Building Your Dream Home in Mexico ? Communication ...

I always say that when buying Mexico real estate, one of the key items for the buyers is to work with a?Mexico agent who offers excellent communication.? Good communication using all the technology we have out there now is a key factor in gaining the best end result ? a dream property in Mexico.? The same is true for the process of building a home in Mexico.

If property owners choose to work with a professional construction coordinator, one of the most important points which they will have to consider is that of communication and tracking progress from a distance.

Communication

A growing number of construction professionals in the Riviera Maya (Cancun, Playa del Carmen, etc.), for example, work primarily with non-Mexican clients who are out of the country for most of the construction process.? Architect Gian Luca says that he has had numerous clients where he has actually never met them in person!? While most property owners will want to meet these professionals in person, it demonstrates the amount of flexibility and ease of communication that has developed.

Most professionals who work with such clients make heavy use of the internet, often offering a secure system with a password where clients can review all details of the construction progress.? These reports include:

• up-to-date expenditures
• pictures of current progress
• commentaries and notes

In such a system, clients can log in any time they want and review the details.? Reports are usually made at regular intervals ? weekly and biweekly are common.? With cell phones, laptops, digital cameras and digital video cameras on site, the construction professionals can contact the client immediately in the event of important news or change (see below), offering pictures of any advancement or situation immediately; clients can also make nearly immediate contact to clarify any questions.

Webcams and programs like Skype also make video conferencing free.

For those who are used to using the latest internet services, the process is fairly straight forward.? For those who aren?t, as Hawthorne Flaherty, who works primarily in the?Tulum real estate area, says, ?Sometimes it?s a little more laborious, but once you get the swing of it, it?s not so hard.?

Of course, those who aren?t comfortable with the latest technology can request to have updates by phone call and e-mails for pictures and numbers.

Doug Morgan was born in Dayton, Ohio and went to college at Buckeye State. Moving to Louisiana after college, he became President of his New York Stock Exchange company at the age of 28. His later career shifted to Florida and the investment business, where he was a financial advisor and branch manager for over 30 years. He bought his first condominium in Mexico in 2008 (from Top Mexico Real Estate), initially as a vacation home, but a year later he retired and moved full time to Playa del Carmen. Contact Doug at (512) 879-6546.

The TOP Mexico Real Estate Network; ?Mexico?s Leading Network of Specialists for Finding and Purchasing Mexican Properties Safely!?

Tagged as: Building your home in Mexico, Tulum Real Estate

Source: http://www.topmexicorealestate.com/blog/2012/12/29/building-your-dream-home-in-mexico-communication-monitoring-from-a-distance/

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We Both Go Down Together (Unqualified Offerings)

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

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Miley Cyrus Married: Liam Hemsworth Secret Wedding!

Have you seen these pictures? It is looking like Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth are married!! Was there a secret wedding? I am so disappointed! my invite must have been lost in holiday mail… Ok seriously people – I am not one for rumors – but this one is a bit too obvious if you ask me. I mean Liam and Miley are both clearly rocking what looks like wedding rings! There have been rumors that the two wed in a top secret wedding and that they have been married for months, and now they just tweeted several pics that show them each wearing wedding rings. TMZ is also speculating, which makes me thinky it maybe trueeeee!!!!! I will wait for confirmation before I sen out my congratulations, but I a m sure TMZ is doing the digging and we will know for sure one way or another. I wouldn’t put it past Miley, she keeps her relationship with Liam very top secret so if they had a quiet low key intimate wedding ceremony – would it really be shocking? No!! I say more power to them! In Tinsel Town keeping a secret like that, when you are a mega [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/LmgvlLev09Y/

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Nigeria says destroys bomb factory, kills 5 gunmen

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Nigerian army said soldiers killed five "suspected terrorists" and destroyed a bomb making factory on Thursday in the northern city of Kaduna where the Islamist sect Boko Haram is active.

Kaduna, in the mainly Muslim north, has been the target of several attacks by Boko Haram since the group's low-level insurgency intensified over two years ago.

"On the approach to the factory, some suspected terrorists opened fire and also threw already primed Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) at the troops," Kaduna Army spokesman Sani Kukasheka Usman said in a statement.

"The exchange of fire that ensued resulted in the death of five terrorists, while two that sustained various degrees of injuries are being treated."

Usman said seven rifles, detonating cord, remote detonating switches and IED materials were found and destroyed.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds this year in a campaign to impose Islamic sharia law in northern Nigeria. The sect is the biggest threat to stability in Africa's biggest oil exporter.

In its stronghold in the far northeast city of Maiduguri, seven people were murdered by unidentified attackers on Wednesday, a police spokesman said. A witness said he saw the seven dead bodies, all with their throats cut.

Gunmen killed six people at a church in the northeast town of Potiskum on Tuesday, the third year running that Christmas services have come under deadly attack.

But Boko Haram is not the only threat in northern Nigeria.

Islamist group Ansaru, known to have ties with Boko Haram, has risen in prominence in recent weeks. It claimed an attack on a major police barracks in the capital Abuja last month, where it said hundreds of prisoners were released.

The group said on Saturday that it was behind the kidnapping of a French national last week and it has been labeled a "terrorist group" by Britain.

Security has been tightened throughout the north of Africa's most populous nation and Christmas attacks weren't on the scale of the previous two years when dozens were killed in bomb and gun strikes.

At least 2,800 people have died in fighting since Boko Haram launched an uprising against the government in 2009, watchdog Human Rights Watch says.

The group, which is loosely modeled on the Afghan Taliban, mostly focuses its attacks on the security forces, religious targets and politicians.

(Reporting by Garba Muhammed and Issac Abrak; Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mshelizza in Maiduguri; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-says-destroys-bomb-factory-kills-5-gunmen-222316340.html

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Huge crowds vote in SKorean presidential election

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Huge crowds turned out Wednesday to vote in a tight presidential race pitting the son of North Korean refugees against the conservative daughter of a late dictator who both favor greater engagement with rival North Korea.

Despite bitter cold, turnout was higher than past elections, which political analysts said might provide a slight boost to liberal Moon Jae-in over conservative Park Geun-hye in their contest to lead Asia's fourth-largest economy at a time of high tension with rival North Korea.

South Koreans stood in long lines, wrapped in mufflers and parkas. A big turnout could mean large numbers of young people ? more likely aligned with Moon ? are going to the polls, analysts said. Park's conservative base is comprised mainly of older voters who remember with fondness what they see as the firm economic and security guidance of her dictator father, Park Chung-hee.

Seoul's election watchdog said turnout was about 45 percent as of early afternoon, 9 percentage points higher than five years ago, when current conservative President Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory, and 3 percentage points higher than a decade ago when Moon's protege and former boss, liberal Roh Moo-hyun, won.

Wednesday is a national holiday in South Korea. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and were to close at 6 p.m. local time, after which television broadcasters planned to announce results from exit polls predicting a winner.

