Houston Texans Director of Radio Broadcasting shares secrets for ...

HCC students take the classroom to the field

How does one succeed in the field of communications? Students from the HCC Intro to Mass Communications 1307 class learned just that during the latest Taking the Classroom to the Field lesson hosted by Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans. Six HCC students attended a lecture and toured the radio facilities used on game days. Marc Vandermeer, Director of Radio Broadcasting for the Texans, conducted the class for this Taking the Classroom to the Field session. HCC is the official education partner of the Houston Texans and the NFL team has provided access to their facilities and personnel as part of the curriculum for classes.

This partnership provides an opportunity for students to receive mentoring from Texans employees who are experts in the areas that HCC students are studying. So far, students in Culinary Arts and now Communications have had this experience.

Vandermeer addressed the students before the tour to share his background and advice on how to succeed in communications. With a class so diverse in majors and career interests, Vandermeer was able to provide solid information about getting yourself noticed by employers. Having graduated with a degree in Mass Communications with a focus in advertising, Vandermeer did not predict that he would one day be working for the NFL, in Houston no less, a city he was once unfamiliar with.

Vandermeer said, ?No matter what, things can change on your career path.?

He continued to educate the students on the benefits of advertising during games. Since the NFL is number one in entertainment for America, television stations invest a lot of money into airing advertisements during the game. Vandermeer even reported that ESPN alone pays up to $1.8 billion for television rights during Monday Night Football. These fees help pay for the players? salaries, as well as the staff, non-football staff and facilities.

After the lecture, students had the opportunity to tour the facilities used by Vandermeer for pre and post-game interviews with the Texans players and their coach, Gary Kubiak. Vandermeer explained that the set-up is basic, but it works. The interview rooms are located across the hall from the locker room making it easier to grab a player after the game for an interview. The students even had the opportunity to wear the headsets used during radio interviews and had their conversation recorded for playback.

Hoang Doan, Engineering major at HCC?s Alief campus, said, ?Seeing the interview room broke the illusion of how complex the NFL is.?

Vandermeer concluded the tour with stressing to the students that they will go through hardships to get the job they want, but their hard work will make it worthwhile once they get there.

?What you?re passionate about is the most important thing. If you do what you love for a living, money will follow.?

Students were also advised to use networking as a means of finding a good job, and to contact Marc Vandermeer when in need of a reference. He explained that everyone you meet becomes part of your network, and gave the students his email address.

Olivia Oakes, Public Relations major and sophomore at HCC?s Alief campus, believes marketing is important and enjoyed the tour of the facilities, an opportunity she never believed would be offered by HCC.

?This corresponds with what we?ve been learning in class, which is cool,? said Oakes.

Steven Cadavid, a Mechanical Engineering student at HCC Alief, confessed that he was taking the class as an elective, but thought it would be interesting. After learning about the communication skills needed to pursue a career, and the work that goes into running a football team as taught by Vandermeer, Cadavid?s perception was changed.

Said Cadavid, ?I?ve never been in Reliant Stadium, so it was a good experience for me. I?m going to be more open-minded and talk to more people to achieve something. This was very fun and interesting.?

Carlton Abernathy, Communications Professor at HCC Central and professor of the communications 1307 class, expressed his delight over the privilege his students had to meet someone who built their own success and see behind-the-scenes of a major venue and team.

?You can?t get your head around something of this magnitude until you actually see it,? said Abernathy.

The Introduction to Mass Communication in the Electronic Environment course offered at HCC analyzes communication theory and the structure of the American communication system. The class is essentially a crash course introduction to all facets of mass media. Houston Community College?s partnership with the Texans will continue to provide more Taking the Classroom to the Field events, with the next group potentially being the Audio Visual/Filmmaking class in November.

Source: http://sites.hccs.edu/mediaroom/2012/10/houston-texans-director-of-radio-broadcasting-shares-secrets-for-success/

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Exercise boosts satisfaction with life, researchers find

ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2012) ? Had a bad day? Extending your normal exercise routine by a few minutes may be the solution, according to Penn State researchers, who found that people's satisfaction with life was higher on days when they exercised more than usual.

"We found that people's satisfaction with life was directly impacted by their daily physical activity," said Jaclyn Maher, graduate student in kinesiology. "The findings reinforce the idea that physical activity is a health behavior with important consequences for daily well-being and should be considered when developing national policies to enhance satisfaction with life."

The team examined the influence of physical activity on satisfaction with life among emerging adults ages 18 to 25 years because this population's sense of well-being appears to worsen more quickly than at any other time during adulthood.

"Emerging adults are going through a lot of changes; they are leaving home for the first time and attending college or starting jobs," said Maher. "As a result, their satisfaction with life can plummet. We decided to focus on emerging adults because they stand to benefit the most from strategies to enhance satisfaction with life."

The researchers recruited two groups of college students at Penn State. The first group, consisting of 190 individuals, entered information into a diary every day for eight days. The second group, consisting of 63 individuals, entered information into a secure website every day for 14 days. Both groups answered questions aimed at determining participants' satisfaction with life, physical activity and self-esteem. The personalities of all participants in the first group were assessed at the outset of the study using the Big Five Inventory short form.

For the second group (the 63 individuals who filled out questionnaires online for 14 days), the researchers wanted to further investigate whether physical activity was indeed, the cause of participants' increased satisfaction with life rather than some other factor such as mental health, fatigue, or Body Mass Index.

"Shifts in depression, anxiety and stress would be expected to influence a person's satisfaction with life at any given point in time," said David Conroy, professor of kinesiology. "In addition, fatigue can be a barrier to engaging in physical activity, and a high Body Mass Index associated with being overweight may cause a person to be less satisfied in a variety of ways."

By controlling for these variables, the researchers were able to determine that the amount of physical activity a person undertakes in a particular day directly influences his or her satisfaction with life. Specifically, the team found that by exercising just a little more than usual a person can significantly improve his or her satisfaction with life.

The results appeared online this week in the journal Health Psychology.

"Based on these findings, we recommend that people exercise a little longer or a little harder than usual as a way to boost satisfaction with life," said Conroy.

The National Institute of Aging at the National Institutes of Health funded this research. Other authors on the paper include Shawna Doerksen, assistant professor of recreation, park and tourism management; Steriani Elavsky, assistant professor of kinesiology; Amanda Hyde, graduate student in kinesiology; Aaron Pincus, professor of psychology; and Nilam Ram, associate professor of human development and family studies and of psychology.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jaclyn P. Maher, Shawna E. Doerksen, Steriani Elavsky, Amanda L. Hyde, Aaron L. Pincus, Nilam Ram, David E. Conroy. A Daily Analysis of Physical Activity and Satisfaction With Life in Emerging Adults.. Health Psychology, 2012; DOI: 10.1037/a0030129

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/living_well/~3/JDKAMeF2FqU/121025161751.htm

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Breast Cancer Stories: Me, My Mom and Flo

To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Yahoo News asked women who have had breast cancer or are going through treatment to write about the people in their lives who stood by them and cared for them. Here's one story.

