Media Business and the Future of Journalism (JEM499): Reacting to ...

US broadcast networks have seen a sharp drop in basic ratings this Fall season. ABC, CBS, and Fox have all seen average prime-time ratings for the coveted 18-49 demographic at least 10% lower than last year, with Fox's ratings a full third lower.? Only NBC has seen its average ratings for this demographic increase (led by their Sunday Night NFL programs, which have regularly topped other programs this fall).

? Network executives are eager to suggest that viewing's not off - just delayed and/or accessed via alternative channels.

?People are watching more programming than ever but they are increasingly time-shifting,? said Les Moonves, chief executive of CBS, in a conference call last week, echoing the views of executives at News Corp, Time Warner and Walt Disney. ?Because more and more people are absorbing content, and we?re going to get paid more and more.?

?? Another, unstated, reason for increased time-shifting may be the massive number of negative political advertising - viewers may be switching their viewing to recorded versions to more easily bypass political ads.? If direct viewing rebounds, that would suggest that political ad avoidance may have been at work.? But even if that was one of the initial prompts for time-shifting, the added value of greater viewer choice and control could encourage increased delays in viewing.
?? TV might also be seeing the result of weaker programming among broadcast networks, and the increased quality and availability of original programming on cable networks and Internet video streaming sites.?

Bob Iger, chief executive of Disney, acknowledged that the ratings drop-off could be related to the quality of the programming. ?The other story is that there seems to be somewhat of an absence of what I?ll call new, big, real, buzz-worthy hits,? he said. ?Because of that, I would say that it would be premature to either write the epitaph or suggest we?re seeing a trend.?

?? The trend has the networks pushing for a further expansion in ratings measurement.? Working with Nielsen, the broadcast networks and advertisers agreed in 2007 on a new benchmark for setting ad rates - C3, which counted all viewings within 3 days. But three days is no longer enough for the networks, who are pushing for C7- counting any viewing of a program within a week of its first airing, from any source, on any platform.? Even then, some researchers suggest that C7 counts only 90% of all program viewing.

Despite TV executive's cries for more accountability, national TV advertisers aren't necessarily interested in extending C3 to C7 ratings. Better to leap ahead to the next phrase of measurement to behavioral or contextual metrics, including addressable and interactive messaging, something that will show a more exacting return on their media investment ROI.

?? Part of their reluctance is that advertisers in the original airing aren't necessarily watched, or even included in, delayed viewing or alternative delivery channels (say on an affiliated cable network or streamed from the network's website).? Networks understandably want to know the full size and make-up of program audiences (count everything), but advertisers (just as understandably) only want to pay for the audiences that actually watch their ads.? It's unclear whether any single metric can satisfy both.? And as the quote suggests, online metrics can do more than simply counting exposure (viewing) - opening the way for advertisers and marketers who have priorities other than simple reach.

? Nielsen will try to develop one, as it works to maintain its dominance in TV ratings. As noted in an earlier post, they've already tried to get industry agreement and ratification of its own limited online metrics approach.? More recently, it's bought SocialGuide, a firm that supplies real-time Social TV data on thousands of programs aired on both English-language and Spanish-language channels in the U.S.? Noting that a third of Twitter users regularly tweet about TV-related content, Nielsen announced the acquisition with its typical bravado:

?The skyrocketing adoption and use of social media among consumers is transforming TV-watching into a more immediate and shared experience," stated Steve Hasker, president of global media products and advertiser solutions at Nielsen. "As TV networks see this phenomenon unfold, they require understanding of the impact of social TV on their programming, ratings and advertising effectiveness.?

? I think it's pretty clear that we're seeing a significant shift in audience TV watching preferences and behaviors - a change of the scope (if maybe not size) of that prompted by the rise of cable and cable networks.? Regardless of funding mechanisms, media outlets are facing increasing competition, and need reliable and valid ways of measuring audiences and preferences - not only for their traditional distribution channel, but across all of the various media platforms they and the viewer utilize.? As for advertising, TV needs to realize that advertisers don't really care about a program's audience - they want and need measures of audiences for the ads, and would love to also find ways to measure an ad's level of engagement with, and impact on, its audience.? And networks and program producers/owners should also start looking for metrics on audience engagement and impact.

? That's why I think the TV and advertising industries shouldn't focus on finding a single metric.? That may have been fine when their was only one viewing option and limited competition, but in today's more competitive media environment it's time to realize that TV and advertisers need audience metrics for different purposes - and thus should really use different metrics.

