Forget the Joneses. Keep up with the Smiths, their frugal neighbors.

We've all heard of 'keeping up with the Joneses.' But maybe its time for a new, more frugal family to enter the lexicon.?

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / June 29, 2013

Andr?e Collier Zaleska works in her garden in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston in 2011. Hamm recommends 'keeping up with the Smiths' ? neighbors interested in community involvement and friendships, rather than flashy possessions.

Melanie Stetson Freeman

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We?ve all heard the phrase ?keeping up with the Joneses.? I think it?s time to add a new but similar phrase to the lexicon.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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The Smiths are the frugal family you know.

They don?t drive the new car. They drive an older one.

They don?t wear flashy new clothes. In fact, the husband seems to often be wearing the same suit. It?s a nice suit, but it?s not the latest, sharpest thing.

They?re often at community events. Sometimes they seem to have some kind of role in helping put that event on.

They seem to know lots of people in the community. In fact, you know them because they introduced themselves to you one of the first times you ever saw them and they often say hello to you.

Their house is usually an older one that?s well maintained and, if you ask them, you?d be very unsurprised to find that it?s paid for. They usually have a garden, too.

This profile immediately brings to mind a few people in my area. They?re wonderful people, each of them. They go out of their way to help others, to know them, and to make them comfortable.

Almost always, people like this turn out to be the ones with a lot of money in the bank or are well along the road to getting there.

The thing is, they?re just not flashy.

Keeping up with the Joneses means accumulating gadgets and shiny new things. Keeping up with the Smiths means focusing on accumulating net worth.

Keeping up with the Joneses means having the right associates. Keeping up with the Smiths means having lots of friends.

Keeping up with the Joneses means never having enough because there?s always more that you can get. Keeping up with the Smiths happens when you realize you already have plenty.

I used to dream of being one of the Joneses. Any more, I?d be happy to be a Smith.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/3BqQG04ghYM/Forget-the-Joneses.-Keep-up-with-the-Smiths-their-frugal-neighbors.

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Gay Nuptials Resume in California (WSJ)

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Biden asks Ecuador president to nix Snowden asylum

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden has asked Ecuador to turn down an asylum request from National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, the country's president said Saturday.

Rafael Correa, in a weekly television address, offered little sympathy for the Obama administration's view that Snowden is a criminal who should be swiftly returned to the U.S. At the same time, he vowed to seek American input on any asylum request and suggested Snowden will have to answer for his actions.

The Friday phone call between Correa and Biden ? it's the highest-level conversation between the U.S. and Ecuador to be disclosed since Snowden began seeking asylum ? added to the confusion about Snowden's status. Facing espionage charges in the U.S., Snowden is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport's transit zone and seeking safe passage to Ecuador, the country seen as likeliest to shelter America's most wanted fugitive.

Julian Assange, founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, has been given asylum in Ecuador's embassy in London.

Correa said he had a "friendly and very cordial" conversation with Biden, and told the vice president that Ecuador hadn't sought to be put in the situation of deciding whether to harbor an American justice-dodger. He said Ecuador can't consider the asylum request until Snowden is on Ecuadorean soil.

"The moment that he arrives, if he arrives, the first thing is we'll ask the opinion of the United States, as we did in the Assange case with England," Correa said. "But the decision is ours to make."

White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan confirmed that the two leaders spoke by phone Friday and discussed Snowden, but she wouldn't disclose any details about the conversation.

A staunch critic of the U.S., Correa rebuked the Obama administration for hypocrisy, invoking the case of brothers Roberto and William Isaias, bankers whose extradition from the U.S. Correa said Ecuador has been seeking. "Let's be consistent. Have rules for everyone, because that is a clear double-standard here," he said.

The leftist leader sought to direct attention away from Snowden's actions and back to the U.S. spying secrets he exposed, summoning a theme he's invoked to the delight of his strongest backers since Snowden, a former NSA contractor, revealed the agency's massive Internet and phone surveillance to two newspapers, fleeing all the while from Hong Kong to Moscow in evasion of U.S. authorities.

"The really grave thing is what Snowden has reported," Correa said. "He will have to assume his responsibilities, but the grave thing is his reporting of the biggest massive spy operation in the history of humanity, inside and outside the United States."

Ecuadorean officials have acknowledged its embassy in London issued Snowden a letter of safe passage that calls on other countries to allow him to travel to asylum in Ecuador. But Ecuador's secretary of political management, Betty Tola, said the letter was invalid because it was issued without central government approval in Quito, the capital.

Obama and his aides have tempered their rhetoric about Snowden in recent days after more heated attempts to pressure China and Russia over his extradition raised tensions with those nations, threatening to undercut cooperation with the two major powers on other issues.

But Ecuador has seemed to delight in tweaking the U.S. over the issue, accusing America of human rights violations and blowing off warnings about how the U.S. might respond if Ecuador doesn't cooperate.

After the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., on Wednesday threatened an effort to block renewal of Ecuador's tariff benefits on hundreds of millions of dollars in trade, Ecuador preemptively renounced the benefits themselves, claiming the trade deal had become "a new instrument of blackmail."

As for Biden, Correa suggested it wasn't personal. He praised the vice president for being more courteous than "those badly behaved and confused ones in the Senate who threaten our country."

___

Torres reported from Quito, Ecuador.

