Looking for military car insurance?is a really easy thing to do. All of the car insurance companies in the country make sure that they have a specialized car insurance for military personnel and the good thing is that they make sure that it is of the highest quality at the most affordable rates. Most f the good car insurance companies recognize how noble these people are, that is why they don?t hesitate to offer big discounts to them.
Good car insurance companies also make sure that the family of the person of the person who is serving the armed forces would also get a lot of benefits and discounts in case they would want to get a car insurance coverage for themselves.However, you should be aware that there are also some differences in the car insurance premiums that are being offered by various companies, so if you want to save a lot of money you should make sure that you line up your options first. Choosing the right car insurance provider will ensure that you get military discount auto insurance?and save a lot of money.
Here are some really helpful tips on how to get the cheapest military auto insurance:
Prepare your Info?- you should prepare all of the information necessary before you even get a quote from a car insurance company or talk to a car insurance agent. This will save you from all of the hassles and also ensure that you will get the discounts that you deserve.
Indicate your Classification and Time of Duty?- the first thing that the the car insurance would like to know is if you are listed as active, retired, or reserved in the military. The about the time that you will be deployed to another place and who will be using the vehicle while you are away. These information will help them make accurate assessments on the type of specialized insurance you should be purchasing and the amount of discount that you should be getting.
Set the Deductibles ? just like any car insurance you would also need to set a deductible. The idea is that the higher the deductible you choose the cheaper the premium will get. But you need to make sure that you can take care of the deductible in case an accident happens so that you will not get into any trouble.
It would be wise for you to speak to the car insurance agent regarding their specific policies on auto insurance for military. This will help you get an idea of what is in store for you in case you will leave the car behind when you are being deployed and if you will be using the car in a different location.
Making use of car insurance comparison sites has been really helpful to a lot of military people get the car insurance for military that they wanted in the easiest and most convenient way. The info that these sites can provide you will help you find companies that offer really cheap rates and who understand the situations hat military people are facing. Getting the best car insurance is made really easy for you as a way to say thank you for your noble service for the country.
There are many resources that can teach you about football or soccer. You can find all of the information you need about the sport by checking out sports specialty websites like Sports Pundit. You can start learning the sport by checking out the different soccer terms that are used during the games. When you are watching a soccer game and find that you can?t quite keep up with what the commentators are announcing, then you will definitely find the website?s list of terms useful. You can learn about the different rules, tactics, expressions, equipment, and positions of players, management and officials from the list of terms offered by the site. You will find that it?s easier to understand soccer once you know the different terms of the sport. If you and your friends are planning to watch a major soccer event together, you can create themed activities and use these terms as part of a trivia game. This way everyone learns the terms that you will hear during the game commentary and have fun at the same time.
Aside from terms, the Sports Pundit website is a great source for everything related to the world of soccer. You can find information on the different leagues or competitions that are happening around the world. If you want to learn more about league or national teams from other parts of the world, then you can check out the website?s individual team profiles. For example, you can learn about the Barcelona sporting club that is considered one of the best football clubs in Ecuador. You will find that there are many interesting facts to be found at the site, such as the team?s status on both the national and continental level. You might also find it interesting to check out individual player profiles, especially if you have a favorite player or are interested to know more about a player.
The Sports Pundit website is constantly updated with the current national or international league standings of teams from around the world. You can find player and team statistics that you will definitely appreciate if you are a football or soccer fan. You can visit the http://www.sportspundit.com/ website to find out about the latest news or updates relating to soccer, as well as watch videos or view photos of players, teams and games. You can also find updates, news, statistics, rankings, team profiles and player profiles of other sports. The website is a great source of information on basketball, hockey, baseball, American football, golf, tennis, racing, cricket and boxing. The site is a great venue where you can meet other sports enthusiasts like yourself.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Reuters - Japan's Olympus Corp proposed a new board of directors on Monday in an effort to recover from a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, but the line-up could face a hostile reception from foreign investors when it goes to a shareholder vote.
As far as writing is concerned, technical writing is the most appreciated style of writing. It is another form of technical communication. This type of writing style is unique as the total idea is coming from the knowledge and expertise of the writer. This writing style requires a lot of research and is particularly suited to research oriented people. Writing on any aspect if not very difficult for a write but you have to stand with the facts then there is a more cautious approach required to complete the project.
Technical writers come from different areas of concern. They hold the expertise of their type of field like if some one is writing on the hardware or software, he or she will be having the experience of writing on computer technology. Many of the writers write e-books on the latest researches made on any specific section like they write on construction work, automotives sector and medicine etc. It all depends upon the interest of researcher that on which topic he or she wants to write.
What are the requirements of becoming a technical writer?
There are some basics that are must required in a technical writer like good research, good knowledge, well written language and validation. Let?s discuss each of the sections separately and get to know more about becoming a technical writer:
Not everyone can become a technical writer, it is a common fact and every writer knows about it pretty well. For becoming a technical there are some special skills required and one of the skill is to have a sound research.
Sound research:
For becoming a technical writer, you must be technically sound and for that you have to carry out some authentic research. For making your research authentic it is necessary that you don?t go out of your subject?s circle otherwise your content will not be authentic enough to meet the client requirements.
Sound Knowledge:
Knowledge is very important when you are going to write a technical content. The more you are sound in your knowledge the more you will mesh up with the requirements of the technical content.
Interest really matters:
For technical writing interest is the key element. It is a kind advice for all the technical writers that don?t leave your interest circle it is very important for your writing career. If you write things which are related to your interest, you will produce more effective content as compare to writing a content which is out from your interest.
Authenticity & Validation:
Validation is very important in technical writing. Product review is the best example of technical writing in which there is a high amount of authenticity found. And for good validation the important thing is to know more about the product and its features. Technical writers are well trained to research on the product and its features and they put all the technical descriptions that are associated with the product. In technical writing the language and style are things which really count. If you are successful in your style and explanation there is no way that your project is going to be rejected. Just stay around the facts and you will automatically result in a sound technical content.
