Wednesday, November 30, 2011

If AT&T and T-Mobile Can't Marry, They Still Might Date [At&t]

It's been a blood bath for the AT&T-Mobile deal the past few days, but it hasn't all been sour pudding. AT&T's still got its Hail Mary sell-off gambit in play, and if the merger totally goes under, the WSJ claims it might enter a joint venture with Deustche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/qBg4WQiTWBI/if-att-and-t+mobile-cant-marry-they-might-still-date

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[OOC] Magic Bearers Related Questions and Discussions

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AP source: Red Sox choose Valentine as manager (AP)

The Boston Red Sox have picked Bobby Valentine to be their next manager and the sides were working to complete a contract, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. Several media outlets in Boston, citing anonymous sources, reported earlier in the evening that Valentine would be the team's new manager.

An announcement could come by Thursday.

"He's got it. I just spoke to him a little while ago," Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, who managed Valentine in the minors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, said in a telephone interview with the AP.

The Red Sox had no comment, spokesperson Pam Ganley said. Valentine would succeed Terry Francona, who left after eight seasons following Boston's record collapse in September.

Francona guided the Red Sox to a pair of World Series championships, in 2004 and 2007.

Valentine was in Japan this week, where he managed from 2004-09, and said he was about to take off on a flight when he sent the AP a text message at 9:48 p.m. Tuesday saying he had no comment on "the Red Sox situation."

Valentine previously managed in the majors with the New York Mets and Texas Rangers. He led the Mets to the 2000 World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees in five games. He had been working as a baseball analyst for ESPN.

"I'm happy for him. I think the Red Sox got themselves a good manager. In all my years, I've never seen a guy prepare a team for a game like he does. That's what makes him unique," Lasorda said.

The Red Sox also interviewed Gene Lamont, Torey Lovullo, Dale Sveum, Sandy Alomar Jr. and Pete Mackanin. Sveum was hired to manage the Chicago Cubs by former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. Mackanin and Alomar were told they were no longer in the running.

The Red Sox have gone nearly two months without a manager, but general manager Ben Cherington has noted that Francona wasn't hired until after Thanksgiving ? on Dec. 4, 2003.

Valentine's last major league managerial job was with the Mets in 2002.

Three years earlier, he was ejected for arguing a catcher's interference call in the 12th inning of a 14-inning game against Toronto. Valentine then returned to the dugout wearing a fake mustache and sunglasses. The Mets won 4-3, but Major League Baseball suspended him for three games and fined him $5,000.

The energetic Valentine, 61, has a more confrontational style than Francona, who was known as a player's manager. And that may be just what the Red Sox need after their late-season flop.

They led the AL East for much of the summer but went 7-20 in September, squandering a nine-game lead in the AL wild-card race and finishing in third place in the division, one game behind Tampa Bay.

Francona and the team parted ways two days after the end of the regular season, with Francona saying the players needed a new voice in the clubhouse. The Red Sox didn't pick up his option for 2012.

Soon after, there were reports of starting pitchers drinking beer and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse during games in which they weren't scheduled to pitch instead of staying on the bench to support their teammates.

Valentine interviewed on Nov. 21 with Cherington and other members of Red Sox management.

Asked then about his philosophy of discipline, he said, "Discipline is not 30 whacks with a whip these days. But I think everyone likes discipline. I think everyone likes structure. Everyone likes to be acknowledged when they do things properly. Discipline and rules and things like that ? it's just about right and wrong."

He also was enthusiastic about the job.

"They have one of the best teams in baseball, one of the best organizations in baseball, one of the greatest venues in baseball, with a winning tradition over the last 10 years," he said. "Other than that, there's really no reason why I want to be here."

And, he said then, if he got the job, "I would feel like it is Christmas."

Hiring a manager would now put Boston's focus on signing free agents. The team has already lost closer Jonathan Papelbon to the Philadelphia Phillies but would like to retain designated hitter David Ortiz. The Red Sox also can use one or two starters and either a setup man or closer in the bullpen.

Valentine was a late addition to the original five-man field of candidates as the Red Sox sought someone with experience as a big league manager. Of the initial group, only Lamont had that.

Valentine managed the Rangers from 1985-92 and the Mets from 1996-2002. He was fired by the Mets after the 2002 season when they finished fifth in the NL East. That was the only one of his six full seasons with the Mets when they ended up below .500.

