PUBLISHED: 04:45 EST, 31 August 2012 | UPDATED: 07:16 EST, 31 August 2012
England resume their NatWest Series against South Africa at the Kia Oval after defeat at Southampton on Tuesday.
The washout at Cardiff in the first game means South Africa lead the series 1-0 with three games to go, including the clash in south London.
England's star spinner Graeme Swann has been rested for the final three games of the series, with Kent off-spinner James Tredwell brought in as cover.
Surrey fast bowler Jade Dernbach has been handed a recall in place of Tim Bresnan.
South Africa have recalled star man Dale Steyn for Ryan McLaren in an otherwise unchanged line-up from the side that beat England with ease at the Ageas Bowl.
South Africa have won the toss and will bat first.
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Noses in front: South Africa celebrated victory in Southampton on Tuesday
Designed for more realistic living quarters, LG's unleashed its Personal Smart TV to the IFA crowds. With a 27-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS display, you'll also find the typical stable of connectivity options, including two HDMI, three USB, component, LAN and SCART connections. The screen seemed well-lit with the IPS panel offering suitably reliable views from most angles. It's a pretty stylish-looking TV too, with a rough metallic finish to the bezel, which while not jaw-dropping, is still suitably narrow. The Smart TV functions were also navigable through LG's Smart Remote, offering a WiiMote-ish approach to media browsing. Our demo model was already packed with German media content -- in both 2D and 3D -- ready for when it launches here next month. It'll be appearing in shops across Europe around the same time, although there's no word on the set landing on US shores. Check out our quick hands-on video after the break.
Follow all of our IFA 2012 coverage by heading to our event hub!
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimates that around eight percent of U.S. kids are affected by food allergies.
Eight foods account for most children?s food allergies in Mountain City: eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, nuts, and wheat. Strawberries and tomatoes can also cause food allergies in young Whittier kids, though generally not in adults.
Type and severity of allergy symptoms in Mountain City kids vary, but may show up as itchy eyes, nose or throat, trouble breathing, gastrointestinal upset, or hives.
If you suspect your child may have a food allergy, keep a food journal of everything he or she eats (including beverages) for a week to show your Glenville pediatrician. To confirm the diagnosis, your doctor may scratch the skin with a small amount of an allergen to observe the reaction. To learn more about children?s health in Mountain City or to inquire about the nutritional superstar Xe Energy Drink, contact my office today.
JJ Birden 480.824.8318 jjbirden238@adampaulgreen.com http://www.jjbirden.com/
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Among a bevy of patents awarded to Apple this week was one that would enable or disable certain features of a phone depending on its location. It could be useful, but it also raises serious questions about who really owns your device.
The patent, "Apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device," was pointed out by Apple Insider?Thursday. It's similar to an application made public in 2011 that would use a sensor in the phone to detect whether it was allowed to take pictures or make calls. The new patent relies on GPS, cell tower?or Wi-Fi?data to determine location, and then "changing one or more functional or operational aspects" of the device.
The suggestions for use are innocuous and practical: a movie theater that automatically sets phones to silent; a classroom that prevents outgoing calls; turning off Wi-Fi in a hospital. But it's not hard to imagine abuses of the system as well: it could be a useful tool for any oppressive regime, for instance,?or be used to force the shutdown of phones at a protest?? something that happened last year in San Francisco.
There's nothing in the patent that indicates it is going to be implemented, though iPhones and other smartphones do already have the ability to adjust things like ring volume and Wi-Fi settings depending on location. The difference this patent describes would be that it's not the user making the changes, but whoever sets "policies" in the area.
You can read?the patent in its entirety at the Patent Office's website. Apple was also awarded numerous other patents this week, from mobile payment systems to email interfaces, thought only a few are actually in use.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
It only seems five minutes ago we had the ZTE Grand X released and already it is being superseded by another flagship device. The ZTE Grand X IN is powered by an Intel® Atom™ processor Z2460 with Intel® Hyper-Threading which should make the new handset more efficient in the power department whilst still delivering a fast and powerful experience. The majority of the specs look to be on-par with the original Grand X although the camera has had a boost and we now get an 8MP instead of the 5. The shell looks identical and from handling the Grand X I can say it is a pretty solid device for its price point.
Other features include a 4.3 inch TFT 16 million-color display, a 1650 mAh battery and HSPA+ 21Mbps. The device is planned for release in Europe during September and will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. There is no word on plans to get Jelly Bean on it so I wouldn't hold your breath for that one however when carriers announce pricing for the ZTE Grand X IN I expect them to be very competitive. The Grand X that launched here in the UK just last month is sitting just short of the £200 mark on pay as you go so fingers crossed the final figure for the IN will be in that ball park.
No Easy Day, a controversial book about the killing of Osama Bin Laden by an ex-Navy SEAL involved in the mission, is drawing the attention of Pentagon lawyers, according to a report by Reuters.
The book is set to be released on Sept. 4, less than a month after it was announced by Dutton with a Sept. 11 publication date. The publisher advanced it a week amidst a wave of publicity.
The book is described as a first hand account of the killing by a SEAL who was on the ground in Bin Laden's compound in AbbottabadPakistan. Early leaks suggest the book differs from official accounts in important ways, alleging that the terrorist leader was not reaching for a gun when American soldiers shot him.
Now Reuters reports that the Pentagon is considering legal action against Matt Bissonnette, the SEAL who wrote the book under the pen name Mark Owen, for breaking a non-disclosure agreement he signed with the Navy.
The news service quotes a letter from Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson arguing, "In the judgment of the Department of Defense, you are in material breach and violation of the non-disclosure agreements you signed. Further public dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements."
The controversy over the book and its author boosted No Easy Day to the top of Amazon's sales chart in the week before publication.
Steven Spielberg denied a report that he was considering adapting the book for film.
Kathryn Bigelow's movie about the raid,?Zero Dark Thirty, which itself has been the subject of debate about its sources and potential impact on the election, is scheduled for release in Dec.
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The name of the last Republican president has not been spoken at the convention thus far
Screengrab from ABC News.