For all their differences, Moon, who was Roh's former chief of staff, and Park, who belongs to Lee's party, hold remarkably similar views on the need to engage with Pyongyang and other issues.

One big reason: Many voters are dissatisfied with current President Lee, including his hard-line stance on the country's authoritarian rival to the north. Park has had to tack to the center in her bid to become South Korea's first woman president.

Many voters blame inter-Korean tension for encouraging North Korea to conduct nuclear and missile tests ? including a rocket launch by Pyongyang last week that outsiders call a cover for a banned long-range missile test. Some also say ragged North-South relations led to two attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

Earlier polls showed Park and Moon in a dead heat.

"Everything's now at heaven's disposal," Moon told reporters at a polling station in the southeastern port city of Busan. "I have put forward every bit of my energy."

Park, a five-term lawmaker, voted in Seoul and said she would wait for the "people's choice with a humble mind," calling on voters to "open a new era" for their nation.

South Koreans express deepening worry about the economy and disgust over the alleged involvement of aides close to Lee in corruption scandals.

"I skipped breakfast to vote. I've been waiting to vote for five years. I think it's time to change the government," said 37-year-old Kim Young-jin, who voted for Moon at a polling station inside an apartment complex.

At one polling station in Seoul, electric stoves were set up near a long line of young and old voters, some of whom blew on their freezing hands to try to keep warm.

"I believe in Park," Choi Yong-ja, a 59-year-old housekeeper, said as she left a polling station at a Seoul school. "She has abundant political experience."

The effort to create distance with incumbent Lee has been more difficult for Park, whose popularity rests on a staunchly conservative, anti-North Korea base.

Both candidates propose pulling back from Lee's insistence that engagement with North Korea be linked to so-far-nonexistent nuclear disarmament progress by Pyongyang. Park, however, insists on more conditions than Moon.

"I wish for at least a path to freely travel to North Korea and communicate" with friends and family, said a 40-year-old North Korean defector who would identify herself only by her surname, No. North Korean defectors are screened and given South Korean citizenship upon arrival.

Moon was a close friend and aide of late President Roh, who championed the so-called "sunshine policy" of no-strings-attached aid for Pyongyang.

Moon wants an early summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Park has also held out the possibility of such a meeting, but only if it's "an honest dialogue on issues of mutual concern."

Whoever wins and moves into the presidential Blue House in February will set the initial tone for new North Korea policy not just in Seoul but in Washington, Beijing and Tokyo. All those governments have recently undergone an election, a change of leadership or both.

A Moon election could lead to friction with Washington if new engagement with Pyongyang comes without any of the reciprocal nuclear disarmament progress that Washington demands from the North.

Moon and Park also agree on the need to fight widespread government corruption, strengthen social welfare, help small companies, close growing gaps between rich and poor, ease heavy household debt and rein in big corporations that have grown so powerful they threaten to eclipse national laws. They differ mainly in how far they want to go.

Moon wants to drastically expand welfare, while Park seeks more cautious improvement in the system, out of concern that expanding too much could hurt the economy, according to Chung Jin-young, a political scientist at Kyung Hee University in South Korea.

Park is aiming to make history as the first female leader in South Korea ? and modern Northeast Asia. But she also works under the shadow of her father, Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea as dictator for 18 years until his intelligence chief killed him during a drinking party in 1979.

Park's father is both an asset and a soft spot. Many older South Koreans revere his strict economic policies and tough line against North Korea. But he's also loathed for his odious treatment of opponents, including claims of torture and snap executions.

A Park win would mean that South Korean voters believe she would evoke her father's strong charisma as president and settle the country's economic and security woes, analyst Chung said.

Moon, on the other hand, was a young opponent of Park Chung-hee. Before working for Roh, whom Lee replaced in 2008, Moon was a human rights lawyer. He also spent time in jail for challenging Park's government.

Moon's parents lived in the North Korean port city of Hungnam before fleeing to South Korea aboard a U.S. military ship in daring evacuation operations in December 1950, six months after the Korean War broke out.

A Moon win would be a clear judgment against the Lee government, said Hahm Sung Deuk, a political scientist at Korea University in Seoul.

Economic worries may be the focus of many voters, but North Korea forced itself as an issue in the closing days of campaigning with its rocket launch last week, which put a satellite into orbit.

The launch won't be a major election influence, but it will consolidate conservative votes in favor of Park, said Hahm. He said the launch will remind South Korean voters that "the North Koreans are unpredictable and belligerent."

___

AP writers Foster Klug and Youkyung Lee contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-crowds-vote-skorean-presidential-election-053342637.html

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House pushes to complete $633 billion defense bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House pushed to complete a $633 billion defense bill for next year despite Pentagon complaints that it spares outdated but politically popular weapons at the expense of the military's ability to fight.

Lawmakers were expected to vote Thursday evening and send the legislation to the Senate, where leaders hoped to wrap up the measure for President Barack Obama's signature.

The far-reaching policy bill that covers the cost of ships, aircraft, weapons and military personnel would authorize $528 billion for the Defense Department's base budget, $17 billion for defense and nuclear programs in the Energy Department and $88.5 billion for the war in Afghanistan.

The bill is $1.7 billion more than Obama requested.

House Republicans and Democrats debated the measure against the backdrop of high-stakes talks to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts and the loud cry for a sweeping deal to slash the deficit.

Democrats argued that the bill runs counter to demands for fiscal discipline.

"This bill is more money that the Pentagon wants," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "We're just throwing money at them."

Specifically, the bill spares a version of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, includes upgrades for tanks and money for armored vehicles.

In a speech this week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta criticized the pressure on the Pentagon to keep weapons that it doesn't want. "Aircraft, ships, tanks, bases, even those that have outlived their usefulness, have a natural political constituency. Readiness does not," Panetta said.

"What's more, readiness is too often sacrificed in favor of a larger and less effective force. I am determined to avoid that outcome," he said.

Panetta said members of the House and Senate "diverted about $74 billion of what we asked for in savings in our proposed budget to the Congress, and they diverted them to other areas that, frankly, we don't need."

The bill responds to the new threats and upheaval around the globe while still providing billions for the decade-plus war in Afghanistan. The measure would tighten sanctions on Iran, increase security at diplomatic missions worldwide after the deadly Sept. 11 raid in Libya and presses the military on possible options to end the bloodshed in Syria.

Election-year politics and changes in society shaped the final measure. Negotiators kept a Senate-passed provision sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., that expands health insurance coverage for military women and their dependents who decide to have abortions in cases of rape and incest.

Previously, health coverage applied only to abortions in cases where the life of the mother was endangered.

Democrats argued throughout the election year that Republicans were waging a "war on women" over contraception and abortion, a charge the GOP denied. Democrats and President Barack Obama held a clear edge with female voters, which led to soul-searching within the GOP.