FIRST PERSON | Before I had breast cancer, I was a massage therapist at Mills Health Center in San Mateo, Calif. Many of our clients came from the community. One of my regular clients was Flo, who sought treatment regularly to keep her shoulders loose and manage her stress.

One day, when I went to greet her for her regular session, she told me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She would receive aggressive treatment -- massage once a week for the duration of her treatments.

I was there through it all. She got through it and got back to her life, and I saw her less frequently. But I was so grateful to have been able to make a difference for her.

The day I got the dreaded call from the radiologist confirming that I had cancer, I ran into Flo. We were driving side by side on El Camino Real, a busy thoroughfare in San Mateo, of all places.

I rolled down the window and shouted the bad news.

She shouted back, "Call me! I'm your buddy!"

She was. I had inflammatory breast cancer. My treatment was aggressive. I started dose-dense chemotherapy on March 3, 2007, 10 days after my ultrasound clued in my radiologist that I "very probably" had cancer. I had eight infusions, two weeks apart. I had all the same drugs Flo had received, plus Herceptin. She took me to my appointments. She brought me Jamba Juice on chemo days and let my call her up and cry. She knew what to say when I told her my veins felt like they were full of Drano. She reassured me that the rotten way I felt was normal, and told me how long it would last and what would help me. Her husband Don also jumped in. They came and took out my daughter and son, ages 7 and 9, so I could rest. Whenever I was on the phone with Flo, Don would shout, "Tell her to remember, this is TEMP-O-RA-RY!"

Flo's partner in crime was my mom, Anne. They conferred together on the phone, about everything from my prognosis (scary, but they didn't tell me) to my boyfriend (wouldn't last; it didn't.). Mom was in Seattle. She relied on Flo to know how I was doing, and when Mom came to help when I had surgery, she and Flo were already fast friends.

Flo and I drifted back into our own very different lives after the journey, as she told me we would. We drop each other a line every so often. My gratitude to her is beyond words. I couldn't have done it without her.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/breast-cancer-stories-mom-flo-161400406.html

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Ways In Buying The Ideal Snowboard For You | recreation and ...

Buying a snowboard online specially for beginners is difficult. Thousands of people are buying snowboards and only 35% knows what they are looking for. Below are seven steps that will assists you in finding yourself the right snowboard.

1.) Because the snowboards ranges from $150 to $800, the main concern here is the money you are willing to invest in the snowboard. The difference between the cheap boards and the expensive ones are of course the quality, although cheap ones are suitable for beginners.

2.) You should ask yourself about your skill level. There are typically three levels of riders. A beginner who just ride he's board for the 1st time, the intermediate which knows basic tricks and of course the expert which do difficult tricks as well as joining competitions.

3.) The size of the board should fit you. It's a hassle to find the right size for you specially if you don't know what to do. The board should come any between your mouth and eye eyebrows. Board length varies proportions from 100cm to 180cm.

4.) There are a lot of companies out there that are selling their snowboards. So prior on buying the best thing you should do is to research online, look for reviews about the product, you will never go wrong.

5.) What kind of snowboard you like to use? There are three main categories of boards, the All Mountain or free ride board, the freestyle or technical riding board, and your racing or alpine board.

6.) The right boots. There are footwear that match skill grades which you went across before, you want to fit your boots to your skill level. A lot of people like to find the same brand boots as their boards as they fit together well.

7.) Binding are important for your cheap snowboard bindings. When choosing your bindings you the sizing is the most important thing, there are three different sizes of bindings small channel and large.

Source: http://recreationsportsupdates.blogspot.com/2012/10/ways-in-buying-ideal-snowboard-for-you.html

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Bean used in Chinese food could protect against sepsis

ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2012) ? Researchers at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered that a bean commonly used in Chinese cuisine protects against the life-threatening condition sepsis. These findings are published in the current issue of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM).

It has been found that a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) protein, HMGB1, mediates inflammation. Inflammation is necessary for maintaining good health -- without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal. However, persistent and constant inflammation can damage tissue and organs, and lead to diseases such as sepsis. Sepsis affects approximately 750,000 Americans each year, 28 to 50 percent of whom die from the condition, and costs the nation's healthcare system nearly $17 billion annually. It is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection or injury, and occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. The result is that organs become damaged, including liver, heart, lungs, kidney, and brain. If excessive damage occurs, it may be irreversible. Therefore, it is important to identify ways in which persistent and constant inflammation can be halted.

Neutralizing the protein HMGB1 protects against persistent and constant inflammation that results in damage to tissue and organs. Haichao Wang, PhD, and his colleagues, including Shu Zhu, MD and PhD, and Andrew E. Sama, MD, at the Feinstein Institute found that extract from mung bean (Vigna radiata), a bean native to India and commonly used in Chinese food and traditional medicine, reduced the release of HMGB1, thereby increasing survival rates in mice from 29.4 percent to 70 percent (P < 0.05).

"Many traditional medicinal herbs have been successfully developed into effective therapies for various inflammatory ailments, and now we have validated the therapeutic potential of another medicinal product, mung bean extract," said Dr. Wang. "Demonstrating that mung bean extract has a positive effect on septic mice shows promise that this bean can also have a positive effect on septic humans -- of course, additional studies are required to prove the safe and effective use in humans."

The Feinstein Institute and its parent company, the North Shore-LIJ Health System, have been dedicated to studying and treating sepsis. In 2010, the Feinstein Institute hosted an international Merinoff Symposium dedicated to sepsis. This symposia attracted researchers, policymakers and other opinion leaders from around the world who identified that sepsis should be categorized as a medical emergency treatable with fluids and antibiotics within one hour of recognition. The health system mounted an aggressive sepsis prevention and early identification initiative that has reduced the health system's sepsis mortality rate by 35 percent in the last four years, which translates into thousands of saved lives.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Shu Zhu, Wei Li, Jianhua Li, Arvin Jundoria, Andrew E. Sama, Haichao Wang. It Is Not Just Folklore: The Aqueous Extract of Mung Bean Coat Is Protective against Sepsis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012; 2012: 1 DOI: 10.1155/2012/498467

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/health_medicine/genes/~3/a0gaNnFFrP8/121026125125.htm

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&#39;Fed Policy Now Is Like Methadone&#39;: Mike Santoli ... - Yahoo! Finance

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The Federal Reserve Wednesday reaffirmed its policies to maintain low interest rates and purchase mortgage-backed securities until the state of the job market improves (a.k.a. QE3 or QE-Infinity)

In the statement following a meeting of its policymaking committee, the Fed said, "If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Committee will continue its purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional assets purchases and employ its other policy tools as appropriate."