TAMPA?The lights dimmed, and there?at long last!?was former President George W. Bush. Sort of. A video started rolling on the convention stage?s web of screens, opening with Bush, in mid-sentence, talking about how proud he?d been when his dad first saw him in the White House. New camera angle, and there he was, George H.W. Bush, carrying the anecdote.
?I was in the bathtub at the White House residence,? mused the senior Bush, ?and Ramsey, the guy that worked there, came in and said?get outta that bathtub, your son is in the Oval Office!?
?As I recall,? said the younger Bush, ?the conversation went something like this. ?Welcome, Mr. President. It?s good to see you, Mr. President. And that?s all we said.? ?
It was a short video, shot by the old Bush friend Mark McKinnon, who copped the Errol Morris style of letting people get personal and stream-of-consciousness without any interviewer prodding them on. The two former presidents? wives appeared on a couch, talking the same way. Everybody praised the Romney family. Senior Bush described junior Bush as ?a good, honest president who got a lot of things done.? And ? scene.
The five-minute tribute to Old Guys Hanging Out and Talking was the Republican National Convention?s only reference to the last Republican presidency. The name ?George W. Bush? has not appeared in any convention speeches. Absolutely, there were years between 2000 and 2009, and someone was in charge, but we are never told who. We?re just told that it was lousy. The election, said Paul Ryan, will not be fought over ?the economy as Barack Obama inherited it.? The president, said Mike Huckabee, was ?aiming excuses at his predecessor,? whatever his name was.
Republican delegates aren?t stupid. Unless they?re for Ron Paul, they probably liked Bush. Some of them bought copies of Rebel-in-Chief and prayed for the president?s family and worked in GOP offices with pictures of Bush throwing the first pitch at a post-9/11 Yankees game. And hey, Jeb Bush is here, flitting around to various education-themed and corporate-sponsored luncheons, speaking from the stage tonight. But George Bush isn?t popular anymore, and hasn?t been popular in years.
?It?s a pragmatic approach,? said North Dakota delegate Clare Carlson, shrugging. ?Obviously, his popularity wasn?t real high when he left office. He seems to be comfortable with how he did as president, under difficult circumstances.? To be more specific: ?Things went well for his presidency right up until the day when voters gave control of Congress to the Democrats.?
You hear this often from the ground-level Republicans, especially the Texas delegates. They worked hard for the guy, and the media smeared him unfairly. In 2007, as his approval ratings fell through floor after floor, Bush said that ?history [was] going to have to judge? him. That?s what everybody here expects. History?s just not fair, yet.
?The smart thing to do is focus on here and now and not give President Obama an opportunity to bring up George Bush?s presidency,? said Ari Fleischer, Bush?s first spokesman. ?Obviously, I?m sorrowful about it. I?m still who I was.? But the offstage strategy would work. ?You create things that drive the news, and typically people ignore the things that aren?t in front of them. If George Bush walked onstage, he?d get a huge ovation. But people aren?t going to walk out of here wishing he was onstage.?
Maybe not, but it?s a strange feeling to pretend that eight years of policymaking never happened. ?It?s too bad,? said former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who retired in 2006. ?He should be here. We should celebrate with him. That?s my feeling. The first two years I was speaker, we paid down about $650 billion of public debt. Then we had 9/11. So I think history will treat him well. We did have an increase in spending, but it was almost all homeland security and national security spending.?
But what about the reasons Republicans distanced themselves from Bush? The Tea Party movement, in its infancy, was framed up as a rebellion against both parties. Yes, we screwed up, too. The most effective Tea Party spokespeople corrected for Bush?s unpopularity by denouncing Medicare Part D and TARP?one popular program, one mess. The movement?grassroots and donors and groups like the Club for Growth?tomahawked a couple of Republican incumbents, which had the long-term effect of changing everybody?s image. That?s how Rep. Paul Ryan can say he was ?miserable during the last majority,? when he was voting for the bills FreedomWorks hated.
?There?s no doubt that Mitt Romney and George W. Bush are very different men,? said Ted Cruz, a former Bush lawyer who?s now a Tea Party-branded Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Texas. ?I think George W. Bush has made a decision to retire from public life, and not to intrude. President Obama, unfortunately, has tried to blame everything under the sun on former President Bush, and I think that people aren?t buying it.?
Polling contradicts that. More people blame Bush for the recession?still, after three years?than Obama. And that?s why the Bush name will make its first non-canned-video appearance at the start of Jeb?s speech. He has to defend his brother, he told Fox News. ?That?s kind of my role in life now.?
Read the rest of Slate?s coverage from the GOP convention.
Contracts to buy previously owned homes rose to their highest level in more than two years in July, an industry group said on Wednesday, suggesting the housing market recovery was gaining traction.
The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in July, increased 2.4 percent to 101.7 - the highest level since April 2010 and shortly before the deadline for the home buyer tax credit.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected signed contracts, which become sales after a month or two, to rise 1.0 percent after declining 1.4 percent in June.
The report was the latest to show momentum in housing market recovery, with gains in home construction and sales and prices.
Pending home sales were up 12.4 percent in the 12 months to July.
"All regions saw monthly increases in home-buying activity except for the West, which is now experiencing an acute inventory shortage," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
Contracts in the Northeast gained 0.5 percent last month and increased 3.4 percent in the Midwest. In the South, contracts rose 5.2 percent. The West saw a 1.7 percent drop in contracts last month.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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A total of 13 Duke Energy employees were honored?Wednesday with the company's James B. Duke Award ? the company's highest employee award for service to the company and community. The awards honor accomplishments performed in the previous year.
The 13 employees represent four individual winners and one team of nine employees.
Honored were:
Jessica Bishop, director, Electric Vehicle Development, Charlotte
Russell Wilkenloh, manager, Resource Recovery, Charlotte
Andre Guimaraes, Institutional Affairs, Chavantes, Brazil
David Masters, manager, Technology Development, Charlotte
Nine team members who worked on the company?s response to the mercury and other hazardous air pollution regulation (MACT/HAPS)?
The James B. Duke Award continues the company's long tradition of recognizing leadership and service in the community and the workplace.?
Winners are nominated and selected by their peers.