Negotiators jettisoned a House provision that would have banned gay marriage on military installations, weeks after the chapel at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point held its first same-sex marriage. A senior Army chaplain conducted the ceremony. The bill does include a conscience clause for chaplains.

The measure includes a 1.7 percent pay raise for military personnel and provides money for new ships, aircraft and other weapons.

The sanctions would hit Iran's energy, shipping and shipbuilding sectors as well as Iran's ports, blacklisting them as "entities of proliferation concern." It would impose penalties on anyone supplying precious metals to Iran and sanctions on Iranian broadcasting.

The bill eliminated a House provision barring the military from buying alternative fuels if the cost exceeds traditional fossil fuels, a measure that had drawn a veto threat. Instead, negotiators said the Pentagon could move ahead on the project as long as the Energy and Agriculture departments make their financial contributions to the work.

The bill also watered down a House effort to require construction of an East Coast missile defense site, instead pressing the Pentagon to study three possible locations.

Months after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the bill would provide an additional 1,000 Marines for embassy security.

Reacting to relentless violence in Syria, the bill would require the Pentagon to report to Congress on possible military options.

The bill would authorize nearly $480 million for the U.S.-Israeli missile defense, including $211 million for Iron Dome, the system designed to intercept short-range rockets and mortars fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza at southern Israel.

One of the thorniest issues in negotiations was the handling of terrorist suspects. Lawmakers finally agreed on language that says "nothing in the authorization for the Use of Military Force or (the current defense bill) shall be construed to deny the availability of the writ of habeas corpus or to deny any constitutional rights" to an individual in the United States who would be entitled to such rights.

The agreement retained a Senate provision that stops the Pentagon from sending additional spies overseas until Congress has answers about the cost and how the spies would be used.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-20-Defense%20Bill/id-46b77715e7fa475fb2097d4a8059ab84

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State Medicaid hospice cuts deeper than originally portrayed | NOLA ...

Cuts to hospice care announced by state officials last week are deeper than originally portrayed, eliminating hospice treatment for all Medicaid recipients starting in February, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals said Wednesday. In announcing the reductions to hospice care, which aims to make dying people more comfortable in the last six months of their lives, Jindal administration officials said the cutbacks would force people on Medicaid to seek the service in a nursing home. But the change actually means the state is eliminating all hospice care ? both at home and in nursing facilities -- to people covered by Medicaid.

Jamey Boudreaux, executive director of the Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, said he learned from the health department earlier this week that the initial characterization of the cut was a ?misstatement.?

In an email, Kathleen Meyers, a spokeswoman for the state health agency, confirmed that the hospice cuts are a ?service elimination.?

?Effective Feb. 1, 2013, Medicaid will no longer reimburse for hospice services,? Meyers wrote. People currently in hospice will keep those services through the rest of their lives.

Most people in hospice in Louisiana are elderly and, therefore, have their end-of-life care covered by Medicare, Boudreaux said. But more than 5,800 Medicaid patients received hospice benefits this year, according to state figures.

This care is usually provided in patients? homes, where they are most comfortable, Boudreaux said. Hospice workers include not only doctors and nurses, but social workers and a chaplain, who meet to reassess the treatment plan for terminally ill patients every 15 days, he said.

While cutting hospice care is slated to trim the state portion of the Medicaid budget by $1.1 million, Boudreaux predicted it wouldn?t actually result in savings. This is because many dying people will end up at hospitals, where Medicaid will pay for at least a portion of their care.

?I predict they will spend at least four times that amount in emergency room visits and hospitalization of those type of folks,? Boudreaux said.

In the email, Meyers wrote that dying people will still be able to access pain medication through the Medicaid pharmacy program, while home health services will also be available. The ?emotional support? services offered by hospice teams will be eliminated, but Meyers emphasized that the state will connect nonprofit and faith-based groups with dying Medicaid recipients in need of help.

Legislators at a Friday hearing to discuss the $165.5 million in reductions and other budget fixes were especially alarmed by the hospice cuts. The cuts are needed because a revenue shortfall has thrown the the state?s budget out of whack. The budget must be balanced by the time the fiscal year ends on June 30.

Bruce Greenstein, the state?s health secretary, emphasized on Friday afternoon that the nursing-home-based care would still be available.

"For those in their last years or days and weeks of life, nursing homes do a very good job," Greenstein said.

The cuts take aim at a number of health care programs, many financed by the Medicaid insurance program for the poor. One exception is the ending of a small program that largely uses federal welfare dollars to provide unique mental health treatment to very young children.

Dr. Mary Margaret Gleason, co-clinical director of the Early Childhood Supports and Services program, said the children treated in her program come from low-income families, many helmed by parents with their own mental health problems. Many of the children have experienced some kind of violence or otherwise are at risk for developing mental health problems, she said.

Eliminating the 10-year-old program will save $134,561 in state funds, which is used to get a match of $2.7 million from the federal welfare program. There currently are 540 children aged 6 or younger enrolled in the program statewide.

Gleason said her program includes both case managers and clinicians who work with children with mood disorders, depression and other serious problems that result in them acting out in daycare, school or at home.

Staffers not only work with the children themselves, but also parents, trying to make sure parents know how to deal with their kids, she said.

Desiree Waguespack, whose son was treated in the St. Tammany part of the program for about two years, said it was transformative. Before the program, she received calls from daycare or pre-school an average of three times a week. ?To the point where the phone rang and I would cringe,? she said.

But as she and her son worked with the Early Childhood case manager, things changed. Waugespack said she learned how to respond to her son?s outbursts and aggression. He is now a happy child and good student.

?He?s a kid who I no longer fear for his future,? she said. ?It is huge.?

The state health department emphasized Friday that children can get mental health treatment from the state Behavioral Health Partnership, which is run by the private company Magellan of Louisiana.

Gleason was skeptical, saying that while she thinks the state?s idea of providing coordinated mental health treatment through the partnership is a good idea, many of the existing services outside her program don?t have staffers trained to either assess or work with young children with serious problems.

In an email, Meyers wrote that all the children in the early childhood program are ?being reviewed to determine his or her ongoing needs and identify resources for ongoing support.? Children will be referred to providers who specialize in treating children, she wrote.

Source: http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2012/12/state_medicaid_hospice_cuts_de.html

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Storm moving across US threatens holiday travelers

3 hrs.

A. Pawlowski , NBC News contributor

A major winter?storm moving across the nation Wednesday?is threatening to disrupt travel plans for millions of Americans heading home for Christmas.

?This is a massive system,? said TODAY meteorologist?Al Roker. ?We?ve got watches and warnings that spread across 16 states, from New Mexico all the way to Wisconsin and Michigan.?

Blizzard warnings are in effect for Colorado, Kansas, and Iowa, Roker said, and up to a foot of snow is expected to fall in the Rockies.

On Wednesday afternoon, flights at Denver International Airport were delayed about 30 minutes because of de-icing operations, said Laura Coale, an airport spokeswoman.

