bossmao: সেপ্টেম্বর 2012

রবিবার, ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

The New Mage Guild: Amaranth

Taking place shortly after Natsu and company stopped the Eisenwald Guild in Oshibana Town. An up-and-coming Guild decided to station itself in place of Eisenwald. Now Oshibana Town has it's own certified Guild; Amaranth.

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Game Masters:

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
Welcome to the Out of Character page for The New Mage Guild: Amaranth

Please use this OOC for discussions about the roleplay as frequently as possible.

Last edited by Temperance on Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Temperance: Member for 1 years

I am certainly interested in joining. May I please reserve the remaining S-rank mage of Amaranth, please? Thank you very much for your help :) I'll have her done as soon as I can.

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence of trying.

Layla: Member for 0 years

Well for the most part I do not take reservations, and base my choosings on profiles. But from your history of profiles/postings, you're sitting quite well with your chance of getting it. As long as you have a good profile, I will accept it as an S rank.

Temperance: Member for 1 years

Will do. Do you have a rough idea of what your character will be like? If so, could you brief me on him/her, please? I would like to make my character clash as much as possible with yours - in terms of both personalities and abilities. :)

Layla: Member for 0 years

Ah, in terms of abilities I have Requip as one of them - need to go over the rest of the abilities. (If you were thinking of that for yours just tell me, there's plenty others I would not mind having lol. Personality hmmm...I will get back to you and edit this XD.

Temperance: Member for 1 years

@Temperance
I'll make my character once you edit your post :) Vague personality descriptions are fine lol. I just want it so our characters clash. Like if your character's stern and law-abiding, mine will be reckless and uncaring. If yours uses their powers only when necessary, mine will be all use-powers-every-other-second-for-menial-tasks haha. If yours is the hard working, mine will be one lazy ass xD By the way, I won't be able to make my character until tomorrow.

Layla: Member for 0 years

I have my character sheet posted as a WIP though I might change the last three abilities the personality will be something like what's on there. Might change it some. Nothing drastic though. And that's fine, however if you do know any of the abilities you want now, I might suggest posting a WIP listing them just so no one else takes them before you are able to post. If not it's fine XP.

Temperance: Member for 1 years

May I reserve two spots? One for the Amaranth (A or B rank) and one for the Dark Guild (S rank)? I may not be able to write at the moment though... I need to finish with Agarwaen in Welcome to Shadow Town first but then I will work with both of them...

Thank you.

The Black Death: Member for 0 years

Unfortunately my phone will not allow me to make characters >.

Heavenly Body Magic
Human subordination
Fire magic
Chain Magic

Layla: Member for 0 years

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Attack kills 2 Americans, at least 2 Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan soldier turned his gun on American troops at a checkpoint in the country's east, killing two Americans and at least two fellow members of Afghanistan's army in a shooting that marked both the continuance of a disturbing trend of insider attacks and the 2,000th U.S. troop death in the long-running war, officials said Sunday.

The string of insider attacks is one of the greatest threats to NATO's mission in the country, endangering a partnership key to training up Afghan security forces and withdrawing international troops.

Saturday's shooting took place at an Afghan army checkpoint just outside a joint U.S.-Afghan base in Wardak province, said Shahidullah Shahid, a provincial government spokesman.

"Initial reports indicate that a misunderstanding happened between Afghan army soldiers and American soldiers," Shahid said. He said investigators had been sent to the site to try to figure out what happened.

An Afghan official speaking on condition of anonymity said three Afghan soldiers were killed in the clash. It was not clear if the assailant was among the dead.

The attack happened about 5 p.m. in Sayd Abad district, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said in an emailed statement. He did not provide further details, saying he would wait for a report from investigators.

NATO forces announced the assault early Sunday morning, saying only that it was "suspected insider attack" and that a NATO service member and civilian contractor were killed.

One U.S. official confirmed that the service member killed was American, while another confirmed that the civilian was also American. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the nationality of the dead had not yet been formally announced.

Afghan soldiers and policemen ? or militants in their uniforms ? have gunned down more than 50 foreign troops so far this year, eroding the trust between coalition forces and their Afghan partners. An equal number of Afghan policemen and soldiers also died in these attacks, giving them reason as well to be suspicious of possible infiltrators within their ranks.

The attacks are taking a toll on the partnership between international and Afghan forces, prompting the U.S. military to restrict operations with small-sized Afghan units earlier this month.

The close contact ? with coalition forces working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers ? is a key part of the U.S. strategy for preparing the Afghans to take the lead in security operations as the U.S. and other nations prepare to pull out their last combat troops at the end of 2014, just 27 months away.

The number of American military dead reflects an Associated Press count of those members of the armed services killed inside Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion on Oct. 7, 2001.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/attack-kills-2-americans-least-2-afghans-091513802.html

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Klout Would Like Potential Employers To Consider Your Score Before Hiring You. And That?s Stupid.

