Six ways to celebrate Pong's 40th anniversary?

16 hrs.

Winda Benedetti , NBC News

It is Nov. 29?in the year 2012 and that means the ground-breaking,?ball-bouncing, interactive?game of Pong officially turns 40 years old.

40 YEARS OLD.

If you are reading this and you (like me)?remember playing Pong as a child, well then, let's stop and take a moment to consider what that says about you ... and about?how old you might be.

But more importantly, let's stop and take a moment to consider?what Pong has meant to and done for the video game industry as we know it today.?It was four decades?ago that?this (now seemingly simple) game of digital table top tennis?first?arrived in arcades. It would soon make its way into homes and into some of our very best childhood memories. It would not only help launch a famous video game company????Atari????but it would inspire many of today's game creators.

Forty?years ago, that bouncing white?ball and those?infuriatingly?small digital paddles helped make the gaming what it is today.?

So how does one properly mark?this momentous birthday? Here's a look at a few ideas for?celebrating this very special day.

1.?Treat?yourself to some old-school Pong

Pong may be four decades old, but some of the old machines are still kicking around ... and operable. You can pick up a?working?Atari Super Pong Ten from 1977 here on Etsy ... for a mere $125. And here's an Atari Super Pong console on eBay. Because it's always fun to own a piece of history.

2.?Play a?modern version of Pong

You may not have the cash to get your hands on an old Pong machine, but no matter, there is still some affordable Pong-style gaming to be had.

For a?fresh take on the old gameplay, check out the new app "Pong World," which arrived in the App Store?Thursday from, yes,?Atari ... and?for free.

Earlier this year, Atari?issued a challenge?to indie game developers to?create their own vision of the legendary game for mobile devices (oh how times have change). The winner of that challenge was "Pong World" from?zGames???a game that lets?players choose from a variety of paddles as they battle in either classic mode or new?modes such as Blitz and Hotseat.

You can also play "Browser Pong" here???a game of Pong that lets you use browser windows as the?paddles and balls.?

Of course, if you want to go big?with?your Pong-playing, you can try to?challenge the folks in Kansas City who recently celebrated the game's anniversary?by creating the "World's Largest Game of Pong." Take a look:

3. Read the new book "Atari Inc. - Business is Fun"

If you love video games and their?history, then you won't want to miss this new book which?details the roller-coaster?ride that is the history?of the famed game?company.?The book???which includes?some?300 pages of never before seen photos???not only?looks at how Atari (fun fact: originally named?Syzygy) became a?gaming?juggernaut, but details the rise of Pong as well as?Steve Jobs' early work at the company.

If you don't have the time to take in?this 800-page book, then?check out Buzzfeed's excellent (and much shorter)?look back at the history of Pong.

4.?Make a Pong-themed 'Gangnam Style' parody

If there's one thing this world needs more of, it's "Gangnam Style" parodies. And if that retro-yet-totally-modern game?"Minecraft"?gets its own "Gangnam Style" parody, then surely Pong deserves one too.?

All you need is a camera and, well, an elevator.?Check out the video above to see?some Pong fans who?are already getting their Gangnam on. ?

5. Write the screenplay for the movie adaptation of the video game Pong

From "Assassin's Creed" to "Castle Wolfenstien," Hollywood LOVES making big-screen adaptations of famous video games. Sure, they usually stink more than a week-old whale corpse washed up on the Oregon shore, but hey, one day someone is going to make a truly?great video game movie adaptation.

That person may just be?NBC's own Helen A.S. Popkin. She knows a hot pop culture trend when she sees one, and so she's celebrating ?Pong's 40th?anniversary by working on her screenplay?for "Pong: The Movie." Here, take a gander at the treatment and tell me that this isn't going to be AWESOME:?

?Pong: The Movie??-?Matthew McConaughey is Dr. Jarod Pong, a government epidemiologist with only 12 hours to find a cure for a pandemic virus and save humanity. A coastal-wide blackout and failed lab generators leave the hunky scientist with no centrifuge to keep his developing specimen moving. If the petri dish doesn?t remain in constant motion for 7 hours, Pong?s cure, and humanity, will be lost. Heroically drawing on a childhood pastime, Pong clears a lab table and, with his lab assistant (and love interest) Naomi Watts, launches the most important game of improvised air hockey in the history of man. Ceaselessly batting? the petri dish back and forth, McConaughey and Watts battle boredom, monotony, tedium, and sexual tension to save the human race. Andre Benjamin also stars.

(Dear?Hollywood, if you'd like to talk to Ms. Popkin about her screenplay, please note that, as her agent, I will be taking a 20 percent cut.)

6. Play a game of Beer Pong
OK, fine, so this drinking game (loved by frat boys the world over) has nothing to do with the video game Pong. But let's face it, if you're old enough to have fond memories of?playing Pong as a child, then, as you contemplate what this anniversary?says?about your own?undeniable?middle age, you may need to have a drink ... or three.

So three cheers for four decades of?Pong!

Winda Benedetti?is so young it's amazing that she's allowed to write?about video?games for NBC?News. You can follow her tweets about games and other things?on Twitter?here?@WindaBenedetti?and you can?follow her?on?Google+.?Meanwhile, be sure to check?out the?IN-GAME?FACEBOOK PAGE?to discuss the day's?gaming news and reviews.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ingame/six-ways-celebrate-pongs-40th-anniversary-1C7332326

ronda rousey vs miesha tate lindsay lohan snl lindsay lohan on snl real housewives of disney awakenings phantom of the opera agoraphobia

Understanding Disaster Preparedness: Lessons Learned from Sandy

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Alan Creighton, the President and CEO of Momentum Telecom. ?You can find more of his writings on the Go Momentum Blog blog.

Hurricane Sandy brought substantial destruction to homes and businesses across the Northeastern region of the country just about a month ago today. In the aftermath, telecommunications service providers reported outages that left 25% of the cell towers in 10 states without power and as many as 8 million customers without the ability to communicate with colleagues and clients ? some for weeks, according to an?FCC estimate.

Though we are unable to prevent natural catastrophes, Hurricane Sandy reminds us of the importance of taking measures to be ready. Preparing contact centers for disaster is no exception. As the president & CEO of a telecommunications provider, I understand my responsibility to take as many preemptive measures as possible to ensure continued functionality of my company?s network ? especially during crisis.

Over the past weeks, I have continued to track the aftermath of the storm and have been reminded of the impact that natural disasters, like Sandy, can have on businesses. Times like these emphasize the importance of disaster preparation.

