Snagit (for Mac)

• Pros

  Every imaginable option for capturing screen images or screen-cap videos. Built-in image editor with full range of borders and effects. Automated uploading to remote sites like YouTube or Twitter.

• Cons No video-editing features.
• Bottom Line

  OS X has easy-to-use image capture features built-in, but Snagit is the best of the third-party screen-capture apps, with more options and fine-tuning than any rival product.

By Edward Mendelson, Jeffrey L. Wilson

Every Mac has screen-capture features built in, so why should you spend money ($50, no less!) on a screen-capture app like Snagit? If all you need are images of the full screen or a rectangular section of it, just press Ctrl-Shift-3 for full screen or Ctrl-Shift-4 for a rectangle, and if you want to crop or convert the resulting image, simply open it in OS X's Preview app. But if you're reading this, you probably need a lot more?for example, you want to blur confidential data like email addresses, or you want to add a call-out or arrows, or apply graphic effects like a border or conversion to gray scale. Also, you may want the ability to make a timed capture with a countdown so that you can get an application to show exactly the menus you need, or you may want to create a screen video, complete with sound. Snagit (for Mac)?does all this and more, and does it better and more efficiently than any other screen capture program I've ever tried.

Interface
Like other advanced screen-capture apps, Snagit has two interfaces. One is a small dialog that you use to set capture options. The other is a larger window that you use for editing and managing captured images. Snagit's capture-option dialog is accessed by a miniature tab, about an inch high on a typical Mac screen, that takes a sliver of space at the right edge of the screen. Move the cursor over the tab and a small dialog slides in, showing a red button that you can click to start a capture. Smaller buttons let you specify whether to create a single image or a screen video, and whether to capture the cursor in the image, whether to delay the capture after clicking the red button, whether to open the image in the Snagit editor, and more. You can also initiate a capture by pressing a user-defined hotkey.

Captures
By default, when Snagit captures a screen it displays a set of crosshairs that you can drag to define the area you want to capture, and a magnifier lens that enlarges the area under the cursor so you can position the crosshairs precisely. By default, a captured image opens in the Snagit Editor, a user-friendly image-editing app with the ability to draw lines and shapes, add captions, edges, and borders. If you capture a video, the Editor only lets you preview it or capture a frame, so you'll need an external program for trimming or modifying the video itself.

The editor has built-in functions for uploading images and videos to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Evernote, an FTP or Secure FTP site, and other targets.

Versions
I recently reviewed Snagit 11 for Windows. Snagit for OS X does the same things that the Windows version does, but does it in a more efficient way. For example, I make heavy use of the Blur tool to hide e-mail addresses on screen shots. In the Windows version, every time I want to blur text, I need to open the Blur dropdown menu and select the percentage of blur I want. In the Mac version, I simply set the blur level once on a slider control, and simply click the blur button to produce the effect. Also, the Mac version includes a "Revert to Saved" menu item that lets you quickly undo all your changes to an image?a one-click convenience that's lacking in the Windows version.

Snagit for Windows got our Editors' Choice rating for Windows screen capture apps. Snagit for Mac easily wins the same prize for OS X screen capture.

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By Edward Mendelson

Edward Mendelson has been a contributing editor at PC Magazine since 1988, and writes extensively on Windows and Mac software, especially about office, internet, and utility applications.

More Stories by Edward Mendelson

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Jeffrey L. Wilson's love of all things shiny/digital has lead to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for 2D-X, E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. He now brings that passion to...

More Stories by Jeffrey L. Wilson

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Apple Sold More iPhones and iPads Than It Ever Has, And Somehow That's a Disappointment

Apple's first quarter earnings are in. According to Bloomberg News, Apple made $13.1 billion in profit on $54.1 billion in revenue. It sold an absurd 47.8 million iPhones and 22.9 million iPads—both records. Somehow, this is a disappointment. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/IyXhyCIlzug/apple-made-131-billion-this-quarter-and-somehow-thats-a-disappointment

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Winter Can Be The Best Time For Home Improvement Projects ...

Even though the winter months are considered the off season for home remodeling, it can be the best season to have some of your projects completed. Home improvement prices are low during this time including any major appliances you may want to purchase. Solid Construction Services is offering special prices during January and February and are available to complete your projects before Spring arrives.

We can help you with installation of cabinets, bathroom or kitchen remodeling, flooring, drywall repair or replacement, install new wall or floor tiles, electrical or plumbing needs or painting, just for a start. There are even a few outdoor projects that can be completed during the Winter months.

Solid Construction Services will meet and ?usually beat any price by an Illinois licensed and fully insured contractor offering comparable material and services. Our unequaled selection of quality products and services and our ability to professionally provide All services not just some will provide you with a stress free experience.

Our service area has included all of DeKalb, Kane, Kendall, Lee, McHenry and Lake Counties for over 17 years. References are available. Call 855-2B-Solid to schedule your appointment.

Source: http://solidconstructionservices.com/2013/01/winter-can-be-the-best-time-for-home-improvement-projects/

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Father of 'Karate Kid' Macchio wants NY zip line

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. (AP) ? The father of "Karate Kid" actor Ralph Macchio wants to build a 3,500-foot-long zip line ride from an Adirondack mountaintop to his tourist ranch in upstate New York.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise (http://bit.ly/SdQDed) reports that Wild West Ranch owner Ralph Macchio Sr. is proposing a $1.5 million project that includes a launch platform and tower in Lake George, N.Y., near the top of French Mountain, which Macchio owns. A swath of trees would have to be cleared along the route to carry riders down a vertical drop of 700 feet to his ranch.

Riders would be driven to the top on an existing road.

