Amid gold rush to recruit veterans, concerns over rankings of "military friendly" colleges

In press releases and ads, colleges love boasting they're "military friendly" and "veterans friendly" ? and that isn't just because veterans are usually good students and campus leaders.

It's also because the newly expanded Post 9-11 G.I. Bill will pay colleges of all types around $9 billion this year to educate nearly 600,000 veterans, and virtually every school wants to expand its slice of that pie.

But some schools touting their spots on proliferating lists of "military friendly" colleges found in magazine guides and websites have few of the attributes educators commonly associate with the claim, such as accepting military credits or having a veterans organization on campus. Many are for-profit schools with low graduation rates.

The designations appear on rankings whose rigour varies but whose methods are under fire. Often, they're also selling ads to the colleges. Some websites help connect military and veteran students with degree programs that may match their interests, but don't disclose they are lead aggregators paid by the institutions ? often for-profit colleges ? whose programs they highlight.

"They're not real rankings," said Tom Tarantino, a veteran who is deputy policy director of the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "What they are is advertisement catalogues." Labeling them "a huge problem," he called for standards to be established for proper use of the term "military friendly" schools.

There are signs something like that may happen. But as with the U.S. News & World Report college rankings, demand for signalling devices to help consumers shortcut complicated choices could make such lists tough to dislodge. Many experts say the lists are symptoms of a wider problem: Service members aren't getting the advice they need to make sound decisions on using the substantially expanded education benefits. It's no surprise businesses are stepping into that void.

At a large military education conference last month in Florida, some educators criticized the lists and pushed for a sharpened definition of "military friendly" colleges, to be developed either by the federal government or an education coalition called Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges.

Meanwhile, Washington is paying increasing attention to the broader problem of veterans getting reliable guidance. In recent weeks a slew of bills on the subject have surfaced.

The latest, unveiled Tuesday by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is called the "G.I. Bill Consumer Awareness Act" and would push colleges and the Department of Veterans Affairs to disclose more information on questions like licensing and job placement rates, and to develop policies to prevent misleading marketing.

Another bill would boost education counselling resources at the department, and separately, 14 senators have asked the department to trademark the term "G.I. Bill" so it will have more power to crack down on misleading advertising.

"It's not only these major lists, but all of these pay-to-play websites that come up with these nefarious rankings," said Jim Sweizer, vice-president of military programs at American Public University System. APUS operates two for-profit online universities, American Military University and American Public University. Founded in 1991 by a former Marine, it calls itself the largest provider of education to the military, with two-thirds of its nearly roughly 110,000 students in the Reserves, active duty, or veterans. But last year it boycotted the best-known "military friendly" list, published by G.I. Jobs magazine, saying the system had too many shortcomings.

"The people who suffer from this are the service-members who don't know any better," Sweizer said. "They see an ad that says, 'No. 1 ranked school,' but they don't say, 'by whom?'"

Officials at other institutions say they don't like the lists but can't afford not to be on them, for fear of appearing "military unfriendly."

"Some schools feel 'I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't," said Ramona McAfee, assistant dean of military and federal programs and Columbia College in Missouri, a critic of the lists whose school still participates.

But for some lesser-known colleges, such lists can get their names in front of prospective students ? which, they say, expands veterans' horizons. Last year, when G.I. Jobs magazine published its list, a flurry of colleges shared the news in press releases, and local newspapers often followed with stories.

"We certainly aren't going to change the landscape of our campus by seeking out tons of veterans but we wanted to make sure we were giving them every opportunity and making this transition easier for them," said Sarah Palace, assistant dean for adult enrolment at one school that put out such a release, the College of Notre Dame in Ohio (not to be confused with the larger University of Notre Dame in Indiana, which also put out a release). The smaller Notre Dame has only about 20 full-time veteran students but hopes to recruit more. Palace listed practices she says make the place military friendly: encouraging transfers, examining military transcripts, working with a local veterans service centre.

It's impossible to say whether veterans are widely misled by "military friendly" lists. Some educators say it's patronizing to suppose military people read the lists uncritically.

But there are worrisome signs that, more broadly, veterans aren't making informed decisions and could waste their benefits on low-value degrees. While for-profit colleges may be a good choice for many, on average they cost more, have lower graduation rates and in some cases have accreditation limitations. They also recruit aggressively. In the first two years after the new G.I. Bill was passed in 2008, they enrolled 25 per cent of veterans using the benefits and collected 37 per cent of the payments to colleges.

