Friday, August 31, 2012

Madonna shows up two hours late for concert

Jeff Fusco / Getty Images

Madonna showed up two and a half hours late for her Philadelphia concert, only the latest headline-making goof for the Material Girl.

By Courtney Garcia, NBC News contributor

What's up with Madonna's concert behavior? She's flashed body parts, performed with a swastika superimposed on her face, pointed a gun at herself on stage, and now she's irritated fans by making them wait two and a half hours past the scheduled starting time of her Philadelphia concert.

According to CBS Philly, the premiere stop on her first U.S. tour in four years was scheduled for an 8 p.m.?start Tuesday night. Eight o'clock came and went. So did eight-thirty. So did nine o'clock. Fans waited, and waited, and waited, and the singer finally came out on stage around 10:30 p.m. That was too late to stick around for some fans.

?I don?t know who you think you are Madonna, but you stink,? Debbie Bleznak told CBS on her way out of the show. ?We left. You can pay my babysitter.?

?We drove here seven hours from Buffalo, New York,? two sisters, who also opted to leave, added. ?$170 a ticket.?

Not only was Madonna late, she had no real opening act except for a DJ spinning some music. Why so late?

HitFix.com reports that when the singer finally showed up, she told the audience, ?I want to apologize for being late. We had many changes to make from Europe to America, and I wanted the show to be perfect for you because my fans deserve it and quite frankly I deserve it.?

Despite the apology, no reasoning was enough to appease some attendees.

Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kinney tweeted, ?Yo Madonna! It?s 10:15. Some of us have to work tomorrow while you sleep til noon with cucumbers on your eyes.??

The lateness seems to be the least of the pop star?s problems over the summer.

In July, Madonna drew outrage -- and a lawsuit --?in Paris for screening footage of French National Front party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika superimposed on her face. She did the same thing in Israel.

In ?June, Madonna popped her breast out at a concert in Istanbul, and flashed her rear to an audience in Rome. In London, she pointed a gun?at her head at a show, creating even more international frenzy.

She even had a feud?with Elton John. At one of his concerts, John told the crowd, ?[Madonna] is such a nightmare?Her career's over...and she looks like a?(expletive) fairground stripper."

But for some, the superstar is worth any controversy, even two-plus hours of boredom in a cramped arena.

?She may have kept the Wells Fargo Arena waiting, but the moment she broke free of her Confessional, AK-47 in hand and singing ?Girl Gone Wild,? 20,000 fans knew it was worth the wait,? reviewer Brian Centrone wrote for MetroSource.com.

Would you wait two and a half hours for a concert performer? Vote in our poll, and tell us on Facebook.

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13591966-madonna-shows-up-two-hours-late-for-concert?lite

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Google engineer finds British spyware on PCs and smartphones

Two security researchers have found new evidence that legitimate spyware sold by British firm Gamma International appears to be being used by some of the most repressive regimes in the world.

Google security engineer Morgan Marquis-Boire and Berkeley student Bill Marczak were investigating spyware found in email attachments to several Bahraini activists. In their analysis they identified the spyware infecting not only PCs but a broad range of smartphones, including iOS, Android, RIM, Symbian, and Windows Phone 7 handsets.

The spying software has the capability to monitor and report back on calls and GPS positions from mobile phones, as well as recording Skype sessions on a PC, logging keystrokes, and controlling any cameras and microphones that are installed.

They report the code appears to be FinSpy, a commercial spyware sold to countries for police criminal investigations. FinSpy was developed by the German conglomerate Gamma Group and sold via the UK subsidiary Gamma International. In a statement to Bloomberg, managing director Martin Muench denied the company had any involvement.

"As you know we don't normally discuss our clients but given this unique situation it's only fair to say that Gamma has never sold their products to Bahrain," he said. "It is unlikely that it was an installed system used by one of our clients but rather that a copy of an old FinSpy demo version was made during a presentation and that this copy was modified and then used elsewhere."

Parallel research by computer investigators at Rapid7 found command and control software servers for the FinSpy code running in Indonesia, Australia, Qatar, Ethiopia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Mongolia, Latvia, and the United Arab Emirates, with another server in the US running on Amazon's EC2 cloud systems. Less than 24 hours after the research was published, the team noted that several of these servers were shut down.

Gamma and FinSpy gained notoriety last year when documents apparently from the company were found in the Egyptian security service headquarters when it was ransacked by protestors after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. These appear to be a proposal that the Egyptian government buy a five-month license for the software for ?287,000. Again Gamma denied involvement.

But Marquis-Boire and Marczak told The New York Times that they appear to have found a link to Gamma in these latest code samples. The malware for Symbian phones uses a code certificate issued to Cyan Engineering, whose website is registered to one Johnny Geds.

The same name is listed as Gamma Group's sales contact on the FinSpy proposal uncovered in the raid on Egypt's security headquarters. Muench has confirmed they do employ someone of that name in sales but declined to comment further.

Commercial spyware is an increasingly lucrative racket, as El Reg has pointed out, and there's growing evidence that Britain is one of the leading players in the market. Privacy International has formally warned the British government that it will be taking legal action on the issue and this latest research only adds weight to the issue. ?

Source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/31/finspy_gamma_polcie_spying/

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How to Understand Self Improvement Properly - CareCrunch Answers

Implementing personal development tips for your own personal growth will lead to a fantastic career later on. Every person people some circumstances in life through which it becomes extremely difficult to cope track of realistic challenges. Such situations could be tackled in a much better way along with help of tactics that are designed to improve your individuality from a subconscious viewpoint. Just how things are staying are checked out has to be transformed as part of this kind of improvement course of action. Expert specialists are known to offer you enough insights in dealing with difficulties in real life. It is just a kind of supplying personal assist to those in need.

Technical knowledge about each and every course of action and/or task is important to obtain achievement in life. Nevertheless, you need to think about certain factors which can be necessary for the business of your personality in an ideal manner. Generally, you are required to create your communication skills to be able to complete a provided task without the complexities. During the process, you come across many difficulties as well as issues that should be taken attention with the help of private growth ideas. Obtain an suggestions or a couple of from a professional in order to avoid needless troubles. Realizing all requirements before coping with subject is essential as well.

Improving your perception ranges too supports a lot in the process of individuality development on your own. Firstly, you need to practice meditation by focusing on your own senses. Subsequently, there are emotional experts who advise practicing breathing exercises that assist you inside achieving more concentration. Calling a life coach will be helpful for you in this regard as you will be capable of getting valuable recommendations on how to emphasis more on objectives that you have set up for yourself. It may be difficult at first to adjust to the strategy you choose though the results will be satisfactory.

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Effective self-help programs ought to focus on every of your life. To change your life you have to develop a total self help as well as self improvement plan that will covers areas of your life including health, wealth and interactions.