Here is a brief summary of the employees' accomplishments:
The MACT/HAPS team ? Brandon Delis, Cincinnati; Mike Geers, Cincinnati; Jon Hays, Plainfield, Ind.; Dave Mitchell, Charlotte; Keith Pike, Plainfield Ind.; Stephen Potter, Charlotte; Tammie Smith, Charlotte; Dan Sympson, Gallagher Station, Ind.; and Dave Waugh, Charlotte ? was honored for its work and compliance strategy concerning the MACT/HAPS regulation proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Bishop was honored for her work on innovative programs as Duke Energy?s first-ever plug-in electric vehicle program director.
Wilkenloh was honored for exceeding the company?s four-year recycling goal a year early. The company worked to increase its total recycling rate to 62 percent.
Guimaraes was honored for his innovative and widespread community outreach programs in Brazil, which touched more than 100,000 residents last year.
Masters was honored for his work on the company?s smart grid developments. He helped utilize common platforms and technology to better increase communications between the company and its customers.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Danish researchers at University of Copenhagen lead the way for future monitoring of marine biodiversity and resources by using DNA traces in seawater samples to keep track of fish and whales in the oceans. A half litre of seawater can contain evidence of local fish and whale faunas and combat traditional fishing methods. Their results are now published in the international scientific journal PLOS ONE.
"The new DNA-method means that we can keep better track of life beneath the surface of the oceans around the world, and better monitor and protect ocean biodiversity and resources," says PhD student Philip Francis Thomsen from the Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.
Marine ecosystems worldwide are under threat with many fish species and populations suffering from human over-exploitation, which greatly impacts global biodiversity, economy and human health. Today, marine fish are largely surveyed using selective and invasive methods mostly limited to commercial species, and restricted to areas with favourable conditions.
However, researchers at Centre for GeoGenetics now lead the way for future monitoring of marine biodiversity. They have shown that seawater contains DNA from animals such as fish and whales. The species leave behind a trace of DNA that reveals their presence in the ocean based on water samples of just half a litre.
From freshwater to seawater
The development of the novel DNA monitoring approach was accomplished by PhD student Philip Francis Thomsen and Master's student Jos Kielgast from the Centre for GeoGenetics headed by Professor Eske Willerslev. In December last year, they showed that small freshwater samples contain DNA from several different threatened animals, and after having published these results they began to focus on seawater. Here it also proved possible to obtain DNA directly from the water, which originated from local species living in the area.
"We analysed seawater samples specifically for fish DNA and we were very surprised when the results started to show up on the screen. We ended up with DNA from 15 different fish species in water samples of just a half litre. We found DNA from both small and large fish, as well as both common species and rare guests. Cod, herring, eel, plaice, pilchard and many more have all left a DNA trace in the seawater," says Philip Francis Thomsen.
In the other study the researchers showed that it is also possible to obtain DNA from harbour porpoise in small water samples taken in the sea, so the approach is not only limited to fish, but can also track large marine mammals.
A new and efficient method
The study also compares the new DNA method with existing methods traditionally used for monitoring fish such as trawl and pots. Here, the DNA method proved as good as or mostly better than existing methods. Moreover, the DNA method has a big advantage that it can be performed virtually anywhere without impacting the local habitat -- it just requires a sample of water. Associate Professor and fish expert Peter Rask M?ller from the National History Museum of Denmark, who also participated in the study, is optimistic.
"The new DNA method has very interesting perspectives for monitoring marine fish. We always keep our eyes open for new methods to describe marine fish biodiversity in an efficient and standardised way. Here, I look very much forward to follow the DNA method in the future, and I think it could be very useful to employ in oceans around the world," says Peter Rask M?ller.
The researchers also see great perspectives in the method for estimating fish stocks in the future.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
Philip Francis Thomsen, Jos Kielgast, Lars L?nsmann Iversen, Peter Rask M?ller, Morten Rasmussen, Eske Willerslev. Detection of a Diverse Marine Fish Fauna Using Environmental DNA from Seawater Samples. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (8): e41732 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041732
Andrew D. Foote, Philip Francis Thomsen, Signe Sveegaard, Magnus Wahlberg, Jos Kielgast, Line A. Kyhn, Andreas B. Salling, Anders Galatius, Ludovic Orlando, M. Thomas P. Gilbert. Investigating the Potential Use of Environmental DNA (eDNA) for Genetic Monitoring of Marine Mammals. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (8): e41781 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041781
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Insuring your auto not only protects you in the event of theft, damage, or a collision, it is mandatory in the United States. Depending on your finance status, your lender may also require certain amounts of insurance. Read this article for some tips on how to make the most of your auto insurance policy.
Check out your state?s minimum insurance guidelines, and follow them. Some states only require you to have liability coverage, but others require personal injury as well. Make sure you know your state?s practices so that you do not fail to meet them, and end up with a ticket for not having enough coverage.
Auto Insurance Quotes
Always compare the auto insurance quotes with several different companies, you may find a wide spread of different rates. Even those online tools that compare rates across companies are a great way to make sure you are getting the best deal possible when you sign up for your insurance plan.
Always compare the auto insurance quotes with several different companies, you may find a wide spread of different rates. Even those online tools that compare rates across companies are a great way to make sure you are getting the best deal possible when you sign up for your insurance plan.
When shopping around for an affordable auto insurance policy you should consider using sites on the internet to get quotes. Sites such as this will let you run one check and receive different auto insurance quotes, which will allow you to determine which insurance policy is the best one to suit your needs.
Car Insurance Quotes
Get between 3-5 car insurance quotes before deciding on a company. This will allow you to see what the acceptable range is for the type of policy that you want. You can easily identify if one company is charging too much for their services and also if another is offering you a good deal.
Look at your driving record before you get a car insurance quote. It may be inaccurate and contain old information that does not apply to your current situation. This can lead to elevated car insurance quotes and cost you a substantial amount of money. Make sure that your driving record has correct information.
Insurance Quotes
Be sure to shop around and gather multiple insurance quotes. This way you can be sure that you are not getting ripped off and getting the best possible coverage for the price. Taking time to examine different companies? prices can save a whole lot of trouble.