Sources - US TV networks suffer sharp dip in ratings,? Financial Times
Why TV Networks Want To Move From C3 To C7 Ratings,? TV Watch
Nielsen Buys SocialGuide, Extends Social TV Data Reach, MediaDailyNews

Source: http://jem499.blogspot.com/2012/11/reacting-to-tvs-ratings-decline-in-us.html

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The Uses For Charter Jets : Travel and Leisure - neglectfulness ...

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You Can Test Drive New Motorola Software Ahead of Official Releases Soon

You know how it takes OMG like foreverz to get the newest version of Android on your phone? Motorola has a new plan that'll get you its latest and greatest software long before you normally would. It's called Test Drive. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6kPqH5XDf9o/motorola-is-about-to-let-users-test-drive-new-software-ahead-of-official-releases

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Video: Skyfall Weekend Domestic Gross to Top $91 Million

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Photo Brief: Philanthropy Awareness Day | The Miami Hurricane

Senior LaGary Simpson Jr., a media management and political science major, signs a thank you board to all alumni donors at the Philanthropy Awareness Day held on the Rock this past Friday. Tuition only covers 70 percent of the annual cost of an undergraduate education at UM, and Friday marked the symbolic point in the semester at which tuition stops paying for a student?s education and contributions from donors and other sources kick in. The event was hosted by the Student Philanthropy Council and the Office of Annual Giving to bring financial aid donations to light. Holly Bensur // Staff Photographer

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Monica Herndon has 10 post(s) on The Miami Hurricane

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Source: http://www.themiamihurricane.com/2012/11/12/photo-brief-philanthropy-awareness-day/

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Video: Dr. Snyderman to pregnant women: ?Get your flu shot?

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Now Is The Time To Get Your Culture In Great Shape | Business 2 ...

Now Is The Time To Get Your Culture In Great Shape
America has a culture problem: it is seriously out of shape and overconsumes many of the wrong foods.

An unhealthy corporate culture is like an unhealthy out of shape individual, oftentimes it?s overweight, cumbersome and burdened with a number of self-destructive habits. Recognizing that you need to get your culture into optimum health is one of the most important responsibilities an executive team has today?and is one that many seem to wrestle with. For most individuals, getting into great shape can be incredibly hard because it?s a balancing act of diet and exercise, mind and body, and time and commitment. Too much of one item without a careful balance of the others will deliver unsustainable results, which leads to frustration and a return to old habits. Losing weight, building muscle and getting fit is a constant battle for most people. And, for many it?s riddled with everyday excuses. Companies often struggle with their health and fitness in the same way as people.

Recognize You Have A Health Problem
Your products, technologies and services can always be replicated or out-designed, but the unique spirit, energy and engagement of your people cannot be easily copied. Understanding the power that resides in unlocking the full potential of your people is one of the most significant opportunities a company has today. Regularly measuring the health and state of your culture is the first step. However, culture is dismissed in many companies as purely the responsibility of the Human Resources department, and because employee engagement surveys may have high scores, culture is rarely given further consideration. Recognizing the importance culture plays in both short- and long-term success, and understanding that it is a key driver to fuel performance and competitive differentiation, is every executive?s responsibility, no matter their function with the company.

Your culture is a key indicator of the health of your organization and a significant contributor to delivering sustainable, superior results. And while the alarm gets raised by the head of HR when there?s an issue, if the CEO is not actively engaged in championing cultural health and transformation, then the problem won?t be fixed or opportunities maximized.

Get Your Culture On The Right Diet
Like the right diet, strategy affects energy, daily performance, how we feel about ourselves, and how we interact with others. We know that to be healthy, we need to eat a well balanced diet. For example, a meat-only diet is obviously unhealthy, and a strategy too heavily focused and driven by one discipline, like finance, will deliver unhealthy results. Strategies that are ill-defined, unbalanced, and unclear will deliver results well short of your organization?s best. It?s important to ensure that, like a good diet, your strategy is well planned, clearly communicated, embraced, and activated by the people who are responsible for its execution.

A Healthy Culture Gets The Right Workout
Obesity is our nation?s #1 healthcare problem and we need to cut the fat with a sense of urgency. As an individual, regardless of whether you?re in great shape inevitably someone else?s poor health will impact your healthcare costs and the state of all the other stakeholders in the system. The same thing happens in companies: ?your? department is doing what it needs to do and is making a difference, but ?that? department is not strategically following the program and is negatively impacting the entire company?s performance. If strategy is like a diet, then culture is like exercise, and both need serious, consistent commitment. No one can exercise for you and there is no quick fix?you have to plan the exercise regimen and do the work. As individuals, we often lack discipline and focus, and despite buying equipment, DVD?s and memberships, or having Town Hall meetings and strategic frameworks we more often than not fail to use or follow them consistently, and as a result fall short.