Let's put it out there right now: I am personally not a fan of Klout, which ranks people based on their Internet interactions and engagement on services like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. I have nothing against the company whatsoever, and this is a vertical that someone was going to get into sooner or later. However, I still feel like the whole concept is bunk.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/MxXOF-tIR0Y/

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Worx SD Power Screwdriver ? I am the Law

One of the biggest pains with using drills and power screwdrivers is having to change bits all the time, however Worx has come up with a neat solution. ?The Worx SD Power screwdriver is powered by a 4V Li-Ion battery and comes with a handy LED work light. ?It’s big selling point is the six [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/09/29/worx-sd-power-screwdriver-i-am-the-law/

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Reading the Quran in a new way

Like the Bible, the Quran is filled with fiery passages and gentle ones. Some sentences contradict others. But a new way of reading the Muslim holy book -- based on an old way of storytelling -- might shed a very different light on its meaning.

By John Yemma,?Editor / September 28, 2012

A mother helps her daughter read the Quran in Londonderry, N.H.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File

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?Carl Ernst has read, parsed, and puzzled over the Quran since graduate school in 1975. As in the Bible, some passages are mild, some blistering. Later ones appear to cancel out earlier ones. Which has precedence??

Skip to next paragraph John Yemma

Editor, The Christian Science Monitor

John Yemma has been a foreign correspondent, Washington reporter, political editor, and has covered economics, science, and culture in 38 years as a journalist. He has worked for The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, UPI, The San Antonio Express-News -- and since 2008, he has been Editor of the Monitor. The Monitor?publishes international news and analysis at CSMonitor.com, in the Monitor Weekly newsmagazine, and in an email-delivered Daily News Briefing.?

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Tips To Recover From Pet Loss Grief - Just Articles Article Directory

Article by Elran Asher

A lot of people consider their pets to be part of the family. They even go out of their way to show how much they care and love their pets. So much so that when their pets die, it is common for these people to suffer from pet loss grief. Although suffering from pet loss grief is difficult, there are things you can do to fully recover from it. One of the first things you can do to overcome pet loss grief is avoid downplaying the grief you are feeling. When your pet dies, you need to remember that you lost more than just a pet you fed twice a day and walked around the neighborhood with. You lost a friend and a valued member of your family. Admitting this is a huge, sad event in your life is better than trying to downplay your grief and bottling your true emotions. Facing the reality that you have lost a part of your family is a great first step towards recovery.

Another way you can recover from grief is to always remember the pet you lost. People who suffer from lengthy pet loss grief are those who try their best to ?forget? their pets. The more you try to put the thought of losing a friend out of your mind, the more difficult it is to let go of your grief. Trying to ?forget? also sets aside the life your pet has lived and you should always remember how wonderful it had been to have them around. The more you remember the good times, the easier it is to move on. You also need to talk to someone. It?s not unheard of for some people to undergo Christian counseling and even therapy. You will be surprised at how much talking to someone who understands what you are going through and providing support through this difficult time can help you recover. It doesn?t have to be a formal counselor or therapist in fact; you can talk to relatives or close friends even.

Lastly, you need to be patient with yourself. Healing from grief doesn?t happen overnight, which is something you have to understand. Full recovery from pet loss grief can take weeks or even months, some a few years even. This depends on how you go about the process of healing. Try to occupy yourself with other things as you go along. If you want to help out people who are suffering from the same situation, you can look into becoming a grief counselor and check out training programs offered in websites such as http://www.aihcp.org/. Not only will you occupy yourself with something worthy, the training you will get from these organizations is also a great way to overcome your grief over losing your beloved pet. You just need to be very patient with yourself and surround yourself with people who care for you, love you and can provide the emotional support you will need a lot of during your healing process.

About the Author

Suffering from pet loss grief may not be the same as losing someone but still the hurting is still there. Try to open your mind and undergo Christian counseling to fully understand the cycle of life and what it may hold for you. Added details can be seen at the http://www.aihcp.org/ website.

Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines
whereby the original author?s information and copyright must be included.

LDOE Press Release: Communication is a Top Concern for ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?

Louisiana Believes & LDOE Logo
Date:?09/27/2012
Contact:?Public Affairs, (225) 342-3600, Fax: (225) 342-0193

COMMUNICATION IS A TOP CONCERN FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS
Advisory Committees Provide Feedback to State Superintendent on Louisiana Believes

BATON ROUGE, La. ? Parents and teachers urged State Superintendent of Education John White to step up communications on the importance and impact of major changes in the classroom. The feedback came from advisory committees convened to identify challenges to implementing Louisiana Believes, the state?s plan for continued improvement in education. During September, White met with more than 100 members of the four advisory committees, which represent teachers, principals, superintendents and families and communities across the state, to define strategies to support Common Core State Standards and Compass.

?Parents need to be more aware of the big changes that are happening in the classroom,? said Christy Cormier, a member of the Louisiana Believes Parent Advisory Committee. ?The new academic standards are much tougher and our kids will be expected to perform at a much higher level than ever before ? starting this year. I look forward to the day when Louisiana Believes is more than a plan.? As a parent of a 4th grade student who has a developmental disability, believing is the cornerstone to her education and success in life.? Knowing that each Louisiana Believes committee member is committing to believing in our children, our families and educators gives me great hope for my daughter?s future.?