With the Mets, he clashed publicly with general manager Steve Phillips.

In 2004, Valentine began a six-year managing career in Japan, where he won the Japan Series in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

On Nov. 3, he and Red Sox president and part owner Larry Lucchino took part in Hartford in a program put on by the World Affairs Council on the global rise in the popularity of baseball

At the time, both said they hadn't discussed the job with each other.

"He's a great man and a great manager and he has a colorful and successful history, so his name inevitably comes up in this day and age," Lucchino said then.

When Cherington was named general manager on Oct. 25, he was asked about the search for the next manager.

"We're not looking for the next star manager," he said. "We're looking for the right fit for the Red Sox in 2012."

He may have gotten both.

A Connecticut native, Valentine won MVP awards in the Pioneer League in 1968 and the Pacific Coast League in 1970, both times with Lasorda as his manager.

"This guy would always rise to the occasion. He would always drive in that big run for you," Lasorda said. "He was sharp. When he came to me in the rookie league, he showed me some real knowledge about the game."

Valentine played second, shortstop, third base and outfield and made it to the majors with the Dodgers from 1971-73. He also was with the California Angels (1973-75), San Diego Padres (1975-77), the Mets (1977-78) and the Seattle Mariners (1979).

His career was derailed by a broken leg sustained when his spikes caught the chain link fence at Anaheim Stadium in May 1973 as he tried to catch a home run hit by Dick Green. Valentine finished with a .260 career batting average, 12 homers and 157 RBIs.

The son-in-law of former major league pitcher Ralph Branca, Valentine has a 1,117-1,072 record as a major league manager, but has never finished in first place in 15 seasons.

In April 2000, he criticized the Mets front office and several players, specifically Bobby Bonilla and Rickey Henderson, while speaking to students at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

"He's matured, and I think managing in Japan helped him a great deal," Lasorda said. "Becoming the manager of the Red Sox, that's a privilege and an honor, and I'm sure he's going to do a great job."

___

AP Sports Writers Ronald Blum and Howard Ulman contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bba_red_sox_valentine

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Democrats to the White Working Class -- Drop Dead (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | A recent piece in the New York Times suggests the Democratic Party is preparing to toss working class whites, who have been part of the winning coalition for the Democrats since Franklin Roosevelt, under the bus.

The new coalition for the Democratic Party will consist of educated elites that will include "professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists" and poorer voters, primarily blacks and Hispanics. Working class whites have long be alienated from the Democrats since the phenomenon of the "Reagan Democrats," who switched to the Republican Party in the 1980s. Democrats lost this demographic group by 30 percent and more in the 2010 midterms.

The educated elites will be bought off with the support of rights to self expression, abortion, gay marriage and a leftward tilt on the environment and defense policy. The less affluent minorities will be bought off by new social spending and government assistance.

While the Democrats hope to hold their losses among working American whites down, one wonders how that could be accomplished if the sense grows that working people have been abandoned. Someone has to pay for all of that social spending that will benefit the poor, after all. Working whites also remain skeptical of government sanctioned hedonism, environmental regulations that stifle jobs, and cuts in defense spending that invite aggression from America's enemies.

Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk show host never slow to pick up on a political trend, suggested the Democrats are saying, on his Monday, broadcast, "If you work, we don't want you."

In a way, the new Democratic election strategy is a reaction to the tea party movement, which has risen from discontented working and middle class people who feel that their government has become too big and too intrusive. Instead of listening to the complaints of the tea party and adjusting their agenda to attract tea party voters, the Democrats have done the equivalent of extending them the middle finger. Instead they have embraced the Occupy Wall Street crowd, which is crying out for government handouts and entitlements.

This is a dangerous strategy. The tea party, consisting as it does of people who work and make the country run, are more numerous and more organized than the constituencies the Democrats are embracing. Thus the Democratic Party might have considered itself to permanent minority status.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111128/us_ac/10545377_democrats_to_the_white_working_class__drop_dead

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Chinese aircraft carrier on 2nd set of sea trials (AP)

BEIJING ? China's first aircraft carrier headed back to sea Tuesday for a second round of sea trials, the Defense Ministry said.

The as-yet unnamed carrier left the northern port of Dalian on Tuesday to conduct "technical research experiments," the ministry said in a brief statement.