The Author Jacob Johnson, is a specialist Content Writer and Articles Publisher. if you are also looking for expert article writing resource, visit homepage http://www.contentdevelopmentpros.com , one of the fastest growing Online Content Writing Company .
Android gives smartphone makers the opportunity to add a little extra to the experience of the OS on their devices, to try to make them stand out from other Android handsets ? and even from Apple's iPhone.
Here is a look at some of the features smartphone companies have contributed, that may prompt a little bit of green-eyed envy.
A Google patent revealed last week describes a gesture that not only unlocks a smartphone but also performs a command ? meaning people could unlock and place a phone call all with one swipe. Google is
keeping quiet about whether this will end up in Android, but HTC already offers something very similar in Android phones using its latest version of Sense.
In Sense, users can drag the virtual ring on the lock screen around one of four apps and instantly get taken to that function, whether it be the camera, calendar, or Angry Birds. It first debuted on the HTC
Sensation 4G.
Apple already owns a slide-to-unlock patent ? it's at the heart of infringement suits against Samsung and Motorola Mobility ? but it lacks the extra functionality of completing another command.
On Tuesday, the Republicans will conduct primaries in Michigan and Arizona. The Michigan race is a tossup between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney ? all polls from the state indicate a very close contest, with Romney?s numbers improving the last few days.
Arizona, on the other hand, appears likely to be won by Mitt Romney. Romney has led in every poll that has been taken in the state.
Earlier in the week, Santorum appeared to? be closing the gap in Arizona, pulling within 3 or 4 points of Romney, but the latest polls show Romney pulling away with a double-digit lead. The debate on Wednesday night in Mesa, Arizona, is unlikely to have helped Santorum in Arizona or Michigan. Santorum came into the debate reeling a bit from a series of controversial statements relating to religion and social issues, made either recently or years back but that only now have come to light. In the debate, he was on the defensive most of the night, having to defend his record on earmarks, the debt ceiling, and his endorsement in 2004 of Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey?in the hotly contested GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania. Specter, of course, switched parties in 2009, and was one of the 60 votes for ObamaCare in the Senate that enabled the Democrats to break a GOP filibuster of the legislation.
Santorum appears to be suffering the fate of politicians who have spent too much time in Washington. Inevitably, they have long records to defend, including many votes that need to be explained that appear to be inconsistent with espoused positions on taxes, spending, and deficits. In 1996, GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole seemed to be talking to D.C insiders in trying to explain his Senate voting record, rather than to the American public.
Romney, who has faced a series of challenges in his second attempt at the nomination, has already weathered the rise of Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich twice. Now Santorum has taken the lead in all the national polls, and earlier in the week he seemed a serious threat to consolidate conservative opposition to Romney as Gingrich?s support level dropped off. In essence, with only four candidates left competing for the nomination, Santorum increasingly appeared to be within reach of getting the long-sought one-on-one fight with Romney for the nomination, as he was leading in each of the last 8 national surveys against Romney.
Santorum?s numbers in head-to-head matchups with Obama either nationally or in key battleground states have also begun to match those of Romney, whose argument that he is the most electable Republican has been one of his strongest in the long GOP fight.
But Santorum may have peaked a bit too soon. As the perceived frontrunner, he is getting more scrutiny than when he toiled in obscurity visiting all of Iowa?s 99 counties in the lead-up to the caucuses in that state. While Santorum?s enthusiastic defense of traditional marriage, the family, and the pro-life movement has registered with social conservatives, it has proven to be a lightning rod among some GOP voters who would prefer to talk abut economic issues or national security issues. Every poll now shows a significant gender gap in terms of support for Santorum, suggesting he runs much weaker among women, particularly independent women.
Nate Silver, writing?in the New York Times, says Romney will benefit in Arizona from the votes of Mormons, who make up a bit over 10% of the GOP electorate in the state. In 2008, when Senator John McCain won his own state of Arizona by 13% over Romney in the GOP primary, Romney won the Mormon vote by about 10 to 1 over McCain, and McCain won all other votes by about 2 to 1 over Romney. Silver says that if Mormon voters in the state go 10 to 1 for Romney again, that would give Romney a 9-point overall lead, and the two candidates are running roughly even among all other voters. Silver gives Romney a 90% chance to win the primary.
The size of a Romney win in Arizona matters less than that he finishes first. Arizona, like Florida, is a winner-take-all delegate state in the GOP nominating process. Romney would win all 29 delegates with a victory. On the other hand, even if Romney loses Michigan to Santorum, the delegates from that state are likely to be split between the two leaders, and Romney will net the most delegates from the night even with earning just a split of the two contests.
Gone might possibly be the days when children played with regards to in parks with the summer. There are lots of websites featuring many games, and each individual website offer games that might only be available on that website. Here is a directory of the best games online that you could play totally free to you actually:.
The over the internet gaming community is largely comprised of online games hry programmers, makers, and developers seeking to have exposure and be an aid to push this gaming field forward. On top of that, many belonging to the games you will find are having to do with amateur sport designers that put together an extraordinary idea and desired to begin expanding on. JokerGamei is certainly one of an performance that can let a lot of players participate simultaneously, while online games having this kind of feature can be bought in other styles online also.
If you happen to equate world-wide-web gaming in order to similar pursuits like television experiencing, the assessment is missing. Addition, subtraction together with basic multiplication could seem like basic things, especially kids, each individual new proficiency is uncharted location. Besides are cooking food games highly challenging, interactive, together with stimulating, but they are actually enable broaden your idea of cooking various dishes. That are probably the reasons why a lot of experts alert people towards spending too much effort while you?re watching small computer screen. It is definitely activity this really is primarily unaggressive in characteristics. World with Warcraft redefined the complete MMORPG category because there does exist simply a whole lot to carry out in Warcraft that you can certainly use this kind of game in the form of getaway with reality. The Logitech might be arguably the most beneficial model with keyboards pertaining to gaming. The Logitech G110 specially is best model belonging to the Logitech brand name.
