Monkey Muck: Two Stooges Home Improvement strikes again!

They had to tear up part of our front sidewalk when they put in new sewer and water lines out in front of our house back in February and we finally got around to fixing it a few weeks ago.
We leveled the ground up and then we put down some gravel and leveled it up as well.
That Sparky, she wields a mean rake.

Then I mixed up bag after bag of Quikrete, we used 8 forty pound bags when all was said and done, and we filled that sucker in:Our repair job has held up well so it looks like we did it correctly. Now we need to get another bag of some other type concrete to cover it over so it looks more like the old walk. But the main thing is we no longer have a huge law suit waiting to happen in our front yard.

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Systems Of Outsourcing Guidance Clarified | Honest Reviews Online

Effective time management is a concern for every single business owner regardless of anything else.

And how well this is achieved will go a long way to determining the level of success for any business. Most new marketers have to learn how to do things like make websites, write copy, write articles, etc. Every IM marketer wants to reach that magical point where they can comfortably afford to pay someone else to do certain tasks. So once you?re approaching the point where you can do that, it?s time to sit down and make a list of everything you would want to outsource. Many jobs are really not in the realm of a successful business person such as submissions of any kind, small writing tasks, creating backlinks, etc. The most important thing for any business is to constantly market, and outsourcing can give you more time to do that. You?ll be able to enter the cycle in which you build more of your business and keep outsourcing more of it. Let?s move forward and take a look at several outsourcing hints that you can use in your own business.

Whenever you hire a job out you must verify that the person or team is has the adequate skills to satisfactorily complete the project. People are starting to realize the vast opportunities of online services so many people are offering them to make extra money. Keep in mind, if you?re the candidate is already familiar with internet marketing then it will make things flow a lot more smoothly. Apart from this, you need to constantly stay updated on their progress and how well they?re doing. Another key to success with outsourcing is to provide as much support as you can so they will have a clear understanding of what needs to be done. You can easily train hires how to do certain techniques for generating traffic to your site. Not many online marketers know this, but you can outsource almost any type of traffic generation you want. Let?s face it, social bookmarking is deathly boring, and many marketers pay others to do it for them. Forum posting is another less than exciting task you can outsource. It?s amazing but people will accept work such as RSS submissions, article submissions, directory submissions, commenting on blogs, etc.

You can always try to get recommendations from other online marketers. This is a great way to find out about excellent outsource workers of all kinds. People ask for recommendations all the time in the various marketing forums on the net. A lot of times marketers will recommend someone who?s good and they?re just trying to help them out with getting work. The real benefit for going with the best worker is that you can be sure of your work getting done on time, without worrying a lot. And that?s the beauty and reason behind outsourcing, it will give you choices and more opportunities.

Look at my website for the best recommendations ? www.howtodrawit.com & natural cellulite treatments ? a closer look.

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Cutting all the Cords: The Feasibility of a 100% Mobile Lifestyle

The cord-cutting revolution is growing. People are ditching their cables boxes in favor of streaming videos through their smartphones, tablets and services such as Roku and Apple TV. In reality though, these are not real cord cutters. They still pay bills to the cable companies that deliver broadband Internet access to their homes. That broadband is delivered? by cords. Is it truly possible to live an Internet-connected lifestyle and cut all of the cords?

I consider myself a cord cutter. I stopped paying for cable service and live my life through my Roku box, iPad and Android smartphone. The Roku delivers Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon video on demand and MLB.TV to my television. I can access most of those services through my iPad and Android, as well. Yet the Roku is powered through a Wi-Fi router that is delivered from a broadband connection from Comcast. The iPad is almost always on Wi-Fi when in the apartment. While I think of myself as a cord cutter, the cable company is still getting nearly $60 a month from me.

And Comcast still sends me these lovely fliers about once a month.?

To be honest, it is enticing. For about $25 or so extra dollars a month, I can have cable and faster Internet, video on demand and I'd finally be able to watch Game Of Thrones on HBO. The cable company wants me back on cable, and I might be inclined to give in.?

But what if I chose the alternate route and completely cut Comcast out of the equation? Like it or not, I still have to choose a service provider. Right now, I pay Comcast for my home Internet, Verizon for the data connection on my iPad and AT&T for my smartphone plan. To really cut all the cords, I am throwing myself straight into the arms of AT&T, Verizon and maybe even Sprint. Is this a move that I would be willing to make?

Here is how it would theoretically look.

In April, I used 140 GB of broadband data through Comcast. That is up from March (115 GB) and down from February (164 GB). Let?s say that on an average month, I am using about 120 GB of broadband data. That includes streaming video through the Roku, running music through Spotify for about eight hours a day through the iPad and my normal activities as a writer at ReadWriteWeb (running multiple browser tabs, uploading pictures, etc., as I work from home). In addition to the 120 GB of broadband data, I use between 500 MB and 1 GB of Verizon 3G data through my iPad and about 2.5 GB of AT&T LTE through my Android. So, for all my devices, let us call it about 125 GB of data used per month.

