'Miss Holocaust Survivor' crowned in Israel, stirring smiles and controversy

HAIFA, Israel - Fourteen women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honour of being crowned Israel's first "Miss Holocaust Survivor."

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

"It sounds totally macabre to me," said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel's leading Holocaust survivors' umbrella group. "I am in favour of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful."

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

"They feel good together. They are having a good time and laughing in the rehearsals," said Sabag, director of Yad Ezer L'Haver, or Helping Hand, which assists needy Holocaust survivors and organized the pageant.

"The fact that so many wanted to participate proves that it's a good idea."

Nearly 300 women from across Israel registered for the competition and contestants were whittled down to the 14 finalists who appeared Thursday.

The contest, part of Helping Hand's annual "cultural" night, included a lavish dinner and music at a Haifa reception hall. Some 600 people attended, including two Cabinet ministers, Moshe Kahlon and Yossi Peled, himself a Holocaust survivor.

The women, ranging in age from 74 to 97, clearly enjoyed themselves. Wearing black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet, introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.

"I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it's that way," said Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner-up who fled her home in Poland as a child, hid in a forest and was rescued by a Polish woman. She said she lost her entire immediate family.

A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the winner. Hava Hershkovitz, a soon-to-be 79-year-old, was banished from her home in Romania in 1941 and sent to a detention camp in the Soviet Union for three years. Today, she lives in an assisted living home run by Helping Hand.

"This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the centre of attention so people will care. It's not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest, but we're all doing it to show that we're still here," the silver-haired Hershkovitz said.

Wearing a glittering tiara, she was joined by her granddaughter, Keren Hazan. "I'm very proud of her because she's the most beautiful woman in the room tonight," Hazan said.

In addition to the contestants' accounts of surviving Nazi ghettos and concentration camps, their later contributions to their communities were also considered, Sabag said. Physical appearance was maybe "10 per cent" of the criteria, he said, though a cosmetics company was recruited to help the women dress up for the occasion.

"We always tell them to dress well and look good. To think positive and to take care of themselves," Sabag said. "Always look at life with a smile and continue to live."

The thought that physical appearance could even remotely be a factor rubbed some the wrong way. Avital, of the Holocaust survivors' umbrella group, criticized the cosmetics company, saying it was using Holocaust survivors in a cheap marketing stunt to promote their products.

"Why use a beauty contest to show that these people survived and that they're brave?" wondered Lili Haber, a daughter of Holocaust survivors who heads an Israeli organization that assists survivors from Poland. "I think it's awful. I think it's something a decent person shouldn't even think about."

The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany oversaw the systematic slaughter of 6 million European Jews, plays a unique role in Israeli society. The country gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust, serving as a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people who survived the genocide.

Nearly 200,000 aging survivors live in Israel today, and the country's annual Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar. Restaurants and cinemas close, and the country comes to a standstill as sirens wail for two minutes. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently make references to the Holocaust when discussing the threat they believe a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the Jewish state.

Thursday's contest was among the many unconventional beauty pageants that have sprouted up over the years. The war-torn countries of Angola and Cambodia have held "Miss Landmine" contests for survivors of land mine explosions, Star Trek fans enjoy the "Miss Klingon Empire" contest in Atlanta, and plus-sized women in Thailand compete for the honour of "Miss Jumbo Queen." There are also a senior citizens' pageants in the U.S.

Gal Mor, editor of the popular Israeli blog "Holes in the Net," said Thursday's pageant was well-intentioned but misguided.

"Why should a decayed, competitive institution that emphasizes women's appearance be used as inspiration, instead of allowing them to tell their story without gimmicks?" he wrote. "This is one step short of 'Survivor-Holocaust' or 'Big Brother Auschwitz.' It leaves a bad taste. Holocaust survivors should be above all this."

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Djokovic savors opening day honors on Centre Court

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ? Being a defending champion at Wimbledon has its perks ? none bigger than the honor of playing the opening match on the freshly manicured lawn of Centre Court.

Despite slipping on the slick grass and falling behind early in the first set, Novak Djokovic quickly gained his footing and played the commanding tennis that took him to his first Wimbledon title and vaulted him to the No. 1 ranking that he still holds.

Last year, after beating Rafael Nadal in the final, Djokovic grabbed some blades of grass and stuffed them into his mouth. This time, he celebrated quietly after defeating another Spaniard, dropping just seven games in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win Monday over former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero.

"It's a very unique feeling," Djokovic said of stepping onto the sport's most famous stage at 1 p.m. as reigning champ. "I think that's the first time I experienced that in my career. I think this is the only tournament that actually allows you to have information when you're playing 12 months in advance."

Following his loss to Nadal in the French Open final two weeks ago that ended the Serb's 27-match winning streak at Grand Slams, Djokovic came to Wimbledon without any grass-court preparation. He got off to a shaky start and lost serve to fall behind 2-1, but broke right back and took complete command.

"The grass was untouched," he said. "It was soft, so smooth. It was great to play in."

The atmosphere, too, was special when he came onto the court.

"It is quieter than the other center courts of the other Grand Slams," Djokovic said. "But you feel that tradition and the history of tennis, of sport, in this tournament, especially Centre Court. So many legends have won the trophies here, the trophies that made them big tennis stars."

While Djokovic paid tribute to the tradition, he also pulled off a very untraditional bit of gimmickry: taking a golf club with him onto the court.

As part of an inside joke with a sponsor, he pulled a club out of his racket bag and put it on the sideline when he arrived to face Ferrero.

"It was a little funny thing," said Djokovic, whose racket maker gave him a bag that has posts to make it stand like a golf bag. "Being creative, that's all. But fans corrected me right away. They said, 'This is not a golf course.' I said, 'OK.'"

Djokovic has won four of the past six Grand Slam tournaments, breaking up what had been the two-man dominance of Nadal and Roger Federer. The three players have combined to win 28 of the past 29 major titles.

"There is not anymore advantages in ... my favor, Rafa's, Roger's, whenever we are playing each other on any surface," Djokovic said. "We're all kind of equal, in a way. I think we have equal, 50-50, chances to win."

Day 1 passed off without a single rain delay, a relief after one of the wettest Junes on record in Britain.

Other winners included six-time champion Federer, top-seeded Maria Sharapova, four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters and No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska.

Five-time champion Venus Williams lost and won't be playing in the second round at Wimbledon for the first time since her debut at the All England Club in 1997.