A business? lifeline is its communications. Organizations that aren?t prepared for disasters and lose communication capabilities risk sales opportunities, revenue and even valuable clients. Every enterprise should take the time to ensure that it has a disaster recovery plan in place, and that its provider is prepared to keep communications up and running. Here are three key factors to consider about your business communications before catastrophe strikes:

The Location of the Cloud. Though its services are virtual, the cloud is tied to a physical location along with the information stored there. As we saw after Hurricane Sandy, flooding knocked out several carriers? switches in New York and New Jersey and left thousands of business lines down across the country. Businesses can avoid a breakdown in communications by simply choosing a provider that has a geographically dispersed network infrastructure with switches in more than one location. Geo-redundancy insulates businesses from having to experience the effects of a core network crash and prevents disruption in business communications. In the event of a switch outage, another location can serve as backup and preserve uptime.

The Core Network Infrastructure. Providers that rely on Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) trunks for communication set businesses up for trouble in the wake of a disaster. TDM trunks are physically tied to a local switch, so when flooding like we saw during Hurricane Sandy knocks out the circuit, businesses can?t access their communications. TDM trunks become a single point of failure because numbers tied to a TDM trunk are unable to easily move to another switch. Hosted VoIP providers use the power of IP circuits or the Internet to deliver voice services and run with IP-based core network infrastructures that allow for numbers to be instantly moved to a backup switch to process calls and maintain network uptime.

The Point of Access. By choosing cloud-based VoIP services, businesses can ensure that employees are able to continue business correspondence and access communications in a number of different ways. When a circuit goes down, users with Hosted VoIP can reach their business line with a unified communications application by enabling a Wi-Fi hotspot or using a cellular voice or data network. If you can access any form of wireline or wireless network, you can get to your business communications with inbound and outbound business identity dialing. Features like Unreachable Destination can also ensure businesses can continue to communicate even when the IP access circuit is out of operation by enabling users to set an alternate phone number to which calls can be routed.

Businesses without these services found themselves without a way to communicate during the outages that followed the hurricane. VoIP technology is mature, and the features and benefits clearly outweigh TDM. Put your business communications in the cloud with geo-redundancy so that if disaster strikes, your business is prepared.

?

Categories: Fiber Networks ? Industry Viewpoint ? Unified Communications ? VoIP

Source: http://www.telecomramblings.com/2012/11/understanding-disaster-preparedness-lessons-learned-from-sandy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=understanding-disaster-preparedness-lessons-learned-from-sandy

Imessage Not Working mc hammer houston texans houston texans pecan pie recipe dick clark Hector Camacho

Ironwood's constipation drug gets European approval

(Reuters) - Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc said its drug to treat irritable bowel syndrome with constipation has received marketing approval in Europe.

The drug linaclotide, meant for adults, will be launched in Europe in the first half of 2013 under the brand name Constella, the company said in a statement.

Constella received U.S. regulatory approval in August and Ironwood will sell the drug in the United States with its marketing partner Forest Laboratories under the brand name Linzess.

"We don't see Constella's performance in Europe as a significant value driver for Ironwood," Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Juan Sanchez wrote in a note to clients.

Sanchez estimates that Constella could bring in revenue of $189 million in 2018.

Shares of Ironwood were up 2 percent at $10.98 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday afternoon.

(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ironwoods-constipation-drug-gets-european-approval-180344990--finance.html

Perez Hilton national weather service kristen stewart Christian Bale Sherman Hemsley Olympics Opening Ceremony abc

Video: News of the World singled in British inquiry on press

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50014458/

sopa and pipa piracy sopa marg helgenberger censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills

College football: State of Oklahoma has become popular spot for schools searching for head coaches

STILLWATER ? Bill Young has already passed some important advice?on to his defensive graduate assistants at Oklahoma State.

Where Big 12 assistants have landed as head coaches, assistants

Coach, School, Position/year, New Job

Dana Holgorsen, OSU, OC 2010, West Virginia OC

Kevin Wilson, OU, OC 2010, Indiana head coach

Larry Fedora, OSU, OC 2007, Southern Miss head coach

Kevin Sumlin, OU, COC 2007, Houston head coach

Chuck Long, OU, OC 2005, San Diego State head coach

Mike Gundy, OSU, OC 2004, Oklahoma State head coach

Mark Mangino, OU, OC 2001, Kansas head coach

Mike Leach, OU, OC 1999, Texas Tech head coach

?They need to get in the other room if they ever want to be a head football coach,? Young?tells those coaching hopefuls.

?The other room? is, of course, where the offensive coaches meet. And while Young assures that message is delivered in a semi-joking fashion, the results of recent coaching carousels?seriously support Young's claim.

With the shopping season ? shopping for head coaches, that is ? now underway, there's arguably?no better time to be an offensive?assistant coach or coordinator, with high-powered attacks producing points, energizing fan bases and creating attractive candidates for head coaching gigs.

And the state of Oklahoma has become a popular spot to find one of those offensive minds looking to take the jump.

Since 1999, Oklahoma has had five offensive coordinators ? Kevin Wilson, Kevin Sumlin, Chuck Long, Mark Mangino and Mike Leach ? hired?as head coaches. At OSU, former offensive coordinators Dana Holgorsen, Larry Fedora and Mike Gundy himself?are now head coaches at BCS schools.

And this offseason, current Cowboy offensive coordinator Todd Monken is sure to be a hot candidate after directing an OSU offense that has remained one of the nation's best, despite?losing Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon to the NFL Draft, needing three starting quarterbacks?and a barrage of injuries on that side of the ball.

The motto that defense wins championships is still largely true in college football, as evidenced by the heavy-hitting SEC's six consecutive?BCS national titles. But programs making a coaching change aren't often trying to win a championship, at least immediately. They're trying to?create a buzz among?fans, boosters and recruits, sell tickets and elevate the program from poor or mediocre to good, then maybe great.

That helps explain why 20 of 28 Football Bowl Subdivision hires, including 10 of 14 at BCS schools, following the 2011 season were coaches with an offensive background.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Newsok/Sports/Osu/~3/XrdTNknIIPI/3732806

whitney houston funeral judi dench alicia keys bobby brown leaves funeral donnie mcclurkin whitney houston funeral live stream kevin costner whitney houston

legal - Tax Year & Incorporation Question - OnStartups Beta - Stack ...

The IRS generally does not allow S-Corps to designate an alternate tax year (with the exception of section 444 election) so the LLC and C-Corp are your options. [UPDATE: A LLC can only set its own fiscal year if it is taxed like a corporation; single member and partnership pass-through taxation force the LLC to abide by the tax year of the individual member(s)]. Why not set the fiscal year to later in the year, like June or November? Note that you need to commit to that fiscal year once you declare it to the IRS. The notion that you are limited to 3 months out is specific only to S-Corps under IRC Section 444: See here

A partnership or an S corporation that makes a section 444 election must make certain required payments and a PSC must make certain distributions. Here's what IRC Section 444(1) says: In General. - Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), an election may be made under subsection (a) only if the deferral period of the taxable year elected is not longer than 3 months.

