Wall St Week Ahead: Cliff may be a fear, but debt ceiling scarier

By Ryan Vlastelica and Edward Krudy and Doris Frankel

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Investors fearing a stock market plunge -if the United States tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" this week -may want to relax.

But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.

Market strategists say that while falling off the cliff for any lengthy period - which would lead to automatic tax increases and stiff cuts in government spending - would badly hurt both consumer and business confidence, it would take some time for the U.S. economy to slide into recession. In the meantime, there would be plenty of chances for lawmakers to make amends by reversing some of the effects.

That has been reflected in a U.S. stock market that has still not shown signs of melting down. Instead, it has drifted lower and become more volatile.

In some ways, that has let Washington off the hook. In the past, a plunge in stock prices forced the hand of Congress, such as in the middle of the financial crisis in 2008.

"If this thing continues for a bit longer and the result is you get a U.S. debt downgrade ... the risk is not that you lose 2-1/2 percent, the risk is that you lose 10-1/2," said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at UBS Equity Research, in New York.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the United States will technically reach its debt limit at the end of the year.?

INVESTORS WARY OF JANUARY

The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. But it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

Stock markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the debt ceiling fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling had passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of "no confidence" in Washington's ability to function, considering how close lawmakers came to a default.

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's lowered the U.S. sovereign rating to "AA-plus," citing Washington's legislative problems as one reason for the downgrade from "AAA" status. The benchmark S&P 500 dropped 16 percent in a four-week period ending Aug. 21, 2011.

"I think there will be a tremendous fight between Democrats and Republicans about the debt ceiling," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of online brokerage TradeMonster.com, in Chicago.

"I think that is the biggest risk to the downside in January for the market and the U.S. economy."

There are some signs in the options market that investors are starting to eye the January period with more wariness. The CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, the market's preferred indicator of anxiety, has remained at relatively low levels throughout this process, although on Thursday, it edged above 20 for the first time since July.

More notable is the action in VIX futures markets, which shows a sharper increase in expected volatility in January than in later-dated contracts. January VIX futures are up nearly 23 percent in the last seven trading days, compared with a 13 percent increase in March futures and an 8 percent increase in May futures. That is a sign of increasing near-term worry among market participants.

The CBOE Volatility Index closed on Friday at 22.72, gaining nearly 17 percent to end at its highest level since June as details emerged of a meeting on Friday afternoon of President Barack Obama with Senate and House leaders from both parties where the president offered proposals similar to those already rejected by Republicans. Stocks slid in late trading and equity futures continued that slide after cash markets closed.

"I was stunned Obama didn't have another plan, and that's absolutely why we sold off," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC, in New York.

Obama offered hope for a last-minute agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff after a meeting with congressional leaders, although he scolded Congress for leaving the problem unresolved until the 11th hour.

"The hour for immediate action is here," he told reporters at a White House briefing. "I'm modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved."

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to convene on Sunday and continue working through the New Year's Day holiday.

Obama has proposed maintaining current tax rates for all but the highest earners.?

Consumers do not appear at all traumatized by the fiscal cliff talks - yet. Helping to bolster consumer confidence has been a steady recovery in the housing market and growth in the labor market, albeit slow.

The latest take on employment will be out on Friday, when the U.S. Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show jobs growth of 145,000 for December, in line with recent growth.

Consumers will see their paychecks affected if lawmakers cannot broker a deal and tax rates rise, but the effect on spending is likely to be gradual.??

PLAYING DEFENSE

Options strategists have noted an increase in positions to guard against weakness in defense stocks such as General Dynamics because those stocks would be affected by spending cuts set for that sector. Notably, though, the PHLX Defense Index is less than 1 percent away from an all-time high reached on Dec. 20.

This underscores the view taken by most investors and strategists: One way or another, Washington will come to an agreement to offset some effects of the cliff. The result will not be entirely satisfying, but it will be enough to satisfy investors.

"Expectations are pretty low at this point, and yet the equity market hasn't reacted," said Carmine Grigoli, chief U.S. investment strategist at Mizuho Securities USA, in New York. "You're not going to see the markets react to anything with more than a 5 (percent) to 7 percent correction."

Save for a brief 3.6 percent drop in equity futures late on the evening of Dec. 20, after House Speaker John Boehner had to cancel a scheduled vote on a tax-increase bill due to lack of Republican support, markets have not shown the same kind of volatility as in 2008 or 2011.

A gradual decline remains possible, Golub said, if business and consumer confidence keep taking a hit on the back of fiscal cliff worries. The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence fell sharply in December, a drop blamed in part on the fiscal issues.

"If Congress came out and said that everything is off the table, yeah, that would be a short-term shock to the market, but that's not likely," said Richard Weiss, a Mountain View, California-based senior money manager at American Century Investments.

"Things will be resolved, just maybe not on a good timetable. All else being equal, we see any further decline as a buying opportunity."?

(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Sunday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: david.gaffen(at)thomsonreuters.com)?

(Reporting by Edward Krudy and Ryan Vlastelica in New York and Doris Frankel in Chicago; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Martin Howell, Steve Orlofsky, Jan Paschal and Maureen Bavdek)

? 2011 Reuters

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Obama wants gun violence measures passed in 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Recalling the shooting of 20 first graders as the worst day of his presidency, President Barack Obama on Sunday pledged to put his "full weight" behind a legislative package next year aimed at containing gun violence.

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama voiced skepticism about proposals to place armed guards at schools in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 deadly assault at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

In his boldest terms yet, he vowed to rally the American people around an agenda to limit gun violence and said he still supports increased background checks and bans on assault weapons and high capacity bullet magazines.

"It is not enough for us to say, 'This is too hard so we're not going to try,'" Obama said. "So what I intend to do is I will call all the stakeholders together. I will meet with Republicans. I will meet with Democrats. I will talk to anybody.

"I think there are a vast majority of responsible gun owners out there who recognize that we can't have a situation in which somebody with severe psychological problems is able to get the kind of high capacity weapons that this individual in Newtown obtained and gun down our kids. And, yes, it's going to be hard."

