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Friday, August 31, 2012

TSX hits two-week low, hurt by growth fears, oil price

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian stocks dropped sharply on Thursday as investors fretted about the state of the global economy and how central banks might deal with it, brushing off surprisingly robust earnings from three of the country's big banks.

All ten of the benchmark index's main sectors were lower as losses extended beyond 1 percent in afternoon trade and investors looked beyond what U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may hint at in a key speech on Friday, turning their attention to a meeting of the European Central Bank next week.

"The market is expecting that we won't necessarily get anything definitive tomorrow out of Jackson Hole, or if we do, that it's already reflected in equity valuation levels," said Paul Taylor, the chief investment officer of fundamental equities at BMO Asset Management.

At 2:15 a.m. (1815 GMT) the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> had lost 112.55 points, or 0.9 percent, at 11,897.24. The index was on track for its biggest one-day fall since early July.

The index at one point hit 11,875.05, its weakest level since August 15.

Limp data on the U.S. labor market coupled with signs that consumer spending remains robust added to the pessimism as it neither pointed to a robust recovery nor a bleak environment in which the Fed would be forced to act.

"In some ways you hope that economic data is weak enough that it forces the Fed's hand. The risk is that it's a little bit better than awful and therefore the Fed is not compelled to intervene," Taylor said.

Others looked further out to an ECB meeting next week at which the euro zone central bank's president, Mario Draghi, is expected to flesh out his plans to buy euro bonds. His hints at such a move in August was credited with helping steady global markets.

"Europe is the problem, and that's where we need some solutions for other places around the world to feel more comfortable," said Gareth Watson, vice-president for investment management and research at Richardson GMP.

ENERGY, BANK STOCKS DRAG

Toronto stocks were led lower by a 1.44 percent decline in energy shares that followed a drop in U.S. crude prices. U.S. crude fell as oil companies assessed damage after Hurricane Isaac's trek through the region.

Financial stocks were among the biggest weights even though three big Canadian banks reported better-than-expected results and dividend increases on Thursday.

The sector had enjoyed a two-day rally after Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal upped their dividends and beat profit estimates earlier in the week.

Toronto-Dominion Bank

was down 0.9 percent at C$80.78 on Thursday even though it narrowly beat expectations for quarterly profit and raised its dividend by more than expected.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped 0.8 percent to C$75.75 even as it said profit rose 42 percent on higher lending volumes.

But Royal Bank of Canada , the country's largest lender, bucked the trend, jumping 1.3 percent to C$55.32 after it announced a surprise hike in its dividend on the back of a 73 percent rise in profit.

However, Bank of Nova Scotia fell 2.4 percent to C$52.32 after it said late on Wednesday it would buy ING Groep's Canadian online bank for C$3.1 billion.

"On the whole, the core Canadian banking franchises are still relatively stable and intact," Watson said. "Credit quality is not deteriorating too quickly, although in this environment it's not improving too markedly either."

($1=$0.99 Canadian)

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-lower-banks-focus-122733303--finance.html

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Poland hopes to identify remains of Auschwitz hero

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? It could hardly have been a riskier mission: infiltrate Auschwitz to chronicle Nazi atrocities. Witold Pilecki survived nearly three years as an inmate in the death camp, managing to smuggle out word of executions before making a daring escape. But the Polish resistance hero was crushed by the post-war communist regime ? tried on trumped-up charges and executed.

Six decades on, Poland hopes Pilecki's remains will be identified among the entangled skeletons and shattered skulls of resistance fighters being excavated from a mass grave on the edge of Warsaw's Powazki Military Cemetery. The exhumations are part of a movement in the resurgent, democratic nation to officially recognize its war-time heroes and 20th century tragedies.

"He was unique in the world," said Zofia Pilecka-Optulowicz, paying tribute to her father's 1940 decision to walk straight into a Nazi street roundup with the aim of getting inside the extermination camp. "I would like to have a place where I can light a candle for him."

More than 100 skeletons, mostly of men, have been dug up this summer. On one recent day, forensic workers and archaeologists wearing blue plastic gloves and masks were carefully scraping away at the soil and piecing together bones as if working on a jigsaw puzzle. The front of one skull had been blown away by bullets; another had apparently been bludgeoned; a skeleton showed evidence of multiple gunshot wounds.

Near the pit where the bodies were dumped under cover of night stand the well-tended tombstones of the very judges and prosecutors who sent these World War II heroes to their deaths under orders from Moscow, which was fearful that the Polish patriots might use their seasoned underground skills to turn the nation against its new pro-Soviet rulers.