Give Your Culture A Total Commitment
Why is it that if we pay a personal trainer to make us do what we could do for free, we actually do it? The accountability, consequences, encouragement and measurement are all drivers that motivate people to maintain their fitness regimen. Establishing the same commitment and accountability, with clear drivers and a fitness regimen for your company culture is essential for sustainable and repeatable success. The danger of doing the same exercises day in and day out is that we plateau and lose commitment. Muscle memory, boredom and fatigue creep into the daily regimen and results cease?and companies plateau in the same way. They lose sight of their goals and competitive focus, and poor accountability and pride creep into the culture, creating a false sense of security. A healthy culture engages and activates your people to drive toward your goals and objectives, and it informs you how hard, and in what areas, your organization is pursuing its goals. Strategy guides the way but it?s not the motivator; a clearly defined purpose that inspires, engages and activates your people is the best motivator.

5 Uncommon Sense Approaches to Give Your Culture a Good Workout

1. Start with the head
Plan with the head and play with heart; the leader of the company must go first and stay engaged.

2. Set definitive goals
Be clear about how much you want to gain or lose, and by when. But most importantly, define what success looks likes.

3. Look in the mirror

Companies with high integrity are able to look at themselves honestly and make the correct adjustments to achieve success.

4. Cut the fat
Eliminate the counter culture detractors and celebrate the contributors; leaders contribute more than just their technical expertise.

5. Rest
Investigate the causes of fatigue and fading interest, and take a breather. Just as in exercising, lack of rest causes your muscles to breakdown and increases your risk of injury instead of maximizing and achieving results.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/strategy/now-is-the-time-to-get-your-culture-in-great-shape-0323867

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Kingston Releases HyperX Beast Memory | Computer Hardware ...

Author: Bob Buskirk
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Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced HyperX Beast, the latest addition to the HyperX product line. It matches high performance with the largest available capacities and is XMP ready. With its eye-catching aggressive heatspreader design, HyperX Beast is aimed at hardcore gamers, PC modders, content creators and overclockers who want high-performing hardware in an innovative design.

HyperX Beast is part of the Predator family, the premiere memory line offered by Kingston for power users. HyperX Beast features kits up to 2400MHz for faster processing times in applications requiring maximum performance, and in capacities from 8GB-64GB. The new heatspreader color and design adds diversity and character to the current HyperX memory offerings. It is designed to work with third- generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors as well as the latest AMD A-Series processors. For added benefit, HyperX Beast is Intel XMP ready so users can easily achieve the best performance optimization by simply selecting a speed profile, hand-tuned by Kingston engineers.

?We use the best performance-yielding components to build memory that is capable of achieving high speeds? said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. ?The name Beast speaks for itself. The modules exemplify high-performance memory with the highest capacities available on the market today and an awesome design that will look great in your system.?

HyperX Beast memory is backed by a lifetime warranty and free live technical support. For more information visit http://www.kingston.com/memory/hyperx/predator/beast.

Kingston is celebrating 25 years in the memory industry. The company was founded on October 17, 1987, and has grown to become the largest third-party memory manufacturer in the world. The 25th anniversary video can be found?here?as well as more information including a timeline of Kingston?s history.

Kingston HyperX Beast Specifications:

• Capacity: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB in kits of two, four and eight
• Frequency (speed):1600MHZ-2400MHz
• CAS Latency: CL9, CL10, CL11
• Voltage: 1.5v -1.65v operating voltage enables stable overclocking
• XMP Ready: Higher-performing frequencies, timings and voltage are attainable by simply enabling Intel?s Extreme Memory Profile.
• Compatible: Designed to work in P55, H67, P67, Z68, H61 (AG), X79 and Z77 Intel chipsets; as well as A75, A87, A88, A89, A78, and E35 (Fusion) AMD chipsets
• Reliable: 100-percent tested
• Guaranteed: Lifetime warranty, free technical support

Source: Kingston | News Archive

Tags: HyperX HyperX Beast Kingston Memory

Source: http://www.thinkcomputers.org/kingston-releases-hyperx-beast-memory/

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Argentine crew prevents Ghana from moving ship

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) ? Sailors aboard an Argentina navy sailing ship seized in a billion-dollar international debt controversy brandished weapons to block Ghanaian officials from moving the vessel to a less busy dock, an official of the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority said Saturday.

Crewmen on the ARA Libertad showed their rifles to deter Ghanaian officials from boarding the South American ship Thursday, Kumi Adjei-Sam, the corporate affairs manager of the ports authority, told The Associated Press.

Ghana's government has not commented on the show of force against officials of this African nation.

