Rubio: Reports of immigration deal 'premature'

FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Republican Party?s search for a way back to presidential success in 2016 is drawing a striking array of personalities and policy options. It?s shaping up as a wide-open self-reassessment by the GOP. Some factions are trying to tug the party left or right. Others argue over pragmatism versus defiance. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Republican Party?s search for a way back to presidential success in 2016 is drawing a striking array of personalities and policy options. It?s shaping up as a wide-open self-reassessment by the GOP. Some factions are trying to tug the party left or right. Others argue over pragmatism versus defiance. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., makes a point as he is joined by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-CO, during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. A group of influential U.S. senators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Even with one of the largest hurdles to an immigration overhaul overcome, optimistic lawmakers on Sunday cautioned they had not finished work on a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.

The AFL-CIO and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skill workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants and hotels. Yet despite the unusual agreement between the two powerful lobbying groups, lawmakers from both parties conceded that the negotiations were not finished.

"With the agreement between business and labor, every major policy issue has been resolved," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who brokered the labor-business deal.

But it hasn't taken the form of a bill and the eight senators searching for a compromise haven't met about the potential breakthrough.

"We haven't signed off," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

"There are a few details yet. But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves that has to be drafted," he added.

Yet just before lawmakers began appearing on Sunday shows, Sen. Marco Rubio warned he was not ready to lend his name ? and political clout ? to such a deal without hashing out the details.

"Reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature," said Rubio, a Florida Republican who is among the lawmakers working on legislation.

Rubio, a Cuban-American who is weighing a presidential bid in 2016, is a leading figure inside his party. Lawmakers will be closely watching any deal for his approval and his skepticism about the process did little to encourage optimism.

Rubio, who is the group's emissary to conservatives, called the agreement "a starting point" but said 92 senators from 43 states haven't yet been involved in the process.

The detente between the nation's leading labor federation and the powerful business lobbying group still needs senators' approval, including a nod from Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican whose previous efforts came up short.

"I think we're on track. . But as Sen. Rubio correctly says, we have said we will not come to final agreement till we look at all of the legislative language and he's correctly pointing out that that language hasn't been fully drafted," Schumer said.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also noted the significance of the truce between labor and business but added that this wasn't yet complete.

"That doesn't mean we've crossed every 'i' or dotted every 't,' or vice versa," said Flake, who is among the eight lawmakers working on the deal.

Schumer negotiated the deal between AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue during a late-Friday phone call. Under the compromise, the government would create a new "W'' visa for low-skill workers who would earn wages paid to Americans or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department would determine prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.

The proposed measure would secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.

It's a major second-term priority of President Barack Obama's and would usher in the most dramatic changes to the faltering U.S. immigration system in more than two decades.

"This is a legacy item for him. There is no doubt in my mind that he wants to pass comprehensive immigration reform," said David Axelrod, a longtime political confidant of Obama.

During the last week, an immigration deal seemed doomed. But the breakthrough late Friday restarted the talks.

Ultimately the new "W'' visa program would be capped at 200,000 workers a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau being pushed by labor groups as an objective monitor of the market, according to an official involved with the talks who also spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

A "safety valve" would allow employers to exceed the cap, the official said, if they could show need and pay premium wages, but any additional workers brought in would be subtracted from the next year's cap.

The workers could move from employer to employer and would be able to petition for permanent residency and ultimately seek U.S. citizenship. Neither is possible for temporary workers now.

"As to the 11 million (illegal immigrants), they'll have a pathway to citizenship, but it will be earned, it will be long, and it will be hard, and I think it is fair," Graham said.

The new program would fill needs employers say they have that are not currently met by U.S. immigration programs. Most industries don't have a good way to hire a steady supply of foreign workers because there's one temporary visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers but it's capped at 66,000 visas per year and is only supposed to be used for seasonal or temporary jobs.