Obama's comments come as the schoolroom shooting has elevated the issue of gun violence to the forefront of public attention.

Six adults also died at the school. Authorities say the shooter killed himself and also killed his mother at their home.

The slayings have prompted renewed calls for greater gun controls. The National Rifle Association has resisted those efforts vociferously, arguing instead that schools should have armed guards for protection.

"I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools," Obama said. "And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem."

Obama said he intended to press the issue with the public.

"Will there be resistance? Absolutely there will be resistance," he said.

"The question then becomes whether we are actually shook up enough by what happened here that it does not just become another one of these routine episodes where it gets a lot of attention for a couple of weeks and then it drifts away. It certainly won't feel like that to me. This is something that - you know, that was the worst day of my presidency. And it's not something that I want to see repeated."

Besides getting gun violence legislation passed next year, Obama also listed immigration as a top priority for 2013 as well as deficit reduction. A big deficit reduction deal with Republicans proved elusive this month and Obama is now hoping Senate Democratic and Republican leaders salvage a scaled back plan that avoids across the board tax increases for virtually all Americans.

He issued a defense of former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who has been mentioned as one of the leading candidates for new secretary of defense.

Hagel, who opposed President George W. Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq, has been criticized in conservative circles for not being a strong enough ally of Israel. Many liberals and gay activists also have banded against him for comments he made in 1998 about an openly gay nominee for an ambassadorship

Obama, who briefly served with Hagel in the Senate, stressed that he had yet to make a decision on a secretary of defense but said called Hagel a "patriot."

"He is somebody who has done extraordinary work both in the United States Senate," he said. "Somebody who served this country with valor in Vietnam. And is somebody who's currently serving on my intelligence advisory board and doing an outstanding job."

He noted that Hagel had apologized for his 14-year-old remark. "And I think it's a testimony to what has been a positive change over the last decade in terms of people's attitudes about gays and lesbians serving our country," Obama said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-30-Obama/id-c7ced74fbbb2418c86b38ef4008fa366

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AccessReel Reviews - Wreck-It Ralph | AccessReel.com

A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfil his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives.

Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) is the bad guy in an old school 8-bit video arcade game called Fix-It Felix Junior. The premise of the game is straightforward; there is an apartment complex filled with ?Nicelanders? who are terrorised whenever Ralph wrecks the building, however Fix-It Felix (McBrayer) and his magic hammer soon reconstruct it.

Although Ralph and the other characters are only playing roles and the game is their ?day-job?, somehow he can?t find acceptance from the apartment dwellers. He goes to a support group for video game villains to help him deal with his feelings. When Fix-It Felix and Wreck-It Ralph have their joint birthday (the game turns 30), the fact he continues to be shunned by the other characters in the game, causes Ralph to leave and look for somewhere he can be a hero.

All the games are situated in Litwak?s Arcade. This is a world that has a Grand Central Station where the commuting characters converge. There are rules and checks to prevent characters from simply entering other games, but Ralph manages to sneak into a first-person shooter and a kart-racing game. While traversing these new games, he inadvertently creates a problem that could bring about a permanent end to all the games in the arcade. Ralph has to find a way to undo the damage he?s done.

Director Rich Moore?s WRECK-IT RALPH is an attempt to create an animated feature that is the gaming equivalent of a TOY STORY.? Old School gamers will enjoy the many appearances of characters like Q-bert and the Street Fighter franchise. In this way, the movie is also reminiscent of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT; we are allowed to enter the off-duty world of characters that are made to entertain us, but have a secret life of their own. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT used a detective story as a framework; WRECK IT RALPH develops into more of a buddy-movie adventure.

Ralph encounters Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman) a glitch who isn?t supposed to be part of the game she is in. They form a reluctant alliance. Meanwhile Fix-It Felix searches for Ralph because he recognises that without him, their game cannot exist. The tough-talking Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) from the first person shooter also becomes involved in the hunt for Ralph. It is notable that the four leads all have considerable comic chops and this keeps the performances funny and lively. Ralph, Felix, Vanelope and Calhoun are also partially modelled on the voice talent, although John C. Reilly?s hands are probably smaller in real life.

There is a definite attempt at bringing some gender balance to the story telling with two male characters and two female characters as leads. There?s even an interesting commentary about Disney princesses right at the very end, which seemed a little awkward to me, but clearly the Mouse House is aware that not everyone loves the princess concept.

Interestingly, of the 170 plus game characters that can apparently be found in the movie, there is a skew to ones from older games. This may simply reflect the video arcade setting. Director Moore says that licensing considerations or mere fan service didn?t drive him. Apparently, the team couldn?t come up with a Mario gag that was relevant, so left the popular character out. Word is the sequel will deal more with PC and console gaming.

The story moves quickly and the set pieces are brilliantly animated. There are many gaming in-jokes that older viewers can enjoy as the brightly coloured story whizzes by. WRECK IT RALPH is aimed at a family audience and both kids and their parents should be entertained by this funny, lightweight concoction.

WRECK IT RALPH is in cinemas now.? It runs for 108 minutes. I rated it 3.5/5.

• ?Listen to the AccessReel interview with Rich Moore here

Source: http://accessreel.com/article/accessreel-reviews-wreck-it-ralph

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UFC 155 fight card: Junior dos Santos vs Cain Velasquez 2 fight prediction, preview and breakdown

Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez will roll it back later tonight (Dec. 29, 2012) in the UFC 155 main event, little more than one year after their first encounter lasted little more than one minute in Nov. 2011. Will Velasquez keep his distance and exact revenge? Or will "Cigano" repeat history in "Sin City?" Jason Probst for MMAmania.com breaks it all down.

With the first title defense under his belt, Junior Dos Santos looked every bit the world beater in dispatching Frank Mir as he did in taking the heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez.

Using potent striking and laser-like accuracy, Dos Santos' mixed martial arts (MMA) game is seemingly at its apex. Facing a revenge-minded Velasquez, who dismantled Antonio Silva in his last outing, Dos Santos may well have his hands full in the UFC 155 main event this evening (Dec. 29, 2012) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That's because "Brown Pride" is the most dangerous kind of opponent: a guy he beat far more convincingly than their relative skill sets would suggest who is bent on payback.