The highest seeded player to fall was No. 6 Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up who lost 7-6 (5) 7-6 (4) 7-6 (4) to 87th-ranked Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

John Isner, the 11th-seeded American, squandered a match point in the fourth set and was upset in five by Alejandro Falla of Colombia, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5. The result ruled out a second-round contest between Isner and Nicolas Mahut ? who played the longest match in tennis history here two years ago, and met again in the first round last year.

While Djokovic did the Centre Court honors on Monday, it will be defending women's champ Petra Kvitova's turn on Tuesday, opening against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.

Second-seeded Nadal was scheduled up next against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, followed by No. 4 Andy Murray against former top-10 player Nikolay Davydenko. On Court 1, fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was paired against 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who has slipped to 202nd in the rankings and needed a wild card to enter Wimbledon this year.

A day after her sister was eliminated on Court 2, four-time champion and sixth-seeded Serena Williams was due to play on the same court against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. Williams openly wondered last year why the sisters were put on Court 2 instead of Centre Court.

Venus Williams was eliminated 6-1, 6-3 by Elena Vesnina of Russia, the latest setback in her return to tennis after being diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.

Williams, who has fallen to 58th in the rankings, lost the first five games to the 79th-ranked Russian and, although she picked up her game and fought hard, was never able to turn the match around. Afterward, she insisted she still has the motivation to return to the top of her game.

"I feel like I'm a great player," Williams said. "I am a great player. Unfortunately I have to deal with circumstances that people don't have to deal with normally in a sport, but I can't be discouraged by that. I'm up for challenges. I have great tennis in me. I just need the opportunity."

The next chance will be the Olympic tournament, which will be played at Wimbledon three weeks after the end of the championships. Venus, who won gold in women's singles and doubles at the 2000 Olympics and bronze in doubles in Beijing four years ago, hopes to play both events again at the London Games.

"At the Olympics, you'll see me here," she said. "I'm planning on it."

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Molecule thought cancer foe actually helps thyroid tumors grow

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) ? A molecule widely believed to fight many forms of cancer actually helps deadly thyroid tumors grow, and cancer therapies now being tested in humans might boost the activity of this newly revealed bad guy, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida say.

Their findings are published online this month in the Journal of Cell Science.

The study found that in anaplastic thyroid cancer, the Forkhead transcription factor, FOXO3a, is not the helpful tumor suppressor everyone thought it was, but, instead, is a lethal promoter of tumor growth. When FOXO3a was silenced in laboratory models of human anaplastic thyroid cancer, the cells grew slowly, but when it was added, they grew much faster.

"This result is exactly the opposite of what we expected," says senior author John A. Copland, Ph.D., a Mayo cancer biologist. "We were more than surprised. We were concerned."

FOXO3a is known as a suppressor of tumor growth because it responds to all forms of cell stress, including that produced in cancer, by turning on genes inside the nucleus that trigger the cell's death. Cancer, in turn, is known to shut down FOXO3a by sending it out of the nucleus and into the cell's cytoplasm, where it is degraded. The molecule that ships FOXO3a out of the nucleus is Akt, which tries to keep cancer cells alive.

The research team used an Akt blocker -- similar to the ones now being used in human cancer clinical trials -- expecting to increase nuclear FOXO3a and suppress cancer growth in anaplastic thyroid cancer. They were trying to find a treatment for one of the deadliest known cancers, which accounts for just 2 percent of thyroid cancer cases in the U.S. but is responsible for about 40 percent of thyroid cancer deaths.

"The issue we are grappling with is that there are no effective treatments for this cancer. These tumors are so aggressive because there are so many genetic abnormalities," says study co-author Robert Smallridge, M.D., a Mayo endocrinologist who treats thyroid cancer patients. "We are studying what drives this cancer and how it can be treated."

The study showed that FOXO3a remained in the nucleus, with the use of an Akt inhibitor, and that instead of helping to kill cancer cells, FOXO3a was accelerating their growth. This raises concern about the use of Akt inhibitors since one of the mechanisms is to cause FOXO3a to remain active in the nucleus.

"We discovered a biological switch that turns FOXO3a from a good guy into a bad actor, but we don't know what that is yet, or in which cancers that might happen," says lead researcher Laura Marlow, a Mayo biologist.

"Cancer researchers, including those testing Akt inhibitors, should know that FOXO3a has pro-cancer activity as well as anti-cancer properties," Dr. Copland says. "Concern should be raised that an Akt inhibitor will enhance retention of FOXO3a in the nucleus, causing FOXO3a to remain active.

But there was some hopeful news regarding a potential therapy for the cancer. The researchers found that FOXO3a turns on a certain gene, cyclin A1, which promotes growth in the cancer cells. A different member of the cyclin family -- cyclin A2 -- is a well-known oncogene, but, before this study, no one had shown that cyclin A1 does the same thing as cyclin A2, says Peter Storz, Ph.D., a Mayo cancer biologist and co-author.

"It is not expressed much in human tissues and we found it highly expressed in anaplastic thyroid cancer," Dr. Smallridge says. "And that suggests that targeting cyclin A1 may be a possible strategy in treating anaplastic thyroid cancer."

The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, Mayo Clinic Research Committee, Florida Department of Health Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program, a gift from Alfred D. and Audrey M. Petersen, a grant for rare cancers from Dr. Ellis and Dona Brunton, and TGEN Institutional Research Funds. Co-authors included Christina von Roemeling, Simon Cooper, Ph.D., Yilin Zhang, Stephen Rohl, Han Tun, M.D., and Heike Doeppler, all from Mayo Clinic in Florida; Shilpi Arora, Ph.D., Irma M. Gonzales, Ph.D., and David O. Azorsa, Ph.D., all from The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen); and Honey V. Reddi, Ph.D., from Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic.

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Journal Reference:

1. Laura A. Marlow, Christina A. von Roemeling, Simon J. Cooper, Yilin Zhang, Stephen D. Rohl, Shilpi Arora, Irma M. Gonzales, David O. Azorsa, Honey V. Reddi, Han W. Tun, Heike R. D?ppler, Peter Storz, Robert C. Smallridge, and John A. Copland. Foxo3a drives proliferation in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma via transcriptional regulation of cyclin A1: A paradigm shift that impacts current therapeutic strategies. Journal of Cell Science, June 20, 2012 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.097428

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Teen Drinkers May Feel Like Social Outcasts: Study

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US regains supercomputer crown

18 June 2012 Last updated at 08:11 By Naveena Kottoor Technology reporter, BBC News

IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers for the US.