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-asks-ecuador-president-nix-snowden-asylum-185813953.html

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Marketing Your Home to Homebuyers - Zillow Real Estate Advice

The Purpose of Advertising in General

Every home seller likes to be assured that their listing agent or the real estate company will run ads featuring their home. Newspaper ads could be large display ads with lots of listings or small classified ads featuring just your property. Ads may also appear in local real estate magazines and your listing will also show up on the Internet.

Of course the agents and companies will run ads featuring your house, but not for the reasons you expect.

You see, the main job of advertising is not to sell your house directly. Advertising creates phone calls and some of those callers become clients of the agents answering the calls. This builds up a pool of homebuyers looking for property in general, all represented by selling agents. Multiply this by all the agents and companies who also advertise homes, and there is a large pool of homebuyers in the market at any given time ? all of whom are represented by selling agents.

The agents representing those homebuyers know about your home because it is listed in the Multiple Listing Service, has been on office and broker preview, and because your agent may have also sent flyers to all the local real estate offices.

The agents match up their clients with available homes, one of which may be yours. Then they show the homes to their clients, who eventually make an offer on one.? That is how your house gets sold. Ads create a pool of clients, one of which buys your home. Ads do not usually sell your house directly.

Source: http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Marketing-Your-Home-to-Homebuyers/499414/

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Twitter Sees a Surge in Government Information Requests

NO KIDDING: Twitter CEO Costolo, a former improvisational comedian, believes his company is obligated to ?reach everyone on the planet.? Image: Courtesy of Joi Ito, via WikiMedia Commons

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Twitter sees itself as the digital incarnation of the town square, eliminating time and distance as barriers to unfiltered communication among citizens. In this role as the world?s unofficial open idea exchange (in 140 characters or less, of course), the company is finding that governments, law enforcement agencies and even its own Twitterverse are increasingly holding it accountable for how people use its microblogging service.

The social network appears to be taking this newfound responsibility seriously. During a Webcast conversation on Wednesday with Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Jonathan Rauch, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo discussed how his company responds to this growing scrutiny. He also talked about Twitter?s attempts to help users filter the fire hose of information they face each day as well as the pros and cons of pseudonymous tweeters.

Although he declined to comment specifically on the U.S. National Security Agency?s PRISM digital surveillance program, Costolo articulated Twitter?s stance on cooperating with government and law enforcement requests. ?When we receive a valid, specific request in the countries [where] we operate, we will honor it,? he said. ?Those that are not legal and valid, we will push back on.? Twitter is conspicuously absent from the list of tech companies?including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo?accused of complying with the NSA?s requests for user data.

Twitter?s computer servers?like those of many Web sites?automatically record information generated by users. This may include a user?s IP address, location, mobile carrier and the device used to access the Twitter account. The company says it deletes this data or removes any common account identifiers?such as username, full IP address or e-mail address?after 18 months.

In the past year Twitter has begun to publish a biannual transparency report highlighting trends in government requests it has received for user information and content removal. (Google publishes a similar report). ?We would like more companies to do this,? Costolo said. ?Our users have a right to know when their information has been requested so they can fight the request if they wish.?

The Twitter report also indicates how the company responded to those government requests, which have increased steadily in the past year. Twitter received 849 such requests during the first half of 2012 and 1,009 during the second half?the lion?s share coming from the U.S. government. The latest report will be published in a few weeks. ?When you don?t have any idea what information is being requested, you can only imagine what the government wants,? Costolo said. ?More organizations should participate in these transparency reports because they help people understand exactly what is going on. Then you can disagree or agree with the specifics rather than assumptions.?

Mobile devices offer people a means of ubiquitous online communication?they also give companies a way to track those people using the devices? geolocation capabilities. This raises questions about privacy that have been little more than an afterthought to this point, Costolo noted. Still, he pointed out that there?s no need to be fatalistic about the future of privacy, given that Twitter and many other social networking sites require users to opt in for features such as geolocation that broadcast a user?s whereabouts whenever they log on.

One of Twitter?s main goals, not surprisingly, is improving its ability to curate important events so the most relevant information is easy to find. ?Right now you get the reverse chronological order of the tweets, but it would be nice to see a graphic of spikes in the conversation,? Costolo said. ?It would be nice to be able to scroll back to [a] particular moment.? He likened this capability to a digital video recorder for social media that would help Twitter users more quickly get to the substance of a conversation.

Twitter has experimented with ways to filter out some of the background noise that obscures more relevant reporting and reactions to important events. ?We tried a couple of things during the [London 2012] Olympics, such as curating tweets from the more important sources [such as broadcasters and analysts], but it felt like you were in a very quiet studio,? he said. ?You lost that roar of the crowd that makes [Twitter] the public town square. We became more of an aggregator.?

Twitter is also looking at ways to preserve user anonymity without facilitating troll-like behavior where pseudonymous account-holders use their tweets to harass other users. Anonymity is especially important when Twitter is used as a tool for social change, with protests in Turkey being the latest example, said Costolo, who did not comment further on the situation in that country. The ability to use a pseudonym is crucial to enabling open political discourse, he added. ?You can use our platform to say what you believe.? Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Twitter as a way to spread lies about his government, which has asked Twitter to reveal the identities of users who posted ?messages deemed insulting to the government or prime minister or which flouted people's personal rights,? according to Reuters.

