LISBON (Reuters) - Thousands of Portuguese protested on Saturday against austerity, stepping up their opposition to the country's 78-billion-euro bailout ahead of new spending cuts and tax hikes to be announced in the government's 2013 draft budget.
The peaceful protest organized by the CGTP union came after the center-right government ignited widespread anger this month with a hike in social security taxes that threatened to end Portugal's so far high social acceptance for austerity.
Facing criticism from unions, opposition politicians and businesses alike, the government reversed the tax hike. But it is now rushing to find alternative measures to adopt in its 2013 budget to ensure the country meets fiscal goals under its bailout from the European Union, European Central Bank and IMF, the so-called troika.
Protesters marched through downtown Lisbon, shouting "Let the fight continue" and carried banners reading "Go to hell Troika, we want our lives back."
"A year ago the prime minister told us the solution to the country's problems was the agreement with the troika," shouted CGTP head Armenio Carlos in a speech.
"But we have already seen this film in Greece, this is a road without an exit, pushing us toward the precipice," Carlos told the marchers that crowded into Lisbon's main Praca de Comercio square on the banks of the Tagus River.
The protest in Portugal came after a week of similar anti-austerity marches in Greece, Spain and Italy as southern Europeans face increasingly grim economic conditions under hardship sparked by the euro debt crisis.
Carlos said the protest was one of the largest organized by the CGTP, Portugal's biggest union, in recent years but he gave no figure of the number of people present. Praca de Comercio square has a capacity of about 100,000 people but it was not completely full on Saturday.
The protests were smaller than nationwide marches on September 15, immediately after the tax hike was announced, which prompted an estimated 500,000 people to take to the streets.
Portugal's unemployment rate has hit record levels above 15 percent as the country descended this year into its worst recession since the 1970s under the weight of spending cuts and tax hikes.
Anger by the Portuguese at austerity is likely to rise further as the government now expects the recession to extend into next year with few signs of economic growth emerging from the bailout plan.
The government has to present its 2013 budget by the middle of October.
(Reporting by Axel Bugge; editing by James Jukwey)
Fans who pre-order Football Manager 2013 to be rewarded with access to a fully-playable Beta version of the game roughly two weeks before launch
September 28th 2012
Sports Interactive and SEGA, the developer and publisher behind the best-selling Football Manager series, are pleased to announce the release date for this year's game. Football Manager 2013 will be released across the world on Friday, November 2nd.
And for those fans who can't wait until then, there's even better news. Anyone who pre-orders this year's game through a participating retail partner will be rewarded with something almost priceless... early access to a fully-playable version of the game.
Any fan who pre-orders (or pre-purchases) Football Manager 2013 ? either boxed or as a digital download ? will receive a unique code giving access to a pre-release, single-player 'Beta' version of the game around 14 days prior to the official launch date.
"Our fans are very good at letting us know what they want and the one thing that's consistently at the top of their wish list is an earlier release date," says Sports Interactive's Studio Director Miles Jacobson. "While we can't, strictly speaking, offer them exactly what they want, this Beta version is the next best thing... a fully playable Football Manager they can get their hands on around two weeks before the finished game hits the streets."
The Beta version of Football Manager 13 will give access to most of the forthcoming game's features, including the all-new Football Manager Classic mode and the short-term Challenges (for more information, go to www.footballmanager.com/features).
The Beta version will remain fully functional until Monday, November 5th, after which it will no longer be playable. However, the Beta version's saved games will be fully compatible with the final release, so none of the player's progress over the pre-release period will be lost.
Football Manager 2013 will be published by SEGA for Windows PC and Mac on November 2nd 2012. Further information on the game's new and enhanced features is currently being unveiled in a series of video blogs which can be viewed on the official website, www.footballmanager.com.
More and more details are pouring out about Johnny Lewis' life and each is more surprising than the next.
The 28-year-old former Sons of Anarchy star was found dead in an El Lay driveway after falling or jumping from the roof. Inside the house, authorities discovered his 81-year-old landlady AND cat had been murdered.
In a truly disgusting description, sources say he actually didn't just beat the poor animal, but was "tearing it apart" in a wild, drug-induced state.
We were pretty surprised to learn that he had dated Katy Perry between 2005 and 2006, but it turns out, he was a devout Scientologist too!
His father, Michael Lewis, is in such high-standing with the Church that he actually co-wrote a movie with L. Ron Hubbard in the 80s!
Although the Church has already distanced themselves from Johnny by removing his picture and any mention of him on their website, he was an active member of the Church for years. Instead of enrolling in rehab for his drug abuse, he participated in the Scientology version called Narconon.
Back in 2004, he even spoke on behalf of the program at a substance abuse prevention event in Orange County. Unfortunately, he did not practice what he preached and was not able to prevent future abuse.
We think it's kinda effed up that the Church is just pretending Johnny wasn't a member of the congregation and trying to erase his past, but in no way believe his actions reflect poorly upon the controversial religion.
Of all the things people like to blame Scientology for, this should not be one of them.
There is only one person to be held accountable in this bizarre homicide and he has already paid the ultimate price for his actions.
[Image via WENN.]
