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Temperatures in June and the first week of July make this summer so far one of the top-three in the continental United States since 1950, say meteorologists.

By Wynne Parry,?LiveScience / July 30, 2012

File photo of farmer Scott Wason holds a stalk of wheat during the harvest on his property near Roma.

Tim Wimborne/Reuters

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As the month draws to an end, it's clear that July continued the trend for unusually warm weather for the United States.

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Temperatures in June and the first week of July qualified this summer so far as one of the top-three hottest summers in the continental United States since 1950, said Bob Smerbeck, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather.com.

"I think it has a chance to get into the top three whether it is the top one remains to be seen, we still have the rest of July and August," Smerbeck told LiveScience.

An article in the news suggesting this month was on track to surpass the all-time record set in July 1936 is incorrect, Jake Crouch, a climate scientist here at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, told LiveScience in an email. That statement, which appeared in USA Today, was the result of an inaccurate interpretation of weather data, he wrote. [Dry and Dying: Images of Summer Drought]

"However, July has been warmer than average, and it is likely that the month will conclude with July temperatures above the 20th-century average. At this time we cannot say with any certainty how much above average the July temperatures [it] will be," Crouch wrote.

Things could be worse. The core of heat in the middle part of the country has not expanded countrywide. Although heat waves have traveled eastward over the upper Great Lakes, through the Northeast and down into parts of the Southeast, they have not been sustained, Smerbeck?said.

Since the beginning of June, the west coast is tracking at just below-average temperatures.

In June, a core of heat was centered over the high plains and extended to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. In July, this atmospheric system shifted east over the Midwest from Omaha to St. Louis and up towards Chicago, he said.

The jet stream, a band of high-altitude westerly winds, plays a role in this weather pattern by acting as a boundary between cool, northern air and warmer southern air. It was been situated over northern California, then across the northern plains near the Canadian border before dipping southeast over the northeastern part of the country in late July, Smerbeck said.

The jet stream was deflected to the north over the center of the country by a high-pressure system, which is responsible for the core of heat. In this system, air sinks and warms, exacerbating the drought conditions.

Storms occur along the periphery of this high-pressure system, and they are responsible for bringing precipitation and cooler weather to areas to the north and east.

Precipitation over the southern Rockies and southwestern desert, particularly Arizona, has helped these regions catch up after dry conditions earlier, he said.

Follow Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_ParryorLiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/_0Q3tlyxD6o/How-hot-is-it-this-summer-One-of-the-three-hottest-since-1950-so-far

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thomsenlee

A look at Enghouse Interactive?s Products page?shows it is not the easiest of companies to understand. Listed are six products ? companies actually ? that make up the parent: Arc Solutions, CosmoCom, Datapulse, Synellect, TelRex and Trio. As yet this list doesn?t include the latest acquisition, Zeacom. All the businesses in some way connect to multichannel communications and the contact center, with products that range, respectively, from communication management systems for Cisco, a cloud-based contact center, unified communications applications that improve collaboration between employees within an organization, a premises-based multichannel contact center, IP call recording and workforce management, and telephony systems, with Zeacom adding a cloud-based unified communications system based on Microsoft Lync.

Since Enghouse Systems Ltd. was formed in 1984 as a software and service company, the company has pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy but has largely left the companies it acquires to operate as independent businesses. This strategy serves Enghouse Interactive?s objective to provide systems that support organizations as they come to grips with customer interactions that arrive through an increasing number of communication channels. My research into cloud-based contact centers?shows that this is no easy task; companies today support around five interaction channels, and the number is rising with the introduction of chat, text-based messages and social media.? The research also shows that many companies see cloud-based systems as the answer, so it is no surprise that Enghouse Interactive makes several of these systems available in the cloud.

The primary example is CosmoCom. CosmoCall Universe is an all-in-one, multimedia, multichannel (telephone, video, email, text, IM and collaboration) contact center suite, which includes ACD, IVR, video-based IVR and interaction recording. It also supports intelligent interaction routing, as all interaction types, regardless of media, are placed in a single queue and routed based on the same rules. Single-queue interaction routing is supported by CosmoDesigner, which is an easy-to-use graphical tool that allows users to build interaction flows by dragging and dropping icons into a flow diagram, which is then converted to routing rules.? The product includes an agent desktop, web-based administration, performance dashboards and a full set of reports.? It is all IP-based, built to be highly scalable, and supports multitenancy architecture. ?These last three capabilities make it ideal for CosmoCom?s primary market, which is telecom service providers and large outsourcing companies that run the software as the basis for on-demand contact center services. For example, British Telecom?s Next Generation Contact Center (NGCC) is a network-hosted contact center that allows BT to offer its customers contact center services that are fully under the control of the customer because the platform is multitenant ? each customer can administer the service as if it were their own.

