Ducks get back-to-back Atlantic League titles as Ray Navarrete comes up big in last game

<rob zombie halloween blu rayp> BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Win or lose, Sunday night's Game 5 of the Atlantic League Championship Series was going to be the finale for the Long Island Ducks' Ray Navarrete.

Navarrete, making his first start of the series, had a big hand in making it a win. The designated hitter's three-run blast to leftfield in the fourth inning gave the Ducks the lead for good as they defeated the Somerset Patriots, 6-4, at TD Bank Ballpark to win their second consecutive league championship.

The Ducks won the series 3-2, after dropping Games 3 and 4 in Bridgewater to extra-inning walk-offs by the Patriots, including a more than 5-hour game Saturday.

Following rightfielder Adam Bailey's series-ending catch close to the wall and the celebration on the mound, Navarrete was carried on the shoulders of his teammates to the dugout.

"We weren't swinging the bat well and we needed a spark," Ducks manager Kevin Baez said about his decision to start Navarrete. "To go out like this is special. He deserves it."

Somerset scored in the first and held that advantage until the fourth.

The Ducks' Bill Hall (2-for-4, two doubles) hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a groundout. Ramon Castro singled up the middle to tie the score. Ryan Strieby followed with a walk and Navarrete went deep with David Harden's first offering.

"I walked up to the plate and said I was going to let it go if he threw a first-pitch fastball," said Navarrete, an eight-year member of the Ducks. "That home run felt like it took two hours to get over the wall."

Long Island added two more runs in the fifth inning.

John Brownell, the winning pitcher in Game 1, pitched into the ninth inning of this game and was named finals MVP.

He got off to a shaky start, walking leadoff man Jonny Tucker, who scored on Yunesky Sanchez's double in the corner. But Brownell got out of that and settled down, allowing solo homers to Sanchez and Jeff Baisley once the Ducks took the lead.

"Brownell's been our bulldog all year," Baez said. "[Somerset] kept coming. It was uplifting for us and Brownell settled down."

Brownell said: "I just kept confident. There was a lot of game left. I trust in our hitters and defense to pick me up, and they did."

Leo Rosales came on to close out the Patriots, who had the tying run at the plate.

"That's the last time I'm going to be on the field as a player," the 35-year-old Navarrete said. "You couldn't be more grateful how it ended, like a perfect ending in a movie."

Be the first to rate:

Click to rate

Source: Newsday

Essay: First frost 'like dental floss in a Halloween bag'

Editor's note: This is an essay by Tim Torkildson of Provo, who was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has settled in Provo to be closer to his children and grandchildren.

Growing up in Minnesota, I know all about the First Frost.

It came like a funeral wreath to a birthday party; like floaties in Kool Aid; like dental floss in a halloween dvds for kids bag. The weather was always perfect prior to the First Frost. The Killing Frost, my grandparents called it glumly. The blue in the sky was brighter than a bottle of Windex, and the clouds rolled about as ponderous as performing cotton elephants. Crisp leaves square danced around the curb and gutters. I could wear my Twins windbreaker or not -- the temperature hardly registered on me at all. The sun had lost all viciousness and fell on me as a purring cat curling up on my arms. The evenings were once again full of new episodes of Red Skelton and Dick Van Dyke. I secretly had a crush on Cathy from the Patty Duke Show -- and a new fall season would reawaken my budding libido.

And then our avuncular TV weatherman, Bud Kraehling, would apologetically announce the First Frost. Indian summer was over. Everything would die back and turn black, and there would be no snow to cover the massacre for several more weeks. Just a bleak, withered landscape. "The harvest is past, the summer is over, and we are not saved." Perhaps I was overly sensitive to atmospheric conditions, but I always reverted to wetting the bed for a few days after the First Frost.

Somehow, I survived the First Frosts of childhood to grow up and bring forth a quiver full of children myself. I endeavored to shield them from the devastating effects of the First Frost. As soon as I heard the ingratiating voice of Mike Lynch forecast the First Frost, I would bound into the living room, where the kids were sprawled on the floor and couch, hobbling large parts of their brains with Nintendo games.

"Guess what, my little poppets!" I would gush at them.

They would just gaze at me, without speaking -- silently asking "What now, old man?"

"Jack Frost is coming to visit us tonight! Isn't that nifty? We'd better get ready for him, don't you think?"

They did not even try to humor me. At some silent, intuitive command they turned their backs to me in unison and went back to Nintendo Land.

All right. If I couldn't catch them with honey, I'd give 'em a little vinegar.

"Hey! You lazy bums, get off your duffs! We gotta put some bed sheets over the tomatoes so they don't freeze tonight. Move it, you couch potatoes!"

The box holding the ancient and yellowed linen sheets was in the garage -- somewhere. I made sure to put it someplace where I could lay my hands on it easily each year after pulling them off the plants, but each year it seemed like my idea of where I could lay my hands on them easily would change radically. By the time I would discover the box, thoughtfully tucked under the storm windows (oh-oh, weren't they up yet?) the kids would be gamboling through the family vegetable patch, bombarding each other with overripe tomatoes and smashing the zucchini with their insolent feet.

"Get over here!" I snarled, handing each one a sheet and pointing to the weedy tomato plant they should cover. Some of the plants were taller than the kids, and besides, these old sheets were exactly what a ghost would wear to haunt a garden, so I had to snatch the sheets from them and put them on the tomato plants myself. Inevitably, I would trip on an overlooked zucchini that had grown to the size of a watermelon and fall flat on my face. This resulted in general hilarity on the part of those lazy cretins I was trying to protect from the devastation of the First Frost. Now I felt like murdering them.

But I did not give up. The night of the First Frost I made it a habit to have plenty of caramels and apples on hand, so we could make caramel apples around the kitchen table after dinner. Unfortunately, at least one of the children would cram as many caramels in his or her mouth as possible and then begin to choke. The resulting Heimlich maneuver would shoot a gob of caramel right through a window pane. The apples were bound to be wormy anyways.

Today, when I heard the First Frost was coming, I made sure the hot chocolate stash is full, got a blanket out of the hall closet, and laid in a stock of The Patty Duke Show DVDs. Leave the tomatoes on the vine SEmD I'm going to enjoy myself.

* Tim Torkildson works as a consultant, providing content for websites such as scripturepoetry.com. His work also appears regularly in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper.

Source: Heraldextra

Don Jon is an interesting yet humdrum look at a porn addiction

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Halloween: From Black Sabbath maze to real 'Purge,' new ways to scare

Posted: 09/27/2013 02:14:04 PM PDT

Updated: 09/27/2013 02:42:25 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES -- Ozzy Osbourne can't help himself.

While on a behind-the-scenes trek through a Universal Studios Hollywood attraction based on the recently released black halloween costumes Sabbath album "13," Osbourne spots a bloody mannequin corpse reclining on a phony altar. Without hesitating, the gruesomely theatrical Sabbath frontman leans down and acts like he's devouring the blood from the decapitated body with his tongue.

Faced with increasingly hardcore rivals and savvy visitors, organizers of such Halloween attractions this year have conjured up several new theatrical and technological innovations in hopes of licking the competition, as well as promoting entertainment fare like horror films and records. For Sabbath, it marks the first time their tunes have been turned into a maze.

"It adds another dimension to what we do, which is incredible because we've been doing it for 45 years," said Osbourne while standing inside the attraction. "It's been a remarkable year because we had our first No. 1 album in America -- believe it or not -- and now this. I've never seen anything like it. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up."

"Well, don't wake up in here," joked Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler next to him.

For the first time since Halloween Horror Nights returned to the Universal Studios backlot in 2007, creative director John Murdy has incorporated video effects into a maze. In a room inspired by the song "Electric Funeral" within Sabbath's colorful 3D realm, monitors made to look like windows broadcast explosive 3D visuals in tandem with a wind machine.

"I just thought it would be cool to have a nuclear bomb go off and our guests be in the middle of that," said Murdy.

In recent years, Halloween Horror Nights traded warrens based on long-running slash-'em-up franchises like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" for attractions inspired by more contemporary properties, such as the "Hostel" movies, "Silent Hill"

video games and "The Walking Dead" television series.

The biggest challenges for Murdy and his team for this year's six Universal mazes included figuring out how to depict the freaked-out kid from "Insidious" constantly shivering in his bed while toy rocking horses galloped by themselves. Also troublesome was how hordes of guests could be vomited on all night long by an "Evil Dead" demon.

"They're all like little science projects," said Murdy. "No matter how successful we were the previous year, our philosophy is to always treat it like it's the first year we're back in business."

Beyond the rotating attractions at Halloween Horror Nights, a few celebrities have invested in their own haunted attractions. "Hostel" filmmaker Eli Roth opened his year-round maze Goretorium in Las Vegas last year, and Neil Patrick Harris serves as one of the producers of Delusion, an annual theatrical Halloween experience taking place this year in an old Los Angeles church.