Check out a complete breakdown of the UFC 155 main event rematch between Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez below:

The Breakdown

In nine fights, dos Santos has yet to be planted on his back. His ability to dictate range and terms of engagement -- along with an incredibly spry physique for a man his size -- are a nasty assignment that are reminiscent of a prime Fedor Emelianenko. And his penchant for explosive, fight-changing punches in the blink of an eye are yet another cause of concern for opponents. One mistake and it's over.

Velasquez, however, figures to have better stamina in a long, gut-check type of fight, if he can force one.

Dos Santos started fast in blowout decision wins over Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson, pretty much coasting over the final two rounds once it was clear his opponents couldn't challenge him on the feet, much less convert anything into a takedown. Grappling cardio, however, figures to favor Velasquez if he's in top position.

Given the disaster that their first encounter was for the former champ, you have to wonder how he'll hold up if drilled repeatedly and if scoring a takedown means attempting desperate, low-percentage shots.

If there's a real X-factor in this fight, it's dos Santos' guard. He's won several grappling competitions in Brazil, and I think his takedowns are an overlooked weapon in his arsenal because he never seems to need them. But his top-notch training partners (the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva, among others) figure to have helped him develop as much of a guard as he or anyone else will need in the Heavyweight division.

Velasquez has to stay away from dos Santos' massive right hand, which means circling to his right to take away some of its power, yet he still has to strike enough to buy respect. Much as Randy Couture did in his first fight with Chuck Liddell, there's a blueprint for Velasquez: use disruptive jabs and good timing to upset the striker's rhythm, then close the gap to force cardio-sapping clinches and grappling.

Even if Velasquez can't make a takedown attempt stick, it's still enough to make dos Santos use stamina, wearing him down for the second half of the fight.

If Velasquez does get it to the ground, he should be content to stay in guard and hammer away. Dos Santos has the best hips of any heavyweight I've seen since Emelianenko, and even a half-guard position could give him enough room to squirm and scramble out. Dos Santos is also excellent when pressed against the cage, manipulating the other guy's weight and head to slip off the fence. Velasquez, meanwhile, if he can force clinches there, should be sure to get a solid body lock to keep "Cigano" from wrestling free because he's not going to win this fight in the middle of the cage.

He's got to make it a down-and-dirty gut check, while avoiding huge damage early.

The Pick

On paper, these two could make for one of the great rivalries of the sport. But, there's a big problem for Velasquez, and it's getting to the point where he can apply his advantages appropriately, which is pretty much a problem for anyone not named Alistair Overeem in the present state of the heavyweight division.

Dos Santos has many skills that he barely uses such as good kicks, takedowns and grappling, because they're overshadowed by his numbing striking, which dominates fights.

Look for Velasquez to open the fight cautious and circling, hoping to scout dos Santos a bit before opening up, which was his fatal mistake last time. However, it's hard to see where Velasquez doesn't get caught again, as he is wont to do, especially when trying to close the gap.

It would be a revealing moment for dos Santos as champion to have to deal with the thundering guns of Velasquez's ground and pound. And I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen for a moment or two. But, dos Santos' athleticism and toughness should be enough to carry him through any time he spends on his back. And on the feet, he'll just have too many chances to exploit Velasquez' standing deficits, as he rocks him several times in the first and second round, prior to pouncing in the third round for a finishing salvo en route to a knockout win.

Dos Santos via knockout

Remember that MMAmania.com will provide LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the UFC 155 main card action later this evening (Sat., Dec. 29, 2012), which is slated to begin at 10 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (PPV). The latest quick updates of the live action will begin to flow earlier than that around 6:30 p.m. ET with the "Prelims" bouts on Facebook and FX Channel.

Jason Probst can be reached at twitter.com/jasonprobst

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Source: http://www.mmamania.com/2012/12/29/3806608/ufc-155-fight-card-junior-dos-santos-vs-cain-velasquez-2-fight-prediction-preview-mma

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New NHL offer leads to scheduled talks with union

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE -In this Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, an empty locker room is shown during the NHL labor lockout at the First Niagara Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, in Buffalo, N.Y. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on Buffalo businesses. And it's no different in many of the NHL's 29 other markets. (AP Photo/David Duprey, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2012 file photo, a nearly empty hockey stick rack in the locker room of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team is shown during the NHL labor lockout in Buffalo, N.Y. The NHL lockout that's already wiped out the first three months of the season is taking its toll on Buffalo businesses. And it's no different in many of the NHL's 29 other markets. (AP Photo/David Duprey, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table with the locked-out players' association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the sides.

Those talks are scheduled to take place Sunday in New York, nearly one month after negotiations broke down and pushed the sides further apart.

Without fanfare, the NHL said Friday that it made a new proposal to the union on Thursday in an effort to end the lockout and save the delayed hockey season.

The players' association was still reviewing the document, which was several hundred pages in length, on Friday night and planned to speak to the NHL by telephone on Saturday, and then get together with the league on Sunday.

The sides haven't met since a second round of talks with a federal mediator ended on Dec. 13. They haven't had formal negotiations alone since the first week of the month.

Time is running out to come to an agreement and then play a season of at least 48 games ? a number the NHL set as a minimum. The league would like to reach a deal by Jan. 11, start training camp the following day, and open the season by Jan. 19.

"We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."

The players' association's executive board and negotiating committee went over the proposal during an internal conference call on Friday, the 104th day of the lockout.

A person familiar with key points of the offer told The Associated Press that the league proposed raising the limit of individual free-agent contracts to six years from five ? seven years if a team re-signs its own player; raising the salary variance from one year to another to 10 percent, up from 5 percent; and one compliance buyout for the 2013-14 season that wouldn't count toward a team's salary cap but would be included in the overall players' share of income.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the new offer were not being discussed publicly.

The NHL maintained the deferred payment amount of $300 million it offered in its previous proposal, an increase from an earlier offer of $211 million. The initial $300 million offer was pulled off the table after negotiations broke off earlier this month.

The latest proposal is for 10 years, running through the 2021-22 season, with both sides having the right to opt out after eight years.

