Archaeologists have discovered four 19th-century warships, and possibly the remains of an ancient Greek harbor, off the coast of Israel.
The fleet was found at the ancient port of Akko, one of the major ports of the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic period from 300 B.C. to 100 B.C. The new discoveries could point to even more ancient, elusive shipwrecks.
"I'm very interested in finding a well-preserved example of an ancient multi-decked warship from the Hellenistic age," study author Bridget Buxton, an archaeologist from the University of Rhode Island, said in a statement. "These ships were incredible pieces of technology, but we don't know much about their design, because no hulls have been found. However, a combination of unusual environmental and historical factors leads us to believe we have a chance of finding the remains of one of these ships off the northern coast of Israel."
The team found the four warships in 2011 using sound waves to probe beneath the ocean floor off the coast of Akko in northern Israel. The city has been a busy port since antiquity. After storms briefly washed away some of the sediment burying the ships, the Israeli Antiquities Authority peeked into one of the 105-foot (32-meter)-long ships. Sediment has since reburied the fleet. Wood from the ship came from Turkey, laboratory analysis showed.
The researchers believe the ships, once part of an Egyptian fleet, sank during the Egyptian Ottoman war when Adm. Osman Nurredin Bey attempted to retake the city of Akko in 1831.
In the process of excavating in the area, the team also found the remains of a ship shed that was possibly used to bring in warships during the Hellenistic period. At the site, they found remnants of Hellenistic stonework, ancient pottery, mooring materials and a stone quay. These fragments suggest a much older, ancient Greek port may lie beneath the seafloor ? along with even more ancient shipwrecks.
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"We've got fragmentary historic records for this area in the Hellenistic period, and now we've found a very important feature from the ancient harbor. Ancient shipwrecks are another piece of the puzzle that will help us to rewrite the story of this region at a critical time in Mediterranean history," Buxton said in a statement.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research on Nov. 15 and 17 in Chicago.
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By now, you've most likely catapulted, slashed and shot your way through the first two worlds in Rovio's latest Angry Birds title, Angry Birds Star Wars. But, good news for those patiently awaiting the next set of levels, an update is due to drop starting tomorrow with more bird flinging fun.
Following on from Tatooine and the Death Star, next up is the ice planet of Hoth. So, expect snow, snow, more snow and some AT-AT Walkers thrown in for good measure. Rovio has released a teaser trailer which we can see here, but we'll know more tomorrow.
Scientists studying Bigfoot discovered that he has three fully human wives.
Scientists studying Bigfoot discovered that he has three fully human wives.
Bigfoot is not only real and living among us, but he is married to three lovely women (pictured below).
Bigfoot reportedly ?married? the women in the last fifteen years and the women are reportedly very happy especially ?in the bedroom,? according to Wendy Goodman, Bigfoot?s first wife.
This revelation about Bigfoot?s relationship status comes just days after scientists revealed that Bigfoot is a direct relative of man and had sex with human females 15,000 years ago ? according to a new scientific study using ?real? DNA samples.
?Bigfoot has been having sex with women for a long time,? said Dr. Robert Blanton, a Bigfoot expert. ? ?And there have probably been thousands of women that have slept with, and married, ?Bigfoot and his ancestors.?
Veterinarians?say that having sex with a Sasquatch is safe and they say that if any woman fall sin love with a Sasquatch, they should not be worried about copulating with the beast.
?There is nothing wrong with making love with Bigfoot,? Dr. Blanton said.
How did the team definitively determine that Bigfoot was married?
?We suspected that Bigfoot had wives because we found some domestic huts in the woods, that suggested so,? Dr. Blanton told WWN. ??So we posted a question on Twitter looking for women (or men) who have had sex with Bigfoot and one of the wives came forward. ?And so we went an interviewed all three.?
Does that mean there are little baby Bigfoots out there?
?We believe there are,? said Dr. Blanton.
Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ?license? to hunt, trap, or kill them.?
China doesn't officially celebrate Black Friday, but Nov. 11 has become the biggest shopping day on the Chinese calendar. E-commerce sales alone reached $4.6 billion this year.?
By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / November 23, 2012
Chinese workers sort packages on November 12, the day after the largest Chinese online shopping day.
China Daily
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If you think America goes shopping mad on the day after Thanksgiving, you should look at China.
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Beijing Bureau Chief
Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.
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They don?t celebrate Thanksgiving Day here, of course, but Nov. 11, has become the biggest shopping day on the Chinese calendar.
That?s because it is known as ?Singles Day? (11.11 ? geddit?) ? a type of Valentine?s Day for those without lovers, but with friends to whom they give gifts.
Online stores have cashed in on the idea, offering mouthwatering discounts on everything from cars to clothes to tempt consumers online on Singles Day, turning it into a retail bonanza? and it works.?
?I hadn?t planned to buy anything but I heard there would be great discounts so I went online to have a look,? says Liu Na, a 20-something book editor. ?I bought a blouse and a bag for myself, at 50 percent off.?
This year, e-commerce sales on Nov. 11 reached $4.6 billion, according to an estimate by the Economic Herald, a specialist daily in Shandong province.
That may not look like much compared with ?Black Friday? spending in the US (which topped $11.4 billion last year), until you take a couple of things into account:?
First, average Chinese salaries are 10 times smaller than average American salaries.
Second, this is just online. A comparable day in America might be ?Cyber Monday,? coming up after the weekend. Last year online US shoppers shelled out $1.25 billion ? little more than a quarter of what their Chinese counterparts spent two weeks ago.
The Chinese government may not be keen on the political corners of the Internet, but it loves the commercial aspect; its current five year plan for the economy foresees a fourfold jump in e-commerce?from 2010 levels to $2.9 trillion by 2015.
China has the world?s largest online population, at 538 million, and has more online shoppers than anywhere else too: On Nov. 11, some 213 million people ? nearly half of all Chinese Internet users ? visited one of Alibaba?s two retail platforms. Alibaba, which runs the two biggest e-commerce sites in China, reported sales of $2.94 billion on Nov.11.
Ten million consumers ? more than the population of Greece ? clicked on an Alibaba site in the first minute of Nov. 11, in the dead of night.
The massive Singles Day sales promotions are expected to boost the number of online shoppers even further. Ms. Liu for example, says she has normally shopped in bricks-and-mortar stores, but her Singles Day experience has converted her.