Starting this year, the writing assessment will align to the Common Core State Standards, which are rigorous, internationally-benchmarked academic standards adopted by Louisiana in 2010. Under the old assessment, students were asked to write an essay about a personal experience or opinion. Under the new assessment, students will be asked to read and respond to a passage, which measures their ability to develop and defend a line of reasoning based on their understanding of content.

?We need to up our game. When you raise academic standards for students, you raise the bar for teachers as well,? said White. ?Compass provides a process to give constructive feedback so teachers can continually improve their classroom instruction.?

Compass is the state?s new teacher evaluation system, which, for the first time, will evaluate teachers in part on student learning. Half of a teacher?s evaluation will be based on how much a student learned from one year to the next, and half of the evaluation will be based on observations by principals and administrators.

Issues raised by superintendents and principals underscore the importance of providing clear communication. Explaining the shift to Common Core State Standards, determining how to elevate teacher leadership, and placing a strong emphasis on pre-K education were issues raised by school leaders.

The Teacher Advisory Committee formed workgroups to develop strategies to improve communication between the state and educators and to develop recommendations, tools and processes for helping teachers implement Common Core State Standards. One of those groups, the Teacher Communication Workgroup, will provide invaluable feedback on components of the Department?s website, newsletters, and communication to teachers in the classroom. Teachers and members of the Family/Community Advisory Committee stressed the need for parent-friendly information about the instructional shifts taking place in the classroom and the importance of new teacher evaluations and performance measures. A work group formed by the Community Advisory Committee will focus on providing feedback on the best practices in communicating community-led change with parents and implementation around at-risk students.

Membership on Louisiana Believes advisory committees is voluntarily. Interested participants submitted letters of interest to the Department and were selected based on their diverse professional backgrounds and geographic representation, as well as recommendations from educators and community groups. The four Louisiana Believes advisory committees are scheduled to meet quarterly.

The next Louisiana Believes Teacher and Parent/Community Advisory Committee meetings will be held in early January. A tentative schedule, which is subject to change, is below:

Teacher Advisory Committee
Date	Time	Location
Thursday, January 3, 2013	1:00pm-3:00pm	Baton Rouge
Saturday, March 23, 2013	TBD	TBD
Tuesday, June 4, 2013	TBD	TBD

Superintendent Advisory Committee
Date	Time	Location
Thursday, December 13, 2012	10:00am	Baton Rouge
Thursday, March 21, 2013	1:00pm	Baton Rouge
Thursday, May 16, 2013	1:00pm	Baton Rouge

Principal Advisory Committee
Date	Time	Location
Wednesday, December 19, 2012	1:00pm-3:00pm	Baton Rouge
Monday, March 18, 2013	TBD	TBD
Thursday, May 9, 2013	TBD	TBD

Parent/Community Advisory Committee
Date	Time	Location
Wednesday, January 9, 2013	TBD	TBD
Monday, March 18, 2013	TBD	TBD
Saturday, May 11, 2013	TBD	TBD

About Louisiana Believes

Louisiana is implementing bold reforms to transform education, a statewide initiative called Louisiana Believes. Louisiana Believes is based on three fundamental beliefs ? a belief that all students can learn, a belief that empowering teachers and school leaders will unleash the learning potential of students, and a belief that families know better than government what is the best pathway to success for their students. These core values are the foundation of policies to ensure each student, in every grade, year after year, remain on track to succeed in college and professional careers.

About Common Core State Standards

In 2010, Louisiana adopted the Common Core State Standards, which define what students need to learn in English language arts and math at every grade level in order to graduate fully prepared for college or a professional career. The new standards are more rigorous, more focused on critical content, and more relevant to what students need to know to be successful after high school. Students will be measured on their achievement of these new learning expectations in 2014-2015.

About Compass

Compass was created by Act 54 of the 2010 Regular Legislative Session and will be implemented this school year. For the first time, teachers will be evaluated, in part, on student learning. Half of a teacher?s evaluation will be based on how much a student learned from one year to the next, and half of the evaluation will be based on observations by principals and administrators. These new evaluations will determine compensation, which was required by?Act 1?of the 2012 Regular Legislative Session.

# # # # # #

Louisiana Department of Education Website >>>
Contact the Louisiana Department of Education >>>

Source: http://blog.nat.k12.la.us/ldoe-press-release-communication-is-a-top-concern-for-teachers-and-parents/

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HBT: Rays win 8th straight, still in playoff chase

A week ago it appeared the Rays may be reduced to the role of spoiler when they faced the White Sox and Orioles in their final seven games of the season. Now, they?re right back in it after winning their eighth straight game on Thursday night against the Pale Hose.

Evan Longoria homered in the top of the ninth and Fernando Rodney closed the game with yet another scoreless inning as the Rays prevailed 3-2. It was Rodney?s 46th save of the season.

The White Sox got their only two runs off James Shields on a HBP in the fourth and a Paul Konerko double-play ball in the fifth. Jake Peavy was left with a no-decision after a strong effort that saw him allow two runs in 7 1/3 innings. Brett Myers took the loss in the ninth.

At 86-70, the Rays control their own destiny, even though they?re still three games back of the Orioles and two behind the A?s in the wild card. That?s because they still have three games against Baltimore next week.