Separately, the new immigration bill also is expected to offer many more visas for high-tech workers, new visas for agriculture workers, and provisions allowing some agriculture workers already in the U.S. a speedier path to citizenship than that provided to other illegal immigrants, in an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.

Schumer, Flake and Axelrod appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Graham was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-31-Immigration-3rd%20Ld-Writethru/id-2ef0066c90314f6f89dc5c854a0b9d9c

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sales teleselling: Explore Transforming From Outside Sales to ...

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Transforming your team from outside sales to telesales:

The ability to adapt to the conditions we face may be the only thing that keeps us alive. During these troubled and changing times you must have the ability to learn at a very fast pace. The age of the computer and internet has been ongoing now for over thirty years and it's not looking back.

Going from one form of sales to another requires very different tools and skills. In outside sales your ability to use your physical traits such as a warm smile, firm hand shake or silly expression are all powerful tools. The personal traits that we reference to as being full of "piss and vinegar" don't mean as much today as in the good old days. Many experts teach you to look into a customer's eyes and hold their arm as a symbol of honesty and integrity. In telesales those tools are gone; the ability to communicate is strictly by voice reflections and the written words in text and e-mails.

No longer do you have a choice, becoming a telesales rep is a necessary tool that will help your future employment in sales. While fuel prices and the cost of doing business continue to skyrocket, the cost to sell by telephone has been dramatically reduced. The internet and mobile phone have completely revolutionized the way sales are conducted today! Outside sales has been replaced by web-sites, lead generation software, Facebook and Twitter. The ability to post videos of sales presentations, information, and products on YouTube is simple and extremely fast, this is a must for the new sales techniques.

Telesales will allow you to extend your career, embracing the change from outside sales is a must. No longer will you physically go out and visit your customer, your customer is but a phone call away. You can send him a quote,proposal,or new bit of product information with a click of a mouse. No longer will you have to sit in a lobby and wait endlessly for your customer to "see you now"! The days of dragging and carrying catalogs and brochures up flights of stairs and elevators are over, a virtual catalog is online or sent via PDF file directly to them. Promotional flyers, newsletters and sales letters, are now included in power point presentations and videos and streamlined directly to customers anywhere in the world!

The results have been proven; whether your business is selling appliance, electronics, plants or even office furniture, The new way is better of sales is better, quicker and more efficient. Sales are now conducted world-wide and the cost of the sales have been reduced to almost nothing. A great web-site and a tremendous inside telesales force will bring you an ability to sell your products to the anyone in the country and beyond. As someone once said "GO FOR IT".

Source: http://bestsalesteleselling.blogspot.com/2013/03/explore-transforming-from-outside-sales.html

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NICWA's Terry Cross: In Defense of Dusten Brown

PORTLAND,?Ore., March 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?Terry Cross, the executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, released the following op-ed.

"He opted to look the other way. He should be absolutely ashamed of his character."
"He doesn't really care about the child."
?????????????????????Anonymous comments on media coverage of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

At the heart of the case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl is the story of a father who desperately wants to raise his daughter. Dusten Brown is a good father and an honorable man who has found himself in extraordinary circumstances. He is also a parent who has weathered scathing criticism from a public largely miseducated on the facts of the case that brought him into a national spotlight that he never sought.

As followers of this case, what we know to be true can be found in court records. While the public relations firm retained on behalf of Adoptive Couple has been masterful in creating a withering narrative of Brown??spinning a tale of the deadbeat dad who waited two years before using a "legal loophole" to retrieve his daughter?it is clear that what makes for compelling PR doesn't always bode well for truth or decency.

In reality, court records paint a different portrait of Brown. Stationed at Fort Sill Army Base and engaged to be married when his daughter was conceived, Brown hoped to push his wedding date up so that his military benefits would provide for the mother and his child. Instead, the mother broke the engagement and cut off communication.