?Currently, there?s only a handful of flight cancellations ? mostly commuter flights,? she added.

United Airlines is allowing passengers to make same-day flight changes because of the weather.?The airline has also issued a fee waiver for passengers traveling through eight other cities, including Chicago, Milwaukee and Omaha, through tomorrow.?

Meanwhile, American Airlines is allowing travelers flying to or from 17 Midwest cities tomorrow and Friday to change their plans without penalty.?

US Airways is also relaxing its fee change policies in Denver, Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha and Milwaukee for travel on Wednesday.

Air traffic was moving smoothly in other parts of the country,?though wind at Newark International Airport was causing delays of about 50 minutes, according to the FAA flight delay information map.??

Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest is digging out after a strong storm that left drivers dealing with slick roads and icy conditions. An approaching Pacific system should dump more than a foot of snow over the Washington Cascades on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

The messy weather arrives just as much of the country will be on the move for Christmas and New Year?s.

AAA projects more than 93 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the year-end holidays, a period that begins this Saturday and ends on Jan. 1. Ninety percent of those on the move are expected to drive.

It?s a good bet some people are already heading out and, as the storm moves east, many may find problematic conditions in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Snow in the Chicago area on Thursday may be heavy and lead to roads quickly becoming snow covered, making travel treacherous, the National Weather Service warned.

?The worst of the weather Friday looks to be centered from the Great Lakes to New England,? said Weather Channel meteorologist Brian Fortier.

?Snow will limit visibility for air and road travel for Cleveland and Buffalo with morning rain and low ceilings around NYC, possibly lasting through the day up to Boston. Gusty winds could affect travel from Chicago through Detroit to D.C., Philly, Charlotte and possibly Atlanta.?

If you are driving in wintry conditions, the AAA recommends that you keep at least half a tank of gasoline in your car at all times and never use cruise control when driving on any slippery surface. Check out more tips at AAA.com.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelkit/winter-storm-moving-across-us-threatens-holiday-travelers-1C7660201

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Fortnum & Mason launches writing award - The Drinks Business

19th December, 2012 by Rupert Millar

Entries open today (19 December) and remain open until 31 January next year. The awards ceremony will take place on 14 May next year.

Writers and other media will be recognised across 10 categories, including: Best Drink Book, Best Drink Writer and Best Online Wine Writer, with parallel categories for food writers and television chefs.

The winners will be decided by a panel of food and drink experts, including Angela Hartnett, Tom Parker Bowles, Xanthe Clay, Hamish Anderson, Fiona Beckett and Peter Richards MW.

Fortnum & Mason said it wished to, ?acknowledge those in the industry who share its (own) commitment to inspiring people to enjoy, explore, experiment, learn, try, taste and discover more about food and drink through their writing, photography and commentary.?

The public will be allowed to vote for their favourite television personality.

Click here for more information and to register.

This article was published on Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 at 9:35 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

Source: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2012/12/fortnum-mason-launches-award-for-food-and-drinks-media/

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Nelson Mandela hospitalized for 11th day

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Nelson Mandela remains hospitalized in South Africa for an eleventh day after undergoing surgery and receiving treatment for a lung infection.

South Africa's government has said the 94-year-old Mandela was admitted Dec. 8 to a hospital in the country's capital, Pretoria. Officials said Mandela underwent an endoscopic surgery to remove gallstones Saturday after doctors treated him for a recurrent lung infection.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj, who has issued statements previously about Mandela's health, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Mandela is revered for being a leader of the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa, serving 27 years in prison for his beliefs. He served one five-year term as president before retiring from public life.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nelson-mandela-hospitalized-11th-day-130314632.html

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Enthusiast: I've cracked unbreakable WWII pigeon code

Courtesy Bletchley Park Trust

This coded message from World War II was found in November enclosed in a canister attached to the leg bone of a dead carrier pigeon.

By Rachel Elbaum, NBC News

LONDON ? A note written in code that was found on the skeleton of a carrier pigeon dating from World War II has been cracked, according to a Canadian history enthusiast.

Originally discovered in November, the message was enclosed in a red canister attached to the leg bone of the carrier pigeon. David Martin found the pigeon in the chimney of his home in Surrey, England.

---

The U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GHCQ), one of Britain?s three national intelligence agencies, said at the time that the handwritten message ?cannot be decoded without access to the original cryptographic material.?

A World War II code delivered by carrier pigeon is stumping today's cypher specialists. Can you break it? NBC's Brian Williams reports.

But Gordon Young, from Peterborough, Ontario, set his mind to deciphering the message using his great-uncle?s World War I code book.

"It follows same sort of code they used in the first war," Young told NBC News. "I?m not saying my note is perfect, but I am saying the code is crackable and this one is pretty close."

Experts: Unbreakable code message found on WWII carrier pigeon

It took Young, the editor of a local volunteer history group, 17 minutes to understand the message, which consists of 25 five-letter code groups.

He believes that the message was sent one afternoon in 1944, not long after the Allied landing at Normandy. It was written by an officer who was dropped behind enemy lines, confirming an earlier lunch-time note he sent giving the map coordinates of the Germans? guns and tanks. It also confirmed that several units of American and British troops had finally met up.

In addition to using his uncle?s code book, Young double checked with infantry maps online to confirm his hypotheses.

Retirement home bands together to bring WWII stories to life

"To really understand the exact circumstances of the note, we would need access to British and American war diaries from the time," he said.

'Impossible to verify'
Despite Young?s translation, the GCHQ still maintains that without the original codebooks the note is indecipherable.

?We stand by our press notice of 22 November 2012 in that without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, the message will remain impossible to decrypt,? a spokesman for the GCHQ told NBC News in an emailed statement. ?Similarly it is also impossible to verify any proposed solutions, but those put forward without reference to the original cryptographic material are unlikely to be correct.?

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

The pigeon is thought to have been part of a flock of 250,000 that were used to carry messages between the European front and Britain during World War II.

"I am hoping that this will stir up some interest in the bravery of the men who were dropped on the battlefield," said Young.

"Imagine a guy dropping down behind enemy lines with crates of pigeons and a couple of bags of feed. How they didn?t get caught is amazing. It?wasn't?like today where there are unmanned drones. These guys were risking their lives," he added.