Tags: church, johnny lewis, katy perry, l ron hubbard, michael lewis, narconon, rehab, religion, scientology, sons of anarchy
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? A proposed standard for federal cleanup of asbestos contamination in a Montana town concludes that even a tiny amount of the material can lead to lung problems ? a benchmark far more rigorous than any in the past and one that the industry says could force expensive and unnecessary cleanups across the country.
The Environmental Protection Agency's new proposal for the northwest Montana town of Libby, where asbestos dust has killed hundreds of people, would be 5,000 times tougher than the standard used in past cleanups addressing airborne asbestos.
W.R. Grace & Co., the Maryland chemical company blamed for pollution from its vermiculite mine that operated for decades, is pushing back against the EPA, suggesting sites across the country could be subjected to costly cleanups.
The ongoing Superfund cleanup in Libby has cost at least $447 million since 1999 and is expected to last several more years. The town of about 3,000 people is about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
Experts say the EPA proposal is a move long sought by advocates and fiercely resisted by the industry. An EPA board met this week to discuss Grace objections to the proposal, part of a pending risk study for Libby.
"In many respects it would be like banning it, getting it so low," said former assistant U.S. Surgeon General Richard Lemen, who now teaches at Emory University in Atlanta. "EPA is being realistic and saying, 'Look, we know there's asbestos out there and we're not going to get rid of all of it, but let's put our concentration as low as we possibly can.'"
EPA officials didn't respond to questions about the nationwide consequences of its plan. It would declare airborne asbestos concentrations exceeding two-100,000ths of a fiber per cubic centimeter pose a health risk. The EPA has previously taken action when the substance was airborne in amounts greater than one-tenth of a fiber per cubic centimeter.
But the Government Accountability Office has said the cleanup standard could affect some of the 200-plus industrial sites in 40 states that also received asbestos-tainted vermiculite from Grace's Montana mine. More than 20 of those sites, posing the highest health risks, have already been cleaned once. Most of those were processing plants where the mineral was heated at high temperatures so it could expand and be used for insulation in millions of homes.
The GAO and asbestos experts said the EPA risk assessment could force more cleanups. And Grace representatives and health officials said the EPA proposal could apply to other types of asbestos found in communities across the country.
In a letter to the EPA last week, Grace Vice President Karen Ethier said the standard would have "inevitable" consequences beyond Libby.
"That broad application will, in turn, result in enormous, unexpected and unnecessary costs to building owners, farmers and other property holders, including the federal government," Ethier said.
Manufacturing and trade groups and federal agencies including the White House Office of Management and Budget also have questioned the EPA proposal. They said the low threshold falls below even background asbestos levels seen in parts of the country.
Although the sale and manufacture of asbestos-containing materials is tightly regulated, the government has never established a safe level of human exposure for the type of the mineral found in Libby. While there are general cancer-based exposure limits for asbestos set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the EPA proposal for the first time sets a risk level for non-cancer illnesses, such as the debilitating and potentially fatal lung disease asbestosis.
That's a crucial issue in Libby, where the Grace mine and processing plants for three decades left the town coated in asbestos dust that has killed an estimated 400 people and sickened at least 1,700 more. Health experts say the death toll is bound to rise because of the long latency period of asbestos-related illness.
The vermiculite was mined by Grace from a mountain outside town and shipped across the country for use as insulation, fertilizer, in fireproofing material and other commercial products.
The mine closed in 1990.
Health problems first noticed in mine workers have since become pervasive in Libby, affecting spouses who laundered their husbands' dust-covered clothes, generations of residents who played as children near Grace's processing plants and others.
In public testimony and filings with the EPA, Grace has argued that less-severe lung problems considered a sign of asbestos disease can be confused with other health problems, such as obesity. The company maintains that the science used by the EPA to craft its proposal was flawed and has urged the agency to do more research before moving forward.
The air is far cleaner in Libby today than it was when the EPA first arrived, removing thousands of truckloads of contaminated soil and replacing it with clean topsoil. But the agency has acknowledged some people in Libby are still at risk, particularly landscapers and others who stir asbestos-laden soil.
Grace reached a $250 million settlement with the EPA in 2008 to cover government cleanup costs in Libby and the surrounding area. The company remains responsible for cleaning up the mine site. Company executives accused of knowing of the health problems in the town were acquitted of federal criminal charges three years ago.
Arthur Frank, an occupational physician who has testified against Grace in asbestos litigation, said it was "disingenuous" for Grace to now argue against the EPA proposal.
"I don't even see why Grace gets a say in this matter. They're the ones that caused this disaster," said Frank, a professor at Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia. "The situation in Libby specifically shows that minimal pleural disease carries with it significant physiological changes in the lungs."
The EPA has also proposed that a lung condition known as pleural thickening ? caused when asbestos fibers lodge in the lungs and cause scarring ? is an indicator of asbestos exposure that can lead to more harmful lung diseases including asbestosis.
Grace scientists have said medical professionals can easily mistake similar ailments caused by being overweight for asbestos exposure.
The EPA is to make a final decision on the standard for Libby sometime next year.
Earlier this week, the agency's science advisory board reviewing the proposal requested only limited revisions after Grace asked to send it back to scientists for further study.