After former Marine Cpl. Moses Maddox finished his first tour of duty in Iraq, he started ? and ended ? his college search with an Internet query.

"I looked up 'GI Bill friendly schools' and it said 'hey, come to the University of Phoenix,'" Maddox said. He won't single out Phoenix, which collected $133 million from the G.I. Bill in 2010-2011, but it wasn't a good fit, and he later dropped out, re-enlisted and returned to Iraq. After his second tour he enrolled in Palomar College in California, but discovered his Phoenix credits wouldn't transfer. He now gives education counselling to veterans at Palomar.

They're "just so lost after getting out that they just show up with a DD214 (military service record) and say, 'I want to go to school. How do I start?'" he said. When the benefit's 36-month expiration passes and they're stuck with credits they didn't realize were worthless, "it's the hardest part of my job to tell these vets you have to start all over again."

The G.I. Jobs "Guide to Military Friendly Colleges" is probably the best known list, with annual circulation of 135,000 and reaching more through its website, militaryfriendlyschools.com.

The publication insists it's far more rigorous than the apparently fly-by-night options that show up for pages in response to a Google search for "military friendly colleges."

G.I. Jobs sends questionnaires to 8,000 institutions, says it gets about half back, and lists the 1500 most military friendly (it claims that's the top 20 per cent, though of the responses, it's more than one-third).

Unlike others, G.I. Jobs does share the general formula used to select military friendly colleges: 45 per cent in one "effort" category, measuring things like flexible learning programs and academic credit, 35 per cent for financial effort (including tuition benefits and the percentage of recruiting budget directed to veterans),15 per cent for results (such as percentage of military students enrolled) and 5 per cent for a category that includes accreditations.

"We're the most stringent and transparent out there," said Sean Collins, who directs the publication for Victory Media. It's now begun surveying students about their experiences, and is beginning to include that data in its website, though it isn't used to determine which schools make the list. Collins says the magazine consults an advisory board of veterans education professionals on the survey questions.

Yet while G.I. Jobs discloses its general formula, and its website offers extensive raw data with college responses, it doesn't disclose a cutoff score or quantify what it takes to make the "military friendly" cut.

Its list includes some schools that, the magazine's own charts reveal, check hardly any of the boxes that comprise the magazine's criteria for inclusion ? for example the Academy of Cosmetology in Florida, which doesn't offer credit for military services, has no veteran-specific campus resources and where just three of the 75 students are veterans. Such schools may well be military friendly, but their inclusion raises questions about how 2500 claimed respondents failed to make the cut. In print, the guide from a leading rival, Military Advanced Education (MAE) magazine's "Guide to Top Military-Friendly Colleges and Universities," says of its formula only that any college wishing consideration can submit answers to a questionnaire.

The magazine sent the questionnaire to 1,800 institutions and received 362 responses. Of those, 289, or about 80 per cent, made the cut, said officials of the publication and its parent company, KMI Media Group.

Before this year, whether a school made the cut was up to editor Maura McCarthy, who reviewed the submissions and decided without using a point system.

"Maura had a good idea in her head as to what would make somebody military friendly," said Kirk Brown, publisher at KMI. This year, he said, it will move to a more objective system. "Each year that we've done this, we've attempted to raise the bar in terms of the criteria and our evaluation process."

Other sites that turn up on online searches, such as www.militaryfriendlycolleges.org, say nothing about their criteria. Typically they feature eclectic lists of colleges and sometimes ads for for-profit schools. An email sent via the "Contact Us" portion of that site went unanswered, as did a telephone call to the California phone number where the website is registered.

In fact, critics say, there's no right way to quantify whether a college is military friendly; a subjective judgment, like MAE's, may actually be more appropriate if well-researched. The objections are to false precision, and the criteria used.

Factors like whether a college offers online courses or gives credit for military work can be important. Still, few highly selective colleges offer course credit for military work; that doesn't mean they don't welcome veterans, said Jim Selbe, who has worked for decades in veterans education and is now an administrator at the University of Maryland University College, a large military education provider.

A small school, meanwhile, could have few veterans, no veterans "club," and few resources just for veterans ? yet still be very welcoming culturally, just as a large school with lots of resources on paper might not.

Selbe says none of the current designators of "military friendly" colleges are transparent enough that students should rely on them to make a decision. His advice: Spend time talking to a well-qualified academic adviser, to pick a school that's a good fit in terms of culture and expected outcomes.