"The perpetrators have not been punished and the bodies of the victims have not been found," said Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, a historian in charge of the dig. "Those times will be coming back to us until we find the bodies and bury them with due honors.

"We are doing them justice."

Pilecki's son Andrzej and dozens of other relatives of victims have been swabbed in the hope their DNA will be a match for the skeletons. Initial work is being carried out to determine age, sex, height and injuries of the victims. It will take several months to determine if Pilecki, who was killed by a bullet to the back of his head, is among them. Thousands of resistance fighters were killed across Poland; the remains of up to 400 are believed to have been dumped in the Powazki mass grave.

Pilecki was 38 when Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, triggering the start of World War II. He helped organize a resistance campaign during which many fellow fighters were caught and sent to Auschwitz, which in the early war years served more as a camp for Polish resistance fighters than Jews. That inspired him to hatch an audacious plan: He told other resistance commanders that he wanted to become an Auschwitz inmate to check on rumors of atrocities.

Carrying documents bearing the alias Tomasz Serafinski, the Catholic cavalry officer walked into the German SS street roundup in Warsaw in September 1940, and was put on a train transport to Auschwitz, where he was given prisoner number 4859.

He was "exceptionally courageous," said Jacek Pawlowicz, a historian with Warsaw's Institute of National Remembrance.

Pilecki is the only person known to have volunteered for Auschwitz. His terse dispatches to the outside world were slips of thin paper stitched inside clothes of inmates leaving the camp or left in nearby fields for others to collect. They included only code names for inmates who were beaten to death, executed by gunfire or gassed. As sketchy as they were, they were the first eyewitness account of the Nazi death machine at Auschwitz.

Pilecki survived hard labor, beatings, cold and typhoid fever thanks to support from a clandestine resistance network that he managed to organize inside the camp. Some of its members had access to food, others to clothes or medicines.

He plotted a revolt that was to release inmates with the help of an outside attack by resistance fighters; it was never attempted because considered too risky, Pawlowicz said.

Pilecki escaped in April 1943 when he realized that the SS might uncover his work. With two other men he ran from a night shift at a bakery that was outside the death camp's barbed wire fence.

After his escape, Pilecki wrote three detailed reports on the extermination camp.

One describes how his transport was met by yelling SS men and attacking dogs: "They told one of us to run to a post away from the road, and immediately sent a machine gun round after him. Killed him. Ten random colleagues were taken out of the group and shot, as they were walking, as 'collective responsibility' for the 'escape' that the SS-men arranged themselves."

Pilecki's heroics were for the most part in vain. Even though his accounts of gas chambers made it all the way to Poland's government-in-exile in London and to other Western capitals, few believed what they were reading.

After escaping, Pilecki rejoined Poland's Home Army resistance force and fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the city's ill-fated revolt against the Nazis. In 1947, he was arrested by the secret security of the communist regime, imposed on Poland after the war, and falsely accused of planning to assassinate dignitaries.

The Soviet plan after World War II was to subdue the Poles by crushing resistance and erasing any sense of Polish identity or history. Today, more than two decades into Poland's democracy, however, enough documentation and funds have been gathered to restore the banned past and try to find and identify the heroes' bodies.

In addition to Pilecki, the search is on for the remains of other wartime resistance heroes, including Brig. Gen. August Emil Fieldorf, a top clandestine Home Army commander who once served as emissary to Poland of the country's government-in-exile. He was accused of ordering killings of Soviet soldiers ? charges that Poland's communist authorities later admitted were fabricated ? and hanged in 1953.

Szwagrzyk is not sure if Pilecki will be found at Powazki cemetery because it is not the only such clandestine site in Warsaw or the rest of Poland.

But his place in history is gradually being restored. A street in Warsaw is now named after him, as are some schools across the country.

He found communist prison harder to endure than Auschwitz. A fellow inmate described seeing him in prison slumped, unable to raise his head because his collar bones had been broken. At his show trial, he was hiding his hands because his fingernails had been ripped out during torture.

At one court session, he told his wife Maria that the secret security torture had sapped his will to go on.