RPG online games are evolving always and they are generally becoming world of warcraft hottest video gaming genres if you are to throw themselves in via the internet.
Insisted quiet associate manager Tracie Calhoun, ?Before this advent of flash games, many people needed to spend a lot of money in order fun throughout their free period.? He are probably the flagship characters belonging to the Marvel universe that?s been around for nearly fifty many.
It therefore is a good idea to increase the volume of free flash games which can be found. They have fun with the simulation proposed by these flash games and the majority of the times buy their friends needed to use the unlimited wide variety of players they are enjoy rivalling with on the internet. Some like photographing, some men and women like illusion, whilst many are keen on arcade online games. Be them skateboarding, auto racing, or an activity, every game can be bought by innumerable developers as a result even some of the most feature-hungry kids are not possible to miss an attribute they enjoy on the consoles. Another important basis for the improving popularity of flash games is that they may be played lacking paying virtually any fees or simply charges. Two belonging to the more favorite series are generally Marvel as contrasted with.
The kids of presently spend a large amount of their period today getting referrals; be them online or on the consoles together with PC because of DVDs. Now, all this gamers who used to be deprived with the expense of the gaming system games and in some cases the Digital video disc.
The web gambling business was initially coded in the actual past due Nineties. Because it would be a new market, there have been couple of regulatory physiques or even organizations that guarded players through dishonest gambling firms. As a result, numerous travel through evening video gaming sites had been set up. These types of offered little protection or guarantee that players could be prepared to receive their own winnings in a well-timed as well as professional manner. Unfortunately, some web video gaming fans lost money at these sites.
However, because of the fast development of the and also the interest in safe and secure gaming, it is far more hard to perform in a questionable site today than to play at a reputable one. Most internet on line casino companies pride themselves on their own professionalism, reliability , work hard use a stress-free environment for his or her valued clients.
So how do you know you?re actively playing at an on line casino online that?s 100 % secure, safe and trustworthy? One thing to perform is actually ensure the casino is actually certified. Before you create a merchant account to indication for online casino games, check the site?s licensing information. This ought to be prominently displayed on its website. You will find that some permit are granted through governments, such as the Uk Government and the Federal government associated with Antigua. Other licenses are from acknowledged condition authorities like the Kahnawake Betting Fee.
You can also make sure you have the best possible protection by just actively playing from websites which are eCOGRA people. eCOGRA may be the online gaming industry?s top watch dog business and upholds the actual values associated with fair perform, protection and honesty that its fellow member websites tend to be related to. Look at your online casino to see if it sports activities the eCOGRA Press. In case your on line casino offers this particular close off, you can rest assured you are in great hands. To become member, online on line casino companies must meet strict requirements set out through eCOGRA and submit to regular third party auditing to ensure fairness.
The writer concentrates on editorials about an best online gambling site as well as on line casino gambling.
This short article studies the possible discounts that have been that are available to auto insurace consumers. Your post can also be about certain discounts that chicago car insurance consumers can not be solicited.Because insurance laws diverge from state to state, any issues suggestions specific to the automobile insurance inside the State of Illinois.
Illegal Rebate Vs Legal Discounts. Insurance producers are absolutely forbidden using rebates in their business practice. Discounts offered by insurance firms are OK.
If and once an insurance (agents) representatives, not the insurance policy, gives back every part of their commission into the clients to ?elicit? them to be able to pay for the agents then getting a rebating has occurred. For examples, when an insurance agent offers a $25.00 gift card for patrons who buys car coverage policy from him or her, the is rebating, and it is strictly illegal. If the agent supplies a $5 lunch card for you personally getting a car quote, or possibly a nice pen for home quote then this will never be rebate buying will not be needed. Any materialistic amount alocated to the buyers in exchange of which investing in a policy is definitely rebate. An insurance agent plus a client (if s/he knows) are breaking the law if they wish committing rebating.
It?s not classified as a rebate in the event the home office of a typical insurance company is giving back a premium or another component of it, or is giving the client an opportunity or perhaps an allowance on the insurance premium. The proper term to explain this lawful act is discounting. insured Actually discounting is usually a common practice in situations with intense competition.
In larger cities like NY or Chicago, competition between car insurance companies is severe. There are various insurers and thousands of agents and insurance agencies who will be competing against each others. Customers should never indicate or accept offers of ?discounts? beyond just what headquarters of a typical auto insurace company enables for.
Possible Discounts during the past of Car Insurance Companies in Chicago, Illinois (The Legal Look at their Discounts That you could Ask For:
1. Discounts for prior insurance. Clients may get about 10% if and when they provide evidence that they had prior insurance without interruption during the 6 months. According to the insurance policy, your prior policy need not to have lapsed more than thirty days ago. The longer you would have your insurance, the upper the discount rate. You have to present a proof, an official proof, from prior auto insurer. Statements manufactured by your agent or temporary documents are yikes enough. The proof should be in the form of valid insurance ID card issued from the prior company, not agency, itself, or even a declaration page of your respective contract.
2. Multi car policy discount. You obtain about 10% for having two or more vehicles insured below the same contract. Take into account which you cannot insure your round the corner neighbor, or partner, using your policy. The named insured in the policy has to have ?insurable interest? inside the auto we are most certainly insuring.
3. Homeowner discount. For those who own a home or perhaps a condo you could qualify for a price reduction. Insurers normally ask you for a signal (mortgage payment or home insurance policy) as a history of ownership of any residence. In the event of you having home under your cousin?s name, this may not qualify you for this discount.
4. Discounts for having multiple policies (package policy or multi account discount). Insuring a couple of policy together with the same insurance company can earn you discounts. Example, in case you order a life policy or condo insurance policy using the same company you might be entitled for money off against your auto insurace policy. Certain insurers give deep discount on those home and auto packages.
5. Discount for laidback drivers. This discounts is normally applicable in scenarios where range of adult drivers exceed number of vehicles, with additional youthful driver under age 25. Some companies permit a ?occasional? status for the youthful drivers as seen in situations, as well as a discount is given.