The carrier is the former Soviet Varyag, towed from Ukraine in 1998 minus its engines, weaponry and navigation systems. It was dispatched on its first five-day sea trials in August following years of refurbishment.

China has kept the sea trials relatively low-key amid regional concerns about its growing military strength and increasingly assertive claims to disputed territory.

This latest round comes days after the start of the Chinese navy's annual training in the Western pacific that involves sailing between islands in Japan's Okinawa chain.

A statement issued by the Defense Ministry last week said the exercises were not directed toward "any particular country or objective." However, they drew considerable attention in the media in Japan, where defense experts are wary of the Chinese navy's increasing presence in Japanese waters.

China says the carrier is intended for research and training, leading to speculation that it plans to build future copies.

While no major problems have been reported in making the 55,000-ton ski jump-style carrier seaworthy, Beijing is believed to be years away from being able to launch and recover aircraft from it as part of a carrier battle group.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_aircraft_carrier

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Mind-Body Mind-Blower: Posture Affects Estimates

60-Second Science60-Second Science | Mind & Brain

Leaning to one side may affect your estimates about anything from the height of an object to the frequency of an event. Sophie Bushwick reports.

More 60-Second Science

How many Michael Jackson songs do you think became Number 1 hits? How tall do you think the Eiffel Tower is? How good is your posture? Believe it or not, how you sit or stand could affect your answers. Because a new study finds that our estimates are skewed by the position of our bodies. The work is in the journal Psychological Science. [Anita Eerland, Tulio Guadalupe and Rolf Zwaan, Leaning to the Left Makes the Eiffel Tower Seem Smaller: Posture-Modulated Thought, in press]

Dutch researchers rigged a Wii Balance Board to subtly tilt left, right, or remain flat while students stood on the board and answered estimation questions. In order to prevent the students from perceiving a bias, they were told to stand up straight?and a screen informed them that they were upright even when their bodies were actually leaning to one side. When the board tilted so that the participants leaned left, their estimations were smaller than when they were standing up or leaning right.

The fact that posture affected participants? answers indicates that the decision-making process isn?t as rational as it may feel. Amazingly enough, unconscious factors like tilting your body can also tilt your best guess.

?Sophie Bushwick

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=562413bdaf78313502a13417573c5e90

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

More Exclusive Photos of the Navy's X-47B UAV

The U.S. Navy just completed the inaugural test flights of its second X-47B, and PM got more new photos of this futuristic UAV. By Andrew Moseman

1 of 4

The size of a strike fighter but with no need of an on-board pilot, the X-47B is vying to be the U.S. Navy's next great warplane. In February 2011, the Navy completed the first test flight with its demonstrator. Last week, the second X-47B took to the skies over Edwards Air Force Base in California. The second plane is called AV-2, and it reached 5000 feet in altitude during its half-hour test flight, the Navy says. 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Related News

The U.S. Navy's new prototype aircraft looks out of this world, but it's actually a stealth UAV that will operate from aircraft carriers. PM got some exclusive new pictures of this futuristic flyer. Read More

The Pentagon wants tiny UAVs for its soldiers to carry into combat zones, and it wants you to design them. With the UAVForge program, DARPA is crowd-sourcing drone design to people around the world. Read More

NAS Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. is one of the Navy's two primary pilot training bases, and every Navy helicopter pilot goes through here. PM visited the base to see how the Navy trains the best helicopter pilots in the world. Read More

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Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/planes-uavs/more-exclusive-photos-of-the-navys-x-47b-uav?src=rss

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The GOP's shameless blackout on Dr. Ron Paul - Nov 28,2011

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Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ronpaulgirl/2011/11/28/the-gops-shameless-blackout-on-dr-ron-paul

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How to Get the Greatest Automobile Insurance Quote

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Source: http://www.amirkhanvszabjudah.com/how-to-receive-a-buisness-liability-insurance-coverage-quote/

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NSN CEO sees no more cash from Nokia, Siemens: report (Reuters)

FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? The chief executive of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), the world's second-largest maker of mobile phone network equipment, has warned employees NSN cannot expect any more money from its parent companies, a German magazine reported on Sunday.

Parents Nokia and Siemens have provided capital "for the last time" and expect this investment will provide results, Spiegel reported, citing a copy of a letter sent from Rajeev Suri to NSN's 9,000 employees in Germany.

"Our profitability is still too low, we're burning cash reserves, have too many business areas that have never produced adequate returns and regions that have always been loss-making," Spiegel cited the letter as saying.

