Wednesday, October 31, 2012

93% Looper

All Critics (229) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (214) | Rotten (15)

The reasoning behind all this may not reward prolonged inspection, but Johnson is smart enough to press onward with his plot, leaving us with neither the time nor the desire to linger over the logic ...

Writer-director Rian Johnson establishes himself as an original talent who clearly believes storytelling must prevail.

A mind-bending ride that is not afraid to slow down now and again, to explore themes of regret and redemption, solitude and sacrifice, love and loss. It's a movie worth seeing and, perhaps, going back to see again.

Looper has more heart than Brick and the 2008 con-man flick The Brothers Bloom. Both fine achievements, they could also be described as viscerally cerebral.

I'm a sucker for time-travel movies.

Looper felt to me like a maddening near-miss ...

A thought-provoking, heart-pounding take on the applications and ethics of time travel which, oddly enough, doubles up as a lesson in the importance of good parenting.

This is one of those rare genre movies (like the original TERMINATOR) that reminds us that Sci-Fi can be smart. It's much more than just a bunch of special effects and explosions. It's what all movies should aspire to be.

While it sometimes feels like it's trying to do much, Looper manages to be a creditable and exciting sci-fi flick that homages the past while carving out a unique identity.

Much as he did in Brick, Johnson creates a carefully drawn world in Looper that exists by its own particular set of rules.

... has an irresistible energy and a don't-give-a-damn unpredictability ...

Beautifully crafted, acted and written.

Anchors high-concept thrills and captivating ideas in a world of challenging morality and intricate personal consequences.

Truly imaginative but all the twists and turns make the overall film difficult to follow. Plus Gordon-Levitt has not reached leading man status yet.

Kind of a reverse-"Terminator" without any of James Cameron's wit (or wisdom),

An endlessly creative mind-blowing film that captures everything right about the movie going experience. Johnson conjures up the most imaginative action/science fiction film since 'Inception.'

Part science fiction, part mob movie, and with a nice infusion of dark comedy at just the right moments, Looper is Johnson's best movie yet, and manages to be hugely entertaining, affecting, and thought-provoking.

takes us far beyond the film's high-concept premise into the kind of emotional terrain that too often escapes even the best genre filmmakers

Doesn't quite reach the heights of the lofty ideals that it so ardently seeks to expound, but makes up for this with the sheer thrill of the journey Rian Johnson takes us on.

Ingenious with a fine performance by Emily Blunt, but far too much cold-blooded violence.

Engaging, exciting, and successfully cross-breeding elements of Terminator and even Pet Sematary, Looper is a solid work of palatable science-fiction.

Looper's super. An action-thriller that bothers to have a brain.

Looper may not take us back to the future as satisfyingly as Robert Zemeckis' Marty McFly trilogy or James Cameron's Terminator franchise, but writer-director Rian Johnson does enough right to all but guarantee that he has a future cult film on the books.

The best time travel films play on emotion rather than logic, and once Looper realises this and drops all the tail-chasing about how time travel works it settles into the engrossing action/drama about destiny it should have been from the get go.

Has more depth, smarts, and heart than the usual sci-fi bluster.

A just about brilliant sci-fi crime-drama-thriller mostly set in the years 2044 and 2074. Rian Johnson is a rare director who creates entertainment with depth.

More Critic Reviews

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/looper/

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Germany orders recall of some Novartis flu shots

BERLIN (AP) ? German authorities ordered a recall Thursday of some batches of Novartis flu vaccine as a precautionary measure, after the company reported the appearance of small particles in the manufacturing process.

The Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is part of the country's Ministry of Health, said there had been no reports of particle formation in Germany or of any serious side effects during the current flu season.

"However, in the interest of risk prevention and consumer safety it is necessary to cancel the approval for certain vaccines, since the formation of particles in the vaccine and therefore the risk of serious side effects cannot be ruled out," the institute's president Prof. Klaus Cichutek said in a statement.

The decision affects four batches of the influenza vaccine Begripal and one batch of Fluad.

Italy's health ministry banned the sale of four Novartis flu drugs on Wednesday. These included Fluad and Begripal ? sold as Aggripal in Italy ? as well as two others: Influpozzi Adiuvato and Influpozzi Subunita.

Switzerland's regulator Swissmedic also suspended deliveries of flu vaccines from Novartis as a preventive measure against possible contamination.

Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said there was currently no evidence to pull the vaccines off the market, but that it was gathering further information on the Novartis products.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company said Thursday it was cooperating with the Ministry of Health in Italy, where the vaccines are produced, and was committed to providing vaccines to patients for the upcoming flu season.

"Novartis confirms that these particles can occur in the vaccine manufacturing process and is confident that there is no impact on the safety or efficacy of the vaccine," the Basel-based company said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-orders-recall-novartis-flu-shots-142502789--finance.html

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Does the Realtor charge a commission to the buyer? - Zillow Real ...

"The seller agrees to pay the agents involved a commission before a buyer ever submits an offer"

I'd just add...agrees to pay a Commission IF the property is sold
(After they get your Money..the Commission is an Expense so it is added to the Sales Price by Seller, it's a Business expense so like any business you add it to the Price so you don't eat it/pay it out of your pocket it if at all possible)

My opinion..Negotiate a lower Price if not using an Agent (3%) or find/use an Agent who gives a Rebate...

California..
1. Allows brokers to offer rebates to consumers
2. Allows choice of brokerage services
What are the laws in your state?...DOJ Anti-Trust Web Site

Your concern as a Consumer is what works best for you in Services and Financially...not what works best for Agents
Agents are Selling Services...You are Hiring Services

To be blunt...IMO if you are a Buyer and you think you are not paying for the Commission (It's Free to you) then you are a fool...
Do not inhale the Smoke ;)

Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Does-the-Realtor-charge-a-commission-to-the-buyer/465547/

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Israel's Netanyahu, ally Lieberman merge parties

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

ST Electronics embarks on R&D of Smart Utilities Solutions | Eco ...

Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited (ST Electronics), will be embarking on more in-depth Research and Development (R&D) activities in Smart Utilities solutions and technologies with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).? ST Electronics has over the past few years, offered its innovative Smart Utilities products, solutions and services to large cities to help them address urbanisation, sustainability and environmental challenges. This announcement is made in conjunction with the Singapore International Energy Week 2012.

Through this R&D initiative, ST Electronics will enhance its Smart Utilities solutions and applications to benefit the development of large sustainable cities.? ST Electronics will tap EDB?s broad network of related industry knowledge, and extend its existing competencies in Smart Utilities to offer a more comprehensive suite of integrated smart utilities solutions to help build more efficient, clean and safe cities.

The Smart Utilities R&D will focus on enhancing smart resource management, distribution and consumption management of utilities (electricity, water and gas). This includes the provision of robust and converged multi-utility network infrastructure to facilitate integrated electricity, water and gas management.? This solution capitalises on ST Electronics? advanced communications technologies, comprehensive security suite and a highly flexible and scalable network management system to address different deployment scenarios.

Apart from supply and demand management, the ST Electronics? Smart Utilities suite will support timely and reliable information collection and facilitate a higher level of competition in the utility retail market that will eventually lead to increased operational efficiency, utility resource optimisation and cost savings for utilities service providers/retailers.

No stranger in the Smart Utilities arena, ST Electronics participated in Singapore?s Energy Market Authority?s Intelligent Energy System (IES) pilot project. ST Electronics is designing and implementing the critical infrastructure to enable smart grid applications for Phase 1 of the IES pilot project.? The company is also developing and implementing important segments of an Intelligent Water Management System (IWMS) in Singapore. The IWMS will visually display critical information including the location of water incidents such as damaged or leaking pipes. Response teams can quickly be despatched and provided with accurate information and route guidance.

ST Electronics has also delivered more than four million automatic meter readers in North America, Europe and India.? It has recently been awarded a major contract by Arad Technologies Ltd, a world leading supplier of smart water meters, to supply Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) radio transceivers to be deployed with Arad?s AMR solutions in China, Europe, India and the US markets.

?We are pleased that ST Electronics is making a strategic move into Smart Utilities as a new growth frontier. This fast-growing sector will help further diversify Singapore?s clean technology industry into smart grids and energy management. Through the close partnership with our government agencies, this R&D centre is aligned with Singapore?s position as a ?Living Laboratory? where companies can develop, test, prove and commercialise innovative green solutions for global and Asian markets.?

~ YEOH Keat Chuan,

Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board

?Large cities will be a joy to live in provided they are safe, clean and efficient.? Our Smart Utilities systems will allow city planners to improve operational efficiencies through better management of water, electricity and gas distribution.? We are excited by what technology could offer and we look forward to close partnership with EDB and research institutions to enhance our value proposition.?

~ LEE Fook Sun,

President, ST Electronics

ST Electronics (Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited), the electronics arm of public listed? ST Engineering, delivers innovative system solutions to government, commercial, defence, and industrial customers worldwide. With a presence in more than 20 countries, ST Electronics markets its solutions to more than 100 countries internationally. It specialises in the design, development and integration of advanced electronics and communications systems, such as broadband radio frequency and satellite communication, e-Government solutions, information communications technologies and IT, rail and traffic management, real-time command and control, modelling and simulation, interactive digital media, intelligent building management and information security. Please visit www.stee.stengg.com.

Media Contacts:

Magdalen Loh
AVP/Head, Corporate Communications
ST Electronics
Email: magloh@stee.stengg.com

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Source: http://www.eco-business.com/press-releases/st-electronics-embarks-on-rd-of-smart-utilities-solutions/

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Keshi off to Durban, ready to face Africa?s best

SUPER Eagles boss, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi, who is expected to fly out to Durban, South Africa, today to attend the draws of the 2013 African Nations Cup, which holds tomorrow, says he is not afraid of any team in the competition.

Keshi and NFF Technical Committee Chairman, Barrister Christopher Green, will join other NFF officials already in South Africa for the draws.

?I have told a lot of people and will say it again that I am not afraid of any team in the championship draws. You don?t win a championship by being afraid of your opponents and that is the spirit with which I am going to the draws,? he was quoted as saying.

The former NNB of Benin skipper says he has absolute respect for all the 16 teams that will take part in the championship, but fears none.

?Let them bring on any team and we will give our all, we have a team that the world too should be afraid of,? he declared.

On his part, Green said he was sure that Nigeria will get a favourable draw tomorrow, adding, ?we have a strong team but we also know that we want a good draw so that as we cruise in the championship we can stabilize and get our bearing right.?

Meanwhile, organizers of the draws have revealed the programme of events for all officials coming for the event.

Super Eagles secretary, Enebi Achor, who is one of the officials already in Durban, revealed that he would be attending a seminar for teams? officials today, followed by the draws tomorrow, while officials will tour the venues on Thursday. Friday will mark the departure of teams? officials from South Africa,? he revealed.

Source: http://sports.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201210/95969.php

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Obama in Ohio: Romney is not to be trusted

President Barack Obama (Vallery Jean/Getty Images)

DAYTON, Ohio?The presidential debates are over, Election Day is two week away?and the gloves are officially off.

For weeks, President Barack Obama has criticized Republican nominee Mitt Romney for moderating his position on a range of issues throughout the campaign, but in a Tuesday afternoon rally here, he suggested that his challenger was not "trustworthy" enough to hold the nation's highest office.

"We joke about Gov. Romney being all over the map, but it speaks to something important. It speaks of trust. There's no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust. Trust matters," Obama said during his speech at a rally here. "You want to know that the person who is applying to be your president and commander in chief is trustworthy. That he means what he says. That he's not just making stuff up depending on whether it's convenient or not."

Obama added: "[Gov. Romney] is terrific at making presentations about stuff he thinks is wrong with America, but he sure can't give you an answer about what will make it right. And that's not leadership that you can trust."

The time and resources both campaigns are pouring into Ohio shows clearly that they consider the state a crucial component to reaching the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency in November. While Romney has catered to the state by attacking Obama for federal regulations over the coal industry, Obama has hammered Romney for opposing the federal bailout of American auto companies on the brink of collapse four years ago.

