Following its lengthy Christmas Eve outage, Netflix is again experiencing issues today, according to a message posted on the Netflix website, dozens of reports from users on Twitter, and other third-party website monitoring services.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cN_TltYTJyg/
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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to a closed-door GOP caucus as Congress meets to negotiate a legislative path to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts that could kick in Jan. 1., at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks to a closed-door GOP caucus as Congress meets to negotiate a legislative path to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts that could kick in Jan. 1., at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
BANGKOK (AP) ? With just hours left before the U.S. hits the "fiscal cliff," investors on the other side of the world sold off stocks to lock in profits just in case budget negotiations in Washington fail.
American political leaders face a Monday night deadline to reach an agreement before steep tax increases and spending cuts begin to take effect Jan. 1. The cuts and increases would come at a time when the U.S. economy is still struggling to recover from the last recession.
Democrats and Republicans have failed so far to reach a budget deal despite intense negotiations. President Barack Obama says any deal must include higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Republicans, meanwhile, have been demanding deeper spending cuts than Democrats want to make.
Much of the impasse centers on how to address the automatic tax increases that take effect in 2013. That's when tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush, and extended under Obama, are scheduled to expire. That would drive taxes up for nearly all Americans and deplete the already fragile economy of $536 billion. And budget cuts of 8 percent or 9 percent would hit most of the federal government, totaling about $110 billion.
Some economists predict the tax-and-spending effects of the fiscal cliff could eventually throw the economy into recession ? although if the deadline passes, politicians still have a few weeks to keep the tax hikes and spending cuts at bay by repealing them retroactively once a deal is reached.
Still, the failure to adhere to the deadline will be bad for investor confidence, according to Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.
"I think the market reaction to that will be very negative. This means the U.S. will never be able to bring its house in order. And the deficit will continue to accumulate," Lun said. "No meaningful reform and no solution in sight. You can throw confidence out of the window."
The uncertainty drove down stock markets on the last trading day of the year. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to close at 4,648.90, with profit-taking driving the market's direction, analysts said.
Peter Esho, chief market analyst at CityIndex in Sydney, said Australian markets could cope with the fiscal cliff uncertainty ? as long as it doesn't blow up into the financial crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
"I think the market has a fairly strong conviction that at some point these issues will be addressed but the timing will continue to create uncertainty," he said. "A temporary deal will be well received by the markets."
Hong Kong's Hang Seng, trading for a half-day, closed marginally lower at 22,656.92. Benchmarks in New Zealand, Singapore and India also declined.
Mainland Chinese stocks rose after a private survey showed the country's manufacturing growth at its strongest level in 18 months in December. The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.6 percent to 2,269.13 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.9 percent to 881.17.
Markets in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan were closed for the New Year's holidays. In early trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.3 percent lower to 5,905.71. France's CAC-40 was 0.1 percent lower at 3,615.28.
Even if Washington bypasses the fiscal cliff, the next crisis is just around the corner, in late February or early March, when the government reaches a $16.4 trillion ceiling on the amount of money it can borrow.
Republicans won't go along with raising the limit on government borrowing unless the increase is matched by spending cuts to help attack the long-term debt problem. Failing to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a first-ever U.S. default that would roil the financial markets and shake worldwide confidence in the United States.
Compounding that is U.S. earnings season in February, Esho said.
"There are some very aggressive assumptions for earnings to improve in 2013 and ... if the earnings numbers don't meet expectations, it is going to be quite disappointing," Esho said.
Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 8 cents to $90.91 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 7 cents to finish at $90.80 per barrel in New York on Friday.
In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3186 from $1.3221 late Friday in New York. The dollar was unchanged at 86.07 yen.
___
Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson
Associated PressMY question is how come in google chrome, that when I append a row into a table, I cannot scroll the table until I have altered the zoom of the browser to then be able to move the scroll bar? Is it because I am appending a lot of features into a single row or is it because it could be that I'm appending big rows?
Below html table where it contains a scroll bar:
<table id="qandatbl" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <thead> <tr> <th width="50%" class="qid">Question Number</th> <th width="50%" class="question">Question</th> </tr> </thead> </table> <div id="qandatbl_onthefly_container"> <table id="qandatbl_onthefly" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody> </tbody> </table> Css for table is here:
#qandatbl_onthefly_container { width:100%; overflow:scroll; max-height:500px; } #qandatbl_onthefly { width:100%; clear:both; overflow:auto; } #qandatbl, #qandatbl_onthefly{ border:1px black solid; border-collapse:collapse; table-layout:fixed; } #qandatbl{ width:100%; margin-left:0; float:left; } #qandatbl td { vertical-align: middle; } .qid { font-weight:bold; border:1px black solid; border-collapse:collapse; } .question{ max-width:0.1%; border:1px black solid; border-collapse:collapse; line-height: 0; } Now I have a jquery code below where it appends rows into a table:
var qnum = 1; var qremain = 5; var count = 0; function insertQuestion(form) { var questionarea=(form.questionText.length) ? form.questionText[0] : form.questionText; var $tbody = $('#qandatbl_onthefly > tbody'); var $tr = $("<tr class='optionAndAnswer' align='center'>"); var $qid = $("<td width='50%' class='qid'></td>").text(qnum); var $question = $("<td width='50%' class='question'></td>"); $('.questionTextArea').each( function() { var $this = $(this); var $questionText = $("<textarea class='textAreaQuestion'></textarea>").attr('name',$this.attr('name')+"[]") .attr('value',$this.val()); $question.append($questionText); }); $('.num_questions').each( function() { var $this = $(this); var $questionNumber = $("<input type='hidden' class='num_questionsRow'>").attr('name',$this.attr('name')+"[]") .attr('value',$this.val()); $qid.append($questionNumber); ++qnum; $(".questionNum").text(qnum); $(".num_questions").val(qnum); --qremain; $(".questionRemain").text(qremain); }); $tr.append($qid); $tr.append($question); $tbody.append($tr); count++; $(form).find('.numberOfQuestions').val(qnum); form.questionText.value = ""; $('.questionTextArea').val(''); } cate blanchett nfl news tebow tebow jets romney etch a sketch jeb bush sherry arnold
Published December 29, 2012
Associated Press
FILE - In this June 17, 2010 file photo, former South African President, Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela was released Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File)The Associated Press
An unidentified woman and chilldren leave the Johannesburg home of former president Nelson Mandela after a visit Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Mandela who was admitted to hospital Dec 8, with a lung infection and underwent gall stone surgery, is now receiving medical care at home after being discharged Wednesday. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)The Associated Press
A elderley neighbour strolls past the Johannesburg home, unseen left, of former president Nelson Mandela's Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. Mandela who was admitted to hospital Dec 8, with a lung infection and underwent gall stone surgery, is now receiving medical care at home after being discharged Wednesday. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG ? ?South Africa's presidency says it has no updates on the condition of former leader Nelson Mandela, who is convalescing at home after a hospital stay and is reported to be doing better.