"There are just too many variables in that decision to make it on a school being recognized by a publisher as military or veteran friendly," he said.

Maddox, the former Marine, advises students to go straight to www.gibill.va.gov and avoid any site mentioning veterans or the GI Bill ending with ".com."

Most critics would find the lists unobjectionable ? even valuable ? if they presented themselves simply as resources for information, and dropped the claim to identify who is "military friendly."

One site, Military.com, has done just that, and stopped using the term "military friendly."

"We stepped back and looked at it, and said the loose criteria we've allowed to become this term 'military friendly' isn't serving our members," said managing editor Terry Howell. "We can't make that promise, that guarantee, that that's going to be the service member's experience."

______

AP Education Writer Kimberly Hefling and News Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

Follow Justin Pope at http://www.twitter.com/JustinPopeAP

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A well designed Europe-wide financial transactions tax could be a ...

What would be the implications of a financial transactions tax in Europe? While the French argue such a tax would help stabilize the debt crisis, the British believe that the instrument would prompt an exodus of financial activity to other parts of the world. Iain Begg argues that the latter argument may not hold, and that the tax could become a source of revenue for governments if introduced as a ?tax for Europe?.?

There has been much debate in recent months about a financial transactions tax (FTT), with some Member States, notably France, very keen to see its introduction, while others are more sceptical. Given the prominence of the City of London in its economy, the UK, not surprisingly, is opposed to the introduction of such a tax in the European Union because of fears that it would prompt an exodus of financial activity to other parts of the world. For the UK, the argument is that unless a global FTT (which it claims to support) can be introduced, imposing such a tax unilaterally in Europe would be tantamount to an own goal.

Separately, the European Commission has proposed the introduction of an FTT as a new own resource for the European budget. The rationale offered in the communication?A Budget for Europe 2020,?presenting proposals for 2014-20 and released last June, is that ?the time has come to start re-aligning EU financing with the principles of autonomy, transparency and fairness?. In a Commission background paper, a justification offered for the choice of FTT is that it would be popular ?which could facilitate its acceptance? and would be likely to be supported in the European Parliament. It is also argued that it would open up a new revenue stream, easing the burden on national public finances ? a somewhat disingenuous assertion.

Three distinct questions arise in these debates:

• Can Europe go it alone on an FTT?
• Should new resources be used to finance the EU budget and;
• If so, is an FTT a suitable resource?

Recent research suggests that contrary to some fears, the fact that so many financial transactions go through electronic trading platforms means that they can be ?captured?, reducing the likelihood of avoidance. Consequently, a tentative answer to?the first question? is that if it is well-designed and not set at too high rate, an FTT could work if imposed only in Europe.

The case for new EU own resources is one that is made time and again, yet has repeatedly been rejected by the European Council when it has to decide. Instead, the EU is financed largely by national contributions. Arguments abound about the strengths and weaknesses of the system that is in place, although its one unassailable virtue is that it ensures the EU has the revenue it needs to finance its expenditure. Equally, there are several options for EU taxes or revenues that would be perfectly serviceable. However, none is ideal and it is important to recognise that many criteria affect the choice. Alternative financing systems affect fairness, economic efficiency and differ in relation to a number of other effects, so that the underlying question becomes: what attributes do EU citizens and decision-makers want an EU tax to possess?

These are discussed at length in a paper I have had published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Among its conclusions is that although an FTT might work well enough for Europe as a whole, it would not be a good choice as a ?tax for Europe?, principally because it would have too uneven an incidence across Member States. Germany and, above all, the UK would bear a disproportionate share of the cost?

A more comprehensive report on the implications of the FTT is published here. ?

This article first appeared on Budget in Perspective.

Please read our comments policy before commenting.

Note: ?This article gives the views of the?author, and not the position of EUROPP ? European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

____________________________

About the author

Iain Begg ? LSE European Institute
Iain Begg is a Professorial Research Fellow at the LSE European Institute. His main research work is on the political economy of European integration and EU economic governance. He has directed and participated in a series of research projects on different facets of EU policy and his current projects include studies on the governance of EU economic and social policy, the EU?s Lisbon strategy, the social impact of globalisation and reform of the EU budget. Other recent research projects include work on policy co-ordination under EMU and cohesion policy.

Related posts:

1. Brussels blog round up for 17-23 March 2012: The European Parliament drags its feet on EU wide constituencies, Ashton is criticized, and the IMF demands more guarantees on Greece.