??Apart from the discounts, it?s a lot more convenient,? she says.
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron rejected the idea of a law to regulate the British press on Thursday, risking a split in his government after an inquiry advised legal backing for a watchdog to police the sometimes outrageous conduct of newspapers.
Opposing an independent regulator enshrined in law will delight the British press ahead of the 2015 election but may raise concern inside the coalition government that Cameron lacks the mettle to stand up to media barons such as Rupert Murdoch.
Cameron said he was wary of writing press regulation into law, a snub to the inquiry he ordered in July last year after public outrage at revelations that one of Murdoch's tabloids hacked the phone messages of a 13-year-old murder victim.
"The issue of principle is that for the first time we would have crossed the rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land," Cameron told parliament, watched from the gallery by victims of phone-hacking who have campaigned for tougher rules to police Britain's recalcitrant media.
"I'm not convinced at this stage that statute is necessary," Cameron said, just hours after Lord Justice Brian Leveson reported on his inquiry which laid bare the cosy ties between British leaders, police chiefs and press barons.
Presenting his 1,987-page report opposite the Commons, Leveson said he had no intention of undermining three centuries of press freedom but that the press had at times "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people" and was sometimes guilty of "outrageous" behaviour.
Leveson said it was essential that there should be legislation to underpin a new independent, self-regulatory body for the press that would be scrutinised by the broadcast regulator Ofcom and have the power to impose fines of up to 1 percent of turnover up to a maximum of 1 million pounds.
"The ball moves back into the politicians' court: they must now decide who guards the guardians," Leveson said.
The behaviour of Britain's tabloid press has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. While British newspapers were unwilling to report on King Edward VII's affair with American divorcee Wallis Simpson in the 1930s, their conduct has since become much less restrained in the battle for readers.
As competition intensified, the tabloids turned on the private lives of the royal family, culminating in feverish coverage of Princess Diana, hounded by paparazzi as her marriage to Prince Charles collapsed.
At one point in the early 1990s, a government minister warned the tabloid press that they were "drinking in the last chance saloon". A subsequent inquiry led to the setting up the Press Complaints Commission, a self-regulating watchdog now deemed to have failed.
"I know of no organised profession, industry or trade in which the serious failings of the few are overlooked or ignored because of the good done by the many," Leveson said.
'LAST CHANCE SALOON'
While Cameron rejected immediate legislation, the leader of the opposition Labour Party said he supported Leveson's proposals as did Cameron's coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
"There can be no more last chance saloons," said Labour leader Ed Miliband, opening up the prospect of possible defeat in parliament for Cameron if Labour joined forces with supporters of tougher rules inside the coalition parties.
In a sign of a split at the very heart of government, Clegg said legislation was the only real way to establish a new self-regulatory body for the press.
"Changing the law is the only way to give us all the assurance that the new regulator isn't just independent for a few months or years, but is independent for good," Clegg said.
Victims of phone hacking say the raucous media has been given no less than seven chances to reform in the last 70 years but Leveson said the British press had at times displayed a "reckless disregard for accuracy".
Leveson heard evidence from a host of celebrities including Harry Potter author JK Rowling, singer Charlotte Church and ordinary people who told the inquiry how they had been harassed, bullied, and traumatised by the press.
Hacked Off, an organisation set up to represent victims of press abuse, said it welcomed the Leveson report but warned Cameron's opposition risked neutering the recommendations.
"The prime minister has not done his job. His failure to accept the full recommendations of the report is unfortunate and regrettable," said Brian Cathcart, a former Reuters journalist and founder of the Hacked Off campaign.
"In tearing out from this report the element of scrutiny on the self-regulator, he (Cameron) has left us with only a self-regulator. That is where we were before. That is where we have been for 60 or 70 years."
Ultimately, Cameron took a political decision: powerful ministers in Cameron's party and the majority of the press have said they were adamantly opposed to any form of legislation as they see it as an erosion of press freedom.
Lord Guy Black, currently the head of the body which funds the current discredited, self-regulatory system, said there was no need to subject the new body to a statutory regime.
"Any form of statutory press control in a free society is fraught with danger, totally impractical and would take far too long to implement," he said.
'TOO CLOSE'
Leveson said the relationship between the cream of Britain's political elite and the press was too close and said he was concerned by lobbying.
The 63-year-old judge warned that the close ties formed between the government and Murdoch's News Corp over the aborted takeover of BSkyB was concerning and had the potential to jeopardise the $12 billion (7.5 billion pounds) bid.
"We are keen to play our full part, with others in our industry, in creating a new body that commands the confidence of the public," said Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Murdoch's British newspaper arm, News International,
"We believe that this can be achieved without statutory regulation - and welcome the prime minister's rejection of that proposal," Mockridge said in a statement.
Leveson offered little in the way of direct criticism of individuals, ammunition for those who hoped it would condemn Cameron for his links to Murdoch's media empire. Nor did he say there had been any deal between the two.
He said there was no credible evidence of bias on the part of senior minister and Cameron ally Jeremy Hunt in his handling of the BSkyB takeover, but said the close ties allowed a perception of favouritism.
Inquiry hearings embarrassed Cameron by exposing his close ties to executives at Murdoch's British newspaper empire, notably former top lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, who is facing criminal action over phone-hacking and other alleged illegal actions.
Brooks appeared in court earlier on Thursday accused of making illegal payments to public officials.
Four prime ministers including Cameron were quizzed in great detail about their links to newspaper owners, especially Murdoch, who himself endured two days of grilling, during which he denied playing puppet-master to those running the country.
(Additional reporting by Tim Castle, Matt Falloon, Estelle Shirbon and Mohammed Abbas; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Giles Elgood)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran will step up its uranium enrichment program by sharply increasing the number of centrifuges used to make nuclear fuel, a senior official said Wednesday, in direct defiance of Western demands.
The statement by Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, is likely to escalate tensions. The West suspects Iran's nuclear program could be headed toward weapons production and has imposed punishing sanctions to try to persuade Tehran to stop enrichment.
Iran has denied the charges, saying its program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors, but high level enrichment would make it suitable for use in atomic warheads.
Abbasi said Iran is making nuclear advances in the face of the severe economic measures imposed by the U.N. and the West.