Related: Bernanke's Bazooka: Open-Ended QE3 is 'Very Aggressive'

Yahoo! Finance senior columnist Michael Santoli says it will be interesting to see how the Fed treats the (jobs) data if it uses the unemployment rate as a beacon for policy. "It's a volatile series and not necessarily historically the one thing the Fed hangs policy on," he says.

Neither the Fed in its statement or Chairman Ben Bernanke at his news conference mentioned the government's last jobs report which saw unemployment dropping to 7.8%--its lowest rate in since January 2009?while payrolls gained only 114,000.

The data is based on two very different surveys?one of households and one of businesses?but the big drop in the jobless rate from 8.1% was curious. Former GE Chairman Jack Welch even tweeted that the numbers were "unbelievable" and suggested the White House manipulated the numbers. "These Chicago guys will do anything?.can't debate so change numbers."

Related: Jack Welch Is Wrong! 'It's Outrageous' to Say the Jobs Number is Manipulated: EPI's Mishel

In its statement, the Fed said the housing sector continues to show signs of improvement but growth in business fixed investment has slowed.

The Fed said it would continue its latest round of quantitative easing, buying $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities, ontinue to reinvest principal payments from those holdings and other agency debt, and extend maturities of its Treasury holdings on a monthly basis. Altogether that means increasing its debt holdings by about $85 billion a month.

"It's the new world of a steady state Fed," says Santoli. "Fed policy now is like methadone. It's maintenance."

Related: Everybody Hatest QE3: Bernanke Responds to Critics

And it's just what the market expected though there was a slight dip immediately after the Fed statement was released. Stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday but not because of the Fed. Continued disappointing earnings reports?primarily on the revenue side pushed down share prices.

The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task says it looks like "the market can't count on the Fed for another bigger boost" and the rally from quantitative easing is history.

More From The Daily Ticker:
Why Greg Smith Left Goldman: Wall Street is Now an "Eat-What-You-Kill System"

Corzine Wants Case Dismissed, Gupta Seeks Leniency: This Week in Corporate Crime

Facebook on Track to Earn $1 Billion in Mobile Ads: Sterne Agee Analyst

Check Out Yahoo! Finance's Breakout

Add the Fed to Your List of Manipulators

Facebook Earnings: The Beat Heard 'Round the World

Crude Oil Under Pressure: It's Time to Get Long Says Kilburg

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/fed-policy-now-methadone-mike-santoli-123548218.html

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Presidential election to pass $2B fundraising mark

President Barack Obama gestures while speaking during a campaign rally in Byrd park in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. The president is on the second day of his 48 hour, 8 State campaign blitz. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

President Barack Obama gestures while speaking during a campaign rally in Byrd park in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012. The president is on the second day of his 48 hour, 8 State campaign blitz. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures as he speaks at a campaign rally at Worthington Steel, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, in Worthington, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The 2012 presidential contest is expected to cross the $2 billion fundraising mark Thursday.

Donations supporting the candidacies of President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have so far exceeded $1.5 billion through September. That figure doesn't count more than $230 million flowing to independent "super" political committees working to get them elected.

Updated financial reports showing fundraising tallies are due to be filed by the end of the day. They're likely to show how ordinary citizens and billionaires alike are fueling what's expected to be the costliest campaign in history.

Wealthy Americans have contributed generously this election to super PACs. Those groups can raise unlimited sums of cash and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-25-Campaign%20Money/id-42df0b373b494f0ca8f25125526d6da5

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Homeschooling on Hudson: Arthropod Safaris

Who knew that when I suggested that we study insects and spiders to get my very sensitive then three year old Mikro over a crippling fear of anything with more than four legs, that it would spark a tremendous passion for all things arthropod? We cannot take a walk without it turning into a critter safari!

Here are some of the things we've seen lately:

Source: http://homeschoolingonhudson.blogspot.com/2012/10/arthropod-safaris.html

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Scientists raise alarm over undersea methane

NOAA

In this visualization, the Gulf Stream is seen as the dark red current coming into the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico.

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

A changing Gulf Stream off the East Coast has destabilized frozen methane deposits trapped under nearly 4,000 square miles of seafloor, scientists reported Wednesday. And since methane is even more potent than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas, the researchers said, any large-scale release could have significant climate impacts.

Temperature changes in the Gulf Stream are "rapidly destabilizing methane hydrate along a broad swathe of the North American margin," the experts said in a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Using seismic records and ocean models, the team estimated that 2.5 gigatonnes of frozen methane hydrate are being destabilized and could separate into methane gas and water.

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It is not clear if that is happening yet, but that methane gas would have the potential to rise up through the ocean and into the atmosphere, where it would add to the greenhouse gases warming Earth.

The 2.5 gigatonnes isn't enough to trigger a sudden climate shift, but the team worries that other areas around the globe might be seeing a similar destabilization.?

USGS

"It is unlikely that the western North Atlantic margin is the only area experiencing changing ocean currents," they noted. "Our estimate ... may therefore represent only a fraction of the methane hydrate currently destabilizing globally."

The wider destabilization evidence, co-author Ben Phrampus told NBC News, includes data from the Arctic and Alaska's northern slope in the Beaufort Sea.

And it's not just under the seafloor that methane has been locked up. Some Arctic land area are seeing permafrost thaw, which could release methane stored there as well.

An expert who was not part of the study said it suggests that methane could become a bigger climate factor than carbon dioxide.

"We may approach a turning point" from a warming driven by man-made carbon dioxide to a warming driven by methane, Jurgen Mienert, the geology department chair at Norway's University of Tromso, told NBC News.

"The interactions between the warming Arctic Ocean and the potentially huge methane-ice reservoirs beneath the Arctic?Ocean floor point towards?increasing instability," he added.

For thousands of years, permafrost has trapped Siberia's carbon-rich soil, a compost of Ice Age plant and animal remains. But global warming is melting the permafrost and exposing the soil, causing highly flammable methane to seep out. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

He also noted, however, that "one of the big unknowns?is?the magnitude of rapid methane escape from the ocean floor, and how natural filter?systems react and affect the future ocean, its environment and the climate."

Relate: Thawing Arctic permafrost is releasing methane

Another unknown is what caused the Gulf Stream changes, said Phrampus, an earth sciences PhD candidate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

"Multiple events can play a factor, such as changing sea level or an addition of cold/fresh water from the north," Phrampus said, adding he was?hopeful that the changes might be "reversible under their own influence."

But, he added, "we need more data to resolve this, and we are currently investigating this process."

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/24/14670511-climate-changing-methane-rapidly-destabilizing-off-east-coast-study-finds?lite

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Find The Best Ideas For Online Marketing | Eric Chua : Life ...