Several spooks at this year's Halloween Horror Nights are hyping new releases from the entertainment industry. Besides Sabbath's "13," there's a "scare zone" populated by actors dressed as the nasty Chucky doll from the direct-to-DVD sequel "Curse of Chucky," and a new maze incorporating supernatural elements from the "Insidious" films.

"I think it strengthens the brand," said Jason Blum, producer of "The Purge," "Insidious" and "Paranormal Activity" horror flicks. "Because it's done so well, it also gives us a little more street cred. In the case of 'The Purge,' there's so much mythology that wasn't necessarily included in the first film, it makes it well suited to a live event."

In addition to the attractions based on both "Insidious" chapters and "The Purge" at Universal Studios, Blum and his Blumhouse production company are hosting their own Halloween event that expands on the kill-or-be-killed mythology of "The Purge" in a shuttered theater in downtown LA.

While the event will include a traditional maze in the theater's basement, "The Purge: Fear the Night" will also invite guests to freely roam around upstairs and interact with more than 40 actors portraying members of the Founding Fathers group depicted in the film. Some guests who give up their cellphone numbers may also be contacted with clues throughout the evening.

At Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., the 10 mazes that comprise the 41-year-old Knott's Scary Farm haunt are based on original storylines, not established franchises. Without such brand equity, the organizers are hoping some new tricks -- such as suspending "scare-actors" from the ceiling of a magical maze -- will attract victims.

For the second year, Knott's will also feature a special attraction called "Trapped," which requires advanced reservations and costs an extra $60 on top of a regular ticket.

Unlike the conga-line labyrinth structure of most haunts, "Trapped" strands no more than six visitors inside fear-inducing environments where they must overcome phobias or solve puzzles, such as eating bugs or escaping a giant rat cage, to progress through the attraction.

"It's an opportunity to do what we've never been able to do in our other mazes," said Lara Hanneman, director of technical entertainment for the theme park. "We're able to have many more interactions with our guests that go beyond just jumping out and scaring them."

Source: Mercurynews

By Alistair Scrutton

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Despite the rapid pace of technology that has overhauled many consumer goods, the front door lock and key is little changed since the 1800s. That is about to change - to virtual keys in data clouds, if the world's biggest lockmaker gets its way.

Assa Abloy, which makes one in ten locks worldwide, is the muscle behind brands such as Yale. But the lock technology it is now developing means consumers will be able to open doors with a tap of their mobile phones, visitors will be able to download a key online and business owners will be able to lock and unlock their premises remotely.

"I think most people will go digital. People will rely more on a secure identity than a physical key, provided over the net into your mobile phone," says Johan Molin, Assa Abloy's lean 54-year-old chief executive.

Electro-mechanical locks like key cards in hotels now account for almost half of Assa Abloy's sales compared with 13 percent a decade ago, and the company believes this is just the start of growing demand from consumers for more flexible, high-tech locking mechanisms.

At its Stockholm headquarters, some of Assa Abloy's staff are trialling different versions of virtual keys downloaded to mobile phones that open a lock simply with a swipe of the phone. The company is also working up versions where phones with bluetooth or wireless links could automatically open doors when within a certain distance. Other keys can be set to switch on at a certain date and expire on another date, meaning someone renting a flat, for example, need no longer hand over physical keys at the end of their stay.

The digital keys can be embedded in SIM cards, within software or inside the phone itself, thanks to Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, or short range wireless that within a few years may be standard in most mobile devices. U.S. research firm ABI Research has estimated that the number of NFC enabled devices will exceed 500 million in 2014.

The new key technology could also unlock higher recurring revenues. While traditional locks last on average four decades, electro-mechanical locks have lifespans of 10-15 years and software coupled with more fickle consumer electronics means these locks will need to be routinely replaced or updated.

It is a model Assa is confident that consumers used to frequently upgrading their phones and tablets will accept.

"People will have the same kind of relationship to their lock that they have to their computer. They will want to have the latest features, designs," Molin said.

Just this week Apple launched its new iPhone 5S, with a fingerprint scanner, replacing the need for passwords and PIN numbers with biometric security.

DRIVING CHANGE

But selling locks is a delicate business and the market traditionally conservative. Some consumers, especially in Europe, are reluctant to move from the security of physical keys to a more opaque system, particularly amid worries about cybersecurity. Additionally the cost involved - a digital Yale lock is about 30 percent more expensive than a traditional one - currently limits the technology to high-end households.

So Assa Abloy's strategy is to make the technology a good fit with businesses and institutions like hotels, hospitals and schools, which account for three quarters of its sales, in order to 'normalise' the new product, lower costs and ultimately drive broader consumer acceptance.

With this in mind the company has boosted research and development spending 129 percent since 2005 and in 2012 spent about $210 million, or 2.9 percent of sales, on R&D.

That 2.9 percent is around the industry average for R&D spending, analysts say, as Assa's U.S. rivals in particular, Ingersoll-Rand and Stanley Black & Decker chase the same new markets.

"The challenge for Assa Abloy is to move fast enough," said Carlo Pompili, CEO of Swedish startup firm Telcred which is working on new locking technology. "It's a huge market with many nuances. They cannot think of everything. That opens up space for other companies."

Alongside its own technological research Assa Abloy says it will continue to do deals that advance its products.

"We of course try and focus on our own innovation," says Daniel Berg, vice-president of Assa Abloy mobile keys. "But complementary acquisitions could happen if there is a start-up with a great idea."

The company has a long history of buying up competitors. More than ten years ago it bought U.S. firm HID, an early secure ID card producer, giving it a big advantage in a market providing secure computer access that subsequently boomed. It then bought up U.S.-based ActivID in 2010, adding a layer of more sophisticated digital identity recognition to that product line. With an eye on its current direction, Assa Abloy reached a deal in 2012 with Oberthur, a leading manufacturer of SIM cards, allowing it to embed its digital keys in Oberthur's cards. A consumer buying Oberthur's product need only then buy an App to get access to Assa Abloy's key code.

There are newer and smaller competitors pushing forward in this area, like U.S.-based Lockitron, which makes devices to lock and unlock deadbolts via remote control, or Spain's Salto, making lock software tailored to businesses. But in a still-developing market few can compete with Assa Abloy's reach.

"High-tech locks, using phones, etc, are the future, but the question is how fast it will grow?" said Oscar Stjerngren, an analyst at Danske Bank. "Assa Abloy are so dominant globally they can drive this transition in the high-tech lock market."

OLD & NEW

Global reach means catering to a rich mix of national nuances that in turn require a combination of products - so Assa Abloy is not turning its back on traditional security just yet.

North American consumers still spend twice as much on "emergency exit devices" such as fire escape doors than Europeans. Northern Europeans spend three to four times as much on high security household locks than North Americans.

"In America it's all about getting out. In Europe it is all about avoiding people getting in," Molin said.

The company's most recent buy was more traditional hardware - in September it acquired the firedoors business of Polish-based Mercor to give it access to growing markets in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

It is also planning acquisitions of hardware manufacturers and traditional locksmiths in China, South America and India, though demand for digital locks is growing fast in the first two of those markets.

Demand for high-tech security is particularly strong in Brazil, where violent crime is common. Not only is fingerprinting identification for cash withdrawal machines becoming popular, but banks and consumers are requesting an extra layer of security that allows the machines to analyse blood vessels in the finger to recognise whether the person to whom it belongs is alive or dead.

(Additional reporting by Johanness Hellstrom; Editing by Sophie Walker)

Source: Yahoo

amanda Knox spent four years in an Italian prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher. She appealed and was released in 2011. Italy's Supreme Court has said the appeals court judges overlooked evidence against Amanda Knox.

By Tom Brown, Reuters / September 21, 2013

Amanda Knox, the American student accused of murdering her British roommate in Italy in 2007, said on Friday that "common sense" told her not to return to Italy for a retrial due to begin on Sept. 30.

Skip to next paragraph

"It's not a possibility," Knox said in an interview on NBC television's "Today" show. It is the first time she has said she will not go back to Italy.

"I was imprisoned as an innocent person and I just can't relive that," she told "Today" show host Matt Lauer.

Knox, 26, spent four years in prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher, whose half-naked body was discovered with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat in the apartment the two shared while studying in Perugia in central Italy.

Following an appeal, Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were acquitted in 2011 and she returned to her Seattle, Washington-area home. The Italian Supreme Court ordered a retrial in March due to inconsistencies in the appeal court's decision to release Knox and Sollecito.

"There are so many factors that are not allowing me to go back - financial ones, ones where I'm going to school, ones where I want the court to proceed without distraction," Knox said.

"I was imprisoned as an innocent person. It's common sense not to go back," she added.

Knox does not have to attend the retrial and can be represented by her lawyers.

She said she expected to win acquittal again at the new trial and insisted that not traveling to Florence to face her accusers should not be seen as an admission of guilt.