Some nearby landowners are concerned about visual and noise impacts. State and local agencies are reviewing the project.

Macchio is hoping the attraction could open this summer.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-19-People-Karate%20Kid%20Dad/id-efe9bd98211a4fda9b24e642b99be6b8

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Hostages still held after Sahara assault

ALGIERS (Reuters) - At least 22 foreign hostages were unaccounted for on Friday and their al-Qaeda-linked captors threatened to attack other energy installations after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths.

With Western leaders clamoring for details of the assault they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting them, a local source said the gas base was still surrounded by Algerian special forces and some hostages remained inside.

Thirty hostages, including several Westerners, were killed during the storming, the source said, along with at least 11 of their captors, who said they had taken the site as retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in neighboring Mali.

The crisis represents a serious escalation of unrest in North Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week to fight an Islamist takeover of the north, and strikes a heavy blow to Algeria's vital oil industry, just recovering from years of civil war.

Fourteen Japanese were among those still unaccounted for by the early hours of Friday, their Japanese employer said, while Norwegian energy company Statoil, which runs the Tigantourine gas field with Britain's BP and Algeria's national oil company, said eight Norwegian employees were still missing.

A French hostage employed by a French catering company said Algerian military forces were combing the sprawling In Amenas site for hostages when he was escorted away by the military.

"They are still counting them up," Alexandre Berceaux told Europe 1 radio.

The crisis posed a serious dilemma for former colonial power Paris and its allies as French troops attacked the hostage-takers' al Qaeda allies in Mali, another former colony.

The kidnappers warned Algerians to stay away from foreign companies' installations in the OPEC-member oil and gas producing state, threatening more attacks, Mauritania's news agency ANI said, citing a spokesman for the group.

Algerian workers form the backbone of an oil and gas industry that has attracted international firms in recent years partly because of military-style security. The kidnapping, storming and further threat cast a deep shadow over its future.

An Irish engineer who survived said he saw four jeeps full of hostages blown up by Algerian troops whose commanders said they moved in about 30 hours after the siege began because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.

Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, and the perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear. Some 600 local Algerian workers, less well guarded, survived.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said his country still did not know the fate of eight of 13 Norwegian hostages taken. "As we understand it, the operation is still ongoing," he told Britain's BBC broadcaster.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cancelled part of his trip in Southeast Asia, his first overseas trip since taking office, and will fly home due to the hostage crisis, Japan's senior government spokesman said on Friday.

"The action of Algerian forces was regrettable," said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, adding Tokyo had not been informed of the operation in advance.

Their governments say Americans, Romanians and an Austrian have also been captured by the militants, who have demanded France end its week-old offensive in Mali.

A U.S. plane landed near the plant to evacuate hostages, the local source said on Friday.

Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational Islamist insurgency across the Sahara - a conflict that prompted France to send hundreds of troops to Mali last week - the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including the squad's leader.

The bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman - all assumed to have been hostage-takers - were found, the security source said.

The group had claimed to have dozens of guerrillas on site, and it was unclear whether any militants had managed to escape.

The overall commander, Algerian officials said, was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Algeria's bloody civil war of the 1990s. He appears not to have been present and has now risen in stature among a host of Saharan Islamists, flush with arms and fighters from chaotic Libya, whom Western powers fear could spread violence far beyond the desert.

Algerian security specialist Anis Rahmani, author of several books on terrorism and editor of Ennahar daily, told Reuters about 70 militants were involved from two groups, Belmokhtar's group, who travelled from Libya, and the lesser known "Movement of the Islamic Youth in the South".

"They were carrying heavy weapons including rifles used by the Libyan army during (Muammar) Gadaffi's rule. They also had rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns."

"NO TO BLACKMAIL"

Algeria's government made clear it is implacably at odds with Islamist guerrillas who remain at large in the south, years after the civil war in which some 200,000 people died. Communication Minister Mohamed Said repeated their refusal ever to negotiate with hostage-takers.

"We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite in the struggle against terrorism," he told APS news agency.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who warned people to prepare for bad news and who cancelled a major policy speech on Friday to deal with the situation, said through a spokesman that he would have liked Algeria to have consulted before the raid.

A Briton and an Algerian were also killed on Wednesday.

French hostage Berceaux said he had hidden for nearly 40 hours in a room separately from other foreign hostages, surviving on supplies brought to him by Algerian colleagues.

"When the military came to get me, I did not know whether it was over," said Alexandre Berceaux. "They arrived with (my Algerian) colleagues, otherwise I would never have opened the door."

U.S. officials had no clear information on the fate of Americans, though a U.S. military drone had flown over the area. Washington, like its European allies, has endorsed France's move to protect the Malian capital by mounting air strikes last week and now sending 1,400 ground troops to attack Islamist rebels.

A U.S. official said on Thursday it would provide transport aircraft to help France with a mission whose vital importance, President Francois Hollande said, was demonstrated by the attack in Algeria. Some fear, however, that going on the offensive in the remote region could provoke more bloodshed closer to home.

The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions over the value of outwardly tough security measures.

(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Eamonn Mallie in Belfast, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin and Conor Humprhies in Dublin; writing by Alastair Macdonald and Philippa Fletcher; editing by Peter Millership, Michael Perry and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algeria-ends-desert-siege-dozens-killed-001824500--finance.html

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Explorer's rare Scotch returned to Antarctic stash

SCOTTBASE, Antarctica (AP) ? Talk about whisky on ice: Three bottles of rare, 19th century Scotch found beneath the floor boards of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton's abandoned expedition base were returned to the polar continent Saturday after a distiller flew them to Scotland to recreate the long-lost recipe.