Anonymity does create headaches for Twitter beyond governments demanding user identities, Costolo acknowledged. Pseudonymous tweeters are a problem when they engage in cyber bullying and can be particularly vicious in what they say about celebrities and other public figures. He added, ?We have to do a better job of filtering out egregious and repeated harassment.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/basic-science/~3/fxFVofqfZ1E/article.cfm

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Are Flip Flops Bad for Your Health? - Health News and Views ...

From New York?s sweltering sidewalks to Brazil?s sandy beaches, there?s no sandal that signals summer quite like the flip-flop. But are these no-fuss flats as harmless as they seem? Studies show that despite their easy-breezy appeal, extended flip flop use can cause a range of physical ailments, ranging from plantar fasciitis and muscle soreness, to lower back pain. Not exactly what we signed up for, right?

Foot Action ? Why it Matters

With the average American taking 5,117 steps a day ? and experts recommending we take close to 5,000 more ? our footwear is hardly an inconsequential choice. A 2012 survey found 78 percent of American adults over the age of 21 ?report having had some sort of foot pain or issue at some point in their lives, and more than half reported having such issues at the time of the survey. And while there?s no single shoe that?s a perfect across the board, flip flops may be the riskiest pick of them all?? excluding Gaga?s armadillo hoof stilettos, of course (and just imagine how that armadillo feels).

While a 2010 study suggests flip flops may actually decrease the load on our knees, it looks like there?s more risk in wearing the unsupportive shoes than benefits. In one?study, researchers compared the effects of wearing flip-flops and athletic shoes on 39 male and female college students. The flip-flop wearers took shorter steps and struck their heel to the ground with less vertical force than when in sneakers, causing their gaits to sway away from their natural rhythm. The reason? Most flip-flop wearers tend to clench their toes around the thong portion of the sandal to keep them from flying off. But toe curls aren?t quite what the doctor ordered and can instead lead to repetitive stress on the ankle and foot.

Where Flip Flops Fall Flat ? The Answer/Debate

Even though thong-like sandals provide some cushioning benefit over bare feet alone, studies show?they?re responsible for throwing human gait kinetics out of whack. The body is forced to compensate, and what starts as stress on the arch, heel, and the rest of the foot can eventually manifest as soreness in the legs, hips, and lower back.

Among the most treated flip-flop induced injuries is plantar faciitis, an inflammation of the connective tissue along the bottom of the foot that affects close to two million Americans each year. This acute heel pain is most often sparked by all-day wear, with overweight or sedentary wearers even more susceptible since their arches are already under strain. Roughly 20 percent of sufferers develop a chronic condition, making plantar faciitis even worse.

But it?s not all doom and gloom on the flip-flop front. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when picking a pair to rock for the warm weather:

• Time it right. Replace flip-flops every three to four months, and only wear them for short periods of time.
• Opt for leather.?The plastic ones may come in every color under the sun, but a soft, high-quality pair of leather flip-flops is less likely to cause irritation, including blisters.
• Find the right fit. Make sure the heel and toes don?t hang off the edges of the sandal and that when you bend the sandal from end to end it bends where the ball of the foot hits ?? not at the arch!
• Wear selectively. Beach walking, pool deck trolling, and a quick run to the grocery store? Yes. Soccer game, lawn mowing, and a five-mile hike? Not so much.
• Make it official. Look for sandals approved by the American Podiatric Medical Association. They have a whole handy-dandy list of the approved shoes (of all types), so search around and see if there?s something you dig!
• And whatever you do: Please, don?t wear them with socks.

Originally published June 2011. Updated August 2012. Updated June 2013.

Photo by Jordan Shakeshaft

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/06/27/are-flip-flops-bad-for-your-health/

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ANA says Dreamliner jet had problem with AC power supply

TOKYO (Reuters) - One of All Nippon Airways' 787 Dreamliner jets, made by Boeing Co, had a cockpit message saying that the aircraft might not be able to supply power for its air-conditioning system, the Japanese airline said on Thursday.

The issue was not related to the lithium ion battery problems that had grounded the jets for three months from mid-January, Ryosei Nomura, an ANA spokesman, said.

All Dreamliner jets are under the microscope after Boeing installed a re-designed battery system and they resumed flying. Last week, two United Airlines Dreamliner jets were diverted due to separate oil-related problems.

More than 100 passengers who were supposed to fly on the ANA jet from Tokyo to Frankfurt on Thursday ended up taking a different plane that departed nearly eight hours later than originally scheduled, Nomura said.

ANA fixed the problem by exchanging components of a computer that controls electricity supply to the air-conditioning system, said Shinsuke Satake, another company spokesman.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ana-says-dreamliner-jet-had-problem-ac-power-105803047.html

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WSJ: Google working on an Android-powered game system, smart watch and new Nexus Q

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google might make another foray into living room hardware as it's currently developing an Android powered gaming console. Since that's just not enough of a rumor bomb, the talkative "people familiar with the matter" also claim a wristwatch and followup to its "postponed" Nexus Q project are on the way. If you believe the rumors, its reason for jumping into all these categories is to beat products Apple is reportedly developing in the same categories, with at least one of them launching this fall. Finally, the leaks indicate Google's next major Android update will be "tailored to low-cost devices in developing countries," and are ready to go in a much wider variety of devices.

