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CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Khaled Meshaal narrowly survived an assassination attempt ordered by Benjamin Netanyahu in 1997 the first time he was Israeli prime minister. Fifteen years on, the Hamas leader claims to have defeated Netanyahu once again.

The eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip - a Hamas victory in Meshaal's eyes - has breathed new life into his political career just he seemed poised to leave his post. Meshaal indicated earlier this year he did not want to continue as Hamas leader.

Meshaal, 56, took over as Hamas leader following the 2004 assassinations of Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantissi and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement's founder. With both of them killed in the Gaza Strip, Meshaal has led Hamas from the relative safety of exile.

This week, his political stock climbed sharply as he led the Palestinian team negotiating a ceasefire under Egyptian mediation. The deal unveiled on Wednesday was viewed as a success by the Palestinians.

"It is a tactical defeat - one stage along the road of defeats," an upbeat Meshaal said during a news conference on Wednesday, summing up the outcome of the war. "We have come out of this battle with our heads up high."

Israel's failure was proof, he said, that armed "resistance" was the way forward, dressed in a suit and open neck shirt as he displayed the calm confidence that has characterized his public addresses from Cairo this week.

"The stature he has gained in the last few days will allow him to continue to play a political role," said George Giacaman, a professor of political science at Birzeit University in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "If he is not in a specific office, he will occupy the role of a senior statesman."

On Meshaal's watch, Hamas has emerged as an ever more important player in the Middle East conflict. It weakened the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority by seizing control of Gaza in 2007, challenging its strategy of negotiating peace with Israel and promoting an alternative approach based on armed struggle.

Meshaal does not accept the idea of a permanent peace deal with Israel but has said Hamas could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as a temporary solution in return for a long-term truce.

Born in Silwad near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Meshaal has steered Hamas through the upheaval unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings, deploying what associates describe as deft diplomatic skills to navigate the turbulence.

Meshaal survived a 1997 Israeli attempt to kill him when two agents injected him with poison in broad daylight on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital.

The attack so enraged Jordan's late King Hussein that he talked of hanging the captured Israeli would-be-assassins unless the antidote was handed over. An embarrassed Israeli government complied.

"A REAL POLITICIAN"

While the crisis in Syria forced the exiled Hamas leadership to give up its Damascus base, Hamas appears to have emerged with new friends, including an Islamist-led Egypt more in tune with its way of thinking. "His flexible approach made him a real politician," said one Hamas official.

Meshaal's associates say is an old friend of President Mohamed Mursi, the new Egyptian head of state propelled to power by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group aligned with Hamas.

Even as ties with Syria have been cut, Meshaal has gone out of his way to preserve relations with Iran, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main allies. Meshaal thanked Iran for supplying arms and cash during his Wednesday remarks.

"There is big faith in Meshaal and he has led the negotiations in an impressive and brave way," said Mustafa Asawaf, a senior Hamas government official in Gaza.

"I expect there will be pressure on him to change his mind and to stay on as leader of the movement, at least for the coming stage. But I doubt he will," he said. "He will remain a top leader, a member of the political office," he added.

The group has been holding a leadership ballot for several months to decide who will succeed Meshaal.

According to sources familiar with the movement's internal politics, Meshaal has been irritated with policy challenges from the Gaza-based leadership, though Hamas formally denies that.

Friction between Meshaal and the Gaza-based leadership surfaced over his attempts to promote reconciliation with President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority.

Irritating Hamas leaders in Gaza, Meshaal agreed that Abbas could lead any future unity government designed to bring together the rival Palestinian administrations.

Abbas is also head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which was founded in 1964 to group Palestinian factions. Hamas, which was founded in 1987, has never joined the PLO, saying it must be overhauled.

Meshaal has used his public addresses through the Gaza conflict to call once again urged moves towards reconciliation, including reform of the PLO and moves towards forging a shared strategy for pursuing the Palestinian cause.

Meshaal's goal is to turn Hamas into the leading force in the entire Palestinian national movement, not just Gaza, said Mouin Rabbani, an expert on Palestinian affairs.

"His focus is much more on him or one of his successors becoming the eventual leader of the PLO executive committee rather than being prime minister of Gaza," he said.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gaza-war-offers-boost-hamas-leader-meshaal-172956785.html

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steven.fleming

BREAKFAST LINKS 11/20/12:

Fergus Walsh, BBC News Health: Nose-Cell Transplant Helps Paralyzed Dogs to Walk

Alan Noble, Patheos/Christ and PopCulture: ?Rather than heal our racial divide, Obama supporters? constant use of the race card seemed to create significantly more conflict between whites and blacks. And a study has provided evidence for escalated conflict.?

Rachel Held Evans, CNN Belief Blog: The Danger of Calling Behavior ?Biblical?

L. Kenna, Patheos/Evangelical Channel: ?The cursed mindset says that you and your spouse can never be happy, can never be enough without a child.? And that is a lie.? Just like the lie that being infertile has anything to do with how much God loves you.?