But not even New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who personally returned the stash, got a taste of the contents of the bottles of Mackinlay's whisky, which were rediscovered 102 years after the explorer was forced to leave them behind.

"I think we're all tempted to crack it open and have a little drink ourselves now," Key joked at a ceremony handing over the bottles to Antarctic Heritage Trust officials at New Zealand's Antarctic base on Ross Island.

The whisky will be transferred by March from Ross Island to Shackelton's desolate hut at Cape Royds and replaced beneath the restored hut as part of a program to protect the legacy of the so-called heroic era of Antarctic exploration from 1898 to 1915.

Bottled in 1898 after the blend was aged 15 years, the Mackinlay bottles were among three crates of Scotch and two of brandy buried beneath a basic hut Shackleton had used during his dramatic 1907 Nimrod excursion to the Antarctic. The expedition failed to reach the South Pole but set a record at the time for reaching the farthest southern latitude. Shackelton was knighted after his return to Great Britain.

Shackelton's stash was discovered frozen in ice by conservationists in 2010. The crates were frozen solid after more than a century beneath the Antarctic surface.

But the bottles were found intact ? and researchers could hear the whisky sloshing around inside. Antarctica's minus 22 Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius) temperature was not enough to freeze the liquor.

The bottles remained unopened as they were returned Saturday ? if Shackelton couldn't have a dram, no one could ? but their contents nevertheless formed the basis for a revival of the blend.

Distiller Whyte & Mackay, which now owns the Mackinlay brand, chartered a private jet to take the bottles from the Antarctic operations headquarters in the New Zealand city of Christchurch to Scotland for analysis in 2011.

The recipe for the whisky had been lost. But Whyte & Mackay recreated a limited edition of 50,000 bottles from a sample drawn with a syringe through a cork of one of the bottles. The conservation work of the Antarctic Heritage Trust has received 5 British pounds for every bottle sold.

The original bottles had flown in two combination-locked containers with Key to Antarctica in a U.S. Air Force transport plane from Christchurch on Friday.

Antarctic Heritage Trust manager Lizzie Meek, who was part of the team that found the whisky, recalled its pleasant aroma.

"When you're used to working around things in that hut that perhaps are quite decayed and some of them don't have very nice smells, it's very nice to work with artifacts that have such a lovely aroma," Meek told the ceremony by radio from explorer Robert Scott's Antarctic hut which she is restoring.

"And definitely the aroma of whisky was around very strongly."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-19-New%20Zealand-Antarctica-Shackelton's%20Whisky/id-ae06e8f17d98493297ee32cda05c2749

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Man robs miniature golf course

Bradenton, Florida -- Manatee County deputies are searching for a man who robbed a miniature golf course Tuesday night.

Deputies say around 10:16 p.m., the man approached a clerk who was sitting by the picnic table at Smuggler's Cove Adventure Golf on Cortez Road, forced her back into the office and had her empty the cash drawer. He then fled north through the parking lot. K-9 units responded and but lost the track behind a Chinese buffet.

He is described as a white male, 5'10" and 230 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red bandanna, gray shorts and shirt.

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact the Manatee County Sheriff's Office at?(941) 747-3011.

Source: http://bradenton.wtsp.com/news/business/161656-man-robs-miniature-golf-course

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French forces in Mali take bridge at key north-south river divide

French forces now number 1,400 in Mali: 'The actions of French forces, be it air forces or ground forces, are ongoing,' says a French military official in Paris.

By Baba Ahmed and Rukmini Callimachi,?Associated Press / January 17, 2013

French soldiers conduct operations in the bush near Niono, in central Mali, Thursday. Fighting raged in one Mali town, airstrikes hit another and army troops raced to protect a third, on Thursday, the seventh day of the French-led military intervention to wrest back Mali's north from Al Qaeda-linked groups.

Harouna Traore/AP

Enlarge

Fighting raged in one Mali town, airstrikes hit another and army troops raced to protect a third, on the seventh day of the French-led military intervention to wrest back Mali's north from Al Qaeda-linked groups.

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Banamba, a town located only 90 miles from Mali's capital was put on alert overnight, and a contingent of roughly 100 Malian soldiers sped there on Thursday after a reported sighting of jihadists in the vicinity, marking the closest that the extremists have come to Mali's largest city and seat of government.

France has encountered fierce resistance from the Islamist extremist groups, whose reach extends not only over a territory the size of Afghanistan in Mali, but also as much as 600 miles east in Algeria, where fighters belonging to the cells in Mali kidnapped as many as 41 foreigners at a BP-operated plant, including Americans.

They demanded the immediate end of the hostilities in Mali, with a spokesman in Mali, saying that "no foreigner is safe ... our movement is now global," according to Oumar Ould Hamaha who spoke by telephone to The Associated Press.

The first Malian troops arrived in Banamba late Wednesday, with a second group coming on Thursday. The small town northeast of Bamako is connected by a secondary road to the garrison town of Diabaly, which was taken by Islamic extremists earlier this week, and has been the scene of intense fighting with French special forces, who continued bombardments and a land assault there on Thursday.

A city official in Banamba who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly, and who has been involved in getting the Malian troops to defend the town, said they received reports that a rebel convoy had left Diabaly on the road connecting it to Banamba.

"We don't have a [military] base here, we have no defenses. So the military has come to secure the town," he said. "From Monday to today, no jihadists have entered our town. But there are reports that a column [of rebel vehicles] was seen heading toward us from Diabaly."

Civil servant Moussa Kone, the head of the government's planning, statistics, and territorial management office, said he had seen the soldiers arriving both Wednesday night and Thursday. "They have taken positions in the town, and they are out on patrol."