Ghanaian judge Richard Agyei-Frimpong ruled last week that the Libertad should be moved from its current position while Argentina fights a court order to hold the ship against payment of $1.3 billion to a group holding bonds on which Argentina defaulted in 2002.

Ports officials say the ship's current location prevents other vessels from berthing, costing the agency tens of thousands of dollars a day in lost fees.

Argentina's Defense Ministry issued a statement Friday saying the ship will not budge while the detention order is being appealed.

It said the ship's crew, under orders from Buenos Aires, pulled up the gangplank to prevent Ghanaian authorities from boarding. In response, Ghana shut off water and electricity and brought a crane to lift officials onto the ship to move it.

"An order was for the crew to show up on the deck, with its regular weapons, with the purpose of dissuading any attempt to board it," the Argentine ministry said.

The ministry said the Ghanaians should stop "illegal measures such as forcing us to move and cutting off basic supplies, which represent a violation on our sovereignty and an act of hostility."

Ghanaian courts ordered the ship detained Oct. 2 in response to U.S. court decisions in favor of investors holding bonds on which Argentina defaulted.

Argentina's problems grew larger Friday, when U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa warned Argentine President Cristina Fernandez not to "defy and evade" his orders on how much Latin America's third-largest economy will have to pay bondholders.

Griesa will decide the amount Dec. 1, a day before Argentina is due to make the first of three payments of more than $3 billion to bondholders who accepted restructuring of their debt at a loss.

Some of the money will go to NML Capital Ltd. and other holdout plaintiffs who are seeking about $1.33 billion in unpaid principal and interest, Griesa said.

Fernandez has refused to post $20 million with a court in Ghana to release the Libertad and insists Argentina will not pay a single centavo to what she calls "vulture funds" that held or bought up the defaulted bonds that remained after other holders agreed to restructure more than 90 percent of the debt in 2005 and 2010. Many received as little as 25 cents on the dollar.

Argentina lost its long battle against bond holdouts in the U.S. courts last month, when an appellate panel rejected every argument Fernandez's government made against paying $1.33 billion in principle and interest to investors holding the original bonds.

The ruling effectively gave Argentina a stark choice: Either pay all of its bondholders equally, or pay none of them at all.

Argentina argued that forcing it to pay the holdouts could provoke another severe economic crisis, but the U.S. appellate court said "nothing in the record supports Argentina's blanket assertion." It agreed with Griesa, who ruled that with more than $40 billion in foreign reserves, Argentina has the ability to pay.

Fernandez said Friday that U.S. courts are harming those who showed faith in Argentina during the bond restructuring.

"Those who believed in Argentina, who put their trust in Argentina, they restructured the debt and we're paying it religiously, one after the other," Fernandez said.

But judges said last month that Argentina must keep promises it made when it issued the original debt in the 1990s and that performing debt does not take priority over defaulted debt.

"Argentina has the duty to pay with the judicial resolutions of the United States in the bond cases," Griesa said Friday. "Our courts are not helpless."

The judge's new warning dented the price of Argentine global bonds due in 2017, which fell more than 6 percent Friday and have plunged about 12 percent since the court order last month.

Enrique Dentice, an economic analyst for Universidad de San Martin in Buenos Aires, said Griesa's order "will greatly harm those who joined the swap at the time" and respected Argentine law.

He said Argentine rules forbid the reopening of debt restructuring even as U.S. law requires honoring the original clauses of bonds issued there.

___

Associated Press writers Luis Andres Henao in Santiago, Chile, and Michael Warren from Mexico City contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argentine-crew-prevents-ghana-moving-ship-185107376--finance.html

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Red wine compound resveratrol could aid prostate cancer treatment ...

By Eric W. Dolan
Sunday, November 11, 2012 10:20 EST

?

Resveratrol, a compound found commonly in red wine, can make prostate tumor cells more susceptible to radiation treatment, according to a preliminary research published in the Journal of Andrology and Cancer Science.

?Other studies have noted that resveratrol made tumor cells more susceptible to chemotherapy, and we wanted to see if it had the same effect for radiation therapy,? said Michael Nicholl, an assistant professor of surgical oncology in the University of Missouri School of Medicine. ?We found that when exposed to the compound, the tumor cells were more susceptible to radiation treatment, but that the effect was greater than just treating with both compounds separately.?

Resveratrol increased the activity of perforin and granzyme B, two proteins in prostate tumor cells. By increasing the expression of the two proteins, Nicholl found that up to 97 percent of the tumor cells died following radiation treatment.