The lockout has reached a critical stage, threatening to shut down a season for the second time in eight years. All games through Jan. 14, plus the Winter Classic and the All-Star game already have been called off. The next round of cuts could claim the entire schedule.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

It is still possible this dispute could eventually be settled in the courts if the sides can't reach a deal on their own.

The NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.

Those moves were made because the players' association took steps toward potentially filing a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.

Union members voted overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by Jan. 2. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a later filing.

Negotiations between the NHL and the union have been at a standstill since talks ended Dec. 6. One week later, the sides convened again with federal mediators in New Jersey, but still couldn't make progress.

The sides have been unable to reach agreement on the length of the new deal, the length of individual player contracts, and the variance in salary from year to year. The NHL is looking for an even split of revenues with players.

The NHL pulled all previous offers off the table after the union didn't agree to terms on its last proposal without negotiation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-29-NHL%20Labor/id-f5844de95ff942649e7d01ae257fddd6

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David LP Svaba replied to ?ivica Marjanski's discussion 'Facebook' in the group Serbia - fan group :)

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Egypt's ex-dictator moved to military hospital

By Taha Belal and Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News

CAIRO ? Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is to be transferred from prison to a military hospital for medical treatment on the orders of?Egypt's public prosecutor, NBC News has confirmed.

Counselor Hassan Yassin, official spokesman for prosecutor Counselor Talaat Ibrahim,?told NBC News?that the decision was taken based on the former leader's medical reports.

Philippe Bouchon / AFP - Getty Images

The President of Egypt for nearly 30 years, Mubarak was an advocate for peace in the Middle East and a major U.S. ally, but Egyptians eventually grew tired of his corrupt regime and he was ousted in a popular revolt in February 2011.

He will be taken to a military hospital in Maadi, a suburb of Cairo.

Egypt's ex-dictator slips into coma

Mubarak was forced from power as part of the Arab Spring uprisings in February 2011, ending three decades of increasingly totalitarian rule.

He is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in killing protesters during the uprising, and has been in prison hospital for most of his time in jail.?

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/27/16188852-egypts-ex-dictator-mubarak-to-be-moved-to-military-hospital?lite

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Refill Your Travel Toothpaste Bottles with a DIY Adapter

Travel-sized toiletries are often more expensive relative to their normal-sized counterparts. Reader ungullible shares a trick for refilling your travel-sized toothpaste bottles.

When we noted that children-sized toothpaste was TSA-compatible, ungullible shared an even cheaper solution: buy one travel-sized bottle and refill it.

I took two flip-top toothpaste lids, cut off the lids, and glued the top openings together to create a refill adapter. So now when my travel sized toothpaste tube gets empty, I use my adapter to connect the travel tube to my full-sized tube, squeeze, and refill.

We couldn't get ungullible to respond with a picture, but it's pretty easy to see what this would look like: two flip-top lids detached from their tubes and glued together at the "mouth." With some finagling, you could probably refill any toothpaste tube without an "adapter," but this trick would certainly make the process easier.

DIY Adapter Refills Your Travel Toothpaste Bottles

Every week, we receive tons of reader tips, often in response to tips we've posted. Our Tip of the Week showcases our favorite tip from you that improves upon something else we've shared, shows us another way to do something, or otherwise deserves more attention than our regular tips roundups. Got a tip to share? Post it over at our tips forum or send it to us at tips@lifehacker.com.

Photo by Alan Levine.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/GmRWDf_29R4/refill-your-travel-toothpaste-bottles-with-a-diy-adapter

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New Year's Resolutions (JOKES)

When I thought about the evils of drinking in the New Year, I gave up thinking.
----

You know it's time for a New Year's resolution to lose weight when you step on a talking scale and it says, "One at a time, please!"
----

A man asks his friend for a cigarette. His friend says, "I think you made a New Year resolution to quit smoking." The man says, " I am in the process of quitting. Right now, I am in the middle of phase one." "What's phase one?" "I've quit buying."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/new-years-resolution-jokes-marlo-thomas-laugh-of-the-day_n_2376541.html

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AVIAddXSubs Adds Subtitles to AVI files for Your iPad, Xbox, or PS3

Windows: If you need subtitles with your movies, you've probably found that subtitles are a big pain point on devices like the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or iPad. AVIAddXSubs easily adds subtitles to your movies for use on subtitle-incompatible devices.

The reason why subtitles get lost in the ether on these devices is because they don't read .SRT files, which are often what contain the subtitle tracks?instead, you have to have them "burned in" to the video file. Neither do they play .mkv files, which come with subtitle options built-in (check out our handy guide to video formats if you want to know more).

AVIAddXSubs is a Windows app that takes .SRT files and "burns" them into your to your PS3/Xbox 360/iOS-compatible .avi files, so you can watch them on any device with the subtitles you want. It also works in Wine, so Mac users can use Winebottler to run it as a standalone OS X app.

Hit the link below to download AVIAddXSubs, and check out the Guiding Tech link for a full how-to on adding subtitles to your movies.

AVIAddXSubs | Calcitapp via Guiding Tech

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/i5rHsZEALd8/aviaddxsubs-adds-subtitles-to-avi-files-for-your-ipad-xbox-or-ps3

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Lockheed, SpaceX Trade Barbs

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have been getting all government launch contracts for the past six years. That is, until SpaceX demonstrated they could reach the International Space Station successfully this year. Asked about the new competition brought by SpaceX, Lockheed CEO Robert Stevens made light of the younger company's success. "I?m hugely pleased with 66 in a row from [the Boeing-Lockheed alliance], and I don?t know the record of SpaceX yet," he said. "Two in a row?" When he was asked about the skyrocketing price of launching his sky rockets, he said, "You can thrift on cost. You can take cost out of a rocket. But I will guarantee you, in my experience, when you start pulling a lot of costs out of a rocket, your quality and your probability of success in delivering a payload to orbit diminishes." SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was blunt about the source of the price difference between the companies: "The fundamental reason SpaceX?s rockets are lower cost and more powerful is that our technology is significantly more advanced than that of the Lockheed-Boeing rockets, which were designed last century." The Delta IV and Atlas V rockets of Lockheed-Boeing average about $464 million per launch, while SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches for $54 million. Its upcoming Falcon Heavy will go up for $80-125 million.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/AscHlvQ9Sic/story01.htm

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Home prices rose in ninth straight month: S&P

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Single-family home prices rose in October for nine months in a row, reinforcing the view the domestic real estate market is improving and should bolster the economy in 2013, a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.7 percent in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, stronger than the 0.5 percent rise forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

"Looking over this report, and considering other data on housing starts and sales, it is clear that the housing recovery is gathering strength," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.