Source: http://answers.carecrunch.com/?p=172408&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-understand-self-improvement-properly

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Complete Guidelines to Health and Fitness: Top 5 Ways To Protect ...

To celebrate Better Hearing and Speech Month, the House Ear Institute (HEI) is educating the public on noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) with the top five ways to protect their hearing.

An estimated 32.5 million people in the United States have a hearing loss. That estimate is up by 2.5 million from just a few years ago. Exposure to excessive noise causes approximately 30 percent of all hearing loss yet this type of hearing loss is preventable.

"Exposure to noise damages the microscopic hair cells found in the inner ear, which play a critical role in our ability to hear," said Dr. Jose Fayad, House Ear Clinic associate. "The damage can be from a brief but intense noise, but is most often caused by regular exposure to excessive sound over the course of several years."

How loud is too loud? Prolonged exposure to sounds above 85 decibels (dB) may cause permanent hearing loss. Normal conversation is measured at a moderate noise level of 50-70 dB. A motorcycle or lawn mower is 85-90 dB. The extreme noise of a typical rock concert is measured at 110 to120 dB and an ambulance siren or jet engine at take-off is 119-140 dB. Regular exposure even wearing headphones or earbuds can be dangerous too if the volume is too loud.

Noise-induced hearing loss is usually painless, progressive and always permanent but can also be 100 percent preventable. Here are the top five ways you to help prevent it:

1. Monitor your exposure time to sounds over 85 dB and take periodic 15-minute "quiet" breaks. Although the maximum time to safely be exposed to 85 dB is 8 hours, the maximum time to safely be exposed to 100 dB is only 15 minutes. See pie-chart for more information.

2. Avoid hazardous sound environments. If you have to raise your voice to be heard, you are in a potentially hazardous environment for your hearing. This includes loud music performances, operating power tools and driving with the windows down at high speeds.

3. Whenever you can't get away from an extreme sound environment, wear hearing protection, such as foam, silicone or pre-molded earplugs, earmuffs or custom earplugs. Look for products with noise-reduction ratings (NRR) of at least 9dB. Most products provide a NRR of 22dB or greater. To hear music and conversation clearly, look for high fidelity hearing protection. They will reduce all sound frequencies equally, and can often make listening to music more enjoyable than without any protection. Shooter's plugs combined with earmuffs should be used for hunting and target practice. All can be found over the counter at your local drugstore or sporting goods shop.

4. Move away from on-stage monitors or amplifiers.

Position yourself so you are not directly in front of the speaker while performing or listening. Musicians should avoid practicing at performance levels when possible.

5. If you suspect hearing loss or notice sudden changes in your hearing or have ear pain, see an otolaryngologist (ENT) or otologist. Also, have your hearing tested by a licensed audiologist. Common hearing tests include the pure tone threshold test, the otoacoustic emissions ("OAE") test, speech audiometry and the Hearing in Noise Test ("HINT"), which was developed by HEI scientists to assess how well you can hear speech in real world situations, where background noise is present.

For consumers who want to learn more, in May the House Ear Institute is launching a virtual hearing conservation workshop. The unique program will be available for worldwide use at http://www.hei.org.

For more information, visit House Ear Institute's Sound Partners? program at www.hei.org or its new site for teens and young adults at http://www.earbud.org, where young visitors can request a free pair of earplugs.

About the House Ear Institute

The House Ear Institute (HEI) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing hearing science through research and education to improve quality of life. HEI scientists investigate the cellular and molecular causes of hearing loss and related auditory disorders as well as neurological processes pertaining to the human auditory system and the brain. Our researchers also explore technology advancements to improve auditory implants, hearing aids, diagnostic techniques and rehabilitation tools. The Institute shares its knowledge with the scientific and medical communities as well as the general public through its education and outreach programs.

House Ear Institute
2100 West Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90057
United States
http://www.hei.org

Source: http://guidelines-to-health-fitness.blogspot.com/2012/08/top-5-ways-to-protect-your-hearing.html

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Checkout Roofing shingles and Specialist in UK - IdeaMarketers.com


by Lisa Clark
Send Feedback to Lisa Clark
Request Reprint | Print | About Author | Report Problem | Tweet This Many people immediately think of a brand new inclusion or perhaps alternative when discussing roof covering; nevertheless, professional companies perform several other services over and above these frequent duties. Fix, protective upkeep, home inspections, and also contacting are additional roofing solutions agreed to business building entrepreneurs by simply the majority of experts. Owners don't typically put significantly considered into the problem of the structural addressing till some sort of harm gets identified. Inspections really are a preventative measure companies provide to be able to discover problems before they increase directly into a horrible upkeep price. They are able to also be useful to verify the healthiness of a house or company if it is on the market. An assessment might help detect issues such as a seeping top, absent masking, or large-scale damage caused by significant weather. Preventative servicing requires finding these products early to allow them to receive quality fixes at a minimum expense. Appropriate protective maintenance procedures support an utilized masking go longer and lower how often associated with necessary repairs.

Initial thing you need to do is to inquire using their company local locations associated with business upon whoever commercial roofer solutions they have attempted as well as recommends. Tend not to believe that must be program can take place expert initially signifies that their function would certainly also be professional. Recommendations will always be an excellent place to start.

It is never good for you to delay virtually any perform that the house might need. Having quality roof covering services may increase your overall house. Sound roofer retains atmosphere in your own home. Which means you will have a simple moment controlling the temperatures of your home and ensure that it stays cost effective. With a seem composition, you'll hold the greatest protection when it comes to virtually any severe weather. Having a raggedy one, you'll don't have any opportunity in the event of a negative hurricane. Imagine you would like to sell your house eventually. The house will probably be worth a lot more having a durable and also reliable masking. The truth is, with out a single, the majority of customers would not provide the house a second glimpse. So that it'ersus best to just possess top maintenance as well as substitutions if you need them. The worthiness of your property may increase greatly.

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U.N.'s Ban tells Iranian leaders to prove nuclear program peaceful

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon met Iran's president and supreme leader in Tehran on Wednesday to urge them to take concrete steps to prove the country's nuclear program is peaceful and to use their influence to help end Syria's 17-month conflict.

Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said that in Ban's separate meetings with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he further said their verbal attacks on Israel were offensive, inflammatory and unacceptable.

Ban arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for a three-day visit to attend a meeting of some 120 non-aligned nations. He defied calls from the United States and Israel to boycott the event.

"He said Iran needed to take concrete steps to address the concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency and prove to the world its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes," Nesirky, speaking from Tehran, told reporters in New York.

Iran says its program is peaceful, but Western powers and their allies fear it is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran has been hit with four rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program.

On Syria, Ban urged Iran's leaders to use their influence to call on Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to end the violence and create conditions for "credible dialogue and a genuine political process that meets the will of the Syrian people."

