Ten Car And Truck Government Auction Tips | Best Motorsport ...

1. First Be Really Truthful With Yourself.

If you are not mechanically inclined and don?t have the tools needed for major repairs, don?t talk yourself into thinking you can do it yourself. Sure you might buy a cheap car, but don?t let it turn into really expensive repairs!

2. Look At Everything In Detail

These car and truck auctions sell with only a visual inspection. So be careful and look for any signs of recent fix-ups,puddles under the car, bad disc brakes or a crooked stance and a bazillion other details. I always look at the brakes and gas pedals. If really worn they tell you how much the car has been used and how well.

3. Don?t Trust Everything You Think You See

Watch out for touch-up paint or Bondo brand body repair jobs on the doors and panels. Everything has been polished to look great but be sure what you see is really what you get.

4. Don?t Let The Minor Things Scare You

At most government auctions, cracking paint may hide a mechanically solid Dodge Ram. A little ding in the tailgate of a Ford might just be from a parking lot bump and not signs of any real misuse.

5. Always check the VIN

Jot down the VIN number of the vehicle you might be interested in. Then check that same number on the inside door and trunk stickers. Now if they don?t match there is a chance it has been in a major accident or repair. Look for a better car or truck if this is the case.

6. Check Out The Dip Sticks

If a vehicle has been taken care of, when you check on either the oil or transmission fluid dip sticks, the lubricants should be clean and clear.

7. Price The value Before You Bid

You can go online and check the Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds? to get a basic idea as to how much a used car of that model should be worth. I tend to check the prices of the same vehicle against Craigslist and classified listings.

8.? As Is? Condition

When you win the bid,there are no warranties or guarantees or any kind of legal recourse or action after the purchase. Only bid if you can afford the risk and price combined.

9. Study The Other Bidders

Watch and take your time at these car and truck auctions. Look for sneaky bidders who might bid on just a particular vehicle just to drive the price up. Go to a couple auctions before you actually get in and bid on anything. Get to know the procedures always use common sense while bidding.

10. Do Not Get Roped Into A Bidding War

It is really easy to find yourself caught up bidding against others and possibly paying hundreds of dollars more just because you wanted to out bid that ?other guy? and lose all the savings you could have had. If you find yourself getting caught up in a bidding war, it?s best to just stop and wait for the next car or truck that catches your interest.

Source: http://www.motorsportacademy.org/ten-car-and-truck-government-auction-tips.html

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Uproar over Ariel settlement university highlights Israeli academia?s hypocrisy

?With it likely that the University Centre of Samaria (UCS), the higher education institute based in Ariel colony in the West Bank, will be upgraded from college to university status, public?opposition?to the move from within Israeli academia has increased.

Various university heads in Israel have expressed strong opposition, with varying motives. Some have spoken about financial concerns ? as the head of the Weizmann Institute put it: ?It will be interesting to see if adding a university will be met with an increased budget for higher education?.

While others have previously resisted the upgrade on the basis that Ariel is a West Bank settlement, there is also a concern expressed today by the Hebrew University President, who?warned?that ?this is a strategic risk to the state?, and that by granting Ariel university status ?we are jeopardizing the next Nobel prize?.

The inference here is with regards to the international reputation of Israeli academia, and the issue of boycott. Earlier this month, Meretz chair Zahava Gal-On?worried?in similar terms that ?those who want to turn [UCS] into a university are single-handedly bringing an academic boycott on us?.

Professors who signed a petition against the upgrade endorsed a?statement?that argues the new university will mean ?an inevitable identification between the entire Israeli academic community and the policy of settlements and occupation?. In the context of ?ties between the Israeli academia and our counterparts around the world?, this identification of ?the entire Israeli academia with the policy of settlements will place it in grave danger?.

One of the more interesting pieces about the Ariel furore was by Sara Hirschhorn inThe Times of Israel, who, while?making?a case for 'embracing? UCS, calls out the hypocrisy of those who want to pretend that Israeli academia is not?already?complicit.