About one in eight jobs in Ohio is tied to the auto industry, and the Obama campaign views the strategy as one that could help tip the state for the president. Both at the debate on Tuesday night and at the rally, Obama pointed to a 2008 op-ed Romney authored in the New York Times, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," that opposed offering federal funds to the struggling auto companies until they underwent a structure bailout, a move Obama contends could have forced those companies to go under completely.

[Political junkie? Sign up for the Yahoo! News Daily Ticket newsletter today]

"If Mitt Romney had been president when the auto industry was on the verge of collapse, we might not have an American auto industry today," Obama said. "We'd be buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China. And you know how important that is to Ohio."

The race here remains a close one. A poll average of three state surveys released by CNN on Monday showed Obama leading Romney 48-45 percent, a sign that both campaigns still have a shot at securing the state's vital 18 Electoral College votes.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-ohio-romney-not-trusted-214333569--election.html

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Use Email Marketing To Advertise Your Business - Daddy Waddy ...

When I was a kid, there was no internet. You found all the news on television and in newspapers. When you advertised your business, you advertised in newspapers, television, radio and through the pages of magazines. Times have changed. In today's world, you can actually advertise through emails and reach thousands of people all at once. If you tried mad mimi html email, you would get hooked to this incredible way to advertise your business. This company can help your grow your business through their incredible email marketing system.

Mad Mimi is a cool way to create, send, share and track email newsletters online. Mad Mimi was developed for people who want email marketing to be simple. Mad Mimi is a way for people like you and I to be able to advertise our business online. There are so many more ways to advertise your small business than there was twenty years ago. I think this is great and I believe you will to. You really have to check out this company to see what they can do for you and your business.

I remember my friend telling me about email marketing a couple months ago. He told me it was going to be the next big thing. I did not believe him and now it's here to stay.? We have come so far over the years and it makes me wonder what the future has in store for us. This is where companies like Mad Mimi come in. They can help you grow your business through their email marketing system.

It seems like only yesterday, I walked to my front door to get the newspaper every morning. Now, I don't have to. You can check out your newspaper online and you can actually read magazines online. Along with these changes, advertising your business has changed. There are so many more ways to advertise your business than there were just a few years ago. You can reach so many people through email marketing and Mad Mimi is the company that sends over 40 million email a day. What's even more incredible is they track each and every email. Times really have changed.

 

Source: http://daddywaddyweeviews.blogspot.com/2012/10/use-email-marketing-to-advertise-your.html

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UK blue chips higher as ARM gains after strong earnings

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Cafe's one-way mirror allows peeks into restroom

(AP) ? An Austrian artist has installed a one-way mirror in a Vienna cafe that allows men to peek from their restroom into the ladies room.

Alexander Riegler told the daily Heute newspaper Monday that the mirror is an attempt to "stir people into a discussion of voyeurism and surveillance," in an era when almost everyone is being watched.

Cafe employee Alexander Khael-Khaelsberg says the mirror only shows women at the sink and does not offend anyone's private sphere. He told the daily Heute newspaper Monday that women will get their turn in January, when the mirror is reversed to let them look at men's faces while they stand at the urinal.

The restaurant recently put up a sign advising women that they are part of an "art project" after complaints.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-22-Austria-Peeping%20Toms/id-2ea2ed285cf94969bfdda26f59778760

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Monday, October 22, 2012

PFT: Jerry proud of his Cowboys? |? Cam rants

New Orleans Saints v Tampa Bay BuccaneersGetty Images

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has borrowed, sort of, the punch line to the old joke about a busload of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean when commenting on the decision of Commissioner Roger Goodell to hand the bounty appeal baton to former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

?It?s a good first step,? Vilma told Jeff Darlington of NFL Network, ?for Paul to be the neutral arbitrator.?

The key word is neutral.? If Vilma?s lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, and/or the NFLPA believe that Tagliabue won?t be neutral, then it will be a problem.

?We expect that [Tagliabue will] do things in a neutral capacity that will allow us to cross examine some of the witnesses,? Vilma said.? ?See some evidence.?

The reality is that Ginsberg and Jeffrey Kessler, the primary NFLPA outside counsel, will refrain from taking any position on Tagliabue until having a chance to hear from Tagliabue regarding his plan for the October 30 appeal hearing.? If they get the sense that Tagliabue won?t be neutral, objective, and/or impartial, they?ll likely fight the appointment.? If they like what they hear, they possibly will accept Tagliabue as the arbitrator.

It?s smart lawyering.? Why complain without getting a chance to take Tagliabue?s temperature?? If, for example, he says that key witnesses like former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo won?t be required to testify, then they?ll know to fight the appointment.? If, alternatively, they get the impression based on Tagliabue?s comments that he plans to require the league to prove its case, they may overlook factors that otherwise would cause them concern.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/21/jerry-jones-win-means-cowboys-not-digging-out/related

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Why Greg Smith left Goldman Sachs

In this Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, photo, Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs banker, responds to questions during a news interview in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times, accusing Goldman of routinely deceiving clients and relentlessly pursuing profit at the expense of morality.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, photo, Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs banker, responds to questions during a news interview in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times, accusing Goldman of routinely deceiving clients and relentlessly pursuing profit at the expense of morality.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Greg Smith's new book "Why I Left Goldman Sachs, is photographed, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, photo, Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs banker, responds to questions during a news interview in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times, accusing Goldman of routinely deceiving clients and relentlessly pursuing profit at the expense of morality.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, photo, Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs banker, poses for a photograph in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times, accusing Goldman of routinely deceiving clients and relentlessly pursuing profit at the expense of morality.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Greg Smith's new book "Why I Left Goldman Sachs, is photographed Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, in New York. Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March when he announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering editorial in The New York Times. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Greg Smith wrote the essay that echoed across Wall Street like a thunderclap.

Smith was a vice president at Goldman Sachs until March. He announced his departure from the investment bank with a blistering essay in The New York Times, accusing Goldman of routinely deceiving clients and relentlessly pursuing profit at the expense of morality.