The newly installed system trumped Japan's K Computer made by Fujitsu which fell to second place.

It is the first time the US can claim pole position since it was beaten by China two years ago.

Sequoia will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the life of aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests.

It is installed at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

"While Sequoia may be the fastest, the underlying computing capabilities it provides give us increased confidence in the nation's nuclear deterrent," said National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) administrator Thomas D'Agostino.

"Sequoia also represents continued American leadership in high performance computing."

Adding processors

The computer is capable of calculating in one hour what otherwise would take 6.7 billion people using hand calculators 320 years to complete if they worked non-stop.

Although the US's efforts helped secure it the lead, its overall tally of three computers in the top 10 was worse than six months ago when it had five.

China and Germany both have two supercomputers, while Japan, France and Italy have one.

But IBM proved to be the leading manufacturer claiming five out of the top 10 spots.

David Turek, vice president of deep computing at the firm, told the BBC his company had been preparing to retake the top spot for two years.

"Substantial planning went into this. We knew the day would come."

Sequoia is 1.55 times faster than the Fujitsu model, and uses over 1.5 million processors.

In comparison the Japanese model has less than half the number of CPUs (central processing units).

Energy efficient

The IBM supercomputer is also more energy efficient than the Fujitsu model.

Sequoia consumes 7.9 megawatts compared to the K computer which uses 12.6 megawatts.

Mr Turek described Sequoia as the "pinnacle of energy efficiency" and said the reaction had been "very enthusiastic."

"Government laboratories in Europe have already expressed interest," he said.

The list is published every six months by German Professor Hans Meuer and US-based Professor Jack Dongarra.

Prof Dongarra told the BBC it was unlikely that another manufacturer would overtake IBM in the next year.

"Sequoia is very impressive," he said.

273,930 times faster

The first computer to take the top position on the list was the CM-5/1024 in 1993, designed by Thinking Machines.

According to Prof Dongarra, Sequoia is 273,930 times faster.

"A calculation that took three full days to compute on the Thinking Machines in 1993 today can be done in less than one second on the Sequoia," he said.

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on basic ?facts? vs ?skills? ? LifeBoy Says?

Posted: 17 June 2012 | Author: Roland Giesler | Filed under: Education, Social Comment |

I had a few tweets with Samantha Laing, Helen Zille & JC re facts vs skills and thought I?d write down my thoughts in a more ?agile? medium that twitter, so here goes!

Firstly, in education in general, we must approach things differently if we wish to have different results from what we?re currently having.

I made a point about basics.

That boils down to really basics.

I find many kids, a large number of black South Africans, but also, to a much a larger extent than previously, coloured and white kids (if I may generalise so brashly for this purpose), that do not have the basic ability to communicate, express their thoughts or write in any language. They cannot grow their skills by reading, unless they really really want to or have to, and then it is with great difficulty, simply because they cannot read. Of course, the under-stimulated mind is not interested in much, so this is a self-defeating cycle and few manage to break out of it. It?s a culture of entitlement, supported by the acts and talk of national government, not a culture of learning, self-improvement and development, that we currently have. Having said that, there are notable exceptions and sterling examples of quite the opposite, but sadly they are the exception, not the norm.

Reading kids rule!

I personally endeavour to motivate people (of all races & incomes) to read to their young children daily and to let the children read to other young ones again. I encourage them to use our public libraries and improving their own reading in process, starting with simple books, advancing as they make progress. I find, however, that there is a resistance to this, that watching TV is less effort, and therefore progress is slow. ?It doesn?t help, of course,?that we have a culture of laziness among many teachers in public schools (that for example sit and drink tea till first break or involving themselves in political activism during school-time, while primary school kids entertain themselves) while others work their fingers to the bone in an effort to somehow equip kids to be able to learn more and ?make a living?. The same goes for DoE officials who love spending money on futile pursuits and unproven educational experiments, or even worse, educational exploits that have been undeniably proven a failure. Instead of a pragmatic simple approach, they diddle-daddle with trivial and peripheral issues (attempting to bring high technology to kids for example), while kids come out of school being neither able to read nor write, let alone reason, spot logical fallacies or think creatively. The latter, is of course often due to the stifling of creativity in the schooling system.

My wife and I have home-schooled two kids and have two in public school, so we have seen how certain approaches just don?t work and how others have great results. ?We know how much kids from the same parents and home differ in learning style, interest and ability in different areas, let alone kids from different parents, homes and environments. ?I am therefore by no means closed to alternative views or approaches to education and skills development! I also taught at a high-school for a while and have seen the practical side from a teachers perspective and know the challenges faced in teaching children other that your own.

I furthermore firmly believe education is not primarily a function of Government, but one of the community. ?Once solution could be this: The elderly are often excellent teachers and have a lifetime of wisdom and experience to draw on in transferring skills, developing young people into achieving their dreams and making a meaningful contribution to society at large and individuals in particular. As it is now, many are simple shoved aside and considered a burden. Instead of giving social grants to the unemployed, maybe grants should be given to all elderly people that develop young people. The control that National Government attempts to exercise more and more in a clear attempt to maintain is power-base, it in itself shameful and deplorable, but by now means unique to South Africa. I saw with my own eyes as a teacher the unbelievable lows that the DoE stooped to during the teachers strike in 2004 in an all out attempt to not pay teachers more than their measly salaries ? straight lies, deceptive tactics and every dirty trick in the book, that I would not have believed, had I not seen it with my own eyes. ?The correlation between education and controlling poorly educated masses may not seem clear to all readers, but as I have pointed out elsewhere, it is much easier to control hungry, needy masses, than educated, enlightened free-thinking people.

