Monday, December 31, 2012

AP falls short of Dickerson; Wilson ties Manning

Adrian Peterson nearly ran into the NFL record book, falling 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing mark.

Peterson had 199 yards and a touchdown in Minnesota's 37-34 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, becoming the seventh NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He needed 208 when the day began to top Dickerson's record of 2,105 set in 1984.

"I know Eric Dickerson is feeling so good right now," Peterson said with a chuckle, referencing comments Dickerson made a few weeks back saying he hoped Peterson didn't break his record. "But God willing, I'll get it next year."

Peterson, who finished the regular season with 2,097 yards on the ground, also tied Hall of Famer Earl Campbell's single-season mark with his seventh game of 150 yards rushing or more.

"He is without question the best running back in our game and truly, in my mind, the MVP of our league," Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said after his team earned a playoff spot with the win.

Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson tied Peyton Manning's NFL record for most touchdown passes by a rookie with 26 after a third-quarter score in a 20-13 win over St. Louis.

"To tie that record is really something special," Wilson said. "It's a tribute to my faith and all God has put me through, but also to my team and what they've done."

Manning threw for three touchdowns in a game for the 73rd time, surpassing the record set by Brett Favre. Manning finished 23 of 29 for 304 yards in Denver's 38-3 romp over Kansas City.

Andrew Luck, the man who replaced Manning in Indianapolis, finished as the only rookie in NFL history with at least 4,000 yards passing and 10 wins. The Colts beat the Houston Texans 28-16 for their 11th victory.

Detroit's Matthew Stafford finished the season with an NFL-record 727 pass attempts, topping Drew Bledsoe's mark of 691 in 1994. But he fell short of a second consecutive 5,000-yard season, finishing at 4,967.

Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson narrowly missed becoming the first player with 2,000 yards receiving in a season. Johnson, who broke Jerry Rice's record of 1,848 yards receiving the previous weekend, finished at 1,964 after catching five passes for 72 yards. He also had his record streak of eight 100-yard receiving games snapped.

"Had a good year, but there's a lot of things that could have been done better," Johnson said. "There's always room to get better."

Drew Brees passed for 396 yards in New Orleans' 44-38 loss to Carolina, giving him 5,177 this season ? third-most behind the 2011 totals posted by himself (5,476) and New England's Tom Brady (5,235). Brees became the first player to eclipse 5,000 yards three times. His four TD passes gave him 43 in 2012, and he's the first player with 40 TD passes in consecutive seasons.

New Orleans also set a record it probably would rather have no part of as the Saints gave up 530 yards, raising their season total to 7,042 to break the old record of 6,793 allowed by the 1981 Baltimore Colts.

Houston's J.J. Watt and San Francisco's Aldon Smith failed to get any sacks Sunday, falling short of Michael Strahan's NFL record of 22?. Watt finished with 20?, while Smith had 19?.

___

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-falls-short-dickerson-wilson-ties-manning-032039073--nfl.html

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Not in the Kards: Who Will Break Up First?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/not-in-the-kards-who-will-break-up-first/

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Stone Canyon offers custom-built homes surrounding golf course ...

New builders and new leadership have brought a new energy to Stone Canyon, a community of custom-built homes surrounding Stone Canyon Golf Course on the border between Blue Springs and Independence.