And he struck a nerve. The essay, on the Op-Ed page of The Times, went viral in the financial world and beyond. Smith was praised for uncloaking corruption that was crying out to be addressed, and also derided as a disgruntled employee.

Goldman Sachs denies Smith's allegations about deceiving clients. The bank says it took his concerns seriously, thoroughly investigated them, and found no evidence to support them.

Smith's book, "Why I Left Goldman Sachs," is being released Monday. It's a window into a company that is notoriously tight-lipped, with stories about a swaggering place where interns arise for 5 a.m. meetings and business trips mean slapping down $150 for one person's dinner.

What Smith hopes to do, he says, is educate people about how Wall Street works, and fuel a public conversation about what went wrong ethically, and how to fix it. The practices that caused the financial crisis, he says, were never really resolved; they're just lying dormant.

Smith, 33, gave his first text interview to The Associated Press. Excerpts have been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Tell us about March 14, the day you left Goldman. You were working in the London office, and you say you had already cleaned out your desk and had been told the essay would go online at 7 a.m. your time.

A: I get up at 6 a.m., and I type a very heartfelt email to nine people in Europe, including the CEO of Goldman Europe, and express in very personal terms why I'm leaving. I talk about exactly what I thought was wrong with the place, this obvious deceit of clients.

Within five minutes I get an email back from someone on the management committee in Europe who says, "I'm really surprised to hear this. I'm in London today. I'd love to meet with you." I get two voice mails from two other people. And then at 6:57 or 6:58, the piece comes online.

Q: What did the bank do?

A: My work BlackBerry stayed on for about three more hours, and I started getting emails from clients who were saying, "We completely agree with you, we don't trust Goldman Sachs, we do business with you guys with a 'buyer beware' attitude." I started getting text messages from Goldman managing directors who were supportive as well. And Goldman reached out to me in formal fashion and said, "We're sorry to hear you resigned; we'd like to air these concerns out."

Q: The bank denies everything you've charged about its ripping off clients.

A: The thing that disappoints me most is that management is denying there's a problem. Why not try to repair the trust instead? Clients are telling you they don't trust you. There's been an SEC fraud suit that was settled for half a billion dollars.

(The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the bank of selling investments to clients when the bank believed the investments were going to fail. Goldman paid $550 million. It remains the largest SEC penalty paid by a Wall Street firm.)

I'm not some lone voice who thought there was a problem, a change from a client fiduciary model (doing what's best for the client) to use-the-client-to-extract-wealth model. It's a problem that many, many of my colleagues felt and that the public feels as well, borne out in SEC suits and congressional testimonies and clients saying publicly that they don't trust us.

Q: Were you just disgruntled? Maybe you didn't get the bonus or the promotion you wanted?

A: I was actually doing well in my career at Goldman. My bonus, I was told I outperformed my peers by 10 percent. I'm a competitive person, and my goal was to get promoted, and I was told by multiple partners that I was two years away from getting promoted. So it certainly was a goal of mine. And on the compensation side, I was earning a lot of money and had a very good living, so I was grateful for what I was earning. It allowed me to have a good life and to support my family and to do things that I thought were valuable.

Q: But you were at Goldman for almost 12 years, if you start with your summer internship in 2000. Weren't there times when you should have stood up, should have said something about what you thought was morally wrong?

A: I actually made a conscious decision not to sell toxic deals to clients. I didn't think it was the right thing to do, but I also saw the idea that if clients' trust is being burned and they're getting blown up, you're not going to have a career for very long.

Now that does not mean I was not part of a system that was doing things that were unethical. In the book, I try to show some of the conflicts I noticed that gave me pause. For many years, I gave the firm the benefit of the doubt.

It absolutely could have happened quicker. But one can always see things earlier and sooner.

Q: OK, but isn't the purpose of any capitalist company to make money? You certainly made a lot of money at Goldman. (Smith says he made in the "high hundreds of thousands of dollars" in his best years but declines to be more specific. His publisher declines to say what he was paid for the book.)

A: Capitalism should be where everyone competes hard and makes money, in an environment where there is fair play and competitiveness. Right now the system is stacked against everyone else in favor of the banks.

It's a little like a casino. A real casino is regulated and there are cameras everywhere and the casino cannot see your cards. With Wall Street today, the bank can see what every government, every pension fund, every hedge fund in the world is doing. They can effectively see everyone's cards. Then, instead of facilitating the client's will, they're trying to get the client to facilitate their will.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your book?

A: People know there's this huge conflict, and that things are being done that are unethical but are not necessarily illegal. But nobody can put their finger on exactly what the problem is. My goal with the book was to write it to a general reader who knows nothing about finance. By the time someone reaches the end of the book, they can say, "I can now speak more intelligently about where the conflicts of interest are, and I can lobby my congressman or I can speak about it more." If people are not educated about what the issues are, they're powerless. That was the problem with Occupy Wall Street ? they didn't know what they were protesting.

Q: The banks are going to say any bad practices were caused by just a few bad actors, and that those guys are gone.

A: This is not some conspiracy of five people sitting in a room plotting to destroy the world. This is far more boring. This is where people have created a perverse incentive system.

If someone can overcharge a client by a million dollars, their leaders are going to say, "Great job, we just made an extra million dollars off this pension fund."

Q: So the endemic part is that people don't speak up?

A: People don't like being asked or compelled to make morally dubious decisions. But unfortunately a lot of people's livelihoods are tied up in this, and it's not an easy thing to unwind. Their lives are caught up in this system where they're sending their kids to private schools ? it's almost like the machine for them is working so well that there's no way to undo it unless you want to change your lifestyle.

Q: Why should we care about what happens on Wall Street?

A: You see a lot of commentary that Wall Street is just rich people gambling with other rich people's money. I want people to know that it ultimately affects everyone. In 2008, banks had to be bailed out and that hits taxpayers. If you're a teacher or a fireman or a charity, and you have an investment fund that is trading with Wall Street, and Wall Street is not being held accountable and behaving ethically, then that directly impacts everyone.