That could mean laptops or even appliances running the rumored Key Lime Pie flavor of Android, built by manufacturers like Samsung which is already working on a watch of its own. Also mentioned is HP, which the report goes on to claim is building laptops that run Android. Companies like Ouya, Mad Catz, Pebble and GEAK probably think Mountain View is already late to the party, but official OS-level support and heavily marketed hardware could take these segments to the next level.

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables, HD, Mobile, Samsung, Google, HP

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/27/wsj-google-android-game-console/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Spain ruling party's ex-treasurer sent to jail in corruption case

By Teresa Larraz Mora

MADRID (Reuters) - A former treasurer for Spain's ruling People's Party was sent to jail without bail on Thursday as the High Court continues a pre-trial investigation into corruption charges against him.

Judge Pablo Ruz said that Luis Barcenas - who worked for the People's Party for almost three decades, mostly in the accounting department - had failed to explain the origin of up to 48 million euros held in Swiss bank accounts.

Ruz said Barcenas was a flight risk and could also pressure witnesses or destroy evidence.

Barcenas is the central figure in two major corruption scandals that have damaged the credibility of the ruling party and angered Spaniards who are struggling with a deep recession and high unemployment.

The 55-year-old has repeatedly said he is innocent of the charges against him and that his money came from legitimate business activities.

His lawyer Alfonso Trallero said he would file an appeal to try to get his client out of jail, El Pais newspaper reported.

Barcenas is charged with money laundering, bribery, tax fraud and other crimes in Ruz's investigation of a group of businessmen who put on campaign rallies and other events for the People's Party in exchange for kickbacks.

Ruz wrote in his 24-page order that he had unearthed up to 48 million euros in bank accounts linked to Barcenas in Switzerland and other countries.

The judge also said in the order that Barcenas had falsified documents and invented art deals to try to hide the source of the money.

Barcenas appeared before Ruz on Thursday in a closed-door hearing to answer questions regarding new accounts that were discovered in Switzerland and about the art deals.

GUARANTEES

Barcenas' explanations have been "partial, inconsistent and manifestly insufficient regarding the activities and movement of assets in his Swiss accounts, which he himself has been involved with", the judge wrote in his order.

Barcenas has been under investigation off and on for more than four years over the kickbacks inquiry, which Ruz said was approaching the trial phase. As an examining magistrate, Ruz both investigates the charges and presides at trial.

Several of the charges against Barcenas carry potential prison terms of six years each, and large fines. The anti-corruption prosecutor has asked the judge to order Barcenas to put up 28 million euros in guarantees to cover potential fines should he be convicted.

In a separate case Barcenas is also under investigation for allegedly running a People's Party slush fund that took donations from construction magnates and redistributed them in cash payments to party leaders.

In January, El Pais published excerpts of two decades of handwritten accounts - now known as the 'Barcenas Papers' - allegedly recording movements of cash in and out of the secret fund.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and other top People's Party officials whose names appear in the Barcenas Papers have repeatedly denied receiving illegal payments.

Some party leaders have said the party paid them fixed expenses that were legal and reported on their tax declarations.

"As always the People's Party manifests its respect for judicial decisions in all proceedings," the party said in a one-line statement on Thursday.

Barcenas left the party in 2009, when he was first put under criminal investigation, but continued to receive severance pay on an installment plan until early this year.

(Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Julien Toyer and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-ruling-partys-ex-treasurer-sent-jail-corruption-210124852.html

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German unemployment dips to 6.6 percent in June

BERLIN (AP) ? A seasonal pickup in job creation has helped push Germany's unemployment rate down to 6.6 percent in June from 6.8 percent the previous month.

The Federal Labor Agency said Thursday that 2.865 million people were registered as unemployed, a drop of 72,000 over the month.

When adjusted for seasonal factors, unemployment fell by 12,000 but the rate was steady at 6.8 percent.

Europe's biggest economy has enjoyed a period of relatively low unemployment in contrast to many of the other European Union countries that use the euro. Spain and Greece for example have unemployment rates above 25 percent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-unemployment-dips-6-6-percent-june-082438069.html

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The Best Year Ever for Gay Rights in America (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Obama To Lay Out Broad Plan To Address Climate Change

Link Information - Click to View

Obama To Lay Out Broad Plan To Address Climate Change
For the first time, the government plans to limit how much carbon dioxide existing power plants can put into the air. It's a key element of the president's plan, but it's also unclear how aggressive the restrictions will be.

Source: NPR
Posted on: Tuesday, Jun 25, 2013, 8:07am
Views: 9

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128765/Obama_To_Lay_Out_Broad_Plan_To_Address_Climate_Change

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This Throne of Books Is Your Own Private Personal Library

There's an endless number of distractions that can prevent us from curling up with a good book. So the folks at the London-based design studio, Tilt, created the OpenBook chair. It's an oversized comfy seat wrapped in an empty library that you can fill with your favorite books and magazines, creating an oasis of reading in a sea of distracting electronics.