The White Sox, on the other hand, have lost three straight to fall two games behind the Tigers in the AL Central. They don?t get to face Detroit again, so their fate is out of their hands. Since the Tigers finish with the Twins and Royals, the White Sox may have to win out to have a shot.

But that?s going to be exceedingly difficult with three more games against the Rays on the slate. The White Sox have look putrid against mediocre pitching of late, and now they?re getting Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore and David Price this weekend.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/27/rays-top-white-sox-for-eighth-straight-victory/related

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Evolutionary psychologists study the purpose of punishment and reputation

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? For two decades, evolutionary scientists have been locked in a debate over the evolved functions of three distinctive human behaviors: the great readiness we show for cooperating with new people, the strong interest we have in tracking others' reputations regarding how well they treat others, and the occasional interest we have in punishing people for selfishly mistreating others.

In an article published September 27 in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at UC Santa Barbara's Center for Evolutionary Psychology report new findings that may help settle the debate and provide answers to the behavioral puzzle.

As they go about their daily lives, people usually don't know the names of the people they encounter and -- in cities, at least -- typically expect never to see them again, noted Max M. Krasnow, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at UCSB and the paper's lead author. Despite the fact that these encounters are brief, anonymous, and unlikely to be repeated, however, people often behave as if they are interested in the ongoing well-being and behavior of the strangers they meet.

"Imagine that, while grocery shopping, you see someone help a wheelchair-bound person he or she doesn't know get her bags across the parking lot to her car. For many people, witnessing the action would elicit feelings of kindness toward the helper," Krasnow explained. "Equally, if people see someone driven off the road by a reckless driver, they might become angry enough to pursue and even confront the driver. Evolutionary scientists are interested in why humans have impulses to help the kind stranger or to punish the callous one. At first glance, these sometimes costly impulses seem like they would subtract from the welfare of the individual who exhibited them, and so should be evolutionarily disfavored."

Other contributors to the paper include Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, professors of psychology and anthropology, respectively, and co-directors of UCSB's Center for Evolutionary Psychology; and Eric J. Pedersen, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Miami.

Scientists have struggled for decades to explain these behaviors in evolutionary terms, with two alternative theories gaining prominence. The first proposes that these social inclinations emerged because our ancestors lived in small populations, where every encounter -- even one with a stranger -- had a chance to develop into an ongoing relationship that yielded mutual gains from cooperation. In such a world, paying attention to how those around you treat others could help zero in on the partners most likely to cooperate with you. In addition, letting it be known that you wouldn't allow yourself to be treated poorly would increase the likelihood that you'd be treated well.

The second theory suggests that these behaviors emerged because our ancestors lived in groups that often fought with other groups -- interactions where groups with high levels of internal cooperation would have the advantage over groups in which the members were divisive and exploitative of each other. This theory proposes that these other-oriented social inclinations were designed to cultivate a group-wide culture of cooperation.

"The reason why the debate has dragged on so long is that previous studies unfortunately focused on situations where the two theories made very similar predictions," said Tooby. "We wanted to design studies involving situations where the theories made sharply contrasting predictions, so the results would falsify one theory or the other."

In the studies reported in this paper, over 200 participants were tested in a series of structured social interactions designed to capture the essence of real-world situations like the supermarket mentioned above. "We wanted to know exactly what kinds of information people actually use in deciding who to trust -- that is, who to cooperate with, and who to avoid," said Krasnow. "If our minds are designed to seek out the benefits of cooperative relationships with others, then participants should have preferred to trust those likely to cooperate with them in particular. On the other hand, if our reputational psychology is designed to support group-wide cohesion and cooperation, the participants should have resisted cooperating with those who defected on other group members."

The findings supported the individual cooperation account, not the group cooperation account. "Participants ceased responding to information about whether their partners cheated others when they had good information that their partners would not cheat them," Tooby emphasized.

The researchers were also interested in testing the diverging predictions about what situations should trigger the inclination to punish cheating. "We all recognize that punishing others is costly and unpleasant," said Cosmides. "So what benefits led it to evolve?"

The authors reasoned that tracking the triggers of punishment should illuminate which benefits favored its evolution. "If the impulse to punish evolved as a bargaining tool to defend the individual by deterring against future instances of being cheated, then participants should be inclined to punish others' defections when they themselves would be vulnerable to being cheated by that person in the future," said Kasnow. "On the other hand, if our punitive psychology is designed to defend the group against cheating, then participants should have punished those who mistreated others, regardless of their own personal exposure to continuing mistreatment by that person."

The researchers found that participants strongly conditioned their punishment of their partners' cheating on their own vulnerability to continued bad treatment from their partner. As Krasnow pointed out, people in these experiments systematically avoided expending effort to reform those who only posed a risk to others. Cosmides noted, "It's very hard to reconcile these findings with the group cooperation theory."

These results have significant implications for the science of cooperation. "The current research findings suggest that the human readiness to cooperate, our selectivity in who we cooperate with, and our tendency to respond negatively when we are cheated form an efficient package to forge and maintain strongly cooperative relationships," said Krasnow. "The human tendencies to care about how a person treats others and to protest bad treatment are not simply a thin veneer of cultural norms atop a cold and calculating core. Rather, they represent fundamental features of a universal human social nature."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.