Finding cheaper auto insurance is as easy as requesting insurance quotes. Requesting just one quote may not do the trick, but if you request several quotes online, you will probably find a substantial variance in the rates quoted by different providers.
Before you even buy a vehicle you should get a few insurance quotes so that you know what to expect. It makes no sense to go and get a vehicle and then after you purchase it you have to worry about whether you can afford the monthly insurance payments.
Purchasing auto insurance is not generally optional, and there are, in fact, many options available within this requirement. There are ways to reduce your costs and improve your coverage. Having read this article, you should be better informed about these options and ready to make the best decisions about insurance.
Know more about auto insurance quotes, where to get them free of charge and how can it help you decide on the insurance best fitted for you.
It's not important to be a pro stock researcher but a good understanding of how fundamental inspection works is a critical obligation to become a top trader. Fundamental research is the bedrock of worth investing and it's tricky to see how it's possible for you to succeed unless you are betting. If you would like to bring a pro approach to selecting stocks that you going to trade, you can barely succeed if you manage to do it with a pin. The guts of fundamental investigation is what's called ?quantitative? research.
As the more well capable you are on the language then you may get more successful. * Learning the language linked with penny shares is vital. * Although the penny market is low cost compared with other stocks you can still make a respectable profit that may make a significant difference for both you and your family so far as revenue to assist in paying for your debts or building toward your retirement. An advantage of the stock dealing software is the incontrovertible fact that they're programmed to recognise the trends and advise you of which stocks are probably going to be good to make an investment in. Look for a full refund guarantee because this is both an indication of good faith from the publisher and proof that they are pushing a credible programme, but also at the exact same time you can test the programme first hand before absolutely committing to it. It?s simple enough to do because you do not have to invest any money, instead you can doublecheck the performances of the picks which it generates for you in the market to find out how well they do in order that you can know regardless of whether you should be making an investment in its next string of picks.
For that reason, I love to say that automated stock market trading systems and penny shares were made for one another. They're also perfect for more recent, less seasoned traders without the experience who are aiming to get into the market as this is a good example of how dynamic deductive software can be. If you've been holding off on making an investment in the stockmarket as you thought it was too dodgy or the time wasn't right, there has actually never been a better time thanks to this recovery which we are beginning to enter. Target learning investing systems which will enable you to reach your finance goals. If you're greedy and unduly aspiring at the start, you may doubtless be disappointed in your results. Newbie securities trading might be an enjoyable experience for you, if you do not forget to learn all you can about the stockmarket before you invest. Stay informed and recent on the newest market stories.
The Brookings Institution released a long-term study earlier this month that examined the effects of school vouchers on eventual college enrollment. The academics had their say, but what do educators--the ones who are interacting with students on a daily basis--and other education policy enthusiasts have to say about it? Here we share some reactions from Twitter.
ST. LOUIS?? More than 200 Trans World Airlines flight attendants are about to go back to work, nearly 11 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that caused an airline industry slowdown and cost tens of thousands of jobs.
The recall of 211 workers announced Thursday means that for the first time since 9/11, there won't be a single former TWA attendant on furlough. The recall is effective Nov. 17.
American Airlines bought St. Louis-based TWA just months before the hijackings. In the subsequent downturn, American slashed 2,500 jobs and TWA attendants, who had lost their seniority in the takeover, were the first to be cut.
"This has always been about fairness for these workers and I'm thrilled that they'll now have the opportunity to return to their jobs," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who helped broker the deal.
Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines is rebuilding itself under bankruptcy protection and has offered buyouts to hundreds of flight attendants and other employees. Spokesman Bruce Hicks said the recall of former TWA attendants would "ensure we remain adequately staffed throughout this process."
"We welcome our flight attendants back to service and recognize they play an integral role in providing an outstanding onboard experience for our customers," Hicks said.
Recall rights for the flight attendants on furlough were originally guaranteed only through 2008, but American Airlines agreed to extend the recall rights after pressure from McCaskill and other lawmakers.
Former TWA flight attendant Roger Graham, who spearheaded the effort to extend recall rights, said the layoffs were difficult for some former attendants, many of whom struggled to find decent-paying jobs.
"It was a struggle for everybody," said Graham, who got his job back last year. "It was very difficult to find a comparable job as far as pay goes. A lot of people lost their homes."
Among those who struggled was Ron Hale, 49, of St. Louis, who said he worked as a personal assistant, propane technician and in other jobs since he was laid off in 2002. He's anxious to get back on the plane.
"It's a good feeling," Hale said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Life is made up of a series of complex organic molecules, including sugars. A team of astronomers led by researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, have now observed a simple sugar molecule in the gas surrounding a young star and this discovery proves that the building blocks of life were already present during planet formation. The results have been published in the scientific journalAstrophysical Journal Letters.
The star was observed with the new large international telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile. The ALMA telescopes are able to zoom in and study the details of newly formed stars and their rotating discs of dust and gas, which subsequently clumps together and forms planets. Among other things, the astronomers would like to investigate the gas for the presence of water vapour and examine the chemical composition for complex molecules.
Sugar around new stars
"In the protoplanetary disc of gas and dust surrounding the young, newly formed star, we found glycolaldehyde molecules, which are a simple form of sugar. It is one of the building blocks in the process that leads to the formation of RNA and the first step in the direction of biology," explains astrophysicist Jes J?rgensen, Associate Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Centre for Star and Planet Formation at the University of Copenhagen.
He explains that at first the gas and dust cloud is extremely cold (only around 10 degrees above absolute zero at minus 273 degrees C) and simple gases such as carbon monoxide and methane settle on particles of dust and solidify as ice. Here on the particles of dust, the otherwise volatile gases come close to each other and can bond together and form more complex molecules. When the star has been formed in the middle of the gas and dust cloud, it emits heat, and the inner parts of the rotating cloud surrounding the star is heated to around room temperature, after which the chemically complex molecules on the particles of dust evaporate as gas. This gas emits radiation as radio waves at low frequencies and it is this radiation that researchers can observe with the ALMA telescopes.
