9 die as tour bus crashes on icy Oregon highway

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple-fatality accident where a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy highway and several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple-fatality accident where a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy highway and several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple fatality accident where a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy Oregon highway and several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple fatality accident where a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy Oregon highway and several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) ? The stretch of rural Oregon interstate where a tour bus crashed through a guardrail and plummeted 100 feet down a steep embankment is so notorious that state transportation officials have published a specific advisory warning of its dangers.

Nine people were killed and more than two dozen injured when the charter bus veered out of control around 10:30 a.m. Sunday on snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon, according to the Oregon State Police.

The bus crashed near the start of a 7-mile section of road that winds down a hill. It came to rest at the bottom of a snowy slope, landing beaten and battered but upright with little or no debris visible around the crash site.

The East Oregonian said it spoke with two South Korean passengers, ages 16 and 17. Both said through a translator that they were seated near the rear of the bus when it swerved a few times, hit the guardrail and flipped. They described breaking glass and seeing passengers pinned by their seats as the bus slid down the hill. Both said that they feared for their lives.

The paper said that the teens, one of whom injured a knee and the other suffered a broken collarbone, were staying at a hotel arranged by the Red Cross.

More than a dozen rescue workers descended the hill and used ropes to help retrieve people from the wreckage in freezing weather. The bus driver was among the survivors, but had not yet spoken to police because of the severity of the injuries the driver had suffered.

Lt. Gregg Hastings said the bus crashed along the west end of the Blue Mountains, and west of an area called Deadman Pass. The area is well known locally for its hazards, and the state transportation department advises truck drivers that "some of the most changeable and severe weather conditions in the Northwest" can lead to slick conditions and poor visibility. Drivers are urged to use "extreme caution and defensive driving techniques," and warned that snow and black ice are common in the fall through the spring.

The bus had been carrying about 40 people. St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton treated 26 of them, said hospital spokesman Larry Blanc. Five of those treated at St. Anthony were transported to other facilities.

Blanc did not elaborate on the nature of the injuries but told the Oregonian that the hospital brought in additional staff to handle the rush of patients and did a lot of X-ray imaging.

I-84 is a major east-west highway through Oregon that follows the Columbia River Gorge.

Umatilla County Emergency Manager Jack Remillard said the bus was owned by Mi Joo travel in Vancouver, B.C., and state police said the bus was en route from Las Vegas to Vancouver.

A woman who answered the phone at a listing for the company confirmed with The Associated Press that it owned the bus and said it was on a tour of the Western U.S. She declined to give her name.

A bus safety website run by the U.S. Department of Transportation said Mi Joo Tour & Travel has six buses, none of which have been involved in any accidents in at least the past two years.

The bus crash was the second fatal accident in Oregon on Sunday morning. A 69-year-old man died in a rollover accident on I-84, about 30 miles west of where the bus accident took place.

A spokesman for the American Bus Association said buses carry more than 700 million passengers a year in the United States.

"The industry as a whole is a very safe industry," said Dan Ronan of the Washington, D.C.,-based group. "There are only a handful of accidents every year. Comparatively speaking, we're the safest form of surface transportation."

Sunday's Oregon bus crash comes more than two months after another chartered tour bus veered off a highway in October in northern Arizona, killing the driver and injuring dozens of passengers who were mostly tourists from Asia and Europe. Authorities say the driver likely had a medical episode.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-31-Tour%20Bus%20Crash/id-0c0aaa955af24ed4a9a48d855dc31cb9

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How The Huang Brothers Bootstrapped Guitar Hero To A Billion ...

Editor?s note:?Derek?Andersen?is the founder of?Startup Grind, a 35-city event series hosted in 15-countries that educates, inspires, and connects entrepreneurs.?He also founded Commonred (acquired by Income.com) and is?ex-Electronic Arts.

There are virtually no companies in Silicon Valley that exit north of $100MM or create a billion dollar business, that?don?t raise Venture Capital funding. Charles and Kai Huang, the founders of Red Octane are the exception having done both. They went on to sell more than 30MM units of Guitar Hero becoming one of the top videogame franchises of all time. Recently I sat down with Charles at Startup Grind and heard this fascinating story.

In 1999 Charles and his brother Kai founded Red Octane. Launching six months before Netflix, the goal was to be the Netflix of videogames. But six months after they launched the dot com bubble burst and so did their business. As funding completely dried up, the capital intensive rental business became unfundable. Of that time Charles said, ?It looked like the whole valley was just going to die and go away. So that?s when we scrambled and looked at video game hardware, and eventually videogame software. That was the beginning of what was many lives of Red Octane.?

Startup Survival. 2 Weeks Of Cash.

They were gamers and were playing a lot of Playstation 1 games, especially the pirated stuff out of Japan. Dance Dance Revolution was just making it?s way to the States so they stated selling dance pads. ?We realized the dance pads that we were buying and reselling were garbage, because they were breaking down and we thought we could make better dance pads than this,? Charles said. ?I literally packed my bags, went to China, visited a few of these factories that made dance pads, figured out how they made them and took a bunch of suggestions that users had given us and incorporated them into new designs and so we started coming out with our own dance pads and believe it or not, that kept the company afloat (from 2001 to 2003).?

Everything was sold online due to lack of cash. ?We had to start that way because we couldn?t afford to sell to stores due to cash flow. The way it works is you sell to Gamestop and they don?t pay you for 60 to 90 days. We didn?t have the money to do that, so we had to sell everything online because when somebody orders with a credit card, you get paid in two days.?

The company?s number one rule to survive was simple. Don?t die. ?As long as your company doesn?t die, smart people will find a way to make things happen, but if you let your company die, that?s it, you?ll never have another shot.?

For two years the company ran with less than 2-weeks of cash in the bank. Seriously. Every week they hoped to make enough money to make the next payroll. One time Charles had drafted the email to lay the employees off because they didn?t have enough money to pay. They decided to wait until after Thanksgiving and when Black Friday hit, orders poured in. ?It was like a gift, like money falling from the heavens,? Charles said. ?Like ?where are all of these orders coming from?? Then that actually gave us enough money to make payroll and we made enough money over the next month to continue.?

