Link Building | Online MarketingA Few Sidenotes About Web Traffic

Website traffic is the most important part of any internet business. Without marketing web traffic your website business will not succeed. Traffic is increased to advertised websites via search results which are naturally determined by the search engine to be most relevant to the users search. Search engine optimization also can really increase the grade of Site traffic by focusing strategies on specific keywords and search phrases most likely used by a defined number of people. Website traffic is monitored through various tools.

Blogging is indeed a great way to increase traffic to any website or other blogs. What people fail to understand though, is that blog posts and comments should be informative, educational, and of high quality. RSS feeds and Blogswork together. Since lots more people are into blogs, webmasters have discovered that this has turned into a valuable tool to get site traffic. Blogging can be your career if you could manage it well.

Backlinks are more important than almost every other kind of links, because google feels, that if you have a backlink or one-way hyperlink to your web site from a different site without linking back, that your internet site is more valuable. How do I acquire high pr backlinks with out paying hundreds of dollars. Backlinks from websites with the same theme is important.

Links to other sites also communicates to people that you are not only interested in selling them something, but are also giving them free and useful information. By linking to other sites you are also creating a wider network of contacts on the net, which is good long term way to attract more potential customers. Links to other relevant and worthy sites is a traffic promotion trend you should bear in mind to give your website more exposure. Since linking is a prevalent SEO strategy to drive targeted web traffic, many businesses use text link marketing to facilitate ranking their site in search results. Link popularity is the other tip which can also help you get a lot of search engine traffic. You need to learn how to create as well as get good link.

Imagine, offering a free screensaver as an incentive to sign up for your weekly newsletter. Offering incentives to subscribers is a proven strategy for building your customer list and more targeted web traffic - which is at the heart of your profit-center. Imagine your visitors reading an article that they just read on another site. You can almost hear the back button being clicked.

Author: Frank Breinling

Source: http://bulklinking.com/130094-A-Few-Sidenotes-About-Web-Traffic.html

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Prevention of fire and carbon monoxide Home - Home Improvement ...

As the winter weather continues to blanket the country, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) urges consumers to play it safe in order to prevent fires in the home.

According to the USFA, home fires spike in winter. Cooking and home heating are the leading cause of residential building fires during the winter. Fire risk also increased with the use of supplemental heating, such as space heaters.

CPSC estimates that home heating was associated with an average of 33,300 fires and 180 fire deaths per year from 2005 to 2007.

Another serious threat in the winter months carbon monoxide (CO), known as the ?invisible killer? because it is a gas, colorless and odorless toxic. Any fuel burning appliances, including furnaces and fireplaces, a potential source of CO

Since 1999, there has been an increasing trend in unintentional, non-fire CO deaths associated with consumer products ? most of which related to heating systems and portable generators. CPSC staff estimated 184 CO poisoning deaths on average per year from 2005-2007 compared to 122 deaths per year from 1999-2001.

Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are an important line of defense in the home, and they give consumers valuable time to escape. About two-thirds of fire deaths occur in homes without smoke alarms, or in homes where consumers have removed the battery alarm or where the battery dies. More recently, a tragic death in a house where the alarm can be produced differences:

In Citra, Florida, fire killed five children on November 8. Their house did not have smoke alarms.

In Penfield, NY, a man killed 54-year CO poisoning in November. Before his death, reportedly CO alarm goes off and taken home from home.

CPSC and USFA recommends that in addition to having working smoke and CO alarms, consumers should follow the following safety tips to prevent fires and CO poisoning:

Place space heaters on a flat and level floor.

Do not put a space heater carpet or carpet.

Keep space heaters at least three feet from bedding, silk, furniture, and other flammable materials.

Keep space heaters foot traffic.

Keep children and pets away from space heaters.

To avoid risk of fire, never leave a space heater on when you go to sleep or place a space heater close to any sleeping person.

Turn on your heater when you leave the area.

Never use gasoline in a kerosene space heater. Even small amounts of gasoline mixed with kerosene can increase the risk of fire.

There are people in the fireplace flues and chimneys inspected for leakage and blockage from creosote or debris every year.

Open the fireplace damper before lighting the fire and keep it open until the ashes are cool. An open damper may help prevent build up of toxic gases in the house.

Store fireplace ashes a fire-resistant container, and cover the container with a lid. Keep the container outdoors and away from flammable.

Dispose of fireplace ashes carefully, keeping them away from dry leaves, trash or other combustible materials.

Preventing CO Poisoning

Schedule an annual professional inspection of all fuel-burning home heating systems, including furnaces, boilers, fireplaces, wood stoves, water heaters, Chimneys, flues and vents.

NEVER operate a portable gasoline-powered generator in an enclosed space such as a garage, shed, or crawlspace, or in the home.

Keep portable generators as far away from your home and ?your neighbor?s home as possible ? away from open doors, windows or vents that could allow deadly carbon monoxide into the house.

When buying a space heater, ask the salesperson whether the heater is safety-certified. A certified heater has a safety certification mark. These heaters are the most up-to-date safety features. Unvented gas space heater that meets current safety standards will shut off if oxygen levels fall too low.

Do not use portable propane space heaters indoors or in any confined space, unless specifically designed for indoor use. Always follow the manufacturer?s directions for proper use.

Never use a gas or electric stoves heat homes. They are not intended for that purpose and can cause CO or fire hazard.

More information can be found on the Safety Alert CPSC, fire risk reduction for portable electric heaters.

Source: http://redevelopks.org/2013/02/prevention-of-fire-and-carbon-monoxide-home-winter-warnings-from-cpsc.html

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EU watchdog worries about how banks add up risks

LONDON (Reuters) - Regulatory action may be needed to end variations in the ways banks add up the risks on their books to determine how big their capital buffers should be, the European Banking Authority said.

As regulators put in place tougher capital requirements, known as Basel III, following the 2007-09 financial crisis, they want to be sure calculations used by banks to meet them are sound.

Faith in figures that banks publish is seen as core to restoring investor and public trust in the financial sector.

The EBA released interim results on Tuesday of its probe into risk-weighted assets on the main banking books of 89 banks, which it did not name, from 16 European Union countries.

It found material differences between banks, with half caused by different regulatory approaches and the structure of a bank's loan portfolio, and the other half because of the way banks calibrated in-house financial models for adding up risks.

Greater disclosure will not be enough to ease concerns raised by investors and market analysts on the reliability of banks' calculations, EBA chairman Andrea Enria said.

Taking the top 20 banks in its study, the EBA said the difference between the maximum and minimum values for risk was 46 percent.

Enria said that was "significant and calls for further investigations and possibly policy solutions".

The EBA said it will complete further studies by the end of this year, looking into areas such as banks' exposure to small and medium-sized enterprises and the home loans market.