While 120 GB of broadband data might seem like a lot, for a cord cutter that does not watch any video media on cable, it is fairly reasonable. Comcast currently sets its data cap at 250 GB and soon may be going to a usage-based system and says that 99% of its users stay well under that cap.?

But here is where the biggest problem is posed. For Comcast, delivering that 120 GB of data is simple. It has big, fat pipes and a sophisticated network to deliver Internet to the T1 connection to people?s homes (also known as ?the last mile.?) To replace that data through pure wireless solutions will take creativity... and it will not be cheap.

The first thing to look at is turning my smartphone or tablet into a wireless hotspot. That way I could replace the Wi-Fi router without having to buy any extra equipment. While this would be the simplest option, it would also become problematic to run several data-driven devices at full speed at once. The answer then might be to get a separate wireless hotspot, such as a MiFi router that turns cellular data into a broadband connection over 3G or 4G.?

If I am looking to completely replace that 120 GB of broadband data by this route, it becomes cost prohibitive very quickly. A look at the hotspot plans for the top three U.S. carriers:

• AT&T: 5 GB per month: $50 ($10 per GB overage charges)
• Cost to replace 120 GB: $1,200
• Verizon: 10 GB per month: $80 ($10 per GB overage charges)
• Cost to replace 120 GB: $1,180
• Sprint: 12 GB per month: $79.99 ($0.05 per MB overage or $51.20 per GB)
• Cost to replace 120 GB: $5,609.59

That is only half of the equation, though. The other half is performance. Wi-Fi is a great technology because it provides reliable speeds and can be split among several devices. Comcast delivers speeds in tiers, with about 15 Mbps running about $57. At this point, LTE devices can deliver faster performances in real-world conditions on a device-by-device basis. Realistic speeds of anywhere from 15 Mbps to 40 Mbps can be seen, depending on what region you are in and how many people are using the same LTE network. As more people start using LTE, those real-world speeds will start coming down as the network becomes more congested. The question will be how well will your devices perform through an LTE MiFi device or mobile hotspot from a tablet or a smartphone? When you rely on your laptop or desktop for work purposes, you are going to end up frustrated with your data connection more often than not.?

Well, there is a very simple answer to all of this: Cut the cord entirely, stop streaming entertainment to your device, find Wi-Fi hotspots in public and only use data on your smartphone for basic purposes including Web browsing, search and social media. This is not hard to envision, millions of people do not have cable and hardly use their cellphones at all. The easiest way to cut the cord is to just not live by the rules of the cord. Same goes for the wireless carriers.?

This brings us into an interesting discussion on ?mobile-only? existences. The idea of mobile-only has been percolating for the past several years as people look to cut the cable cord and smartphone and tablet use has skyrocketed. Within the past several months, mobile-only has been a topic pushed to the forefront as people analyzed Facebook?s S-1 document the company filed for its initial public offering.?

Facebook has a problem. It does not make any money off of mobile. At the same time, many of its users interact with the social platform primarily through mobile devices. It is not inconceivable that many or most of Facebook?s new users going forward will be mobile-only consumers. Much of that growth will be international in countries that do not have robust cable infrastructures, but it will also happen in the U.S. and Europe as people that do not need to work from laptops or desktops only use tablets and smartphones to interact with the Web.?

Internet billionaire investor Mark Cuban poses these pertinent questions in a blog post breaking down Facebook?s IPO and the challenges the company faces with mobile-only consumers going forward:

?Which leads to a much broader question. Just what percentage of PC Online usage will mobile displace? Is it feasible that people will ?cut the broadband cord? and live exclusively off of their mobile internet access? Why not use your mobile as an in home hotspot rather than paying for 2 internet connections? If you avoid streaming video and downloads its easy to stay within your caps. Do you know anyone that has cut their broadband access to go exclusively mobile internet?? Cuban wrote.?

This, of course, is not just a question about Facebook. Mobile-first and mobile-only approaches by consumers are going to affect the entire technology industry going forward. Companies such as Comcast have to worry about people not just cutting their cable cords, but cutting broadband out of their lives entirely. Forget about replacing 120 GB of broadband data, Comcast might need to learn how to compete in the mobile space where high-end plans are between 5 GB and 10 GB.?

The reality though, in the short term, is that most users in developed countries (especially the U.S.) are not going to be mobile-only. As it stands now, cord cutting represents one step in a digital lifestyle where classic cable gets cut out of the picture in favor of other alternatives. Moving down the spectrum is where we find the mobile-only users and right now those people are few and far between.?

Have you gone mobile only? What have been your experiences? Do you miss the ability to stream mass amounts of media? Do you miss cable? If you have taken this plunge, let us know in the comments.??

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The Death of Gonzalo Guizan (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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Apple?to hold?keynote event?on June 11

20 hrs.

Rosa Golijan

Apple just confirmed that?its keynote event?will take?place on Monday, June 11,?during?the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).?As usual, expectations are high ? the event potentially?brings a new product?announcement?or two.

The keynote will take place at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on June 11. Apple typically kicks WWDC off with such an event, so no one's surprised by its appearance on the WWDC schedule. Instead, the focus is on whether or not a new product will be announced when?Apple CEO Tim Cook steps onto a stage in San Francisco, California two weeks from now.