You can build a solid customer base and have a successful Internet marketing business if you apply the proper techniques. For many companies, this method of advertising has proven extremely successful. If you want to know more about Website marketing and how to use it to your advantage, be sure that you read the tips in the article below.

Choosing a good niche is key to having a successful Internet based business. For instance, if you?re trying to sell electronics, the Amish crowd isn?t going to be your primary target. Niche marketing is one of the most important aspects of Internet market; it?s essentially the path that all other marketing techniques will travel down. Knowing who is interested in the product you are selling and spending your effort on attracting them to your business is the smart thing to do.

An effective way to draw more traffic to your site is by creating a blog. You must post regularly so that there is always new content for visitors to read. People are far more likely to revisit your site if they realize that they will see new content each time they view it.

TIP! Offer customers a freebie that features your brand name and that can be transmitted electronically. It can be submitted to various websites where the item can be listed and provided to customers at no charge.

Try using captions with your images. The search engines scan keywords in the captions to determine whether or not the keywords searched will land the seeker effectively on your page. If you do not use relevant captions, your search engine rank may suffer.

Customize your site for worldwide access. Making your site available with multiple language options is a great idea. You would be surprised at how much viewer traffic this could add; not to mention, the global expansion that could be available to you. If a person can read and understand your site for themselves, the odds are improved for them to actually make a purchase.

Unique Product

TIP! If you want to be successful at Internet marketing, you need to be listed on Google. There are a lot of folks looking at Google at all times; you should know when they are searching for something you have to offer.

Provide something that is unique to your site and focused on a niche market. This will most likely get you a ton of traffic. By having one unique product, you will be able to offer many products in addition to your one unique product.

Publish positive customer reviews, informative articles and updates within your industry. Ensure that you have the appropriate permissions prior to publishing the interviews, however, to avoid any legal repercussions. Convert interviews into simple articles, then submit them to directories on E-zine. In this way, you can increase your credibility, your traffic and your sales.

Start a reward system. You need to make sure your business stays with you, if you are not cheap it will drum up word of mouth. It can also encourage your customer to tell others about the good deals that they get from your website and generate more sales for you.

TIP! Use a image that goes to your sales page by getting customers to click on images. The text should coordinate with the main font used in your article and should be positioned near the end of the article.

Regular blogging is an asset to any affiliate marketing campaign. If you blog regularly, you are giving yourself another forum through which you can inform consumers. A blog will increase the size and visibility of your website. The result is an increase in visitors.

Use descriptions that promise fast results and speedy responses when you are advertising your products and services. Brag about how quickly your customers can use your site, have products delivered to their front doors and see the amazing results of using your products or services. Anything that insinuates speed is a great draw card for the viewer, such as online orders receiving an immediate confirmation email or promising a simple and quick checkout mechanism.

Email Address

TIP! Stay abreast of what your competition is doing. You may easily look at the competition?s web site to see the features they might have.

Do you want to market online? Allow several opportunities for visitors to leave their email address and other information. This is called an opt-in feature, and it allows your visitors to sign up for free newsletters or offers in exchange for their email. If a reader thinks that there are benefits to providing you with their email address, they are more likely to provide you the information.

If you understand your competitors you will have a better chance of seeing success in Online marketing. Find out what they are doing, and do it better. In Web marketing, this is the key ingredient.

A great marketing strategy is to offer bulk discounts on products. If your customer can save money through purchasing items in quantity, they often will. You can make profits with wholesale items being sold while increasing the amount you sell.

TIP! Marketing is all about finding a need and filling that need. When you start your business, be aware of the problems you are solving.

If you use words that make it seem like your site is easy to use it will drum up traffic. People are hesitant to order from sites if the process is too complicated. Your business can increase by a lot when you do this.

One absolute Affiliate marketing necessity is information security. You need to take every possible step to protect your customers? information when they buy from you. Always make sure that their security is a priority with you so that they will see you as a trusted source to work with.

Databases can help you maintain good customer relations. Keep track of what people buy and collect their contact information. Then, you can tailor your communications to showcase accessories or products that are similar to those that customers have already bought from your business.

TIP! Never resort to spamming your prospective and existing customers in the hopes of making a sale. While it might seem like a good way to reach many people, they are not nearly as effective as you think.

You have seen Online marketing and how it can be a strong way to attract new customers. If you have a good source of information and a healthy work ethic, you can easily devise a plan of attack to draw in traffic. You will be able to interact with your customers and learn more about your target audience. By using the tips here, you can make your Affiliate marketing efforts work for you.

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www.facebook.com/maynaseric

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/find-the-best-ideas-for-online-marketing

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McCain Renews Support for Richard Mourdock After Rape Exception Clarification

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., walked back his remarks about embattled Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, emphasizing today that he still does support the Republican candidate for Senate.

"Senator McCain is glad that Mr. Mourdock apologized to the people of Indiana and clarified his previous statement," Brian Rogers, Communications Director for Senator John McCain said today, "Senator McCain hopes the people of Indiana will elect Mr. Mourdock to the U.S. Senate."

During debate Tuesday in Indiana, Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said pregnancies resulting from rape are part of God's plan, tearfully explaining that he only supports abortions when a mother's life is in danger.

Mourdock clarified his comments in a press release and at a news conference Wednesday, but he didn't apologize, instead accusing critics of "twist[ing]" his words.

"God creates life, and that was my point," he said in a press release. "God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that he does. Rape is a horrible thing, and for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick."

At a news conference later he said that his words were "mistook and twisted," and that the uproar is symptomatic of "what's wrong with Washington."

"I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen," Mourdock said Tuesday. Mourdock's opponent, Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly, opposes abortion except in cases of rape and incest.

McCain's statement Thursday is a almost a full turnaround from what the Senator told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday evening when asked whether his support for Mourdock still stands in light of the comments at the debate.

"It depends on what he does, I think it depends on what he does," McCain said Wednesday. "If he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him, then obviously I'd be the first-you know, as I said, I'm not sure how big a mistakes that I have made, but, you know, in the years that I've [been] around, I've made a few, Anderson, and I've asked for people's understanding and forgiveness when I own up to it. It's when you don't own up to it that people will not believe in you."

Senator McCain's office explained that the Senator was traveling Wednesday in Florida so did not have an opportunity to see Mr. Mourdock's full press conference before he taped his CNN interview.

Democrats have wasted no time linking GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to Mourdock. Earlier this week, Romney personally ap peared in a TV ad for the Indiana state treasurer offering his endorsement.

Romney's campaign distanced itself from Mourdock's comment.

"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views," campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.