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Health and fitness And Pilates ? July BlogBest Campaign Blog, Best ...

Folks right now are starting to know the importance of excellent wellness, that is accomplished via a properly well balanced diet plan, slicing out smoking and drinking, and incorporating some type of health and fitness plan into day-to-day life. Whilst you?ll find some outstanding opportunities such as walking, swimming, tennis, handball, or operating out in the fitness center, an additional option contains Pilates, that has taken our modern society by storm. As well as getting entertaining, Pilates is simple within the body even though making excellent outcomes.

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Pilates also gives much better body consciousness though promoting coordination and generating new neuromuscular patterns. The result of this conditioning system is really a reduction or total elimination of persistent pain and/or damage or re-injury. Joseph himself grew up with arthritis and asthma, generating him feeble. His father was a prize-winning gymnast and his mother a practicing naturopath. Utilizing a discarded anatomy guide, Joseph studied and researched to superior have an understanding of the various physique components. Through the age of 14, he had learned how you can develop his personal physique, so considerably to ensure that he was hired as an anatomy design for other students to study.

With Joseph?s understanding and fine-tuning of this health and fitness method, he and his wife started training Pilates. The exciting factor about this health program is the fact that by being created around the all-natural movement of animals and other natural movements, millions of individuals are able to include the plan into their everyday lives, acquiring they look and feel greater. The bottom line is the fact that no matter if utilizing Pilates or some other kind of health, you are able to tone the muscle tissue, improve joints, and also lower tension on the heart and lungs, giving you a longer, healthier life.

We now see individuals from stay-at-home mothers to famous movie stars faithfully making use of Pilates with incredible results. In fact, if you would like the most from health, we suggest you combine Pilates having a cardio type of physical exercise for instance biking, walking, or swimming. By doing this, you get the best of each worlds. Ideal of all, fitness might be performed by men and women of all ages and expensive equipment just isn?t required to be effective. For that reason, in case you are weary of searching and experiencing negative, get concerned with an excellent physical fitness system just like Pilates.

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No need to whisper: Obama yearns for postelection `flexibility' on taxes, energy, immigration (Star Tribune)

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People Drive Small Business, Not Plans | Grow your business using ...

Since we have launched The Small Business Tour I have had the good fortune of working with some incredible people who work for great companies that are supporting small businesses in new ways, and not because they wrote it down in a ?strategic plan?.

The difference makers in business (small and large) are the people who engage because they care about the outcomes of people they serve (their customers, partners, employees and teammates).? To those special few, I solute you!

Great people move your small business forward

The community of small business owners and key players on teams in the Seattle/Bellevue area that I?ve been fortunate to be associated with are one of the reasons why 1000s of small businesses are experiencing success today.

When you speak to Mark Sandeno @markgustav at Rocketshipthe first thing you?ll notice is that he is committed 100% to delivering great results for his customers. His team creates custom web sites in about half the time and cost of more expensive design houses.

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After working with Aaron Booker @aaronbooker and his team at Varvidit is clear they have a great time doing what they love and that is put your story to video so you can share it. They are going to be producing the live video feed at The Small Business Tour.??

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Jimmy Kwan @cultofkwan My Turnstone is first to admit that thinking about finding furniture for your office isn?t the most fun, but I have to tell you that their new app for iPads to help you visualize what your office could look like is extremely fun!

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The Small Business Tour is leveraging the expertise of Tara Barnes @PathableTera from Pathable to help us build our community web site. She and her team are driven to make events successful and it comes through with how fast Tara?s team has responded and willingness to do the little things.

?The common thread these people all have is they actually care about the people they work with and wants to make sure everyone around them is successful ? that?s what makes them a success. They all have strategic plans, but are not letting those plans box them into doing what?s right for their customers.

Amazing people in larger companies care about the success of small business

It is easy to think that small businesses all ban together to form an unstoppable economic engine, but people at some very large organizations are contributing as entrepreneurs from all over the world.

If you are trying to figure out the best way to stay in touch with your community of prospects and customers you quickly realize that Dana Pethia @Dana6167 of Constant Contact? is extremely resourceful and professional. She works for a big and fast growing company, but travels all over the Pacific Northwest speaking with small business owners.

?

When you work with Thomas Marks @WThomasMarks of Concur you can tell he is an entrepreneur at heart even though he works for a publicly traded company. His biggest desire is to make life easier for small businesses through helping them organize how they track and manage expenses.

