Eviction after 35 years of cohabitation | Elderlaw Forum - Central ...

?We always meant to get married,? said the Senior Legal Helpline caller. ?But something always got in the way.?

Now her brother is in the way. ?He?s going to evict me from our house. Can he do that?? he asked. The answer: In most states, in the absence of a showing of an ?equitable interest,? the answer is yes. He may have to pack up and move out, even though, as he insisted: ?We?ve always loved each other!?

The caller is in his mid-seventies, as is his long-time cohabitee. They have lived together in a house to which she held warranty deed and sole ownership for the better part of 35 years. She inherited the house from her parents. It is valued at $125,000.

Six months ago she designated a brother as her agent under a power of attorney, deeded him the family home and moved to an assisted living facility. ?She didn?t know what she was doing,? contends the caller. ?She is suffering from dementia.? The brother, now named as the sole owner on the deed that was duly witnessed and notarized, has served the caller with a ?notice to vacate letter.?

While the caller has spent more than three decades outside the responsibilities of marriage, he now finds himself outside the legal protections of a marriage contract recognized by state law.

?Cohabitation? is defined as ?living together in a sexual relationship without marriage.? Currently, we are told that 60 percent of all marriages are preceded by cohabitation, but fewer than half of cohabitating unions result in marriage. This one did not result in marriage. And while they may have viewed their relationship as an alternative to marriage, the law doesn?t necessarily support that view.

Cohabitees may not be able to make decisions in a medical emergency, or benefit from the other?s retirement plan, or inherit the other?s property. And if they decide to part, jointly purchased property may not be divided equally.

The caller may wish to challenge the transfer of the family home, contending that his partner was mentally impaired when she executed the deed. But without the protections of a marriage contract, it may not make any difference. He should, I advised, be prepared to relocate to another domicile.

My advice to cohabitating couples: ?Put it in writing.? Or, ?get around to it? and make a trip to the courthouse.

?

Eviction after 35 years of cohabitation | Elderlaw Forum

Michael Myers

Professor

USD School of Law

Source: http://www.centralkitsapreporter.com/opinion/185219002.html

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Deal reached for stopping spike in milk prices

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The top leaders in both parties on the House and Senate Agriculture committees have agreed to a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill that expired in October, a move that could head off a possible doubling of milk prices next month.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., indicated the House could vote on the bill soon, though House leaders have not yet agreed to put the bill on the floor. In addition to the one-year extension that has the backing of the committees, the House GOP is also considering two other extension bills: a one-month extension and an even smaller bill that would merely extend dairy policy that expires Jan. 1.

Expiration of those dairy programs could mean higher prices at the grocery store within a few weeks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Americans face the prospect of paying $7 for a gallon of milk if the current dairy program lapsed and the government returned to a 1948 formula for calculating milk price supports.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that Republican leaders had not decided how they would proceed on the farm extension, though a vote could come as soon as Monday. Boehner has pushed back on passage of a new five-year farm bill for months, saying there were not enough votes to bring it to the House floor after the House Agriculture Committee approved it in July. The Senate passed its version of a farm bill in June.

The prospect of higher milk prices has motivated some action. The bipartisan extension also includes disaster assistance to farmers affected by a lingering drought this year, along with extensions to other farm programs that expired in October.

Instead of just extending current dairy policy, the extension bill includes an overhaul of dairy programs that was included in both the Senate and House committee bills. The new dairy programs include a new, voluntary insurance program for dairy producers. Those who choose that new program also would have to participate in a market stabilization program that could dictate production cuts when oversupply drives down prices ? an idea that hasn't gone over well with Boehner.

In July, he called the current dairy program "Soviet-style" and said the new program would make it even worse. Large food companies that process and use dairy products have backed Boehner, saying the program could limit milk supplies and increase their costs.

Stabenow blamed Boehner for getting to the point where an extension is the only option. "The lack of action by the House Republican leadership has put us in a situation where we risk serious damage to our economy unless we pass a temporary extension," she said.

One of the reasons Boehner has balked at bringing up a farm bill is disagreement within his caucus over how much money should be cut from food stamps, which make up roughly 80 percent of the half-trillion-dollar bill's cost over five years. House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has unsuccessfully pushed his leadership for months to move on the legislation despite the disagreement over food aid.

On Sunday, Lucas said he hoped the extension would pass both chambers quickly as GOP leadership mulled their options.

"It is not perfect ? no compromise ever is ? but it is my sincere hope that it will pass the House and Senate and be signed by the president by Jan. 1," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deal-reached-stopping-spike-milk-prices-195347513.html

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No heir to run the company? Why adult 'adoption' is big business in Japan

Osamu Suzuki, left, is the fourth adopted son to run the family company

Family firms in Japan often rely on adult adoptees to help retain dynastic control. Finding a match has become an industry in itself.

Like many men in Japan, Tsunemaru Tanaka is looking for a wife. Unlike some, he is prepared to sacrifice his name to get one. If all goes well in 2013, he'll find a bride, her prosperous family will adopt him and he'll take their family name. In an ideal world, he'll run their business too. "I think I have a lot of skills to offer the right family," he says.

The 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie famously said that inherited wealth "deadens talents and energies. Business research generally supports the Carnegie thesis: companies controlled by heirs underperform their professionalised competitors. Except, apparently, in Japan.

Japan boasts the world's oldest family-run businesses, the Hoshi Guest House, founded in 717. And the construction company Kongo Gumi was operated for a record-breaking 1,400 years by a succession of heirs until it was taken over in 2006. Many family firms - car-maker Suzuki, Matsui Securities, and giant brewery Suntory - break the rule of steady dynastic decline, or what is sometimes cruelly dubbed the "idiot-son syndrome".

So how do Japanese firms do it? The answer, apparently, is adoption.Last year more than 81,000 people were adopted in Japan, one of the highest rates in the world. Remarkably, more than 90 per cent of those adopted were adults.

The practice of adopting men in their 20s and 30s is used to rescue biologically ill-fated families and ensure a business heir, says Vikas Mehrotra, of the University of Alberta, the lead author of a new paper on the Japanese phenomenon of adult adoptions. "We haven't come across this custom in any other part of the world," he says.

Though the phenomenon has been previously documented, its impact on economic competitiveness has not. Dr Mehrotra's paper finds not only inherited family control still common in Japanese business, but says family firms are "puzzlingly competitive", outperforming otherwise similar professionally managed companies. "These results are highly robust and... suggest family control 'causes' good performance rather than the converse."

Finding suitable heirs, however, is not as simple as it once was. Japan's sliding birthrate has created many one-child families, and while daughters can manage the company back office, the face out front in this still chauvinistic country must be male, says Chieko Date. She is one of dozens of marriage consultants who bring together ambitious young men and the marriageable daughters of business families. Ms Date is proud of her record. "We bring happiness to both sides," she says.