6. Good student discounts. This discount is offered with standard and preferred companies for insured students who hold high GPA their school. The discount concerns 5% of a typical liability premium of a typical vehicle that may be assigned to that specific good student operator.
7. Auto security system discount. This is certainly another limited discount of about 5% at the premium of a typical comprehensive only (not liability or collision premium). Most companies give this discount automatically because most vehicles contain a security alarm anyways.
The German attorney can act as a specialist or as a generalist. As our world is becoming more and more complex, it could be a good idea to search an attorney who is specialized in a specific area of law. There are for example specialized legal practitioners for family law, employment law, tax law, insurance law, inheritance law, road traffic law, medical law and several others.
There are about 145,000 lawyers working on the German market place. A German legal practitioner either works as a entrepreneur or as an employee of a law company. The lawyer is a so-called independent part of the legal system. As a customer people have the right to choose your preferred advocate absolutely freely. This web site shows a list of legal practitioners assorted by German cities: Anwaelte Stuttgart.
Your legal practitioner is independent of any instructions of third parties and should only chase your specific interests. They must not reveal details of the clients case to unauthorized third parties. Additionally, advocates have the right to make binding statements on the clients behalf. Consequently it is very important to authorize an attorney whom you really trust. German lawyers should be found in specialized directories of advocates. Besides using Internet registers clients can find the right attorney by studying the local press or by asking other people for recommendations.
Before mandating a legal practitioner you should consider the fees. A good defense insurance relieves your passage to the counselor-at-law. Before authorizing the legal practitioner, the consumer can ask the legal protection assurance if they are willing to accept the charges from the first advice and consultation of the legal practitioner. Then your advocate needs not to charge any payment in advance, and can concentrate completely upon your problem. It is not useful to visit multiple legal cost risk assurers in person when searching your personal solution.
Self-employed legal practitioners face the same problems as any other business owner. They are in need of possibilities to advertise their businesses effectively and cheaply. The Internet offers a lot of ways to accomplish that. There are already several registers of German attorneys online. Some of them charge a one time fee, and some of them do recurring charging. Attorneys should present their businesses in the following register of German lawyers: Anwaelte Dortmund. It is free of charge at the time of this report.
Everybody once can get involved in a legal dispute and might need legal help. Then it is comfortable if one does not have to worry about the charges. Often legitimate claims are not pursued because of fear of the cost risk. Likewise, a legal defense against unwarranted claims is often not taken because of the threat of legal fees and court expenses. The client can arrange a legal protection insurance on individual requirements and get only those fields in the insurance coverage which are most important. By arranging a deterrent fee, one can reach nice savings in the current contribution payment for the defense insurance
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
Mary Kay Mansion 8915 Douglas Ave, Dallas TX For sale: $3.3 million
The former home of the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics is exactly the color you would expect: A soft shade of light pink. Mary Kay pink, to be exact.
Mary Kay Ash's stucco mansion was built in 1984 and served as the businesswoman's home and headquarters for entertaining Mary Kay consultants until 2000. Although Mary Kay did not design the home, touches of the makeup icon are inherent in many of the home's features, according to listing agent Karen Luter.
Like, for instance, the solid pink quartz toilet and bath.
The beauty-product queen's former home is back on the Dallas real estate market for $3.3 million. Mary Kay sold the home in 2000 in her efforts to downsize, and now the current owner, a Dallas physician, is following suit and hoping to move to the San Juan Islands. What's unusual, notes Luter, is that both Mary Kay and the physician are successful entrepreneurs.
"It's interesting that it [the home] was purchased by Mary Kay, who was a self-made woman, and it was sold to another self-made woman from humble beginnings," said Luter.
Ideally, the next owner would follow the trend, but if the buyer happens to be a self-made man, Luter says she won't discriminate.
Despite its pink-hued exterior, the interior of Mary Kay's home has an elegance that belies the outside.
The home is built on a grand scale, with 40-foot-high ceilings and a foyer that includes busts of famous composers inserted in the ceiling. Highly detailed paneling and moldings appear throughout the house, as well as enormous floor-to-ceiling, beveled glass windows that look out to the terraced gardens.
Situated on an acre of land in the high-end Dallas neighborhood of Old Preston Hollow, the grounds of Mary Kay's home were designed to mimic the San Simeon estate, William Hearst's famous home in California.
The former Mary Kay home was redone by the current owner: New flooring, paint, updated kitchen and geothermal system for heating and cooling.
Mary Kay Cosmetics was founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963. Frustrated when her employer promoted the man she trained rather than her, Mary Kay quit to write a book to help women succeed in business. Out of her research, she realized she had a business plan that would work for her makeup company. She began giving out pink Cadillacs to her top Mary Kay sellers in 1969.
In an age when many women were not encouraged to work outside the home, Mary Kay's company was a significant opportunity. Luter shared an anecdote from one of the woman who worked with Mary Kay in the company's early days:
"Mary Kay told them (the consultants) to work really hard all day and then get home and saut? some onions in a skillet. As the fragrance fills the house, your husbands will think you've been cooking all day."
According to Zillow's affordability calculator, a monthly payment on the pink manse would run about $12,150, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-mortgage.
Zillow
The main doors open up to a marble foyer and grand staircase.
Zillow
The kitchen has been completely updated.
Zillow
The grounds and lavish pool were mirrored after the Hearst estate in California.
?
?
See more photos of the Mary Kay mansion on Zillow.
