Apple's Mountain Lion clears 10% bar, now runs 1 in 10 Macs

News

August 30, 2012 04:04 PM ET

Computerworld - Apple's OS X Mountain Lion now powers more than 10% of all Macs, and may be on the way to outdoing its predecessor, Lion, in adoption speed, an online advertising network said today.

Chitika, which mines its ad impression data for trends in operating system and browser usage, said Thursday that as of Aug. 27, Mountain Lion accounted for 10.3% of all versions of Apple's operating system, with an almost-equal amount of its gain coming from the last two editions.

Apple launched Mountain Lion on the Mac App Store just over five weeks ago.

OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, retained the top spot in Chitika's ranking with a 43.3% share during the week of Aug. 20-27, down more than two percentage points since the end of July, while Lion, or version 10.7, accounted for 31.5%, off more than three points.

That week's Mountain Lion average was 9.6%.

Chitika said Mountain Lion was on pace to out-perform Lion's climb last year. The 2011 upgrade took approximately three months to reach the 14% mark in the company's measurements.

"Mountain Lion received widely positive reviews by critics upon release, namely for its vast array of new features which made it feel like a genuine upgrade," said Chitika in a blog post Thursday. "On the other hand, Lion was criticized by many prominent bloggers for its lack of innovation and behaving too much like iOS."

Just two days after Mountain Lion's launch, Chitika had said the new operating system's share of all Macs was an impressive 3%.

Net Applications, another source of operating system usage, has yet to publish its data for August -- it will do that early Saturday -- but according to its most recent numbers, Mountain Lion powered approximately 4% of all Macs at the end of July, a good-but-not-great showing compared to Lion's 5.5% the year before.

The difference between Lion's and Mountain Lion's uptake in Net Applications' measurements could be due to Lion shipping five days before Mountain Lion on the calendar. OX Lion launched July 20, 2011, giving it 12 days during the month to accumulate share, five more than Mountain Lion this year.

Mountain Lion is available for $19.99 through the Mac App Store, where it remains at the top of the bestseller chart for paid software.

OS X Mountain Lion broke the 10% bar earlier this week, now powers 1 in 10 Macs. (Image: Chitika.)e

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.

Read more about Mac OS X in Computerworld's Mac OS X Topic Center.

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U.S. colleges see opportunity as Brazil sends students abroad

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. colleges, holding onto a shrinking lead as the world's biggest educator of international students, are eyeing a promising new market in Brazil, an emerging economy with big hopes for the future but a shortage of skilled labor.

U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Francisco Sanchez will lead officials from 66 U.S. colleges and universities to Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro beginning Thursday on what he told Reuters is the biggest trade mission of the Obama administration.

The seven-day visit capitalizes on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's "Science Without Borders" initiative aimed at reducing her nation's skills deficit by sending as many as 101,000 students to study abroad over the next four years.

"She's stated publicly that she wants half of those to go to the United States and specifically to study in the STEM areas: science, technology, engineering and math," Sanchez said.

Brazil's skilled-worker shortage is a major challenge on the country's path to developed-nation status. In addition to spurring Brazil to seek educational opportunities abroad, the shortage has encouraged the government to explore ways to ease immigration rules to attract more foreign professionals.

In sectors ranging from construction and oil exploration to telecommunications, companies complain of not being able to find qualified applicants in Brazil to fill jobs.

U.S. MARKET SHARE SHRINKING

While Brazil's own universities are graduating an increasing number of students, many still lack the necessary skills to compete internationally, said Jo?o de Castro Neves, a Latin American analyst at the Eurasia group in Washington.

"It's basically a matter of quality, not only at the universities but at the primary schools and the secondary schools," Castro Neves said.

The Science Without Borders program, which provides scholarships for Brazilians to study abroad for one year, meshes with the Obama administration's drive to attract more foreign students as part of its effort to double exports.

"Our higher education system is recognized around the world as being one of very high quality, of being of great value and so we want to promote it," said Sanchez, who led an education trade mission last year to Indonesia and Vietnam.

About 650 Brazilian students started U.S. studies under the program in January, and that was followed by a second wave of more than 1,500 students for U.S. summer and autumn course work.

Over the past decade, the U.S. share of the international education market has fallen to 20 percent from 28 percent, as schools in China, Canada, Britain, Australia, France and Japan have increased enrollment.

But U.S. colleges and universities still attract more foreign students than other national systems, and enrollment hit a record 723,277 in 2010-11, up 32 percent from 2000-01.

Foreign students pay the full "out-of-state" cost of a college education, helping schools meet their bottom line.

They represented about 3.5 percent of total enrollment of 20.5 million in 2010-11. Their top fields of study are business and management, engineering, math and computer sciences, and physical and life sciences.

The Commerce Department, which more typically leads trade missions to sell energy equipment or construction services, is involved in promoting education because services sold to overseas students count as exports in national trade tallies. The United States raked in $21 billion in tuition and living expenses paid by foreign students in the 2010-11 academic year.

But only $257 million, from 8,777 students, came from Brazil, the sixth-largest economy in the world. That was just 1.2 percent of the U.S. international student body that year.

"Given the size of Brazil, that should be much larger," Sanchez said. "Our interests are very much aligned here."

China and India, which Brazil sees as rivals for status and innovation on the international stage, sent 157,558 and 103,895 students, respectively, to the United States in 2010-11, accounting for about 36 percent of foreign students here.