The state you set up the business entity in does not influence the federal tax rules applicable in your question. Michigan state tax rules may be different, so it'd be wise to double check on that.

Disclaimer: I am not a tax lawyer and this is should not be taken as professional advice. This is simply my opinion based on personal experience and research.

Source: http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/44538/tax-year-incorporation-question

Eddie Murphy Dead michelle obama robin roberts Democratic National Convention 2012 myocardial infarction What Is Labor Day jersey shore

Andrew Mason Responds To Rumors He'll Be Fired - Business Insider

Michael Seto for Business Insider

Yesterday we learned from Kara Swisher and other sources that Groupon CEO Andrew Mason could be on his way out soon.

At our IGNITION conference, Mason spoke with Henry Blodget on the matter.?

Blodget asked Mason: ?"Will the board fire you tomorrow?"

Mason's answer: Since the stock is down 80%, "it would be weird if the board wasn't discussing if I was the right guy for the job."

Mason went on to say he still thinks he's the right person to be the CEO of Groupon. (He also sits on Groupon's board.)

"If I ever thought I wasn't the right person for the job, I'd fire myself," Mason said.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-mason-it-would-be-weird-if-the-board-wasnt-discussing-if-i-was-the-right-guy-for-the-job-2012-11

record store day jennie garth space needle nashville predators king arthur king arthur there will be blood

All About Tourist Attractions in Hong Kong | BeCleanLiveGreen

Posted by Travel-and-Leisure:Destination-Tips Articles from EzineArticles.com on November 27, 2012

If you are planning to visit Hong Kong and you want to know the best tourist attractions, here is the information you have been looking for. This city is one of Asia's best holiday spots. It has numerous attractions that leaves every tourist whether foreign or local awed. Below are some of the major attractions in this city......

Click to read the complete article

Source: http://www.becleanlivegreen.com/?p=91977

marine urination video cadillac ats bain capital marines urinating haley barbour peoples choice awards 2012 ford recalls

Clearing the Fog Around Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly.

Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe?s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a new model to explain those strange behaviors.

This weekend the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association will vote on whether to adopt a new diagnostic system for some of the most serious, and striking, syndromes in medicine: personality disorders.

Personality disorders occupy a troublesome niche in psychiatry. The 10 recognized syndromes are fairly well represented on the self-help shelves of bookstores and include such well-known types as narcissistic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, as well as dependent and histrionic personalities.

But when full-blown, the disorders are difficult to characterize and treat, and doctors seldom do careful evaluations, missing or downplaying behavior patterns that underlie problems like depression and anxiety in millions of people.

The new proposal ? part of the psychiatric association?s effort of many years to update its influential diagnostic manual ? is intended to clarify these diagnoses and better integrate them into clinical practice, to extend and improve treatment. But the effort has run into so much opposition that it will probably be relegated to the back of the manual, if it?s allowed in at all.

Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force updating the manual, would not speculate on which way the vote might go: ?All I can say is that personality disorders were one of the first things we tackled, but that doesn?t make it the easiest.?

The entire exercise has forced psychiatrists to confront one of the field?s most elementary, yet still unresolved, questions: What, exactly, is a personality problem?

Habits of Thought

It wasn?t supposed to be this difficult.

Personality problems aren?t exactly new or hidden. They play out in Greek mythology, from Narcissus to the sadistic Ares. They percolate through biblical stories of madmen, compulsives and charismatics. They are writ large across the 20th century, with its rogues? gallery of vainglorious, murderous dictators.

Yet it turns out that producing precise, lasting definitions of extreme behavior patterns is exhausting work. It took more than a decade of observing patients before the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin could draw a clear line between psychotic disorders, like schizophrenia, and mood problems, like depression or bipolar disorder.

Likewise, Freud spent years formulating his theories on the origins of neurotic syndromes. And Freudian analysts were largely the ones who, in the early decades of the last century, described people with the sort of ?confounded identities? that are now considered personality disorders.

Their problems were not periodic symptoms, like moodiness or panic attacks, but issues rooted in longstanding habits of thought and feeling ? in who they were.

?These therapists saw people coming into treatment who looked well put-together on the surface but on the couch became very disorganized, very impaired,? said Mark F. Lenzenweger, a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. ?They had problems that were neither psychotic nor neurotic. They represented something else altogether.?

Several prototypes soon began to emerge. ?A pedantic sense of order is typical of the compulsive character,? wrote the Freudian analyst Wilhelm Reich in his 1933 book, ?Character Analysis,? a groundbreaking text. ?In both big and small things, he lives his life according to a preconceived, irrevocable pattern.?

Others coalesced too, most recognizable as extreme forms of everyday types: the narcissist, with his fragile, grandiose self-approval; the dependent, with her smothering clinginess; the histrionic, always in the thick of some drama, desperate to be the center of attention.

In the late 1970s, Ted Millon, scientific director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Personology and Psychopathology, pulled together the bulk of the work on personality disorders, most of it descriptive, and turned it into a set of 10 standardized types for the American Psychiatric Association?s third diagnostic manual. Published in 1980, it is a best seller among mental health workers worldwide.

These diagnostic criteria held up well for years and led to improved treatments for some people, like those with borderline personality disorder. Borderline is characterized by an extreme neediness and urges to harm oneself, often including thoughts of suicide. Many who seek help for depression also turn out to have borderline patterns, making their mood problems resistant to the usual therapies, like antidepressant drugs.

Today there are several approaches that can relieve borderline symptoms and one that, in numerous studies, has reduced hospitalizations and helped aid recovery: dialectical behavior therapy.

This progress notwithstanding, many in the field began to argue that the diagnostic catalog needed a rewrite. For one thing, some of the categories overlapped, and troubled people often got two or more personality diagnoses. ?Personality Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified,? a catchall label meaning little more than ?this person has problems? became the most common of the diagnoses.

It?s a murky area, and in recent years many therapists didn?t have the time or training to evaluate personality on top of everything else. The assessment interviews can last hours, and treatments for most of the disorders involve longer-term, specialized talk therapy.

Psychiatry was failing the sort of patients that no other field could possibly help, many experts said.

?The diagnoses simply weren?t being used very much, and there was a real need to make the whole system much more accessible,? Dr. Lenzenweger said.

Resisting Simplification?

It was easier said than done.

The most central, memorable, and knowable element of any person ? personality ? still defies any consensus.

A team of experts appointed by the psychiatric association has worked for more than five years to find some unifying system of diagnosis for personality problems.