Stone Canyon, once the victim of an uncertain economy, is now a thriving new-home community.?Fourteen homes have closed since this new team took over last year. We have five custom new construction sales pending and multiple others in the design and negotiation process,? said Sally Moore with Keller Williams Eastland Partners, who exclusively markets the community.Stone Canyon has much to offer new-home buyers, she added. It is built around the Stone Canyon Golf Course, the only Greg Norman Signature Design golf course in Missouri, which is ranked as one of the top three public courses in Missouri. Stone Canyon has a Blue Springs address and children attend Blue Springs schools, including the nearby Sunny Pointe Elementary and Sunny Vale Middle schools. However, since Stone Canyon is officially within the borders of Independence, residents enjoy lower city taxes and lower utility rates.?Stone Canyon is just minutes from the new Centerpoint Medical Center, great shopping and services along with some of the best restaurants in eastern Jackson County,? Moore said. ?Access to Interstate 70 is just down the street. It only takes about 15 minutes to get to downtown Kansas City.?But even with minutes-away access to all the urban conveniences, Stone Canyon is nestled in a quiet area with little traffic or congestion and expansive views of the surrounding area.?We are on a ridge that allows you to see for miles,? Moore said. ?The sunsets are spectacular. At night you can see city lights in all directions.?These factors have contributed to Stone Canyon?s recent success and allowed it to take early advantage of the resurging real estate market.?As others are just now starting to feel the positive effects of our continually improving economy, we here at Stone Canyon have already been experiencing the rebirth of new construction for many months,? Moore said. ?That?s because we understood from the very beginning that the secret to success is delivering a customized home building experience with an unprecedented level of service and quality.?To provide that level of quality, Stone Canyon chose two builders with stellar reputations, Robert Foushee of Foushee Homes Inc. and Kevin Stallings of Dreams & Design Building. Foushee has 17 years of building experience and Stallings has 20.?Building my first spec house to sell in the early years was an eye opener, but I maintained the attitude that if I did it well and offered my customers something better, I would develop a reputation for quality and treating people right,? Foushee said.That attitude has brought Foushee success, rave reviews from his past clients and repeat customers. His promise to his clients is to provide them with quality construction and a friendly experience.The name of Stallings? business, Dreams & Design Building, says it all. ?If a customer dreams it, I can usually design and build it,? he said.Stallings takes pride in listening to customers, then showing them a template design that will meet most of their needs, but taking that template and modifying it so that customers get exactly the home they envisioned.?I never build the same home twice,? Stallings said, adding that he refuses to cut corners to hold down costs. ?I build every home as if it were mine. I won?t accept less than quality construction, I won?t rush the process and I won?t cut corners.?Stallings also knows the importance of building energy-efficient homes and has his homes independently inspected to meet Energy Star standards, providing a finished home that is between 45 and 50 percent more efficient that homes built to current building codes.Foushee and Stallings offer clients a variety of home designs, including ranch, 11/2-story, reverse 11/2-story and two-story plans with prices starting at $275,000. Prospective buyers can see the quality of Stallings? construction by visiting the model home at 4211 S. White Sands Court. They can also visit Foushee?s completed inventory home that is now available. Foushee also has another inventory home under construction that will be move-in ready in about 90 days. Stallings is just starting construction on two inventory homes that should be completed by summer.Prospective buyers also may see a variety of home plans from both builders at the model home that can be used as a basis for a custom designed and built home, Moore said.?It is amazing to see how these builders take a home from concept to design to completion for their clients,? Moore said. ?And they walk their customers through the process every step of the way. Each home is individualized.?One client, whose mother will be living with them, needed a home that was ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliant and that home was designed with an elevator,? she continued. ?Another customer wants to live in his home forever, so he is also having an elevator installed.?Stone Canyon is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For information, call Sally Moore at 816-268-3828 or visit stonecanyonkc.com.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/30/3983296/stone-canyon-offers-custom-built.html

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Entrepreneur launches first Africa-designed smartphone

AFP - A Congolese inventor has unveiled what he says is the first African-designed smartphone.

Verone Mankou, 27, told AFP that the so-called Elikia, which means "hope" in the local language, went on sale the day before in the Republic of Congo.

Mankou, head of the company VMK, said the Android-powered device was on sale in only in Congo for now, but he planned to launch it in other countries.

The phone was initially due to go on sale in October but its launch was delayed "because of an explosion in demand," he said.

Though the phone is Congolese by design, it is manufactured in China. It costs about 130 euros ($170) -- a considerable sum in this central African nation.

The phone has a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 512 megabytes of RAM and a 650-Mhz processor. Its camera is five megapixels, and it also comes with GPS and Bluetooth.

Mankou last year designed what was billed as Africa's first tablet computer.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20121229-entrepreneur-launches-first-africa-designed-smartphone

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Troops to help in Central African Republic

2:14 PM

Lawyer: $100M school shooting claim about security

The filing claims the state Board of Education, Department of Education and state education commissioner failed to protect the child "from foreseeable harm," including by failing to provide a safe school setting.

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Mother accused of selling heroin with kids inside car / Death of man, 20, ruled accident / Woman gets 35 years to life for killing former boyfriend ... and more news from around the region.

Source: http://www.pressherald.com/r?19=961&43=606322&44=185124331&32=10367&7=617322&40=http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/troops-to-help-in-central-african-republic_2012-12-29.html

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Family considering lawsuit against Cedar Rapids police after ...

The family of a man who stopped breathing in police custody and later died is considering filing a civil lawsuit against the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Paul Saldivar

Paul R. Saldivar, 33, died May 17, one week after he lost consciousness in the back of a patrol car. Medical examiners ruled his death accidental, with intoxication a contributing factor. Following a seven-month investigation, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden announced Wednesday that the officers involved did not use excessive force while arresting Saldivar, and he said no criminal charges would be filed.

Saldivar?s sister, Paulette Gandara, told The Gazette she and her siblings will discuss whether to file a wrongful death lawsuit. She said the explanation given by authorities about how her brother died ?doesn?t add up.?

?The moment the police department takes a person into custody, it is their responsibility to make sure that person arrives safely, no matter what they?ve done,? Gandara said Thursday.

Saldivar was arrested for public intoxication and an outstanding traffic-related warrant after an officer made a business check at Hazzard County Saloon, 315 Second Ave. SE, at around 11:10 p.m. on May 10. Police said Saldivar ran from the first officer he encountered and then resisted the officers? attempts to sit him in the squad car.

Police reported that Saldivar would not pull his feet into the squad car and refused to sit upright. An officer pulled Saldivar laterally across the back seat so that the rear doors could be closed. According to the final investigative report, Saldivar was lying on his right side when the police car left for the Linn County Jail, and was not buckled in.

As Officer Shannon Aguero drove to the jail, Saldivar was thrashing around, kicking at one door while hitting his head against the armrest of the other door, according to police. Saldivar became quiet as Aguero was pulling up to the jail.