BASEL BASHING

Some regulators and bankers have questioned how risk weighted assets are being added up, amid reports some lenders may be gaming the system so as to have to hold less capital.

The global Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a study last month into how 16 top banks use its rules to add up risks on their trading books and found considerable variations, mainly due to the use of in-house models at banks.

The Committee is now studying risk weightings on banking books and its secretary general, Wayne Byres, said on Tuesday in a speech in Korea it was reasonable for investors to complain that current risk disclosures are opaque.

Remedies could include a combination of better disclosures, stricter supervision and forcing banks to show risk calculations based on their own and a standardized model.

Byres said this would come at a cost but the "costs of a lack of confidence in bank capital ratios are likely to be substantial, so cost should not be a reason to immediately dismiss any ideas out of hand".

Bank of England director of financial stability Andrew Haldane and others says Basel III, written by the Basel Committee, should be simplified to stop over-reliance on the use of banks' own in-house models for totting up risks.

Byres said Basel's review of risk weights "does not mean, as some have suggested, that we should stop what we are doing to implement Basel III and go back to the drawing board."

Britain's Financial Services Authority is going through risk-weighted asset calculations at domestic banks and will report to the central bank's risk watchdog next month.

(Additional reporting by Steve Slater, Editing by Dan Lalor and David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-watchdog-worried-banks-add-risks-121025591--finance.html

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Ohio town still grieves one year after deadly shootings

Chardon High School remembersChardon, Ohio?A few red ribbons, tattered by the elements, still hang on trees along the streets of Chardon, Ohio. To some people in town, the ribbons are a necessary reminder of a shooting spree at Chardon High School a year ago that left three students dead and three others injured.

On Tuesday, just a day shy of the one-year mark of the tragedy, T.J. Lane pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder and other charges in the Chardon shooting. Prosecutors say Lane fired 10 shots from a .22-caliber pistol at students milling in the school cafeteria the morning of Feb. 27, 2012.

After a year in which even deadlier mass shootings like those in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., grabbed headlines, it could be easy to overlook the tragedy that shook Chardon, a middle-class community of 5,000 residents about 30 miles east of Cleveland.

If there are lessons to be learned from the students at the high school and the broader community, it?s that the emotional damage leaves lasting scars and heavy hearts do not heal quickly.

Four adults have committed suicide in Chardon, and there have been more than a dozen attempted suicides among students since the shootings, a school official said. Counseling sessions and lessons on detecting warning signs that friends, classmates and colleagues might be suffering have become part of classroom curriculum.

Chardon High School principal Andy Fetchik tried to put an upbeat face on a grim year during a press conference last week.

?I can assure you, we?re getting better,? Fetchik said. ?There?s a lot to be done. We have a strong and compassionate community surrounding us, and we?re getting better every day.?

One-year mark

What began as a typical winter day in Chardon turned into a deadly rampage when shots rang out around 8 a.m. Lane, then a 17-year-old junior, aimed his gun at randomly targeted students, authorities said.

Students Vincent "Danny" Parmertor, Demetrius C. Hewlin and Russell D. King Jr. were killed in the attack. Students Nick Walczak, Joy Rickers and Nate Mueller were wounded.

Police captured Lane in a neighborhood near the high school. Under questioning, he reportedly admitted to shooting the students. Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane was mentally competent despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies. Because he was a minor when the attack occurred, the death penalty was not a consideration.

T.J. Lane enters court.

With his grandparents and family members of the victims in court on Tuesday, Lane changed his plea from not guilty by reason of insanity to guilty. Dressed in a green open-collared shirt with close-cropped hair, Lane answered "yes" or "yes, your honor" to questions from the judge about the plea agreement. After a background review is completed, Lane will return to court on March 19, when Geauga County Judge David Fuhry is scheduled to sentence him.

Lane's attorney, Ian Friedman, said the teen had undergone psychiatric evaluation, but last week declined to discuss his client's emotional state and how he might reflect on the one-year mark.

?It?s a very delicate matter,? Friedman said. ?I don?t think it would be appropriate to comment on anything beyond where the case is procedurally.?

Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz did not return messages seeking comment on the case.

While a public trial could have shed light on the shooter?s motives, some community members say such details could have done greater emotional harm.

?There are very good lawyers in this case representing Lane and the prosecutor,? said Carmen Naso, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. ?And, ultimately, the judge is going to decide what happens to this kid.?

No celebration

During a media briefing last week, reporters were asked to refrain from referring to Feb. 27 as the ?anniversary? of the tragedy, which could imply a sort of celebration. Reporters were asked instead to refer to the day as a ?one-year mark.?

Chardon High School students and faculty planned to observe the day by embarking on service projects. Some were making care blankets, like those distributed by volunteers after the tragedy. Others were crafting leashes for comfort dogs, like those brought to the school in the days after the incident.

Students also planned to take a memorial walk from the high school to the village square and host a candlelight vigil and concert.

?Danny, Demetrius and Russell were our classmates,? said Chardon High School senior Will Porter. ?For a lot of us, they were our friends. They?ll never be forgotten, and we hope to honor them through this day.?

Senior Jessie Mysyk said the tragedy has inspired a strong sense of unity at the school.

?There's never a time when a student would feel alone,? she said. ?Within the school, we are a community. We're all friends. We are a family. ... We are together."

Senior Jill Allenby said the killings had pushed students to move beyond typical teenage grievances.

?We don?t have the normal kind of drama or high school cliques that everyone sees,? Allenby said. ?When you walk through the halls, you see everyone and everyone says hello.?

A memorial created for the boys killed in the attack on Feb. 27. 2012. (AP)

Must love kids, not guns

After the slaughter of 20 first-graders and six faculty members at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in December, the National Rifle Association suggested placing armed guards at schools and possibly training teachers to shoot as the best way to avert such a tragedy in the future.

While the idea of arming teachers has some support in Chardon, school superintendent Joseph Bergant II says it won't happen.

Bergant said it was fine for teachers to learn to use weapons in their private time. But permitting a teacher to carry a concealed gun, which is legal in Ohio, will not happen in Chardon, he said.

?That defeats our purpose,? Bergant said. ?Our purpose is to educate children in a safe, caring environment. ? We are not going to put bars on the school buildings. We are not going to put an iron dome over the top.?

Fetchik, the high school principal, agreed. The school now has an armed ?resource officer??a police officer whose salary is paid with funds from the local government and donations to the community after the shooting.

?I don?t want guns in school,? Fetchik said. ?I want a trained resource officer. ? That gentleman is prepared to deal with using that weapon, (and) not just pointing and pulling the trigger."

About the red ribbons

Red ribbon hangs on a tree in Chardon, Ohio.Gestures like hanging a ribbon on a tree still serve as a haunting reminder to many. Recently, the city has removed the frayed and faded ribbons from all public places and suggested community members follow suit.