Precursors for biology before planets
The star is located only 400 light years from us ? so, seen in an astronomical context, it is right in our own neighbourhood. With the very high resolution of the new telescopes, researchers now have the opportunity to study the details of the dust and gas clouds, and in addition to the sugar molecules the researchers also saw signs of a number of other complex organic molecules, including ethylene-glycol, methyl-formate and ethanol.
"The complex molecules in the cloud surrounding the newly formed star tell us that the building blocks of life may be among the first formed. One of the big questions is whether it is common that these organic molecules are formed so early in the star and planet formation process ? and how complex they can become before they are incorporated into new planets. This could potentially tell us something about the possibility that life might arise elsewhere and whether precursors to biology are already present before the planets have been formed," explains Jes J?rgensen.
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University of Copenhagen: http://www.ku.dk
Thanks to University of Copenhagen for this article.
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Republicans and Democrats have made their political and ideological?stance on President Obama's health care law a key part of their respective campaigns. But recent data suggests that Americans are preoccupied with the more practical matter of how much it will cost them to get the care they need.
Experts say?the focus on pocketbook issues reflects both the nation?s preoccupation with household finances amid the difficult economy, and the fact that the Affordable Care Act is poorly understood.
?People don?t think about the nation?s health care costs,? said Mollyann Brodie, senior vice president for public opinion and survey research for the Kaiser Family Foundation. ?They?re not thinking about the total amount the nation is spending on health care. What they think about is the price they pay, the price coming out of their paycheck.?
Brodie noted that it?s been hard for either opponents or proponents of the Affordable Care Act to explain how the big health care reform program will affect people?s individual health care costs.
That's partly because the effect will be very different depending on what kind of health insurance, and health care needs, you have. And it's made more complicated because many provisions of the law aren?t set to take effect until 2014 or later.
Also, although people may have deep partisan feelings about whether such a plan is necessary, in their everyday lives they?re more concerned with how they can afford the health care they need.
?When you ask them what bothers me, what bothers me is I can?t afford the premium,? she said.
A Kaiser Family Foundation survey conducted this month finds that even among Republicans, health care costs are a bigger health-related concern than any issues they might have with "Obamacare."
The Kaiser survey of about 1,200 Americans found that 67 percent of Republicans said the cost of health care and health insurance was either extremely or very important when choosing a president, while 61 percent said Medicare was the top health care issue in choosing a president.
A smaller number of Republicans, 54 percent, said the 2010 health care law that has been such a hot topic of political debate was extremely or very important to their decision. Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, has vowed to undo many aspects of the law if elected.
Among Americans of all political affiliations, health care cost also ranked as the most second worrisome economic issue, right after jobs, in the Kaiser survey.
A separate Gallup survey also showed that health care costs remain a top worry among American workers as well. It found that American workers are more worried about getting their benefits cut than about having their job eliminated, despite an unemployment rate that is above 8 percent.
The Gallup poll of about 500 working adult Americans, which also was conducted in early August, found that 40 percent?were worried that their benefits will be cut, while 28 percent were worried about losing their job.
Paul Fronstin, director of the Employment Benefit Research Institute?s health research and education program, said it?s no surprise that Americans are so concerned about the cost and availability of benefits. Fronstin noted that health care costs have been rising for years. That?s left many?employees either being asked to contribute more toward the cost of their care, or finding that their employer simply doesn?t offer a plan they can afford.
?Benefits have been eroding. We have seen deductibles going up, and we have seen copayments going up,? he said.
The Gallup survey has for years shown that Americans are most worried about benefit cuts. But the concern spiked when the economy began to falter. Perhaps surprisingly, it has continued to outpace fears of a job loss even as millions of Americans have lost their jobs.
These days, Fronstin said many people may feel like they made it through the recession and therefore don?t have to be as worried that they will lose their job. Yet they still may worry that their employer will continue to ask them to pay more for health care, and they may wonder how they will swing that added cost.
?People are starting to get over that (fear that) they?re going to lose their job because the unemployment rate has been coming down, even slightly,? he said. ?But it doesn?t make them feel better about their benefits.?
Related:
More workers opting out of company health plans
One in five older Americans scrimp on health care to save money
If you think that in tourism developing a strategic marketing plan is something only the big, fancy hotel chains do, then think again. You CERTAINLY need one, too! It?ll help you better understand your business, your customers and your strategy for success.
In fact it even more important that you use your smaller and tighter budget in the correct way and in the correct direction. A scattergun approach needs a LOT of money to be effective. With your smaller budget you are going to be looking for needle point accuracy in each of your campaign to guarantee ROI. As little trial and error as possible is definitely the aim. A-B testing with large focus groups is just totally beyond most of our budgets!
Strategic Marketing Plans for SME Tourism Operators
Most tourism operators and hoteliers have a habit of thinking that ?marketing? means advertising, PR, promotion or even Sales! In fact the oft used term ?Sales and marketing? is mostly a total misnomer in tourism. Marketing professionals seldom complete actual Sales, and Sales don?t get down and gritty with the Marketing Analysis!
Your marketing and your marketing plan is so much more than just a jumble of ad campaigns, and includes everything including understanding your market (or indeed markets!) to which you?ll sell your products and services, to choosing the specific tactics you?ll use to reach that market (which is where things like the advertising come in ? they?re simple one of your MANY tactics!).