Officials said the jail?s sally port was occupied when Aguero arrived, leading to a delay of about five minutes. Aguero tried to communicate with Saldivar while waiting for the sally port door to open, but Saldivar did not respond.

Once inside the sally port, deputies found Saldivar unresponsive in the back seat, lying on his stomach with his head against the car door. After failing to find a pulse, they began resuscitation efforts and called an ambulance.

Saldivar never regained consciousness, and his family removed him from life-support on May 17.

Tests showed no illegal drugs in Saldivar?s blood, but he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.299 percent, more than three times the legal drunk-driving limit. Associate State Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Thompson concluded Saldivar died as a result of positional asphyxia, which occurs when a person?s posture hinders their ability to breathe.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman, said now that the county attorney was done with his review, the department would do its own internal investigation.

?We?ll simply look at what policies or procedures were involved in this case and see if there is anything we need to do differently,? Hamblin said.

Gandara, one of Saldivar?s five siblings, said she does not believe that her brother was conscious when he was put into the back of the squad car. She said he should have been able to move enough to be able to breathe properly, if he was as combative as the report indicates.

Gandara also questions why three officers couldn?t control her brother enough to get him secured by a seat belt.

?I feel that if they would have seat belted him in, he?d still be here,? Gandara said.

According to department policy, anyone who is arrested should be handcuffed and ?shall be seat belted prior to transport.? But the policy also indicates seat-belting is not mandatory in all cases.

?Special circumstances applicable to the original restraint of the arrestee will provide rationale for the inability to seat belt the arrestee. All circumstances disallowing restraint and seat belting of arrestees will be recorded in the Officer?s Case Investigation Report or in (an) Incident Report form to the case,? the policy says.

Gandara said her family was angered that they learned about the final findings from a reporter, not from the County Attorney?s Office. Vander Sanden acknowledged Thursday that neither Saldivar?s family nor the officers involved were notified before his report was released to the media.

?There was no common courtesy,? Gandara said. ?That was absolute disrespect. I?m ashamed to be a part of this city. We deserved more respect than that.?

Vander Sanden said he assumed it was public knowledge that his office had been reviewing findings from the Division of Criminal Investigation. He said no one from the family had inquired with his office about the status of the investigation.

The officers involved with Saldivar?s arrest declined to comment through a spokesperson, citing the internal investigation and potential civil lawsuit.

Gandara said her family is a long way from closure. She said they are coming to the realization that they may never have answers to all their questions.

?It?s hard, because I have a son that looks just like Paul when he was little,? Gandara said. ?It?s something I deal with every day. It?s not something that just goes away. There?s not a day that goes by that I don?t miss my brother.?

Official Report from the Linn County Attorney?s Office:

Source: http://thegazette.com/2012/12/28/family-considering-lawsuit-against-cedar-rapids-police-after-saldivar-death/

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GOP and Feinstein join to fulfill Obama's demand for renewed warrantless eavesdropping

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Friday, December 28, 2012

"Come Together" campaign buys newspapers ads (Washington Bureau)

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New home sales hit highest rate since April 2010

7 hrs.

New single-family home sales accelerated in November to the fastest pace in 2 1/2 years and median sales price jumped from the same month in 2011, signs that the U.S. housing recovery is gaining some steam.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday sales climbed 4.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted 377,000-unit annual rate. That was in line with analysts' forecasts of a 378,000-unit annual pace.

Government data for new home sales are subject to substantial revisions. Indeed, the Commerce Department cut its estimate for sales in October by 7,000 to a 361,000-unit rate.

The annual sales pace for November was the quickest since April 2010.

This year, the housing sector has been point of strength in an economy beset by flagging business confidence and cooling demand abroad. The median home price of a new home rose to $246,200, up 14.9 percent from the same month in 2011.

New home building is expected to add to economic growth this year for the first time since 2005. The housing sector, however, remains a shadow of its former self.

The pace of new home sales is roughly a quarter of the all-time high clocked in July 2005 when a housing bubble was still inflating. Shortly thereafter, the bubble began to deflate, helping trigger the 2007-09 recession, which was the deepest downturn since the Great Depression.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/new-home-sales-hit-highest-rate-april-2010-1C7660252

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Teachers get free gun training after Conn. shooting

Rick Bowmer / AP

Carl Stubbs, center, the principal of Valley View Elementary School in Pleasant Grove, Utah, looks on with other teachers during concealed-weapons training on Thursday.

By Reuters

Kasey Hansen, a special education teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah, says she would take a bullet for any of her students, but if faced with a gunman threatening her class, she would rather be able to shoot back.

On Thursday, she was one of 200 Utah teachers who flocked to an indoor sports arena for free instruction in the handling of firearms by gun activists who say armed educators might have a chance of thwarting deadly shooting rampages in their schools.

The event was organized by the Utah Shooting Sports Council in response to the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., this month that killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The council said it has typically attracted about 16 teachers each year to its concealed-carry training courses. But Thursday's event near Salt Lake City, organized especially for educators in the aftermath of Newtown, drew interest from hundreds, and the class was capped at 200 because of space limitations.

"I feel like I would take a bullet for any student in the school district," Hansen, who teaches in a Salt Lake City school district, told Reuters after the training session.