The ribbons have been collected by the school district and will be given to the families of the boys who died, Chardon City Manager Randy Sharpe said.

Many people, he acknowledged, wish the ribbons could stay. ?But, the ones that are tired and dingy reflect poorly on the community,? Sharpe said.

Officials said the city is looking to create a permanent memorial to honor the victims, the schools and community?a process that may take another one to two years.

Chardon resident Jamie Ward is among those people ready to move on. He and his wife, Sandy, had just moved to town shortly before the tragedy and have since had a son, Peter, now 10 weeks old.

?For me, the one-year mark is hard,? said Ward as he held his young son. ?A year later, I don?t want Chardon to always be associated with such a thing."

?

(The Associated Press contributed information in this story.)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/high-school-mass-shooting-ohio-town-still-grieves-182122697.html

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Charge This $20 Nokia Phone Once Every 35 Days

First of all, don't get too excited because this phone will almost certainly never be available where you live. Regardless, the new Nokia 105 lasts freaking 35 days on a single charge and it costs under $20. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/M-du88Kscz4/charge-this-20-nokia-phone-once-every-35-days

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DNN Training can turn you into a web guru - Your Business ...

With Dot Net Nuke, DNN, growing as the fastest Cms, CMS, on the web CCF Consulting has added DNN training being a cool product.

?A Content Management System is suppose to create your web site an easy task to operate,? said CCF Consulting President chad Clarke. ?But you have to know how to change this software to make the necessary changes and we feel that private training is the easiest method to go.?

DNN training emerged directly and remotely over the Internet.

?We?ve got trained clients throughout the usa as well as trained one client in Switzerland,? said Clarke. ?This is the beneficial service for those that want an online site they control and will make changes to.?

?In the past we have found out that clients which might be in charge of their particular site which manage to make changes automatically have a greater recovery rate using projects,? he added.

DNN training covers these:

• System Overview
• Using the DNN Toolbar
• Adding Pages
• Modifying Page Settings
• SEO Page Optimization
• Adding Modules (new and existing)
• Managing Users and Roles (if required)
• With all the Text HTML Module
• Using Additional Modules (training out of stock for all those DNN modules)

The objective of Website Cms is to become proficient for web site keepers to change content on his or her internet site without the hassel of putting in and running software on their own pc or laptop. Cms are online so every one of the software sits on the server and is also maintained by the host ? clients only require a password to logon with their site.

Other CMSs include WordPress and Joomla, both are Linux based applications while DNN runs on the Microsoft .NET platform.

?When these folks which CMS for our clients and development projects, DNN had easy and simple to make use of interface for users with no familiarity with web site design,? Clarke said. ?The fundamental text/html module that is used on every DNN site feels and looks like Ms Word, and also since just about everyone has used Ms Word it can make training easy.?

CCF Consulting offers instructional documents and videos for DNN, but believes that on the job training is the foremost approach. Most services take 1-a couple of hours.

To learn more or set-up DNN training contact CCF Consulting at 228.867.6008 or 888-445-8694.

Source: http://yourbusiness.pro/2013/02/26/dnn-training-can-turn-you-into-a-web-guru/

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Silver and Gold Prices: Can the Gold Price Close Over $1,605? If it ...

Gold Price Close Today : 1586.20
Change : 13.80 or 0.88%

Silver Price Close Today : 28.987
Change : 0.527 or 1.85%

Gold Silver Ratio Today : 54.721
Change : -0.528 or -0.96%

Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01827
Change : 0.000175 or 0.97%

Platinum Price Close Today : 1619.60
Change : 13.30 or 0.83%

Palladium Price Close Today : 749.05
Change : 13.75 or 1.87%

S&P 500 : 1,487.85
Change : -27.75 or -1.83%

Dow In GOLD$ : $179.64
Change : $ 7.50 or 4.36%

Dow in GOLD oz : 8.690
Change : 0.363 or 4.36%

Dow in SILVER oz : 475.53
Change : -16.41 or -3.34%

Dow Industrial : 13,784.17
Change : -216.40 or -1.55%

US Dollar Index : 81.75
Change : 0.281 or 0.34%

The GOLD PRICE made progress today in climbing above the lower channel line that has held it in since last November. This is positive, but not dispositive. Gold's first task is to climb over $1,605. From there I expect it to march very quickly toward $1,640. If it doesn't, then the falling hasn't ended.

The SILVER PRICE bounced up off its lower channel line, but up above the 200 day moving average is at 3064c. Not coincidentally, resistance/support lurks about the same spot. Silver needs to clear 3050c, then 3100c quickly.

Yes, it's too soon to say for sure, but with the trouble in stocks and the euro today, it appears that silver and gold have found their feet. But be on guard: they need to confirm.

I picked up one of our phones today and it was so hot it nearly burned my hand. LOADS of folks have been waiting for just such an occasion as this to buy silver and gold. I confess, I bought some myself today. Not all I intend to buy, but some.

I reckon if you live by politics, you'll die by politics, too. Pears all the optimists are now all terrified that "sequestration" (which last week they couldn't spell) will cut off the tide of gummint money, and strangle the whole economy. Over in Europe the Establishment technocrat Monti (as in "3-Card") didn't win, so the euro went down in flames since nobody knows whether Italy's even gonna open up tomorrow, let alone have an economy.

As the rats left the euro-boat they jumped ship to the yen. Rats, as y'all probably know, ain't got a lick of sense. The euro fell 1.02% to $1.3058, breaking the uptrend sure enough. No more doubt on that account. The Yen jumped up like an old lady winning the lottery. It rose 1.73% to 108.95c/Y100. Us Dollar index hardly moved, up from Friday's trading about this time by about 28 basis points or 0.3%.

All those optimist rats that had climbed aboard the SS Stockmarket came flying off today, too. Dow lost a choking 216.4 points or 1.55% and closed waaaay down there below 13,850 support at 13,784.17. S&P500 looked worse, down 1.83% (27.75 point) at 1,487.85.

That's not the worst. The Dow made a new high for the move today at 14,081.58, but then closed much lower for the day: first half of a key reversal. A lower close tomorrow (assuming the Nice Government Men can't manipulate it higher, and they ain't God, after all) puts a fatal nail in stocks' coffin.

Hush, I'm not through. I've been telling y'all about those Jaws of Death broadening top pattern forming since the Dow broke out of that rising wedge back in January. Today it ran plumb up to the top of that megaphone, then sliced down through the 20 DMA (13,947.783) and closed BELOW that megaphone's bottom side.

Shucks, when you're the gummint and you can just dummy up enough money to do about anything, including buying stock futures to raise the market and print loads of new money, you can jerk markets around right smart. Your trouble is, as I said, you ain't God, so sooner or later you'll flatten your face up against reality.