If the meetings go well, the men agree to drop their own surname and be adopted by their new bride's family, becoming both the head of the family and its business. Ms Date's consultancy claims to have brokered 600 of these marriages - known as "mukoyoshi" - over the past decade. "We believe that this cannot be just a business transaction," she says. If the couples don't like each other, the marriage and the business will fail.

Ms Date screens the men carefully, going only for "top-class" candidates. "I've talked to 20,000 men over the past decade and successfully brokered hundreds of marriages, and I haven't heard of a single divorce," she adds. Just in case, the families of prospective wives will often do a deep background check on their future adoptees, to make sure they don't come loaded with debt, and they're not gay.

Remarkably, some families will bypass a biological son for an adoptee if they feel that nature has shortchanged them - a practice that occurs with "some regularity" says Dr Mehrotra.

Could Japan's unique remedy offer lessons to its prickly neighbour China? It seems unlikely. Chinese businessmen who have come across the practice find it "uncivilised".

Family fortunes: Business dynasties

Toyota

Established in 1937 by Kiichiro Toyoda, above, as a spin-off from his father's weaving company. In 2009, Akio Toyoda, Kiichiro's grandson, pictured, took over as president of the company, which employs 300,734 people worldwide.

Suntory

Founded in 1899 by Shinjiro Torii, below, the brewing giant famous for its whisky is still 90-per-cent owned by the founding family.

Suzuki

Michio Suzuki set up the Suzuki Loom Works during a silk boom in 1909. It is now the ninth largest car-maker in the world. The CEO, Osamu Suzuki, is the fourth adopted son to run the company.

Matsui Securities

A financial company providing online securities trading services, set up in 1931. The company's fourth president, Michio Matsui, was adopted into the family, but this meant ditching his own name.

Source: http://www.sott.net/article/255363-No-heir-to-run-the-company-Why-adult-adoption-is-big-business-in-Japan

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Analysis: For Senate leaders, a mission impossible from Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Following a Friday meeting with congressional leaders, an impatient and annoyed President Barack Obama said it was "mind boggling" that Congress has been unable to fix a "fiscal cliff" mess that everyone has known about for more than a year.

He then dispatched Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on a mind-boggling mission: coming up with a bipartisan bill to break the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in the most partisan and gridlocked U.S. Congress of modern times - in about 48 hours.

Reid and McConnell, veteran tacticians known for their own long-running feud, have been down this road before.

Their last joint venture didn't turn out so well. It was the deal in August 2011 to avoid a U.S. default that set the stage for the current mess. That effort, like this one, stemmed from a grand deficit-reduction scheme that turned into a bust.

But they have never had the odds so stacked against them as they try to avert the "fiscal cliff" - sweeping tax increases set to begin on Tuesday and deep, automatic government spending cuts set to start on Wednesday, combined worth $600 billion.

The substantive differences are only part of the challenge. Other obstacles include concerns about who gets blamed for what and the legacy of distrust among members of Congress.

Any successful deal will require face-saving measures for Republicans and Democrats alike.

"Ordinary folks, they do their jobs, they meet deadlines, they sit down and they discuss things, and then things happen," Obama told reporters. "If there are disagreements, they sort though the disagreements. The notion that our elected leadership can't do the same thing is mind-boggling to them."

CORE DISAGREEMENT

The core disagreement between Republicans and Democrats is tough enough. It revolves around the low tax rates first put in place under Republican former President George W. Bush that expire at year's end. Republicans would extend them for everyone. Democrats would extend them for everyone except the wealthiest taxpayers.

The first step for Reid and McConnell may be to find a formula acceptable to their own parties in the Senate.

While members of the Senate, more than members of the House of Representatives, have expressed flexibility on taxes, it's far from a sure thing in a body that ordinarily requires not just a majority of the 100-member Senate to pass a bill, but a super-majority of 60 members.

With 51 Democrats, two independents who vote with the Democrats and 47 Republicans, McConnell and Reid may have to agree to suspend the 60-vote rule.

Getting a bill through the Republican-controlled House may be much tougher. The conservative wing of the House, composed of many lawmakers aligned with the Tea Party movement who fear being targeted by anti-tax activists in primary elections in 2014, has shown it will not vote for a bill that raises taxes on anyone, even if it means defying Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

Many Democrats are wedded to the opposite view - and have vowed not to support continuing the Bush-era tax rates for people earning more than $250,000 a year.

Some senators are wary of the procedural conditions House Republicans are demanding. Boehner is insisting the Senate start its work with a bill already passed by the House months ago that would continue all Bush-era tax cuts for another year. The Democratic-controlled Senate may amend the Republican bill, he says, but it must be the House bill.

For Boehner, it's the regular order when considering revenue measures, which the U.S. Constitution says must originate in the House.

SHIFT BLAME

As some Democrats see it, it's a way to shift blame if the enterprise goes down in flames. House Republicans would be able to claim that since they had already done their part by passing a bill, the Senate should take the blame for plunging the nation off the "cliff."

And that could bring public wrath, currently centered mostly on Republicans, onto the heads of Democrats.

Voters may indeed be looking for someone to blame if they see their paychecks shrink as taxes rise or their retirement savings dwindle as a result of a plunge in global markets.

If Reid and McConnell succeed, there could be political ramifications for each side. For example, a deal containing any income tax hikes could complicate McConnell's own 2014 re-election effort in which small-government, anti-tax Tea Party activists are threatening to mount a challenge.

If Obama and his fellow Democrats are perceived as giving in too much, it could embolden Republicans to mount challenge after challenge, possibly handcuffing the president before his second term even gets off the ground.

It could be a sprint to the finish. One Democratic aide expected "negotiation for a day." If the aide is correct, the world would know by late on Saturday or early on Sunday if Washington's political dysfunction is about to reach a new, possibly devastating, low.

If Reid and McConnell reach a deal, it would then be up to the full Senate and House to vote, possibly as early as Sunday.

Reid and McConnell have been through bitter fights before. The deficit reduction and debt limit deal that finally was secured last year was a brawl that ended only when the two leaders agreed to a complicated plan that secured about $1 trillion in savings, but really postponed until later a more meaningful plan to restore the country's fiscal health.

That effort led to the automatic spending cuts that form part of the "fiscal cliff."

Just months later, in December 2011, Reid and McConnell were going through a tough fight over extending a payroll tax cut.

In both instances, it was resistance from conservative House Republicans that complicated efforts, just as is the case now with the "fiscal cliff."

(Editing by Fred Barbash and Will Dunham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-senate-leaders-mission-impossible-obama-060209382--business.html

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FatBooth for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad for free

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Facebook Purges Pro-Gun Accounts

http://newsdoors.blogspot.com/2012/12/facebook-purges-pro-gun-accounts.html

Facebook Purges Pro-Gun Accounts

Facebook is purging accounts that carry pro-second amendment and pro-liberty information in a censorship purge that has accelerated over the past few hours, with innumerable pages being disappeared merely for posting legitimate political content.