NSN has struggled to make a profit since being set up in 2007 and last week announced plans to axe 17,000 jobs, or nearly

a quarter of its workforce.

Nobody at NSN was immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Additional reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wr_nm/us_nsn_germany

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Environmental programs fall victim to budget cuts (AP)

BOISE, Idaho ? When lightning ignited a wildfire near Idaho's Sun Valley in 2007, environmental regulators used monitoring gear to gauge the health effects for those breathing in the Sawtooth Mountains' smoky, mile-high air.

That equipment sits idle today after the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality was hit by $4 million in spending cuts, a quarter of its budget, since the recession began. Water testing on selenium-laced streams in Idaho's phosphate mining country also has been cut back, as have mercury monitoring and hazardous waste inspections.

The cuts to environmental programs in Idaho provide a snapshot of a national trend. Conservation programs and environmental regulations have been pared back significantly in many states that have grappled with budget deficits in recent years.

Because environmental programs are just a sliver of most state budgets, the cuts often go without much public notice. More attention is focused on larger reductions in Medicaid, public education or prisons.

A 24-state survey by the Environmental Council of States, the national association of state environmental agency leaders, showed agency budgets decreasing by an average of $12 million in 2011. The Washington, D.C.-based group also says federal grants to help states administer new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules regarding air and water quality also have waned, falling by 5.1 percent since 2004.

Regulators in many states say they are trying to maintain fundamental environmental protections required by the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other federal laws.

"Hopefully, even with all the cuts in place, we're still doing a good job of protecting that," said Martin Bauer, Idaho's air quality administrator.

Yet environmentalists and some state regulators are concerned that the budget cuts imperil programs designed to safeguard public health and safety.

In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate, signed a budget that cut funding for the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality more than 30 percent, from $833 million to $565 million. That included reducing air quality inspections and assessments.

Colin Meehan, of the Environmental Defense Fund in Austin, worries that Texas will struggle to meet Clean Air Act obligations.

"We see this as not just a problem from a regulatory standpoint," he said. "It's a public health issue."

While the Texas agency reduced state incentive programs to cut pollutants, those were not required by federal law, agency spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said. The reductions "are only one part of the state's overall approach" to paring emissions, she said.

In some states where conservatives control the Legislature and the governor's office, environmentalists have been critical of deep cutbacks to the programs they had fought to implement. Some suggest the severity of the cuts is due as much to a political agenda to reduce government regulations as it is to cope with state budget deficits.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's first budget included his veto of a $500,000 water quality study on Lake Okeechobee and some $20 million in cuts to Everglades' restoration. Scott, a Republican, said the steps were necessary to balance a state budget hard hit by home foreclosures and real estate losses.

But the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature also cut $210 million from property tax revenue intended for local water-management districts that protect Florida's swamplands. Environmentalists blasted those cuts, complaining they were meant to help Scott fulfill pledge to cut taxes.

"It would have been appropriate for there to have been some level of budget reductions," Audubon of Florida advocacy director Charles Lee said. "But it's clear what happened in Tallahassee in 2011 was targeted, ideologically driven, and I would add, mean-spirited."

Scott insists his administration uncovered overly generous pension payments and questionable purchases by the local water districts. He said water resources deserve protecting, but the agencies that oversee them also must be fiscally responsible.

Budget cuts have affected high-profile programs in several other states, as well.

In South Carolina, they mean health officials will not perform a statewide study of how mercury-tainted fish affect those who eat them. Contaminated fish have been found in some 1,700 miles of the state's rivers. That state's Department of Natural Resources' budget was cut more than 50 percent, dropping to $14 million from $32 million.

The state Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania has seen general fund support slip from $217 million in 2009 to $140 million, levels last seen in 1994.

"This is a silent train wreck that's happening," said David Hess, the former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. "What these cuts do is cut the capacity and the ability of environmental agencies to do their jobs."

At best, states will know less about how their air and water quality are faring. At worst, they could become dirtier and more dangerous places to live, Hess said.

Oregon, for example, reduced air pollution monitoring, as the Department of Environmental Quality faces budget cuts through 2013. In North Carolina, lawmakers eliminated a $480,000 mapping program created after a landslide killed five people in 2004, jettisoning the jobs of six geologists who said more maps were needed to help protect Appalachian mountain residents by helping them decide where it is safe to build.

