Monday, February 25, 2013

Heat blow huge lead then beat Cavs for 11th in row

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem (40) shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson, right, looks for an opening past Miami Heat center Chris Bosh, left, and forward Udonis Haslem (40) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Cleveland Cavaliers center Tyler Zeller, left, and Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade battle for a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

(AP) ? Dwyane Wade got hot down the stretch, and LeBron James missed a layup in the final minute.

Both were huge breaks for the Miami Heat.

James scored 28 points, Wade scored 11 of his 24 in the final five minutes ? when Miami needed him most ? and the Heat extended the NBA's longest current winning streak to 11 games, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-105 in a back-and-forth matchup Sunday night.

The Heat blew a 22-point second-half lead then rallied from eight down with 5:16 left.

"We're a veteran ballclub and we've been in every situation that an NBA game can offer us," James said. "We don't get too high, we don't get too low, we just play the 48 minutes out and see where it takes us."

Dion Waiters scored 26 points, C.J. Miles added 19 and Kyrie Irving scored 17 for Cleveland, which outscored Miami by a stunning 30 points over a 17-minute stretch of the second half, yet still came up empty.

The Cavaliers are now 1-8 against the Heat since James signed with Miami in July 2010.

"We had a very good chance against a very good basketball team, the world champions, and we lost the game because of mental mistakes," Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. "That's just something that we can't have happen again."

In fairness, it wasn't just mental mistakes that doomed Cleveland late. There was a bit of luck involved for the Heat.

Miami was up by two and held possession with 1:03 remaining. The shot clock was running down and Chris Bosh was open to try a 16-footer from the right wing. As Bosh was about to release, James got inexplicably free under the basket, thrusting both his arms skyward. Bosh threw him the pass ? and James, enjoying the best shooting season of his career, did the unthinkable: He missed the easy one.

This is where the luck comes into play.

The rebound found its way back to Bosh, the Heat ran down another shot clock, and Wade got loose for a two-handed dunk that pushed Miami's lead to 105-101 with 24.4 seconds left.

It was a double-whammy for Cleveland. Miami scored and took nearly 40 seconds off a dwindling clock in the process.

"Hey, I'm a smart player. That's what basketball IQ is all about," James said afterward, unable to hold back a sly grin. "I have no idea how I blew that layup. But it did work out for us. Got an extra possession, D-Wade was able to turn the corner and get a slam."

Said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: "I liked that play."

Wade started what turned into a 16-4 run with a fadeaway with just under 5 minutes to go, then added a three-point play on the next Miami possession to cut the Cavs' lead to 97-94.

And after Irving missed a layup with 1:35 left, Wade got the rebound and set up Battier for a 3-pointer that put Miami on top again ? and for good.

"I thought that we had the game," Cavaliers forward Alonzo Gee said.

Sure looked like that was the case, after a ridiculously good third quarter.

Down 68-46 early in the third, the Cavaliers looked finished ? last-place team, on the road, against the reigning NBA champions who just happened to have the league's longest current winning streak.

Midway through the third, Miami's lead was still 17.

With two minutes left in the period, the cushion was 10.

By the start of the fourth, it was nonexistent.

The C.J. Miles Show lasted for all of 63 seconds. And they were a scintillating 63 seconds.

It starts with 1:35 left, a 3-pointer from Miles getting the Miami lead down to seven. Then he got a rebound, came downcourt and connected on another 3-pointer. Lead down to four. Another stop by the Cavs on one end, then another 3-pointer for Miles on the other ? that one coming both with him drawing a foul from Chalmers, and with Spoelstra getting hit with a technical from referee Ed Malloy for arguing.

Miles made the technical free throw to tie the game, the free throw for the Chalmers hit to put the Cavs ahead, and they carried that 82-81 lead into the fourth, having closed the quarter on a 36-13 run.

"Guys just finally decided to start playing," Miles said.

Miami used a 23-4 run in the first half to take what looked like a commanding 42-22 lead ? with more than 9 minutes left until the break. And after Cleveland got within seven, Miami answered with another burst.

James didn't miss in the final 4:29 of the half, scoring 10 points on a 4-for-4 run from the floor and fueling what became 16-5 spurt that gave Miami a 64-46 lead going into the locker room. And for good measure, Miami got the first two baskets of the second half, pushing the lead to 22, the biggest of the night.

Over, right?

Not even remotely close. Not until the final frantic seconds, as the Heat not only extended their win streak but won for the fourth time in five nights.

"We found a way," Wade said. "I felt like in the first three quarters, I couldn't move. But in the fourth, you just find it. ... We just turned that other switch on."

NOTES: Miami's two wins over Cleveland this season, both at home, have come by a combined six points. ... The Cavs were without Daniel Gibson (personal) and Omri Casspi, who remained hospitalized in Orlando after surgery to remove his appendix. ... Heat F Mike Miller (ear infection) was back with the team Sunday, though did not play. "He can't hear anything we're saying," Spoelstra quipped before the game. ... The Heat held a moment of silence pregame for Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, the moment ending with warm applause from the crowd.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-24-BKN-Cavaliers-Heat/id-c7238153f1e04cdfbe079e89dcfac036

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Planets Deserve Better Names

Kepler-20e is the first planet smaller than the Earth discovered to orbit a star other than the sun. Kepler-20e aka Beyonc??

Courtesy of NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Fed up with dull names for exoplanets, Alan Stern and his company, Uwingu, have asked the public for help. Stern is the former head of science missions at NASA. He and a group of fellow scientists and educators launched Uwingu's hunt for names last year at uwingu.com.

Stephen P. Craft: How did you come up with the idea for a list of potential names for exoplanets?
Alan Stern: The number of planets in the Milky Way was recently estimated at more than 100 billion. We realized that that's far, far too many names for astronomers to supply, that it would take the general public, too. We also realized how much fun this could be for people.

SC: How do people submit names?
AS: For 99 cents, anyone can put in a name, as long as it isn't already nominated and isn't profane or pejorative. People can also vote on which names they like best. We only have a few hundred now, but the idea is that we will have hundreds of thousands of names in the database. We will take the thousand most popular, which will correspond to the thousand or so exoplanets that we already know about, and hand those to exoplanet scientists.