As I've explained when I reviewed what we can expect to hear from Apple, both at WWDC and for the rest of the year, the Cupertino-based company is prone to releasing major iOS updates during the summer.?And besides, WWDC ??as its name implies ??is a global crossroads for Mac and iOS developers, and generally focuses on software, rather than hardware. So, if I were placing?bets on what will be announced at WWDC 2012, I'd put my big money on iOS 6.

Of course ??with the exception of the iPhone 4S ??every new iPhone model hit the?shelves in either June or July. This pattern has many believing that the next-generation Apple smartphone will be announced during WWDC.?Unfortunately for those hopeful folks,?most recent reports shoot down the idea?that the next iPhone will make an appearance on that day.

If you want to read more about this?? and other Apple-themed?? speculation, I suggest heading over to our recent rumor round-up. And once you're done with that, hit the comments and tell us what you think Apple's keynote event?will bring.

Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

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Dormice whiskers 'aid climbing'

29 May 2012 Last updated at 08:12 By Anna-Louise Taylor BBC Nature

Slow motion footage of a dormouse reveals that it "whisks" as it climbs

Dormice use their whiskers to help them climb trees, researchers say.

By twitching them upwards, outwards and straight ahead up to 25 times a second, they sense where they are going, a University of Sheffield team has found.

The process, called whisking, is used by some other rodents, and by whiskered mammals including seals and walruses.

Dr Robyn Grant, from the university's Active Touch Laboratory says whisking is "a parallel sense to our sense of touch".

She says hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) use their whiskers, or vibrissae, in a similar way to how people use their eyes - scanning to recognise what is in front of them.

Continue reading the main story

Find out more

• Dormice may spend up to 75% of their life asleep
• Hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) numbers dropped by about 50% in the 20th Century
• Hazel dormice live for up to five years, hibernating on the ground in the winter
• They build their summer nests in tree holes or thick bramble and stay living in trees while it's warm
• The species is vulnerable to changes in habitat such as loss of hedgerows, altered farming practices and fragmentation of woodlands.

Watch: Why Bill Oddie loves dormice

Dormice hunting for 'tiny biscuits' in oak trees

See a dormouse waking up after winter

How a hazel dormouse fattens up

Watch more on BBC Two's Springwatch at 20:00 BST or join the conversation on twitter.

"Because of the uneven surface on branches, they vibrate them to find where to put their feet, as well as to work out where there's a gap and where to change branches," says Dr Grant.

Dormice are endangered in the UK and hibernate most of the year in small nests on the ground, but in the summer they live in trees.

Dr Grant says that they can also use the sensory nodes in their whisker follicles, which respond to the vibrations of their whiskers. This helps them to locate and determine the size, shape and quality of a food item, or to sense their way home.

The research by the team at the Active Touch Laboratory (ATL@S) is working to compare how a number animals, including opossums, seals and other rodents, move and use their whiskers in a sensory way.

Dr Grant says there are differences in how each species moves its whiskers. Different animals twitch at a different frequency, for example, and most rodents generally whisk their whiskers just backwards and forwards.

"We really want to try to classify strategies common between different animals, looking at whether all climbers use whiskers this way," says Dr says Prof Grant.

"And [we want to] use their different experiences in whisking to try and explore the evolution of their sensing systems."

By using an infrared lightbox, they were able to film nocturnal animals in the dark.

The team recorded the movements of whiskers using a high-speed video camera, which films at 500 frames per second, enabling the researchers to play back the whiskers' movements in slow-motion.

Using this high-speed digital videography, the team has examined whisker movements of nine species of British rodent.

They studied wood, harvest, yellow-necked and house mice; field, bank and water voles; brown rats; hazel dormice and one non-rodent - the water shrew.

The team then used "automatic whisker tracker" computer software to analyse the movements recorded on the video, and obtain data that they could compare.

Dr Grant says the rodents all showed whisking that was similar to rats and mice, but the water shrew did not. This indicated that the dormouse family (Gliridae) shared a common ancestor with other rodents.

She added that previous "whisker research" may have involved animals' whiskers being trimmed off. Without whiskers dormice cannot walk well; they fall off ledges and cannot cross gaps.

See more on BBC Two's Springwatch at 20:00 BST on Tuesday, 29 May.

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S.Africa GDP growth slows, but factory output up

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VSP Global Partners With Veterans | VSP Blog

Nathan is an ex-Marine Corps who served in the Military Systems Data Management field, equipping him with valuable software skills. Through VSP?s partnership with the Vet-Net Program in El Dorado Hills, now Nathan works as QA Software Testing intern at VSP.

?The help that I received from the Vet-Net program and VSP was invaluable. From improving my resume writing skills and job search techniques, to a mock interview with an actual Human Resources Recruiter, my job search was immensely improved by the assistance and support they provided. I would not be employed today without them. Thank you so much for supporting Veterans.?

