Romanians, Bulgarians answer UK immigration fears

Claudiu Pandaru, editor in chief of the Gandul daily online newspaper, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (Pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year. One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where ?half the women look like Kate, the other half like her sister? - a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Claudiu Pandaru, editor in chief of the Gandul daily online newspaper, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (Pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year. One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where ?half the women look like Kate, the other half like her sister? - a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Claudiu Pandaru, editor in chief of the Gandul daily online newspaper, smiles during an interview with The Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (Pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year. One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where ?half the women look like Kate, the other half like her sister? - a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Claudiu Pandaru, editor in chief of the Gandul daily online newspaper, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (Pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year. One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where ?half the women look like Kate, the other half like her sister? - a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) ? The scaremongering is all over British tabloids: Romanians and Bulgarians (Pickpockets! Scam artists! Scroungers!) flooding into the UK by the thousands once work restrictions are lifted next year.

Tired of the stereotypes, some are striking back.

One Romanian newspaper is running ads questioning why anyone in their right mind would head for an island with bad weather and worse food, when they could stay in a country where: "Half of our women look like Kate. The other half, like her sister." ? a quip about the glamorous Middleton sisters who are popular in the Romanian press.

"Our draft beer is cheaper than your bottled water," boasts a second ad in online Gandul, while another notes that Prince Charles bought a house in Romania in 2005.

Behind the tongue-in-cheek campaign is a serious message for Britain.

Romanians and Bulgarians see themselves as hard-working, skilled employees with excellent English who already contribute to Britain's economy. They say that reports they will bleed dry the welfare system once EU restrictions are lifted are both exaggerated and offensive.

"We are mocked, denigrated and made to feel like third-class citizens," said Gandul editorial director Claudiu Pandaru. "This is a humorous, good-mannered response. We want to show the British that we have two important reserves: intelligence and humor."

Bulgarian construction worker Dimitar Dimitrov, who has lived and worked in London since 2010, feels insulted. "I am a European citizen, like thousands of my compatriots here, and I don't understand why we are discriminated against. I am working probably harder than every single citizen of Her Majesty, and contributing to the economy in the UK with my taxes and social security payments," he told Bulgarian media.

In the UK, statistics show that almost 1 million Eastern Europeans have come to Britain over the past decade, and data from the 2011 census showed that Polish is now the second-most common tongue in the country. Romania and Bulgaria are the EU's poorest nations.

Britain's jingoistic tabloid press has been stoking fears of a second wave of migrants next year. The Daily Star spoke of a "migrants flood" and the Sun warned of a "border alert."

For its part, the British government has responded to such fears by saying it is considering "options" to deter a potentially huge influx of Romanians and Bulgarians. Ideas include ads explaining that new immigrants could face restrictions on what welfare benefits they can claim, or be deported if they fail to get a job.

Romanians acknowledge that some of their citizens have given the country a bad name with ATM scams, begging and pickpocketing. But they insist these cases are a minority, with most of their citizens law-abiding, taxpaying citizens.

Some British commentators have scolded their compatriots for sowing fear.

Robert Shrimsley in the Financial Times noted sardonically that "as our friends the Poles discovered, the British can tolerate anything except hardworking people who come over here to do the low-paid jobs we can't be bothered to do ourselves."

___

Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-31-Romania-Backlash%20Against%20Britain/id-eaaaa729d9884bc59948977220282160

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Fallon and Williams slow jam the fiscal cliff

By Courtney Hazlett, TODAY

In what context is it acceptable to refer to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams as Brilly Willy? Or Honey Bri Bri?

In the context of slow-jamming the news on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," that's what. The "Rock Center with Brian Williams" host returned to the "Late Night" stage and along with The Roots, broke down a complicated news issue, R&B style.

While Williams, Fallon and the Roots tend to be the stars of the slow-jam show, another member of the NBC family got a shout-out in the fiscal cliff breakdown -- TODAY's Al Roker. Roots member Tariq Trotter cleared up the United States' debt situation singing, "The United States clearly couldn't get any broker, gotta liquidate its assets, like Al Roker."?

Oh, yeah.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/01/29/16753620-brian-williams-and-jimmy-fallon-slow-jam-the-fiscal-cliff-oh-yeah?lite

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Amazon posts lower 4Q net income but stock jumps

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo, amazon shipments are packaged in Koblenz, Germany. Amazon?s fourth-quarter net income fell 45 percent, as sharply higher revenue failed to keep pace with increased spending on order fulfillment and digital content, a trend that?s become the norm for the world?s largest online retailer. (AP Photo/dapd, Harald Tittel)

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo, amazon shipments are packaged in Koblenz, Germany. Amazon?s fourth-quarter net income fell 45 percent, as sharply higher revenue failed to keep pace with increased spending on order fulfillment and digital content, a trend that?s become the norm for the world?s largest online retailer. (AP Photo/dapd, Harald Tittel)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Amazon's fourth-quarter net income fell 45 percent, as sharply higher revenue failed to keep pace with increased spending on order fulfillment and digital content, a trend that's become the norm for the world's largest online retailer.

The company's financial results missed Wall Street's expectations ? but investors sent the world's top online retailer's stock up more than 9 percent in after-hours trading.

"It boggles the mind," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis, who attributed the stock price jump to slightly stronger-than-expected operating income. "A lot of people scratch their head at the valuation given to Amazon and the support the stock has."

The company says it has been investing a lot of its income into enhancing its distribution network, its shopping website and its Kindle business as part of a long term growth plan. It opened 20 order fulfillment centers in 2012, bringing the total to 89 worldwide.

Amazon's profit margins have been thin because of heavy investments ?and the deep discounts the company offers consumers. Even so, investors continue to be more than forgiving. Its stock price gained 45 percent in 2012. It has risen another 4 percent so far this year.

Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday that it earned $97 million, or 21 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's down from $177 million, or 38 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue for the crucial holiday quarter grew 22 percent to $21.27 billion from $17.43 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $22.26 billion, according to a poll by FactSet.

"We're now seeing the transition we've been expecting," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, in a statement. "After five years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast ? up approximately 70 percent last year."

In contrast, he added, sales of paper books saw the lowest December growth rate in the company's 17 years as a book seller ? up just 5 percent.

Though revenue fell short of expectations, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali said Amazon's profit margin was much better than expected at 24.1 percent compared with 20.7 percent a year earlier. This could signal that Amazon is starting to reap some benefits from its investments.

Amazon's operating income jumped 56 percent to $405 million from $260 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. That's much better than the company's guidance, which was for an operating loss of $490 million to an operating income of $310 million.