Product Pivot, Guitar Hero Is Born

Once they realized that Konami could ruin their dance pad business if they decided to stop selling it in the US, they needed to be more in charge of their own destiny. They took a popular arcade game called ?The Groove? and partnered with the developer to bring it to the console. This took their company from $1MM in revenue to $9MM and the profits allowed them to work on their second game, Guitar Hero.

They knew the music genre was working in Asia, but it hadn?t translated to the US or Europe. They took a look at music games and found Guitar Freaks. ?We said, man this thing is fun, but if we could just make a few changes, we think that would be a `partnership was perfect. Red Octane made the hardware and Harmonix made the software.

?Guitar Hero was an incredible experience in that in the first day that we talked about it in February, to the day we released it in November, everything about it just seemed like this magical experience. You know, you hear musicians say how sometimes the right songs just flow from your head? It was like that, every idea just came so smoothly.? They demoed the game at E3 in true underdog fashion they weren?t even on the main show floor. They were down in the basement with the other indie games. They won Best of Show awards going up against Madden, Need for Speed, Tony Hawk, and others. The budget for the original game was $1.7MM.

But they were still fighting. Retailers didn?t want to carry the game because the large box didn?t fit on the shelves and there was no precedence for that type of game selling well despite the positive consumer buzz. GameStop was the only retailer to carry the game. ?They were almost obligated to take every videogame product because GameStop was where hardcore gamers shopped, so you have to have everything.?

To pay for the inventory, Red Octane tried to raise money again. And while they had done $9MM in revenue the year before, they were unable to raise $3MM. ?It wasn?t like we were a startup that was burning cash, we were already profitable. At the time, videogames were just considered an uninvestable category by VCs. So, in order to get the game out, my brother and I took out second mortgages and took on credit card debt and to buy inventory for the launch of Guitar Hero.?

The game launched in November 2005. Best Buy forecast the game would sell 30K units between November and the end of January. The day it launched they sold 3,000 units in the first two hours. Best Buy called that day and wanted 80K more units the next week. Because of the hardware the games were built and shipped from China. That shipping delay turned Guitar Hero into the hardest game to find that Christmas season. They sold $45MM worth of Guitar Hero in the first 11-months and then they were acquired by Activision for north of $100MM.

I worked at Electronic Arts at the time, and a few years later I sat in a meeting with the head analyst who had looked at the Guitar Hero acquisition opportunity. He said at the time EA didn?t want to buy Red Octane at that price because there was no past data to support that Guitar Hero would continue to produce. They were wrong.

Over the next few years Guitar Hero went on to sell more than 30MM units and gross $5B in sales. It also completely transcended pop culture and the game became the world?s opportunity to finally be a rock star.

The Next Big Thing

When I spoke with Charles we were sitting in the Santa Clara office of his new startup Green Throttle Games, which TechCrunch announced?earlier this month has?raised $6MM in funding. Probably a little easier for Charles and Kai to raise funding this time around. The startup is appropriately a hardware gaming company trying to mesh with mobile. Green Throttle has released a console-like controller that allows you to seemlessly play your mobile games on your TV, effectively turning your mobile games into a console experience. See more on the controller in the video below.

When I asked him about having the energy to start all over again, he quoted some advice he got from the founder of LeapFrog when he told him, ?Before you start think hard about this because?you?re really signing up for the second and the third startup because if the second one goes under, you?re going to have to do a third just to prove that the first one wasn?t a fluke.?

Green Throttle Games is a Santa Clara, CA based company that develops high-quality, innovative games and hardware for mobile devices. The company?s founders Charles Huang, Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend, visionaries from the video game and mobile industries teamed up to unlock the potential of mobile on the big screen, connecting people and platforms in a way that is simple and fun.

? Learn more

At EA he worked on games like Burnout, Mirror?s Edge, The Sims 3, Mercenaries, and The Godfather the Game. At Vaporware Labs he has helped build products like Commonred, MEETorDIE, and Steve Young Football. He also runs the fastest growing monthly meetup in Silicon Valley called the Startup Grind. It?s currently hosted at AOL?s Palo Alto office.

? Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/30/how-the-huang-brothers-bootstrapped-guitar-hero-to-a-billion-dollar-business/

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Sudan's oil production rises to almost 140,000 bpd: minister

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has managed to boost oil production to almost 140,000 barrels per day and plans to add another 10,000 bpd next year, its oil minister said on Saturday after the African country launched a new oilfield.

Sudan has been stepping up oil and gas exploration after losing three-quarters of its former output, or 350,000 bpd, when South Sudan seceded last year. The loss of oil revenue, the main source of state income and the hard currency needed to fund imports, has thrown the economy into turmoil.

"Our current production is between 136,000 and 140,000," Awad al-Jaz told reporters, adding that new discoveries had been made. Sudan last put its output in October at 120,000 bpd.

Chinese-owned Petro Energy E&P recently launched production at the Hadida oilfield in western Sudan with a daily output of 10,000 bpd.

For next year, Sudan plans to reach 150,000 bpd, Jaz said. "This is our budget (plan)," he said.

Initially Sudan had planned 180,000 bpd by the end of this year but missed the target after fighting with South Sudan in April damaged the key Heglig oilfield and its central processing plant on the Sudan side of their disputed border.

In July, Sudan signed oil exploration and production-sharing deals with Canadian company Statesman Resources Ltd as well as with Chinese, Nigerian, Australian, Brazilian and French companies.

Jaz said Sudan wanted to boost oil cooperation with Brazilian firms, especially to explore for oil and gas in the Red Sea.

Norway is helping Sudan improve its pumping recovery rate, but analysts are skeptical about any big output jump soon because new fields need first to be explored. A scarcity of the dollars is hampering efforts to bring in better equipment.

The minister also said South Sudan's oil exports could resume once both sides reach an agreement on border security. "There is no problem," he said, when asked whether from a technical point of view exports could flow.

South Sudan, which has no export pipelines or access to the sea, needs to export its oil through Sudan. It shut down its output of 350,000 in January after failing to agree with Sudan on fees.

In September both countries agreed to resume oil exports, but they have failed so far to set up a demilitarized zone at the disputed border, a condition for crude flows.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sudans-oil-production-rises-almost-140-000-bpd-082105848--finance.html

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Source: http://www.rac.co.uk/traffic-information/traffic/5866388/

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Choctaw family devastated in Miss. SUV wreck

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ? The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians was dealing Sunday with the devastating loss of five young siblings and an adult killed when their SUV plunged into a rain-swollen creek.