SC: What kinds of names are people suggesting?
AS: It is pretty interesting. People are putting in names of friends, spouses. They are putting in lots of science-fiction names like Alderaan and Yuggoth, names of authors such as Heinlein and Asimov, and even politicians like Obama and Romney. As this gets out to the general public, we expect there to be a lot of interesting contests going on?maybe Lady Gaga versus Madonna.

SC: What's wrong with the existing names?
AS: There are none?just "license plate" designations like 2M 0746+20b or OGLE235-MOA53b!

SC: Isn't it a problem that your company, Uwingu, has no formal ties to the International Astronomical Union's naming committee?
AS: I think most people get that this is for fun and engagement. It's not meant to be official. In a sense, it's a social experiment. Naming celestial objects is usually done by astronomers and professionals. Other people who are interested in space never get the opportunity to do that kind of thing. What if they did? What would the people of Earth choose? What would their imagination do that we wouldn't do, as astronomers?

SC: What else is Uwingu trying to accomplish?
AS: The mission of the company is two-fold. Priority one is to better connect the general public with space and the sky. Two is to operate a fund for space research, exploration, and education.

SC: What is the Uwingu fund?
AS: It comes from revenues generated by people nominating and voting for their favorite exoplanet names, and it goes toward needy space projects, such as SETI's Allen Telescope Array.

SC: Why should the public trust you with their money?
AS: People in the research and education community recognize our names, so they will come to us in ways that they wouldn't otherwise. We are professional scientists and educators, and we will do the quality control. Our intent is to be worldwide, not only in our revenue, but in our expenditures. Uwingu is the only thing around like this; nobody else has thought of anything similar.

This article originally appeared in New Scientist.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=8240920308c6c2a32abadc056ddc5a27

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Apple iPhones found to be 3 Times More Reliable than Samsung

FixYa, a product Q&A destination on the web and mobile, announces the release of a new report comparing the number of fix-it requests across top smartphone manufacturers ? pitting them head-to-...

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"Our newest FixYa report looks at lines like the iPhone, Galaxy, or Lumia, and through a careful analysis of issues versus market share, we?ve been able to directly compare manufacturers using a reliability score. The result is an accurate and fair method of scaled approach to fairly compare these top companies to truly see who is the most reliable, and who is barely even competing."

Source: International Business Times

FixYa, a product Q&A destination on the web and mobile, announces the release of a new report comparing the number of fix-it requests across top smartphone manufacturers ? pitting them head-to-head to see which smartphone line is the more reliable.

The FixYa Smartphone Reliability Report covers the Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid, Samsung Galaxy, and Nokia Lumia smartphone lines, with Apple roughly three times more reliable than Samsung, five times more reliable than Nokia, and a whopping 25 times more reliable than Motorola. By looking at the top issues with each manufacturer, the FixYa Smartphone Reliability Report seeks to provide clarity to consumers by highlighting the main troubleshooting trends across these four standout companies.

So why on earth are consumers buying something else than an iPhone? ;)

Via FixYa.

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Source: http://www.i4u.com/2013/02/53415/apple-iphones-found-be-3-times-more-reliable-samsung

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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Review: HBO's 'Parade's End' has fine stiff upper lip

Anglophiles rejoice. "Parade's End" is about to begin and upper lips have never been more stiff, accents more clipped nor pure hearts more tortured.

HBO's five-hour adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's masterwork examination of the delusion, repression, nobility and romance of the British spirit is lush, a bit maddening and ? after formal introductions are made ? thoroughly addicting. Written by Tom Stoppard ("Shakespeare in Love") and directed by Susanna White with a bit too much fondness for mirrors, this mammoth undertaking set in the years prior to World War I deals with love, war, class and desperate personalities.

At its center is a brilliant if stubbornly proper aristocrat, Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch), who gets suckered into marrying a saucy socialite, Sylvia (Rebecca Hall), who is pregnant with a child that may or may not be his. Soon enough, Sylvia runs off to France for a fling with another man while Christopher quietly bears it.

But then he meets, and is smitten with, a lovely young suffragette, Valentine Wannop (the lovely young Adelaide Clemens). Christopher, of course, can't act on his affection ? he's a married man. And eventually Sylvia returns to her husband, dooming them both to a life of stiff cordiality at best.

This love triangle of distances continues even as Christopher goes off to war and finds hell in the trenches. The disconnect between propriety and reality keeps the miniseries on constant edge.

The entire cast is fine, but Hall steals the show. Her Sylvia is both impossibly cruel and yet somehow oddly sympathetic, a tortured creature from another time. In "Parade's End," the march of progress is both too slow and too fast for its characters to keep step.

tlong@detroitnews.com

twitter.com/toomuchTomLong

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130222/ENT10/302220312/1457/ENT10

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Forum Jump

Source: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1547400&goto=newpost

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More states consider ban on credit card surcharges

Charge a fee to use your credit card? It?s legal for merchants to do that, unless barred by state law. Ten states already ban such surcharges ? California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas ? and more may join the list.

The legislatures in 13 other states are currently considering bills that would prevent these so-called ?check out? fees. Lawmakers in Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Tennessee are responding to a rule change that took place late last month. A similar bill will soon be introduced in West Virginia.

Visa and MasterCard agreed to let merchants add a surcharge to credit card transactions as part of the settlement agreement in an antitrust lawsuit brought by retailers. Until Jan. 27, both Visa and MasterCard had prohibited merchants from charging the customer for the cost of processing that credit card transaction.

The settlement does not affect Visa or MasterCard debit cards. American Express still prohibits a surcharge on any of its cards.

New Jersey Assemblyman Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus) said he introduced a bill to ban surcharging because it would hit consumers in the pocketbook.

?The amount of the surcharge may seem miniscule on paper, but in the family budget 1.5 to 3 percent could add up to a shorter grocery list or less to spend on gas,? he said in a statement.

In Utah, Sen. Curtis Bramble (R-Provo) is sponsoring a bill that would prohibit surcharges on any type of ?financial transaction card? which would include debit cards.