Be quiet, I'm not through YET. I opened up the Dow in Gold and Dow in Silver charts, and looky there! That close last Wednesday WAS an island reversal, or some kind of reversal, I reckon. That Dow in gold sank from 8.864 oz on Friday to 8.66 oz today, down 4.36%. Dow in silver plunged from 491 to 475.50, 3.34%.

Don't anybody chortle too loudly or smugly just yet, but those stocks are in trouble.

Silver gained 52.7 cents (+1.85%) today to close Comex at 2898.7 cents. Gold added $13.80 (+0.88%) to close $1,586.20. This is good, this is welcome, this is promising, but it ain't cleared the woods by no means.

By the way, I've heard more drivel lately about the so called "Death Cross" of gold's 50 Day Moving Average dropping below its 200 DMA than I heard since Obama ran for president the first time, so I'm gonna hawk that bone out of my throat first. Since 2000, gold has made the so-called death cross five (5) times. In 2000, it lost 4.5% from May to November, but that was BEFORE the bull market began. In 2004, it crossed in June and stayed under till 10 August, with a disastrous fall from a high of $384.50 at the cross to a low of $383.60 at the low (yes, a 90 cent loss). In 2006 the October death cross (they need a new name for that thing) took gold from $593 on the 20th to its low on the 21st at $579.70, a 2.2% drop. Only near-about bad result was in 2008, when gold fell 12.2% from the September cross to its November low at $704.50, losing 12.25. And remember that was amidships of a 200-year financial panic. Average death cross loss has been 4%. Let's worry about something else now.

Meanwhile market sentiment has grown so negative on silver and gold that a rebound, whether the final turnaround or not, is virtually assured. No pendulum swings the same direction forever, unless the clock is clean broke.

On this black day, 25 February 1862, Abraham Lincoln, not content to pursue an aggressive war of destruction against the South and the Constitution, signed the First Legal Tender Act authorizing the issuance of United States notes ("Greenbacks") as a legal tender. Not only did he fight a war to destroy the Constitution, he financed it with unconstitutional fiat money.

Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.

- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger
The-MoneyChanger.com
1-888-218-9226
10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday

? 2013, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.

Source: http://silver-and-gold-prices.goldprice.org/2013/02/can-gold-price-close-over-1605-if-it.html

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First lady goes Hollywood (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287379150?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Page Not Found - Yahoo!

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/weightloss

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Second blizzard bearing down on Plains region

DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) ? A second major winter storm was bearing down on the central Plains Sunday, forcing cancellations and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand supplies less than a week after another system dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the region.

National Weather Service officials in Kansas issued blizzard warnings and watches through late Monday ahead of the strong storm system that's packing snow and high winds. The storm has been tracking across western Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

"We're expecting more wind with this storm," said Jeff Johnson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kan. "Snow amounts are varying, but we could see upward of a foot across south-central Kansas with lesser amounts across west-central and central Kansas."

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback amended the state of emergency declaration he signed last week to include the new storm.

"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," said Brownback, who held a briefing Sunday night along with emergency officials in his state to warn residents about the weather.

He urged motorists to "stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical" but said drivers who must travel should pack their charged cellphones and emergency kits containing food, water, blankets, road flares and shovels.

The region was hit by a massive storm last week that dumped a foot of snow in some sections, closed airports and caused numerous accidents.

"It would have been nice if we'd had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab," Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, Kan., told The Wichita Eagle. The city saw its second-highest snowfall ever Thursday with 14.2 inches.

Other totals from the Thursday snowstorm included 18 inches in the southern Kansas town of Zenda, 17 inches in Hays, Kan., about 13 inches in northeast Missouri and 12 inches of snow in parts of Kansas City.

Steve Corfidi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the storm also will affect southern states and could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Georgia.

"It definitely will be one of the more significant events of the season, the winter season, absolutely," Corfidi told The Associated Press. "Both in winter weather and severe weather potential, and rain, down in the southeast United States."

More than a foot of snow is possible from the Texas Panhandle, across the Oklahoma Panhandle and into Kansas and possibly Missouri as the storm moves eastward from the southwestern United States.

While snowfall is expected to taper off by Monday afternoon, wind gusts of up to 35 mph will remain a hazard, said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Amarillo, Texas, office.

Pajor told the Wichita newspaper the new storm "looks worse than the last one" and that sand and salt supplies are low because of last week's record storm, as are the number of locations where snow can be transported off city streets. He said the plowing strategy for the new blizzard may have to involve plowing snow into the center of arterial streets, and cutting traffic to one lane each direction.

He also said streets won't be treated with the city's limited sand and salt supplies until the snow ends and plowing is under way.

The threat of the pending storm forced cancellations Sunday and Monday in Kansas and Missouri, including the championship basketball tournament for the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Association, which rescheduled the tournament for Tuesday in Park City, Kan.

Matt Lehenbauer, emergency management director for Woodward County, Okla., said he expected rain or snow to begin there Sunday evening and forecast up to a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour.

"We're expecting white-out conditions," he told the AP.

He said there is plenty of salt and sand on hand to help clear roads, but the conditions may cause delays.

"We may not get the roads cleared until midday Tuesday if we get the expected amount of snow and wind. As it's falling, in the blizzard-like conditions, we just won't be able to keep up," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2nd-blizzard-bearing-down-plains-region-213115525.html

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Evad3rs update the evasi0n jailbreak tool to version 1.5, now offers improved boot times

The Evad3rs team have released another update for their hugely popular jailbreak tool known as evasi0n. The latest update sees mostly bug fixes surrounding boot up times of jailbroken devices; you should see a significant improvement with version 1.5. The update also offers a refreshed Cydia package list.

The team has also released an update that you can install via the Cydia jailbreak installer if you are already jailbroken; there is no need to re-jailbreak to get the latest version. Simply fire up Cydia and you should see an update 0.4 for Evasi0n.

The team certainly hasn?t rested on their laurels and have always been on the ball with updates to the evasi0n jailbreak tool. Earlier this week, Apple released iOS 6.1.2 and within hours, evasi0n was updated with full support for iOS 6.1.2; pretty impressive stuff.

If you need help with the jailbreak process itself, you can follow our guide linked below. Hit the source link to download the newest version of evasi0n.

Source: evasi0n

Additional resources:

• How to jailbreak iOS 6 using evasi0n

• Best jailbreak apps for iPhone

• Jailbreak help and discussion forums

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/BkDkzDMzP7A/story01.htm

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Grief besets family of Pistorius' slain girlfriend

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Far from the courtroom drama that has gripped South Africa, the family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend has struggled with its own private deluge of grief, frustration and bewilderment.

