Saturday, June 30, 2012

Scobleizer: GEEK FRIDAY. Gillmor Gang is live now: http://t.co/izOyiFvP Lots of Google stuff.

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Getting Over

For Heilbut, then, to be a fan is to know where, and what, the heart is. And throughout the book, across art forms, he argues that the heart is with those who have been turned out; that the center of a community and an art are in fact not at the center, but at the margin. So Aretha got over not because she left gospel behind, but because she kept faith with all of those?Clara Ward, Mahalia, her own father?who came before her. So the German ?migr? Jews, like Heilbut himself, are the truest expression of America, just as, Heilbut argues, Jewish culture was the heart and soul of German culture. The soap opera, that benighted, disdained pastime for working-class women, becomes, through Heilbut's obsessive chronicling, a quintessential American expression. Josh White, the much sneered-at inauthentic token bluesman of the folk revival, displaces Robert Johnson in Heilbut?s pantheon of authenticity, craft, and soul. And everywhere, in everything, from gospel to soap opera to ?migr? literature, the gay experience emerges as inseparable from every form of art and of life.

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Fantastic Jordan Femme Personal Development Info That May Help ...

In nowadays it can be challenging to be your very best. With the very much occurring, so much anxiety along with a frequent stream of Jordan Femme very poor economic growth you may want cutting corners to attain your targets in self improvement. Please read on for many very useful tips on how you can much more easily get to your own personal growth goals, starting nowadays.

Put an end to the people undesired imaginary opinions that you simply feel many people have about you. Lots of the dreadful items you believe men and women are thinking about you are certainly not happening. Whenever you can place an end to what is essentially personal-criticizing, you are certain to acquire the self confidence you desire.

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When working on personal development, it usually is advisable to split huge tasks into small techniques. If you have a huge project that needs to be done, it might seem impossible to achieve. This will make you less inspired to really do the job. When you split the larger job into small steps, your main goal will appear far more achievable.

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An excellent self-help hint would be to simply acknowledge days gone by and move ahead. A lot of people who definitely are frustrated or feeling downward often block out certain things which have occurred to them. You can?t live your life in denial. You must agree to specific things so that you can go forward.

Make sure to prepare suggestions in between-term along with the short and long term. When producing personal development programs, folks are generally very easily capable of seeing what they need accomplished immediately Air Jordan and what their ultimate targets are. Even so, it?s also essential to understand the methods which get you against your quick-word goals on the long-term objectives. Keep your speed heading by having a plan in place for all the procedure.

Changing your atmosphere could possibly be the answer to causing you to more content. Finding yourself in a spot that has many assault, or perhaps in an area that depresses you will simply provide you with straight down. It is very important reside in a secure neighborhood, where you may come and go as you may please rather than have to worry about your environment.

We all need a plan for private improvement plus some Air Jordan information about how to satisfy that plan. Ideally, this information has garnered you some extremely helpful ideas on how to do exactly that. With sufficient devotion and know-how, your own development strategy may be put into activity and take impact, speedier than you think!

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Source: http://jussfreevectorart.com/fantastic-jordan-femme-personal-development-info-that-may-help-you/

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Friday, June 29, 2012

FTC Approves Sony-Led Purchase Of EMI Publishing







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Sold

The FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION has OK'd a SONY-led group's purchase of EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING, without having to make any divestitures. THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE reports "U.S. antitrust regulators gave the nod to the $2.2 billion deal in a brief letter to the companies."

In its ruling, the FTC said that it looked at the transaction but "upon review found no reason for further action. Accordingly, the investigation has been closed," the FTC said in its letter to SONY.

"Music publishing, along with the rest of our entertainment companies, has been a bright spot in our business portfolio, and we expect that trend to continue with this important acquisition," said SONY CORPORATION Pres./CEO KAZUO HIRAI. "Through our SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING joint venture with the Estate of MICHAEL JACKSON, SONY has become the world's preeminent music publishing operation, administering the most prolific and diverse catalog in the world."

SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING Chairman/CEO MARTIN BANDIER added, "Today is a truly special day. For me, the best part of being in the music publishing business has always been the opportunity to be associated with talented songwriters and great songs. As I become reunited with the company that has many of the greatest songwriters and songs of all time, I look forward to helping create the best music publishing company in the world, with the extraordinary talent -- artists, songwriters and staff -- at the combined SONY/ATV and EMI."

The investor group is comprised of SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA, the Estate of MICHAEL JACKSON, MUBADALA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY PJSC, JYNWEL CAPITAL LIMITED, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP's GSO CAPITAL PARTNERS LP and DAVID GEFFEN. SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING, a joint venture between SONY and the Estate of MICHAEL JACKSON, will administer EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING on behalf of the investor group.

The EUROPEAN UNION?approved a SONY-led consortium's purchase of EMI PUBLISHING for $2.2 billion in APRIL (NET NEWS 4/19).

The more contentious battle continues over UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP's plan to buy EMI MUSIC for $1.9 billion. The FTC is expected to rule on that in the coming months.

? see more Net News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allaccess/radio-news/~3/Hyd2zA4iCjA/ftc-approves-sony-led-purchase-of-emi-publishing

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Windows 8 renames Windows Explorer, File Explorer to help you find files instead

Windows 8 renames Windows Explorer, File Explorer to help you find files instead

Come gather 'round PCs, wherever files roam, and admit Windows Explorer, simply has to go. And accept it that soon, your OS'll be Metro. If your file finding time is worth savin' -- then you better get used to File Explorer instead, for the times they are a-changin'.

Windows 8 renames Windows Explorer, File Explorer to help you find files instead originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations

BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations

Not everyone is apparently in love with British operator BT's green boxes. Still, that isn't stopping the company from serving up its high-fiber diet to those who want to have speedy Internet connections. For its latest project, BT's Openreach division has started offering an "FTTP on Demand" program that provides fiber-to-the-premises at 330Mbps speeds to folks or businesses who order the service. The project will be done in phases at eight locations, starting with High Wycombe, Bristol South and St Agnes, Cornwall in July. Next up is Edinburgh's Waverley exchange in September followed by Watford, Cardiff, Basingstoke and Manchester Central in 2013. Communications providers can decide to cover installations costs by absorbing a one-off charge, having higher monthly fees or passing the whole thing to the consumer. Want to gobble up more info about BT's latest fiber-filled broadband service? Then check out the good, old PR after the break.