The panel proposed a system based in part on a failure to ?develop a coherent sense of self or identity.? Not good enough, some psychiatric theorists said.

Later, the experts tied elements of the disorders to distortions in basic traits.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/health/clearing-the-fog-around-personality-disorders.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

andy pettitte tyler clementi kevin kolb sarah shahi george clooney rutgers dharun ravi

Extreme Grandparenting - Faith @ Home Network - Typepad

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Source: http://bryantschultz7627.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/extreme-grandparenting-faith-home-network.html

nike nfl uniforms ben and jerrys free cone day tornado in dallas texas the island president the maldives harper lee mega millions numbers

Holiday gifts: What to give the scientifically curious

Stuck for gift ideas? There's something for everyone in CultureLab's selection of science-inspired goodies

Clockwise from top left:

Quadricopter

?279.99/$299.99, parrot.com

Controlled by your smartphone or tablet, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is fun, augmented

Augmented reality puzzle

$19.99, ravensburger.com

When you've finished the 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, download a free app to bring it to life

Brain necklace

$21, anatomology.com

Wear your heart on your sleeve? Now dangle your cortex on your clavicle

Sphero

$129.99, gosphero.com

Draw a shape on your smartphone or tablet and this clever robotic ball will roll along to follow it. Its polycarbonate shell means it can also swim

The OCD Chef chopping board

?18, sciencemuseumshop.co.uk

For those who are detail-oriented in the kitchen, look no further than this chopping board, etched with gridlines and angles

Little Sun

?16.50, shop.tate.org.uk

Artist Olafur Eliasson designed this solar-powered lamp for areas off the grid

Clockwise from top left:

Moon globe

?69.95, justglobes.co.uk

This NASA-approved globe accurately depicts the lunar craters, seas and mountain ranges

Molecular bowl and coasters

?45 and ?15, sciencemuseumshop.co.uk

Designer Jonathan Krawczuk teamed up with Oxford chemists to produce this striking range

Earl carafe

?18, sciencemuseumshop.co.uk

Reminisce about school chemistry lessons when you pour from this Erlenmeyer flask-inspired wine carafe. It makes a sophisticated, geek chic statement at any dinner party

Space Fleet model satellites

?20 each, or ?80 for a set of 5, papafoxtrot.com

These stylish models of real satellites make a fascinating addition to your desk or bookshelf

Tetris light

?29.99, firebox.com

We couldn't stop playing with this lamp. Inspired by the classic video game, you can stack and restack to make colourful new shapes

Alan Turing Monopoly

?29.99, bletchleypark.org.uk

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the father of computer science, Monopoly has released this special edition in his name

Follow @CultureLabNS on Twitter

Like us on Facebook

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/25fab9d5/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A120C110Choliday0Egifts0Ewhat0Eto0Egive0Ethe0Escientifically0Ecurious0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

google glasses kim kardashian and kanye west henrik stenson jobs act greg mortenson jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon

'Twilight' Helps Box Office Break Thanksgiving Weekend Record

'Breaking Dawn' was the #1 movie for a second weekend in a row, with 'Skyfall' at #2.
By Ryan J. Downey

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in "Breaking Dawn" part 2
Photo: Summit

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697872/twilight-thanksgiving-weekend-box-office-record.jhtml

gas prices rising stars challenge star trek 2 kathy ireland brooke mueller all star weekend lent

Society International Day to end Violence against Women

UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women Announces over US$8 million in grants: Malawi among beneficiaries

Today is the United Nations International Day to End Violence Against Women to mark the Day, 25 November 2012, the UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet has called on all heads of state and government to make new commitments and take strong national action to protect women and girls. The UN gender entity and women's empowerment chief acknowledged that the world community has already come a long along way with national laws, international treaties, and widespread and growing awareness on ending violence against women. But she says this it is not enough.

She said Government promises must be translated into concrete actions, such as providing new safe houses, free hotline services, and free legal and medical aid to survivors. "The time for complacency has run out. Together, it is possible to stop the violence against women and girls, Mrs. Bachelet said in a televised speech made available around the world.

To assist government s in their various campaigns to end the scourge of violence against women, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which is administered by UN Women announced this past week that over US$8 Million in grants have been disbursed to 12 initiatives in 18 countries. The initiatives taking center-stage were those that are dealing with women in conflict and transitional countries.

In ten countries funds will be used to address violence against women in conflict, post conflict and transitional settings. Malawi is among the ten countries and will use the funds to work among communities with the ending violence in the school environment. Libya received funds also for the first time. This is the Fund's 16th year to disburse funds in the campaign to end violence against women and according to UN Women the funds allocated have been received by more than 350 initiatives in 128 countries over the course of the UNTF?s 16-year history.

Another first for the Fund has been the contribution of significant support from countries in Africa, Latin America and the Arab States region, which is seen as a testament to the growing mobilization to address violence against women globally. Statistically, up to seven in ten women are targeted for physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime and 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is still not considered a crime.

?The UN Trust Fund shows what works to prevent violence against women, to end impunity and to provide services and support to survivors,? said Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women. ?I appeal to governments, business and foundations to support the work of this fund and make a strong contribution to ending violence against women and girls.?

This year?s announcement marks the 16th annual grant-making cycle of the UN Trust Fund. The new grantees will spearhead pioneering approaches worldwide aimed at transforming the lives of women and girls:

In Malawi, Concern Worldwide, an international non-governmental organization, received funds from the UNTF and will promote safe learning environments for girls in primary schools, institutionalizing good practices to end school-related gender-based violence.

The absence of school facilities and overcrowded classrooms in the majority of schools, are not the only problems children face. There are perverse levels of abuse and violence within the schools themselves, of which girls are often the target, are a hidden horror that Concern and other actors are working to end, not only in Malawi but other countries as well.

An example has been highlighted inKenya for where a government report published in November 2009 revealed that some 12,660 girls were sexually abused by their teachers over a five-year period. In some cases, teachers abused as many as 20 girls in a single school before they were reported to authorities.

Typically, girls in all these countries, have less of a voice socially and culturally than their male peers, and are often forced to have sex in exchange for good grades?a practice know as ?sexually transmittable grades.? The report revealed that in its worst form, gender-based violence in schools can leave girls as young as 12 years old pregnant, HIV positive, and homeless.

Ensuring that schools are a safe learning environment for boys and girls is of critical importance both economically and socially, and Concern has made it an urgent priority.

Seventeen percent of all girls in Malawi do not attend as a result of forced marriages and in Nsanje, where Concern is working, this scenario has abruptly cut short the dreams of many young girls. Some 12 percent of all females in the Malawi are aged between 6-13 years, and approximately 74 percent of the population live below the poverty line. Furthermore, approximately 17 percent of girls drop out of school as a result of forced marriages, and schools are not safe for girls due to sexual abuse by male teachers and men at large.