Q: What about the reaction of your family and friends to all this? You didn't tell them about the essay beforehand.

A: No, my mother would have been really upset, and frankly my mother is still very upset. She's mostly worried about how I don't have a job right now. For my parents' generation, the idea of stability is very important, while my generation is a little more idealistic about wanting to actually change things, even if it involves some kind of personal risk. It took me a while to show my mother that I was actually very proud of this.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-22-Leaving%20Goldman%20Sachs/id-1df16d44c13244b99a8971e3916e33df

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ELFA Issues Policy Statement on Comprehensive Tax ... - Monitordaily

Today (10/22/12), during the 51st Annual Convention of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, the association?s Board of Directors issued a Policy Statement on Comprehensive Tax Reform. The statement outlines key principles the association believes are important as Congress considers comprehensive reform of the tax code in the coming year. The statement reads as follows:

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association supports a tax code that promotes economic growth, competition, fairness, and predictability. In order to inform the ongoing tax reform discussion in the U.S. Congress, the ELFA Board has approved the following set of principles for comprehensive tax reform that ELFA will use to evaluate tax reform proposals.

Treat Owner-Lessors and Owner-Operators in a Tax Neutral Manner
ELFA supports tax reform proposals that place owner-lessors on the same footing with an owner who is operating the same item of plant or equipment.

Maintain Cost Recovery and Interest Deductions

It is a long-standing principle in the U.S. tax code that income is taxed, and that business income is broadly defined as revenues less expenses. Accordingly, ELFA supports tax reform proposals that:

?Maintain the ability of businesses to deduct business interest associated with the financing of equipment.

?Preserve the ability of businesses to count leasing expenses against revenue when they are calculating their income subject to tax.

?Retain the ability of businesses to depreciate capital assets over time according to well-reasoned depreciation schedules.

?Continue provisions in the IRC that promote capital formation, such as 100% expensing and maintaining section 179 expensing levels.

Provide a Level Playing Field for Lessors and Other Finance Providers

ELFA supports tax reform proposals relating to the deductibility of net interest that place lessors on the same footing with lenders financing the same item of plant or equipment.

Maintain Tax-exempt Treatment of State and Local Government Obligations

ELFA supports tax reform proposals that maintain the tax-exempt status of state and local government lease purchase or installment sale contracts, which are a cost-efficient means for state and local governments to acquire capital equipment and projects.

Promote a More Competitive International Tax System

ELFA supports tax reform that moves our nation?s corporate tax structure toward a territorial system. ELFA also supports tax reform that maintains the Active Financing Exemption to Subpart F.

To read the ELFA?s full policy statement click here.

Other Recent Headlines...

Source: http://www.monitordaily.com/elfa-issues-policy-statement-comprehensive-tax-reform/

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Sunday, October 21, 2012

ask_me_anything: inspired by the traffic laws post

For those of you who drive in areas that have red/yellow/green stoplights (I don't know if this is a universal thing or not), what do you do during the yellow light phase? Assume this is during normal driving conditions, not on icy roads or anything like that.

Poll #1873526 yellow lights
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 44

What do you do when you see a yellow light?

Bonus: If you answered 'slow to a stop', where do you live? If you answered 'speed like hell to get through it', where do you live?

Source: http://ask-me-anything.livejournal.com/36943026.html

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Propel Your Business Into The Future With These Social Media - First

Many businesses have found great success through their social media marketing efforts over the past few years. It is definitely among the most effective strategies that you can utilize. Using this method can help you gain customers from around the world. Having more customers means that you will be able to access a larger market through the use of social media marketing.

People using social media sites are always looking for catchy headlines, so give them what they?re after. Create a question that will get them to crave your answer. Make sure you use power words like amazing and special to pique interest. The more people are curious, the more they?ll probably read and share what you?ve posted rather than passing over it.

Use plenty of social media buttons. It has to appear on the company blog, website, email signature and all communications that you make online. You should also add links to your other profiles on social networks and encourage people to find you on more than one site.

TIP! It is always best to remain humble through your social media messages. If you sound like you?re arrogant, you?ll end up with a bad reputation and your offensive posts repeated all over the Internet.

Social Networks

While you are undoubtedly aware of the most-used social networks, you should familiarize yourself with the smaller, more specialized networks that are used by a smaller audience. Make it a point to learn about your audience and what social networks they use.

Even though social media sites have altered the communication landscape, remaining professional is still a great behavioral habit. Add a little personality in your introduction, but remain professional. If someone says something that you do not appreciate, delete their comment rather than getting into a battle of words. Try making separate profiles for interacting for your own friends.

TIP! Use Facebook or Twitter to advertise limited offers. Find a balance between giving your potential customers enough time to cash in on the deal while still letting them know that the deal is time sensitive.

Remember your past marketing efforts as well as those of your competitors. Increase your revenue by paying attention to these marketing lessons. When you do, make note of what works best for you and expand on it for the best chance of success.

It is important to used varied content to entice people to follow the social media marketing campaign that you are promoting. Post links or stories from outside providers that are related to your niche or industry. You can get people engaged by running contests, ask questions or post new pictures. Draw your readers in with engaging content. Recognize the value of engaging with a product rather than placing it as an advertisement. People should be able to identify with your brand and consider it as a part of their daily lives.

Social Media

TIP! You must remember to link keyword ads to the proper links. You also have to drive traffic to the right place from those ads.

Watch your advertising voice on your social media networks. People use social media sites to interact with their friends, and they will be skeptical when they see ?marketing speak?. You must get on the level of your customers by speaking their language in order to maximize results.

Determine what your long-term business strategy will look like before you jump into social media marketing. If you just throw money at the newest and latest social trends and the quickly move on to the next, you?ll never get anywhere. Plot a comprehensive strategy that incorporates your overall advertising agenda and then start moving.

Social Media

TIP! Think about the type of relationship, if any, you want to develop with your customer base. A well-designed social media marketing strategy will allow your business to drive sales through its interactions with customers.

Choose your words carefully and watch what you type on social media sites. It is possible to use social media blurbs in a legal arena, and if you say the wrong thing those words can turn into evidence against you.