Continue reading BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations

BT kicks off 330Mbps 'FTTP on Demand' trials, reveals pilot locations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ComputerWeekly  |  sourceBT  | Email this | Comments

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Blended and Step Family: Blended family life not so easy for kids of ...


Consider how it must feel to suddenly be informed of remarriage plans, and to be told they will become part of a whole new family, a blended family! If their new blended family includes step siblings, consider how life- changing that situation feels!

Remarriage plans?
If you and your partner are contemplating remarriage and the formation of a blended family, make this change a gradual undertaking the children and feel safe with. A divorced parent newly in love generally feels very blessed to have found love again, and can get upset with a child who acts out or tries to sabotage the new relationship. If this describes your situation:

  • Remember that although you have fallen in love with this new and wonderful person, your child has not.

  • Be patient, be considerate, and remain committed to making it work out for everyone concerned.

  • Take your time, make plans, and talk with your new partner about parenting, and how you see the roles of step parents and step kids in your future blended family.

  • Decide how much authority each of you will have over step kids, how you will handle visitation, ex-spouses, and ex in-laws.

  • Discuss how you will handle blended family finances, who will stay home from work with a sick child, where you will spend the holidays.

Blended family already in the works?

As anxious as you are to be good and beloved step parents, try not to force acceptance or affection of your new partner. Children can, and often do, form extremely close relationships with step parents, but they do it in their own time. Building a blended family is a slow process. To help kids manage, make sure that:

  • you make plenty of opportunities to be with your child without your partner being there all the time

  • you do not force your child to accept your partner as a replacement parent

  • you encourage and facilitate regular contact between your child and his other parent

  • you and your partner always speak well of your ex-spouses, at least in from of the kids

  • you allow step siblings time to bond, without rushing them

  • you and your partner establish clear and consistent boundaries of behavior ??

As step parents, the best thing you can do for your kids is to maintain a strong relationship with each other. Your stability will provide security and a base from which they can feel safe enough to invest in their own step family relationships.For more questions regarding blended family relationships, contact The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.

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Few Reason Of Buying Modern Home Furniture - Article Niche

Few Reason Of Buying Modern Home Furniture

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Location in the House: Quebec

A t present, Modern Home Furniture designs can be inspired by numerous factors including the ideas propagated by the legendary German school of arts and architecture the Bauhaus school. The unique and highly innovative architectural abilities of the school is directly associated with the creation of the Bauhaus Furniture.

Other ideas behind the invention of Contemporary Furniture include creativity derived from attributes of the physical environment and the need to satisfy the immediate demand. Some of the reasons which make people investing in modern home furniture include:

Quality assurance

Even though Bauhaus furniture draws its standards from a renowned school of art and design, the cost price remains well within reach of most people. The brand defies the odd by confirming that quality products can also be acquired for cheaply.

Bauhaus furniture represents a sense of style and exquisiteness. For quite a number of years, the brand has been modified to adapt to the changing times for the sake of remaining relevant in terms of quality and suitability. Due to its ever excellent standards and ability to go with taste and preferences of individual clients, Bauhaus has won accolades as one among the best modern home furniture of our time.

Saving on expenditure

Since most modern home furniture constitute a number of designs and colors, they help people save on the budget meant for decorating their individual rooms. A room that is fitted with modern home furniture doesn?t require being decked with expensive decorative materials to appear attractive. The furniture you choose will be sufficiently adequate to complement the room?s structure and bring about a feeling of satisfaction.

If you aren?t sure of how the furniture can be arranged to bring about the desired effect, you can hire an experienced interior designer to help with the overall set up. However, you can do it on your own to avoid incurring unnecessary expenditure. Usually, contemporary furniture designs can be arranged without causing unnecessary problems.

Easy to locate

Modern home furniture is easy to locate and own since many dealership shops are now selling them. Unlike in the past few decades, you don?t have to travel many miles to purchase your furniture of preference from a physical shop. All you need is to visit your preferred online stores and browse on the available selections. After locating your furniture of choice, from any part of the world, you can initiate the shipment process with a simple the click on a button.

Wide variety of Bauhaus furniture

More than ever before, online stores consist of a wide variety of Bauhaus furniture that you can use to decorate and fit a room with. Availability of a wide range of modern home furniture allows potential buyers to enjoy price variations. Depending on individual standards that grace each piece of Bauhaus furniture, you will be able to save some money by buying in accordance to your tastes and financial capacity.

The availability of many furniture manufacturers and dealership stores in both physical and online marketing place plays an important role in ensuring your individual taste and preferences are met to details. You should therefore seize the moment while stock lasts.

References


Modern home furnitureis a one stop solution for the latest in Bauhaus furniture.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Barclays to pay $450M-plus to settle LIBOR charges

Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay more than $450 million to settle charges that it attempted to manipulate and made false reports related to setting key global interest rates.

The rates indirectly affect the costs of hundreds of trillions of dollars in loans that people pay when they get loans to go to school, purchase a car or buy a house.

Britain's Barclays was just one of numerous major banks reportedly under investigation for similar violations.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday that the incidents occurred between 2005 and 2009 and sometimes took place daily. The $200 million civil penalty levied against Barclays as part of the settlement is the largest in the agency's history.

Barclays is also paying $160 million to the U.S. Justice Department and almost $93 million to British regulators.

The CFTC said Barclays senior management and multiple traders were involved in the matter and that they also coordinated with traders at other banks to make false submissions. The data was used in determining the London interbank offered rate ? known as LIBOR? and Euribor rates, which influence many other interest rates.

"Banks must not attempt to influence LIBOR or other indices based upon concerns about their reputation or the profitability of their trading positions," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.

The LIBOR is an average rate set by banks each morning that measures how much they're going to charge each other for loans. That in turn affects the costs consumers pay for loans and investments.

Barclays also agreed to pay $160 million as part of an agreement with the fraud section of the Justice Department's criminal division on a related matter. The Justice Department said its related criminal investigation continues, and Barclays agreed to cooperate with that probe as part of its settlement.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said that Barclays was the first bank to cooperate extensively with the investigation. Barclay's cooperation greatly helped the Justice Department in the probe, he said.

Britain's Financial Services Authority levied a fine of 59.5 million pounds ($92.7 million), the biggest fine ever imposed by the British regulator.