BIG TUITION COSTS

Both those countries have a growing middle class and a lot more people willing to spend $200,000 or $300,000 to send their child to school in the United States, said Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, a U.S. non-profit group that promotes international study.

"They may not own a home ... but they have money, and they're saving it for an education," Goodman said.

He called Brazil's program "brilliant" because it ensures the students have to return home to get their degree. They come to the United States for their third year of university study and transfer those credits back to Brazil.

The U.S. delegation includes small schools such as Emporia State University in central Kansas and large ones such as Michigan State University. Other schools include Rutgers University in New Jersey, the University of Southern California, Texas A&M and the Savannah College of Art & Design in Georgia.

One big obstacle Brazilian students face is the language barrier since they are less likely to know English than their Indian or Chinese counterparts, said Maria de los Angeles Crummett, associate vice president for global affairs at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Brazilian students, whose native tongue is Portuguese, often have more of a cultural attraction to Europe, which is a challenge for U.S. schools to overcome, Crummett said.

The U.S. State Department is helping to tackle that problem through an intensive English immersion program to prepare Brazilian students for studying in the United States. The Obama administration has also sought to attract more Brazilians to the United States by easing visa requirements for them.

(Editing by Tim Ahmann and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-colleges-see-opportunity-brazil-sends-students-abroad-190939718.html

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Ann Romney: My husband will ?lift up America?

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)TAMPA?Ann Romney will tell the Republican National Convention Tuesday that she and her husband, Mitt Romney, have not had a "storybook marriage" but have gone through struggles just like other Americans?including health scares like her bouts with breast cancer and multiple sclerosis.

"I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a 'storybook marriage.' Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or breast cancer," Romney will say, according to excerpts of her speech released by the Romney campaign. "A storybook marriage??No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage."

In a speech that aims to humanize her husband, Ann Romney will praise her spouse as someone who has always sought to "lift up others" and someone who will "lift up America" and is the man the country "needs" to help turn the economy around.

"This is the man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say can't be solved, to fix what others say is beyond repair," Ann Romney will say. "This is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard."

Here are the full excerpts of Ann Romney's remarks, set to begin at 10:05 p.m. ET in Tampa:

Tonight I want to talk to you from my heart about our hearts. I want to talk not about what divides us, but what holds us together as an American family. I want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good, and the deepest solace in our dark hours. Tonight I want to talk to you about love.
?
Mitt's dad never graduated from college. Instead, he became a carpenter. He worked hard, and he became the head of a car company, and then the governor of Michigan. When Mitt and I met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together.
?
I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a "storybook marriage." Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long, rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters called MS or Breast Cancer. A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage
?

At every turn in his life, this man I met at a high school dance, has helped lift up others. He did it with the Olympics, when many wanted to give up.
?
This is the man America needs. This is the man who will wake up every day with the determination to solve the problems that others say can't be solved, to fix what others say is beyond repair. This is the man who will work harder than anyone so that we can work a little less hard. I can't tell you what will happen over the next four years. But I can only stand here tonight, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an American, and make you this solemn commitment: This man will not fail. This man will not let us down. This man will lift up America!

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ann-romney-rnc-husband-lift-america-223003027.html

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Isaac becomes Cat 1 hurricane near Gulf Coast

A car sits stranded in rising floodwaters from Isaac, which is expected to make landfall in the region as a hurricane this evening in Venice, La., the southernmost tip of the state, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Venice is outside the storm protection system and has been under mandatory evacuation. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that Isaac, especially if it strikes at high tide, could cause storm surges of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) along the coasts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi and up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) as far away as the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A car sits stranded in rising floodwaters from Isaac, which is expected to make landfall in the region as a hurricane this evening in Venice, La., the southernmost tip of the state, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Venice is outside the storm protection system and has been under mandatory evacuation. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that Isaac, especially if it strikes at high tide, could cause storm surges of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) along the coasts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi and up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) as far away as the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Brandon Ellis of Waveland takes advantage of the height of his ATV to ride up to the waves coming over the seawall alongside Beach Boulevard in Waveland, Miss., as Isaac's winds begin to hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

The first real impacts of Isaac reach the beaches of Gulf Shores, Ala. at high tide as all access to the beaches is closed on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. The National Hurricane Center predicted Isaac would grow to a Category 1 hurricane over the warm Gulf and possibly hit late Tuesday somewhere along a roughly 300-mile (500-kilometer) stretch from the bayous southwest of New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Jaden Fabian, 1, cries as she is loaded into a car seat as her family evacuates their home in advance of Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to make landfall in the region as a hurricane this evening in Plaquemines Parish, La., Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that Isaac, especially if it strikes at high tide, could cause storm surges of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) along the coasts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi and up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) as far away as the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Barack Obama arrives in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012, to talk about Tropical Storm Isaac. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

CHAUVIN, La. (AP) ? Isaac became a hurricane Tuesday that could flood the coasts of four states with storm surge and heavy rains on its way to New Orleans, where residents hunkered down behind levees fortified after Katrina struck seven years ago this week.

Shelters were open for those who chose to stay or missed the chance to get away before the outer bands of the large storm blow ashore ahead of a forecast landfall in southeast Louisiana on Tuesday night or early Wednesday. However, with the exception of some low-lying areas, officials had not ordered mass evacuations.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Isaac became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday with winds of 75 mph. It could get stronger by the time it's expected to reach the swampy coast of southeast Louisiana.

President Barack Obama said Gulf Coast residents should listen to local authorities and follow their directions as Isaac approached.