"I look at it as an admission of innocence, to be quite honest," she said in the interview.

Knox maintained her innocence in a memoir released earlier this year and painted herself as a naive young woman railroaded by a foreign justice system.

Italy's Supreme Court has said the appeals court judges overlooked evidence against the accused. The high court wants a re-examination of the theory that Kercher was killed during a group sex game.

At the moment, only one person is in jail for Kercher's murder: Ivory-Coast born Rudy Guede, who is serving a 16-year sentence. ( Additional reporting by Catherine Hornby; Editing by John Wallace)

Source: Csmonitor

La Procuraduría General de la República internó en el Reclusorio Sur a José "Pepe" Díaz, un empresario vinculado a la farándula, por una presunta evasión fiscal de alrededor de 2 millones de pesos.

Autoridades ministeriales confirmaron que el ex novio de la actriz y cantante eiza González fue detenido la tarde del jueves en el DF, con base en una orden de aprehensión librada por un juez de distrito por el delito de defraudación fiscal.

Esta mañana fue trasladado por agentes de la Policía Federal Ministerial desde las instalaciones de la Subdelegación de la PGR en Azcapotzalco hasta el reclusorio.

Las autoridades aún no han especificado si la modalidad de defraudación fiscal que le imputan es o no grave, lo cual definirá si le conceden la libertad bajo caución.

En las próximas horas Díaz comparecerá ante un juez federal para rendir su declaración preparatoria.

Hace apenas unas semanas su nombre salió a la luz por ser el presunto tercero en discordia en el matrimonio de Ninel Conde.

Junto con su hermano, el empresario es dueño de los antros llamados Classico, además es socio de restaurantes en Polanco y Santa Fe.

Source: Larazonsanluis

Ashkan Karimloo

Photos by Nicholas Tsui

The electronic music scene in Santa Barbara is undergoing a shift from the familiar sounds of electro house and trap to something more experimental and soulful, yet energetic enough to get crowds dancing and jumping. On Sept. 19 at Velvet Jones, Cashmere Cat proved to be a quintessential example of this transition.

The line for entrance stretched down the street as eager music-lovers waited to hear the 25-year-old Norwegian DJ and producer Magnus August Høiberg, better known as Cashmere Cat, play in Santa Barbara for the first time. Coming fresh off of the lineup for Hard Summer this past August and approaching a performance at the Symbiosis Gathering this weekend - alongside artists such as Hudson Mohawke, Shpongle, Mount Kimbie, RL Grime, and more - Cashmere Cat was more than ready to impress the mix of college students and locals on State Street. However, his career did not simply begin when he introduced his feline moniker in 2011; in reality Høiberg has been in the electronic music scene for nearly a decade.

Prior to his productions as Cashmere Cat, Høiberg was a finalist representing Norway at the DMC World DJ Championships, a prestigious competition whose past winners include A-Trak, Craze, Switch (formerly of Major Lazer), C2C, and many more. Within the past two years, Høiberg began releasing tracks on Soundcloud under the alias Cashmere Cat, garnering critical acclaim for his adept production quality and utilization of sounds that had never been heard before. He quickly gained attention for his remixes of Lana Del Rey's "National Anthem," Jeremih's "773 Love," and most of all, for his edit of 2 Chainz's and Drake's hit single "No Lie." Furthermore, his original song "Mirror Maru" was part of Rustie's essential mix in April of 2012, accompanying the premiere of tracks that helped to define the trap and future bass genres, such as TNGHT's "R U Ready" and "Goooo," as well as Baauer's "Harlem Shake."

Høiberg's performance this past Thursday showed how far the scene has come since its mainstream introduction over a year ago. His sound consisted of a rich blend of soothing R&B to bass-heavy and drum-kicking hip-hop, trap, future bass, and Jersey club. He began his set with the smooth piano intro of his track "Aurora" and fused it with "Kiss Kiss," a song from his debut EP "Mirror Maru." At this point, the crowd was already excited and grooving, allowing Høiberg to drop a song that has garnered much praise on Soundcloud, Trippy Turtle's "Southside Deep." This song embodies the genre-busting fusion of R&B, future bass, and Jersey club that producers such as Trippy Turtle, Jaw Jam, and Cashmere Cat are gaining a following for. This was only the beginning of the set, and the crowd was growing eager to hear more.

Høiberg kept the party going with his aforementioned remix of "773 Love," which he then blended into DJ Tray's Jersey Club remix of the crowd favorite "Bugatti" by Acehood and Future. This remix serves as an example of how sounds from New Jersey have picked up momentum and infiltrated the rest of the country and abroad. Jersey club music has spread through exposure on radio broadcasts like Diplo's weekly show, Diplo and Friends, on BBC Radio 1Xtra; through the influence of artists such as DJ Sliink, Brenmar, and Salva; and now, through Cashmere Cat's set.

The hip-hop and R&B vibes continued as he played his remix of "No Lie" and mixed it into J. Holiday's 2007 R&B hit "Bed." Needless to say, at this point, it appeared as though every girl in Velvet Jones was feeling the vibe and jumping with joy. Høiberg followed with an unreleased edit of DJ Khaled's "I'm on One," which features Drake, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne, and then mixed it with Kendrick Lamar's hit single "Swimming Pools (Drank)." At what can be considered the climax of the show, Høiberg dropped his popular remix of Miguel's "Do You..." - a track that is quickly approaching a million plays on Soundcloud and a staple in sets by trap artists like Baauer and RL Grime. Following this, he played various crowd-pleasing songs, including Kanye West's "Bound 2," Drake's "Crew Love," T-Pain's "Buy U a Drank," and jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real."

As the show drew to a close, Høiberg displayed the talent that earned him a spot as a DMC finalist by cutting and scratching Kanye's track "Power" into "All of the Lights," causing the crowd to go into a frenzy one last time before he walked off stage. There were cries for an encore, but instead, Høiberg strolled into the crowd, drink in hand, and danced with his admirers charmingly and casually as a supporting DJ spun more R&B classics. Acts like this show that although artists, such as Cashmere Cat, possess great talents and have accumulated vast amounts of popularity, they are still regular people just having fun, doing what they love.

Source: Ucsb

Stories at the intersection of tech and life from a boldly connected city.

September 21, 2013 at 9:13 PM

The five capital letters are 96 years old. They're embossed on terra cotta panels mortared into brick on the north face of the historic Bemis building in Sodo, and they're beautiful. Almost regal.

Andrea Leksen just turned them into a font.

The 249 letters, numbers and characters in the all-caps Bemis typeface took Leksen, a freelance designer and an adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University, a year and a half to complete. Bemis is the first typeface she's ever put up for sale; it was the No. 39 "hot font" on online marketplace myfonts.com Friday. It's also what's known as a font "revival," script from a nondigital past made a part of our technological present.

The Bemis font grew out of a classroom assignment: Draft a font from something old you see in Seattle, Leksen told her Applied Type students last year, then joined them in the hunt.

It also grew out of creative camaraderie. In two years Leksen's missed just one "Type Tuesday," a monthly meetup of local typographers and type designers at the Third Place Pub in Ravenna. The font fans might fill half the bar with geeky quips on kerning (the space between letters) or serifs (lines attached to letter strokes); or they quiz the occasional typeface celebrity in town to consult with the likes of Microsoft. Matthew Carter had a beer with them once. He designed Tahoma, Georgia and Verdana.

Talking to Leksen and other type designers last week, I realized something. I pay attention to what the millions of words around me say, but hardly ever how they look when they say it. For years now I've typed with this particular font on this particular word processor. Today is the first time I've thought to ask: What patient, detail-oriented person took the hundreds of hours needed to design it?

Laura Worthington, another Type Tuesday regular, felt her world change on a shoe-shopping trip with her niece in 2011. When a woman at the Southcenter Skechers store brought out a box, Worthington started shrieking. The name of the shoes, "Sunflowers," was written in something called Ladybird.

"That was the first time I'd seen my font in public," Worthington said. "She actually gave me the box."

Today, Worthington lives off royalties from her 31 typeface releases. Her latest, Charcuterie, is actually a family of 10 fonts, each designed to work well with any other. The bundle costs $79, and it's at the top of the myfonts.com best-seller list.

Worthington sees her fonts all the time now, and it's always a surprise. Shelby on a CW station identifier. Funkydori in a Subway commercial. Origins, one of her most popular creations, on the package of Hillshire Farms chicken apple sausage that's sitting in her fridge - just the word "gourmet."

People sometimes want to hire her to create a font for a couple hundred bucks, which she finds amusing. Worthington is as prolific as they come, but no font takes her less than 300 hours. It's more than drawing letters and numbers. They've got to look right. Feel consistent. Include accents and symbols for dozens of languages.

They also need hundreds of little programs to resolve hundreds of little issues. A lowercase "f" next to an "i" or "l" usually needs tweaking. The "w" in a word like "awake" might throw off the weight. Typeface designers know the drill: spend hours and hours on a font editor like FontLab reviewing letter combinations, making tiny edits that make all the difference.