Agnes Kane, a member of the EPA advisory board and chair of its Libby asbestos panel, said the government and Libby can't afford to wait.
"We certainly can't sit around and wait for these types of studies to be done," Kane said. "We have to use our best scientific judgment. It is necessary to proceed with the remediation of that Superfund site."
ETFs are appealing to investors for various reasons. As recent price wars rage on, there are many other factors that make these funds desirable to investors besides low cost.
?Exchange traded funds have gained immense popularity in the recent past, given their holistic investment approach and tax efficiency, coupled with flexibility and ease of investing. ETFs can be viewed as the ultimate asset allocation instrument providing investors a ready made portfolio of stocks or fixed income securities or both,? Eric Dutram wrote for Zack?s. [The Shifting ETF Landscape]
A broad group of investors are finding ETFs appealing as they study their current portfolios of mutual funds and single stocks, Christian Magoon wrote on Nasdaq.com.
The access that ETFs give retail investors is one reason that these tools are appreciated by investors. The easy investment to niche corners of the market and sectors is a trait that ETFs have, at a reasonable cost. Plus, asset classes, bonds, commodities, futures contracts, currencies and grantor trusts can all be accessed with a targeted ETF.
Transparency of holdings is another favorable characteristic of ETFs. The transparency is also available in real time, not just at the close of a trading day. The daily transparency that an ETF has can help investors with asset allocation and avoid over or under exposure to a certain stock or sector. [Sector Investing with ETFs]
Diversification is another area that an ETF satisfies. The ability to give an investor a well-rounded basket of stocks tracking a sector or country is just one example. Other areas that ETF diversification can assist with is portfolio construction, proper asset allocation and risk mitigation. By investing in a basket of numerous companies, if one stock does not do so well, the downside is eased because there is less exposure to the failing company.
The benefits of ETFs extend beyond this list, and most investors will not realize them until they have invested in them. While low cost is a huge advantage of using ETFs, it is certainly not the only one. [Schwab Takes the Lead in ETF Price War]
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.
AgriLife Research to participate in $3.3 million wheat disease studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Charlie Rush crush@ag.tamu.edu 806-354-5804 Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
AMARILLO Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo will participate in a $3.3 million grant to look at wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses, according to Dr. Charlie Rush, plant pathologist.
The project, "A Predictive Model to Increase Adoption of IPM of a Mite-Virus Disease Complex in Wheat," is a Coordinated Agricultural Project, or CAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Rush and two others in his plant pathology unit Dr. Fekede Workneh and Jacob Price will be part of a 22-member team from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.
According to the study outline, the Great Plains region of the U.S. from Montana south to Texas produces more than 1 billion bushels of wheat annually or 50 percent of U.S. wheat production. In the southern half of the region, the use of wheat to supplement forage for livestock adds significantly to the importance of the crop and the economic vitality of the region. And stakeholders have identified wheat viruses as a major priority that constrains wheat production.
Wheat streak mosaic virus will be the primary focus, Rush said, along with Triticum mosaic virus and High Plains virus. All three viruses are vectored by the wheat curl mite and cause similar disease symptoms on infected wheat plants. The mite can't fly but is carried by the wind from plant to plant, and there is no chemical control at this time.
"To control the diseases caused by these viruses, we really have to learn to control the mite," he said.
Dr. Gary Hines, a University of Nebraska entomologist, is the program director. Rush said he and Hines have been talking for years about this project and have finally pulled everything together.
The scientists plan to determine the impact of environmental conditions, alternate hosts and management tactics on mite populations and disease incidence, as well as the risk in geographically and environmentally diverse production regions across the Great Plains.
They will identify the primary interactions that occur in this wheat-mite-virus complex across the region and increase producer implementation of integrated management principles for managing the complex across the Great Plains, Rush said.
"We plan to develop an accurate forecasting model that will improve growers' ability to anticipate and take action," Rush said. "We plan to deploy that model through Extension and educational curricula."
Wheat streak commonly starts at the edge of a field and then the mite, which is carrying the virus, will move on the wind across the field, he said. When the mite begins feeding on a plant, the virus is transmitted and the plant becomes infected. Once the plant is infected, it takes about a week or two, depending on temperature, for the disease symptoms to appear.
One of the things the AgriLife Research scientists will study is the disease threshold for management purposes.
"We know in March and April that you can tell if wheat streak is in the field and how widespread it might be," Rush said. "At that time, we can determine if the producer needs to discontinue fertilizing and watering, which he might be applying extra of, if he thinks the field is yellow due to reasons other than wheat streak."
If it is yellow due to wheat streak, he said, it will not get better no matter how much water and fertilizer are added, so the producer is just wasting money on those inputs.
"Once wheat streak gets going in a field, there's really nothing a producer can do," Rush said. "We want to look at management practices that might keep it from getting that bad. We know planting date is a key factor. Planting late breaks the cycle, but in this region, dual-purpose wheat is the norm and leaves fields open to early infestation by the wheat curl mite."
Rush said this study will allow them to look at the problem from a Great Plains' perspective, instead of the state view previously used.
"We want to first understand the common areas, and once we understand the primary factors, we can develop a disease risk assessment model," he said.