The twin evils of poverty and traditional customs has compelled parents, in a bid to raise finances to maintain their families, and married off their daughters when they think they have come of age. Because the suitor pays a bride price, in an ironic twist, the trend has now developed whereby the younger the girl, the higher the bride price. Concern relates the story of 12 year old Martha, and many young girls like her in Nsanje that are have been caught in the vicious child marriage trap, and sold off before they have finished their schooling.

"Their dreams, hopes and aspirations have been destroyed by these negative cultural practices or by the pervasive daughter- with-cash bartering," Concern reports.

The cultural practices, which unfortunately, are widespread, have been the major contributing factor in preventing girls from receiving an education. For instance, it is believed that girls will gain respect if they marry early and have children. Concern is hosting discussions with community leaders and education officials in Malawi to highlight the importance of education for all children.

At the United Nations where during the United Nations General Assembly Committee work (October to December), in line with the UN.secretary-General Ban Ki-moon call to a global fight to end child marriages, stern language has been incorporated into a draft resolution to eliminate child forced marriages.

In Malawi, the President, Her Excellency Mrs. Joyce Banda to commemorate the first International Day of the Girl Child (that was celebrated around the world on 11 October, 2012), has called for the increase of the age of marriage of girls to 21 years. This will allow the girl child to complete her education as well as delay the first time she starts bearing children.

As the world commemorates this day and the 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women, it is essential that families, communities and governments join hands in ending violence against women, paving the way to equality of women and thereby "unlocking progress across board."

Source: http://www.maravipost.com/malawi-news/society/2326-international-day-to-end-violence-against-women.html

strikeforce tate vs rousey ciaa the monkees strikeforce davy jones love actually miesha tate vs ronda rousey

Don't Get Trapped Inside The Snare Of Online Payday Loans ...

quick payday loans online Get short term loan in Tampa, FL by using quick $ 500 payday loans online within one hour .

Are you stressed relating to your funds? Everyone receives that way sometimes, but there is however support to suit your needs. You may get a payday advance from a company which offers short-word financial loans. Even so, there are some things you must keep in mind when undergoing this process. Here are some ideas to ensure the process goes efficiently.

Should you be considering a payday advance, have great credit score and can extra a day or two, consider seeking as an alternative into a interpersonal financing solution. This can be a approach which couples debtors and loan companies jointly dependent off from the requirements. The prices are normally significantly less costly when compared to a payday advance, but it really does take two or three days to finalize the process.

Be sure to never remove a payday advance to assist someone else out. In the event that particular person is not going to pay out across the financial loan them selves, you will be still left using a financial debt that swiftly accrues curiosity. If you cannot afford to financial loan someone?s dollars, then you will not be inside a spot to get that loan to them.

Should you be considering a quick word, payday advance, will not acquire any longer than you will need to. Pay day loans ought to only be utilized to help you get by inside a pinch instead of be utilized for extra dollars from your pocket. The interest rates are way too higher to acquire any longer than you undoubtedly require.

Should you be usually turning to online payday loans to get by, go on a near evaluate your shelling out habits. Pay day loans are as close to lawful financial loan sharking as, legislation enables. They ought to basically be utilized in emergency situations. Even and then there are normally far better choices. If you discover on your own on the payday advance building on a monthly basis, you may want to established on your own on top of a spending budget. Then stick to it.

Do not allow personalized relationships get in the form of your verdict in terms of online payday loans. If a family member is denied a payday advance, will not accept to jump on in his behalf. As a result you responsible if he decides he is not going to would like to pay out it again.

A terrific way to select your payday advance loan company would be to study various testimonials from clients who, have tried that exact assistance prior to. You can get upfront information on how, the ability operates. How each person truly feel about various loan companies. In that way you make the most efficient selection possible.

When you have to resort to a payday advance, spend some time to look around. Perhaps you are in desperate situations scenario and truly feel pressed both for money and time. Even so, taking one hour out to investigation at the very least 12 choices can quickly deliver one using the lowest rate. That can save you time in the future from the hours you don?t spend making money to pay for curiosity you could have prevented.

You can find more than ten thousand pay day loan companies in the usa by yourself, and much more internationally. Take advantage of this simple fact to your benefit. Play competition off from one another for far better bargains. Find out having the best deal, and see if you can make use of this information as leverage more than an individual near you.

You ought to find out how enough time you will need to pay out your loan again. Sometimes, you will be billed an additional payment should you not make the monthly payments in time. Some finance companies will ask you for amazingly higher concealed charges if you cannot pay out your loan again by the due date.

Do not attempt to cover from payday advance suppliers, if run into financial debt. Pay day loan suppliers usually employ terrifying financial debt hobbyists, which will harass you and your family, in the event you don?t payback your loan in time. So, in the event you can?t pay back your payday advance completely in the arranged payback date, you must make contact with the payday advance provider, and make a deal an extension.

When evaluating a pay day loan company, will not be concerned about your credit rating. All that pay day loan companies are likely to look and authenticate your income and the ability to pay back the money from your up coming paycheck. Some on the internet options will not even manage credit checks, and as an alternative rely on employment affirmation by yourself and provide $700 quickly to anybody.

Getting to obtain a payday advance is usually an unplanned reaction to an unexpected function, which could vary from auto issues to medical conditions. Often, rent payments is due the day before you get compensated. Pay day loans really exist to connection individuals gaps, but in spite of the simplicity of them, you must nevertheless watch out for on your own and your interests. Maintain all you have study within brain, and you may sail with these emergency situations with elegance.

Related Posts:

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2012 at 12:20 and is filed under Internet Services. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://www.integrum.lt/dont-get-trapped-inside-the-snare-of-online-payday-loans/

orcl the hartford illinois primary 2012 michael bay zsa zsa gabor illinois primary trayvon martin 911 call

patelpartiv: HEALTH and FITNESS | Disability Benefits Explained ...

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Source: http://eugenegrove.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explained-ebook.html

tony robbins abraham lincoln vampire hunter their eyes were watching god lara logan manu ginobili sports illustrated swimsuit 2012 aretha franklin whitney houston

Source: http://kugnydifu.posterous.com/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explai

cleveland cavaliers cleveland cavaliers war horse k cups best buy >>>uotores essentialID:">we bought a zoo we bought a zoo

Source: http://entertaining-recipes.blogspot.com/2012/11/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits.html

Kyna Treacy x factor x factor megan fox Bb&t Lane Goodwin Romnesia

Source: http://patelpartiv.blogspot.com/2012/11/health-and-fitness-disability-benefits.html

ira glass march madness swain match day nene dark shadows trailer nate mcmillan

Source: http://carsons38.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/patelpartiv-health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explained.html

celtics josh hamilton nba playoffs rosario dawson young jeezy world wildlife fund gsa

Source: http://jude8.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/patelpartiv-health-and-fitness-disability-benefits-explained.html

amy schumer Prince Harry Vegas pictures Avril Lavigne Microsoft Tropical Storm Isaac amber portwood Phyllis Diller

Business Week On TSA: Airport "Security" Is Making Americans Less ...