The South African Press Association quotes presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj as saying Saturday that he has no new information on 94-year-old Mandela, who was released from a hospital on Wednesday. The former president, who spent 27 years in prison under apartheid, was admitted Dec. 8 and received treatment for a lung infection.
He also had a procedure to remove gallstones.
Maharaj previously said doctors have noted progress in Mandela's condition but will continue to treat him at his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton.
Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/AnOVTcCjv4k/
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Boston, MA, Dec. 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- People who've been eagerly waiting all year to shop online for stunning fine jewelry for every occasion - from formal events to parties with friends to intimate encounters and more - can now head to MyReviewsNow.net's affiliate partner Effy, and save big for a limited time.
Until December 31, shoppers can take advantage of the Effy fine jewelry sale and enjoy 20% off one item, 30% off two items, or 40% off three items. No discount code is required, and the special savings apply to all selections, except for clearance and Effy Value Items. Plus, shoppers will enjoy free shipping on orders over $200.
"Effy is a leading retailer of fine jewelry and trusted by thousands of discerning customers worldwide," commented an Affiliate Relationship Spokesperson from MyReviewsNow.net. "And now, whether folks want to shop online for rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, cufflinks or accessories, there's never been a better time. And speaking of time - it's running out! Alas, while diamonds may indeed last forever, the Effy Fine Jewelry Sale ends soon on December 31!"
Shoppers who want to explore Effy's selection and save up to 40% can start their online shopping at MyReviewsNow.net's Apparel & Fine Jewelry Portal. While visiting, they can also read helpful reviews, leave feedback and ratings, read the site's money-saving shopping blog, and more.
For more information or media inquiries, contact Lina Andrade at info@myreviewsnow.net. Press release issued by SEOChampion.com.
About MyReviewsNow.net Blog, Reviews Hub and Web Shopping Mall
A shopping blog, gift ideas hub and online shopping superstore that features fine jewelry and thousands of services, products and publications available online, MyReviewsNow.net is a business directory that sets itself apart from similar sites by offering both professional reviews and consumer reviews on the Internet's hottest offerings in a fun, simple format that is easy for visitors to shop online and enjoy. Plus, MyReviewsNow.net is 100% free, open 24/7, and the best way avoid crowded shopping malls and parking lots.
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NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL made a new offer to the players' association, hoping to spark talks toward ending the long lockout and saving the hockey season.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Friday the league presented its proposal Thursday and was waiting for a response. The sides haven't met in person since a second round of talks with a federal mediator broke down Dec. 13.
The lockout has reached its 104th day, and the NHL said it doesn't want a season of less than 48 games. That means a deal would need to be reached mid-January.
"We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," Daly said in a statement Friday. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."
A person familiar with key points of the offer told The Associated Press that the league proposed raising the limit of individual free-agent contracts to six years from five ? seven years if a team re-signs its own player; raising the salary variance from one year to another to 10 percent, up from 5 percent; and one compliance buyout for the 2013-14 season that wouldn't count toward a team's salary cap but would be included in the overall players' share of income.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the new offer were not being discussed publicly.
The NHL maintained the deferred payment amount of $300 million it offered in its previous proposal, an increase from an earlier offer of $211 million. The initial $300 million offer was pulled off the table after negotiations broke off earlier this month.
The latest proposal is for 10 years, running through the 2021-22 season, with both sides having the right to opt out after eight years.
A conference call with the players' association's negotiating committee and its executive board was scheduled for Friday afternoon and was expected to last several hours.
The lockout has reached a critical stage, threatening to shut down a season for the second time in eight years. All games through Jan. 14, plus the Winter Classic and the All-Star game already have been called off. The next round of cuts could claim the entire schedule.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.
It is still possible this dispute could eventually be settled in the courts if the sides can't reach a deal on their own.
The NHL filed a class-action suit this month in U.S. District Court in New York in an effort to show its lockout is legal. In a separate move, the league filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, contending bad-faith bargaining by the union.
Those moves were made because the players' association took steps toward potentially filing a "disclaimer of interest," which would dissolve the union and make it a trade association. That would allow players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to give their board the power to file the disclaimer by Jan. 2. If that deadline passes, another authorization vote could be held to approve a later filing.
Negotiations between the NHL and the union have been at a standstill since talks ended Dec. 6. One week later, the sides convened again with federal mediators in New Jersey, but still couldn't make progress.
The sides have been unable to reach agreement on the length of the new deal, the length of individual player contracts, and the variance in salary from year to year. The NHL is looking for an even split of revenues with players.
The NHL pulled all previous offers off the table after the union didn't agree to terms on its last proposal without negotiation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nhl-makes-offer-lockout-enters-critical-stage-184254920--nhl.html
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Maybe our year-in-review helps us predict what?s coming in the new year, or at least think about how we?ll approach things differently.
Social business and customer service have certainly seen lots of moving and shaking in 2012. Here are some of the trends that may be foreshadowing the year to come.
Remember back in 2009 when ?social? was the new business buzzword? The world knew this was a revolution and everyone wanted to be a part of it. The only problem was that people didn?t quite know how to fit it into their budgets, how to track investments ? how to measure it.