This grant will take advantage of existing facilities and personnel, such as those associated with the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, which is already set up in all these states, Rush said. That group already coordinates diagnostics of diseases and trains first detectors.
"Being able to access those scientists' expertise made it simple to pull together a strong team to work on this issue," he said.
The team will replicate the same work from Texas to Montana, Rush said, planting and monitoring a common susceptible control wheat variety; varieties such as Ron L, Mace and TAM 112, each of which offers a different type of resistance; and local cultivars from each state.
"We will record weather data, cultural practices and even hail storms," Rush said. "Hail plays an important role on volunteer and wheat streak the following year. In our area and in Oklahoma, we will focus to a high degree on native pasture and Conservation Reserve Program grasses, because we think those are important to the vector and disease carryover."
Scientists will do individual studies and then group studies so the entire project will provide a tremendous amount of information over the five years of the grant, Rush said.
Helping guide the study will be a program advisory board made up of growers, industry and commodity representatives from each state who will help identify the areas that impact them the most.
"With their help, we will be able to identify the most important aspects of wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses and get something that is useful and valuable to the producers," Rush said.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
AgriLife Research to participate in $3.3 million wheat disease studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Charlie Rush crush@ag.tamu.edu 806-354-5804 Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
AMARILLO Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo will participate in a $3.3 million grant to look at wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses, according to Dr. Charlie Rush, plant pathologist.
The project, "A Predictive Model to Increase Adoption of IPM of a Mite-Virus Disease Complex in Wheat," is a Coordinated Agricultural Project, or CAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Rush and two others in his plant pathology unit Dr. Fekede Workneh and Jacob Price will be part of a 22-member team from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.
According to the study outline, the Great Plains region of the U.S. from Montana south to Texas produces more than 1 billion bushels of wheat annually or 50 percent of U.S. wheat production. In the southern half of the region, the use of wheat to supplement forage for livestock adds significantly to the importance of the crop and the economic vitality of the region. And stakeholders have identified wheat viruses as a major priority that constrains wheat production.
Wheat streak mosaic virus will be the primary focus, Rush said, along with Triticum mosaic virus and High Plains virus. All three viruses are vectored by the wheat curl mite and cause similar disease symptoms on infected wheat plants. The mite can't fly but is carried by the wind from plant to plant, and there is no chemical control at this time.
"To control the diseases caused by these viruses, we really have to learn to control the mite," he said.
Dr. Gary Hines, a University of Nebraska entomologist, is the program director. Rush said he and Hines have been talking for years about this project and have finally pulled everything together.
The scientists plan to determine the impact of environmental conditions, alternate hosts and management tactics on mite populations and disease incidence, as well as the risk in geographically and environmentally diverse production regions across the Great Plains.
They will identify the primary interactions that occur in this wheat-mite-virus complex across the region and increase producer implementation of integrated management principles for managing the complex across the Great Plains, Rush said.
"We plan to develop an accurate forecasting model that will improve growers' ability to anticipate and take action," Rush said. "We plan to deploy that model through Extension and educational curricula."
Wheat streak commonly starts at the edge of a field and then the mite, which is carrying the virus, will move on the wind across the field, he said. When the mite begins feeding on a plant, the virus is transmitted and the plant becomes infected. Once the plant is infected, it takes about a week or two, depending on temperature, for the disease symptoms to appear.
One of the things the AgriLife Research scientists will study is the disease threshold for management purposes.
"We know in March and April that you can tell if wheat streak is in the field and how widespread it might be," Rush said. "At that time, we can determine if the producer needs to discontinue fertilizing and watering, which he might be applying extra of, if he thinks the field is yellow due to reasons other than wheat streak."
If it is yellow due to wheat streak, he said, it will not get better no matter how much water and fertilizer are added, so the producer is just wasting money on those inputs.
"Once wheat streak gets going in a field, there's really nothing a producer can do," Rush said. "We want to look at management practices that might keep it from getting that bad. We know planting date is a key factor. Planting late breaks the cycle, but in this region, dual-purpose wheat is the norm and leaves fields open to early infestation by the wheat curl mite."
Rush said this study will allow them to look at the problem from a Great Plains' perspective, instead of the state view previously used.
"We want to first understand the common areas, and once we understand the primary factors, we can develop a disease risk assessment model," he said.
This grant will take advantage of existing facilities and personnel, such as those associated with the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, which is already set up in all these states, Rush said. That group already coordinates diagnostics of diseases and trains first detectors.
"Being able to access those scientists' expertise made it simple to pull together a strong team to work on this issue," he said.
The team will replicate the same work from Texas to Montana, Rush said, planting and monitoring a common susceptible control wheat variety; varieties such as Ron L, Mace and TAM 112, each of which offers a different type of resistance; and local cultivars from each state.
"We will record weather data, cultural practices and even hail storms," Rush said. "Hail plays an important role on volunteer and wheat streak the following year. In our area and in Oklahoma, we will focus to a high degree on native pasture and Conservation Reserve Program grasses, because we think those are important to the vector and disease carryover."
Scientists will do individual studies and then group studies so the entire project will provide a tremendous amount of information over the five years of the grant, Rush said.