"I can live no longer," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poland-hopes-identify-remains-auschwitz-hero-095939471.html

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Isaac steers clear of direct blow on New Orleans

Homes are flooded as Hurricane Isaac hits Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in Braithwaite, La. As Isaac made landfall, it was expected to dump as much as 20 inches of rain in several parts of Louisiana. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Chuck Cropp, center, his son Piers, left, and wife Liz, right, wade through floodwaters from Hurricane Isaac Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in New Orleans. As Isaac made landfall, it was expected to dump as much as 20 inches of rain in several parts of Louisiana. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

People and a dog who were rescued from their flooded homes are loaded into a Louisiana National Guard truck, after Hurricane Isaac made landfall and flooded homes with 10 feet of water in Braithwaite, La., in Plaquemines Parish Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Residents who were rescued from their flooded homes are transported to waiting assistance, after Hurricane Isaac made landfall and flooded homes with 10 feet of water in Braithwaite, La., Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. Isaac was packing 80 mph winds, making it a Category 1 hurricane. It came ashore early Tuesday near the mouth of the Mississippi River, driving a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland and soaking a neck of land that stretches into the Gulf. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Research students from the the University of Alabama measure wind speeds as Hurricane Isaac makes landfall, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012, in New Orleans, La. Isaac was packing 80 mph winds, making it a Category 1 hurricane. It came ashore early Tuesday near the mouth of the Mississippi River, driving a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland and soaking a neck of land that stretches into the Gulf. The storm stalled for several hours before resuming a slow trek inland, and forecasters said that was in keeping with the its erratic history. The slow motion over land means Isaac could be a major soaker, dumping up to 20 inches of rain in some areas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Isaac's whistling winds lashed this city and the storm dumped nearly a foot of rain on its darkened and desolate streets, but the system of levee pumps, walls and gates appeared to withstand one of the stiffest challenges yet. To the north and south, though, people had to be evacuated or rescued as Isaac lingered over Louisiana.

The rain fell almost constantly for more than a day, flooding neighborhoods in a rural part of the state and as far away as Mississippi. Officials had to respond quickly because the waters were rising fast ? even as Isaac meandered slowly northward Thursday on a path toward Arkansas.

President Barack Obama declared federal emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi late Wednesday, according to a statement from the White House. The disaster declarations free up federal aid for affected areas.

Along the shores of Lake Ponchartrain, officials sent scores of buses and dozens of high-water vehicles to help evacuate about 3,000 people as rising waters lapped against houses and left cars stranded. Floodwaters rose waist-high in some neighborhoods, and the Louisiana National Guard was working with sheriff's deputies to rescue people stranded in their homes.

The floodwaters "were shockingly fast-rising, from what I understand from talking to people," Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said. "It caught everybody by surprise."

Isaac arrived seven years after Hurricane Katrina and passed slightly to the west of New Orleans, where the city's fortified levee system easily handled the assault.

"Unfortunately, that's not been the case for low-lying areas outside the federal system, in particular lower Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes," said Louisiana Democratic US. Sen. Mary Landrieu. "Hurricane Isaac has reinforced for us once again just how vulnerable these critical areas are. We must re-engage the Corps of Engineers on this."

Jerry Larpenter, sheriff in nearby Terrebonne Parish, said he thinks the storm's impact took many by surprise.

"I think a lot of people were caught with their pants down," he said. "This storm was never predicted right since it entered the Gulf. It was supposed to go to Florida, Panama City, Biloxi, New Orleans. We hope it loses its punch once it comes in all the way."

New Orleans' biggest problems seemed to be downed power lines, scattered tree limbs and minor flooding. One person was reported killed, compared with 1,800 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. And police reported few problems with looting. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

But in Plaquemines Parish, a sparsely populated area south of the city that is outside the federal levee system, dozens of people were stranded in flooded coastal areas and had to be rescued. The storm pushed water over an 18-mile levee and put so much pressure on it that authorities planned to intentionally puncture the floodwall to relieve the strain.

Officials rushed to evacuate more than 100 nursing home residents from Plaquemines Parish, an area with a reputation for weathering storms and perhaps the hardest hit by Isaac. In this hardscrabble, mostly rural parish, even the sick and elderly are hardened storm veterans.

"I don't think we had to evacuate to begin with," said Romaine Dahl, 59, as he sat in a wheelchair. "The weather was a hell of a lot worse last night than it is now. And I got an idea that after all this is said and done they're going to say everything is over with, go on back home."

Other residents in the Riverbend Nursing and Rehabilitation Center were loaded into ambulances and taken to a nearby naval station. Residents had their names and birth dates attached to their shirts.

Josephine King, 84, handled the move well, waiting in a wheelchair. "I'm feeling good," she said.

By midafternoon Wednesday, Isaac had been downgraded to a tropical storm. The Louisiana National Guard ceased rescue operations in Plaquemines Parish, saying it felt confident it had gotten everyone out. There were no serious injuries. National Guard spokesman Capt. Lance Cagnolatti said guardsmen would stay in the area over the coming days to help.