NaturalNews.com's Mike Adams contacted us to alert us to the fact that "Facebook banned our account for posting this," with an attached image of a Gandhi quote about how the British disarmed the citizenry during their rule in India.

The following is a list of Facebook accounts operated by individuals in the alternative media that have been shut down by Facebook staff over the past 24 hours. Infowars writer Aaron Dykes and political dissident Brandon J. Raub have also had their accounts deleted. Raub was snatched by police and forcibly imprisoned in a psychiatric wardearlier this year for posting political content on Facebook. Infowars editor Kurt Nimmo also had his account suspended this morning.

Kurt Nimmo (account suspended)
Aaron Dykes (account inactive)
Amber Lyon (account suspended)
Brandon J. Raub (account inactive)
Michael F Rivero (account inactive)
Anthony J Hilder (account inactive)
William Lewis (account inactive)
Richard Gage (account inactive)
William Rodriguez (account inactive)
Infowar Artist (account inactive)
We are Change (account inactive)
Wacboston At Twitter (account inactive)
Michael Murphy Tmp (account inactive)
Robert M Bowman (account inactive)
Peter Dale Scott (account inactive)
Jason Infowars (account inactive)
Mike Skuthan (account inactive)
Packy Savvenas (account inactive)
Sean Wright (account inactive)
Katherine Albrect (account inactive)

It is important to stress that most of these accounts have not simply been temporarily suspended, they have been shut down completely. Some are now being reinstated after complaints. Accounts that have been suspended can still be seen but posting rights have been revoked.

A 24 hour suspension was also placed on the Alex Jones Facebook account due to an image that another user had posted in which Alex Jones was tagged.

One of the messages being received by users having their accounts suspended is displayed below. In most cases, users are not even being informed of why their page was suspended or deleted, with Facebook merely referring them to the company's guidelines.

http://newsdoors.blogspot.com/2012/12/facebook-purges-pro-gun-accounts.html

Source: http://www.nowpublic.com/world/facebook-purges-pro-gun-accounts

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Falcon Pro (for Twitter) Is a Newshound's Best Friend

Falcon Pro (for Twitter) pitches itself as "the ultimate Twitter experience on Android," and while one can usually take these app-store hyperbole laden statements with an idiom-laden statement -- in this case a grain of salt -- there is one thing that I'm looking for in a Twitter client that Falcon Pro promises.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/270292e0/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C769620Bhtml/story01.htm

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Use Cheesecloth to Filter Broken Cork from a Bottle of Poorly Opened Wine

It happens to all of us at some point?our wine-fu fails us and we wind up pushing the cork back into a bottle instead of removing it, or we break the cork entirely. America's Test Kitchen has a simple solution that beats pouring bits of cork into your glass: grab some cheesecloth and a rubber band.

You can probably see where this is going: use the rubber band to get the cheesecloth around the bottle opening, and just pour the wine through the cheesecloth. The beauty of cheesecloth is that it's meant for liquid to pass through while keeping solid things on the other side, so it works perfectly. They also have some additional wine tips to help keep your bottle from dripping as you pour and to make opening easier. Just hit the link below.

3 Timely Bits of Wine Wisdom | America's Test Kicthen

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ekWa2eifIcU/use-cheesecloth-to-filter-broken-cork-from-a-bottle-of-poorly-opened-wine

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How much info is too much for the customer? - Autopia Forums ...

First thing you need to do is look at what everyone is charging in your area. Because you being a noobie doesn't need to be charging high dollar prices if no one has even ever heard of you before.

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And sometimes you are going to have to explain to them what they are getting because maybe someone wants a premium job, but they don't know what all is involed in it.

This is my website Buff-N-Glo Premium Mobile Detailing maybe it will give you some ideas. And make sure you make your packages customizable so people can choose what they want in a detail. Not nessacerily saying I'm a pro website builder but hopefully it will help. Good luck

Source: http://www.autopiaforums.com/forums/getting-most-out-autopia-forums/41147-how-much-info-too-much-customer.html

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ART & ENTERTAINMENT IN BRIEF 28/12 ? TalkVietnam

HCM City Social Science Association related stories

Memorabilia recall 1973 Paris Peace Conference

More than 200 documents, pictures and objects are on display at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi, recalling the 1973 Paris conference on peace restoration in Vietnam.

Exhibits are divided into three parts, with the first looking at the historical background of the Vietnamese resistance war against US aggression, the second dwelling on the Paris conference in 1973, and the third on the Great Victory of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign in April 1975.

Photo: VOV

Heavy losses in Southern Vietnam in the late 1960s forced the US to negotiate a peace agreement with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

However, the US sought by all means to delay and not sign the agreement.

Negotiations had to last for several years, and bitter defeat in both northern and southern fronts, especially its plan to bombard Hanoi in late 1972, prompted the US to sit down at the negotiating table and sign the agreement in Paris on January 27, 1973, putting an end to the war in Vietnam and restoring peace in the country.

The Paris agreement was a big diplomatic victory of Vietnam, marking a turning point in the national revolutionary cause, said Nguyen Xuan Huong, head of the National Archives Centre III, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition on December 27.

After the signing, the US withdrew its troops from southern Vietnam, creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese people to reinforce the struggle liberating the south and unifying the entire nation in 1975.

Book launched marking life of celebrated historian

A new book titled Tran Van Giau ? 100 Year Milestone compiles writings by 30 scholars and researchers to create a comprehensive portrait of Tran Van Giau (1911-2010), one of Viet Nam?s most renowned historians.

The 400-page book spans Giau?s life and career, from his time as secretary of the Viet Nam Communist Party?s Southern Region and chairman of the South Viet Nam?s Resistance Committee to his years fighting in the Vietnamese revolutionary forces against the French colonialists.

Professor Giau, known throughout the country for his award-winning works in history and philosophy, also served as honorary chairman of the Viet Nam Historical Science Association and chairman of the HCM City Social Science Association. He has received many State awards, including the prestigious Ho Chi Minh Award.

Hanoi celebrates New Year 2013

Hanoi?s Old Quarter management board launched cultural activities at four heritage sites on December 27, beginning the lead-up to welcoming New Year 2013.

Painter Si Tot is exhibiting his work at Kim Ngan Temple on 42-44 Hang Bac Street.

Photographs celebrating the traditional Lai Xa photograph village in Hoai Duc district are on display at Dong Lac Temple on 38 Hang Dao Street.

A heritage building at 87 Ma May Street is showcasing traditional Dong Ho and Hang Trong paintings.

More details about the new exhibitions can be found at the information centre on 28 Hang Buom Street.

All will last through to February 27, 2013.

From December 30, 2012 to January 1, 2013, the Ly Thai To statue square will host a performance celebrating the New Year.

The municipal Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is also planning to adorn Ly Thai To flower garden with 40 stalls displaying the arts and handicrafts of the city?s traditional craft villages.

Russian literature works translated into Vietnamese

About 40 works of Russian literature will be translated into Vietnamese as part of a translation project initiated on the occasion of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev?s official visit to Viet Nam in 2010.