We can however break this stranglehold, starting in our communities by grow a culture of learning, breaking the culture of entitlement, developing the live-long ability and desire to grow, learn and go where we haven?t been before. ?How is not easily answered, but one thing is certain: As soon a the DoE stops their monopolistic attitude towards education, especially since they?re failing dismally at it, and the national government actively supports educational efforts outside of their government box, we will make huge progress with this. ?Some points to consider on this regard:

1. Why are donations to schools and school fees not tax-deductible?to start with? ?How can anyone in government claim their are serious about education while strangling the development of schools in the community?
2. Why are schools forces in languages which are foreign to them and their communities? ?How many Afrikaans schools, with Afrikaans learners are forced to start teaching in English? ?Has the ANC learned nothing from (or rather since) the struggle?
3. Why are people that choose to home-school (and generally speaking having excellent results!) persecuted by the DoE, when in fact both the Constitution and the Education Act specifically protect the right of parents to home-school? ?Why does the DoE waste millions of Rands on these efforts, when they have so many schools that are ill equipped, even some with no classrooms?
4. By what right does the DoE pay subsidies to public schools, yet when the same tax-paying citizen send their children to a Waldorf, Montessori or other private school, they do not receive their fair share of the tax collected for education? ?Are most of these schools not superiour in the level of education, skills and ability that they ?produce?? ?Should they not therefore be supported even more?
5. Why are well-education, highly skilled teachers, that we?re ?fired? because of BEE, not brought back to alleviate the desperate shortage of skilled teachers? ?So what if they?re the ?wrong? colour!? ?When will the short sighted racism of the ANC stop and will they start serving South Africa, as their election mandate requires of them? ?Actually, when will the people who put them in power, remove them if they don?t deliver? ?This is not about politics, but when politics starts interfering with the development of the future of our country, it becomes all about politics.

I suppose there are more points that can be added here, but the principle is, simple. ?Government but stop their nanny state, preventive approach and support and encourage communities to grow, learn and thrive.

I?d like to hear from people that have ideas and experience in this!

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b.i.g

Hidden vitamin in milk yields remarkable health benefits

Friday, June 15, 2012

A novel form of vitamin B3 found in milk in small quantities produces remarkable health benefits in mice when high doses are administered, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The findings, recently reported in the June 2012 issue of the journal, Cell Metabolism, reveal that high doses of the vitamin precursor, nicotinamide riboside (NR) ? a cousin of niacin ? prevent obesity in mice that are fed a fatty diet, and also increase muscle performance, improve energy expenditure and prevent diabetes development, all without side effects.

The Swiss researchers, led by Dr. Johan Auwerx, performed the mouse experiments, while the ability to give the animals sufficient doses of NR was made possible by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, who played key roles in uncovering the biological story of NR.

"This study is very important. It shows that in animals, the use of NR offers the health benefits of a low-calorie diet and exercise ? without doing either one," says Dr. Anthony Sauve, associate professor of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Sauve is the pharmacologist and organic chemist who has invented a simple method for efficiently synthesizing NR in large scale. He was first to show that NR increases nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels in mammalian cells. NAD is a central player in energy metabolism. He has pioneered research into the compound, and he is a leader in investigating how NAD can signal adaptation in cells and in physiology.

"The research also suggests that the effects of NR could be even broader," Dr. Sauve says. "The bottom line is that NR improves the function of mitochondria, the cell's energy factories. Mitochondrial decline is the hallmark of many diseases associated with aging, such as cancer and neurodegeneration, and NR supplementation boosts mitochondrial functioning."

The Swiss researchers call NR a "hidden vitamin" that is believed to also be present in many other foods, although levels are low and difficult to measure. Nevertheless, the effects of NR on metabolism "are nothing short of astonishing."

Got nicotinamide riboside?

The study depended on a series of crucial discoveries by Dr. Sauve and his laboratory colleagues.

NR, related to niacin and other common forms of vitamin B3, was first investigated more than 60 years ago by a Stanford researcher and 1959 Nobel Laureate, Arthur Kornberg. But little more was known about its effects in mammals until Dr. Sauve discovered the effect NR had in stimulating levels of NAD in mammalian cells ? work he published in 2007.

NAD allows sugars, fats, and proteins to be converted into energy. Dr. Sauve's research provided the first evidence that NR enhances NAD levels in the mitochondria in mammalian cells in culture. These findings are published in the current study. These cell-based observations were key to the demonstration that NR could stimulate tissue NAD levels in animals, and that it could stimulate NAD-dependent sirtuins, which adapt physiology to the low calorie diets that are known to extend the lifespan of many organisms.

Dr. Sauve invented a relatively simple method for efficiently synthesizing NR in large scale so that its health benefits can be studied. This methodology, which makes it possible to make NR commercially available, was patented by Cornell's Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization and subsequently licensed to ChromaDex Corporation.

The development of a means to synthesize NR in adequate quantities was crucial to the current research, and the Sauve lab provided methods and NR to make the study possible. In addition, the biological observations on the effects of NR on NAD levels in cells and on mitochondria were key to the study. Finally, the Sauve laboratory has developed state of the art analytical methods to determine NAD levels in cells, tissues and organelles, and the laboratory provided several key metabolic measurements highlighted in the study.

"Our published scientific work has verified that NR is perhaps the most potent NAD enhancing agent ever identified," he says. His laboratory is also widely recognized for developing an expertise in the measurement of NAD metabolism in cell tissues.

With this compound, the Swiss researchers found that mice on a high-fat diet supplemented with NR gained significantly less weight (60 percent) than mice fed the same diet without NR, even though the mice supplemented with NR ate the same amount of food as mice on the high fat diet not treated with NR. They had improved energy. They were in better shape than the untreated mice, with significantly better endurance and stronger muscles. Additionally, none of the treated mice developed diabetes, as seen in the untreated mice on the high fat diet. And when fed a normal diet, NR treated mice had improved sensitivity to insulin. The NR treated mice also showed lower cholesterol levels. All of these benefits came without toxicity.

While the new study demonstrates that high doses of NR can largely prevent the negative health consequences of a poor diet in mice, Dr. Sauve stresses that the effects of high doses of the vitamin in humans have not been evaluated. "It is important to keep in mind that the amount of NR in milk and other foods appears to be small. We don't know what effects NR would have in humans at relatively high doses," he says.

"Still, we have very encouraging evidence of benefits of NR and NAD augmentation in general from this animal study ? and much more work to do," he says.

###

New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College: http://www.med.cornell.edu

Thanks to New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medical College for this article.

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Sony STR-DN1030 7.2-channel home theater receiver with Airplay and Bluetooth hands-on

Truth be told, we spend a lot of time listening to music, movies and hands-on video clips through our headphones and laptop speakers, but when it comes time to sink into the plush leather seats in a proper home theater, you better believe high-quality audio is a top priority. Sony's STR-DN1030 serves as an update to last year's STR-DN1020, and promises to deliver on that quality promise, with a bounty of connectivity options to boot. WiFi and built-in Ethernet enable the 7.2-channel digital receiver to stream from AirPlay, along with Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) music services including Music Unlimited, Pandora, Slacker and vTuner. The device is also DLNA compatible, IP controllable and it can power on (from standby mode) whenever you begin to stream a song over AirPlay or Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR connections.