While record low mortgage rates and modest job growth should keep the housing recovery on track, analysts cautioned home prices face downward pressure from a likely pickup in the sales of foreclosed and distressed properties and reduced buying investors and speculators.

Prices in the 20 cities rose 4.3 percent year over year, beating expectations for a rise of 4.0 percent.

Las Vegas posted the biggest monthly rise on a seasonally adjusted basis at 2.4 percent, followed by a 1.7 percent increase in San Diego, the latest Case-Shiller data showed.

"Higher year-over-year price gains plus strong performances in the Southwest and California, regions that suffered during the housing bust, confirm that housing is now contributing to the economy," Blitzer said.

Housing contributed 10 percent to the overall U.S. economic growth in the third quarter, while the sector represented less than 3 percent of gross domestic product, he said.

Last week, the government said U.S. GDP expanded at a stronger-than-expected 3.1 percent annualized pace in the third quarter.

Excluding seasonal factors, however, home prices in 12 of the 20 cities fell in October from September as home values tend to decline in fall and winter, Blitzer said.

Chicago experienced the largest non-seasonally adjusted decline at 1.5 percent, followed by a 1.4 percent fall in Boston.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/home-prices-rose-october-p-140523488--business.html

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Top Businesses Not to Start in 2013 - JD Journal | JD Journal

?

Each year in the United States close to 500,000 businesses are started. If you are considering opening a business in 2013, make sure you think twice about your idea. According to American Express? Open Forum, there are 13 businesses that you should absolutely not open in 2013, according to Philly News.

?

1. A distribution company. For the most part, in today?s world, the majority of products can be purchased from an online store right from the manufacturer. This means that distributors are becoming very rare these days.

?

2. A website that features daily deals. The daily deals industry is declining because merchants do not want to get rid of their margin just so they can add a new customer to the fold.

?

3. A frozen-yogurt store. Frozen-yogurt stores have popped up all over the country recently, with some cities seeing multiple stores open in a matter of months from each other. This means that the market is littered with these types of businesses.

?

4. A restaurant. In the restaurant industry, employee turnover is incredibly high and the competition is very steep. Then you must acquire the necessary permits and meet building requirements. Right now, it is just not worth the headache.

?

?If you look at the businesses that are most likely to fail, it?s restaurants. They need planning more than anybody because they can?t adjust,? Therese Flaherty, director of the Wharton Small Business Development Center, said in an interview with Philly News. ?If you?re in services or consulting, if somebody didn?t buy your service yesterday, you change it today. But if you?re in a restaurant, and you put a lot of money into your venue, you can?t move.?

?

5. A brick-and-mortar bookstore. eBooks outsold paper copy books in 2012 because of Amazon and even Barnes and Noble?s foray into the eBook world.

?

6. An Internet cafe. There is no need for Internet cafes anymore because so many restaurants and stores offer free WiFi already for customers.

?

7. A video-rental store. This should have been on the list for at least the last five years as video rental store Blockbuster began closing its stores at a rapid rate years ago. In the month of September, 39 billion videos were viewed on the Internet.

?

8. A pay-phone-booth company. This one should be blatantly obvious.

?

9. A Hallmark card store. Many more people are using online card stores to send their birthday and holiday greetings.

?

10. A retail clothing or shoe store. More and more people are buying their clothing on the Internet, even though it is best to try the objects on before buying.

?

11. A travel agency. This is another business that should be obvious not to open. So many travel websites are exploding with their deals that brick-and-mortar travel agencies are disappearing.

?

12. A limo company. There are so many car rental companies and other companies such as Uber out there that starting a limo company could become an incredibly difficult thing to do.

?

13. An alcohol distributor. The politics alone in trying to start one of these should deter you.

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Source: http://www.jdjournal.com/2012/12/26/top-businesses-not-to-start-in-2013/

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2013 Smart Guide: Hot computing for a cool billion

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

It has been called science's X Factor: six mega-projects vying for two prizes, each worth a cool ?1 billion.

In 2010, the European Commission put out a call for visionary computing initiatives comparable to the moon landing or the mapping of the human genome. Such ultra-ambitious projects would change the way we think about the world and ideally solve some of its problems, too.

Of 21 ideas submitted, six were shortlisted for further development. These include the Human Brain Project - an attempt to simulate the brain using a supercomputer - and a scheme to create a new generation of electronic devices based not on silicon but graphene.

The winners will be announced at the end of January. The prize money, from European countries and private firms as well as the European Union, will be spread over 10 years.

Our money is on FuturICT, a real-life SimCity on a global scale. It will give individuals, companies and governments real-time information about the planet, and run simulations to find the best strategies for dealing with issues such as climate change.

FuturICT was conceived after the 2008 financial crash drove home our lack of understanding about today's hyperconnected world. The civilisation simulator will be an open platform, accepting data on anything from social media and the stock exchange to climate models and political preferences. Stay tuned for the start of something big.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Consumer Debt Rises to Record Levels as 2012 Comes to a Close ...

By John Clark

Total consumer borrowing rose to $2.75 trillion towards the end of 2012, which represents a record amount of debt, according to a report from the New York Times.

Figures released last week by the Federal Reserve show that consumers increased their borrowing by $14.2 billion in the early days of winter, signaling an increase in consumer health but portending possible financial troubles in 2013.

The numbers represent a mixed bag for consumers. On one hand, access to credit appears to have improved over the past year. On the other hand, rising levels of debt could lead to another jump in the number of people filing for bankruptcy protection.

Credit Card Debt and Student Loans Lead Spike in Borrowing

According to sources, the primary forms of borrowing that led the recent spike included credit card debt, student loans, and car loan.