The first batch, released in November, includes four novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Chamber music brings Beethoven to capital crowds

Vietnamese and South Korean musicians will perform classical music tonight at Trung Nguyen Book Coffee, 52 Hai Ba Trung Street, at 8.30pm.

The show features a piano performance of Beethoven?s Moonlight Sonata and Vietnamese composer Dam Linh?s duet for piano and flute Bai Ca Chim Ung (Falcon Song).

Zion, a 20-member choir from South Korea, will sing Christmas Cantata ? A Small Child. Veteran composer Nguyen Cuong will introduce the pieces.

This free show is held on the last Friday of every month.

GoThap recognised as site of national heritage

The historical area of Go Thap in Thap Muoi District, southern province of Dong Thap, was pronounced special national heritage on Wednesday.

Discovered at the end of the 19th century by French researchers, the area once belonged to the Oc Eo Culture, which dates back 1,500 years.

Go Thap has lured countless Vietnamese and foreign archaeologists to research its rare steles and ancient architecture, including sophisticated wooden sculptures and funerary relics.

Located in the centre of the vast Dong Thap Muoi, the area is also notable for its beautiful natural landscapes.

Local authorities plan to preserve the 300-ha area for studying and tourism purposes.

Indian rockband marks anniversary

The Indian Embassy will host a series of performances by Shwaas Rock Band in Viet Nam to mark the visit of INS Sudharshini, a sailing ship used for training by the Indian Navy. It will pay a goodwill visit to Da Nang City from next Monday to Thursday.

The ship is named after the beautiful Sundari, the Sanskrit name for the younger half sister of the Buddha. It will visit Viet Nam to mark the 40th anniversary of full diplomatic relations, the fifth anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership, and the 20th anniversary of the partnership between India and ASEAN.

The band will perform in Da Nang City on January 2, in HCM City on January 4, in Can Tho City on January 6.

In Ha Noi, concerts will be held at the Viet Nam Dance, Song and Music Theatre on January 7 and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities on January 8.

Arts group recognises cultural research

Studies of folk culture and arts received awards yesterday at the Viet Nam Folk Literature and Arts Association?s annual congress.

The six research projects to win awards were: The Traditional Festival of the Black Thai in the Northern Province of Dien Bien; Funeral Rituals of the Cham in the Southern Central Province of Ninh Thuan; the Raglai Epics and Folk Tales Tellers; Problems for Vietnamese Epics; Syntax and Semantics of Vietnamese Proverbs; Folk Literature of the Southern Province of Ben Tre.

This year the association received 73 studies on philology, customs, performing arts and folk knowledge, said association chairman To Ngoc Thanh.

?Many of them were profound and showed a great deal of effort by the authors,? Thanh said.

However some had included terms which were not relevant to the subject or they perpetuated stereotypes and cliches.

?I read some entries trite and hollow remarks like the composition of a high school student, not the study of a scholar,? Thanh said. ?As expected, these entries were not successful.?

The congress was also held to honour veteran folk artists who devoted themselves to promoting cultural quintessence and preserving traditional arts in their regions. Many artists were granted the title Viet Nam?s Master of Folk Art on the occasion.

?The traditional arts are often transferred orally from generation to generation,? Thanh said. ?When an old artists passes away, he or she takes a library of knowledge with them.

?We need to learn from the old artists and preserve their knowledge and experiences as soon as possible.?

Tran Ngoc Thu, a unicorn dancer in the northern province of Quang Ninh, was among the credited artists.

?When I taught unicorn dance to the younger generation and organised dance troupes in the region, I didn?t think of receiving certification or even to let anyone know of my work,? he said. ?I just feel the need to preserve the dance as part of our culture.?

Vietnamese, Korean artists join in chamber concert

Artists from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) will perform together in a concert hosted by Hanoi?s CEG Chamber Music Club at 8.30pm on December 28.

The ZION Korean Choir, comprising 20 Korean singers, will perform a piece entitled ?Christmas Cantata?A Small Child? under the baton of Korean conductor Park Sung Min.

Vietnamese artists?including pianists Dang Bich Thuy and Trang Trinh, flautist Kim Oanh, and violinist Dao Hong Nhung?will also participate.

The CEG Chamber Music Club was established in March by composer Nguyen Cuong.

The club hosts a performance every Friday at 52 Hai Ba Trung Street in Hanoi. The venue can accommodate 200 audience members.

VNN/VOV/VNS

Viet Nam Historical Science Association related stories

Source: http://talkvietnam.com/2012/12/art-entertainment-in-brief-2812/

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Self-Improvement Chapter 1: The Addiction of Depression ...

Posted by support | Posted in Life transformation stories | Posted on 28-12-2012-05-2008

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I just talk about the difficulties behind being depressed and being too familiar with being depressed. There is a way to become addicted to the feeling of depression, and it?s as hard to deal with as any street drug.

Read the original: Self-Improvement Chapter 1: The Addiction of Depression

Source: http://massivevaluegiveaway.com/blog/life-transformation-stories/self-improvement-chapter-1-the-addiction-of-depression/

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UN envoy, Moscow call for revival of Syria plan

BEIRUT (AP) ? Russia and the U.N called Thursday for the resuscitation of a peace initiative for Syria that never got off the ground when it was proposed months ago because both parties to the conflict rejected it.

The plan, unveiled by world powers at an international conference in Geneva in June, called for an open-ended cease-fire, a transitional government to run the country until elections, and the drafting of a new constitution. The plan was a non-starter for the opposition because it did not explicitly ban authoritarian President Bashar Assad and other members of his regime from taking part in the transitional leadership.

The regime ignored it because it would entail voluntarily giving up power.

There was no sign that the plan had any more chance of succeeding now than it did back in June. Assad's government did not comment on the attempt to revive the proposal, and a coordinator for the rebels seeking to end Assad's rule called the plan "illogical."

"No one in the opposition can accept this, and if they accept it, it will be refused by the Syrian people," said Bassam Al-Dada, a Turkey-based coordinator with the rebel Free Syrian Army. He said Assad's forces have killed too many people for him to play a role in any solution.

Anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad began in March 2011.

Because of Russian objections, the original plan did not call specifically for Assad's ouster nor ban him or top members of his regime from participating in the new government.

Much has changed in Syria since the plan was first presented. Rebels have gained momentum, seizing more territory and a number of military installations in the country's north. They are also expanding their control in suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

These gains make it increasingly unlikely that they will accept any plan that allows any part of Assad's regime to remain.

The government, too, has given no indication it will give any ground and dismisses almost all opposition activities as terrorism that seeks to destroy the country.

In Damascus on Thursday, the U.N. envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi called the Geneva plan "suitable enough" to end Syria's war.

"The Syrian people seek genuine change," Brahimi said, adding that the transitional period "must not lead to the collapse of the state or the state's institutions."

Brahimi said that original plan could be amended, but he didn't say how.