"Now is not the time to tempt fate. Now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. You need to take this seriously," Obama said.

In Houma, a city southwest of New Orleans, people filled a municipal auditorium-turned-shelter. However, in the bayou country of Terrebonne Parish off Highway 24, storms pose a perennial dilemma for those living a hardscrabble life.

While some of the homes along Bayou Terrebonne and other nearby waterways show signs of affluence, this section of Louisiana 24 is mostly lined with trailer homes or small, often run-down houses. Staying could be dangerous, but many here who could be in harm's way have nowhere to go and little money to get there, especially given the high price of gasoline.

Monica Boudreaux lives in a trailer on low-lying land but was talking Tuesday morning with a cousin who lived closer to the bayou. They and two friends chatted as the storm approached. Boudreaux laughed when asked what she'll do if the storm hits.

"I'm surrounded by all family," she said, referring to her friends as well as her cousin. "I'll just pick up my little fat feet and run, I guess."

The Coast Guard was searching the Gulf of Mexico near the Florida-Alabama state line Tuesday for a man who failed to return home from a water-scooter trip as Isaac was approaching the coast. The search began after the man's wife called the Pensacola, Fla., station about 8:45 p.m. Monday, Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash says.

Forecasters warned that Isaac was a large storm whose effects could reach out 200 miles from its center. Water may be worse than wind because the storm could push walls of water while dumping rain to flood the low-lying coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

So far, the main damage in the United States was political: Republicans cut one day off their presidential nominating convention in Tampa in case the storm struck there, though in the end it bypassed the bayside city. Isaac is also testing elected officials along the Gulf from governors on down to show they're prepared for an emergency response.

Isaac's track is forecast to bring it to New Orleans seven years after Katrina hit as a much stronger storm on Aug. 29, 2005.

This time, federal officials say the updated levees around the city are equipped to handle storms stronger than Isaac. The Army Corps of Engineers was given about $14 billion to improve flood defenses, and most of the work has been completed. The levees surrounding New Orleans are designed to withstand far more than the forecast 12-foot surge. And the city's flood control system can pump out an inch of water per hour for the first hour, and a half-inch of water each hour after that.

But with landfall expected near the Katrina anniversary, anxiety was high, especially in the Lower 9th Ward, wiped out by Katrina after floodwalls burst and let the waters rush in.

"I don't really trust the levees," said Robert Washington, who planned to evacuate along with his wife and five children. "I don't want to take that chance. I saw how it looked after Katrina back here."

He leaned over the banister of his porch railing and looked out onto empty lots where houses stood before Katrina. His neighborhood, just a few blocks away from where the floodwall protecting the Lower 9th Ward broke open, remains largely empty.

Farther away on the Alabama coast, Isaac had begun pelting the shore with intermittent downpours Tuesday morning ? one moment it was dry, and the next brought rain blowing sideways in a strong breeze. Gov. Robert Bentley lifted mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying coastal areas but encouraged residents to remain vigilant nonetheless.

The boardwalk at the tourist town of Gulf Shores was virtually deserted except for John McCombs, who ventured out to see waves lapping at the seawall at the public beach.

Within moments he was drenched and running for cover as a band of rain hit the wooden walkway.

"That's it. It's here," he said, scurrying back across the street.

One question haunting locals is how much oil left over from the Gulf oil spill in 2010 might wind up on the beaches because of Isaac. Experts believe large tar mats lie submerged just off the coast, but no one knows where they are or how many might be in the Gulf.

Isaac was centered about 75 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River at midday and was moving northwest at 10 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was 160 miles southeast of New Orleans.

Although Isaac's approach on the eve of the Katrina anniversary invited comparisons, the storm is nowhere near as powerful as Katrina was when it struck. Katrina at one point reached Category 5 status with winds of more than 157 mph, and made landfall as a Category 3 storm.

Still, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that Isaac, especially if it strikes at high tide, could cause storm surges of up to 12 feet along the coasts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi and up to 6 feet as far away as the Florida Panhandle.

Rain from the storm could total up to 14 inches, with some isolated areas getting as much as 20 inches, along the coast from southeast Louisiana to the extreme western end of the Florida Panhandle.

On Tuesday morning, there were few signs on New Orleans' famed Canal Street that a hurricane was imminent. A group of apparently intoxicated tourists asked 30-year-old Adrian Thomas to snap their photo as he scanned the headlines of The Times-Picayune in a newspaper box.

Thomas said he was waiting for his father to wire him money so he could leave for his hometown of Greenville, Miss., which is along the Mississippi River more than 200 miles from the coast. However, he said he might not make it out in time ? and he was just fine with that.

"I believe it's going to be all right," he said. "If I have to stay here and ride it out, I'll ride it out."

In Mississippi, beachfront casinos were shutting down late Tuesday morning as a beach road flooded and residents hurried to shelters. Coastal residents Charlotte Timmons and Brenda Batey said they planned to stay put unless Isaac took a more menacing turn, believing it wouldn't cause the devastation of some past storms.

Since Katrina, people have a more cautious attitude toward tropical weather, perhaps so cautious that there's a danger of complacency setting in after near misses, Timmons said.

"It's like crying wolf," said Timmons, a 63-year-old retired media manager. "If they make such a big deal and start moving people out (too soon) and then it fizzles, people might not leave the next time."

___

Burdeau reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Holbrook Mohr in Gulfport, Miss., Michael Kunzelman in New Orleans and Jay Reeves in Gulf Shores, Ala., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-28-Isaac/id-6288f1f585e141f7a51d762c9a40a568

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Let Certified Accountants Handle Your Self Assessments in Milton ...