Followers can share content with ease by using Facebook. Comments will appear on that person?s news feed so all of their friends see it. Encourage people to participate and engage with each other.

Before you make your official profile live, experiment with different techniques and media. Then, run some further tests in other venues until you have tweaked the technique. This will help you avoid publishing content that tarnishes your image on social media sites.

TIP! Make sure you create your image as an expert by helping others through the Internet. Having this kind of clout can help you bring in a lot more business.

Give your online followers special deals through social media. If they get deals from you on Twitter or Facebook that they are unable to find from another place, they will respond to your marketing, spreading the word for you for free.

You must remember that your profiles should be adapted to make them marketable in different languages, with area specific localization. Customize media for each area and demographic and do not just copy and paste. This will make you unique and help customers to feel loyal to you.

Make sure your blog is always kept up to date with useful info. If you are having some sort of sales event, you should write about it on your blog. Even if you simply changed something simple like your store hours or new location. be sure to include that information in your blog.

TIP! Many companies have discovered the benefits of hosting affiliate and employee blog posts on their official website. Blogs like these can give others a glimpse into what your business is like.

Study how your traffic changes with different techniques. You should avoid jumping to conclusions when you have either a really good day or a bad one. That said, keep tabs on your results so you can quickly react to any trends that make themselves apparent.

People like having the option to comment on your blog. If you do not want to give out contact info this is important. Enable comments in your post options, but make certain they are closely monitored. Delete spam ads or seriously offensive comments that can clutter your site.

Printed Advertising

TIP! Keep active on your page otherwise you will fade into oblivion. This is because the sites are social in nature.

Make your printed advertising and social media profiles refer to each other. For instance, you can put your Facebook name on your printed advertising and post digital versions of your printed advertising on Flickr. Show your print campaigns online to finish the cross-promotion!

When posting something on Twitter, add a tag. Tags appear after the symbol # and allow you to have your updates appear in the feeds of users who have subscribed to a group. Be careful when selecting tags and seek out groups your target demographic are likely to join.

Apply the advice from this article to help integrate your business into the world of modern day technology. Keep these tips handy any time you need advice on how best to integrate social networking into your existing business plan. You?ll be surprised what a big difference social media will make for your business.

TIP! Make time for updating social media frequently. If your streams are outdated, search engines and people searching the internet will notice.

Join me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/maynaseric

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/propel-your-business-into-the-future-with-these-social-media-marketing-tips-7

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Energy-sensing switch discovery could have broad implications

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2012) ? Biochemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a genetic sequence that can alter its host gene's activity in response to cellular energy levels. The scientists have found this particular energy-sensing switch in bacterial genes, which could make it a target for a powerful new class of antibiotics. If similar energy-sensing switches are also identified for human genes, they may be useful for treating metabolism-related disorders such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"This discovery adds a new dimension to our understanding of how cells sense and manage their energy levels, which is one of the most important processes in biology," said the study's senior author, Martha J. Fedor, a professor the departments of Chemical Physiology and Molecular Biology and a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI.

The findings are described online ahead of print on October 21, 2012, in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

A Fuel Sensor

This type of gene-switching sequence is known as a riboswitch because it appears on the strand of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that is first transcribed from a gene's DNA. Unlike other known riboswitches, which have relatively limited functions, this one acts as a sensor for the basic molecular fuel that powers all living cells and controls many genes.

The newly discovered riboswitch detects a small molecule known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the standard unit of chemical energy in all known organisms on our planet. Scientists had thought that cells use only large and relatively complex proteins to sense these all-important energy molecules and adjust cell activities accordingly. No one had found ATP sensors among riboswitches, which can alter cell activity at a more fundamental level -- usually by interrupting a gene's transcription from DNA.

Moreover, previously described riboswitches are relatively simple feedback sensors that affect narrow metabolic pathways. Most of them merely sense and adjust the expression rate of their own host gene. "This is the first riboswitch that is known to be involved in global metabolic regulation," said Fedor.

In recent years, the Fedor team had found hints that such a riboswitch could exist. Many RNA sequences with possible riboswitch activity had never been characterized, and several riboswitches in bacteria sense molecules that are closely related to ATP. Fedor and a graduate student in her laboratory, Peter Y. Watson, therefore set out to find bacterial riboswitches that could indeed sense ATP.

Caught in the Act

The task was more challenging than it might have seemed. Watson could not simply expose suspected riboswitches to ATP and see which ones stuck best to the energy molecules. ATP is present in high concentrations in cells, and its interactions with its known protein sensors are necessarily fleeting, low-affinity affairs. Interactions with a riboswitch would be expected to look the same. "Such interactions are really too weak to be detected using traditional methods," Watson said. But he found evidence that an RNA interaction with an ATP-like molecule would occur in a way that allows the brief coupling to be caught in the act -- using a burst of ultraviolet radiation, which can create a strong chemical crosslink between two molecules.

In this way, he discovered a stretch of apparent ATP-binding RNA known as the ydaO motif. Watson performed structure-mapping analyses of ydaO to confirm that it binds to ATP and to determine precisely where it binds. Attaching ydaO to a "reporter" gene, he found that in bacterial cells, the reporter gene's expression level stayed low when ATP levels were normal and rose sharply when ATP levels dropped -- as would be expected if ydaO is really an ATP-sensing riboswitch. Even in unaltered cells of a test bacterium, B. subtilis, levels of the genes that normally contain the ydaO motif rose and fell in the same way in response to changing ATP levels.

The ydaO motif occurs in the large subset of bacteria known as gram-positive bacteria. Across these bacterial species, it has been found, to date, on 580 separate genes. "These ydaO-regulated genes encode proteins that have a wide variety of functions, from cell wall metabolism to amino acid transport," Watson said. "It makes sense that a riboswitch in control of such disparate processes would be responding to a central metabolite such as ATP."

New Possibilities

The finding has basic scientific importance because it is the first known example of a riboswitch that binds ATP; it is also the first known riboswitch that has such broad regulatory functions. "It opens up the possibility that RNA switches are involved in the general regulation of metabolism," said Fedor.