Helping guide the study will be a program advisory board made up of growers, industry and commodity representatives from each state who will help identify the areas that impact them the most.
"With their help, we will be able to identify the most important aspects of wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses and get something that is useful and valuable to the producers," Rush said.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In 2008, Facebook rolled out a feature that's so taken for granted, you probably don't notice you're looking at it half the time. But today, when you do check out the People You May Know section, it stands out. What's with all the weird strangers? More »
The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is sacred and that we are united with all life that is in nature. Man can no longer live his life for himself alone. We realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all this life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe. ? Albert Schweitzer
In a nutshell, consciousness makes us spiritual beings. So, it is within us to use our gift of self-reflection to examine our lives and to improve ourselves. That?s really special. As far as we know, we are the only species that can effectively engage in self-improvement. To me, then, improving ourselves through self-examination is the highest spiritual endeavor that we can engage in. This includes trying to better ourselves and to help others better themselves. Honing one?s spirituality is the result of developing one?s self and helping others to reach their goals. In brief, then, the highest spiritual calling is to build one?s character and to continually strive toward self-actualization. The lifelong process of learning how to become a truly good human being is the essence of spirituality.
Improving oneself ? becoming a better human being ? is a spiritual process. It begins with looking inside oneself and facing what?s there. People talk about the human soul. I see the soul as one?s character ? that which comprises and defines you. So, soul building equates to character building. The human condition ? all the suffering and difficulty in life ? may be necessary in order to build one?s character, to make us better human beings.
Spirituality involves helping others, being kind and honest. What more could a spiritual person ask for in life than to be at ease with who they are, be satisfied with one?s life, and be content that one has done his best to be a good human being?? The true test of character is what you do when no one is watching, not even God. To me, the highest form of character is doing the right thing, not because God is watching and judging you, but simply because it is the right thing. That is the highest moral road that we can travel. In other words, doing good without the promise of reward or threat of punishment if you don?t, or doing good simply for its own sake, is the basis for a new, higher form of spirituality.
These days, the Internet is awash with the term ?content marketing? and its slight variants (like ?online content marketing,? about which I for one have been incessantly writing). To clarify terms, I present to the reader a brief but serviceable (one could almost say ?textbook?) definition of content marketing:
Content marketing is an overarching term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer bases. The idea behind content marketing is pretty straightforward: by delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers, businesses can kindle reader interest, attract targeted prospects, generate relevant leads, and foster brand loyalty.
Online content marketing consists of blogs, eBooks, whitepapers, webcasts, webinars, podcasts, videos and eMails. Brands use both online and traditional content marketing to achieve a variety of business goals. These may include: brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, customer acquisition and retention, engagement, thought leadership, sales, and lead nurturing, to name a few.
That?s great and all, but why should I care? Why do I need content marketing? At the end of the day, what is content marketing going to do for me and my business?
Fair questions.
By way of reply, I shall endeavor to take the approach of a philosopher and answer with another question:
What are the Primary (Business) Functions of Content Marketing?
CM Creates Brand Awareness: Kinda like putting a $100 bill in the collection plate, it?s a polite way of calling attention to yourself without seeming like you are doing so.
CM Attracts Prospect and Leads: This is a polity way of saying it can make $$$ for our company.
CM Fosters Brand Loyalty: This is a polite way of saying it can make $$$ for your company now and in the future.
CM Creates Thought Leadership: Let me translate: people will be buying what you?re selling, both figuratively and, if you play your cards right, literally.
CM Encourages Customer Engagement: You know when you are the first one to show up at a cocktail party thrown by someone you?ve never met, and there is that nervous moment where you both try to figure out what to talk about? Think of your Content Marketing piece as a natural conversation starter between you and your prospects, kind of like the weather, last night?s big game, or that person you both vaguely know that invited you.
CM Nurtures Leads Down the Sales Funnel: Put another way, decent marketing content turns skeptics into supporters.
CM is ?Pull,? not ?Push:? Some oft-overused marketing kitsch, rather than interrupting prospects with what the messaging you think they want to hear, CM strives to attract prospects by providing content that is useful to and sought by its intended audience. I?ll leave you to unravel that distinction.
What?s the bottom line? Marketing kitsch, buzzwords and buzzphrases aside, your company really does need content marketing. No, really?
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My stepdad brought Indian home cooking into my life. He and my mother had been high school sweethearts, American students at an international school in the foothills of the Himalayas where my stepdad had grown up, stuffing himself on dal and pappadums throughout childhood and cultivating a lifelong craving for fragrant vegetarian curries. Thanks to him and to recipes like this mixed bean masala, it's a craving I now share. Quick, healthy and economical, it's an easy recipe to double and freeze in preparation for chilly winter nights, when the scent of onion, ginger and spices bubbling on the stove will warm up the whole house.
This recipe is a riff on chana masala ? a curry of spiced chickpeas in a gingery tomato sauce ? using any type of cooked bean you happen to have on hand. You can use just one type of bean, but for color and texture variety, I like using a mixture. (I doubled the recipe for the batch pictured above, and used a mix of white beans, black beans and chickpeas.) Although plain white or brown rice is a fine accompaniment, my favorite way to eat curries like these is spooned over turmeric-spiced yellow rice, which looks special, but is just as easy to make as plain rice.
