Man City sign Maicon, Sinclair on frenzied deadline day

Manchester City completed a double swoop for Inter Milan defender Maicon and Swansea winger Scott Sinclair as the Premier League champions set the pace in the frantic final hours before the transfer window closes on Friday.

With only a few hours left to bring in new players before the window shuts until January, England's top-flight clubs are engaged in a frenzy of last-minute wheeling and dealing.

City boss Roberto Mancini has endured a frustrating time in the transfer market since the end of last season, but there has been a late flurry of activity at Eastlands and his ?6 million move for Sinclair was followed by the surprise capture of right-back Maicon for ?3 million, as well as the arrival of former Arsenal goalkeeper Richard Wright on a free transfer.

Mancini may not be satisfied with just those three deals and he has also been linked with bids for Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia and Fiorentina defender Matija Nastasic.

To make room for his fresh recruits, Mancini sold Nigel de Jong to AC Milan, while Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz moved to Malaga on a season-long loan.

Fulham boss Martin Jol sealed a significant coup for his club as he signed Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov from Manchester United for ?5 million.

Berbatov rejected interest from Juventus, Fiorentina and Tottenham to be reunited with Jol, who worked with the forward at Spurs.

"I'm delighted to have signed for Fulham and I look forward to playing under Martin Jol once again," Berbatov said.

"As soon as I was aware of Fulham's interest my decision to join was an easy one to make."

Jol also brought in former England left-back Kieran Richardson from Sunderland, who then landed Tottenham defender Danny Rose on loan as a replacement.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers continued his Anfield clear-out as Scotland international Charlie Adam was sold to Stoke for ?4 million, while fellow midfielder Jay Spearing joined Bolton on a season-long loan.

Rodgers has been looking to bring in American forward Clint Dempsey from Fulham and that deal could still be on.

"We're hopeful of adding to the squad. There are a number of players we're looking at," Rodgers said on Friday.

Across Merseyside, Everton are close to signing Bryan Oviedo from FC Copenhagen after agreeing a fee for the Costa Rica defender.

Tottenham's Holland midfielder Rafael van der Vaart headed to Germany to re-sign for his former club Hamburg, while the north London club allowed Mexico forward Giovani Dos Santos to move to Real Mallorca.

That could prompt a significant spending spree from Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas, who is reported to be interested in Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Southampton finally signed Gaston Ramirez from Bologna for around ?12 million after chasing the 21-year-old Uruguay playmaker for several weeks.

Swansea, needing a replacement for Sinclair, signed Spain winger Pablo Hernandez from Valencia for a club record ?5.55 million.

Arsenal allowed South Korea striker Park Chu-young to go out on loan to Celta Vigo with a view to a permanent switch, while Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner agreed a season-long loan with Italian champions Juventus.

Aston Villa signed young striker Jordan Bowery from Chesterfield for ?500,000 and then turned their attention to securing Genk's Belgium striker Christian Benteke and Crewe midfielder Ashley Westwood.

QPR boss Mark Hughes has already signed a host of new players since the end of last season, but he is still in the market for more and confirmed that Marseille defender Stephane Mbia has arrived London for a medical.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-city-sign-sinclair-amid-deadline-day-frenzy-141507258--sow.html

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Facebook focuses on business, not struggling stock

Click photo to enlarge

A Facebook worker waits for friends to arrive outside of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Friday, Aug. 17, 2012. Facebook stock is trading at $19 and has lost half its market value since its May public offering. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Even as their company has lost nearly half its market value, Facebook executives have had little to say in public about the stock. Instead, they've talked up new ad programs and launched new features, including a beefed-up version of Facebook's iPhone service, aimed at boosting their fledgling mobile business.

But Facebook's stock market struggles pose looming challenges, analysts warn. Talented employees might start to look elsewhere, after watching their own shares lose millions of dollars in value. And some critics have questioned CEO Mark Zuckerberg's leadership.

"Stay focused and keep shipping," is the mantra that Zuckerberg, the company's founder and hoodie-wearing chief executive, has repeated to employees since his former dorm-room startup began selling stock to the public in the spring.

At $38 a share, the highly anticipated initial public offering valued the company in May at a stunning $104 billion, but the stock began a steep slide soon after. It closed Wednesday at $19.10 a share.

Although he has offered some reassurances to Facebook workers, Zuckerberg has kept a relatively low profile since the IPO. That has frustrated some investors and prompted critics to ask if the 28-year-old Harvard University dropout is qualified to lead a public company.

"There's a growing sense that Mark Zuckerberg,

talented though he may be, may be feeling in-over-his-hoodie as CEO of a multibillion-dollar company," said Sam Hamadeh of the New York investment research firm PrivCo.

Zuckerberg's job seems secure because he controls a majority of Facebook's voting shares. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment for this article. But company sources say top executives take investors' concerns seriously, while concentrating on building their business.

When pressed on a conference call after the company's last earnings report, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman told analysts: "Obviously we're disappointed about how the stock has traded. But I think the important thing for us is to stay focused on the fact that we're the same company now as we were before."

Some experts say it's not surprising Zuckerberg would keep his head down while the company struggles to deliver on the exalted potential that early boosters saw in Facebook. Analysts say one of its biggest challenges is the mobile platform, which is drawing users faster than its desktop interface, while producing far less advertising revenue.

With nearly 1 billion active users around the globe, Facebook reported $1.2 billion in revenue last quarter and more than $10 billion in cash on hand. Its revenue growth is slowing, however, while the company has hiked spending at a faster rate.

The company is investing in new mobile initiatives for future growth, rather than focusing on short-term profit, Ebersman said last month. But that's not enough to assuage investors who'd like to see better earnings in the next quarter.

"If the guidance you can give investors would actually shore up their confidence, that's probably something you want to do. But sometimes it may be better to say as little as possible," said Simon Rodan, a management professor at San Jose State.

That may explain why Facebook made no public statements about the recent expiration of a 90-day "lockup" restriction that barred some early investors from selling their stock, Rodan suggested. Analysts say Silicon Valley financier Peter Thiel's subsequent move to sell more than 20 million shares only made the stock look worse, as shares fell below $19 for the first time.

The company faces a bigger milestone in the fall, when another lockup is scheduled to expire and 1.2 billion shares of stock, held by Facebook employees and other early investors, become eligible for sale. If those stockholders decide to sell, analysts warn they could flood the market and drive the price down more.

The November lockup expiration could also lead to an exodus of valuable talent. Experts say it's not uncommon for some workers at newly public companies to cash in their stock and move on to the next startup. Based on the company's filings, PrivCo's Hamadeh estimates Facebook employees hold about 450 million shares that will be eligible for sale in November.

Those employees have seen more than $8 billion in wealth wiped out since the IPO, as their shares have lost almost half their value. While individual holdings vary widely, that represents an average loss of $2 million on paper for each of Facebook's 4,000 employees.