Nile Gardiner, The Telegraph: Obama Blunders on World Stage Continue

Bill Blankschaen, Patheos/Bill in the Blank: ?It is precisely because I value human life so highly that I must support death as the divinely appointed penalty for those who take God?s authority upon themselves to murder another. And it?may be?precisely because others do not value human life that they would both support?abortion and oppose the death penalty for?murder.?

Salena Zito, Real Clear Politics: Boehner?s Smart Play

Dillon Burroughs, Patheos/Holy Writ: ?When we do as we wish, or ?live and let live? as is often quoted today, disaster results.?

Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz: This Israeli-Hamas Conflict is Different than ?09

Mark Regenerus, Patheos/Black, White and Gray: ?No, male self-control has not changed a great deal over human history. What has grown dramatically is sexual opportunity and what has declined precipitously is social restraint.?

Mark Driscoll, Resurgence: A Father?s Fright of Twilight

Thomas L. MacDonald, Patheos/God and the Machine: ?That?s the tendency of original sin tugging at me, but even before that original sin, there was the great gift and the great danger of free-will. That?s what I mean when I say that if Adam hadn?t taken the apple, I would have. It was inevitable.?

David Warren, The Catholic Thing: Living in Occupied America

Mark Shea, Patheos/Catholic and Enjoying It: ?The future is that time when you and all you love will be dead.? Get over it.? We?re not made for the future.? We?re made for eternity.?

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Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/philosophicalfragments/2012/11/20/breakfast-links-for-112012-nose-cell-transplants-and-dogs-a-pro-life-death-penalty-advocate-petraeus-men-and-sex/

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steven.fleming

Does online advertising work? What options are out there and what is the best return for your investment?

More and more the internet is becoming a primary marketing tool for many businesses, and those who have not yet taken the plunge are starting to get left behind. Most businesses accept the fact that without an online presence it?s hard to stay afloat, but with all the choices out there it?s easy to end up treading water, and instead of gaining more customers you can end up drowning in Tweets and Facebook posts that never seem to produce results.

To help those just getting their toes wet in the online ocean, we?ve put together a case study that shows you exactly what works and what doesn?t work when promoting your business online. The study below follows a start-up summer camp through their first year of business. The camp has four different camp specialties, each with it?s own website: Windsurfing, Photography, Climbing and Outdoor Adventure. The camp has a fifth website to act as a landing page. Over the course of 6 months they tried different marketing techniques, spending similar amounts of capital on each option.

A note about online scams: Once the camp owners began actively looking to promote their business online they were swamped with calls and emails from ?marketing firms.? About 90% of the people who contacted them were scammers. When promoting your business online always use a reputable company. Don?t listen to promises of ?first page rankings? or ?guaranteed results.? No one can guarantee you results on the internet, because they don?t control it. Shady marketing techniques can get you big jumps in web traffic, for short periods of time, but these aren?t real customers and whatever short term gains you may perceive will soon be lost.

The graph below shows visitors to each of the camp?s five websites with yellow lines showing the beginning of each marketing campaign. Most online ads would target the landing page, but some, like Google Ads targeted specific camps and therefore results are only seen for those camps.

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Internet Marketing Techniques and Results

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What Worked ? what didn?t
The camp tried many different types of advertising. The below comments are based on their experience and studying the analytics for the five websites.

Blog (Great investment)
- The absolute best thing you can do to drive traffic to your site and create customers is to have a blog, and post regularly. The more you post, the more people will find you online, and not just through ads, but because they are actively searching for what you are talking about. The most successful blog post was title ?How to Choose a Camp for Your Child.? And more than one new registration came from people who read that post and were then turned on to the rest of the site. As long as you keep writing, people will keep reading. A common pitfall with blogs is to stop posting. You need to post at least once per week for a ?blog to benefit your site.

Submission to online directories (Great ? especially for new websites)
- Every industry has online (and offline) directories that list companies and give consumers an easier way to find what their looking for. One of the best things you can do for a new site is get yourself listed in as many of these directories as possible. You want people to find your site, and no one is going to do that without links. Apply to the free ones first, and if you have any spare cash you can sign up for some of the paid directories. The camps signed up for four paid directories. The more expensive directory did not lead to more leads, so don?t sign up for the most expensive thinking it?s the best.
Here are some free directories to get you started:?Manta | Yahoo! | ?YELP | Google Places

Google Ads (Most effective online advertising)
- Out of all the online advertisers only Google Ads produced any noticeable results. And they only charge when someone actually visited the site. Many other options (like Facebook Ads) charged per ad displayed, whether or not it drove traffic to the site. The Google Ads budget was focused on the Climbing Camp and while the ads were running, there was a noticeable increase in traffic. Not only directly from the ads, but search engine rankings also seemed to increase. The Google Ads ran for 1 month, and the day after they stopped we saw a marked drop in traffic to the Climbing Camp. On average Google ads cost $1 per visitor to the site.