By early Thursday, Isaac's maximum sustained winds had decreased to 50 mph. Even at its strongest, the storm was far weaker than Hurricane Katrina, which crippled New Orleans in 2005. Because Isaac's coiled bands of rain and wind were moving at only 5 mph ? about the pace of a brisk walk ? the threat of storm surges and flooding was expected to linger Thursday as the immense comma-shaped system crawled across Louisiana.

The storm knocked out power to as many as 700,000 people, stripped branches off trees and flattened fields of sugar cane so completely that they looked as if a tank had driven over them.

In coastal Mississippi, officials used small motorboats Wednesday to rescue at least two dozen people from a neighborhood Isaac flooded in Pearlington. In addition, the National Weather Service said there were reports of at least three possible tornadoes touching down in coastal counties. No injuries were reported.

None of the reports had been confirmed. Until the weather clears, there is no way for survey teams to assess the area to determine whether damage was done by tornadoes or straight-line winds, said NWS Meteorologist Shawn O'Neil.

Back in New Orleans, the storm canceled remembrance ceremonies for those killed by Katrina. Since that catastrophe, the city's levee system has been bolstered by $14 billion in federal repairs and improvements. The bigger, stronger levees were tested for the first time by Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

Isaac came ashore late Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane, with 80 mph winds near the mouth of the Mississippi River. It drove a wall of water nearly 11 feet high inland.

In Vermilion Parish, a 36-year-old man died after falling 18 feet from a tree while helping friends move a vehicle ahead of the storm. Deputies did not know why he climbed the tree.

The storm stalled for several hours before resuming a slow trek inland, and forecasters said that was in keeping with its erratic history. The slow motion over land means Isaac could be a major soaker, dumping up to 20 inches of rain in some areas. New Orleans reported at about 10 inches in some places as rain continued to fall late Wednesday.

As hard wind and heavy rain pelted Melba Leggett-Barnes' home in the Lower 9th Ward, an area leveled during Katrina, she felt more secure than she did seven years ago.

"I have a hurricane house this time," said Barnes, who has been living in her newly rebuilt home since 2008. She and her husband, Baxter Barnes, were among the first to get a home through Brad Pitt's Make It Right program.

Her yellow house with a large porch and iron trellis was taking a beating but holding strong.

"I don't have power, but I'm all right," said Barnes, a cafeteria worker for the New Orleans school system.

Forecasters expected Isaac to move farther inland over the next several days, dumping rain on drought-stricken states across the nation's midsection before finally breaking up over the weekend. The storm was expected to weaken to a tropical depression Thursday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Brian Schwaner and Stacy Plaisance in New Orleans; Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge; Kevin McGill in Houma; Holbrook Mohr in Waveland and Pass Christian, Miss.; and Jeff Amy in Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-30-Isaac/id-7188fb6f565a480da0d3dcc70dd11754

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Samsung Windows 8 Activ Tab hands-on

Well, well, well, what have we here? It's yet another beautiful tablet from the folks at Samsung. We've got our hands on the Samsung ATIV Windows 8 Tab, and it looks and feels fanitastic -- and familiar. Yep, if you've ever seen of played with a Samsung Galaxy Tab, you'll know what you're in for, a solid and beautiful tablet with a brushed aluminum back. The big tell, however, is the new square Windows button on the bottom bezel. Yep, this thing is rocking Windows 8, in all of its glory.

The tablet is extremely zippy, as well -- and no question why -- the device is rocking a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor on top of 2.00GB of memory.

Gallery: Samsung ATIV Windows 8 tablet hands-on

Samsung Windows 8 Activ Tab hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/t-zClT5E9u8/

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Sony launches STR-DA5800ES home cinema AV receiver: true 4K output, 9.2 surround sound

Sony's just launched a high-end home cinema receiver that's finally good enough to pair up with its IFA-fresh Bravia KD-84X9005 TV or existing VPL-VW1000ES 4K projector. On top of native 4K for supported displays, the receiver will upscale standard HD movies, promising greater color, contrast and detail. For audiophiles, the system has 9.2 channels of surround sound for so-called Front High and Surround Back speakers, on top of the standard 5.1 speaker setup. A feature called "Movie Height" enables the sound to be virtually adjusted up or down to better match the screen position, and acoustics can be selected to match famous concert halls like those in Vienna or Berlin. Finally, you can take advantage of all that Hi-Fi and display tech by streaming from your laptop, smartphone or tablet through a LAN hub on the receiver. There's no availability or pricing yet, but if you're not too concerned about that money stuff, check the PR for the rest of the story.