?It is critical that both proteins, perforin and granzyme B, are present in order to kill the tumor cells, and we found that the resveratrol helped to increase their activity in prostate tumor cells,? Nicholl said. ?Following the resveratrol-radiation treatment, we realized that we were able to kill many more tumor cells when compared with treating the tumor with radiation alone. It?s important to note that this killed all types of prostate tumor cells, including aggressive tumor cells.?

Resveratrol is available as a dietary supplement and is abundant in foods such as red grapes, blueberries and nuts.

Previous studies have found the compound could help treat age-related disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. But most research is in the preliminary stage and the Federal Drug Administration has not approved resveratrol for the treatment of any condition.

Originally published on The Bacchus.

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/11/red-wine-compound-resveratrol-could-aid-prostate-cancer-treatment/

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tell me some advantages of moving to cuyahoga falls, ohio - Zillow

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Our eyes met and?

By Ken Y-N ( November 11, 2012 at 22:24) ? Filed under Polls, Rankings

The Japanese have a reputation for not meeting eyes during normal conversation, but what happens when they catch the eye of someone of the opposite sex who they fancy? This was the subject of a ranking survey by goo Ranking, for both men meeting women?s eyes.

Demographics

Over the 25th and 26th of November 2012 1,074 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.4% of the sample were female, 11.6% in their teens, 14.7% in their twenties, 26.9% in their thirties, 25.0% in their forties, 11.1% in their fifties, and 10.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

So, what did you do?

Ranking result

Q: What do you unconsciously do when you meet the eyes of a guy you fancy? (Sample size=616, female)

Rank	?	Score
1	Soon avert my eyes	100
2	Give a little nod	98.1
3	Keep glancing at him	64.6
4	Hang my head in shame	35.4
5	Flash him my best smile	34.9
6	Stare	30.6
7	Check to see if there?s something up with my clothes	21.2
8	Be startled	18.7
9	Boldly strike up a conversation	15.3
10	Check to see if there?s someone behind me	9.1
11	Wave	7.2
12	Soon send email to friends	4.3
13	Surreptitiously pump my fist	2.4
14	Yell ?What are you looking at??	1.0

Q: What do you unconsciously do when you meet the eyes of a girl you fancy? (Sample size=458, male)

Rank	?	Score
1	Give a little nod	100
2	Soon avert my eyes	78.4
3	Keep glancing at her	67.6
4	Stare	54.7
5	Boldly strike up a conversation	31.1
6	Flash her my best smile	23.0
7=	Hang my head in shame	20.9
7=	Be startled	20.9
9	Check to see if there?s something up with my clothes	15.5
10	Wave	11.5
11	Check to see if there?s someone behind me	8.8
12	Scowl at her	2.7
13=	Yell ?What are you looking at??	2.0
13=	Surreptitiously pump my fist	2.0
15	Soon send email to friends	0.7

Read more on: goo ranking,love

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How Close Was This Election?

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney shake hands at the end of the third and final presidential debate on Oct. 22, 2012. Obama defeated Romney, but not by a landslide.

Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

There seems to be some confusion about whether or not the United States just witnessed a close election. Perhaps some historical perspective can help: Yes, this was a close election.

If we include Florida, Obama appears to have won 332 electoral votes to Romney?s 206. In the popular vote, the latest numbers suggest an Obama victory of 50.4 percent to Romney?s 48.1.?This is not recount territory. Measured by the standards of the 20^th?century, though, it reflects a genuinely tight race.

Between 1900 and 1999, only five of the 25 presidential elections were decided by fewer than 130 electoral votes. Only three had a popular vote margin smaller than the Obama-Romney contest. It?s a sign of how accustomed we?ve become to razor-thin margins of victory that Obama?s 2.3-percent popular-vote victory seems almost like a rout.?

For much of the 20^th?century, decisive elections were the rule rather than the exception. In the 1920s, Republicans won all three presidential elections with anywhere from 54 to 60.3 percent of the popular vote. During 1930s and 1940s, the balance flipped, with Franklin Roosevelt winning anywhere from 53.4 to 60.8 percent of the popular vote, and as much as 98.5 percent of the Electoral College. That extraordinary run came to an end with the nail-biter of 1948, in which Harry Truman was widely predicted to lose to Republican Thomas Dewey. Even that race, though, turned out to have a wider popular margin of victory than Obama-Romney. When the votes were tallied, Truman won with 49.5 percent of the popular vote to Dewey?s 45.1 percent, and 303 electoral votes to Dewey?s 189.

The closest election of the 20^th?century was the bitterly contested showdown between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960. Kennedy won the electoral college by a decisive if not overwhelming margin, garnering 303 electoral votes to Nixon?s 219. But the popular vote was more or less a tie, with Kennedy claiming just 49.7 percent to Nixon?s 49.5, amid widespread accusations of corruption and vote-buying.