When I do recognize a font, it's almost always Papyrus, and it's mostly my husband's fault. Ever since I've known him he's cringed whenever he's seen the free, antique looking typeface out in the world - usually, he'll note, at a small coffee shop, spa, restaurant or yoga studio. Now I'm cringing, too. Even Chris Costello, its designer, admits Papyrus is overused.

Designer Ryan Owens was in Leksen's Applied Type class last year and designed his classroom font from a Queen Anne apartment building near Kerry Park. Whether a font on a sign or a poster is overused and shoddy or different and elegant affects how he views the business. He's a big fan of the sign over Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery in Ballard.

The letters BEMIS went up along with an addition to the original Bemis building in 1917. Judson Moss Bemis built the first structure in 1904 to house one of his many bag factories; it's now home to warehouse space and 32 artist live and work studios. Leksen, who drove by the building for a couple years before inspiration struck, was drawn to the letters' high "waist" - where the middle line of the "E" goes - and added 3/4 caps and some letter ornaments as she derived the font.

A graphic designer at a local restaurant bought Bemis a couple weeks ago. Leksen is planning to stop by a little more regularly. Who knows? Those century old capital letters might turn up on the menu.

Mónica Guzmán's column appears in Sunday's Seattle Times. Got a story about living with technology in the Northwest - or know someone she should meet? Send her an email, follow her on Twitter @moniguzman or send her a message on Facebook.

Source: Seattletimes

Monaghan native Balfe has landed the leading role in a big-budget US drama. Pictures: Cathal Burke / VIPIRELAND.COM

Ex-catwalk queen Caitriona Balfe is one in demand beauty.

She's already worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, from Arnie and Sly Stallone to Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

And now the Monaghan native has landed the leading role in a big-budget US drama.

The 16-part series Outlander is based on diana Gabaldon's time travel books, which have sold more than 25m copies.

Caitriona (33) will play the part of Claire Randall, a married World War Two nurse who suddenly finds herself transported 202 years into the past -- the way you do.

There she meets a strangely attractive Scottish warrior called Jamie Fraser.

The series will initially be helmed by Breaking Bad director John Dahl, and filming is set to commence in Scotland later this year.

The bosses of the show said that they had spent months trawling through audition tapes looking for their perfect leading lady.

"The casting of Claire Randall was a long and difficult one because the role is so crucial to the success of our show," producer Ronald D. Moore said.

"Outlander is told from Claire's point of view and we experience the entire story through her eyes, so it was vital that we find exactly the right actor to play her.

"Caitriona wasn't on anyone's radar and she wasn't on any list. But when we saw her audition tape, we immediately knew that she was someone special."

Author Gabaldon was equally blown away by Caitriona and her co-star Sam Heughan's audition tapes.

"Hard to believe lightning can strike twice, but it surely did," she said.

"The moment that Caitriona Balfe came on screen, I sat up straight and said, 'There she is!' She and Sam Heughan absolutely lit up the screen with fireworks."

Caitriona started her career sashaying down the catwalk at fashion shows in London, New York and Paris. She also appeared on RTE's 2010 series Model Scouts as a runway mentor.

But she gave up the world of posing and pouting to become an actress and has slowly been building up her profile in Tinseltown.

She landed a role in action flick Super 8 two years ago. After that, she appeared in the star-studded Now You See Me, which featured Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo and Isla Fisher and was released this summer. Next she will star alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the upcoming Escape Plan.

"I think every credit you get and every film you have your name attached to makes things a little bit easier," Caitriona told the Herald this year.

"It definitely opens doors up, but it's still a grind. You just have to take a chance see what happens."

Source: Independent

Consistent with past years' findings, a report today from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the actuary found that U.S. health care spending growth over the next ten years will be modest in comparison to historical trends, with increased spending the result of an improving economy and more accessible and affordable health coverage. Low rates of health spending growth are anticipated to continue through 2013 in key areas such as hospital and drug spending. The study is currently available online and will be published in the October issue of the journal Health Affairs.

The National Health Expenditure projections report, issued annually, contains estimates of spending for health care in the U.S. over the next decade by type of service and source of funding.

As past years' reports have found, this year's report projected that health spending growth would rise in coming years from historically low levels due to more available and affordable care and an influx of baby boomers into the Medicare program with a greater need for health care as they age. The Actuary's office also projected that rates of health care spending over the next decade in several major categories would be below their peak rates in the previous decade, including hospital and prescription drug spending, out-of-pocket spending, and Medicare spending.

"We are on the right track to controlling health care costs, thanks in part to the Affordable Care Act," said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. "More Americans will have the ability to get the health care they need, and that is a good thing. We have identified several areas where our reforms to control costs are making progress and we must build on those efforts in the years ahead."

The report's findings include:
* Medicare spending growth has slowed. Medicare spending growth is estimated to have slowed to 4.6 percent in 2012, down from 6.2 percent in 2011 for a total of $579.9 billion. While increases in the number of Medicare enrollees, utilization and input prices will lead to an annual increase of 7.4 percent between 2015 and 2022 according to the report, it will be well below the previous decade's 9.3 percent rate of growth as the Affordable Care Act constrains fee-for-service and private plan payment growth.
* Out-of-pocket spending will be lower as people have more affordable coverage. By 2022, the share of total health spending attributable to out-of-pocket spending is projected to fall from 11.4 percent in 2012 to 9.1 percent, largely as a result of expanded insurance coverage through Medicaid and the Marketplaces.
* Low growth in hospital spending. For the third consecutive year, spending increases on hospital services are projected to be below five percent. For 2015 to 2022, growth in total hospital spending is projected to average 6.3 percent per year. Over this period, hospital spending is impacted by a number of factors, including increases in spending among the newly covered, improvements in the economy that are expected to lead to more use of services, aging of the US population, and Medicare hospital payment update reductions that have been cumulatively impacting spending since 2012.
* Prescription drug spending is lower. In 2012, prescription drug spending is estimated to have declined 0.8 percent, which is down from 2.9 percent growth in 2011, as several popular brand-name drugs lost patent protection. From 2015 to 2022, projected annual average growth in prescription drug spending will be 6.5 percent as increases in insurance coverage and disposable income enable more consumers to fill prescriptions. This rate is below the average annual growth of 8.6 percent between 2000 and 2009.
* Physician and clinical services spending has remained low compared to previous years. Spending on physician and clinical services is estimated to have grown 4.6 percent in 2012, compared to 4.3 percent in 2011. The Actuary's office projects that physician and clinical services spending will rise to 7.1 percent in 2014, when more Americans will have health insurance and utilize physician services. These projections do not take into account Medicare physician payment cuts under the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which-if not overridden by Congress-would restrain growth in spending for physicians' services to 4.7 percent.
* Medicaid spending per person will fall in 2014. According to the report, per enrollee Medicaid spending is expected to decline by 2.8 percent in 2014, due to the entry of non-disabled children and younger and nondisabled adults into the Medicaid program. The program will cover nearly 9 million newly insured Americans, leading to a rise in Medicaid spending of 12.2 percent in 2014.

To read "National Health Expenditure Projections, 2012-22" in Health Affairs, go to: http://content.healthaffairs.org/lookup/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0721

For more information, including historical data on national health expenditures, visit: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/index.html

Source: Paramuspost

Từ ngày 30/8 kéo dài đến hết 5/9, đơn vị này tổ chức chương trình khuyến mại "Giảm giá xả hàng - Chào mừng Quốc khánh", nhằm mục đích kích cầu thị trường điện máy trong dịp đại lễ 2/9.

Theo đó, với 2,5 triệu đồng được tặng (tương ứng 7 voucher mua hàng tổng trị giá 2,5 triệu đồng), khách hàng có thể sử dụng để mua sắm hàng nghìn sản phẩm điện máy - máy tính - mobile tại chuỗi các siêu thị điện máy hoặc website thương mại điện tử của Media Mart, với chính sách bán hàng cạnh tranh.

Với mỗi sản phẩm, mỗi ngành hàng, khách còn nhận được những bất ngờ khác nhau. Cụ thể khi mua TV lớn giá TV nhỏ, khách được giảm giá trực tiếp đến 15 triệu đồng, tặng thêm quà. Trong tuần lễ vàng Electrolux, khách được tặng bếp từ hoặc máy xay sinh tốá 1,49 triệu đồng khi mua máy giặt, tủ lạnh. Đơn vị này tặng 2.000 ổ cứng HDD gắn ngoài Samsung 2,5 inch 250GB trị giá một triệu đồng cho khách mua laptop...

Đây cũng là thời điểm sinh viên bước vào năm học mới, hưởng ứng chủ trương của UBND TP Hà Nội, đơn vị còn triển khai "Tháng khuyến mại tựu trường 2013" với ưu đãi cho mượn miễn phí 2.500 laptop Core i3, hỗ trợ mua laptop trả góp lãi suất trả trước 0 đồng - lãi suất 0%, giảm thêm 5% khi mua laptop online...