Business Week | November 24, 2012
By Amy Alkon

"$100 billion spent and not one risk analysis study," wrote the engineering prof friend of mine who sent me this link from a Charles Kenny piece in Business Week:

In 2010 the National Academy of Science reported the lack of "any Department of Homeland Security risk analysis capabilities and methods that are yet adequate for supporting decision making." DHS (and the TSA in particular) is spending huge bundles of large denomination bills completely blind.

All this spending on airline security is worse than wasteful. Following the official rules while still attempting to show decency toward passengers all but forces TSA employees to delay, embarrass, and inconvenience many thousands every day. Faced with the prospect of such unpleasantries this holiday season, countless Americans will skip the flight to grandma's house and drive instead.

Read more: http://amyalkon.mensnewsdaily.com/2012/11/24/business-week-o...

Source: http://www.dailypaul.com/264210/business-week-on-tsa

kate walsh cnn debate equatorial guinea marine helicopter crash chicago weather star jones wheres my refund

Gas blast levels Mass. strip club; 18 people hurt

Gas company workers stand where a building once stood, which was leveled by an explosion in downtown Springfield, Mass. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Springfield Republican, Don Treeger)

Gas company workers stand where a building once stood, which was leveled by an explosion in downtown Springfield, Mass. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Springfield Republican, Don Treeger)

Glass and debris litter a street after a nearby building was leveled by an explosion Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 in downtown Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Springfield Republican, David Molnar) MANDATORY CREDIT

A firetruck is parked next to a damaged building after a nearby gas explosion leveled another building in downtown Springfield, Mass. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Springfield Republican, David Molnar)

An injured firefighter is wheeled from the scene after a building was leveled by an explosion in downtown Springfield, Mass. on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Springfield Republican, Don Treeger)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) ? A natural gas explosion in one of New England's biggest cities on Friday leveled a strip club with a boom heard for miles and heavily damaged a dozen other buildings but didn't kill anyone, authorities said.

Firefighters, police officers and gas company workers in the area because of an earlier gas leak and odor report were among the 18 people injured in the blast, authorities said.

"This is a miracle on Worthington Street that no one was killed," Lt. Gov. Tim Murray said at a press conference.

The explosion in Springfield, 90 miles west of Boston, blew out all windows in a three-block radius, leaving three buildings irreparably damaged and prompting emergency workers to evacuate a six-story apartment building that was buckling, police said.

Police Sgt. John Delaney marveled at the destruction at the blast's epicenter, where a multistory building housing a Scores Gentleman's Club, evacuated earlier because of the gas leak, was leveled.

"It looks like there was a missile strike here," he said.

The victims were taken to two hospitals in the city. None of their injuries was considered life-threatening, officials said. Those hurt were nine firefighters, two police officers, four Columbia Gas of Massachusetts workers, two civilians and another city employee.

Firefighters responded to the scene at 4:20 p.m. and were investigating the gas leak when the blast happened about one hour later. The cause of the explosion hadn't been identified but was under investigation, they said.

Springfield, which has about 150,000 residents, is the largest city in western Massachusetts. It's known as the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is not in the vicinity of the blast.

The city has been rebuilding from damage it sustained in a June 2011 tornado.

The explosion happened in an area of downtown Springfield with commercial properties and residences. Area resident Wayne Davis, who lives about a block away from the destroyed strip club building, said he felt his apartment shake.

"I was laying down in bed, and I started feeling the building shaking and creaking," he said.

The Navy veteran said the boom from the explosion was louder than anything he'd ever heard, including the sound of a jet landing on an aircraft carrier.

The blast was so loud it was heard in several neighboring communities for miles around. Video from WWLP-TV showed the moment of the explosion, with smoke billowing into the air above the neighborhood.

Mayor Domenic Sarno said it was through "God's mercy" that nobody had been reported killed in the explosion.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the individuals that have been injured and the people who have been displaced," he said, adding that emergency shelter was being set up for those unable to go home.

An official of the gas company said there were no signs of any additional gas leaks in the area but crews would be monitoring the area closely over the next two days.

___

Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-11-23-Gas%20Explosion/id-76174968e7b34a6084069e0130497080

Tony Scott UFC 151 empire state building prince harry Hurricane hunger games Ronda Rousey

10 Adorable Animals Feeding Other Animals [VIDEOS]

While authorities have pegged thick Texas fog as the main culprit in the 140-car Thanksgiving pileup on I-10 just southwest of Beaumont, big rig truckers posting on Internet message boards suggest that civilian and professional drivers maintaining potentially reckless speeds, despite the conditions, may have been another major contributing factor.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-adorable-animals-feeding-other-animals-videos-140744128.html

mark zuckerberg maurice jones drew Yash Chopra George McGovern bruno mars braxton miller braxton miller

Networking Will Benefit Your web Home Business We sometimes ...

Articles From Home | Business | Networking > burberry outletEnd of Main Content >

Networking Will Benefit Your web Home Business
We sometimes forget about the little things that actually matter, for example networking or communicating on a personal level with this readers and this is mainly due to the fact that the internet makes it simple to construct an online home business.

Let?s have a look at a few of the opportunities you need to interact on a personal level together with your readers and customers.

As Blogs are extremely popular you?ll find many people will have one however they neglect to use them fully. For instance are you currently inviting your readers to depart comments?

This is a well-liked internet marketing method so it?s common practice to visit and then leave comments on blogs. Maybe you have taken time to email those who post comments and thank them for their post or offer help a query about your home based business online?

This frequently opens the doors for more communication as many people are often really surprised and touched to receive an individual email as they are accustomed to impersonal auto responder messages.

Usually whenever anyone joins your web home business or purchases an item from you, you?ll be notified of their current email address moncler jackets. By sending a thanks or welcome email gives you the chance to open the communication channels and also the exchange of ideas could be extremely valuable.

Come out from your website and stop hiding behind your autoresponder and put the ?You? back to doing business online. It will have a huge impact on your home business.

By opening up these channels of communication you?ll be amazed at the worth and benefits that you could provide each other Online Outlet Store. Only a simple email from a post in your blog could produce a lucrative business model michael kors handbags.