Second, the idea that the creation of an institution of higher education in the occupied territories will fundamentally realign Israel?s research universities with the occupation is a chimera. While it may make some Israeli and Diaspora Jewish academics more comfortable to believe that a kind of cordon sanitaire separates scholarship from the settlements ? between the halls of Hebrew University and the human rights crisis in Hebron ? this is an inaccurate representation of Israeli reality.?The entire nation is complicit in the occupation, and there is no safe haven in the libraries and laboratories within the Green Line. Whether it is the research dollar spent on a security algorithm, the professor serving guard duty as a reservist in the territories, or even the Bagel-Bagel snack (produced in Ariel!) purchased in a cafeteria, Israel?s educational network ? regardless of the political persuasions of faculty ? is already entrenched in the occupation.?Yet, members of this group persist in pretending that as long as UCS doesn?t exist, their own reputations remain intact.

To read more about the links between Israeli academic institutions and human rights abuses, see this excellent 2009?report: ?Academic Boycott of Israel and the Complicity of Israeli Academic Institutions in Occupation of Palestinian Territories?.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/uproar-over-ariel-settlement-university-highlights-israeli-academias-hypocrisy

Posted on 28-06-2012

Source: http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=1932

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US man critical after chimp attack in S. Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? In the six years he's managed a sanctuary for abused and orphaned chimpanzees, South African conservationist Eugene Cussons is from time to time called on to comment when an ape elsewhere in the world attacks a human. Cussons says he could always pinpoint a moment of taunting or perceived aggression that could have set off the quick and powerful animals.

This time, though, the attack was at his own Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in eastern South Africa. And Cussons, host of the Animal Planet show "Escape to Chimp Eden," is without an explanation.

In telephone interview Saturday, Cussons said he would have to wait until the severely injured victim, a University of Texas at San Antonio anthropology graduate student who was inspired by famed primatologist Jane Goodall to study chimps, was well enough to provide details on what sparked Thursday's attack.

It was the first such attack since Cussons, working with Goodall's renowned international institute, converted part of his family's game farm into the sanctuary in 2006.

"You can train for it, you can do your best to prepare," Cussons said. "But when it actually happens, it's shocking and traumatic for everyone."

Cussons's team quickly evacuated the dozen tourists to whom Andrew F. Oberle had been giving a lecture and tried to separate the chimps from Oberle. In the end, Cussons, who was himself attacked by a chimp as he tried to pull it off Oberle, took the extreme step of firing into the air, scaring the animals away.

Oberle was bitten repeatedly and dragged for nearly a kilometer (half mile). Cussons said one of the chimps was injured in the scuffle, and he was awaiting a veterinarian's report to determine the nature and extent of the injury. No one else was hurt.

Cussons said it was the first time he had asked Oberle to speak to visitors. The student had arrived last month for a follow-up study visit after an extended stay to observe the chimps a year or so ago, Cussons said. As a researcher, Cussons said Oberle had been trained to ensure he understood how the animals might behave and knew to keep a safe distance. Cussons said Oberle was given additional training before addressing the tour group.

Cussons said Oberle broke the rules by going through the first of two fences that separate humans from the chimps. The chimps then grabbed him and pulled him under the second fence, which is electrified. Cussons said it was unclear why Oberle had moved so dangerously close.

Only after Oberle is well enough to talk will investigators "be able to find out why he crossed the safety fence to go on to the main fence," Cussons said.

Mediclinic Nelspruit hospital said Saturday that the 26-year-old Oberle remained in critical condition in intensive care. Oberle underwent surgery at the hospital Thursday.

Cussons said Saturday that Oberle's mother was on her way to South Africa. Oberle's mother, Mary Flint of St. Louis, said Friday that chimpanzees have been her son's passion since seventh grade, when he watched a film about Goodall.

Goodall, a Cambridge University-trained ethnologist, began studying chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe National Park in 1960. Since 1994, her institute has been involved in conservation programs across Africa. The institute says its Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in Congo is the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in Africa.

Flint said Oberle knew the risks of working with chimps and would not want them blamed for the attack.

"He adored them," she said. "Since he was a little boy he just loved them, and I just have faith that ... when all is said and done, he's going to go right back into it."

The sanctuary has been closed to tourists since the attack, while government and police officials investigate. The Jane Goodall Institute South Africa is conducting its own investigation.