Neshoba County Sheriff Tommy Waddell said the victims appear to have drowned after their Dodge Durango left a county road 20 miles southeast of Philadelphia just after midnight Saturday.

"It's always sad to hear of the death of a tribal member, but today our tribe experienced a great tragedy with the loss of six beautiful Choctaw souls. I cannot begin to imagine what the friends, relatives and loved ones are feeling," Tribal Chief Phyliss J. Anderson said in a statement.

Deputy County Coroner Marshall Prince identified the five children who died as 9-year-old Dasyanna John, 8-year-old Duane John, 7-year-old Bobby John, 4-year-old Quinton John, and 18-month-old Kekaimeas John. Family friend Diane Chickaway, 37, also died. The sheriff said all were members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and lived in the Pearl River community east of Philadelphia, where the tribe operates a large casino complex.

The father of the children, Dewayne John, escaped the vehicle and remains hospitalized for hypothermia and water inhalation. The children's mother, Deanna Jim, and Chickaway's husband, Dale Chickaway, also survived. The group was traveling to Conehatta, another Choctaw community, with Dewayne John driving. Waddell said he has been tested to see if he was under the influence of alcohol, though he said official results aren't in. If officials decide to file charges, Waddell said they probably wouldn't act until Wednesday.

It appears none of the nine occupants of the vehicle were wearing seat belts or were in child restraints, the sheriff said.

The crash happened on County Road 107, in a rural area near the Neshoba-Newton county line. Heavy rains have hit the area in recent days, raising the water level of what Waddell described as a normally small creek. The SUV ran off the left side of the road into the creek near the Kitchner community.

The sheriff said it wasn't raining and there was no ice on the road. "This accident is not weather-related at all," he said.

Divers from the Philadelphia fire department had to be called to find the submerged vehicle. Prince said the vehicle was pulled from the water after 3 a.m. Besides the 30 emergency workers, about 20 Choctaw tribal members gathered at the site, he said.

"It looked like he has just run off the road and went into the water," Prince said. "It was deep and swift. The vehicle was completely submerged."

Waddell said the bodies have been sent to Jackson for autopsies. The Mississippi Highway Patrol will reconstruct the accident starting Sunday to learn more.

Tribal spokeswoman Misty Dreifuss said funeral arrangements would likely be made Sunday and the children were expected to be buried together. Dreifuss said word of the deaths spread quickly through the 10,000-member tribe and that members "definitely have been hit pretty hard."

Waddell said that he can't recall a deadlier accident in the county in his 26 years of law enforcement.

___

Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-30-Mississippi%20Deadly%20Crash/id-f5c700db6cfa444a8dc6f8ca50e72c0c

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Harry Carey Jr., western movie actor, dies at 91

Handout / Reuters

Actor Harry Carey Jr. in an undated family photograph.

By Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters

LOS ANGELES -- Veteran character actor Harry Carey Jr., who appeared in scores of television shows and films including nine of famed movie director John Ford's classic Hollywood westerns, has died at age 91, his family said on Friday.

Carey, a frequent supporting player in films starring John Wayne, died peacefully of natural causes on Thursday morning in the seaside town of Santa Barbara, Calif., surrounded by family members, said his daughter, Melinda Carey.

"No cancer or nothing, he just got old," she said of her father, who is survived by his wife of 68 years, Marilyn, and three adult children.

Carey's more notable big-screen credits included a co-starring role with John Wayne in Ford's 1948 outlaw film "3 Godfathers," the role of a young cavalry officer in Ford's 1949 western "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," also with Wayne, and a turn decades later in a saloon scene in the 1990 sci-fi comedy "Back to the Future Part III."

In all, he made 11 movie appearances with Wayne.

Among other Ford-directed films in which Carey appeared were "The Searchers" (1956), "Wagon Master" (1950) and "Rio Grande" (1950).

In addition to a prodigious movie career that encompassed more than 90 films, Carey was a fixture on television during an era when westerns proliferated on the small screen, popping up in various character roles on such prime-time hits as "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke" and "Wagon Train" in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the 1950s, he had a recurring role in "The Adventures of Spin and Marty," a series of TV shorts that aired as part of "The Mickey Mouse Club."

Carey was born in 1921, the son of silent film star Harry Carey and his wife, Olive, who also was an actress.

The young Carey was raised among cattle and horses on his parents' 1,000-acre ranch in California's Santa Clarita Valley, north of Los Angeles, and he earned the nickname "Dobe" because his hair color was the hue of the ranch's reddish adobe clay. Even late in life, he went by that nickname.

The John Ford Stock Company
The family's affiliation with Ford dated back to the director's earliest westerns, with Carey's father appearing in some of Ford's silent films in 1917.

During World War Two, the younger Carey worked with Ford on training and propaganda films for the U.S. military. He went on to become a regular performer, along with his father, in the John Ford Stock Company?-- actors and crew members who Ford used repeatedly in his films. Carey Jr. was reported to be the last surviving member of Ford's stock company.

Getty, Reuters, Getty

Carey's first feature collaboration with Ford in "3 Godfathers," playing the Abilene Kid, saw Carey, Wayne and Mexican-born actor Pedro Armendariz co-star as cattle rustlers and bank robbers who care for an orphaned baby boy while dodging the law. Carey's father starred in the original 1919 version, also directed by Ford.

Carey began his association with Wayne in another 1948 release, the classic Howard Hawks western movie "Red River," which also starred the elder Carey, though father and son had no scenes together.

Among Carey's last screen appearances were his turn as a U.S. marshal in the 1993 film "Tombstone," which starred Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell, and a supporting role in the 1997 TV movie "Last Stand at Saber River," which starred Tom Selleck.

The Carey family ranch, which was visited over the years by Wayne and fellow actors William S. Hart and Gary Cooper, has been turned into a Los Angeles County historic park called Tesoro Adobe.

Laurene Weste, city councilwoman in Santa Clarita, said Carey Jr. remains a beloved figure in the area where the family ranch was once so prominent. "He was just a wonderful, loving, kind, down-to-Earth man," she said.

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2012/12/29/16235048-harry-carey-jr-western-movie-character-actor-dies-at-91?lite

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Jordan says can handle any Syrian chemical threat

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordan says it is prepared to deal with any potential chemical weapon threat posed by the ongoing violence in neighboring Syria, but adds it will not enter "any alliance" to protect itself.