"Despite sanctions, we will most likely see a substantial increase in the number of centrifuge machines this year. We will continue enrichment with intensity," Abbasi was quoted by state TV as saying Wednesday. The Iranian calendar year ends on March 20.
Abbasi did not say if Iran's stepped up work would be at the five percent fuel level or the higher 20 percent quality, which has worried the West because it can be purified to weapons grade more quickly. There have been indications that Iran may push its enrichment even higher than the 20 percent acknowledged to U.N. nuclear watchdogs.
His remarks came days after the U.N. agency said Iran is about to double its output of higher enriched uranium at its fortified Fordo underground facility. That could move Iran closer to weapons capability.
A Nov. 8 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has installed about 2,800 centrifuges at Fordo and is poised to double the number of operating centrifuges, from the current 700 to nearly 1,400.
Iran says it needs 20 percent enriched uranium to make fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran that produces isotopes for about 1 million patients annually.
Abbasi also said Iran will soon conduct a test run of its heavy water reactor in Arak in central Iran, despite demands from the U.N. to stop the work. The test will use virtual fuel, not actual radioactive material, he said.
He said construction of the 40-megawatt research reactor is progressing on schedule, but he noted that experts are handling the project with greater care in anticipation of possible sabotage attempts.
"The Arak reactor is progressing without any problem according to the schedule. Only because of security considerations, we are moving with caution, since enemy intends to harm this reactor," he was quoted by state TV as saying. "All the equipment needed to operate this reactor has been purchased."
The West is concerned that the heavy water reactor could produce enough plutonium for a nuclear weapon each year, if the spent fuel is reprocessed. That would be another pathway for bomb-grade material, but Iran is not known to possess a plutonium reprocessing facility
Iran has experienced explosions and malfunctions at its nuclear and industrial sites, partly due to faulty equipment secretly procured on the global market.
Also, Iran says it is the target of a campaign that has included the abduction and assassination of scientists, the sale of faulty equipment and the planting of a destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet, which briefly brought Iran's uranium enrichment activity to a halt in 2010.
Sony Xperia V is going to be available in parts of Europe by December, according to a statement by Sony Russia. This phone will now work on the Android Jelly Bean and it will be available at a retail price of 24,990 RUB or $805. However, the price of the Xperia V is likely to go down after launch.
At the same time, the Sony Xperia V will be available in some markets, such as France, only in January. Currently, the handset uses Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which will be available till the new version of the phone is available. Sony had announced the launch of Xperia V in August 2012 along with Xperia T and Xperia J. Xperia V is a dust-proof and waterproof phone with a 4.3 inch scratch-resistant display. With LTE connectivity, 13MP rear camera with LED flash it is going to be a worthy buy.
Breast cancer risk estimates increased with repeated prior ct and nuclear imagingPublic release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
CHICAGO Researchers reviewing the records of approximately 250,000 women enrolled in an integrated healthcare delivery system found that increased CT utilization between 2000 and 2010 could result in an increase in the risk of breast cancer for certain women, including younger patients and those who received repeat exams. According to the study, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), nuclear medicine examinations may also contribute to increased breast cancer risk.
CT uses ionizing radiation in the form of X-rays to produce cross-sectional images of the body. In nuclear medicine imaging, a radiopharmaceuticala compound that includes a small amount of a radioactive materialis delivered inside the body to help visualize internal organs.
"When a woman undergoes CT or nuclear medicine imaging of her chest, abdomen or spine, her breast tissue will absorb some radiation," said senior author Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D., professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. "Breast tissue is one of the tissues in the body known to be sensitive to developing cancer as a result of radiation exposure."
The study, led by Ginger Merry, M.D., M.P.H., breast imaging fellow at Prentice Women's Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, found that among the system's female enrollees, CT utilization increased from 99.8 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2000 to 192.4 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (an annual increase of 6.8 percent). In 2010, 46 percent of those CT examinations exposed the breast to radiation. Nuclear medicine imaging decreased from 39.3 scans per 1,000 women in 2000 to 27.5 scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (a 3.5 percent annual decline); however, in 2010, 84 percent of nuclear medicine studies exposed the breast to radiation.
"Until now, the impact of this increased use of imaging on radiation exposure to breast tissue and the subsequent risk of breast cancer has not been known," Dr. Smith-Bindman said. "Our goal was to quantify imaging utilization and radiation exposure to the breast among women enrolled in an integrated healthcare delivery system and to use these data to determine the imaging-related risk of breast cancer from those studies."
The research team collected CT dose information from 1,656 patients who underwent CT examinations that exposed the breast to radiation and, using a new automated computational method, estimated the patients' effective radiation dose and the amount of radiation absorbed by the breast. The team also analyzed the radiopharmaceutical volume and associated radiation exposure used in 5,507 nuclear medicine exams that exposed the breast to radiation.
"We found that the estimated breast radiation doses from CT were highly variable across patients, with the highest doses coming from multiple-phase cardiac and chest CT examinations, where successive images of the organ being studied are captured," Dr. Smith-Bindman said.
The researchers then estimated the women's imaging-related risk of breast cancer and compared it to their underlying risk of developing breast cancer. Each woman's 10-year imaging-related risk of developing breast cancer, beginning 10 years after her exposure to imaging and based on her age at exposure, was estimated using the breast-specific radiation data and a statistical risk model. A women's underlying risk of developing breast cancer was estimated based on data collected by the National Cancer Institute-funded Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium.
"Young women receiving several chest and or cardiac CTs had the greatest increased risk of developing breast cancer at approximately 20 percent," said Diana Miglioretti, Ph.D., study coauthor and senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute. "A 15-year-old girl with no risk factors for breast cancer would double her 10-year risk of developing breast cancer at 25."
To lower imaging-related risk of developing breast cancer, Dr. Smith-Bindman said imaging providers should analyze the radiation doses associated with each exam, reduce the use of multi-phase protocols and employ dose-reduction software wherever possible to minimize exposures.
"If imaging is truly indicated, then the risk of developing cancer is small and should not dissuade women from getting the test they need," she said. "On the other hand, a lot of patients are undergoing repeat chest and cardiac CT, many of which aren't necessary. Women, and particularly young women, should understand there is a small but real potential risk of breast cancer associated with cardiac and chest CT, and the risk increases with the number of scans."