The key to the tomato sauce is blending the onion, garlic and ginger into a smooth paste that is added to the pot after the dry spices have been fried in a little oil. The warmed spices and aromatic paste meld with the tomatoes into a smooth and very flavorful sauce. After adding the beans, some fresh cilantro, and chilies if you like it spicy, you let everything simmer for 30 minutes, just enough time to make a pot of yellow rice, and then dinner is served.
One batch is enough to give my two-person household dinner and enough leftovers for a couple of lunches, but when I really want to maximize my time in the kitchen, I double the recipe and freeze the extra for future meals. The rice recipe can be doubled and frozen too; as long as it is kept separate from the sauce until serving, it won't become mushy, and you'll have a nourishing meal in the freezer, ready to heat when you need it.
Mixed Bean Masala
Makes 6 servings
1 onion 2 cloves garlic 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon salt (more if canned tomatoes are unsalted) 1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes 2 15-ounce cans beans, drained and rinsed 2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped, plus more for serving Chopped fresh chilies or red pepper flakes to taste (optional) Fragrant Yellow Rice, for serving (recipe below) Plain yogurt, for serving (optional)
Roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger. Process in a food processor or blender until a smooth paste forms, adding up to 1 tablespoon water if needed.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the cumin, garam masala and coriander. Fry the spices for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Add the onion-ginger paste and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring, until most of the added water has evaporated. Add the salt, tomatoes, beans, cilantro and chilies or pepper flakes, if using. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with additional chopped cilantro and serve over rice, with a dollop of yogurt on the side.
Fragrant Yellow Rice
Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. Makes about 6 cups cooked rice
2 cups jasmine rice 2 cups water 1 bay leaf 2-inch piece of cinnamon stick 3 whole cloves 3/4 teaspoon turmeric 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
Rinse the rice 2 or 3 times and drain. Add the rice, water, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric and salt to a medium size pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let sit, still covered, for 10 minutes. Uncover and remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves. Add butter or oil and stir.
Additional Notes ? If you want to substitute another type of rice (basmati, brown, etc.), increase the amount of water and cooking time according to the package directions.
? To freeze, let finished stew cool, then pack into freezer bags or freezer-safe containers and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Rice can also be frozen in a separate container. To reheat the beans, thaw in the refrigerator overnight or in the microwave, and warm in a pot on the stove until bubbling. The rice reheats best covered in the microwave.
Related: Cheap, Convenient & Better Than Canned: Freezer Beans
If you think of important Civil War locations, names like Gettysburg, Richmond and Shiloh quickly come to mind.
Los Angeles? Not so much.
But the city did, in fact, play a vital role in the War Between the States. For starters, local troops helped stave off an invasion of California by the Confederacy, which wanted to stretch its boundaries to the Pacific Ocean.
And the port city of Wilmington is home to Southern California's only remaining Army building dating back to that era.
On Saturday, war buffs and supporters of the Drum Barracks Civil Warm Museum celebrated three milestones: The country is marking the war's sesquicentennial, the museum is celebrating its 25 years as a city-run public facility, and
9/22/12 - Debbie Pavich of Fountain Valley browses through a book by Mark Elson, about the American Civil War reenact ors. The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, in Wilmington celebrated the 150th year since the Drum Barracks military post building was constructed in Wilmington, 25 years as a City of Los Angeles Museum and 1862-2012, the second year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The celebration included an artifact display, folks in uniform, blacksmith demonstration and genealogical research all to commemorate the Civil War.Photo by Brittany Murray / Staff Photogapher
it's also been 150 years since a battle in Arizona helped keep California in the Union.
"It was the only real invasion of the West," said museum director Susan Ogle, who was one many people wandering around the grounds in hoop skirts and uniforms made of blue felt.
Blocked from the Atlantic Ocean, the Confederacy eyed the undeveloped Los Angeles harbor as a way to import goods.
"They were headed for Wilmington and San Pedro," Ogle said of the largely forgotten event. "They were after a free port."
The California Column -- including some troops from the local post -- met the invaders in Tucson, where they were handily beat.
"It got nipped in the bud real quick." Ogle said.
Also on hand Saturday were a collection of Civil War reenactors and collectors, who showed off 1860s relics like swords, rifles and tattered uniforms.
Collector Mike Sorenson brought one of two surviving flags that belonged to the California Battalion, a group of 400 local men who went to fight with Union forces.
"People don't know that many Californians volunteered," Sorenson said.
The 16-room Drum Barracks building includes a library, sitting room and upstairs bedrooms. Although the name conjures up images of soldiers marching to the beat of a drum, the Drum Barracks was named after Richard Coulter Drum, adjutant general of the government's Department of the Pacific.
It was designated a historical landmark in 1927 and is now administered by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. It is also a state and national landmark.
For people like Barbara and Robert Wood of nearby San Pedro, the museum is a hidden jewel in the city.
"I never knew California was involved in the Civil War," Barbara Wood said. "More people need to know about this."