"The secretary-general very strongly believes that Iran, given its regional influence and its influence in Syria, has an important role to play and be a part of the solution," said Nesirky, adding that Ban also called on all states to stop supplying weapons to all sides in Syria.

Last week the United Nations said Iran appears to be supplying Syria with weapons, as the 17-month conflict that began as a popular uprising against Assad slides deeper into civil war.

The United States, which along with other western nations has been extremely wary of Iran's efforts to solve the Syria crisis, said that it agreed Tehran has a role to play.

"The role it can play is it can break with the Assad regime and stop providing material support and arms and advisors and all of these kinds of things," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.

Ban expressed concern about the human rights situation in Iran and also said that he strongly objected to recent remarks by Iran's leaders on Israel.

Earlier this month Ahmadinejad said there was no place for the Jewish state in a future Middle East and Khamenei said Israel would one day be returned to the Palestinian nation and would cease to exist.

"He said such offensive and inflammatory statements were unacceptable and should be condemned by all," Nesirky said.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-n-ban-tells-iranian-leaders-prove-nuclear-171843272.html

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Incredible Republican Hat and Pin Collection

The Republican National Convention presents an unusual stylistic opportunity for delegates and other attendees. Men and women who usually avoid headwear may spend all day in a massive elephant or cheese hat. It is an opportunity to wear the dozens of party pins or patriotic jewely one has collected over the years, all at once. Check out these Magnum photos from the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. All photos by Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos for Slate.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

An elephant hat reflected in a mirror at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Texas delegates in matching cowboy hats and red, white and blue shirts.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Another variety of elephant hat, along with an elephant shirt and large pins worn by Michael Lachs of the New Jersey delegation.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Texas (left) vs. Georgia (right) delegate style.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Security and the sign language interpreter in subdued black.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Matching young Republicans during a speech by their uncle, RNC Chariman Reince Priebus. They are accompanied by their mother.

GOP_07

Richard Kalvar/ Magnum Photos for Slate.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

GOP accessorizing with earrings, pins, and hats.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

The boots to have at the Republican National Convention.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

The Mitt Romney 2012 cell phone case.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

The Wisconsin cheese hat.

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Richard Kalvar/ Magnum Photos for Slate.

A regent from the University of Michigan.

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Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos for Slate.

The delegates from Hawaii wore flowers and leis.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

New York delegates? sartorial statements were a bit more subdued.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

A woman from Georgia offers a bold take on red, white, and blue?and yellow.

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Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos for Slate.

Jerry Hunter, a delegate from Missouri, speaks with one of the few attendees in an old school, proper, top hat.

More Photos from the Convention: Republican National Photo-Op Time

You can also get photos throughout the day by following Slate's new Instagram feed @slatemagazine.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=1f41fec5e9724782eb9e52ebd4b74e0d

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UN chief hits host Iran over human rights

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? The U.N. chief jolted his Iranian hosts for a nonaligned nations meeting Wednesday by pointing out "serious concerns" in Tehran's human rights record and urging cooperation with the world body to improve freedoms.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had signaled he would not shy away from criticism of Iran during his visit to the Nonaligned Movement gathering in Tehran, but the sharp comments appeared to catch Iranian officials off guard just hours after his arrival.

"We have discussed how United Nations can work together with Iran to improve the human rights situation in Iran. We have our serious concerns on the human rights abuses and violations in this country," he told a news conference as he sat next to Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who frowned at the remarks.

Iran's opposition groups had urged Ban to use his appearance in Tehran as a platform to criticize Iran's ruling system over its crackdowns on political dissent, including the house arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi.

While in Tehran, Ban also could raise sensitive issues such as demands by U.N. nuclear inspectors for wider access to various sites, including a military base near Tehran suspected of being a proving ground for explosives experiments that could be used to test nuclear triggers. Iran denies it seeks nuclear arms, but Western nations and allies fear Tehran's uranium enrichment labs are moving close to warhead-grade material.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in his talks, Ban expressed frustration that "little tangible progress" has been made in talks between Iran and world powers over Tehran's nuclear program. No date has been set to resume negotiations after several rounds over the past months.

Iran says it wants talks to continue, but also claims that the current gathering in Tehran shows that Western efforts to isolate Iran have failed.

In Vienna, the U.N.'s nuclear agency has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts and other specialists focused on probing Tehran's atomic program, according to an internal document shared with The Associated Press.

Iran is seeking to use the weeklong meeting of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement to promote its position that its nuclear program is peaceful and its uranium enrichment is within the U.N. treaty rules. The meetings are capped by a two-day summit that begins Thursday.

Ban's visit is being interpreted by Iranian media as a blow to Western attempts to isolate the Islamic republic in defiance of Israeli and American calls to boycott the meeting.

Tehran is also seeking to win support from the nonaligned bloc, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the U.N. member states, for its nuclear program. A visit to Natanz uranium enrichment site in central Iran by participating leaders has not been ruled out.

Ban met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later Wednesday.

Khamenei called on him to take action over Israel's nuclear weapons, according to Khamenei's website, calling this "a big danger to the region." Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons but is widely believed to have a large arsenal.

In advance, Ban also said he would discuss the Syria crisis with Iranian leaders, who remain staunch allies of Bashar Assad's regime. The U.N. chief has in the past called Iran a major player capable of mediating in regional conflicts, including Syria's civil war.

Nesirky, the U.N. spokesman, said that in his meetings in Tehran Ban "urged the leadership ? the president, the Supreme Leader, the speaker of parliament ? to really reach out to the Syrian leadership and impress on them the really urgent need to stop the violence and to create the conditions that are necessary for a political process."

Iran plans to propose the formation of a three-member nonaligned team, plus two neighbors of Syria, to help resolve the crisis there, Iran's state media quoted prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying.

The proposed troika will include Egypt, Iran and Venezuela plus Iraq and Lebanon. Boroujerdi, who met Assad during a visit to Syria last week, said the Syrian president said he would welcome the Iranian plan.

Khamenei told Ban that the solution is to stop weapons shipments to the Syrian rebels, or as he put it, "irresponsible groups inside Syria," according to his website.

A senior Iranian official gave details of the plan Iran is proposing at the summit.

"Iran's proposal ... is a cease-fire and the implementation of a three-month mechanism for national reconciliation talks in this country," the official IRNA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying Wednesday.

Anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in such a plan. The rebels and some others say it has little hope of succeeding. Also, the United States has rejected Iranian participation in international meetings on the Syrian crisis.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged Ban to press Iran over Syria. She said Iran does have a role to play: "It can break with the Assad regime and stop providing material support and arms and advisers and all of these kinds of things," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-chief-hits-host-iran-over-human-rights-152717377.html

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Generate profits Rapidly On the internet by Promoting Informative E ...