More world stories from NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15970511-unbreakable-wwii-carrier-pigeon-code-cracked-says-canadian-enthusiast?lite

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EU: Tax collection still lagging in Greece

A woman walks outside the Greek parliament in Athens, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Greece has imposed deeply unpopular spending cuts and tax hikes over the past three years, to secure vital international rescue loans. Greece is in line to get 49.1 billion euro ($64 billion) between now and March, with 34.3 billion euro of that amount due in the coming days. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A woman walks outside the Greek parliament in Athens, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Greece has imposed deeply unpopular spending cuts and tax hikes over the past three years, to secure vital international rescue loans. Greece is in line to get 49.1 billion euro ($64 billion) between now and March, with 34.3 billion euro of that amount due in the coming days. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Pedestrians walk in front of a branch of Proton bank in central Athens, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Prominent Greek businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis was arrested Thursday Dec. 13 over his alleged involvement in a scandal involving the Proton Bank, in which he was the major shareholder. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Striking Greek municipal employees chant slogans and bang on pots and pans during a protest outside at the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Greek municipal workers demonstrated against government plans to suspend 2,000 civil servants for potential dismissal due to state budget cuts. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)

Striking Greek municipal employees chant slogans during a protest outside at the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece as a banner reads in Greek "bailout agreement" Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. Greek municipal workers demonstrated against government plans to suspend 2,000 civil servants for potential dismissal due to state budget cuts. AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union says that Greek tax collection is still falling well short of some key targets that need to be met to reduce the government's staggering debt pile.

The EU's task force to help Greece overcome the crisis that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy said in Monday's quarterly report that Athens still has trouble to deal with old, outstanding tax claims. With 2 months to go in 2012, it was still about a billion euros behind the EU target of recovering ?2 billion.

It said Greece made only 88 audits of large taxpayers, well short of a 2012 target of 300, and 467 of "high-wealth individuals," below a 1,300 target.

Overall, though, EU Vice President Olli Rehn said Greece was tackling problems "with determination and resolve."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-17-Greece-Financial%20Crisis/id-0ae66e1aa7784274b95c8ffadc9f8242

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10 Afghan girls collecting firewood killed in blast

A blast killed 10 Afghan girls who were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan, according to government officials. In a separate incident, two Afghans died in an attack in Kabul. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET: A blast killed 10 Afghan girls Monday as they were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan, government officials said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion in volatile Nangarhar province. It could have been a bomb planted by Taliban insurgents or a landmine left over from decades of conflict.

UN calls for Afghanistan to protect women from rape, forced marriage

The girls, between nine and 11 years old, were collecting wood in remote Chaparhar district, near the porous border with Pakistan, which is infested with some of the world's most dangerous militant groups.?

PhotoBlog: Prayers for girls killed as they collected firewood

"Unfortunately, 10 little girls were killed and two others wounded but we don't know whether it was planted by the Taliban," said Ahmadzia Abdulzai, provincial government spokesman.

Women and children are often the victims of the war between the Taliban and U.S.-led NATO and Afghan forces, now in its 11th year.

Noorullah Shirzada / AFP - Getty Images

Afghan volunteers carry the body of a girl killed when in an explosion as they were collecting firewood Monday.

Two killed in Kabul bombing
Meanwhile, a truck full of explosives blew up when it hit the offices of a U.S.-based company in the capital, Kabul, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding at least 15, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

The blast took place Monday at an office for the company Contrack, which sells and supplies generators in Afghanistan.

EXCLUSIVE: US, NATO behind 'insecurity' in Afghanistan, Karzai says

The Interior Ministry spokesman said that two foreigners were among the wounded, but no further details on their national identities were immediately available.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing.

"A suicide car bomber attacked an important American company which is involved in security," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

"The company was under our surveillance for a long time and today we succeeded," the statement said.

According to its website, Contrack is headquartered in McLean, Va., and has had an office in Kabul since 2003. It was acquired by Orascom in 2005.

Afghan tycoons fear banks help kidnap gangs

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

After Monday's blast in Kabul, Western men clutching weapons walked outside the company compound as ambulances sped by, Reuters reported. A NATO soldier walked by parts of a building that was torn apart by the blast, which left a large crater. A brick wall collapsed.

The Taliban have expanded their reach beyond their strongholds in southern and eastern Afghanistan to some areas in the north that were relatively peaceful for years. ?

NBC News? Akbar Shinwari and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15960780-10-afghan-girls-collecting-firewood-killed-in-blast?lite

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Tea Party Favorite Becomes First Black Senator From S.C. Since Reconstruction Era

Freshman Republican Rep. Tim Scott is poised to become South Carolina?s first black senator since the Reconstruction era.

Gov. Nikki Haley announced announced on Monday?that Scott, who has received strong backing from the Tea Party, will take over retiring Jim DeMint?s Senate seat.

DeMint announced earlier this month that he plans to retire in January to lead the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington. Scott will serve until special elections are held in 2014, when voters will decide whether he should serve his remaining term in office.

Scott, who will be the only black Republican member in the Senate, has been dubbed a Republican rising star. When he was first elected in November 2010, he became the first black Republican in Congress since 2003, and the first black Republican from the South since 1901, according to an ABC News report.

?In fact, while Scott's appointment is largely being billed as a historic development for the South in general and the GOP in specific, it also is quite noteworthy for the nation as a whole. Scott will soon become the only African-American serving in the U.S. Senate, and just the seventh ever black senator from any region of the country,? according to Slate.

A 2014 victory would be even more significant, Slatereports, since it would make him the first black senator representing the state who was elected directly by voters.

In a story in the Detroit Free Press, David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University, called Scott the ideal candidate for promoting capitalism and conservative values.??He represents a generation that is interested in entrepreneurship, conservative principles, and volunteerism,? Woodward told the publication.

Earlier, Scott made history when he joined Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., as the first two black Republicans from the South since Reconstruction, the?National Journal reports.?West lost his reelection bid in November. Scott's move to the Senate means there will be no black Republicans in the?lower chamber.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tea-party-favorite-becomes-first-black-senator-c-143713387--politics.html

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New technique could make cell-based immune therapies for cancer safer and more effective

Public release date: 16-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andrea Molinatti
molinata@mskcc.org
212-639-3573
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

A team led by Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has shown for the first time the effectiveness of a new technique that could allow the development of more-specific, cell-based immune therapies for cancer. Their findings were reported online today in Nature Biotechnology.

Immunotherapies which make use of patients' own immune cells that have been augmented in the laboratory have shown some early success in the treatment of blood cancers including certain types of leukemia. For most cancers, however, cell-based therapies have been harder to develop, in large part because it has been difficult for investigators to train immune cells to specifically attack cancer cells without damaging normal, healthy cells in the body.

The treatment approach, known as adoptive cell transfer (ACT), involves engineering an immune cell called a T cell. In the ACT process, T cells are removed from a patient and a gene is added to allow the T cells to recognize a certain antigen on the surface of a cancer cell. The enhanced cells are grown in the laboratory and then infused back into the patient to seek out and attack cancer cells.

"We are getting better at working with these T cells and enhancing them so that we can get a powerful immunological response against cancer," Dr. Sadelain says. "The dilemma now is that we are concerned with limiting these responses and making them as targeted as possible to avoid potentially harmful side effects."

Cancer cells overproduce certain antigens, which can help T cells to recognize them, but those same antigens are often found in lower levels on healthy cells. "There are very few antigens, if any, that are found only on cancer cells," Dr. Sadelain explains.