Facebook / Twitter (Good for a long term plan)
- By themselves Facebook and Twitter will not draw customers. They work best as part of a long term strategy for interacting with past customers and staying in touch. When the Facebook / Twitter sites were first put up they generated no leads, and half the time we were tweeting to an empty room. But now as the camp rolls into it?s second year of operation, past campers and parents are using those forums to reconnect, share photos and get news. Both Facebook and Twitter should be connected to your blog, so that you only have to say things once.

Targeted Email (OK for contacting established customers)
- Email marketing is tricky, especially when trying to win over new customers. Generally you shouldn?t email people if they don?t specifically request it. The camp tried two different types email campaigns. The more succssful of the two was a targeted campaign to climbing schools located in Japan. One of the camp counselors had lived in Japan, and he used his connections to put together a carefully selected list of schools to email. A service called Mailchimp was used to send out the emails. Out of 427 emails 110 were opened and 21 people visited the website.

KOMO News (link farms) (Waste of time and money)
- KOMO News could be called a link farm. They create hundreds of websites targeting different areas of the country and topics. For example ?Seattle, Washington Health and Fitness.? They then fill the pages with keywords and optimize the page for search engines, so that if people search for ?Seattle Heath & Fitness? their site will come up at the top of the list. Then they sell advertising on that site. This was the second worst return on our inventment. Over 6 months of advertising only 40 people visited the website via KOMO News. Don?t advertise with these types of websites. You?d be better off spending the money to improve SEO for your own site.

Facebook Ads (Expensive with not much traffic increase)
- Out of 150,000 Facebook ad impressions purchased, only 85 people clicked through to the website. Compared to Google ads, Facebook advertising cost 1000% as much for the same results, not a good ROI. I should mention that the camp did not do the ads themselves, they hired a company called Fan Base Solutions. This is a company that only does Facebook advertising, and still this is the best they could do.

Groupon (75% of profits lost)
- In the graph there are two large spikes towards the middle. This was right before registration was ending, and in an attempt to fill the final spots the camp owners decided to put out a Groupon. The people at Groupon were tough negotiators, and after a week of phone calls the best deal we could work out was 50% customer discount ? 25% to Groupon ? 25% to the camp. Groupon was able to fill five of the remaining camper spots, but only at a net loss to the camp. Unless you plan on artificially ?inflating your prices, Groupon is a quick way to self-cannibalize your company, devalue your product, and will probably not produce return customers willing to pay full price the next time.

Plum District & Other Deal Sites (75% of profits lost)
- This was the second big spike. They produced some web traffic, but no sales. I think this would be the same for any similar deal site.

Linked In Ads (Waste of time)
- Linked In is not on the chart because after 2 months of running ads not a single person clicked through to the site. They charged per click, so the total cost was $0, but it ranks as a major waste of time.

Spam Email (1,000,000 emails = 22 visitors)
- Towards the end of registration a ?marketer? began contacting the camp director and tried to sell him on an email list. This was supposed to be a targeted email list of one million names, all in a specific geographic zone, above a certain income and with children in high school. The idea was that even if only 1% of the emails reached their target, that would still be 10,000 leads, and a good chance to get some new campers. Despite recommendations against it, the list was purchased. The list itself was expensive and a private company had to be hired to send out the emails (normal servers don?t send out 1,000,000 emails). Out of 1,000,000 emails only 5.83% turned out to be real addresses and of those 21 people clicked through to the website. The campaign resulted in no new signups.

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Happy internet marketing, and please give us a call if you need some help navigating the wild seas of internet marketing.

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If you?re interested in sharing this case study a pre-made presentation can be found here:?http://prezi.com/mfubd8tfjzw7/does-online-marketing-work/

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Source: http://triad-inc.com/blog/best-internet-marketing-techniques-a-case-study/

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steven.fleming

With its new Balance Smartphone Scale, Wahoo Fitness clearly has designs on Withings' corner of the fitness gadget market. There's no phone dongles or shoe clips here -- simply step on the scale and your weight will be recorded and synced to the companion iOS app. The Balance can record up to 130 weigh-ins before needing to push the information to your iPhone or iPad via Bluetooth, which you can then share with the usual cloud services (should you need further reason to feel ashamed). The scale can manage the profiles of up to 16 different users and keep tabs on everyone's weight and BMI goals. Unlike its competition, there's no WiFi option, which means you can't sync your shame directly to the web. But, having to take the intermediary step of pulling out your phone presumably has helped the company shave the price down to $99. You can pre-order the Balance now for delivery the first week of December.

Continue reading Wahoo Fitness launches a Bluetooth smart scale for $99

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Wahoo Fitness

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/gmQBjOwU4Pg/

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steven.fleming

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Islamist gunmen fought Tuareg separatist rebels on Monday in a battle for control of the town of Menaka in Mali's northern desert, close to the border with Niger, both sides said.

The renewed fighting came as African leaders put the finishing touches to an international intervention plan to retake Mali's north from a patchwork of armed groups who the West suspects of providing a platform for militant attacks.