"That's always a concern," said Brandon Cherry of the Hay Group, a human resources consulting firm that advises companies in Silicon Valley's competitive labor market. In addition to rival startups looking for talented engineers, he said, bigger companies like Google (GOOG) "may have an opportunity to pull some people out of Facebook."

Even so, most Facebook employees are not facing an issue that has surfaced at other tech companies, which grant options to buy stock at a certain price. With options, the employee only makes money if the stock goes higher. Most of Facebook's employee shares were granted outright, so they still have value at the market price, even if that has declined sharply.

"They're going to have some people leave. But I'd be really surprised to see mass defections of employees," said Stanford University business professor Paul Oyer, an expert on labor economics. "The company is still doing well."

In recent weeks, Zuckerberg has told workers that outsiders may not know or understand Facebook's plans. The sliding stock price is painful for some employees, Zuckerberg acknowledged at a companywide meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal, but he urged workers not to obsess over it.

Investors, however, are still worried about Facebook's challenges, said Rick Summer, a financial analyst at Morningstar. The company may be building its business, he added, "but I don't think that message has been communicated well to the investing public."

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022. Follow him at Twitter.com/brandonbailey.

Source: http://www.orovillemr.com/business/ci_21426395/facebook-focuses-business-not-struggling-stock?source=rss_viewed

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Iran doubles underground nuclear capacity -UN agency

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has doubled the number of uranium enrichment machines it has in an underground bunker, a U.N. report said on Thursday, showing Tehran continued to defy Western pressure to stop its atomic work and the threat of Israeli attack.

In the weeks and months when Israeli politicians increased their talk of air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, the Islamic Republic was rapidly increasing the enrichment capacity of its Fordow site, buried deep underground to withstand any such hit.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its quarterly report on Iran that the number of centrifuges at Fordow, near the holy Shi'ite Muslim city of Qom, about 130 km (80 miles) from THE CAPITAL Tehran, had more than doubled to 2,140 from 1,064 in May.

The new machines were not yet operating, it said.

Iran's supreme leader repeated this week that Iran's nuclear program was entirely peaceful. "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a developing nations summit in Tehran.

But the expansion in enrichment infrastructure and the increasing in stockpiles of potent nuclear material revealed in the report will do nothing to allay fears or reduce the diplomatic and sanctions pressure on Iran.

The report showed that Iran had produced nearly 190 kg (418 pounds) of higher-grade enriched uranium since 2010, up from 145 kg in May.

Iran says it needs this material - which is much purer than fuel needed for electricity generation - for a medical research reactor, but it also takes it significantly closer to making potential bomb material.

The IAEA also expressed concerns about Parhcin, a military site south of the capital that it wants to inspect for evidence of past nuclear weapons development.

"Significant ground scraping and landscaping have been undertaken over an extensive area at and around the location," it said.

Five buildings had been demolished and power lines, fences and paved roads removed, the report said, "extensive activities" that would hamper its investigation if granted access.

"The activities observed ... further strengthen the agency's assessment that it is necessary to have access to the location at Parchin without further delay", the IAEA said.

Iran says Parchin is a conventional military facility and has dismissed the allegations about it as "ridiculous".

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Tehran on Thursday, was quoted by Iranian state TV as saying: "The West has put sanctions on Iran for years, however the Iranian nation continues to resist and make progress."

A Western diplomat said the doubling of enrichment capacity at Fordow was a "worrying trend" showing that Tehran continued to expand its program.

(Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-doubles-underground-nuclear-capacity-iaea-154316288.html

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Campbell channels Andy Warhol for new cans

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) ? Campbell Soup is tapping Andy Warhol for another 15 minutes of fame.

The world's biggest soup maker plans to introduce special-edition cans of its condensed tomato soup bearing labels reminiscent of the pop artist's paintings at Target stores starting Sunday. The 1.2 million cans will cost 75 cents each.

The Campbell Soup Co.'s embrace of Warhol's iconic imagery is a switch from its initial reaction, when the company considered taking legal action before deciding to see how the paintings were received by the public.

"There's some evidence to show there was a little bit of concern," said Jonathon Thorn, an archivist for Campbell Soup. "But they decided to take a wait-and-see approach."

By 1964, however, the company realized the paintings were becoming a phenomenon and embraced the depictions. Campbell's marketing manager even sent Warhol a letter expressing admiration for his work.

"I have since learned that you like Tomato Soup," William MacFarland wrote in the letter. "I am taking the liberty of having a couple cases of our Tomato Soup delivered to you."

Later that same year, Campbell commissioned Warhol to do a painting of a can of Campbell's tomato soup as a gift for its retiring board chairman, Oliver G. Willits; Warhol was paid $2,000 for the work. Campbell also invited the artist to visit its headquarters in Camden, N.J., although Thorn said there's no indication a visit ever took place.

There was no contact after that until 1985, when the company commissioned Warhol to paint packages of its new dry soup mixes for advertisements. Warhol died about two years later.

In 1993, the company bought a Warhol painting of one of its tomato soup cans to hang in its boardroom of its headquarters. The company also has a licensing agreement with the Warhol estate to sell clothing, magnets and other gear, mostly overseas, bearing the artist's renditions.

Campbell has sold Warhol-inspired cans on two other occasions, although on much smaller scales. In 2004, the company sold 75,000 four-packs of Warhol-inspired cans at Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh-based supermarket operator. During the holiday season in 2006, the company sold 12,000 units at Barney's in New York.

The latest promotion comes as Campbell looks to turn around its struggling soup business after years of declining sales; the company plans to introduce dozens of new products this year.

The cans to be sold at Target will come in four color schemes, with famed Warhol quote such as "In the future everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes."

The red-and-white Campbell label made its debut in 1898. Significant changes to the front of the can have been made only a handful of times since then.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/campbell-channels-andy-warhol-cans-115431056--finance.html

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South Korea: RS, STX Ink Classification Deal for ... - LNG World News

On 21 August 2012, an agreement was signed between RS and STX Offshore & Shipbuilding concerning the classification of two LNG carriers. This agreement is a supplement to a contract for the construction of two similar ships which was signed earlier.

The new LNG carriers of 170, 000 cubic metres capacity each will be built to the dual RS/LR class, RS acting as the leading society. RS class notation: KM ? Ice2 AUT1 OMBO EPP ANTI-ICE LI CCO ECO-S WINTERIZATION (-30) Gas carrier type 2G (methane).

The specific feature of the new agreement is the fact that the plan approval will be carried out by the RS Design and Newbuilding Support Centre in the Republic of Korea, which was opened in March 2012.

Plan approval will be carried out for compliance with applicable requirements or RS rules, provisions of international conventions and additional requirements of the Flag Administration.

The customer for the contract is JSC Sovcomflot. The steel cutting for the first ship is planned for January 2013. The ships are to be delivered to the customer in October 2014 and in January 2015. Both the ships are designed for LNG transportation by Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited, a member of the Shell Group.