The upholstered wall, featuring racks for hanging newspapers and magazines on the outside, also provides a bit of extra privacy from noise, and of course a place to rest your head. And while the OpenBook chair is certainly a lovely spot to escape into your favorite book, it also provides the perfect place to show off your amazing taste in literature to friends and other guests. Just keep the Where's Waldos hidden in a back room. [Tilt via Dornob]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-throne-of-books-is-your-own-private-personal-libra-572872513

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LeapFrog shows off $150 LeapPad Ultra tablet, arriving July 17th (hands-on)

LeapFrog's latest tablet just couldn't wait to show off for the camera, making its on-screen debut over at the FCC's site a few weeks back. The kid-friendly tech company was finally ready to show the thing off for real this week, almost exactly a year after letting us take a look at the previous-generation device. The slate, naturally, maintains the kid-friendly software and rugged design that have become customary across LeapFrog's hardware offerings, while adding enough new features to let the company confidently refer to the LeapPad Ultra as "the ultimate kids learning tablet." Though they might be just a tad biased when it comes to such overarching statements.

The Ultra's got a 7-inch, 1,024 x 600 touchscreen display that works with an stylus to help kids learn to write with something other than their fingers (making it not too unlike the LeapReader in that respect). There are front- and rear-facing cameras for its built-in imaging programs and 8GB of storage for downloading some of the 800-plus LeapFrog-approved apps downloadable from the company's App Center (which wasn't ready to demo when we looked at the hardware). The choices include proprietary apps and selections from partners like Pixar and Sesame Street. The tablet's got all kinds of parental protection, including secure WiFi and a four-digit code for updating. And while there's an included chat app (Pet Chat), communication is limited to other LeapPads, using a limited number of canned responses.

Gallery: LeapFrog shows off $150 LeapPad Ultra tablet, arriving July 17th

Filed under: Tablets

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/24/leapreader-ultra/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Arab Idol winner gets hero's welcome in Gaza

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Thousands of excited Gaza residents have mobbed the area's southern border crossing with Egypt to welcome home the winner of the Arab Idol talent contest.

Around 4,000 people gathered early Tuesday for the arrival of Mohammad Assaf, the 23-year-old who is the first Palestinian to win the popular reality show. His victory on Saturday sparked huge celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza.

Assaf is widely viewed as a unifying symbol in the Palestinian territories. His victory won praise from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and even some officials from Gaza's conservative Hamas rulers.

Assaf is on the Egyptian side of the border and is expected to cross shortly.

After a stop in the Palestinian territories, he plans on moving to Dubai to continue his recording career.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arab-idol-winner-gets-heros-welcome-gaza-092642845.html

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U.S. Talks Tough on Leaker (WSJ)

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Asia shares slide on China worries, Fed outlook; dollar firms

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell to a fresh 9-1/2-month low on Monday as investors worried about China's economic and financial stability and markets scrambled to price in the Federal Reserve's plan to tone down its stimulus drive starting later this year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> slipped 1.2 percent to its lowest since early September, after posting its worst week since May 2012 with a drop of 4.5 percent last week.

China's money market rates remained elevated and volatile, keeping investors jittery about the intentions of the Chinese authorities, as the recent spike in market rates compounds fears of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

China's weighted average overnight bond repurchase rate, a measure of the cost of funds, fell to a low of 6.1 percent earlier in the day but briefly crawled back up again to 9.1 percent, slightly above Friday's close at 8.89 percent.

China shares extended losses with banks leading the downward spiral after official news reports over the weekend suggested Beijing will crack down on shadow banking, blamed for the cash crunch in the mainland. Hong Kong shares <.hsi> fell 1.4 percent and Shanghai shares <.ssec> shed 2.1 percent, with the financials sub-index tumbling nearly 6 percent.

Many analysts saw the People's Bank of China's withholding of money market funding as a strategy to force banks to stop channeling cash into the informal banking sector, known as shadow banking, which authorities worry is creating significant credit risks.

"The Chinese authorities are purposefully doing this to let investors be aware of pains that must accompany structural reforms the government is trying to pursue, so investors shouldn't be complacent about the government avoiding a hard landing," said Xiao Minjie, an independent economist in Tokyo.

Australian shares <.axjo> tumbled 1.6 percent, weighed by concerns about slowing China growth, while South Korean shares <.ks11> fell 0.7 percent, extending Friday's losses to a fresh 11-month low.

Japan's Nikkei stock average <.n225> gave up early gains on the back of a weaker yen as investors remained skittish after last week's global market rout. It was marginally weaker by midday.

"The weaker yen certainly is the main driver today. Nevertheless, investors are hesitant to buy into exporters because the external situation, especially that of the emerging markets, is uncertain," said Ryota Sakagami, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

DOLLAR SOLE OUTPERFORMER

Financial markets sold off last week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that with the U.S. economy showing signs of recovery, the central bank may start scaling back its huge monthly bond-buying plan which was aimed at keeping bond yields down and supporting the economy. The Fed's strong accommodative stance has also encouraged investment in riskier assets such as shares.

"The valuation adjustment for tapering of Fed stimulus is well underway," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

The dollar was the sole outperformer, gaining broadly amid improving U.S. economic prospects and rising yields.

The dollar was up 0.4 percent against the yen at 98.25, slowly extending gains and moving away from its 10-week low of 93.75 yen hit earlier in the month.

Traders said the prospect of diverging yield directions will support the dollar against the yen.

U.S. Treasuries prices slipped in Asia on Monday, extending last week's dismal performance with the benchmark 10-year yield posting its biggest weekly rise since November 2001 after the Federal Reserve signaled it might scale back its stimulus.

The yield on 10-year notes added 2.6 basis points to 2.5684 percent, its highest in almost two years.