"The fighting started early this morning and it is ongoing," said Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a France-based spokesman for the independence-seeking MNLA Tuareg group.

"We have not given up on Menaka," he added.

A spokesman for al Qaeda-linked Islamist group MUJWA said its fighters had already seized control of the town, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Niger border, in clashes that had left many MNLA fighters "dead, wounded, and imprisoned".

Neither side could give details on casualties.

The MNLA declared an independent Tuareg homeland in April after routing government troops in the wake of a March coup, but it has since lost control of the zone to Islamists and criminal networks.

MNLA and MUJWA had also clashed on Friday, their first bout of fighting in several months, since MUJWA ousted the MNLA from the regional capital Gao in June.

INTERNATIONAL FORCE

African leaders will this month seek a U.N. mandate to dispatch a mainly West African force of some 4,000 to Mali tasked with rebuilding its army and then backing operations to win back the occupied desert zones.

EU foreign ministers gave basic approval on Monday to send 250 military trainers to help build Malian soldiers up to operational capacity. But, like the United States and former colonial power France, which is the keenest of Western nations for military action, Brussels has ruled out a combat role.

European leaders are growing increasingly anxious that Mali could turn into a platform for militant attacks - even in Europe. France, Spain, Italy and Belgium have indicated willingness to take part in the mission, an EU official said.

Britain and Germany might also participate, though this would depend on finding sufficient French-speaking personnel, diplomats said. Finland and Canada - a non-EU country - have also registered interest, the EU official said.

Foreign ministers asked for the plan to be formally agreed at an EU summit on December 13-14, a statement said.

The international military operation is due to be led by Mali's own military but will not be ready until sometime next year.

MUJWA has warned that any such intervention would trigger an Iraq-style quagmire in the West African state.

West African mediator Burkina Faso has also been holding talks with MNLA representatives and members of Ansar Dine, another al Qaeda-linked Islamist group occupying parts of Mali's north, as it seeks to open dialogue with some of the rebels.

Groups that come to a negotiated deal would be spared from the planned African offensive but MUJWA and AQIM - al Qaeda's North African wing which it operates alongside - are not being considered for talks.

(Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis in Dakar, Sebastian Moffett and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tuareg-rebels-battle-islamists-north-mali-town-202347002.html

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steven.fleming

Abbey Leonardi is part of University of Oregon's National team title, Fiona Hendry all-american in 23rd place in D3 for Haverford

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D1 Recap

Men's Results | Women's Results |? Women's Race Highlights (Video) | Men's Race Highlights (Video)

Womens: Maine's lone representative was University of Oregon's Abbey Leonardi. Leonardi competing in her first national championship was the Ducks 7th runner finishing in 162nd place. The freshman who ran for Kennebunk HS last year clocked 21:12.2 for the 6k course. While Abbey didn't figure in the scoring for Oregon, her team ran very well in front of her as they took home the national title by 69 points. Interesting stat, she was the 2nd best 7th runner in the field.

There was plenty of drama though in deciding who actually won the national title. The Oregon woman originally though they had won the title, but when the results became official Providence had been declared the winner by 6 points over the Ducks. However after careful inspection the Ducks #2 runner Alexi Pappas who placed 8th was left out of the race, wih her added back in the title was back with Oregon. Check out the team reaction

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Mens: Oklahoma senior Riley Masters competed in his first XC National meet for the Sooners helping them to an 8th place team finish. The former Bangor HS standout worked his way up over the 10k course running 30:30.5, he was the 3rd runner for his team.

Purdue Freshman Matt McClintock has a great showing in his first ever National meet experience, as the true freshman started out in the back of the pack and worked his way through the pack over the 10k course. Matt would finish 103rd overall running a personal best 30:45 for 10k.? He was the 11th best freshman in the field. At the 2k mark of race McClintock was as far back as 208th 3k into the race but was able to move up over the races final 7k

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Additional Coverage

Sooners finish season at NCAA Championship

McClintock Runs Sixth Fastest NCAA Championships Time in Purdue History

Duck Pack Brings NCAA Title Back to TrackTown!

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D2 Recap

Mens Results

Mens:? Bentley University senior Craig Robinson competing in his first NCAA XC Nationals ran to a 185th place finish. Robinson a former Scarborough HS standout covered the 10k course in 32:35, he was the 4th runner for the Falcons. At the halfway point Robinson had covered the first 5k in a fast 15:35 whihc had him in 170th place, he fell back just 15 spots over the next 5k.

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Additional Coverage

Drago Leads Bentley at NCAA Championships; Falcons Finish 26th Overall

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D3 Recap

Bates men placed 6th the highest finish in school history

Mens Results | Womens Results

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Womens:? Haverford freshman and former Cheverus HS runner Fiona Hendry has a great race to lead the former Maine HS contingent. Hendry placed 23rd overall as she covered the 6k course in 21:44 to earn All-AMerican honors in her first national meet. She led her team to a 13th place finish.