This year marks major improvements toward wrapping numbers around social business. McKinsey?s study of the social economy exploded last summer, with predictions that the industry will add $1.3 TRILLION in annual revenue.
After years of trial and error, companies are learning where money is being wasted in social media and are modifying their course.
Stop blocking social media at work! Studies are proving the benefits of social, such as how collaboration tools are boosting productivity.
It?s safe to say that social business has grown up and, most likely, will continue to mature as technology laggards catch up.
With the variety of mobile devices (both smartphones and tablets) now available, the ubiquity of data access, and increasing reliance on information anywhere, mobile sales are exploding with no end in sight.
That means more online business, sales, and customer service is being tapped, adding extra pressure to operations internally and externally.
Businesses are scrambling to tap the benefits of mobile, but not without encountering challenges. IT professionals are learning the role of mobile within the enterprise ? no overnight task.? When it comes to customer experience, move it or lose it: 73% of mobile users feel companies don?t deserve their loyalty if their needs aren?t being met. Ouch.
When it comes to the future of mobile, it?s looking more and more interactive.
If a customer complains about a product or service and the business isn?t around to hear it? everyone else will be. Studies show that nearly half of all social media users (and that?s a lot) look to social media for customer service. This year has been all about gearing up on the strategies, tactics, and tools to give better customer experiences through social.
Analysts are predicting that internal collaboration tools will be essential to keeping up with customers in 2013. Many businesses are adopting social customer experience management software.
What?s more, we?re seeing more traditional CRM giants acquiring or integrating agile social capabilities from third parties into their software. Perhaps this is the beginning of making all business more social in 2013 and beyond!
What trends have you seen in 2012? What do you think 2013 has in store for social business?
Tags: enterprise social software, social businessSource: http://blog.moxiesoft.com/2012-social-business-trends/
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Dec. 27, 2012 ? Tufts University School of Engineering researchers have developed a novel method for fabricating collagen structures that maintains the collagen's natural strength and fiber structure, making it useful for a number of biomedical applications.
Collagen, the most abundant protein in the body, is widely used to build scaffolds for tissue engineering because it is biocompatible and biodegradable. Collagen is, however, hard to work with in its natural form because it is largely insoluble in water, and common processing techniques reduce its strength and disrupt its fibrous structure.
The Tufts engineers' new technique, called bioskiving, creates collagen structures from thin sheets of decellularized tendon stacked with alternating fiber directions that maintain much of collagen's natural strength.
Bioskiving does not dilute collagen's natural properties, says Qiaobing Xu, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and inventor of the new technique. "Our method leverages collagen's native attributes to take advantage of the well-organized micro/nanostructures that nature already provides," he says.
Xu and Kyle Alberti, a Ph.D. student in Xu's lab, describe their technology in a paper published online in Advanced Healthcare Materials on December 12, 2012.
Slice, Stack, and Roll
In their research, Xu and Albert cut small sections of collagen from bovine tendons. Using a specialized detergent, the researchers decellularized the sections, leaving intact only the extracellular collagen matrix made of bundles of aligned collagen nanofibers.
Xu and Alberti sliced the sections into ultra-thin sheets using a microtome, and then stacked 10 slices, crisscrossing the sheets so that the fibers in one ran perpendicular to those above and below it. This process produced a scaffold material with tensile strength stronger than constructs made using common processing techniques, Xu notes.
The researchers also created tubular scaffolding by rolling layers of collagen sheets around Teflon-coated glass rods. The sheets were layered so that fibers ran along the length and the circumference of the rods. This process yielded tubes that were found to be stronger than similar tubes made of reconstituted collagen. They also maintained their highly aligned fiber structure.
"Alignment gives the scaffold the ability to guide the direction and orientation of cell growth," says Xu, who also has a faculty appointment at Tufts School of Medicine, "This capability is beneficial for tissue engineering applications where biocompatibility and the ability to guide unidirectional nerve growth are both desired, such as prosthetic or tissue engineering-based blood vessels or nerve conduits."
The work was supported by funding from a Tufts Faculty Research Award, the Charlton Award from Tufts School of Medicine, and a Tufts Neuroscience Institute Pilot Grant. It utilized facilities at the Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems(CNS), a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), which is supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF award no. ECS-0335765.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/UP_IPNdeOLw/121227110724.htm
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Grace Jones performs during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in London on June 4, 2012 Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images.
Dear Jody, Will, Lindsay, and Ann
I wish I?d found the gift of ?more word count? in my stocking this season: There are a lot of issues we could delve into further if we only had time and space. Jody, I?m sure we could go on for a while about the complex relationship of Donna Summer to EDM. (Suffice it to say her 1970s classics with Moroder were both the creative inauguration of Eurodisco and its foreclosure.) Lindsay, I?d love to pick up your discussion of 2012 as the year of single ladies and encourage us to consider Rihanna, whose on- and off-stage adventures in narcissistic solipsism are transforming, for better or worse, the concept of the 21st-century pop star. And Will, I?ve been struck by Gregory Porter?s retro vision of jazz as identity politics; I?d be curious how you?d interpret Be Good alongside albums by Kurt Elling and Theo Bleckmann.
OK, word count be damned, I want to return to talking about camp. Jody, you?ve riffed on the endurance of icons like Springsteen and Prince (the Purple One?s new music sounds great); you?ve also celebrated how Freddie Mercury continues to haunt 2012 pop, insofar as Nate Ruess, Zebra Katz, K-Pop acts, and feminized boy bands like One Direction are extending his camp legacy. (I even taught a NYU class on Freddie Mercury this fall.) But what?s at the root of today?s Freddie nostalgia? Clearly, many of us are nostalgic for his creative genius as a vocalist, songwriter, and frontman; and some of us are still trying to unravel the mysteries of how he presented a flamboyantly camp persona to the public while his queer sexuality was hidden in plain sight.