Enghouse?s Syntellect?CIM product includes capabilities similar to those of CosmoCom but aimed at the on-premises market. It offers unified multichannel interaction management (inbound and outbound voice, email, fax, SMS, social media and chat), intelligent routing, an agent desktop, recording and a comprehensive set of reports, plus post-call surveys and a complete searchable customer interaction history called iVault. Intelligent routing is achieved by converting all interactions to tasks, which are then managed from a single queue based on one set of rules. Rules can include agent profiles, so that interactions can be routed on more than agent skills; for example, they could be routed to the agent with the best success rate at handling a particular type of interaction. They also include predefined escalation rules so that tasks can be raised in priority. The architecture is highly scalable, distributed and designed to be fault-tolerant, with built-in redundancy at multiple levels. Although aimed at on-premises installations, the platform can be offered as a cloud-based, but not fully multitenant, system.

The Zeacom acquisition adds another multichannel contact center?platform to the portfolio. The Zeacom platform includes a workflow engine and capabilities to support business process automation ? two major differentiators that support companies? efforts to redefine their multichannel interaction handling processes. It is based on the Microsoft Lync platform, and so offers unified communications and collaboration capabilities.

In CosmoCom, Syntellect and Zeacom, Enghouse Interactive has made three acquisitions with very similar top-line capabilities but several lower-level variations. The question this raises is where this is all heading. More acquisitions to buy more market share? Not so, I was told. The long-term objective is to rationalize the portfolio to create a full-featured cloud-based interaction management platform that maximizes the relationships with Cisco and Microsoft. The company therefore continues to invest in product development across all three platforms, along with more technology-based partnerships and an ecosystem of partners to provide sales and services around the globe.

Enghouse Interactive is company to watch, with some interesting products that, if successful, will match up to the way our research suggests the interaction management market is moving.

Regards,

Richard J. Snow

VP & Research Director

37.769127 -121.960068

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Source: http://blog.ventanaresearch.com/2012/07/31/enghouse-expands-its-portfolio-of-contact-center-vendors/

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The announcement, made after a regular cabinet meeting, follows rules issued by China's top economic planning agency - the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) - to open up strategic industries presently dominated by state-owned companies to the private sector.

"The cabinet meeting urged various regions and government departments to take candid and effective measures to implement policies to create an environment that is fair, transparent and predictable to all market players including the private ones," the central government said in a statement on its website, www.gov.cn.

China must "launch some key projects, as soon as possible, to allow private investment in railways, public utilities, energy, telecommunications, financial, health and education industries, in order to set up examples," the State Council said, after a meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.

There was no specific mention of the sums involved or if any of the cash earmarked for the projects was net new spending.

The NDRC said last week that it had issued 42 news rules for attracting and removing impediments to private investment.

The push to open state controlled industries leaves some analysts skeptical and anticipating resistance from state-backed giants which enjoy preferential access to finance and government contracts.

"I'm not quite optimistic about the short-term results," said Zhiwei Zhang, Nomura's China economist in Hong Kong.

Zhang said there was mismatch between the sectors the government would like to open up and the profitable ones that private investors would really like to put their money in.

China signaled in May that it would boost private investment in the most determined push since joining the World Trade Organisation to reduce the role of the state sector in the economy.

The State Council said China was facing rising downward pressure and it urged industry to hasten the restructuring of Chinese economy and boost investment as well as consumption.

"At a time when the domestic economy faces rising downward pressure, we must take timely and forceful measures to encourage companies to use new technology, new material and new equipment to speed up industry upgrade," the statement said.

INVESTMENT SPENDING

To bolster growth, China has been "fine-tuning" policies since autumn and accelerated the pace recently, cutting interest rates twice in June and early July, fast-tracking investment projects and encouraging energy-efficient consumer spending.

Zhang said the recipe to bolster China's slowing economy in the short run was still heavy state-backed infrastructure investment.

Beijing has so far refrained from labeling any of its policy efforts as outright stimulus.

China's Communist Party leadership remains acutely sensitive to the inflationary and speculative forces unleashed by the 2008 program which the government is still struggling to bring back under control, particularly in the real estate sector.

China's economy experienced its slowest three months of growth in more than three years in the April-June period, which expanded by 7.6 percent - only just above Beijing's target rate of 7.5 percent.

The economy is on track for its slowest full year of growth since 1999, albeit at a rate that economists in a Reuters poll forecast at 8 percent.