The victim's relatives also harbor misgivings about efforts by the Olympian's family to reach out to them with condolences.

Pistorius, meanwhile, spent Saturday at his uncle's home in an affluent suburb of Pretoria, the South African capital, after a judge released him on bail following days of testimony that transfixed South Africa and much of the world. He was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day, but the athlete says he killed her accidentally, opening fire after mistaking her for an intruder in his home.

"We are extremely thankful that Oscar is now home," his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said in a statement that also acknowledged the law must run its course. "What happened has changed our lives irrevocably."

The Pistorius family took steps to lower its profile on social media after someone hacked into the Twitter account of his older brother, Carl, family spokesman Janine Hills said.

"Carl did not tweet this afternoon, out of respect to Oscar and Reeva," Hills said in a statement. "We are busy cancelling all the social media sites for both Oscar's brother and his sister."

Mike Steenkamp, Reeva's uncle, told The Associated Press that the family of the double-amputee athlete initially did not send condolences or try to contact the bereaved parents, but had since sought to reach out in what he described as a poorly timed way. After Pistorius was released on bail in what amounted to a victory for the defense, Arnold Pistorius said the athlete's family was relieved but also in mourning "with the family" of Reeva Steenkamp.

"Everybody wants to jump up with joy," Mike Steenkamp said, speculating on the mood of Pistorius' family after the judge's decision. "I think it was just done in the wrong context, completely."

A South African newspaper, the Afrikaans-language Beeld, quoted the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, law school graduate and participant in a television reality show, as saying the family had received a bouquet of flowers and a card from the Pistorius family.

"Yes, but what does it mean? Nothing," June Steenkamp said, according to the Saturday edition of Beeld. She also said Pistorius' family, including sister Aimee, a somber presence on the bench behind the Olympian during his court hearings in the past week, must be "devastated" and had done nothing wrong.

"They are not to blame," June Steenkamp said. According to Beeld, she said she had hoped to plan a wedding for her daughter one day.

In an affidavit, 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius said he was "absolutely mortified" by the death of "my beloved Reeva," and he frequently sobbed in court during the several days during which his bail application was considered. However, prosecutor Gerrie Nel, suggested in a scathing criticism that Pistorius was actually distraught because his vaunted career was now in peril and he was in grave trouble with the law.

"It doesn't matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he will have to live with his conscience if he allows his legal team to lie for him," Barry Steenkamp, Reeva's father, told Beeld.

"But if he is telling the truth, then perhaps I can forgive him one day," the father said. "If it didn't happen the way he said it did, he must suffer, and he will suffer ... only he knows."

Barry Steenkamp suffered "heavy trauma" at the loss of his daughter and his remarks to the newspaper partly reflect how he is working through it, said his brother, Mike Steenkamp.

Steenkamp was cremated in a funeral ceremony on Feb. 19 in her family's hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast. Mike Steenkamp delivered a statement about the family's grief to television cameras, at one point breaking down in tears.

The three-story house where Pistorius is staying with his aunt and uncle lies on a hill with a view of Pretoria. It has a large swimming pool and an immaculate garden.

Pistorius was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect and had his legs amputated at 11 months. He has run on carbon-fiber blades and was originally banned from competing against able-bodied peers because many argued that his blades gave him an unfair advantage. He was later cleared to compete. He is a multiple Paralympic medalist, but he failed to win a medal at the London Olympics, where he ran in the 400 meter race and on South Africa's 4x400 relay team.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/grief-besets-family-pistorius-slain-girlfriend-143751649--oly.html

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Administration warns of impact of broad budget cut

This photo taken Feb. 22, 2013 shows Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefing reporters regarding the sequester, at the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans each seem content with the political ground they hold and are prepared to let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1, unlike during earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship that saw last minute frantic dealmaking. This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a US. default to force the two sides to compromise, no government shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline to prevent a tax increase for every working American. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

This photo taken Feb. 22, 2013 shows Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefing reporters regarding the sequester, at the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans each seem content with the political ground they hold and are prepared to let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1, unlike during earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship that saw last minute frantic dealmaking. This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a US. default to force the two sides to compromise, no government shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline to prevent a tax increase for every working American. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2013 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius accompanied by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter ,speaks about the federal health care overhaul during a news conference at City Hall in Philadelphia. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans each seem content with the political ground they hold and are prepared to let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1, unlike during earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship that saw last minute frantic dealmaking. This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a US. default to force the two sides to compromise, no government shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline to prevent a tax increase for every working American. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Widespread flight delays and shuttered airports, off-limit seashores and unprotected parks.

The Obama administration is painting a dire portrait of the many ways the public will feel the effects of automatic federal spending cuts due to begin March 1.

The grim picture is emerging as the White House and lawmakers count down the days until the government is forced to trim $85 billion in domestic and defense spending with hardly any leeway to save some programs from the budget knife.

In detailing the costs of the cuts, President Barack Obama is seeking to raise the public's awareness while also applying pressure on congressional Republicans who oppose his blend of targeted savings and tax increases to tackle federal deficits.

"I've been very clear that these kinds of arbitrary, automatic cuts would have an adverse impact on families, on teachers, on parents who are reliant on Head Start programs, on our military readiness, on mental health services, on medical research," Obama said Friday. "This is not a smart way for us to reduce the deficit."

Just in case those consequences didn't capture the public's attention, the White House also had Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spell out the impact on travelers: a frequent-flier nightmare of 90-minute airport waits, limited flights and closed regional airports. Republican lawmakers dismissed LaHood's warnings as "exaggerations."

But LaHood said the cuts would require slicing more than $600 million from the Federal Aviation Administration, resulting in furloughs of one day per pay period for a majority of the agency's 47,000 employees.

"Once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect that they will change their schedules and cancel flights," LaHood said.

Moreover, he said, the Transportation Department is looking "to likely close" air traffic control towers at 100 airports that have fewer than 150,000 flight operations per year.

"We're talking about places like Boca Raton, Fla.; Joplin, Mo.; Hilton Head, S.C.; and San Marcos, Texas," he said. All in all, nearly two-thirds of the airports are concentrated in three states ? California, Florida and Texas.

But in a statement, Airlines for America, an industry group, said the organization, the FAA and airline carriers would be meeting soon to plan for potential cutbacks. "Air transportation is a key driver of our economy, and should not be used as a political football," the statement said.

Paul Rinaldi, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said the reductions will not just inconvenience passengers, it will also affect local economies and result in more lost jobs. "The fact that they will not just be furloughing critical FAA personnel but closing air traffic control towers means the system will be even more compromised than anticipated," he added.

Still, top Republicans on congressional transportation and aviation panels accused the administration of unnecessary alarm.