The Bates women were the only team from Maine competing, the Bobcats had a strong showing as they placed 19th overall. Junior Gabby Naranja was the top Mainer on the squad as she was the 3rd runner placing 129th (22:57). USM's 2011 All-American Molly Carl had a tough race as she finished 190th covering the 6k course in 23:24.4

Middlebury senior & former Cape Elizabeth standout Emily Attwood was 127th placing 4th for her team. Attwood covered the course in 22:56, she helped her squad place 11th.

Lewis & Clark senior Heather Spurling a former MDI star finish 156th overall. Spurling clocked 23:08 as she was the 3rd runner on her team that placed 20th overall.

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Mens: Bowdoin College junior Sam Seekins ran his way to his first All-American award at the D3 National XC Championships via his 17th place finish. Seekins who starred at Erskine Academy in HS, covered the 8k course in 24:51.2. His teammated Coby Horowitz who placed 9th, as the Bears placed 16th overall in the team race.

Bates College was the top team from Maine as the Bobcats put it all together behind junior Tully Hanan's 5th place finish to finish 6th place one spot higher than they did a year ago.

Tuft's senior Matt Rand a former Cape Elizabeth star and 2011 All-American ran to a 48th place finish covering the 8k course in 25:17. Rand helped his Tufts team to a fine 7th place finish overall.

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Additional Coverage

Horowitz and Seekins All-Americans as Bowdoin Places 16th at NCAA Championship

Bates Women?s cross country finishes 19th at NCAAs

Bates Men?s cross country takes sixth place at NCAAs

Carl Competes at NCAA Division III National Championship

Jumbo Men's Cross Country Earns Program's Sixth Top 10 Finish at NCAA Championship Meet

Haverford Women's cross country places 13th at nationals

Middlebury Men 8th, Women 11th At NCAA Cross Country Championships

Lewis & Clark Women's Cross Country Finishes 20th at NCAA Division III National Championship

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Source: http://milespl.it/pr17885

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steven.fleming

The Organic Spinach and Spring Mix Blend salad makings responsible for an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (STEC O157:H7) has sickened 28 and put ten people in hospitals.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta on Monday said most of the cases were in New York State. Of those hospitalized, two developed?the kidney-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

CDC said as the outbreak expanded beyond the Empire State, so has the investigation.

?Collaborative investigation efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicate that Wegmans brand Organic Spinach and Spring Mix blend produced by State Garden of Chelsea, Massachusetts, is one likely source of this outbreak,? the CDC said in a statement released on its website.

CDC said four leftover packages of Wegmans brand Organic Spinach and Spring Mix blend collected from four ill persons? homes yielded the outbreak strain of STEC O157:H7.

Wegmans recalled 5-ounce and 11-ounce packages of Organic Spinach and Spring Mix blend on Nov. 2. Produced by State Garden, the salad makings might be contaminated with STEC O157:H7 and were removed from store shelves.

CDC said the warning not to eat the salads is especially important for children under age 5, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems because such individuals at higher risk of serious illness.

Other brands of pre-packaged leafy green have been reported by ill persons outside New York State, and investigations are going to determine if there are other sources for this outbreak, CDC reported.

CDC first announced it was involved in the outbreak investigation on Nov. 17. Public health investigators are using DNA ?fingerprints? of E. coli bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, or PFGE, to identify cases of illness that may be part of this outbreak.

The investigation has also relied upon data from PulseNet, the national subtyping network made up of state and local public health laboratories and federal food regulatory laboratories that performs molecular surveillance of foodborne infections.

The type of bacteria responsible for this outbreak is among those referred to as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli or STEC. STEC bacteria are grouped by serogroups (e.g., O157 or O145). The STEC serogroup found most commonly in U.S. patients is E. coli O157.

A total of 28 ill persons infected with the outbreak strain of STEC O157:H7 have been reported from five states. The number of ill people identified in each state with the outbreak strain is as follows: Connecticut (2), Massachusetts (2), New York (22), Pennsylvania (1), and Virginia (1).

Among persons for whom information is available, illness onset dates range from October 18, 2012 to November 3, 2012. Ill persons range in age from 4 years to 66 years, with a median age of 24 years. Sixty-eight percent of ill persons are female.

This PFGE pattern has very rarely been seen before in PulseNet. It has been seen only 7 times prior to this outbreak. Illnesses that occurred after October 30, 2012 might not be reported yet due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported.

Testing conducted by the New York Department Health Wadsworth Center Laboratories isolated the outbreak strain of STEC O157:H7 from four leftover packages of Wegmans brand Organic Spinach and Spring Mix blend collected from four ill persons? homes.

? Food Safety News

Source: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/11/salad-makings-blamed-for-5-state-stec-o157h7-outbreak/

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steven.fleming

Maryland was a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) when it was formed in 1953. It?s kind of hard to imagine an ACC without the Terps (and those glorious times when they?d upset UNC and/or Duke in basketball).

But if they feel they must leave, then leave I suppose they must.

OTOH, the past barbs about it being the ?All-Carolina Conference? have been valid through the years.