(Reporting by China economics team; Editing by Nick Edwards)

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20120730/china-to-launch-key-projects-spur-private-investment.htm

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Monday, July 30, 2012 | by

DCR Chamber Sales and Marketing Intern

Title: Sales and Marketing Intern

Background: The Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce is a business organization that serves its members by shaping public policy, providing networking, supporting educational opportunities, encouraging business & community development, and much more.? We serve the cities of Eagan, Farmington, Lilydale, Mendota Heights, Mendota, Rosemount, Sunfish Lake, and West St. Paul.

Description:? The Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce is seeking a sales and marketing intern looking to earn credits for class or business experience.? This intern would be working closely with the Membership Director reaching out to prospective members.? Additionally, they would work with the communications and events manager to help create promotional items for upcoming events and programs.?? As an intern at DCR Chamber, you would be exposed to many business professionals in the community who could be valuable connections when seeking a job.? You will get hands on experience in a professional business environment.

For more information on this internship, contact Carie Statz at carie.statz@dctc.edu or check out this post.

Source: http://blogs.dctc.edu/business-management/2012/07/30/marketing-and-sales-internship-at-dcr-chamber-of-commerce/

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India's central bank was widely expected to keep interest rates on hold Tuesday, a day after saying it was worried about still stubborn inflation despite a slowing economy.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hinted in a report issued on the eve of its regular policy meeting in India's financial hub that it was unable to cut interest rates further at this point to spur the nation's flagging economy.

"Persistence of inflation, even as growth is slowing, has emerged as a major challenge for monetary policy," the bank said.

India's once-booming economy grew just 5.3 percent between January and March, its slowest annual quarterly expansion in nine years.

While other central banks around the globe have been easing interest rates in bids to revive their troubled economies, the RBI suggested that economic reforms to boost investment were the key to India's revival.

The RBI, which will announce its rates decision at 0530 GMT, rebuked the government, saying "lack of a quick policy response to address structural bottlenecks and encourage investment exacerbated the (economic) slowdown".

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party-led government has failed to make significant strides towards scaling back hefty subsidies on food, fuel and fertilisers or cutting its sizeable fiscal deficit, analysts note.

The economy is now at a "critical juncture" and the RBI encouraged "policy actions to encourage investment", which would include removing constraints on foreign direct investment.

The bank lowered rates in April to kickstart growth -- its first such move in three years. But it has since kept monetary policy steady, citing inflationary pressures, despite calls from business leaders to stimulate the economy.

A weak monsoon, in which the rains have been more than 20 percent lower than normal so far, has stoked the bank's inflation worries because of the potential impact on food prices if crops fail.

Wholesale inflation already stands at 7.25 percent -- far above the bank's comfort level of five to six percent -- while the consumer price index, which covers a smaller band of goods, is at 10.02 percent.

"With upside risks to inflation, we believe that there is limited room for the RBI -- at this juncture -- to support growth through a cut in the repo rate," said Shubhada Rao, chief economist at private Yes Bank.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indias-central-bank-hints-hold-rates-190612894--finance.html

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The foundation?s CEO Jeff Raikes, who spent close to three decades at Microsoft before taking up the assignment in 2008, talks about the milestones and challenges during his recent visit here.

Jeff Raikes, Chief executive officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The $33.5-billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is constantly exploring innovative ways to tackle challenges in global healthcare, sanitation, poverty, education and agriculture.

These include bringing in business techniques to problem solving, partnering with global corporations for low-cost solutions and funding R&D in areas of neglected diseases such as tuberculosis.

The Foundation has committed $1 billion to programmes in India and is also expanding its role globally. However, it faces the criticism of aligning with interests of big pharma and agri-business giants such as Monsanto and Cargill. Raikes debunks such criticism.

?We are taking advantage of a range of solutions, some of which come from those organisations and some from others. They make a difference for the people we serve. For example, we may work with an agricultural development company to take advantage of their intellectual property and pay royalty fee on behalf of the poor. The partnership benefits the poor, not the company.?

So, is the Foundation against open innovation? ?Certainly not. Take, for example, agriculture ? we take intellectual property from agricultural companies and help, say, the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). That is essentially open innovation (like developing water-efficient maize crop for AATF in partnership with Monsanto and others),? says Raikes.

How does he assess the Foundation?s work in India? ?The success of Avahan (started in 2003) shows how you can build large-scale health intervention, in this case to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. Another example was the eradication of polio. This is an important milestone.

Now we are focusing on an integrated approach to interventions across a range of our programmes, from vaccines, tuberculosis management, family health, improved sanitation, agricultural development to financial services for the poor,? says Raikes.

US president Barack Obama recently talked about concerns of US businessmen over the deteriorating investment climate in India. Are there similar impediments when it comes to philanthropy? ?Obama has his own problems back home. To be successful in India, you have to garner broad support.