Ngoài ra, các bạn sinh viên - tân sinh viên sẽ được những hỗ trợ cụ thể về giá đối với những sản phẩm laptop như Acer V3-431/V3 517 Core i5 chỉ 8,99 triệu đồng; Dell Ins 3421 giảm một triệu đồng, còn 6,99 triệu đồng...

Bên cạnh đó, trong 7 ngày vàng chào mừng Quốc khánh, nhiều dòng smartphone, máy tính bảng hot trên thị trường cũng được Media Mart cam kết bán dưới giá vốn. Chẳng hạn Samsung Galaxy Y Duos S6102 2 sim 2 sóng giá 2,268 triệu đồng, tặng thẻ nhớ; Nokia Lumia 620 giá Vietinbank 4,654 triệu đồng, tặng pin tích điện 480.000 đồng và miếng dán màn hình; Asus MemoPad ME172V giá 2,79 triệu đồng, tặng bút cảm ứng 290.000 đồng...

Cũng trong thời gian này, điểm nhấn của chương trình là "Tuần lễ tri ân khách hàng". Đơn vị này sẽ tặng đến 1,5 triệu đồng, tặng thêm quà tặng công nghệ trị giá 800.000 đồng khi mua TV 32 - 40 inch; giảm 10%, tặng bộ K+ HD/SD khi mua Smart TV 43 - 47 inch; giảm trực tiếp 15 triệu đồng, tặng thêm TV LED 32 inch và dàn âm thanh trị giá 7,9 triệu đồng khi mua Smart TV 50 - 65 inch phân giải 4K...

Đơn vị không chỉ mang đến những món quà thiết thực và giá trị, mà còn dành nhiều niềm vui đến người tiêu dùng khi mua được cho bản thân và gia đình những sản phẩm điện máy chính hãng, với giá thành rẻ. Chẳng hạn TV LED 32 inch LG 32LNN5110 giảm 510.000 đồng, giá 5,99 triệu đồng, tặng máy xay sinh tố Electrolux 790.000 đồng; TV LED TCL 32 inch L32F3380 giảm 22% còn 4,69 triệu đồng; TV LED 40 inch Full HD thương hiệu Samsung, LG, TCL đồng loạt giảm 26%, giá từ 7,49 triệu đồng...

Với "Tuần lễ xả hàng điện lạnh", khách sẽ được tặng ngay gói quà trị giá 1- 3 triệu đồng khi mua các sản phẩm tủ lạnh, máy giặt, điều hòa. Tại đây còn có nhiều sản phẩm giá giảm mạnh như máy giặt lồng đứng Electrolux EWP85724 7kg lồng thép không rỉ nhập khẩu Thái Lan, giảm 1,5 triệu đồng còn 9,69 triệu đồng; tủ lạnh LG 185l GN-185SS xuất xứ Indonesia, khử mùi bằng ion trà xanh, khay đá xoay linh hoạt giá ưu đãi 4,89 triệu đồng; điều hòa một chiều 9000BTU Electrolux ESM09CRD-C1 giảm 30% còn 5,69 triệu đồng...

Dịp nghỉ lễ này, khách có thể làm mới lại không gian phòng bếp với các thiết bị điện gia dụng gia đình chất lượng chính hãng, đa dạng phong phú về mẫu mã kiểu dáng, giảm tới 49% như nồi cơm điện Goldsun 1,8l giảm 46% còn 269.000 đg; bếp hồng ngoại Eurohouse giảm 49% còn 499.000 đồng; bình siêu tốc Dealux 1,7l chỉ 299.000 đồng...

Media Mart dành ngân sách lên tới hàng tỷ đồng cho chương trình khuyến mại chào mừng đại lễ. Đơn vị này không chỉ cam kết đem đến sản phẩm chính hãng với mức giá thành rẻ, mà còn nỗ lực không ngừng để hoàn thiện các dịch vụ đi kèm ngay cả vào những dịp cao điểm. Xem chi tiết tại website http://mediamart.vn; http://thegioidienmay.com hoặc liên hệ tổng đài chăm sóc khách hàng 1900 54 55 66 và tổng đài bán hàng qua điện thoại 04 6262 8888.

(Nguồn: Thế giới điện máy Media Mart)

Source: Vnexpress

HOOK AND FUR By Bob Brown The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) recently released its assessment of this year's statewide hunting prospects. Informative and comprehensive in...

Teague James, who led the South Puget Sound League 4A with 24 touchdowns last season, is a scoring machine again in the 2013 high school football season, much...

Source: Dispatchnews

The allure of a shiny new gadget is easy to overcome when it costs hundreds of dollars and comes with a multi-year contract. But cheaper contraptions, like the stuff you'll find in a kitchen store, are almost impossible to resist. Does anyone really need a salad spinner with a turbo button that promises 50 percent faster rotation speeds? No. But anything with a turbo option is just too tempting. Whether it's cars, computers, or EMSA's new Turboline salad spinner.

You can't go wrong with a stylish stainless steel bowl, but it's the pull string spinning mechanism-complete with that turbo mode which switches up the gearing on the fly-that suddenly has gadget fiends interested in drying produce. And at $45 without a contract-except maybe a personal contract to eat more healthy-salads suddenly seem a lot more appealing. [ EMSA via Appliancist]

Source: Gizmodo

American Airlines Inc. wants a private lawsuit seeking to stop its merger with US Airways to go to trial sometime in 2014, after the conclusion of a separate government trial on the same issues.

But San Francisco attorneys Joseph Alioto and David Cook, who filed the antitrust lawsuit on behalf

Source: Dallasnews

MEXICO CITY - The twin storms that tore through the country this week, unleashing rains that sent mud crashing down hillsides, buckling roads and flooding coastal cities, have renewed criticism that corruption and political shortsightedness made the damage even worse.

The death toll rose to 101 late Friday, but was expected to climb higher as rescue workers reached by air isolated mountain villages that had been cut off by landslides along the Pacific Coast. Soldiers continued their search Friday for 68 missing people in La Pintada, a coffee-growing village in Guerrero State where a hillside had given way and a river of mud poured over the town's center.

"Anywhere you fly over you will see a number of landslides that are truly shocking," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said Friday.

The storms battered both the Pacific and Gulf Coasts starting last weekend, a rare double hit from tropical systems at the same time. But experts said officials had not learned from earlier hurricanes and had failed to prepare for disaster, which magnified the losses this time.

"If we had the right development plan, the country wouldn't fall into chaos," said Angel Macías Garza, the vice president for infrastructure at the Mexican Construction Industry Chamber.

Corrupt officials give permits to developers to build along riverbeds and in canyons, Mr. Macías said. State governors build roads without containing walls in flood-prone regions because they prefer to spend the money they save on handouts. The federal disaster fund allocates only 5 percent of its budget on prevention and the other 95 percent on reconstruction.

"Politically, prevention doesn't pay," Mr. Macías said. "There is a lack of vision and a lack of resources."

In an editorial posted on its Web site, Cidac, a research group, echoed the criticism. "Taking preventive measures, like relocating settlements from the most vulnerable areas or investing in infrastructure," the authors said, "doesn't appear to sell ad space or generate grateful constituencies."

The worst natural disaster to affect Mexico in years began last weekend when Manuel, a tropical storm, battered Acapulco and the surrounding Pacific Coast at the same time as Hurricane Ingrid, a Category 1 storm, bore down on the Gulf Coast. Mexico had not seen paired storms on both coasts since 1958, officials said. Manuel then spun out to sea and gathered force before buffeting Sinaloa State in the north again on Thursday.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in a brief visit to Mexico City on Friday that had been scheduled to encourage closer economic ties between the countries, announced that the United States government had donated $250,000 to the Red Cross for emergency relief and offered more direct American assistance. "It's your decision," he said, careful not to make the offer seem a criticism of the handling of the storm by Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Mr. Peña Nieto, whose performance in the crisis is being closely scored, spent most of the week flying between coasts to monitor rescue efforts, and canceled a visit to New York next week to address the United Nations General Assembly.

He has been pushing Mexico's Congress to approve an ambitious agenda of laws that would raise taxes, open up the energy sector and confront powerful monopolies.

Mexico's economy has stagnated, and growth may not reach the government's tepid forecast of 1.8 percent. Mr. Peña Nieto's plans for new investments in infrastructure to help jump-start the economy could be derailed by cleanup costs after the storms. Mexico's construction trade association estimated that fixing the roads alone could cost more than $3 billion.

Still, the president said on Wednesday, these storms "will not paralyze the development that Mexico should have."

The government reopened the main highway between Acapulco and Mexico City on Friday under blue skies, while officials farther north were just beginning to tally the damage from Manuel.