E-books have grow to be somewhat of a phenomenon on the web since they?re so straightforward to make, and but they sell like hotcakes on the internet. Several on the web organization owners are earning a six-figure revenue promoting e-books about almost any subject you are able to envision. You also can generate profits quick with this lucrative house enterprise chance.

What are E-books

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It is possible to basically generate 1 downloadable file of one?s written perform using HTML plus a standard e-book software, then give that one file to thousands of clients, with no ever printing a page! The wonderful point about e-books is you?ll be able to sell unlimited numbers of them without added overhead expenses, and you can even promote by means of links inside the e-books to sell your own personal merchandise and services or affiliate goods. E-books give one of the least expensive and most profitable methods to create fast funds on-line.

Earn money together with your Laptop or computer with High Earning E-books

E-books can be about any topic, but you will find some that appear to outsell other individuals. Almost certainly probably the most well-liked types of e-books are instructional. These teach particular expertise or reveal secrets about distinct forms of businesses. Some e-books may teach how you can turn out to be an accountant or paralegal, or how you can sew a quilt. Some teach the best way to cook, the best way to build a residence, the best way to repair bikes? the list goes on. The e-books you offer you should be informative, creative, and easy to use and read.

Other well-known e-books are these that teach the best way to commence a home based business on the internet. These include methods for Search engine optimization advertising, network marketing, internet development, promoting merchandise and services on-line, and a lot more. Net company owners take pleasure in reading these for private goal setting and to understand how to develop their business on the internet to make funds quick.

2 Approaches to Commence an E-book Residence Organization

There are two methods to generate income quickly promoting e-books. 1, you can develop your own personal e-books according to your expertise and expertise. This requires some writing and HTML capabilities, or it is possible to hire a ghostwriter and e-book creation business to complete the function for you.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Oil, Power and Democracy in Iraq: Can They Be Reconciled?

The following article was first published by Keith Myers* on the Revenue Watch Institute website on 9th May 2012.

Can the Iraqi parliament overcome sectarian rivalries and fears to fulfill its role as a legislative and oversight body? Having led a series of workshops with members of parliament over the past nine months, there are glimmers of hope, but it is hard to be anything other than pessimistic.

Iraq has over 150 billion barrels of oil reserves, placing it among the top four oil-rich nations in the world, alongside Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Iraq could become the largest incremental source of oil supply for world markets over the next decade. This oil generated $90 billion in revenues in 2011, and Iraq has the potential to quadruple production from the approximately 2.5 million barrels it now produces daily, to more than 10 million barrels a day?a rate on par with Saudi Arabia. Oil accounts for 93 percent of Iraqi government revenue and its management and fair distribution are central to political discourse. Yet, Iraq has been hindered by its inability to agree upon key policies and pass the legislation needed to manage its oil, such as an oil and gas law and a revenue management law which were first tabled in parliament in 2007, four years after the removal of Saddam Hussein.

The transparency initiatives that Western governments and NGOs champion as a solution to mismanagement and corruption are well-intentioned but miss the real issue Iraqis are struggling with: how power is distributed and exercised within the Iraqi state.

In a petro-state, whoever controls the oil, controls the power. The political conflict in Iraq boils down to how control over oil should be allocated. The 2005 Constitution envisions a federal Iraq that divides power between a federal government, state-level governates and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region?a balance of power that would prevent a return to dictatorship, with no individual or faction having a monopoly control of Iraq?s oil.

Since the last election and the formation of the Maliki-led coalition government, a strong Kurdish regional government has evolved alongside a dysfunctional and increasingly autocratic federal government in Baghdad. The governates, seeing the benefits that autonomy has brought the Kurds, want it for themselves, or at least a larger share of oil revenues.

The conflict between the ?centralizers,? who see the federal government as the ultimate national authority, and the ?devolvers,? who view the federal government as having more limited powers and being accountable to the regions and governates, has manifested in the inability of the parties to agree upon the necessary oil and gas and petroleum revenue laws. These laws are fundamental to how Iraq generates and distributes revenue, and drafts of both have been in parliament since 2007. The Constitution is key, as it is meant to define how power is distributed in the Iraqi state, and it is constantly referenced by parliamentarians. However, its open-ended language leaves room for interpretation on critical policies and issues, highlighting the need for a supreme court to interpret constitutional matters and a federal forum for determining policy that includes Kurdistan and the governates.

There is also an ideological component to political divisions. Some ?devolvers,??particularly Western-educated ?migr?s who often return with a liberal economic agenda?favor privatization, while ?centralizers? prefer to maintain state participation throughout the energy sector.

After three workshops over nine months, I find it hard to be optimistic that a resolution is in sight. On day two of the third workshop, an independent Shia MP, a respected Sheikh who has been critical of the government, failed to join us in the meeting room. His house had been bombed overnight. After confirming that no one was hurt, he rejoined the meeting, stoic but shaken. He spoke no English, but was clearly well-respected by his colleagues for his commitment to service, demonstrated in his constructive contributions to the workshop. The day before his house was bombed, he had told a joke about a Kurdish language teacher working in Baghdad who translated the Kurdish word for ?would? for his students?translating it instead as the Arabic word for ?shouldn?t.? ?But surely it means ?would,?? the teacher was asked. ?Yes,? the teacher said, ?but in Iraq what you would do, you shouldn?t.?

It?s a feeling of helplessness that was striking to our Jordanian facilitator, who noted that the MPs knew what was wrong, but felt powerless to effect any change. Asked what advice they would give to Libya following the revolution there, one female MP said, ?Look at what we have done and do the opposite.?

There are some causes for hope, however. When working in small multi-party groups, individual MPs agreed on many key issues. The high proportion of MPs who are women?six out of 12 in the third workshop?was encouraging, and these legislators took the lead in choosing one of the three draft bills to push forward. It was a welcome show of equitable leadership in a country where only one government minister is a woman.

The political challenges can seem intractable and it?s hard to imagine a resolution of the current legal and regulatory vacuum anytime soon. It may take a new government and an amended Constitution, or even a new generation of leaders, decades down the line, to fix the problems of Iraq?s post-dictator oil power structure. This is a lesson for the countries of the Arab Spring.

*Keith Myers is a London based oil analyst, managing partner of Richmond Energy Partners and a Revenue Watch Institute Advisory Board member.

Source: http://warrenbusinessconsulting.com/2012/08/oil-power-and-democracy-in-iraq-can-they-be-reconciled/

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Relief as Typhoon Tembin skirts Taiwan

Taiwan's rain-battered south heaved a sigh of relief Tuesday after Typhoon Tembin skirted past the island before dawn without making landfall, apparently leaving little damage.

Communities in the exposed southern part of Taiwan had been bracing for a rare second onslaught after Tembin swept across the island late last week and unleashed the worst downpour in more than a century in some areas.

"I feel relieved now," said Yeh Ming-shun, head of Hengchun township, which forms the southernmost tip of Taiwan.