We dropped by Sony's NYC headquarters for a quick peek at the DN1030, which we're told very quietly made the rounds at CES but has yet make its official debut. The receiver, which boasts 145 watts per channel (not including those dual powered-sub connections), was paired with seven high-end Bowers & Wilkins speakers and a powered Sony subwoofer. It's nearly impossible to pass complete judgement on any high-end audio product after a brief demo in a room that isn't optimized for sound, so audiophiles should certainly hear this thing for themselves before coming to any conclusions of their own. Still, we were quite pleased with performance from what we saw today -- Bluetooth and AirPlay connections appeared to be seamless, Slacker loaded quickly and audio quality was quite solid from all of the wireless sources, along with Avatar and a recorded Cream concert on Blu-ray. Best yet is the receiver's price -- the STR-DN1030 will set you back just $499 when it hits stores in mid-July.

Gallery: Sony STR-DN1030 7.2-channel network home theater receiver with Airplay and Bluetooth hands-on

Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.

Sony STR-DN1030 7.2-channel home theater receiver with Airplay and Bluetooth hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jonathan Quick Named MVP Of Stanley Cup Playoffs: Kings Goalie Wins Conn Smythe Trophy (VIDEOS)

LOS ANGELES ? Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP after yielding just 29 goals in Los Angeles' 20 playoff games on the way to the franchise's first Stanley Cup title.

Quick allowed just seven goals in six games in the Stanley Cup finals, capping a breakthrough season for the Vezina Trophy finalist who kept the Kings competitive while they were the NHL's lowest-scoring team for much of the regular season.

Quick then thoroughly dominated the playoffs, posting three shutouts and leading the league in pretty much every statistical category among goalies who started at least four games.

He was largely impenetrable in the finals, stopping 125 of 132 shots ? and two of New Jersey's seven goals against him deflected off Quick's teammate, Slava Voynov.

Quick is the second straight goalie to win the award, but had better numbers than Boston's Tim Thomas last season.

They might be the best in NHL history.

With a 1.41 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage in the postseason, Quick even set NHL records for goalies who played at least 15 postseason games. Quick's stats slid under Chris Osgood's 1.51 GAA for Detroit in 2008 and Jean-Sebastien Giguere's .945 save percentage for Anaheim in 2003.

"It's outstanding," Quick said. "I couldn't be more proud of this group. We had to fight for everything. Nothing was given to us."

The Conn Smythe is a fitting finish for the 26-year-old Quick, who finished with 35 wins, a 1.95 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage and a franchise-record 10 shutouts despite playing for the NHL's second lowest-scoring team.

Quick has been the Kings' best player and backbone all season, frequently carrying them through long stretches of mediocre skating and shooting. His stellar effort was the main reason the Kings were even close to playoff position in late February, when the lowest-scoring team at the time finally awoke its slumbering offense by trading for power forward Jeff Carter, who scored two goals in the finale.

"I think it's all about competing," Quick said. "You have to compete, always. That's something this organization preaches, and it makes us all feel so good to be on top now."

Quick earned his first All-Star berth for his steady excellence despite a stunning number of 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 losses this season. With an offense generating consistent goals since March, he has been nearly unbeatable, going 28-8-2 since Feb. 25.

While some will note the remarkably low scoring totals across the NHL playoffs when evaluating Quick's records, others will cite Quick as one of the main reasons for it.

Quick has better numbers than any goalie in recent playoff history ? and Quick looks nothing like most of the NHL's best netminders. He disdains the butterfly for his own unique style, and he played it to perfection this spring.

Most hockey minds' best comparison is Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk, whose low-to-the-ice style is the closest thing to Quick's agile, flexible puck-stopping strategy. He plays low and wide while his peers generally stand tall, using his aggression, anticipation and pure hustle to stop pucks.

Quick's teammates know he's locked in when he's crouching nearly parallel to the ice to watch the puck through his opponents' legs. He calls it "less style, more compete," and he praises the technique adjustments of Kings goaltending coach Bill Ranford, another Conn Smythe winner with Edmonton in 1990.

Quick's success has been a product of determination, because nobody expected spectacular things out of the kid from Hamden, Conn., who grew up idolizing the Rangers' Mike Richter. One of his earliest hockey memories is being at home with friends in 1994 when Richter backstopped New York to its first title in 54 years.

He was a third-round draft pick who played at UMass before moving to the ECHL's Reading Royals. He says he "messed up" a couple of shots at promotion from the AHL before sticking with the Kings in 2008-09, taking over the starting job midway through the season. He has kept it despite the rise of talented backup Jonathan Bernier, a first-round draft pick by general manager Dean Lombardi, who didn't draft Quick.

Quick has just been too good to unseat ? and after his playoff performance, he's clearly among the NHL's top handful of elite netminders and a surefire candidate to play for Team USA at the Sochi Olympics if the NHL allows its players to compete in 2014.

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Pinochet homage heats up bitter debate over legacy

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 1995 file photo, former Chilean dictator and military commander Gen. Augusto Pinochet is helped by a bodyguard to put on his coat during a military ceremony in Santiago, Chile, on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of his taking the post as head of the Chilean armed forces. Months after his appointment in 1973, Pinochet led the coup that ousted President Salvador Allende. Pinochet sympathizers will honor the former strongman on Sunday, June 10, 2012 with the screening of a new documentary about his dictatorship years in a Santiago theater. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 1995 file photo, former Chilean dictator and military commander Gen. Augusto Pinochet is helped by a bodyguard to put on his coat during a military ceremony in Santiago, Chile, on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of his taking the post as head of the Chilean armed forces. Months after his appointment in 1973, Pinochet led the coup that ousted President Salvador Allende. Pinochet sympathizers will honor the former strongman on Sunday, June 10, 2012 with the screening of a new documentary about his dictatorship years in a Santiago theater. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin, File)

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) ? The poster makes its plea from one of the pock-marked walls once splattered with blood at Londres 38, a former detention and torture center where 96 people died or disappeared during Chile's long dictatorship. It reads: "Pinochet, may your legacy die."