But a television ad cut by Romney for Mourdock continues to run in Indiana and the Romney campaign has not asked for it to come down.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mccain-renews-support-richard-mourdock-rape-exception-clarification-153321946--abc-news-politics.html

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Letterpress by Atebits review

"Letterpress is a painfully addictive word game, earning its place on my home screen and sure to win the hearts of people in bathrooms everywhere. I give it five Magic Trackpads."

Imagine yourself drawing a bath. The water runs over the sound of light jazz as you slide your robe off, lit by the scented candles scattered around the room. You check the temperature?just a toe at first. The heat startles, then invites. Your body slides in, displacing the mountainous landscape of bubbles and finally settling with just enough room for you to watch the steam rise from your skin. You reach for your glass and take a sip of merlot. Your head tilted back, you feel it sliding down your throat. Eyes closed, you pick your iPhone up from the table next to you. The welcome vibration causes your skin to tremble, and as you open your eyes to look at the screen, you see it?

"reneritchie played PACKAGES"

"Now", you think, "I'm ready to play."

Asynchronous iOS games have long been a favorite of iPhone users in the bathroom. Words With Friends?another word game?introduced me to the idea, and Draw Something proved that it could also be done so poorly that an otherwise good idea would be abandoned by its users just slightly less quickly than the company who purchased its creators could realize their mistake. Honorable mention: Let's Sing. But where Draw Something and Let's Sing use pictures and sounds, word games in particular seem well-suited to asynchronous play.

Enter Letterpress, the new iPhone game from Atebits. You remember Atebits, right? Started by Loren Brichter in 2007, Atebits was the one-man powerhouse that gave us Tweetie. And Tweetie 2. And Tweetie for Mac. As if winning an Apple Design Award and inventing pull-to-refresh weren't enough, Loren then sold his company to Twitter in 2010, where he continued work on his apps under the banner of being the official platform Twitter clients.

At least, until Twitter decided they hated their users, ruined the iPhone app with the infamous Dickbar, threw away everything that made the iPad client great, and took a massive dump on the Mac client. Inexplicably, Loren decided to leave.

It seems weird to relaunch Atebits with a word game. Back in May, I asked Loren what he was working on next, and he said he wanted to start off small in order to "reset expectations". This turns out to be a brilliant move: more work on a social network of any kind would seem obvious and risk painting the man as a one-trick pony. However, a game helps to shift the focus back to the product. (For more, see our interview with Loren Brichter.)

So, about that product.

Letterpress is deceptively simple. A five-by-five grid of letters is laid out on the screen. You and your opponent have full visibility to the board, and must make words out of the letters provided. As you do, those letters are colored in?blue for your letters, red for theirs?and each move steals letters back, affecting the letter-count score at the top of the screen. Things get slightly trickier when the letters on the four sides of a played letter are also played in the same color, when the lock-in effect causes the center to go darker. In this case, the letter can still be played, but no points transfer. Each word must consist of at least two letters, and no word can be re-played.

It's interesting to see the word choices your opponents make, and during the beta period it became clear that different people have very different styles of play. During a recent conference, a friendly rivalry with another tester turned into a passionate conversation about strategy and how to dominate the board. Arguments were made for word-based play, and arguments were made for tile-and-location-based approaches. Where we definitely agreed was that it's totally worth risking a lead to play a really funny word.

While the game itself is asynchronous, I often find myself in prolonged sessions with other players, where we'll begin and end a game (or two) in a single sitting. This works less well for bathroom play, since those longer sessions could mean pruney skin. But the difference is that the rapid-fire approach can get heated quickly, leading to more moves based on gut feeling and less on calculated strategy. I find it interesting that this is a natural diversion in the gameplay itself, and not a "mode" designed to needlessly split the game into extra features.

Matching up to other players is straightforward enough, either by picking from your Game Center friends or letting the game find someone for you at random. But the lack of in-game chat means that trash-talking and congratulations must be done outside the game, which in turn means the less connected you are to the person you're playing, the less you'll get out of the experience. I've enjoyed many rounds of trash-talking and congratulations via iMessage, and that's a huge part of what makes the game fun.

Similarly, once a game as ended you have to go in and invite your opponent to play again. This would be fine, except that it's not clear who should be in charge of creating the new game, so you end up in a lot of situations where both sides take the initiative and you're now juggling two sessions. A simple "rematch" button would take all of the pain out of this and probably keep me in the app longer.

Both of these complaints, I'm told, are Game Center's fault. And since they're relatively minor, I won't hold it against the game. That said, I really hope they get fixed quickly.

Taking the sting out of the Game Center problems is the gorgeous visual design. A game should be immersive, and Letterpress does a wonderful job of creating a light, fun world for the letters to populate. The colors and typography are clean and clear, and the overall treatment feels bright and minimalist without coming off as sterile. A few small touches really shine, though, like the way the newly-played letters shake when you re-enter a game after your opponent has played, the welcomed clever branding of the refresh indicator, or the game-remove animation that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

You can tell that Loren has put a lot of love and care into his latest app. It's genuinely fun.

Letterpress is a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and is available for free on the App Store, but by default you can only have two concurrent games running. A single $0.99 in-app purchase will remove this limitation, enable a previously played words list, and give you access to visual themes (spoiler: some of them are pink). I can't imagine anyone playing this game and not spending the $0.99.

My prediction is that this game is going to be wildly successful, and not because of the history or pedigree of its developer. Letterpress is painfully addictive, earning its place on my home screen and sure to win the hearts of people in bathrooms everywhere. I give it five Magic Trackpads.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/eiw-unnNMtQ/story01.htm

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NFL Week 13 Eagles @ Cowboys

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Source: http://www.sportsviews.com/bet/19912/NFL_Week_13__Eagles___Cowboys

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Real Estate Agent : : Greg BD

house for sale utah With interest and homeownership rates dropping and many affordable properties on the market, now is the best time to invest in real estate. But even with encouraging conditions, it is vital to work with a realtor if you are thinking about making a real estate investment. Real estate investments may be more or less favorable depending on your location. Working with an experienced real estate agent can help you invest in the right home, at the right time, at the right price. Realtors are knowledgeable in every step of the investment process and will make sure you comply with all laws and regulations. A real estate investment will be a great addition to diversify your portfolio and receive potential tax advantages. Find a realtor today and learn how to get the most out of your real estate investment. Investment houses

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4 dead, including gunman, in Wisconsin spa shooting

A tactical unit responds to the shooting in Brookfield, Wis. (AP)

A shooting at a spa near a Brookfield, Wis., mall on Sunday left four dead--including the shooter--and four others wounded, police said. The suspected gunman, 45-year-old Radcliffe Haughton, of Brown Deer, Wis., was later found dead inside.

The shooting occurred at the Azana Spa across the street from the Brookfield Square Mall at approximately 11:15 a.m. local time, police said. Inside the spa, police found what appeared to be an improvised explosive device (IED), and a bomb squad was called in as officials worked to clear the two-story building.