Tembin brushed by Taiwan at 2:00 am (1800 GMT Monday), missing the south of the island by 10 kilometres (six miles), the Central Weather Bureau said.

Hengchun, at the heart of Taiwan's Riviera, is normally a bustling city full of tourists, but Tuesday morning it was deserted, as almost all visitors had cancelled their hotel bookings.

Material damage appeared to be limited, and the area's farmers seemed to have escaped a devastating blow to their livelihoods, partly because they had already harvested a significant amount of the season's fruit and rice.

As of 0115 GMT, Tembin was 130 kilometres (80 miles) north-northeast of Orchid Island off the east coast of Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

With a radius of 180 kilometres, the typhoon was packing gusts of up to 119 kilometres per hour and moving northeast at a speed of 22 kilometres per hour.

A second landfall by Tembin would have been a rare event. The weather bureau said Taiwan had been hit by the same typhoon twice only four times since 1977. The last typhoon to do so was Typhoon Nali in 2001.

When Tembin ground its way across Taiwan late last week, it triggered massive precipitation in some places, with Hengchun receiving more than 600 millimetres (24 inches) of rain within a 24-hour span.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/relief-typhoon-tembin-skirts-taiwan-031706087.html

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How To Improve Your Home Based Business | The Board Magazine

Events can sometimes turn your life upside down. You can have stable employment in a good job and then suddenly lose it, leading to a tremendous shock. Have you contemplated starting a home-based business? By following the advice in this article, you can start setting your own hours in no time at all.

Make your own website banner page. You can then trade links with other sites you know. Having credible links on your site will improve your search engine rankings.

TIP! Instead of using social media to socialize, use it to promote your business. Social media sites can absorb your attention and waste time that can be used elsewhere.

Understand all of the needs of your business before setting it up. Be sure to examine all sides of any home business opportunity that comes your way.

Knowing how to market online is the key to good profits. There are several ways you can take advantage of the Internet to promote your business. Write articles that are related to your niche and post them to article directories and blogs. You can also distribute email newsletters to your customers. The result will be increased exposure and increased profits.

TIP! When you are looking at starting up your home business, don?t overlook the importance of financial business planning. Having an idea of how much income will be generated from the business will be very useful.

When you receive your check in the mail, you should take it to the bank immediately. Consider making daily bank deposits rather than monthly or weekly. Always deposit your checks as soon as you get them. Make sure that when you do make a deposit, you do so with a live teller rather than an ATM machine. This way you will know that they money is going to the right place without any problems.

Schedule a business trip. Business trip expenses can be deducted from your taxes. When you plan your trip around a conference or class related to your business, you can still find opportunities to relax and unwind. This gives you legal cover for deducting the trip from your taxes.

TIP! When starting your home business, it is important to have a website that is capable of selling your product. This is a key opportunity for you to expand your target audience and maximize sales.

Begin a meal or other service catering to people who are busy. Do some brainstorming on paper to come up with ideas for helping out people in your community.

You should have multiple methods available for your customers to contact you. Keep up with your contacts. Find out what purchases they made by asking plenty of questions. It?s likely that your response helps people choose whether or not to buy from you, so look for possible connections between customer purchases and what you say and do.

TIP! Check with a tax professional to find out which tax deductions you are allowed to take for your home business and make sure to take them. Home businesses can provide you with several deductions, including claiming a portion of your heating and cooling costs as business expenses.

Mailing List

Membership fees can be a good way to collect some money from your customers and boost your profits. Consider starting some sort of subscription or membership for your site that your readers can enroll in as a means to increase your earnings.

TIP! Plan your business around your family?s schedule. If you find that it is going to dramatically interfere with the daily life of your family, you may want to rethink the type of home business that you are planning to start.

There should be place on your site for users to sign up for a mailing list. A link to your mailing list should be available on every page of your site.

Once you open your home business, track the mileage you accumulate when driving for business purposes. Driving for business is actually a viable tax deduction. You will see the deductions adding up if you are doing a lot of traveling to visit clients.

TIP! You will find a lot of people who run their own home businesses online. Visit forms and boards that have things to do with what you are working with.

Do not anticipate immediate success simply because you are following a business program that you have deemed likely to bring profit in the future. Your home business will take time before you are able to see success. Success is determined by patience and dedication to your business plan.

Working from home can become boring, so try to arrange meetings with clients. You should try and go to other locations a few times a week in order to maintain personal relationships.

TIP! Contact other business owners and ask them to advertise for you; offer them the same in return. Not only does this make your site visible to a wider audience, it has the secondary benefit of improving your search engine rankings.

There?s a good chance that when you start operating a home based business, your volume of phone communication will greatly increase. Consider buying another phone line so you aren?t bombarded with calls at inconvenient times. You can simply turn the phone off when you?re not working.

As an extra layer of protection for your essential business documents, back them up on inexpensive removable storage. A few minutes spent backing up documents and receipts can potentially save a lot of aggravation if you were to lose the originals. Mozy is an excellent backup option.

TIP! Having a home business website which allows people to buy your product online is a great idea! Choose a affiliate that does well; they can launch your popularity. You can register for one for a low cost at many different websites.

Be sure that your home business is safe and meets all standards. This is especially important if you will have children around. This may mean that you have to put some money into new equipment, and it may also mean you setting some rules and boundaries. Doing this not only keeps your family safe, but it can prevent accidents that could cost money. Even home businesses are subject to inspection.

Be sure to keep an open line of communication with your customers without going overboard. Let them know about specials, discounts, new content, and so on via your e-mail alerts and newsletters. Be sure that you only contact your customer as much as they request from you.

TIP! In the beginning, minimize your spending for your home business. Working from home allows you to save money you would otherwise have spent on leasing a space from which to operate your business.

Business Owners

Keep looking to the future. Past success is no indication of future profits. If you assume your strategy will work in the future without doing any research, you are not focused on the proper information. These things will prepare you for newer opportunities and future obstacles. If you stay focused on the future, you will increase your chances of being prepared for whatever may come your way.

TIP! A good way to start gathering information on how to be successful at a home-based business is to join an online forum or community discussion group. You can find many useful resources by doing a simple Google search.

Joining a network of other home business owners can be extremely beneficial to your success. You can find others who are interested in joining and form a network that fits your particular needs. Even if you aren?t able to network with individuals in your own industry, other people that are home business owners too will have a lot in common with you.

Make sure you let people know if you are out of a certain product. Customers do not like to wait, and you will seriously upset them if the items they ordered won?t be arriving for several days. If a product is on back-order and can?t be delivered swiftly, say that prominently on your website, and offer them a suitable substitute to it.

TIP! Market your home based business online. You can design your own website, or hire a webmaster to build a site that is easy for customers to navigate.