How frustrated would you get whenever you send an email and never get a response? Replying to emails you obtain, no matter how insignificant they may seem, is simply common courtesy and definitely something which will not be overlooked.

If you invite people to email you against your site, a commercial or an auto responder email then a minimum of have a couple of minutes to create a good reply to them. Don?t place you reputation at risk by writing short and abrupt emails. Where this straightforward task could lead you, you won?t ever know.

A FAQ (Faq?s) section in your website will truly help visitors, however, they might email you for additional online home based business information which is where you need to offer honest advice and respond to the best of your ability.

Networking could certainly benefit your web home based business in the future if you implement these ideas on how to communicate and network with your readers.Cynthia Minnaar

Cynthia Minnaar runs her very own Online Home based business ideas website full-time from home. She invites you to definitely sign up for her online for free Businesses Newsletter and receive free internet income training

Source: http://tangliping55.smansara.com/2012/11/23/networking-will-benefit-your-web-home-businesswe-sometimes-forget-about-the-little-things-that-actually-matter/

easter bunny navy jet crash virginia beach isiah thomas passover easter recipes live free or die hard carlos pena

Source: http://cherrybrrs66.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/networking-will-benefit-your-web-home-business-we-sometimes.html

albatross louis oosthuizen phil mickelson 10 year old gives birth c. difficile carmelo anthony nurse jackie

How Do Porcupines Mate? Very Carefully.

Porcupines must take care before coitus

Photo by John Pitcher/iStockphoto/Thinkstock.

These days, it?s difficult to roll out of bed without being hit in the face with a four-headed echidna penis. We are living in the Golden Age of Internet Animalia. Hardly an hour passes without the discovery of some ridiculous-looking new species, bizarre adaptation, or horrendous sex organ. We?re so accustomed to this by now that we just go, ?Nature?s crazy, man!? and get on with our Facebooking?er, jobs.

And that?s great! People are excited about animals and science and bizarre penises?well, penises are an easy sell?but it?s also sort of weird that we may know more about yeti crabs, honey badgers, and blue dragon sea slugs than we do about some of the beasties in our own backyards.

In forests across Canada and the United States, a peculiar mating ritual takes place each fall. If your windows aren?t painted shut, you might open them at night and listen for the tender sounds of porcupine coitus?stark, night-piercing shrieks that could be likened to the noises produced by a banshee banging a Velociraptor.

I know what you?re thinking?quills. It?s true, the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is equipped with something like 30,000 needle-sharp back daggers, and many of them stand between the female?s hoo-ha and the next generation of prickly progeny. But the screaming actually comes long before the love-making.

You see, the biggest holdup to porcupine reproduction is location. Except for mamas raising babies?which are known adorably as porcupettes?porcupines are mostly solitary creatures. And when the female is ready to mate, she has just an 8- to 12-hour window of fertility to work with.

This means the fellas need to come from distant territories to find, win, woo, and mount her if they are to pass on their genes. Females assist in this process before they come into estrus by lacing the air with a pungent perfume?a come-hither scent created by a combination of vaginal mucous and urine that not even Brad Pitt could make appealing.

Either way, the musk-shake brings all the boys to the yard, and once they are there, it?s a brawl for dominance. Uldis Roze knows these battles by their aftermath: ?a storm of loose quills.? Roze has 35 years of experience working with these creatures and is widely regarded as the Porcupine King. (He also has a delightful new book available?guess what it?s about!) After listening to porcupines battle one fall night, Roze returned the next day and collected 1,474 quills belonging to three separate males. Some of the quills bore signs of bite marks, showing that porcupines are practiced in removing rivals? quills from their own skin after such skirmishes.

Once a male has won access to his ladyfriend, the right to mate is his to lose. At this point, many male animals would simply mount the female whether she was interested or not. In humans, we call this rape. Using the same term with animals is problematic, but walk with me.

If rape is nonconsensual sex, then ducks rape. Seals rape. Male bedbugs stab the females with their penis and then leave it there. Water striders coerce sex by threatening to call in predators if the females don?t submit. Even dolphins, animals of respected intelligence and the default subject of chick tattoos, gang rape.

None of this is to minimize the crime of rape in humans. I bring it up only to note that the animal kingdom can be a dark place. When dominant male elephants are poached or culled out of the social hierarchy, adolescent males develop strange, violent behaviors, like wantonly murdering rhinoceroses. But not without raping them first. And while I don?t claim to know what goes on in a rhinoceros? brain, I think you could probably define sentience as having a major problem with all of that.

But porcupines? My friends, porcupines are rape-proof. And not rape-proof like the magical vaginas of Todd Akin?s fever dreams. I mean rape-proof like the anti-rape condom.

A porcupine?s main defense against predators consists of keeping its backside to a predator. Get too close and you?ll snag 500 quills engineered to embed themselves deeper and deeper into flesh. A mouth full of these painful pins has caused many an animal to starve to death. In fact, the porcupine is so well-respected, it wanders the forest day or night without much hurry or fear. Few animals are clever enough to successfully hunt porcupines, though mountain lions, fishers, and Chevy Impalas have the most success. That mess of quills is equally effective against its own kind.

Thus instead of force, the male porcupine must use persuasion. He first climbs the female?s tree and stands watch from a lower branch until the time is right.

(Yes, porcupines climb mother-cussing trees! Unfortunately, being the second-largest rodent in North America, porcupines also fall out of trees quite a bit. At least their quills are coated with antibacterial fatty acids that seem to protect against infection after self-impalement.)

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=b821cd7441af1b2fb416d737a1e134ad

michelle williams the descendants the descendants homeland homeland packers giants game golden globe winners 2012

Israel's Iron Dome shield cost up to $30 million

By Reuters

Darren Whiteside / Reuters

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man watches as a truck transports Iron Dome anti-missiles batteries in the southern city of Ashdod, November 17.

JERUSALEM - Israel's Iron Dome interceptions of rockets fired from Gaza during eight days of Gaza fighting cost $25 million to $30 million, the government said on Thursday, arguing the U.S.-backed system was well worth the money.

"Were Iron Dome traded on the (Tel Aviv) stock exchange or Nasdaq, it would have multiplied its share value several times over," Civil Defense Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Radio in an interview where he outlined the system's outlay.

Using radar-guided interceptor missiles, Israel's five truck-towed Iron Dome batteries shot down 421 of some 1,500 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip between November 14 and Wednesday's Egyptian-brokered truce, the military said.

How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets

It put Iron Dome's success rate at 90 percent. To lower costs, the system engages only rockets that threaten populated areas, though it often fires two interceptor missiles at once.

The anti-missile system made in Israel and helped by American money, recognizes which rockets will hit an inhabited area and knocks them out while ignoring the others. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.