"Our entire operation is focused on locating the suspect," Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said at a press conference earlier Sunday.

A spokeswoman for Froedtert Memorial Hospital told the Associated Press that said four shooting victims were being treated for non-life threatening injuries at the hospital.

Authorities did not immediately release a motive. But according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a restraining order requested by Haughton's wife was issued against him on Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. And according to WISN-TV, she worked at the spa.

Haughton (Waukesha County Sheriff's Dept.)

Online court records showed that Haughton "was not allowed to have firearms and was directed to deliver firearms to the sheriff," the Journal Sentinel said. "The order does not indicate if that happened."

Following the shooting, the mall and a nearby country club were placed on lockdown. SWAT, FBI, fire and rescue officials responded to the shooting, and a Flight for Life helicopter landed in the mall's parking lot. Police and tactical units conducted a sweep of surrounding businesses.

A representative from the Department of Homeland Security arrived on the scene to offer investigative assistance, while police and FBI--assisted by a bomb squad--conducted a search of Haughton's home.

Earlier, a reporter from the Journal Sentinal spoke to the suspect's father, Radcliffe Haughton Sr., who said he told his son last week, "Don't do anything stupid."

Meanwhile, employees at the spa were asked to not speak to the media. "It is so important that things get figured out and settled first," a post on Azana Spa's Facebook page read. "Please continue to pray for all of those involved."

The suspect did not appear to have a presence on Facebook, but a Google Plus page for a Radcliffe Haughton includes a photo of a man who looks like Haughton displaying what appears to be a gun. A LinkedIn page lists Haughton as the owner of "Haughton International Corporation."

Rep. Paul Ryan, campaigning as the Republican vice presidential nominee in Iowa on Sunday, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the news out of his home state.

"As our community continues to heal from August's tragic violence, our thoughts and prayers are with today's victims and their loved ones," Ryan said in a statement. "Our gratitude also goes to the first responders who rushed to save lives and secure the scene. We will not allow the evil responsible for this heartbreaking event to triumph over the spirit of the people of Wisconsin. I ask all Americans to keep those affected by this event in their hearts, minds, and prayers today."

Sunday's shooting comes less than three months after Wade Michael Page, an Army veteran with white supremacist ties, opened fire at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., killing six and injuring three others before shooting himself.

And the spa is less than a mile from a hotel where a gunman opened fire during a Living Church of God service in 2005. Seven people were killed and four wounded in that shooting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/mall-shooting-wisconsin-brookfield-180854621.html

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10 most haunted houses in the US

WinchesterMysteryHouse.com

Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif., took 38 years to build and includes twisting and turning hallways, dead ends and secret panels.

By Erika Riggs, Zillow

Creaking floors, inexplicable cold drafts and eerie sounds usually don't top the list of dream house features.

Unless, of course, we're talking about dream haunted house features.

It's October, and we're forgoing the usual roundup of eye candy in favor of some cobweb-draped places most people wouldn't dare put a down payment on.

Tales of horror, glimpses of ghosts and a bevy of cobweb decor ? it's all here.

Winchester House
San Jose, Calif.
It's as if original owner Sarah Winchester wanted her home to be haunted. The eccentric widow of William Winchester, founder of Winchester rifles, held nightly seances to gain guidance from spirits and her dead husband for the home?s design. The end result? A maze-like structure that took 38 years to build and includes twisting and turning hallways, dead ends, secret panels, a window built into a floor, staircases leading to nowhere, doors that open to walls, upside-down columns and rooms built, then intentionally closed off? ? all to ward off and confuse evil spirits.

Gardette-LaPrete House
716 Dauphine St, New Orleans
This Greek revival home was the site of the one of the grisliest murders in New Orleans' history. A Turkish merchant, renting the home, was buried alive in the backyard and his harem entourage murdered. Years later, the French Quarter home is still said to be the site of the merchant's wanderings, and on certain nights, exotic music and incense from ancient parties waft from the home.

Hampton Lillibridge
507 E Saint Julian St, Savannah, Ga.
This historic home was moved to its current location in Savannah?by a local restoration expert. As work began on the house, workers reported odd noises and a male presence. Early on, they discovered a crypt on the building site half filled with water and covered it.

Despite the rumors of hauntings, the home was finished and was last on the market for $2.2 million in 2011. Although it's off the market now, there's no word of a buyer.

LaLaurie House
1140 Royal St, New Orleans
The LaLaurie House, like many haunted homes, has a pretty horrific back story. Owned by socialite Madame Delphine LaLaurie and her husband, Dr. Louis LaLaurie, the house was the reported setting for vicious cruelty against the couple's slaves. Reportedly the slaves were subjected to torturous medical experiments that went on unbeknownst to the New Orleans community until a fire broke out and? neighbors rushing to rescue discovered the gruesome scenes. The LaLauries fled the country due to the backlash, and the home passed through several owners, each who claimed to hear mysterious screams and see apparitions of the tortured slaves.

At one point actor Nicolas Cage owned the home, and while he said he never saw any ghosts, he wasn't immune to the home's sinister vibes; he lost the property to foreclosure in 2009.

Joe Mabel

Whaley House
San Diego
In 1857, an entrepreneurial Thomas Whaley took advantage of a deeply discounted property in San Diego's Old Town neighborhood that once held the area's hangings. He tore down the gallows and proceeded to build his Greek Revival brick home. However, soon after Whaley and his family moved in, they reported hearing heavy footsteps moving about the house. Even after the Whaleys moved out, various tenants reported seeing ghosts and hearing the footsteps.

Today the historic home is a museum and is open daily for tourists to see if they, too, hear and see the ghostly apparitions.

FranklinCastleClub.com

Franklin Castle
4308 Franklin Blvd, Cleveland
Franklin Castle has both a creepy history as well as a creepy exterior. Home to Hannes Tiedemann, the house was reportedly the site of many vicious murders. Built in 1864, the home has all the makings of a haunted mansion: stone tower and turrets, gargoyles and wrought-iron fencing, not to mention sounds of babies crying, doors slamming and footsteps.

According to the property history, the home was last sold for $260,000 in August 2011. No word yet, if the homeowners are having any eerie experiences.

McPike Mansion
Alton, IL
Haunted houses?? how about a whole haunted city? Alton claims to be the one of the most haunted areas in America and is home to McPike Mansion, which is host to a number of active ghosts.

There's no specific backstory to the ghostly going-ons, but visitors and residents of the brick manse have claimed to be hugged by an unseen woman, hear the laughter of children and see mysterious mists and orbs of light. As far as hauntings go, not too sinister.