"It's very shortsighted," said DJ Gerken, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Ashville, N.C. "We've had 48 landslide deaths since 1916. What's changed is the appetite for building in these areas where risks are most abundant."

In some cases, it's difficult to know what effect the spending cuts will have over the long term because environmental problems often evolve over time.

When Washington's Legislature trimmed $30 million, or 27 percent, from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's budget, three employees who had been diving in the Puget Sound to hunt down invasive sea squirts lost their jobs.

The gelatinous invaders, known as tunicates, form a goopy mat on the sea floor, raising fears that they will hurt the shellfish industry, as they have in eastern Canada.

"We are basically addressing tunicates on an emergency basis only," said Allen Pleus, Washington state's aquatic invasive species coordinator.

While the state's oyster growers will not rule out the potential for future problems caused by the sea squirts, they say they do not see an immediate threat to their livelihoods.

"There isn't any place I'm aware of that the tunicates are causing harm on the shellfish farms," said Bill Dewey, of Taylor Shellfish Farms in Shelton, Wash.

Elsewhere, budget cuts to invasive species programs have caused more alarm.

The Hawaii Invasive Species Council, a main player in that state's fight against non-native plants and animals, saw its budget cut by more than half to $1.8 million.

Fearing "a collapse of our inspection capacity," spokeswoman Deborah Ward said her agency redirected 40 percent of its remaining money to preserve inspections that help keep invasive pests such as brown tree snakes from hitchhiking their way into the islands from Guam. Hawaii has no native snakes, so experts fears their arrival could decimate native bird species.

As the money was shifted, however, the state cut back on field crews who targeted invasive species already on the islands. Those include pigs, wild goats and sheep that can decimate an ecosystem full of plants that evolved without natural protections, like thorns.

"They're like bonbons for pigs," Christy Martin, a spokeswoman for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species in Honolulu, said of the state's native plants. "If there's nobody out there actually doing the work, you get astronomical reproduction. We have a year-round breeding season here, so everything goes crazy, and you lose ground."

___

Associated Press writers Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh, N.C.; Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C.; Bill Kaczor in Tallahassee, Fla.; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; Philip Rawls in Montgomery, Ala.; and Chris Tomlinson in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_us/us_broken_budgets_environment

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NYPD cop intervenes in scuffle on JetBlue flight (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167106656?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Florida Senate set to release redistricting plan (tbo)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167247294?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Thanksgiving + Black Friday Mobile Traffic Up 60% From 2010

Mobile Ecommerce Traffic UpMobile is growing as a medium for ecommerce, with users sourcing deals from their phones and tablets before visiting physical stores according to a new study by Usablenet, The company?which powers mobile sites for?100 top U.S. retailers including JCPenney,?Aeropostale, and REI tracked 180 million page views and 1 million mobile users over Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It saw mobile traffic to its clients was up 60% from the same period last year, with Thanksgiving sending more traffic than the following day. Usablenet also found that iOS devices accounted for 42% of the traffic, trumping Android, and trouncing the tiny traffic from Windows and Nokia devices.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6JZGIxEd1-Q/

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Skyrim fans release all in-game books for Kindle, Nook and iOS (Digital Trends)

skyrim

Ever since Bethesda Softworks released?Skyrim on November 11, the folks over at Capane have been collecting the in-game books that are available to read within Skyrim and converting them into formats that can be downloaded onto e-readers and tablets. Within the files for the game, the books are all in plain text rather than encoded files. The people at Capane saved each book into a?separate document, added headings as well as a table of contents. These files were saved in both?.epub and MOBI formats. The?.epub files are used within the Nook as well as the iPad and the MOBI format is used within the Amazon Kindle. Capane has made these files available to download for anyone that?s legally?purchased?a copy of the game.

barnes-and-noble-nook-tablet-frontIn order to supplement the game, Skyrim fans over at GameBanshee have released a complete, annotated map of Skyrim available to download for free. Anyone seeking help finding a location in Skyrim can reference the high-resolution PNG version of the map or download the 9-page PDF version of the map to print out a poster-sized version of the map for printing. The map is broken into 96 grid squares which can be combined with the key on the Web version to quickly find a specific location via the alphebetical listings of the various landmarks, shipwrecks, villages, ruins, caves, farms, stables, statues and major cities around Skyrim.?