"Now we are bringing in a completely new concept," he adds. "If there is no single unique antigen that is found on the surface of the cancer cell we want to target, we instead create T cells that recognize two different antigens found on the tumor cell a signature that will be unique to that type of cancer and only attack cells with both antigens, sparing the normal cells that express either antigen alone."

The new technique makes use of receptors known as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which allow T cells to target antigens on the surface of a tumor cell, coupled with another type of receptor called a chimeric costimulatory receptor (CCR), by which the T cells can recognize a second antigen.

The CAR and the CCR work together through a process known as balanced signaling, in which the presence of either antigen on its own is not enough to trigger the immune response. Only tumor cells that carry both antigens will be targeted.

In the Nature Biotechnology study, the team created T cells that carried a CAR for an antigen called PSMA and a CCR for an antigen called PSCA. Both PSMA and PSCA are found on prostate cancer cells. The investigators then generated mouse models of prostate cancer and infused the mice with the engineered cells. They found that the T cells attacked only tumors that carried antigens for both PSMA and PSCA.

"We are the first to test this concept and show that it works," Dr. Sadelain concludes. "We plan to develop clinical trials based on this approach, although we have not yet decided whether the first study will be a trial for prostate cancer or for a different type of cancer using two other antigens. Ultimately, our goal is to create targeted immunotherapies that are both potent and safe for patients."

###

In addition to members of Dr. Sadelain's laboratory, coauthors on the study included two researchers from TU Dresden in Germany.

This work was supported by philanthropic funds provided by the Mr. William H. and Mrs. Alice Goodwin and the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research, the Experimental Therapeutics Center of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Major Family Fund for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Mr. and Mrs. Joel S. Mallah, and Mr. Lewis Sanders.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 16-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andrea Molinatti
molinata@mskcc.org
212-639-3573
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

A team led by Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has shown for the first time the effectiveness of a new technique that could allow the development of more-specific, cell-based immune therapies for cancer. Their findings were reported online today in Nature Biotechnology.

Immunotherapies which make use of patients' own immune cells that have been augmented in the laboratory have shown some early success in the treatment of blood cancers including certain types of leukemia. For most cancers, however, cell-based therapies have been harder to develop, in large part because it has been difficult for investigators to train immune cells to specifically attack cancer cells without damaging normal, healthy cells in the body.

The treatment approach, known as adoptive cell transfer (ACT), involves engineering an immune cell called a T cell. In the ACT process, T cells are removed from a patient and a gene is added to allow the T cells to recognize a certain antigen on the surface of a cancer cell. The enhanced cells are grown in the laboratory and then infused back into the patient to seek out and attack cancer cells.

"We are getting better at working with these T cells and enhancing them so that we can get a powerful immunological response against cancer," Dr. Sadelain says. "The dilemma now is that we are concerned with limiting these responses and making them as targeted as possible to avoid potentially harmful side effects."

Cancer cells overproduce certain antigens, which can help T cells to recognize them, but those same antigens are often found in lower levels on healthy cells. "There are very few antigens, if any, that are found only on cancer cells," Dr. Sadelain explains.

"Now we are bringing in a completely new concept," he adds. "If there is no single unique antigen that is found on the surface of the cancer cell we want to target, we instead create T cells that recognize two different antigens found on the tumor cell a signature that will be unique to that type of cancer and only attack cells with both antigens, sparing the normal cells that express either antigen alone."

The new technique makes use of receptors known as chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), which allow T cells to target antigens on the surface of a tumor cell, coupled with another type of receptor called a chimeric costimulatory receptor (CCR), by which the T cells can recognize a second antigen.

The CAR and the CCR work together through a process known as balanced signaling, in which the presence of either antigen on its own is not enough to trigger the immune response. Only tumor cells that carry both antigens will be targeted.

In the Nature Biotechnology study, the team created T cells that carried a CAR for an antigen called PSMA and a CCR for an antigen called PSCA. Both PSMA and PSCA are found on prostate cancer cells. The investigators then generated mouse models of prostate cancer and infused the mice with the engineered cells. They found that the T cells attacked only tumors that carried antigens for both PSMA and PSCA.

"We are the first to test this concept and show that it works," Dr. Sadelain concludes. "We plan to develop clinical trials based on this approach, although we have not yet decided whether the first study will be a trial for prostate cancer or for a different type of cancer using two other antigens. Ultimately, our goal is to create targeted immunotherapies that are both potent and safe for patients."

###

In addition to members of Dr. Sadelain's laboratory, coauthors on the study included two researchers from TU Dresden in Germany.

This work was supported by philanthropic funds provided by the Mr. William H. and Mrs. Alice Goodwin and the Commonwealth Foundation for Cancer Research, the Experimental Therapeutics Center of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Major Family Fund for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Mr. and Mrs. Joel S. Mallah, and Mr. Lewis Sanders.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-12/mscc-ntc121312.php

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Private or Small Group

Looking for a few or one very dedicated RPers who may be interested in a MOSTLY Romance based RP with some strong gang/mafia related elements?

Must be willing to play a boy or girl role and up to two!
Also must be very dedicated!!!!

PM me if you are interested!!!

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/3ZjhgNt-qgU/viewtopic.php

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Lives saved by teachers, custodian -- even kids

Sandy Hook Elementary principal Dawn Hochsprung died in the attack after reportedly running toward the gunfire to protect her students. TODAY's Erica Hill reports, and Savannah Guthrie talks with two men who knew her.

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

As witnesses recount the horrific crime at Sandy Hook Elementary, one constant is emerging: Even more children would have been killed had it not been for the actions of teachers, a custodian and even the students themselves.

"A lot of children are alive today because of actions the teachers took," School Superintendent Janet Robinson told NBC's TODAY show on Saturday, a day after a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at the K-4th grade school in Newtown, Conn.

Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach, both among those killed, were said to have run toward the gunfire as it broke out, with Hochsprung lunging at the gunman, according to town officials.

Hochsprung was coming out of a meeting when she confronted the shooter, Board of Education chairwoman Debbie Liedlien said Saturday.

Jeff Capeci, chairman of Newtown's Legislative Council, said Hochsprung's actions were nothing short of heroic.?"From what we know, it's hard to classify her as anything else," he added.

Mary Ann Jacob, a school library aide, told reporters Saturday that she was with 18 fourth-graders when she heard "popping sounds" and realized shots had been fired.

"I shouted 'Lockdown!' and I ran across the hall and told the other class," Jacob said.?

---

She then discovered that her classroom door would not lock. After blocking the door from the inside with a filing cabinet, Jacob and the rest of the library staff guided the children in a group-crawl to a closet in the back.?

"The kids cozied up, and we waited," Jacob said, adding that the children were told it was a drill.?"We settled them down with paper and crayons."