"Everyone at Chimp Eden is hurting," Cussons said, saying the thoughts of staff members were with Oberle and his family.

Cussons said the two chimps that attacked Oberle, Amadeus and Nikki, had been isolated in their night pens since the attack. He said they were calm and exhibiting remorse, which he said chimps show by behaving submissively.

Human-animal contact is kept to a minimum at the sanctuary, designed as a haven for chimpanzees, which are not native to South Africa, that have been rescued from elsewhere in Africa. Some lost their parents to poachers in countries where they are hunted for their meat or to be sold as pets, and others were held in captivity in cruel conditions.

"They come here and we rehabilitate them by giving them space ... and contact with their own kind," Cussons said. According to the sanctuary's website, one of the chimps involved in the attack, Amadeus, was orphaned in Angola and brought to South Africa in 1996, where he was kept at the Johannesburg Zoo until the sanctuary opened. The other, Nikki, came from Liberia in 1996 and also was held at the zoo until becoming among the first chimps at the sanctuary. Before arriving in South Africa, Nikki, whose parents were killed for their meat, had been treated like a son by his owners, who dressed him in clothes, shaved his body and taught him to eat at a table using cutlery, the website said.

In the United States, a Connecticut woman, Charla Nash, was attacked in 2009 by a friend's chimpanzee that ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids and hands before being killed by police. The woman was blinded and has had a face transplant. Lawyers for Nash filed papers this week accusing state officials of failing to seize the animal before the mauling despite a warning that it was dangerous.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-man-critical-chimp-attack-africa-105042371.html

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Officials slam Iran on anti-Semitic statement

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? International officials have condemned statements made by Iran's vice president at a U.N.-sponsored drug conference in Tehran where he blamed Jews for the international drug trade.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, on Thursday became the latest official to condemn the remarks by Iran's Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi.

"The High Representative is deeply disturbed by racist and anti-Semitic statements made by Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi," Ashton said in a statement.

Iran's semi-official FARS news agency reported that Rahimi on Tuesday said the prevalence of narcotics and drug-addiction throughout the world finds its roots in the erroneous teachings of the Talmud, one of the Jewish Holy books.

"The book teaches them how to destroy non-Jews so as to protect an embryo in the womb of a Jewish mother," Rahimi stated.

The Iranian vice-president said that the Zionists' direct involvement in the prevalence of illicit drugs is such that "you cannot find a single addict among the Zionists".

As vice president, Rahimi has no major role in Iranian politics but his remarks recall Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's earlier anti-Semitic comments. In 2005 he said the Jewish state should be "wiped off the map." Later, he called Holocaust a "myth."

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Iranian officials to refrain from such comments.

Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said in statement late Wednesday: "The Secretary-General has on many occasions called on Iranian officials to refrain from these kinds of anti-Semitic statements. He does so again in response to these latest reported comments. "

The Iranian mission to the U.N. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Ban's remarks.

Israel was quick to condemn Rahimi's remarks.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman said in a statement Wednesday that the fact that representatives of the U.N. and European states still attend conferences held in Tehran, where anti-Semitic remarks of the worst type are made, legitimizes the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran, which represents a real threat to world peace.

In Italy, Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi called the Rahimi's remarks: "Disturbing and absolutely unacceptable."

In New York, the Anti-Defamination League called Rahimi's remarks especially disturbing in light of Iran's efforts to strengthen its nuclear program.

"To all those who thought that anti-Semitism is a thing of the past, certainly this makes it very clear that it is alive and well again. What makes it more sinister and dangerous is the fact that it comes from a leader of a country that has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, and is making efforts to obtain the means to do it," Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL's national director said in a statement.

___

Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi contributed to this report from Tehran.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-06-28-Iran%20Anti-Semitism/id-ddade465c03949959e579ebff265fa46

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Video: Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act

Newark TSA workers fired for sleeping on the job

Eight screeners at Newark Airport in New Jersey were fired Wednesday morning after they were caught on video sleeping on the job or failing to follow standard operating procedures for screening checked bags, authorities said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/48003731#48003731

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UK banks face new scandal; Barclays boss in peril

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-banks-face-scandal-barclays-boss-peril-022705014--finance.html

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Fran?ois Nars Turns Snapper For Vogue Japan

Previous 1 / 10 Next

Posted on June 28, 2012 3:44PM by Sarah Macrae ?