Photos: Training teachers to use guns in school

"If we should ever face a shooter like the one in Connecticut, I'm fully prepared to respond with my firearm," she said, adding that she planned to buy a weapon soon and take it to work.

The Newtown massacre reignited a national debate over gun safety. President Barack Obama signaled his support for reinstating a national ban on assault-style rifles and urged Congress to act. The National Rifle Association has called for posting armed guards at schools and rejected new gun-control measures.

After school massacre, parents' divide deepens on gun control

The National Education Association and a number of school officials criticized the NRA's stance, but it got a warmer reception in some parts of the West, where hunting and guns are prevalent.

Utah is among a handful of states that allow people with concealed-carry licenses to take their weapons onto school property, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

After a controversial press conference last week, NRA head Wayne LaPierre made an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" saying the American people would be "crazy" to not put armed guards in schools. Meanwhile, Newtown, Conn., continues coping with the death of 26 people during the tragic shooting. NBC's Ron Mott report.

In Arizona, Attorney General Tom Horne on Wednesday jumped into the debate over school security with a proposal to allow any school to train and arm its principal or another staff member.

The plan, which was backed by at least three sheriffs, would require approval by the legislature and the state's Republican governor, Jan Brewer.

Clark Aposhian, head of the Utah Shooting Sports Council and a certified firearms instructor, organized the event on Thursday to provide teachers with permits to allow them to carry concealed handguns in the classroom. He waived the usual $50 fee for the course.

NRA chief: If putting armed police in schools is crazy, 'then call me crazy'

"I genuinely felt depressed at how helpless those teachers were and those children were in Newtown," Aposhian said. "It doesn't have to be that way."

The parents of Noah Pozner, 6, who was killed in the tragic shooting ?at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had just laid their son to rest this week, when Noah's uncle says a scammer took to the web, posing as Noah's aunt and requesting donations to her personal Paypal account. NBC's Jeff Rossen reports.

Utah teacher Kerrie Anderson was not about to participate. She is a choir and math instructor at a junior high school near Salt Lake City and said her family is "pro-gun" and uses firearms for sports such as target shooting. But she balks at the notion of carrying a weapon into her classroom.

Guns flood into police buyback programs, though critics have doubts about the idea

"How would I keep that gun safe?" she said. "I wouldn't carry (it) on my person while teaching, where a disgruntled student could overpower me and take it. And if I have it secured in my office, it might not be a viable form of protection."

Gun-control activists have decried moves to arm teachers and said efforts at curbing gun violence in schools should be tied to tightening firearms laws.

PhotoBlog: Buyback in Los Angeles brings in hundreds of guns

"We think it makes a lot more sense to prevent a school shooter from getting the gun in the first place," said Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary ranks as the second most deadly school shooting in U.S. history. Police say Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother before going to the school, where he committed the massacre and shot himself to death.

Related stories:?

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/28/16206006-utah-teachers-get-free-gun-training-in-response-to-newtown-shooting?lite

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Homes for the homeless: a smart investment in dignity

Despite a recent rise in poverty, homelessness is down. One reason? Providing a residence for the homeless creates enough self-respect for them to deal with underlying issues.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / December 26, 2012

Al Horne looks up at the rain falling on homeless people waiting in line to receive a Christmas meal by The Extended Aftercare Alumni volunteers on Christmas morning in downtown Houston. Volunteers distributed a holiday meal, clothes, and hygiene gift packages on Christmas morning in a tradition started to give people new to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction an opportunity to be of service.

Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle/AP Photo

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Two decades ago, a simple idea was floated in the United States: Give homeless people a home rather then temporary shelter and their sense of personal dignity will rise, opening the way for them to solve their problems.?

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The idea finally spread nationwide under President George W. Bush and has been enhanced by President Obama. This has led to an amazing result: Despite the drop in personal income and a rise in poverty caused by the 2007-09 recession, homelessness has dropped in recent years, according to new data.

The reasons now seem obvious. People who aren?t living on the streets or in temporary settings have better stability to deal with mental, drug, or family problems that often go hand in hand with homelessness. They don?t cycle in and out of hospitals, mental-health facilities, jails, courts, or shelters at great expense to taxpayers. They are not socially stigmatized by their living conditions. A home helps center them.

For charities and government, the cost savings of this ?housing first? strategy have been a significant incentive to keep funding it. In 2010, the Obama administration even began to believe it could completely whip homelessness. It set a goal to end ?chronic? homelessness by 2015 (or not have any individuals who have been homeless for a year or more or have had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years). It set the same goal for homeless veterans. But it set a less ambitious date of 2020 to end homelessness for families, youth, and children.

The goals may not be met by those dates but that should not discourage efforts to give those struggling with homelessness the self-respect and stability that helps them keep off the streets. The next nationwide survey of the homeless population will be on the night of Jan. 28-29, offering yet another possible marker on recent progress.

?We know that combining permanent housing with a coordinated pipeline of supportive services is the best way to help people improve their lives and avoid future homelessness,? said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in a recent speech.