Select a name that has real meaning. Your brand represents your products, so creating a recognizable name makes it easier for your customers to relate to you. Sharing an inspirational story for consumers to associate with your brand can help market your products in a positive light. This will help build your customer loyalty and give your brand a direction.

Doing some research into similar businesses can help you establish a price point for your own company?s services. Set your prices to be competitive with the going rates of similar businesses. Charge what you believe your products are worth, but don?t price yourself out of the market if your competitors are charging less.

TIP! Keep track of all manufacturing costs, such as materials, labor and time, for products which you produce, as doing so can prevent you from losing money. Wholesale sellers often offer their products at twice the cost to make them.

While reading this article, hopefully you were inspired to take your life into your own hands. You were given a lot of tips about starting a home business, and now is the time to grab the bull by the horns and go for it! You can keep this article for reference to read anytime you are not sure what the next step you should be taking is

When it?s time for you to pay taxes on your home business, it?s in your best interests to have an accountant take care of everything. This is vital because learning the different types of tax laws can remove time away from you which you can use for your business.

Are You Looking To Change Your Life & Experience Financial Freedom? At Virtual Assistant Live We Show You How...

Source: http://theboardmagazine.com/2012/08/how-to-improve-your-home-based-business/

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Ideas To Help You With Internet Marketing - Total Vibration

Each and every now and yet again, you might have a light bulb appear over your face that impulses a genius strategy you know may help your business. When a great idea reaches you, be ready to start-up your personal business. The next article offers strategies to Internet marketing.

Consider partnering using a charitable organization. Pick a related good cause for your personal organization to assist, and donate a percentage of income to that firm. This good cause will advertise to suit your needs, and it will surely also make your company appearance greater. You can assistance a number of charities by doing this your potential customers can pick their best.

If standard e-mail to consumers and prospective customers are component of your Internet online marketing strategy, ensure that you swivel the hyperlinks you use in your e-mails. Anything this is the exact same will simply bring about your prospects ignoring the info you are hoping to show to them. Retain the issue collection of your e-mails interesting so that your consumers will continue to read through them.

Make sure that you maximize the caliber of 3rd-get together protection with deals. There are many strategies to be sure that your customer?s protection. VeriSign and McAffee are two this kind of providers. These security systems price funds, but they?re absolutely essential for secure web business.

Article movie advertising to indicate buyers the way your merchandise will boost their day-to-day lives. This will permit the client to see you testing out your merchandise. Display the features of your item, as well as its positive aspects. It is possible to post the recording on web sites such as Facebook or Vimeo, and also all on your own site.

Make your web site to be intriguing, effectively made and loaded with articles that may be pertinent. What your web site looks like, along with the information its content has, will have a big bearing on your amount of achievement. It should draw folks and then make them want to adhere around. The design and style needs to be fascinating and innovative to promote replicate guests.

Use head lines anytime you can. These should be really upbeat and also have a great capture for them. In order to get their eyesight, include a graphic from the item you wish to offer. Visuals will often look a lot more skilled than any common head line.

Will not quit stuff that were not initially effective. A project that did not function just before could work in certain several weeks. The Internet is usually altering and people are exploring new uses at all times. Whilst you shouldn?t put money into was unsuccessful ideas, hang on for them for future years.

If you happen to be an outstanding blogger, then deliver a few of your work about your enterprise to other websites and publications. Usually include your get in touch with and business information and facts inside any content articles you create. Urge these people to give priority to writing the articles you supply by giving them rewards and commissions.

Give your buyers the opportunity to acquire goods at wholesale costs once they buy in number. You ought to make profits on wholesales, but this will help to you enhance the number of goods you sell.

One definite Website marketing requirement is details protection. You should consider each and every achievable key to safeguard your customers? details whenever they purchase from you. Folks often stay away from delivering private data on-line, so permit clients know their private data is protected.

A single clever approach to create a get in touch with list is to create a squash site. Basically, you?re developing a page that can draw your online visitors in to enroll in some thing, therefore enabling you to obtain their e-mails. It might be a free of charge promo supply or possibly a discount in exchange for his or her e-mail address and brand. You will get another individual on your electronic mail and they will get yourself a wonderful freebie.

To conclude, your business could find Web marketing to get beneficial. Web marketing can be done as an alternative to t . v ., print out and stereo advertisements. If you utilize the ideas laid out right here, you might have the ability to apply Online marketing for your enterprise for the gain.

Should you fancy further details on facebook marketing see Tori T. Noerenberg?s site there is a lot of information not detailed in this post, visit Author?s web blog to locate additional information.


Source: http://blog.thorsrubberhammer.com/2012/08/ideas-to-help-you-with-internet-marketing/

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Attorney appeals 2-year jail sentences for 3 Pussy Riot band members in Russia

MOSCOW - An attorney for three members of the Pussy Riot punk band says she has appealed the verdict of a Moscow court that sentenced the women to two years each in jail.

The women were put on trial after performing a "punk prayer" at Moscow's Christ the Savior cathedral in which they called on the Virgin Mary to deliver Russia from its leader, Vladimir Putin.

Lawyer Violetta Volkova said the appeal was submitted to the Khamovniki district court Monday.

The punk rockers' trial caused an international furor, and celebrities including Paul McCartney, Madonna and Peter Gabriel have called for the women to be freed.

The pursuit of the band members has further highlighted the Kremlin's spiraling crackdown on the opposition and critics since Putin returned to presidency in May.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/attorney-appeals-2-jail-sentences-3-pussy-riot-154256544.html

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Money-saving strategies taken to the max

Katy Wolk-Stanley from Portland, Washington hasn't bought new items in five years. She did it by shopping at thrift shops and using store credits, and explains how being frugal helped her pay off $20,000 in credit card debt

By Martha C. White, TODAY contributor

What?s more extreme than buying a cartful of groceries with nothing more than a few bucks and a sheaf of coupons? How about not buying food at all ? for an entire month?

?"In January, I don?t spend any money on food," said Beth McAfee-Hallman,?who blogs about her adventures in extreme savings at?OneFabulousMama.com.?Buying baking supplies in bulk and preserving her own fruits and veggies gives her a stockpile, and she barters her baked goods for wild turkey, venison and eggs. "So if I have to scrap my grocery budget, I can do that," she said.

Kristen Cross of the blog?TheFrugalGirl.com?said that when her family was in what she termed "stay-afloat mode" several years ago, deregulation had her scrambling for a solution to skyrocketing utilities bills. "I spray-painted gallon milk bottles black and filled them with water and put them on my deck in the sun ... and I used that for the kids? bath water and washing dishes," she said. "The water actually got pretty hot."?

Could you go 5 years without buying anything new? This mom did

This might sound radical, but for some Americans, it's a way of life. Extreme couponing is practically an Olympic sport these days, but frugal living bloggers are playing the X Games of savings.