Fran?ois Nars is a man of many talents. As well as creating a beauty brand that's turned into a worldwide phenomenon?? largely down to his multi-award-winning Orgasm Blush ? and seen him able to buy his own small island in the South Pacific, he's secured a spot as Marc Jacobs go-to runway makeup artist and is a pretty ace photographer. Yep, what initially started as a passion soon turned into him shooting his own advertising campaigns (he still does to this day) and launching a photography book, X-Ray, in 1999. His striking images mean that he's regularly called upon for his skills behind the lens. His latest project is a stunning editorial spread of German model Toni Garrn in Vogue Japan. Call us biased, but we think Fran?ois' expert face painting skills allow him to take beautiful shots of makeup, no?

? Back to Story

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Local vs Location Business Marketing | Jeff Korhan | Surefire Social

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Alyssa Gagen

www.jeffkorhan.com6/27/12

Your business can be local even if it does not have a physical location for customers to visit. Learn how to take advantage of that.

?read more

Alyssa is a social media and web 2.0 specialist with a veteran status at GenNext Media LLC. By monitoring current social media trends, marketing techniques and alternative strategies, Alyssa keeps Surefire Social, and its clients, on the cutting edge of online, local business marketing within the social media community.

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Tens of thousands flee raging Colo. wildfire

COLORADO SPRINGS (Reuters) - A wildfire raging near some of Colorado's most popular tourist sites grew suddenly more ferocious on Tuesday, forcing 32,000 people from their homes, prompting evacuations from the U.S. Air Force Academy and swallowing numerous houses at the edge of Colorado Springs.

From the vantage point of a command post about 10 miles from the path of advancing flames, the entire community of Mountain Shadows, a northwest subdivision, appeared to be enveloped in an orange glow after dark.

"This is a fire of epic proportions," Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown said as ash drifted down on the city, sirens wailed and the thick smell of smoke permeated the air.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper flew into the city Tuesday night by helicopter to meet with fire commanders and tour the fire zone first-hand. He noted that the blaze was one of at least a dozen burning throughout the state. Four people have died in Colorado wildfires so far this year.

"This is the worst fire season in the history of Colorado," he said during an impromptu news conference, adding that from the air he saw many homes destroyed in a glowing landscape that looked "surreal."

The Waldo Canyon Fire, which has roared through at least 6,200 acres of dry timber since Saturday, has grabbed attention for days because of its proximity to landmarks like the famed mountaintop of Pikes Peak and the Air Force Academy.

The blaze claimed its first property losses on Tuesday as wind-driven flames swept over containment lines into Colorado's second-most populous city, consuming an unknown number of homes on the town's outskirts as authorities hurried to evacuate residents.

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said 32,000 people had been evacuated, and an Air Force Academy spokesman said the evacuation zone included two communities of single-family homes on academy grounds housing civilian and military personnel and their families.

"We are in a very critical situation now. Unfortunately we do have structures and homes that are burning in the northwest corner of Colorado Springs. We have mandatory evacuation over a considerable area," fire information officer Rob Deyerberg told Reuters.

A mushroom cloud of gray, black and brown smoke, topped by billowing, white cumulus clouds, rose nearly 20,000 feet into the sky and hung over the area as residents scrambled to heed evacuation orders.

The sudden closure of service stations along with other businesses, leaving fleeing motorists unable to fill up their cars, added to a sense of urgency as roads filled with traffic.

Columns of vehicles carrying evacuees and hastily packed belongings stretched bumper-to-bumper for miles, crawling slowly southward out of town along Interstate 25.

Closer to the blaze, which has been fanned by winds blowing into the southern Rockies from the prairies to the east, trees were visibly twisting from the heat of the flames.

"It's a very hostile environment out there," fire information officer Anne Rys-Sikora said.

Asked how quickly the fire was spreading after the latest flare-up on Tuesday afternoon, incident commander Rich Harvey said, "If I gave acreage right now, it would be wrong in five minutes. It's growing."