In the category of debt that includes student and car loans, sources say that borrowing increased by a remarkable $10.8 billion. In addition, credit card debt increased by $3.4 billion, as consumers increased their credit card spending for only the second time in the last five months.

Analysts say the rise in credit card debt was particularly surprising, given the reluctance of most consumers to use their credit cards in the wake of the recent recession.

Sources note that credit cards usually have higher interest rates than other types of loans. As a result, when the economy goes south, many shoppers turn towards other types of loans.

For the last few years, consumers have followed this theory, cutting their credit card spending dramatically. This October, for example, the total amount of credit card debt was 17 percent lower than the same figure in 2008. But total credit card debt still saw a relative jump in the latter part of 2012.

Rise in Debt Accompanied by Decrease in Consumer Spending

Despite the rise in overall debt, consumers are still spending less than they did in the days before the recession struck, according to financial analysts.

Sources pose a few reasons for this dip. First, many shoppers may be cutting back on their spending because they fear potential tax increases in the early part of 2013. If Congress fails to reach an agreement with President Obama on a budget deal, these fears could prove valid.

In addition, sources note that Hurricane Sandy, which devastated several eastern states, played a significant role in lowering consumer spending. And as those states recover from the terrible storm, many experts believe consumer spending will slowly rise to normal levels.

Source: http://www.clearbankruptcy.com/blog/consumer-debt-rises-to-record-levels-as-2012-comes-to-a-close/

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College Basketball Rankings: Duke Still No. 1 In AP Poll, Syracuse Drops To 9th

Amile Jefferson #21, Josh Hairston #15, Quinn Cook #2, Tyler Thornton #3 and Alex Murphy #12 of the Duke Blue Devils huddle during a stop in play against the Elon Phoenix at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 20, 2012 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke defeated Elon 76-54. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)

Duke and Michigan remain the top two teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll while Syracuse drops from third to ninth after its first loss.

The Blue Devils received all but two of the first-place votes Monday from the 65-member national media panel. Michigan got the others.

Arizona, Louisville and Indiana all moved up one place to third through fifth. Kansas, which won at Ohio State, moved from ninth to sixth. Missouri, which beat Illinois, jumped from 12th to seventh. Cincinnati advanced from 11th to eighth. Syracuse, which lost to Temple, and Ohio State complete the top 10.

Pittsburgh and Kansas State are the newcomers to the poll at 24th and 25th. They replace New Mexico and North Carolina, which dropped out from 16th and 23rd after losses to South Dakota State and Texas.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/college-basketball-rankings-duke-still-no-1-syracuse_n_2360274.html

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The Most Powerful Marketing You Can Use In Your Business - An ...

Posted by James in Interview, Podcast, Product launch, Video

Podcast: Play in new window

Brenton Ford is not your typical Internet marketer. He has diligently applied James Schramko?s news blog process called OTR to his unique field of business with great results. Listen in and learn how Effortless Swimming improved sales and popularity by owning the racecourse.

Featured in the podcast:

00:23 ? Not the typical Internet marketing business
00:51 ? Applying Internet marketing to swimming
01:06 ? Website and digital products based on Own The Racecourse principles
02:32 ? News blogging strategy works even for non-Internet marketing industries
02:48 ? Weekly video with tips and news about Effortless Swimming
03:59 ? Increased email communication
06:22 ? Typical OTR process for Brenton
07:25 ? A single video a week already gets great results
09:46 ? Challenges encountered in the process
12:10 ? Essentials for an online business

Leverage your business,?Get OwnTheRacecourse and learn how

James:??????????????????James Schramko here with Internet Marketing Speed and my guest today is Brenton Ford, welcome Brenton.

Brenton:????????????? Thanks James thanks for having me on.

James:??????????????????It?s my pleasure. Now I?m interested in talking to you and I?m doing this beside my pool today and there?s a reason for that. It?s because of your business. You?re not in the typical internet marketing space. You?re in a different industry all together. Would you like to tell us a bit about what you?ve been doing online?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah, well last 3 ? 4 years I?ve built an online based business around swimming and teaching trackletes and swimmers how to swim faster. So it?s not your typical internet marketing, make more money online, type of business I guess.

James:??????????????????Right. You?ve been applying some of the things that we talk about on Internet Marketing Speed such as video marketing and podcasting and membership sites. Can you give us a little helicopter view of what your business looks like at the moment?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah well I started out with one product, one website and not much of an idea of what a business looked like. I had a website but it wasn?t a business. But meeting you a couple of years ago, you taught me how to build a business from my knowledge and what I knew so I?ve sort of built this thing out to encompass a lot of things but based around the?Own the Racecourse?thing that you?re teaching at the moment so I?ve got a number of different products. They?re digital products, they?re not DVDs, they?re not physical, they?re all digital download. I?ve got a membership site. I?ve got another recurring product as well. A lot of similar stuff to what you?re doing I guess. It?s just building up the whole business with an email list, a blog and doing weekly videos and having more than just a website I guess and having a proper business.

James:??????????????????Alright so with Own the Racecourse, you?ve referenced that as a course that I put out and you actually attended a workshop that we did where we stepped through how I was applying that to my business. Would you say that the strategy that I?ve deployed there with the news blogging is suitable to non-internet marketing industries?

Brenton:????????????? Yeah, absolutely. I?d say it works tremendously well in industries that aren?t internet marketing. What I started 3 or 4 months ago after I saw you doing it and you made a suggestion to try it was every week, on a Monday, I film a video where I give away a few tips about swimming and I talk about what?s going on with?Effortless Swimming?which is my business and I let people know about any new products or clinics or it?s just basic news about what?s happening in the business and in October the business had its biggest month by 45% largely because of this Own the Racecourse system. So I?ve been doing that for the last 3 ? 4 months and the email list has grown tremendously. I?m not sure exactly how much but it?s up to 4 ? 5,000 subscribers, the Facebook fan page is up from 4,000 about 2 months ago to about 15,000 and I?m getting a lot of people email me asking for coaching services and getting a lot more sales and that sort of thing and it?s all by building my personal swimming coaching brand through these videos and through these weekly videos that I?m putting out.