Put in simple terms the Strategic Marketing Plan includes the following parts :
Executive Summary ? NEVER longer than one page, the summary should briefly describe the business and the major points of the plan (always write it last)
Situation analysis ? Where you are? a detailed assessment of your niche markets (one by one), your competitors in each niche, and the opportunities and challenges for your business, inclduing client demogrphics and source markets (geography)
Marketing strategy ? How your planning on getting to where you want to be? This is your specific business revenue goals, as well as a strategy for tackling the market opportunities identified in the situation analysis. Comes from your Business Plan (you do have one right! lol)
Marketing tactics ? the actual action plans for executing on the strategy outlined in the previous section. These get drilled down into individual Tactical Plans
Marketing budget and timeline ? a final detailed costing for each campaign and ROI/payback expected, and the overall cost including a Cashflow analysis for planning the year
Situation analysis
Very simply, your situation analysis is the base foundation of your marketing plan, and gives a clear ?lay of the land? for your market and business. Remember all of that market research and competitive analysis you did for your business plan? (eeek, please tell me that is up to date, or we go no further!) The great news? This is exactly what you did all that work for, you get to use it here! In your situation analysis, clearly define for each of your markets:
All your potential customers and clients, including current market size and projected growth
Your competitors, including current and projected market share, and product or market segment focus
Your realistic assessment of your own business, including both strengths and weaknesses, with a summary of your plan to overcome the weaknesses
Marketing strategy
When your tourism business was started, it undoubtedly found an unmet or underserved need in a target market somewhere, and your company felt that it could address that need. The marketing strategy section is where this is actually spelled out. How your tourism business is going to meet that need, by setting specific goals and high level strategies.
Start by setting the specific goals for your business, typically for SME Tourism?Businesses?these are for the year ahead. Normally done?around?the time of your rates review and publishing?
Make all goals realistic, achievable and measurable. There is absolutely no sense in ever setting yourself up for failure right from the start. Write them in as simple and straightforward terms as you can- for example, ?Wedding Bookings will achieve $150,000 in sales of on site Weddings by the end of 2012.?
Wrap up the strategy section of your marketing plan by outlining the particulars of each of your business offering(s) ? in marketing jargon, you?ll be defining what are known as the ?four Ps?:
Product ? description of the product or service, including features and benefits
Price ? initial pricing strategy
Place ? distribution channel for your product or service, i.e. where you?ll sell
Promotion ? the methods and channels used to reach customers and let them know about your product or service (this is where?advertising?fits by the way)
Now I may (I am by all accounts!) a bit old fashioned in still using only the 4 P?s. Current Marketing Professionals are all the way up to 7 P?s (and some ven throw in 4 C?S!), but I think for us tourism operators without Marketing Degrees 4 is fine!
Marketing tactics
To take your marketing plan to the next level of detail, you?ll need to dream up some actual tactics to meet the goals you set in the previous section. Common marketing tactics include advertising (print, online, radio, TV etc.), trade show or event attendance/participation, public relations, grassroots and viral marketing campaigns and email marketing.
As you choose your tactics, summarize what it is, why you should use it, what you expect to get out of it, and how much it?s going to cost. This will drill down to specific Tactical Campaigns. Yes one for each campaign, gonna be quite a few!
Finally, set a specific, limited timeline for each tactical campaign and pick someone to lead and champion getting it done.
Marketing budget and timeline
This is the part where many SME Hotels and Tourist businesses fall down?. You now need to complete your entire marketing plan by summarising your costs and timelines from the previous section.
And then measure, measure, measure.
Check your marketing budget after each?distinct?Tactical campaign,?and?for sure at least monthly, and determine whether you?re getting the ROI (return on?investment) you expected from each tactical campaign. It?s never too late to make some changes to your marketing plan.
Your marketing timeline can really help you understand if your tactics are driving any sales or are just?spinning?wheels. Compare sales during times when you?ve done some marketing activities and check for any growth to see if there was an impact.
At least Annually!
Writing a Strategic Marketing Plan should be at least an annual ritual for your tourism business.
Not to mention that it?s a good idea to revisit your Strategic Marketing Plan?when you are releasing new or significantly changed products or services such as new menus or new hotel rooms openning up.
Remember that writing a marketing plan is time very well spent for any sized business, because it?s the process for thinking honestly and thoroughly through how you?re going to connect with your customers.
Job Description
GLOBE, designers and distributors of shoes, clothing and cruiser skateboards is looking for an experienced Hardgoods Sales Manager to join its sales team.
Business Development Responsibilities: Oversees management of the Globe Hardgoods brand to insure the appropriate levels of distribution, sales, service and product development are met. Maximizes sales, solidifies brand image and provides a foundation for future growth. Build relationships with all accounts and distributors (buyers and associates) Develop monthly road schedules for Sales Reps and sub reps Co-Manage Key Accounts with Independent Sales Reps; Own (at minimum) top 10 Key accounts in each target region. Responsible for developing and delivering sales goals from all accounts. Responsible for working with in-house and field reps to drive the day to day business and maintain personal relationships with accounts nationwide. Communicate with independent field reps and key territories daily. Evaluate/develop account plans - marketing and sales tools, merchandising, product, shipping, rep, training needs, displays, events, etc. Obtains and reviews daily / monthly /seasonal At Once and Pre-Book sales orders for Hardgoods. Work closely with retailers and reps to obtain and process fill-in orders. Recommends and attends industry related trade shows. Attend account events.
Work with In-House and Field Sales Reps to: Seek out new opportunities - new accounts and improvement in current accounts. Gather feedback from reps on; product, marketing, sales techniques, and provide to the Global Sales Manager and Product managers. Gather industry information on in store training, contests, product seeding, events, market shifts and provide to Global Sales Manager and Product Manager. Review and understand sales performance of the region and channel (sales by channel, product mix, category penetration, etc.). Execute and monitor overall strategies and performance of all accounts - account sophistication, vendor agreements, inventory levels, sell through data. Provide sales input to the Global Sales Manager on the development and refinement of the forecast monthly. Communicate the marketing and merchandising story and strategy to reps and customer service. Review quarterly loop plan with rep prior to start of each qtr. - actively drive rep execution within the qtr. to keep up to plan. Develops current assessment of channel/region and work closely with the VP of Sales and product development team to create future goals. Deliver distribution strategy for each territory to the Global Sales Manager and Global Product Manager
Sales Support Duties: Data entry, and managing prospect information flow between departments. Sell in product, take orders, replenishment, sales performance, product knowledge, service, merchandising, training. Working with Customer Service Dept. to help facilitate submitting new account paperwork and setting up new dealers. Working with Customer Service Data-Entry team on pre books, returns and at-once orders. Answer all queries from the public, as well as assist in customer service calls from accounts and sales reps. Send all new targeted specialty accounts latest Globe catalog with letter of introduction. Organize on-site visits for potential customers, including coordinating the agenda, assembling sales presentations and marketing materials. Maintain sales show room and make sure all sales samples are displayed in orderly fashion as well at all tradeshows and events. Help book appointments for all tradeshows Help ship to customers and sales reps, sales samples, POP, stickers and all other sales / promotional items as needed.