Hickenlooper said he was consulting with Pentagon officials. The Air Force Academy issued a statement saying the military was preparing to dispatch up to 25 more helicopters to join the firefighting effort.

Authorities earlier said that half of the fleet of eight Air Force C-130 cargo planes equipped as air tankers were already at work, dropping flame-retardant chemicals over the blaze.

DEATH IN UTAH

Still, the Waldo Canyon Fire, burning primarily within the Pike National Forest on the western fringe of Colorado City, was dwarfed in size by wildfires elsewhere across the state, and by a fatal blaze that flared with renewed intensity in Utah.

Authorities said on Tuesday a body was found in the ashes the fast-moving Wood Hollow Fire about 100 miles south of Salt Lake City, marking the first fatality in a blaze that has scorched over 39,000 acres of rolling hills covered by parched cheat grass and sagebrush.

Flames fanned by high winds into a second county forced the closure of Utah's state Route 89 for a second time and prompted the evacuation of the entire town Fairview, a community of more than 1,200 residents according to the latest census, state emergency managers said.

The blaze already has leveled an estimated 30 homes and killed 75 sheep, authorities said.

The Wood Hollow Fire is believed to be one of just two western wildfires that have claimed lives in recent weeks.

The other is the High Park Fire near Fort Collins, Colorado, south of Denver, which now ranks as that state's second-largest blaze on record and its most destructive ever, having consumed 87,250 acres in steep mountain canyons since it was sparked by lightning two weeks ago.

The High Park has destroyed 248 homes and killed a 62-year-old grandmother, whose body was found in the ashes of her cabin, while leaving an estimated 4,300 residents displaced by evacuations.

Colorado accounts for several of the 29 large active wildfires being fought across the country on Tuesday. The bulk of them were in seven western states -- Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and California, the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, reported.

Although federal authorities say the fire season got off to an early start in parts of the northern Rockies, the number of fires and acreage burned nationwide is still below the 10-year average for this time of year, according to fire agency records.

(Additional reporting by Ellen Miller in Grand Junction, Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City and Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho. Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Lisa Shumaker and David Brunnstrom)

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AIG settles with the state of Connecticut in under-reported worker's ...

Posted on Jun 27, 2012

The American International Group Inc. will give $1 million to the state of Connecticut?s general fund as part of a settlement, the state Insurance Department announced Monday.

This compensation towards Connecticut is only a fragment of the $146.5 million multi-state settlement with AIG.

The settlement is taking place after allegations that the insurance corporation under-reported workers compensation insurance premiums in an attempt to illegally thwart taxation and assessments.

?The settlement is the result of close coordination with state insurance regulators from around the country,? said State Insurance Commissioner Thomas B. Leonardi in a statement.

AIG has agreed to pay all 50 states a total of $46.5 million in taxes and assessments. They will also compensate them with a $100 million fine.

In an effort to reduce tax responsibilities and additional assessments, AIG replaced insurance lines in their financial reports. These efforts have been traced back as occurring for more than 25 years.

During the 2008 national financial crisis, the federal government gave AIG a $182 billion bailout. At this same time, the insurance corp. had under-reported over $2.1 billion in workers compensation premiums throughout the country.

The Federal Reserve announced last week, though, that AIG and Bear Stearns had repaid all the loans the government had offered them during this 2008 bailout.

61 percent of AIG is still owned by the United States Treasury Department, as reported by Bloomberg news service.

?

?

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roberto - Marriage and Relationships

Marriages and relationships have changed enormously in recent decades in Ireland.

Lots of couples get married nowadays after having children, or after living together for years.

Civil ceremonies also mean that people that have been married in the past can remarry.

A positive change in Irish society was in 2010 when changes in legislation meant that Civil Partnerships ?in Ireland became recognized. Gay couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the State, may now formalise their relationships in the eyes of the law. It gives same-sex couples rights and responsibilities similar to civil marriage.

I am married almost 4 years. Most of it has been good; some of it great and there has been not so great times too.