The guiding principle of the extreme saving community is ?The Compact.? Started by a group of friends in 2006, it?s a pledge to refrain from buying anything new for one full year. There are a few exceptions like food and "non-couture or ornamental"?underwear, but it's a pretty radical departure from typical American consumption patterns.

Extreme savers draw a distinction between themselves and hard-core couponers. Although both groups aim to save money, they take opposite paths to reach that goal.

"Deal blogs are kind of like, 'Buy this, buy this' ? really, you don?t need to go shopping," Cross said. "It's sort of a more pared-down, less consumer-y way of saving money."

"My most intense efforts lie in trying to stay away from buying new stuff," said?Katy Wolk-Stanley, whose website?TheNonConsumerAdvocate.com has the tag line, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."?

"I?m totally fine having two pairs of jeans and five pairs of shoes," Wolk-Stanley said.

Some extreme savers have frugality ingrained into them from a young age. Growing up, "There was very little to go around," said McAfee-Hallman.?"The image of Little House in the Big Woods, as the family prepared for winter and their attic was stocked ? that made a lasting impression on me as a very hungry little girl," she said.

Other frugal living devotees came into the notion later in life.?

Katy Wolk-Stanley thought she could go a month without buying anything new. Five years later, she's continuing her "non-consumer" lifestyle, based on borrowing and buying used. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports, and Stanley talks about how her frugality has affected her life.

Finding herself?$20,000 in debt in February 2008, Natalie McNeal swore off discretionary?expenditures like dining out, hair appointments and manicures. ?I saved $400 and a light bulb went on,? said McNeal, who launched the blog?TheFrugalista.com?and later followed up with a book about her embrace of the frugal-living lifestyle.

?It wasn't always easy, she said. "Before becoming a frugalista, I never cooked at home ... I knew maybe like two dishes." To keep her commitment, McNeal said she wound up eating tortilla chips and salsa for dinner some nights.

Eating at home and shopping at thrift stores are just the tip of the iceberg for extreme savers. Even when most Americans would probably relegate something to the trash, they practice the art of salvaging.

?"Say one of my kids came home from school and their binder had broken,"?said?Sara Tetreault, who blogs at at?GoGingham.com, "We'd take?out the cardboard and the metal spine, because those components get recycled ... instead of just automatically thinking 'I need to throw this in the trash can.'"

When McNeal's bed, which had been damaged by movers, collapsed one day, "I was like, 'Oh my goodness, I can?t pay to have it fixed,'" she said. "I went to Lowe's and got a $3 cinder block so I could prop up the corner, and you?d never know."

?"I used to waste a lot of food and I had these piles of food in front of me and I was like, 'I?m so embarrassed,'" Cross said. She started taking pictures of her weekly fridge clean-outs, hoping that sharing her piles of wilted veggies and abandoned leftovers would motivate her to waste less.?

Tetreault took an an even harder line against trash for her family of four, paring back garbage pickup to once a month.?Although the cost difference with weekly pickup is "negligible," Tetreault said she saves on the back end because the question of what to do with the packaging deters her from buying new things.?

Monthly trash pickup? People who take a commitment to living frugally concede that the "ick" factor is an occupational hazard.

"In the hot months, our garbage gets really smelly and I do think, 'Oh man, why do we do this again?'" Tetreault said.

"I would always buy generic diapers," said Amy Suardi, blogger at Frugal-Mama.com and mother of four kids. "Yeah, sure I had to clean a lot of blowouts, but I thought that was just part of being a mother of a baby ? That's a lot of what frugal living is ? it's doing it the hard way."

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Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2012/08/27/13398125-money-saving-strategies-taken-to-the-max?lite

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Top Five Personal Fitness Apps | Mobile Phone Blog

Following the overwhelming popularity of the?Olympics, it seems that the nation has gone sports mad. Athletics clubs are seeing a huge growth in membership applications and people are generally moving from a sedentary lifestyle to embracing personal fitness on a whole new level, whether it be as fairweather joggers or hardcore gym obsessives.

Smartphone owners who want all the benefits of a personal trainer packed into their handset have a myriad of options available when it comes to apps that can aid health and fitness. Here, we take a look at five of the best options available across different?operating systems to get you into gold medal winning shape.

5. GAIN Fitness

iOS app?GAIN Fitness touts itself as the modern equivalent to a personal trainer and being full of custom workout regimes, it does an incredibly good job. Whether the user is training for a marathon or looking for a full body tune-up,?GAIN Fitness will have it covered thanks to a detailed list of options that allow a totally bespoke fitness timetable to be built.

The interface makes the app very easy to get around and innovative touches such as video examples of individual workout moves makes for an impressively intuitive user experience. For those seeking even more training options, several expansion packs are also available for the app.

4.? WalkJogRun

Those looking for a less intense workout atmosphere than that offered by the likes of?GAIN Fitness could do much worse than consider the serene?WalkJogRun. Available for iOS and with an Android version on its way soon, the app caters for anyone that wants to get fit at their own pace (but is happy to pound the pavement to do it).

Using GPS data to chart and log movements during training,?WalkJogRun creates an overall picture of a user?s fitness history and, as such, is able to provide detailed data for everything from calories burned to elevation data of a given route. Users can also upload their favourite routes, meaning the app has a huge database with which to inspire any up and coming Mo Farahs.

3. RunKeeper

A phenomenally popular app for runners, hikers, cyclists and anyone else looking to get fit by getting on the move, RunKeeper provides a myriad of options for devotees of physical exertion. The software is available for both Android and iOS and offers a combination of GPS-based stats with a strong community element.

The app is incredibly easy to use from the off and lets users start tracking routes almost instantly. At the end of a session a detailed route map is provided along with a vast array of information including calories burned, average pace and distance ran. Activities can also be shared across social networks, making showing off fitness stats to friends a one touch process.

2. MyFitnessPal

Available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS,?MyFitnessPal offers a holistic approach to health and fitness. The app provides the complete health package with a food diary, daily exercise record and detailed progress chart all on hand to help aid and monitor your progress.

Although?MyFitnessPal is as much about diet as it is about exercise, this combination approach allows for a balanced perspective on personal health and as such is perfect for anyone who is simply looking to compliment a diet with some basic aerobic exercise.

1. Endomondo

As pretty much the ultimate exercise companion,?Endomondo is a vital resource for anyone who is even slightly obsessed with health and fitness. The app is open across all platforms, even Symbian, and is able to track activities such as running, cycling, aerobics and hiking.

Like?RunKeeper,?Endomondo keeps track of activities via GPS signal but offers a much more detailed level of exercise analysis including innovative features such as personalised hydration recommendations and distance goals with audio feedback.

Will power is still undoubtedly the most important aspect of getting out and doing some exercise, however Endomondo provides a level of motivational material unparalleled by other fitness apps and makes the fight for health that little bit easier.