Yet that legacy is far from dead. Gen. Augusto Pinochet's loyalists on Sunday are holding their biggest gathering since his death in 2006, and it has ignited a national debate about the limits of freedom of speech as groups on the other side sought unsuccessfully to block the event.

There were worries about possible clashes between the two sides, as happened in November during a smaller event for another dictatorship official, and police planned to set up a wide perimeter in an effort to keep the opposing groups apart.

Sympathizers of Pinochet will honor the former strongman with the premiere of a documentary about the run-up to his dictatorship years. It casts him as a national hero who saved Chile from communism and who died victimized by vengeful leftists who accused him of embezzlement and human rights crimes.

The screening was organized by Corporacion 11 de Septiembre, named for the day when Pinochet seized power in a bloody 1973 coup that brought down the democratically elected government of Marxist President Salvador Allende.

"We want to set the record straight on Pinochet," Juan Gonzalez, a retired army officer who leads the pro-Pinochet movement, told The Associated Press. "We have stoically put up with the lies and cheating and seen how the story has been manipulated."

Although Gonzalez's own sister Francisca has said publicly she was tortured by Pinochet's forces, Gonzalez disputes that there were human rights abuses during the dictatorship. He says those killed and tortured where casualties of a war against leftist dissidents.

"Why can't we have a documentary if they have their monument to Allende," he said, referring to a statue outside the presidential palace with Allende's last words: "I have faith in Chile and its destiny. "

The homage for Pinochet comes against a backdrop of growing political divisiveness, with widespread street protests demanding more diversity in political parties as well as free education, protection of the environment and a greater distribution of the country's wealth.

Chile remains highly polarized over Pinochet and his 1973-90 reign.

His thick mustache, spotless dress uniforms and dark glasses, even the mere mention of his name, make many Chileans cringe over the memories of his shutting down Congress, outlawing political parties and sending thousands of dissidents into exile, while his police tortured and killed thousands more.

To his loyalists, though, Pinochet is the fatherly figure who oversaw Chile growth into economic prosperity and kept it from becoming a failed socialist state.

The current governing coalition led by the conservative Union Democrata Independiente and the center-right Renovacion Nacional is the first conservative government since Chile's return to democracy in 1990. Members of both parties supported Pinochet's dictatorship and several Pinochet-era officials now serve as lawmakers and mayors.

Analysts say Pinochetistas like Gonzalez are emboldened by the conservatives' winning control of the government in 2010.

Still, last year, President Sebastian Pinera's government officially recognized 9,800 more victims of the dictatorship. That increased the total list of people killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons during Pinochet's regime to 40,018. The government estimates 3,095 people were killed, including about 1,200 of whom no trace has ever been found.

About 700 military officials face court trials for the forced disappearance of dissidents and about 70 have been jailed under crimes against humanity.

"There's obviously an effort to revive and clean up Pinochet's image," said Marta Lagos, head of the Santiago-based pollster Mori. "They're saying: 'This is really a guy who deserves a tribute.' So I ask: What would happen in Germany if someone would try to pay tribute to Hitler?"

But Lagos says Chileans have a harder time deciding where the line should be drawn, because Pinochet died under house arrest without facing trial on charges of illegal enrichment and human rights violations.

"We're facing an ambiguous situation, especially among the younger generations who were not part of the time and who have never voted or are apolitical," Lagos said. "The fact that he wasn't judged turns out to be a major point. They see this man who was never convicted and think, 'Well, there must be a reason.'"

Families of the dictatorship's victims are outraged over the efforts to praise Pinochet, calling it a dangerous campaign to rewrite Chile's history.

"We can't allow this homage because it seeks to vindicate the dictatorship, the state-sponsored terrorism and its crimes," Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Families of Detainees and Missing People, said at Londres 38. She wore a black-and-white-photo around her neck of her brother Vicente Israel Garcia, a student and Socialist Party member who disappeared in 1977.

"Our family members didn't die in vain in the struggle for democracy for something like this to be allowed. But Pinochetistas are not the only ones to blame for this. The government must be held accountable for this serious blow against democracy," Garcia said.

Relatives of the disappeared and more than a dozen human rights groups sent a letter to Pinera asking him to ban Sunday's event. But the government said organizers had the right to express themselves. Human rights groups also appealed to the courts but the request was denied.

Guillermo Holzmann, a political science professor at the Universidad de Valparaiso, said the event could bring a needed discussion on Pinochet and his regime.

"Chile has to start a new maturity phase," Holzmann said. "This issue must be on top of the table, not hidden under the rug, so that society's evolution on its own leaves them aside. ... I'm sure that the radical visions on Pinochet don't represent the opinion of the majority, but that has to be shown."

Associated Press

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David P. Angel: Peter Thiel's Message Is Simply Wrong

A recent 60 Minutes segment profiled billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel's "20 Under 20" fellowship program in which he pays selected students $100,000 apiece to forgo college and devote their time to working on their inventions. Thiel contends that college is a debt-fueled waste of time for many, and points to innovators like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who have achieved success without the benefit of a college diploma. While I admire the entrepreneurial spirit driving Mr. Thiel's venture, his message is simply wrong when considered as a blueprint for young adults considering whether to invest in a college education.

Are there, across this country, young entrepreneurs who have the kernel of a new innovation ready to be developed into a product or market opportunity? I do not doubt that the answer to that question is yes. Could some of those entrepreneurs, working with others, succeed in bringing their ideas to market while bypassing college? The answer to that question is also yes. After all, as Peter Thiel has noted, there are innovators who have done exactly that. And it may be that the "20 under 20" fellowship program is a way of identifying a few of these young entrepreneurs who are likely to succeed.

But this does not mean that forgoing college is the wise choice for the vast majority of young adults. For the majority, such a decision is akin to buying a lottery ticket because somebody else just won a million-dollar prize. The luck of one lottery winner does not predict your likelihood of success. Indeed the odds are stacked against you. And the risks of dispensing with a college education in the hope of winning the entrepreneurship prize are very high. The income discrepancy between those with a higher education degree and those without is substantial -- according to the U.S. Census Bureau the holder of a bachelor's degree will on average earn about $1 million more in the course of his or her working life than a high school graduate.

How do emerging adults across this country view the link between college and successful careers? According to the Clark University Poll of Emerging Adulthood, 82 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 agree that one of the most important keys to success in life is a college education.