So, if it is vaccine initiative ? like the pentavalent vaccine initiative with the Avahan programme or the Ananya (to improve health of women and new born) initiative in Bihar ? you have to be aware of the different set of interest groups that will have a point of view. I just consider that to be part of what we have to do to succeed,? says Raikes.

Is the business of making money different from that of giving money? ?The latter is tougher. There are similarities too.

R&D projects in software are similar to the kind of R&D we do here ? both need a disciplined approach. There are differences too. In the private sector, you have the market system giving you continuous feedback that is generally true, except for long-term R&D.

Here, you have to think about measuring the impact of your work. That could be number of lives saved, deaths reduced, disease burden reduced,? says Raikes.

He strongly believes that government support is vital to meeting the Foundation?s objectives. ?Partnership is the only way that these goals can be accomplished. What we essentially do is catalytic philanthropy. We make grants to our partners who develop innovative interventions.

Based on evidence of their success, they could be scaled up and sustained by the public or the private sector. For example, we underwrote meningitis vaccine development efforts where the Serum Institute was an important part.

There was no clear market opportunity because it was targeted at the poor in sub-Saharan Africa. We took that risk and they developed a vaccine. That is an example of investments in innovative interventions,? says Raikes.

He reckons that India with its technological leadership has the capacity to be a huge provider of vaccines to other parts of the world. ?If you take, for example, the meningitis vaccine programme in sub-Saharan Africa, Serum Institute was an integral part of that success,? says Raikes.

What is the difference in philanthropic work in emerging and developed markets? ?There is a strong culture of philanthropy in the US and charitable contributions account for a substantial portion of GDP.

In India, the culture is not the same. I am optimistic that it will develop here and those who have created great businesses will think about how they can put their resources back into society. One of my friends is Azim Premji and what he is doing with his foundation is an example and there will be more like him that follow.?

(Jeff Raikes is the Chief executive officer at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

(Source : Economic Times, 30 July 2012)

Posted by indiacsr on Jul 30 2012. Filed under Philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://www.indiacsr.in/en/?p=7192

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Syria's Muslim Brotherhood denounced on Sunday President Bashar al-Assad, his allies Iran and Russia, and the international community for its "silence" and failure to protect civilians.

In a statement issued amid raging battles in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo, the influential Islamist movement said Assad was "legally and morally responsible for the death of every victim in Syria."

The Brotherhood also said that both Iran and Russia ? the powerful allies of the embattled Assad regime ? were "drowning in the blood of the Syrian people."

"Neither the Russians nor the Iranians will relieve [Assad] of responsibility for his crimes," it added.

The statement was released as troops pushed an offensive for a second day in a row on rebel-held districts of Aleppo, the key city in northern Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister "Sergei Lavrov gave Bashar al-Assad the green light to carry out a massacre," it said.

The Brotherhood also said the international community was "a partner" to violence in Syria, "by standing silent for too long... and failing to respect its obligation under international law to protect civilians."

Echoing a statement issued earlier on Sunday by the opposition Syrian National Council ? in which the Brotherhood plays an important role ? the exiled Islamist group warned of an imminent "massacre" in Aleppo.

It also accused Assad's regime of failing to deliver basic services to much of Aleppo's population.

"There is no running water in the houses, nor is there flour in the bakeries," it said. "There is no medicine in the pharmacies, nor any other kind of service being delivered."

The Muslim Brotherhood was banned in Syria in 1963. Many of its members fled the country following a revolt that was violently suppressed in 1982, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead according to estimates.

-AFP

For the latest developments on Syria, follow @NOW_Syria on Twitter or click here.

Source: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=423454

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I absolutely agree. The government adding sin taxes to corn products is like having a permissive parent? and a authoritarian parent.

And we can control behavior, We can stop incentivizing farmers to make corn, and let them grow what they want.

Ok, I am for subsidies for healthy food, fruits and vegetables, etc. But failing that, no subsidies.

Source: http://myveryhealthy.com/todays-healthcare/the-skinny-on-obesity-ep-7-drugs-cigarettes-alcohol-and-sugar.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-skinny-on-obesity-ep-7-drugs-cigarettes-alcohol-and-sugar

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thomsenlee · July 29, 2012

Granderson misplays ball that could have been caught in 8-6 victory for Boston

Seth Wenig / AP

Yankees center fielder?Curtis Granderson can't catch a ball hit by Pedro Ciriaco during the ninth inning.

By RONALD BLUM

updated 12:54 a.m. ET July 29, 2012

NEW YORK - Boston had wasted a five-run lead by the time Pedro Ciriaco stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Saturday night and hit a hard fly ball toward center field. He thought Curtis Granderson would catch it.

Then Granderson went in on the ball and sprinted back in an attempt to catch up.