My husband and I have very different personalities, our interests and hobbies are different, and our outlooks on life are different. What we share is the love we have for each other, the respect, the trust in each other and we know we want to spend the rest of our lives together. But we have to work at our marriage.

Along the (sometimes bumpy) path we have both learned a lot, and continue to do so. Allow me to share:

? Communication is critical in a relationship. Talk. Let each other know what is going on in your heads.
? Do not give each other the silent treatment. What does it achieve? Nothing!
? Make time for yourselves. Pick a night a week and go for a walk together, go to the cinema, get a take away and a DVD.
? Listen to one another and respect each other?s opinions.
? Try not to judge or think too much about other couple?s relationships. Concentrate on your own.
? Nobody is perfect ? we all have our faults, we all have annoying habits.
? Is it really worth having a huge argument over taking out the bins, or not emptying the dishwasher? Come up with a way of handling this without causing World War 3! Do what I do and get a ?post it? note and write on it ?Dear John, I would love it if you would empty all the dishes as you are so good at it, thank you! signed the Dishwasher.? It works for us ? I am not nagging and my husband is not being nagged!

A friend of mine shared something with me recently. Her husband would always phone her as she was in the changing room of a shop! It was like he knew what she was up too. She would smile as his name flashed on her screen. This lady?s beloved husband passed away last year and every time she is in a changing room now she looks at her mobile and wishes he would ring.

Time is precious, so make the most of it with each other.

?

Karen Buchanan blogs weekly for us. She is a woman with real heart and soul. You wouldn?t make a mistake connecting with her to plan your wedding. Find her over at Weddings With Karen Buchanan.

?

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Wildlife watch!

A running joke among oceanographers who don?t study whales and dolphins is the fact that everyone *thinks* they study whales and dolphins. For the people onboard who are so committed to their plankton, however, they sure do get excited about dolphins and whales. On Thursday, someone spotted some small whales in the water and as word got around, everyone went running out the door ? literally, scrambling for their cameras and yelling, ?Whales! Whales!?

The ship was surrounded by a pod of pilot whales ? small, toothed whales that look a lot like dolphins.

Looking up what kind of whales these are, I learned a new word: spyhopping. That?s what it?s called when whales and dolphins pop their heads out of the water and look around. I think it?s a great verb, and I plan to use it as much as possible when I get home. Like when I?m sticking my head out my apartment window looking to see if the FexEx truck is coming, or peeking around the corner to see if there?s cheese at an event before deciding to attend.

We?ve also been seeing a lot of birds at this station. Thankfully, the library on the Knorr has a library full of books that help scientists who work with plankton identify seabirds. Turns out the ones we?re seeing are Northern Fulmars. They tend to sit in the water around our boat, which seems to indicate that there?s food for them in the area (or, they think we come bearing food).

We also saw humpback whales the other day, but they were too far away for a good picture. Let?s pretend I took this one ? which in reality came from Wikipedia.

During this trip, I?ll be answering your questions about the science, this boat, and life onboard. Want to know how we search for plankton, why we?re here, or what the food is like? Just ask me! And if you?re wondering how I got here, check out the groups that made this adventure possible: Mind Open Media and COSEE NOW.

Previously in this series:

All Aboard: how you can be a part of our research blog
You wanted to know: what are these phytoplankton?
You wanted to know: what am I bringing to sea?
Greetings from Ponta Delgada! We set sail tomorrow.
Steaming North: how the scientists are trying to find plankton
The superstar sensor: what is a CTD?
Status Update: Day 3 at the Cyclonic Eddy
You wanted to know: what is this virus that infects the phytoplankton (Part One)
You wanted to know: what is this virus that infects the phytoplankton (Part Two)
Plankton hunting: Part art, Part science
You wanted to know: what?s the food like on board?

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Teen violin star is Venezuela's youngest conductor

MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela (Reuters) - At 2 years old, he was given his first musical instrument: a "cuatro," or small four-string guitar. At 8, he cried with emotion at a brass band concert.

Now, at just 14, Jose Angel Salazar is Venezuela's youngest orchestra conductor - the latest prodigy from his nation's famed El Sistema (The System) music development program - and possibly the youngest in the world.