Major retailers are not expected to tack on a credit card surcharge, at least not any time in the immediate future. Wal-Mart, Target, Sears and Home Depot told NBC News they have no plans to add a credit card surcharge. But just the possibility has spurred some lawmakers into action.

?It?s a waste of the legislative process,? said Mallory Duncan, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation. ?They could take steps to bring greater competition into the marketplace by prohibiting the price fixing of the hidden swipe fees merchants pay to process credit card transactions.?

Trish Wexler, spokesperson for the Electronic Payments Coalition, whose members include Visa and MasterCard Worldwide, told NBC News it has not taken a position on the issue.

?No one knows how checkout fees will work their way through the system,? Wexler said in an email statement, ?but the settlement provides sufficient consumer protections while the process plays out.?

What about disclosures?

The advocacy group Consumer Action has published a booklet on credit card checkout fees. It warns shoppers to be on the lookout for these fees and advises them to express their dissatisfaction.

?Customers shouldn?t stand for it,? said Ruth Susswein Consumer Action?s deputy director of national priorities. ?Our advice is to tell them you don?t like the fee and this makes you want to take your business elsewhere.?

The new rules from Visa and MasterCard require retailers who apply a credit card surcharge to post a notice at the store?s entrance. The exact percentage of the surcharge does not need to be disclosed until the point of sale. The customer receipt must list the amount of the surcharge.

Online stores with a surcharge will not be required to have a notice on the home page. They only need to alert shoppers about this when they reach the page where credit cards are first mentioned. In most cases, that means the final step of checkout when the purchase is being completed.

Not the end of this story

The settlement that allows merchants to impose a credit card surcharge is only preliminary. The court has yet to issue its final ruling in this case. That?s expected later this year.

Once that happens, various retailers and business groups plan to challenge the settlement. That could drag into late 2014.

The possibility that the settlement could be modified will probably keep most businesses of any size from instituting credit card fees for the time being.

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitteror visit The ConsumerMan website.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/more-states-consider-ban-credit-card-surcharges-1C8455523

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Friday, February 22, 2013

Euro zone budget gap to fall despite recession, Spain to miss targets

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Most euro zone countries will reduce their budget deficits this year even though the recession in the single currency area is likely to continue but some, like Spain, will badly miss agreed targets, European Commission forecasts showed on Friday.

France and Portugal will also miss their debt targets, the EU's executive said. All three countries have already indicated as much and will now hope for more leeway from Brussels.

The European Union executive said the euro zone economy would shrink 0.3 percent in 2013 after a 0.6 percent recession last year, but the aggregated budget deficit will fall to 2.8 percent of GDP from 3.5 percent.

The euro slipped on the back of the forecasts.

The euro zone is consolidating its public finances to regain market trust after excessive government spending, real-estate bubbles and lack of competitiveness triggered a sovereign debt crisis that sent the euro zone into recession.

Under EU budget rules, sharpened at the peak of the crisis in late 2011, euro zone countries can face fines if they fail to take action to meet deficit reduction targets set by EU finance ministers.

Progress has been uneven among the 17 countries sharing the euro.

The main laggard was Spain, which badly missed the 6.3 percent of GDP deficit target for 2012 with a result of 10.2 percent. Even money the government spent on recapitalizing banks, the 2012 deficit is still well above target at 7.0 percent of GDP.

This year, Madrid will have a deficit of 6.7 percent rather than the 4.5 percent set for it by EU finance ministers. And unless policies change, Spain will have a gap of 7.2 percent in 2014 against the target of 2.8, the Commission said.

Euro zone countries whose economies perform much worse than expected can count on an extension of deficit deadlines.

But they need to show that while they missed the nominal deficit target because of recession, they have still cut the structural deficit, which strips out the effects of the economic cycle and one off effects.

Spain, in recession last year and seen shrinking again this, was asked last July to reduce its structural deficit by 2.7 points in 2012 to 4.3 percent of GDP and by a further 2.5 points in 2103.

Commission data showed, however, that the structural deficit reduction last year was half of what was agreed at only 1.4 percent taking the gap to 5.9 percent. This year the reduction will again be less than half of the target at 1.2 percent.

The euro zone's second biggest economy France will also miss its nominal deficit targets - this year's shortfall will be 3.7 percent rather than the 3.0 percent agreed with the EU.

But Paris almost hit its deficit target last year with a 4.6 percent gap against a goal of 4.5 and its growth was clearly weaker than expected with the economy stagnating last year and expected to barely grow this year.

Also, France cut its structural deficit by 1.2 percent in 2012 to 3.3 percent and will cut it again to 2.0 percent this year.

Portugal, which had to be bailed out by the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund in 2011, called for more time to reduce its deficit earlier this week.

Commission forecasts showed Lisbon's headline budget deficit rose to 5.0 percent of GDP last year from 4.4 percent in 2011 and will only ease to 4.9 percent this year, unless policies change.

The EU executive will only decide on whether to grant governments more time for adjustment, or step up punitive action, when more detailed figures are available in May.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, editing by Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-budget-gap-fall-despite-recession-spain-101603568--business.html

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Glowing shark's 'lightsaber' warning

A glow-in-the-dark shark scares off predators with "lightsaber-like" spines on its back, a study suggests.

The research was carried out on the velvet belly lanternshark, a small species found in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.

The scientists believe that while the light-up spines can be seen by larger, potentially dangerous fish, they are harder for the shark's prey to spot.

The study is published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

Invisibility cloak

This species of lanternshark (Etmopterus spinax) lives in the mesopelagic zone of the ocean, which has a range between 200m and 1,000m in depth.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

It's a way to say: 'Don't bite me, I'm dangerous, I have spines on my back. You could be hurt'?

End Quote Dr Julien Claes Catholic University of Louvain

It is a diminutive shark; the largest can measure up to about 60cm in length, but most are about 45cm long.

Until recently, little had been known about this species, apart from the fact that like many deep sea creatures it has the ability to glow - a trait called bioluminescence.