For the current quarter, Amazon expects revenue of $15 billion to $16.6 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $16.86 billion.

For all of 2012, the company booked a net loss of $39 million, or 9 cents per share, down from a profit of $631 million, or $1.37 per share. The shortfall was due to a 60 cent per share loss in the third quarter of the year, which resulted from a charge related to its stake in online deals site LivingSocial. The company said it was also due to heavy spending on its Kindle business, new geographic locations and video content. It also said it hired about 50,000 temporary workers at its distribution centers across the U.S. during the holiday season.

Revenue in 2012 grew 27 percent to $61.09 billion from $48.08 billion, slightly below analysts' expectations of $62.1 billion.

Few large corporations are able to grow revenue at such a pace year after year. Apple Inc., the world's most valuable public company, is a notable example. The iPad maker increased revenue by 29 percent in 2012, to $165 billion. Still, investors punished Apple's stock after it reported earnings last week, due to signs that the company's profit margin is shrinking and its iPhone faces stiffer competition in overseas markets.

Seattle-based Amazon's shares rose $24, or 9.2 percent, to $284.35 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down $15.69, or 5.7 percent, at $260.35.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-01-29-US-Earns-Amazon/id-903b7e2bf8394dcfbe25098636726a91

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Roman Harper on Saints season Saints safety Roman Harper joins Jim Rome to discu...

Roman Harper on Saints season

www.cbssports.com

Saints safety Roman Harper joins Jim Rome to discuss the return of head coach Sean Payton, bountygate, the firing of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and more on "Rome" - Weeknights 6 ET on CBS Sports Network.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/cbssportsnetwork/posts/156883427794960

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Uniworld Goes All Inclusive in 2014 | travelling with vision - Vision ...

Looking beyond 2013, I would like to share with you personally and before we announce it publicly, some very exciting news. In addition to a new ship, the Super Ship, S.S. Catherine, sailing in Burgundy and Provence, and a new fabulous destination in France?s Bordeaux region, Uniworld will introduce ?true all-inclusive? luxury cruises in Europe in 2014, which means everything is included in the price of the cruise, such as:

?

• All gratuities onboard and onshore
• Unlimited beverages onboard, including fine wine, beer, spirits, soft drinks, specialty coffee, and bottled water
• All meals onboard, impeccably prepared by our chefs using the finest and freshest ingredients
• All scheduled airport transfers
• Shore excursions hosted by English-speaking local experts, with ?Choice Is Yours,? ?Gentle Walking,? and ?Go Active? options
• Complimentary portable audio headset system used on all shore excursions
• A variety of complimentary culinary experiences and onboard dining options
• All entertainment and Signature Lectures onboard
• Complimentary Internet and Wi-Fi access onboard
• Complimentary in-stateroom Infotainment Center
• Complimentary well equipped fitness center and exercise classes
• Complimentary use of bicycles and Nordic walking sticks for onshore enjoyment
• The finest riverview staterooms afloat?many with French balconies?offering deluxe signature touches including handcrafted beds from Savoir? of England
• Award-winning service from a professionally trained, English-speaking staff on ships with an average capacity of just 130 guests and the highest guest-to-staff ratio in the river cruise industry

?

?We are very pleased to provide our guests with even greater value and more convenience by offering an all-inclusive luxury cruise experience,? states Guy Young, President of Uniworld. Uniworld is the only North American river cruise line to announce they are moving to an all-inclusive experience. ?Similar to the high-end luxury ocean cruise lines, such as Crystal, Regent, and Silverseas, Uniworld is dedicated to creating the most luxurious and worry-free experience for our valued guests. By offering an all-inclusive vacation, our guests won?t need to worry about ancillary items such as tipping as everything will be included in the price, so all our guests will need to do is relax and enjoy their vacation,? furthers Young.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, the world?s only authentic boutique cruise line?, is recognized among the ?World?s Best River Cruises? by Travel + Leisure. Uniworld was voted the?#1 River Cruise Line in the World? in Cond? Nast Traveler?s Readers? Choice Awards, was named to Cond? Nast Traveler?s prestigious Gold List and their Platinum Circle for having made the list consistently for the past five years, and won ?Best River Ships? in their Readers? Poll, which ranked River Queen and River Beatrice #1 and #3 of all cruise ships in the world, respectively, along with eight other highly ranked ships in the top 40 river ships category. Uniworld?s cabins and dining are also ranked among the top three in the world by Zagat Survey?, with Uniworld being the only river cruise line named in the Zagat Survey? amongst the best of the best in the cruise industry. Uniworld features luxurious boutique ships with an average capacity of 130 guests, included shore excursions fully hosted by local experts, world-class gourmet cuisine, and award-winning, personalized hospitality. Uniworld offers over 500 departures sailing on over 13 rivers in more than 20 countries throughout Europe, Russia, Egypt, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Uniworld will be the only North American river cruise line to offer a ?true all-inclusive? luxury boutique experience in Europe. Uniworld?s commitment to your valued clients is to create the most luxurious and worry-free experience possible, so all they have to do is unpack, unwind, and leave all the details to us.

Search for 2014 Uniworld Cruises here

Source: http://travelling.vision2000.ca/2013/01/29/uniworld-goes-all-inclusive-in-2014/

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Genealogy's Star: Don't abandon the unified Family Tree!

I read some alarming statements by The Ancestry Insider that intimated that FamilySearch.org may be considering abandoning the unified FamilyTree before it even gets operating. Is it possible that the challenge of fixing the data is too daunting? Going back to individually submitted and owned family trees would be huge step backward for genealogy and a loss to the world of research that will likely never be resolved again. There are already millions of individual family trees out there in programs like Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, Geni.com and other similar programs. Although these programs are useful for an individual, because there are so many differing opinions on the data, they are essentially useless for the purpose of coordinating a universal family tree. Programs like WeRelate.org show promise but do not have the wide spread usage and historical record resources of FamilySearch.org. It will be a sad day if FamilySearch.org becomes a place simply to park your individually owned and maintained family tree. It is not possible to underestimate the importance of the staying power. FamilySearch which is not going to be bought out by a European investment group.

My recent posts have been clear about the importance of FamilySearch's vision of a unified program incorporating data, sources, images, documents and stories into a family archive of unsurpassed value to the world. To trade that for another genealogical parking lot would be a disaster.