Tiny La Pintada mourned its missing Friday as soldiers continued to search the river of mud for victims. A police helicopter vanished in the region late Thursday, a sign of how perilous the mountain rescue effort was.

Many of La Pintada's residents had been inside making lunch, which may have saved them, when the hillside collapsed Monday, Mr. Osorio Chong said. But the number of victims may rise, he added, as residents of nearby farms often waited in the town center to use the telephone there.

Karla Zabludovsky and Randal C. Archibold contributed reporting.

Source: Nytimes

From finances to feeding to fitting, there are seven educational seminars scheduled at World Beef Expo on Friday, Sept. 27 and Saturday, Sept. 28.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) encourages beef farmers to make plans to attend one or multiple seminars held at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis during World Beef Expo.

"The 2013 seminar topics were selected based on responses to a World Beef Expo online survey of what people wanted to learn more about and would most benefit their operation," said Jeff Swenson, DATCP's livestock and meat specialist and World Beef Expo Educational Seminar Chair. "These seminars are a great opportunity to hear from a variety of speakers who have years of diverse industry experience."

The schedule for the seminars on Friday, Sept. 27 includes:

* 10 a.m. - Paul Dietmann of Badgerland Financial will talk about successful farm financial management including cash flow planning and enterprise budgets.

* 11 a.m. - Greg Beavers of Select Sires will give an overview of Estimated Progeny Differences (EPDs) and how they can be used in your breeding decisions to make genetic progress.

* 12 p.m. - Representatives of Merial will discuss deworming technology including LONGRANGE, the first extended-release deworming injection. This seminar includes a chili lunch provided by Merial.

* 1 p.m. - Dr. Amy Radunz of the University of Wisconsin - River Falls will cover basic ration balancing when using lower quality forages and how cow nutrition is vital to calf development.

* 2 p.m. - A panel of Brian McCulloh of Woodhill Farms, Lance Ellsworth of Cattle Visions and B.J. Jones of Wildcat Cattle Company will answer questions about choosing replacement females and selecting herd sires.

* 6 p.m. - Kenny Neville & Garrett Lampe will demonstrate fitting techniques for juniors interesting in improving their skills to get animals ready for the show ring. This seminar is supported by Stock Show University through Sullivan Supply and will be held in the Show Arena.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, Kevin Kirschbaum of Bloomington Livestock Exchange will lead a seminar at noon about marketing feeder and fed cattle.

Kirschbaum will have a discussion on what appeals to buyers in a sales barn setting and ways to maximize profitability during the preparation of cattle before the sale.

No registration is required to attend.

This year's World Beef Expo seminars are sponsored by LONGRANGE from Merial. The seminars, except the fitting clinic, will be held in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion.

For more information on the seminars, contact DATCP's Jeff Swenson at 608-224-5082 or jeffrey.swenson@wi.gov.

World Beef Expo will be held Sept. 27-29. This is the 21st anniversary of the World Beef Expo, which includes a show, sale, trade show, youth activities and the educational seminars.

To learn more about World Beef Expo, visit www.worldbeefexpo.com.

Source: Wisfarmer

By Donna Fuscaldo

"The buyer has the upper hand when they have an inspection," says Coldwell Banker consumer specialist and agent Jessica Edwards. "If you are willing to do it ahead of time, you give the control back to the seller."

One of the most common ways to sink a home sale or lower the bidding price is a surprise finding in a home inspection, and this is prompting some sellers to take the precautionary step of having an inspection before listing. A home inspection can cost as much as $500, but real estate experts say it's a great way to take any of the unknowns out of the home selling equation.

According to real estate agents, having a home inspection prior to listing offers a host of benefits with little upfront cost. It identifies any major problems that could later scare off would-be bidders. Buying a house is an emotional and scary experience, especially for first-time buyers, and if the home inspection comes back with a major repair needed, it could scare them off, even if the seller agrees to fix it.

"If you have the items repaired or replaced ahead of time and it doesn't come up with the buyer, it's a non-issue," says Edwards, noting that it also helps sellers who can't or won't fix items to adjust their asking price accordingly.

She adds that it's often cheaper for sellers to make the repairs or replacements on their own ahead of listing than at the negotiation table. At closing, buyer may want to have their own licensed contractor do the necessary work which may be more costly to the seller.

Leslie Piper, consumer housing specialist for Realtor.com, says it could behoove some sellers to consider getting a pest and roof inspection before a home hits the market. "The costs of repairs or the replacement of a roof can vary and could be a big-ticket item a seller may want to be aware of before they choose the price they are hoping to get for their home," says Piper. "Having these inspections can be beneficial for a successful home sale, and also beneficial for a seller's future budgeting plans."

Not every situation will call for an upfront home inspection, say experts. For instance, if the home is very new or located in a competitive real estate market, a pre-sale inspection may be a waste of money. "A lot of times, if there are seven or eight bids on a given house, the home inspection is negotiated out," says Ed Berenbaum, CEO of Century 21 Redwood in Washington, D.C. Even if an inspection is done in a not-so-hot real estate market, it may turn out that the seller will take the house as is, and not require the buyer to make any repairs, he says.

Sellers can often get a reduced price on an inspection or opt for an abbreviated check without a full report through an agent's connections. "Absent a report a home inspector might do it for half the price," says Berenbaum. "Home inspectors get the bulk of their business from real estate agents so they may be willing to do it at reduced rates to foster the relationship."

More from FOX Business:HOME INSPECTION HORRORS:

Study: Majority of Wealthy Business Owners Self-Made
Still a Recession for Typical American Family?
Will Nanny Rules Break the NFL?

Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.

Source: Aol

Azerbaijan National Depository Centre: stock market turnover decreased by 3.9% in August

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The National Depository Center of Azerbaijan (NDCA) reports of decrease in turnover of the stock market in August by 3.9% against a rise by 14% in July and 2.15-fold in June 2013. In 2012 the turnover grew by 26.5% and phenomenal growth rate 4.69 fold was registered in 2011.

The Centre says that 371 deals with securities for over AZN 185.617 million at par value were concluded in August against 481 deals for AZN 193.178 million here in July (the best index for this year). June kept leader position on the number of deals - 519 deals for AZN 169.445. The best turnover in 2012 was registered in September (397 deals for AZN 307.99 million) and in 2011 in December (478 deals for AZN 1.035 bn).

"Turnover for Jan-Aug 2013 totaled AZN 922.110 million on 3,349 deals," the Centre informed.

Turnover for 2012 made up AZN 3.06 bn on 4,816 deals against AZN 2.42 bn on 4,992 deals for 2011.

This August it was concluded 35 deals for placement of shares for AZN 78.507 million and total turnover on these operations in 2013 exceeds AZN 411.540 million on 273 deals.

In August turnover on 317 stock-exchange deals reached AZN 104.352 million and AZN 399.431 million on 2,797 deals for Jan-Aug 2013) and on 19 ex-pit transactions AZN 2.757 million and AZN 109.133 million on 213 deals for Jan-Aug 2013.

As of 1 September exchange rate of manat was AZN 0.7844 to the US dollar and in accord with it the nominal volume of 2013 securities turnover still totals $1.175 bn versus $3.899 bn in 2012.

The turnover does not take into account the deals with securities of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

Source: Abc

It's like AA without the rambling speeches, stale coffee or stink of cigarettes. You can show up in the middle of the night, without leaving your bed.

It's no wonder self-help "communities" online are shoving conventional in-person support groups to the sidelines.

They offer more than 24-seven advice; they can be an encouraging counterpoint to the prevailing narrative of Internet cruelty and faceless online bullies.

I discovered that this summer, when my daughter downloaded an app that might, in the here long run, save her life. It's the "Dare to Quit Smoking" website, where thousands of people from across the country and around the world come together to kick the habit.

My daughter's attraction to cigarettes blossomed when she was a freshman in college. The DSA - designated smoking area - outside her dorm was where the renegades hung out. She showed up for the camaraderie and left with a pack of Marlboro Lights.

In the four years since then, she's tried to quit, but it never stuck. Her habit had become an addiction; a tyrant and a crutch.

Now she's three months smober - that's what they call it - and she credits ex-smokers on the website with bringing her this far.

When she has the urge, she goes online and someone talks her down.

It's a place to discuss the fallout from quitting that only smokers know: bad dreams, headaches, anxiety, cravings that come and go for years after your last smoke.

And it's a place to celebrate the simple blessings of quitting: a bike ride without getting winded, a stranger who notices how good you smell.

They share tactics for managing withdrawal: a nicotine patch, e-cigarettes, acupuncture, meditation, yoga, a straw to chew on while you commute, herbs to help you sleep. They track how many cigarettes they smoke, and how much money they save when they don't.

And they know they'll be offered encouragement, whether they're crowing about success - Feeling pretty proud. Hung out with two smokers last night and drank beer all night with them and I didn't smoke - orconfessing failure:

Fell off the wagon after an 8 month quit. Stupidest thing ever, but a valuable lesson was learned: never, ever let your guard down and think you can handle just one cigarette.