"Barclays' misconduct was serious, widespread and extended over a number of years," Tracey McDermott, acting director of enforcement and financial crime at the British agency, said in a statement. "The integrity of benchmark reference rates ... is of fundamental importance to both U.K. and international financial markets. Firms making submissions must not use those submissions as tools to promote their own interests."

Barclays President Bob Diamond also announced he and three senior bank executives were waiving any bonus for the year as a result of the case.

The other executives include Group Finance Director Chris Lucas, Chief Operating Officer Jerry del Missier and Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking Rich Ricci.

Associated Press

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Top Pakistani and US generals meet as analysts question the value of military talks

Gen. John Allen, commander of US troops in Afghanistan, is visiting Pakistan's military chief. Do these sorts of talks undermine America's professed goal of strengthening Pakistan's civilian government?

By Mahvish Ahmad,?Correspondent / June 27, 2012

Gen. John Allen the top US commander in Afghanistan, salutes before he observes Memorial Day on May 28.

Anja Niedringhaus/AP

Enlarge

The top commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, met with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani today to urge Pakistan to crack down on militants who launch cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.?

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Military-to-military meetings are common between the two countries, especially as Pakistan?s military apparatus has had the power there. But as the civilian government and the courts begin to establish themselves in line with more democratic norms, some are questioning how good military-level meetings are for Pakistan?s democracy.

Amid the deterioration of US-Pakistan relations, some US officials say Washington should take a different tack and circumvent the military to talk directly to the civilian government. By negotiating primarily with the Pakistan military, the argument goes, the US inadvertently strengthens Pakistan's Army, rather than civilian rule, even as the military undermines American interests in Afghanistan.

Though the premise is correct, according to Stephen Cohen and Moseed Yusuf in an op-ed in The New York Times, circumventing the military is just as ill conceived ?as was past support for Pakistan's military dictators.?

?American attempts to actively exploit Pakistan's civil-military disconnect are likely to end up strengthening right-wing rhetoric in Pakistan, create even more space for security-centric policies, and further alienate the Pakistani people from the United States,? write Mr. Cohen and Mr. Yusuf.

The two countries have been at loggerheads ever since NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and injured an additional 13 at the Salala military checkpoint close to the Afghan border in November. Pakistan retaliated by closing supply routes to ISAF forces. A 14-point parliamentary resolution requesting an apology for the Salala incident, along with more funds for use of Pakistani motorways to transport supplies, has been met with US reluctance. Reports yesterday indicate that reopening NATO supply routes would be at the top of the agenda, along with border coordination.

Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, is currently leading negotiations on the NATO supply routes with the US, and Kayani has referred the US to the civilian government on the question of reopening the border after the Salala incident. The military continues to define key parts of Pakistani foreign policy, but there is a public attempt to boost the civilian government. However, the seemingly similar interests in maintaining a defiant stance vis-a-vis the US comes from a broadly-shared frustration with US foreign policy toward Pakistan.

Conversations about a US decision to stop talking altogether with the military or the civilian branch of Pakistan is an indication that the US thinks of Pakistan as a clear cut division between civilian and military elites that largely disagree on their approach to the US. That assumption is wrong. But, say the analysts, maintaining relations with Pakistan's military and security agencies as well as the civilian government is essential for intelligence cooperation in the long run.

Still, if democratically minded activists within Pakistan had it their way, any cooperation with Pakistan on security matters should always go through a people's assembly.?

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LastPass 2.0 Premium


Getting something for nothing is great, but getting a lot for hardly anything is also pretty darn good. LastPass 2.0 Premium ($12 per year) costs less than a martini at a Manhattan bar. It offers all the amazing password management features of the free version of LastPass plus impressive additions to mobile security and multifactor authentication.

Shared Features
Do read my review of LastPass 2.0 (free, 5 stars) for full details on this program's amazing capabilities. It does virtually everything that any of its competitors can do, and then goes further, much further. I'll summarize here, briefly.

Naturally LastPass handles capturing and playing back website login credentials. It's also very good at detecting password changes and new secure site signups. Its user interaction is very unobtrusive, and it successfully captures credentials from oddball login pages that throw the competition for a loop.

LastPass can store one or more profiles of personal information and one or more credit cards. When you go to fill a Web form you can mix and match, choosing whichever profile and whichever credit card you like. The identities feature lets you filter which passwords and profiles are visible, so, for example, you can enable a subset of your data at work.

Your encrypted data is stored online, so you can access it from any connected computer. In addition to passwords and personal data, LastPass will store secure notes. These can be formatted for specific data types such as driver's licenses and passports, and now can include attachments. Users of the free edition can store 50MB of files; upgrading to premium raises that to 1GB.

The free edition includes several varieties of multifactor authentication, to secure your LastPass data more strongly than even a strong password can. It also includes free credit monitoring.

Full Functionality with No Plug-in
It's true that you can log into your LastPass Vault from any connected computer, but if you don't have the LastPass plugin installed it can't automatically fill your saved logins or capture new ones. The free edition offers bookmarklets for this situatoin, tiny JavaScript programs contained in a URL, but some may find using them a bit awkward.

Enter IEAnywhere, a premium-only feature that lets you use LastPass without installing a plugin. Once you download and run the program you'll find a LastPass icon in the system tray. Click it to log in. You now have a full LastPass menu, including your tree of saved logins, that's rooted at the system tray instead of in a browser button.

IEAnywhere also puts a tiny icon in one corner of the Internet Explorer window. From this icon's menu you can choose to fill in passwords or Web forms, generate secure passwords, and more. It's a nice solution for occasions when you want to use LastPass but don't have the permissions needed to actually install the plug-in.

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The states cutting the most to school and cities

By Michael B. Sauter, Ashley C. Allen, Alexander E.M. Hess and Lisa A. Nelson, 24/7 Wall

??Funding from local governments? two biggest sources -- state aid and property taxes -- fell?for the first time since 1980, according to a report released this month by the Pew American Cities Project.?The decrease in funding from these two sources has forced many local areas to cut expenses significantly. Relying on the Pew report, 24/7 Wall St. identified eight states slashing local funding to cities, towns, counties and school districts.

24/7 Wall St.?s independent analysis of data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the U.S. Census Bureau indicates states that cut funding the most had budgets that were particularly hard hit during this period. Some suffered budget shortfalls that forced them to cut spending. Others experienced drops in tax revenue that prompted the same response.