He did not mention Assad by name and only said the transitional government would have "full executive powers," meaning "all the authority of the state should be possessed by that government."

Brahimi said it remained to be determined what kind of government would follow and whether the elections called for under the plan would be for president or parliament.

In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevic said Russia, too, is trying to revive the Geneva plan.

"We continue to believe that there is no alternative to that document in trying to find a settlement in Syria," Lukashevich said.

He also reaffirmed Moscow's objection to calls for Assad's ouster.

Russia has been Assad's strongest backer throughout the conflict, selling arms to his forces and, along with China, protecting him from censure by the U.N. Security Council for his violent crackdown on the opposition.

Top Russian officials have recently signaled a new resignation to the idea that Assad could fall. Still, they have said they will not call for his ouster or offer him refuge should he decide to flee.

Brahimi is expected to visit Russia this weekend. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad met Thursday with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to pave the way for Brahimi's visit.

Mekdad is expected to hold talks with other top Russian diplomats later.

Violence flared in Syria again on Thursday, with rebels attacking a police academy and military airport in the northern province of Aleppo while clashing with government forces near the Wadi Deif military base in northern Idlib province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 rebels and 16 government soldiers were killed in clashes around Idlib province.

A car bomb blew up in the Damascus suburb of Sbeineh, killing four people and wounding ten, the state news agency reported.

___

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Vladimir Isachenkov Moscow contributed reporting.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-envoy-moscow-call-revival-syria-plan-113034877.html

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2012: The Year in TV Moments

Bravo, Nov. 4, 9:35 p.m. ET

Increasingly, Bravo?s Real Housewives franchises are becoming context-of-no-context vortexes, closed loops of self-referential recursions. Launch parties for vanity projects that exist only because of the show serve as plot points; minor slights from past reunion episodes are magnified into vendetta-level dramatic material in subsequent seasons. Staying within this airless hall of diamond-framed mirrors too long can habituate the viewer to Bravo mastermind Andy Cohen?s twisted logic (which probably explains why Bravo?s programming schedule is flush with RH marathons), so when mega-producer Ryan Murphy materialized in RH-Atlanta-land to visit with NeNe Leakes?a housewife who moonlights as a minor character in his new series The New Normal?the cleansing breeze of perspective that accompanied him was both refreshingly objective and devastatingly campy.

In the clip, Murphy and Leakes lunch in L.A. The latter is in town on business, you see?and while they do discuss a little of that in the form of Leakes thanking Murphy at length for plucking her up from Celebrity Apprentice and ?changing her life? while he tries to cast both her younger brother and ?love interest,? she soon steers the conversation into McMansion marginalia. After refusing escargot because she only eats chicken, Leakes has the arresting tactlessness to ask Murphy how much a ticket to an Obama fundraiser cost. The look of?what? certainly not surprise; perhaps taxidermic appreciation??that flashes in Murphy?s puckish eyes is priceless. Add that to the condescending, Rosalind Russell-in-Auntie Mame laugh he issues when Leakes jokes about not wanting to pay for a ?plate? at a similar function at Tyler Perry?s house. And through it all, Murphy, who always seems a little ADHD personally and professionally, keeps glancing off into space as if to consult with some ethereal panel regarding the ratio of being to nothingness in this woman.

Of course, the crowning moment of the clip comes when Leakes suggests they try to call Perry on her cellphone, because the two are ?such good friends.? Murphy looks on in giddy horror as the number proves to have been disconnected. Leakes tries again. Leakes fails. Leakes laughs nervously. Murphy cackles heartily. Murphy suggests that Leakes maybe has Meryl Streep on line two. Leakes does not.

This, children, has been a lesson in reading. As we all know from Paris is Burning, reading is the gay (and vaguely Southern) craft of eviscerating a rival or friend with wit, ideally in such an artful manner that they don?t even realize what happened until their intestines fall out hours or weeks later. I suspect it may be just about time for Leakes to inspect her midsection.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=0de987d1520d90d9a3dfc15d5de77d59

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Forex Malibu Gives Insights On Stay Forex Dealing ... - financial news

?For the 2nd time in fifteen months the European unity undertaking, whose lineage goes back again far more than sixty years, has staved off collapse. The euro is saved, temporarily at least the European Central Lender has bent to political reality the Germans will keep on to fund the European Union and paradoxically perhaps, Europe has generated finance establishments that will, about time, develop into the unified fiscal authorities essential for the survival of the euro, the monetary union and the European Union by itself.
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For example, if you reside in the United States and travelled, allows say, to London, England you may well have exchanged your home currency i.e. US $ for British Pounds. The British Pounds are referred to as a overseas currency and the act of exchanging your US $ for British Kilos is known as overseas exchange.

Source: http://cash-for-work-project.net/forex-malibu-gives-insights-on-stay-forex-dealing-education/

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Paul Daley out of Bellator tournament after problems with visa arise

Paul Daley's next shot in MMA has hit a roadbump. The British fighter, who was cut from the UFC after he threw a cheap shot after the bell at Josh Koscheck in 2010, is out of Bellator's welterweight tournament. He can't enter the United States because of issues getting a work visa.

ESPN reports Daley was involved in a bar brawl and was charged with assault, which is the problem with the visa. Daley denies the brawl, and says via his Facebook page it was just a problem with his visa.

It seems as though (sp) a mass press release has gone out to the MMA media stating I was involved (in a) bar brawl, arrested, and cannot obtain a P-1 visa to compete in the USA. I am currently awaiting a decision on my visa, which is not expected until late April. Which means I am unable to compete in the season 8 Bellator tournament, as it starts in January. I will be fighting in Europe in the coming months, so I am able to stay active while awaiting a decision on my visa status. I was not involved in a bar brawl. This is 100-percent a false statement.

Previously, Daley has fought in the United States for Bellator, Strikeforce and the UFC without any visa issues.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/paul-daley-bellator-tournament-problems-visa-arise-133424597--mma.html

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Obama to Return to Washington Wednesday as Fiscal Cliff Looms (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273090397?client_source=feed&format=rss

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UK Milk Supply Contains New MRSA Strain

Tests on milk from several different farms across the U.K. have turned up evidence for a new strain of MRSA ? bacteria which have evolved resistance to common antibiotics. As long as the milk is properly pasteurized, it poses no threat to consumers, but anyone working directly with the animals bears a small risk of infection. According to The Independent,
"The disclosure comes amid growing concern over the use of modern antibiotics on British farms, driven by price pressure imposed by the big supermarket chains. Intensive farming with thousands of animals raised in cramped conditions means infections spread faster and the need for antibiotics is consequently greater. Three classes of antibiotics rated as 'critically important to human medicine' by the World Health Organization ? cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and macrolides ? have increased in use in the animal population by eightfold in the last decade."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/C-T_D1XlRE8/story01.htm

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Novel legalistic ? education: Right to Culture ? Mike Linksvayer