###
Coauthors are Choonsik Lee, Ph.D., and Eric Johnson, M.S.
Note: Copies of RSNA 2012 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press12 beginning Monday, Nov. 26.
RSNA is an association of more than 50,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists, promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the published abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.
For patient-friendly information on MRI of the brain, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Breast cancer risk estimates increased with repeated prior ct and nuclear imagingPublic release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
CHICAGO Researchers reviewing the records of approximately 250,000 women enrolled in an integrated healthcare delivery system found that increased CT utilization between 2000 and 2010 could result in an increase in the risk of breast cancer for certain women, including younger patients and those who received repeat exams. According to the study, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), nuclear medicine examinations may also contribute to increased breast cancer risk.
CT uses ionizing radiation in the form of X-rays to produce cross-sectional images of the body. In nuclear medicine imaging, a radiopharmaceuticala compound that includes a small amount of a radioactive materialis delivered inside the body to help visualize internal organs.
"When a woman undergoes CT or nuclear medicine imaging of her chest, abdomen or spine, her breast tissue will absorb some radiation," said senior author Rebecca Smith-Bindman, M.D., professor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California, San Francisco. "Breast tissue is one of the tissues in the body known to be sensitive to developing cancer as a result of radiation exposure."
The study, led by Ginger Merry, M.D., M.P.H., breast imaging fellow at Prentice Women's Hospital Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, found that among the system's female enrollees, CT utilization increased from 99.8 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2000 to 192.4 CT scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (an annual increase of 6.8 percent). In 2010, 46 percent of those CT examinations exposed the breast to radiation. Nuclear medicine imaging decreased from 39.3 scans per 1,000 women in 2000 to 27.5 scans per 1,000 women in 2010 (a 3.5 percent annual decline); however, in 2010, 84 percent of nuclear medicine studies exposed the breast to radiation.
"Until now, the impact of this increased use of imaging on radiation exposure to breast tissue and the subsequent risk of breast cancer has not been known," Dr. Smith-Bindman said. "Our goal was to quantify imaging utilization and radiation exposure to the breast among women enrolled in an integrated healthcare delivery system and to use these data to determine the imaging-related risk of breast cancer from those studies."
The research team collected CT dose information from 1,656 patients who underwent CT examinations that exposed the breast to radiation and, using a new automated computational method, estimated the patients' effective radiation dose and the amount of radiation absorbed by the breast. The team also analyzed the radiopharmaceutical volume and associated radiation exposure used in 5,507 nuclear medicine exams that exposed the breast to radiation.
"We found that the estimated breast radiation doses from CT were highly variable across patients, with the highest doses coming from multiple-phase cardiac and chest CT examinations, where successive images of the organ being studied are captured," Dr. Smith-Bindman said.
The researchers then estimated the women's imaging-related risk of breast cancer and compared it to their underlying risk of developing breast cancer. Each woman's 10-year imaging-related risk of developing breast cancer, beginning 10 years after her exposure to imaging and based on her age at exposure, was estimated using the breast-specific radiation data and a statistical risk model. A women's underlying risk of developing breast cancer was estimated based on data collected by the National Cancer Institute-funded Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium.
"Young women receiving several chest and or cardiac CTs had the greatest increased risk of developing breast cancer at approximately 20 percent," said Diana Miglioretti, Ph.D., study coauthor and senior investigator at the Group Health Research Institute. "A 15-year-old girl with no risk factors for breast cancer would double her 10-year risk of developing breast cancer at 25."
To lower imaging-related risk of developing breast cancer, Dr. Smith-Bindman said imaging providers should analyze the radiation doses associated with each exam, reduce the use of multi-phase protocols and employ dose-reduction software wherever possible to minimize exposures.
"If imaging is truly indicated, then the risk of developing cancer is small and should not dissuade women from getting the test they need," she said. "On the other hand, a lot of patients are undergoing repeat chest and cardiac CT, many of which aren't necessary. Women, and particularly young women, should understand there is a small but real potential risk of breast cancer associated with cardiac and chest CT, and the risk increases with the number of scans."
###
Coauthors are Choonsik Lee, Ph.D., and Eric Johnson, M.S.
Note: Copies of RSNA 2012 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press12 beginning Monday, Nov. 26.
RSNA is an association of more than 50,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists, promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the published abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.
For patient-friendly information on MRI of the brain, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A couple of weeks ago, I examined the consensus holdings among nine top-performing, small-cap mutual funds. My goal was to find those stealth stocks that enjoy the rare concurrence of at least several of the very best small-cap fund managers.
This time around, I was inspired to focus on mid-cap stocks because of an interview I conducted with Madison Mosaic Mid-Cap (GSTGX) fund manger Rich Eisinger late last year. Eisinger said he favors mid-caps because their underlying companies tend to have established competitive advantages, such as a strong brand, but aren?t yet so large that their size inhibits future growth.
In other words, these stocks boast many of the same growth characteristics as small caps, but their businesses have matured to the point where they have at least some economic moat protecting them from encroachment by competitors.
Beyond that, mid-cap stocks have had quite a run over the past decade, beating both small caps and the broad market by meaningful margins. Over the trailing 10-year period, the S&P MidCap 400 gained 9.8 percent annualized versus 8.7 percent for the small-cap Russell 2000 and 6.4 percent for the S&P 500.
So let?s identify the funds whose portfolios we?d like to mine for ideas. With Morningstar?s Premium Fund Screener, I can set seemingly impossible standards for performance and see what results. First, I looked for funds that beat the market over the one-year, three-year, five-year, and 10-year trailing time periods.
Additionally, I wanted funds whose managers are focused on risk reduction, but I didn?t want to rely upon obscure metrics such as standard deviation or beta. Instead, I decided to see which funds managed to lose less than the market during both the bear market year of 2008, as well as in the difficult conditions posed by the market in 2011.
Because Morningstar?s equity style categories aren?t always a full reflection of a fund?s underlying portfolio, I specified that portfolios must have at least a 30 percent allocation to mid-cap growth stocks.
Finally, I didn?t want a new management team getting credit for a prior management team?s performance. As such, at least one member of each fund had to have at least five years at the helm of their current fund. That means they had to navigate one of the most treacherous bear markets in recent history, while still posting outstanding short- and long-term returns.
Here is the list of the nine funds that made the cut:
?