Engaging with Veterans
As we honor our veterans this month with Memorial Day, our focus turns to those who have served and are serving in all branches of the military. But what happens after Memorial Day? How do we honor our veterans throughout the year?

VSP Global is determined to engage with veterans throughout the year to help with decreasing the ever-rising unemployment rate veterans face. VSP Recruiters have partnered with the United States Army both nationally and locally, to bring veterans and their families employment opportunities and skills to use in the workplace.

Why Now?
As VSP Global expands, it is becoming more important to keep the company grounded and immersed in local communities, and we feel it?s crucial that employers reach out to a sector of our society that?s often overlooked. There are approximately 5.1 million Gulf War Veterans circulating back into civilian life and needing work, and local businesses can help.

National Level
VSP Global has partnered with the U.S. Army on a national level through the Partnership for Youth Success program (PaYS). VSP now has the ability to reach out to qualified U.S. Army veterans with skill sets that help fill talent gaps within VSP companies. Candidates are guaranteed an interview with VSP after discharge, giving them valuable face time with a potential employer. This partnership also opens doors for VSP to access other transitioning veterans throughout theU.S.

Why the Army?
The army was targeted as VSP?s first military recruitment endeavor due to the various military optical occupational specialties ? operating 25 optical labs globally to produce the lenses and technology needed to manufacture glasses, goggles, telescopes, and gun scopes. Not to mention, 30% of the armed forces require glasses!

Community Level
On a community level, VSP has partnered with the California EDD Vet-Net program by helping to create an 8-week workshop in Placer County to assist veterans, like Nethan Jenan, and their spouses in their efforts to return to work. The workshop teaches resume-building skills and interview techniques, and targets veterans specifically within the local community. VSP has partnered with other local employers to offer feedback and guidance to these veterans as they work through this program.

Plus,?read?how veterans in need are receiving access to care on Memorial Day through the VSP Eye on Diabetes campaign.

File under: Economy, Uncategorized, VSP in the Community | Tagged: Memorial Day, veterans

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Interview: Paul French, author of Midnight in China

Published on Saturday 26 May 2012 00:00

Pamela Werner was 19 when her heart and her body were left under a ?haunted watchtower? in Peking in 1937. Paul French tells David Robinson how he can finally name the killer

I haven?t met anyone like Paul French before. He is a 6ft 5in, straight-talking 45-year-old Londoner, and if you want to know what kind of business you should set up in China right now, he is one of the go-to guys. He has worked in Shanghai nearly all his adult life, set up a market research business with a friend when western firms were just starting to move in, and when he sold it last year he became rich. The people who bought his company gave him a three-year golden handcuffs deal, a job as their chief China market strategist and a credit card to travel anywhere he wants in China to research anything that catches his fancy. ?It?s all big picture stuff,? he says. ?Is China going to have a hard landing or a soft one? How much of their economy is a smoke and mirrors act and how much is sustainable??

He shrugs, the way you do when you want to say that it?s no big deal. ?Just right time, right place. If you learnt Chinese when I did and went to China when I did ? 1993 ? and didn?t make a lot of money, you?re an idiot.?

Right now, though, he?s not bothered about the latest business prospects in the Middle Kingdom (though he drops a hint that there?s probably a fortune awaiting anyone building luxury old people?s homes for rich Chinese). What he really wants to talk about is the book he has just written about the murder of a teenage British girl in 1937 Peking. Midnight in Peking is already being talked about as a true crime classic in the same breath as The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and not just by his publishers? publicists: the company behind Spooks is going to turn it into a TV drama series, and it will be Radio 4?s Book of the Week next week.

The book tells the story of the murder of Pamela Werner, the 19-year-old only daughter of former British consul Edward Werner. Months before the Japanese invaded, her body was found under a Peking watchtower that was believed to be haunted. Her heart had been cut out.

French came across the story when he was researching a book about early 20th-century western foreign correspondents in China. In a biography of Edgar Snow, the Communist American journalist who first wrote about Mao Tse-Tung in the 1930s bestseller Red Star Over China, there was a footnote saying that his wife Helen, also a journalist, thought that she had been the murderers? intended victim: they lived nearby and both had written things that could have antagonised Chiang Kai-shek?s regime. There was an intriguing suggestion that the murder involved some kind of a ?love cult?, along with the statement that the crime had never been solved.

?Originally, I thought even that would be enough. It was a good story with some good characters in an intriguing place and time. Unusually, it was investigated by a Chinese policeman as well as a British one. I tracked down everyone I could find who knew Pamela and her father, and that, I thought, would be that. At the end, I would have written a chapter saying that life isn?t like CSI, that this was just one death in what would soon be millions, as civilisation collapsed into barbarism with the rape of Nanking and the start of the Second World War. I think I could have got away with that.?

In 2009 he was in London researching the last chapter about what happened to all the characters in the story. The British detective, he knew, had been tortured by the Japanese and in the war crimes tribunals had testified against a Japanese commander and seen him hanged. All the materials for that would be in the National Archives at Kew, so one rainy day in 2009 he went there.