Previous research found that the shark has light-producing cells called photophores in its belly, and it uses this light to camouflage itself.

"Imagine you are below the shark, the shark is swimming and you have the light from the Sun coming down," explained Dr Julien Claes, a shark biologist from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, and the lead author of the study.

"If you are just below the shark what you are going to see is a shadow. So imagine if the shark can actually produce a light, which is identical to the light produced by the Sun. Then the shadow of the shark is going to disappear."

Any prey lurking below, typically a small fish called Mueller's pearlside, will not see the shark coming.

However, this new study revealed that the shark is also luminescent on its top side.

Dr Claes said: "There are two spines, one in front of each dorsal fin, and just behind them you have two rows of photophores. They are like lightsabers - they illuminate the spine.

"It was surprising - why would you try to be invisible from below but visible from the dorsal side?"

Warning beacon

Visual modelling experiments revealed that potential predators could see the light from several metres away.

The shark's prey, however, could only see the glow from a distance of about 1.5m, giving them less chance of making an escape.

The team concluded that the glowing spines were acting as a beacon, illuminating the shark's threatening spines.

Dr Claes: "It's a way to say: 'Don't bite me, I'm dangerous, I have spines on my back. You could be hurt.'

"When you live in this dark place, what you try to do is avoid is to be seen by other animals, because there are no places to hide.

"It can be very dangerous - you put yourself at risk when you produce light from your back, unless it acts as a warning system."

He said it was unusual to find an animal that was using light to both hide and advertise itself at the same time.

"It's surprising that these two apparently opposite behaviours can occur in a single organism at the same time. It is really paradoxical."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21531532#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Chevron, Transocean say Brazil drops criminal oil spill charges

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Brazilian judge dropped criminal charges against Chevron Corp, Transocean Ltd and 17 of their employees related to a November 2011 offshore oil spill, the companies said on Wednesday.

The criminal case, and a civil suit seeking as much as 40 billion reais ($20.4 billion) in damages, have cast a chill over Brazil's oil industry.

The criminal suit carried penalties of up to 31 years. The still-open civil case is Brazil's largest-ever environmental lawsuit, even though the amount of oil spilled was much less than other recent spills in Brazil and abroad.

Brazilian oil output fell in 2012, and shutting Chevron operations in the South American country contributed to the decline. Investor interest was already waning in the face of regulatory changes and a bitter dispute over royalties that have blocked the sale of new exploration licenses for four years.

"Chevron has been tied up for more than a year over a spill that caused no real damage," said Adriano Pires, head of the Brazil Infrastructure Institute, a Rio de Janeiro energy think-tank. "It's impossible to understand how a country that wants to attract investment would have taken so long to dismiss the case against Chevron."

He said failure to resolve the legal actions related to the spill will make it hard for Brazil to attract investment for three oil and gas rights auctions planned for later this year.

With criminal charges dismissed, industry watchers will focus on the civil case and Chevron administrative efforts to restart output in the Frade field, where the spill occurred in November and all output was stopped in March.

In December, Chevron and Brazilian prosecutors said they were near a settlement in the civil case and that Chevron was ready to pay 311 million reais ($159 million) to compensate for damages caused by the spill, less than 1 percent of the amount initially sought.

The prosecutor called the offer "reasonable." Chevron said a settlement would render the suits extinct and that it, and not Transocean, would pay all costs.

Chevron said in December that a settlement of 30 million reais would be reasonable. They based their estimate on the size of financial awards in the Deepwater Horizon case and Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989.

FIELD RESTART DELAYED

In December, Chevron expressed hope that it would be able to restart output at the Frade field by early January. But output remains stalled. Court holidays delayed resolution of the civil case and Brasil's oil regulator, the ANP, moved more slowly than expected on renewing Chevron's authorization to pump oil from the Frade field, an oil industry executive involved in planning for the field told Reuters.

Chevron and its partners "had hoped to be producing oil again from Frade by now," said the executive, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the press. "We got caught by the year-end, then the Carnaval holidays."

The Frade field is 52 percent owned by California-based Chevron, 30 percent by Brazil's state-led Petroleo Brasileiro SA and 18 percent by Frade Jap?o, a group owned by Japanese trading companies Inpex Corp and Sojitz Corp.

Chevron's global output in 2012 was 70,000 barrels per day short of company expectations. The loss of Frade was responsible for about 40 percent of that loss, according to Chief Financial Officer Patricia Yerrington.

Restart requires approval of the ANP. The regulator's website said the restart was not on the agenda of its board meeting Wednesday, and officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Petrobras, as the Brazilian company is known, Sojitz and Inpex were never charged in relation to the spill.

DECISION WELCOMED

The press offices of Chevron and Transocean confirmed a Reuters report of the dismissal of criminal charges, which had been based on three sources with direct knowledge of the case.

One of the sources told Reuters that prosecutors can still appeal the ruling dismissing the charges, made by Judge Marcelo Luzio of the 10th Criminal Unit of the Rio de Janeiro Federal Court. The sources asked not to be named because their employers do not allow them to speak about the case.

"We welcome this news that the Court recognized, with respect to the Frade event of November 2011, that Transocean's crews did exactly what they were trained to do, acting responsibly, appropriately and quickly while always maintaining safety as their top priority," Guy Cantwell, a Transocean spokesman in Houston, said in an e-mailed statement.

The criminal charges were filed last March by Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, the same Brazilian prosecutor who filed the civil lawsuit. Oliveria, who is on vacation, told Reuters on Wednesday he had not yet been informed of the dismissal.

Dos Santos, who works from Campos, Brazil, in northern Rio de Janeiro state, was taken off the cases when they were moved to the city of Rio de Janeiro, the state capital. He considers the spill one of the worst ecological disasters in Brazil's history.

'NO DISCERNABLE DAMAGE"

But the ANP reported last year that the 3,600 barrel spill in the Frade field was quickly stopped, cleaned up and caused no discernable environmental damage.

The spill was less than 1/1000th of the size of BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. The Frade spill never came close to shore and no workers were injured. In the Deepwater Horizon disaster 11 died.