Source: http://timekiller-s.tumblr.com/post/35961237197

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steven.fleming

South Korea News.Net Monday 19th November, 2012

This was conveyed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during bilateral talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at Peace Palace in the Cambodian capital Monday.

During the 45minute talks between the two leaders, perhaps their last such official meeting with the Chinese premier set to step down from office following the leadership change in that country, Prime Minister Singh raised the issue of increasing India's market access to China, especially for IT, services and pharmaceuticals.

The Indian prime minister emphasised on the need for "accelerating exports to China", said Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, briefing Indian journalists on the talks.

Premier Wen said "he was looking at gradual balancing of trade with India, and that they were cognizant of India's interests", said Mathai.

Wen said China "did recognise the need for balance in trade and said it would be done gradually".

IndiaChina bilateral trade hit a record $73.9 billion last year, but the ballooning trade deficit in Beijing's favour rose to over $27 billion.

The bilateral trade registered a $12.2 billion increase in 2011, taking the total to $73.9 billion as against $61.7 billion in 2010, according to official trade figures for 2011.

Prime Minister Singh said India was "committed to working to achieving the full potential" on trade and emphasised on the need for greater market access, especially to IT, services and pharma sectors".

He also welcomed Chinese investments in infrastructure in India, which he said would help create employment and help to bridge the trade gap, said Mathai.

As part of boosting their trade, the two countries are holding a strategic economic dialogue at the end of November in New Delhi. The Indian side would be led by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Wen said a large Chinese economic delegation, with economic experts, would visit India to participate in the strategic economic dialogue.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement did not figure in their talks, said Mathai. The RCEP, a trade agreement between the East Asia countries which is still being worked out, aims to create a trading highway among the countries of the Asia and Pacific.

The prime minister is visiting Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, Nov 1820 to attend the 10th ASEANIndia Summit and the 7th East Asia Summit.

(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at ranjana.n@ians.in)

Source: http://www.southkoreanews.net/index.php/sid/210820339/scat/4a8b544d0e80ba53

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steven.fleming · 17 Nov 2012 18:06

17 Nov 2012 18:06

THE visitors' first half barrage proved too much for Scotland at Murrayfield.

SCOTLAND waited 50 minutes to find their attacking game against South Africa, but a spell of sustained pressure could not overturn an Adrian Strauss double at Murrayfield.

The Scots could not cope with a first-half physical barrage and Strauss went over after a maul before intercepting Mike Blair's pass early in the second period to help open up an 18-point lead.

Replacement scrum-half Henry Pyrgos soon crossed for the home side and sparked half an hour of relentless pressure, but the home side missed a series of chances.

Scotland forced a series of short-range penalties but failed to take advantage through a mixture of poor decision-making, some desperate defending and crucial decisions by referee George Clancy.

Andy Robinson's side had enough chances to at least equal the three tries they scored in last weekend's 51-22 defeat by New Zealand, but they had been posted missing as an attacking force throughout the first half, although they were not helped by the loss of Richie Gray to a head injury.

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Robinson was expecting a direct threat from South Africa and they did not disappoint in the opening moments with several kicks towards Scotland's left side,.

The visitors chose to kick the ball into touch after an offside offence and looked set to drive over from the resulting maul, but referee Clancy pulled them up for obstruction.

The tourists opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Patrick Lambie kicked a penalty after the Scots were penalised for holding on.

Scotland had barely been within 40 metres of the South Africa line but were level on 10 minutes when Greig Laidlaw kicked a long-range penalty, only for Laidlaw himself to be penalised for offside three minutes later and Lambie made no mistake with the penalty.

Gray took a heavy hit as the South Africa forwards quickly closed him down after a kick over the top and the pressure told in the 21st minute when the Springboks instigated a maul after a four-man lineout and once again drove Scotland back with Strauss touching down.

Gray went off with concussion immediately after the try with Al Kellock coming on. There was some respite for Scotland as Lambie missed the conversion.

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Springboks flanker Francis Louw then burst through the home defence and won a penalty from Murray with Lambie dispatching a simple kick to make it 14-3.

A penalty near the halfway line on 33 minutes allowed Scotland to put their opponents under serious threat for the first time as they kicked for a lineout six metres from the try line.

Scotland's forwards exerted severe pressure as they looked for an opening but Clancy controversially penalised Kellock for holding on.

Scotland survived the first wave of South Africa attacks after the break but some slack play at both ends of the park in the 46th minute led to them conceding a second try.

Hogg kicked well into the tourists' 22 but was too easily sidestepped by flanker Willem Alberts after chasing the ball.

South Africa quickly worked the ball back into Scotland's half but Blair had possession under little stress and saw his pass intercepted by Strauss. The hooker quickly got the ball under control and ran 40 metres under the posts.

Blair was replaced by Pyrgos as Lambie converted and he got Scotland back into the game in the 51st minute.