Continue reading Sony launches STR-DA5800ES home cinema AV receiver: true 4K output, 9.2 surround sound

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Sony launches STR-DA5800ES home cinema AV receiver: true 4K output, 9.2 surround sound originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/54Yy2Hy6Soc/

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Dolce Drinks

When Pairing Wine and Food

The Three Things That Can Happen

1.???? You can pick a wine that will complement

the food you are serving.

2.??? You can pick a wine that will be enhanced

and/or enhance the food you are serving.

3.??? You can pick a wine that will be diminished

and/or diminish the food you are serving.

Acidity in Wine Likes Acidity in Food Acidity Can Provide a Cut to Fat in Food Spicy Hot Food Accentuates Tannin and Acidity in Wine Sweetness in Wine Will Tame Spicy Hot Foods Sweetness in Wine Can Balance Tartness in Food Sweetness in Food Can Make Dry Wines Taste Tart Saltiness in Food Softens Tannin, Acidity and Bitterness Bitter Foods will Accentuate Bitterness in Wine Protein in Food Tames Tannin in Wine The Lack of Protein in Food will Accentuate Bitterness in Wine Fat in Food will Tame Tannin and Acidity

Fish Oil Does Not Like Tannin in Red Wines

Source: http://dolcedrinks.blogspot.com/2012/08/whenpairing-wine-and-food-thethree.html

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Samsung Windows 8 Activ Tab hands-on

The tablet is extremely zippy, as well -- and no question why -- the device is rocking a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor on top of 2.00GB of memory.

Gallery: Samsung ATIV Windows 8 tablet hands-on

Samsung Windows 8 Activ Tab hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/t-zClT5E9u8/

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bangladesh jails 665 soldiers for 2009 mutiny

A Bangladesh court Tuesday jailed 665 border guards for their role in a bloody 2009 military mutiny, bringing the total number of soldiers imprisoned for the unrest to over 5,000, a prosecutor said.

Fifty-seven senior army officers were killed during an uprising that began when soldiers at the Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) headquarters in the capital Dhaka went on a killing spree, later dumping victims' bodies in sewers and shallow graves.

A special military court in Dhaka found 665 border guards from the force's 44th Battalion guilty of "masterminding, joining and leading the mutiny", state prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Zakir Hossain said.

"Of the 673 soldiers charged, eight were acquitted and the rest were handed out prison terms starting from four months to seven years. A total of 113 soldiers were sentenced to maximum seven years in jail," Hossain said.

The mutiny spread from Dhaka to BDR posts across the country, with thousands of guards taking up arms against their commanding officers.

Dozens of special courts -- run by the military using a mix of martial and civilian law -- were set up to prosecute mutineers, with the first verdict, which saw 29 soldiers convicted, being handed down in April 2010.

In all, 5,203 BDR soldiers have now been convicted, Hossain said, in what prosecutors say is the biggest case in the country's history.

Those convicted include hundreds of nurses and sportsmen who represented the country internationally.

The courts, headed by military officers, do not allow defendants to have lawyers and there is no right of appeal. Seven years in jail is the maximum penalty they can impose.

The BDR has since changed its name to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in an effort to distance itself from the mutiny.

Soldiers accused of more serious offences -- including murder -- are being tried separately in civilian courts and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Of the 665 soldiers convicted on Tuesday, 129 still face murder charges, said Hossain.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-jails-665-soldiers-2009-mutiny-182244310.html

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Stosur starts US Open title defense with easy win

NEW YORK (AP) ? Back at the site of her greatest victory, Samantha Stosur looked like a champion again, not the player who has often struggled this year.

The Australian began the defense of her U.S. Open title Monday with a dominant win, needing 51 minutes to beat 64th-ranked Petra Martic 6-1, 6-1 in the tournament's first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium before rain suspended play.

The last time Stosur played on this court, she stunned Serena Williams in the 2011 final at Flushing Meadows for her first Grand Slam title. But in so many ways, that 6-2, 6-3 victory was starting to feel as if it happened much more than a year ago.

In 2012, Stosur had lost in the first round in front of the home fans at the Australian Open. She lost in the second round at Wimbledon, then again in the first round at the London Olympics.

Sandwiched in between, she made a run to the semifinals of the French Open, but fell apart by committing 21 unforced errors in the third set of her loss to Sara Errani.

Despite her status as defending champion, Stosur, seeded seventh this year, is not considered one of the favorites coming into Flushing Meadows.