Despite the nationwide results, many cities with the worst homelessness are worried about the future. A December survey by the US Conference of Mayors showed that homeless families with children were denied shelter this year in more than half of these cities because of inadequate capacity. The cities expect an increase in demand for shelter in 2013.

When a good idea works in addressing a social ill, both liberals and conservatives can often rally around it. They did so on welfare reform in 1996 and again on the ?housing first? strategy. Opinions may differ on funding levels or the degree of private versus government contributions, but good reform ideas can find a permanent home in society.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ES_b_4PsMUo/Homes-for-the-homeless-a-smart-investment-in-dignity

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Utilizing Pay Day Loans Responsibly And Securely | Traffic Secrets

When you are trapped in a jam and desire money rapidly, taking out a payday loan might be the reply to your issues. Despite the fact that pay day loans can be quite beneficial, they could also get you in serious monetary trouble if you do not know what you will be performing. The advice in the following paragraphs will safeguard from creating any blunders if you take out a payday loan.

By no means go to have a pay day loan bare-given. To obtain a loan, you will need to provide a number of things together with you. These include around about three latest shell out stubs, suitable identification, and proof of a banking account. The requirements range between enterprise to business. It may be beneficial to mobile phone first, and inquire what you will need to provide.

Check the rates before, you make application for a payday loan, even though you require funds terribly. Usually, these financial loans have extremely, high rates of interest. You must compare diverse pay day loans. Pick 1 with affordable interest rates, or seek out yet another way of getting the amount of money you want.

Those of you seeking to take out a payday advance would be a good idea to pick a loan provider which has a no-trouble coverage in terms of checks jumping. Some creditors will have a large penalty cost to get a bounced examine although some have no punishment whatsoever so be sure to choose the right 1.

A great suggestion for everyone who has taken out a pay day loan is to pay attention to any inspections which may inflatable bounce and give you insufficient resources. You will not only be incurred by your lender, but additionally, you will normal on your financial loan costing you even more income.

Do not allow a loan company to dicuss you into utilizing a new financial loan to pay off the balance of your own past debt. You will definately get stuck make payment on fees on not only the initial financial loan, however the 2nd also. They are able to easily chat you into achieving this again and again till you pay them a lot more than five times the things you possessed initially loaned in just service fees.

Do not allow ads lie to you personally about online payday loans some finance companies do not have your best interest in brain and will trick you into borrowing cash, so they can charge, invisible service fees along with a high interest. Usually do not permit an ad or possibly a lending broker convince you make the decision by yourself.

Instead of jogging right into a shop-front side payday advance centre, search the web. Should you go deep into that loan retailer, you have hardly any other prices to check from, and the folks, there will a single thing they can, not to help you to abandon until they indication you up for a loan. Go to the net and carry out the required investigation to get the cheapest rate of interest loans prior to deciding to stroll in. There are also on the web suppliers that will match up you with payday loan companies in your area..

Know whenever your cash advance arrives. It is quite vital that you will not imagine for this particular date, because when you are even some day late, you could possibly find yourself with sizeable penalties. Go through all of the fine print in your papers, and do everything you may to spend your loan back again throughout the right period of time.

If you have a payday advance taken out, locate one thing in the expertise to criticize about after which call in and start a rant. Customer care operators are always permitted an automated discounted, cost waiver or perk to hand out, such as a totally free or reduced extension. Practice it once to acquire a much better package, but don?t do it two times if not threat eliminating bridges.

After looking at these tips, you need to know a lot more about pay day loans, and exactly how they job. You must also understand the frequent traps, and pitfalls that men and women can come across, when they sign up for a payday advance without having done their analysis initial. With all the suggestions you might have read in this article, you should be able to obtain the funds you require with out engaging in much more issues.

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Source: http://traffic-secrets.org/utilizing-pay-day-loans-responsibly-and-securely-2

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Transform Plain White Sugar into Powdered Sugar at Home

Transform Plain White Sugar into Powdered Sugar at HomeTransform Plain White Sugar into Powdered Sugar at Home We all have plain white granulated sugar at home, but when a recipe calls for superfine, powdered, or confectioners' sugar, don't run out and buy a whole bag for a few tablespoons. This technique lets you make it at home what the gear you already have in your kitchen.

If you need superfine, just toss a cup and two teaspoons of plain white sugar into a food processor for 30 seconds. If you need confectioners' suguar, pulverize a cup of white sugar and one teaspoon of corn starch into a spice grinder or a blender for a full minute. Then sift the mix through a mesh strainer, and you're all done. In both cases, you'll end up with one cup of what you need.

The folks at America's Test Kitchen explain that superfine and confectioners' sugar are just processed granulated sugar, so there's no reason you can't get the same results at home if you do it right. Hit the video above or visit the link below to see the tip in action.

How to Turn Granulated Sugar into Superfine and Confectioners' Sugar | America's Test Kitchen

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/R0QdtJ3AEm4/transform-plain-white-sugar-into-confectioners-sugar-at-home

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Netflix suffers Christmas Eve outage, points to Amazon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.'s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.

The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles such as Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray players.

Evers said that the issue was the result of an outage at an Amazon Web Services' cloud computing center in Virginia, and started at about 12:30 p.m. PST (2030 GMT) on Monday and was fully restored Tuesday morning, although streaming was available for most users late on Monday.