Discover more real estate eye candy on the Zillow blog.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education this week, Jeffrey J. Williams offers a tantalizing glimpse into what he calls an emerging field: critical university studies. In his article ?Deconstructing Academe: The Birth of Critical University Studies,? Williams argues that the work of scholars across disciplines over the last twenty years has reached the point that it can be considered its own field, one that is interdisciplinary, contentious, and, among other things, critically opposed to universities acting like corporations. Whether one agrees with the views presented in critical university studies or not, Williams points out that it cannot be denied as a field in itself. To name something is to recognize its existence, or, as Williams writes:
To give it a name recognizes that it has attained significant mass and signals a gathering place for those considering similar work. ?Critical? indicates the new work?s oppositional stance, similar to approaches like critical legal studies, critical race studies, critical development studies, critical food studies, and so on, that focuses on the ways in which current practices serve power or wealth and contribute to injustice or inequality rather than social hope. ?Studies? picks up its cross-disciplinary character, focused on a particular issue and drawing on research from any relevant area to approach the problem. ?University? outlines its field of reference, which includes the discourse of ?the idea of the university? as well as the actual practices and diverse institutions of contemporary higher education.
For a college focused on education like Teachers College, as for any institution of higher education, this is an article and a field that cannot be overlooked.
Hopefully, this column welcomes you back from a long weekend. Here are some fresh apps to get you back in the groove. What?s My Heart Rate aims to keep you healthy, Devil Hunter sends the bad guys to meet their maker, and Legendary Heroes lets you make history on the battlefield.
Measuring a heart rate by placing a finger on the wrist or neck is so last century. This app tracks your heart rate through the camera lens of your Android device. It seems that your heart beat causes micro-changes on the surface skin of your face ? which can be detected with your device and this app.
There?s no need to make contact between the camera lens and the skin of the person you?re measuring. The app?s description says it?s good for checking the heart rate of babies or the elderly. Check it out yourself for free.
Here?s the backstory: One bad night, monsters took over a village and chased all the villagers away. Now, it?s the villager?s turn to take back the night.
This physics puzzler provides the weapons ? heavy stones, strong chains and big bombs ? to win the fight but you must push, pull and pop them in the proper sequence to send the monsters to their doom. You?ll thrill to the chilling graphics, the clever puzzles and cute monsters, and you?ll spend hours solving the challenges.
Read the hundreds of rave reviews to learn how addictive it is.
There are heroes and then there are legendary heroes. Figure out which type you are by taking part in this real-time action strategy game. Control three characters (with names like SoulTaker and Ravager) simultaneously, each with their own special abilities, and plot a combined strategy that will defeat your opponents.
Assemble your team, venture out into the unknown on a quest, and battle to win. After battles, boost your team?s skills ? making them stronger, faster and tougher ? by buying power-ups.
Boca Raton, Fla., ? February 17, 2012 Bluegreen Corporation today announced the 2012 recipients of its philanthropic and charitable giving initiatives, led by the Bluegreen Charitable Giving Committee. After a recent survey of associate recommendations as to which organizations should benefit from Bluegreens charitable giving, 12 charities were chosen.
Bluegreen demonstrates its commitment to a philosophy of whats good for the Companys culture and community is also good for business, says Ellen Devine, Executive Assistant to the President/CEO at Bluegreen Corporation. She continues, This holds true at the Boca Raton corporate headquarters and across our organization where associates are committed to improving the communities in which we live, work and play.
Monthly charities will benefit from Bluegreens Jeanerous giving program and 50/50 charitable donation raffle programs throughout 2012. In addition to monthly charities, Bluegreen will continue to support Christel House, JDRF, Cystic Fibrosis, Deliver the Dream and others through various fundraising projects throughout the year.
Bluegreens monthly charities are as follows:
January
Alzheimers Foundation of America
February
American Heart Association
March
American Red Cross
April
Autism Speaks
May
American Cancer Society
June
Habitat for Humanity
July
Ronald McDonald House
August
Disabled American Veterans
September
Humane Society
October
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
November
American Diabetes Association
December
St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital
ABOUT BLUEGREEN CORPORATION
Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, Bluegreen Corporation (NYSE:BXG) is a leading timeshare sales, marketing and resort management company. Bluegreen Resorts manages, markets and sells the Bluegreen Vacation Club, a flexible, points-based, deeded vacation ownership plan with more than 160,000 owners, over 59 owned or managed resorts, and access to more than 4,000 resorts worldwide. Bluegreen also offers a portfolio of comprehensive, turnkey, fee-based service resort management, financial services, and sales and marketing on behalf of third parties. For more information, visit http://www.bluegreenonline.com. For more information, visit us online at http://www.bluegreencorp.com. See what Bluegreen owners are saying on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years laterPublic release date: 19-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Mitchum robert.mitchum@uchospitals.edu 773-795-5227 University of Chicago Medical Center
Predator-prey relationships stabilize diverse ecosystems, according to calculation
A famous mathematical formula which shook the world of ecology 40 years ago has been revisited and refined by two University of Chicago researchers in the current issue of Nature.
In 1972, physicist Robert May rankled ecologists by publishing a simple model describing the relationship between diversity and stability in a theoretical ecosystem. Though ecologists had long believed that richer, more diverse environments were inherently more resistant to disruption, May's formula argued that more species in fact creates more instability.
But rich ecosystems exist in nature, such as those found in coral reefs or rain forests. For 40 years, ecologists have attempted to expand May's formula to explain how these highly diverse natural systems persist. For the new paper, University of Chicago researchers Stefano Allesina and Si Tang returned to the original equation, and with small mathematical tweaks, reconciled the disagreement between theory and reality.
Adjusting May's formula to incorporate predator-prey or consumer-resource relationships, where one species profits at the expense of another, allows the model to describe an ecosystem where stability is possible even with an infinite number of species.
"Predator-prey relationships are stabilizing. We can fit much larger ecosystems if there's a backbone of predator-prey interactions, and see a lot of species happily co-existing ever after," said Allesina, PhD, assistant professor of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago. "We kind of solved this one puzzle of how can we see very many species in an ecosystem. But then we open different puzzles."
May's original model, also published by Nature, sought to challenge the ecological belief that diverse ecosystems were more resistant to perturbations such as invasive species or abrupt climate change. With his physics training, May set out to create a model of the relationship between diversity and stability with the fewest possible factors, settling upon a model that used only the number of species and the strength of their interactions with each other.