Jordan, the U.S. and others have expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar Assad could use chemical weapons in a last-ditch effort to save his regime.

Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah did not provide details on Jordan's capabilities to thwart a chemical attack in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency Sunday.

But other Jordanian officials have said U.S. and British military experts have provided training in protecting civilians in case of a chemical attack on Jordanian territory.

Maaytah also said the 21-month Syrian crisis has put enormous pressure on Jordan's infrastructure as it now hosts 275,000 refugees.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordan-says-handle-syrian-chemical-threat-101102562.html

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The Ugly Duckling House | DIY Home Improvement Blog: Many ...

A little before and after this week seems like just the thing I need to feel like I'm back at my usual DIY programming (and the last project I'm likely to finish before #DIYcember ends).

I thought about painting the door ages ago and couldn't make up my mind. ?I was loving all of the inspired images I found on Pinterest for black interior doors... but there just never seemed to be the right time to make this little project happen. ?Then, just as tidy little projects tend to do... I got a wild hair and thought, why the hell not today?
And so it began, night after night, coat after coat. ?Thin coats sure take a while, but they're the best way to reach desired results.
Finally, after a fourth (!) coat on the door, I have updated something in the house just over a 2-year window of first imagining it. ?Huh. ?Imagine that.

After screwing the door hardware back on, I decided I liked?loved the brass on the glossy black door. ?The hinges are painted over from when they were painted ivory (somewhere around the dawn of time, give or take a decade), so that will have to be a problem to solve on another day.

Painting a paneled door is pretty simple. ?To make it look as professional as possible, you should paint the door in the following stages:

Start with the inside panels, painting the boxes first and then the center panels. ?From there, paint the middle section of the door, first starting with the vertical, then the horizontal sections. ?Finally, paint the outer part of the door. ?Your brush strokes should be in the same directions as in the image above. ?For my project, I used a small foam roller (for doors and furniture) and an angled paint brush.
The paint itself was Rustoleum's Painter's Touch in gloss black and stuck exceptionally well (I did a scratch test after the first coat, but since latex will peel off of oil-based paints, make sure you know what you're painting. ?A cotton ball soaked in denatured alcohol will help you prevent a lot of frustration?like Allison from House of Hepworths unfortunately experienced). ?I only needed a half pint (I love how tiny these cans are) but used all of it, and looked more like navy blue as it was being applied. ?I would have been okay with a slightly bluish hue, but after only a few minutes, the paint dried to a perfect black. ?Easy to paint, easy to clean up, and a dramatic upgrade to boring off-white! ?Next up: the staircase.

Sarah

Source: http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/2012/12/many-shades-of-black_28.html

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Co$t of Doing Business' Greatest Hits ? 2012 Edition - Finance ...

Beer ? craft beer, that is ? actually plays a role in an area?s economic vibrancy.

That was one of many trends that Finance and Commerce?s Cost of Doing Business noted in 2012.

Quality of life, including access to well-crafted suds, encourages more talented people to live and work in Minnesota, and helps mitigate business-related fees and taxes that certainly are not the lowest in the country.

It makes sense, then, that 14 of the 20 high income areas listed by the U.S. Census Bureau?s 2010 American Community Survey were also on a Scarborough Research list of the top 20 local markets for microbrew drinkers. And Minneapolis-St. Paul was one of the areas that made both lists.

The role quality of life plays in supporting businesses is but one of a number of themes that Cost of Doing Business has returned to since it started a year and half ago.

In case you haven?t been keeping track, here are summaries of some of the top blog posts from 2012:

Beer equals economic growth

Smart, gifted people can pretty much live anywhere in the world they want to, so communities need to care about quality of life if they want to be successful. That means access to good schools, low crime, great restaurant and entertainment options, professional sports teams, theaters, museums, etc. The list could go on and on. But it seems quality, locally produced beer should be on there, too.

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How businesses learned to stop worrying and love government

For two years, the state Legislature gave local governments more leeway than usual when it came to spending property tax dollars on private development. From 2010 to 2012, a wide range of businesses took advantage, with $35.9 million going to building projects that were worth at least $510.6 million. As much as business owners complain about government regulations and taxes, I wonder how many jump at the chance to get a sweet deal from government when it becomes available.

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Minnesota less business-friendly on property taxes

The Minnesota Taxpayers Association and the Cambridge, Mass.-based Lincoln Institute of Land Policy produce an annual 50-state property tax comparison study. Look at the study for the 2010 tax year and then compare with 2011. Minnesota rose in the rankings when it came to the taxes that a commercial property owner paid in a typical urban area or a typical rural area.

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Is innovation always good?

The nonprofit Stateline news reported on a University of Iowa study that found Minnesota among the states with the highest ?state policy innovation rate? from 1912 to 2009. The study included more liberal measures such as bottle deposit laws, and more conservative measures such as gay marriage bans. Some ?innovative? measures certainly lead to regrets. Nevertheless, wouldn?t Minnesota?s reputation as a forward-thinking state help out its companies as they do business?

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Minnesota ranks poorly on workers? compensation costs

High workers? compensation costs are a common complaint among Minnesota businesses ? a complaint born out in an annual state-by-state comparison of workers? compensation insurance rates conducted by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. The Oregon study found that Minnesota employers paid $2.27 per $100 of payroll for workers? compensation in 2010 ? the 16th highest rate among the states, up from 24th in 2008.

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Restaurant licensing and inspection fees vary greatly across Minnesota

Where a restaurant is located matters a lot when it comes to licensing and inspection fees in Minnesota, according to a Minnesota Restaurant Association study. The association found a small ma and pa restaurant in Minneapolis would have paid $945 in fees in 2011, versus $635 in Anoka County or $474 in Ramsey County.

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Report: Telecommuting pays off for everyone

Minnesota is ahead of many other states when it comes to promoting telecommuting, and both employers and their workers are benefitting from the practice, according to a report from the public-private partnership Connect Minnesota. Through telephone surveys conducted in 2011, Connect Minnesota found that 22 percent of Minnesota adults who are employed full-time or part-time work from home at least some of the time. Nearly a quarter of Minnesota telecommuters do it every day.

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The stated goal of the blog since its start has been to examine the big and not-so-big expenses that businesses face in Minnesota and how they manage them.