Dreyfus/The Boston Co Small/Mid-Cap Growth (SDSCX)
HighMark Geneva Mid-Cap Growth (PNMAX)
Madison Mosaic Mid-Cap (GTSGX)
Meridian Growth (MERDX)
Neuberger Berman Genesis (NBGNX)
Nicholas (NICSX)
Pioneer Oak Ridge Small-Cap Growth (ORIGX)
Prudential Jennison Mid-Cap Growth (PEEAX)
T. Rowe Price Diversified Small-Cap Growth (PRDSX)
Though all of these funds produced enviable returns, not all are suitable for the average investor?s portfolio. For instance, some of these funds have sales loads of as much as 5.75 percent, which would be deleterious to long-term returns. Other funds have limited availability due to only being offered in certain plans or brokerages.
Two of these funds are explicitly small-cap funds, but as noted earlier, their portfolios have sizable allocations to mid-cap names. That could mean they have a different definition of the uppermost capitalization threshold for the small-cap universe. Or it could mean that they selected stocks that have since grown into mid-caps and are riding out their gains. Another possibility is that the fund?s success has attracted so many assets, that its large size necessitates moving up the capitalization ladder for at least some of its picks.
Interestingly, five of the nine funds have relatively concentrated portfolios of 60 or fewer names, while six of the funds have annual turnover ratios of 32 percent or less. That means the stocks in a majority of these funds? portfolios tend to be high-conviction names that management intends to hold for the long term.
With this list of top funds in hand, I then used Morningstar?s Portfolio X-Ray tool to see which stocks were most commonly held among these nine mutual funds. I looked for names that were held by at least four funds. Here?s the list, with the number of funds that hold each stock listed in parentheses:
Affiliated Managers Group (NYSE: AMG) (4)
Ametek (NYSE: AME) (4)
Copart (NSDQ: CPRT) (4)
Idex Corp (NYSE: IEX) (4)
IDEXX Laboratories (NSDQ: IDXX) (5)
LKQ Corp (NSDQ: LKQ) (4)
MICROS Systems (NSDQ: MCRS) (6)
Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) (4)
Sirona Dental Systems (NSDQ: SIRO) (4)
Solera (NYSE: SLH) (4)
The next step was to examine each fund?s portfolio to determine whether management increased the size of its holding in the stock during the most recent quarter, or even better, if the stock was a new addition to the portfolio.
Because some stocks were held by more funds than others, I used a point system based on whether the size of a particular holding remained the same from the prior quarter, increased modestly in the most recent quarter, was boosted significantly from the previous quarter or was an entirely new addition to the portfolio. Since the goal is to find those names that might still qualify as current buys in the eyes of management, the latter two criteria received the greatest weightings.
Of these 10 names, LKQ Corp narrowly edged out IDEXX Laboratories. Meridian Growth initiated a new position in the stock during the second quarter (the most recent quarter for which we have such data for this particular fund), while in the third quarter, Pioneer Oak Ridge Small-Cap Growth more than doubled its position to 2.4 percent of assets, making LQK its fifth-largest holding.
LKQ holds the leading share in the highly fragmented market for aftermarket and recycled auto parts. The company has grown via acquisition, and now its relative scale means it?s well positioned to steal market share from its far smaller competitors.
However, the stock trades near its 52-week high, so it?s not exactly in the bargain bin. By contrast, IDEXX, a developer and manufacturer of diagnostic veterinary equipment, is down about 7.2 percent from its 52-week high. Still, both stocks trade roughly 13 percent over Morningstar?s estimate of their intrinsic value. But that?s not uncommon for growth stocks.
Of course, now that we?ve identified some promising candidates, it?s time to undertake additional fundamental research.
WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The top prize in the Powerball lottery will reach a record $425 million after no one won Saturday's drawing, a lottery official said on Sunday. Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said the jackpot was $325 million for the drawing late on Saturday. Powerball has not had a winner for two months. The $425 million record jackpot could be raised before Wednesday's drawing since big payouts tend to spur sales, Neubauer said. "We'll watch sales to see if an adjustment upwards needs to be made," she said. The cash payout will be a record $278.3 million. The previous top Powerball prize was $365 million, won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The Powerball lottery is held in 42 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In March, three winning tickets shared the largest U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing The winning Powerball numbers for Saturday were 22-32-37-44-50, and the Powerball was 34. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Bill Trott)
The Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo ($849.99 list) is one of the largest capacity drives you can buy. Dual 4TB drives together in a RAID 0 array means that you can hold up to 8TB on one logical volume. While this technically means you can store files larger than 4TB (like raw video or a massive database), it also means you can store a mind-boggling large number of smaller files (say every photo a professional photographer has taken since 1997, in native RAW format). It's a prime choice if you need all that space, but there are faster drives out there that take better advantage of the next generation Thunderbolt port. Think of it as a future-proofed bucket for all your files.
Design and Features
The My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes in a silver colored 6.5 by 4 by 6.25 inch (HWD) desktop drive enclosure. It looks very much like the still available Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II 6TB ($499.99 list, 4 stars), aside from the fact that the WD Studio Edition II has a capacity gauge its front panel. Instead, the Thunderbolt Duo has a simpler power/drive use LED. In the back are two 10Gbps dual-channel Thunderbolt ports, the jack for the AC adapter, and a Kensington lock port. Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt Duo lacks a USB 3.0 port or FireWire 800 port, both of which would be helpful if you ever needed to transfer files with a PC or Mac that lacks a Thunderbolt port. Make sure to transfer files from your old drive over the network or using a Mac with both types of ports.
The My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes with two capacious 4TB Hitachi hard drives pre-installed, and configured for RAID 0 (striping). This isn't as odd as it sounds, since Hitachi and Western Digital are now corporate cousins. This gives you 8TB of storage, which is one of the largest capacities available in a desktop drive enclosure. You can use the included WD Drive utilities to reconfigure the Thunderbolt Duo as a RAID 1 array (protected 4TB drive) or as a pair of individual 4TB drives (JBOD). You can pop the top panel open with a touch, exposing the drive cage. After undoing a thumbscrew and lifting out another panel, you can access the My Book Thunderbolt Duo's two drives. This is handy for the sorts of folks who burn out hard drive mechanisms often, like video editors. You can ask Western Digital for replacements during the drives' three-year warranty. The drives come pre-equipped with slide in pegs and easy to use handles, so you can replace them a few minutes without using a screwdriver.