LNG World News Staff, August 29, 2012

Source: http://www.lngworldnews.com/south-korea-rs-stx-ink-classification-deal-for-two-lng-carriers/

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Iraq Kurds ready for talks over crisis, oil: deputy PM

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdistan is ready to restart negotiations with Baghdad to end their crisis, focusing on a long-delayed oil law to hand regions more say in managing energy resources, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Rosh Nuri al-Shawish, a Kurd, said.

The positive tone from Shawish signaled the Shi'ite-led central government and self-governed Kurdistan may be edging towards resolving their dispute over oil, territory and power-sharing that is straining Iraq's uneasy federal union.

Shawish told Reuters Kurdistan believes part of the dispute can be ended by passing an amended 2007 draft of an oil and gas law, which all parties had agreed to as part of broader power-sharing among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocks.

"Approving this draft and adding some amendments which are agreed on by all parties ... is the proper way to resolve this," the deputy prime minister, one of the go-betweens for talks between Baghdad and Kurdistan, said in an interview.

Shawish said Kurdish officials had met with the head of the Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite National Alliance, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, for preliminary talks, and the atmosphere had improved enough for them to see room for progress.

Kurdistan has tested Baghdad's resolve for months by signing deals with foreign oil majors, such as Exxon and Chevron, contracts the central government rejects as illegal and part of a Kurdish push for more autonomy.

Their dispute is complicating a crisis in Iraq's fragile power-sharing central government, which was hobbled by infighting among Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish parties even before the last U.S. troops left in December.

Kurdish leaders and the Sunni-backed Iraqiya party often accuse Maliki of sidelining them and say the Shi'ite leader is amassing power at their expense. His backers say the premier's partners in power-sharing are trying to unseat him.

THREATS AND TALKS

Baghdad and the Kurdish capital Arbil are currently fighting over exports. Kurdistan has threatened to stop its share of national oil exports at the start of September, claiming Baghdad is not fulfilling payments to companies working there.

Iraq says Kurdish authorities have not supplied the correct paperwork and receipts for an audit of payments.

Adoption of a new oil and gas law has long been considered critical to the success of Iraq's rapidly developing oil sector, although Baghdad has signed multibillion-dollar contracts with global oil majors despite antiquated legal safeguards.

Last year, Maliki and Kurdistan agreed by December 2011 they would either amend the 2007 hydrocarbons law as agreed by all political factions or adopt the 2007 law as is. But that deadline past without agreement.

The 2007 draft gives regional powers partial authority over their reserves, and Maliki advisors have said in the past they would prefer that version because time was running short.

Autonomous since 1991, Iraq's Kurdistan runs its own government and armed forces, but relies on the central government for a percentage of the country's oil revenues from the national budget.

Shawish said Kurdish officials believe signing exploration contracts with oil majors without Baghdad's permission is a constitutional right. Disputes flared because Baghdad relied on old oil laws from Saddam Hussein's era centralizing control, he said.

"The controversy comes from this point, relying on old laws while looking for a new law in line with the constitution," the Kurdish politician said.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens and Patrick Markey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-kurds-ready-negotiate-over-crisis-oil-law-111644787--finance.html

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Parenting advice: 18 things Google thinks I know I've become my ...

Parenting advice: 18 things Google thinks I know I've become my ?

Welcome to this week's instalment of WTF Wednesday, where we treat others as we wish to be ?
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Breastfeeding Problems You Can Build Up Your Milk Supply

Search EmpowHER.com. Log in Join Us. Connect. Home ? Health A-Z ? Community ? Wellness ? Diet & Nutrition ? Relationships & Family ? Resources ? News ? Home. > Relationships & Family. > Parent
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Sex and Starbucks: Parenting Advice on The Sex Talk

Chris Spradlin of EpicParent.tv is making waves with his unique approach to coaching parents on the sex talk.Covenant Eyes
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Source: http://jskid.com/parenting-advice-18-things-google-thinks-i-know-ive-become-my/

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Video: Arlen Specter recovering from surgery

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US home prices show consistent 12-month gains

FILE-This June 13, 2012, file photo, shows a house for sale in San Diego. US home prices rose in all major US cities in June, further evidence of housing rebound. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

FILE-This June 13, 2012, file photo, shows a house for sale in San Diego. US home prices rose in all major US cities in June, further evidence of housing rebound. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. home prices are finally starting to increase consistently.

A gauge of national home prices rose in June compared with the same month last year, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller index released Tuesday. The year-over-year increase was the first since September 2010, a year when housing benefited temporarily from a federal home-buying tax credit.

The report also noted that all 20 major metro areas tracked by the S&P/Case Shiller index posted gains in June from May. That's the second straight month in which prices rose in every city measured.

"I think we have turned the corner on prices," said David Blitzer, chairman of the S&P's index committee. "It looks very good."

A decline in foreclosures and the lowest mortgage rates in decades have helped some of the cities hardest hit by the housing bust. Prices have surged nearly 14 percent, for example, in the Phoenix area in the 12 months that ended in June. In Miami, they've risen 4.4 percent.

The steadiness of the price increases is helping bolster a nascent housing recovery that began earlier this year. Last week, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes jumped 10 percent in July compared with the same month last year.

Builder confidence rose this month to its highest level since the housing market went bust five years ago. And the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has been below 4 percent all year.

As prices rise, more Americans will likely be inclined to put their houses up for sale. That could further energize the market, which has been hampered by a low supply of available homes.

"The best news on the housing front is that prices have turned," said Patrick Newport, U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.

Newport said rising prices could help many Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth now. It could also boost consumer spending if people feel wealthier. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.

Even with the gains, prices have a long way to go to recover from their plunge during and after the housing bubble burst in late 2006 and early 2007. Nationally, prices in June were 31.6 percent below the peak hit in April 2006, based on the S&P/Case Shiller index. In Phoenix, they were consistent with levels from 2002. In Minneapolis, prices are near 2001 levels.

Some markets may have yet to bottom. Prices in Atlanta fell 12.1 percent in June compared with June 2011. Las Vegas home prices dropped 2.1 percent in that period. Prices in both cities are consistent with 1998 levels.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The June figures are the latest available.

Real estate agent David Hicks, the owner of Century 21 Premier Group in Minneapolis, said business at his firm is up about 20 percent over a year ago.

"I am optimistic that the sales increases we are seeing are part of a trend that will continue," Hicks said.

But further gains, Hicks noted, will depend on whether banks can sell off their backlogs of foreclosed homes, which continue to depress prices.

Phoenix and Las Vegas have been foreclosure hotbeds throughout the housing downturn. In each area, home values plummeted after bank-owned homes hit the resale market.

Investors and other buyers have been buying foreclosed properties in both markets, creating bidding wars for properties in some cases. That demand, plus a slowdown in the pace of new foreclosures coming onto the market, has led to a sharp drop in the supply of homes for sale.