"A better economic outlook will eventually need to be priced into the short end of the yield curve. This suggests that there is a catch-up trade for the USD versus low-yielding currencies (such as the yen)," Barclays Capital said in a research note.

Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar index <.dxy> rose 0.32 percent to a two-week high after ending last week up 2.2 percent for its biggest weekly gain since early November, 2011.

Spot gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,291.65 an ounce, after touching its lowest since September 2010 of $1,268.89 on Friday and ending the worst week in nearly two years.

U.S. crude futures eased 0.2 percent to $93.55 a barrel and Brent fell 0.3 percent to $100.60.

Going into the Fed's June meeting, investors continued to take money out of emerging-market fund groups in the week ending June 19, with redemptions from EPFR Global-tracked emerging markets bond funds hitting a 90-week high and more than $3 billion leaving emerging markets equity funds, EPFR said on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Thuy Ong in Sydney and Tomo Uetake in Tokyo; Editing by Eric Meijer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-outlook-bolsters-dollar-caps-asian-shares-003746943.html

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Abu Dhabi moves into the spotlight | Focus | Breaking Travel News

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Source: http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/focus/article/abu-dhabi-moves-into-the-spotlight/

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Supermoon: Why it's the best lunar show in the solar system

Supermoon peaked Sunday morning, but good viewing will continue for the next few days. The unusual relationship between Earth and the moon makes supermoon a particularly good show.

By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / June 23, 2013

Supermoon rises behind the Home Place clock tower in Prattville, Ala., Saturday.

Dave Martin/AP

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"Supermoon" officially arrived at about 7 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Sunday morning, with the moon making its closest swing by Earth this year. About a half hour later, the moon reached full status, making it appear 12 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a regular full moon.

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Don't worry if you missed it. The effect should still linger for a few nights, meaning Sunday, Monday, and even Tuesday should give a good sense of this year's supermoon.

And social media was alight with the event, with pictures of Saturday night's supermoon making an appearance from Facebook to Instagram.

The show is the product of a cosmic quirk. Since planets and moons orbit in ellipses, not circles, there are times when they are closer to what they're orbiting and times when they're farther away. For moons, the point when they're closest to their planet is called perigee, the point farthest away is called apogee.

For Earth and the moon, perigee and apogee happen once each month, since the moon orbits the Earth once every 27 days. But because of small inconsistencies in the orbits, the moon's closest approach and its farthest distance are always slightly different.

The moon hit its monthly perigee Sunday morning, but what makes it worthy of the name "supermoon" was that it was the closest perigee of 2013. Moreover, since it coincided almost perfectly with a full moon, the effect was enhanced.

The moon's farthest apogee this year has already happened and is set to repeat itself next year during the Jan. 15, 2014, full moon. To see the visual difference in size between a perigee and apogee moon, click here.?

But what makes the moon so special? If everything in the solar system orbits in an ellipsis, shouldn't we have a "supersun," too.

In fact, we do. Since we orbit the sun once a year, supersuns only happen once a year. Our closest swing to the sun, called perihelion, also already happened this year, and will happen again on Jan. 4, 2014. (An "un-supersun," when the sun seems smallest at aphelion, is just around the corner: July 5.)

But will there be this much buzz next January with sungazers filling Twitter with pictures of a gigantic sun? Don't count on it.

The reason? the sun is obviously much farther away from Earth than is the moon, so the effect is not so noticeable. For Earth, the distance between aphelion and perihelion is about 3 million miles. But even at perihelion, the Earth is still 91 million miles from the sun.?

In addition, Earth's orbit around the sun is more nearly circular than is the moon's orbit around us, with only Venus and Neptune having more circular orbits than Earth. Mercury has the most eccentric orbit ? ranging from a perihelion of 29 million miles to an aphelion of 43 million miles ? meaning it has a truly dramatic supersun (if you can stand the 800 degree Fahrenheit temperatures on the sun-side surface).

By contrast, the moon's orbit around Earth is the most elliptical orbit of any major moon in the solar system. Combine that with the fact that the moon is comparatively close to Earth, so it looks large in our skies, and supermoon earns its name.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/SsDvvcz68gY/Supermoon-Why-it-s-the-best-lunar-show-in-the-solar-system

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When Teaching Large Classes, Think Like a Tutor - Teo-Education

Often faculty who teach large classes (and some who don?t) fantasize about sitting down and working individually with students. For many of us that?s the ideal teaching scenario, but for most of us teaching realities are far removed from this ideal. You can?t tutor individual students when faced with 100 of them. Or can you?

Biologists Wood and Tanner undertook an interesting project. They decided to look at the research on tutoring to see if the characteristics of effective tutors had been identified. Then they explored whether any of the techniques used by effective tutors could be used by teachers in large courses. In their paper (reference below), ?we present specific approaches for adapting effective tutoring strategies and applying them to large biology lecture classes.? (p. 3) Using a set of effective tutor characteristics identified by Lepper and Wolverton (a reference to their research is in the article), Wood and Tanner explore how these seven characteristics can be adapted and used in large lecture courses (and what they propose isn?t applicable just in biology courses). Here are some of the suggestions offered for each tutor characteristic.