Find out more
The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum is located at 1052 Banning Blvd., Wilmington. For more information, and for tour and hours of operation, visit www.drumbaracks.org. Or call 310-548-7509. josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com
9/22/12 - The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, in Wilmington celebrated the 150th year since the Drum Barracks military post building was constructed in Wilmington, 25 years as a City of Los Angeles Museum and 1862-2012, the second year of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. The celebration included an artifact display, folks in uniform, blacksmith demonstration and genealogical research all to commemorate the Civil War.Photo by Brittany Murray / Staff Photogapher
UbueVu tries to go beyond social media monitoring by providing actual suggestions of things for social media managers to do. Today its Signals service, which we covered previously, is out of beta. The service also comes with a completely redesigned interface.
Pros
Extends up to three feet. Easy to adjust. Smartphone mount included. Works with most compact cameras and camcorders.
Cons
Need to use timer or remote when fully extended.
Bottom Line
The iStabilizer Monopod is a simple and easy, but its included smartphone mount sets it apart, extending the reach of your mobile device for self portraits, solo video shoots, and capturing scenes over obstacles or crowds.
By Eugene Kim
The iStabilizer Monopod ($34.95 direct) is a simple handheld monopod that extends the reach of cameras beyond arm's length, but where most similar options end at small cameras and camcorders, the iStabilizer Monopod includes a special spring-loaded mount for use with a variety of smartphones. That added feature, plus the usefulness of monopods for self-photography or simply extending the reach of a camera,?makes the iStabilizer version a solid addition to any photographer's accessory arsenal.?
It's tough to get creative when you're designing a monopod, which is basically a single metal rod, but the telescoping metal iStabilizer does distinguish itself in a few key ways. There are no knobs and locks to engage when extending and collapsing the rod. Instead, simply twisting individual segments counterclockwise allows for adjustments, and a simple twist clockwise locks it back into place. There are four segments that, when fully extended, reach a length of 3 feet. At the base is a soft padding, wrist strap, and threaded hole for attaching to a standard tripod.
At the opposite end is a translucent piece that can twist and pivot, with a small knob for locking in desired positions. The piece has a standard ?-inch threaded camera mount, but the iStabilizer Monopod comes with a smartphone mount already attached. It's the same mount found on the iStabilizer Dolly, which helps enable smooth tracking and panning shots, and uses a spring loaded vice to grip onto devices. The mount opens up to 2.75-inches wide, which is just wide enough to fit a large phone like a Samsung Galaxy S III. You can remove that mount and attach a standard point-and-shoot camera or camcorder that weighs less than 12.3 ounces. There's also a small protrusion at the end with a small mirror, which works well for self portraits.
The iStabilizer Monopod works exactly as advertised, making it easy to capture self portraits, shoot videos of yourself, and capture shots over large crowds. Triggering pictures at a distance, however, can be problematic unless you use a timer. To be fair though, this is a problem with any monopod. ?A wireless remote like the Satechi Bluetooth Multi-Media Remote would be a great companion, allowing you to access your iPhone's camera shutter from afar. Not everyone will need the iStabilizer Monopod, but for those who do take a lot of self pictures and videos , especially with a smartphone, it's worth a look.
By Eugene KimJunior Analyst, Consumer Electronics
Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University...
AUGUSTA, Maine ? A Republican-backed state law aimed at lowering health insurance premiums in Maine is being panned in a new report by affordable health care advocates.
But supporters of the law, especially those who wrote and co-sponsored it in the Maine Legislature, say the law is working but needs to be fully implemented before anyone draws conclusions about its effectiveness.
Supporters say key provisions of the law, including one that allows people to buy health insurance across state lines, have not yet gone into effect.
In its report issued earlier this month, Consumers for Affordable Health Care examined health insurance rate renewal information at the Bureau of Insurance. The report focused on renewal rates for insurance customers in the individual and small-group markets.
What they found did not bode well for the new law?s effectiveness, said Joe Ditre, executive director of the consumer group.
Key findings showed 54 percent of individual policyholders in Maine saw premium increases, while 90 percent of small business policyholders saw rates go up. Small-group plans cover up to 50 employees.
The report also draws attention to a new $4 assessment tacked on to all health insurance policies in Maine as a result of the law.
That assessment is used to build an annual fund of nearly $21 million that a new nonprofit organization , the Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association, also created by the law, uses to reinsure the most costly or high-risk clients on the books of Maine insurance companies.
?No one knows they are paying this tax,? Ditre said. ?They are being taxed, and this is all under the radar.?
But advocates for the law say the new reinsurance pools are the reason Anthem, one of the state?s largest health insurance providers, asked for an average rate increase of only 1.7 percent this year.
According to a statement on the Bureau of Insurance?s website, that represents $11 million in savings for Anthem because of the anticipated ability to use the MGARA funds to pay down high-risk claims.
Without the new nonprofit and the reinsurance pool, the company would have asked for a 21 percent increase, according to officials and documents filed with the bureau.
A 21 percent hike for Anthem would not necessarily have been approved by the bureau, according to Doug Dunbar, a spokesman for the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, which includes the Bureau of Insurance.
?It?s not possible to indicate whether a different rate increase request from Anthem would have been approved,? Dunbar wrote in an email.