But camp is a lot more than wearing purple eye shadow and feather boas. Nate Ruess has a high tenor and fun. makes rollicking, anthemic fusion pop that sounds Queen-like if you strain hard. But the similarities don?t go any further. For me, fun.?s grab-bag music represents the limits of pop music?s 21st century ?all-markets? approach?that is to say, the more genreless, eccentric, and just plain weird pop is, the better. Freddie Mercury made fusion music because he was the unique product of a fusion life: As a queer post-colonial Parsi raised in Zanzibar and Bombay before relocating to Britain, he merged his interests in opera and the music of Little Richard, Liza Minelli, and Jimi Hendrix into a seamless whole. For Freddie Mercury, camp was not just style; it was an embodied politic, a way of life.
Our thinking about camp in 2012 pop culture doesn?t have to be limited to David Halperin?s deeply problematic How To Be Gay. The book that?s inspired me more than any other this year is Sarah Schulman?s Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination, a razor-sharp memoir of New York in the heyday of the AIDS crisis. Schulman shines a light on the heady mix of activism, art, and creativity that defined New York during the ?80s and ?90s crisis, and she details how that moment has been insidiously curtailed by rising rents, government cutbacks, and the marginalization (and death) of activist queer voices from public life in favor of the normalization of gay marriage as the singular political issue associated with queer communities.
Reading Schulman?s book reminds me that part of the role of the pop-music critic is to consider not just music itself but the material and political conditions of the individuals and communities creating that music and engaging with it. We?re seeing increasing interest in the sound of black American queer artists like Zebra Katz and Le1f, but are we also seeing interest in addressing the disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic on those same black queer communities of color? We?re seeing an increasingly diverse range of female pop voices (Grimes, Kimbra, Charli XCX, etc.), but we?re also at war in the United States over whether we should honor women?s reproductive and economic rights, and we?re seeing battles around the world to ensure that women everywhere feel safe in their own communities. This is not to push music into a political corner as much as it is to suggest that music and identity are always, however uncomfortably for some, joined at the hip.
Some may not care to question the newfound hipster love for R&B; but hipsterism is more than style?it can also be a form of class warfare. Far from an innocent process, hipster gentrification in urban neighborhoods like Brooklyn?or even in Kreuzberg or Neuk?lln?has had, among other effects, a devastating one on the entrenchment of poverty. Schulman?s prescient book, especially read in tandem with Will?s terrific Loves Goes to Buildings on Fire, reminds us that affordable living in urban metropolises can help create a dynamic and cross-class mix of people. Without that cross-pollination?the kind that informed the development of U.S. punk and hip-hop in the 1970s and early 1980s?a diverse creative imagination has a difficult time thriving.
Jody, I?m not so convinced that country artists write songs with more realism than in other genres or that they?re more concerned with the ?everyday? than in other genres. Whose everyday are we talking about? Certainly, to speak to your concerns and Will?s, keeping your child safe is understandably paramount, particularly given the recent news of the horrific Connecticut school shooting. But I often wonder to what extent are Americans, and more broadly, Westerners, interested in keeping other people?s children safe?not just in the United States, but in Uganda, or Palestine, or Cairo, too?
Adele was the commercial story of 2012: She continued to rack up sales with her 2011 album, 21. Hardly surprising that this year brought a resurgent interest in all things British Empire: Besides the London Olympics, people went gaga over the royal pregnancy announcement, and there was Prince Harry traipsing around Jamaica (and naked in Vegas). But the performance in pop music that most sticks in my mind this year is 64-year-old Grace Jones performing ?Slave to the Rhythm? at February?s Diamond Jubilee concert celebration while spinning a hula hoop for the song?s entire duration. That moment was about subversive Grace?as a Jamaican woman, as cosmopolite provocateur, as fiery symbol of the post-colonial multiculture that Europe has been doing its best to contain for years?declaring her stamina and perseverance to the queen in a campy and cheeky ?I Will Survive? moment.
Given the upheaval in which we live?fears of ?fiscal cliffs? and eurozone crisis shadowed by the ongoing emergence of China and India as global economic superpowers; the coming minoritization of whites in the United States as Latinos and other ?minority? groups like women and gays enter public life in unprecedented ways?we are witnessing the West shattering and remaking itself. All of the exhausting culture and values wars that define contemporary public life are rooted in that unsettling and violent process.
And that shattering and remaking has been given a potent if inchoate soundtrack in 2012: the unbridled and restless creativity of artists as diverse as Tame Impala, THEESatisfaction, Santigold, Kendrick Lamar, The Alchemist, Death Grips, Michael Kiwanuka, and Los Miticos del Ritmo. But ?global? artists like Kenya?s Just a Band and South Africa?s Spoek Mathambo and even South Korea?s Psy?as they draw on, fuse, and synthesize world sounds and styles?have just as much or more to contribute to the conversation about the remaking of the West at this point as Westerners themselves. More than ever before, pop music is confirming that we?re all hopelessly connected to each other, and that gives me a profound sense of hope.
PS: my best of 2012: Cody ChesnuTT, Jai Paul, The 2 Bears, Alabama Shakes, Rufus Wainwright, Quantic, The Mars Volta, Fiona Apple, Foxy Shazam, Just a Band, Santigold, MTMTMK, Gotye, Brandi Carlisle, Bonnie Raitt, Sinead O?Connor, Domineeky, SWV, Azealia Banks, Frank Ocean, Elle Varner, Meshell Ndegeocello, R. Kelly, Patti Smith, Miguel, Tame Impala, Sam Sparro, Himanshu, Occupy This Album, Elton John Vs. Pnau, Bright Light Bright Light, Daley, Dawn Richard, Lake Street Dive, Wadada Leo Smith, Dr. John, Sierra Leone?s Refugee All-Stars
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c4ddb04c9dd3559f2abbbc1fff2480eb
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NEW YORK(CBS 2) ?? CBS 2?s Tony Tantillo is back in the kitchen with his daughter Stephanie, tonight they are throwing together a quick and easy spaghetti dish.
Spaghetti
2 oz. Finely Chopped Garlic
8 oz. Spaghetti
3 oz. Chopped Parsley
3 oz. Olive Oil
Preparation:
Boil pasta 6-7 minutes until al dente.? Remove pasta and set aside.
In sauce pan, heat olive oil.? Add garlic and cook.? Add pasta.? Add pasta water, parsley, red pepper flakes.? Mix and serve.