Expectations: Actively communicates with the VP of sales and product development team - on sales, products, technology and competitor product lines Actively communicates clear expectation to sales reps - on sales, operations and schedule management. Attends and prepares detailed Sales info, brand position and performance updates at regularly scheduled Sales Meetings. Work with the Marketing Team to schedule and plan events within the regions serviced. Establishes annual expense budgets for the respective territory and monitor and control the actual expenditures.
Skills Required: 3 to 5 years previous Hardgoods sales experience a must. Demonstrated skills in sales prospecting, closing skills, meeting sales goals and sales planning a must. Ability to multi-task and support multiple sales team members in all aspects of the sales process a must. Ability to work collaboratively in a small entrepreneurial office environment a must. Strong analytical and organizational skills and ability to complete all steps of a process to ensure tasks are properly completed in a timely manner a must. Professional written and verbal communication skills including sales presentation skills, interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and written) a must. Market knowledge of Skate/Surf & Action Sports industry a must. Previous retail experience a plus, customer service experience a must.
Other: Domestic and some international travel required. Must be able to lift 70lb sample bags.
Due to the high volume of applications received, regrettably only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgian Interior Ministry forces have killed 11 suspected militants in exchanges of gunfire in which three Georgian troops were also killed near the border with Russia, the Georgian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Five other Interior Ministry officers have been wounded during an operation against unidentified gunmen who seized several hostages near the border with Russia's Dagestan region, ministry spokeswoman Salome Makharadze said.
The fighting could increase tension between Russia and pro-Western Georgia, whose relations remain strained after a five-day war in August 2008 over two Moscow-backed separatist regions in Georgia.
The Interior Ministry in the former Soviet republic sent troops to the region in northern Georgia on Tuesday to aid local police in seeking the release of several hostages seized by the gunmen, Makharadze said.
She said an unspecified number of hostages were released and that the Interior Ministry troops exchanged gunfire at least once during the operation, which continued on Wednesday with the troops surrounding six militants in a Caucasus Mountain gorge.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
VENICE, Italy (AP) ? The Venice Film Festival is focusing on its artistic roots this year, courting celebrated directors and not flashy Hollywood blockbusters.
Festival director Alberto Barbera trimmed the number of movies premiering at the world's oldest film festival, which opens Wednesday, to just 18 in competition for the coveted Golden Lion, Venice's top prize. And the overall selection is just 60 films ? about half the offerings in previous years.
"I don't like this idea of making it bigger and bigger year after year," Barbera said Tuesday. "Toronto is getting bigger and bigger every year and the same thing for Cannes and Berlin and so on. And I don't like that. It's not a proper way to promote a film."
The Venice lineup is heavy on auteur favorites like Terrence Malick, who premieres "To The Wonder" on Sunday and Paul Thomas Anderson, who travels to the Lido with "The Master" on Saturday. Both films are coups for Barbera, who returned this year to the festival he directed from 1998-2002 and hopes to crystalize Venice's identity as an artistic venue.
"Usually there are studio films here, even out of competition, to give it some glitz," said Maria Grazia Vairo, the Rome-based head of acquisitions for Eagle Pictures, an Italian film distributor.
It's not clear if the bigger Hollywood films weren't ready when Venice was making its selections or if the studios preferred to save on the intercontinental airfare and premiere pictures in Toronto, which overlaps with Venice and has a lineup of more than 300 movies.
Focusing on fewer films, not only from acclaimed directors but also from first-timers "may be a good thing," Vairo said. "We may discover films that are not as obvious."
Venice is planning to maintain its tradition as an outlet for world cinema, with selections from such places as Guatemala, Indonesia and Malaysia. This year, 20 of the 60 directors showing films are women ? something Barbera said happened by chance, not design.
Both trends are encapsulated in the selection of Haifa Al Mansour's "Wadjda," billed as the first feature ever shot in Saudi Arabia. The story focuses on a 10-year-old girl who longs for a bicycle despite her mother fears that society will see it as a danger to the girl's virtue.
Barbera said the film was "surprising" not only because cinema is forbidden in Saudi Arabia but because a female filmmaker "dares to tell a story about the conditions in her country."
The festival is also becoming more exclusive and sharpening its focus in other ways. Plans to expand the Lido island venue facing St. Mark's Square have been scrapped. Instead, the festival will focus on improving the venues it has.
And in keeping with Barbera's desire to better promote the films at the festival, he is launching Venice's first market to facilitate sales.
The move may also enhance Venice's standing on the film festival circuit, which starts with Sundance in January, moves to Berlin in February, heats up with Cannes in May then sees Venice and Toronto duel it out in late summer.
"I am very curious about this. I don't know what is going to happen, considering that Toronto will be in a couple of weeks," said Faruk Alatan of Medusa, an Italian film distribution and production company. "I hope that it works. It could help Venice become a different kind of festival, beyond its artistic nature."
The new director also has trimmed back on Italian movies, dropping the Controcampo Italiano section, comprising 21 films, entirely. This year there are 14 Italian feature films in the nation's premier festival, three of those in competition, including Marco Bellocchio's highly anticipated "Bella Addormentata," or "Sleeping Beauty," about a celebrated euthanasia case in Italy, and cinematographer Daniele Cipri's solo directorial debut, "It was the Son."
While an Italian-only section allowed many films to be seen it also created a crowded field.
"You had too many films being released during the Italian film festival, and they couldn't get attention," said Andrea Occhipunti of Lucky Red, an Italian production company. "There was more rigor" in the choices this year.
The 69th Venice Film Festival opens Wednesday with the world premiere of Mira Nair's "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," an adaptation of the best-selling novel about a young Pakistani whose Wall Street career veers off course after the 9/11 terror attacks. The film shows out of competiton.
The festival ends on Sept. 8, with the awarding of the Golden Lion and other prizes.