"Before jumping to the conclusion that furloughs must be implemented, the administration and the agency need to sharpen their pencils and consider all the options," the lawmakers said in a joint statement issued by Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Sen. John Thune, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and Frank LoBiondo, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation.

Throughout the administration, agency heads have been depicting an onerous after-effect to the cuts. The federal government is required to spell out the consequences to federal workers, but the details are also designed to warn lawmakers that the cuts could have a fearsome result: angry constituents. Some of the warnings:

? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last week said that automatic cuts, known in Washington budget language as a sequester, would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces and he said the "vast majority" of the Defense Department's 800,000 civilian workers would have to lose one day of work per week, or 20 percent of their pay, for up to 22 weeks, probably starting in late April. The biggest potential losses, in term of total civilian payroll dollars, would be in Virginia, California, Maryland, Texas and Georgia, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.

? On Friday, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said cuts of more than $300 million to his agency would mean less money to solve outbreaks, fight hospital infections and keep illnesses overseas from making their way here. For instance, Dr. Tom Frieden said, the cuts could limit the agency's investigation of a tuberculosis outbreak in Los Angeles.

? At the National Park Service, employees would be furloughed, hours would be cut and sensitive areas would be blocked off to the public when there are staff shortages, according to a park service memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The giant sequoias at Yosemite National Park in California would go unprotected from visitors who might trample their shallow roots. At Cape Cod National Seashore, large sections of the Great Beach would close to keep eggs from being destroyed if natural resource managers are cut. Programs on the chopping block include invasive species eradication in Yosemite and comfort stations on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.

Gettysburg would decrease by one-fifth the number of school children who learn about the historic battle that was a turning point in the Civil War. And in Yosemite, park administrators fear that less frequent trash pickup would potentially attract bears into campgrounds.

Over the years, budget threats have inevitably resulted in grim warnings, no matter which administration, about calamitous consequences. Many have been avoided; others have been short-lived. But Obama administration officials say they are not exaggerating or bluffing.

The cuts, with few exceptions, are designed to hit all accounts equally. The law gives Obama little leeway to ease the pain.

Even if granted flexibility to apply the cuts with more discretion ? a legislative step Republicans say they might pursue ? White House officials say that would still require severe reductions.

"It's essentially rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said of such a proposal in a recent interview.

LaHood, in response to a question, denied that he was simply describing a worst-case scenario that would scare the public and put pressure on Republican lawmakers.

"What I'm trying to do," he said, "is wake up members of the Congress with the idea that they need to come to the table so we don't have to have this kind of calamity in air services in America."

___

Cone reported from Sacramento, Calif. Associated Press writer Joan Lowy and AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-23-Budget%20Battle-Impact/id-af83644d3f50432cb16af7a096fc1bee

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Video: Banksy art mystery from London to Miami

Cardinal Mahony urged to stay away

Cardinal Roger Mahony, one of the 11 American cardinals who will join 105 others to choose a new pope, is being urged to stay away because of his role in shielding sexually abusive priests. CBS News' Magalie Laguerre Wilkinson.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsTheEarlyShowBoxOffice/~3/EYE5mOKseJU/

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Bail, bonds and old Facebook fogeys: The week in numbers

Image: Barrington Coombs/Everton FC

EVERY WEEK,?TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.

40o ? The number of calls made to the Department of Justice?s support line for victims of Magdalene Laundries in the first day and a half of operation. The line was opened on Wednesday morning after the government made a formal apology to the women ? and opened the hotline to register for a possible redress scheme ? on Tuesday.

?85,468.60 ? The amount that Oscar Pistorius has been asked to pay to bail himself as he faces court proceedings for allegedly murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The bail ? of 1 million South African rand ? compares to his annual salary of 5.6 million rand.

?828.88 - The average weekly industrial wage in Ireland in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to figures published by the CSO. The earnings of the average worker rose to ?695.80 per week.

31.7 ? The estimated length, in hours, of the average working week. This was published in the same figures.

0.24 per cent ? The interest that Ireland will pay investors to borrow money for three months, under an auction this week. It?s the NTMA?s latest attempt at dipping its toes in the water before Ireland gets back to the bond markets in full later this year.

6 per cent ? The maximum amount of hydrogen peroxide that can be used in a solution for cosmetic tooth whitening. The Irish Dental Association has expressed fears that some gels bought online ? or even being administered by unregulated clinics in Ireland ? are in breach of the rules, which stem from an EU directive.

66 per cent ? The proportion of the Irish public who said Ireland?s current medical practice ? where an expectant mother and her child are seen as two patients ? should be protected and safeguarded. That?s according to a Pro Life Campaign poll, whose organisers said they deliberately opted against using the word ?abortion? as refusing to define the word led to ?uninformed answers?.

?1.3 billion ? The amount paid by the owners of Canada Life to buy Irish Life from the Government. The price is identical to the amount that the Minister paid Irish Life & Permanent (which he himself owns anyway) to split Irish Life from its parent company last year.

104 - The age of a woman who had to lie to make herself younger to sign up to Facebook. Marguerite Joseph got her granddaughter to sign her up, but the granddaughter had to round her age down because Facebook?s systems don?t permit birthdates from before 1910. Facebook says it?s working to fix the system.

0.5 per cent ? The amount by which the cost of living fell in January. That?s unusually high deflation, but meant that the annual rate of inflation was still a moderate 1.2 per cent.

11 ? The number of MEPs Ireland will have in the next European Parliament. That?s one down from the current 12 ? and it?s falling because Ireland, along with other countries, has to make room for Croatia.

39 per cent ? The proportion of eligible Irish families who will find themselves without the full amount of child benefit under proposals being considered by the government. Joan Burton has commissioned a report which recommends a ?two-tier? system of child benefit, which would be made taxable.

?1.67 million ? The amount claimed in costs and expenses by Ireland?s judges in 2012. The amount is 42 per cent less than in 2008, and about ?1.5 million of the amount was incurred by district and circuit court judges whose roles require travel between multiple courthouses.

Want more??Check out our previous ?In numbers? pieces>

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Source: http://www.thejournal.ie/week-in-numbers-february-23-805992-Feb2013/

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Nevada Legalizes Online Gambling, Opens Up Interstate Rollout

Hard-working Americans may no longer need to buy a plane ticket to sin city to lose their kids' college savings: Online gambling is now legal in Nevada, and may soon be available nationwide. Nevada unanimously passed an emergency measure to legalize gambling in the state and open up opportunities to enter legal compacts with states for their own residents.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ui0TvtnAcSU/

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Vin Diesel Ponders His Career Choices In Dailies

A new image from the upcoming "Chronicles of Riddick" sequel shows Vin Diesel deep in Vin Diesel thought upon a giant thrown. Yep, sounds about right. Also, "The Big Lebowski" now stars The Doctor in today's Dailies! » "The Big Lebowski" trailer recreated with "Doctor Who" characters — ya know, the geekiest thing imaginable. [io9] [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/22/riddick-throne-dailies/

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Rihanna Fashion Line Panned; River Island Dubbed "Fright Night at Kmart"

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/rihanna-fashion-line-panned-river-island-dubbed-fright-night-at/

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Climate contradiction: Less snow, more blizzards

WASHINGTON (AP) ? With scant snowfall and barren ski slopes in parts of the Midwest and Northeast the past couple of years, some scientists have pointed to global warming as the culprit.