As 2012 ends, I?m contemplating where I should take the blog in the coming year. So please share thoughts or ideas. What would you like me to investigate or delve into? What would actually be helpful to business owners?

Have an idea about a business cost that I should investigate? Call me at (612) 584-1546, or email me at chris.newmarker@finance-commerce.com. I?m also on Twitter @newmarker.

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Tags: American Community Survey, Chris Newmarker, commercial property taxes, Connect Minnesota, Cost of Doing Business, craft brewing, Finance and Commerce, industrial property taxes, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Minnesota, Minnesota Restaurant Association, Minnesota Taxpayers Associatio, property taxes, Scarborough Research, state policy innovation rate, Stateline, telecommuting, workers' compensation, workers' compensation rate by state

Source: http://finance-commerce.com/bizcost/2012/12/cot-of-doing-business-greatest-hits-2012-edition/

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Leaked BlackBerry 10 slides show video calling and screen sharing for BBM

BBM

Research in Motion (RIMM) recently updated its BlackBerry Messenger application to include free Wi-Fi calling. With the release of BlackBerry 10 just around the corner, RIM is looking to add even more features to its flagship messaging app. Slides from a purported internal BlackBerry 10 presentation?that were originally posted on the CrackBerry forums suggest that the company is planning to update?BBM to include video calling and screen-sharing capabilities. A second slide highlights a task manager application called BlackBerry Remember,?which is believed to be the replacement for RIM?s native Tasks app. Additional slides from the presentation can be viewed below.

[More from BGR: Google names 12 best Android apps of 2012]

[More from BGR: Samsung looks to address its biggest weakness in 2013]

This article was originally published by BGR

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/leaked-blackberry-10-slides-show-video-calling-screen-215054450.html

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Health Issues Often Associated With The BJJ Sport - Recreation and ...

There is no denying that BJJ is one of the current great sports. It belongs to the category of martial arts and it can be considered as a combat sport. Those who decide to take this up as a sport are all very vocal about how much fun they?re having just learning about it while wearing their BJJ GI. Since it is also known as an effective tool for self-defense, many are looking into it as a way to boost their self-confidence when it comes to protecting themselves. You could even probably foil a robbery attempt if you know even a little bit of BJJ. Many people have to venture out into dangerous territories and shady alleys. Knowing the dangers that lurk in these shadowy places, they decide to learn this sport.

You should know that you can also get yourself a BJJ GI and start learning BJJ. Keep in mind, however, that there are pros and cons to this sport. After all, that is pretty much expected in any sport. There are few health concerns, related to BJJ. Though it seems to be a wonderful martial art, you are at the risk of getting affected by few health problems. Before you start getting into the sport, you should be aware of these. This article will help you to understand the simple problems faced by the JJ GI-wearing learner during the practice of BJJ. This includes skin disorders and cauliflower ear problems.

BJJ practitioners often find themselves using their heads a lot of the time when they attack their opponents. It is the head that gets the most impact during a match. That is clearly demonstrated in actual BJJ matches or even television shows about them. A lot of care would have to be employed when you are facing off against someone in your BJJ GI. Make the mistake of not learning or not practicing the art properly, and you could suffer consequences such as becoming hearing impaired. You could be dealing with some ear damage, and swelling is only one of them. The swollen ear cartilage could become separated away from the perichondrium. It?s very vital to note that the perichondrium is an important part of the ear. The perichondrium pretty much provides much of the nutrients needed by the ear cartilage.

It could also happen that this part of the ear becomes permanently swollen. If you see this happening, you can be sure that things are bound to be serious. This condition is referred to as cauliflower ear formation. This is a condition that could actually affect a person permanently. That is why protective gear for the head is provided for in addition to the BJJ GI; it is to protect the ear from having cauliflower ear formation. You?d best be protecting your skull if you do this. Dermal area concerns will also be more prevalent aside from the ear and skull.

Prolonged practice of BJJ is also bound to put a lot of strain to the muscles, to the extent that the strain could only be described as severe. However, it is the skin problems that are the cause of greatest concerns. When there is too much of skin to skin contact and rubbing, there will be skin abrasion. Unclean mats and unwashed BJJ GI used in BJJ could also be the cause of serious skin problems, not to mention the unhygienic practices of some practitioners. Ring worm disease or herpes infection or staph infection can occur in rare cases. Do not be carried away by the fun and enjoyment of practicing BJJ. You still have to make sure you understand all the possible health risks involved.

Get your high quality yet affordable bjj gi products. Visit http://www.freestylecustoms.net/BJJKimonos_s/1814.htm

Tags: bjj gi, cauliflower ear, Martial art, swelling

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: http://recreationandsports.russiacourse.com/uncategorized/health-issues-often-associated-with-the-bjj-sport/

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96% Sister

All Critics (51) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (2)

"Sister" avoids sentimental indulgence. There's no room for wallowing in this spare, almost ascetic exercise ...

French-born director and co-screenwriter Ursula Meier balances the scenario's bleak, wrenching aspects with a stirring confidence in the redemptive power of love.

Seydoux perfectly captures the anger and self-defeat of ill-educated, hedonistic, man-chasing young women who live on the fringes.

L?a Seydoux fulfills Louise, and Kacey Mottet Klein, as Simon, is one more to join the pantheon of film's excellent child actors.

Haunting and sad. And absolutely worth seeing.

The chemistry between the two leads is a razor's-edge dance: feral, childish, tender and always complex.

We come away relieved and somehow chastened, the same way we might feel after having our pocket picked by a true artist.

The storytelling is exciting and the characters well-observed.

For the most part a distant film, Sister supplies a full behavioral experience that's riveting at times, with lead performances by Lea Seydoux and Kacey Mottet Klein communicating isolation in bravely vulnerable ways.

Emotionally engaging and impeccably crafted

Klein and Seydoux give such naturalistic performances that they're never overwhelmed by the spectacle.

"Sister" is loose and episodic, but held together with nicely sketched characters.

[A]voids bathos. . .reveals unexpected depth in a heartbreaking bond. . . Different classes conflict [in] adjacent spaces . . .in spare, realistic Dardennes' style.

Meier draws out wonderfully naturalistic performances from her young stars, with Mottet Klein particularly good as the young roustabout Simon ...

It comes over like a subtle short story and is well acted.