"We are investigating exactly what happened and how it could have been prevented," Evers said.

"We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix or Netflix capable devices can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night," he added.

An outage at Amazon Web Services, or AWS, knocked out such sites as Reddit and Foursquare in April of last year.

Amazon Web Services was not immediately available for comment. Evers, the Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company's contracts with Amazon.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netflix-suffers-christmas-eve-outage-points-amazon-191205963--finance.html

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jessicaalva66: johir.khan: Self-Improvement Affirmations with Self ...

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Considering a divorce? Wait until January

3 hrs.

Going through a divorce during the holidays can be emotionally wrenching, which is why many people don't do it -- they put it off until January.?

"People don't want to upset the apple cart over the holidays, and they want a peaceful Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year's. And then, because they don't want to spend another damned year with that spouse of theirs, as soon as the holidays are over they pull the plug and file," says Alton Abramowitz, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.?

While there are no hard numbers on how many divorces are filed in January, Abramowitz says it's undoubtedly a popular time to act, rivaled only by September, when marriages break up after the summer holidays. Yet waiting for the holidays to pass doesn't all come down to simply wanting a harmonious holiday season. There are sound financial reasons to wait until January.?

1. Waiting for the bonus?
A husband or wife who waits until January is likely to be entitled to any year-end windfall that might come from a spouse's job.?

"In New York, at least, once you file for divorce and you set the cut-off date; anything you obtain afterward is separate property," says Steven Goldfeder, a matrimonial attorney in New York City who acknowledges that year-end bonuses are often fought over, even if a spouse declares he or she wants a divorce in January. "Someone could claim the bonus isn't really for that particular year, but a payment to entice someone to stay at the firm for the future."?

2. Cool your emotions?
The holidays are a time when emotions run high. "If your spouse always has it in her mind that Christmas was ruined, she or he may not be so eager to settle with you," says Goldfeder. "Your divorce might drag out for months or years longer than it would have."?

Once, shortly before Christmas, Goldfeder received a call from a client who said a co-worker had had a baby they both believed was his. The client, married and the father of three, planned to tell his wife and assumed she would leave him. Goldfeder talked him into first getting a paternity test. The client's family had a nice Christmas, and the day after, the client learned he wasn't the father.?

Not exactly a warm holiday tale, but by cooling your emotions, you may save your family a lot of stress.?

3. Avoid disastrous shopping?
December is the shopping season, and that can spell disaster if an angry spouse is set loose with a credit card. "The spouse served with divorce papers may feel that they deserve some kind of emotional gift because of this horrible thing their spouse did to them," says Kevin Worthley, a certified divorce financial analyst and certified financial planner in Warwick, R.I.

An angry spouse may also be more inclined to want to drain the bank accounts and run up the credit cards. "That's a danger any time, but past the holidays, when everything's been bought, there's likely less inclination to buy a big-ticket item out of revenge," says Worthley.?

4. Think about April?
At year-end, taxes come to mind. "Obviously, the better records you have, the better position you're going to be in," says Andrew Katzenstein, a Los Angeles lawyer, referring to paperwork that you might want to start collecting now.?

Katzenstein, who specializes in assisting high-net-worth individuals, businesses and charities, says that in the past there haven't been many tax advantages to filing for a divorce in January rather than December. Filling for divorce is just a beginning step, after all. Many couples end up filing their taxes jointly until the divorce is completed.?

But tax brackets may go up in 2013, depending on whether the U.S. budget dispute is resolved. So going forward, the calculus may be different. "The person who pays alimony will get more bang for their deduction buck, and the person receiving the payments will pay more taxes," he says.?

5. More time to plan?
If you've made up your mind that a divorce is going to be one of your New Year's resolutions, there are things you can do now. Whatever side you end up on -- paying alimony or receiving it -- you need to start preparing.?

"You should start collecting all of your end-of-the-year statements," says Worthley. "You really need to know everything -- your household budget, your assets, what's in your checking account, how much you're paying for the mortgage, all of your debts and your credit card balances. It's important to get all of that."?

Your financial records will be needed to determine how much spousal support will be paid out, and how the finances will be divided. "The more information you get, the less complicated it'll be when you're negotiating and working things out with a financial mediator, attorney or judge," says Deborah Moskovitch, a divorce coach in Toronto who counts January as her busiest month for new clients.?

The turn of the new year can also be a good time to try to salt away some extra money to pay for an attorney, says Worthley.?

You don't need to have all of your money affairs in order the moment you and your spouse begin discussing the dreaded D-word. You may want to start the year off with a fresh start by filing for divorce in January, but chances are you'll be lucky to be divorced before that year is up.?

"Here in California, if you didn't file by October, you weren't going to get divorced in the next year anyway," says Katzenstein. "And if you decide to divorce in January, it's not like you'll be divorced in February. It's going to be a process."?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/considering-divorce-wait-until-january-1C7659310

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Pakistan, Afghanistan trying to turn Taliban into political movement

KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistan is genuine about backing a nascent Afghan peace process and shares the Kabul government's goal of transforming the Taliban insurgency into a political movement, a senior Afghan government official told Reuters.