In a business, accounting is essential in accomplishing a company?s long term goals and requirements. Accounting is actually the backbone of any business. Financial goals and financial records of an organization must be maintained and managed simply because this can help analyze return of investment, profit and loss, annual turnover, and compensation along with employee benefits. However a few businesses in Milton Keynes prefer to do the accounting and book keeping themselves and are quite hesitant to hire accountants in Milton Keynes thinking that they can?t afford to pay for accounting services of a full time accountant.

Nevertheless, you as a business owner can find an increasing number of CPA firms providing accounting services by qualified accountant in Milton Keynes to handle your taxes, payroll and accounting needs for a small monthly fee.

In any business, there will always be plenty of things to sort out and keep track of and getting a professional to provide you with payroll services in Milton Keynes with payroll options and local self assessments in Milton Keynes can enable you to concentrate on the primary matters of your business which is taking good care of customers as well as making sales. Through getting the services of management accounting experts to handle your VAT returns in Milton Keynes and tax reports it will be easy for you to keep an eye on your finances.

You did not start a business to be an accountant from the start as a result it is advisable to leave accounting tasks to the professionals. An accountant in Milton Keynes dealing with your book keeping and accounting needs can give you less stress and make you feel better understanding that your accounting and book keeping is appropriately done. Professionals providing accounting services ensure that they submit timely financial report and analysis.

It is a clever move to get the help of professional accountants as it can help avoid dissipation of complete financial crunches and hiccups. There are a lot of expert accountants in Milton Keynes and most of them are certified CPAs and are very experienced when it comes to financial management.

Accuracy in high magnitude finances is needed by any company. Hiring any Milton Keynes accounting specialist can bring many benefits to your business. Extensive knowledge in accounting and mathematical skills are possessed by these professionals that is sure to produce good results.

Just before getting a qualified accountant for your business, be sure to find a trustworthy accounting firm. This can help avoid fraudulence as honest accountants specifically in Milton Keynes will contribute much in determining financial frauds in your accounts made by any fraudster. With this, unexpected consequences like illegal transactions, illegal accounting, money laundering, fake accounts, tax raids, and bankruptcy and so on will be avoided.

Complete tax guidance, business consulting services, accounting, financial management and book keeping are provided by a qualified and trustworthy CPA firm. They can offer you smart tactics and sound strategy and can properly handle your short term or long term balance sheets.

It is important to find a reputable CPA firm as they can provide you with a professional management accountant to carefully check and appropriately handle your finances, giving you peace of mind and free you from book keeping worries and inaccurate accounting.

To discover more details: Self Assessments in Milton Keynes. Find out more: accountantsmiltonkeynes4u.co.uk/.

Source: http://www.searchipnews.com/2012/08/25/let-certified-accountants-handle-your-self-assessments-in-milton-keynes/

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Raspberry Pi lands MPEG-2 and VC-1 decoding through personal licenses, H.264 encoding and CEC tag along

Making the Raspberry Pi affordable involved some tough calls, including the omission of MPEG-2 decoding. Licensing fees alone for the video software would have boosted the board's price by approximately 10 percent. Now, after many have made media centers with the hardware, the foundation behind the project has whipped up a solution to add the missing codec. For $3.79, users can purchase an individual MPEG-2 license for each of their boards on the organization's online store. Partial to Microsoft's VC-1 standard? Rights to using Redmond's codec can be purchased for just under two bucks. H.264 encoding is also in the cards since OpenMax components needed to develop applications with the functionality are now enabled by default in the device's latest firmware. With CEC support thrown into the Raspbmc, XBian and OpenELEC operating systems, a single IR remote can control a Raspberry Pi, a TV and other connected gadgets. If you're ready to load up your Pi with its newfound abilities, hit the source link below.

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Gay marriage backers ask high court to decline California case

(Reuters) - Two California couples asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to refuse to hear an appeal by gay marriage foes, an outcome that would let same-sex marriage stand in the nation's most populous state.

Two lower courts have struck down the 2008 ban known as Proposition 8, and last month backers of the measure asked the Supreme Court to step in.

Their request came a week after the high court was asked to review a separate Massachusetts case challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.

The two petitions moved the politically charged issue of marriage rights for gay men and lesbians one step closer to a potential review by the Supreme Court in the weeks before the November 6 U.S. presidential election.

President Barack Obama turned gay marriage into a 2012 campaign issue in May when he came out in support of the right of same-sex couples to wed. His Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, disagrees.

After California voters passed Proposition 8, a San Francisco federal judge struck down the ban as unconstitutional, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

In a court filing on Friday, lawyers for the California gay couples acknowledged the Proposition 8 case could be an "attractive vehicle" for the Supreme Court to resolve the issue.

However, high court review is "not warranted," they argued, because the 9th Circuit had already "scrupulously" applied the correct legal precedent.

A representative for Proposition 8 supporters could not immediately be reached for comment.

The case in the Supreme Court of the United States is Dennis Hollingsworth et al. vs. Kristin Perry et al., 12-144.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gay-marriage-backers-ask-high-court-decline-california-212351041.html

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Should I Buy Gold? Ask Robert Bhat - Credit Card and Finance Tips

As a finance professional, Robert Bhat frequently gets asked the question, Should I buy gold?? Because Robert Bhat primarily deals with commercial real estate and investments for big industries, he?s quick to tell inquisitors that he?s not the most qualified person to speak on personal investments.? However, because Robert Bhat is so frequently confronted with the question, he wants to take a moment to address the great precious metal issue.