"I thought I had a chance," Ciriaco said, "so I run like a hurricane."

The ball landed for a go-ahead triple as Granderson fell, and the Red Sox came away with a dramatic 8-6 win over the New York Yankees after Vicente Padilla allowed a tying, two-run homer in the eighth to nemesis Mark Teixeira.

Adrian Gonzalez had four RBIs for the Red Sox, who built a 6-1 lead for Jon Lester.

"We were good tonight, and we were lucky," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said. "He hit that ball, a knuckleball, 380 feet. It's tough to catch. He's pretty hot right now, so I'd say he was good and we were lucky."

A three-time All-Star, Granderson had expected to make the catch.

"I didn't think it was hit as hard as it was," he said. "And, by the time I tried to get back on it, I couldn't get enough steam to get back to it."

Jacoby Ellsbury's one-out walk off Rafael Soriano (2-1) preceded the hit by Ciriaco, who boosted the lead to two runs when he scored on Dustin Pedroia's sacrifice fly.

Playing designated hitter while David Ortiz is on the disabled list, the 26-year-old Ciriaco had three hits to raise his average to .356 in 59 at-bats. He also had the go-ahead hit in Boston's only other win over the Yankees in eight tries this year, a two-run double off Phil Hughes in the second game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park on July 7.

"He just comes in and plays, has good at-bats, runs the bases well," Valentine said. "Makes us a better team."

It was Granderson's second fielding flub against the Red Sox. In that July 7 game, the Yankees were ahead 3-1 when Granderson called for Daniel Nava's fly ball and allowed it to bounce off his glove as right fielder Darnell McDonald moved past him. Granderson initially was charged with an error, but the official scorer later changed it to McDonald's.

"We haven't seen much of that, him getting turned around like that," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But it just shows that it's part of the game and sometimes players are going to have the wrong read on balls. It's going to happen in the course of the season, and it won't be the last one, I'm sure."

Andrew Miller (3-1) got one out for the win, and Alfredo Aceves finished for his 22nd save in 26 chances.

New York started to erase its early deficit in the fifth, when Jayson Nix hit a two-run homer and Derek Jeter had an RBI grounder. Then came another matchup of Padilla and Teixeira, who have been jawing at each other from a distance.

Padilla allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez in the eighth, then threw a called third strike past Jeter. Granderson hit two foul drives deep down the right-field line, the second missing a home run by about a foot, before striking out.

Padilla fell behind 2-0 in the count to Teixeira, then lobbed in a 51 mph curveball for a called strike. Teixeira turned on the next pitch, sending it deep into the right-field bleachers. He stared at the ball as he took four short steps up the line, then went into his home run trot.

Padilla wouldn't discuss anything with media. As reporters approached him in the locker room, he said: "About what? One bad day?" turned and walked out.

Teixeira hit a go-ahead, two-run triple off Padilla in the seventh inning at Fenway Park on July 6, sparking a weekend war of words. Padilla accused Teixeira of wronging Latino teammates when they played together on the Texas Rangers in 2006-07, and Teixeira said Padilla threw at hitters and "didn't have a lot of friends in the game." Padilla responded Teixeira would "be better off playing a women's sport."

Teixeira said he's been trying to put the tiff behind.

"Emotion is part of the game, but if you let the emotions get the best of you, especially as a hitter, you swing too hard or you swing at pitches over your head, that does you no good," he said.

Following a rain delay of 2 hours, 4 minutes, Gonzalez hit an RBI double and scored on Will Middlebrook's two-run double in the first, then hit a three-run homer off CC Sabathia in the fifth.

Chris Stewart's first home run since September cut the gap to 3-1 in the third, but Gonzalez boosted the lead with two outs in the fifth when he lined a home run into the right-field bleachers. Gonzalez leads the majors in batting average with runners in scoring position at .418 (41 for 98).

New Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki raced into the right-center gap to rob Gonzalez of an extra-base hit with a catch just in front of the warning track in the seventh.

Lester, who had been 0-3 with a 10.42 ERA in his previous four starts, allowed four runs and four hits in six innings and watched his bullpen blow a lead he left with for the fifth time. He fanned Robinson Cano in the sixth for his 1,000th strikeout.

"We needed to win that game," Lester said. "Guys came back and kept fighting. That was big for us."

Notes: Valentine caused a stir before the game when he said the Red Sox medical staff instructed him not to play LF Carl Crawford four days in a row, a mandate Valentine said he ignored earlier in the month after the left fielder came off the DL. ... Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona visited with Boston players before the game in the Red Sox clubhouse, preparing for his job as a broadcaster for Sunday night's game on ESPN. ... Sabathia gave up a season-high six runs and eight hits in six innings.