The Maine Guaranteed Access Reinsurance Association board, as defined by the law, is largely controlled by insurance companies doing business in Maine, Ditre said.
Of the 11 members of the board, five are insurance company representatives, another is an insurance broker, another is a small-business person ? whose small business is in insurance. The other board members include a car sales businessman, two representatives from the medical community and a former credit union president.
Advocates for the law say it creates a better ?free market? approach to health insurance, but opponents say it?s little more than corporate welfare and an annual $21 million subsidy or bailout for some of the most profitable companies doing business in Maine.
The law is written in a way that requires insurance companies to pay the fees collected, but it also allows them not to disclose or itemize the fee.
The law also allows the new nonprofit to increase the fee, as needed, by an additional $2 per month, up to $6 per month per person insured.
Ditre believes MGARA will almost certainly increase the assessment. He said actuarial studies estimate the true cost of insuring the highest-risk clients in Maine is closer to $65 million, which is three times what MGARA is currently collecting for that purpose.
?Essentially, what we have here in MGARA is a group that gets $21 million in public money with no public oversight,? Ditre said. ?This Legislature delegated its authority to increase the tax by half ? by an additional $2 per member per month.?
The law changed the way insurance companies are allowed to set rates and allows them to charge more based on location, age and risk assessment. Older people in more rural places are the most vulnerable to the rate increases, and businesses with small-group policies are being hard-hit, Ditre said.
Only the small-group policies that include larger numbers of young workers, mostly in southern Maine, have experienced small rate decreases.
Some rates go down
Supporters of the law say rate increases overall are less than what they?ve been each year prior to the law and that prior to the law there were no notable rate decreases.
So the law is moving in the right direction and indeed working, according to one of the co-authors of the bill, state Rep. Les Fossel, R-Alna.
?One claim ? that 54 percent of individual policyholders saw higher premiums ? neglects to add that nearly 100 percent of individual policyholders saw increases in previous years,? Fossel wrote in a guest column in the Portland Press Herald on Sept. 11. ?Nor does the report mention that nearly 87 percent of individual policyholders now have access to lower cost alternatives that meet their needs.?
Dunbar, the department spokesman, backs up some of Fossel?s statement, noting, ?Premiums have been increasing significantly for years.?
Dunbar said the rate data for the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 show that 10.6 percent of those in small-group plans across the state saw their rates go down.
?For the same period last year (before the new law), only 3.26 percent of small groups experienced a decrease in rates,? Dunbar wrote. ? While rates can vary significantly among groups for many reasons (e.g., changes in group size or medical trend inflation), the overall change since the enactment of PL 90 is a 6.9 percent increase in the number of small groups experiencing rate relief.?
An analysis by the state?s Bureau of Insurance also touts the reduction in the rate of increase for premiums, but it highlights how rates were still going up for most policyholders post PL 90.
Fossel and others have argued that the changes have created a new host of insurance products that allow people to buy the most affordable plan to cover their needs, but Ditre said what?s really happening is people are being left short of the coverage they need.
?People are in the position where they are going to drop their coverage or choose much, much higher deductibles ? all which create a windfall for the insurance industry,? Ditre said. ?They get rid of their higher risks by rating people out of coverage or people change to coverage that is inadequate, and they?ve got to pay a premium for that for which they see very little benefit. Again, it?s a tremendous windfall for the insurance industry.?
More time needed?
The situation for small business is not getting any better, Ditre said. ?It?s ironic to me that they are saying give it time, when in fact those legislators who said we need more time to study this law were told specifically by the bill?s sponsors: ?These issues have been studied to death. We don?t need to take any more time. We know what needs to be done and free-market competition will lower these rates.??
Eric Cioppa, superintendent of the Maine Insurance Bureau, agrees with those who say it will take more time to fully understand the impacts of the new law on insurance rates.
He said it?s too soon to tell whether the law is achieving some of its other goals, including drawing more people into the health insurance market in Maine, which could ultimately bring rates down.
Cioppa said Consumers for Affordable Health Care?s report failed to mention that insurance providers will pay premiums to MGARA for any clients they want covered in the reinsurance pool. Those premiums are paid at 90 cents on the dollar, he said.
He said part of that formulation is that MGARA isn?t in the business to make money but to maximize the $4 assessment to cover claims. Ultimately, that relief is aimed at reducing rates in the individual insurance market, he said.
He said the thing that is driving insurance rates skyward in Maine and elsewhere is medical costs.
?I?m not casting aspersions on anyone, but the medical costs and the medical trends ? I think everyone acknowledges there?s still work to do on that,? Cioppa said.
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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
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My stepdad brought Indian home cooking into my life. He and my mother had been high school sweethearts, American students at an international school in the foothills of the Himalayas where my stepdad had grown up, stuffing himself on dal and pappadums throughout childhood and cultivating a lifelong craving for fragrant vegetarian curries. Thanks to him and to recipes like this mixed bean masala, it's a craving I now share. Quick, healthy and economical, it's an easy recipe to double and freeze in preparation for chilly winter nights, when the scent of onion, ginger and spices bubbling on the stove will warm up the whole house.
By Eugene Kim