(NOTE: Prep times can vary by appliances)
Source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/26/tonys-table-spaghetti-with-oil-and-parsley/
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The Wildlife Conservation Society is reporting that this year has seen significant progress in safeguarding tigers and some of their last havens in Russia, Thailand and India ? three countries where the endangered species still has a solid base from which populations could expand if protections increase. The organization today released this image, taken by an automated camera last year in eastern Siberia.
The Green Blog has much of the background on developments in these three countries.
There?s much more on Dot Earth, of course, including these posts:
Saving Space for Tigers on a Crowding Planet
Can the Asian Boom Save Room for Tigers?
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Some people in this world would love nothing more than to work from home. Your schedule, your rules. Heck, doesn?t sound like too bad of a gig now does it? A good number of these work-from-home folks are Internet-based business people and/or Internet marketers. I told you recently all about how to become a web host, but being an online marketer in the general sense of the word attrats a lot of online entrepreneurs. Now, let?s see what a ?day in the life of? looks like for Joe Shmoe.
After a night full of digital, ?cybery?-like dreams, Joe?s alarm clock goes off at 7:30am. The snooze button is hit, as usual, and 8am finally rolls around (the real waking up time).
Jumping out of bed Joe turns on his PC and grabs his usual breakfast ? a bowl of oatmeal and orange juice ? and boots up Outlook Express. Time to start cracking on 28 new emails? not including spam.
After sifting through the important and not-so-important emails, Joe logs in to the backend of his ?money? site to see of any nightly activity in his cPanel. A couple interesting finds.
First, a spike in traffic. His cPanel reveals that yesterday?s traffic was higher than it has ever been, 414 unique visitors. Score!
Oh and that?s right, he realized he completely forgot what he was supposed to do yesterday. Joe abruptly changes pace and installs WordPress on two of his new websites which he was planning to do yesterday. Luckily as he?s using WHC, it only takes seconds to get everything squared away. Can?t beat WordPress? one-click install!
Back to the findings ? and this one is rather unfortunate. There was a hack attempt to one of his sites. Luckily his cPanel?s security did well in securing his data and no harm was done. As should be done regularly, Joe backs up his files for each of his sites? just in case.
Time to check sales, whether it be good news or bad. Joe logs into his affiliate accounts on PeerFly and Commission Junction and score ? $178 in commissions! All overnight? nothing better than passive income.
Since Joe recently signed up for his hosting, only about a month ago, he decides to look further into his free Google AdWords credit which he received when signing up. Clearly there?s no reason not to take advantage of it ? it?s free! Plus, one of his new ventures, a landing page for obtaining payday loan leads, he thinks the $100 for cost-per-click advertising could provide some great ROI.
*An hour passes*.
AdWords is now all ready to go, campaigns set, and Joe?s stomach is hungry ? lunch time! And time for a jog after digesting. (Hey reader, don?t forget? online marketers need exercise too. Sitting all day takes a toll on our body and mixing things up is a must.)
After lunch it?s time to check for available domains. Since unlimited domains are able to be hosted, stacking up as many as possible for future projects is a good idea. For only $8 a year per domain, even if a site brings in $5 per month, a profit is being made. And with 100 sites or even more, those are some nice paydays!
What a productive day Joe has had so far? and it?s only early afternoon!
Source: http://www.webhostingratings.ca/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-work-from-home-online-marketer/
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The fact is, the wealth of the world is being redistributed, and the US and EU are coming up losers.
The wealth of the world being rebalanced so everyone has more equal wealth is a good thing, in my opinion. I'm not sure how it isn't, in any way at all.
Now, if you're saying that corporations are taking most of the money, and distributing the wealth unequally, that's a different issue, which is a result of our current system, which they've adopted to some degree.
More equal wealth will allow manufacturing and farming to actually exist in the west without subsidies, too. At the moment we're clinging on to high tech specialised manufacturing, but I doubt that will last for that long.
Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/NyxwZW_sCe0/story01.htm
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When choosing a topic to publish your eZine on, you must consider some important success factors that can determine the flow and goal of your eZine.
You are encouraged to write non-time sensitive contents such as short tips, mini stories and interviews. Doing so enables you to create content in advance so that you can conveniently dispense to your subscribers at a later schedule.
Topic-wise, you will do well to cater to a starving market that will always be on demand for the kind of content you offer. And by this, I mean that you should zero in onto a demand that has been, is and will always be there.
Relationships and dating are niches that have been on Earth long before the World Wide Web came up, for example. The food niche will always be there as long as there are chefs cooking for anyone with a stomach to fill.
Having said that, you also want to have a steady stream of products or services of your own or an affiliate for you can endorse to your mailing list and make even more money.
This is also the reason why the Internet Marketing niche will remain one of the hottest niches there is, as products and services are created almost around the clock. As long as there Internet Businesses cropping out, there will always be needs to be fulfilled.
[Insert Your Resource Box Here]
(Words: 230)
Source: http://blog.swelex.com/jens/deciding-the-nature-of-your-ezine.html
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Source: http://eugenegrove11.posterous.com/deciding-the-nature-of-your-ezine-online-succ
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Before 2012 is over, we thought we'd take a look back. The world of smartphones, tablets, and e-readers continued to evolve this year. Book readers light up, phones continue to grow, and new technologies are invading the market.
This year brought many new advancements in technology, and opened the door for older innovations to come to the forefront. 2012 has seen a lot of trends, some more ridiculous than others, but a few stood out by sheer force in numbers. We may wish some patterns in mobile tech would kick the bucket, but most of these deserve to be popular.
Let?s take a look at this year?s hottest mobile hardware trends and celebrate surviving yet another supposed apocalypse.
Remember when the 5-inch Dell Streak seemed huge? Not anymore. Now that size is pretty much standard ? even the iPhone got taller this year. Samsung?s successor to the Galaxy Note, the aptly named Galaxy Note 2, packs a 5.5-inch screen and people are actually buying it, lusting over it even. These days, a 4-inch iPhone seems tiny. Even Windows Phone 8 has joined the party with the Nokia Lumia 920 reaching 4.5 inches, unashamed of its larger body and heavyweight status. In 2012, phones continued to get bigger, from an average of 4.3 inches to 4.7 or 5 inches and consumers responded by throwing down some cold, hard cash.
