, controls, exploits, finances, and monitors risks from all sources for the purpose of increasing the organization?s short- and long-term value to its stakeholders.

See this article for an overview of ERM from actuarial perspective.

COSO defines ERM as:

?a process, effected by an entity?s board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives.

The term risk appetite in the above definition refers to the risk an organisation is willing to bear. See the first article in the? June 2003 issue of Internal Auditor for more on the COSO perspective on ERM.

In both frameworks, the focus is very much on quantifying risks through (primarily) financial measures and on establishing accountability for managing these risks in a systematic way.

All this sounds very sensible and uncontroversial. So, where?s the problem?

The problems with ERM

The paper begins with the observation that the basic aim of ERM is to identify risks that can affect an organisation?s objectives and then design controls and mitigation strategies that reduce these risks (collectively) to below a predetermined value that is specified by the organisation?s risk appetite.? Operationally, identified risks are monitored and corrective action is taken when they go beyond limits specified by the controls, much like the operation of a thermostat.? In this view, risk management is a mechanistic process. ?Failures of risk management are seen more as being due to ?not doing it right? (implementation failure) or politics getting in the way (organizational friction), rather than a problem with the framework itself. The basic design of the framework is rarely questioned.

Contrary to common wisdom, the author of the paper believes that the design of ERM is flawed in the following three ways:

  1. The idea of a single, organisation-wide risk appetite is simplistic.
  2. The assumption that risk can be dealt with by detailed, process-based rules (suitable for audit and control) is questionable.
  3. The undue focus on developing financial metrics and controls blind it to ?bigger picture?, interconnected risks because these cannot be quantified or controlled by such mechanisms.

We?ll now take a look at each of the above in some detail

Appetite vs. appetisation

As mentioned earlier, risk appetite is defined as the risk the organisation is willing to bear. Although ERM frameworks allow for qualitative measures of risk appetite, most organisations implementing ERM tend to prefer quantitative ones. This is a problem because the definition of risk appetite can vary significantly across an organization. For example, the sales and audit functions within an organisation could (will!) have different appetites for risk. ?Further, there is usually a big significant gap between the risk appetites of financial institutions and regulatory authorities. This is a manifestation of the fact that risk is a social construct ? different stakeholder groups view a given risk in different ways, and some may not even see it as a risk (witness the behaviour of certain financial ?masters of the universe?)

Since a single, organisation-wide risk appetite is difficult to come up with, Power suggests a different approach ? one which takes into account the multiplicity of viewpoints in an organisation; a process he calls ?risk appetizing?. ?This involves getting diverse stakeholders to achieve a consensus / agreement on what constitutes risk appetite. Power argues that this process of reconciling different viewpoints of risk would lead to a more realistic view of the risk the organization is willing to bear. Quoting from the paper:

Conceptualising risk appetising as a process might better direct risk management attention to where it has likely been lacking, namely to the multiplicity of interactions which shape operational and ethical boundaries at the level of organizational practice. COSO-style ERM principles effectively limit the concept of risk appetite within a capital measurement discourse. Framing risk appetite as the process through which ethics and incentives are formed and reformed would not exclude this technical conception, but would bring it closer to the insights of several decades of organization theory.

Explicitly acknowledging the diversity of viewpoints on risk is likely to be closer to reality because:

?a conflictual and pluralistic model is more descriptive of how organizations actually work, and makes lower demands on organizational and political rationality to produce a single ?appetite? by explicitly recognising and institutionalising processes by which different appetites and values can be mediated.

Such a process is difficult because it involves getting people who have different viewpoints to agree on what constitutes a sensible definition of risk appetite.

A process bias

A bigger problem, in Power?s view, is that the ERM frameworks overemphasise financial / accounting measures and processes as a means to quantify and control risk. As he puts it ERM:

? is fundamentally an accounting-driven blueprint which emphasises a controls-based approach to risk management. This design emphasis means that efforts at implementation will have an inherent tendency to elaborate detailed controls with corresponding documents trails.

This is a problem because it leads to a ?rule-based compliance? mentality wherein risks are managed in a mechanical manner, using bureaucratic processes as a substitute for real thought about risks and how they should be managed. Such a process may work in a make-believe world where all risks are known, but is unlikely to work in one in which there is a great deal of ambiguity.