Prices typically rise once foreclosure sales decline. That's what's happened in Phoenix. Several factors beyond housing make Phoenix an attractive market for real estate investors, who are driving much of the sales there, said Paul Habibi, professor of real estate at the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Phoenix has a more diverse economy than, for example, Las Vegas, which relies on travel and tourism. The Phoenix-area population is rising, and it's enjoying growth in new infrastructure investment spending. It also was less overbuilt than Las Vegas, Habibi said.

That means it's going to take a lot longer for the Las Vegas market to recover.

"It doesn't have a lot of resiliency in down markets to weather the storm, and I think a lot of investors when they look at that get a little bit skittish about investing in Vegas," Habibi said.

Some economists expect sales of previously occupied homes nationally to rise 8 percent this year to about 4.6 million. That's still well below the 5.5 million annual sales pace that is considered healthy.

Many would-be buyers are having trouble qualifying for loans. Or they can't afford larger down payments being required by banks. A Federal Reserve report last month showed that many banks tightened their mortgage credit standards this summer.

Still, the housing market is steadily improving and is poised to contribute to economic growth this year. Modest growth and job gains are encouraging more Americans to buy homes.

Jonathan Basile, an economist with Credit Suisse, said improving prices should boost sales further in coming months.

"When Americans become more comfortable with selling their home, they also become more comfortable with buying another one," Basile said.

___

Veiga contributed from Los Angeles.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-08-28-Home%20Prices/id-c152daef720c490fa1186e91634657dc

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Video: Manufacturing Front & Center at GOP Convention

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Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University Accepting

The Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University (AU) Roskilde (Sealand), Denmark, invites applications for a position as associate/assistant professor in environmental economics to strengthen and expand the research capacity, the research-based consultancy and the teaching activities within the area of environmental economics. The position is to be filled as soon as possible, subject to negotiation.

The Department of Environmental Science is a newly established and highly interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Science and Technology at Aarhus University. The expertise ranges from physics, chemistry, microbiology, mathematics, and computer science, to social science, geography, economics and policy analysis. The department conducts pure and applied research on some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, climate change, and energy systems. Currently, about 130 staff and PhD-students are working at the department. However, the number of staff is expected to increase to 160-170 within the next four to five years. Further information may be found at http://envs.au.dk/en/ (note the website is under construction).

The successful candidate will be affiliated with the Section for Environmental Social Science, employing 20 staff. The section conducts interdisciplinary research at the crossroads of environmental economics, political science and sociology. The strategic aims of the environmental economic research section include bioeconomic modelling, the economics of ecosystem services and the understanding of societal transition to a green and sustainable economy.

Description of the position

The selected candidate for the position in environmental economics is expected to:

• Establish his/her own research programme within environmental economics

• Participate in and lead external grant proposals in environmental economics and interdisciplinary projects

• Contribute to interdisciplinary collaboration within the department and with external research groups

• Supervise graduate (Master and PhD level) student research projects

• Contribute to the teaching of graduate courses and to the development of a new education in environmental science

• Contribute to advisory activities of relevant regulatory authorities

The department is particularly interested in strengthening the research activities within bioeconomics, econometrics, mathematical programming and/or welfare economic assessment methods applied to ecosystem services assessments, valuation of non-market and market goods and services, cost-effectiveness and cost-minimisation analysis.

Particular issues are costs and benefits of environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water and soil quality, toxic substances, solid waste, biodiversity, climate change (mitigation and adaptation), risk assessment and health.

Qualification requirements

The successful candidate has strong research background in environmental economics and in applying quantitative methods. Experience in integrated modelling, valuation and/or ecosystem service assessments is preferable. The qualifications must be documented by published contributions in international high-quality research outlets.

Applicants at the Assistant Professor level should as a minimum hold scientific qualifications equivalent to the Ph.D. graduate level and have at least 2 -3 years of post-graduate research and publication experience. Participation in international and national networks of researchers is preferable.

Applicants at the Associate Professor level should in addition to a Ph.D. degree have at least 4 ? 5 years of post-graduate research and publication experience. A demonstrated research leadership and ability to define and manage research projects is expected, as is a successful record of external research funding. Participation in international and national networks of researchers is preferable.

The successful candidate must show evidence of an emerging publication record and have excellent written and oral communication skills. Furthermore, the candidate is expected to be enthusiastic about working in an interdisciplinary academic environment. The position, therefore, requires a highly motivated scientist who is comfortable working in teams.

The qualifications of the applicants will be assessed by an expert panel according to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Executive Order no. 284 of 25 April 2008.

Work location

The place of work will be at AU in Roskilde, Denmark. The city of Roskilde (www.roskilde.dk) is located close to Copenhagen. The area provides immediate access to a wealth of cultural and recreational pursuits. Within about 5 years, the department is expected move to Copenhagen.

Further information may be obtained by contacting Head of Department Dr. Niels Kroer (nk@dmu.dk; +45 871 58 701) or Head of Section Dr. Berit Hasler (bh@dmu.dk; +45871 58 637).

Formalities and salary range

The conditions for employment will be according to Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The salary will be according to the agreement between the relevant labour organization and the Danish Government. Outstanding foreign candidates may qualify for a reduced taxation scheme according to the articles 48E-F of the Act on Taxation at the Source (Kildeskatteloven).

Applicants at the Associate Professor level will be hired as ?Senior Researcher? on a permanent contract.

Applicants at the Assistant Professor level will be hired as ?Researcher? on a 4-year contract. Upon termination of the contract, a permanent position as Senior Researcher will be advertised internationally in open competition. The candidate may apply for this position.

English is spoken on a daily basis at the department. However, to be able to participate in administrative/social activities, it will be in the interest of an international candidate to be able to communicate in Danish. Foreign candidates are, therefore, expected to learn Danish. Danish courses will be provided (also for the spouse).

Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Filing of the application

Applicants are expected to add additional value to our existing research and educational programmes and propose viable plans for further developing them. Therefore, the application (written in English) should contain:

• A short (1 page) letter of intent

• A 2-3 page statement describing your research expertise and interests, including a description of how you envision you will be able to strengthen the research, consultancy and teaching at the department

• A detailed CV, including description of previous employments, history of grant support, and consultancy experience

• A teaching portfolio (may potentially be included in the detailed CV)

• A list of publications

• Documentation of academic degrees (university transcripts of diplomas)

• Reprints of your five most significant international peer-reviewed articles

• Names and e-mail addresses of three academic references that may be contacted

Please note that the evaluation of eligibility will be based solely on the submitted material.

The recommended level of detail.

Please apply online here

http://www.au.dk/om/stillinger/nat/vip/

Deadline

All applications must be made online and received by 23/09/2012.