The drive comes with an installer for WD Drive Utilities, which lets you register the drive, set drive security (256-bit encryption), run diagnostics, format the drive, set the RAID level, and set a sleep timer for the drive. The sleep timer is important, since you don't want the drive to run 24/7 and risk burn out unnecessarily. The drive comes formatted for HFS+ (native Mac format), which means you can use it with Time Machine out of the box. The two Thunderbolt ports on the back are interchangeable; you can connect your Mac to one port, then daisy chain other drives or a display to the other port. Thankfully, the 8GB version of the My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes with one Thunderbolt cable, so you don't have to shell out an extra $49 for Apple's cable. Lower capacity versions (4TB and 6TB) do not come with a cable, so you'll have to add one to the cart when you buy the Thunderbolt Duo.
Performance
The Thunderbolt Duo's speed rivals that of a solid-state drive on some operations. The drive took a short six seconds to transfer our 1.2GB test folder, a faster time than the 17 seconds of the SSD-powered LaCie Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt (120GB SSD) ($299.99 list, 4.5 stars), equal to the Editors' Choice LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB SSD) ($999 list, 4.5 stars), and about twice as fast as the LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series (6 TB) ($749 list, 4 stars).
The My Book Thunderbolt Duo is also a smidge faster than its faster cousin, the Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo ($899 list, 4 stars) on the drag and drop test (11 seconds). However, the VelociRaptor Duo is a lot faster at the AJA system test, which simulates the sort of drive transfers that are commonplace in the video editing world. The Thunderbolt Duo is capable of good scores: 257MBps read and 263MBps write scores at the AJA system test. The VelociRaptor Duo speeds along with a 374 MBps read speed and 343 MBps write speed, handily beating the 2big drive (320MBps Read, 304MBps Write), but coming in behind the Little Big Disk (620MBps read, 380MBps Write). This means that the Thunderbolt Duo is fast, the Velociraptor Duo is faster, but the Little Big Disk is the fastest. Granted, they all have different capacities and markets, matching their relative speeds.
The My Book Thunderbolt Duo concentrates on capacity. Weighing in at 8GB, It's one of the largest capacity drives we've tested short of a multi-disk NAS array. It's larger and faster than older FireWire 800 drives by a long shot. It's also much larger (but slower) than its speedy sibling the Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo (2TB), and all are significantly slower than the Editor's Choice for external drives, the La Cie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt (1TB). If you absolutely, positively need 8TB for your large database, scientific, or graphics files in a single volume and are looking to keep your drive future-proofed, then the My Book Thunderbolt Duo is a very good choice, but there are faster drives (with much lower capacity) at this price point.
The Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo comes in as a high-speed drive for graphics designer and scientific professionals. While not as capacious as the LaCie 2Big Thunderbolt, it is significantly faster. It's also faster on write operations and has much more capacity than SSD-powered solutions like the LaCie Little Big Disk and Rugged Thunderbolt solutions. The Promise Pegasus R6 ($1,999 list, 3.5 stars) has a larger capacity and greater speed, but my goodness look at the price tag. The current external drive EC, the IoSafe Solo G3 (1TB) ($299 direct, 4.5 stars) holds on to its title thanks to its rugged, fire-proof construction and included data recovery service, but the Thunderbolt Duo is a great choice for Mac professionals and any specialized PC user that needs the speed of Thunderbolt enough to seek out and buy one of the few Thunderbolt-equipped PCs.
COMPARISON TABLE Compare the Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo with several other hard drive side by side.
More hard drive reviews: ??? Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo ??? G-Technology G-Drive Mobile ??? Pioneer DVR-XD10 ??? G-Technology G-Drive Slim ??? Western Digital My Passport Edge ?? more
in News by Ryan LaSala ? November 25, 2012 at 9:00 am | 1 comment
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Image from: Yoga / Shutterstock
Obviously in the spirit of gluttony, I decided that this Sunday Series would focus on the up-and-coming in the health/beauty/fitness domains online. Where are people looking for the latest tips and trips to?coral?their body into a more flattering shape? What products are gaining traction in time for the holidays? What will, and what won?t, stave off the insulation of winter?
Well, Oprah, you did it again! TheBestLife.com secures the top fastest growing spot, but still has a long way to go considering it?s rank month to month. The next thing I noticed was BikramYoga.com, a type of Yoga employing intensely hot conditions (ideally?105?F). As someone who avoids putting myself in?105?F conditions at all costs, I?ve never tried it, but all of my chicest friends think it?s the best and evidently this impression is spreading through the rest of the USA?and just in time for the holidays!
Lastly, PolarUSA.com take the fifth spot. This is the first product to make the top ten growers, which might be a sign of impending success as holiday shopping gets into full swing.
About Ryan LaSala: Ryan La Sala joins Compete as the Digital Marketing Co-op for Compete.com, sovereign of all things social media. Ryan is a current attendant of Northeastern University, dual-majoring in Cultural Anthropology and International Affairs (with minors in Biology and Psychology), with career interests in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Consumer Anthropology. Aside from acquiring aspirations with big words, Ryan?s other interests include reading cheesy fiction, writing in any capacity, singing and cooking. Find Ryan on twitter @Ryality or connect with him on LinkedIn.
The salty-sweet goodness of this pie will please even the pickiest of palates. Don?t be surprised if they end up addicted. At <a href="momofukustore.com">momofukustore.com</a>, $44.
Lizzie Fortunato Jewels
Make any gal on your holiday list merry with statement baubles and crafty-couture handbags from sister design duo Lizzie Fortunato. At <a href="shop.lizziefortunatojewels.com">lizziefortunatojewels.com</a>, from $130.
Build Your Block Pillows
Buy your favorite couch potato a plush Brooklyn brownstone or Park Avenue pad?no loan required?with these charming pillows inspired by your favorite hood. At <a href="http://buildyourblock.bigcartel.com">buildyourblock.com</a>, from $36.
Pressed Juicery
Not everyone has easy access to year-round fresh fruits and veggies. Give those outside the sunny SoCal bubble healthy sips from Pressed Juicery. At <a href="pressedjuicery.com">pressedjuicery.com</a>, from $110.