"When the police finally came, we were afraid to open the door," she said of the hour-long ordeal. The staff only did when police slipped a badge under the door.

Robert MacPherson / AFP - Getty Images

Sandy Hook Elementary School library clerk Mary Ann Jacob speaks to the press in Newtown, Conn., on Saturday.

Music teacher Maryrose Kristopik also took her students to a classroom closet.?

"We stayed quiet, we held hands, we hugged," Kristopik?told the New York Daily News. "I tried to talk to them calmly."

First-grade teacher Vicki Leigh Soto, 27, lost her life as she "huddled with her children," her cousin Jim Wiltsie?told the Wall Street Journal.?

She had tried to hide them in a closet, he added, and "in doing so, she put herself between the kids and the gunman's bullets ... She was a hero for what she did."?

Wiltsie did not know if her students were among the dead.

Another unidentified teacher grabbed 8-year-old Bear Nikitchyuk from a hallway and into a classroom as bullets whizzed by, NBCNewYork.com reported.

"I was going back to my classroom, then I heard something like kicking on a door, then I turned around and I saw smoke and I smelled smoke," Bear said. "Then bullets whizzed by."

A custodian warned of the gunman by running through the halls, said 4th-grade teacher Theodore Varga.

"He said, 'Guys! Get down! Hide!'" Varga said. "So he was actually a hero."?

Related: Principal had 'talked about this exact type of incident'

Even some students were able to muster up courage as shots were fired around them.

One student claimed to know karate, The Associated Press reported. "It's OK. I'll lead the way out," the student said.?

School Superintendent Janet Robinson talks about the heroism of teachers and says the shooter's mother was not a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook.

A parent?said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

"That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," Robert Licata?said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends."?

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/15/15927932-lives-saved-by-teachers-custodian-and-even-children-in-connecticut-school-shooting?lite

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Recreation And Sports: Hunting Report Classification ? Page 110 ...

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Source: http://floralwhite.w3bookmarks.com/technology/recreation-and-sports-hunting-report-classification-page-110/

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Homemade self-balancing unicycle uses an Arduino to keep upright

On the whim of a coin flip, Nick Thatcher once decided between building a homemade Segway, or a self balancing unicycle. Even though the powers of fate chose the former, Thatcher's thirst to build wasn't quenched -- he built the one-wheeled scooter anyway. The Raptor looks a lot like a Ryno unicycle built from spare parts -- a chain driven wheelbarrow wheel powered by a 350w geared motor, a pair of batteries wired in series, some PVC and polycarbonate, an IMU gyro and an Arduino UNO -- all hobbled together to form a one-wheeled electric mount. Thatcher says the scooter can push 10mph safely, but faster speeds tend to outpace the gyro's corrective efforts. Still, the bike promises between 90-120 minutes of face-plant free fun, provided the rider is at least a little balanced. The motorized unicycle isn't for sale, but peek on over to Thatch Industries for a parts list, or scoot on past the break to see the bike in action.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Via: Hackaday

Source: Thatch Industries

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/16/homemade-raptor-unicycle-uses-an-arduino-to-keep-upright/

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Christmas House Tours {2012} - The Inspired Room

Hello, sweet blog friends. I?m so glad you are able to join us for the Christmas Home Tours! I?ve been so looking forward to this! I posted my own Christmas Home Tour just a few moments ago, feel free to swing by and take a peek! Now I?m ready to visit YOU and all our bloggy neighbors!

This one of the bloggy highlights of the year, getting to visit you all, share a cup of hot chocolate and chat awhile in the warmth of your lovely Christmas homes. This tour is not about having the perfect home or the best Christmas decor, but rather opening our doors to welcome in friends far and near!

Here are the Christmas home tour rules:

* Anyone can link up to three posts old or new
* You can link up here at The Inspired Room or at Cottage
Magpie, the links will show up at both places
as we are both sharing in the party hosting!

* Link back to this post onThe Inspired Room and to Angela (Cottage Magpie) in your post.
This might mean you?have to go in to your home tour post and alter it.
Use a text link or right click to use this?cute button (with link!)

* The linky will be open for link ups until next Saturday Morning.
* Both Angela and I will each select our favorite posts for a round up next
Saturday. ONLY posts that link back to us will be featured.
* Be a nice party go-er, and visit at least as many other links as you have
linked up yourself. (Seems fair doesn?t it?)

*You can find the topics and schedule of the other Christmas Linky Parties in this post at Cottage Magpie.

I?m looking forward to visiting your homes, thank you for joining us!

Source: http://theinspiredroom.net/2012/12/14/christmas-house-tours-blog-linky-party-2012/

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Real Estate News ? Builder expands in Park Circle area, Realtor ...

? High school drumline marks Oak Terrace Preserve phase ?

A few ?neighbors? from quaint downtown North Charleston joined a builder to unveil its model home and sales center.

• 
  Meghan Weinreich (left) and Lora Able won top awards from the National Association of Realtors recently. They both work for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (Provided).
• 
  Fox Hollow is a startup neighborhood from New Leaf Builders on James Island. The development has a variety of floor plans (Provided).
• 
  Connie White (Provided).
• 
  Herb Uthlaut (Provided).

The partners who make up Charleston Landmark Builders sponsored a grand opening weekend Nov. 17-18 to provide home perusers a glimpse of the company?s new phase at Oak Terrace Preserve.

Guests included North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, who lives a few blocks away, and the North Charleston High School Drumline in a special performance. The high school is less than a mile from Oak Terrace Preserve, which is just west of Park Circle.

Charleston Landmark supplied down-home cooking from North Charleston?s Barbecue Joint and apple pies baked by EVO Craft Bakery ? both in the heart of the city.

The new sales center and model home highlight American Craftsman-style construction, with many features sought by today?s buyers, according to Charleston Landmark.

The company is one of several builders in Oak Terrace Preserve. According to Charleston Landmark, the village ?is a prime example of the reinvigorated Park Circle community.? Craftsman homes ?reflect the style and quality of homes originally built in the neighborhood decades ago.?

Charleston Landmark?s sales center is open every day 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, contact John Sweeney, sales associate at Re/Max Advanced Realty at 843-469-5646 or Marty Sorrentino, broker associate of Re/Max Innovations and director of sales and marketing for Charleston Landmark Builders at 516-221-7362, 516-551-0082 or www.martysorrentino.com.

? Weinreich, Able take home awards ?

Education and marketing units of the local Realtor?s association recently landed countrywide honors ? specifically a gabby winner and a rising star.

Awards for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors were handed out during the 2012 National Association of Realtors convention in Orlando.

Lora Able, the Charleston Trident association?s director of education, won the 2012 Resort and Second Home Property Specialist ?Rising Star Award.?

Each year, the award is presented to someone who stands out among the more than 1,600 real estate professionals who have earned the national association?s RSPS certification.