Of the eight states with the highest cuts in local funding, four experienced among the steepest declines in tax revenue. Wyoming, which had the worst decline in tax revenue, fell a whopping 21.9 percent during the period.

Budget shortfalls were among the worst in many of these states. Arizona, California and Nevada, among the eight states cutting local budgets, had the first, second and third highest budget shortfalls as a percentage of their general fund. Arizona faced a 65 percent shortfall in 2010.

24/7 Wall St.: 10 states that cannot pay their bills

These budget shortfalls, according to Robert Zahradnik, research director for the Pew American Cities Project, forced states to make deep budget cuts, hitting local governments -- and their employees -- particularly hard. According to the report, the number of employees on local government payrolls fell in 45 states between 2008 and 2011.

In several of the states with the largest cuts to local governments, these declines were the most pronounced. California, Arizona and Nevada were among the 10 states with the largest drops in government employees per person. In Nevada, the number of government employees fell by 15.4 percent, the most in the country.

While police and fire departments and other areas of local budgets were hit hard as well, no area suffered more than school districts. Zahradnik?explained, ?about half of the reduction of?the local government jobs were in the education sector, and that?s not entirely surprising because that?s where the staff and the money are for the local government.? This is a notable departure from standard practice during a downturn in the economy. Usually, Zahradnik noted, local governments will leave education off the table because it is something the public wants to protect. In the great recession, however, there simply were no other options.

24/7 Wall St.: 8 things to do if you haven't planned for retirement

24/7 Wall St. identified the eight states with a 5 percent or greater decrease in state aid to cities, towns, counties, and school districts?between 2009 and 2010 based on state funding to regional governments and government employee data from the Pew American Cities Project report, ?The Local Squeeze: Falling Revenues and Growing Demand for Services Challenge Cities, Counties, and School Districts.? The report relies on the latest available Census Bureau information on state budgets. It also calculated the change in government workers between December 2008 and December 2011 using Bureau of Labor Statistics data on government employee figures, as well as population estimates, also from the Census Bureau.?Separately, 24/7 Wall St. obtained state budget shortfall data from the Center for Budget Policies and Priorities, as well as changes in tax revenue between 2009 and 2010 from the Census Bureau.

These are the eight states slashing local funding the most.

1) New Mexico

  • ?Percent decline in local funding:?10.4 percent
  • ?Actual decline local funding:?$498 million (9th largest)
  • ?State budget shortfall (2010):?18.2 percent (11th smallest)
  • ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?-5.4 percent (16th largest decline)

Out of all states, New Mexico cut funding to its localities the most, reducing spending by more that 10 percent between 2009 and 2010. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, additional state cuts also resulted in fewer funds for higher education, the state workforce and services for the elderly and the disabled. The?Santa Fe New Mexican?writes that the Santa Fe School District endured the worst of its fiscal cuts in the 2009-2010 school year, when they were underfunded by about $11 million. After three consecutive years of deep budget cuts, New Mexico is now projecting a budget surplus of $250 million in 2012. NPR reports state leaders are debating whether to restore some services.

2) Wyoming

  • ?Percent decline in local funding:?9.5 percent
  • ?Actual decline local funding:?$185 million (19th largest)
  • ?State budget shortfall (2010):?1.8 percent (the smallest)
  • ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?+2.5 percent (2nd largest increase)

Between 2009 and 2010, Wyoming?s local governments? revenue suffered from what Pew calls a ?one-two punch?: shrinking in both state aid and property taxes. According to Census State Government Finance data, state aid fell by $185 million, while tax revenues declined by 21.9 percent -- the highest proportional decline in the country. Belt-tightening measures were necessary for the state to avoid layoffs of government officials. According to the?Billings Gazette,?officials at the Natrona?County Detention Center were told that if they did not comply with budget cuts as high as 27 percent, they would be forced to lay off almost a third of their staff.

24/7 Wall St.: America's richest school districts

3) Virginia

  • ?Percent decline in local funding:?8.5 percent
  • ?Actual decline local funding:?$1 billion (4th largest)?
  • ?State budget shortfall (2010):?24.1 percent (20th largest)
  • ?Percent change in government workers per capita:?-4.7 percent (tied at 22nd largest decline)

In February 2010, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proposed a total of $2.3 billion in cuts in order to?balance the state budget without any increase in taxes. As a result of these cuts, the state of Virginia reduced transfers to its localities by more than $1 billion. The city of?Roanoke, which was forced?to raise taxes after the state?s budget was passed, responded to these cuts with particular frustration. Local officials in Roanoke denounced the state initiatives as indirect taxation, because they required municipalities to raise taxes to cover those funding cuts.

4) Minnesota

  • ?Percent decline in local funding:?8.2 percent
  • ?Actual decline local funding:?$928 million (5th largest)
  • ?State budget shortfall (2010):?22.7 percent (21st smallest)
  • ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?-3.8 percent (24th smallest decline)

According to the Minnesota Budget Project, the inability of?the state to pay down its deficit in the 2010-2011 biennium?was caused?by a heavy reliance on one-time measures that failed to correct or reduce?long-run deficits. In 2011, the League of Minnesota Cities sued the state?s legislature and governor in order to continue receiving aid after a government shutdown that July.?The cities eventually agreed to accept a $138 million dollar cut in the funds to be received -- a reduction of about 19 percent.

Read the rest of States Slashing Local Funding at 24/7 Wall St.'s site

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

5-time champion Venus Williams loses at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ? Racket bag slung over her shoulder, resignation written across her face, Venus Williams weaved through fans milling about on the sidewalks that players must traverse to get from Court 2 to the Wimbledon locker rooms.

The 32-year-old Williams had just absorbed a lopsided first-round loss at the Grand Slam tournament she once ruled, a poor performance that raised questions about how much longer she will keep playing tennis while dealing with an energy-sapping illness.

She trudged by as her hitting partner, David Witt, was saying: "It's tough to watch sometimes. I think everybody sees it. I don't know what else to say."

Looking lethargic, and rarely showing off the power-based game that carried her to five Wimbledon titles and seven majors overall, Williams departed meekly Monday with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat against 79th-ranked Elena Vesnina of Russia. Only once before ? as a teenager making her Wimbledon debut in 1997 ? had Williams exited so early at the All England Club.

She hadn't lost in the first round at any Grand Slam tournament in 6? years. Still, Williams said she'll be at the London Olympics next month and is "planning" to be back at Wimbledon next year.