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

Journal Reference:

Krasnow MM, Cosmides L, Pedersen EJ, Tooby J. What Are Punishment and Reputation for? PLoS ONE, 2012; 7(9): e45662 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045662

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/most_popular/~3/Es--gt6RInQ/120927092126.htm

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Yachting Developments among finalists for this year's International ...

September 27, 2012

The prestigious Auckland-based shipyard, Yachting Developments, is delighted to announce that the newly constructed sailing yacht Antares III as well as the extensive refit of the legendary J Class charter yacht Endeavour have been nominated as finalists in this year?s International Superyacht Society awards.

Sailing yacht Antares III by Yachting Developments

These nominations, together with a victory of luxury yacht Antares III in ?The World Superyacht Awards?, represent a great result for the well known NZ company.

Sailing Yacht Endeavour - Image courtesy of Yachting Developments

Superyacht Antares III - "Finalist ISS Awards 2012 Best Sail 24m to 40m"

Luxury sailing yacht Endeavour - "Finalist ISS Awards 2012 Best Refit"

Below is a selection of the luxurious charter yachts built by Yachting Developments.

Sailing Yacht Endeavour - Image ...

130 ft J Class Sloop Endeavour - Image ...

Endeavour Yacht - Image Courtesy of ...

130 foot J Class sailing Yacht ...

Sailing Sloop Endeavour - Image ...

Launch of the 130 ft J Class sailing ...

Superyacht News Related to "Yachting Developments among finalists for this year?s International Superyacht Society Awards"

2012 International Design Awards Finalists announced by ISS
The first interior images of the 130ft J Class charter yacht ENDEAVOUR refitted by Yachting Developments
30m Super Yacht Antares III amongst the 2012 World Superyacht Awards Finalists
NISI 2400 motor yacht a 2011 International Superyacht Society (ISS) Design Awards Finalist.
The first Oyster 100 luxury yacht SARAFIN by Dubois among ISS Awards finalists

Source: http://www.charterworld.com/news/yachting-developments-finalists-years-international-superyacht-society-awards

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Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on

Finnish game studio Rovio went from relatively unknown to center stage with the Angry Birds franchise. And in record time, too -- the first Angry Birds landed on Apple's iOS App Store in December 2009, less than three years ago, and has since become an international sensation. The birds spawned a flock of sequels, branded tie-ins, and tons of merchandise. All this adds up to quite a bit of chicken scratch for Rovio, and also quite a bit of pressure to keep the money train rolling.

Today marks Rovio's first true sequel to the original Angry Birds, and it's focused on the other side of the farm: the pigs. Enter Bad Piggies. Unlike Angry Birds, Bad Piggies isn't about flinging anything towards a complicated structure in order to knock it down. Instead, it's about moving one very green, goofy sounding pig to various points on a map to collect items and reach a goal -- it's much more Cut the Rope than Angry Birds. The same physics-based game mechanics are at play in Bad Piggies that made both Cut the Rope and Angry Birds so popular, and they're just as fun in this time around. But how do you get said piggy to the goals? You build a contraption, of course.

Each level starts with a build section, allowing players to create all types of vehicles in order to transport the pig from point A to point B (while grabbing collectibles along the way). Only a small handful of build options are available, keeping Bad Piggies just as speedy of a game -- to pick up and play while commuting or while waiting at the dentist's office -- as its wildly successful progenitor. It's hard to say if Bad Piggies will recapture the success that Rovio found with Angry Birds proper, but all the hallmarks are there: quick, fun gameplay, colorful characters, goofy sounds, and accessibility (we couldn't help but get all three stars on every level, but you don't have to in order to proceed, should it prove too difficult). Bad Piggies launches tomorrow morning for iOS devices, Mac, and Android.

Gallery: Bad Piggies (iPad)

Filed under: Gaming, Mobile, Alt

Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Home Improvement Tips To Increase Your Home's Value | My Blog

Posted by IngaZakowski745 on Sep 26, 2012 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

You may think that home improvement is simply for mechanics. Home improvement projects can have many benefits beyond personal convenience. When done well, home improvements improve your home?s value. Keep reading for some useful tips on home improvements and how you can increase the value of your home.

The right light in a space can make all the difference. A bright room normally is very inviting towards anyone who enters the home. Choosing to install an extra light fixture can add extra brightness to a given space. By making a dark room more bright, you?ll be able to make the whole home feel improved.

As you plan a home renovation, think about the difference in value between something you personally like and something that will appeal to potential future buyers. The more individualized you make your renovation, the less likely it is that someone else will want to buy it for enough to cover the cost of the work.

Regularly maintain the septic tank. There are many chemical applications available to promote decomposition to help avoid costly buildups which overflow. When you plan home improvements, make sure you do not tamper accidentally with your septic tank. If you have to, get a house plan and make sure you can carefully avoid costly damage.

Putting your property up for sale? There are many home improvement projects that can greatly increase your home?s value. You can replace kitchen appliances and tack on the installation price to the price of the home. This is usually appealing to home buyers.