Borden House
240 2nd St, Fall River, Mass.
This home was the site of one of the most infamous crimes of all time: the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, reportedly at the hands of Andrew's daughter Lizzie. As the nursery rhyme goes, Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave both her father and step-mother whacks. However, Lizzie was acquitted and moved out of the home.

The home of the murder still stands in Fall River and operates as a bed-and-breakfast, where guests report seeing Andrew and Abby wandering about.

Myrtles Plantation
Saint Francisville, La.
An antebellum home in a voodoo-rich area of Louisiana is the likely place for a haunted home. Built in?1796, Myrtles Plantation was taken over in 1808 by Clark Woodruff, his wife, Sara, and their three children. According to legend, Woodruff had a relationship with one of his slaves, Chloe, who was jealous of Woodruff's wife. Story goes that Chloe baked a birthday cake for Sara and the kids, including poisonous oleander leaves in the treat. Sara and two of their children died. Chloe confessed, but fellow slaves retaliated, hanging Chloe and dumping her body in the Mississippi.

Chloe isn't the only ghost said to haunt Myrtles Plantation. A Civil War solider was murdered on the steps of the home, and an ancient Native American burial ground is said to beneath the house. All this adds up to a home rich in creepy incidences.

Chambers Mansion
2220 Sacramento St, San Francisco, Calif.
Like most haunted homes, there's a bit of confusion surrounding the true story behind Chambers Mansion. Built in 1887, the home was named after its first owner, silver mine tycoon Richard Chambers, who lived in the home with two nieces who reportedly hated each other.

When Chambers died in 1901, the nieces inherited the mansion. One reportedly bought the house next door and moved in while the other sister, Claudia, stayed. Claudia was discovered cut in half in the mansion one day, due to a "farm implementation" accident. However, a ghost expert has claimed that Claudia was in fact murdered, and still haunts the Pacific Heights home today.

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Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/21/14489379-10-most-haunted-houses-in-the-us?lite

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Lawyers, CEOs boosted Obama's Sept. donations

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Attorneys, business owners and retirees were among those who helped President Barack Obama maintain slim fundraising supremacy over Republican challenger Mitt Romney last month, with the president raising $181 million as he entered the last full month in the fight to keep his job.

An Associated Press review of newly released financial reports found at least $11 million from lawyers and at least $3 million from investors and bankers, some of whom cooled to the president earlier in this election campaign when critics say he cracked down on Wall Street and pushed for consumer-protection reforms. About $22 million more came from retired Americans, an important bloc of voters likely more tuned in to health care reform and changes in retirement benefits.

Their contributions, among hundreds of thousands, went hand-in-hand with record donations to an outside political group helping Obama win a second term. Still, the president began October with less available money to spend than Romney, as Obama's campaign, the Democratic Party and related groups reported $149.8 million cash on hand. That's compared with $183.1 million in the bank among Romney's campaign, the GOP and his joint-fundraising apparatus.

All told, a swath of small-dollar contributions helped Obama and the Democratic Party best Romney and the GOP by more than $10 million last month after being repeatedly walloped in the money race earlier this year. The president's fundraising haul topped the more than $114 million he and the Democrats raised during the month of August, and the cash Obama pulled in last month was slightly less than his record-breaking $190 million from September 2008.

Financial support to Obama and Romney are putting the presidential election on track to cost nearly $2 billion, thanks to mountains of cash earmarked to both campaigns and independent "super" political committees working on their behalf. Wealthy Americans are increasingly picking up the tab this year, at times giving millions of dollars apiece to super PACs that have buoyed costly advertising.

September's reports show major financial support going to both Republican and Democratic super PACs, with the pro-Romney Restore Our Future PAC reporting it collected $14.8 million in September, the group's second-most lucrative month. Late Saturday, American Crossroads, the major super PAC headed by GOP strategist Karl Rove, reported $11.6 million for September, the highest single-month total for the group.

Rove's top donors in September included Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, who gave $2.5 million and Oklahoma coal baron Joseph Craft III, who gave $1 million. Another $1.32 million was donated by the Armstrong Company, a Pennsylvania conglomerate which provided the donation as "in-kind cable access, and $1 million from Jay Bergman, an Illinois oilman.

Meanwhile, Priorities USA Action, the pre-eminent Obama-supportive super PAC, said it raised a record $15.3 million.

"People who support the president know that we've come too far to go back now," Priorities senior strategist Bill Burton said. "We're ahead a little bit now, but it is time to close the deal."

Both campaigns and super PACs have made an all-out push for contributions as Election Day quickly approaches. The contributions are funding a record-breaking campaign operation for both candidates, which translates to paying a legion of campaign staff and hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of television ads.

So when it came to contributions directly to Obama's campaign, business owners and some Wall Street types helped pick up the tab, even if they didn't make up a majority of total contributions. Obama's donors in September included more than 4,000 CEOs, records show, and his campaign continued to tally millions pouring in from key battleground states.

Yet Obama hardly has a lock on winning the financial fight.

Republican super PACs have helped to match or exceed Obama's TV ad spending in dozens of media markets in battleground states. Ad spending data obtained by the AP from April through early October found pro-Romney spending has exceeded pro-Obama ad spending by at least $65 million across the nine states expected to decide the election: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa and Wisconsin.

Obama broke presidential fundraising records four years ago, but has found himself financially outgunned for much of the summer, thanks in part to super PACs supporting Romney. Meanwhile, an AP review of campaign data this fall found Obama out-raising Romney in most of the 11 states that at one point were pivotal to win the election.

Reports detailing revenues and expenses for the first half of October are due to the Federal Election Commission by Oct. 25. Those will provide the public with the last financial snapshot before the Nov. 6 election.

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Braun contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-21-Campaign%20Money/id-7a349d5bae80457590bd244d8ba85771

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Iran, like U.S., denies plan for one-on-one nuclear talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran followed the United States on Sunday in denying that the two countries had scheduled direct bilateral negotiations on Iran's controversial nuclear program.

The New York Times, quoting unnamed U.S. administration officials, had said on Saturday that secret exchanges between U.S. and Iranian officials had yielded agreement "in principle" to hold one-on-one talks.

"We don't have any discussions or negotiations with America," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told a news conference. "The (nuclear) talks are ongoing with the P5+1 group of nations. Other than that, we have no discussions with the United States."

The P5+1 group comprises the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia - plus Germany.

The United States has been working with the P5+1 to pressure Iran on its nuclear program, but with few results. The United States and other Western powers allege that the program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran says it is purely peaceful.

The White House also denied the newspaper report, which came two days before President Barack Obama faces Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in a televised foreign policy debate.

"It's not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

"We continue to work with the P5+1 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally."

Salehi said on Sunday it was planned that Iran would hold talks with the P5+1, "probably in late November", according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

"NO DATE"

But a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is coordinating the efforts of the P5+1, said that "we hope that we will pick up discussions soon, but there is no date at the moment".