"I feel like I'm a great player," Williams said, sounding a tad like someone trying to convince herself.

She repeated that affirmation as she continued: "I am a great player. Unfortunately, I had to deal with circumstances that people don't normally have to deal with in this sport. But I can't be discouraged by that. ... There's no way I'm just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freakin' tournaments back."

Later, as part of a slightly testy and awkward exchange with reporters, Williams said: "I'm tough, let me tell you. Tough as nails."

Her loss, in her first match since a second-round ouster at the French Open, was part of an odd Day 1, even if the true tournament favorites in action won easily: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova. Among those sent home were sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up at Wimbledon; 11th-seeded John Isner; No. 16 Flavia Pennetta; and No. 18 Jelena Jankovic, who was rather easily beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Kim Clijsters, a four-time major champion who has been beset by injuries in her last season on tour and, like Williams, is unseeded.

Other seeded losers: No. 23 Andreas Seppi, No. 24 Marcel Granollers and No. 27 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who was upset by 100th-ranked Jamie Hampton of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (1).

Truth be told, the biggest surprise might very well have been the way Isner ? the highest-ranked American man ? blew a match point, wasted a two-sets-to-one lead, dropped a tiebreaker on grass, and bid a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 farewell to Wimbledon in the first round against 73rd-ranked Alejandro Falla of Colombia.

Then again, there's a pattern here.

It's the third consecutive major tournament that Isner leaves after a five-set loss, including 18-16 at the French Open against 261st-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu. This from a guy who's best known for winning the longest match in tennis history, 70-68 in the fifth after more than 11 hours, against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.

"I didn't put my opponent away. I had my chances, and I didn't do it. It's all on me. Was just not great on my part," said the 6-foot-9 Isner, who hit 31 aces to Falla's four. "I get out there sometimes, and lately it's happening quite a lot, and I get out there in the match and I'm just so clouded. I just can't seem to figure things out. I'm my own worst enemy out there. It's all mental for me, and it's pretty poor on my part."

Mental strength has long been viewed as Ernests Gulbis' weakness, because his strokes are as good as they come, but the 23-year-old from Latvia who is ranked 87th stood tall in a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victory over Berdych.

"A lot of players mature later than others. Some mature at 15; some mature at 29. I hope it's somewhere in between; 23 is OK," Gulbis said. "If I hit the ball well, I hit stronger than everybody else. It is like this, you know. Maybe only couple guys hit the ball as strong as I do."

Used to be that Williams could say that when comparing herself to other top women. She and her younger sister Serena rewrote the way the game was played in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with 120 mph serves and ferocious forehands.

But Williams hasn't been that player for quite a while now. She announced in August that she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.

Her match against Vesnina was at Court 2, which was built three years ago; Serena complained about having to play on it in 2011. For years prior, the name "Court 2" was assigned to a venue about half the size and a few minutes' walk away, a place known as the "Graveyard of Champions" because of a series of stunning losses by top players: Serena, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

Care to guess where Serena is scheduled to play her first-round match Tuesday? Yep, that's right: Court 2.

The older Williams has played only 18 matches in 2012, going 12-6, and looked rather ordinary against Vesnina, who is more accomplished in doubles and never made it past the fourth round at a major tournament in singles.

"Of course I was scared. Not scared, but I was, like, aware of her serve. But I think she didn't serve that well today," said Vesnina, who recalled watching on TV when Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Wimbledon final.

"Maybe for her, it was not one of her best days," Vesnina said about Monday. "But for me, it was one of the best days."

Williams fell behind 5-0, and needed 30 minutes to win a single game. She got broken the first four times she served. She rolled her eyes or shook her head after missed shots. Her father pulled out his camera late in the second set and snapped some photos from the stands, maybe wondering right along with some spectators whether this might be Williams' last singles match at Wimbledon.

At her news conference, Williams was asked what will drive her, given the way she's struggling.

"Am I struggling?" Williams replied. "Am I?"

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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Some Diabetics May Not Benefit From Daily Aspirin

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Conn. cops: Dylan McDermott's mom murdered in '67

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2009 file photo, actor Dylan McDermott arrives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Annual Installation luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. A reopened police investigation in Connecticut has concluded that McDermott's mother was killed by her gangster boyfriend in 1967. The Republican-American newspaper reports Waterbury, Conn., police reopened the investigation last year into Diane McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2009 file photo, actor Dylan McDermott arrives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Annual Installation luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. A reopened police investigation in Connecticut has concluded that McDermott's mother was killed by her gangster boyfriend in 1967. The Republican-American newspaper reports Waterbury, Conn., police reopened the investigation last year into Diane McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

This undated image released by the Waterbury Police Department via the Republican-American newspaper shows an image of Diane McDermott, the mother of actor Dylan McDermott, who was murdered in 1967. Waterbury police reopened the investigation last year into McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions, the Republican-American newspaper reported Sunday and Monday, June 24-25, 2012, as part of a two-part series. A police investigation concluded that she was killed in 1967 by her now-dead gangster boyfriend John Sponza, who lived with McDermott at the time. He had told authorities that McDermott accidently shot herself after picking up a gun he had been cleaning. (AP Photo/Waterbury Police Department via the Republican-American via The Republican-American)

This undated image released by the Waterbury Police Department via the Republican-American newspaper shows an image of John Sponza. Sponza was the boyfriend of actor Dylan McDermott's mother Diane McDermott, who was murdered in 1967. Waterbury police reopened the investigation last year into McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions, the Republican-American newspaper reported Sunday and Monday, June 24-25, 2012, as part of a two-part series. A police investigation concluded that she was killed in 1967 by her now-dead gangster boyfriend. (AP Photo/Waterbury Police Department via the Republican-American via The Republican-American)

This June 1972 photo released by Waterbury Police Department via the Republican-American newspaper shows the body of John Sponza, formerly of Waterbury, in the trunk of a rented Dodge Charger in Waltham, Mass. The car was parked in a supermarket parking lot in Waltham, Mass. Sponza was the boyfriend of Diane McDermott, mother of actor Dylan McDermott, who was killed in 1967. Waterbury police reopened the investigation last year into Diane McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions, the Republican-American newspaper reported Sunday and Monday, June 24-25, 2012, as part of a two-part series. An investigation concluded that actor Dylan McDermott's mother was killed in by Sponza, who lived with McDermott at the time. He had told authorities that McDermott accidentally shot herself after picking up a gun he had been cleaning. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Waterbury Police Department via The Republican-American)

(AP) ? A reopened police investigation has concluded that actor Dylan McDermott's mother was killed in 1967 by her now-dead gangster boyfriend.