Then when a whopper of a blizzard smacked the Northeast with more than 2 feet of snow in some places earlier this month, some of the same people again blamed global warming.

How can that be? It's been a joke among skeptics, pointing to what seems to be a brazen contradiction.

But the answer lies in atmospheric physics. A warmer atmosphere can hold, and dump, more moisture, snow experts say. And two soon-to-be-published studies demonstrate how there can be more giant blizzards yet less snow overall each year. Projections are that that's likely to continue with man-made global warming.

Consider:

? The United States has been walloped by twice as many of the most extreme snowstorms in the past 50 years than in the previous 60 years, according to an upcoming study on extreme weather by leading federal and university climate scientists. This also fits with a dramatic upward trend in extreme winter precipitation ? both rain and snow ? in the Northeastern U.S. charted by the National Climatic Data Center.

? Yet the Global Snow Lab at Rutgers University says that spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has shrunk on average by 1 million square miles in the last 45 years.

? And an upcoming study in the Journal of Climate says computer models predict annual global snowfall to shrink by more than a foot in the next 50 years. The study's author said most people live in parts of the United States that are likely to see annual snowfall drop between 30 and 70 percent by the end of the century.

"Shorter snow season, less snow overall, but the occasional knockout punch," Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said. "That's the new world we live in."

Ten climate scientists say the idea of less snow and more blizzards makes sense: A warmer world is likely to decrease the overall amount of snow falling each year and shrink snow season. But when it is cold enough for a snowstorm to hit, the slightly warmer air is often carrying more moisture, producing potentially historic blizzards.

"Strong snowstorms thrive on the ragged edge of temperature ? warm enough for the air to hold lots of moisture, meaning lots of precipitation, but just cold enough for it to fall as snow," said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. "Increasingly, it seems that we're on that ragged edge."

Just look at the last few years in the Northeast. Or take Chicago, which until late January had 335 days without more than an inch of snow. Both have been hit with historic storms in recent years.

Scientists won't blame a specific event or even a specific seasonal change on global warming without doing intricate and time-consuming studies. And they say they are just now getting a better picture of the complex intersection of man-made climate change and extreme snowfall.

But when Serreze, Oppenheimer and others look at the last few years of less snow overall, punctuated by big storms, they say this is what they are expecting in the future.

"It fits the pattern that we expect to unfold," Oppenheimer said.

The world is warming so precipitation that would normally fall as snow in the future will likely fall as rain once it gets above the freezing point, said Princeton researcher Sarah Kapnick.

Her study used new computer models to simulate the climate in 60 to 100 years as carbon dioxide levels soar. She found large reductions in snowfall throughout much of the world, especially parts of Canada and the Andes Mountains. In the United States, her models predict about a 50 percent or more drop in annual snowfall amounts along a giant swath of the nation from Maine to Texas and the Pacific Northwest and California's Sierra Nevada mountains.

This is especially important out West where large snowcaps are natural reservoirs for a region's water supply, Kapnick said. And already in the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest and in much of California, the amount of snow still around on April 1 has been declining so that it's down about 20 percent compared to 80 years ago, said Philip Mote, who heads a climate change institute at Oregon State University.

Kapnick says it is snowing about as much as ever in the heart of winter, such as February. But the snow season is getting much shorter, especially in spring and in the northernmost areas, said Rutgers' David Robinson, a co-author of the study on extreme weather that will be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

The Rutgers snow lab says this January saw the sixth-widest snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere; the United States had an above average snow cover for the last few months. But that's a misleading statistic, Robinson said, because even though more ground is covered by snow, it's covered by less snow.

And when those big storms finally hit, there is more than just added moisture in the air, there's extra moisture coming from the warm ocean, Robinson and Oppenheimer said. And the air is full of energy and unstable, allowing storms to lift yet more moisture up to colder levels. That generates more intense rates of snowfall, Robinson said.

"If you can tap that moisture and you have that fortuitous collision of moist air and below freezing temperatures, you can pop some big storms," Robinson said.

Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann points to the recent Northeast storm that dumped more than 30 inches in some places. He said it was the result of a perfect set of conditions for such an event: Arctic air colliding with unusually warm oceans that produced extra large amounts of moisture and big temperature contrasts, which drive storms. Those all meant more energy, more moisture and thus more snow, he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/climate-contradiction-less-snow-more-blizzards-161708650.html

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New homes about to get more expensive | New Jersey Real Estate ...

From the Star Ledger:

Fire suppression systems in new homes is aim of New Jersey bill

Builders in New Jersey may soon have to install fire suppression systems in all new single or two-family homes.

A state bill, the New Home Fire Safety Act, would prohibit officials from issuing a certificate of occupancy for such homes until a fire suppression system abiding by state code is placed.

It was turned over to a Senate committee early this month but has not yet come to the Senate floor for a vote.

Its aim, supporters say, is to protect residents and firefighters by getting a jump on controlling flames early on. But it would also bring added costs for a real estate industry trying to recover from a drawn-out downturn.

Home fire suppression systems basically consist of piping that brings water to heat-sensing sprinkler heads placed throughout the structure. Proponents and leaders in the industry say that they can quickly contain fires at their origin, make firefighters? jobs much safer and giving much added protection to residents.
?
?This is a simple, commonsense step that will quite simply save lives and property,? Wisniewski, the Assembly?s Deputy Speaker, said.

?We know these suppression systems are effective, so there?s really no reason whey they shouldn?t be as commonplace in new construction as windows and doors.?

Green, the Speaker Pro Tempore, agreed.

?Ensuring public safety is among our top priorities, and this would be an important step toward ensuring fire safety in new construction,? he said.

?A change like this can go a long way toward saving lives of residents and firefighters, and that?s always a good thing.?

This entry was posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://njrereport.com/index.php/2013/02/18/new-homes-about-to-get-more-expensive/

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State Online Sales Tax Bill Revived in U.S. Congress

U.S. states could collect millions of dollars in online sales taxes, with members of both parties in Congress sponsoring legislation on Thursday that would resolve states' decades-long struggle to tax businesses beyond their borders.