Also, Meghan Weinreich took home a ?Gabby Award? for best email newsletter by a local Realtor association. The Gabby Awards are handed out yearly to recognize the best use of Convio email marketing to talk with, educate and quickly reach Realtor members when needed.

? Foreclosures drop statewide, nationally in October ?

The number of homes in October going through foreclosure in South Carolina sank to 3.3 percent, mirroring the national downward movement.

The state total was down .5 percent from a year ago, but still placed tied for 10th highest across the country.

About 1.3 million homes nationwide, or 3.2 percent of all houses with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of October compared with 1.5 million, or 3.6 percent, a year before.

?A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets,? says Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive of CoreLogic.

?The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction,? he says.

At the same time, there is a lower share nationally of completed foreclosures ? cases where deals collapse and owners actually lose their homes.

According to CoreLogic, completed foreclosures declined 17 percent to 58,000 in October from 70,000 a year previous.

?As a result of completed foreclosures and alternative disposition methods (such as short sales), the foreclosure inventory has declined by 9 percent year-to-date. This is good news for housing markets as we look forward to 2013,? says Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

States with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida, at 11.1 percent and New Jersey with 7.7 percent. The lowest foreclosure inventories were in Wyoming, 0.5 percent and Alaska and North Dakota, at 0.7 percent each.

Five states account for nearly half of the completed foreclosures: California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and Georgia.

? Fox Hollow community slips onto James Island ?

This new neighborhood may sound like the name of a backwoods stomping ground, but it?s really in a stretch of James Island that?s downright suburban.

All the same, Fox Hollow takes a shine to natural surroundings. New Leaf Builders LLC is designing the neighborhood as a ?low impact development ? disturbing as little of the natural vegetation and wildlife habitat as possible.?

Fox Hollow, which is off Woodland Shores Road, showcases nine bungalow-style craftsman homes nestled beneath century-old trees, according to the builder.

Homes are in the 1,750-2,550 square foot range, and prices run from the low $300,000s to the low $400,000s.

Residences sport eco-friendly innovations such as Insulating Concrete Forms. Instead of using lumber for exterior walls, the ICF walls are five inches of steel re-enforced concrete with two inches of polystyrene foam on each side of the concrete, says New Leaf and its marketing group Charleston Pier Partners. Air-tight walls can cut down on power bills while providing muscular construction that?s resistant to storm damage.

New Leaf Builders searched far and wide to find certain materials to craft the eco-friendly homes. Bungalows in Asheville that were reclaimed provide the James Island houses with a one-of-a-kind vintage door.

The three and four bedroom homes, according to Charleston Pier Partners, are ?warm and inviting.? Power-saving perks are energy-efficient windows, tankless water heaters, low-flow plumbing fixtures, home energy monitors, rain barrels and composters, protective radiant-roof barriers and natural bio swales geared to handle storm water runoff.

Typical features are cozy front porches; crown molding throughout the homes; hardwood floors in main living areas; screened porches with ceiling fan and light package; and kitchen stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and 42-inch cabinets.

This is the second project involving New Leaf Builders, a design and build firm of business partners Adam Baslow and Grant Zinkon, and Carolina One Real Estate?s Charleston Pier Partners. They first got together to market, build and sell Eaglewood Retreat on James Island in 2011. The Fox Hollow development was a natural progression.

Randall Sandin and Matt Poole of Charleston Pier Partners-Carolina One are the exclusive listing agents. For more information, contact Sandin at 843-209-9667 or rsandin@carolinaone.com or visit www.FoxHollowSC.com.

? Former franchise owner signs on with Prudential Southern Coast ?

Connie White knows the real estate business from the agent side but more than that, as an owner, too.

She recently joined Prudential Southern Coast Real Estate, bringing a background as a Realtor and as a franchise holder with Exit Realty.

White specializes in ?short sales,? investor properties and assisting first time home buyers.

?I am excited with the opportunity of joining such a distinguished and highly professional organization as Prudential Southern Coast Real Estate,? she says. The agency?s marketing program ?is an aggressive approach that meets the needs of today?s buyers and sellers,? White says. The program, she says, ?blends perfectly with my philosophy.?

White and her husband Brian White, a finance officer, live in Crowfield in Goose Creek. They are proud of their two children, Ronnie, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina, and Michael, a freshman at Stratford High School.

?We are honored Connie chose to join our team,? says Linda Collins, owner of Prudential Southern Coast. ?Her love of helping her clients is her mission.?

For more information, contact White at 843-532-3356 or via email at cwhite.pscre@gmail.com.

? Retail real estate activity picks up in Charleston area ?

A reinvigorated King Street is helping to boost the retail market in metro Charleston, surpassing most other cities, a broker?s report has found.

?With higher levels of retail activity compared to other retail centers in the state and nation, the Charleston Metropolitan Statistical Area retail market appears to be moving in a positive direction,? says Ruth Marie Embler, retail specialist with NAI Avant.

The overall Charleston market in the July through September third quarter recorded a low 5.3 percent vacancy rate, compared with 5.5 percent as of the end of the second quarter. The volume of newly leased properties over recent vacancies was 135,212 square feet, compared with a 90,606-square-foot net absorption from April through June.

?The vitality of King Street, in particular, is playing a large part in the low vacancy rate for the overall retail market,? Embler says. ?Downtown Charleston alone is experiencing a vacancy rate of 1.6 percent, the lowest it has seen in a long time. Both existing and planned retail space in this area command higher rental rates, in some cases as high as $40 per square foot.This has created a buzz of extreme demand and excitement that continues to capture the attention of national retailers,? she says.

At the end of September, more than 166,000 square feet of retail space was under construction in metro Charleston.

Founded in 1966, NAI Avant is headquartered in Columbia and has an office in Charleston. For more information, visit www.naiavant.com or contact David Grubbs, managing principal of the Charleston Office at 843-814-6111 or dgrubbs@naiavant.com.

? Coldwell Banker agent awarded buyer?s certification ?

Herb Uthlaut has landed one of the more prestigious real estate titles, joining more than 30,000 fellow professionals after passing an extensive course.

The agent, with Coldwell Banker United, Realtors earned the Accredited Buyer?s Representation designation. The Real Estate Buyer?s Agent Council of the National Association of Realtors grants the designation.

In securing the ABR certification, Uthlaut had to successfully finish a comprehensive course in buyer representation and an elective course focusing on a buyer representation specialty. At the same time, he was required to submit documentation verifying his professional experience.

Formed in 1988, the council is the world?s largest association of real estate professionals focusing specifically on representing the real estate buyer, according to the NAR. There are more than 40,000 active members of the association worldwide.

The NAR is the largest professional association for Realtors, representing more than 1 million members worldwide.

For more information, contact the council by phone at 800-648-6224, email at rebac@realtors.org or visit the website at www.REBAC.net.

Source: http://nationalrealtynews.com/national-association-of-realtors/real-estate-news-builder-expands-in-park-circle-area-realtor-association/

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