Since the mid-1970s El Sistema has taught hundreds of thousands of youths, many from impoverished homes in Venezuela's tough slums, to play in orchestras. Supporters say it gives them discipline, cuts truancy and boosts self-esteem.

"For a boy of 14 to be conducting an orchestra at the same time as going to school is a miracle that only happens in Venezuela," Salazar told Reuters in an interview last week on Margarita, the Caribbean island where he was born.

The teenager, who delights in the complex symphonies of Franz Schubert and overtures by Antonio Vivaldi, is the second of three siblings raised by two local schoolteachers.

At a concert that night, the other musicians applauded him warmly as he took the stage to conduct 40 other youngsters, many of them older than him. Smiling shyly, he raised his baton and silence fell before the first notes rang out.

After two pieces, he received a long standing ovation, with his proud family looking on from a private box.

Jose Antonio Abreu, a local pianist, politician and economics professor, founded El Sistema in 1975 to get poor youngsters off the street, especially in shantytown "barrios" with some of the highest murder rates in the world, by offering them a classical musical education focused on ensemble playing.

Today, it is made up of 180 orchestras and about 350,000 youths, some 2,000 of whom recently flooded the Caracas metro to play in a simultaneous concerts at 23 stations.

Its most well-known alumnus is 31-year-old Gustavo Dudamel, who is now director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and shot to rock-star levels of fame after leading Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra at rapturously received concerts worldwide.

Another prodigy is Edicson Ruiz, who at 17 became the youngest musician to join the Berlin Philharmonic.

Youth orchestras inspired by Abreu's methods are being set up in places including Los Angeles, Scotland and Spain.

GLOBAL AMBITION

Salazar, who spoke to Reuters between rehearsals while wearing his high school uniform - a pale blue polo shirt, says he too hopes to travel the world one day, thanks to music.

In preparation, he said he plans to study languages after he leaves school in two years' time. And, as a fan of Schubert, he says he will start with German.

His love of Schubert, and classical music in general, began when he was age 8 and he saw a concert in Margarita by a local brass band with a trumpet player from the Berlin Philharmonic.

"I wanted to play the trumpet. ... I remember crying three times because of the impression the music made on me," he said.

He soon gave up karate lessons in favor of his new passion.

He began by learning the recorder, which all initiates to El Sistema are taught, and then the violin. He excelled at that instrument and was soon named as a concertmaster - or the leader of the first violin section of the orchestra.

Salazar, who also plays the guitar and the "cuatro," said the first time he directed the orchestra it was spontaneous.

"I was playing (the violin) and there was a teachers' meeting so our teacher had to leave. Since no one was left in charge, I put down the violin and began to conduct," he said with a smile.

Before long, Salazar was conducting boys twice his age, but always under the watchful eye of his teacher, Felipe Izcaray.

His life has changed a lot. After school he runs, without changing his uniform, to rehearse late into the night. It is only during the weekends when there are no concerts that he has something resembling a normal teenage life with his friends.

One day, he dreams of conducting at New York's storied Carnegie Hall, or the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

"I want to continue developing myself so that in the future I can pass on the gifts that I'm receiving now," Salazar said.

(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will Dunham)

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Turkey warns Syrian against military moves

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Facebook Quietly Releases ?Find Friends Nearby,? Then Quietly Pulls It

Facebook seemed to be taking a step in the location-based app direction with the launch of "Find Friends Nearby." But only hours after releasing the new -- yet very unofficial -- feature, the company reeled it back in, pulling it from its iOS and Android apps and disabling the mobile page.

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Rental Market is the newest real estate boom | Apartment for Rent in ...

The demand on rental properties is always mounting as people experienced home prices and sales on flat, therefore it increases the percentage of renters. It is a good indicator that the rental market is on its peak nowadays.

Renting is the future of housing. Renting can make a good business sense. It gives the potential buyers several good reasons to take as response to ever increasing value of homes.? Below are some good reasons of renting premises wherein buyers can enjoy.?

• ?Financially speaking, renting requires less capital than buying. Renting can provide more flexibility with regards to length of lease inquire or breaking the clause included in the lease agreement.