?There was a box that said, ?Correspondence, British Legation, Peking, 1943?. And I thought, what?s that? Because there was no British legation in Peking in 1943: after Pearl Harbour everyone had got out or been interned and the embassy had long been locked up. ? And so it had. It was just a simple labelling error: all it meant was that the documents, delayed by the exigencies of war, had arrived in Britain in 1943. Yet when he looked in the box, he realised that he had struck gold.

Edward Werner, Pamela?s father, had always refused to accept that his daughter?s killer would never be brought to justice. Painstakingly, and despite official indifference and obfuscation, he had launched a private investigation that uncovered her killers. Even better, he had written it up in 150 closely-typed and annotated pages.

?It was,? grins French, ?my eureka moment. I photocopied the pages, went to the pub around the corner, and read through it. And knowing what I already did from the autopsy and the police investigation and from all the people I had already talked to, all the newspaper reports, all the bits that I?d dug up that nobody knew at the time, I thought, ?We?ve got it!?? He could, at last, put a name to Pamela Werner?s murderer.

?Before that, I had thought that Pamela might have been killed because of an affair with a married man that went bad, or that she might have become involved with a swingers? group. Then I spent months thinking it might have been something to do with the dodgy headmaster at her grammar school in Tientsin. I had no idea that it was going to turn out as dark as it actually was.?

Don?t expect me to reveal how dark Midnight in Peking turns out to be. But it involves a decadent White Mischief-type set of expatriates, Badlands brothels, and a 19-year-old girl who had always thought Peking was one of the safest places in the world, then suddenly found herself out of her depth.

?The irony is,? says French, ?by and large it is a safe place. It?s not Russia: I have never felt threatened there, or worried about my wife coming home late. I?ve never even seen a punch-up on the street. And the only racism westerners experience is of being treated too well. My wife, who is Chinese, says that in most countries people are nice to each other and nasty to outsiders; in China it?s the other way round. They?re nice to outsiders ? well, apart from black people and people who have ginger hair like they imagine ghosts do.?

The more French thought himself inside Werner?s grieving mind, piecing together the clues that he is convinced point to the killer, the more he came to respect him. ?At first he had seemed to me a rather cold, distant father. And perhaps that, along with sending Pamela to boarding school in Tientsin might have turned her into the fun-loving girl she was.

But by the end of the book, you can see that he was a lot more than that. You judge him by his actions: he bankrupted himself and ruined his health to bring her killer to justice and most readers will really feel for him at the end.?

For French, ETC Werner was the kind of Sinophile he could identify with right at the start. ?He wasn?t your usual British imperialist: he spoke several Chinese dialects and lived outside the Legation Quarter. People forget that mandarin has only been the national language since 1949 and that until then most people didn?t learn it ? they just learnt the language of the region in which they worked. That?s why even now practically every Chinese TV programme is subtitled, because everyone can read the same language even though speakers of different dialects can?t always understand each other. The Chinese would have been amazed by anyone mastering six or seven dialects, which is why Werner was so respected. ?

French, too, is ?a languages nut?, studying Chinese at the University of London and Economics in Glasgow, going to Shanghai in 1987 as part of his first degree. ?It was as if someone had thrown a sheet over the place in 1949 and just left it there: of all the Chinese cities, Shanghai was the last to marketise because it was the least trusted by the Party.?

Both there and in London he was rigorously taught how to write Chinese; because all left-handers were automatically failed, he learnt to write Chinese with his right hand, while remaining left-handed writing English.

He is fascinated by Old China hands like Werner (who had been in China for half a century when Pamela was murdered) and brings his vanished world back to vivid, pulsating life. But it is the storytelling flair that marks Midnight in Peking so highly above the run-of-the-mill true crime stories: with its false leads and twists, and the care taken never to reveal anything ahead of his protagonists, it sucks the reader in like the best fiction.

Exceptionally, this is a story that also casts light on the kind of characters who normally live only in darkened margins of history: White Russian gangsters, half-Korean brothel madams, hermaphrodite cabaret stars, prostitutes on the run from the authorities.

It is these demi-mondaines who will be the subjects of his next two books. First, there will be a short book giving more of the back stories of some of the shadier characters in Midnight in Peking. Then, he?ll switch to the city he knows best: Shangai. ?It?s going to be girls, gangs, jazz, sex, the badlands, casinos. Everyone has an image of the Shanghai between 1939 and 1941. It was the Chicago of the East, a real wild town. You?ve got to imagine the whole international concession is surrounded by the Japanese but they didn?t invade until after Pearl Harbour in 1941. Until then, there?s this wild party going on in the Bund (European central area) while outside the Chinese are fighting for survival. Inside the Bund, the foreigners can?t escape and there is no effective policing, but they all have a lot of money ? and that?s a hugely combustible mix. Even if you don?t get all of the history, I hope you?ll get a sense of a world falling apart, as in Isherwood?s Cabaret. Everyone knows things are going to be bad ? though nobody can imagine quite how bad they actually will be ? so they party like there?s no tomorrow. ?