Scotland's Tim Visser rises above JP Pietersen

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Scotland opted to kick for touch from a penalty and Pyrgos ran in unchecked inside of Kelly Brown to collect the instant pass and cross over.

Scotland soon had South Africa on the rack and were moving the ball quickly but Laidlaw inadvertently relieved the pressure by trying to chip over the top.

The visitors could not break away though and Ruan Pienaar had a kick charged down as Scotland stepped up the pace.

Jim Hamilton was over the line at one stage but was pushed back before he could touch down and Nick De Luca almost broke through as South Africa defended on their line.

Scotland forced a penalty and opted for a lineout but Ross Ford was penalised for not throwing straight, in what looked a marginal decision, and Clancy soon decided Scotland had collapsed the scrum.

Brown's interception ensured the Springboks' respite was brief and Scotland forced another chance after a lineout from a penalty, but substitute Ruaridh Jackson attempted to kick over the try line from 10 metres out and Zane Kirchner comfortably averted the danger.

Again there was no let-up and Flip van der Merwe paid the price for the growing number of infringements when he was shown a yellow card in the 77th minute.

Denton almost went over from the resulting set-piece and Scotland worked a chance on the left wing, but Tim Visser could not hold Jackson's close-range pass and the knock-on was called as De Luca crossed in the corner.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/rugby/scotland-10-south-africa-21-1442331

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Yesterday I wrote an article 10 Killer Techniques to Quadruple your Internet Marketing?Success.??Today I want to elaborate on the first point Responsive Web Design.

With 4 billion connected smartphones, there are nearly as many connected mobile devices as there are humans on the planet. ?By 2014, if predictions hold true, mobile web visits will exceed those form desktop or laptop devices.

What does this mean for business owners?

The days of having a single website optimized for the usual web browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and others are over. ?Now you not only have to concern yourself with the plethora of different browsers and versions there are but also a new dimension of different screen sizes and devices that are being used.

So basically, the way your website looks on someone?s device will be different all the time and that means that it is not fun or easy to use. ?Statistics consistently show that users are not wasting their time on websites that don?t work well on whatever device they are using. ? A while ago in an article I wrote, I shared that statistics say ?75% of users?prefer?a mobile-friendly site.?

How Can Responsive Web Design Make Life Easier?

No Pinching and Squeezing
?If you go to your website on an iPhone or Android device it will squish the?site down so that you can see the entire page without scrolling around. ?The problem is that you can?t read anything either. ?So if you want to actually see the text you have to do a lot of pinching and squeezing and then scrolling with your finger. ?Not to mention trying to press a tiny little text link with your fat fingers on the little screen.
With responsive design your website will automatically size to fit the screen without reducing the size of your text. ? The menu, and other visuals are programmed to display for the most optimized visitor experience.
Maintain One Set of Content
Before responsive web design, if you wanted to have a mobile friendly site you needed to actually have 2 different websites. ?For example, if you visit Fasada Home Remodelling?on your desktop or your mobile phone, you are actually seeing two unique websites, each?optimized?for viewing on different screen sizes. The content on the sites are different and because the mobile site is?optimized?for an iPhone screen size, it will appear different or may look odd if you are viewing it from an Android, or tablet device with a different screen resolution.
With responsive design there is no need to maintain content on two separate websites.? ?If you change or add content to your website, you don?t need to remember to change it on your mobile site as well.
Your Phone Will Ring More Often
Responsive website design activates your phone number so that when you click on the number your phone will ask if you would like to call that number. ?So with just two quick taps on the screen your new customer is calling you.
You Will See a Bigger Return on Investment
Your new responsive website will be easier to use and all the conversion architecture intelligence that went into building your website carries over to the mobile devices.
Navigation is made easier, reading is simple, and functionality is programmed to work effectively with your mobile device. ?So your mobile-friendly website is geared up to reel in more qualified leads for your business.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/4-points-that-make-responsive-web-design-worthwhile-0334177

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steven.fleming

On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.

MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.

Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.

Host Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years. This is a business radio show where he shares all the craziness of small business. It?s that craziness that actually makes it exciting, interesting and totally unpredictable.

The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.

Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.

Hits Radio covers basketball, sports culture and entertainment with past guests including Jason Kidd, Robin Lundberg and Chris Herren.

Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.

Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.

Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.

Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.

The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.

Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.

Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.

Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.

Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbonner/2012/11/16/the-michael-bonner-show-sports-entertainment

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steven.fleming

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49818770/

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steven.fleming

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) ? TJX, parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls clothing stores, reported third-quarter revenue that topped analysts' expectations and raised its full-year earnings forecast on Tuesday.

But the discount retailer's earnings outlook for the fourth quarter, which includes the critical holiday period, and the full year are still below Wall Street's view.

TJX Cos. shares rose 71 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $41.68 in morning trading.

The Framingham, Mass.-based company, which also runs HomeGoods and other stores, reported net income of $461.6 million, or 62 cents per share, for the quarter ended Oct. 27. That was up 14 percent from earnings of $406.5 million, or 53 cents per share, a year ago.