YouTube users have been flooding the social video site with tons of Skyrim videos from methods to exploit shop owners through theft by slipping a bucket over the head of the NPC to videos about the various ways to die within Skyrim. A popular video posted by YouTube user HunterNormandy details 100 ways to die within the Skyrim universe and has racked up over 250,000 views in the past ten days.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Survey: Apple products top holiday wish lists

Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: Spec showdown

Amazon debuts Kindle e-book library borrowing service

E-book readers chew through more books, still enjoy paper copies

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111126/tc_digitaltrends/skyrimfansreleaseallingamebooksforkindlenookandios

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Handsome Articles ? Private Money Investing-how To Get The Best ...

Private money investing involves dealing with real estate companies, entertainment, retail and several other businesses. It basically involves two parties: the borrower and the lender. The lender becomes the investor.

The borrower receives money based on the value of real estate owned by him. Private individuals, trusts and pension funds can try their luck on private money investing. Substantial knowledge and experience of trust deed investing is required and mostly individual investors are good at it.

Everyone wants their money to grow and this is why this form of investing is such a desirable form of investing now. First, their investment in real estate will always pay off. Secondly, it will give regular income derived from the monthly dividend distribution scheme and thirdly, higher results than those available from investing in stocks and bonds. There is something called investor eligibility that you need to meet for this form of investing, and that is determined once you meet the minimum net worth requirements.

Private money investing involves many technicalities i.e. the lending process, funding and underwriting that one must be aware of. Methods of investments: Fractional method, Mortgage fund investment, Equity ownership etc.

Things to consider before venturing out into private money investing:

The amount of investment that is being asked, the value of the property that is pledged, description of the property, negotiation of suitable terms from either party and the use of funds whether to construct the property or to renovate. This eventually is a risky business so it is important to associate your investment with known construction brands.

Before lending money, several things are taken into account and one of it is to calculate the worth of the real estate piece. The liquid value of the collateral minus debt and liabilities is what investors look at while using private money investing.

Again, it cannot be emphasized enough: focus on one area of investing, and stick with that. For instance, either focus your efforts on real estate, the stock market, mutual funds, etc. don?t try to learn everything about all of them. Follow these important tips, and if you have decided to use private money investing, you will make a fortune with your investing efforts.

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Source: http://www.handsome-music.com/2011/11/private-money-investing-how-to-get-the-best-use-out-of-this-form-of-investing-2/

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Americans Continue to Pack on the Pounds (LiveScience.com)

We have stuffed ourselves with turkey, and even before the leftovers are gone, it's time for a reality check.?

American men and women, on average, report weighing nearly 20 pounds (9 kilograms) more than they did in 1990, according to the annual Health and Healthcare survey conducted by Gallup in early November.

Men, on average, said they weighed 196 pounds (89 kilograms), while women, said they weighed 160 pounds (73 kilograms), according to a report on Gallup's website.

This puts us further from our ideal weights, which have also gone up: Men reported wanting to weigh 181 pounds (82 kilograms) and women see themselves at 138 pounds (63 kilograms), the survey of 1,012 adults indicated.

Our perceived ideal weight has increased along with our self-reported weight, but not as quickly. As a result, we have gotten further from our ideal weight over the past 20 years. For men, who now say they'd like to weigh 181 pounds, that difference has climbed from 9 to 15 pounds (4 to 7 kilograms). For women, who say their ideal weight is 138 pounds, the gap has risen from 13 to 22 pounds (6 to 10 kilograms).

This year, 39 percent of American adults reported they are very or somewhat overweight.

However, it appears we may be cutting ourselves too much slack. Separate data collected by Gallup and the company Healthways indicate that nearly 62 percent of Americans are overweight or obese based on their body mass index, a ratio of height and weight that gauges a person's level of body fat.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention links being overweight or obese with increasing levels of risk for coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, high blood pressure, stroke and a number of other potentially serious health conditions.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry.?Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111125/sc_livescience/americanscontinuetopackonthepounds

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Republican Candidates Cease Fire, Praise U.S. Troops on Thanksgiving (ABC News)

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Saturday, November 26, 2011

World stocks fall on Europe debt crisis impasse

World stock markets were mostly lower Friday after Germany continued to oppose a bigger role for the European Central Bank in managing the continent's debt crisis and Portugal's credit rating was lowered to junk.

Benchmark crude clung just above $96 a barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and was steady against the yen.