Source: http://www.isecoeco.org/department-of-environmental-science-at-aarhus-university-accepting-application/

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Call of Duty: Black Ops II limited editions unveiled, $180 'Care Package' includes aerial drone

Activision never disappoints when it comes to limited edition Call of Duty release bundles, and for the upcoming Black Ops II, it actually may have outdone itself. Besting the RC-XD from its predecessor, $180 will let you snag the Care Package edition for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. This massive bundle is actually boxed as an in-gamed care package (aerial drop-off not included) that's loaded with a remote controlled MQ-27 Dragonfire quadrocopter drone (!) -- we really wish we'd picked up those Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles now (not at all for full-fledged, after hours recon of our Aol office-mates...). Naturally, it also comes loaded with the requisite DLC goodies; namely, two extra maps (Nuketown Zombies and Nuketown 2025), exclusive weapon camo, a pair of Player Card backgrounds and copy of the soundtrack. Furthermore, PS3 owners will get a pair of dynamic themes, while those with 360s will receive an XBL Zombie avatar and Claw prop. Lastly, you'll also receive a couple more tangible items in the way of an art book and a duo of "Challenge" coins.

Not looking to terrorize your local airspace? Shave off the $100 premium for the drone and case (not too shabby if the AR.Drone is too expensive for your budget) and you'll be able to grab the Hardened edition packed with everything else. Last, and seemingly least in this case, Activision is putting out a Digital Deluxe for PC users -- similar to the Hardened variant, but with a download code for the aging World at War in place of the physical goodies and PSN / XBL content. Wallet already prepared for the future of secret warfare? You'll find details to place your own pre-order ahead of the November 13th launch at the source links below and trailer courtesy of Joystiq after the break.

Gallery: Call of Duty: Black Ops II Care Package and Hardened editions

Continue reading Call of Duty: Black Ops II limited editions unveiled, $180 'Care Package' includes aerial drone

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Peripherals

Call of Duty: Black Ops II limited editions unveiled, $180 'Care Package' includes aerial drone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 22:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/RFYEEhTrUuo/

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Myanmar removes names from blacklist. What does it mean for reform?

Myanmar?s government has trimmed 2,082 names from its notorious blacklist, but ambiguity over the list and fighting in remote ethnic minority borderlands make some worried about the direction of reform.

By Simon Roughneen,?Correspondent / August 28, 2012

After announcing what observers describe as a reform-oriented cabinet reshuffle on Monday, Myanmar's government lifted a ban on more than 2,000 blacklisted exiled dissidents today.

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However, fresh fighting was reported Monday between the Myanmar army and the Kachin Independence Army in war-torn Kachin state, a resource-rich and mainly Christian-populated region in the north of Buddhist-majority Myanmar (Burma), adding an estimated 6,000 people to the some 75,000 already displaced by fighting since June 2011.

The removal of the names from the blacklist and the changes in cabinet have been welcomed as signs of more reform in Myanmar, now almost 18 months into a reform process under a nominally civilian government. However, fighting in remote ethnic minority borderlands and a lack of clarity about the blacklist relaxation makes some unsure about the overall direction of reforms.

"It is encouraging to learn some names are removed, but there needs to be transparency, to know whose names are on the list, whose names are being removed,? says Cheery Zahau, a human rights activist from Chin state in Myanmar's west.

More than 4,083 people are still blacklisted, according to the state newspaper?The New Light of Myanmar, and there is not yet a published list of names of those who can return to Myanmar and those who are still barred.

Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, has beckoned Myanmar exiles and economic migrants to return home, citing not only political reforms such as the freeing of political prisoners, but the need to reverse a debilitating brain drain in the long isolated country, which is among the poorest in Asia.

Ms. Zahau, a Christian Chin who lives in exile in Thailand along with more than 140,000 Myanmar war refugees and some 3 million migrant workers, says she hopes to return to her homeland.

?We all want to contribute back to our communities if the government's reforms allow us to do so,? she says.

Myanmar has not held a census since 1983, but estimates put the country's demographics at around 60 percent ethnic Burman, with the remainder divided between dozens of ethnic groups.

In another seeming contrast between top-level government reforms on one hand and continuing opaque rule of law on the other, the same day that nine changes to Myanmar's cabinet were announced, Myanmar's courts gave three Burmese United Nations workers jail sentences for their alleged role in June violence in western Rakhine state between local Buddhists and Muslims, which left around 100,000 people homeless.

According to a statement on Mr. Thein Sein's website late Tuesday, the three have been given presidential pardons, though it was not yet clear if they had been freed.

On Monday, UN spokesperson in Myanmar Aye Win said the UN was not informed of the trial in advance and the accused were refused lawyers. ?Well, we haven?t had access to these staff members,? he said.

While fighting continues in the Kachin state close to the Myanmar-China border, a tentative peace holds in the Karen state region between Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, and the border with northwest Thailand.

After the government unilaterally called off a scheduled third round of peace negotiations with the Karen National Union (KNU), which has fought the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's army, since the late 1940s, the KNU today said that the talks would take place on Sept. 3,^? focusing on the relocation of Myanmar soldiers from the Karen region.

Khu Khu Ju of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) says that for Karen people ?the cease-fire has made some improvements to their daily lives,? but adds that abuses such as forced labor, though decreasing, still occur.

Acording to a May 31 KHRG report, ?villagers have been able once again to farm their land, because after the cease-fire negotiations began between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Myanmar government, the Tatmadaw soldiers have had to observe a limited area of operation.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UeSLZ0XLPTE/Myanmar-removes-names-from-blacklist.-What-does-it-mean-for-reform

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Why Postmenopausal Women Should Say 'No Thanks' to Dessert

By DR. SWATI SHROFF, ABC News Medical Unit

Postmenopausal women hoping to control their weight may be able to help themselves out by sticking to three simple rules: lay off the meat and cheese, eat more fruits and veggies, and skip dessert and sugary drinks.

A new study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, aimed to find out how eating or avoiding specific foods made a difference in short and long-term weight loss results in women who had gone through menopause.

To accomplish this, researchers studied 481 overweight and obese postmenopausal women over a four-year period. At the beginning of the study, the women completed surveys assessing their eating in the past month and weighed themselves. The same surveys and weigh-ins were conducted again at six months, and then a final time at the four-year mark.

What the researchers found was that eating fewer desserts and fried foods, drinking fewer sugar-sweetened beverages, eating more fish, and eating less often at restaurants were all associated with short-term weight loss at six months.

But surprisingly, after four years, it found that only eating fewer desserts and drinking fewer sugar-sweetened beverages continued to be linked significantly to weight loss.

Also, those women who reported eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat and cheese experienced weight loss in the long term ? even though they did not show any at the six-month mark.

Dr. Bethany Barone Gibbs of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Health and Physical Activity, who was the lead researcher, said that the findings could be a road map for many older women who hope to keep the pounds off well into the future.

?The goal is long-term weight loss, and these four behaviors were most important,? Gibbs said.

The findings on the delayed benefit of limiting meat and cheese consumption may be particularly useful to these women, as short-term results appear to be limited for women who take these healthful measures.

?Maybe these things won?t move the scale much at six months, but they seem to be important in the long-term,? Gibbs said.