What passes for copyright education aimed at the general public (caveat: aiming to educate about copyright out of context of broader info- and social-policy is misguided, but I?ll leave that be for now, and the campaign described fortunately doesn?t mention copyright) might be categorized along the following:

• Legalistic (explaining what can or can?t be done within current law) and/or normative
• Blunt (e.g., downloading is a crime, copying isn?t theft) and/or turgid (e.g., how to comply with the DMCA, what maybe fair use, how public copyright licenses work)
• Tilted in favor of more or less restriction

It?s easy to think of examples of examples of all of the resulting combinations, except for one: legalistic, blunt, and favoring less restriction. The nearest I can recall were the EFF ?MP3 is not a crime? and ?coding is not a crime? stickers, but it is hard to know what to take from those without knowing background stories (and I can?t recall what the MP3 one referred to), and ?not a crime? is not very positive. Thus I find the Modern Poland Foundation?s Right to Culture campaign interesting (emphasis added):

The Modern Poland Foundation has launched a social campaign ?The Right to Culture?. Its main goal is to enhance public awareness of freedoms under the copyright law.

The message is carried by three simple statements which are consistent with the copyright law, but often wrongly seen as a violation:

I have the right to copy books.
I have the right to download films.
I have the right to share music.

The three sentences ? in speech bubbles ? have been placed on the Warsaw subway cars? windows. They also point to the project website prawokultury.pl, where one can find detailed information explaining legal provisions of the Copyright Law in Poland.

Art. 23 of the Copyright Law states that one is ?permitted to use free of charge the work, which has been already disseminated for purposes of private use without the permission of the author.? This includes ?the use of single copies of the work by a group of persons staying in a personal interrelation with each other, including in particular blood relation, kinship or a social relationship.? This means that restrictions concerning everyday activities such as copying books or e-books, downloading films or sharing music or files are not unconditional. Therefore, it is legal to make a copy of a book, download a film from the Internet or send a music album to a friend.

Go to the announcement for links and more.

Perhaps similarly legalistic, blunt, and favoring less restriction campaigns should be considered for your jurisdiction.

153ofsZ1PrnCnDGjvWAenRJc53TRhR9BzK Posted 2012-12-24, filed under Creative Commons, Intellectual Protectionism.

Source: http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2012/12/24/right-to-culture/

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Economic Optimism's Scarce for 2013

With three-quarters of Americans saying the economy's still in a recession, optimism both about personal and global prospects in the year ahead are at their lowest in 11 years. Nonetheless, unlike the past three years, a majority at least says an economic recovery's begun.

Optimism continues to trump pessimism in personal outlook: Fifty-three percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll are more hopeful than fearful about what 2013 holds in store for them personally. Fewer, 40 percent, are more hopeful than fearful about the world's prospects.

See PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

Both are down sharply, by 32 and 29 percentage points, respectively, from their highs in December 2003, to their lowest level in more than a decade. The 56 percent who express fearfulness about the global outlook ties the high right before 2003, with war in Iraq imminent.

PARTISANSHIP - Political allegiances factor heavily into these views. Seventy-five percent of Democrats express personal optimism, matching its level after the 2008 elections, and their global optimism is just 6 points lower, now 61 percent. Among Republicans, a second consecutive loss is a lot to bear: Their personal and global optimism are nearly half their level vs. four years ago (25 vs. 44 percent, and 18 vs. 39 percent, respectively).

That mirrors trends after the 2004 election, when George W. Bush won his second term. Personal optimism for the next year among Democrats dropped by 29 points from the previous year, and global optimism by 20 points, while optimism among Republicans was virtually unchanged.

Compared to 2008, hopefulness among independents has dropped by 12 and 10 points, respectively. But party's at play there also; Democratic-leaning independents are nearly identical in hopefulness to Democrats, while Republican-leaning independents look much like Republicans.

ECONOMY and THE CLIFF - Despite easing unemployment, Americans continue to feel the effects of the longest, deepest downturn since the Great Depression. Seventy-six percent in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, think that the country still is in a recession, unchanged since April.

But the economy's trajectory matters also. On that, more than half - 53 percent - say that in their personal experience the nation's economy has started to recover. While that's not significantly different than its level this March, it's up by 17 points in the last year.

The increase is broadly based, occurring in nearly every group, albeit only up 10 points to 35 percent among Republicans (compared with a 25-point increase to 72 percent among Democrats) and by a slight 7 points among conservatives, to 34 percent.

Yet even among those who say the recovery is underway, three-quarters say it's a weak one.

While heavily influenced by partisanship, these perceptions still factor into expectations for the year ahead. Personal and global optimism are 26 to 47 points higher among those who say the recession is over or the recovery has begun, compared with those who disagree.

The potential impacts of not reaching an agreement on the fiscal cliff weigh heavily on Americans as well: Three-quarters or more are concerned about its effects on the national economy, their personal finances, the government's operations and the U.S. military. And those who are very worried about these consequences are 17 to 22 points less optimistic about their personal outlook compared with those who are less worried.

MORE ISSUES - Despite the ongoing economic challenges, 66 percent of Americans express optimism about their personal finances in the next year. But the public divides evenly in optimism or pessimism about the national economy more broadly. Both have been stable since March and are nearly identical to their levels four years ago.

Fifty-one percent today say they are pessimistic about the way things are going in this country, a majority for the first time since the question first was asked in 2004. Optimism about the policies Barack Obama will pursue in his second term is at 55 percent, 13 points lower than it was before his first term, but similar to George W. Bush's at the start of his second term. That includes a 28-point drop among Republicans to 17 percent, and 26-point drops each among conservatives (to 25 percent) and affluent Americans (to 46 percent).

Further highlighting Obama's political challenges, 51 percent are pessimistic that he and the Republicans in Congress will find a way to work together on important issues in the year ahead, up 8 points since last measured in early 2011. Not surprisingly, pessimism is highest among Republicans and strong conservatives, at about two-thirds (up 16 and 13 points, respectively).

GROUPS - Across all issues, Democrats are more optimistic than Republicans, with independents falling in between. Excluding hopefulness about personal finances, which exceeds 50 percent even among Republicans, 59 to 85 percent of Democrats are optimistc, compared with 14 to 31 percent of Republicans. (The range is 38 to 54 percent among independents.)

Related to partisanship, one of Obama's core support groups, nonwhites, are more optimistic personally, globally, and on all other specific issues measured, compared with whites. Adults younger than 40 also are more hopeful than fearful about the next year on all issues - except the chances of bipartisanship.

METHODOLOGY - This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Dec. 13-16, 2012, among a random national sample of 1,002 adults, including landline and cell-phone-only respondents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including design effect. Partisan divisions are 31-24-38 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents.

The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by Abt-SRBI of New York, N.Y.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/economic-optimisms-scarce-2013-120028260--abc-news-politics.html

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Is the Amazon Rainforest Drying Out?

The trees and vegetation of the Peruvian Amazon are adapting to a warmer, drier future?but can they adapt fast enough?