British sports books have her listed at 28-1 to repeat, same as Venus Williams, who has a 1-2 record in Grand Slams in 2012, and behind No. 4 seed Serena Williams, No. 3 Maria Sharapova, No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and four others.

On Monday against Martic, who withdrew from the Olympics with a left foot injury, Stosur had 22 winners and 10 aces and didn't face any break points.

Other players starting Monday include third-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, coming off his Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics. He faces Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia. Top-seeded Roger Federer plays American Donald Young in the night session.

Also playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium are No. 3 Maria Sharapova, against Melinda Czink of Hungary, and No. 23 Kim Clijsters, opening the final tournament of her career with a first-round match against American Victoria Duval. Clijsters missed last year with an injury, but has won the tournament the past three times she's entered ? in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

The Williams sisters, No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 20 Andy Roddick, the 2003 champion, are among those who start later in the week.

___

AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.

___

Follow Rachel Cohen at https://twitter.com/rachelcohenap.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stosur-starts-us-open-title-defense-easy-win-164823039--spt.html

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Theres Fitness in the Air at New Four Elements Yoga & Fitness ...

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Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@freereleasepress.smartspudmedia.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

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Source: http://freereleasepress.com/theres-fitness-in-the-air-at-new-four-elements-yoga-fitness-downtown-austin-studio/

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Swedish pioneer launches networking site for top 1% users

Swedish social media entrepreneur Erik Wachtmeister on Monday announced the launch of a new social networking site targeting the "top one percent" of Internet users, called Best of All Worlds.

The site, which helps users find events and contacts, counted 20,000 members even before its launch.

Wachtmeister, 57, created one of the world's first social networking sites, aSmallWorld, in 2004, the same year as Facebook. He left the company in 2008.

Best of All Worlds is targeting the same audience, he said.

"The top one percent of the online audience, people who are leaders in their field, investment bankers, PR people, media, fashion, government... It's not about jet-set or rich people, but sophisticated people who have good taste," he said.

"It's more three million people than a billion," he added, a reference to Facebook's announcement in July that it had more than 950 million subscribers.

Best of All Worlds helps users get in touch with each other to find what's going on where they are, which Wachtmeister said was an improvement on Facebook's service which "looks backwards (and) gives you unstructured information that shows what your friends have done."

Subscription to Best of All Worlds is by invitation only. Wachtmeister did not specify how or when the company would turn a profit.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/swedish-pioneer-launches-networking-top-1-users-160511303.html

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Total Vibration ? Blog Archive ? Are You Presently Using The Web ...

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Be aware of inclinations and needs from your target market, so you can style your website inside a manner which will pull these to it. When you?ve determined your target audience, it needs to be an easy method to discover what written content will carry them back in your site over and over.

Your eCommerce website can be enhanced by page ranking. If it?s very good enough, you might get your rating and help deal internet sites and client media backlink to you. This can be precisely the sam concept as retailers that sell reduction leaders to make in consumers that can make other more buys.

You need to have very good leads to get excellent revenue. They provide instant access to potential clients who want for more information about your products or services. You may have the opportunity to get in touch with this probable customer in a matter of just milliseconds right after they have sent in some information. This might eventually result in a profitable purchase among both you and your new consumer.

As you know from sooner, information is extremely important to boosting your Website marketing endeavours. Ideally this short article has provided you new knowledge and ideas about how to boost your website marketing methods. If you can use the details presented on this page, you might be on the right path to elevated revenue.

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Source: http://blog.thorsrubberhammer.com/2012/08/are-you-presently-using-the-web-to-its-full-probable-have-a-look-at-these-marketing-ideas-and-see/

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Video: McCain: Not damaging to lose first night

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/48794182#48794182

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Lucas county health center - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS

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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Why Pay Per Click Search Advertising Should Be Considered ...

By David Wong

You should always consider first the type of online advertising that you are willing to buy before you come to a decision on how you are going to spend your prepared budget. Banner advertising was the first to become popular in the internet world. For several years a lot of websites used banner advertising, up until the coming of pay per click search advertising. The issue with banner advertising is because it became so popular that the people who would go on the internet would end up ignoring these ads. Because of this, rates decreased and advertisers could not see their return of investment unlike the previous years that banner advertising was making headlines. This led to the development of gimmicky banners such as the big flashing ?You Won!? banners. This ultimately led to the decline of popularity for banner advertising.