Back when the Motorola Atrix was ?da bomb, we all thought smartphones would be the new computers. It turns out we aren?t quite there yet. However, the tail end of 2012 has seen a whole herd of hybrids ? previously teased at tech events earlier in the year ? finally strut their stuff in the limelight. Tablets are either the new computers or computers are the new tablets ? we don?t know yet. Microsoft has the Surface RT, a well-intentioned but ultimately flawed attempt at creating a tablet experience that is equal parts production and consumption. Lenovo brought us the Yoga 13, a reimagining of the laptop, bestowing upon it the ability to transform into a tablet using a nifty 360 degree hinge. Then we?ve seen devices like the Samsung Smart PC and HP Envy X2, 11-inch tablets that connect to matching keyboard docks when a laptop is needed. It will be interesting to see how this trend evolves (or flops) in the New Year.?
This year we saw a flood of 7-inch tablets, from the Nexus 7 to the Kindle Fire HD, but the form factor was truly legitimized when Apple went back on its word and released the iPad Mini. It was more expensive than its Android competitors, though that didn?t stop it from becoming a hot ticket item in 2012. With the 7-inch tablets winning blend of portability and affordability, we can see this tablet size persevering alongside its 10-inch counterpart. Let?s just hope the market shies away from 6 and 9 inch tablets; two sizes is enough.
Until this year, Apple was the only company in control of an entire product line including smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. Google had the smartphone and tablet bases covered before but its own Nexus line only dealt with smartphones. In 2012, however, the Nexus line grew into the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 ? two tablets. Add those to the Chromebook laptop and Google can finally go toe-to-toe with Apple, competing on almost every level. Microsoft has a 10-inch tablet in the Surface line, as well as revamped Xbox software to compete with iTunes. Microsoft hasn?t started manufacturing its own smartphone yet, but the rumors are already circulating. All it needs now is a mini tablet to complete the trifecta. Regardless, compared to last year, Microsoft definitely takes home the award for ?Most Improved.?
As these things tend to go, screen resolutions continued to climb this year. 720p is now the standard and high-def 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixel) screens are the newest trend. HTC has the Droid DNA, LG and Sharp has announced 1080p displays. It?s only a matter of time before the rest of the smartphone world joins in.
Intel is almost completely shut out of the mobile processor market by its competitor, ARM, but it hopes the Clover Trail will change all that by combining long battery life with fast performance. Clover Trail hasn?t been around quite long enough to be sure it will live up to its promise, but that didn?t stop manufacturers like Samsung and HP from placing the technology in the latest Windows 8 hardware. This year, if the device focus was on superior mobility, then you could bet Clover Trail would be a part of the plan. Let?s hope 2013 brings good news as far as Clover Trail?s real-world performance.?
Love it or hate it, Samsung?s Galaxy S3 was the first phone to truly match the iPhone in terms of brand identity and consumer interest. 2012 was the first year I heard people seriously considering an Android phone over the latest iPhone. It wasn?t just Samsung either. HTC release the One line and tightened up its product offerings, making the One X a memorable and extremely attractive Android device. Then there is the HTC 8X and Lumia 920, both Windows Phone 8 devices that actually have people considering Microsoft. The iPhone 5 may arguably be the most beautiful handset available but the decision is no longer cut and dry, not with Android and Windows Phone 8 finally delivering the goods.
So-called budget phones like the Nokia Lumia 820 and HTC One S no longer seem like bargain bin knock-offs. Rather, lower cost alternatives to flagship devices only got sweeter this year. Using the Lumia 820 as an example, the decision between it and the 920 was almost a question of personal preference based on design, rather than a pure spec battle. Similarly, the budget HTC One S ? a subset of the One X ? was more than enough for most people and the One X seemed almost an unnecessary expense. Of course, we would like to see Apple join the party next year and offer an option for a more affordable iPhone.
The Nokia Lumia 920 basically rode the waves of its camera hype when Windows Phone 8 devices were announced, relying on its Pureview technology to stand out beside the HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ S. Ever since the iPhone 4S put a focus on camera technology, photo snappers have been growing in importance. The iPhone 5 included a sapphire lens, Windows Phone 8 introduced photo add-ons called Lenses, and Android beefed up the stock camera app. This was definitely the year to leave your point-and-shoot at home and start posting to Instagram.
It may seem like a small step forward, but this year, e-readers finally began to do what watches have done for decades: light up. Beginning with the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and then moving on to nearly every other high-end dedicated e-book reader, front-lit screens have taken over, allowing book fans to finally read in the dark. Even Amazon has responded to the trend, releasing the Kindle Paperwhite in recent months.
We can?t really say with any confidence that NFC (near field communication) has taken the world by storm, but it certainly is making a mark on the mobile industry, appearing in smartphones, tablets, and laptops alike. The idea behind NFC is stellar, sharing information between devices without annoyances like login names and Bluetooth pairing. The trouble lies in a lack of consumer knowledge on the subject and major players like Apple skirting the technology. For those of us that have used NFC, its inclusion on any smartphone seems like a no-brainer. Good thing so many hardware manufacturers have taken that first step as it is high time NFC hit the big time.
Source: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/top-mobile-hardware-trends-of-2012/
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Dec. 23, 2012 ? Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center investigators have identified three new genetic "hotspots" linked to colorectal cancer.
These variants, reported Dec. 23 in an Advanced Online Publication in Nature Genetics, provide new insight into the biology of colorectal cancer -- and could represent new therapeutic targets for the disease.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide -- and rates are particularly high in the United States and other developed countries. Genetics plays an important role in both sporadic and familial (inherited) forms of the disease. However, only about 6 percent of colorectal cancer cases are explained by the rare genetic variants known to confer high risk of colorectal cancer (as seen in familial forms of the disease).
Previous studies on the genetic basis of colorectal cancer have pinpointed several additional variants, but most of the studies were conducted in European/Caucasian populations.