More news

Ciriaco's gift triple lifts BoSox

??Curtis Granderson misplayed Pedro Ciriaco's ninth-inning flyball into a go-ahead triple, and the Red Sox beat the Yankees 8-6 after Mark Teixeira had tied the score with a two-run homer off nemesis Vicente Padilla.

Hot White Sox defeat slumping Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Adam Dunn hit his major league-leading 31st home run, Philip Humber pitched six solid innings and the Chicago White Sox won their fifth straight game by beating the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Saturday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48376950/ns/sports-baseball/

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thomsenlee

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

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

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

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

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

PALMER PARK, Md. (AP) ? Calling himself "a joker," a Maryland man with an arsenal of guns threatened to shoot up a business he was being fired from, and was wearing a T-shirt that said "Guns don't kill people. I do" when police confronted him, authorities said Friday.

The 28-year-old man, identified in a search warrant as Neil E. Prescott, told a supervisor at software and mailroom supplier Pitney Bowes that he wanted to see his boss' "brain splatter all over the sidewalk," according to police and an application for a search warrant.

"I'm a joker and I'm gonna load my guns and blow everybody up," Prescott said, according to the document.

The threats were made repeatedly in two separate phone calls this week, and investigators who searched Prescott's apartment Friday morning found several thousand rounds of ammunition and about two dozen semi-automatic rifles and pistols. The weapons so far appear to have been acquired legally but are still being examined, said Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Prescott was taken into custody at his apartment Friday and was receiving a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital. He was not expected to be charged Friday, the Prince George's County police department said on Twitter.

"We can't measure what was prevented here, but what was going on over the last 36 hours was a significant incident in the county. And we think a violent episode was avoided," said county police Chief Mark Magaw.

The workplace Prescott is accused of threatening to shoot up is located just outside Washington.

It wasn't immediately clear when the threat was to be carried out or how seriously it was meant to be taken, but last week's mass shooting at a Colorado theater during the latest Batman movie ? coupled with the "Joker" reference ? put police on edge and gave the comments extra urgency, officials said.

"We take all threats seriously. And if you're going to make a threat, we will take action," Magaw said.

Though there's no other indication of a link to the Colorado shooting, police believe the joker comments were a "clear reference" to the killings, the warrant said. The man accused in those shootings, James Holmes, had his hair dyed reddish-orange, and called himself the Joker, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said.

It was not immediately clear if Prescott had a lawyer. His record in Maryland appeared to include only a 2007 speeding ticket.

A search for Neil Prescott on a website that tracks users' online activities led to a profile that appears to be him on mdshooters.com, a website for gun enthusiasts. On it, Prescott, who used an online tag of slog403 and identified himself as from Crofton, traded advice with other users about obtaining firearms.

During a conversation last week about acquiring a 30-round magazine, he indicated he would "never violate MD laws as I respect this site and state." But in a July 18 post, he also said he wished to "unleash 30 rounds of hell" and added a smiley face emoticon. It wasn't clear what he was referring to.

He was taken into custody Friday morning at his apartment in Crofton, near Annapolis, after the threat was reported to the police. Police on Thursday made an initial visit to Prescott's home, where he appeared groggy and was wearing the T-shirt with the reference to guns.

"The multiple threats and the nature of the threats and that action, together, led us to a place where we could get an emergency petition" for a psychiatric evaluation, said Deputy Police Chief Henry Stawinski.

According to the search warrant application, Prescott made the threat during a phone call on Monday morning when a supervisor contacted him on a work-related matter, then made similar statements in a separate conversation about 15 minutes later. During the call, Prescott acknowledged it was "kind of foolish of me" to say this over the phone, the supervisor told authorities.

The supervisor was aware of Prescott's arsenal and the comments "made him feel fear for his life," police said in the warrant application. The document said Prescott had been fired after working at Pitney Bowes for at least three years, but police said Friday he was in the process of being terminated.

The supervisor did not want to talk to a reporter, his son said Friday.

Pitney Bowes spokeswoman Carol Wallace said in a statement that Prescott was an employee of a subcontractor to the company and had not been on any Pitney Bowes property in at least four months.

Wilbert Brinson, who lives in a building across from Prescott's but did not know him, said he was alarmed by the alleged threats.

"It's an awakening, you know, after hearing what happened in Colorado," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Brian Witte and AP researcher Judith Ausuebel contributed to this report. Zongker reported from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-07-27-Maryland%20Shooting%20Plot/id-93c6c9438f6d4ae4913ec9a2c6a909de

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thomsenlee

This was a "use what you got" recipe where I wanted to use what was in my fridge and pantry. I loosely based this off of the pastitsio recipe from The Olive and The Caper cookbook. Mine has no dairy and no eggs. It's damn good too. It's layered with veggies, vegan sausage, tomato sauce and topped with a creamy vegan bechamel sauce. It is TASTY.