Meier's portrait of Simon ... is richly atmospheric and never sentimental.

An enigmatic, heartfelt account of a vulnerable young boy's yearning for a better life.

Most intriguing is how the writers and director have transformed what's essentially a rather dark, bleak story into something involving and emotionally resonant, all without ever turning sentimental.

It is an interesting and well-made movie, though with an uncertain ending.

Sister gradually reveals pattern in its tapestry of everyday life.

An expert piece of storytelling with a host of strong character turns and thematic depth to burn.

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

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Brent holds near $111 on US fiscal uncertainty; Japan supports

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude held near $111 per barrel on Thursday as jittery investors stayed on the sidelines with a deadline to avert a U.S. fiscal crisis approaching, while hopes the new Japanese government's policies will spur demand supported prices.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers resumed talks on Wednesday over the so-called fiscal cliff - tax hikes and spending cuts slated to take effect next week that could push the economy back into recession.

"There is no easy way to resolve the U.S. fiscal cliff, but there should be a compromise at some point and that's what the market is looking for," said Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax in Tokyo.

Front-month Brent futures slipped 16 cents to $110.91 per barrel at 0501 GMT, giving up some of the previous session's 2 percent gain.

Brent may face some resistance between $112 and $113 before falling towards $102.7 over the next three months, according to Wang Tao, Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

U.S. crude dropped from a nine-week high reached on Wednesday, shedding 6 cents to $90.92.

Oil futures rose in early Asian trade, taking a cue from Japanese stocks, which were at an 18-month high after the country's new prime minister said beating deflation in the world's No. 3 oil consumer and taming a strong yen were his top priorities.

"There are hopes that the aggressive fiscal policies will help Japan get out of deflation and, as it is an importer of commodities, that's a positive for oil markets," Emori said.

The government will pursue bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and a growth strategy to encourage private investment, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday .

CLIFFHANGER

The White House and Republicans are still far apart, as hopes for legislation to prevent the U.S. economy from tumbling off the fiscal cliff switch to the Senate.

Democrats control a majority in that chamber but still need some support from Republicans across the aisle for a likely attempt to raise taxes on the wealthy.

Obama will try to revive budget crisis talks - which stalled last week - when he returns to Washington on Thursday after cutting short his Christmas holiday in Hawaii.

"While markets have vacillated between optimism and pessimism over the prospects for a compromise, we expect a deal only at the last minute, with lots of decisions delayed into the New Year and austerity of roughly 2 percent of GDP," Bank of America-Merril Lynch analysts said in their weekly report.

Worries about supplies from the Middle East rose once more after security forces in the United Arab Emirates arrested a cell of UAE and Saudi Arabian citizens which they said was planning to carry out militant attacks in both countries and other states.

The region holds some of the world's largest oil fields and as a result any unrest in the area triggers supply concerns.

Oil futures may rise in the first quarter of 2013 with the global economy showing early signs of a pick-up, and on expectations that the fiscal crisis will be resolved.

Encouraging economic data from China, aggressive action by the European Central Bank to help its economies, and quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve together brighten the outlook for oil in the near-term.

U.S. crude could rise to $100 per barrel and Brent may test $120 by the end of March, said Emori.

Also supporting prices are expectations that U.S. crude stockpiles may have decreased last week as refiners kept inventory low for year-end tax purposes.

Crude stocks may have dropped by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Dec 21, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.

Inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute will be released on Thursday, while numbers from the Energy Information Administration will be out on Friday, a day later than usual, because of the Christmas holiday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brent-holds-near-111-us-fiscal-uncertainty-japan-071008906--finance.html

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On ?fiscal cliff,? Obama and senators returning to Washington for one last attempt at deal (Washington Post)

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MWN Shares its Success Story in Casablanca's School of Journalism

By Loubna Flah

Morocco World News

Casablanca, December 27, 2012

The Casablanca-based Ecole Superieure de Journalisme et de Communication (School of Journalism and Communication) on Wednesday invited Dr. Samir Bennis, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Morocco World News to share its experience with the young students of the school.

Samir Bennis shared with the audience the story behind the creation of Morocco World News. Being a strong advocate of Morocco?s territorial integrity, especially regarding the Sahara region, Mr. Bennis decided along with his brother, Mr. Adnane Bennis, to set up a new platform that would provide international public opinion with a more balanced and nuanced vision on the? Sahara issue. He highlighted that there is lack of awareness among the Moroccan public opinion and media professionals about the need to reach out to the international public opinion in order to provide it with a more nuanced and balanced vision about Morocco.

Dr. Samir Bennis in Casablanca's School of Journalism

He added that MWN intends to be Morocco?s window to the world, thus providing any person eager to learn about the country to have access to information covering every aspects of its culture, history, economic and political life.

He went to on to stress the pivotal role played by MWN in the media landscape both at the domestic and the international levels, especially in the United States. It has indeed lifted the veil of silence over deficiencies in defending Moroccan interests before the international community.

He also highlighted that MWN is the only Moroccan news outlet that provides news and analyses about Morocco and the rest of the world around the clock, while commending the other members of the team located in Morocco, who play an important role in providing the readers with the latest news about the event taking place in the MENA region.

Dr. Samir Bennis in Casablanca's School of Journalism, talking about the success story of www.moroccoworldnews.com

Mr. Bennis listed a number of crucial events that have traits with Morocco?s sovereignty over the Sahara region exclusively covered by the MWN team. He referred to the omission of the Sahara region from the documents submitted by the Morocco Mall architecture company. In addition, MWN was the first news outlet to address the lack of coverage by Moroccan media of the Security Council sessions in New York where the Sahara conflict is debated.

In this regard, Mr. Bennis had sent an open letter to the minister of communication Mr. Khalfi. He seized the opportunity to call for reform of the media sector in regard to national interests. The same issue was raised during an MWN interview with Mr. Choubani, minister in charge of relations with parliament and civil society.

Mr. Bennis shared with the audience the long term goals of MWN. Indeed, MWN founders envision building an influential news outlet that will rival with major international news outlets.

He highlighted that MWN emerged as a groundbreaking English speaking news outlet that provides insight to both local and international news in total alignment with Moroccan identity and supreme national interests. He added that the appeal of MWN is going crescendo, pointing out that readers from an average of 90 countries visit the website every day.