Chevron said in a statement that it "is pleased by the court's decision. Chevron Brasil remains committed to its policy of full transparency and close cooperation with the Brazilian authorities."

Chevron shares fell 0.8 percent in New York on Wednesday afternoon, in line with a broader stock market decline.

Shares of Transocean, which was also operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig which burned and sank in 2010 after BP's Macondo well exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, dropped 3.4 percent.

($1 = 1.96 Brazilian reais)

(Additional reporting by Braden Reddall in San Franciso; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Sofina Mirza-Reid and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chevron-transocean-brazil-drops-criminal-oil-spill-charges-005429165--finance.html

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Supreme Court weighs UK-related foreign tax credit dispute

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a dispute between U.S. utility PPL Corp and the Internal Revenue Service that could influence U.S. multinational corporations' scope for claiming credits to offset overseas tax payments.

In a rare instance of the high court tackling a tax case, Pennsylvania-based PPL argued it is entitled to claim $39 million in U.S. foreign tax credits against a 1997 British windfall tax.

Like PPL, at least two other U.S. utilities -- Entergy Corp and American Electric Power Co -- were hit by the windfall tax after they acquired British utility companies that were privatized in the 1980s and 1990s.

The IRS has rejected the companies' foreign tax credit claims, arguing that the windfall tax did not meet the definition of a tax for which credits can be claimed.

Foreign tax credits are normally available to U.S. companies so they do not pay the same tax twice at home and abroad.

Two appellate courts had offered different opinions in the dispute, leading the nine-member Supreme Court to intervene to settle the matter.

The dispute hinges on a fairly fine distinction between value and income that attorneys for both sides argued over.

The UK windfall tax is "not an income tax, in the U.S. sense, and it should not be entitled to a credit," said U.S. Assistant Solicitor General Ann O'Connell, arguing for the IRS.

PPL, backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the conservative Cato Institute and Goldwater Institute, argued that the windfall tax should be eligible for a foreign tax credit.

Paul Clement, a regular advocate before the Supreme Court and a partner at law firm Bancroft PLLC, argued for PPL. He said the windfall tax "looks exactly like a U.S. excess profits tax. ... It's a tax on income by our eyes."

THATCHER'S LEGACY

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher privatized many state-owned businesses in the 1980s. One of them, South Western Electricity PLC, was partially acquired by PPL.

After Thatcher stepped down, her political rivals in the British Labour Party slapped windfall taxes on acquirers they thought had paid too little for former state enterprises.

PPL's British utility was hit in 1997 with a windfall tax bill of about $140 million. The company paid it, and PPL claimed a U.S. foreign tax credit against it. The IRS disallowed the claim, in part saying the tax was politically influenced.

At issue before the Supreme Court is whether the windfall tax constituted a tax on income or on some other measure of the value of South Western Electricity unrelated to income.

The equation used to calculate the windfall tax in 1997 seemed to have been derived from income, said Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the most vigorous questioners during the hour-long session. "So there is nothing there but income."

Breyer also said that the Supreme Court should take into account a 2010 judgment won by PPL in U.S. Tax Court, citing that court's expertise in tax matters in comparison to other courts. Breyer did not suggest by his question how he might vote. There was no indication from the majority how the case might be decided.

A Supreme Court opinion is expected by June.

U.S. multinational companies claimed $93.5 billion in foreign tax credits in 2009, the most recent IRS figure.

The case is No. 12-43 PPL Corporation and Subsidiaries v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-weighs-uk-related-foreign-tax-credit-223257482--finance.html

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12 killed in twin bomb blasts in southern India

HYDERABAD, India (AP) ? A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 12 people and wounding scores of others in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

The blasts occurred about two minutes apart at around 7 p.m. outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered, motorcycles covered in debris, and food and plates from a roadside restaurant were scattered on the ground near a tangle of dead bodies. Passersby rushed the bleeding and wounded out of the area.

"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.

The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in Dilsukh Nagar district, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.

When asked if the government had any suspects, Shinde responded: "We have to investigate."

The blast killed 12 people, Home Secretary R.K. Singh said.

Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.

"I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.

Hyderabad, a city of 10 million in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

"This (attack) is to disturb the peaceful living of all communities in Andhra Pradesh," said Kiran Kumar Reddy, the state's chief minister.

The explosions Thursday were the first major bomb attack to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

Officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were sent from New Delhi to Hyderabad to help with the investigation.

The United States, whose Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting Thursday in Washington with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, condemned the attack.

"The United States stands with India in combating the scourge of terrorism and we also prepared to offer any and all assistance Indian authorities may need," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.

Rana Banerji, a former security official, said India remains vulnerable to such attacks because there is poor coordination between the national government and the states. Police reforms are also moving very slowly and the quality of intelligence gathering is poor, he said.

"The concept of homeland security should be made effective, on a war footing," he said.

India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

___

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/12-killed-twin-bomb-blasts-southern-india-171005495.html

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Mayor asks you to tweet ?acts of kindness? during storm

Posted on: 12:55 pm, February 21, 2013, by Barrett Tryon, updated on: 01:05pm, February 21, 2013

Twitter Logo

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Kansas City, Mo., mayor Sly James tweeted Thursday for Kansas Citians to tweet ?acts of kindness and citizenship taking place? around the metro during the storm.

So far, people have mentioned things like inviting neighbors inside why others helped rescue stuck cars, ?shoutouts? to fire and emergency crews and ?complete strangers? helping a car on Main Street.

You can follow along and add your own act of kindness by using #KClove on Twitter.

Follow Fox 4 on Twitter: @fox4kc

Source: http://fox4kc.com/2013/02/21/mayor-asks-you-to-tweet-acts-of-kindness-during-storm/

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Ohio tax plan hits concerts, sports and even bowling | The Bellevue ...

By JOHN SEEWER

Asso?ci?ated?Press

TOLEDO (AP) ? Expand?ing Ohio?s sales tax might take some of the fun out of going to con?certs, foot?ball games and amuse?ment?parks.