James:??????????????????Are you contacting your customers more than you used to contact them?

Brenton:????????????? Earlier this year I don?t think I sent out an email for 3 or 4 months. Because I didn?t want to bother my customers or bother the people on my email list. But in hindsight that probably wasn?t the best move and I?ve been sending out an email ever week or every couple of days depending on what list they?re subscribed to. But the amount of replies I get to my emails has increased because people are thanking me for the videos, they?re asking me questions about their technique and about the products. I haven?t had 1 person say to me that you?re emailing me too much. They?ve all thanked me and told me that they?re looking forward to these videos coming out each week. It?s counter intuitive to what I thought would be the case where people were sick of hearing from me but because I?m not sort of pushing things on people, I?m just giving them some helpful tips that they can implement for the week. It?s really been a different result to what I was expecting.

James:??????????????????Right, so if I?m reading between the lines here, you have overcome your trepidation to email your customers and you no longer fear that they?re going to leave your list because you can feel good about giving them more and more value. Like the more often you contact them, the more good stuff you?re teaching them that?s going to help them with their swimming.

Brenton:????????????? Yeah that?s the thing, because I was used to all these internet marketers who every week or every day it?s a different offer for a different product. And that?s not the type of business I want to be running. I was sort of thinking, well that?s the only way that you can email customers every day but turn that around. Give them something that they can use, not something that they should buy. Just give them free tips, free news and they?ll appreciate it.

James:??????????????????Well word on the street is that some of these internet marketers have been adopting the?Own the Racecourse strategy?in the last few months. So it should be interesting to see these patterns crop up. So just for a listener who might not be familiar with an Own the Racecourse strategy, could you just step us through like your typical weekly schedule. Like what do you actually do once a week with your blog or your news outlet? Like what are the steps for them?

Brenton:????????????? If I was to do nothing but the Own the Racecourse model which is every Monday, I will get out my camera, I?ll take it out to the kitchen and I?ll plug in my microphone, I?ll grab the whiteboard, I write down 4, 5 or 6 points that I want to talk about and then I hit record, I?ll go through those couple of points, I?ll stop the recording, take out the SD card, put it in my computer and edit the video and then upload it to YouTube. Then I?ll send that off to my assistant over in the Philippines, Gwen. Hello Gwen out there, I?ll send her this recording. What she?ll do is she?ll get it transcribed, she?ll put together bullet points, and then she?ll upload it to the blog and then she?ll send that to me and then I?ll send that out to my email list. I?ll post it to Facebook, to Twitter, to Google+. If I did nothing but that for the week, I?d still get 80-90% of the results for the week I?d say just from doing that 1 video on a Monday. It really is the 10% work and 90% results.

James:??????????????????I?m glad you said that because some people say to me, ?Gosh that sounds like a lot of work but it makes so much sense.? Then I ask them, ?What other marketing they do to drive their business and really where I?ve got it to and where it sounds like you?ve got it to is if you do nothing other than pop out a video here and there, that that will actually continue to drive your business and not just drive it but grow your business bigger and it?s probably going to have a compound effect I imagine if the same thing that?s happened to me is you?ll build your audience and you start getting more comments and people find you in the different channels as well. You?re tapping into a few different places. Sounds like Facebook?s really kicking and your YouTube channel I imagine would get embedded and shared occasionally by other people.

Brenton:????????????? Yeah that was the thing. I got off the phone to someone who I did a podcast with today and he said to me, ?How on earth have you got this video onto so many different websites?? because he must have come across it on some triathlon or swimming websites. And all that is is other people are embedding the content onto their own websites. Because it?s good content, they want to share it and they want to I guess add things to their blog. So it?s not rocket science. But just doing the day in and day out things and doing this video every week, it?s really having a compound effect on sales, on the email list, on building authority and getting the (inaudible 09:09). It?s not hard. I wouldn?t call it work either. I enjoy making the videos. Every day I?m thinking of new things to talk about in the video and I?m kind of scratching to, itching to get out there in front of the camera to get this stuff in front of the people who watch the videos because I know it?s good stuff.

James:??????????????????What sort of challenges have you had in setting up this new system apart from your own fear that people might say, ?Hey look, you?re sending me too many emails but have you had any technical challenges or major fears or obstacles to overcome?

Brenton:????????????? Nothing too major. I mean, I was pretty rubbish in front of the camera to start with. I was pretty serious. I got told by someone that I looked like I was in front of a firing squad. So maybe smile a bit more. Yeah, that was good advice. I tried to smile more since then. But it?s gotten a lot easier and initially when I started my business, you see the internet marketing business where it?s a guy sitting behind his computer making all this money and no one knows who he is. So he?s this underground type of guy. That?s sort of what I wanted to set up, in the beginning that?s what I thought was the way to go because I didn?t want to? I was afraid of being known out there. I?ve sort of changed that around and now I?m really putting my face out there and getting my name out there and people can relate that way. They?d rather deal with a person than a business especially in the swimming triathlon market. I had those sort of issues at the start. There are always technical issues like you might forget to turn the microphone, the SD card might be full so you need to record the video again, but just get it done and these technical issues become less and less as you get more experienced with it. But it?s nothing major. If the video quality is not that great at the start, I would just put out some not great quality videos, the content?s been good but the quality?s not great, but people would rather get the content than not receive it I think. It might look ugly but it does the job.

James:??????????????????Yeah, I?ve definitely put out my half-done videos before but I think people forgive you when you?re starting out on this and besides that, you don?t have as big an audience when you start but certainly as the audience grows, you can refine your technique.

????????????????????????????????You?ve been really generous sharing your story there, Brenton. I wanted to ask you, can you give the listeners some action steps. What can they take away from this? If they?ve got a website or they have a business, it may not be in the internet marketing space, maybe it?s a normal sort of business or they have customers who are in a traditional sort of business, what are the things that they should focus on first?