The Clark University Poll, which is associated with the research of Clark University Psychology Professor Dr. Jeffrey Arnett, who coined the term "emerging adulthood," also notes a paradox among this demographic group. Despite the clear value they place on a college degree, 66 percent of those surveyed believe they can find a good job even without a college education. This is consistent with Dr. Arnett's research, which reveals that emerging adults are adamantly optimistic about the world and their place in it. Even during bleak times, they maintain a positive outlook about their personal prospects.

The best colleges fuse students' optimism with their big ideas and channel them into successful outcomes. It is in this process of college student growth and transformation that innovation and entrepreneurship have something to teach us. Part of Peter Thiel's message is that there are skills and capabilities important to career success that are most effectively nurtured and deployed in demanding true-life situations. Capabilities such as resilience, the ability to analyze risk and make effective decisions in fast-changing environments, the ability to mobilize others behind important ideas, are all effectively developed when a student's classroom education is closely linked to creative problem-solving in the world.

The good news is that colleges and universities across this country are developing programs to provide more of these opportunities for our students. Indeed, with gathering pace higher education is reconsidering the links between the classroom and the world, implementing a wide variety of creative ways for students to gain the knowledge and perspective that comes from knowledge, theory and understanding while building up capabilities of effective practice. In some cases this takes the form of entrepreneurship programs, such as Clark University's program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. But it also involves placements in existing businesses, hospitals, art museums and other organizations, cutting-edge student research conducted in the community and around the world, new study-abroad opportunities, and a fresh approach to student volunteerism and civic engagement.

As colleges and universities prepare their students for life after graduation, they do so with a keen sense that today's global economy requires its workers to be nimble, adaptable and resilient. I encourage students to look carefully at the opportunities colleges and universities provide to hone these skills and capabilities beyond the classroom. These robust opportunities enhance the return on education for our students, our country and our world.

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All but three states reject 'pink slime' in school lunches

The vast majority of states participating in the National School Lunch Program have opted to order ground beef that doesn't contain the product known as lean finely textured beef, or 'pink slime.'

By Candice Choi,?Associated Press / June 5, 2012

This March 29 photo shows the beef product known as lean finely textured beef, or 'pink slime,' during a plant tour of Beef Products Inc. in South Sioux City, Neb., where the product is made.

Nati Harnik/AP/File

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The nation's school districts are turning up their noses at "pink?slime," the beef product that caused a public uproar earlier this year.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the vast majority of states participating in its National School Lunch Program have opted to order ground beef that doesn't contain the product known as lean finely textured beef.

Only three states ? Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota ? chose to order beef that may contain the filler.

The product has been used for decades and federal regulators say it's safe to eat. It nevertheless became the center of national attention after the nickname "pink?slime" was quoted in a New York Times article on the safety of meat processing methods. The filler is made of fatty bits of beef that are heated then treated with a puff of ammonia to kill bacteria.

In response to the public outcry over its use, the USDA said in March said that it would for the first time offer schools the choice to purchase beef without the filler for the coming 2012-2013 school year. The agency has continued to affirm that lean finely textured beef is a safe, affordable and nutritious product that reduces overall fat content.

But as of May 18, the agency says states ordered more than 20 million pounds of ground beef products that don't contain lean finely textured beef. Orders for beef that may contain the filler came to about 1 million pounds.

Because schools were not given a choice last year, all states may have previously received beef with the product mixed in. The USDA estimates that lean finely textured beef accounted for about 6.5 percent of ground beef orders.

The agency is still accepting orders for the upcoming school year.

The USDA does not buy lean finely textured beef directly, but purchases finished products from beef vendors who must meet the agency's specifications for orders; products can consist of no more than 15 percent of the product.

The USDA's National School Lunch Program buys about 20 percent of the products served in schools across the country; the rest is purchased by schools or school districts directly through private vendors.

The percentage of beef that schools get through the USDA tends to be higher, however, because beef is expensive and schools like to take advantage of the favorable prices the government can negotiate.

Schools aren't the only ones rejecting the product. In the wake of the public outcry, fast food chains and supermarkets have also vowed to stop selling beef with the product.

Beef Products Inc., the South Dakota company that makes lean finely textured beef, has been reeling from the controversy. This month, the company announced that it will shutter three of its four plants.

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37 Ways to Get Traffic To Your Website | Business 2 Community

Each and every business today can benefit from a website. It can be a promotional site, an extension of your sales or services, and even the entirety of your business if you?re online-only. Once you?ve got a website developed and ready to go, you?ve got to get people visiting it. Here are 37 ways to drive the traffic you need to your site and earn the online exposure you want.

Online Advertising

Pay Per Click ? Text ads through Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter, or any third-party PPC client.

Search Engine Optimization ? Embed keywords into your site content that draws traffic from relevant search results.

Blogging For Business ? Keep a business-relevant blog with regular updates, and you?ll be rewarded with higher page ranking and more search traffic from web searches.

Twitter ? The premiere microblogging social network service. Reach out to thousands of customers, professionals, and associates in under 140 characters.

Facebook ? The gold standard of online communication and social networking. Facebook Pages for Business let you customize your promotions, and per-click advertisements can draw extra traffic.

Google+ ? Google?s answer to Facebook, now with integrated search results. Establish a profile for your business, reach out to customers, and improve your page rank with upcoming AuthorRank search engine perks.

Google Places ? Tell Google about your business, and it will show up in local relevant searches with your information. Help Google help others find you.

Pinterest ? This hot new social sharing website is a favorite for older crowds willing to explore and spend more. Excellent for building positive feedback with potential customers.

Youtube ? Can you produce a lot of useful or entertaining video through your business? Host your own video content on Youtube, or advertise with the service for additional exposure.

Yelp ? Monitor what your customers think of your business, improve your services from direct suggestions, and encourage customers to drive traffic to your site by reviewing you online.

Other Social Media ? Go to where your customers are. Foursquare, LinkedIn, online forums; just about anywhere you can reach potential customers is untapped potential.

Banners ? Purchasing ad placements through third-party services can be pricey, but if your customers will see it, it may be worth the expense.

Affiliate Advertising ? Advertise other products and services your customers may appreciate, or advertise your own business on other relevant websites.

Email Newsletters ? Staying in touch with past customers is easy with email blasts and newsletters. Turn previous visitors into repeat customers with email campaigns.

Local Savings Offers Online ? Sites like Groupon and Livingsocial can distribute discounts coupons online and generate buzz for your website.