Oddly, the frequency of eating at restaurants and eating fewer fried foods did not appear to be significantly related to changes in weight at the four-year mark ? an unexpected finding that the study was not designed to address further. Of note, however, is the fact that the study did not look at how often women ate at fast-food restaurants specifically, as opposed to restaurants offering healthier fare, which may have resulted in a different finding.

In its entirety, the new study may be important because weight maintenance becomes particularly challenging for women at menopause, due in large part to changes in metabolism and lifestyle.

?Their lives have changed,? says Dr. Lauren Streicher, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. ?They?re not running around after kids, they?re eating out more, they?re driving more and walking less, they?re moving out of their houses and into apartments.?

Streicher notes that while hormonal changes in menopause may affect the distribution of weight, generally causing more abdominal weight gain, it is really the change in the body?s metabolism that causes actual weight gain.

Muscle mass decreases as people age, and if it isn?t replaced, fat becomes its substitute. This slows down the body?s metabolic rate ? the rate at which we burn calories ? which makes it even more difficult to lose weight.

?Women going through menopause have a very difficult time maintaining their weight. No one has done enough research on it,? says Dr. Jaques Moritz, director of gynecology at St. Luke?s-Roosevelt Hospital Center. ?In my practice, I have a lot of menopausal patients, and they really try to exercise and cut back on food ? but they still gain weight.?

And for women at this age, weight gain is more than about just appearance. Obesity is known to increase the risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes ? all of which increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Excess weight is also associated with many cancers, including breast cancer.

Moritz says this study probably won?t change his central message to his menopausal patients. He prepares his patients for the weight changes in advance, telling them not to get discouraged, but to keep up with dietary changes and exercise.

His advice? ?Watch your weight before menopause, double up your efforts at menopause.?

Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=f44e871f9af29c6c1b519ccecf15c6a6

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Ryan opposed new, Obama-backed disaster aid regime

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As tropical storm Isaac bears down on the Gulf Coast, there should be plenty of money ? some $1.5 billion ? in federal disaster aid coffers, thanks, in part, to a new system that budgets help for victims of hurricanes, tornadoes and floods before they occur.

It's a system that Paul Ryan, the Republican nominee-to-be for vice president, had hoped to scrap as a way to make his House GOP budget look smaller by about $10 billion a year. Politely, party elders told him no way, at least for now.

The Obama administration was the driving force behind the new disaster funding scheme and made it part of last summer's hard-fought budget pact, even though President Barack Obama himself had given short shrift to budgeting for disasters prior to a spate of them early last year, including tornadoes that ripped through Missouri and Alabama.

Congresses and administrations, after all, always had been fairly forthcoming with whatever disaster aid was needed after the fact.

The new system means disaster aid will not have to compete with other programs for financing, nor have to rely on less certain ad hoc funding at the height of a crisis.

Instead, disaster money was added on top of the official budget "cap" in line with the amounts budgeted in prior years.

It had been a different story earlier in the year as the government's chief disaster fund almost ran dry, thanks to foot-dragging by the White House and demands by tea party House Republicans that disaster aid be partly "paid for" with cuts to programs that Obama favored. The administration instead let the political pressure build as disaster accounts dwindled, sparking the ire of both his GOP rivals and allies like Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., but turning the tables in its favor.

Months after agreeing to the new regime, Republican leaders still had to turn to procedural maneuvers to orchestrate passage of $8.8 billion in disaster money in keeping with the agreement. Ryan, the House Budget Committee's chairman, was among 66 Republicans opposing the measure.

But, as has been proven time after time ? especially as tornadoes and hurricanes rip through politically conservative states ? even the sturdiest tea party supporters like the government when it comes to doling out money to storm victims for motels and other temporary housing and to help with house repairs.

Simply put, when disaster strikes, politicians respond ? sometimes to the dismay of conservatives who see politicians milking disasters to win projects that couldn't fly on their own, like Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran's failed bid six years ago for $700 million to relocate a rail line along the Gulf Coast so his state could build a new east-west highway.

The new system makes it more difficult for lawmakers to try such maneuvers, though such "pork barrel" tactics largely have been halted anyway with the GOP takeover of the House, with Republicans instituting a ban on so-called earmarks.

Many House Republicans, however, are unhappy with the new approach. Ryan earlier this year tried to gut it and eliminate $10 billion a year in disaster costs when putting together the House GOP budget.

But in doing so Ryan sideswiped a still-powerful Appropriations Committee that was still stinging from $19 billion in Budget Committee-induced cuts to last year's deal. Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., protested to GOP leaders and won a gentleman's agreement that the new system would stay in place, at least for this year.

However, Ryan's point of view might still prevail if Mitt Romney defeats Obama in November.

What Ryan proposes is that when disaster strikes, lawmakers scour the rest of the budget for savings to pay for rebuilding homes, roads and schools and helping small businesses. Put another way, instead of being an excuse to increase spending, disasters would offer an opportunity to make further cuts elsewhere in the government.

That's easier said than done. The portion of the budget that would face cuts ? the day-to-day operating expenses for federal agencies ? already has absorbed several rounds of cuts under GOP control of the House and faces almost a decade's worth of tight limits under last year's budget deal.

And should a huge disaster like Hurricane Katrina hit, it's simply unrealistic to find cuts of the magnitude required. Katrina ended up costing taxpayers more than $60 billion. Much of that money was approved when images of hurricane victims were still fresh in the minds of lawmakers and voters and as the George W. Bush administration continued to reel from its initial botched response.

It's also easier to summon the political fortitude to demand that disaster relief be paid for when the area you represent hasn't been hit. In particularly bad disaster years, political pressure accumulates as the toll of Midwestern floods, Southern tornadoes and coastal storms is felt by more and more voters and their representatives.

That's exactly what happened last year in the wake of Hurricane Irene, which prompted liberals like Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and tea party-backed Republicans like Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York to form a coalition to press for aid.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ryan-opposed-obama-backed-disaster-aid-regime-071533498--election.html

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Rich Folks Go Where Pensions Dare Not | Gainesville Commercial ...

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A new pattern is emerging for the real estate business, and there?s good news for commercial real estate in particular. Commercial real estate investments by the wealthy are sure to continue for now.

By CRAIG KARMIN

As big institutional investors pull back from investing in high-risk real-estate funds, these funds are turning to a new source for capital: rich people.

Starwood Capital Group, Lone Star Funds, Carlyle GroupCG +0.39% and others have raised billions of dollars over the past several months from wealthy individuals seeking to get in on the firms? newest ?opportunity? funds, which buy or develop riskier properties and use higher levels of debt in hopes of reaping high returns.

Traditional investors in opportunity funds?public and corporate pensions, foundations and endowments?reduced their allocations to the funds or began avoiding them altogether after the funds racked up huge losses during the real-estate downturn that started in 2008.

?In their place, you?ve seen high-net-worth investors,? said Barry Sternlicht, chairman and chief executive of Starwood Capital. While pensions and other large investors can require a lengthy review period before their boards approve any new investment, wealthy individuals are appealing in part because they can act quickly. ?They are very fast, flexible and intuitive,? Mr. Sternlicht said.