European shares were mixed in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent to 5,106.36 while Germany's DAX was 0.2 percent higher at 5,434.49/ France's CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent to 2,825.28.

Wall Street was headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures falling 0.2 percent to 11,209 while S&P 500 futures lost 0.2 percent to 1,157.30.

In Asia, trading was sluggish following a public holiday that closed markets in the U.S. Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed marginally down at 8,160.01 while South Korea's Kospi lost 1 percent at 1,776.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.4 percent to 17,689.48 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent at 3,984.30.

In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7 percent to 2,380.22, its lowest closing level in a month.

Investment sentiment waned after a meeting Thursday in Strasbourg, France of the leaders of the three biggest euro economies: Italian Premier Mario Monti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The three leaders pledged to push for changes to European Union treaties to bring the fiscal policies of countries using the euro common currency more in line with each other.

But many investors were hoping Merkel might drop her steadfast opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank or the creation of a eurobond that would pool the debts of all countries in the currency union. Some experts believe the ECB is the only institution capable of getting Europe past its debt crisis.

Piled onto the disappointment from the Strasbourg summit was a debt demotion for Portugal.

Fitch Ratings, citing Portugal's large fiscal imbalances, its high indebtedness across all sectors and an adverse macroeconomic outlook, reduced the country's credit rating to BB+. That means Portugal is considered non-investment grade by Fitch, making it even more difficult for the struggling country to return to the bond markets.

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Adding to the pain was Hungary, which was downgraded to junk by Moody's Investors Service late Thursday.

Analysts said many investors have concluded that Europe is likely headed for a slowdown or recession ? or even a breakup of the currency union ? given the inability so far to map out a plan for saving countries that are at risk of default because of unsustainable debt levels.

Such an event could engulf major banks and freeze credit markets in a similar fashion to the global financial paralysis after Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008.

"Are we going to see a breakup of the euro or not? The comments and the downgrades overnight continue to worry investors," said Andrew Sullivan, principal sales trader at Piper Jaffray in Hong Kong.

"The inability to resolve the debt crisis and come out with a workable solution ? people have the obvious worry of what that will do to bond yields," Sullivan said. "This is a debt problem, and this is going to cost money to resolve."

Chinese banking shares sank following a day of gains based on speculation ? later denied by the government ? that the central bank was aiming to ease its tight monetary policy. Hong Kong-listed Agricultural Bank of China fell 2.9 percent and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank by market value, lost 1.4 percent.

Building materials and oil shares, which are closely tied to economic growth, fell as worries brewed about a global slowdown. Hong Kong-listed China National Building Material Co. fell 5.8 percent and China Coal Energy lost 5.3 percent. Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd. plunged 5.8 percent.

Tokyo-based camera and medical equipment company Olympus Corp. soared 8.6 percent. It earlier announced the resignations of three board members in an unfolding scandal involving a $687 million payment to an obscure Wall Street firm for financial advice and expensive acquisitions that were used to cover up investment losses dating to the 1990s.

In the U.S., where markets were closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, traders were bracing for a crucial test of the world's No. 1 economy ? so-called Black Friday, the day that kicks off the holiday shopping season. How well retailers do will have consequences for the still-fragile U.S. economic recovery.

The November-December period accounts for 25 percent to 40 percent of annual sales. About a quarter of jobs in the U.S. are directly or indirectly supported by the retail industry.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 2 cents at $96.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract last settled on Wednesday in New York at $96.17, down $1.84.

In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3303 from $1.3326 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar was unchanged at 77.35 yen.

___

AP researcher Fu Ting contributed from Shanghai.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45433029/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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Endangered Baby Gorilla Born At Lincoln Park Zoo Dies

CHICAGO ? A preliminary exam shows that an endangered baby gorilla born nine days ago at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo died of head trauma.

Zoo workers discovered the baby gorilla was dead Friday morning, as she was being carried around by her mother.

The zoo says workers allowed the mother, 16-year-old Bana, to keep the baby for several hours "to make peace with what happened." She was a first-time mother.

The cause of death was determined later in the day during a necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy.

The baby's father was a 22-year-old silverback gorilla named Kwan.

The baby was the first Western lowland gorilla born at the zoo since 2005. She had not been named.

In a statement, the zoo says the baby appeared to be fully developed.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/endangered-baby-gorilla-b_0_n_1113767.html

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