Rockets killed 5 people in Israel and wounded dozens during the conflict, police said. Three died in coastal Ashdod on a day when Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, Iron Dome's state-owned manufacturer, said the system had suffered a malfunction.

Israel says it needs 13 batteries for satisfactory nationwide Defense. A Defense industry source put the unit cost for Israel at around $50 million.

The focus of Israel's aerial assault on Gaza were the stockpiles and launch silos of rockets imported or improvised by Hamas and other factions. Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them civilians.

The most potent of those rockets were Iranian-designed Fajr-5s with 75 km (46 mile) ranges and 175 kg (385 lb) warheads, though Hamas also said it used a Gaza-made variant, "Qassam M-75".

Shops and stores are reopening and a semblance of normalcy is returning to Gaza's streets after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is put into effect. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Gaza.

Iran denies supplying arms to the Palestinians. But the Iranian Young Journalists Club website on Wednesday quoted the commander of the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, saying the corps had "put the technology of Fajr-5 missiles at their (Gazans') disposal and right now a good number of these have been made and are available to them".

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/22/15363974-israels-iron-dome-shield-against-gaza-rockets-cost-up-to-30-million?lite

robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button secret service prostitute rich ross april 20 jennifer love hewitt secret service prostitution

Gaza ceasefire takes hold but mistrust runs deep

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold on Thursday after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last.

Quiet reigned on both sides of the frontier overnight and during the morning after a dozen rockets landed in Israel in the initial hours after the truce came into force late on Wednesday. Israeli police said there had been no casualties or damage.

The deal brokered by Egypt's new Islamist government, working with the United States, prevented - at least for the moment - an Israeli invasion of the Palestinian enclave.

Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the Israeli military said.

Israel's defense minister said Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as had landed in Israel.

Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of buildings bombed in Israel's air strikes. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food.

"Israel learnt a lesson it will never forget," said 51-year-old Khalil al-Rass from Beach refugee camp in the city of Gaza.

In rocket-hit towns in southern Israel, schools remained closed as a precaution. Nerves were jangled when warning sirens sounded, in what the military quickly said was a false alarm.

Trust was in short supply. The exile leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist movement would respect the truce if Israel did, but would respond to any violations. "If Israel complies, we are compliant. If it does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," he told a news conference in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.

Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel.

"You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.

BLOCKADE

If the truce holds, it will give the 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that have unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.

Both sides quickly began offering differing interpretations of the ceasefire, which highlighted the many actual or potential areas of discord.

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an "open prison".

The text said procedures for implementing this would be "dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire".

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas, which preaches the Jewish state's destruction, won a Palestinian election in 2006.

However, Meshaal said the deal covered the opening of all of the territory's border crossings. "The document stipulates the opening of the crossings, all the crossings, and not just Rafah," he said. Israel, trying to stop Hamas arming itself, controls all entry to Gaza apart from one crossing with Egypt.

Israel let dozens of trucks carry supplies into the Palestinian enclave during the fighting. Residents there have long complained that Israeli restrictions blight their economy.

HAMAS HOLIDAY

Meshaal thanked Egypt for mediating and praised Iran for providing Gazans with financing and arms. "We have come out of this battle with our heads up high," he said, adding that Israel had been defeated and failed in its "adventure".

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Hamas had suffered a heavy military blow, including the death of its top commander, killed in an air strike at the start of the operation on November 14 and the deal merely let Hamas surrender while saving face.

"A large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed. Hamas managed to hit Israel's built-up areas with around a metric tonne of explosives, and Gaza targets got around 1,000 metric tonnes," Barak told Israel Radio.

"So whoever misses what is happening in Gaza does not understand that this entire agreement is a paper bridge for the defeated so that they can explain to their public how they can even show their faces after what they were hit with for a week."

Hamas declared November 22 a national holiday marking "the victory of the resistance". Its spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "Resistance has achieved and has imposed a new formula - if you hit Gaza, we will hit Tel Aviv and beyond Tel Aviv.

Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three civilians were killed by a rocket from Gaza last week, army radio said.

Interviewed on Israel's Army Radio, Barak dismissed a ceasefire text published by Hamas as "a piece of paper which I don't remember anyone going around with - there's no signature on it".

He appeared to confirm, however, a key Hamas claim that the Israelis would no longer enforce a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier that the army says has prevented Hamas raids:

"If there are no attacks along the border ... then I tell you that there is no problem with them working the farmland on the perimeter up to the fence," Barak said.

But should the Palestinians exploit such measures to breach the truce, Israel would be "free to act," he said, adding: "The right to self-defense trumps any piece of paper."

CAIRO

Egypt, an important U.S. ally now under Islamist leadership, took centre stage in diplomacy to halt the bloodshed. Cairo has walked a fine line between sympathies for Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that produced President Mohamed Mursi and much of his government, and preserving its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Washington, its main aid donor.

Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had "resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Mursi for peace efforts that showed "responsibility, leadership" in the region.

Gaza erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year's Arab revolts that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.

Israel, the United States and the European Union all classify Hamas as a terrorist organization over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.

But its stance is popular with many Palestinians and has kept the movement competitive with the secular Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in the occupied West Bank after losing Gaza to Hamas in a civil war five years ago.

The ceasefire was forged despite a bus-bomb explosion that wounded 15 Israelis in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Israeli air strikes that killed 10 people in Gaza. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006. There was no claim of responsibility, though Hamas praised the attack.

Israeli forces detained 55 suspected militants in the West Bank on Thursday, the military said, citing a need to prevent "the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities".

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Crispian Balmer and Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Marwa Awad, Yasmine Saleh, Shaimaa Fayed and Tom Perry in Cairo; Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Alistair Lyon and David Stamp; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-israel-ceasefire-takes-hold-mistrust-runs-deep-004952607.html

lana del rey john 3 16 alex smith 49ers miss america 2012 hgtv dream home patriots vs broncos contraband

Daily Tips for Business: Workplace Communication - pkydrucs's ...

Well, as an entrepreneur I used to laugh at people who wanted to come to work for my company and on their resume they put that they had a Business Communications Degree. I used to think that they studied business communications because it was an easy subject in school, one that you could learn without having to deal with too much math, perhaps even taking the easy way out. Nevertheless workplace communication is an essential tool, and without it your business will not operate efficiently, and you are bound to get your wires crossed more often than not.

Source: http://dailytipsforbusiness.blogspot.com/2012/11/workplace-communication_19.html

dodgers triple play samoyed kenny powers kenny powers carl hagelin triple play virginia tech shooting

Source: http://pkydrucs.posterous.com/daily-tips-for-business-workplace-communicati

mena suvari joyful noise one life to live jeff fisher van der sloot heather locklear mlk memorial