Harbour Surfboards
The search for endless summer doesn?t have to end come December. For a lifetime of swells, a custommade wave rider is sure to have your surf rat stoked. At <a href="harboursurfboards.com">harboursurfboards.com</a>, from $900.
Unearthen Cassaniti Vial Necklace
Help displaced Californians keep home close to their hearts with a vial necklace filled with drops of the Pacific Ocean, crude oil or compost from the Golden State. At <a href="http://shop.seeunearthen.com/products/unearthen-cassaniti-vial-necklace">seeunearthen.com</a>, $225.
Maps Rocks Glasses
Lost on what to get your drinking buddy? Cheers to one of our fairest cities with these glasses, etched with wraparound local street maps. At <a href="http://www.theuncommongreen.com/collections/products/products/maps-rocks-glass">theuncommongreen.com</a>, $25.
Deep Dish & Hot Dogs
When Chitown cravings hit harder than a slugger at Wrigley Field, nothing satisfies like Lou Malnati?s authentic deep dish pizza and hot dog duo. At <a href="http://www.tastesofchicago.com/category/864">tastesofchicago.com</a>, $84
Aporta Scarves
Surviving a Windy City winter is no easy feat. Help friends in colder climates show off their winter cred with a thick handmade Aporta scarf. At <a href="http://aporta.bigcartel.com/">aporta.bigcartel.com</a>, $240.
Pastelitos de Guayaba
Give these tropical Cuban pastries (delicate layers of dough folded over vibrant guava-filled centers) to every sweet tooth on your list. At <a href="http://www.pastelitostogo.com/Freshly_Baked_to_your_door_p/pa101.htm">pastelitostogo.com</a>, $25.
Pearl Shark Earrings by Nektar de Stagni
Give a fashionable friend a pair of great, white pearlescent enamel tooth earrings. They don't bite. At <a href="http://www.nektardestagni.com/pages/Shop.html">nektardestagni.com</a>, $198.
Enchanted Plastic Prints
Life in plastic is fantastic when it?s a creepy-cool, limited-edition print of a doll. At <a href="http://www.enchantedplastic.com/EnchantedPlastic_by_D+G/Enchanted_Plastic_by_D+G_Store.html">enchantedplastic.com</a>, from $150.
Rockmount Ranch Wear Blankets
Baby, it's cold outside. Warm hearts and toes with a Southwestern-motif fleece blanket from Rockmount Ranch Wear?s collaboration with the King Ranch. At <a href="http://www.rockmount.com/BlanketsRobes/">rockmount.com</a>, $50.
Tender Belly Pork
Bring home the bacon for every swine lover on your list with Tender Belly Pork?s artisanal eats. At <a href="http://www.tenderbelly.com/store/">tenderbelly.com</a>, from $33.
Boulder Beer
Colorado is famous for its peaks and local brew-haha. Since you can't move mountains, gift your buds with suds from the state?s first microbrewery, Boulder Beer. At <a href="http://www.liquormart.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=boulder+beer">liquormart.com</a>, from $8.
Democrat & Republican Pillows
Let political junkies duke out their opposing views with a pillow fight, courtesy of Red Barn?s darling donkey and elephant throw pillows. At <a href="http://www.redbarnmercantile.com/home_decor_pillows.htm">redbarnmercantile.com</a>, $85.
Capitol Butter Dish
Butter them up with this kitschy-cool dish?cast in high-fire porcelain. At <a href="http://odlco.com/catalog/capitol-butter-dish">odlco.com</a>, $50.
Maryland Crab and Seafood Package
Seafood lovers won?t mind getting pinched by Maryland?s fresh native blue crabs, delivered alive or steamed for ultimate deliciousness. At <a href="marylandbluecrabexpress.com/maryland-blue-crab-specials/huffington-post-exclusive-maryland-crab-and-seafood-package.html">marylandbluecrabexpress.com</a>, $50.
Shinola Bikes
A brand-new Detroit factory committed to the highest design standards, these two-wheelers will delight even the snootiest cyclers. At <a href="shinola.com">shinola.com</a>, from $2,500.
Detroit French Roast
Dark and robust with a roasty character, Detroit French Roast coffee is a strong stocking stuffer choice for java junkies. At <a href="http://store.greatlakescoffee.com/">greatlakescoffee.com</a>, $13.
State Cutting Board
At least Wolverine and Spartan fans can agree on one thing: a fetching and functional Michigan-shaped cutting board makes for the perfect present. At <a href="www.aheirloom.com">aheirloom.com</a>, $48.
Heath Ceramics
Those with a penchant for the modern and serene will swoon over any piece from Sausalito-based design company. Bungalow not included. At <a href="http://www.heathceramics.com/">heathceramics.com</a>, from $22.
Job & Boss Accessories
Secret Santa says (bo)ho ho. For the stylish hippie on your list, Job & Boss?s one-of-a-kind hand-dyed scarves and totes are just groovy enough. At <a href="http://jobboss.bigcartel.com/products">jobboss.com</a>, from $68.
Cowgirl Creamery Cheese
Cheese fanatics will love Cowgirl Creamery?s award-winning artisanal curds, crafted in small batches just north of San Francisco. At <a href="http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/shop">cowgirlcreamery.com</a>, from $35.
If you saw my Sol Republic Tracks Headphones review from October 2011, you know I really liked those headphones. Well, I was fortunate enough to be able to try out Sol Republic?s newest product ? Tracks Ultra On-Ear Headphones.
ABOUT SOL REPUBLIC AND SOL REPUBLIC TRACKS ULTRA ON-EAR HEADPHONES
SOL REPUBLIC is a global consumer electronics company dedicated to enhancing people?s lives through better-sounding headphones. Founded by consumer electronics veterans Kevin Lee, Scott Hix and Seth Combs who share a vision of ridding the world of hollow-sounding headphones and to make great sound attainable for everyone. SOL REPUBLIC is comprised of music fanatics who develop products from the ground up to make headphones that look, sound and feel unlike anything else in the market. More than just a headphone company, SOL REPUBLIC celebrates the people who make music, love music and are devoted to music. We are committed to creating a community where music fans, athletes and all dreamers are welcome to put a voice to their ideas, share their sound, and be heard.
Designed from the ground up, the new TRACKS ULTRA high performance headphones provide the deepest bass and highest clarity vocals, and are wrapped in a distinct Stellar style all their own.