Waterbury police reopened the investigation last year into Diane McDermott's death after Dylan McDermott contacted them with questions, the Republican-American newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/KX4WBx ) Sunday and Monday as part of a two-part series.

He was 5 years old when his mother was shot in February 1967. Her death was originally ruled an accident.

Police told the newspaper that the evidence they found would be enough to file murder charges against John Sponza, who lived with McDermott at the time. He had told authorities that McDermott accidently shot herself after picking up a gun he had been cleaning.

Sponza, who police say had ties to organized crime, was shot to death in 1972, his body found in the trunk of a car in a Waltham, Mass., grocery store parking lot.

The state's medical examiner, H. Wayne Carver, reviewed McDermott's autopsy and determined that the gun found near the body was too small a caliber to have been the weapon used to kill her. The wound also showed that the murder weapon had been pressed to the back of her head, according to his report.

Police Superintendent Michael Gugliotti also stumbled over some of the initial findings.

"What troubled me was that there was very little follow up other than the statement Sponza had given to police," Gugliotti said.

"Sponza is telling the police that night that he very rarely, if ever, had arguments, yet everyone we spoke to, including Dylan, who was only 5 at the time, remembered very violent, vicious arguments," he added. "Dylan vividly recalls the amount of times, not only flashing the gun, but pointing it at the kid, saying, 'Shut up and get out of here.' He's still probably traumatized by that."

Dylan McDermott, who won a Golden Globe in 1999 for his role on the TV drama "The Practice," declined to comment to the newspaper about the investigation. His sister, Robin Herrera, said she is relieved that the truth has been discovered.

"I'm happy to know my mother wasn't mentally ill or depressed," she said. "Somebody took her from us; she didn't leave us."

Dylan McDermott met with Gugliotti and Mayor Neil M. O'Leary last year while in town for a fundraiser.

"He said in order for me to survive and to get where I am today, I needed to bury that moment in my life deep within myself," Gugliotti said. "He said it wasn't until recently that I've come to the point in my life where I'm able to begin to process all of this and make it part of his life."

Police said the McDermott investigation has led to evidence that also implicates Sponza in at least two other unsolved homicides.

___

Information from: Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Brazilians don?t mind lackluster UFC 147 card (VIDEO)

Dana White tweeted out this video with the simple phrase, "Brazil is crazy!" Apparently, the lackluster card that created apathy about UFC 147 didn't bother Brazilian fans as they lined up for the preliminary card. Check it out, and as always when White is involved, be ready for some salty language.

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Water Garden Tour Stops In Town And Country | kplr11.com ? St ...

Posted on: 10:11 pm, June 22, 2012, by Patrick Clark, updated on: 10:48am, June 23, 2012

TOWN & COUNTRY, MO (KPLR) ? When Debbie Wilhelm wants to see a beautiful waterfall, all she has to do is walk out her backdoor.

?We just enjoy the peacefulness, listening to the water,? says Wilhelm.

The Wilhelm?s wound up with the idea for a waterfall after taking a long vacation a few years back.

?When we had moved in here 11 years ago? we just had this huge hill and we were like this can be a sledding hill or something that we enjoy more than a couple of times a year.? So we decided to put in a pond.?

Two years later, with the help of design company Nature?s Re-Creations, they came up with an outdoor oasis in Town and Country.? And you can take it in yourself as part of something called Pond-o-Rama.

?I think the idea behind it, and this is just my personal take, is to introduce people to the joys of ponds and water gardening and waterfalls.?

The St. Louis Water Gardening Society is sponsoring the weekend whistle stops of all things wet.? There?s 45 locations around the metropolitan area for St. Louisans to sample.

Not only can a pond provide a relaxing addition to your property but introducing water, fish and plants into your ecosystem can be enjoyable all year long.

?I love to listen to the water.? I just think it?s so calming and relaxing and sit up in the shade somewhere and listen to the water and see all the different paths that the water is taking.?

And sometimes that?s all we need, is a little nature, especially if it?s right outside your backdoor.

Website: Pond-O-Rama Tour

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Poll: 1-in-4 uncommitted now in White House race (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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iPhone 4S: Is the UK or the Spanish version the same as the US version?

I have an iPhone 3G and a 4, and I'm thinking of trading up my iPhone 4 in the Dominican Republic for a 4S. In the Dominican Republic, the iPhones are reprogrammed Mexican versions to work on our networks (Orange, Claro and Viva). I'm buying my 4S from either the UK or Spain because it's cheaper and they're already SIM unlocked by default so I don't have to go through any ultrasn0w unlock or mess with AT&T. I have an iPhone 3G and a 4 from England and they're fine, except my 3G was SIM locked to O2 until I did ultrasn0w. My iPhone 4's been fine, but I'm wondering if it's anything different from the 4 to the 4S. Since the 4S can use HSPA+, I'm wondering if it's in use in England or in Spain so it can be compatible with Orange Dominicana's bands so I can use "4G" or at least 3G like I've been using on my 4.

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Total Recall: U.S. Presidents On Film

Total Recall: U.S. Presidents On Film - Rotten Tomatoes

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With Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter hitting theaters, we run down some memorable movies featuring historical commanders-in-chief.

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Since April President Obama Cut Oil Prices 21%, Boosted GDP $78.4 Billion

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 17:  (L to R) U.S. Pres...

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 17: (L to R) U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to speak about the oil markets followed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 17, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama announced a plan to increase oversight and crack down on manipulation of the oil markets. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

In April, I predicted that President Obama?s $52 million plan to increase the margin requirements and otherwise tighten the screws on oil speculators ? who borrow huge sums to bet on the direction of oil without taking delivery ? would cut oil prices by 10%. He?s beaten that prediction and the lowered prices of gasoline has added $78.4 billion to its consumers? spending power.

In case you never heard about it, in April the Obama administration asked Congress to spend $52 million to regulate this speculation. According to the Washington Post, this included the following steps:

  • Increase by a factor of six Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)?surveillance and enforcement staff ?to better deter oil market manipulation,?
  • Boost 10-fold to $10 million the civil and criminal penalties against ?firms that engage in market manipulation,?
  • Give the CFTC authority to increase the trader margins ? the amount of their own capital that traders must set aside for each bet. The administration officials said such authority ?could help limit disruptions in energy markets,? according to the Post.