"Looking at different ethnic groups is important because the genetic structures can be different enough that variants identified in one population do not explain risk in other populations," said Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and senior author on the study. "Because of the difference in genetic structures and underlying environment exposures, it might be easier to discover some risk variants in studies conducted in non-European populations."
In 2009, Zheng and colleagues in several Asian countries established the "Asia Colorectal Cancer Consortium" to search for novel genetic risk factors for the disease. The consortium included populations in China, Korea and Japan.
Using an approach known as a "genome-wide association study" (or GWAS), Zheng and colleagues began searching for common variants linked to disease risk.
From genomic data obtained from 2,098 colorectal cancer cases and 5,749 controls, the researchers identified 64 variants, or "single nucleotide polymorphisms" (SNPs), that were associated with colorectal cancer.
The investigators then replicated these findings in another set of samples, narrowing down the number of disease-associated variants to four. Three of those four variants were also associated with colorectal cancer risk in a larger European sample.
"The findings from this study are relevant to both Asian and European populations," said Zheng. "Interestingly, these three susceptibility loci were not discovered in previous studies conducted in European-ancestry populations."
This study highlights the importance of conducting genetic studies in non-European populations to fully uncover the genetic basis for common diseases, including colorectal cancer, Zheng noted.
While the specific functions of these newly identified susceptibility loci are not clear yet, several important genes are located in the regions near the risk variants discovered in this study. For example, one risk variant is located near CCND2, the gene encoding cyclin D2, a member of the cyclin family of proteins that regulate the cell cycle. Cyclins have been linked to cancer, but research on the CCND2 gene has been limited. Therefore, the current findings suggest the need for further research on the role of other cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases in carcinogenesis.
"These new discoveries are very exciting," Zheng said. "They will certainly lead to future studies regarding the biology of these regions and the translational potential of these findings in cancer prevention and treatment."
The research was supported in part by grants from the National Cancer Institute (CA070878, CA082729, CA124558, CA148667 and CA122364) of the National Institutes of Health.
Zheng is also a professor of Medicine, director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, and chief of the Division of Epidemiology at Vanderbilt University.
Other Vanderbilt authors on the paper were: Ben Zhang, Ph.D.; Qiuyin Cai, M.D., Ph.D.; Jirong Long, Ph.D.; Jiajun Shi, Ph.D.; Wanqing Wen, M.D., MPH; Gong Yang, M.D., MPH; Ryan Delahanty, Ph.D., and Xiao-Ou Shu, M.D., Ph.D.
This research was conducted in collaboration with investigators from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (China), Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute (Japan), Korean National Cancer Center (South Korea), the Shanghai Cancer Institute (China), Yonsei University (South Korea), Hallym University College of Medicine (South Korea), National Cancer Institute (USA), Kyoto University Center for Genomic Medicine (Japan), and Seoul National University College of Medicine (South Korea).
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/iZRRoxpFSzA/121223152624.htm
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Indonesia embassy in Singapore has been designed as the website providing Indonesia visa information for people in Singapore. Acting as a local website, it has gone online since the middle of December.
(PRWEB) December 21, 2012
Indonesia embassy in Singapore has been designed as the website providing Indonesia visa information for people in Singapore. Acting as a local website, it has gone online since the middle of December. The website aims to supply customers with the most useful and latest information about obtaining a visa to Indonesia. Any Japanese, who needs to get a Philippines visa, can find their right location and exact information without any troubles from the webpage. Not only does it offer free details on Indonesia embassy but it also updates various contents that are necessary and informative.People can directly go to Consulate or Embassy of Indonesia in their country to get a visa. However, this way can take their valuable time and money since they have to travel to get their visa and wait for a long procedure. Therefore, customers can choose to get Indonesia visa on arrival by using service offered by this website. In spite of new launching, its service has been proved to be simple, reliable, effective and timely by many tourists. With 3 simple steps to apply online for a visa approval letter, customers can get their visa when landing in international airports of Indonesia. In particular, with the promotion program for welcoming summer, customers who make visas will get a big discount when booking tours, hotels, and flight tickets online.
There are many compulsory requirements for visa application. Therefore, such requirements are listed with detailed instructions so that customers can get it in the most convenient way. Moreover, the information relating to cost and time duration of a visa is also available for support.
It is expected that this website will be warmly welcomed by people in Singapore as well as receive more supports from international customers.
Hoa Mai
Vietsmile Travel
0987810690
Email Information
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/website-providing-indonesia-visa-information-launched-015635612.html
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In this Dec. 12, 2012 photo Chris Brokenshire poses with his creation, a drink mix based on a traditional Pennsylvania coal-region cocktail called boilo, in Ringtown, Pa. Brokenshire is trying to commercialize the drink, which has been around for at least a century and is typically consumed around the holidays. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
In this Dec. 12, 2012 photo Chris Brokenshire poses with his creation, a drink mix based on a traditional Pennsylvania coal-region cocktail called boilo, in Ringtown, Pa. Brokenshire is trying to commercialize the drink, which has been around for at least a century and is typically consumed around the holidays. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
RINGTOWN, Pa. (AP) ? A peculiar sort of alchemy takes place each Christmas season in Pennsylvania coal country, where skilled practitioners huddle over big pots of steaming liquid, coaxing a potent but soothing elixir from secret recipes handed down through the generations.
This alcoholic yuletide cocktail, called boilo, has been a household staple for more than a century, sipped warm or hot to celebrate the holidays and ward off winter's chill. Boilo parties are in full swing right now as coal-region kitchens fill with the fragrant, intoxicating aroma of spices and citrus.
"It warms you up," said Chris Brokenshire, "and it warms your spirits, too."
The 40-year-old forklift operator from Ringtown knows of what he speaks. He's been making and drinking boilo for nearly 20 years. And now he's hoping to export this obscure cultural oddity to the masses, developing a drink mix that he began selling last month in a few brick-and-mortar stores in Schuylkill County ? the epicenter of the boilo-making tradition ? as well as online at his website.