France has stepped up its involvement every day, after launching the first air raids last Friday in an effort to stop the rebels' advance, then only as far as the town of Konna, located 430 miles from the capital.

Fighting erupted anew Thursday in Konna between Islamists and Malian soldiers in the city whose capture by the militants first prompted French military intervention, while French forces kept up their bombardments of Diabaly, fleeing residents and officials said.

Meanwhile, France has increased its troops' strength in Mali to 1,400, said French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

"The actions of French forces, be it air forces or ground forces, are ongoing," said Le Drian in Paris. "They took place yesterday, they took place last night, they took place today, they will take place tomorrow."

After a meeting in Brussels of European Union foreign ministers, Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said it was necessary to mobilize "the entire international community" to help Mali and the region.

"What is happening in Mali is a global threat," Coulibaly told journalists at a press conference. "Remember what happened on Sept. 11," he said, referring to the terrorist attacks in the United States. "It is that terrorism can happen anywhere, at any moment, to anyone."

He pointed out that the hostage-taking in Algeria revealed to the world the true nature of the extremists. At least 34 of the hostages and 15 kidnappers were killed on Thursday, after Algerian helicopters strafed the remote Sahara gas plant, located in the outpost of Ain Amenas, in far eastern Algeria, according to the Nouakchott Information Agency, which has often carried reports from al-Qaida's groups in Africa.

France remains alone as the only foreign power with boots on the ground, but on Thursday, troops from neighboring Nigeria are expected to begin arriving. EU foreign ministers on Thursday approved sending a military training mission to Mali, which will train local soldiers and provide advice but will not take part in combat.

France is planning to deploy a total of 2,500 soldiers, more than half of what it had deployed to Afghanistan at the height of their involvement. Many of the armored vehicles being used here were previously used in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, around 100 French Marines took over a major bridge over a large, turbulent river just north of the central administrative capital of Segou at the locality of Markala.

The river is the major separator between the southern area still firmly under government control, and the north. Any rebel convoy coming from Diabaly, located roughly 120 miles north of the river, would need to cross the bridge. David Bache, a freelance journalist embedded with the French marines said that around 100 soldiers had taken positions at the bridge, setting up a camp, where they have parked 18 armored vehicles, mounted with artillery including 90mm cannons.

Fleeing residents say that Islamic extremists have taken over their homes in Diabaly and were preventing other people from leaving. They said the fighters were melting into the population and moving only in small groups on streets in the mud-walled neighborhoods to avoid being targeted by the French.

"They stationed themselves outside my house with a heavy weapon, I don't know what sort it was. After that came the bombing, which went on from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and after that, one of them (rebels) jumped over my garden wall to grab the keys to my car," said Thiemogo Coulibaly.

In the narrow waist of central Mali, fighting reignited in the town of Konna, which the Islamists attacked last week and seized a day before French launched its military offensive. A Malian military official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, said the fighting began Wednesday between Malian soldiers and Islamists from the group Ansar Dine.

Abdrahmane Guirou, a nurse, said four wounded soldiers had been brought to the local hospital.

A former French colony, Mali once enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15 million people practicing a moderate form of Islam. That changed last March, following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.

Security experts warn that the extremists are carving out their own territory in northern Mali from where they can plot terror attacks in Africa and Europe. Estimates of how many fighters the Islamists have range from less than 1,000 to several thousand. The militants are well-armed and funded and include recruits from other countries.

• ?Associated Press writer Krista Larson contributed to this report in Bamako, Mali. Don Melvin in Brussels, Lori Hinnant in Paris and Bradley Klapper in Washington also contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/O6xIGfrAWmA/French-forces-in-Mali-take-bridge-at-key-north-south-river-divide

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Observatory: Elusive Giant Squids Are Set to Make Small-Screen Debut

[unable to retrieve full-text content]An expedition off Japan was able to capture video of giant squids, a first, locating them by dangling glowing lures that mimicked the luminescence of deep-sea jellyfish.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/science/elusive-giant-squids-are-set-to-make-small-screen-debut.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Kathy Deck: A Toast To Confidence In The New Year - Talk Business

Editor?s note:? Kathy Deck, the author of this commentary, is the director of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Walton College Center for Business and Economic Research. Her op-ed first appeared in the latest magazine issue of Talk Business Arkansas, which you can access online here.

Confidence is a funny thing.

The mere existence of confidence about the future among the players in an economy can lead to growth, while the absence of assurance often guarantees a slowdown. The situation is further complicated by the fact that there are different types of confidence:

? Consumers spend when their job prospects are good and their assets are rising in value;
? Businesses invest in new equipment and new workers when they expect demand for their products or services to grow; and
? Citizens thrive when they believe that their political institutions will allow their concerns to be addressed.

A breakdown in any of these will cause uncertainty and caution, which leads to lowered growth prospects.

There are many economists who make careers out of studying decision-making in uncertain conditions. And, the condition of the Arkansas economy as we enter 2013 is one with a great deal of uncertainty about how long the confidence that has come from the economic recovery can be sustained.

To review the statistics, the Arkansas economy peaked with 1,214,200 jobs in December 2007. At the bottom of the job market in January 2010, the Arkansas economy had lost 80,100 jobs. As of late 2012, 44,300 of those jobs had been created again.

This still leaves a sizable hole from the pre-recession peak. Moreover, the sector effects have not been evenly distributed.? Manufacturing, trade, and construction employment remain far below earlier levels, while health, education, and hospitality employment are at or near record levels. Where each industry goes from here is largely dependent upon the confidence of somebody (or a lot of somebodies).

The mood of ?the Consumer? is abundantly important to the Arkansas economy.? That is, both domestic and international buyers of consumer-packaged goods (the things you find at Walmart) determine the health of some of our key sectors, such as trade, transportation and utilities and manufacturing, which together comprise one-third of all jobs in Arkansas.