Nixon came back eight years later with a squeaker of his own, winning over Hubert Humphrey by 0.7 percent of the popular vote. It?s worth noting, though, that both of these close elections were followed by absolute blowouts. In 1964, Lyndon Johnson?s trounced Barry Goldwater with 61.1 percent of the popular vote and 486 electoral votes. In 1972, Nixon won a landslide of his own, claiming 60.7 percent of the popular vote and a whopping 96.7 percent of the Electoral College. Whatever else was happening during those years, it was not an era of consistently close elections.

Outside of the 1960s, the tightest races of the 20^th?century produced popular-vote margins roughly comparable to Obama-Romney.?In 1916, Woodrow Wilson won a second term with a popular-vote victory of 49.2 percent, to 46.1 percent for Republican stalwart Charles Evans Hughes. In 1976, Jimmy Carter rousted Gerald Ford 50.1 percent to 48. The electoral vote, in both cases, was narrower than Obama?s 2012 victory.

Other than that, every single election of the 20^th?century was decided by a larger popular or electoral margin than we?ve seen in 2012. Almost one-half of the century?s elections were decided by popular margins of more than 10 percent. What?s extraordinary about the present moment is not so much the narrow margin of victory as the consistent run of close elections. Americans who lived through the 1916 election had to wait more than three decades for a comparably tight contest. By contrast, three out of four of our last elections have been decided by a popular-vote margin of less than 3 percent. The time we saw anything approaching a landslide was Ronald Reagan?s victory in 1984.

In that sense, our own political moment best resembles the Gilded Age of the late 19^th?century, the last sustained period when close elections were the norm. Historians usually describe the Gilded Age as an uninspiring era in national politics, when party machines, back-room power-brokers, and a campaign-finance free-for-all led to lackluster national debate. It was also an era in which politics were unusually partisan, often at the expense of tackling the genuine challenges facing the nation: growing inequality, immigration, corporate power, urban development.

Lest this all sound too familiar, it?s worth noting some important differences: the presidency was less powerful in the 19^th?century and the electorate consisted mainly of white men. But the Gilded Age has at least one lesson to offer about what our repeated run of close elections might mean. Conventional wisdom suggests that close elections reflect a divided electorate: red/blue, liberal/conservative, Republican/Democrat. The Gilded Age suggests that close elections may in fact be a sign that nobody, on either side, is thinking big.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=1e9afa27a2105ac15c2f1a5efc001d97

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Some Seniors Resist Electronic Social Security Payments ...

Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Glenn Smallwood does not have a cellphone, computer or credit card.? Nor does he have a bank account.? And that?s exactly the way he likes it.

?I guess you could say I?m an old fuddy duddy,? Smallwood, 63, a semi-retired insurance salesman in Clearwater, Fla., told ABC News.? ?I?m set in my ways.? I don?t want my money in a bank.? I keep my money in my pocket.?

So when Smallwood received a notice from the U.S. Treasury Department informing him that as of March 2013, his Social Security checks would be directly deposited into his bank account -- or he could enroll in the government?s Direct Express Debit MasterCard program -- he was decidedly unhappy.

?I don?t think the federal government has the right to tell me that I have to have a checking account or a debit card,? Smallwood said, adding that he cashes checks at Wal-Mart, pays his rent by money order and has no plans -- or desire -- to stop.

Smallwood lives in one of the nation?s 10 million households that are unbanked, according to figures from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

While waivers are automatically granted for anyone who was 90 years old or older on May 1, 2011 -- as well as people living in remote locations or those who are mentally incapable of handling their own affairs -- Dick Gregg, the fiscal assistant secretary of the Treasury, acknowledged that these waivers are rare.

?Most individuals that receive checks will drive to a local bank to cash them and individuals with mental impairments will designate a representative payee that will sign up for electronic payment,? he said.

He added that the initiative to have all benefits payments made electronically will save an additional $1 billion in taxpayer money over 10 years.? It is also safer, faster and more reliable than receiving paper checks, which can be lost, stolen or delayed.

But John Runyan, executive director of Consumers for Paper Options, an advocacy group funded by ?paper-based communications interests? -- which includes the Envelope Manufacturers Association, the American Forest & Paper Association and paper companies -- believes the mandate is unfair to seniors like Smallwood who don?t want to change. ?