Why does this have anything to do with the price of oil? That?s simple. When?oil hit $147 a barrel four years ago, those speculators accounted for 81% of the trading volume. And margin requirements can affect the price of oil.

When regulators raise those requirements, oil speculation becomes less attractive to traders and they place bets elsewhere. And when margin requirements drop, the traders pile into their oil speculations ? confident that they can borrow enough to limit their downside while boosting their upside opportunity.?

In February 2011, when commodities exchanges raised the amount of their own capital that speculators must set aside in order to trade ? according to Bloomberg, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) increased its margin requirements?20% to $6,075 per contract, and the International Exchange (ICE) increased its margin requirement 7% to $5,200?? the price of oil fell 10% within a few months.

And a year later,?the commodities exchanges cut the amount of capital that speculators need to set aside before trading ? the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cut by 9%?to $6,885 the amount that Nymex crude speculators have to post to trade the so-called front-month contract, according to MarketWatch?? leading prices to soar to $109 that month.

So what?s happened since April? Oil ended the month at $106 and as of June 22, it had lost 21% of its value ? sitting at $84. I guess I under-estimated the impact of the CME?s boost in margin requirements for oil speculators.

But there are other factors that could have affected the price of oil. For example, the dollar has strengthened compared to the Euro since the end of April ? rising 6%?from $1.33/Euro to $1.25/Euro ? and since oil is traded in dollars, the stronger the dollar, the more oil it can buy.

It?s entirely possible that supply and demand have something to do with this as well. MarketWatch claims that ?traders are more concerned about plentiful supplies and deteriorating demand expectations.?? And on June 20, the EIA reported a 2.9 million barrel supply increase in the week ended June 15 while Platts analysts expected to see?a decline of 600,000 barrels for the week.

Certainly oil prices affect gasoline prices and rising gasoline prices tax consumers? budgets. According to AP, ?every one-cent increase in the price of gasoline costs the economy $1.4 billion.? So it stands to reason that a drop in the price of gasoline would add to consumers? discretionary spending.

So just how much has President Obama stimulated the economy through his April crackdown on oil speculators. Well, if my experience is any indication, the answer is quite a bit. After all, I was paying about $4.05 a gallon for mid-grade back then and this week the price?had?fallen to $3.49.

That 56 cents a gallon decline would amount to me saving about $582 a year ? assuming that I fill up my 20 gallon tank once a week. But if the AP is right, that same 56 cent a gallon?drop would add $78.4 billion to U.S. GDP.?

That?s not much for a $15 trillion economy, but it represents a 1,508% return on President Obama?s $52 million investment in two months.

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Super-social spaceman shares his story

NASA via Twitpic

NASA astronaut Ron Garan looks into the camera from outside the International Space Station in July 2011. "Knocking on the door to come back in #FromSpace after yesterday's spacewalk," Garan wrote on Twitpic.

By Alan Boyle

You might think it's cool enough that NASA astronaut Ron Garan has spent months aboard the International Space Station, but he?s become even better-known as a social-media maven. This month he passed the 2 million mark for Google+ circles, putting him at No. 21 on the Google+ Top 100. His Fragile Oasis postings are a highlight on the Web, Facebook and Twitter. His "Ask Me Anything" exchange with Reddit users went so well he's thinking of doing it again.

So what's the secret to his success? It's really not a secret at all: He?s got a good story to share, about the beauty and fragility of planet Earth.


The 50-year-old New York native is a former Air Force fighter pilot who has degrees in business economics and aerospace engineering. He joined the astronaut corps in 2000, and his training for spaceflight included a turn as an "aquanaut" for NASA's NEEMO underwater research mission in 2006. Garan has been up in space twice ? in 2008, on the shuttle Discovery to help deliver Japan's Kibo lab to the International Space Station; and just last year for a nearly six-month tour of duty on the station.

Garan says another stint on the space station is "always a possibility, down the road." But right now, he's focusing on NASA's Open Government Initiative, which aims to build stronger collaborative ties between government, industry and the general public. That means social engagement isn't just something he does in his spare time. It's part of his job.

During a recent interview, Garan talked about how he became a super-social spaceman, and what he's learned from the adventure. Here are some edited excerpts of the Q&A:

Cosmic Log: When you come into contact with the public, what do you find they?re most curious about?

Garan:?"Well, what they?re most curious about is the basic question of what life is like, living in space. It really is a marvelous experience. It?s very interesting in a lot of respects ? and probably the greatest part about it is that it gave me an incredible sense of appreciation for what we have here on our planet. Everything from just simple things that define the beauty of life on our planet ? the breeze in your face, and the smell of flowers, watching a flock of birds and a million other things. After you?re up there for a while, those are things that?you really start to miss.

"I had the opportunity to have a short-duration flight on the space shuttle Discovery back in 2008, during which I was up there for two weeks, and then a long-term one where I was up for five and a half months. And it?s a very different experience. You have the same views, you have the same environment that you live in. But being able to see the earth, day in and day out, and watch the earth change ... and to really start to miss some of the things that I took for granted, that really gives you that appreciation."

Ron Garan / NASA

A fish-eye view of the International Space Station, captured by Ron Garan last July, features the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer in the foreground. A Russian Progress cargo ship and a Soyuz crew capsule are docked on the left end of the station. The structure extending to the left of the AMS is a thermal radiator. One of the station's gold-colored solar arrays is visible in the background. And off to the right, the shuttle Atlantis is docked to the station's Tranquility module.

Q: So how did the Fragile Oasis website enter into the mix?

A:?"That came out of my shuttle mission in 2008. I had a little bit of frustration. I imagine it?s like when you go to the Grand Canyon, and you?re there by yourself, and you sit there at the rim of the Grand Canyon and you?re looking out over this amazing thing. And imagine that very, very few people have been able to have that experience. For me, at least, that would be frustrating, and the experience would not be as rich as it would be if I had the opportunity to share that with people. So I was frustrated during my shuttle mission that I couldn?t share the experience.

"When I got assigned to my long-duration mission, there?s two and a half years of training, and during that two and a half years, I really brainstormed how I could do that. We came up with Fragile Oasis, not just to have it as a website where we could tell stories about space, but the goal was always to provide a platform for people to follow along on the mission, not as spectators but as fellow crew members. To have an interactive way to do it.