What are the problems here? The answer is simple, the problems with FamilySearch.org's Family Tree do not originate with the program, they originate with the data. Had Family Search launched Family Tree without any data at all, we could have all added our data one person at a time and avoided a lot of the complicated problems apparent now with the imported data. But even though the data is a mess, to ignore that situation is like hiding your head in the sand. The same situation of bad data exists on all the other online family tree programs but it can be ignored because no one has to look at any other family tree but there own and we can't see our own problems. It is important that we confront the issue of bad information at some point. If FamilySearch abandons the battle, it will only be postponed until it is virtually impossible for anyone to find consistently accurate data online and there will be only a very few genealogists with truly accurate family trees. The mistakes of the past will be copied over and over just as they have with surname books and other unsourced documents.

My own family tree is a good example. Back a few generations, I show a husband and wife with the same parents, that is, the mother and father of the husband are listed as the same as the mother and father of the wife. Online, there are many different opinions in different user submitted family trees about resolving this situation in different programs. None of these differing opinions in different programs have any possible way to talk to each other about resolving their differences. If I have the correct data in MyHeritage.com and you have your tree in Ancestry.com we may never see or hear of each other. There is no one place to go to see what everyone says about the correct information. Family Tree could fix that.

Let's stay the course. Keep Family Tree moving towards a unified tree.

Source: http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2013/01/dont-abandon-unified-family-tree.html

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Qi Gong Could Improve Breast Cancer Patients' Quality Of Life

An ancient Chinese practice could make life better for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer, according to a small new study.

Researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas found that practicing qi gong was linked with decreased depression and increased quality of life in women who were undergoing radiotherapy for their breast cancer.

The findings are important because past research has shown an association between depression and worse outcomes for cancer patients.

The new study, published in the journal Cancer, included 96 Chinese women who had stage 1, 2 or 3 breast cancer and were going to the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in China. About half of the women were assigned to do five qi gong classes, each 40 minutes long, while they were undergoing radiation therapy for five to six weeks. The other half of the women were part of the control group and just underwent standard care during the radiation therapy.

Researchers had the study participants complete assessments on their depressive symptoms, fatigue, sleep and quality of life at the start of the study, during the study, at the end of the study, and one and three months after the study had ended.

Researchers found that women who did qi gong experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms by the end of the study, while women who were in the control group didn't experience any decrease in symptoms. They also noted that the women who had the highest scores on the depression scale were the ones who experienced the greatest benefit -- both in decreased depressive symptoms and improved quality of life -- from qi gong.

However, there were some limitations to the study -- including the fact that only Chinese women who were recruited from one place were used in the study (meaning the findings may not be able to be applied to other groups of people), and that something other than the qi gong itself -- perhaps the fact that it is exercise -- is responsible for the effect.

Qi gong could have beneficial effects beyond cancer patients, too -- a large review of studies that appeared in 2010 in the American Journal of Health Promotion showed that the Chinese practice could improve heart health, bone health and balance.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/qi-gong-breast-cancer-quality-of-life_n_2567032.html

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'Hansel & Gretel' Tops Box Office With Modest $19 Million

Ensemble comedy 'Movie 43' flops, collecting just $5 million during its first weekend.
By Ryan J. Downey

Jeremy Renner in "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters"
Photo: Paramount Pictures

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700866/hansel-and-gretel-box-office-weekend.jhtml

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Slickdeals' best in tech for January 28th: iPod touch, Blu-ray player, 13-inch MacBook Pro

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long.

We're back at it with another batch of tech deals to start out the week. This time, a pair of Apple devices see a bit of a price drop alongside a Dell laptop, Panasonic Blu-ray player and a set of Able Planet headphones -- enough to cover a few of those gadget bases, no doubt. Jump down past the break to inspect all of the details and access those tempting purchase links in order to empty your wallet.

Grab one of these from ShopRite.

This offer is available from Dell.

This deal is available over at eBay.

Snag these from World Wide Stereo.

Grab one from Fry's.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops, Portable Audio/Video

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Source: Slickdeals

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/28/slickdeals-best-in-tech-for-january-28th/

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Iran cracks down on media before election

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have arrested more than a dozen journalists in the past two days over their links to "anti-revolutionary" media, Iranian media reported, in what appeared to be a coordinated crackdown on the press.

With a presidential election five months away, Iran's clerical leadership appears to be tightening its grip on the media to avoid a repeat of the widespread protests that erupted after the disputed election in 2009.

Journalists working for reformist newspapers Arman, Bahar, Etemaad, Shargh, and the Aseman weekly - and Iran's economy-focused ILNA labor news agency - were arrested on Sunday for cooperating with Persian-language "anti-revolutionary" news outlets, Mehr news agency reported late on Sunday.

The exact numbers were not known, but several outlets reported the arrests, with Fars news agency saying around 11 journalists were arrested on Sunday on the orders of the judiciary. In addition, the opposition Kalame website said a reporter for Bahar and a journalist for ILNA were detained on Saturday.

While not calling for outright dissent, the outlets have reported on an economy struggling under Western sanctions imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear program, and often feature criticism of Iranian government policies.

Shargh was banned for several months in 2012 for publishing a cartoon deemed insulting to veterans of the Iran-Iraq war, while ILNA closely follows news of layoffs in Iran's factories - bad news for the leadership in the run up to June's election.

The economy has taken a battering since the introduction of U.S. banking sanctions a year ago that virtually severed links to the global financial system. Iranians have seen the price of food and goods soar and their spending power slump, especially on imports that are directly affected by the weakening rial.

HOUSE ARREST

Last week, Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei warned of the threat the Islamic Republic faced from some of its own journalists.

"Based on information I have from reliable sources, unfortunately a number of journalists, as well as writing for the nation's newspapers, work hand-in-hand with Westerners and anti-revolutionaries," he said at the time.

The Iranian leadership regularly accuses Western governments of trying to foment social unrest through subversive media activities but says that such plans will never succeed.

However, the latest crackdown appeared to go further than just targeting reformist news organizations, with the conservative website Tabnak also offline on the orders of the Tehran prosecutor's office, the state body that determines which websites to filter told the ISNA news agency on Sunday.

Iran is preparing for its first presidential vote since 2009, which opposition candidates, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, decried as rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They have been under house arrest for nearly two years.

The government denied vote rigging and said the protests had been stirred up by Iran's foreign enemies to overthrow the Islamic Republic's system of government.

Analysts say reformist candidates may be allowed to run for election if they distance themselves from Mousavi and Karoubi.

But the authorities are mindful of more protests, and hardliners have warned against the possibility of a second "sedition", the term officials use for the 2009 demonstrations.

Iran is one of the world's worst jailers of members of the press, along with Turkey and China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. A CPJ tally in December 2012 said there were 45 journalists behind bars in Iran.