He also highlighted that, unlike other news outlets in Arabic or French whose reach is limited, MWN has further reach commensurate to the global reach of the English language.

Dr. Samir Bennis will also be a guest speaker at the University Hassan II of Casablanca on Friday 28 December where he will enlighten the audience of the university about the Spanish colonial legacy and the representation of Moroccans, as well as in Meknes? Moulay Ismail University on Friday 4 January where he will share his experience in launching MWN.

Online journalism is still at the embryonic stage. Yet, this new trend seems to be a bottomless reservoir of unexplored possibilities. MWN ambitious team is resolute to expand its outreach among Moroccan and international readership by maintaining high standards and, most importantly, by being faithful to the national identity.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/12/71815/mwn-shares-its-success-story-in-casablancas-school-of-journalism-2/

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Landslide warning for South West

25 December 2012 Last updated at 23:16 ET

A rare landslide and rockfall warning has been issued for south-west England by the British Geological Survey (BGS).

The BGS has concerns about the stability of cliff edges and cliff sides because of the quantity and intensity of the recent heavy rain.

It is worried about people going for Boxing Day walks, and is advising extra caution near cliff edges.

Meanwhile, there are weather warnings for rain and flooding in England and icy roads in northern Scotland.

The British Geological Survey (BGS), along with other agencies, feeds information into the Hazard Warning Centre at the Met Office in Exeter.

The South West Coastal Path, which covers most of the Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset coasts, runs through areas which are potentially at risk.

The Met Office said an area of heavy rain would move across the country during Wednesday. It said that given the continuing saturated state of the ground this may lead to further localised flooding.

There is also a warning of icy roads for the Shetland Isles, the Orkney Isles and north-eastern parts of Scotland.

Icy stretches are expected to form overnight, especially on surfaces where showers have washed off salt treatments. The Met Office said this could lead to difficult driving conditions.

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Elsewhere:

The Environment Agency has 151 flood warnings and 252 flood alerts in place in England and Wales. There are no flood warnings in Scotland.

Weather forecasters have predicted that wet weather is set to continue until at least Friday, potentially bringing further flooding to parts of the UK.

The Environment Agency has said many places will stay on flood alert despite a slight easing of weather conditions.

Met Office figures suggest 2012 is set to be one of the wettest years since records began in 1910.

Before December, the average rainfall for the year so far was 1,202mm - placing it 13th in the list of wettest years.

Due to the deluge of rain in the run up to Christmas, forecasters say 2012 is now likely to finish with one of the highest rainfall totals on record.

The year 2000 remains the UK's wettest year, with an average rainfall of 1,337mm.

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20842890#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Obama, Congress set for one last effort on "fiscal cliff"

WASHINGTON/HONOLULU (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is due back in Washington early Thursday for a final effort to negotiate a deal with Congress to avert or at least postpone the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and government spending cuts set to begin next week.

No specific bill dealing with the cliff was on the schedule of either the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, which are expected to return on Thursday after the holiday break. Investors are closely watching the talks, concerned that going over the cliff could throw the economy into recession.

Aides and members of Congress have said that a modest, last-minute measure to avoid the spending cuts and most of the tax hikes could pass the Democratic-controlled Senate if Republicans agree not use a procedural roadblock known as a filibuster, a commitment that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has so far not made.

But to win approval in the Republican-controlled House of any bill that raises taxes on anyone, a rare bipartisan vote would be required. All 191 Democrats would have to team with up with at least 26 Republicans to get a majority if the bill included tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans, as Obama is demanding.

Some of those votes could conceivably come from among the 34 Republican members who are either retiring or were defeated in the November elections and no longer have to worry about the political fallout.

In the alternative, Congress could let income taxes go up on everyone as now scheduled and then during the first week of January, scramble and get a quick deal to cut them back except for the highest brackets, along with a measure putting off the $109 billion in automatic spending cuts that most lawmakers want to avoid.

Once the clock ticks past midnight on December 31, no member of Congress would have to vote for a tax increase on anyone - taxes would have risen automatically - and the only votes would be to decrease tax rates for most Americans back to their 2012 levels.

Obama and congressional lawmakers left Washington on Friday for the Christmas holiday with talks to avert the fiscal cliff in limbo.

The president will cut short his vacation in Hawaii and leave for Washington later on Wednesday, arriving in the capital on early Thursday.

Obama is expected to turn to a trusted Democratic ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to help craft a quick deal.

White House aides began discussing details of the year-end budget measure with Senate Democratic counterparts early this week, a senior administration official said on Monday

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal in Honolulu and Fred Barbash in Washington; Writing by Fred Barbash; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-congress-set-one-last-effort-fiscal-cliff-124656798--business.html

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Web.com Small Business Toolkit: SohoOS (Online Management ...

SohoOS

If you?ve got a small office or home office, you understand the importance of finding low-cost or free Web-based tools to help grow your business. Now, some big players are reaching out to help. FedEx, Intuit, and Office Depot are all offering discounts and incentives typically available only for Fortune 500 businesses to the SOHO market through SohoOS, a provider of online management tools for SOHO businesses. On the site you?ll find also find free Web-based tools? and a directory of over 1 million small businesses.

Google+

The views expressed here are the author's alone and not those of Network Solutions or its partners.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2012 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.networksolutions.com/smallbusiness/2012/12/web-com-small-business-toolkit-sohoos-online-management-tool/

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Children, many ill, would be victims of Russia ban on U.S. adoption

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Family Christmas cards and smiling snapshots of children sent by their adoptive American parents fill Galina Sigayeva's office in Russia's second city St Petersburg.

Many of them were crippled by illness and in desperate need of medical care before her agency helped organise their adoption into U.S. families, she recalls.

Children's rights campaigners say children like these will suffer most if President Vladimir Putin approves a law barring American adoptions that has been rubber-stamped by Russian lawmakers. The act retaliates against a new U.S. law that will punish Russians accused of human rights violations.

Critics of the bill say Russian orphanages are woefully overcrowded and the fate of vulnerable children should not be used as a bargaining chip in a bilateral feud.

"These children are not even offered to foreigners until they get a certain number of (adoption) refusals from Russians," said Sigayeva, a neatly styled brunette who heads the New Hope Christian Services Adoption Agency.

"These are children with complicated diagnoses, really complicated. They are very ill children."