If you want your basement to shine, think about staining the concrete. This is affordable and looks amazing. By staining the floor, you improve its durability and cut the time needed to keep it clean. Try to find a stain that adds luster and shine. This is the best way to make your floor more stylish than it is.

Sand down any wood before you stain it. Using fine grit paper can impart a nice, smooth look. Using a wet rag to wipe off the item will eliminate dust and ensure the finish remains smooth.

Use natural products for your design elements if your budget allows. Natural materials, such as wood, ceramic, and stone, are typically much better to use then synthetic ones. Not only are they more attractive but they are also more durable. The initial expense up-front for these materials may pay off over time because they will last longer.

When thinking about home improvement, make certain you monitor surroundings and even then just make improvements that are logical. Having nonsensical improvements such as a sun room without insulation in Michigan, or an uncovered deck in Arizona would make your potential buyer wonder what other odd choices you might have made with the house upkeep. Try to choose projects that go with the surrounding area, and take climate into consideration.

You should now have some more ideas on how to better improve your home. Your next project should be a lot more fun. You?re sure to enjoy your return home at the end of each work day when you have invested some time in making your home more beautiful and inviting.

To know more about it, please go to: replacement windows maryland (6)

Source: http://funclub24.com/2012/09/26/home-improvement-tips-to-increase-your-homes-value-4/

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Video: Automatic building mapping could help emergency responders

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is moving. The prototype system, described in a paper slated for the Intelligent Robots and Systems conference in Portugal next month, is envisioned as a tool to help emergency responders coordinate disaster response.

In experiments conducted on the MIT campus, a graduate student wearing the sensor system wandered the halls, and the sensors wirelessly relayed data to a laptop in a distant conference room. Observers in the conference room were able to track the student's progress on a map that sprang into being as he moved.

Connected to the array of sensors is a handheld pushbutton device that the wearer can use to annotate the map. In the prototype system, depressing the button simply designates a particular location as a point of interest. But the researchers envision that emergency responders could use a similar system to add voice or text tags to the map ? indicating, say, structural damage or a toxic spill.

"The operational scenario that was envisioned for this was a hazmat situation where people are suited up with the full suit, and they go in and explore an environment," says Maurice Fallon, a research scientist in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and lead author on the new paper. "The current approach would be to textually summarize what they had seen afterward ? 'I went into this room on the left, I saw this, I went into the next room,' and so on. We want to try to automate that."

Fallon is joined on the paper by professors John Leonard and Seth Teller, of, respectively, the departments of Mechanical Engineering and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), and EECS grad students Hordur Johannsson and Jonathan Brookshire.

Shaky aim

The new work builds on previous research on systems that enable robots to map their environments. But adapting the system so that a human could wear it required a number of modifications.

One of the sensors that the system uses is a laser rangefinder, which sweeps a laser beam around a 270-degree arc and measures the time that it takes the light pulses to return. If the rangefinder is level, it can provide very accurate information about the distance of the nearest walls, but a walking human jostles it much more than a rolling robot does. Similarly, sensors in a robot's wheels can provide accurate information about its physical orientation and the distances it covers, but that's missing with humans. And as emergency workers responding to a disaster might have to move among several floors of a building, the system also has to recognize changes in altitude, so it doesn't inadvertently overlay the map of one floor with information about a different one.

So in addition to the rangefinder, the researchers also equipped their sensor platform with a cluster of accelerometers and gyroscopes, a camera, and, in one group of experiments, a barometer (changes in air pressure proved to be a surprisingly good indicator of floor transitions). The gyroscopes could infer when the rangefinder was tilted ? information the mapping algorithms could use in interpreting its readings ? and the accelerometers provided some information about the wearer's velocity and very good information about changes in altitude.

Adjudicating the data from all the other sensors is the camera. Every few meters, the camera takes a snapshot of its surroundings, and software extracts a couple of hundred visual features from the image ? particular patterns of color, or contours, or inferred three-dimensional shapes. Each batch of features is associated with a particular location on the map.

Seeing is believing

If the person wearing the sensors returns to an area that he or she has previously visited, the system's location estimate could be off: For instance, its compensation for the tilt of the rangefinder might not have been perfect, and a wall now looks several feet farther away than it did, or its inference of position from accelerometer data could be off. In such cases, a fresh snapshot and a comparison of the visual features with those already stored can help correct its location estimate.

The prototype of the sensor platform consists of a handful of devices attached to a sheet of hard plastic about the size of an iPad, which is worn on the chest like a backward backpack. The only sensor whose volume can't be reduced significantly is the rangefinder, so in principle, the whole system could be shrunk to about the size of a coffee mug.

###

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice

Thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123807/Video__Automatic_building_mapping_could_help_emergency_responders

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Greater Boston foreclosure rates flat in July | Commercial Real ...

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Source: http://www.cre-news.com/29026/greater-boston-foreclosure-rates-flat-in-july

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Yahoo! CEO Reveals New Direction | Small Business Trends

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer announced her plans to turn the iconic tech giant around on Tuesday. Some critics insist the new plan is big picture and short on specifics. Small businesses, too, must sometimes reinvent themselves. Here is a closer look at the new Yahoo! battle plan and some thoughts for how you can turn your small business around when necessary.