After falling to unprecedented low levels, American consumer sentiment has regained heights last seen in 2006.

Declining unemployment and rising prices for both homes and stock portfolios mean that household wealth is up. Unsurprisingly, total retail sales and outstanding consumer credit in the United States are at all-time record levels.? However, for the consumer to continue buying, income levels have to show real growth.? This is true at the international level as well, which is why Arkansas businesses pay such close attention to the state of the Euro zone and GDP growth in China.

Business confidence, of course, resides in the people who run those businesses. To even consider starting a company, an entrepreneur has to believe that there are customers, willing to pay good money for the product.? Expanding an existing business by buying new equipment or hiring new employees also requires a leap of faith that the clients and buyers will keep coming.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses measures business optimism and has found a distinct lack of it among small businesses during the post-recession era. The top three reasons for the pessimistic outlook given by small business owners were lack of sales, taxes, and government regulations and red tape.

Another measure of business confidence comes from the Institute for Supply Management?s Report on Business.? Medium-term prospects for both the manufacturing and service sectors are estimated by examining new orders, production, inventories, prices, etc.

The indexes indicate that early 2013 will be characterized by modest growth, with some risk factors including fuel price increases and regulatory uncertainty. The leaders of small and large businesses in Arkansas face the same macroeconomic environment and must optimize their organizations for a slow growth, risk-filled, globalized near-term horizon.

Regulatory and tax policy uncertainty are the kinds of things that the democratic process should be able to address.? Voters elect representatives to implement the kinds of policies that lead to widespread prosperity.? Confidence in the system of governance in the United States is crucial for ordinary people (who happen to be both consumers and business leaders) to make spending, savings, and investment decisions even in the face of usual economic uncertainty.

The beginning of 2013 should see noticeable declines in governmentally induced uncertainty.? Both shorter and longer term federal tax and healthcare policies will be in place, which even if not to the preference of consumers and businesses, will provide the set of rules to the game.

The political leaders of Arkansas should also continue to provide a sturdy state budgetary situation to keep confidence high at a more local level.

There is no doubt that the events which led to the recession in 2008 and the long, slow economic recovery since, have provided real challenges to optimistic outlooks. The decisions made by Arkansas consumers and businesses continue to be more cautious and well-thought out than before the crash.

These very rational responses to extreme events will continue to make the climb towards full recovery steep, but I?m confident that the climate of 2013 will be characterized by continued progress on the road to full employment, profitability, and economic prosperity.

Source: http://talkbusiness.net/2013/01/kathy-deck-a-toast-to-confidence-in-the-new-year/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kathy-deck-a-toast-to-confidence-in-the-new-year

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Emma Watson's 'Bling Ring' To Hit Theaters In June

Sofia Coppola-directed flick follows the story of thieves who target celebs.
By Kara Warner

Emma Watson
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700332/bling-ring-emma-watson-premiere-june.jhtml

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Microsoft Enhances System Center For Hybrid Cloud Work

Microsoft upgraded its System Center suite Tuesday to make it a hybrid cloud manager and a more complete manager of the capabilities included in Windows Server 2012, launched last September.

As System Center 2012 and Windows Server 2012 mesh more tightly together, Microsoft has achieved what it refers to as its "Cloud Operating System," in the words of Michael Park, corporate VP for server and tools business marketing, in an interview. The term means mainly that System Center can now scale across many Windows Server 2012 servers, and link up operations that may be scattered across more than one data center.

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System Center 2012 was augmented Tuesday with Service Pack 1. It's been extended so that a single instance of System Center's Virtual Machine Manager module can handle up to 8,000 virtual machines on a cluster with 64 hosts. Add another Virtual Machine Manager instance and manage another 8,000 VMs.

The combination of System Center with SP1 and Windows Server 2012 allows an IT administrator to create Hyper-V virtual machines and deploy them to his own data center, a remote hosting service provider or a public cloud, such as a Windows Azure site.

If the hosting service provider is one of 14,000 that has equipped itself with its own version of System Center, then the enterprise IT manager will be able to see any type of workload -- on-premises, in a hosting service provider's data center or in the Windows Azure cloud -- from a single System Center console. That's because Microsoft supplies Service Provider Foundation as part of the hosting provider's version, and it includes an API that lets an on-premises system call to a service provider system to gain a view of a particular running workload.

[ Microsoft previously upgraded System Center for the cloud era. See Microsoft System Center 2012 Focuses On Private Cloud. ]

"System Center can be the glue that brings it all together for the customer," said Mike Schutz, general manager of server and tools business marketing, in an interview. Microsoft has previously talked up some of the capabilities now included in Service Pack 1. "This release puts an exclamation point on them," he added.

System Center is a suite of eight management modules. Virtual Machine Manager for generating and deploying virtual machines is one; Configuration Manager for capturing the specifications of each server is another. Originally designed to manage Windows Server, it has been extended to also manage several versions of Linux, Oracle Solaris and HP/UX.

Windows Server 2012 included a new version of Hyper-V that could generate a virtualized network on top of a physical network. The capability is essential to using automated processes to provision and manage virtual machines, and it was Microsoft's own step toward creating what rival VMware refers to as the software-defined data center.

But Microsoft has waited until now to give System Center the ability to use Hyper-V virtual networking capabilities. With Service Pack 1, network provisioning allows a newly created virtual machine to be assigned a virtual subnet and virtual routing, defined in System Center policies. The capability brings more automation and flexibility to managing the virtual data center under Hyper-V.

Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=c3ba4cdb6f49590220bf117997cc46d5

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Kelly receives a hero's welcome in Philly

Chip Kelly arrives at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Philadelphia. Oregon's enigmatic NCAA college football head coach of four years surprised the school with an early morning phone call Wednesday to say he was leaving to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team, just a little more than a week after he told Oregon he was staying. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Swanson) PHIX OUT; TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NEWARK OUT

Chip Kelly arrives at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Philadelphia. Oregon's enigmatic NCAA college football head coach of four years surprised the school with an early morning phone call Wednesday to say he was leaving to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team, just a little more than a week after he told Oregon he was staying. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Swanson) PHIX OUT; TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NEWARK OUT

Chip Kelly speaks to members of the media as he arrives at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Philadelphia. Oregon's enigmatic NCAA college football head coach of four years surprised the school with an early morning phone call Wednesday to say he was leaving to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team, just a little more than a week after he told Oregon he was staying. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Swanson) PHIX OUT; TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NEWARK OUT

Chip Kelly arrives at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Philadelphia. Oregon's enigmatic NCAA college football head coach of four years surprised the school with an early morning phone call Wednesday to say he was leaving to become head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team, just a little more than a week after he told Oregon he was staying. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Swanson) PHIX OUT; TV OUT; MAGS OUT; NEWARK OUT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A sign reading "Our Chip's Come In" greeted Chip Kelly outside the Philadelphia Eagles' practice facility on his first day as head coach, and a few fans drove down Pattison Avenue honking their horns to salute the hiring.

A new era for the Eagles has begun.

Kelly was hired Wednesday to be the 21st coach in team history, ending an exhaustive search to replace Andy Reid.

The offensive innovator was lured away from Oregon, where he went 46-7 in four seasons and turned the program into a national powerhouse.

Kelly, who arrived to a hero's welcome at a Philadelphia airport on Wednesday night, was introduced at a news conference Thursday at the team's training complex.

"The key was to find the right leader, not make the fastest decision. We really were able to circle back with Coach Chip Kelly. We had an outstanding interview with him on Jan. 5. It was an outstanding nine hours, we learned a lot," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. "We were told, the same day, that it was really a question of going to the Eagles or going back to Oregon. At that point, we learned he might go back to the University of Oregon, but we kept in touch."

Though Kelly has no previous NFL experience, the Eagles are banking on him to turn around a franchise that has just 12 wins in the last two years and zero playoff victories since 2008.

"It's a really exciting time for me. It was a difficult decision. There's not many opportunities to coach in the National Football League, and every one of them is special," Kelly said. "But this is an iconic franchise with an outstanding owner. I knew what this place was all about, and this is where I wanted to be.

"It was just a matter of figuring out how to do it the right way."

Kelly has work ahead of him. His up-tempo, flash-and-dash offense needs a leader under center. It could be Nick Foles, a rookie last year who replaced Michael Vick at quarterback, and had an up-and-down debut season. It could be Vick again, though he'll be 33 when the season starts.

"I'm going to look at everyone, and look at everything we can do to put the best product on the field," Kelly said. "There's nobody ruled in and there's nobody ruled out at this point in time."

The Eagles were 3-1 this season after a 19-17 win over the New York Giants on Sept. 30. They then lost 11 of their last 12 games to finish in last place in the NFC East. Reid was fired the day after the season ended.

"We have one goal, and that's to get to the Super Bowl," Kelly said. "It's not an 'I' deal, it's a 'we' deal. Our players will understand that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-17-FBN-Eagles-Kelly/id-c2ba86f4f10b4453b04a07db3da5fd65

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My Beloved World

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor tells her story with wit and candor.

By Grace Bello / January 15, 2013

My Beloved World By Sonia Sotomayor Knopf Doubleday 336 pp.

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It?s hard not to indulge in clich?s when describing Sonia Sotomayor. Diamond in the rough. Rags to riches. Working-class hero.

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Yes, she ascended from the South Bronx to the US Supreme Court. And along the way, she broke ground for fellow Hispanics and women at Princeton and Yale. But read her new memoir, My Beloved World, and you?ll see in Sotomayor a surprising wealth of candor, wit, and affection. No topic is off limits, not her diabetes, her father?s death, her divorce, or her cousin?s death from AIDS. Put the kettle on, reader, it?s time for some real talk with Titi Sonia.

In 1954, she?s born to Puerto Rican immigrant parents and grows up in the downtrodden projects of the Bronx. At the age of 8, she?s diagnosed with diabetes and is told she must have a shot of insulin every day. Alcoholism has left her father?s hands too shaky for the task, so she learns to do the injections herself.

When she?s 9 years old, her father?s struggles are over ? he dies because of health complications. ?From here, Mami, Junior, and I would be going along without him. Maybe it would be easier this way,? she says.

She?s half-orphaned now, living in a neighborhood rampant with drugs and junkies: ?One by one the shops would darken, and we could hear the clatter of the graffiti-covered gates being rolled down, trucks driving off, until we were the only ones walking. Even the prostitutes had vanished.? However, Sonia takes refuge in her ?beloved world? ? her caring community made up of her immediate and extended family.

The author shines in her passages on childhood, family, and self-discovery. Her magical portraits of loved ones ? especially her abuelita (grandmother) ? bring to mind Sandra Cisneros?s ?The House on Mango Street?; both authors bring a sense of childlike wonder and empathy to a world rarely seen in books, a Latin-American and womancentric world.

She addresses her chronic health condition, which she says presents bittersweet blessings. One is ?a fine-tuned sensitivity to others? emotional states? that comes from ?mentally checking [her] physical sensations every minute of the day.? Another is her motivation to succeed. ?I probably wasn?t going to live as long as most people, I figured. So I couldn?t afford to waste time.?