?So, if ever you find yourself thinking ?big business? doesn?t care about the small business community, think about Dana and Mark ? they will be thinking about your success.

Yes, you need plans, but it?s the people who make them happen ? don?t forget it!

Every great entrepreneur has a plan ? they could be formally written down or somewhere inside their head. Ultimately a plan is made, then re-evaluated, then adjusted again to help make sure a business is steered forward. That said, a steering wheel is only as good as the person behind it. I?m confident that the companies we?re working with on The Small Business Tour have great drivers.

Source: http://www.coreconnex.com/2012/03/30/people-drive-small-business-not-plans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=people-drive-small-business-not-plans

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For the very best web design York simply contact Vital Online Studio

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Mega Millions reaches record $476 million jackpot

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/mega-millions-reaches-record-476-jackpot-170228962.html

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'Wrath Of The Titans' Star Ralph Fiennes' Five Greatest Villain Roles

by Ryan Rigley "Evil is cumulative. It happens." Ralph Fiennes is, without a doubt, a man who knows his way around evil. Playing a number of villain roles throughout his ever expanding acting career, Fiennes has seemingly become the go to guy when it comes to dastardly doings and depravity. It's no wonder that the [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/03/28/wrath-of-the-titans-star-ralph-fiennes-five-greatest-villain-roles/

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Writing vs Speaking ? Tape Noise Diary

Writing and Speaking

Paul Graham on the true nature of giving speeches compared to writing. Love this part:

Audiences like to be flattered; they like jokes; they like to be swept off their feet by a vigorous stream of words. As you decrease the intelligence of the audience, being a good speaker is increasingly a matter of being a good bullshitter. That?s true in writing too of course, but the descent is steeper with talks. Any given person is dumber as a member of an audience than as a reader. Just as a speaker ad libbing can only spend as long thinking about each sentence as it takes to say it, a person hearing a talk can only spend as long thinking about each sentence as it takes to hear it.

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Source: http://tapenoisediary.com/2012/03/28/writing-vs-speaking/

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Standard test may miss food ingredients that cause milk allergy

ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2012) ? The standard test used to detect milk-protein residues in processed foods may not work as well as previously believed in all applications, sometimes missing ingredients that can cause milk allergy, the most common childhood food allergy, which affects millions of children under age 3, a scientist reported in San Diego at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society's (ACS) on March 29.

Joseph L. Baumert, Ph.D., who headed the study, explained that thermal and non-thermal processing of foods can change the proteins responsible for milk allergy in ways that make the proteins harder to detect using the standard test, termed the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Processing, however, may still leave the milk proteins capable of causing itchy skin, runny eyes, wheezing and other sometimes more-serious symptoms of milk allergy, despite the inability to detect the milk residue.

"The results of these studies could be utilized by commercial ELISA kit manufacturers to aid in improving ELISAs for detection of milk residue in processed food products. These improved tests can be adopted by the food industry, if necessary, to allow for reliable detection of milk residue regardless of the type of processing that is used," he said. "These improvements should not result in commercial tests that are more expensive or difficult for food processors to use."

Food processors use the ELISA to assure that that processed foods that do not contain milk and processing equipment in facilities that process milk products are free of milk allergens, the substances that can trigger milk allergy.

Milk allergy is not the same as lactose intolerance, a condition in which people lack adequate amounts of the enzyme needed to digest lactose, the main sugar in milk. Lactose intolerance involves the digestive system, with symptoms like bloating, stomach cramps and diarrhea, after consuming milk or milk products. Milk allergy affects the immune system and can cause swelling of the throat, which makes it difficult to breath, and other symptoms that require immediate medical help.

Baumert explained that manufacturers and food-safety agencies use ELISAs to ensure that food-processing equipment and finished products are free of allergens or labeled with appropriate warnings. ELISAs are one of the most widely used diagnostic tests in the world today, a mainstay in everything from diagnosing pregnancy and detecting the AIDS virus in human blood to diagnosing a range of other diseases in plants and animals. The tests leverage the amazing ability of antibodies, proteins formed by the body's immune system, to attach to and mark for destruction bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances. An ELISA kit for milk proteins contains antibodies that bind to milk proteins that may be in a finished food product or on the surface of shared manufacturing equipment. If a sample taken from a finished product or from the surface of food-processing equipment contains milk residue, a color change will occur in the test, indicating a positive result for contamination with milk proteins.