(Editing by Marcus George and Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-cracks-down-media-election-101948432.html

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Messi scores 4 goals to pass 200 in La Liga

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Lionel Messi scored four goals to become the youngest player to pass the 200-mark in the Spanish league and set a La Liga record with goals in 11 consecutive games, leading Barcelona to a 5-1 rout of Osasuna on Sunday night.

With his 22nd hat trick for Barcelona and fifth game of four goals or more, Messi increased his La Liga total to 202 goals in 235 games. The 25-year-old became the eighth player to reach 200, joining Telmo Zarra (251), Hugo Sanchez (234), Raul Gonzalez (228), Alfredo di Stefano (227), Cesar Rodriguez (223), Quini (219) and Pahino (210). Zarra had been the youngest to reach 200, achieving the feat when he was 29.

Messi has 44 goals this season, including 33 in La Liga. He has scored in his last 16 starts overall and in a record 11 consecutive La Liga games, breaking the mark he tied last season. Mariano Martin (1942-43 to 1943-44) and Brazil's Ronaldo (1996-97) also accomplished the feat, both for Barcelona.

Barcelona hosts Real Madrid on Wednesday in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.

"We went out there and took care of business like always," Messi said. "It was important to put the game away because it isn't easy when everyone is talking so much about the 'clasico'."

Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 20th career hat trick in an 11-minute span to lead defending champion Real Madrid over Getafe 4-0.

Barcelona (19-1-1) reopened an 11-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid (15-3-2), which lost 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid (13-4-4) trails Barcelona by 15 points.

___

LONDON (AP) ? Liverpool and Tottenham lost to lower-league opponents in the FA Cup on Sunday, joining a lengthy list of Premier League teams to exit in the fourth round of soccer's oldest knockout competition.

Oldham, in 19th place in the third tier, stunned visiting Liverpool 3-2. Despite a goal from American Clint Dempsey, Spurs lost 2-1 at Leeds, which is 11th in the second-tier League Championship.

Chelsea was spared a similar fate when Fernando Torres scored in the 83rd minute for a 2-2 tie at third-tier Brentford, forcing a replay.

The FA Cup is famous for upsets. On Saturday, Luton defeated Norwich 1-0 to become the first non-league club in 24 years to beat a top-tier opponent.

Fourth-tier Bradford set the tone this season by reaching the League Cup final after knocking out both Arsenal and Aston Villa.

"You have to take it on the chin, but there has been plenty of warnings throughout the weekend," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said. "If your application is not right, you can get found out."

Both Liverpool and Tottenham fielded weakened lineups but they still contained plenty of millionaire players.

"I am left speechless by the result," said Oldham forward Matt Smith, who scored twice for a team that is 55 places lower than Liverpool in England's soccer pyramid. "We went out there wanting to battle together."

Oldham made its name in the early 1990s when the club reached two FA Cup semifinals (1990 and '94) and a League Cup final ('90), where it lost to Nottingham Forest.

Smith's third-minute goal was offset by Luis Suarez's in the 17th, but Oldham went ahead 3-1 when Smith scored in the fourth minute of first-half injury time and Reece Wabara got a goal in the 48th. Joe Allen's 80th-minute goal for Liverpool made the final minutes tense.

Tottenham, which is fourth in the Premier League, fell behind 2-0 when Luke Varney scored in the 15th and Ross McCormack in the 50th, Dempsey, playing at forward, headed in Gareth Bale's cross in the 58th for his eighth goal of the season.

The fifth round next month features Millwall at Luton, Reading at Manchester United, Leeds at Manchester City, Blackburn at Arsenal, Everton at Oldham, Barnsley at MK Dons, Chelsea or Brentford at Middlesbrough and Wigan at Huddersfield or Leicester.

___

ROME (AP) ? Edinson Cavani scored the go-ahead goal in the 85th minute, and Napoli won 2-1 at Parama to close within three points of Serie A leader Juventus.

Marek Hamsik scored in the 20th minute but Parma tied it in the 74th on an own goal by Napoli captain Paolo Cannavaro, playing his first game since a suspension for match-fixing was overturned. Cannavaro and defender Gianluca Grava were given six-month bans by the Italian soccer federation's disciplinary committee on Dec. 18, but the penalties were lifted Jan. 17 following an appeal to the federation's internal court.

Defender champion Juventus (15-3-4) has 49 points while Napoli (14-4-4), seeking its first title since Diego Maradona led it to the 1990 championship, has 46. Parma lost at home for the first time this season.

AC Milan (11-7-4) moved into fifth place with a 1-0 win at Atalanta on a 29th-minute goal by Stephen El Shaarawy, his 15th league goal this season.

Fourth-place Inter Milan (12-6-4), which is nine points back, was held to a 2-2 tie by visiting Torino.Christian Chivu gave Inter the lead in fifth with a free kick but left in the 28th with an apparent injury. Goals by Riccardo Meggiorini in the 23rd and 52nd minutes put Torino ahead. but Esteban Cambiasso tied the score for Inter when he redirecting a cross from 39-year-old captain Javier Zanetti in the 67th.

___

BERLIN (AP) ? Mario Mandzukic scored a goal and set up another as Bayern Munich beat Stuttgart 2-0 to open an 11-point lead in the Bundesliga.

Mandzukic scored in the 50th minute, when he intercepted a backpass from defender Christian Molinaro and rounded goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, then cossed for Thomas Mueller's goal on a counterattack in the 72nd.

Bayern (15-1-3) has 48 points. Leverkusen (11-4-4) has 37 after Saturday's 0-0 tie at Freiburg.

Hamburg defeated Werder Bremen 3-2 in the Bundesliga's 98th northern derby to end a three-game losing streak in games against its rival.

___

PARIS (AP) ? Paris Saint-Germain regained the French league lead, getting an own goal by Aurelien Chedjou in the 68th minute for a 1-0 win against visiting Lille.

Goalkeeper Steeve Elana palmed away a cross, and the ball bounced off Chedjou's chest into the goal.

PSG (13-3-6) leads on goal difference over Lyon (13-3-6), both three points ahead of Marseille (13-6-3).

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/messi-scores-4-goals-pass-200-la-liga-224655866--sow.html

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Comment: Maldives' future more optimistic than ... - Minivan News

Professor Tom Ginsburg?s analysis of the prospects for a democratic Maldives (written August 2012) is unjustifiably pessimistic. This letter outlines why an analysis more optimistic in its conclusions is warranted.