Pakistan is seen as critical to U.S. and Afghan efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan, a task that is gaining urgency as NATO troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014 and hand over security responsibilities to government forces.

"They have told us that they share the vision contained in our roadmap which is basically to transform the Taliban from a military entity into a political entity to enable them to take part in the Afghan political process and peacefully seek power like any other political entity in Afghanistan," the official said, referring to Pakistan.

"This is the vision that they share."

The official's remarks signaled unprecedented optimism from Afghanistan that Pakistan - long accused of backing Afghan insurgents - was now willing to put its weight behind reconciliation efforts, which are still in early stages and vulnerable to factionalism.

Mutual suspicions between Afghanistan and its nuclear-armed neighbor, Pakistan, have hampered efforts to tackle militancy in one of the world's most explosive regions.

Pakistan has long been seen as determined to block the influence of old rival India in Afghanistan and has been believed to be quietly supporting the Taliban in the hope they would exclude from power rival, pro-India Afghan factions.

Afghanistan and Pakistan appear to now agree that it is in their interests to work more closely together, with the NATO deadline looming.

Failure to do so could embolden Taliban hardliners determined to re-impose their austere version of Islam.

"I think we are also seeing a situation where the extremist threat is developing in a direction that is getting out of everybody's control," said the senior Afghan government official. Pakistan is battling its own, home-grown Taliban.

"That is only bad news for everyone who has any interest in stability for their own country."

The official, who is closely involved in reconciliation efforts, said recent face-to-face talks between senior Taliban members and Afghan officials in France were an "enormously helpful" step in building a wider environment for peace.

The Taliban spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the discussions in France. The talks included former members of the Northern Alliance faction, which fought the Taliban for years, and Afghan peace negotiators.

The Taliban say they were represented by prominent figures in the movement such as Shahabuddin Delawar, from its political office, which is based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar.

Until now, the Taliban and Afghan officials only made indirect contacts.

"We are very optimistic. We believe that they are genuine in this discussion with us," said the Afghan official.

Another track for talks, between the Taliban and the United States held in Qatar, was suspended by the militants. They said inconsistencies in the U.S. negotiating position were discouraging.

The Afghan official cautioned that in order to sustain Kabul's confidence, Pakistan would need to take further concrete steps after releasing some mid-level Afghan Taliban members from detention, who may be useful in promoting peace.

Pakistan would gain more trust from Kabul by meeting a request to release from detention the Taliban's former second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Asked whether Pakistan had indicated it would hand him over, the Afghan official said: "Not in concrete terms".

WARRING FACTIONS

Pakistan's powerful army chief has made reconciling warring factions in Afghanistan a top priority, Pakistani military officials and Western diplomats told Reuters, the clearest signal yet that Islamabad means business in promoting peace.

General Ashfaq Kayani, arguably the most powerful man in Pakistan, is backing dialogue partly due to fears that the end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014 could energize a resilient insurgency straddling the shared frontier, according to commanders deployed in the region.

The Afghan government official had a similar assessment.

"I think there is a sense that we are also getting, that cooperation from Pakistan now is bound to be meaningful, substantive," he said.

"The reason is frankly, most in Pakistan, in our view, have reached the conclusion that time is running out. That it is no longer just about Afghanistan's instability and Afghanistan's insecurity but it's very much a question of security for themselves."

Cooperation between Kabul and Islamabad has in the past been undermined by attacks which Kabul said were plotted in Pakistan.

On December 6, a Taliban suicide bomber with explosives hidden in his underwear and posing as a peace messenger, wounded Afghanistan's intelligence chief in Kabul. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attack was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta and that he would raise the issue with Islamabad.

The Haqqani militant network - which has more experience in guerrilla warfare than the Afghan Taliban - is seen as a potential spoiler in the peace process. The group is allied with the Taliban but diplomats say it is highly unpredictable.

Nevertheless, it would be welcomed to the peace process as long as it met certain conditions, said the official.

"From our point of view, the door of peace is open to anyone. The Haqqanis are a pretty challenging group of people," he said.

"But if they choose to come over to the peace process, then I am sure the peace process will include them."

Pakistan's intelligence agency denies Afghan accusations that it uses the Haqqani network and other militant groups as proxies to counter India in Afghanistan.

The Haqqanis have been blamed for several high-profile attacks on Western targets, including embassies, in Kabul, highlighting the resilience of insurgents after years of fighting Western forces equipped with superior firepower and technology.

The senior Afghan official said Afghanistan hoped to start formal negotiations with the Taliban next year.

"The Taliban should be able to make some form of transformation towards being a political entity soon," he said.

"The key period is 2013. If Pakistan and Afghanistan work hard enough we should be able to achieve some progress on that front."

(Additional reporting by Mehreeen Zahra- Malik in WANA and Matthew Green in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-genuine-backing-afghan-peace-efforts-afghan-official-040032861.html

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Officials: NY gunman led quiet life before killing 2 firefighters

WEBSTER, N.Y. - A man who set his house on fire then lured firefighters to their deaths in a blaze of flames and bullets had attracted little attention since he got out of prison in the 1990s for killing his grandmother, authorities said.