Power makes the important point that rule-based compliance chews up organizational resources. The tangible effort expended on compliance serves to reassure organizations that they are doing something to manage risks.? This is dangerous because it lulls them into a false sense of security:

Rule-based compliance lays down regulations to be met, and requires extensive evidence, audit trails and box ?checking?. All this demands considerable work and there is daily pressure on operational staff to process regulatory requirements. Yet, despite the workload volume pressure, this is also a cognitively comfortable world which focuses inwards on routine systems and controls. The auditability of this controls architecture can be theorized as a defence against anxiety and enables organizational agents to feel that their work conforms to legitimised principles.

In this comfortable, prescriptive world of process-based risk management, there is little time to imagine and explore what (else) could go wrong. Further, the latter is often avoided because it is a difficult and often uncomfortable process:

?the imagination of alternative futures is likely to involve the production of discomfort, as compared with formal ?comfort? of auditing. The approach can take the form of scenario analysis in which participants from different disciplines in an organization can collectively track the trajectory of potential decisions and events. The process begins as an ?encounter? with risk and leads to the confrontation of limitation and ambiguity.

Such a process necessarily involves debate and dialogue ? it is essentially a deliberative process. And as Power puts it: The challenge is to expand processes which support interaction and dialogue and de-emphasise due process ? both within risk management practice and between regulator and regulated.

A limited view of embeddedness

One of the imperatives of ERM is to ?embed? risk management within organisations. Among other things, this entails incorporating ?risk management explicitly into job descriptions, and making senior managers responsible for managing risks.? Although this is a step in the right direction, Power argues that the concept of embeddeness as articulated in ERM remains limited because ?it focuses on specific business entities, ignoring the wider environment and context in which they exist. The essential (but not always obvious) connections between entities are not necessarily accounted for. As Power puts it:

ERM systems cannot represent embeddedness in the sense of interconnectedness; its proponents seem only to demand an intensification of embedding at the individual entity level. Yet, this latter kind of embedding of a compliance driven risk management, epitomised by the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, is arguably a disaster in itself, by tying up resources and, much worse, cognition and attention in ?auditized? representations of business processes.

In short: the focus on following a process-oriented approach to risk management ? as mandated by frameworks ? has the potential to de-focus attention from risks that are less obvious, but are potentially more significant.

Addressing the limitations

Power believes the flaws in ERM can be addressed by looking to the practice of business continuity management (BCM). BCM addresses the issue of disaster management ? i.e. how to keep an organisation functioning in the event of a disaster. Consequently, there is a significant overlap between the aims of BCM and ERM. However, unlike ERM, BCM draws specialists from different fields and emphasizes collective action. Such an approach is therefore more likely to take a holistic view of risk, and that is the real point.

Regardless of the approach one takes, the point is to involve diverse stakeholders and work towards a shared (enterprise-wide) understanding of risks. Only then will it be possible to develop a risk management plan that incorporates the varying, even contradictory, perspectives that exist within an organisation. There are many techniques to work towards a shared understanding of risks, or any other issues for that matter. Some of these are discussed at length in my book.

Conclusion

Power suggests that ERM, as articulated by bodies such as CAS and COSO, flawed because:

  1. It attempts to quantify risk appetite at the organizational level ? an essentially impossible task because different organizational stakeholders will have different views of risk. Risk is a social construct.
  2. It advocates a controls and rule-based approach to managing risks. Such a prescriptive ?best? practice approach discourages debate and dialogue about risks. Consequently, many viewpoints are missed and quite possibly, so are many risks.
  3. Despite the rhetoric of ERM, implemented risk management controls and processes often overlook connections and dependencies between entities within organisations. So, although risk management appears to be embedded within the organisation, in reality it may not be so.

Power suggests that ERM practice could learn a few lessons from Business Continuity Management (BCM), in particular the essential interconnected nature of business risks and the collective action needed to tackle them. Indeed, any approach that attempts to reconcile diverse risk viewpoints will be a huge improvement on current practice.

In brief: the paper presents a very interesting critique of ERM, and one that?s well worth a read by practitioners and academics alike.

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Source: http://eight2late.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/the-illusion-of-enterprise-risk-management-a-paper-review/

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