Purists may sniff that Brokenshire's powdered boilo mix is a rather generic facsimile of the homemade concoction that's typically made with ingredients like honey, oranges, lemons, caraway and anise seeds, cinnamon sticks, ginger ale and whiskey.
But people are buying it as fast as his manufacturer can produce it and Brokenshire can bag it. Brokenshire sold out of his initial run of 1,000 bags within a few weeks, and he projects he'll sell 30,000 bags by April, when the arrival of warmer weather marks the end of the traditional boilo-making season. He dreams of replicating ? on a smaller scale ? the success of Yuengling beer, another coal-region staple that has crossed over to the mainstream.
The budding boilo baron figured his target market would be consumers who don't have a good recipe of their own, and those who simply don't have time to make it from scratch. But he had no idea what to expect when those first $8.99 bags hit stores. After all, this is a tradition in which family recipes are treated like fine heirlooms.
"It was a very scary thing," said Brokenshire, who invested $30,000 in the fledgling business, and whose father and fiancee are helping him get it up and running. "I didn't know how the community would react, because it is so popular and (a commercial version) has never been tested and tried."
The early returns have him ecstatic.
"It's just shooting through the roof," he said. "I never expected to be in a situation like this."
The invention of Lithuanian immigrants, boilo shares ingredients with krupnikas, a traditional spiced honey liquor that has been consumed in Lithuania and Poland (where it is called krupnik) for centuries. Yet the name is unique to a handful of Pennsylvania counties where anthracite coal was mined by European immigrants more than 100 years ago. The cocktail also appears to be related to viryta, a drink popular with the Lithuanian-American community of Baltimore. In fact, viryta is derived from the Lithuanian word for "boil" or "cook."
Leonas Putrius, a researcher at the Lithuanian Research and Studies Center in Chicago, confesses to never having heard of either boilo or viryta before being asked about it. But he said it's clear that immigrants took a little of the Old World with them to the New.
"The first wave of immigrants brought their culture with them and made localized versions of an old tradition," he said.
Ann Wargo, 87, the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania's coal region in the late 1800s, recalls a time when all boilo was made with moonshine, either "because they couldn't get anything else, or they didn't have the money to get anything else."
It was strong stuff. "I imagine they probably got into another world" after drinking it, she quipped.
Like most modern boilo makers, Wargo forgoes the illicit hooch in favor of Four Queens, a $10 whiskey distilled in New Jersey.
In a nod to that tradition, Brokenshire's mix calls for the addition of Four Queens (as well as honey and water). Put it in the blender, nuke it for a few seconds, and you have instant boilo.
Mark Kowalonek, third-generation proprietor of the century-old Kowalonek's Kielbasy Shop in Shenandoah, was the first merchant to stock the mix. He hasn't been able to keep it on the shelf.
"We may not sell many to the (local) people because everybody makes it," he said. "But from far away, people are just grabbing them up."
Associated PressNEW YORK (AP) ? Midwesterners aren't the only ones who could get slammed by the storm that's expected to bring heavy snow, winds and rain to the middle of the country over the next couple of days. Stores could get hit too.
With sales during the holiday shopping season disappointing so far, the nation's retailers are depending even more on these final days leading up to Christmas for a boost in business. Retailers are hoping the storm won't change shoppers' plans.
Jon Adam, 22, said he's finished most of his holiday shopping. But Adam, who lives in of Grand Rapids, Mich., was planning to go out this weekend to buy $80 perfume at a specialty store located 35 miles away for his girlfriend. The looming snowstorm, however, is making him rethink that.
"I don't know if things are going to freeze over," he said. "We're all used to snow. But we haven't had that big snow (storm) this year. So everyone is on edge."
The first big snowstorm of the season, which began in the Midwest on Thursday, is just the latest challenge facing stores during this holiday shopping season. The period, which runs roughly from November through December, can account for 40 percent of a store's annual revenue. And the Midwest accounts for about 18 percent of the nation's retail sales, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which tracks spending.
So far this season, sales have been lackluster as shoppers have held back their spending because of worries about the weak U.S. job market and the possibility that a stalemate between Congress and the White House over the U.S. budget could trigger tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" next year. That would mean less money in shoppers' pockets.
ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic and its own proprietary sales numbers from 40,000 retail outlets across the country, slashed its retail sales forecast for the season on Wednesday to an estimated 2.5 percent increase to $257.7 billion. The company had previously predicted a rise of 3.3 percent for the season.
"This comes at a crucial weekend," said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics, a research firm. "This is the end game. These days are huge as sales have been soft in November and December. They need a strong finish to carry through."
Most major stores and malls said that local managers are keeping an eye on the weather. Kohl's closed its Beaver Dam, Wis. store late Thursday. And Dianna Gee, a spokeswoman at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said that 15 of its nearly 4,000 stores were closed for a few hours Thursday because of the storm. But all but three stores in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa have reopened.
"There's been no major impact at this point," Gee said, noting that the affected stores have seen a spike in sales of snacks as shoppers prepared to stay home.
Target, which is watching 46 stores across Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, said it has "prepositioned" inventory such as shovels and winter clothing to areas that are expected to get significant snow. The discounter said in a statement on Thursday that all of its stores are open and that the "goal is to remain open for impacted communities to have access to winter storm essentials."
Scott Bernhardt, president of Planalytics, which tracks the effect of weather on retailers, said he does not expect the storm to meaningfully affect retail sales because it's hitting before the weekend begins. He also said the location of the storm will work to stores' advantage.
"The upper Midwest is going to take some hits, but the areas that are shut down are not Fifth Ave., downtown Atlanta or L.A.," he said.
In fact, Bernhardt said the storm might actually be good for apparel retailers because shoppers could stock up on sweaters and coats. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but this is not going to shut us down," he said. "And for apparel retailers it's actually good news."
At least one mom-and-pop store owner in Indianapolis agrees.
Jennifer Von Deylan, which owns IndySwank clothing and art store, said she isn't worried about the weather hurting her business.
"It's Indy. We're used to snow," she said. "People are going to get their Christmas gifts. If they have last-minute shopping to do, I think they're going to do it no matter what."
_______
AP Business Writers Mae Anderson in Atlanta and Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
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