The fact that ydaO motifs serve as "off-switches" for key bacterial genes also makes them a potential target for new antibiotics. "Hitting these riboswitches with a small-molecule, ATP-mimicking drug so that they can't turn on genes that promote bacterial growth and survival could be a viable approach," said Fedor.

Her laboratory will now search for other ATP-sensing riboswitches in bacteria and in higher organisms, including humans. A human ATP-sensing riboswitch, if targeted appropriately by drugs, might be able to alter cell activity in ways that help treat common metabolic disorders. Type 2 diabetes, which presently affects several hundred million people worldwide, is known to feature the improper regulation of ATP levels in cells.

Funding for the study, "The ydaO motif is an ATP-sensing riboswitch in Bacillus subtilis," was provided by the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scripps Research Institute.

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/0xPUbneVCp0/121021133909.htm

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Anonymous political donation sets up legal battle - latimes.com

Yes on 30, No on 32

Activists are pressuring California's campaign finance watchdog to investigate an $11-million donation from an Arizona political group, providing the first major test for new disclosure rules on donations from nonprofits.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization seeking government transparency, filed the complaint on Friday with the Fair Political Practices Commission.

The controversy began earlier this week when the Arizona group, Americans for Responsible Leadership, gave $11 million to the Small Business Action Committee, which is fighting Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike campaign and supporting a ballot measure that would limit unions' political clout.

?We believe it?s the single largest secret contribution ever to be dropped in California?s proposition fights," said Phillip Ung of Common Cause.

Beth Miller, a spokeswoman for the Small Business Action Committee, called the complaint an ?outrageous lie" and said the committee has complied with all regulations.

"This is politically motivated charge without one shred of evidence," she said.

The Fair Political Practices Commission adopted new rules earlier this year requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors if the money was provided for political purposes in California. Ann Ravel, the commission's chairwoman, said officials will review the complaint.

Very little information has trickled out about Americans for Responsible Leadership. A message left at the group's office was not returned. A spokeswoman for one of the directors, a Republican seeking to lead the state party in Arizona, said he was not available for comment. Its website is geared mostly toward Arizona politics, where it's opposing a sales tax hike and a top-two primary system like the one recently adopted by California.

However, the group has given less than $550,000 in political contributions in its home state, according to campaign filings there, while dumping 20 times that in California.?

That's a red flag for Ung and Common Cause.

?It?s exactly what it looks like. It?s money laundering," he said. "They?re laundering campaign funds.?

Joel Fox, president of the Small Business Action Committee, said he did not know where the money came from. He said the group reached out to a committee supporter to talk about a donation.

"We said we?ll check them out," he said. "We went online and checked them out. They seemed like a legitimate group."

ALSO:

Arizona political group dumps $11 million into California races

Labor groups express concern about California budget initiative

Labor's big-money focus on Prop. 32 may hurt chances of Prop. 30

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento
twitter.com/chrismegerian

Photo: A man in Los Angeles hands out signs at a rally to support Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax hikes, Proposition 30, and oppose a measure to reduce union influence, Proposition 32. Credit: Reed Saxon / Associated Press

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/10/california-secret-political-donation.html

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Orionid meteor shower: Watch for fireballs during weekend peak

One of the more spectacular meteor showers of the year peaks overnight Saturday, with perhaps 60 visible meteors an hour. Fireballs ? any meteor brighter than Venus ? are likely as Orionids plunge into the atmosphere at 148,000 miles per hour.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / October 19, 2012

Streaking fireballs light up California skies Oct. 17, the first night of the annual Orionid meteor shower, which runs through Oct. 25.

Phil Terzian/AP

Enlarge

Skywatchers in the northern and southern hemispheres are in for a treat overnight Saturday, when the annual Orionid meteor shower ? an intimate encounter with remnants of comet Halley?s tail ? is expected to peak.

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Weather willing, at least 25 meteors an hour should be visible in the predawn hours Sunday morning. By then, a crescent moon will have set, allowing a larger number of fainter meteors to stand out against the night sky.

But NASA?s all-sky cameras already are detecting meteor rates that suggest the show could be better, perhaps approaching 60 meteors an hour, says Bill Cooke, a meteor specialist at the NASA?s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and head of the agency?s Meteoroid Environment Office.

?I?m cautiously optimistic,? he says of the shower, which began Oct. 17 and runs through Oct. 25 at a sky above you.

As if on cue, a fireball visible throughout much of central and southern California streaked across the sky Oct. 17, shortly before 8 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Observers reported three sonic booms tied to the fireball after it disappeared.

However, the event may have had little to do with the meteor shower. Long-time meteor observers, including Mike Hankey with the American Meteor Society, point out that meteors from comets tend to be tiny grains of ice and dust. This reflects the composition of the comets that shed the detritus as they make their closest approach to the sun and heat up. This material vaporizes at very high altitudes.

The object that plunged to Earth Wednesday evening ? which some witnesses said broke into fragments as it plunged ? was more likely a chunk of asteroid. The sonic booms people heard indicate that it reached the lower atmosphere.

Even so, Orionid meteoroids generate fireballs as well, Mr. Cooke says, owing to the high speeds at which they enter the atmosphere. At 148,000 miles an hour, these meteoroids are outpaced only by meteoroids associated with the Leonid shower, which appears each November.

?If I?m blazing into the atmosphere fast, I don?t have to be very big to leave a brilliant mark in the sky,? he says.

The fireballs the Orionids generate occur at altitudes of about 60 miles. A fireball is defined as any meteor brighter than Venus. NASA has logged at least two Orionid fireballs so far during this month?s shower.

The shower takes its name from the constellation Orion. The shower?s radiant ? the region of the sky from which the meteors appear to emerge ? appears just to the left of Orion?s right shoulder, marked by Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star and one of the largest, brightest stars in the night sky.

Part of the shower?s appeal lies in its radiant?s classy location. It sits surrounded by some of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky: Gemini; Orion, with his belt and sword; and Canis Major, Orion?s hunting companion. Canis Major hosts the double star Sirius. At 8.6 light-years from Earth, Sirius A, the brightest of the two, outshines all the other stars visible to the naked eye.