Professor Ginsburg considers the consolidation of constitutional democracy the least likely outcome, with either a series of ?failed governments? or domination by a hegemonic faction as more likely. This letter does not dispute that the two less appealing scenarios are real possibilities, nor that that bringing about a more democratic politics will require great effort. However, as is undoubtedly obvious to the reader, following any path ? irrespective of where it may lead ? is not going to be easy at this delicate moment of Maldivian history.

This letter contends that Professor Ginsburg?s analysis is flawed in the following ways: 1) failing to recognise fully the implications of the 2008 elections and the resulting change in governance, 2) the factors that he deems adverse to democracy are either factors that assist a democratic transition or are neutral, and 3) expecting too much progress in too short a time.

First: political scientists agree that a country is not a democratic one until two alternations of power have been achieved by democratic means. The October 2008 elections qualify as the first. 7 February 2012 does not qualify as the second. However, the 2008 election represents a democratic opening. The high rate of voting (83 percent, reported by Minivan News) indicated a politically active and engaged population, as do more recent collective actions ? including party activity and street demonstrations. The fact that the Maldivian people managed to achieve that democratic opening, after decades without democratic, or any other meaningful, political participation speaks volumes about their resourcefulness and competence.

A critical mass of the population of Male? (at least) is as politically engaged now as it was then, and any analyst would only at their peril underestimate the potential of this population to surprise. At the level of government, the qualitative leap in administrative steering and standards of policy research, design and implementation in evidence beginning in 2008 shows that better ? although still imperfect ? government is certainly possible in the Maldives.

Furthermore, social mobilisation and popular participation in the campaigns of 2008 and thereafter belie Ginsburg?s assessment that civil society is ?inchoate.? Civil society in the Maldives may not express itself as frequently in written form as Professor Ginsburg expects, but it is no less significant and politically effective for its orality, and for its active rather than discursive manifestations.

Second: the Maldivian economy does suffer from a variety of vulnerabilities; weaknesses which have increased since the writing of the consultation paper. Following over three decades of accelerated development, and leaps in human development indicators, the Maldives achieved its status as a middle income country in 2004.

Under the Nasheed administration, it posted real GDP growth of 9.9 percent in 2010 and 8.3 percent in 2011 (World Bank). Mr Nasheed, as Professor Ginsburg recognises, introduced tax reforms (including a tourism goods and services tax) that improved medium-term fiscal sustainability, even as Mr Nasheed was also correct in diagnosing the serious problems posed by public debt/spending, and by an unsustainably large and inefficient bureaucracy.

In the regional context of South Asia, the Maldives is by a wide margin the wealthiest country, with a GNI per capita of US$5,721 (World Bank). India, which is a democracy of long-standing, has a GNI per capita of only US$1,410. Even considering foreign workers and the rentier aspects of the Maldivian economy, the Maldives possesses (proportionately) greater ability to attract foreign currency than any other country in the region; this capacity can afford some insulation against the vicissitudes of the global economy. Recent reductions in poverty, and nascent efforts at developing research capacity and higher education show that even in turbulent times the Maldivian state is capable of harnessing the natural and economic assets of the country for collective benefit.

Ginsburg alludes to ?slum-like overcrowding in the capital.? The comparison with India again is apt; if Male? appears to be a slum, it is apparent that he is unfamiliar with the ?slums? and ?overcrowding? of any city of similar size in that democratic country to the north, India.

Ginsburg cites the involvement of external actors in Maldivian politics, as something ostensibly diminishing the prospects for democracy. While foreign intervention is no doubt (and perhaps understandably) unpopular, it is far from evident how it will prevent democratization. In fact, Ginsburg himself alludes to contrary evidence, acknowledging that external actors contributed both to the former President Maumoon Gayoom?s decision to acquiesce to the democratic opening, and in the drafting of many laudable aspects of the current constitution.

The youth of the Maldives are an asset ? not a liability. 99 percent literacy (according to the Commonwealth Secretariat), and the internet connectivity (particularly of youth, as Ginsburg observes), and the involvement of young people in the democratic opening of 2008 demonstrate that they constitute a source of hope, rather than a demographic of despair. Ginsburg does not explain or support the statement that they are ?not being adequately integrated into the traditional social and economic structures.? Furthermore, their detachment from traditional social structures could equally well be a reason to anticipate the continuing dynamism and political potency of Maldivian youth.

Third, Professor Ginsburg appears to expect a vigorous, flawless liberal democracy to have been born of a wholly autocratic womb. A sound administrative legal code, the institutionalisation of parliament, an independent, skillful judiciary ? these are all extremely unrealistic demands to make of a country that only four years ago staged its first competitive election.

Ginsburg consistently overlooks the necessarily incremental nature of political development following (any) regime change; he underestimates the time needed, and the setbacks that even a country in otherwise ideal circumstances will invariably encounter. He also overstates the immediate importance of the judiciary and legal culture at the expense of social movements and electoral contestation; the lesson in constitutionalism which he prescribes is of rather less moment than preparing for the upcoming election. The judiciary that is in place now and that likely will be in place during the upcoming electoral cycle is arguably no more flawed than that which was in place in the last (free and fair) national election, in 2008.

In conclusion: political scientists distinguish structure and agency. Structure includes things like the economy, institutions, geography and demography. The things that are essentially set, and not easily or quickly altered. Agency on the other hand, is the human element. It is the human will: human ingenuity, determination, and the capacity to surprise.

Professor Ginsburg has taken up only the first of these two: the structure. An analysis based on an understanding of the Maldivian people would not so readily discount the chance of a new, and a more inclusive and participatory, Maldivian politics.

Scott Morrison is a political scientist (Columbia University 2004 PhD)

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to editorial@minivannews.com

Source: http://minivannews.com/politics/comment-maldives-future-more-optimistic-than-ginsburg-scenarios-51772

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This Clever Resume That Looks Like an Amazon Page Is So Good I Would Buy It

Making your resume stand out from a pile of papers or a bunch of pixels on a screen is hard as hell. How can people who went to similar schools and worked similar jobs and have similar skills differentiate themselves? By being clever. Like Philippe Dubost. He turned his resume into an Amazon product page. It's brilliant! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/jXQZtxGMuNY/this-clever-resume-that-looks-like-an-amazon-page-is-so-good-i-would-buy-it

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An 1850s Ancestral Home in Texas - Houzz

In 1981 a woman and her husband cruised by the historic plantation her family had owned for generations. She had heard many stories from her grandmother about the Central Texas home her family had lost during the Great Depression, and after seeing it, she and her husband dreamed of living in it one day.