Baumert, who is with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, explained that heating and other processing of foods can make milk proteins aggregate together so it is difficult to get the milk proteins into solution, which enables them to be detected by the antibodies in ELISAs. The clumping, however, does not necessarily destroy the protein's ability to trigger an allergic reaction in sensitive people. Clumped-together proteins also would be likely to maintain their potency once they reached the human body, he added. Heating and other processing can also alter the structure of the protein, which can affect the ability of the antibody to bind to the milk proteins. Alteration in the protein structure does not necessarily mean that the milk proteins become non-allergenic for the majority of milk-allergic individuals.

His team studied and documented how ELISAs perform on several measures of accuracy when milk proteins undergo changes in foods that are boiled, baked, fried or heated in other ways. The results could help the food-processing industry and ELISA manufacturers make changes that better protect consumers with milk allergies, he said, noting that other scientists are doing similar research on foods that contain eggs and peanuts -- both common causes of food allergy.

The scientists acknowledged funding from the United States Department of Agriculture AFRI Competitive Grant 2011-67017-20080 and the Food Allergy Research & Resource Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS), via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120328203622.htm

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Amandla Stenberg, Hunger Games Star, Responds to Racist Tweets

Amandla Stenberg, the 13-year old actress who plays Rue in The Hunger Games, has spoken out on the unexpected, ignorant, racist controversy that has somehow enveloped her beloved character.

In response to posts on Twitter that dared to wonder why Rue was portrayed by an African-American on screen - one actually wrote: "Why did the producer make all the good characters black?" - Stenberg has taken the mature road and released a statement that reads:

"As a fan of the books, I feel fortunate to be part of The Hunger Games family. It was an amazing experience; I am proud of the film and my performance. I want to thank all of my fans and the entire Hunger Games community for their support and loyalty."

No, thank YOU, Amandla, for bringing such an important character to life. You can't see us at the moment, but take our word for it: we're holding up three fingers in your honor.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/03/amandla-stenberg-hunger-games-star-responds-to-racist-tweets/

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Netflix walks away from "Terra Nova" deal

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Terra Nova" dinosaurs will not be roaring again at Netflix.

Netflix negotiations to revive the troubled Steven Spielberg-produced drama -- canceled after one season by Fox earlier this month -- have broken down. 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the show, will continue to try and find a new home for the dino-drama, an individual familiar with the situation told TheWrap.

The series weathered numerous problems, including a ballooning budget to premiere in September. Earning respectable if not stellar ratings with its maiden episode, the series dropped off to a 2.2 rating/6 share with its December season finale. 20th Century Fox Television decided to shop the series to other networks following the cancellation at Fox.

Netflix has been beefing up its original programming lately, reviving the former Fox series "Arrested Development," as well as picking up the Steven Van Zandt series "Lilyhammer" and announcing plans to launch the Eli Roth horror series "Hemlock Grove," among other projects.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netflix-walks-away-terra-nova-deal-143900757.html

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Logitech UE Air Speaker brings AirPlay streaming in April for $400

The AirPlay market doesn't seem to be shrinking anytime soon, giving Logitech ample opportunity to tread on ground already marked by the likes of JBL and Klipsch. This morning, the outfit's introducing the Logitech UE Air Speaker with AirPlay technology, enabling uncompressed audio streams to flow from one's iTunes library, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch right to the home stereo. You'll need both the boombox and your AirPlay source connected to the same WiFi network, after which you can pipe sine waves to its pair of tweeters and woofers. Users will need to download the (gratis) Logitech UE Air app for setup, which will be infinitely more useful when the speaker itself starts to ship to Europe and the US this April for $399.99.

Continue reading Logitech UE Air Speaker brings AirPlay streaming in April for $400

Logitech UE Air Speaker brings AirPlay streaming in April for $400 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/27/logitech-ue-air-speaker-airplay-streaming-april-ship-release-date-pricing/

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Medvedev says Romney's anti-Russia comment smacks of Hollywood (reuters)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/209444325?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Romney superPAC spent $35 million on attack ads

'Broga' caters to guys wary of yoga

Tired of hearing a wife, girlfriend, mother, sister or female friend sing the praises of yoga, some guys will eventually man up and tag along to a class. Once there, in many studios, he might be one of few downward facing dudes.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46874196#46874196

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Body of brutally beaten woman to be flown to Iraq

EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) ? Iraq's foreign minister said Monday that the body of an Iraqi-American woman who was found brutally beaten next to a note saying "go back to your country, you terrorist" will be flown to Baghdad as lawmakers in her native country demanded a thorough investigation.