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Source: http://blog.dialaphone.co.uk/2012/08/25/top-five-personal-fitness-apps/

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Does the Proposed Domestic Fuels Protection Act Put a Burden on Consumers?

Domestic Fuels Protection ActCAVEAT EMPTOR: Some green groups bemoan the recently introduced Domestic Fuels Protection Act because it would exempt highly profitable producers of fuels and fuel additives from liability for damage caused by their products and push the burden of cost onto consumers. Image: Hemera Collection

Dear EarthTalk: What is the Domestic Fuels Protection Act of 2012, and why are environmental groups opposing it??William Bledsoe, Methuen, Mass.

The Domestic Fuels Protection Act of 2012 (H.R. 4345) is a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives in April 2012 by a bi-partisan group of Congress members to protect domestic producers of ethanol, biodiesel and other green-friendly fuels from liability to end-users who put the wrong kind of fuel or fuel mix into their tanks and damage their engines and/or emit exaggerated amounts of pollution accordingly. The idea behind the bill is to ensure that domestic ?green? fuel and related equipment producers aren?t forced into dire financial straits or put out of business due to crippling liability claims.

But some feel that the fuel industry, whether its products are environmentally friendly or not, should be held accountable for damage its products may cause. Most recently, E15, a fuel blend containing 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol (a renewable crop-based fuel) came under fire for causing engine damage in some older cars and trucks. The EPA approved the use of E15 in 2010 after lobbying from the ethanol industry, which seeks to up the ethanol content of gasoline from what had been the standard of 10 percent, which is much easier for gasoline engines to tolerate.

The Auto Alliance, an industry group, recently released a study claiming that upwards of five million cars on U.S. roads today could be damaged if owners pump in E15 instead of straight gasoline or even the milder E10 (10 percent ethanol, 90 percent gasoline). ?Problems included damaged valves and valve seats, which can lead to loss of compression and power, diminished vehicle performance, misfires, engine damage, as well as poor fuel economy and increased emissions,? reports the group, adding that the potential costs to consumers are significant. ?The most likely repair would be cylinder head replacement, which costs from $2,000-4,000 for single cylinder head engines and twice as much for V-type engines.?

Environmental and consumer advocates say that H.R. 4345 is a bad deal for consumers who will be left footing the bill for these repairs. The non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) bemoans the bill because it would exempt hugely profitable and already ?favored interests? including fuel producers, engine makers and retailers of fuels and fuel additives from liability for damage caused by their products.

H.R. 4345 is currently under committee review in the House, but analysts doubt it will ever make it to a floor vote given the contentious debate surrounding the fact that it puts the burden of repair costs on end consumers. Users on the govtrack.us website (which provides free and comprehensive legislative tracking for everyday citizens) give H.R. 4345 only a three percent chance of passing. Meanwhile, the Senate is considering a companion bill, the so-called Domestic Fuels Act (S. 2264). But unless the House passes its version first, the Senate bill is unlikely to gain much traction.

CONTACTS: EWG, www.ewg.org; Auto Alliance, www.autoalliance.org; GovTrack.us, www.govtrack.us.

EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine ( www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.


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Saturday, August 25, 2012

These Ideas Will Jumpstart Your Home Improvement Project ...

If you are working with a contractor, stick to your plan. Making changes when contractors are working can be not only expensive, but also frustrating for the contractors. Wasting their time costs you money, so stay with your original idea. You can always tweak things later if you feel you want something different.

One great way to make the inside of your home sparkle is to put new molding in. New molding helps create a fresh sense in your living space. You can purchase special molding with beautiful carvings on them to add an unique touch of elegance and style to your home.

When looking for home improvement ideas to help your home sell, do not forget about storage space. Adding additional shelving and cabinets in the garage or custom storage to the closets are a great way to get organized, but also help in the resale of your home. Home buyers are always looking for additional storage space.

To really spruce up your kitchen you should change the knobs that are on your cabinets. Many people do not realize what a difference the right set of knobs can really make. There are a great selection now available and you can get them to match your unique style. This is an affordable way to change the look of your kitchen.

When renovating a historic home, visit home salvage yards or resale shops to find period fixtures and hardware. If you are friendly with the employees or owners, they may keep your name and number handy so they can get in touch in case a fabulous chandelier or another great period piece comes into their shop.

If you have an issue with privacy in your living room or trying to define different spaces, a great way to do that is by using privacy screens. Privacy screens come in a myriad of designs, and you are sure to find one that matches your home. You can define different spaces by installing your privacy screens in a way that blocks the view from that particular area.

A mistake that people make when deciding on painting is they do not test their paint first. When you are going to paint your exterior, or even an interior room, go buy a quart of the color you are thinking of and put it on the wall for a week to see how you like it. If after a week you still like it, go buy the paint and finish.

Take your new cabinets apart before installing them. Remove the cabinet doors and all of the drawers to make them lighter and easier to install. Make sure to label all of the drawers and doors so that you can get them put back onto the right cabinet when they are installed.

Know your limits. Don?t try to plan a major improvement project full of expensive features unless you have a budget and a schedule that can handle it. Don?t assume you?ll be able to do everything yourself, and also understand that most of the cost of renovations is materials, not labor.

Having a small kitchen doesn?t have to be all bad. Since you have limited surfaces and space to work with, make sure to purchase a sink with a deep bowl. Then add some elegant high- end faucets to match the rest of your kitchen. You can easily create a feeling of space without having to compromise the rest of your home.

Home improvement should always start with the plumbing and the bathrooms. Bathrooms are a key room in a household and will make a house feel like brand new. It?s also one of the most profitable improvements to do to a house if a person ever decides to sell it.

While printing up a full budget for every project is always smart, always add a little extra to your final price even if you think you have everything covered. It?s better to be ready for the unexpected if it occurs than to have your whole project stalled because you?re short a few dollars.

If you are the proud owner of an asphalt driveway you need to keep on the lookout for cracks and repair them as soon as possible to keep your driveway in good shape. Keeping your driveway clean and free of debris is the first step in good driveway maintenance.

You need to make sure that a contractor who claims to be a professional really is a professional before hiring them to do any work in or around your home. There are many contractors who claim to be professionals when they really are not. You should ask to speak with a contractor?s references before hiring them.

When doing a DIY home improvement project, put safety first. Make sure you wear protective equipment such as a hard hat and goggles when needed. Use power tools (especially ones you are not familiar with) with extreme caution. Read the directions and ask for help when needed. Home improvement stores are a great resource of information.

Now you should be much more prepared when it comes to home improvement. If you thought that you were ready before, with this information from this article you should now be an expert! The tips that were given should have provided you some advice that can help you get started with improving your own home.

Raylene Pritchard is seen as a proud owner of Roofing Jacksonville

Source: http://lmaureen.com/these-ideas-will-jumpstart-your-home-improvement-project/

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