Gov. John Kasich wants to cut the state?s over?all sales-tax rate while also putting the lower 5 per?cent sales tax on a long list of new items that include cir?cuses, arcade games and car?ni?val?rides.

Admis?sion to fairs, muse?ums, and theme parks would fall under Ohio?s sales tax for the first time too. So would tick?ets to pro, col?lege and high school games.

The gov?er?nor is propos?ing sweep?ing changes in the way Ohio taxes busi?nesses and indi?vid?u?als in his two-year bud?get that still must be approved by law?mak?ers. Kasich?s plan includes reduc?ing income, small busi?ness and sales taxes to stim?u?late job growth.

At the same time, his pro?posal tacks on Ohio?s sales tax to attor?ney fees, cable TV and pet groom?ing as well as enter?tain?ment options.

?By broad?en?ing this tax, by broad?en?ing it, we?re actu?ally bring?ing greater fair?ness to the sys?tem,? Kasich said last?week.

Adding the sales tax on arts, enter?tain?ment, and recre?ation alone is pro?jected to bring in $85 mil?lion to the state gov?ern?ment over the com?ing two?years.

It?s also likely to add to the cost of see?ing a ball?game or a?play.

Some enter?tain?ment busi?nesses and sports teams will pass the costs onto ticket buy?ers and cus?tomers while oth?ers are likely to absorb the costs, fear?ing that a price increase will drive away business.

?There has to be a decrease some?where, either in my prof?its or cus?tomers,? said Eric Bates, pres?i?dent of Bates Broth?ers Amuse?ments Co., which is based in Win?tersville in east?ern Ohio and sup?plies car?ni?val rides to fairs and festivals.

He wor?ries that some cash-strapped county fairs won?t sur?vive if they?re forced to give up 5 per?cent of their gate fees to the government.

?I don?t know that it?s wise at this time,? Bates?said.

Bowl?ing alley owner Marty Teifke agreed that it would hurt to pay a tax on lane rentals.

?It?s not easy to raise prices, and the econ?omy is not the best around here? said Teifke, who runs Tim?bers Bowl?ing in Maumee near Toledo. ?It scares me to hear?this.?

Most enter?tain?ment busi?nesses and groups that would be affected by a wider sales tax are still try?ing to fig?ure out what the impact might be and how they?ll respond, includ?ing Cedar Fair Enter?tain?ment Co., own?ers of Cedar Point amuse?ment park in San?dusky and Kings Island near Cincinnati.

Both parks have fought against past attempts by local gov?ern?ments that have tried to tax tick?ets and parking.

The addi?tion of a 5 per?cent state sales tax on admis?sions would amount to $2.75 on the price of a $54.99 Cedar Point ticket at the?gate.

A $22 Cincin?nati Reds ticket in the upper deck ticket would gen?er?ate $1.10 for the?state.

Close to 70 cities and vil?lages in Ohio already have some sort of admis?sion tax with most com?ing in at 3 per?cent. Cleveland?s is at 8 percent.

Tick?ets for high school sports wouldn?t be exempt from the governor?s proposal.

Jim Stoyle, ath?letic direc?tor at Cen?ter?burg High School north of Colum?bus, said he would want the cost of admis?sion to go up. ?That?s the one thing I hate in sports today,? he?said.

Game tick?ets at the school now are $6 for adults and $4 for stu?dents. He?s con?cerned that fam?i?lies would be stretched thin if the price goes up, espe?cially for those with sev?eral chil?dren play?ing, and that the teams would suf?fer as?well.

?Most of our high school ath?letic pro?grams sur?vive on ticket gate sales,? Stoyle said.

Com?mu?nity the?ater groups would face the same decisions.

?There wouldn?t be much choice but to pass along a sales tax increase to the cus?tomers,? said Tom Neff, board pres?i?dent of the Cha?grin Val?ley Lit?tle The?ater out?side Cleve?land. ?Peo?ple would under?stand it?s part of what you would have to do. I don?t think there?s any way around it.?

Asso?ci?ated Press writer Ann San?ner in Colum?bus con?tributed to this report.

Source: http://thebellevuegazette.com/ap-news/ohio-tax-plan-hits-concerts-sports-and-even-bowling/

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A Red and Gray Texas Wedding

I?m not usually a fan of red, but paired with gray and orange in today?s fall Texas wedding, it looks gorgeous. I love all the elegant rustic details and the florals are just stunning! Proteas are a favorite of mine and they look amazing in the bridesmaid bouquets. Also, can you believe the bridesmaid dresses are from Target?

The gorgeous bride Meg shares:

I am not a huge wedding planner type, but what I was really looking for was a rustic elegant venue with a touch of vintage and history. ?When I came across Old Dobbin Station I immediately fell in love! ?I went and looked at it and knew that it was perfect. ?It was the only venue I looked at. ?It was built in the early 1900?s and served as a pumping station. ?A couple came in over the past year and restored it and now it is a wedding venue. ?I loved the fact that it was an old pumping station, because my husband is a gas compression project engineer. ?He is also a HUGE Detroit Tigers fan. ?His favorite thing about their stadium is all of the old building in the background. ?So when I saw Old Dobbin, I knew it was a perfect piece of both of us:) ?I also loved that it is set deep in the country and the drive out is breath taking, much better than sitting in Houston city traffic.

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

I chose to have the ceremony in the unrestored building, because I felt that it was unique and different. ?I love that episode of friends where Ross gets married in that half burned building with the natural arch and strung lights at night. ?So, when I saw the potential for the building, I knew it was perfect for our ceremony. ?We had the aisle lit with lanterns, drapery, and bistro lights. ?It was so beautiful walking down the aisle and everything I could have hoped for leading up to exchanging our vows.

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

I chose deep fall colors for the bouquets and centerpieces. ?Our florist, Carter?s, did a phenomenal job! ?It took my breath away when I saw the final project. ?I love the season of Fall and was really hoping to catch it with a hint of elegance, country, and vintage all wrapped up into one?which is exactly what I felt like the Carter?s accomplished.?Surprisingly, my bridesmaid dresses were from Target. ?Two of my bridesmaids were pregnant, so I needed to be able to try different dresses in different styles. ?It was so easy to order and return if I did not like them. ?It made planning a wedding in 3 months do-able:) ?The color, material, and style were amazing quality and price (only $70 each).