More than 30 years later, the couple retired from their corporate jobs in California and set about making their Texas dream come true. In 2004 they approached the current owners, who agreed to sell. Next they turned to husband-and-wife team John (architect) and Candace (interior designer) Volz of Volz & Associates to help them with the preservation, restoration, renovation and additions.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with a grown daughter who comes to visit; the wife is descended from the original owner
Location: About 30 miles outside of Austin, Texas
Size: About 7,000 square feet, on 200 acres
That's interesting: This home is a recorded Texas historic landmark built in 1857; the original 2,000-acre plantation was established in 1836. Part of the historic research included getting in touch with a genealogical society of descendants of slaves who had lived there; the clients hosted a lunch where they all swapped family lore, and they are still in touch.

Source: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/6664661/list/Houzz-Tour--An-1850s-Ancestral-Home-in-Texas-Rises-Again/

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Science needs a second opinion: Researchers find flaws in study of patients in 'vegetative state'

Jan. 24, 2013 ? A team of researchers led by Weill Cornell Medical College is calling into question the published statistics, methods and findings of a highly publicized research study that claimed bedside electroencephalography (EEG) identified evidence of awareness in three patients diagnosed to be in a vegetative state.

The new reanalysis study led by Weill Cornell neurologists Drs. Andrew Goldfine,Jonathan Victor, and Nicholas Schiff, published in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Lancet, reports the statistical results and methodology used by a research team led by University of Western Ontario scientists and published online Nov. 9, 2011, also in the Lancet, was flawed in a number of crucial ways. Due to these errors, the reanalysis concludes it is impossible to determine whether or not these vegetative state study subjects demonstrated any degree of awareness during the testing.

The University of Western Ontario researchers in the original study set out to use bedside EEG technology to identify any changes in brain activity in vegetative patients and also healthy subjects as controls. During the study, each subject was asked to either imagine moving their hand or foot each time they heard an electronic beep. The brain activity following hand or foot commands was recorded using EEG and then compared in the study. The published study claimed that three of the 16 tested vegetative patients successfully performed the task, along with 9 of the 12 healthy controls. The reanalysis of this study is important, the Weill Cornell researchers say, because if the method was indeed valid, it would mark an important breakthrough in the field -- the first evidence using a bedside testing method that patients reported to be in a vegetative state could perform high-level cognitive tasks.

"Sadly, our reanalysis of the research team's original data shows these particular methods do not work, and it is important that scientists, physicians, and most importantly, the families of severely brain injured patients understand that the conclusions reached in the original study were most likely due to chance findings," says the corresponding author of the reanalysis, Dr. Schiff, the Jerold B. Katz Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute and professor of public health at Weill Cornell.

"We see the urgency and need every single day for tests that can be used to help establish awareness and consciousness in brain injured patients. However we won't help patients or their families by using a flawed research method and data that cannot accurately provide the information we are all hoping to find," says Dr. Schiff, who is also a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"The reanalysis points to the importance of the peer review process, data sharing and analytic tools to confirm research findings, especially those which are biologically complex and where misinterpretation could have major implications on clinical practice," says study co-author Dr. Joseph J. Fins, the E. William Davis Jr., MD Professor of Medical Ethics and chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell, and director of medical ethics at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. "EEG techniques are an inexpensive and portable method of assessment, and a premature endorsement and dissemination of this technique could provide families with false hope about whether patients thought to be vegetative are in fact conscious," says Dr. Fins.

"Methods Have Consequences"

This reanalysis study by Weill Cornell and its colleagues from Burke Medical Research Institute and the University of Li?ge was made possible by a data-sharing agreement between their research group and the authors of the original study, Dr. Damian Cruse, Dr. Adrian Owen and colleagues from the University of Western Ontario. The Weill Cornell, University of Liege and the University of Western Ontario investigators are jointly supported by a multicenter research grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

"We set out to validate the original Lancet study findings about EEG, not disprove them, because it is critically important that tests purporting to assert the presence of consciousness be carefully vetted by peer-review," says senior author Dr. Victor, the Fred Plum Professor of Neurology and professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell and a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

The reanalysis study doesn't criticize the use of bedside EEG technology for detection of consciousness, but questions the appropriateness of the statistical methodology applied to the data, Dr. Victor explained. The Weill Cornell research team's main finding was that the original study failed to take into account several aspects of EEG signals present in the vegetative patients who were said to show awareness -- including the contamination of the EEG signals with muscle activity and the random characteristics of the EEG over extended periods of time, he says. Also, basic task-related EEG signals observed in the healthy subjects were not identifiable in any of the vegetative patients.

"The false-positive EEG brain activity responses in vegetative patients may have been reported because of flawed statistical methods, a problem that was exacerbated because a large number of statistical features were extracted from a small amount of data," says lead author Dr. Goldfine, assistant professor of neurology at the Burke Medical Research Institute, a neurologist at New York Presbyterian /Weill Cornell and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital. "Our reanalysis showed that because of the statistical assumptions and methodology used in the original study, random phenomena could be misinterpreted as a 'response'."

In addition to identifying flaws in the statistical approach used in the original study, the Weill Cornell research team also reanalyzed the original data with methodologies that take into account the presence of contamination of EEG data by muscle activity artifact, and the kind of randomness that EEG signals manifest over time. "But critically, the data from the vegetative subjects showed no changes indicative of consciousness or command following. Our analysis only revealed random fluctuations of brain activity," says Dr. Goldfine, who is also an assistant professor of neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell.

"This reanalysis study shows methods have consequences," says Dr. Fins. "This is really difficult science, and we must do everything in our power to work together, to share our data and methods and peer review it, so that we can reach our goal of properly defining consciousness in severely brain injured patients."

The study's other co-authors include: Jonathan Bardin, a neuroscience graduate student at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Dr. Quentin Noirhomme of the Coma Science Group, Cyclotron Research Centre and Neurology Department at the University and University Hospital of Li?ge, in Li?ge, Belgium.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Weill Cornell Medical College.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Andrew M Goldfine, Jonathan D Victor, Mary M Conte, Jonathan C Bardin, Nicholas D Schiff. Bedside detection of awareness in the vegetative state. The Lancet, 2012; 379 (9827): 1701 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60714-4

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/grB-j5V__5I/130125104206.htm

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Cuba gets hard-wired Internet to outside world

17 hrs.

Peter Orsi , The Associated Press

HAVANA ??Cuba's state telecom monopoly confirmed Thursday that the island's first hard-wired Internet connection to the outside world has been activated, but said it won't lead to an immediate increase in access.

In a statement published in Communist Party newspaper Granma and other official media, ETECSA broke its long silence on the ALBA-1 fiber-optic cable, which island officials once boasted would increase capacity 3,000-fold.