She smiled as she flipped through photos of children embraced by their adoptive parents, playing with family pets and enjoying presents and other trappings of holiday cheer.

"What surprises me is that here they all look so healthy, so fantastic, but you should see what they look like when they are taken from here," Sigayeva said.

"Some had to be carried to the border. We had a girl with hepatitis whom we helped from the emergency room."

Both sides in the heated debate surrounding the bill agree Russia's orphanage system is overwhelmed, riddled with corruption and most failing to place children in families.

More than 650,000 children are considered orphans in Russia - though some were rejected by their parents or taken from dysfunctional homes. Of that total, 110,000 lived in state institutions in 2011, according to the Ministry of Science and Education.

By contrast, in the United States - which has more than twice Russia's population - about 58,280 children were living in group homes and institutions last year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Adoptions by Russian families remain modest, with some 7,400 adoptions in 2011 compared with 3,400 adoptions of Russian children by families abroad.

Russian politicians say it is an embarrassment that the country cannot care for its own, and supporters of the measure argue it will help stimulate reform and domestic adoptions.

"Foreign adoption is a result of the state and society's lack of attention to orphans ... It is, if you will, a result of our indifference," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told officials at a ruling party congress last week.

American families adopt more Russian children - 956 last year - than those of any other country. Of the children adopted by Americans in 2011, 9 percent - or 89 - were disabled, according to official Russian figures.

Opponents of the legislation, who include senior officials such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, say politicking should not deprive orphans of this chance at better life.

"Russia is not able to provide for all its orphans," Boris Altshuler, director of the Moscow-based Rights of the Child advocacy group, said. "Although 1,000 is a small fraction - it was a help."

Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets has said the ban would violate international treaties on child rights, and the Kremlin's own human rights council called it unconstitutional.

"AMERICAN ROULETTE"

The ban responds to a U.S. law known as the Magnitsky Act, which punishes Russians suspected of being involved in the death in custody of anti-graft lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009, and of other human rights violations, by barring them from entering the United States.

In a pointed echo of the Magnitsky Act, Russia's legislation is named the Dima Yakovlev law, after a Russian-born toddler who died of heat stroke after his American adoptive father left him locked in a sweltering car.

His death and that of 19 other Russian-born children in the hands of U.S. citizens in the last decade has helped drive support for the bill and for tougher adoption rules in a deal with the United States in June.

"It's American roulette," said Pavel Astakhov, Russia's Children's Rights Commissioner and a supporter of the ban.

"One handicapped girl from Russia got lucky. She was Jessica Long - a Paralympic champion. Another did not. She was Masha Allen ... who was raped by her paedophile adoptive father."

DISABLED CHILDREN

If Putin signs it into law, the ban will come into force on January 1, most immediately affecting the fate of children whose adoption is in the works.

The placement of 46 children with American families will be cancelled, Astakhov told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.

"There is terrible irony in the fact that America's decision to speak out against human rights violations may cause the Russian government to deny many thousands of Russian orphans the possibility to grow up in loving, adoptive families," said Chuck Johnson, president of National Council For Adoption, a non-profit advocacy group based in Alexandria, Virginia.

Sigayeva, of the New Hope Christian Services Adoption Agency, said a six-month halt on American adoptions until a new bilateral deal entered force in November showed how it would aggravate problems in Russia's strained child-protection system.

"Hospitals were overwhelmed. There was no room in orphanages or hospitals for children whom their parents had rejected. So what's next then?" said Sigayeva, whose agency has helped place some 200 children in American families since 1992.

Advocates who work with disabled children say a reform proposal drafted by Astakhov ignores their plight. They say it calls for a reduction in the number of institutions caring for children with disabilities without explaining how they will find foster homes and medical care.

"No concrete measures are being suggested. Nothing exists but a lot of children's pain, which will only increase now," said Sergei Koloskov, a campaigner for children with Down's Syndrome.

"They are being left parentless in addition to being ill."

(Additional reporting by Alexander Chizhenok in St. Petersburg and Corrie MacLaggan in Austin, Texas; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/children-many-ill-victims-russia-ban-u-adoption-020617432.html

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Write Your Life: Top Blog Posts of 2012

At Write Your Life, we enjoy sharing tips and information to help you get smart about becoming a self-published author. Throughout 2012, our team of bloggers has shared valuable expertise and knowledge to help you succeed. Here, we share a few of our top picks from the year.?

Many authors do all their writing first and think that they can wait to work on plans and goals later, when the book is ready to be released. But in doing that, they?re starting out behind.?Here are five questions to consider before writing and publishing your book.

Stop searching for the Holy Grail of all writing instruction materials and instead build your network of academic pros, literary pros, and colleagues to hone your craft.

Time and patience and inspiration allow great authors to achieve eloquent and emotional introductions. With a little effort, you, too, can craft a strong opening line.

Writers need to write. The learning curve can be tough. Demanding. But it?s important to your craft. If you want to get better, here are some ways to improve.?

Most often, new authors consider the dollar cost of book production as an expense rather than an investment. The distinction, as I see it, is that an investment suggests an anticipated return while an expense may not. And so it should be with your book project.

The time to begin making connections and building relationships for marketing is BEFORE your book is complete. Small, consistent steps make it easy.

Taking the time at the start of your writing journey to consider how you might wrap up your story will become one of the biggest favors you?ve ever done for yourself.

A professional edit is an essential component of a well-produced book. So why do so many authors, particularly self-published authors, skip this vital step? It could be that they do not know what to look for when choosing an editor.

Many think the hardest part of publishing a book is writing it, but that?s the easiest part for most authors. Marketing is equally important. Here are some ideas for generating special market sales.

For strategic authors, identifying an ideal reader ? a target audience, as it's called in marketing ? is an unvoidable and absolutely necessary first step in creating a book that will appeal to a niche market.

If you?re looking to get a commercial or academic publisher, here are the top five things you should include in your book proposal.?

The power of a dollar can go quite far with your book marketing budget. As the co-author of How to Market Your Book For Free, I have learned to use various strategies to market my books while on a budget, through healthy self-competition, for a substantial return on my investment.?

We wish you a peaceful, prosperous, and phenomenal New Yew Year.?

Source: http://writeyourlifeblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/top-blog-posts-of-2012.html

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A partial list of taxes and fees to finance Obama health care overhaul law (Star Tribune)

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