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

Our favorite part of the wedding was probably the ceremony. ?I will never forget walking down the lantern lit aisle to Kevin under the dramatic draping and bistro lights with the string quartet play and all of our closest friends and family surrounding us. ?Truly unforgettable.

red fall wedding | Luke and Cat Photography

Photography | Luke and Cat Photography | Planner | Hand In Hand Weddings & Events |?Venue | Olde Dobbin Station |?Florist |?Carter?s Florist | Dress |?Mori Lee from?Ventura?s Bridal?| Bridesmaid Dresses | Target

Categories: Bouquets, Bridal Party, Classic, Elegant, Fall, Gray, Orange, Photography, Real Wedding, Red, Romantic, Rustic

Source: http://www.glamourandgraceblog.com/2013/an-orange-and-red-texas-wedding/

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Mushroom-supplemented soybean extract shows therapeutic promise for advanced prostate cancer

Feb. 20, 2013 ? A natural, nontoxic product called genistein-combined polysaccharide, or GCP, which is commercially available in health stores, could help lengthen the life expectancy of certain prostate cancer patients, UC Davis researchers have found.

Men with prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, known as metastatic cancer, and who have had their testosterone lowered with drug therapy are most likely to benefit. The study, recently published in Endocrine-Related Cancer, was conducted in prostate cancer cells and in mice.

Lowering of testosterone, also known as androgen-deprivation therapy, has long been the standard of care for patients with metastatic prostate cancer, but life expectancies vary widely for those who undergo this treatment. Testosterone is an androgen, the generic term for any compound that stimulates or controls development and maintenance of male characteristics by binding to androgen receptors.

The current findings hold promise for GCP therapy as a way to extend life expectancy of patients with low response to androgen-deprivation therapy.

Paramita Ghosh, an associate professor in the UC Davis School of Medicine, led the pre-clinical study with a team that included UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Ralph de Vere White, a UC Davis distinguished professor of urology. Ruth Vinall in the UC Davis Department of Urology and Clifford Tepper in the UC Davis Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine directed the studies in mice; Ghosh's laboratory conducted the cell studies.

The research focused on GCP, a proprietary extract cultured from soybeans and shiitake mushrooms and marketed by Amino-Up of Sapporo, Japan. Researchers found that the combination of the compounds genistein and daidzein, both present in GCP, helps block a key mechanism used by prostate cancer cells to survive in the face of testosterone deprivation.

The research team had earlier shown that when a patient's androgen level goes down, cancerous prostate cells kick out a protein known as filamin A, which is otherwise attached to the androgen receptor in the cell's nucleus. The androgen receptor regulates growth of prostate cancer cells. Once filamin A leaves the cancerous cell's nucleus, that cell no longer requires androgens to survive. Thus, loss of filamin A allows these cells to survive androgen deprivation, at and the cancer essentially becomes incurable.

The paper, titled "Enhancing the effectiveness of androgen deprivation in prostate cancer by inducing Filamin A nuclear localization," shows for the first time that GCP keeps filamin A in the nucleus. As long as this protein remains attached to the androgen receptor, the cancerous cells need androgens to survive and grow. They die off when starved of androgens, thus prolonging the effects of androgen deprivation, which ultimately prolongs the patient's life.

The team's hypothesis is that metastatic prostate cancer patients with the weakest response to androgen-deprivation therapy could be given GCP concurrently with androgen deprivation therapy to retain Filamin A in the nucleus, thereby allowing cancer cells to die off.

De Vere White is now pursuing funding to begin GCP human clinical trials. Because GCP is a natural product rather than a drug, and requires fewer government approvals, it's expected that these trials will proceed rapidly once funded.

"We should know within the first eight months or so of human clinical trials if GCP works to reduce PSA levels," says de Vere White, referring to prostate-specific antigen levels, a tumor marker to detect cancer. "We want to see up to 75 percent of metastatic prostate cancer patients lower their PSA levels, and GCP holds promise of accomplishing this goal. If that happens, it would probably be a greater therapy than any drug today."

The research was supported by a Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development service Merit Award (I01BX000400) from the Department of Veterans Affairs and by R01CA133209 from the National Cancer Institute.

Other authors were Benjamin A. Mooso, Sheetal Singh, Salma Siddiqui, and Maria Mudryj of the VA Northern California Health Care System; Ruth L. Vinall, Rosalinda M. Savoy, Jean P. Cheung, and Yu Wang of the UC Davis Department of Urology; Clifford G. Tepper, Anthony Martinez, and Hsing-Jien Kung of the UC Davis Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine; and Roble G. Bedolla of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis Health System.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/iFxvbOHIcYA/130220132005.htm

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Success In Home Based Business Is Simple With These Wonderful ...

Mistakes Are Costing You! Learn To Stop?Making ALL 189 Of Them!

Struggling With WordPress? 100+ Step-By-Step Videos Now Available!

Posted by Administrator on Feb 18, 2013 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Are you thinking of starting a online business soon? You can enjoy your work and be in charge of your own time and money. It?s still a business. The way to eliminate most of the stress is through proper preparation.

Take time for yourself to avoid burnout. Sure, you want to make as much as you can within your home business, but that doesn?t mean you should be making yourself sick. You will need intervals of rest and recuperation to keep you on top of your business game.

Even though you are working for yourself, you need to set a schedule that you aren?t likely to stray from. Yes, you are working at home, but you still need to treat it like a real job with real clients.

TIP! The challenge of a home business can be rewarding. Find your niche and leverage off of this when you begin.

Working from home can cause you to become lazier than intended, so make sure that you get up and move around often in order to ensure that you remain healthy. You are the only one who can force yourself to be active, even when working! You can do squats or lift light weights while you work. You should also consider a quick jog or nice walk on break or lunch. Stay in shape to ensure your health doesn?t affect your business.

A good protective step you can take when establishing a home business enterprise is to rent a PO box and use it as your business address. Do not use your own home address on business websites. That protects your identity, and also your family?s identity.