• Renting is less potential from unexpected financial shocks. This is because it is not that much exposed to interest rates rises, although rental may rise periodically depending on rental reviews (click here to see a sample review).
• Renting provides less responsibility for building premises. Looking after at repairs and maintenance is the main responsibility though external maintenance is more likely attached as landlord?s responsibility.?

These indicators is more likely a strong evidence that the rental industry in on rise and some real estate experts are taking response to it and believe that its growth will rapidly increase over the next succeeding years. They see apartment/condominium building constructions as solution to the growing demand for rental housing. Moreover, real estate experts see more advantages of having rentals properties they are as follows:

It provides good stream of income

A rental property has big possibility to take positive cash flow this is mainly because of the housing demand. If your mortgages are fixed and rent can be raised, then that is a good indication of a positive cash flow. Assembling a stable property over the time, will let you provide a wonderful income.

?Area appreciation is an advantage?

This term refers to increase in value that can be experienced as time passes by. It is said that owning a property in a stable area (say for example in a main city) will probably subject to increase its value over the time and its location makes it acquire strong demand.

Enjoying several tax benefits?

This is the greatest advantage of all. Owning a rental property lets you enjoy number of tax benefits such as capital gains and so called deferred exchange or switching. First let?s talk about capital gains, this is a term used for profits arising from the sale of assets like rental properties. They are also taxed lower rates as compare to regular income. Another term is the deferred exchange or switching, it is usually the process of selling the property then reinvesting into another asset.?

In any kind of investment there?s always its own set of advantages and disadvantages. So before making any commitment, better to understand the aspect of business you wanted to engage into. Educating yourself will lead to a clean drive towards success.

?

For Further Reading,

rental properties

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Personal loan rates compare is a must before finalizing the deal

It is necessary to compare the loans from different banks whether you need to avail home loan, personal loan, education loan or any sort of loan Personal loan rates compare is very important since people tend to tale such types of loans for a very short period and would never want to pay back any extra penny above the definite limit set by the bank on interest rate. Hence take out the extensive study on this so that you can get to know which bank is offering personal loans at a very low interest rate.

To be paid back to the bank many a times we come across the situations where we need to plan our expenses and at times it just comes all of a sudden. To meet those expenses, it is required quite often to avail the personal loans and personal loan sbi is the best option to avail the loan from. With their lower interest rates of floating between 8 to 18 percent depending on the amount and tenure for which the loan is availed, it is considered to be the best option.

Processing fee charges are also very low rated at just 2-3% of the loan amount.

With their lower interest rates of floating between 8 to 18 percent depending on the amount and tenure for which the loan is availed, it is considered to be the best option. Processing fee charges are also very low rated at just 2-3% of the loan amount.

Personal loan sbi is easy to get for those people who are salaried, self employed doctors, Chartered accounts, MBAs and the amount of loan offered will be determined by the your income and how timely you can repay the same. Personal loan sbi is the best option to fulfill your regular expenses and comes handy in case of sudden requirement.

Personal loan rates compare can be done by using any of loan calculators widely available online and generally it varies in the range of 6% to 8 % depending on the bank you go with.

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Roundup: M.L.B. ? Baseball Roundup

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Saturday, June 23, 2012
Edwin Encarnacion hit a tiebreaking home run and Colby Rasmus had a grand slam later in the ninth, helping visiting Toronto beat Miami on Saturday. ...

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China's Wen inks deals, talks investment in Uruguay

Saturday 23rd June, 2012

China's Wen inks deals, talks investment in Uruguay ??

---

?????Saturday 23rd June, 2012??Source: West Australian ??

AFP © <p>Uruguayan President Jose Mujica (right) greets Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a signing ceremony in Montevideo. Wen has signed five cooperation agreements with Uruguay, his first stop on a multi-nation visit to South America, and left the door open to increased investment in the country.</p>

Breaking News Saturday 23rd June, 2012

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BSDtweet: Only Leo Wisniewski Until Penn State Football 2012 http://t.co/PFZ38ZOX

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NormanChad: Ended Day 1 of WSOP O8/st8 event with 31,500 chips. Resume Saturday at 2 p.m. PT. As always on Day 2, I'll wear my nicer '70s sports coat.

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