::

What makes online sites work, experts say, is not just the advice and encouragement, but the combination of accountability, anonymity and the bonds that develop when strangers feel safe enough to share personal revelations.

"Psychological monitoring is very successful as a technique to change behavior," said Karen North, a psychologist who heads USC's Annenberg Program on Online Communities in its School of Communication. "When you're checking in with your peer group, that provides both social pressure and social support."

Because they don't know each other in real life, group members can be more honest and intimate than they might be with friends, family members or even in a doctor's office.

"What they want is for someone to listen and care and talk about things that might be too private or embarrassing to people in the physical world," North said.

"These people know what you're going through and want to help. They've got advice to share. But they're not integrated in the rest of your life, so you can say things that, in your daily life, you wouldn't want people to know.

"It's a confessional group," she said. "And if you're lucky enough to connect with people who really care about each other, the process of sharing can bring you closer and help you reach your goal."

::

My daughter is lucky; I can tell from visiting the site and scrolling through posts. It amazes me how unfailingly kind and supportive her group's members are.

It's corny, maybe, their ceaseless cheerleading and inspirational sayings. But what a breath of fresh air in a social networking world so mean that teenagers can be pushed to suicide by ugly online screeds.

These people comfort one another in ways that go beyond quitting or smoking. They share the pleasures and irritations of disparate daily lives: the husband who won't help with the dishes, the kids that drive them crazy, the diet that finally kicked in.

Their confessions are a revelation to my 22-year-old, who mourns the losses and celebrates the victories: the man whose cancer is in remission, the woman struggling to right a wayward teenage daughter.

She's learned about the real-life hazards of smoking in a way she can't ignore, from a woman diagnosed with cancer 12 days after she quit.

I'm grateful for the lesson and the way they've embraced her. On the morning she started her new job, still nervous about the prospect, she awoke to stream of "good luck" messages on her app. She checks in with her group first thing in the morning and at night when she's in bed.

They've given her a peek at private lives that prime her for compassion and arm her with insight. These people, it's clear, are more than her mentors; they have become her friends.

sandy.banks@latimes.com

Source: Latimes

Braintree has processed $4 billion in mobile payments in the last year, a whopping one third of the company's total annual payments here processed - $12 billion. If beating other payment platforms like Stripe is a matter of scaling quickly, Braintree's trying to sprint. Its total mobile payment amount has quadrupled over the last year, after the acquisition of one-touch payment app Venmo.

The Braintree benchmark announcement comes at the heels of a recent TechCrunch story that reported Braintree was shopping itself around for acquisition to Square and PayPal. On a phone call, Braintree CEO Bill Ready categorically denied the rumors. He said that people have shown interest in buying Braintree before, but he's never put it up for sale. He also said that such Braintree sale rumors have circulated before, but, "the Tech Crunch article was first time someone felt compelled to write about unsubstantiated rumors. I'm not sure what agenda I was being served with that article, but someone had an agenda."

Mobile is the fastest growing part of Braintree's business, which Ready credits to the fact that the company spotted the mobile payments trend two years ago. That's early days in the e-commerce on the phone space. "We provided tools that apps like Uber and Airbnb could use to build defining mobile commerce incarnations," Ready says.

For the past two years, customers who used mobile apps built with Braintree's payment tool only had to enter their bank information once into the app, and from then on would enjoy one touch purchasing. The Venmo acquisition last year took Braintree's offerings one step further, allowing customers to enter their payment information once into the Venmo app, and then it could be used for all the other apps that use Venmo. As in, even if you download a brand new app, you can still enjoy one-touch purchasing right off the bat.

Braintree rolled out Venmo Touch slowly to make sure everything worked properly and announced today that Living Social has adopted it. Ready says that many other apps that use Braintree will also be incorporating Venmo Touch in the coming months, but he could not name which ones.

Mobile may be the gate keeper for winning in the online payment processing space. If so, competitor Stripe has been criticized for being late to the mobile game. Bloomberg's Emily Chang pressed Stripe co-founder John Collison on that issue in June, and he pointed to Stripe's recent partnership with mobile app developer Parse. The partnership happened in March, giving Braintree a big head start in mobile.

[Image via Thinkstock]

Source: PandoDaily

COMMENTARY | As we inch closer to the beginning of the regular se

ason, the playoffs are the least of the player's worries.

The Houston Rockets head into training camp with two starting spots up for grabs (although Jeremy Lin will likely start, I'd like to think McHale will at least give Patrick Beverley a shot), a logjam at nearly every bench position, a new half-court offense that needs to constructed and learned, and a lot of work on the defensive end.

Those are the behind-the-scenes concerns, but as fans, we know that this team is headed to the playoffs, and we are excited to see them make a run at the Western Conference crown. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be exploring how the Rockets match up with all of their Western Conference foes.

First up, the team with the best one-two punch in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder:

Stars

SF Kevin Durant and PG Russell Westbrook

Secondary Contributors

PF Serge Ibaka, Combo Guard Reggie Jackson and SG/SF Jeremy Lamb

Rotational Role Players

SG/SF Thabo Sefolosha, C Kendrick Perkins and PF Nick Collison

Fringe Rotational Players and Bench Bodies

PG Derek Fisher, C Hasheem Thabeet, F Ryan Gomes, C Steven Adams, F Perry Jones, PF/C Daniel Orton, SG/SF Andre Roberson

Last Season's Results

11/28/12: Oklahoma City Top Harden-less Rockets, 120-98

12/29/12: Oklahoma City Force 24 Turnovers, Win by 30

2/20/13: James Harden Drops 46, Leads Impressive Comeback, Rockets Win, 122-119

Last Season's Playoff Results

Game One: Thunder Make Quick Work of Sloppy, Nervous Rockets

Game Two: Thunder Prevail in Highly Contested Contest, 105-102

Game Three: Thunder Win by 3, Missed Call Stands Out (no call on illegal screen)

Game Four: Rockets Fight Off Elimination at Home, Head Back to Oklahoma City

Game Five: Rockets Control Westbrook-Less Thunder at Home, Upset Looming

Game Six: Kevin Martin Scores 25 and Thunder Finally Eliminate Scrappy Rockets

Houston's Defensive Strategy

- Oklahoma City is best when they are in transition. When Westbrook pushes the ball, even when transition numbers aren't in his favor, he finds the holes and attacks them. In Houston's third regular-season matchup against the Thunder, the Rockets were able to come back in the fourth quarter by making the Thunder play half-court offense, which led to several turnovers. Forcing Oklahoma City into the half-court game is easier said than done, as they like to get out in run off of both turnovers and missed shots. The here point is that if you can control the tempo and force Westbrook into a couple bad half-court decisions, they have a shot. Strictly use Beverley on Westbrook.

- Houston needs to force the Thunders' secondary stars to beat them. Take advantage of Perkins, Sefolosha, and Collison being on the floor, and force them into shooting more than they are used to. Sefolosha and Ibaka will hit their fair share, but this is the NBA; you can do everything right and still get burned.

- Keep fresh bodies on Durant, and use different kinds of defenders. Rotate Chandler Parsons, Francisco Garcia, Ronnie Brewer and Terrence Jones to keep Durant's defender rested, and force Durant to vary his attacking style according to his defender.

Houston's Offensive Strategy

- Take advantage of Perkins in the high pick-and-roll game. Run the usual offense that revolves around Harden's penetration off the pick and roll and isolation, and use Howard to attack Perkins in the post (Perkins is not as good of a post defender as he gets credit for, ask Marc Gasol how much trouble he had with him in the second round)

- Use Jones and Donatas Motiejunas to stretch the floor, which will create space inside and drags Ibaka away from the basket. When Ibaka does block a shot, don't let it discourage the slashing guards; keep attacking the basket and good things will come.

- Use Lin with the second-string players, and take advantage of Oklahoma City's young and inexperienced bench.

- Control the tempo, and don't get caught playing their game. When Westbrook starts to play the passing lanes, burn him with a back-door cut and keep him in check.

Biggest Mismatch: Russell Westbrook vs. Jeremy Lin

This is going to be a theme in these team-matchup pieces. Lin can't guard elite point guards. He just can't. Last year, Lin started the second game of the first-round series against the Thunder next to Beverley, which proves McHale was smart enough to realize that Lin couldn't guard Westbrook (Beverley played Westbrook, Lin played Sefolosha), and then in the third game, he started both Lin and Beverley again, even when Westbrook wasn't playing (Beverley played Jackson, Lin played Sefolosha again), proving how little faith he had in Lin's defensive ability (and rightfully so). Come playoff time, the Rockets will need Beverley to play against Westbrook if the Rockets draw the Thunder; if Lin plays him, we have no shot. Parsons, Garcia and Brewer are a good enough defenders to slow down Durant, although it's impossible to completely shut down a player of his caliber, but we can't say the same about Lin.