Shockingly little has been reported regarding Brown's military status and how it affected his daughter's removal to South Carolina and his subsequent efforts to contest adoption proceedings. In the months just after his daughter's birth, Brown was in the midst of intense pre-deployment preparations. He was being prepared to go to war.

Understanding this, attorneys for Adoptive Couple waited until days before his deployment to Iraq to serve him with notice of their intent to adopt his daughter. The process server threatened Brown with arrest when he questioned the true purpose of the papers he signed. Brown immediately sought legal counsel and took every legal measure he could to stop the attempt to adopt his child. He sought to have his daughter placed with his parents while he was in Iraq, a request staunchly opposed by Adoptive Couple.

Are these the actions of a deadbeat dad?

It took more than a year for Brown to fulfill his obligations to our country, completing his service honorably and admirably. Only upon his return could the adoption hearing occur. When the South Carolina Family Court finally heard the case, it denied Adoptive Couple's petition to adopt. More importantly, the court found that Brown "did not voluntarily consent to the termination of his parental rights or the adoption; and [that Adoptive Couple] failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Father's parental rights should be terminated or that granting custody of Baby Girl to Father would likely result in serious emotional or physical damage to Baby Girl."

When these are the facts, why have they been seldom mentioned? This winter, as I followed the case of another military father embroiled in a custody case that closely paralleled the one involving Brown, I often wondered this. In the case, Terry Achane, a U.S. Army drill instructor, won custody of his daughter from a Utah couple after it was revealed that his estranged wife cut off all communication with him while he was deployed and gave the child up for adoption without his consent.

While initially indicating they would fight the ruling, the Utah couple changed their minds. Their attorney explained that because they "love the child deeply and want her to succeed in life, they are willing to put her needs before their own hopes and desires and would rather drop the appeal than risk the child suffering potential psychological and emotional consequences."

The outpouring of support for Achane stands in stark contrast with Brown's treatment in the media. However, the tide is changing. The media has started to dig deeper in its reporting. As they do, more light is shed on Dusten Brown as a father and veteran. I can only hope that once these facts come to light, the same public that has vilified Brown will come to recognize him simply as a man who loves his daughter very much.

Terry Cross is a member of the?Seneca Nation?and the executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association in Portland, Oregon.

Media Contact: Nicole Adams, +1-503-754-0466, nicole@nicwa.org

SOURCE National Indian Child Welfare Association

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nicwas-terry-cross-defense-dusten-brown-023300981.html

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'I love mysteries,' says man claiming hidden gold

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) ? For more than a decade, he packed and repacked his treasure chest, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric "mirrors" of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.

Forrest Fenn was creating a bounty, and the art and antiquities dealer says his goal was to make sure it was "valuable enough to entice searchers and desirable enough visibly to strike awe."

Occasionally, he would test that premise, pulling out the chest and asking his friends to open the lid.

"Mostly, when they took the first look," he says, "they started laughing," hardly able the grasp his amazing plan.

Was Fenn really going to give this glistening treasure trove away?

Three years ago, he lay two of his most beloved pieces of jewelry in the chest: a turquoise bracelet and a Tairona and Sinu Indian necklace adorned with exotic jewels. At the bottom of the chest, in an olive jar, he placed a detailed autobiography, printed so small a reader will need a magnifying glass. After that, he says, he carted the chest of loot, now weighing more than 40 pounds, into the mountains somewhere north of Santa Fe and left it there.

Next, Fenn self-published a memoir, "The Thrill of the Chase," distilling the autobiography and, intriguingly, including a poem that he says offers clues to lead some clever ? or lucky ? treasure hunter to the bounty.

It wasn't long before word of the hidden trove got out, and the publicity has caused a mini-gold rush in northern New Mexico.

But it has also set off a debate: Has Fenn truly hidden the treasure chest or was this, for the idiosyncratic, publicity-loving 82-year-old who loves to tell tales, just another way to have fun, a great caper to bolster his legacy?