Applying characteristics of tutors in a large classroom setting
Intelligent?The best tutors know their content. They are experts in the true sense of the word, but they also know a lot about how students learn and the best ways to teach certain kinds of content. Faculty have that same kind of content expertise, but many don?t know a lot about how students learn and how they should teach, given what is known about how students learn. That knowledge can be acquired (whether you teach large or small classes), and it can be used to successfully implement the strategies about to be described.

by Maryellen Weimer, PhD

Read more @ http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/when-teaching-large-classes-think-like-a-tutor/

This entry was posted on Monday, June 24th, 2013 at 8:17 am and is filed under Effective Teaching and Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://www.teo-education.com/teo/?p=25864

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Source: http://ajairapablic.blogspot.com/2013/06/when-teaching-large-classes-think-like.html

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PFT: NFL rookies get harsh truth at symposium

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Reggie Williams, the Jaguars? first-round pick in 2004, was among the final cuts of the CFL?s Toronto Argonauts on Saturday.

Williams, 30, signed with the Argonauts on May 29. According to the Canadian QMI Agency wire service, Williams had a one-handed TD catch in the Argonauts? final preseason game Thursday vs. Montreal.

While Reggie Williams? stint in Toronto has ended, another former Jaguars receiver is very much a key part of the Argonauts? 2013 plans.

In fact, this ex-Jaguar is the CFL?s top best player in the estimation of TSN and sportswriters across Canada.

Chad Owens, a sixth-round pick of Jacksonville in 2005, was voted the CFL?s best player?on Friday.

Owens, 31, was the CFL?s Most Outstanding Player in 2012 after catching 94 passes for 1,328 yards and six TDs for the Grey Cup-champion Argos. Moreover, he set a league record for all-purpose yards.

Owens could never quite stick with the Jaguars, who released him in January 2008. But he stuck with professional football. He played Arena ball for a year, then landed on the Montreal Alouettes? practice roster for much of 2009. The next year, the Als traded him to Toronto, and he has been a key contributor since.

For former NFL players, making a?CFL roster is easier said than done. There are just eight CFL teams, and the Canadian game is different than the NFL game, with the wider field one example.

Given that Reggie Williams hasn?t been on an NFL roster since 2010, lasting until Toronto?s final cuts may signal he?s retained some professional-caliber skill. That?s one silver lining. Another may well be the success of his former Jaguars teammate, who?s authored quite the impressive career revival in Canada.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/22/rookie-symposium-message-most-of-you-will-be-gone-in-three-years/related/

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Hundreds protest Texas abortion restrictions

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? More than 600 women's rights protesters crowded into the Texas Capitol on Sunday to watch Democrats begin a series of parliamentary maneuvers to stop the Republican majority from passing some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country.

Democrats began the session by pointing to a technicality that delayed voting on any bills for 4? hours. The forced adjournment burned up precious time since the session ends at midnight Tuesday and the abortion bill still needs to go back to the Senate for final approval.

While several bills are under consideration, the only one with a real chance is Senate Bill 5, an omnibus bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, require that they take place in surgical centers and restrict where and when women can take abortion-inducing pills. Part of the new law would also require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

Supporters say the measures are intended to protect women's health, but opponents call them needless regulations to make abortions more difficult to obtain. If passed, 37 out of 42 abortion clinics in Texas would have to close and undergo millions of dollars in upgrades.

"This is important to a lot of people back home," said Rep. Bryan Hughes, a conservative Republican from Mineola. "For many of us, this is the bill of the session."

Anti-abortion groups have enormous influence in Texas' Republican primaries, and incumbents fearing tea party challenges need to register votes on conservative issues before they go home.

Blocking the bill has become a cause for Democrats, who have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994 but are working to rebuild the party across the state. The Texas Democratic Party joined with women's rights groups and progressive organizations last week to rally hundreds of supporters around opposition to the proposed laws.

"This is our fight right here, today," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. "This is about Republican primary politics, not about a priority for the state."

Gov. Rick Perry called the special session in May to adopt redistricting maps, but added abortion with only two weeks left before the session ends. That decision made it possible for Democrats to possibly kill the bill, even though they hold minorities on both chambers of the Legislature.

House Democrats said they had a variety of methods to stall and possibly even kill the bills late Sunday. But if they do pass early Monday, the Senate must still vote on them Tuesday, giving Senate Democrats a chance to filibuster the bill until midnight.

___

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cltomlinson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-protest-texas-abortion-restrictions-192909543.html

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World stocks fall after China aims at shadow loans

BANGKOK (AP) ? Global stock markets reeled Monday, with Shanghai's index enduring its biggest loss in four years, after China allowed commercial lending rates to soar in a move analysts said was aimed at curbing a booming underground lending industry.

Analysts say the spike late Thursday in the country's interbank lending rate to over 13 percent was part of an effort to trim off-balance-sheet lending that could threaten the financial stability of the world's second-largest economy.

But markets feared the move could also hurt economic growth. China's major state-owned banks are unwilling to lend to any but their biggest clients, so the vast majority of smaller businesses must rely on informal lending.

Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index plummeted 5 percent to 1,968.51 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 6.1 percent to 881.87.

Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 1.5 percent to 6,067.35. Germany's DAX fell 1.1 percent to 7,704.88. France's CAC-40 fell 1.5 percent to 3,601.88.

Wall Street also appeared headed for losses, with Dow Jones industrial futures down 0.7 percent to 14,614. S&P 500 futures lost 0.7 percent to 1,573.70.