Purchasing Untargeted Traffic ? If you?re hurting for hits, you can sink money into untargeted traffic that may or may not bite on your website. Truly a last resort?your money can be better spent elsewhere.

Unplugged

Print Ads ? Purchasing newspaper and magazine ads is a great way to attract attention off the internet.
Event Sponsorships ? Drum up goodwill towards your business and your website by underwriting or hosting an event, locally or nationally.

Word of Mouth ? Nothing beats positive promotions directly from happy customers. Make your customers and clients happy, and they?ll send more business to you.

Local Business Affiliations ? Partner with small businesses in your area and cross-promote each other?s products and services.

Promotional Products ? Order a set of branded pens, notepads, or any other inexpensive, fun items. Give these away in-house or on-location at professional events with a link to your website.

Direct Mail Kits ? Direct mailers can be more than informative. Sending calendars, promotional items, or interactive ?pop-up? mailers can make an excellent impression and drive interest towards your website.

Press Releases ? Publishing press releases for your services and distributing them to news outlets can get added exposure to your site. Press releases can be published online, as well, and appear in searches.

Awareness Campaigns ? Sponsor awareness campaigns for causes and charities. If you?ve been affected by breast cancer, sponsor a Breast Cancer Awareness Month event or campaign.

TV and Radio ? TV and radio can extend your business?s reach with a well-placed interview or commercial purchase.

Local Discounts ? Offer local customers with return discounts, membership bonuses, and more. Reward your loyal customers with online and offline deals.

Branding Makeover ? Consider rebranding your business with a new logo, a refreshed website and an attractive new edge over your competition. Image can make the difference between loyal business and unimpressed visitors.

Creative

QR Codes ? Leave a hyperlink in physical space. Generate QR codes for print materials and send users to your mobile site directly.

Viral Content ? Never underestimate the power of viral content. Entertainment worth sharing can attract hundreds of thousands of new potential customers overnight.

Alternate Reality Games ? If you?re promoting a larger client or need to generate some long-term buzz, an ARG can grab the interests of dedicated customers and hobby sleuths by wrapping your brand in mystery and intrigue. Very complicated to pull off, but it can keep your brand viral for months.

Layar ? Set up virtual installations and promotional materials in physical space. Invite customers to visit the virtual side of your physical location, or send them on a digital scavenger hunt into the real world. Layar is a fun little service with infinite possibilities.

Mobile App ? Many small towns and small business communities have found mobile apps to be an interesting new source of traffic and customer leads. Smartphone users engage with apps longer than they do standard advertisements.

Brand Your Vehicle ? If you?re doing a lot of in-town commuting, your car can attract new traffic by branding your business or personal vehicle with your company?s address.

Operate Uniquely ? Are you doing something original? Is your business like no other? Your unique approach to business is definitely worth some additional exposure, be it from online interest articles and interviews, or local TV and radio reports.

Involve Customers ? Getting personal and reaching out to your customers can turn them into evangelists and advocates for your brand. Empower word of mouth advertising with a personal approach to communicating with your customers.

Kickstarter ? Kickstarter is an online crowd-funding platform. If you have a good idea, throw it on the site and let the community help you fund it. Just about anything and everything can be funded through Kickstarter if it gathers enough interest and is useful to a wider audience.

Local Improvement Projects ? Give back to your community by sponsoring improvement projects and getting your customers and neighbors involved. Get your hands dirty, do something good for your community, and you?ll see results in your business and online traffic.

These are primarily advertising techniques, but the secret to attracting traffic to your website is to be a good marketer for your company. These ideas are just starting points, and it?s up to you to find out what works best for your business. If you have any other excellent suggestions for attracting traffic, tell us about it!

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Blackberry Porsche Design p9981 - Classifieds UK - Free Online ...

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Groupon stock tumbles as IPO lock-up period ends

NEW YORK (AP) ? Groupon's stock is tumbling as insiders are selling their shares after a post-IPO prohibition was lifted.

Employees and other insiders are required to wait before selling their stock following a company's initial public offering. Groupon's lock-up period expired on Friday. The company went public on Nov. 4.

Shares of Chicago-based Groupon Inc. fell 93 cents, or 8.7 percent, to $9.71 in midday trading Friday. Earlier, the stock was as low as $9.53. That's the lowest since its IPO, which priced at $20.

Friday was a bad day for the overall stock market, too. A closely watched report showed that the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs than expected last month.

Associated Press

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How To Fix Up The Problems Of Your Distant Relationship - WordNice

All of my friends seem to say that long distance relationships are worthless. I?ve personally met a lot of people who are content with their distant relationships. It is difficult to maintain such a relationship but if you know each other well enough, it should not be too difficult to keep the relationship alive. Find some great tips on how to maintain a relationship here.

If you really wish to succeed in maintaining a distant relationship, it is really important for you to completely trust your partner. Don?t be like those ignorant people who forget the value of trust in a relationship and later cry when they break up.

Only one thing can save this relationship and that is lots of good communication. Trust me, if you give this relationship your time and interest, it is going to be really easy for you to successfully maintain a healthy relationship with your partner.

Did you know that giving time to a relationship is what mostly neglected these days? Only those relationships fall apart quickly where people forget that they need to be in constant touch with their partners. It is very important that the two of you share every single detail of what?s happening in your life to keep things moving. These small small details that you?re going to share with one another is going to help you both in a long way managing the relationship.

The second issue I?d like to discuss is signs of jealousy which is very common in most long distance relationships. If you let jealousy take control of your emotions, you are surely on the path of a break up very soon. I wouldn?t blame you entirely for feeling jealous towards your partner as it is the distance that plays the role of being a culprit. The best way to overcome jealousy is to have more trust in your partner and only then are you going to sustain this tough ride of distant relationship that you?re facing right now.

Most men like having private talks with their girlfriends and so it is important that you two do it sometimes. This will help ensure that the your relationship remains spicy for a long time to come.

You cannot ever become successful in managing a long distance relationship if you just never compromise. You must learn how to compromise and yet stay very happy and only then would your relationship emerge successful. You will be surprised to see how many people out there manage to compromise all the time and yet stay happy. Guess what, those guys pretty much the ones who are most successful when it comes to long distance relationships.

You can definitely take the above points into account when trying to find solutions in fixing up your relationship.

Are you looking for some free and quality dating advice? I?m sure you would love to receive all those advice. The dating game is very easy to leran and adopt. Read our websites at WaysToAskAGirlOut and Ala1wck4le Twitter.

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