Shaima Alawadi, 32, was taken off life support on Saturday, three days after her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious in the dining room of the family's El Cajon home in suburban San Diego.

"The government has ordered to transport her body from California to Baghdad," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said when asked about the death at a news conference for the Arab League summit in Baghdad. He declined further comment.

Investigators said they're exploring all aspects of her slaying, including the possibility that the attack was a hate crime.

Alawadi's father is Sayed Nabeel Alawadi, a Shiite cleric in Iraq, a Muslim leader in Michigan told the Detroit Free-Press on Sunday. "Everybody is outraged," Imam Husham Al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn said. "This is too evil, too criminal."

Reaction in Baghdad was muted, though some lawmakers pressed for answers. Government offices were closed, and newspapers were not printing this week for the diplomatic summit.

"We deplore this hideous crime that took place in a country calls itself the land of democracy, freedoms and freedom of religious. The parliament will take a serious position on this. Iraqi Foreign Affairs Ministry must now officially ask the U.S. Embassy and the Department of State for more details on this hideous crime," said Aliyah Nisayef, an Iraqi female lawmaker.

Lawmaker Haider al-Mulla, a Shiite from the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya political party, also asked that the U.S. government step into the investigation.

"If the investigation reveals that the attack was a hatred crime, then U.S. authorities should take measures to protect all Iraqi refugees on American soil," al-Mulla said.

The victim's daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV in San Diego that her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and the note was next to her. Police said the family had found a similar, threatening note earlier this month but did not report it to authorities.

Al Himidi told KGTV-TV her mother dismissed the first note, found outside the home, as a child's prank.

Flowers were set on the doorstep of the home Sunday. Neighbors said the family had moved in about two months ago.

Friends said Alawadi wore a hijab, the Islamic head scarf.

Hayder Al-Zayadi, a family friend, told the Free-Press that Alawadi moved to the United States in 1993 with her family and was part of a wave of Shiite Muslim refugees who fled to Michigan after Saddam Hussein cracked down on an uprising in 1991.

After living in Dearborn for a few years, she moved to the San Diego area in 1996, graduated from high school and became a housewife raising five children, Al-Zayadi said.

Al-Zayadi said Alawadi's brothers worked for the U.S. Army, serving as cultural advisers to train soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East. Another family friend told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Alawadi's husband had a similar job.

El Cajon, east of San Diego, is home to one of the largest Iraqi communities in the United States.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes, Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-03-26-US-Iraqi-Woman-Beaten/id-a4f82591cd0d40f7a3ccdfeb1f6b4cd5

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Make a Deal and Get More Business | MyDealCompass Blog ...

Customers are always looking for a great deal. It does not matter what the business is selling because people tend to buy just because of a good deal. How can your business benefit from this? Make a deal and find out quickly.

When you are ready to make deal, there are a few things you need to consider. First, look at your product and think about what types of deals you could present. Next, figure out which deals will benefit you most. Lastly, consider choosing a deal that will be most appealing to the largest number of customers.

If you truly consider all of these factors before choosing which deal you want to promote, then you should be very successful. You can place your deal on myDealCompass.com and customers will have the deal at their fingertips. You won?t need to worry about advertising, printing, or distribution. With myDealCompass, you can choose to have your deal on as a ?Featured Deal? or you can have your deal on daily, expiring each night. This gives you the opportunity to track the use of your coupon and see how well it is working for you.

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Source: http://mydealcompass.com/blog/index.php/makedeal-getmorebusiness/

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RSS Feed Search Engine - Real-Time Search Powered by FeedRank

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.rssmicro.com/rss.web?q=Church

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what your website is about - TrustDIR.org ? Business ? Agriculture

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SEO Stats	Alexa Rank is a relative measurement on how popular a web site among the Internet community. Alexa Daily Traffic Rank - Alexa computes traffic rankings by analysing the Web usage of millions of Alexa toolbar users. The traffic rank is related to the last three months of traffic and is a combined measurement of 'reach' and page views. With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. "what your website is about" Google Safe Browsing report, Alexa Rank for http://www.giftpens.com/pen_gifts.html. DNS report and website health for http://www.giftpens.com/pen_gifts.html. Click here to see SEO information. Shorten a long URL, share it, and then track the resulting usage.
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Movie Review: 'The Hunger Games' | Movies & TV | Arts ...