The surprising result of May's model was that large or complex ecosystems were so unstable that their existence was statistically improbable. While that conclusion did not match what ecologists observe in natural systems such as rain forests, which may contain thousands of species in a single tree, the model challenged the simplistic assumption of more diversity leading to more stability.
"May made the beautiful point that nature must adopt some 'devious strategies' to cope with this fact, because if mathematically there is this impossibility of complexity, how come we then observe it in nature?," Allesina said. "It must be that nature uses some sneaky way to violate this rule."
May's article launched the "diversity-stability debate," as ecologists proposed many such "devious strategies" to explain the persistence of rich ecosystems in nature by adding complex qualifiers to his formula. Instead of following this trend, Allesina and Tang went back to the original model and made a small adjustment. They replaced the random species interactions of May's model with three general types of relationships observed between species in nature.
In the "eat-or-be-eaten" world of a predator-prey relationship, one species (the predator) benefits while another species (the prey) suffers a loss of fitness. A competitive relationship between two species can have a negative effect on both, while a relationship of mutualism produces a positive effect for the two species involved.
When each of these interactions is inputted separately into May's formula, the predicted stability for a given number of species changes from his original calculation using a random distribution of species-species interaction. In the predator-prey condition, the stability of the ecosystem is increased such that a large number of species can be supported. In the competition and mutualism systems, the ecosystem is highly unstable and vulnerable to perturbation.
"What we are showing is that of all the types of interactions you can have, only predator-prey can support an infinite number of species," Allesina said. "If you look in nature, there are very obvious consumer-resource relationships everywhere, and maybe this system assembles so easily because these relationships provide a lot of stability."
But just as the revised version of May's formula brings it in line with one natural observation, more counter-intuitive results are created. Many ecologists believe that strong interactions between species, such as when a predator relies upon only one prey species for food, make an ecosystem more vulnerable. However, the revised formula predicts that weak interactions, not strong interactions, are destabilizing to an ecosystem.
Another discrepancy occurs when the model is applied to a realistic food-web structure, rather than the theoretical, random structure used as a default. When a commonly observed natural structure such as the "cascade" model where each predator eats prey smaller than themselvesis tested with the model, the resulting system is less stable than that produced by a random structure.
But like May's original formula, these disagreements between model and reality offer new opportunities to explore how nature subverts these predictions and produces diverse, stable ecosystems. Many of the "devious strategies" proposed as additions to the original model can now be tested with the revised formula as a reference point.
"I think this is a good step forward, especially because it resuscitates this result that has been so fundamental for theoretical ecology, but no one since has touched it," Allesina said. "Everybody cited it, and kind of disproved it metaphorically, but it's nice to go back to the original formulation and extend it."
###
The paper, "Stability criteria for complex ecosystems," will be published online February 19th by Nature [doi: 10.1038/nature10832]. Funding for the work was provided by the National Science Foundation.
For more news from the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences, follow us on Twitter at @UChicagoMed, or visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/UChicagoMed, our research blog at sciencelife.uchospitals.edu, or our newsroom at uchospitals.edu/news.
[ | 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.
A classic model for ecological stability revised, 40 years laterPublic release date: 19-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Mitchum robert.mitchum@uchospitals.edu 773-795-5227 University of Chicago Medical Center
Predator-prey relationships stabilize diverse ecosystems, according to calculation
A famous mathematical formula which shook the world of ecology 40 years ago has been revisited and refined by two University of Chicago researchers in the current issue of Nature.
In 1972, physicist Robert May rankled ecologists by publishing a simple model describing the relationship between diversity and stability in a theoretical ecosystem. Though ecologists had long believed that richer, more diverse environments were inherently more resistant to disruption, May's formula argued that more species in fact creates more instability.
But rich ecosystems exist in nature, such as those found in coral reefs or rain forests. For 40 years, ecologists have attempted to expand May's formula to explain how these highly diverse natural systems persist. For the new paper, University of Chicago researchers Stefano Allesina and Si Tang returned to the original equation, and with small mathematical tweaks, reconciled the disagreement between theory and reality.
Adjusting May's formula to incorporate predator-prey or consumer-resource relationships, where one species profits at the expense of another, allows the model to describe an ecosystem where stability is possible even with an infinite number of species.
"Predator-prey relationships are stabilizing. We can fit much larger ecosystems if there's a backbone of predator-prey interactions, and see a lot of species happily co-existing ever after," said Allesina, PhD, assistant professor of Ecology & Evolution at the University of Chicago. "We kind of solved this one puzzle of how can we see very many species in an ecosystem. But then we open different puzzles."
May's original model, also published by Nature, sought to challenge the ecological belief that diverse ecosystems were more resistant to perturbations such as invasive species or abrupt climate change. With his physics training, May set out to create a model of the relationship between diversity and stability with the fewest possible factors, settling upon a model that used only the number of species and the strength of their interactions with each other.
The surprising result of May's model was that large or complex ecosystems were so unstable that their existence was statistically improbable. While that conclusion did not match what ecologists observe in natural systems such as rain forests, which may contain thousands of species in a single tree, the model challenged the simplistic assumption of more diversity leading to more stability.
"May made the beautiful point that nature must adopt some 'devious strategies' to cope with this fact, because if mathematically there is this impossibility of complexity, how come we then observe it in nature?," Allesina said. "It must be that nature uses some sneaky way to violate this rule."
May's article launched the "diversity-stability debate," as ecologists proposed many such "devious strategies" to explain the persistence of rich ecosystems in nature by adding complex qualifiers to his formula. Instead of following this trend, Allesina and Tang went back to the original model and made a small adjustment. They replaced the random species interactions of May's model with three general types of relationships observed between species in nature.
In the "eat-or-be-eaten" world of a predator-prey relationship, one species (the predator) benefits while another species (the prey) suffers a loss of fitness. A competitive relationship between two species can have a negative effect on both, while a relationship of mutualism produces a positive effect for the two species involved.