But two months ago, William Spengler's mother died, leaving the 62-year-old ex-con in a Lake Ontario house with his sister, who he "couldn't stand," a friend said.

Spengler set a car and a house in his neighbourhood ablaze early Monday, luring firefighters to the neighbourhood and then killed two, wounded two others and injured a police officer while several homes burned around him, police said. Spengler then killed himself. His sister, Cheryl, was missing.

About 100 people attended an impromptu memorial vigil Monday evening in Webster, a suburb of Rochester. Dozens of bouquets were left at the fire station, along with a handwritten sign that said, "Thanks for protecting us. RIP."

Spengler, had been living in the home in Webster, a suburb of Rochester, with his mother and sister since his parole in 1998. He had served 17 years in prison after the beating death of his 92-year-old grandmother in 1980, for which he had originally been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter. His mother, Arline, died in October.

On Monday, Spengler fired at the four firefighters when they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. at the blaze, town police Chief Gerald Pickering said. The first police officer who arrived chased the gunman and exchanged shots.

Spengler lay in wait outdoors for the firefighters' arrival, then opened fire probably with a rifle and from atop an earthen berm, Pickering said. "It does appear it was a trap," he said.

Authorities used an armoured vehicle to help residents flee dozens of homes on the shore of Lake Ontario a day before Christmas. Police restricted access to the neighbourhood, and officials said it was unclear whether there were other bodies in the seven houses left to burn.

Authorities said Spengler hadn't done anything to bring himself to their attention since his parole. As a convicted felon, he wasn't allowed to possess weapons. Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said Spengler led a very quiet life after he got out of prison.

A friend said Spengler hated his sister. Roger Vercruysse lived next door to Spengler and recalled a man who doted on his mother, whose obituary suggested contributions to the West Webster Fire Department.

"He loved his mama to death," said Vercruysse, who last saw his friend about six months ago.

Vercruysse also said Spengler "couldn't stand his sister" and "stayed on one side of the house and she stayed on the other."

The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.

The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.

Emergency radio communications capture someone saying he "could see the muzzle flash coming at me" as Spengler carried out his ambush. The audio posted on the website RadioReference.com has someone reporting "firefighters are down" and saying "got to be rifle or shotgun - high powered ... semi or fully auto."

Two of the firefighters arrived on a fire engine and two in their own vehicles, Pickering said. After Spengler fired, one of the wounded men fled, but the other three couldn't because of flying gunfire.

The police officer who exchanged gunfire with Spengler "in all likelihood saved many lives," Pickering said.

A police armoured vehicle was used to recover two men, and eventually it removed 33 people from nearby homes, the police chief said. The gunfire initially kept firefighters from battling the blazes.

The dead men were identified as police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, the Webster Police Department's public information officer; and 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka, also a 911 dispatcher.

Pickering described Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" with nearly 20 years in the department, and he called Kaczowka a "tremendous young man."

Kaczowka's brother, reached at the family home Monday night, said he didn't want to talk.

The two wounded firefighters, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, remained in guarded condition Tuesday at Strong Memorial Hospital, authorities said. Both were awake and alert and are expected to recover.

Hofstetter, also a full-timer with the Rochester Fire Department, was hit once in the pelvis, and the bullet lodged in his spine, authorities said. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.

At West Webster Fire Station 1, there were at least 20 bouquets on a bench in front and a bouquet of roses with three gold-and-white ribbons saying, "May they rest in peace," ''In the line of duty" and "In memory of our fallen brothers."

A handwritten sign says, "Thanks for protecting us, RIP." Two candles were lit to honour the dead.

Grieving firefighters declined to talk to reporters. At an impromptu memorial vigil Monday evening, about 100 people stood in the cold night air, some holding candles. A fire department spokesman made a brief appearance, thanked them all and told them to go home and appreciate their families.

Cathy Bartlett was there with her teenage son, who was good friends with Kaczowka. Bartlett's husband, Mark Bartlett, has been a firefighter there for 25 years but missed the call this morning.

"Thank God my husband slept through the first alarm and didn't get up until the second one went off," she said.

The shooting and fires were in a neighbourhood of seasonal and year-round homes set close together across the road from the lakeshore. The area is popular with recreational boaters but is normally quiet this time of year.

"We have very few calls for service in that location," Pickering said. "Webster is a tremendous community. We are a safe community, and to have a tragedy befall us like this is just horrendous."

O'Flynn lamented the violence, which comes on the heels of other shootings including the massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"It's sad to see that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation," O'Flynn said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the State Police and Office of Emergency Management were working with local authorities.

"Volunteer firefighters and police officers were injured and two were taken from us as they once again answered the call of duty," Cuomo said in a statement. "We as the community of New York mourn their loss as now two more families must spend the holidays without their loved ones."

Webster, a middle-class suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.

Last Dec. 7, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, 16 and 12. His mother and 13-year-old sister escaped with injuries. He is being prosecuted as an adult.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Carola, George Walsh and Mary Esch in Albany contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-ny-gunman-led-quiet-life-killing-2-134239811.html

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