?Our goal is to get the federal government to recognize fully that there is certain type of information that should continue to be provided on paper if the consumer wants them, and that should be the consumer choice,? he told ABC News.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Source: http://abcnewsradioonline.com/business-news/some-seniors-resist-electronic-social-security-payments.html

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Simplest Article Marketing Services in a Box ? Writing & Speaking

What do you get when you combine heart-pumping music, hundreds of participants and a six-hour workout extravaganza? A unique breast-cancer fundraiser that?s already made waves across seven Canadian cities. The St. Joseph?s Health Care Foundation is bringing Bust a Move for Breast Health to the Forest City this April, but they?re getting things started a [...]

Friday, August 3, 2012 Double-stranded DNA has often been described as a right-handed helical structure, known as B-DNA. To perform its multiple functions, double-stranded DNA has multiple structures depending on conditions. For example, the melted DNA bubble forms during transcription elongation and the left-handed helical Z-DNA forms hypothetically during transcriptional regulations. Scientists have been [...]

by Dennis Welch | 3TV Political Editor Bio | Email | Follow: @Dennis_Welch azfamily.com Posted on July 13, 2012 at 7:02 PM PHOENIX ? It?s one of the most watched races in Arizona, and [...]

The case comes anytime if you fall in search of additional finance to connect with your outburst expenses that you will never expected. Oftentimes, you can?t stretch your payday to cover up certainly your additional expenses while you havent planned correctly. Now, with debit card pay day loans, you possibly can completely pay down your [...]

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? A significant blast of energy from the sun arrived at Earth Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST, triggering a moderate geomagnetic storm here that?s unlikely to cause major problems. But skywatchers take note: the storm could set off bright Northern and Southern lights Tuesday night, possibly visible from as far south [...]

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Source: http://spectra-edithe.blogspot.com/2012/11/simplest-article-marketing-services-in.html

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Business ethics: am I boring you? | Ethics | Scoop.it

Essential to today's business yet not connecting with employees, business ethics need to be more than a tick-box exercise, says Katherine Bradshaw...

Julia Abenes's answer: I'll try to explain my answer and address all points as I go along.

We must first understand that Democracy is merely a form of Government and that Capitalism is an Economic System.

As a follow-up to our previous post,?How to Curate Content without Stealing, let?s take a look at why ethics needs to be taken seriously on social media by highlighting some consequences of c...

The GuardianReport raises ethical concerns about human enhancement technologiesThe Guardian"Although human enhancement technologies may benefit societies in important ways, their use at work also raises serious ethical, political and economic...

Former Greens leader Bob Brown today hit out at the major parties for putting ?money before ethics? by defending a live export industry that he claimed ?cannot be brought into order?.

Mitt Romney is now one of the first presidential candidates ever to be charged with violating federal ethics law.

The ability to map the human genome promises medicinal benefits while posing ethical questions.

(RNS) As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the barrier islands of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie gave stubborn residents one more thing to worry about. Their decisions to defy evacuation orders, he suggested, were "selfish" ...

Anorexia nervosa (AN) affects 0.1-1 percent of the population and has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness1. Anorexia doesn't discriminate against age, sexual orientation, gender, or race.

We caught up with Ada Zanditon, pioneering ethical fashion designer and ambassador for Ecover's Wear & Care campaign at Shoreditch House. Q1. What inspired you originally to start designing ethical fashion?

Ethics classes would help undergradsTODAYonlineI feel it would be useful to have a dedicated ethics class where students sit down to deliberate over the real-life ethical conundrums and debate what would constitute responsible behaviour.

The criticisms levelled at charities range from poor practice to attacks on the very idea of charitable giving.

Intelligence Squared Australia (IQ2 Oz) is the Australian forum for live debate about important issues of the day.

DA?s letters to debt collectors raise ethical questions...

John Safran joins film critics Luke Buckmaster and Rich Haridy for a wide-reaching discussion about truth and ethics in documentaries, exploring key issues and revealing some tricks of the trade.

As we are neither rich, nor do we have good access to ethical SHOPS here (they're mostly online), this meant visiting some of the finest fast fashion shops on the Parisian highstreet/boulevard. The sort that change their entire ...

Does anybody care?Continue reading ?...

Coke's social enterprise effort to empower five million people in Africa. (TY 4 RT!

This Tuesday, voters will weigh in on Massachusetts Ballot Question 2, Prescribing Medication to End Life, a law proposed by initiative petition that is often referred to by its supporters as the ?Death with Dignity Act.?

Trying to save power is all very well, but some proper incentives would help us make the switch (Ethical living: where are the incentives to go green?

Evacuations raise ethical issues The idea of evacuation as a moral duty has gained traction among some local officials, theologians and hurricane survivors. The issue hits a tender chord since rugged individualism is a ...

Science-based medicine depends upon human experimentation. Scientists can do the most fantastic translational research in the world, starting with elegant...