When each of these interactions is inputted separately into May's formula, the predicted stability for a given number of species changes from his original calculation using a random distribution of species-species interaction. In the predator-prey condition, the stability of the ecosystem is increased such that a large number of species can be supported. In the competition and mutualism systems, the ecosystem is highly unstable and vulnerable to perturbation.
"What we are showing is that of all the types of interactions you can have, only predator-prey can support an infinite number of species," Allesina said. "If you look in nature, there are very obvious consumer-resource relationships everywhere, and maybe this system assembles so easily because these relationships provide a lot of stability."
But just as the revised version of May's formula brings it in line with one natural observation, more counter-intuitive results are created. Many ecologists believe that strong interactions between species, such as when a predator relies upon only one prey species for food, make an ecosystem more vulnerable. However, the revised formula predicts that weak interactions, not strong interactions, are destabilizing to an ecosystem.
Another discrepancy occurs when the model is applied to a realistic food-web structure, rather than the theoretical, random structure used as a default. When a commonly observed natural structure such as the "cascade" model where each predator eats prey smaller than themselvesis tested with the model, the resulting system is less stable than that produced by a random structure.
But like May's original formula, these disagreements between model and reality offer new opportunities to explore how nature subverts these predictions and produces diverse, stable ecosystems. Many of the "devious strategies" proposed as additions to the original model can now be tested with the revised formula as a reference point.
"I think this is a good step forward, especially because it resuscitates this result that has been so fundamental for theoretical ecology, but no one since has touched it," Allesina said. "Everybody cited it, and kind of disproved it metaphorically, but it's nice to go back to the original formulation and extend it."
###
The paper, "Stability criteria for complex ecosystems," will be published online February 19th by Nature [doi: 10.1038/nature10832]. Funding for the work was provided by the National Science Foundation.
For more news from the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences, follow us on Twitter at @UChicagoMed, or visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/UChicagoMed, our research blog at sciencelife.uchospitals.edu, or our newsroom at uchospitals.edu/news.
[ | 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.
Online learning has removed all the major hurdles which are faced by numerous people. Now with the help of internet, it has become possible for the people to learn diverse things of their choices. People who are interested in learning various languages get an option to do so. There are several websites that can provide you online tutorials about the language you wish to learn. There are also many free websites available which can make you proficient in any language. The online mode has also made it viable to learn the languages like Arabic.
Generally people do not know How to Learn Arabic Online, as it is one of the toughest languages. However, there are various sites from where you can learn Arabic. But it is quite risky if a person does not have any prior knowledge about learning languages online. These sites charge online for teaching Arabic. If a person is new to all this then it would be difficult for him to figure out whether the charges are relevant or not. Sometimes they charge according to the lessons. So it is better to gather some knowledge in advance before learning Arabic online.
By enrolling with the best sites one can learn very fine Arabic. You are just required to pay an online fee for the course. Probably learning Arabic is an expensive deal as it is a difficult language. You can also check for different packages available with different online sites before paying the fee. One can also look for online manuals and other resources that can help you learn Arabic online as per your own convenience. One can also take as much time as per his requirement to go through the study material. You can also do this in your free time as this would be much more feasible.
It is better to look for a reference manual online before starting with the course. Generally people get confused as the pattern of Arabic language is entirely different from other languages. While learning the language online it is better to go through such manuals provided online which offers both Arabic and English translations. This would help you to learn the language faster with proper explanations. It would be much better to learn Arabic from those websites which provides an audio guidance also. With the help of an audio guidance we can listen and get an idea on how the words or syllables are pronounced properly. Most of the good online tutorials provide this kind of services to the people.? That is why people who want to learn Arabic prefer to enroll in an online class.
With online learning, our requirement for a teacher to teach Arabic language Is not required. It is important that a person should focus on the grammar and pronunciation. And, last but not the least thing is that we should choose known sites for online Arabic learning. It is also very necessary to ensure that the site which you are choosing should have safe and secure payment modes. This could help you in saving yourself from various scams related to money. How to Learn Arabic Online will not remain a question for you if you take care of all the necessary things.
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued final regulations Dec. 2 that ban the use of hand-held cellphones by drivers of commercial motor vehicles, including trucks and buses on interstate routes. Hands-free devices and mobile phones with a speaker phone are still permissible. Potential penalties: up to $2,750 for drivers for each offense and loss of commercial license for multiple offenses.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board last month suggested the same no-hand-held-phones rules be applied to all drivers nationwide.
The changes in how the business industry operates today clearly show how quickly technology has advanced. Decades ago, marketing was only limited to television and radio advertisements, print campaigns, and direct mail. Nowadays, we see that online promotions is actually becoming more popular among businesses, especially those that are keen on winning more sales and target markets. So what exactly is the concept behind online promotion? Will your business be at an advantage in using this means of advertising? There are a lot of people Devon, specifically in Plymouth who are curious about the popularly heard wonders of SEO.
Taking from the word itself, online promotion is a means of advertising that is done through the internet. E-mail and wireless media are also used as other means, so that promotions are not only confined to the internet. Online businesses can benefit from several ways to market their business online. We have Pay Per Click, Banner Advertising, E-mail Marketing, and Organic Search.
If you see business ads that appear on your computer for every instance you type in a specific keyword, those are called Pay Per Clicks.
Banner Advertising, on the other hand, makes use of graphics mostly images and eye-catching text that will redirect the user to the website of the advertiser.
Prospective customers receive promotional materials through e-mail and this is basically what E-mail Marketing is all about.
Organic Search, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization, is a technique which aims to maximize a websites ranking when certain keywords are entered on the search engine. This is one of the most common means of online marketing today, and many businesses have improved their profitability because of SEO.
Searching for a good SEO company should be a breeze during these days. Interested business owners who want to avail of SEO services can search online. You just have to type in your specific location in order to avail of the services that are based nearest you. Searching for SEO in Plymout or SEO in devon will give you a more specific list of SEO companies that provide services in your area. If you are also looking for companies that can help you in web design, you can also look for the ones that are operating near you or are rendering services to your area. For this, you must type in web design plymouth on your search engine.