Who Are You?

Robert Bhat will always respond to this question with one of his own: Who are you?? The question digs at something more than simple identity!? For Robert Bhat, no one should ever buy anything as a blanket rule.? Whether or not you buy gold (or any other precious metal) should be determined not by gold, but by your own financial situation and portfolio.

If you?re looking to diversify your portfolio, and you have liquid cash with which you can do so, then Robert Bhat believes that smart precious metal investments can turn out to be quite profitable in the long run.? However, if you only have $800 to ?play with,? Robert Bhat doesn?t consider gold and other precious metals to be essential investments for those who have a more limited net worth.

How Long Will You Hold?

Gold and other precious metals, advises Robert Bhat, are not for short term investors.? While the price of gold may have risen quickly in recent years, that doesn?t guarantee it will continue to do so in the next few months.? Robert Bhat always counters gold-proponents who cite its recent soar in price by reminding them that past performance never guarantees future performance.

Of course, more authoritative articles can help you continue to work through this decision.? But, Robert Bhat is happy to offer what advice he does have on precious metals as investments.

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China is tough against Tokyo but reins in activism

BEIJING (AP) ? Wu Qingjun is no dissident. In fact, this activist's pet issue ? China's claim over a set of islands controlled by Japan ? aligns him squarely with Beijing's government. But that didn't stop authorities from sending four agents to tail him.

As Beijing continues a tense war of words with Tokyo over a set of islands in the East China Sea, it is quietly reining in anti-Japanese activists at home, trying to keep them from staging protests that could threaten relations with Tokyo or even backfire into criticisms of China's communist government.

The government's sensitivity over protests that took place in several Chinese cities on Sunday over the set of islands ? known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan ? reflects its perpetual fear that allowing its people too much freedom to hold protests ? any protests ? could snowball into domestic dissidence.

The four state security agents sent to watch over Wu ahead of a planned protest in his hometown of Changsha in southern China tailed him for 24 hours, ending their surveillance only after the protest was well over. He was thwarted in his plan to deliver calcium pills to the local military base in a gesture aimed at telling his government to show more fortitude in the dispute.

"They need to have a stronger backbone," Wu said. "Our government has failed to protect its own interests."

Veteran activists involved in previous anti-Japanese campaigns say police have prevented them from taking part in protests in several Chinese cities this past week and that they remain under watch. The government has warned boat captains not to take any campaigners to the islands, where like-minded Chinese from Hong Kong landed on Aug. 15 in a move that raised diplomatic tensions.

Beijing is especially averse to activism ahead of a generational handover of power in the Communist Party later this year, and dislikes being portrayed as soft in defending Chinese territorial interests.

Territorial disputes are common among East and Southeast Asian nations as they vie for control of fishing grounds and natural resources. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak recently angered Japan by visiting a disputed island in the Sea of Japan claimed by both countries, prompting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to send Lee a letter of protest.

On Thursday, a South Korean diplomat in Tokyo attempting to return the letter was stopped by Japanese authorities from entering the Foreign Ministry building.

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Masaru Sato said returning a signed personal letter from a national leader is "simply impossible" and "extremely impolite and unheard of."

The United States on Thursday said it was "uncomfortable" that two valued U.S. allies were in dispute and urged them to resolve it peacefully.

"It's obviously not comfortable for us when they have a dispute between them. So our message to each of them is the same: Work this out, work it out peacefully, work it out through consultation," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news conference in Washington.

Tensions over the Diaoyu islands between Japan and China flared again this year when the outspoken Tokyo governor floated a plan to purchase the islands from private ownership to solidify the state's claim. The U.S. reiterated its support of Japan's claim over the island on Wednesday.

In China, the state-run media have been in full battle cry and authorities have not banned online discussions about the islands dispute, but activism is being kept under tight control.

"We are considered an element of social unrest," said Li Nan, an anti-Japan activist in Beijing who says he is constantly questioned by police about his plans.

The state-run media praised Sunday's protests in China as spontaneous acts that inspired patriotism and showed national unity, but condemned the violence that accompanied them. In some cities, Japanese restaurants were vandalized and Japanese-brand cars, including a police car, were smashed by angry protesters.

"Regrettably, a few people did stupid things," read an editorial in the state-run China Youth Daily, adding that photos of the acts "hurt the patriotic protests and hurt the national image of China."

A Wednesday editorial in the Global Times urged the public not to blindly boycott anything Japanese because of the bilateral economic interests between the countries.

"As long as we can keep the political stability, time will be on our side. Don't overreact and fall into the other's trap," the newspaper said.

The U.S-based China Digital Times, which tracks the Chinese online media, said Chinese media have been told to play down the anti-Japanese protests and not to circulate photos of vandalism during the protests. The Associated Press could not independently verify the information.

Wu, the activist from Changsha, said he knew police would be visiting him when the word started to spread last week online about the planned protest.

To save himself from the trouble of explaining the appearance of police to his neighbors, Wu said he decided to check into a hotel and inform the police of his whereabouts.

"I'm not hiding or fleeing," said Wu, whose past experience told him the police would find him anyway.

"There is a price to pay to defend the Diaoyus, that is to lose some freedom and some privacy," Wu wrote on his microblogging account, apparently in defiance of police warnings against posting online.

Wu said he still gets calls from police asking if any further protests or activities are planned.