Project Personalization

A new direction. In an ?act of radical transparency? Tuesday, new Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer introduced her plans for a new direction. Mayer sees the company?s strength as its ?personalization? in arenas ranging from e-mail to advertizing to content. Mayer?s other thoughts were less specific, but seemed to rally the troops at the company-run URL?s Caf?. The trick to turning your business around is to have a plan. All Things Digital

A new team. As part of her efforts to rejuvenate Yahoo!, Mayer has been recruiting a new team. The latest addition, also announced Tuesday, is Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman. Assembling new talent or restructuring an existing team must be part of any business turnaround. What other steps are necessary to re-imagine your brand, product, or service? Read on! Yahoo! Inc.

Reinventing Your Brand

Keep it simple. Keep it safe. Another important step toward breathing new life into your business may be easier than you think. Instead of adding features to your products or services, making them more like your competitors, try focusing on one small feature that differentiates your product or service from all the rest, and simplify the buying decision for consumers by setting yourself apart. M4B Marketing

Perfect pitch. It?s not just your product or service features, but how you pitch them to your customers that really matters. Here are two case studies shared by blogger Diana Pohly that may give you a better idea of how to effectively put your offers into words. Telling your customers what sets you apart is an important step toward distinguishing your brand in the marketplace. Step By Step Marketing

Unleash your marketing Ninja. In the second post of this series, guest blogger Nicolas Dalleva talks about the analytics that will help you know your customers as well as they know themselves. Segmenting your customers lets you learn more about their behavior and buying trends individually and as a group, while helping you to remember that the customers you serve are people, not just numbers. Keep Up With The Web

Watch your mouth. The way you talk about selling to your customers betrays how you think. While selling is all about you, blogger David Brock suggests we change things up a bit. Let?s focus on the customer and fulfilling their needs instead of our desire to make a sale. Focusing on serving customers first by helping them make a decision about your product may seem obvious, but it may also be the key to transforming a business. Partners in Excellence

Make some measurements. Once you?ve got your team in place, measure their performance. Guest blogger Jessica Sanders makes this simple suggestion and then outlines some tools that will help you do it. Here are three creative ways to manage your team?s performance and improve your company at the same time. Make sure the team you?ve got is accomplishing what is needed to set your brand apart. bizCompare

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/09/yahoo-ceo-reveals-new-direction.html

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South Carolina voter ID law goes before panel of judges

Amidst arguments that voter ID laws are unfair toward minorities, a panel of judges will determine whether South Carolina's voter ID law should go into effect before the election, or in 2014.

By Suzanne Gamboa,?Associated Press / September 24, 2012

Pennsylvania state representative Robert Freeman speaks to educate and inform on the topic of the Voter ID law in Easton?s Centre Square, Saturday in Easton, Pa. In South Carolina a panel of judges will determine if the state's voter ID law should be implemented.

Stephen Flood/AP

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Recognizing this year's elections are just a few weeks away, a panel of three federal judges questioned on Monday whether South Carolina should wait until 2014 to put its voter identification law into effect.

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The judges raised the question as an attorney for South Carolina delivered closing arguments in the trial over whether the state's law discriminates against minorities. Last December, the Justice Department refused to "preclear" ? find it complies with the Voting Rights Act ? the law so it could go into effect.

A decision in the case is expected in early October.

Voter ID laws have become a point of contention in this year's elections, particularly with the close race between President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Democrats contend the laws could prevent key constituencies from voting, making a difference in tight races.

The laws' opponents see them as a Republican response to 2008's record turnout of African-American and Hispanic voters. Supporters have pitched the laws as tools against voter fraud and to build confidence in the election system.

The US Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law in 2008, and Georgia's top court upheld that state's voter ID law. But three-judge federal panel struck down Texas' voter ID law, and state courts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have blocked those states' voter ID laws for now. The Justice Department cleared New Hampshire's voter ID law earlier this year.

South Carolina's law requires voters to show a driver's license or other photo identification issued by the Motor Vehicles Department, a passport, military photo identification or a voter registration card with a photo on it.

Asking questions from the bench, the judges pointed out that if they allow South Carolina to implement the law voters would not have much time before the Nov. 6 elections to get required ID.

"Are you urging us to preclear for 2012?" asked John Bates, US District Court Judge for the District of Columbia.

Christopher Bartomolucci, the attorney for South Carolina, said the state wants approval for 2012 as well as future elections. He explained the state's law allows people to claim they were unable to get the required ID because of a "reasonable impediment." People unable to do so because there is not enough time before election day would be able to make that claim, he said.

"Everybody's got a pass for this election," Bartomolucci said.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/whizvC-nsz4/South-Carolina-voter-ID-law-goes-before-panel-of-judges

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Avoid repeating mistakes you made in the meltdown

By John Wasik, Reuters

CHICAGO -- It's rear-view mirror philosophizing time. As we head into the autumn of this contentious election year, it's a great time to reflect upon what worked and what didn't in the wake of some of the most tumultuous upheavals in American economic history.

You could easily blame Wall Street for the 2008 meltdown, but it's also clear that American families weren't prepared and made mistakes too. A new study from the Consumer Federation of America found that 67 percent of middle class Americans think they made at least one "really bad financial decision," and 47 percent said they had made more than one. The cost? The median was $5,000, but the average cost was $23,000.