Powerful Sound You Can Feel: Featuring V12 Sound Engines, Tracks Ultra are fully loaded with deeper bass, higher vocal clarity and crisp vocals so you can feel the full power of your music.
Listen In Comfort: Our SonicSoft? Speaker Pads and extra wide ear cushions let you enjoy your music in comfort for hours.
Virtually Indestructible: Constructed of a seriously advanced polymer compound, our FlexTech? Sound Track headband is built to withstand heavy abuse. Twist it, bend it, drop it ? it?s not going to break on you.
Personal Style: The world?s first interchangeable headphones, you can swap out our Cleartalk? cables and Sound Track headbands with ease.
Slim-Fit Neo Case: Neoprene sleeve lets you transport your headphones with ease.
3-Button Mic + Music Control: Lets you adjust the volume, pause/resume/skip music and answer/hang-up calls. The high clarity mic captures every word possible.
Compatibility: 3-button mic + music control is designed specifically for full feature compatibility with recent generations of Apple devices. The audio and mic are likely to work with most devices that have a 3.5mm jack, including but not limited to, Android, Blackberry and Windows devices.
MY THOUGHTS
I received a pair of Sol Republic Tracks Ultra On-Ear headphones. The headphones are easy to put together. Just slide the ear cushions onto the head strap, then plug the cables in.
I love these headphones, they have an even fuller sound than the Sol Republic Tracks Headphones. The sound is great loud, and even better really loud. Plus, you can change the headband and cables to suit your own personal taste. I like that these head phones come with a light sleeve to hold everything together while traveling or for storage. The cushion on these headphones is just as soft and comfortable as those on the original Tracks headphones, they are really comfortable on your ears. There?s no outside sound interference like you usually find with ear buds and some on-ear headphones,which makes the sound even better. I would happily recommend these headphones to anyone looking for On-Ear Headphones with a clean and clear full-bodied sound. As such, they are definitely a must for inclusion in this year?s Mom Knows It All Holiday Gift Guide.
Sol Republic Tracks Ultra On-Ear Headphones retail for $179.99.
MORE INFO
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ONE winner will each receive a pair of Sol Republic Tracks Ultra Headphones.
HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)
To enter visit the Sol Republic site and then leave a comment on this post telling me which pair of headphones you like best.
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The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.
Daniel Craig had a few choice words about actress Kristen Stewart as a Bind girl!? Find out what the? 007 actor had to say below. Skyfall?s leading man, Daniel Craig, showed his sarcastic side when the actor was asked about his thoughts regarding Kristen Stewart as a Bond girl.? “No, she’s in ‘Twilight’,” Craig exclaimed while talking with the Kyle and Jackie O Show to promote his latest Bond film that was directed by Sam Mendes. The response would have likely infuriated Twilight fans but the husband of Rachel Weisz was quick to laugh off the comment with an explanation.? “No, I’m being nasty. I’m only saying that because it’s [Breaking Dawn Part 2] coming out this weekend so we’re in direct competition with them.”? Finally giving the actress his vote of confidence, he added “I’m sure she’d make a great Bond girl.” This latest news comes after Stewart expressed her desire to be a Bond girl after some coaxing while talking during an interview that was part of the press rounds for the final film of the Twilight saga.? ?I?m not sure, I would love to read a few graphs of the script. I choose my roles really instinctually [...]
The technology age has made it easier to get distracted as surfing for anything on the web is a quick click away.
For smaller companies, this decrease in productivity is extremely costly since resources are slim. Therefore, workers have to be as productive as possible. This is also true if you work from home.?
?It can be incredibly hard to stay focused when you work for yourself, because there?s no boss over your shoulder or IT department monitoring your internet usage,??Kelly Gurnett,?career expert and blogger, told us.
?If you want to spend hours on Facebook or Amazon.com, you?can, technically?but you really can?t, because then your projects won?t get completed and your business will suffer.
To get a better understanding of the most effective way to work, we turned to Gurnett and?Dan Schawbel, founder of?Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and management consulting firm, who have both built successful businesses on their own without much supervision. Here are their tips:
1. Know your internal clock.?In order to better concentrate, Gurnett?works around her internal clock, which determines how productive you are at different times in the day.?
For example, Gurnett is more of an early bird and she knows she can write ?a handful of blog posts without losing focus, drawing a blank, or feeling the siren call of Facebook or Twitter? in the mornings, so this is when she produces content.?
In the afternoon, her brain is less creative so she uses this time to finish tasks such as proofreading, formatting posts, and billing.?
2. Make a to-do list.?Even if you already know what you need to complete, it?s better to have the list right in front of you. Schawbel told us that he creates a list with big things he needs to accomplish every week.?
?It?s an ongoing list, but I do it so that even if I veer off, I know what I need to get done,? he said. To know what?s urgent,?Schawbel highlights these tasks in red and completes them within a few days.
3. Check your e-mail in intervals.?Checking your e-mail can be addicting, especially since it?s so easy now to access it on smartphones. To stop herself from wasting too much time replying to e-mails, Gurnett limits how often she checks her messages.?
?I usually check my messages in the morning, at lunch and midway through the afternoon, and I try to process as many of them as I can in one sitting: read them, respond to them as necessary, delete them,? she said.
4. Reply immediately.?Even though Gurnett limits checking her e-mails down to a minimum, once she does check it, she makes sure she answers it.
?Once I?ve opened a message, I make myself take some sort of action on it,? she said. ?I can?t just mark it for later since that just creates twice as much work in the long run.?
Schawbel agrees with this habit.
He told us that when he sees an e-mail, he responds immediately because if not, it?s possible to lose out on an opportunity.??I?once lost a TV appearance on CNN because I waited to think about it,? he said.
?If it?s a thing that requires more thought, it?s still good to e-mail them back to ask if you can get back to them at the end of the week.??
Whatever your methods are for staying on task, you need to learn how to work as efficient as possible, and the best way of doing that is knowing yourself and understanding when and where you work best.??The more sense the schedule makes for you, the easier it will be to stick to,? Gurnett said.
Sony Xperia V is going to be available in parts of Europe by December, according to a statement by Sony Russia. This phone will now work on the Android Jelly Bean and it will be available at a retail price of 24,990 RUB or $805. However, the price of the Xperia V is likely to go down after launch.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Nov-2012
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