One friend, Michael McGarrity, an author and former Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy, acknowledges it could be "a private joke," though he believes "Forrest has certainly buried something." If it was the treasure he saw, well, "it really is quite an astonishing sight to see."

There certainly seems to be no shortage of believers, including Doug Preston, whose novel "The Codex" about a notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber who buries himself and his treasure as a final challenge to his three sons, is loosely based on Fenn's story.

"I've seen the treasure. I've handled it. He has had it for almost as long as I've known him. It's real. And I can tell you that it is no longer in his vault," says Preston.

"I am 100 percent sure that he really did go out and hide this thing. I am actually surprised that anyone who knows him would think he was blowing hot air. It is just not his personality. He is not a tricky, conspiratorial, slick or dishonest person at all."

Fenn says his main goal is to get people, particularly children, away from their texting devices and looking for adventure outdoors.

But probably few are having more fun with the whole adventure than Fenn himself, a self-described schmoozer and endless flirt who is reveling in what he says are 13,000 emails from treasure hunters ? not to mention 18 marriage proposals.

"His net worth is much higher than what he put in the bounty," says Preston, guessing the treasure's value is in the million-dollar range. "He is having way more than $1 million worth of fun with this."

___

It all began, Fenn says, more than 20 years ago, when he was diagnosed with cancer and given just a few years to live.

That's when he decided to buy the treasure chest and fill it with some of his favorite things.

"Nobody knows where it was going to be but me," he recalls thinking. He revised the clue-poem's wording several times over the years, and made other changes in his plans. For a time, he thought of having his bones with the treasure chest, though how that might have been accomplished is unclear.

"But then," Fenn says with a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes, "I ruined the story by getting well."

In "The Thrill of the Chase," he lays out his unusual rags-to-riches story while sharing memories of his favorite adventures and mischief-making.

From the outset, the book tells readers the recollections "are as true to history as one man can average out that truth, considering the fact that one of my natural instincts is to embellish."

Average out the truth? Instinct to embellish? Well, one thing is certain: He certainly knows how to tell a tale.

Fenn was raised in Temple, Texas, where his father was a school principal, according to the book. The family was poor, he says, only eating meat on Sundays if there was a chicken to kill. But, Fenn writes, they spent every summer in Yellowstone National Park, where young Forrest and his brother Skippy launched many an adventure. He describes the brothers trying to fly a homemade plane and tells about being left on the side of the road after an argument during a road trip.

Fenn never went to college, although he did attend classes at Texas A&M University with his friends for a short time, before it was discovered he was not a registered student, the book says.

He married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Proctor, and spent nearly two decades in the Air Force, including much-decorated service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

After returning to Texas, he, his wife and two daughters moved to Santa Fe, where, over time, he became one of this artistic enclave's best known and most successful gallery owners.

Details on how a man with no art background made such a dramatic but successful transition are scarce in his book. When asked to elaborate, he says simply, "I never went to college. I never went to business school. I never learned the rules that make businesses fail."

Those who know him credit his love of people. As an art dealer, he hosted a virtual who's who of the rich and famous at his gallery and guest house, including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sam Shephard, Jessica Lange and Michael Douglas, to name a few. Even at 82, he still throws one hell of a party, friends say, mixing up the guest list with the many actors, artists, writers and political leaders who live in or frequent this artistic mountain hideaway.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about Fenn ? whom some locals refer to as Santa Fe's Indiana Jones ? is that he was a treasure hunter himself.

"Forrest is a trader," said Dan Nietzel, a professional treasure hunter who has searched for Fenn's treasure. "He traded for these things. I think people think he went around digging all these things up."

But there are some intangibles Fenn has spent his life searching out.

"I love mysteries. I love adventures," he says.

As a teen, scouring Yellowstone every summer, he almost led friend Donnie Joe to an early demise when they got lost on horseback in Montana's Gallatin National Forest trying to retrace the steps of Lewis and Clark, according to his memoir.