Until now Cuba's Internet has been strictly via ponderous satellite links, and out of reach for the great majority of islanders. ETECSA said the new cable has been operational since August, initially carrying international voice calls, and the company has been conducting data traffic tests on the cable since Jan. 10.

"When the testing process concludes, the submarine cable being put into operation will not mean that possibilities for access will automatically multiply," ETECSA said.

"It will be necessary to invest in internal telecommunications infrastructure," the company said, adding that even then the goal is "gradual growth of a service that we offer mostly for free and with social aims in mind."

The $70 million ALBA-1 arrived on the island from Venezuela in February 2011 to great hoopla, but officials soon stopped mentioning the cable amid rumors of mismanagement and corruption involving the project.

Its status was unknown until this week, when U.S. Internet analysis firm Renesys documented evidence of faster data traffic to Cuba and concluded that the cable had been switched on.

Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, an advocate for wider Internet dissemination, questioned whether the government would have said anything about the cable if Renesys and foreign media had not reported about it.

"(Hashtag) Granma says now it's necessary to build infrastructure for the (hashtag) FiberOpticCable to provide service!" she tweeted. "And what were they doing the past two years?"

Cuba has the second-worst Internet connectivity rate in the world, according to one study.

According to government statistics, about 16 percent of islanders have some online access, usually through their school or workplace and often just to an Intranet that also has email capability.

Just 2.9 percent of Cubans report having full access to the World Wide Web. However outside observers say the true number is more like 5 to 10 percent accounting for underreporting of dial-up minutes resold on the black market.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/cuba-confirms-hard-wired-internet-connection-outside-world-1C8109858

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Investing News: Expert Analysis, Investment Tools, Stock Screeners ...

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Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839069/Investing_News_Expert_Analysis_Investment_Tools_Stock_Screeners_and_Financial_Strategy_Information__CNBC

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Korg announces MS-20 mini, we go hands and ears-on (video)

Korg has a string of classic sound-making machines the bear its name. One of the most well regarded would be the MS-20 analog synth that first landed in 1978. But that's no good to you right here in 2013 is it? Well, funnily enough, the kind folk at Korg realised this, and decided to relaunch it, updated for the modern musician. The MS-20 mini is, as you might surmise, a smaller version of the classic, measuring in at 86 percent the size of the original. It also looks like as much of the character that made the MS-20 sing to people's hearts has been carried over as possible. The mini was developed by the same engineers, has the same synthesis set up (two oscillators, ring modulation, VCA design etc) complete with manual cable-patching system (which is now 3.5mm rather than 1/4-inch). There is one modern addition, and that is a USB-MIDI jack around the back, letting you plug in to your favorite DAW / sequencing software through the more contemporary connection -- should you prefer that over the good old 5-pin MIDI (which is still an option). As we're right here at NAMM, we took a stroll over to the Korg booth to take a look for ourselves. Head past the break to see / hear more.

Undoubtedly, the MS-20 mini looks like the real deal. Although smaller second time around, it's still a good size, and big enough for competent keyboard players to do their thing. The knobs and pots felt surprisingly plasticky, but the rest of the machine seems robust and well made. It's hard not to get sucked in to the whole vintage detail, especially the patch bay on the right hand side. The action on the keys feels good and responsive, and those dials should be able to take some vigorous use -- ideal for live performances. The sound it generates will definitely please fans of analog synths, and we even caught Deadmau5 making an appearance at the booth to check it out. So, if you'd like to upgrade from that iPad app version, to the real deal, you should be able to do so in spring, for an expected $599. Want to hear how it sounds? Jump on the video below for the quick demo. Full press release comes after that.

Show full PR text

Korg USA Announces MS-20 mini - Korg's classic MS-20 is recreated in mini size -

WINTER NAMM, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA, January 24th, 2013 - Korg's MS-20 monophonic synthesizer, first introduced in 1978, is still coveted to this day for its thick, robust sound, powerful, iconic analog filter, and versatile patching options. It has now been reborn in hardware, as the new MS-20 mini. The same engineers who developed the original MS-20 have perfectly reproduced it in a body that's been shrunk to 86% of the original size, yet retains the distinctive look of the original.

The MS-20 Mini offers the same distinctive synthesis that made the original MS-20 popular: two oscillators with ring modulation, and envelope generators with delay and hold. The VCA (Voltage Controlled Amp) maintains the original basic design, but it's been modified to produce less noise. Particular attention has also been paid to delivering smooth parameter adjustments, which are a distinctive feature of analog synthesizers. Special care was also taken to completely reproduce the original specifications of the MS-20, to deliver the same powerful sound, from deep, growling basses to crisp, rounded leads.

One of the most well-known - and still most sought after - characteristics of the original MS-20 was its powerful filters, which provided both high-pass and low-pass with peak/resonance. Maximizing the peak/resonance would cause the filter to self-oscillate; producing a distinctive and dramatic tonal change that was acclaimed as inimitable, and was used many years later on Korg's monotron and monotribe. The filter circuit was changed mid-way through the production lifecycle of the MS-20; the MS-20 mini uses the earlier filter, which was felt to be superior due to its more radical sound.
The ESP (External Signal Processor) functionality carries on the experimental spirit of MS-20, allowing users to utilize the pitch or volume of an external audio source to control the synthesizer. For example, an electric guitar can be used as an input signal, and the MS-20 mini can be used as a guitar synthesizer, or the mic input can allow it to be used it as a vocal synthesizer.

The patching system enables the creation of complex sounds by allowing the rerouting of both modulation and audio (both the internal oscillators and external audio). Different combinations of the modulation input/output and trigger, sample and hold, and noise generator can produce an incredible variety of sounds. By patching according to the MS-20 flow chart printed on the panel, musicians of all levels can take advantage of these possibilities right away.

To make it even more approachable, the MS-20 mini has been shrunk to 86% of the size of the original, with meticulous care taken to accurately reproduce the knob design and the printing. The patch cables have been changed from 1/4" phone plugs to mini-plugs, and the newly- designed keyboard is also 86% of the original size.

The MS-20 mini is equipped with a MIDI IN jack for receiving note messages, and a USB-MIDI connector that can transmit and receive note messages. Users can also connect the MS20 mini to a computer and play it from an external sequencer.

For added authenticity, the MS-20 mini packaging replicates much of the original. Also included are the original MS-20 owner's manual and settings chart.

Billy Steele contributed to this report.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/bL7peGexeUE/

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Economist: Euro crisis could erupt again this year

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? Is the euro crisis over? A leading U.S. economist says not by a long shot.