He gives me his card, this gangly Londoner whose day job is flying around China, trying to work out its future while writing riveting books about its past. ?Next time you?re in Shanghai, look me up,? he says, giving me his card. Next time I?m in Shanghai, I most certainly will.

? Midnight in China by Paul French is published by Viking, price ?14.99. It will be Radio 4?s Book of the week next week. See also midnightinpeking.com

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Chattanooga Football Club again makes lineup adjustments

published Saturday, May 26th, 2012

Chattanooga Football Club player John Carrier drives the ball down the field during their season opener against the Knoxville Force at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga. "; objLink.IsAboveImage = false; objLink.LinkTarget = "_blank"; objLink.Render();

The Chattanooga Football Club has played three games this season. Because of injuries, adjustments and some limited player availability, the starting lineup for each game has been radically different.

That will be the case again when CFC (2-1) hosts Rocket City United (0-2) at 7 tonight at Finley Stadium, the first of four straight home games.

"This is the point where I thought [a lineup] would come together, but now we've got three would-be starters out sidelined with injuries," first-year CFC coach Bill Elliott said. "When you have guys out, that means you have opportunities for the guys that have been wanting to play."

Fynn Glover and Luis Trude started the past two games and will be out this week due to injury, as will Greg Eckhardt, who started the first two games. Elliott said at least 16 players have started at least one game already.

Injuries are an unpredictable part of the game, but having players miss games for graduation, weddings or family functions isn't something that happens in most sports. But it happens in the amateur National Premier Soccer League, which has teams made up mostly of collegiate players and former players who still want to play, while also settling down and starting families and post-soccer careers.

Defender Russell Courtney is one of those players who has a young family and a career and still has the skill to play for CFC. Courtney, in his fourth season with the club, started the season's first game but will miss his third in a row due to other commitments.

"Things have changed as far as my schedule and having a lot more things on my plate as a dad," he said. "The competitive edge is still there and it's still a lot of fun, but obviously priorities change when you have a family. ... Family takes priority over soccer."

General manager Sean McDaniel said CFC plans for having players in and out of the lineup. The club brings in enough players each season so that if several are out for whatever reasons, there are guys available so there can be a full bench for each game.

"It's why we need to carry 28-30 guys each year," McDaniel said.

Because of the number of players on the roster, CFC will play some reserve games this season. The first will be today at 4 p.m. against Rocket City United's reserves.

"It's for the younger guys or the guys that can't always travel," McDaniel said. "I think we're meeting the soccer needs of these guys. One, by bringing a lot of people in. Two, by giving them matches as well."

about John Frierson...

John Frierson is in his fifth year at the Times Free Press and fifth year covering University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics. The bulk of his time is spent covering Mocs football, but he also writes about women?s basketball and the big-picture issues and news involving the athletic department. A native of Athens, Ga., John grew up a few hundred yards from the University of Georgia campus. Instead of becoming a Bulldog he attended Ole ...

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LG celebrates three million LTE phones sold worldwide, shockingly finds high speed data is awesome

LG has hitched its mobile fate to the future of LTE high speed data equipped phones basically since the technology was introduced and today it announced the fruits of its labor: three million LTE phones sold to date worldwide. While some will quibble over shipped / sold to end-user counting methods, or how this compares to figures recently touted by competition like Samsung and Apple, we need only look at LG's most recent earnings report to see the positive impact its LTE-infused lineup has had. According to LG, most of the gains have been in South Korea and North America so far, although it plans to have LTE phones in 20 countries by the end of the year. After kicking off the LTE frenzy with the Revolution last year on Verizon, it's talking up the combination of LTE and HD LCD screen features in its Optimus LTE phone, already a million seller in Korea just as its successor, the Optimus LTE II arrives on shelves.

LG celebrates three million LTE phones sold worldwide, shockingly finds high speed data is awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 May 2012 23:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Select Professional Real Estate Advisors Not Amateurs ...

How to Select Professional Real Estate Advisors Not Amateurs

Even the top real estate professionals in the world still use advisors when making decisions. There are many decisions that you have to make to get started investing in real estate and to keep the ball rolling. There is definitely strength in numbers and having a strong team of advisors will help you. The knowledge and experience of those around you can help you make the right decision or steer you away from a complete disaster. Learning how to choose professional advisors and not amateurs will help provide the foundation for a great career buying and selling investment property.?

?

What is a Professional Advisor?

There are many people that hold advanced degrees or that have experience in various areas of business, law and financial industries. This does not make every person a professional advisor. A common mistake made by those that enter real estate as a beginner is attorney selection. There are many documents that are best reviewed by an attorney before they are signed. This includes documents for a turnkey investment property. The type of attorney selected is important. Using a real estate lawyer or estate lawyer is an example of a professional advisor. Using a DUI or personal injury law attorney to review real estate documents might lead to mistakes in decision making or analysis due to misunderstands of property laws and regulations.

Another example is property managers. You can have someone join your team or offer advice that is experienced in real estate. Since there are several areas of real estate, making sure that the advice you get pertains to your area of real estate is essential. Commercial real estate managers usually manage hundreds of units compared to what a residential real estate manager manages. Someone that manages investment property in the area where you plan to invest will have local information and understand the rent prices and other complexities. Someone that manages no residents in the area where your property is located or where you will invest might not offer the best information to help you.