Mr. Sternlicht declined to discuss details of his firm?s fundraising. But people who have spoken with Starwood officials about the latest opportunity fund said it raised about $800 million from high net-worth individuals. That accounted for about 40% of the total $2 billion raised, up significantly from its previous fund. Starwood?s fund is targeting distressed properties and debt, and new construction, including a condo and hotel project near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Carlyle raised about 10% of its $2.3 billion fund from high-net-worth individuals, while Lone Star took in more than $1 billion of a $5.5 billion fund that closed last year from these investors.

Even Blackstone Group, which has had no trouble attracting institutional money for its current real-estate fund, has turned to individuals to diversify the investor base. More than $1 billion of the $13 billion that Blackstone is expected to raise has come from high-net-worth individuals, said people who have spoken with Blackstone officials.

Real-estate executives say the case for commercial-property investment is easy to make when compared to other investments.

Bonds, for example, offer skimpy yields that range from about 1.8% for 10-year Treasury debt to around 3% for a corporate bond. The stock market has been volatile.

Meanwhile, property prices are well below their highs, and many funds are targeting returns of about 15% or higher.

Most individual investors didn?t participate in the commercial-property bubble, so they haven?t been as shell-shocked as pension funds have after it burst, noted Vincent Costantini, chief executive of Boston-based property investment and advisory firm Roseview. ?They had been staying on the sidelines,? he said.

?Affluent individuals are contributing from around the world, with increasing participation from wealthy Asian families and businessmen, private-bank officials said. In the U.S., they range from young entrepreneurs with new windfalls to retirees.

? The growing prevalence of individuals investing in real estate has also been a boon for the private-bank divisions of J.P. Morgan ChaseJPM -0.40% & Co., UBS AG, UBS +0.54%CitigroupC -0.85% and other big banks. These banks funnel money from their private-bank clients to the funds, earning a generous referral fee of as much as 4%, which is paid by the client and the fund.

Wealthy investors typically need to have a net worth of at least $5 million to invest in opportunity funds and must invest at least $250,000.

So far, the banks are referring clients primarily to brand-name real-estate funds with multiyear track records of good performance. That means hundreds of first-time property funds looking for investors are essentially cut out of the action.

Ultra-high-net-worth investors with Citi Private Bank, who typically have between $25 million and several billion dollars in assets, are interested in this product, said David Bailin, global head of managed investments. Citi partners with funds that can ?source excellent transactions? and focus on primary markets like London and New York, he said. The sponsor needs to be reputable and also of ?institutional quality.?

Drawing from wealthy individuals carries some risk. Individual investors are more likely than institutional investors to run into financial trouble that could cause them to renege on their commitments to inject promised capital. That is something that rarely happens with a pension fund.

Some real-estate advisers say funds that rely too heavily on individual investors can have a harder time raising institutional money. Pensions and other big investors require more disclosure and regular reporting information than individual investors, and they like to invest alongside others that share their interests.

?Real-estate fund managers may not be as sensitive or attuned to these issues if a fund is predominantly high-net-worth individuals,? said William Atwood, executive director at the Illinois State Board of Investment.

?High-net-worth investors may also be quicker to sue fund managers if returns aren?t as advertised, said Roseview?s Mr. Costantini, adding, ?These investors can be a bit of a wild card.?

? Investments in commercial real estate by the wealthy aren?t a totally new phenomenon, more a return to the past. Before the 1990s, individuals financed many property transactions. But starting in 1989, the government began selling off distressed real-estate and property loans held by savings and loan associations.

? Private-equity firms formed real-estate funds to buy up these assets and began tapping institutional investors. Within a few years, pensions became the cornerstone investor for most funds.

? Real-estate funds found it more efficient to raise money in a few large chunks, and investors in a first fund could often be counted on to reinvest in subsequent funds. Pensions, meanwhile, enjoyed annual returns from the higher-risk funds that frequently topped 20%.

? But when these funds suffered staggering losses during the financial crisis, the relationship between institutional investors and real-estate funds became strained.

? Pensions like the California fund known as Calpers said it was moving away from higher-risk funds in favor of lower-risk property funds. The Harvard University endowment started favoring direct property investments over pooled funds. Other pensions bargained hard for lower fees or better terms.

?Julie Steinberg contributed to this article

?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444443504577601902999021244.html

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012 at 11:08 am

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Source: http://www.frontstreet.net/2012/08/rich-folks-pensions/

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Home Staging Expert Christine Rae Publishes New Article ...

Christine Rae, President of CSP International Business Training Academy, a Home Staging Training company, highlights several advantages of creating a home staging business.

Orlando, FL ? August 27, 2012 ? Christine Rae, President of CSP International Business Training Academy, a Home Staging Training and Real Estate Strategy company, recently published an article on her website (http://www.stagingtraining.com) discussing home staging. The article, titled ?Four Reasons a Home Staging Business May Be Right for You? offers four specific reasons for her readers to consider starting a home staging business.

Christine writes, ?Most of the space on my blog and in these articles is devoted to providing practical tips and information for home staging professionals. Today, I am going to change it up just a bit. If you are thinking about starting a home staging business but aren?t sure whether or not you wish to proceed, this article is for you.?

Certified Staging Professionals trains home stagers through a comprehensive course of study that includes 3 days in a classroom, 4 weeks of home study and 6 weeks of hands-on market coaching. CSP is also a resource for Realtors and home sellers to find and hire graduates of this highly accredited staging education program, for assisting them in successfully closing their real estate sale.

The entire article can be found at http://www.stagingtraining.com/articles/four-reasons-a-home-staging-business-may-be-calling-you.php

To learn more about Christine Rae and Certified Staging Professionals, please visit http://www.stagingtraining.com.

About CSP International? Business Training Academy:?

CSP began as the brainchild of its founder and president, Christine Rae. A long-time corporate executive, Christine began with the CSP program and a goal of bringing her penchant for high standards and business ethics, together with her knowledge of design and the real estate industry to an industry without a map. Her own extensive training from across North America includes ?New York City, California, Texas and the Carolinas as well as the United Kingdom.? From her research Christine knew there was a need for a distinctly different approach to staging and staging training. Growing from one course to a complete school with several physical locations and a group of well trained instructors, the CSP program is the leading global source for finding highly trained stagers and is the primary destination for anyone wanting to become a stager, it is the company more real estate agents turn to, on behalf of their clients. CSP International is a Certified Women?s Business Enterprise having expanded to the United States in 2006 and Australia in 2009.? The program has been translated into Mandarin; Global license opportunities currently under review include China, Germany and France.

About the CSP? designation:?

The CSP? designation is recognized by real estate professionals, builders, home stagers, decorators and home sellers for its brand reputation of excellence. The designation identifies home staging consultants who have achieved certification in the staging industry which included quality hands-on training with vigorous testing, apprenticeship, business process and ethics.