"We had some significant technical challenges in getting that thing off the ground, and it?s still a work in progress. It doesn?t have a lot of the interactive features that we wanted it to have, but we?re working on it. When I launched to the International Space Station, and I had the five and a half months up there, I really was very thankful that I had this tool, this platform, to be able to communicate. And in the meantime, we had the exponential increase in the popularity of social media tools.

"First I did Facebook, but I didn't see that as a public outreach tool. I saw that as a way to connect with old friends, and I was just using it on a personal basis. On the other hand, I started Twitter for one reason: I saw it as a way to do education outreach. I could say, I?m learning about this experiment we?re going to be doing in space, and I?d put a link on there to the experiment's website and the science behind it. I saw that as a very powerful way to do outreach. I now see the benefits of outreach in other platforms as well, including Facebook and obviously Google+. In the case of Google+, I see a very robust mechanism to share the space program and the experience of living in space with a lot of interactive features on that platform."

Q: With all your experience in social media, do you find that you favor one tool over the other? From your comments, it sounds as if you?re seeing some differentiation in how those different tools can be used. Particularly with Google+, you just recently passed the 2-million-follower mark. That must be one of the big successes for your efforts.

A:?"Well, I think all the platforms offer slightly different tools to tell the story. I think they all fit together really well, actually. So it?s not a 'one-platform' type of message. We want to reach the broadest audience we can, because the excitement of spaceflight is global. It?s for all humanity. So the more tools we can use to tell that story, and the more people we can get involved with the story, the better off the whole message will be."

Q: Did you have to do a selling job with NASA to do the sorts of things you?re doing?

A:?"It took a while to catch on, but it?s catching on now across the board. We realize the benefit of social media. I?m on some social-media committees now, on some working groups to help not only crew members and astronauts, but also thousands of other people who work in the space program. They have a very compelling story as well. We?re trying to find the best way to get that story out. And what we?re finding is that just letting people tell their story in the way they want to tell it is the best way to do it.

"Obviously, there have to be guidelines. But the more leeway we can give people in the space program to tell their story, the richer the experience will be, both for the people who are reading it and for the people who are doing it. That?s one of the cardinal rules here, to give people as much leeway as we possibly can."

Q: Are there any guidelines or favorites that you want to pass along to people who want to be closer in touch with the space adventure?

A:?"Oh, yeah. There are tons and tons of people. Most of the astronauts who fly in space right now have Twitter accounts. They?re all on there. There?s also @NASA_Astronauts, where we try to retweet, as best we can, everything from all the astronauts. There?s @NASA, the official Twitter account. There?s the Facebook version, and soon the Google+ version of all these as well. There?s commercial spaceflight: @SpaceX has a social media presence. There are people outside the space agency who are involved in telling the story as well, such as @YurisNight and #spacetweeps.

"What we?re finding through this is that it?s not just the official word from NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese space agency. There are citizen scientists and all these other groups that have formed around the idea of space exploration, and they really do a great job of telling the story as well. It?s obvious that there?s a lot of passion and heart and soul that?s put into this."

Q: Is there something about the space story that particularly resonates with social media?

A:?"I think it?s because it?s a human endeavor, and throughout the 50 years of human spaceflight, it?s always been a select few people who have gotten to fly in space, and we?ve relied on them to come back and tell us what it was like. Now, through technology and through these new platforms, we can bring people along with us on the missions and have them experience this is real time. You can see example after example of this.

"An easy example is, if one of us sends out a tweet with a picture, let?s say, and we misidentify the geographic location, we?re going to find out about that pretty fast. That happened to me on my mission, and I thanked the person who brought that to my attention. I started sending pictures to that person first, to make sure I got it right. We don?t have a lot of time up there, and all the pictures and all the social media that we do is in our free time. So to have people on the ground, crowdsourcing or open-sourcing or however you want to put it, that really empowers us to do more. It makes communication much more effective."

Q: Have you ever thought if it would be possible to boil down the glory of space down into one tweet? Is there any elevator talk you?ve thought about giving in 140 characters, about what it?s like to fly in space?

A:?"You?d need at least 147 characters to do that ... no. I know I couldn?t do it. That would be a pretty remarkable feat."

Q: What?s the one thing that you?d like people to know about spaceflight.

A:?"In 140 characters?"

Q: Not 140 characters, but what?s the one biggest message that you think the space experience provides for people on Earth?

A:?"Well,? to go back to the reason we started Fragile Oasis: The really compelling reason is that we wanted to use this perspective we have on the planet to inspire people to go out and make a difference, and make the world a better planet. The one gift that I think we get when we fly in space is this perspective.

"You don't necessarily have to be in space to get this perspective, but being in space really reinforces it: You see how fragile the planet is. You see how beautiful it is, how peaceful it looks. Then you realize that life is not as beautiful for everybody on the planet as it looks from space. That's a very compelling thing to experience, and hopefully it serves as a call to action, to not accept the status quo and make life on the planet as beautiful as it looks. That's the No. 1 thing that I want to get across."

NASA

The International Space Station looks like little more than a speck with solar panels in this picture, which was taken from the shuttle Atlantis during its approach on July 10. A first-quarter moon shines on the right side of the frame.

Where in the Cosmos
Garan and his colleagues at Fragile Oasis offer a cornucopia of outer-space imagery and blog postings, including this picture of the International Space Station and the moon, as seen from the shuttle Atlantis during its approach for docking last July. The photo served as today's quiz picture in the "Where in the Cosmos" contest, presented weekly on the Cosmic Log Facebook page.

Len Whitney's comment was my favorite: "I believe it's a TIE fighter ... but those are short-range fighters, we're too far out in space ... Must have taken off from that moon ... Wait a second ... that's no moon!!!! It's a space station!"

For figuring out so quickly that the picture showed a moon and a space station, I'm sending 3-D glasses to Facebook followers Matt Jaworski and Lawrence Johnson. I'm also reserving a pair for Whitney. To make sure you're in on next week's contest, click the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page and join the alliance. It's not a trap!

More about NASA and social media:


Although Ron Garan is the highest-rated astronaut on the Google+ list, props also deserve to go out to Mike Massimino, the first NASA astronaut to tweet from space and NASA's top astronaut when it comes to Twitter rankings.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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