?

Knowing Who You Can Trust

Bouncing ideas off of someone and getting factual advice when you need it are two different things. Selecting a turnkey property company that has the experience investing in the area where you plan to invest likely has information that private investors do not. Successful property managers that deal with hundreds of tenants in the same city or nearby city where you will invest can teach you a lot. Reading testimonials and asking a lot of questions are one way how you learn about real estate, property management and being a landlord.

Knowing how to spot an amateur versus a professional gets easier with time. The more that you self-educate yourself you will be able to plan for helpful in advance. Real estate investing takes some time to learn correctly and the strength of the team that you have around you will help you get results. Referrals can be made and relationships can grow based on the helpfulness of the professional real estate advisors you select.

?

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Avatar: The Legend of Korra thoughts ? Remy van Ruiten

Long ago, a fantastic blend of western and eastern animation styles lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when internet fandoms grew as the series aged. Now a new Avatar series appears, with an older cast, an older audience, and more creative freedom than most series should be allowed to have.

Originally, I was really afraid this series wouldn?t live up to the name of the first. A lot of what made The Last Airbender stand out was how they dealt with what they were given. Considering it was an animated show on Nickelodeon, there were a lot of restrictions for the creators to deal with. Somehow, the writers managed to find ways to bring a war-torn world to life, bringing up subplots about relationships, sexuality, racism, and cultural acceptance, without ever really forcing it. It managed to do it while still being light-hearted and a great kid?s show full of adventure and light-hearted comedy.

Then along comes Legend of Korra, with a higher budget, a more mature focus, and way fewer restrictions after the success of the first show. As much as it?s a sequel to the original show, it?s very clear from the start that they had no intention of making just more of the same. The original cast doesn?t make a return, instead we find the next in line of the Avatar Cycle, Korra, as she faces the problems of the Republic City in the aftermath of the Fire Nation wars.

It took a while for me to really like this one. The first few episodes were a bit slow, and it was hard to really get a good feel for the atmosphere in it in just a few 20 minute segments. I remember that it took the first show a few episodes to find its bearings too, so it?s hard to hold this against the new series.

It was also strange to see the world having grown so much in such a short time. After taking the advances in bending that were made in The Last Airbender though, especially metal and electricity bending in particular, it makes a lot of sense for civilization to have grown so much.

The characters, as always, are really great. There?s not too much to say at the moment, as I?ll want to wait until we see some more reasonable character growth happen, and it?s simply just too early to judge that. I do like the female protagonist, and how they didn?t make her all girly. The supporting cast is all fantastically fleshed out, and well-balanced.

I?m also glad that, as cool as it was, Pro-bending isn?t a thing for the entire duration of the show. For a moment, I was afraid that Legend of Korra was going the Harry Potter route, where the main character not only solves the crime of the evil overlord, but also wins the sports tournament at the last possible moment. without spoiling anything, let?s just say that the Pro-bending tournament is already over, and we?re not even at the halfway point of the show.

That said, I would love for a company to come in and make a Pro-Bending videogame tie-in. Or maybe even just a game playing into the basic idea of Pro-bending. Low-contact Kungfu-magic sports? Count me in on that. I?m sure I wouldn?t be the only one to want to see this either.

Amon seems to be a much more sympathetic villain than the Fire Lord Ozai was. Where Ozai largely just felt as an unforgivably evil ruler on the basis of just being cruel in every way possible, Amon?s movement seems to have much more reason behind it. It does make sense that in a world where people with bending powers exist, all the wars would be fought by them. And with the law enforcement being run by benders too, it?s not too strange for non-bending people to feel oppressed. Not saying that his movement is in the right, but his arguments seem sympathetic enough to get behind as a non-magical power using civilian in a world with magic everywhere.

overall, it just feels that Legend of Korra is just that bit more mature, packs that bit more of a punch than The Last Airbender. These are just early thoughts halfway through the first season, and my opinion might still take a dive later on during this series, but so far I?m loving every second of it.

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Obasanjo, Mbeki call for South Africa, Nigeria cordiality

Published on May 26, 2012 by pmnews ????? No Comments

Nigeria?s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerian and South African governments to ensure that relationship between the two countries does not deteriorate. Obasanjo, at a Banquet dinner held in his honour by the South African chapter of the Nigerian in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), on Friday in Johannesburg, said the two countries had a lot to gain from each other.

?There is no reason why Nigeria and South African relations should deteriorate, we must all make sure that, that should not be the case, because we have so much at stake.Whether we like it or not, if we do it well, the economy of Nigeria and South Africa will continue to be the largest in African continent to drive the continent?s economy,?? Obasanjo said.

He, however, condemned in strong terms the frosty relationship between the two countries as a result of the yellow fever document saga.

?To me leadership matters, I am not justifying anything, but I am saying that relations that existed between Nigeria and South Africa in those hale days should not be allowed to diminish or deteriorate because we have so much at stake.