So while you wait for a meteor, you still have other cosmic eye candy to enjoy.

Beyond the beauty, Cooke adds, is the fact that the meteors are from Halley?s comet, providing an annual show that outclasses the last appearance of Halley itself in 1986, which he witnessed, and is likely to outclass Halley?s next appearance in 2061.

?This is my consolation,? Cook says with a chuckle. ?If I can?t see a good Halley?s comet, at least I can see pieces of it burning up in the atmosphere.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/BE49HT0gmJU/Orionid-meteor-shower-Watch-for-fireballs-during-weekend-peak

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Amazon Demands Land in San Bernardino - UCLA Real Estate Wire

To deliver merchandise on the same day it is purchased requires holding inventory close to population centers. ?Amazon knows this and is investing in large physical spaces in San Bernardino County. ?This must be a good time to buy warehouse space and Amazon is taking a long term perspective. ?Using its customer database, it must be able to form an accurate prediction over what households in the greater LA area will demand. ? This is a nice example of how improvements in information technology increase the demand for real estate. ?The process feeds on itself. ?As Amazon customers in the LA area become more aware of what stuff they can buy with "same day" delivery, they will demand more stuff from Amazon and this will further increase Amazon's demand for warehouse space in the area. ?Perhaps, San Bernardino will enjoy a comeback? ?As rents for warehouses increases, do local home prices in the same area stabilize? ?Is there a law of one price for land?

Source: http://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/zimancenter/2012/10/amazon-demands-land-in-san-bernardino.html

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Federal employees will have 27 pay periods in 2012 ? American ...

Friday, October 19th, 2012

Nearly all federal civilian employees will have an extra pay period for leave accrual this year.

According to a memo from Angela Bailey, OPM?s Associate Director for Employee Services, the leave year for most federal employees began on January 1, 2012 and will end on January 12, 2013.? This means that the 2012 leave year for most employees will have 27 pay periods, one more than the usual 26 pay periods.

Full-time federal civilian employees earn four (less than three years), six (three years to less than 15 years), or eight hours (15 or more years) of annual leave per pay period depending on their time in service.? Part-time employees earn one hour for each 20 hours in pay status (less than three years), one hour for each 13 hours in pay status (three years to less than 15 years), or one hour for each 10 hours in pay status (15 or more years).

According to 5 U.S.C. 6303, the federal employee leave year begins on the first day of the first full biweekly of the calendar year and ends on the last day of the period before the beginning of the next leave year.? Most employees? leave year began on January 1, 2012.? However, if an employee?s pay period began on January 8, 2012, only 26 pay periods will apply for accruing annual leave in 2012.

Even though most employees will have 27 pay periods for accruing annual leave, Bailey emphasizes that employees will still have 26 ?pay dates? in 2012.? This is because leave is accrued for pay periods, not pay dates.?

Bailey also stressed that employees must use (or lose) any accumulated leave above the maximum carryover allowed by law (240 for most employees, 350 for overseas, and 720 for Senior Executive Service employees) by January 12, 2013.? However, an agency can restore ?forfeited? leave if an employee schedules such leave, in writing, by December 1, 2012.

Source: http://www.asmconline.org/2012/10/federal-employees-will-have-27-pay-periods-in-2012/

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Gastric band surgery has big impact on heart disease and stroke risk factors

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2012) ? Bariatric surgery -- restrictive gastric banding and other types of gastric bypass -- can radically reduce risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and within a short period of time, indicates an analysis of the available evidence, published online in Heart.

The impact is much greater and faster than drug treatments for weight management or diabetes, say the authors, and in some cases, could be life-saving.

Being obese or overweight kills more than 2.6 million people every year. And the evidence shows that excess body fat produces harmful chemicals and skews gut hormones in favour of inflammation and insulin resistance -- the precursor to diabetes.

The authors trawled the major databases of research, published between 1950 and June 2012, on the impact of bariatric surgery on cardiovascular risks and on heart failure and structural changes to the heart.

They found 73 relevant studies, involving almost 20,000 people, which matched their criteria on the impact of the procedure on risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

The average age of the study participants was 42, and three out of four were women.

The pooled data indicated that the prevalence of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high levels of harmful blood fats (dyslipidaemia) before surgery was 44, 24, and 44 per cent, respectively. Patients were monitored for an average of just over 4.5 years after their surgery.

On average, study participants halved (54%) the amount of excess weight they were carrying, but the amount of excess weight dropped ranged from 16 to 87 per cent.

Cardiovascular risk factors for stroke, heart attack, and heart failure either significantly improved or resolved completely after the procedure: high blood pressure in 63 per cent; diabetes in 73 per cent; and unfavourable blood fats in 65 per cent.

The authors found a further 18 studies, involving 713 people, which matched the criteria on the impact of gastric bypass surgery on heart failure and structural changes to the heart.

Analysis of these data showed that the procedure significantly improved left ventricular mass (enlargement of the muscle tissue that makes up the heart's main pumping chamber), the E/A ratio (the proportion of blood the heart pumps out in one beat) and pump filling action (isovolumic relaxation time or the ability of the heart to relax after a contraction).

The authors say that the findings back those of previous research and raise bariatric surgery "beyond the realms of a cosmetic procedure and into the realms of interventions demonstrating efficacy in preventing cardiovascular events."

They continue: "The magnitude of effect on [cardiovascular] risk factors is impressive, and to date no pharmacological therapy for weight management or diabetes has shown a comparable effect over these short time periods."

They acknowledge that bariatric surgery is not without its risks, but emphasise that it not only reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, but also seems to improve the health of the heart itself.

If performed on appropriately selected obese patients, it "could be life-saving," they conclude.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Amanda R Vest, Helen M Heneghan, Shikhar Agarwal, Philip R Schauer, James B Young. Bariatric surgery and cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review. Heart, 2012; DOI: 10.1136/heartjnl-2012-301778

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/heart_disease/~3/HGZpmqg0oPo/121018102734.htm

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