Recipe:

4 TB olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
a small 1/2 head of broccoli, chopped, stems and all
2 Tofurky tomato and basil flavor veggie sausages, chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 jar Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Marinara
1 lb. macaroni, penne or ziti pasta
1/2 cup to 1 cup Daiya vegan cheese

For bechamel sauce:
3 TB Earth Balance margarine or other non dairy margarine
3 TB white flour
1 1/2 cups plain almond milk
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of nutmeg

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. I cooked mine for about 10 minutes.
2. While pasta is cooking, saute the veggies in olive oil over medium heat until veggies are almost tender. Add oregano, sausage and continue cooking until veggies are tender. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F.
3. Make the bechamel sauce: Heat the margarine in a pot until melted over medium high heat. Add flour and start whisking until it gets smooth and creamy. Slowly add the almond milk and keep whisking. Keep on medium heat and whisk until thick and creamy about 12 minutes.
4. While you are making the bechamel sauce, the pasta will be done. Drain the pasta in a colander. Pour a bit of olive oil into the empty pasta pot and then add the drained pasta back in along with the cooked veggies/sausage. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Spread about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce along the bottom of a large greased baking dish. Pour a third of pasta mixture over it and then add more marinara on top. Repeat with a couple more pasta layers and marinara sauce. At the end, whisk the bechamel sauce again and then pour over the top of the pasta. Sprinkle with Daiya cheese and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes with foil on top. After 30 minutes, remove foil and bake uncovered for 15 to 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 15 minutes prior to serving.

Source: http://theveganmouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/baked-pasta-with-veggies-and-sausage.html

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thomsenlee

You are here: Home ? Furniture Tips ? Furniture Tips ? 10 Do?s & Don?ts in Furniture Care July 27, 2012 | Furniture Tips | Comments Off

Furniture requires care to keep it looking its best. There are many do?s and don?ts to maintaining your furniture. Furniture is indeed an investment. Keep your furniture looking and feeling great following these most common do?s and dont?s.?

1.) Don?t place drinks on wood furniture.? This may seem an obvious thing to you but to house guests or visitors into your home this may not be immediately clear to them. Sweat from cold glasses or bottles can leave permanent rings and stains on real wood furniture. The best thing to do is purchase coasters and have them out when guests visit. This is also a good idea for everyday use by you as well. Using coasters will improve the life of your wood furniture.

2.) Do rotate cushions or furniture location. Furniture that stays in the same location will have a tendency to see more wear and tear on certain spots or cushions. If you?re able to, try rotating the cushions around periodically so that cushions not seeing as much wear will begin to get use. If you?re unable to move cushions around, then try positioning the furniture differently in the room. This may help for sitting on different areas of your furniture.

3.) Don?t place your quality leather furniture in direct sunlight. Many brands of leather feature do not have protection over the surface of the leather. Over time direct sunlight can fade the color in the leather. If there isn?t a way to position the leather away from sunlight in the room, you may need to consider blinds or drapes over windows.

4.) Do dust your furniture often. Believe it or not, dust can play havoc with furniture and finishes if left over time. Whether it?s a leather sofa or a wood sofa table it?s best to clean these pieces with a clean cloth or furniture polish as appropriate.

5.) Do flip and rotate your mattress. There are many brands of mattresses that require you to flip them over and rotate them around so that you apply wear to different parts of the mattress. This is especially true with innerspring brands.

6.) Don?t let shoes be on your furniture. Easier said than done. If guests come to your home, have an area where shoes can be placed. Kids can also be reminded to keep feet of the furniture or just make sure shoes are off. Scuff marks can happen on tables and ottomans with shoes rubbing on them over time.

7.) Do use a mattress protector for mattresses. Many of the newest models of mattress protectors can be zipped around the mattress entirely. This can help protect against dust mites and bed bugs. Mattress protectors often have a liquid barrier as well which works great for young children still working through

8.) Don?t let heavy furniture sit directly on wood floors. When at all possible, use felt bumpers under the legs of this furniture. If the furniture is bumped or moved on the floor without felt pads underneath, it could lead to scratching and marring of your beautiful wood floor. You can obtain what you need from most hardware or home stores.

9.) Do clean up spills immediately. Should you have a spill, leaving liquids on your furniture will ruin the finish. Be sure that if a spill does occur that you get to it as quickly as possible.

10.) Don?t let the kids jump on the beds. As much fun as jumping on a bed is, there are supports beneath the bed such as slats that could be problem prone if enough weight hits them in the same spot time and time again. Best to not take any chances.