Most Interesting Matchup(s): Terrence Jones vs. Kevin Durant, Jones/Motiejunas vs. Serge Ibaka

Remember how well LeBron James played against Kevin Durant in the 2012 NBA Finals? LeBron is a strong, hyper-athletic forward with legitimate size and a strong body, and although Jones isn't anywhere near the offensive player LeBron is, he has a similar body type, and similar athletic skills. When Parsons is on the bench, Jones could provide Houston with a physical force to play against KD, who as we all know is thin as a rail. Jones might be the kind of defender that gives Durant a hard time. In the other matchup, the idea is simple: keep Ibaka away from the basket defensively. Howard needs ample space inside to do work in the post, and if D-Mo or T-Jones can drag Ibaka away from the basket and/or make him pay for helping, the Rockets will be at an advantage. Hopefully, Motiejunas and Jones come into camp with improved jumpers, which would allow Houston to play NBA-sized lineups at all times this year, unlike last season when they had Delfino and Parsons manning the forwa rd spots too often (does anyone remember when John Henson lit Carlos Delfino up? It was depressing, but we came back from 20 down and won).

Verdict

Right now, the Thunder are a better team than the Rockets, but that can all change by playoff times. Like Houston, Oklahoma City is hoping that their young talent can step up and provide them with the depth that they've had the last two seasons. Both of these teams have a lot of variables due to their abundance of youngsters, so by the time the playoffs come around, we'll know a lot more about both squads. My guess is that Oklahoma City finishes second in the West (with the Clippers first, but the Thunder still the favorites), and the Rockets finish fourth, which means the two could meet up in the Western Conference Finals. If they do, the Rockets have a shot; I'm not saying they'll be favorites, but if they're full strength it could go seven, and when it goes to seven, you always got a shot (unless you're playing LeBron's Heat).

2013-14 Regular Season Dates

Road: December 29th (NBATV), March 11th

Home: January 16th (TNT), April 4th (ESPN)

M. De Moor is an NBA junkie and a general columnist on Hoopshabit.com. He has followed the Rockets from the championship days of Hakeem Olajuwon, to the years of Francis and Mobley, to the McGrady and Yao era, and will continue to follow them through Harden and Dwight's reign of destruction.

Source: Yahoo

BYU announced this week that star linebacker Spencer Hadley has been suspended for five games for violating the school's honor code.

When schools release this type of information, here the reason behind the suspension is kept private. But a photo obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune from the University of Utah via a Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA) request reportedly shows Hadley partying in what appears to be a Las Vegas club.

Those who attend and work at Brigham Young University adhere to the ideals and principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and there's a strict honor code everyone must abide by.

The rules of the honor code are as follows:

Be honest
Live a chaste and virtuous life
Obey the law and all campus policies
Use clean language
Respect others
Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse
Participate regularly in church services
Observe the Dress and Grooming Standards
Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, a Utah fan emailed this photo to the school's compliance office Monday, which was then forwarded to BYU's Director of Compliance. Tuesday morning, Cougars coach Bronco Mendenhall announced that Hadley had been "suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules."

BYU (1-1) hosts Utah (2-1) Saturday at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Source: Usatoday

KAFR NABL, a small town in north-west Syria, fell under rebel control early in the 30-month civil war. It has since gained fame as a scruffy Hollywood-in-a-bomb-shelter, turning out satirical videos about the war. The latest shows a rabble of angry cavemen charging repeatedly out of their caves only to be mown down by machine guns or blown up by bombs while Western and Arab spectators look on nonchalantly. When, after a third charge, these "savages" drop here dead from a chemical spray, the audience objects. A character holding a Russian flag appears and hands the empty poison canister to the applauding onlookers. The cavemen protest but the slaughter resumes, now with bullets and bombs.

For now at least, this seems a fairly accurate portrayal of how things are going in Syria. The world is confused by it. It is squabbling over clobbering Syria for using gas and perplexed by the Syrian government's sudden pledge on September 10th to give up chemical weapons it had previously denied owning. Western countries are in talks with the government's protector, Russia; a report from UN inspectors on September 16th confirmed the use of sarin gas against Syrian civilians last month. But as diplomatic skirmishing over plans to dismantle Syria's poison gas programme intensifies, the chances for peace on the ground, or even for a lull in the fighting that has so far left at least 110,000 Syrians dead and 6m homeless, seem remote.

Taking advantage of the lifting of any immediate threat of international punishment, the defiant regime of Syria's president, Bashar Assad, has resumed and escalated artillery, air and infantry assaults on rebel-held suburbs of the capital, Damascus. Fierce battles rage elsewhere in the country, helping account for the 2,000-plus deaths from conventional weapons recorded since August 21st, the date of chemical attacks on two Damascus suburbs. Disparate rebel groups have in recent weeks made small inroads against the government in the east, south and north, including near the town of Safira, the suspected site of a chemical-weapons plant. But they are also increasingly fighting among themselves.

Kurdish militias in the north-east, keen on delineating their own ethnic region, have engaged in bloody clashes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a radical affiliate of al-Qaeda. ISIS has fought local rebel militias in several cities along the Euphrates valley, which bisects central Syria, and on September 18th launched a full-scale assault to wrest control of Azaz, a town near the Turkish border that straddles access routes to Syria's second city, Aleppo, from a group supported by Western and Arab Gulf countries.

Grim talk of a looming war-within-a-war pitting nationalist rebel factions against the pan-Islamic jihadists of ISIS, which draws its leadership and manpower largely from outside Syria, now rings true. Rival groups openly denounce ISIS as an agent of the Syrian regime, while jihadists warn of a Saudi-funded, American-inspired effort to sow division by backing anti-al-Qaeda Islamist militias, as America successfully did in Iraq. Speaking from hiding, the al-Qaeda chief, Ayman Zawahiri, has added to the foreboding with a call, released on September 12th, for Syrian rebels to shun "secular parties that are allied to the West".

It is into this maelstrom that, under terms sketched in an agreement reached in Geneva on September 14th between the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the American secretary of state, John Kerry, UN teams are meant to deploy in Syria, secure chemical-weapons stocks and factories, verify that inventories provided by the Syrian government are complete and destroy the poisons. Syria is due to hand over an initial inventory by September 21st.

The Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, which imposes compliance on signatories to the global convention against them, says it should be ready to start work on October 14th, when the treaty comes into force for Syria. The Russo-American deal suggests that the weapons could be eliminated by mid-2014, by coincidence just when Mr Assad's presidential term expires.

Yet aside from the physical difficulty of operating in Syria, diplomatic wrangling suggests that this timetable is too ambitious. A first hurdle emerged in divergent responses to the report by the UN inspectors charged with investigating last month's chemical attacks. They had no mandate to assign blame, yet their report provided details that, to Western governments and independent experts, unequivocally fingered the Syrian government as the sole possible culprit.

The quality of the sarin gas suggested a sophisticated manufacturing process. The rockets used to deliver the poison were of a type widely deployed by the Syrian army, but not yet observed in rebel hands. And the rocket trajectories estimated by UN forensics experts from two separate impact sites point directly to Qassioun, the barren mountain that dominates Damascus. This is largely occupied by a sprawling base of Syria's Republican Guard, and it is from here that the government has long rained conventional shells, rockets and mortars on rebellious parts of the city.

Russian officials viewed the UN's findings differently. At first they described them as inconclusive. But following talks with Syria, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, condemned the report as "politicised, preconceived and one-sided". Small wonder that Mr Assad, after presenting Mr Ryabkov with purported new evidence implicating rebels in chemical attacks, thanked Russia for "creating hope of a new global balance".

Russia's sudden objection jarred oddly, considering its strenuous insistence on UN sanction under international law when Barack Obama threatened punitive strikes against Syria. The UN itself issued an unusually blunt riposte, describing the results of its investigation as "indisputable". Western diplomats, for their part, speculate that the intent of Russia's quibbling is to create a smokescreen around the next looming issue, the crafting of a Security Council resolution defining a mandate for the chemical weapons team in Syria.

Aside from tricky technical and funding issues, the stickiest part revolves around whether the resolution will be issued under Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows force to be used in case of non-compliance. Russia seeks to avoid Chapter 7, or at any rate wording that would authorise force without a vote in which its veto would still count. Diplomats remain tight-lipped, but former Western intelligence officials have expressed deep scepticism that Syria intends to abandon an arsenal long seen as its only deterrent against its main declared enemy, nuclear-armed Israel.

Igor Ivanov, a former Russian foreign minister, believes that Russia may try to spin out the diplomatic game as long as possible, since it is helping the hitherto isolated government of Vladimir Putin to regain international stature. "The Kremlin's priority is not Syria itself but its relationship with America," says Mr Ivanov. "Syria is only a playing field. Russia wants to be seen as a player in big international decisions, equal only to America."

Source: Economist