The latest earnings matched expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue climbed 11 percent to $6.41 billion from $5.79 billion. Analysts forecast $6.36 billion.

Revenue at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer's health, rose 7 percent in the quarter. This metric excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

CEO Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement that traffic improved across all divisions in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

For the fiscal year, the company anticipates earnings of $2.45 to $2.48 per share. It previously predicted earnings of $2.44 to $2.47 per share. The latest figures are still below analysts' expectations for earnings of $2.49 per share.

In the fourth quarter, TJX foresees adjusted earnings between 65 cents and 68 cents per share. Wall Street predicts earnings of 76 cents per share.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is expected to be flat to up 2 percent.

TJX has 1,030 T.J. Maxx, 911 Marshalls and 414 HomeGoods stores in the U.S.; 222 Winners, 88 HomeSense and 14 Marshalls stores in Canada and 343 T.K. Maxx and 24 HomeSense stores in Europe.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tjx-raises-full-earnings-forecast-160245440--finance.html

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steven.fleming

Ford Explorer

Step into the 2013 Ford Explorer. A 3.5 liter V-6 engine pairs with a sophisticated 6 speed automatic transmission, providing a smooth and predictable driving experience. It's equipped with tons of terrific amenities, but it won't break your budget. Such as remote keyless entry, front and rear reading lights, speed sensitive wipers, a trip computer, telescoping steering wheel, power door mirrors, an overhead console, and much more. Third row seats expand the maximum passenger capacity to 7. Premium sound drives 6 speakers, providing you and your passengers a sensational audio experience. Ford also prioritized safety and security by including: head curtain airbags, front SIDE impact airbags, traction control, a panic alarm, and 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS. Various mechanical systems are monitored by electronic stability control, keeping you on your intended path. We know that you have high expectations, and we enjoy the challenge of meeting and exceeding them! Please don't hesitate to give us a call.

Source: http://www.lindsaycars.com/blog/video/2012/november/14/2013-Ford-Explorer-DC--,--MD-VA-ba4046300a0a00e00100050293b37ab3.htm?locale=en_US

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steven.fleming

New type of bacterial protection found within cells

Public release date: 13-Nov-2012
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Contact: Tom Vasich
tmvasich@uci.edu
949-824-6455
University of California - Irvine

UCI study reveals novel immune system response to infections

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 13, 2012 UC Irvine biologists have discovered that fats within cells store a class of proteins with potent antibacterial activity, revealing a previously unknown type of immune system response that targets and kills bacterial infections.

Steven Gross, UCI professor of developmental & cell biology, and colleagues identified this novel intercellular role of histone proteins in fruit flies, and it could herald a new approach to fighting bacterial growth within cells. The study appears today in eLife, a new peer-reviewed, open-access journal supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society and the Wellcome Trust.

"We found that these histone proteins have pan-antibacterial abilities and can have a wide-ranging effect," Gross said. "If we can discover how to manipulate the system to increase histone levels, we may one day have a new way to treat patients with bad bacterial infections."

Histones exist in large numbers in most animal cells; their primary job is to help DNA strands fold into compact and robust structures inside the nucleus. Gross said there is some evidence that histones secreted from cells protect against bacteria living outside cells. However, many bacteria enter cells, where they can avoid the immune system and continue replicating.

In principle, Gross said, histones could protect cells against such bacteria from the inside, but for many years this was thought unlikely because most histones are bound to DNA strands in the cell nucleus, whereas bacteria multiply in the cellular fluid outside the nucleus, called cytosol. Additionally, free histones can be extremely damaging to cells, so most species have developed mechanisms to detect and degrade free histones in the cytosol.

In their study, Gross and colleagues demonstrate that histones bound to lipid (fat) droplets can protect cells against bacteria without causing any of the harm normally associated with the presence of free histones. In experiments with lipid droplets purified from Drosophila fruit fly embryos, they show that lipid-bound histones can be released to kill bacteria.

The researchers injected similar numbers of bacteria into Drosophila embryos that contained lipid-bound histones and into embryos genetically modified to not contain them. They discovered that the histone-deficient flies were 14 times more likely to die of bacterial infections. Similar results were found in experiments on adult flies. Additional evidence suggested that histones might also protect mice against bacteria.

"Because numerous studies have now identified histones on lipid droplets in many different cells from humans as well as mice and flies it seems likely that this system may be quite general," Gross said.

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Preetha Anand, Silvia Cermelli, Robilyn Sigua and Lan Huang of UCI; Zhihuan Li and Michael Welte of New York's University of Rochester; Adam Kassan, Marta Bosch and Albert Pol of the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain; and Andre Ouellette of USC contributed to the study (Anand et al. eLife 2012;1:e00003. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.00003), which was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants GM64624 and GM64687), the National Science Foundation and the Spanish Ministry of Science & Innovation.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.

Contact:
Tom Vasich
949-824-6455
tmvasich@uci.edu

UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts.

For UCI breaking news, visit www.zotwire.uci.edu.

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