On Monday, the central bank told China's commercial lenders to focus on lending to the "real economy" rather than financial speculation. A statement on the bank's website made no mention of informal banking but told lenders to do a better job of forecasting credit and liquidity needs.

The government's Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary that Chinese banks had been taking growing risks by diverting money into speculative investments and largely unmonitored underground banking.

"It is not that there is no money but that the money is being put in the wrong place," the government's Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary. "The more important question to consider is not whether there is a shortage of money but how it is being used."

Analysts at Moody's Investors Service said that they interpret the central bank's action as "having been the result of a conscious decision" to curb credit growth.

Moody's added that a prolonged credit crunch could threaten Chinese companies, "especially those in the private sector with weak credit quality, because it heightens the risk that banks will scale back lending to those companies." Moody's says that China's central government finances remain strong, but that rapid credit growth and liabilities at the local level pose a threat to growth.

Andrew Sullivan of Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong said China's new leaders want credit to be available to keep the economy moving but not so much as to promote asset bubbles.

"After six months in power, the new leadership is putting its policies in place. It's signaling that credit is going to remain tight," Sullivan said. "All that is in line with moving China from being an export driven economy to being a domestic consumption economy."

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.2 percent to 19,813.98. Japan's Nikkei 225 index, the regional heavyweight, fell 1.3 percent to 13,062.78. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.3 percent to 1,799.01. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.5 percent at 4,666.50.

Among individual stocks, Australia's Newcrest Mining Ltd. tumbled 7.9 percent. Shanghai-listed Poly Real Estate Group, China's top real estate developer, nosedived the daily limit of 10 percent.

In energy markets, benchmark oil for August delivery was down 54 cents to $93.15 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.71 to close at $93.69 in New York on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3103 from $1.3139 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 98.04 yen from 97.76 yen.

___

AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing and researcher Fu Ting contributed from Shanghai.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-24-World%20Markets/id-57d4f5d8f6f54d0291049cc62e79c32f

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Europe unable to break impasse on who pays when banks fail

By John O'Donnell, Robin Emmott and Ingrid Melander

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Europe failed to agree on how to share the cost of bank collapses on Saturday, as Germany resisted attempts by France to water down rules designed to spare taxpayers in future crises.

Almost 20 hours of talks late into the night could not forge a way for countries to set up an EU-wide regime that would first impose losses on shareholders and bondholders when a bank fails, followed by depositors with more than 100,000 euros ($132,000).

Ministers will make a fresh attempt to break the impasse at a meeting on Wednesday, on the eve of an EU leaders summit, and resolve one of the most difficult questions posed by Europe's banking crisis - how to shut failed banks without sowing panic or burdening taxpayers.

"I think we can reach a deal if we take a few more days," said Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of regulation. "We are not far off now from a political agreement."

The European Union spent the equivalent of a third of its economic output on saving its banks between 2008 and 2011, using taxpayer cash but struggling to contain the crisis and - in the case of Ireland - almost bankrupting the country.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble blamed the complexity of the issue and conflicting interests for not being able to reach a final result on Saturday. One EU official, who asked not to be named, described the meeting as chaotic.

At the heart of the disagreement, chiefly between Germany and France, was how much leeway countries should have when imposing losses on bondholders or large savers, a procedure known as "bail-in."

Such an approach was first tested out in Cyprus' bailout in March, but making it the EU norm would mark a radical departure from the bloc's crisis management in which taxpayers have footed the bill for a string of rescue programs.

Britain, Sweden and France worry that forcing losses on depositors could cause a bank run or rattle confidence, and want countries to have wide-ranging freedom in deciding whether to take such bold steps.

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos underscored the sensitivity of the issue. "What's fundamental is there is agreement over the bail-in hierarchy and the protection of small depositors," he said.

Germany, however, wants strict norms. Schaeuble said the new rules should not vary across the 27-nation European Union because that could put some banks at a competitive disadvantage.

"There's clear disagreement between France and Germany. That's why the meeting broke up," said one EU diplomat.

France's Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici tried to play down any divisions and said a deal was possible next week.

'DANGEROUS'

While there is no immediate deadline for an agreement, indecision could hurt confidence in the ability of Europe's politicians to repair the financial system, encourage banks to lend and help the continent emerge from economic stagnation.

An agreement on European rules for closing banks is also a step required by Germany before it will sign off on a scheme for the 17-nation euro zone's bailout fund to help banks in trouble, potentially important in helping Ireland.

"The fact that the euro zone countries are trying to push a solution is very dangerous for the rest of us," Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg told reporters.

The regime to ensure that troubled banks are closed in an orderly way sets an important precedent for the euro zone, which is pursuing a project called banking union to supervise, control and support banks to rebuild confidence in the currency.

This scheme aims to form a common front across the single currency area when tackling failed banks, rather than leaving it to countries to manage alone.

At the wider EU level, the so-called resolution rules are needed so that the euro zone can mould its own regime and decide how the bloc's rescue fund helps banks.

Its rules, for example, on pushing losses on large savers, could be made stricter, in particular for banks seeking help from the fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed late on Thursday to set aside 60 billion euros for banks via the fund.

If agreed, the rules would take effect at the start of 2015 with the provisions to impose losses coming as late as 2018.

(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Martin Santa, Ingrid Melander and Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by John O'Donnell and Robin Emmott; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/europe-unable-break-impasse-pays-banks-fail-032549322.html

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