"Small businesses and states alike are suffering from the inability to collect due?not new?taxes from purchases made online," said Republican Representative Steve Womack, from Arkansas, adding the legislation is a "bipartisan, bicameral, common-sense solution that promotes states' rights and levels the playing field for our Main Street businesses."

(Read more: Main Street Remains Pessimistic, Sees Little 2013 Hiring: Survey)

Legislation on the Amazon tax, nicknamed for the colossal Internet retailer, has languished in Congress for years.

In 1992 the Supreme Court decided the patchwork of state tax laws made it too difficult for on-line retailers to collect and remit sales taxes. Currently, states can only tax Internet sales made by companies with a physical presence within state borders. In practice, that means online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. collect sales tax in some states and not in others.

The bills introduced on Thursday reconcile differences in legislation that the House of Representatives and Senate considered last year. The nearly identical details in the bills and strong bipartisan support mean the final bill could be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law this year.

Members of Congress recently assured state lawmakers they would pass a law in 2013.

In the last decade, Internet sales have gone from 1.6 percent of all U.S. retail sales to more than 5 percent, according to Commerce Department data, a proportion that will likely grow as shoppers turn more to handheld devices to make purchases. In the third quarter of 2012, retail "e-commerce" sales were $57 billion, the department said.

Large Internet retailers are worried the tax could drive up the cost of doing business. They would also have to create new systems and software to collect the surcharges, adding to their costs. Amazon said in July it prefers having the tax issue resolved at the federal level.

When the 2007-09 recession caused states' revenues to collapse, both Republican and Democratic governors advocated for the tax as a financial solution that would not require the federal government to provide direct aid.

A leader in the Republican party, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell went so far as to assume the state will soon bring in online tax revenue in his recent plan for overhauling the state's transportation funding.

"The revenue states are losing out on is legally owed, but because of a pre-Internet Supreme Court ruling, states aren't able to collect it," Deb Peters, a Republican state senator in South Dakota, said in a statement.

States and cities say they can recoup billions of dollars with the tax. Fitch Ratings estimates that states currently lose out on $11 billion in revenues.

Some states are considering their own legislation. Florida is currently debating a bill that advocates say could bring the state more than $400 million.

Small retailers, meanwhile, have said the sales tax will will allow them to compete with massive online retailers.

"While store owners collect and remit state and local sales taxes their digital competitors are off the hook - and benefiting because of it," said David French, the National Retail Federation's senior vice president for government relations, in a statement.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100462057

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Climate change front and centre in Washington, with Keystone again a flashpoint

?

Bobby Kennedy and Jr. protests against Keystone XL Pipeline at Lafayette Park on February 13, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by )

Photograph by: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images , Postmedia News

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama?s State of the Union clarion call for action on environmental issues has put climate change at centre stage in the U.S. capital ? and the Keystone XL pipeline is once again playing the role of the villain.

As the Government Accountability Office added climate change to its list of ?high risk? fiscal issues that threaten big costs to taxpayers, two liberal U.S. senators introduced legislation Thursday aimed at putting a price on carbon.

The bill from Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, and Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, would levy greenhouse gas emission fees on U.S. power plants and at the point of importation, meaning Alberta oilsands bitumen travelling through TransCanada?s Keystone XL pipeline would be levied as it entered the United States.

The money raised ? a staggering $1.2 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office ? would then be used to fund investments in clean energy. The bill would also provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices.

While the legislation has dim hopes of being signed into law, since several Democratic lawmakers hail from oil- or coal-rich states, the senators are attempting to keep climate change in the national spotlight in the midst of Obama?s newfound commitment to environmental issues.

The president was roundly criticized during his first term by American environmentalists who accused him of failing to push hard enough for meaningful climate change legislation.

?We have the opportunity right now, with the president?s commitment in the State of the Union, to make progress,? Sanders, flanked by some of the prominent environmentalists arrested a day earlier at a White House Keystone protest, told a news conference on Capitol Hill.

?The president can and must use his authority to cut down on power plant pollution, and reject the dangerous Keystone XL project. But he cannot give up on a comprehensive legislative solution, and neither can we. We will never fully deal with this crisis until Congress passes strong legislation.?

Boxer vowed the proposals would be on the Senate floor for a vote by the summer, the first time in four years that a major climate bill is poised to make it that far.

There are growing concerns among Keystone proponents in the U.S. capital that Obama may insist on something in return for approving the pipeline, including a carbon levy of the type Sanders and Boxer are proposing. That could significantly increase the costs of importing bitumen from Alberta?s carbon-intensive oilsands into the United States.

But as Obama himself suggested Tuesday in his State of the Union address, Boxer has pointed out that the president might not even need Congress to act on climate change. Instead, the president can use the Environmental Protection Agency to impose new carbon regulations on existing power plants.

That?s because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the agency can and must act on greenhouse gas emissions under the country?s Clean Air Act.

Those for and against Keystone are anxiously awaiting the final environmental analysis of the $7-billion project by the U.S. State Department, which will ultimately decide the pipeline?s fate, since it crosses an international border. That review is expected within the next few weeks.

John Kerry, Obama?s new secretary of state, said last week that he hoped a final decision on Keystone would be made in the ?near term.? Environmentalists have been cheered by Kerry?s arrival at State since he was one of the fiercest climate hawks in Congress during his 28 years as a Massachusetts senator.

Keystone XL has become a lightning rod for U.S. environmentalists, who view it as a symbol of ?dirty oil.? Dozens were arrested earlier this week at yet another anti-Keystone protest outside the White House; thousands more are expected at a climate change rally on the National Mall on Sunday.

?Senators Sanders and Boxer actually understand the depth of the climate problem we face,? said Bill McKibben, a leading climate change activist and key anti-Keystone organizer.

?We are awfully grateful to them for starting us down the legislative path that could reverse our disastrous course. We hope and trust that they won?t have to be a lone voice.?

Added Tyson Slocum, energy director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen: ?Pricing carbon is an important tool to address climate change, and this legislation ... will protect families at the same time we seek to protect the climate.?

The carbon fee proposed by Sanders and Boxer would slash greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2025.

Republicans have already expressed their opposition.

?It?s not just energy prices that would skyrocket from a carbon tax, the cost of nearly everything built in America would go up,? Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana said in a statement.

The Government Accountability Office, meantime, urged the federal government to take action.

?Climate change poses significant financial risks to the federal government, which owns extensive infrastructure, such as defence installations; insures property through the National Flood Insurance Program; and provides emergency aid in response to natural disasters,? the report states.

?GAO added this area because the federal government is not well positioned to address the fiscal exposure presented by climate change and needs a government-wide strategic approach with strong leadership to manage related risks.?

? Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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Source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Climate+change+front+centre+Washington+with+Keystone+again/7966792/story.html

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