In Beijing, Li said he has been told not to attempt to travel to the islands. "It has become impossible," Li said. "The biggest obstacle for groups defending the islands comes from the government."

"The Chinese government is not used to any grass-roots organization, whether it is for environmental protection or AIDS," Li said. The government is suspicious of such groups' motives, he said.

And it does not help that the activists are grumbling about what they see as the government's failure to act even though its public stance on the island chain is the same as theirs.

"The government has no strategy to deal with the dispute with Japan. But whenever there are internal protests, it is quick to take action to ensure order," Li said.

___

Associated Press writers Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Didi Tang on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tangdidi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-tough-against-tokyo-reins-activism-113826902.html

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Bloggings: Republican State Representative Ryan Fattman's ...

No one could possibly be more outrageously offensive to women than Missouri Republican Senate Candidate Todd Akin with his despicable comment about how women's bodies have a way of "shutting down" pregancy resulting from "legitimate rape". Unless, that is, one is talking about women who are also unauthorized immigrants.?

In that case, Akin has to take a back seat to a 28 year-old Massachusetts Republican State Senator by the name of Ryan Fattman. In July of last year, the governor of that state, Deval Patrick, pulled Massachusetts out of President Obama's Secure Communities program. (One has to wonder whether a certain former governor of that state would have done the same, but that is not the topic of this comment.)?

Governor Patrick gave one of his main reasons for pulling out of Secure Communities as his concern that the program would discourage unauthorized immigrants from reporting violent crimes for fear of being deported.

However, Fattman had no such concerns. According to Mother Jones (July 9, 2011), Fattman said the following to the Worcester Telegram and Gazette when asked whether a woman without legal immigration status who was raped and beaten when she walked down the street might be afraid to report the crime to the police:

"My thought is that if someone is here illegally, they should be afraid to come forward. If you do it the right way [i.e. have legal status] you don't have to be concerned about these things."

When asked by Mother Jones to explain his comment, Fattman added:?

"I think if someone is here illegally, they should? be afraid to come forward because they should be afraid to be deported." He also said: "But if you weren't here, the crime wouldn't happen."

In fairness, Mother Jones also reported that Fattman tried to back track from his comments, later saying that the women in question should come forward. But when asked whether they should be arrested if they did, Fattman said that should be up to the discretion of the individual police officer.

Again to be fair, Fattman also told Mother Jones that he wants to make it easier, less expensive and faster for immigrants to come to the US, and he also introduced legislation to crack down on businesses that exploit unauthorized workers.?Of course, Todd Akin tried to back down on his women-hating comments too. But once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is hard to put it back in.

However, Fattman, sickeningly offensive as his comments were, is not one of the people who is actually carrying out Secure Communities, however much he may be cheering from the sidelines. Nor, fortunatley, does he have the power to put his state back into that program.

If we want to find out whether unauthorized immigrant women should be afraid to report rape to the police, or if any have been deported for doing so, we should look to the place where the Secure Communities buck stops. That place is not in State Representative Ryan Fattman's office.

Source: http://blogs.ilw.com/immigrationlawblogs/2012/08/bloggings-republican-state-representative-ryan-fattmans-comments-on-rape-and-unauthorized-immigrant-.html

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Language family may have Turkish origins

Indo-European tongues traced back more than 8,000 years to Anatolia

Web edition : Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

Indo-European languages range throughout Europe and South Asia and even into Iran, yet the roots of this widespread family of tongues have long been controversial. A new study adds support to the proposal that the language family expanded out of Anatolia ? what?s now Turkey ? between 8,000 and 9,500 years ago, as early farmers sought new land to cultivate.

A team led by psychologist Quentin Atkinson of the University of Auckland in New Zealand came to that conclusion by using a mathematical method to calculate the most likely starting point and pattern of geographic spread for a large set of Indo-European languages. The new investigation, published in the Aug. 24 Science, rejects a decades-old idea that Kurgan warriors riding horses and driving chariots out of West Asia?s steppes 5,000 to 6,000 years ago triggered the rise of Indo-European speakers.

?Our analysis finds decisive support for an Anatolian origin over a steppe origin of Indo-European languages,? Atkinson says.

He and his colleagues generated likely family trees for Indo-European languages, much as geneticists use DNA from different individuals to reconstruct humankind?s genetic evolution. Many linguists, who compare various features of languages to establish their historical connections, consider Atkinson?s statistical approach unreliable (SN: 11/19/11, p. 22).

Atkinson?s group analyzed 207 commonly used words, including terms for relatives and numbers, in 103 ancient and modern Indo-European languages. The researchers produced possible language trees based on estimated rates at which languages gained and lost cognates, words with similar meanings and shared sounds, such as five in English and fem in Swedish.

The studied cognates are basic vocabulary terms that rarely get borrowed when speakers of different languages encounter one another, Atkinson contends. Thus, in his view, these words provide a valuable window into the evolution of separate branches on the Indo-European family tree.

The researchers combined their language trees with present geographic ranges of individual languages to identify the most likely location and age of the Indo-European family?s origins. An ancient Anatolian root emerged whether the researchers combined linguistic data or separately considered the 20 ancient languages and 83 modern ones.

As a further check, statistical simulations that assumed slow rates of language migration if people traveled along land routes or faster migration rates spurred by water crossings converged on a scenario in which Indo-European tongues originated among Anatolian farmers sometime between 8,000 and 9,500 years ago.