So how does she ? a Puerto Rican girl who grew up working-class, who rarely spoke English as a child, and who has no one to chart a path for her ? get into college, let alone law school? She says, ?I?ve sought out mentors ... soaking up eagerly whatever that friend could teach me.? This isn?t a story of pulling oneself up by one?s bootstraps. This is a story of a child seeking a village to raise her.

After high school, she advances to Princeton with a full scholarship. In contrast to the Bronx, the ivory tower is homogenous and privileged. Few women, let alone women of color, grace the campus. And when she notices her lack of worldliness among these elites, she quips, ?I was enough of a realist not to fret about having missed summer camp or travel abroad.? We see her self-deprecating humor here as she speaks of never having seen a couch that wasn?t covered in plastic and, later at law school, never having heard of voir dire. (?What does ?wah-deer? mean??)

At each turn, we root for Sotomayor, not only because she?s an underdog but because we know she?s paving the way for future students of color. ?Minority kids had no one but their few immediate predecessors: the first to scale the ivy-covered wall against the odds,? she writes. ?We would hold the ladder steady for the next kid with more talent than opportunity.?

Sotomayor ascends ever higher, as a law student at Yale, as an assistant district attorney in New York, as a lawyer at a private law firm, as New York State?s first-ever Hispanic federal judge, and, in 2009, as the first Latina US Supreme Court justice. But when her cousin Nelson dies of AIDS, she says, ?Why did I endure, even thrive, where he failed, consumed by the same dangers that had surrounded me??

The question haunts her. But she says, ?I?ve spent my whole life learning how to do things that were hard for me.... I?m not intimidated by challenges. My whole life has been one.? In part, her family?s love gave her the support to set her sights beyond the Bronx. In part, each against-all-odds success inoculated her for the next challenge. But most important, her advocates were always by her side. And, with this intimate narrative, it feels as if she is by ours.
Grace Bello is a Monitor contributor.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/js5SMYOWSB8/My-Beloved-World

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Fortified by Global Warming, Deadly Fungus Poisons Corn Crops, Causes Cancer

Last year?s drought increased the spread of a carcinogenic mold called aspergillus (Aspergillus flavus), a fungal pathogen that poisons cattle, kills pets and has infected the 2012 corn crop, rendering significant portions of the harvest unfit for consumption. Whereas the deadly organism mainly affects countries like China and developing African nations, many U.S. states have experienced an increase in corn contamination since 2011. Farmers are likely to see more of the carcinogen as temperatures continue to rise and droughts become more frequent. ?It's really a climate variable issue,? says Barbara Stinson, founding and senior partner of Meridian Institute, a public policy organization. ?We're probably looking at an increase in aflatoxin as a result of that.? A. flavus releases toxic spores that can be fatal when ingested, prompting symptoms that include jaundice, liver cancer and internal bleeding. The poison is so deadly that in 1995 Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein confessed to weaponizing the mold spores for use in biological warfare. The high toxicity of the mold means crops with more than 20 parts per billion?the equivalent of about 100 kernels in a truckload of corn?can?t cross state lines, says Ronnie Heiniger, professor of cropping systems at North Carolina State University. That?s bad news for the agricultural industry, which suffers annual losses of more than $190 million due to aspergillus. Last year the green-black mold contaminated more than half the corn harvested in Missouri by October. In contrast, only 8 percent of the 2011 crop suffered, according to the Missouri Grain Inspection Service. ?We have a big aflatoxin problem,? says Charles Woloshuk, a botanist and plant pathologist at Purdue University. ?There are loads of corn coming to the [grain] elevators that have been rejected.? Grains like corn and cereals are well documented hosts of aspergillus, although the fungus is also found in oilseed, spices, tree nuts, groundnuts, milk, meat and dried fruit?all staples on which a significant portion of the world?s population rely for sustenance. Drought conditions don?t cause the mold, but they do help speed its expansion. Unlike the fuzzy stuff that grows on bathroom tiles or in the back of the garage, A. flavus prefers hot, dry climes?precisely like the drought afflicting more than half the U.S. Although the international community has adopted strict legislation to regulate the acceptable amount of aflatoxin for individual countries, cases of poisoning, called aflatoxicosis, still surface regularly. Because the level of aflatoxins found in any given load of corn can be higher than the legal maximum, farmers are allowed to mix contaminated corn with safe corn to dilute the amount?but sometimes contaminants slip through the cracks. ?That's always the problem with a contaminant at these low levels?the distribution of that contaminant in that load,? Heiniger says. ?The detection of these contaminants is almost more of an art than a science because you're searching for this one little kernel.? He adds, ?If you selected one bite from that whole area and happened to hit that one kernel you'd get the contaminant.? Aflatoxin contamination is a global food security issue, but it?s especially a problem in developing countries, which are often largely populated by subsistence farmers who don?t have the resources, technology or infrastructure needed for adequate grain testing. Lack of education about the effects of the mold also contributes to aflatoxicosis poisoning. ?The average person can?t tell whether the mold contains aflatoxin. You can?t tell if it?s highly toxic or an innocuous fungus,? Stinson says. ?So people are used to eating it and don?t know that they?re poisoning themselves or their children.? To make matters worse, aflatoxins react strongly to the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the most common cause of liver cancer in the world. In countries where HBV is endemic, such as in China and some African nations, ingesting the mold intensifies and speeds liver failure by acting as an immunosuppressant. Consequently, there are over 750,000 new reported cases of primary liver cancer reported yearly worldwide, making it the sixth most common cancer for humankind, according to 2008 statistics from the World Cancer Research Fund International. The cost in human life is likely due, in part, to international trade issues. Because aspergillus standards in developed countries are so high, African nations export much of their pure commodities overseas, leaving the tainted crops at home for consumption by locals. Natural disasters that increase foreign demand for African products?like floods and droughts in industrialized countries?only compound the issue. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) estimate more than five billion people worldwide are at risk for chronic exposure through contaminated foods, according to a March 2012 study published in PLoS One. ?Strict aflatoxin standards mean that many nations will export their best-quality foods and keep contaminated foods domestically, resulting in higher aflatoxin exposure in low- or middle-income nations where hepatitis prevalence is high,? wrote co-authors Felicia Wu and Hasan Guclu, both Pitt faculty members. Whereas the U.S. is most often spared the cost in human health, the repercussions aren?t nil. Dairy cows and cattle, already stressed from living in close proximity to large numbers of animals, are at particularly high risk for succumbing to aflatoxicosis, though they can handle higher doses of toxin. Pets, too, are susceptible to the poison. In 2007 aflatoxins forced a nationwide pet food recall?but not before dozens of man?s best friends fell ill and died. Researchers have not yet found an animal species immune to the aspergillus?s effects. The spores are so poisonous that even destroying the contaminated crops is an ordeal. Scientists worldwide keep careful tabs on aflatoxins in a large-scale effort to avoid outbreaks of aflatoxicosis, according to Stinson. ?Our understanding is that in some cases you can't even incinerate (contaminated food) safely because the aflatoxin can get airborne and be inhaled,? she says. ?If there is a high level of aflatoxin?they're going to be in the position of having to store and destroy crops.? Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fortified-global-warming-deadly-fungus-poisons-corn-crops-172000380.html