Brenton:????????????? If I looked at my business and I had to keep only a handful of things; it would be my website, so?EffortlessSwimming.com?which is the main website where I add these videos to each week. It would be my email auto responder. I use Office Autopilot but it doesn?t matter too much what system you?re using as long as you?ve got somewhere where you can collect people?s email addresses and keep in contact with them. It would be a Facebook fan page, it would be a camera, and a YouTube account. If I had just those things, I think I could do pretty well with the business. So if someone?s looking to increase their business or increase their revenue, get their name out there, build more authority in the market. Then just start recording a video once a week. Just write down a couple of points on a whiteboard, film yourself, put it out there, put it on your website, put it under Facebook and just start building this following because if you?ve got something to say, and you know what your market is looking for then they want to hear this kind of stuff. I was going on Facebook today and I saw a friend of mine who?s in financial planning. She put out an article that was on one of the websites that she writes for and I was just browsing on Facebook and I looked at this thing and I thought this is great so I sort of saved it to read for later because people want to consume content that they?re interested in. Put your fears aside, if you don?t want to get on camera and just do it. It might be painful at the start but it?s been so worth it for me and my business.

James:??????????????????Awesome. Now if people want to see what you?ve got going there and check out the swimming videos, learn how to swim better and eat better and get that sportsman brain, where can they go and have a look at your stuff?

Brenton:????????????? When you?ve got the million dollar house and the pool at the backyard from your internet marketing then head to?EffortlessSwimming.com?and that?s where I put all my content. You can check out what I?m doing in terms of the marketing side of things. If you?re a swimmer or triathlete then get in touch and we?ll improve your swimming so you?re not left behind on the swimming leg of your triathlons.

James:??????????????????Fantastic. Now I?ve just got another question. Actually I hadn?t planned this but what would you say to someone thinking about coming on board with SilverCircle?

Brenton:????????????? As you know I?ve been part of SilverCircle for, well I?m kind of thinking how long now, but it?s been over 12 months and what I get out of it is the accountability is great because every week we say what we?re going to do and then we reference that the next week to actually see what we?ve been through and then just your experience has sort of guided my business in the right direction and it?s kind of pushed me to do more than I would just by myself. For example running freestyle clinics and workshops. The very first one I ran I was so nervous about having 20-30 people in a room where I?m talking about swimming. But you just kind of encouraged me to go ahead with it and that was awesome. It got me over my fear of talking in front of 20-30 people about swimming and then also the other business owners in there and the forum. There are a lot of different businesses and a lot of experience in there. And you can throw around ideas and people will get back to you with what they know and what they?ve been through. It?s been responsible for driving my business tremendously and there?s no way I?m leaving it any time soon.

James:??????????????????Nice, well thanks Brenton I hope people go and check out your swimming videos. This is definitely the sportiest episode I?ve ever recorded. I can see a racing bicycle in the background there and the pool over here. Hopefully you?ve inspired some athletic? and it?s Christmas in Australia as well, for our overseas listeners. There?s the surf board for all the people in the snow right now. Thanks mate. Have a great week. I?ll catch up with you on the next call.

Brenton:????????????? Great! Thanks James.

James:??????????????????See ya!

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Source: http://www.internetmarketingspeed.com/product-launch/brenton-ford-interview/

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Most Popular Diets of 2012 | Health and Fitness - ilimupydam's

Most Popular Diets of 2012

Michael Phelps' 12,000-calorie-a-day training diet and Beyonce's maple syrup cleanse may top Google's list of the 10 most-searched diets of 2012, but the popular website Diets in Review.com found that when people want to get serious about weight loss, ?
See all stories on this topic ?

Source: http://health-fitness.holidayinndeals.net/?p=2297

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Awesome collection of photos of early computers | News | Design ...

Posted by Max Col on Dec 24, 2012 in Style | Comments Off

EARLY COMPUTERS OLD PHOTOS

WITCH - Year 1951

Whirlwind - Year 1951

UNIVAC I - Year 1951

UNIVAC 1108 - Year 1964

Pegasus - Year 1956

IBM NORC - Year 1954

IBM 7090 - Year 1959

IBM 702 - Year 1955

IBM 305 RAMAC - Year 1956

Honeywell 200 - Year 1963

ENIAC - Year 1946

Datasaab D2 - Year 1960

Colossus - Year 1944

BRLESC I - Year 1962

BESK - Year 1953

Bendix G-15 - Year 1556

AN-FSQ-758 - 1958

AKAT-1 - Year 1959

Z4 - Year 1944

EARLY?COMPUTERS?OLD?PHOTOS

About the Author

Source: http://theskunkpot.com/index.php/awesome-collection-of-photos-of-early-computers/

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The Politics of Immigration: Immigration Law Video: ?Labyrinth: The ...

Frontera NorteSur
November 28, 2012

Frontera NorteSur is pleased to make available a practical video on navigating the complexities of immigration law. Produced by Albuquerque filmmaker Jim Morrison in conjunction with the New Mexico State Attorney General?s Office, the video walks the viewer through the different pitfalls and processes an immigrant seeking legal residency or citizenship might encounter.

Titled in English ?Labyrinth: The Immigrant and the Law,? the half-hour program begins in the Paso del Norte borderland, where resident Modesta Flores offers historical recollections of a different Rio Grande and a less polarized time when friendly Border Patrol agents let migrants pass the line with a wink and a nod.

The documentary features interviews with Assistant New Mexico Attorney General Joel Cruz Esparza; Mauricio Ibarra; Mexican consul in Albuquerque; immigrant legal and social advocates; New Mexico immigration law attorney Megan Jordi; and a representative of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Longtime immigrants recall their own journeys as well as the problems of friends who followed in the migrant path.

With reports of legal scams surrounding the Obama Administration?s Deferred Deportation program for eligible young people, the production is a timely contribution to understanding the legalities and mechanisms of immigration law.

?Labyrinth: The Immigrant and the Law,? was sponsored by KLUZ, the Univision affiliate in Albuquerque. Produced mainly in Spanish with English sub-titles, the video can viewed at the below link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYN1cS9-CiE
A full Spanish version is also available at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8mUnug0aJ4

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription:
e-mail fnsnews@nmsu.edu

Source: http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2012/12/immigration-law-video-labyrinth.html

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