Further, the study, entitled "The Financial Status and Decision-making of the American Middle Class," also found that outside of retirement funds and checking/savings accounts, families had few other financial assets. Only 15 percent surveyed held stocks and from 13 to 14 percent held either savings bonds or certificates of deposits.

How could you avoid the same fate? Here are some key ways to avoid the same financial blunders:

1. Failing to gauge portfolio risk

I don't know about you, but I wasn't surprised when the market tanked as much as it did in 2008-2009. I thought it would be worse. Yet I sure was blindsided as to how much it nailed my retirement portfolio, which fell about 40 percent. After all, I was diversified. Wasn't that supposed to be a form of protection?

I didn't know that commodities, stocks and real estate investment trusts would decline in lockstep. They usually don't, but they were highly correlated during the global downturn. There was an easy way to avoid this kind of hit: Add more bonds, which I did. They now comprise more than half of our portfolio.

2. Getting swamped by debt-to-income ratios

Of course, you've heard tales of homebuyers who got mortgages they shouldn't have qualified for just because they had a pulse in the pre-2007 bubble years. The enduring truth is that too much debt can always be toxic.

What's a dangerous level? It's pretty simple: If your short-term debt exceeds your ability to pay it off every month, it's too much. Whenever you get beyond 40 percent of debt-to-income, you're getting into deep trouble. Most middle-class families carried 20 cents in debt payments to every $1 they earned in 2010, the Consumer Federation found. That's not unreasonable, but this is an average discerned by looking at Federal Reserve data; millions of households are in trouble because they owe more than what their homes are worth, which was not explored in this study.

A worthy goal for reining in short-term debt is simply to pay off bills each month -- but that means keeping spending within your income range and saving up for big ticket items. Also, watch your credit rating and try to improve it to obtain the lowest-possible financing rates.

3. Not having a big enough safety net

The typical American middle-class family has about $27,000 in financial assets (excluding pensions), the Consumer Federation found. Is that enough to cover emergencies, long unemployment stretches or unreimbursed medical bills? Probably not.

The rule of thumb is to hold six months' worth of salary in emergency cash in money-market or savings accounts. It's a good place to start, but more of a cushion is needed because of bad financial decisions. And even more for those facing long-term unemployment. How do you stash away more when times are tough? There's no magic answer other than making it a top priority and making some hard decisions about spending.

4. Not carrying enough insurance

There's a basic trade-off with all insurance policies: The more you're willing to pay on a claim out of pocket, the lower the premium. For example, if you get a catastrophic health plan with a high deductible, your monthly premium will be lower.

To figure out what you can afford, look at your monthly cash flow. If you need to reduce insurance premiums, you will need to boost savings to cover the deductibles. You can also save money on auto insurance by dropping coverage for comprehensive coverage if the car is old.

5. Failing to invest

Saving is putting money in a protected place for rainy days. Investing is putting money at risk in exchange for long-term returns. You need to do both to survive the ravages of inflation and financial events beyond your control. Surprisingly, only 21 percent of those middle-class Americans surveyed by the Consumer Federation said they would invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds - even if they had $1 million to invest.

While I certainly don't admonish anyone for steering clear of market risk after 2008, you can find some balance through the "bucket" method of risk management. Your "safe" yellow bucket should hold money you need in the next few years for emergencies, college, out-of-pocket medical expenses or taxes. A "red" bucket is for money you can risk over decades for retirement and future goals. You adjust the amount of money for each bucket according to your needs, time of life and risk tolerance.

Perhaps the greatest blunder that everyone is guilty of is inaction. We wait for the market to become overheated instead of taking advantage of dips to get better prices. We don't sell our losers and move on. We think we can time the bottom of the real estate and stock markets.

I know I waited too long to add bonds to my portfolio and reduce my stock and commodity market exposure, although it's since bounced back. One essential truth remains: In a society that thrives on spending and consumption, increased saving can help avert financial disaster in the future.?

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Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2012/09/24/14073437-5-steps-to-avoid-repeating-mistakes-you-made-in-the-meltdown?lite

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Striving to Serve ? Deliberate Leadership and Self Improvement ...

I just finished Thou Shall Prosper for probably the third time.? I typically read it at least once a year.? The content, especially when it pertains to business, is superb.? Rabbi Lapin does an excellent job of helping the reader to understand the idea that all people are in a position of service.? It really doesn?t matter if you work for a private or public business, the government, or if you are unemployed.? If you at all interact with anyone, at any time, then you are in the business of service.? I love the concept put forth in the book that business is just the reimbursement for your services, plain and simple.? If you approach business in this manner, then you are never going to be on the side that compensation occurs for deeds not performed.? Many very successful business people are excoriated by those who do not understand this simple concept.?? Those individuals who make up the ?99%? do not understand this concept.? Your level of service, especially service that comes from the heart and soul, is your ticket to your livelihood.? Don?t squander it, and for goodness sake, don?t try to bring down those who discovered this concept long ago.

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Source: http://steelegoing.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/striving-to-serve/

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