If you own a online business, be sure to keep track of the miles you drive that are specifically business-related. This is a deductible if you keep records of why the mileage was related to business expenses.

TIP! Base your business on something in which you already have experience. Many people make the mistake of trying to learn about their home business as they go.

Try to offer incentives, which can build your credibility to your customers. This type of marketing is the best for any business type. Incentives tend to boost loyalty from existing clients.

Be capable of expanding your business with more than one product or one you can build on. Try to brainstorm about other products or services that you can offer. Consider affiliate programs, too.

Create a small office at home. It does not necessarily have to be a large office, but it should be neat and organized well. Your office needs to inspire you and enable you to operate as effectively as possible. Don?t worry about the size, you can make do with whatever space you have.

TIP! You can engage in personal appointments during the day if you schedule them in. Like you take days off in a normal job, that can be done during the day so long as you catch up on that time later.

Look for forums and discussion groups online. This will help you network in your industry and establish your product and name. There could be someone out there waiting for what you have to offer.

Having others talk to people about your business is a great way to advertise. When people learn about a business from friends or family, their inclination is to give that company their attention. This is much more effective than a flyer or brochure sitting on a counter.

Running a home business is a great way to spend more time with your child. You can work at home and take care of your kid while you earn money for your family.

TIP! Learn information about conversion rates and strategies, and use it with your business. It is necessary to understand the relationship between conversion and profitability.

Why should your customers buy your offerings? You need to make this clear! Most online business owners know how to explain what they sell and how their products work. They also need to be told ?why? they should buy it. What is the reason a customer should make a purchase? This message will close the deal and guarantee loyalty if it is delivered properly. Include your ?why? statement on your website, advertising and other communications for reinforcement.

Whether you?re working in an office or running your own home business, you should spend 20 percent of your time learning new things related to the business andand the remaining 80 percent should be spent running the business. The aim is to actually make a profit, so you need to do whatever it takes to generate income.

With helpful tips, such as what has been listed here, you will reap more rewards from your home business enterprise. You can run your business much more smoothly when you?re prepared. Here?s hoping that your home based business operates like a well-oiled (and profitable) machine.

TIP! Upon launching a business, it is wise to meet with a bank representative who is well-versed in accounting and finance matters that relate to business. He or she will help you with establishing a bank account for your business and buying some checks with the name on it.

Are you ready to have success in the home based business industry and build it on autopilot? Click below to register for free today. See how it works here. Also check out our team benefits here

Source: http://leucabiz.com/blog/success-in-home-based-business-is-simple-with-these-wonderful-ideas/

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Commonwealth Plaza ? 330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway condos for ...

330-340 W Diversey Parkway - Commonwealth Plaza

330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway - Commonwealth Plaza

Several 330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway condos are for sale in Lakeview. Here?s a review of the building and condos I?ve previewed or shown along with photos and details of the other condos for sale.?None are my listings.

THE LOCATION

330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway also known as Commonwealth Plaza is located on the northeast corner of Diversey and Sheridan across from Lincoln Park in East Lakeview. The building currently has a Walk Score of 83 and a Transit Score of 77. The Red, Purple and Brown Lines are a 1 mile away just east of Belmont and Sheffield. Zip Car and I-Go locations are a block away. See its interactive Walk Score Map below.?

THE BUILDING

Commonwealth Plaza was built in 1957, designed by Mies Van de Rohe and houses 376 condos within its 28 stories. There are 226 units in the 330 W Diversey building and 150 units in the 340 W Diversey building. These 2 buildings are full service amenity buildings. They have a 24-hr door staff, maintenance staff and a receiving room. The amenities include: an outdoor pool with a sundeck, grilling area, tennis courts, playground, hospitality room, exercise and coin laundry rooms. Other on site conveniences include a deli commissary and a valet cleaners. Parking is underground valet and leased for $175 per month. There is a long wait for a second garage space. Along with the other amenities the monthly assessments include heat, gas, central air, water, and TV/Cable.?The pets allowed are cats only. Dogs are not allowed.

330 & 340 W Diversey Pkwy, CHICAGO, IL 60657 WALK SCORE MAP

330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL 60657 Walk Score Map for RSS & Mobile

THE CONDOS

Close to 40% of the units have been combined. They have floor to ceiling windows. Cooking appliances are gas. Washers & dryers are allowed. The most recent sale at Commonwealth Plaza was unit 2819 a 4 bedroom which sold for $952,000 in September 2012.?

CONDOS SIMILAR TO 330 & 340 W DIVERSEY PARKWAY

  • 3150 N Lake Shore Drive
  • 3200 N Lake Shore Drive
  • 3180 N Lake Shore Drive
  • 525 W Hawthorne Place
  • FOR MORE INFORMATION

    Email Mary Kaye for more information on 330 & 340 W Diversey Parkway condos for sale.

    ALL CONDOS FOR SALE AT 330 & 340 W DIVERSEY PARKWAY, CHICAGO, IL 60657
    CHECK BACK FOR NEW LISTINGS

    AddressPriceBedsBathsSq FtMore InfoNotes on Apartments I've Previewed/Shown
    340 Diversey Pkwy 1920$640,000242470Photos & Info1920 is a combined unit. Currently the 3 & 4th bedroom serve as an office and a library and can be converted back. This unit has a unique floor plan. The Living & Dining Room are joined with a wall of windows.
    340 Diversey Pkwy 419$400,000431800Photos & Info
    340 Diversey Pkwy 1718$245,000221175Photos & Info
    330 Diversey Pkwy 1504$230,00022Photos & Info
    340 Diversey Pkwy 1704$230,00022Photos & InfoUnder Contract
    340 Diversey Pkwy 2416$200,00011Photos & Info

    EAST LAKEVIEW CONDOS FOR SALE

    Click below to see the East Lakeview condos for sale in your desired price range. You can narrow the results by internal and external features. Pending sales are excluded.

    Source: http://www.chicagometroarearealestate.com/commonwealth-plaza-330-340-w-diversey-parkway-condos-for-sale/

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