These are just some of the most common do?s and don?ts with furniture care. Remember that your furniture is an important investment to your home. Caring for it is important as it will help improve the life of your furniture.

Tagged with: Blinds, Care Furniture, Coasters, Drapes, Everyday Use, Furniture Care, Furniture Cushions, Furniture Furniture, Furniture Polish, Furniture Tips, Havoc, Leather Sofa, Mattres, Mattresses, Quality Leather Furniture, Real Wood Furniture, Sofa Table, Stains, Wear And Tear, Wood Sofa

Source: http://www.bitkiselzayiflamak.com/furniture-tips/furniture-tips-10-dos-donts-in-furniture-care/

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thomsenlee

This year's Black Hat online security conference, held in Las Vegas, saw the return of a number of the speakers who showed up at the very first one. And while the best security practices might have changed some since that first conference was held in 1997, one thing has not changed: your best security investment lies with hiring the right people.

The point came up at a session that featured five of the professionals who spoke at the original Black Hat conference. While the main topic of the discussion was security over the next 15 years, it's natural that the speakers should consider where businesses might best spend their money. On this, all five were unanimous: invest in people, not gadgets.

Black Hat founder Jeff Moss insisted that ?The best return is on your employees...I rely on people, not on a widget. I can get all the widgets I need for free from the great open source community.?

One vital issue they raised was that it's not just a matter of hiring good security staff. Businesses also need to hire good people managers. Such managers understand how to get the best out of those they manage and how to put the right person in the right role. Marcus Ranum, another Black Hat speaker who also spoke at the very first BH conference, agreed with this point. Companies can use forensics and malware specialists, of course, but they also need generalists capable of seeing the bigger picture.

To illustrate this point, Ranum pointed out that most businesses these days don't run their own payroll system. Instead, they hire a payroll service to do it for them. In the old days, when companies did run their own payroll system, they needed specialists to handle that system. Now, however, what they need is a generalist who can understand how any service (including payroll) will interact with software on the business's premises.

For more on this topic, you can check out the story here. ?

DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

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Source: http://webhosting.devshed.com/c/a/Web-Hosting-Security/For-Online-Security-Invest-in-People/

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thomsenlee

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/48358894/

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thomsenlee · ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012)

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) ? Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed the world's first device designed for mapping the human brain that combines whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. MEG measures the electrical function and MRI visualizes the structure of the brain. The merging of these two technologies will produce unprecedented accuracy in locating brain electrical activity non-invasively.

"We expect that the new technology will improve the accuracy of brain mapping of patients with epilepsy. It may also improve the diagnosis of cancer patients because the improved image contrast may facilitate the characterization of cancer tissue," says Academy Professor Risto Ilmoniemi.

"The innovative MEG-MRI device will allow brain imaging for new patients, such as those with metal implants. Also, the silent and open device will not scare children or make people feel claustrophobic. In the future, this development can also reduce costs as images can be obtained in one session rather than two," Ilmoniemi states.

The problem with MEG is that when the technique is used separately, the image accuracy can be compromised because of the movement of the brain. Also, the image it provides may not be accurate enough for precise brain surgery. In the past, it was not possible to combine high-field MRI and MEG because their magnetic fields interfered with one another. Extremely sensitive magnetic field sensors have now been developed, so scientists can now use the new low-field MRI with a magnetic field strength of only a few hundred-thousandths of that of the high-field MRI device. Fusing these two technologies produces localization accuracy that was not possible with MRI or MEG alone.

The project is coordinated by Aalto University in Finland and it includes 13 research groups from five different countries. The research project is part of the European Commission Seventh Framework Program.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Aalto University, via AlphaGalileo.

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

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wWE0ogBqh6Q/120726102756.htm

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thomsenlee

Manaf Tlas, a defector from the Assad regime, has it all: money, foreign friends, and a secular outlook. Now he's being pushed forward by foreign groups as Syria's strongman in waiting.

By Dan Murphy,?Staff writer / July 26, 2012

Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass walks with Turkey?s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, unseen, before a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner at Davutoglu's residence in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, July 26. The general, who defected from Syria, made a surprise visit to Turkey.

Burhan Ozbilici/AP

Enlarge

One of the problems of supporting revolutions in sharply divided societies, riven by sectarian tension and with much of the population furious after decades of abuse by their central government, is it's hard to put a strong stable government in place once the head has been cut off of the?ancient?regime.

Skip to next paragraph Dan Murphy

Dan Murphy, who has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and more than a dozen other countries, writes and edits Backchannels. The focus? War and international relations, leaning toward things Middle East.

thomsenlee

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

How hot is it this summer? One of the three hottest since 1950 so far.

Enghouse Expands Its Portfolio of Contact Center Vendors ?

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