Even as the head of the European Central Bank talked Friday of "positive contagion" in the markets and predicted an economic recovery for the recession-hit eurozone later this year, economist Barry Eichengreen warned that the debt crisis that has shaken Europe to its core could easily erupt again this year unless European leaders move faster to solve their problems.

While European governments and markets have been breathing easier in recent months after years of turmoil, it's no time for complacency, said Eichengreen, who has chronicled the Great Depression and explored the consequences of a breakup of the euro currency used by 17 nations.

"Nothing has been resolved in the eurozone, where markets have swung from undue pessimism to undue optimism," Eichengreen told The Associated Press in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "They said all the right things last year ... and they've been backtracking ever since."

He warns that the crisis over too much debt burdening governments and banks in the 17-country currency group "is going to heat up again in 2013."

He urged eurozone leaders follow up on its proposals to steady its banking system and keep failed banks from adding to government debt through expensive bailouts.

European leaders in Davos this week are seeking to reassure investors and corporate leaders that the continent is on the mend after its punishing debt crises.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Friday forecast a recovery in the eurozone economy in the second half of the year, and spoke of "a new restored sense of relative tranquility" and "positive contagion on the financial markets."

But he acknowledged "we don't see this being transmitted into the real economy yet."

Draghi said governments need to move ahead with structural reforms to make their economies grow faster, which will help reduce government debt.

Heavily indebted countries such as Spain and Italy faced alarmingly high borrowing costs on bond markets last year, as investors wondered whether they would be able to keep paying their debts. Those bond market rates fell after key steps by European leaders. One was the European Central Bank's offer to purchase bonds issued by indebted countries if they promise to reduce their deficits. Another was a proposal to set up a so-called banking union that would keep failed banks from bankrupting any one country by transferring the supervision of bank behavior and finances to a single, central EU supervisor at the ECB.

Europe, meanwhile, is in a recession that is putting added pressure on government finances.

"Europeans will be shocked out of their complacency, I think, soon enough," Eichengreen said. "There will be a relapse to the greater volatility of the first half of last year."

"None of the underlying problems have been solved. There is no economic growth in Europe. Germany itself is on the verge of recession. The banking union doesn't exist. There's less consensus on completing it than we thought last year, so the markets are going to lose patience at some point and the crisis will be back. "

Eichengreen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studied the possibility of a eurozone breakup long before the crisis that started in late 2009 forced other people to consider what was once unthinkable. He concluded that leaving the euro would be disastrously expensive and cause widespread chaos for any country that tries it.

Political leaders are aware of those high costs, which means a country such as debt-strapped Greece leaving the eurozone "is off the table for the moment," he said.

Concerns about Europe's economic future ? and the threat that Britain could one day pull out of the European Union, whose 27 members together make up the world's largest economy ? clouded this year's gathering in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

The forum pulls together corporate and political leaders who strike business deals, strategize about world problems and attend lavish parties ? and comes under regular criticism from activists and workers who say the elite event is disconnected from the world's economic realities.

Activists at Davos took over a Shell station Friday to protest drilling for oil in the Arctic.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/economist-euro-crisis-could-erupt-again-080530769--finance.html

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Do I Need A Debt Management Plan? - Easley, SC Patch

New Federal Reserve data shows that consumer borrowing surged more than $20 billion in November, partly to cover spending over Black Friday weekend. This means that some consumers will be struggling with holiday and other debt well into the New Year and beyond. A Debt Management Plan (DMP) can provide the step-by-step plan to help get them back on sound financial ground. And with many creditors offering favorable repayment terms to consumers who enroll in a DMP, now might be the best time to tackle your debt.

?A Debt Management Plan is particularly helpful for consumers struggling to make even the minimum payment on their credit cards,? said Brent Bishop, community development officer for CredAbility. ?Ultimately, the plan serves the dual purpose of helping consumers repay their debts and helping creditors receive the money owed to them.?

Many people who opt for a DMP to repay their credit card debt are prompted to seek help after late payments have caused their credit card interest rates to soar. Consumers who enroll in a DMP may receive interest rates ranging from 6% to 10% from some creditors. Lower interest rates can result in lower payments and can help cardholders repay their balances.

In 2012, people who enrolled in a DMP with CredAbility had an average of $24,420 in credit card debt, carried 6.5 credit cards and had an average credit score of 602.

At CredAbility, certified counselors help consumers determine whether they can tackle their financial challenges through budgeting and reduced spending, or if the structure of a debt management plan will be more effective.

What is a Debt Management Plan?

A Debt Management Plan is a systematic method for paying down your outstanding debt. For a small monthly fee, consumers make a single payment each month to CredAbility, which acts as a trustee in distributing the funds to creditors. CredAbility works with both clients and creditors to design a debt repayment program that minimizes monthly payments, interest and related fees. This plan enables an individual to repay their entire debt obligation at more favorable terms, and on a plan that is within their ability to pay.

The repayment period varies based on amount owed and the repayment terms. The average debt management plan is structured to repay debt in 36-60 months.

Do I Need a Debt Management Plan?

Debt can quickly become overwhelming if you ignore the warning signs. Look for these warning signs and take action to avoid compounding the problem.

• Using credit cards to cover daily living expenses.
• Making only minimum payments on credit cards; or struggling to make even minimum payments.
• Carrying multiple credit cards and rotating their use to juggle balances and due dates.
• Making payments late or missing payments for more than one month.
• Charging more each month on your credit cards than you are paying toward the balance.
• Credit cards that are at or close to their limit.
• Not knowing how much you owe.
• Calls from creditors.
• Taking out loans or using equity in your home to pay off debt.
• An interruption in income would cause immediate difficulty paying bills.

?Ignoring the problem won?t make it go away,? said Bishop. ?Getting help at the first sign of trouble can make the difference between a financial setback and a financial disaster.?

Get Help

The key to reclaiming your financial independence is recognizing the need for help and getting it. At CredAbility, certified counselors will help you evaluate your financial situation and find the solution that best suits you. For more information on Debt Management Plans or to talk with a certified counselor about your options for a debt free life, contact CredAbility at 1-800-251-2227 or online at www.CredAbility.org. ?

About CredAbility

Founded in 1964, CredAbility is one of the leading nonprofit credit counseling and education agencies in the United States, serving clients in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in both English and Spanish. In addition, we provide in-person counseling at offices in five states in the southeast. Service is provided 24/7 by phone at 800.251.2227 and online at www.CredAbility.org.

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Source: http://easley.patch.com/articles/do-i-need-a-debt-management-plan

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