?Things like yellow fever should not be allowed to affect the good things between the two countries.

?I am not blaming the leadership at high level, but whoever that was responsible for that decision should be heavily punished,?? Obasanjo said.

He said the xenophobia attack on Africans by some South Africans was condemnable.

?Immigration of people will always take place, be it for political, economy or social reason. There should be free movement of people within the continent, just like what we have in ECOWAS region.

?Boundary demarcation should just be for administrative purposes.??

He recalled the contributions of the Nigerian governments towards liberation struggles in the Southern African region.

?Nigerian government donated about N25 million towards the liberation struggles in the Southern African Region, and Nigerian civil servants were made to voluntarily donate five per cent of their salaries to the South African Relief Fund,?? Obasanjo said.

He said there was perfect understanding between Nigeria and South Africa when he was the president and former President Thabo Mbeki was in-charge in South Africa.

?There was a perfect understanding between Nigeria and South Africa when I was the president of Nigeria and President Mbeki was in-charge here.

?South Africa will not show interest in any position Nigeria wants and Nigeria will not show interest in any position South Africa wants, both of us have a way of lobbying other African countries to support us for any position,?? Obasanjo said.

Mbeki, who referred to himself as a Nigerian, said Nigeria provided leadership in Africa towards eradication of apartheid regime in South Africa and liberation struggle in Southern Africa as a whole.

?Nigeria, through the leadership of President Obasanjo provided the leadership the ANC needed in the continent.

?After the Soweto massacre of 1976, the ANC decided to take some young black South African out of the country to get education.

?Nigeria had a huge number of those Soweto boys educated in various Nigerian educational institutions; most of those Soweto boys are today university professors and top government and ANC officials.

?My wife was the coordinator of that programme, I was always in Nigeria, which made the ANC to appoint me as the contact man in Nigeria,?? Mbeki said.

He said there should be no hostility between the two countries due to the long historical relationship that existed between them.

?There should be no hostility between Nigeria and South Africa due to long historical relationship we had.

?President Obasanjo, people and governments of Nigeria stood by us financially and materially during the struggle to end apartheid.

?It is important to build people to people relationship, to sustain the relationship for the benefit of our governments and people,?? Mbeki said.

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the President of Inkatha Freedom Party and a member of the South African parliament, said that the government and people of South Africa owed it a point of duty to apologise to all Africans for the xenophobia attack.

?South Africa owes all Africans apology for the xenophobia attack.

?South Africans should be ashamed of attacking their fellow brothers and sisters that stood by them during the struggle to end apartheid and attain the freedom we all enjoy today.

?I am putting this call at the parliament,?? Buthelezi said.

Posted by pmnews 2 hours, 26 minutes ago on May 26, 2012, 1:58 pm. Filed under National, News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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We are the Churches of The Detroit Metropolitan Association of The United Church of Christ. Our Association is 31 churches strong and growing! We are united in our faith and diverse in how we express that faith. We offer those in the community seeking new ways of Living a Spiritual Life in a world that often doesn?t make sense, this website for sharing and caring. There are Top 100 Best Church Websites.

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New Internet Business Sparked by Desire and A Book | Small ...

Business on the Internet

I recently had the opportunity to pose some questions to new business owner, Greg Fields. Here is an excerpt from his responses.

When asked to describe his business, Greg commented that, ?Fields of Treasures is an on-line Jewelry store that creates a great shopping experience which entices the customer to make a purchase; inspiring a good feeling, self-confidence, and the desire to return for more.?

Book sparks business

Greg stated that he had read the book, ?Get Rich Click? by Mark Ostrofsky. ?Mark owns 8 internet based companies with revenues of over $75 million annually. His book teaches SEO optimization, affiliate marketing, social network selling, etc. My wife and I have always wanted to open a business. She came up with fashion jewelry shortly before I read in the book that jewelry is one of the easiest items to convert customers from traditional retail to internet. I had always heard that the internet had great potential.? And the business was born.

Of course, many people have attempted to develop successful businesses on the internet and have failed. Greg is confident that with great products and a solid long term plan, he and his wife will be able to grow the business and then to expand to other items. ?Maybe home goods. We want to be the new Homesense or Kirklands.?

Ideal Customer Identified

Given the nature of the online business, Greg identifies his ideal customer as women between 30 to 55 who want to look great and feel good.

The Adventure of Owning a Business

In the business?s early stages, Greg already sees the benefits of being a business owner. ?I love the independence of the hours. (I work long hours but when I choose). I love the challenge of applying the lessons I have learned over many years to my own company.? And the downside? ?What?s not to like? I have freedom, vast earning potential and can run the company my way.?

Although his business is less than a few months old, Greg has already learned one important lesson. ?Always expect the unexpected. There are many hurdles to jump but their worth it.?

And his advice for others who are thinking about starting their own businesses is simple. ?Go for it. There will be many sleepless nights but the sense of accomplishment is worth it.?

Name: Greg Fields
Business Name: Fields of Treasures
Website: fieldsoftreasures.com
Location: Belle River, ON Canada

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