On the flip side, pay per click advertising has gained popularity and is more effective when compared to banner advertising. Due to the popularity that pay per click search engines have garnered over the years, it is obvious that they will keep on growing simply because of the results that they give. Here are things to consider why pay per click search engine advertising is better. First of all, let us state the obvious fact. It is more effective! People who have used pay per click advertising have already experienced a better return of investment when compared to those who are still using other forms of online advertising. It is also a simple way of reaching your target market. PPC advertising gives you the freedom to select the demographic that will get to see your ad. This is possible because of the fact that you get to select the keywords for your ad, therefore it will only be displayed to men and women who are searching for a product, service, or information containing those key words.

With PPC advertising, you only pay for the number of visitors that your website receives, when compared to other forms of online advertising. Like banner advertising, you pay an agreed amount, but you get no certainty that people will click on your banners even if it will be shown a thousand times on the internet. Choosing pay per click advertising does seem a smarter option. Lastly, other forms of online advertising are dying just like banner advertising. This is simply because of the fact that advertisers are not willing to pay anymore for banner advertising because they do not get the same results when compared to other forms of online advertising. This is probably only one of the reasons why pay per click search advertising should be highly considered if you want to get your money?s worth.

The author writes for http://www.payperclickecademy.com insurance which provides information regarding Pay Per Click Search Advertising.

Source: http://online-biz-articles.com/why-pay-per-click-search-advertising-should-be-considered/

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When Good Actors Are Forgiven for Bad Movies

Almost no actor makes it through their career without a huge flop on the resume-- it comes with the territory of being a working actor, especially when you're just starting out and frankly need the cash. But there's a difference between the flops an actor makes early in their career, or even the flops that happen once they're well-established, and the flops that seem to happen just as their careers are picking up steam. Just when audiences are starting to get to know and like an actor, or when Oscar buzz or "A-list star" titles start floating around, out comes some awful disaster that's so bad, everyone chooses to simply forget about it and move on.

Premium Rush, the Joseph Gordon-Levitt starred being released in these dog days of August, might not actually be that kind of flop-- the critics seem to like it, at least. But he's a prime example of a guy who's on a huge hot streak, then suddenly appears with a movie that nobody's going to love the way they did The Dark Knight Rises, or probably his upcoming Looper. So in honor of this cruel trick of the release schedule, we looked back at some other recent actors who were on an unbeatable hot streak-- until a certain movie came along to wreck it. And because we like these actors so much and are a forgiving populace, we'd forgotten all about these disasters? until now.

Join us as we exhume the corpses of some old flops-- and some truly awful poster art-- and let us know the others we might have forgotten in the comments.

Michael Fassbender in Jonah Hex
After Hunger announced the arrival of a bonafide star in Michael Fassbender, it took a minute to realize he was the same man who stole the show in Zack Snyder?s 300. Fish Tank proved he was the real deal, and Quentin Tarantino?s Inglourious Basterds stormed cinemas not long after. And then it was released. The good news is?Hex was so bad, with an ensemble so large, that everybody just moved on, especially once Josh Brolin himself admitted the film was a huge waste of time and talent. Fassbender didn?t lose a single step and, to be honest, was even enjoyable in the terrible comic book adaptation.

Sandra Bullock in All About Steve
Bullock holds a very special record thanks to this complete nightmare of a movie-- she's the only actress to win an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year, and to actually show up to accept both honors. All About Steve is almost indescribably bad, a would-be comic romp that has Bullock playing a complete crazy person and Bradley Cooper looking overwhelmed as the object of her "affection." It could have been bad enough to ruin Bullock's career, but she had the good sense to pair it with The Blind Side later that year and the rom-com hit The Proposal earlier that summer, allowing most of us to forget it ever happened.

Christian Bale in Terminator: Salvation
Let?s be honest, Terminator: Salvation is a film we?d all just as soon forget. It says a lot when people would rather see the fourth installment stricken from the record instead of the former black sheep, Rise of the Machines. When Bale stepped into the role of John Connor he had just come off three greats with Christopher Nolan (two Batmans and his best, The Prestige) as well as interesting side projects like a Terrence Malick, a Werner Herzog and a Todd Haynes. Luckily everyone was eager to forget McG?s Terminator and The Fighter more than cemented the misstep in the past.

Ryan Gosling in All Good Things
Being devastatingly handsome, Ryan Gosling often takes on very risky roles to ensure filmmakers see him as more than just a pretty face. Some have paid off big, winning him critical praise (Drive), and Oscar acclaim (Half Nelson). But playing a thinly veiled version of accused wife-murderer Robert Durst in the flaccid crime-drama All Good Things was a wrong-headed wager. The tale of love gone sour and a dashing beau turned cruel killer played out less like gripping drama and more like a typical Lifetime Channel cautionary tale. But the only lesson to be learned here is: even Gosling makes mistakes.