The P5+1 has held a series of inconclusive meetings with Iranian officials in the past year. While Western officials say there is still time to negotiate, they also have been ratcheting up sanctions, which are contributing to mounting economic problems in Iran.

The New York Times said Iran had insisted that its direct talks with Washington should not begin until after the U.S. election on November 6, which will determine whether Obama serves a second term or is succeeded by Romney.

The report looked likely to fan campaign debate over foreign policy, where Romney has been accusing Obama of being an ineffective leader who has left his country vulnerable.

He has also accused Obama of failing to give adequate support to Israel, which sees the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has tried in vain to persuade Obama to spell out at what point the United States would use force to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran has repeatedly denied Israel's right to exist.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander was quoted on Sunday as praising the launch of a drone into Israeli airspace by the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this month.

"This issue showed that the Zionists (Israelis) and Americans must know that no place is safe for them anymore," Mohsen Kazemini was quoted as saying by Fars.

Separately, the Guards' top commander, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Sunday he saw no chance of a military strike on Iran, ISNA reported.

Jafari's comments were in contrast to a statement last month in which he said he expected Israel eventually to go beyond threats and attack Iran.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-denies-report-plans-nuclear-talks-u-111601338.html

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Orionid meteor show reaches its climax

It has been 26 years since Halley's Comet last passed through the inner solar system ? but this weekend, skywatchers have a chance to see leftover bits of the comet light up the night sky in the Orionid meteor shower.

The Orionids can best be described as a junior version of the famous Perseid meteor shower and is scheduled to reach its maximum before sunrise on Sunday morning. Patient night sky observers with clear, dark skies could see dozens of meteors an hour, according to NASA.

This will be an excellent year to look for the Orionids, since the moon will set around 11 p.m. local time on Saturday night and will not be a hindrance at all; so the sky will be dark for prospective meteor watchers right on through the first light of dawn on Sunday. [Photos: Orionid Meteor Shower of 2012]

The orbit of Halley's Comet closely approaches the Earth's orbit at two places. One point is in the early part of May producing a meteor display known as the Eta Aquarids.

The other point comes in the middle to latter part of October, producing the Orionids.

How to watch
This weekend's meteor shower is known as ?Orionids? because the meteors seem to fan out from a region to the north of well-known Orion constellation's second brightest star: the ruddy Betelgeuse.

Currently, Orion appears ahead of us in our journey around the sun, and has not completely risen above the eastern horizon until after 11 p.m. local daylight time. At its best several hours later, at around 5 a.m. ? Orion will be highest in the sky toward the south ? Orionids typically produce around 20 to 25 meteors per hour under a clear, dark sky.

Typically, Orionid meteors are dim and not well seen from urban locations, so we suggest that you find a safe rural location to see the best Orionid activity. Actually, Orionid activity started to increase noticeably on Oct. 17, when they started appearing at roughly five per hour.

After peaking on the morning of Oct. 21, activity will slowly ease, dropping back to around five per hour around Oct. 25. The last few stragglers usually appear sometime in early to mid-November. [October's Best Night Sky Sights (Video)]

What to expect
The best time to see the Orionid meteor shower is anytime from about 1 or 2 a.m. local daylight time until around dawn, when the shower?s radiant (in Orion?s upraised club, just north of the bright red star, Betelgeuse) is highest above the southern horizon.

The higher the radiant, the more meteors appear all over the sky. The Orionids are one of just a handful of known meteor showers that can be observed equally well from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

The Orionids are one of the better annual meteor shower displays, producing about 15 to 20 meteors per hour at their peak. Add the five to 10 sporadic meteors that always are plunging into our atmosphere and you get a maximum of about 20 to 30 meteors per hour for a dark sky location. Most of these meteors are relatively faint, however, so any light pollution will cut the total way down.

In recent years, this shower has been rather active for a few days before and after its Oct. 21 peak. Step outside before sunrise, for instance, on Saturday or Monday mornings and if you catch sight of a meteor, there?s about a 75 percent chance that it likely originated from the nucleus of Halley?s Comet.

1. Space news from NBCNews.com

   1. Scenes from the 'Promised Land' on the Red Planet

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Get a good look at the terrain surrounding NASA's Curiosity rover in a place that's known as Mars' "Promised Land."

   2. Orionid meteor show reaches its climax
   3. Sun unleashes huge solar plasma wave
   4. Private spaceflight industry at big turning point

"They are easily identified ? from their speed," David Levy and Stephen Edberg write in "Observe: Meteors," an Astronomical League manual. "At 66 kilometers (41 miles) per second, they appear as fast streaks, faster by a hair than their sisters, the Eta Aquarids of May. And like the Eta Aquarids, the brightest of family tend to leave long-lasting trains. Fireballs are possible three days after maximum."

In fact, a dazzling fireball lit up the night sky over California on Wednesday night, creating a brilliant light show and starting many witness with a loud sonic boom.

Story: Stunning shooting stars light up California sky

Recent studies have shown that about half of all the Orionids that are seen leave trails that lasted longer than other meteors of equivalent brightness.

This is undoubtedly connected in some way to the makeup of Halley?s Comet. So it is that the shooting stars that we have come to call Orionids are really an encounter with the traces of a famous visitor from the depths of space and from the dawn of creation.

Halley?s legacy
Halley's Comet takes roughly 75 years to circle the sun. But if you?re 30 years old or younger, you either have little or no memory of this famous cosmic vagabond (your next chance will come in the summer of 2061). Or maybe, if you were around back then, you didn?t see Halley at all because of light pollution or the comet's low altitude above the horizon.

That's what makes the Orionid meteor shower, and its partner the Eta Aquarids, so special: They give Earth a glimpse of Halley twice a year.

Comets are the leftovers of the day of creation, the odd bits and pieces of simple gases ? methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and water vapor ? that went unused when the sun and its attendant planets came into their present form. All comets eventually disintegrate into meteor swarms and Halley?s is well into that process at this time.

These tiny particles ? mostly ranging in size from dust to sand grains ? remain along the original comet?s orbit, creating a ?river of rubble? in space. In the case of Halley?s comet, which has likely circled the sun many hundreds, if not thousands of times, its dirty trail of debris has been distributed more or less uniformly all along its entire orbit.

When these tiny bits of comet collide with Earth, friction with our atmosphere raises them to white heat and produces the effect popularly referred to as "shooting stars."

Meteoroids that are released into space from this cometary debris are the remnants of a comet?s nucleus. When they hit Earth's atmosphere, they flare up in bright meteors. Any pieces that reach Earth are called meteorites.

Story: Show us your sky highlights

If you snapped any photos of the Orionid meteor shower and want to share them with Space.com, send the pictures, comments and location info to managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49479429/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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