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junkyard charterer: Enter our Flash Fiction Contest | abqARTS ...

Deadline: Friday, February 8, 2013

Write well, but write short.

Enter the ABQA Arts & Entertainment Flash Fiction Contest for a chance to win $100 and publication in our April 2013 issue. Runners up will be published online at abqarts.com.?

?Only unpublished short stories from 75 to 750 words submitted by e-mail or snail mail will be accepted. Any subject matter, but keep the words clean. No matter how short, your submission should be a complete story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Read past winners in our archives at abqarts.com.

?No entry fee. Multiple entries OK. Include your name and phone number. Entries will be judged by a panel of professional writers whose decisions are final.

?DEADLINE: Entries must be emailed or snail-mailed by midnight Mountain time, Friday, February 8, 2013. No exceptions. E-mail to publisher@abqarts.com or snail mail to Flash Fiction Contest, ABQ Arts & Entertainment, PO Box 20609, 87154. Winners will be notified by Friday, March 15, 2013.

?

Source: http://abqarts.com/?p=11762

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Source: http://junkyard-charterer.blogspot.com/2013/01/enter-our-flash-fiction-contest-abqarts.html

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Deaf Twins Euthanized in Belgium

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/deaf-twins-euthanized-in-belgium/

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Calgary Region Building Permits Up More than 10% From Last Year ...

10% Up? That?s great increase for Building Permits in Calgary! Read more about the article below.?

CALGARY ? The value of building permits in the Calgary region was $372.1 million in November, according to Statistics Canada.

The federal agency reported Thursday that permits in the Calgary census metropolitan area were down 5.9 per cent from the previous month but up 10.8 per cent from a year ago.

In Alberta, building permits hit $1.2 billion in November, up 1.5 per cent on a monthly basis and an increase of 26.3 per cent from November 2011.

Residential permits in the province rose by 6.6 per cent month-over-month and by 23.9 per cent year-over-year to $740.6 million while non-residential permits of $498.1 million were down 5.2 per cent on a monthly basis but up 29.9 per cent on an annual basis.

Nationally, total permits in Canada reached $6.2 billion in November, representing a 17.9 per cent decline from October but a slight increase of 0.2 per cent from November 2011.

Residential permits of $3.8 billion were down 6.8 per cent month-over-month and 1.9 per cent year-over-year while non-residential permits of $2.4 billion declined by 30.6 per cent from the previous month but increased by 3.7 per cent from a year ago.

mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com

Twitter: MTone123

? Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Calgary Region Building Permits Up More than 10% From Last Year

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About The Chamberlain Group:
Jared and Rebecca Chamberlain are Calgary REALTORS? who are changing how real estate is done in Calgary by utilizing online marketing and advanced tools to sell your house in Calgary faster and for far more money. They would be honored to have the chance to work with you and earn your business. ____________________________________________________

Source: http://thecalgaryrealestateblog.com/2013/01/calgary-region-building-permits-up-more-than-10-from-last-year/

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10 Record-Breaking Pets (Videos) | Care2 Healthy Living

• Katie Waldeck
• January 12, 2013
• 5:29 pm
• 19 comments

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Long cats, short cats, tall dogs and small dogs ? click through to watch videos of recording-breaking pets. What world record does your beloved pet deserve? Tell us about it in the comments section!

*****

1. World?s Tallest Dog

At a whopping 3?8? ?feet (1.1 m.) tall, Zeus the Great Dane is the tallest dog in the world. And that?s just standing normally ? if he goes up on his hind legs, Zeus measures in at 7.4? feet (2.2 meters)!

See Also: 8 Amazing Animal Facts

Read more: Cats, Dogs, Fun, Humor & Inspiration, Less Common Pets, Life, Nature, Nature & Wildlife, Pets, Videos, Videos, Wildlife, slideshow

Katie Waldeck

Katie is a freelance writer focused on pets, food and women?s issues. A Chicago native and longtime resident of the Pacific Northwest, Katie now lives in Oakland, California.

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Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-record-breaking-pets-videos.html

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