Drs. Oz and Roizen: Boosting testosterone levels to promote ethical behaviorOregonLive.comJohn Cena and his WWE opponents might epitomize the macho mayhem testosterone is supposed to create.

There is a telling story today in one of the nation's premier business publications, Barron's, called ?Playing a Superstorm.? In it, we read.

SIDELINED Transport and Main Roads' boss Michael Caltabiano will continue to bank around $10,000 a week while he awaits the outcome of an Ethics Committee investigation.

Source: http://www.scoop.it/t/ethics/p/3258138021/business-ethics-am-i-boring-you

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Internet Marketing Aid for Your Business: 5 Essential Suggestions to ...

Web marketing could easily look a challenging prospect for company owners whatever the type of business you?re in, online marketing help is obviously easily available. When used properly and by getting appropriate strategies into place, web marketing features a positive ramification on your income and can help to generate extra leads.Top 5 Methods On How Exactly To Market Your Business Online1. RelevancyWhen making online content decided on a subject that attracts your target consumer and what they are actually trying to find. Appropriate material is vital because it helps build confidence with your customer and can position you as an expert in your niche market. If your content is important and relevant to your audience, they?ll undoubtedly stay on the website longer, the longer they stay the more worth Google places on the content subsequently helping your rating. Use well reviewed key words that get your customer?s attention and invest the article at in regards to a three times thickness. Great keyword material also helps increase your Google ranking.2. Popularity & LinksObtaining backlinks for the web page is clearly a vital strategy to perform in the beginning in your marketing strategy. The Major Search Engines, specifically Google, like web sites that appear common and popularity is ascertained by them as the quantity of web sites that connect to yours. There are many ways to build good quality backlinks to your website nevertheless it is a must to see that the more natural (organic) the back-link, the better they are for your search engine results positioning. Steer clear of the Black Hat types of quickly developing 1000?s of backlinks to use and make an effort to trick Google and increase your website ranking, Google is clever it understands what you?re doing and it?s actually possible you?ll find your brand-new website caught in what?s known as the Google sandbox.Build your links completely and consistently with time by focusing on such tactics as Social bookmark creating, article and video distribution services, Internet Search Engine submissions in addition to website marketing. If this is a location that perplexes you or if you have no concept where to begin then online marketing help can easily be identified reasonably priced with Search Engine Optimization Companies that focus on these approaches.3. Original ContentIt is important to be unique every time you write and publish articles or post. Google enjoys new, new and unique content, and many post distribution sites will deny items of work that look to be to similar to other articles they have received.When you combine good quality content and good quality back-links you will certainly see enhanced rankings in Google which will equal more customers finding you.4. Social MediaHaving an engaged social media presence, whether it?s on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ or a Facebook Company site, is definitely an important method to market your business online, as your Google position is aided by an active participation. However the key here is involvement! You will need to engage together with your supporters and give price and activity. Your business must have character, developing interest and discussion. People spend plenty of time on Social Media Marketing systems, you need to make sure that whatever you?re submitting talks with them. Apply the 80/20 principle here ? 80% of the articles ought to be about the knowledge and just 20% about the marketing. When done correctly, social media offers the chance to get your content truly viral and attract market base who might otherwise never find you.5. YouTubeAlthough mentioned above as it ?s a Social Media Marketing community, we have presented YouTube its position here since it?s the amount 2 se! Using movie is just a great way to heighten traffic to your web site or weblog. Consider producing a brief video featuring keypoints in your article, answering frequently asked questions or announcing anything new that the company has to has presented. Make certain you keyword tag it and characteristic links back to your website or article in the information.There are numerous ways to market your company online but it could be difficult to stay on top of present methods. Plan time to take into account the simplest way to approach your target customer and be patient. Re vary something that does not appear to be performing the way you anticipated and measure the way you are doing things every month or two.

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Source: http://ezinepr.com/health-medicine/internet-marketing-aid-for-your-business-5-essential-suggestions-to-help-market-your-business/

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AMD shutters key Linux support lab in Germany as part of company-wide layoffs

The pain from recently announced job cuts by AMD could ripple out to the Linux community, as the chipmaker has shut down a small but important Linux OS research facility in Dresden, Germany. The center housed 25 employees who helped port AMD technology like PowerNow over to new Linux distros, and according to The H, many engineers who submitted major processor and chipset revisions for the OS would be pink slipped. The closure won't affect GPU and APU development, according to the source, but it's not yet known exactly who will pick up the slack from the former Dresden team -- though the research center in Austin Texas is reported to be a likely bet.

Filed under: Software

AMD shutters key Linux support lab in Germany as part of company-wide layoffs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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