?Hunger Games? Film Stays True to Suzanne Collins?s Popular Book

By Victoria Ku
Epoch Times Staff Created: March 26, 2012 Last Updated: March 26, 2012

Jennifer Lawrence in the science fiction action-drama ?The Hunger Games.? (Murray Close/ Lions Gate Entertainment)

In an age of war and reality television, ?The Hunger Games? depicts how two underdogs struggle to survive a deadly competition between teenagers. The buzz around the hot sci-fi film has drawn massive attention among social media, critics, and fans, all questioning if it will live up to the hype and reach the same levels of success as the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises.

?The Hunger Games

Director: Gary Ross

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Toby Jones

Running Time: 147 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Every year, each district of Panem (the ruins of North America) has to send one boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to the Capitol to train and compete in the Hunger Games?a lethal competition televised to serve as a government intimidation scheme.

On Reaping Day, 16-year-old Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) reassures her younger sister Prim (Willow Shields) that she won?t get picked because her name was only submitted once. When Prim?s name is chosen and announced by Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), Katniss immediately volunteers to be the female ?tribute? to take her sister?s place.

Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss?s fellow District 12 tribute, is reaped and both are brought to the Capitol to begin training. At the Capitol, a hedonistic place filled with flamboyantly dressed citizens, the pair meets unique characters, like the charismatic television host Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) and the benevolent stylist Cinna (rock musician Lenny Kravitz).

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An expert archer, Katniss relies on her sharp instincts and mentorship of the impaired former District 12 victor, Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), to battle and outsmart the twisted game. Katniss struggles with loyalties in the game arena and spirals further into conflict when her fellow tribute, Peeta, is the last person she wants to kill.

Lawrence is a natural artist embodying the fierce and determined Katniss, who has become hardened and untrusting over time to everyone except Prim and her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth). In a film that is vastly centered on her character?s perspective, Lawrence?s performance and energy alone outshone many other aspects of the film, providing heart-pounding entertainment and perfectly capturing the essence of Katniss.

Lawrence has garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the low-budget indie thriller Winter?s Bone and is becoming one of Hollywood?s most promising actresses. Lawrence?s co-star, Hutcherson, portrays the extremely good-hearted Peeta who is secretly in love with Katniss, though that is not the focused element of the film. He and Lawrence work off each other fluently onscreen, but his presence is faint.

Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in the science fiction action-drama ?The Hunger Games,? a film about a boy and girl in a post-apocalyptic society selected to duel to the death on television. (Murray Close/ Lions Gate Entertainment)

The Hunger Games features a brilliantly versatile cast including Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit), Lenny Kravitz (Precious), Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada, Julie & Julia), and Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

Donald Sutherland (Space Cowboys) makes his appearance as the Capitol?s dictator, President Snow, and Wes Bentley (American Beauty) as the Head Gamemaker, both controlling all aspects of the game.

The film stays close to the novel with consistent character development, cinematography, and a terrific cast, allowing this film to be a satisfying book-to-film translation. Much of this credit goes to director Gary Ross who co-wrote the screenplay with the novel?s author, Suzanne Collins.

Ross?s clever use of facial close-up shots tugs at the heart without relying on clich?s or extra gimmicks, fully portraying Katniss?s first-person standpoint without the help of narration while his shaky-cam shots give the rawness that fits the content.

The only issue holding back half a star was the special effects, more specifically, the treatment of fire in the movie. Given that fire is a common element throughout the story, the outcome of the flames is slightly disappointing. Additionally, there were some minor elements from the book that were altered to make way for the bigger sequences and motifs of the story but not distracting enough to dispute that the film fully complements the book.

Despite the constraints on fully depicting the violence and gory scenarios from the book due to the film?s PG-13 rating, Ross flawlessly delivers Katniss?s point of view, the terrifying battles fought in the arena, and a number of deaths without neglecting emotions. The film?s soundtrack, or rather, lack thereof, magnifies each moment, creating a greater impact to the overall tone and evoking a more compelling response from the audience.

The Hunger Games successfully portrays Suzanne Collins?s heavyweight message of sacrifice and survival, sparking the strong beginning of a new cultural phenomenon and definitely living up to the hype.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/movie-review-the-hunger-games-209849.html

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