By Barbara Fraser

LAND CLEARING: Smoke rises from a fire set to clear land for farming or pasture outside Tarapoto, Peru. Roads and fields fragment the forest, drying it faster, changing precipitation patterns and making it more difficult for species to shift their ranges to adapt to climate change. Image: © BARBARA FRASER

TARAPOTO, Peru?For tropical ecologist Gregory Asner, flying over the Peruvian Amazon from the town of Tarapoto is like traveling back in time. Modern houses, rice paddies and oil palm plantations give way to steep, forested mountains and then to green, unbroken forest that curves toward the horizon.

Suddenly the tree canopy below the twin-engine plane turns a mottled gray-brown, a sign of drought damage that he estimates may affect as many as half the trees.

In this remote corner of Peru?s Ucayali region, Asner, a tropical ecologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University, is afraid he is seeing the future. In the last few years this patch of forest has been hit by two ?once-in-a-century droughts??one in 2005 and another in 2010. These dry spells may become more frequent as temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean rise and as humans burn thousands of square kilometers of forest for farming. Although it has seen warmer temperatures in the past, the western Amazon is under siege now from a combination of a warming climate and human population growth that it has never faced before, and scientists are scrambling to determine whether existing protected areas will be enough to buffer against the changes to come.

Behind the plane Asner glimpses smoke rising from fires set to clear land for farming. Migration from the Andean highlands has boosted Peru?s Amazonian states to the top of the population growth chart, and the influx of people is taking a toll on the forest.

Peru?s Ministry of Environment?using satellite images and Carnegie-provided software?calculates that the country lost about 6,475 square kilometers of forest, an area the size of Delaware, between 2005 and 2009, up from some 4,550 square kilometers in the five previous years. Losing forest reduces precipitation, further stressing the remaining trees. ?About 50 percent of the rain that falls in the Amazon is generated by the forest itself, through transpiration and evaporation,? Asner says. ?Deforestation exacerbates the drought problem, because it removes that internal engine.?

Clearing fields and pastures also leaves more exposed forest edges, drying out the interior and making it more likely to burn if an agricultural fire escapes. Fires during the 2005 and 2010 droughts added 3.8 gigatons of carbon to the atmosphere, according to Simon Lewis, a forest ecologist at University College London. In recent genetic studies Lewis found that Amazonian trees have weathered past climatic warming, but the changes were slower then and were not exacerbated by humans, he says.

Faced with warmer, drier conditions, trees have three options:

?Individuals can acclimate, species can adapt or migrate, or they go extinct,? says Kenneth Feeley, a biologist at Florida International University. A floral species can expand its range into a cooler region, but only as fast as seed dispersal allows. Feeley, who studies trees on the eastern slope of the Peruvian Andes, was surprised to see range changes there in just a few years. ?Species are moving upslope about three vertical meters a year?that?s really fast,? he says, although perhaps not fast enough. ?Based on the climate change that?s already happening, they need to move nine or 10 vertical meters a years.?

In the lowlands, deforestation reduces the areas to which species can move, and fields, pastures and roads create barriers to dispersal. Peru has some large protected areas, such as Man? National Park, where Feeley does his work, but scientists don?t know if they are big enough?or in the right places?to allow species to migrate in a rapidly changing climate.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f38d4a22e607254c18ab1be8a7579edd

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Stocks dip with budget deal in doubt at year's end

Stocks fell in light trading Monday during a shortened holiday trading session with lawmakers running out of time to reach a budget deal that would prevent the U.S. from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 52 points to 13,139.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 3 points to 1,426.66 The Nasdaq composite slipped 8.4 points to 3,012.60.

In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, conservative activists said they would rather see the country fall off the cliff than agree to any tax increases for any Americans, no matter how wealthy.

With many in Washington away for the holidays, that scenario appears increasingly likely.

"There is starting to become a little bit of an acceptance that we fall off the fiscal cliff," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD Ameritrade. "People are starting to think about how they may plan their portfolio if that does happen."

Stocks fell sharply Friday, with the Dow logging its biggest drop in more than a month, after House Republicans called off a vote on tax rates. That left federal budget talks in disarray just days before sweeping tax increases and government spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.

Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that "it's the first time that I feel it's more likely we'll go over the cliff than not," following the collapse late Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes. Wyoming Sen. Jon Barrasso, a member of the Republican leadership, predicted the new year would come without an agreement.

Failure to agree on a budget plan before year-end would lead to simultaneous spending cuts and tax hikes that many fear may push the economy back into recession.

President Barack Obama and Congress are on a short holiday break. Congress is expected to be back at work Thursday and Obama will be back in the White House after a few days in Hawaii.

J.C. Penney Co.'s stock jumped after Oppenheimer analysts reiterated a "Buy" rating on the company Monday, saying that traffic in stores in the final weekend before Christmas was strong. The analysts said that this made them more optimistic that the company's new approach to promotion will help it through the holidays and into 2013.

The stock gained 28 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $19.87.

Other retailers may struggle though this holiday season, as Christmas shoppers rein in their spending, their spirits dampened by concerns about the economy and the aftermath of shootings and storms. Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm with a network of analysts at shopping centers nationwide, estimates customer traffic over the weekend was in line with the same time a year ago, but that shoppers are spending less.

Shoppers are increasingly worried about the fiscal cliff deadline, adding to the fall's retail woes after Superstorm Sandy's passage up the East Coast.

Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of economic growth, so how confident people are about parting with money is crucial for any economic recovery.

Falling stocks outnumbered gainers by a ratio of five to one in the 30-member Dow, with technology companies leading the decliners. Hewlett-Packard fell 33 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $14.01 and Microsoft Corp. dropped 39 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $27.06.

Stocks may also come under pressure in coming days as investors who have seen their holdings gain this year, decide to sell and book the capital gains tax in 2012 so as to avoid any potential increase in that tax rate next year, according to Kinahan, of TD Ameritrade.

"People who have had a nice year in a particular stock may say 'why not take the hit this year,' " said Kinahan.

Barring a dramatic sell-off in the year's final days of trading, stocks will end the year higher on signs that the U.S. housing market is recovering and the U.S. economy is adding jobs. The Federal Reserve also announced a third-round of its so-called quantitative easing program in September. The program, intended to lower the cost of borrowing and spur lending, helped underpin demand for stocks.

The S&P 500 is 13 percent higher for the year, the Dow is almost 8 percent up and the Nasdaq is nearly 16 percent higher.

Trading volumes were lower than average today before the Christmas holiday Tuesday. The stock market will close at 1 p.m. Monday and will reopen Wednesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.78 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

?Herbalife Ltd., the nutritional supplements company, fell $1.21, or 4.4 percent, to $26.06. The stock has tumbled 43 percent this month after William Ackman, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., claimed that the nutritional supplements company is a pyramid scheme.

The company said Monday that it would hold an analyst and investor meeting Jan. 10 to discuss the company's business in detail.