Farmers alone didn?t propel the evolution of different Indo-European tongues, Atkinson says. His team?s proposed trees suggest that new languages began to sprout within the five major Indo-European subfamilies from 4,500 to 2,000 years ago, after agriculture had spread across Europe. Kurgans or other expansionist Indo-European cultures could have instigated those later linguistic developments, Atkinson says.

Atkinson?s statistical reconstruction is unpersuasive, comments linguist H. Craig Melchert of the University of California, Los Angeles. Researchers can confidently rebuild trees of Indo-European languages extending back no more than about 7,000 years, he says.

Many linguists and archaeologists suspect that Indo-European languages originated in what?s now the southern Russian steppes, and that?s unlikely to change as a result of the new study, says linguist Joe Eska of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Cognate swapping across languages could have occurred more often than assumed by Atkinson, undermining his conclusions, Eska contends.

Found in: Anthropology and Humans

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/343192/title/Language_family_may_have_Turkish_origins

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The Capital Budgeting Process | Finance Train

A company, from time to time, will have to make investments in a variety of capital projects. Whether it is the need to purchase new machinery, expanding the production facility, or even buying new transport, all these projects require firms to make high investment now. In all these projects, the cash flow or the benefit is expected to be received for several years.

A company at any time may have many capital projects in foresight. It is the responsibility of the finance manager to evaluate these projects through the capital budgeting process which involves evaluating each project for its profitability, eliminating the ones that are not profitable, and prioritizing the profitable ones based on the company?s available resources and requirements. The finance manager needs to follow a consistent process and exercise caution while making capital budgeting decisions, as they involves huge cost, and can significantly impact the shareholder value.

The capital budgeting process involves four steps:

Step 1: Capital Project Ideas

The first step is to get or generate project ideas. These ideas can be put forth by the management, employees, or even outsiders.

Step 2: Evaluate Each Project proposal for Profitability

The finance manager needs to accept or reject each capital project proposal based on its profitability. To do so, a cash flow forecast will be created and the project will be evaluated using NPV/IRR.

Step 3: Prioritize Profitable Projects Based on the Firm-wide Project

Once the profitable projects have been identified, the finance manager needs to prioritize these projects based on the firm-wide capital budget, requirements and strategy. Sometime a project may be profitable but can wait for some time compared to another project which is critical for the firm?s strategy. For example, while choosing between buying new machinery vs. replacing an existing technology with a new one, the finance manager needs to evaluate the pros and cons of both, timings of future cash flows, etc., before prioritizing them.

Step 4: Feedback and Evaluation

Once the capital budgeting decisions have been made, they need to be constantly monitored and evaluated for their performance. The finance department needs to check whether the actual cash flow matches the forecasted cash flow or not, and if not, they need to identify the reasons for the mismatch. They also need to look for any systematic errors committed in the forecasting process and provide feedback so that the forecasting processes can be improved.

Capital budgeting projects can fall under the following categories:

• Replacement projects for business maintenance
• Replacement projects to reduce cost (replacing outdated technology with new leaner one)
• Expansion projects
• New product development
• Mandatory projects as required by government agencies, such as for safety or environment.
• Other projects (such as R&D)

Series Navigation

Principles of Capital Budgeting

Source: http://financetrain.com/the-capital-budgeting-process/

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Natural Allergy Relief: Is It Doable? ?

Do you undergo from allergies? When you do, you will have been prescribed prescription remedy by your doctor. If not, you?ll have still drained quite a few over-the-counter allergy aid medicines and products. Sadly, medication doesn?t at all times work for all allergy sufferers. That leaves many individuals questioning if there?s a manner that they can seek extra pure aid, with out using medicine.

As for whether or not or not you may seek allergy aid without the usage of prescription remedy or over-the-counter merchandise, you will discover that you simply can. In actual fact, you?ll discover that you?ve got quite a lot of totally different options. Some of these options aren?t only safer than using medicine, however they are additionally a lot cheaper.

If you don?t suffer from food allergies, you can use meals as technique to search relief. As for why you need to avoid this approach in the event you suffer from a food allergy, it is as a result of you may have another allergic reaction, which you are attempting to prevent. With that said, if you?re affected by seasonal allergies, pet allergy symptoms, mold and mildew allergy symptoms, certain meals may be able to provide you with relief. These foods embrace the juice from a lime, specifically when blended with lukewarm water, eating one or two bananas a day, in addition to consuming vegetable juices.

One other more natural option to relive a number of the signs that are associated with allergic reactions is with vitamin B5. Though many sometimes contemplate vitamin dietary supplements to be medication, they don?t seem to be really. Despite the fact that you may be taking a complement, it?s nonetheless much more natural than many allergy relief medications. For the way much vitamin B5 should be taken, most advocate one complement a day for round or three months.

Even supposing natural ways to hunt aid from allergic reactions are mostly associated with natural treatments that contain certain meals, vitamins, and herbs, there are other steps that you would be able to take. For instance, you can take away your self out of your trigger factors. For example, you probably have allergic reactions which might be resulting from mildew and mildew, avoid areas in your house the place mildew or mildew is current, like your basement. For those who suffer from allergic reactions on account of mud, take into account hiring a professional cleaning service or you?ll be able to clear extra typically, which ought to reduce the amount of dust that accumulates overtime.