Just a few months ago I was guest-speaking to young screenwriters at an L.A. film school. It was a theater stuffed with young alert faces. The future of American cinema spread out before me, all ears, hanging on my every word. Why? Because for some reason, I?m supposed to have learned a thing or two after a couple of decades of show biz success and survival. I was there to pass along some wisdom. That said, somebody asked me about ?leave behinds.?
Wait. Speak up. What?s that, you ask?
A ?leave behind? is something a writer might give the buyer after a pitch meeting. Usually a blurb or some kind of outline that reflects what the writer just spent the past twenty minutes drilling into the producer or executive?s ear. The student asking the question was concerned that ending the pitch by giving away something written down was an invitation for the recipient to steal.
Judging by all the gob-smacked faces, I may as well have stood up, flapped my arms, and squawked my affection for anesthesia-free colonoscopies.
?I know. Getting stolen from is supposed to be a form of flattery,? I continued. ?But that?s a buncha crap. It sucks. It?s never fun. But it happens all the time.?
Okay blogfans. Here?s a SPOILER ALERT: If you?re planning to make a splash in show biz but imagine that it?s populated by characters from the kinder parts of Mary Poppins, please turn back now, don?t read on, and politely exit while whistling the opening bars to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
To find success in the Land of Milk and Movies, writers must write, pitch, and sell. And if the writer is any good at his craft, there are wolves in sheeps? clothing waiting to take a bite of your good work and sell it as their own. Like this one: I was at lunch with a producer I?d come to know through one of my movies. Sometime between the entree and my third refill of Diet Coke, he began talking to me about an idea he had for a movie. Now, this ?idea? was more like snippet of information about a special unit of cops serving in the NYPD. There were no characters and zero story. Just a thirty-second recitation of this particular cop detail and their dirty assignment.
Usually, I nod and say something like, ?That?s a good start. Lemme simmer on it for awhile.? Instead, during this particular slice of my day, I?d already grown bored with the lunch conversation and this guy?s nonstop tales of scamming sloppy supermodel seconds off his former boss?s conquests.
So keying off the producer?s faint description, I deftly spun a tale. Why? Because I?m a writer and that?s what I do. Making up stories has become second nature. In twenty minutes hence, I created two dynamic characters, three solid acts, and even a surprise ending.
Not that it?s always that easy. I?ll sometimes toil for years over half-assed ideas in search of a getaway car. And other times, stories arrive almost instantly like gifts from heaven, fully formed and barely in need of tweaking.
This was one of those days. From idea to characters to story to a perfectly pitchable movie before the check even arrived. The producer dropped his Platinum card, shook my hand goodbye, and promised to follow up with me the next day.
True to his word, the producer called me the following afternoon.
?So here?s what I did,? said the producer. ?After our lunch yesterday, I drove over to Fox and sold that story I told you.?
?You what?? I asked, wondering if there was some kind of infection that had flooded my ear canals with crazy talk.
?Sold the story. Set it up as a development deal at Fox.?
?Without informing me?? I asked, incredulity raising my voice.
?No worries,? he said. ?You?re on top of my list of writers for it.?
?Top of your list?? I?d quickly moved from incredulous to steaming. ?Are you kidding me? I?m the only writer you can possibly do this with.?
?I believe you. And you?re obviously my first choice. But the studio?s gonna want to hear more than one take. That means a bunch of writers.?
?How dare you!? I shouted. ?It?s my story! You had no right to sell it without me in the room!?
?Hey. It was my idea and I paid for lunch,? was all the asshole producer pretended he needed to say to settle the issue.
?And if I knew you were gonna f**k me over I woulda ordered more than the lousy Cobb salad.?
His logic was tortured and numbing. As if anyone with a willingness to flash an American Express card coupled with describing to a writer the distinctive features of a DeLorean awarded him the intellectual property rights toBack to the Future.
I was incensed then and, as I beat these words into a blog, I remain pretty peeved. But because I hadn?t had time to?register the story with the WGA, I didn?t have a legal leg to stand on. The S.O.B. beat me to a defense by rushing from our lunch to the gilded gates of a movie studio with an open wallet. My only remedy was to gin my agent and lawyer into gang-calling the studio and, in all likelihood, the action would quickly devolve into such a who-came-up-with-what twist that the primary byproduct would be gallons of bad blood spilled between myself and the innocent movie studio. It was either that or lick my wounds, write off the unscrupulous bastard, and learn to keep my mouth shut.
It wasn?t first time I?d been stolen from. It wouldn?t be the last. Because the truth is that the job demands a certain measure of creative risk. These dangers must be accepted as potential job hazards. And no insurance policy or writers? collective can totally insulate an ambitious word merchant from every cunning shark in the Show Biz Sea.
In the end, I probably could have fought my way into the studio and demanded my screenwriting services be attached the story. Yet something about beginning a movie project forged with an already malignant distrust for the producer made me too ill to put up a fight.
Smart businesses write off their mistakes, failed partnerships, and affronts of chicanery every damned day. Then they get up, dust themselves off, and move on to Plans B or C or whatever. Writers need to follow that example.
I have similar stories with happier endings that I will soon make blogworthy. But more often than not, stories about intellectual thievery usually end in more sting than bling.
Logline Service
I have been getting a lot of request for loglines. I give different prices . Since I have so many requests for this service, I decided to set a single fix price.
Logline: $5.00 Flat Fee
A synopsis or summery is required. It well be used to form the logline. The logline is just one line.
Screenplays
Critique:?$50.00?Flat Fee,?Discount fee $42.50
?Includes evaluating the basis elements of a script
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Character development?
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Critiques also provide suggestions for improvements and enhancement.?
Payments are made by Paypal or cashier check by mail.
Other services are at regular price. Query Letters: $25.00?Flat Fee??
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?Evaluating formatting to industry standards
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Feel free to contact me at?ahicks4298@q.com?or?ahicks4298@msn.com.
Feel to call me at?(360) 696-4298. Ask for?Frances.
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The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimates that around eight percent of U.S. kids are affected by food allergies.
The name of the last Republican president has not been spoken at the convention thus far