Emma Stone in The Rocker
After breaking through with her sassy supporting role in Superbad, Emma Stone soon made the leap to leading lady in Zombieland then headliner with Easy A. Along the way to fronting the Oscar-winning drama and massive summer blockbuster that soon followed, there were a few bumps, but none so flat and flawed as the painfully unfunny Rainn Wilson vehicle The Rocker. Playing like School of Rock for the teen set, it was just plain creepy as Wilson's failed rock god Fish flounders at a second chance at fame by joining his nephew's high school band. Not even Stone can save this dud.

Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail
No actor is immune to the occasional stinker. But Tom Hanks was on such an incredible roll between 1992?s A League of Their Own and 2004?s The Ladykillers (a rare misfire for The Coen Brothers) that only one film -- You?ve Got Mail -- stands out like the proverbial turd in the punch bowl. In hindsight, we can understand why Hanks thought Mail might work. The project existed as a semi-sequel to Sleepless in Seattle, pairing Hanks with Meg Ryan under the guidance of Nora Ephron-- and to everyone's credit, it made a lot of cash. But coming out the same year as Saving Private Ryan only ensured that we wanted to return Mail to sender.

Anne Hathaway in Passengers
Full disclosure: we haven't actually seen this very, very underseen flop, but we did read The AV Club's marvelous "I Watched This On Purpose" piece about it, and we're confident they might be the only people who have seen it. And the clips they include seem reason enough to kindly forget this one on behalf of Hathaway, who starred in Rachel Getting Married just before Passengers got a very, very limited release, and was just about to get an Oscar nomination for it. Counting her for this supernatural thriller with a ludicrous twist ending in the midst of all that just seems cruel.

Amy Adams in Leap Year
It's hard for any young actress to avoid the rom-com trap, but Amy Adams managed to hit that pothole at a particularly bad time, a few months after the release of the surprise hit Julie & Julia, and a little less than a year before The Fighter, which earned her a third Oscar nomination. Leap Year isn't an abominably bad rom-com, just a totally forgettable one that has Adams playing the kind of flighty, bossy heroine who makes people hate the entire genre. She's moved on to better things, which makes it all that much easier to forget this ever happened.

Daniel Day-Lewis in Nine
The terrific Tumblr This Had Oscar Buzz specializes in movies like this one, which seemed to have everything going for it on paper until, well, we actually saw the movie. The fact that Daniel Day-Lewis was actually in Nine while it was happening means he probably should have warned us it was never going to happen, but who can blame him for being optimistic-- coming off a win for There Will Be Blood, and a reputation for choosing his projects extremely carefully, he probably also thought it would be a slam dunk. It's not Day-Lewis's fault Nine is a mess, but it sure is embarrassing for all of us to remember he was in the center of it.

Channing Tatum in The Son of No One
Yes, Tatum has a ton of embarrassing films on his resume, and may wind up with more to come. But The Son Of No One stings in particular because it came right after The Dilemma, a movie that was truly awful except for Tatum's bright-eyed, comic performance. We had just started to see Tatum's potential beyond "lovable meathead," and then this movie came around to put him right back in that box. Luckily so few people saw it that his meteoric rise, just a few months later, had no problem taking off.

Tom Hardy in This Means War
2012 will probably be remembered as the year that Tom Hardy truly arrived, playing the terrifying Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and the roughhousing Forrest in Lawless, all after popping up in the dynamite ensemble of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Luckily all that quality means we can totally forget This Means War, Hardy's other 2012 movie that pitted him against Chris Pine as rival spies after the same girl, in a McG movie that both audiences and critics hated alike. Tom Hardy may yet have an action comedy that works for him-- he got all the good lines in Inception, after all-- and when that comes, we can properly pretend This Means War never happened.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1925792/news/1925792/

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Korean court rules on Apple v Samsung patent infringement

Reports are starting to come in that state Apple and Samsung have been found guilty of infringing on each others patents by a Korean court. Apple has been found guilty of infringing 2 patents and will be hit with an import ban and a $35,000 fine. Samsung may also be facing a fine or ban for infringing on Apple's elastic scrolling patent, but the court ruled they didn't copy Apple designs or violate their trade dress.

Details are scarce at the moment, coming entirely from tweets and fragments by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. We'll update as the news becomes clearer and more complete.

Any Korean patent attorneys out there care to add some context and color to this?