Source: http://www.stagingtraining.com/news/home-staging-expert-christine-rae-publishes-new-article-discussing-the-benefits-of-creating-a-home-staging-business.php

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The Best Gambling Sites ? Last Blogger Standing ... - Online Slots

I know a lot of you out there enjoy online gambling as much as I do. I have personally been doing online gaming for many years now and I have to say that the experience I have had with Slots of Vegas and its sister sites has been amazing. They are always available and the most important thing is that they communicate with you when you have a withdrawal pending. I have always received my withdrawals in a timely manner.

Now on the other hand I have had bad experiences with other online casinos, as a matter of fact I am still waiting for my withdrawal from another online site for over a year now. They sent me half of my winnings after 6 months and I am still waiting for the other half. If this happens to you, my advice is to be persistent and call, call, call and live chat every day.

Without naming the actual group of sites (though I would love to!), if the customer service is based out of the Philippines, I WOULDN?T RECOMMEND PLAYING ON THESE SITES.

There are a lot of online gambling sites out there to play at and I think you just have to be a little selective and very careful when choosing them. Like look at their methods of withdrawal. The sites I have had a good experience with, always offer several payout choices along with overnight checks, the ones that offer only bank wire transfers are ones to be cautious about, there are always hidden fees and you never know when you are going to get your money. Also another tip is to make sure the site is associated with Central Disputes, if you have a problem getting your winnings Central Disputes can help you.

I always enjoy my play at Slots of Vegas, although sometimes their slots seem a little tight (LOL), just like in Vegas, and their team is always there to help you.

Happy Gaming to everyone and let?s Win, Win, Win!!!

Source: http://www.slotsofvegas.com/entertainment/the-best-gambling-sites-5136.php

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This is why I don?t trust women

By Ken Y-N ( August 27, 2012 at 00:51) ? Filed under Polls, Rankings

A number of Japanese men were recently asked by goo Ranking to describe moments when they think they cannot trust women. If a similar question gets asked to Japanese women, I?ll be sure to report, of course.

Demographics

From the 6th to the 9th of July 2012 1,016 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.0% of the sample were female, 9.9% in their teens, 12.7% in their twenties, 29.0% in their thirties, 27.0% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 10.3% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample. This survey was for the men only.

I find this a difficult survey to understand, as the theme doesn?t seem too consistent, and some of the answers are more like jealousy issues than trust issues, I think.

Ranking result

Q: What moments make you think ?And that?s why I cannot trust women?? (Sample size=406, male)

Rank	?	Score
1	After she bends my ear about her friends, when I see her chatting to them as close friends	100
2	After we spilt up, when I learn that she soon started going out with another guy	71.5
3	When I see her being too influenced by people and her way of thinking changing like the wind	65.3
4	When she says ?I?m fine with whatever? but then goes in the huff about what I propose	58.3
5	When she says ?That?s cute!? even about things that obviously aren?t	57.6
6=	When I find out she?s gone on a trip with guys I don?t know	56.9
6=	When I hear her slagging off her ex	56.9
8	When I find out she sneaked a look at her boyfriend?s mobile	54.2
9	When I see her going to dating parties, hiding the fact she has a boyfriend	50.0
10	After we spilt up, when I learn that she soon married another guy	46.5
11	When I hear her slagging off her current boyfriend	45.1
12	When she says ?I don?t want to meet? but will get angry if I don?t go to meet her	43.8
13	Although she used to say ?Love before money in marriage?, when I find out she married a well-paid guy	43.8
14	Although she said ?It?s not because I dislike you? when we broke up, when I find out it actually was	41.0
15	Although she looked happy to receive the present, when I find out she doesn?t actually wear it	40.3

Read more on: goo ranking

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/CHmJR7jttbU/

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Buying Bad Credit Loans in this Customer economic system

If your customer is seeking speedy money via an on the internet quick-cash enhance loan it is crucial to see what are the sector will offer on the interest charge that is definitely maneuvering to end up paying. It can be well-advised that fast-cash move forward financial loan purchasers do not go correct to some rapidly-cash home finance loan lender but fairly find an Web web-site who is connected with many on-line banks since these sites have proven use a greater ask for for your customer. And so the swiftest approach to assess will be search through a listing of associated sites obtained via some internet browsing if attainable, market place exploration, and get in touch with the ideal firm for attaining the maximum rewards on payday loans. It's advocated that payday loan customers tend not to go suitable to some speedy-cash loan lender but pretty find out an Web site that's affiliated with quite a few on the internet finance institutions since these internet sites have proven to give a more significant price tag for that purchaser. All a person needs to always purchase a fast-cash advance loan is definitely an energetic account in pretty good standing up, a continuing source of information of profits, and identity. Financial institutions never perform a large credit history take a look at or improve enquiries to ascertain if a lender can pay for to pay the mortgage. personal loans Defeating intense financial meltdown can often be difficult from time to time, particularly when your cash save is low. Always, you will need to trust outside financing for the exact same. As you could require vital funds, frequent loans are going to be of no aid. As a substitute, you'll be able to add up after instant loans, because these loans appeal to your urgent situation requires by signing funds inside a short span of time. Instant loans particularly assist you to prevail over emergency or unanticipated financial disaster within a straight forward manner. Within these loans, it is possible to uncover amount in the range of 100-1500 for your quick time period of 14- 31 nights. After your payday will come, you have got to payback the coppied sum with the rates. With your loans, you don't have to pledge collateral for its endorsement. Furthermore, these loans also are made available to individuals with bad credit, as loan providers are certainly not serious about reviewing your credit history.
Your neighborhood financing industry newspapers and bulletins are generally full of advertisements for providers who supply these kinds of loans. If you'd want to look at obtaining the loan online, look at browsing Yahoo for such products and services. Just make sure that you'll be coming into a exchange with a reputable company, otherwise you be swindled by soar-by-nights hoaxes, usurers along with your traditional online scam-performer. The obvious way to figure out how good a payday loan corporation's standing is will be to request other people you're friends with who've previously obtained a quick payday loan. http://inforod.ru/blog/277/1411 http://www.abudhabi-mobile.com/node/70969 http://wip.popjack.net/?q=node/39595 Right after a challenging day's get the job done one particular discover peacefulness in theirVersusher house. But have you ever idea you can simply raise massive amount of dollars from your home? If no then you better reconsider since with British owner of a house personal loans it is possible to apply for good sum of money. You should place you dwelling as security about the loan quantity as a way to take advantage Britain house owner personal loans are secured loans. With Great britain house owner personal loans are collateralized loans it is possible to take advantage beneficial sum of money that amounts from &pound5000 to &pound75000. Having said that if you'd like to avail what can grater than &pound75000 you can do so by placing worth a darn assets. Being properly secured naturally, British property owner personal loans are secured loans hold low interest rate price when compared with other loans. The payment use of British home-owner personal loans are collateralized loans is extremely accommodating.

Source: http://www.supportgroups.com/sgv/buying-bad-credit-loans-in-this-customer-economic-system

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