Through these means of online marketing, you can be guaranteed of a rising progress in your business. For one, you can attract more prospective clients to your website by employing any of these online promotions. Heightening your visibility will also make you closer to your target market. Last but not the least, you can be sure that you will stay as known and as visible as you have started by selecting only the best SEO company whose expertise has been proven and tested.
The CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso experiment sends muon neutrinos through a tunnel at the French-Swiss border in the direction of a detector in Italy, more than 450 miles away. One of the group's experiments, known as OPERA, turned up evidence that neutrinos may travel faster than light.
By Alan Boyle
This year, particle physicists?are aiming to get definitive answers to the questions that consumed them last year: Does the Higgs boson, potentially the final fundamental piece of the Standard Model puzzle, actually exist? Could there be new physics beyond the Standard Model, which is arguably the most successful scientific theory of the 20th century?
And just as?importantly, can neutrinos really fly faster than light, as findings from Italian lab suggested last year?
"I have difficulty to believe it,?because nothing in Italy arrives ahead of time." Sergio Bertolucci, research director at Europe's CERN particle physics center, joked today during a scientific meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
Physicists recapped the past year's results and looked ahead to the next year during sessions at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ? and if their expectations come to pass, 2012 could be a big year for textbook editors.
First, about those neutrinos: Experiments conducted by the OPERA collaboration at CERN on the French-Swiss border and at Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory clocked particles traveling the 450 miles (732 kilometers) between the labs at speeds slightly higher than the speed of light. That would run counter to a century's worth of special-relativity experiments, which has led most scientists to suspect some subtle factor went unaccounted for in the experiment. However, the skeptics haven't yet shown definitively where where the OPERA scientists went wrong, which "means that essentially they've done their job," Bertolucci said.
He said there were five efforts under way to re-examine or replicate the OPERA team's experimental results. One such effort would involve the MINOS neutrino experiment headquartered at Fermilab in Illinois. Rob Roser, a staff scientist at Fermilab, said the neutrino test required the installation of more sensitive detection equipment, and now that the equipment is ready, data would be collected in April.?The results of the replication efforts should be in hand by the end of the year.?
The faster-than-light effect is so subtle that physicists would find it hard to accept even if a similar effect is detected by other experiments. But Bertolucci recalled that similarly unexpected results from the Michelson-Morley experiment, more than a century ago, eventually led to Albert Einstein's revolutionary?work on?relativity.
"We have to just keep an open mind," Bertolucci said.
Quest for the Higgs The?discovery of the Higgs boson, the particle that?could?explain the phenomenon of mass and masslessness, is the year's other coming attraction in particle physics. For the past few years,?Fermilab's Tevatron and CERN's Large Hadron Collider have been in friendly competition to pick up the first hints of the particle's existence. And even though the Tevatron was shut down last?September, the teams?analyzing the last of?their results could still?"steal Sergio's thunder," Roser said.
Roser, who is the leader of the Tevatron's CDF collaboration, said scientists were in the "final throes" of data analysis and would announce their results relating to the Higgs boson at a March conference in Italy.
Late last year, the LHC teams said they saw hints that the Higgs boson might exist at a mass-energy level of 125 billion electron volts, or 125 GeV. Those hints were too tentative to count as a discovery, however, and it sounds as if the same might hold true for the Tevatron results. Roser said he and his colleagues think the Tevatron's detectors could spot a 125 GeV Higgs boson at a 3-sigma confidence level ? which is short of the standard for a discovery.
Bertolucci repeated his view that the LHC will determine "by the end of 2012" whether or not the type of Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model exists. Workers are due to clear out of the LHC's underground tunnels next week, and after a cooldown period, the collider will once again start shooting proton beams into detectors at 99.999999 percent of the speed of light.
Bertolucci said the LHC has grown "from an infant to a very, very healthy teenager" over the past year,?and CERN's plans call for the beam energies to be ramped up?from 3.5 trillion?to 4 trillion electron volts this year.
The Higgs boson ranks as one of physics' most famous "known unknowns," Bertolucci said. "But we hope for unknown unknowns," he added. 2012 could be the year that the LHC points to new physics beyond the Standard Model, perhaps having to do with supersymmetry, mini-black holes or extra dimensions.
If the Higgs is found, that would confirm once again that the Standard Model provides the correct description of the subatomic world, and physicists would rejoice. But Bertolucci said "I would be more excited if we don't find it."
"If the Higgs mechanism is not there, another mechanism must be there," he explained. It turns out that particle physicists, like fans of detective novels, love a mystery.
Closing in on the W boson While we're waiting for the next chapter in the Higgs quest, Fermilab's scientists are getting ready to unveil yet another piece of the subatomic particle puzzle. They'll announce the latest estimate of the mass of the W boson on Feb. 23, Roser said. That's significant, not only because?it helps nail down another key value in the Standard Model, but also because an accurate measurement of the W boson can tell physicists more precisely where to look for evidence of the Higgs boson.?Symmetry magazine illustrates the point with plush toys in a vise.
More on the frontiers of physics:
More from the AAAS meeting in Vancouver:
Alan Boyle Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or?adding the Cosmic Log Google+ page?to your circles. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Measuring a heart rate by placing a finger on the wrist or neck is so last century. This app tracks your heart rate through the camera lens of your Android device. It seems that your heart beat causes micro-changes on the surface skin of your face ? which can be detected with your device and this app.
Here?s the backstory: One bad night, monsters took over a village and chased all the villagers away. Now, it?s the villager?s turn to take back the night.
There are heroes and then there are legendary heroes. Figure out which type you are by taking part in this real-time action strategy game. Control three characters (with names like SoulTaker and Ravager) simultaneously, each with their own special abilities, and plot a combined strategy that will defeat your opponents.
39 Minutes Ago
?
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 19-Feb-2012
Share ] 