Because it was beforehand said, it?s suggested that you simply show warning if you happen to endure from a food allergy. It is because many meals allergic reactions are more extreme than different allergies, such as pet allergies. Those that are allergic to peanuts can truly go into shock and die inside a matter of minutes. For that purpose, in the event you undergo from meals allergic reactions, you?ll not need to just restrict your consumption of foods, but you?ll want to completely eradicate the food or meals that you?re allergic to out of your diet. That is essential to know as some victims do get different allergies confused. For instance, those who suffer from pet allergies don?t at all times must find a new home for their pets, however they should limit their contact. However, you will need to remember that food allergic reactions and pet allergic reactions should not the same.

As beforehand acknowledged, there are a variety of various methods that you would be able to pure seek allergy relief. If you?re on the lookout for extra steps that you may take, carry out an ordinary internet search online. Additionally, think about investing in natural remedy books or guides which can be designed to help those residing with allergies.

There is more content available on see this site look at Jerri A. Lunday?s site there is plenty of points not covered on this page, go to Author?s website to uncover supplementary information.

Source: http://all-articles-directory.com/natural-allergy-relief-is-it-doable-4/

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Bolt, Blake try to add to Jamaica's gold tally

Jamaica's Usain Bolt gestures before competing in a men's 100-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Jamaica's Usain Bolt gestures before competing in a men's 100-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce goes to cross the finish line to win gold in the women's 100-meter final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Jamaica's Usain Bolt, left, reacts after winning ahead of Nigeria's Ogho-Oghene Egwero, right, and Britain's James Dasaolu in a men's 100-meter heat during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce celebrates winning gold in the women's 100-meter final during the athletics competition in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, in London.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Performer Paul McCartney, center, celebrates Britain's gold medal wins alongside his daughter Stella, center left, and wife Nancy Shevell, center right, during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON (AP) ? There's been a whole lot of hype at the 2012 Summer Games about Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and the men's 100-meter final Sunday night. Yet Jamaica didn't need to wait for those two guys to resume the island nation's Olympic supremacy in sprint events.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took care of that.

Running with a golden ribbon tying back her hair, and a golden chain jangling around her neck, Fraser-Pryce earned a medal of that hue, too, winning a second consecutive Olympic title in the women's 100 by outleaning Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. to finish in 10.75 seconds Saturday night.

"Back in 2008, Usain Bolt was the first to get a gold medal," Fraser-Pryce said, "and now a woman is in charge."

And she had company: Veronica Campbell-Brown gave Jamaica the bronze.

With a population of 3 million ? about 1 percent of the people who live in the United States ? Jamaica now has six of the last seven gold medals awarded in the men's and women's Olympic sprints, including relays. Three of those belong to Bolt, who swept the 100, 200 and 4x100 in Beijing, each in world-record time.

Given Bolt's success and fame, Fraser-Pryce is overshadowed back home. Even if she was good enough to become the first woman since American Gail Devers in 1992 and 1996 to win two Olympic 100s in a row.

"Sometimes I go to the supermarket, and they ask me questions about Usain," Fraser-Pryce said. "They're like, 'Where is Usain? Do you train with Usain?'"

Still, anyone familiar with the sport's history in Jamaica knows what a significant role women such as Merlene Ottey and Campbell-Brown ? who own a combined 15 Olympic medals ? have played in making running the national pastime.

"Jamaicans ? I wouldn't call them 'greedy' ? but they expect a lot from us," Fraser-Pryce said.

Everyone expects a lot from the men's dash, the marquee race in track and field.

In addition to being the reigning Olympic champion, Bolt owns the world record of 9.58 seconds.

Blake is the world champion, and he also beat Bolt in the 100 and 200 at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

Then there's the third Jamaican in the men's 100 field, Asafa Powell, who held the world record from 2005 until 2008, when Bolt bettered it.

"Who will win tomorrow? I don't know," Fraser-Pryce said. "I hope they go 1-2-3."

A couple of Americans ? Tyson Gay, a past world champion, and Justin Gatlin, a past Olympic champion ? might have something to say about that.

Then again, even they know Bolt is the man to beat.

"He's the equivalent of the guy walking on the moon for the first time. He's done something that no one has ever done before. You have to line up in the blocks, shoulder-to-shoulder, with this guy? You're going to be in awe sometimes," Gatlin said. "I think a lot of runners almost have that audience mentality: See what he's going to do, even while you're running. You've got to block that out, go out there and compete against that guy."

Easier said than done.

Before Gatlin and others line up for the start, Sunday's track and field schedule includes the women's marathon in the morning. At night, in addition to the semifinals and final of the men's 100, Sanya Richards-Ross will compete in the women's 400 final, and medals will be awarded in the women's triple jump, men's hammer throw and the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Jamaica's women went 1-2-3 in the 100 at Beijing, but a chance at a three-medal sweep this time vanished when Kerron Stewart couldn't make it out of the semifinals.

Given what Fraser-Pryce and Campbell-Brown did in the final, there was sure to be a little extra celebrating going on in Jamaica. They're already in a partying mood there, because the 50th anniversary of the country's independence from Britain is Monday.

On Aug. 5, 1962, the Union Jack was lowered for the final time at National Stadium in Kingston. Talk about perfect bookends: The Jamaican flag will be raised in Olympic Stadium on Sunday for Fraser-Pryce's medal ceremony. Might happen again Monday, if Bolt, Blake or Powell comes through.

"The excitement has already started," Fraser-Pryce said. "For me, what's really kind of exciting is, we got our independence from England and now we're here in England and we get our first medal. For me, that kind of tops it off."

___

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

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-05-OLY-ATH-Track-and-Field/id-4950393f2c2744a185ac32ed997f53f1

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