___

AP Writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report from Boston.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-dip-budget-deal-doubt-years-end-154424916--finance.html

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'Mr. Cao Goes to Washington' Film Recounts an American Dream

One of the key parts of the immigrant experience is the journey itself. For two Asian-American filmmakers, moving to the United States provided them both opportunity - but under very different circumstances. Mingh Nguyen, a 40-year old filmmaker based in Los Angeles, arrived in the US from Vietnam in 1982 when he was nine years old. His travels began a year earlier as one of the Vietnamese boat people. Nguyen?s parents lost their business and home after the fall of Saigon. The decision was made to flee and done in secret. ?Somebody would get a boat, and would calculate how many people would be on it, and at night you kind of sneak out and get on that boat,? Nguyen said. ?You get out to sea and you try to reach one of the refugee camps in Thailand, the Philippines or Malaysia. We actually got to Thailand.?

It took Nguyen five attempts before finally getting away. ?We tried to go all as a family and then we got caught,? he said. ?My dad was in jail for eight nine months. The women and kids, like me, were in the jail for about two weeks before we were let out.?

Nguyen remembers living conditions in the refugee camp were crowded, and families split up. Men worked in the field while the women and children performed other jobs. ?My mom was doing cooking duties and things like that. We all had to sleep together in this really huge barracks like a warehouse - like hundreds of people,? Nguyen explained.

After spending a year in a refugee camp off the coast of Thailand, Nguyen received sponsorship from a Catholic group in the United States. He was later flown to San Francisco and settled in San Jose, California.?Transition to a new American way of life was difficult. Nguyen started fourth grade and was scared.??I went to school and I didn?t speak or write English very well. So for the first few months the teacher just put me in a corner until I was able to get caught up with English and was able to join the other students,? Nguyen said.? He admitted being frightened, but said watching television helped him learn English.

Nguyen went to the University of California-Berkeley where he received a degree in molecular biology degree, and followed that with a job at the U-S Department of Agriculture. But Nguyen said he was bored.?He recalls writing short stories at night and later taking creative writing courses.? ?I remember I was enjoying watching movies and going to see plays, so I tried writing fiction and that really opened the world for me,? Nguyen said. Several of his short stories were published in literary journals.

He attended film school and ultimately switched careers. His feature-length directorial debut is the movie ?Touch? - a romantic-drama about an unlikely friendship between a shy Vietnamese-American manicurist and an auto mechanic who is trying to keep his crumbling marriage alive. The film has won a number of awards on the independent film circuit. Looking back on his life and professional path, Nguyen advised: ?With hard work you can follow your dream.?

A CHINESE AMERICAN JOURNEY

For Chinese-American filmmaker Leo Chiang, coming to America was also a parental decision. The 42-year-old San Francisco-based director was 15 when he left Taiwan.??My parents had decided to send me and my two siblings to the U.S. to get educated, basically.? I think that for the rest of the world at that time, American universities were seen as the best,? Chiang said.

Chiang traveled to San Jose, California where family members were there to help him.? Chiang admitted it was not always easy to adjust to his new environment.??Initially it was difficult to blend in.? Not speaking the language very well and not knowing the culture very well was a bit difficult,? Chiang said. ?I definitely had to go through the English as a second language classes.?

Chiang succeeded and received a degree in electrical engineering at the University of California.? It led to a job with Apple Computers. But like Nyguen, he had his doubts.??I just really couldn?t see myself doing that for a long time. And I was always interested in film, I was a cinephile,?? Chiang said.? He applied to the University of Southern California?s graduate program in film production ?as a fluke? and was admitted.?Chiang quit his job with Apple and became a documentary filmmaker.

The career change was preceded by risks and foresight - initiated, he said, by his life as an immigrant.? ?I think it would be foolish of people to kind of dive in and come over here without preparation,? Chaing said.??I think that for folks who are interested in coming to the U.S., they really need to find out about American culture and about the places they plan to move to, what it's like, what the surrounding is like, what the environment is like,? Chiang said.

The award-winning filmmaker?s current documentary, ?Mr. Cao Goes to Washington? is the true story about the first Vietnamese-American elected to the US Congress.? Critics call the film a fascinating character study of New Orleans Congressman Joseph Cao.?"Mr Cao Goes to Washington" will air in January on PBS, the non-profit American public broadcasting service.

Source: http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=78007

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Sacks of potatoes stand in for humans in Boeing's in-air Wi-Fi tests

15 hrs.

Jason Keyser , Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -?If the wireless Internet connection during your holiday flight seems more reliable than it used to, you could have the humble potato to thank.?

While major airlines offer in-flight Wi-Fi on many flights, the signal strength can be spotty. Airlines and aircraft makers have been striving to improve this with the growing use of wireless devices and the number of people who don't want to be disconnected, even 35,000 feet up.?

"That's where potatoes come into the picture," Boeing spokesman Adam Tischler said.?Engineers at Chicago-based Boeing Co. used sacks of potatoes as stand-ins for passengers as they worked to eliminate weak spots in in-flight wireless signals. They needed full planes to get accurate results during signal testing, but they couldn't ask people to sit motionless for days while data was gathered.?

It turns out that potatoes ? because of their water content and chemistry ? absorb and reflect radio wave signals much the same way as the human body does, making them suitable substitutes for airline passengers.?

"It's a testament to the ingenuity of these engineers. They didn't go in with potatoes as the plan," Tischler said.?

Recapping the serendipitous path that led to better onboard wireless, Tischler said a member of the research team stumbled across an article in the Journal of Food Science describing research in which 15 vegetables and fruits were evaluated for their dielectric properties, or the way they transmit electric force without conduction.?

Its conclusions led the Boeing researchers to wonder if potatoes might serve just as well as humans during their own signal testing. Despite some skepticism, they ended up buying 20,000 pounds of them.?

Video and photos of the work, which started in 2006, show a decommissioned airplane loaded with row upon row of potato sacks that look like large, lumpy passengers. The sacks sit eerily still in the seats as the engineers collect data on the strength of wireless signals in various spots.?

The Boeing engineers added some complicated statistical analysis and the result was a proprietary system for fine tuning Internet signals so they would be strong and reliable wherever a laptop was used on a plane.?

Boeing says the system also ensures Wi-Fi signals won't interfere with the plane's sensitive navigation and communications equipment.?

"From a safety standpoint, you want to know what the peak signals are, what's the strongest signal one of our communications and navigation systems might see from a laptop or 150 laptops or 350 laptops," Boeing engineer Dennis Lewis explains in a video.?

In a nod to the humor in using a tuber to solve a high-tech problem, researchers dubbed the project Synthetic Personnel Using Dialectic Substitution, or SPUDS.?

The company says better Wi-Fi signals can be found already on three Boeing aircraft models flown by major airlines: 777, 747-8 and the 787 Dreamliner.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/sacks-potatoes-stand-humans-boeings-air-wi-fi-tests-1C7657751

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