"Donnie got in a serious swivet and wouldn't speak to me for a while, except to say that our unfortunate adventure was ill-conceived, dumb thought out, and I was over-rated like my horse," he writes.

His book moves on to the Vietnam War, describing his Air Force service, his combat missions and even his survival after being shot down.

While it's sometimes hard to know whether Fenn's zest for "embellishment" adds to his stories, military records emphatically back this chapter. They confirm that as a fighter pilot he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, silver and bronze stars, a purple heart and other medals. In one engagement, enemy fire shattered the canopy of his jet, cutting his face, and yet he continued to attack, the records show. In another, he showed "outstanding heroism," making repeated low strafing passes to draw fire until wounded forces on the ground could be rescued. He rose to the rank of major.

Fenn also describes himself as an amateur archaeologist. In the mid-1980s, he bought a ranch near Santa Fe that includes the 57-acre ancient pueblo of San Lazaro, where he has spent years digging up bones, pottery and other artifacts that he keeps in a room off his garage.

And while he says he made his fortune selling paintings, his love is clearly of antiquities. His personal study, which was designed to house a 17-by-28-foot Persian rug from the late 1800s, is filled from floor to ceiling with valuables, ranging from gilded fore-edge books to war memorabilia, a brandy bottle left in his guest house by Kennedy Onassis, and even what he says is Sitting Bull's pipe.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2006 raided his home as part of an antiquities theft probe, but Fenn was never charged.

___

"Begin it where warm waters halt

And take it in the canyon down,

Not far, but too far to walk.

Put in below the home of Brown."

That's part of the poem of clues to the treasure's location, which Fenn published in his memoir three years ago. News reports have created a run on the book.

Based on the more than 9,000 emails Fenn says he has received just in the past few months, he estimates thousands of treasure hunters will descend on northern New Mexico this spring.

Dana Ortega, director of sales and marketing at Santa Fe's Inn and Spa at Loretto, said the hotel, which offers a special package starting at $300 that includes a copy of Fenn's now hard-to-find book, has seen a huge spike in interest.

"About 50 people came in on the package last year," she said. "Now our phones are ringing off the hook. ... So many people have the book so they are not all doing the package, but they call and want to stay here."

The local Chamber of Commerce should "give Forrest an award for increasing tourism," says McGarrity, his friend.

He talks of being stopped on the street by a man in a big truck with Texas plates, pulling an all-terrain vehicle and asking if he knew where Forrest Fenn lived.

"Are you hunting for treasure?" McGarrity asked.

"You betcha!" the Texan said.

But the publicity has also raised safety concerns.

A few weeks ago, a woman from Texas, drawn by a network report about the treasure, got lost searching the mountains near Los Alamos. She spent the night in the rugged terrain of Bandelier National Monument and was walking out the next day when rescuers found her. But the case prompted officials to warn searchers to be properly prepared for the outdoors. They also reminded the public it's illegal to dig, bury an item or use a metal detector on federal lands.

Also a concern: Fenn says he has had people ringing the buzzer at his gate and trying to follow him when he leaves.

For the most part, though, he says people reaching out to him are just trying to convince or trick him into giving more clues.

So far, the best anyone seems to have gotten out of him is that the treasure is more than 300 miles west of Toledo, not in Nevada, and more than 5,000 feet above sea level "in the Rocky Mountains. (Santa Fe, whose Sangre de Cristo mountains mark the start of the Rockies, is 7,260 feet above sea level.)

But he emphasizes two things: He never said the treasure was buried, and he never said it was in Santa Fe, or even New Mexico for that matter.

Nietzel says the most common place the clues about "where warm waters halt" first lead people is to Eagle Nest Lake, about 100 miles north of Santa Fe, because it has a dam that holds back warm water and is known for its brown trout.

Others are sure it must be in Yellowstone, because of Fenn's history there and his deep knowledge of the park.

Nietzel says he has made 29 searches for the treasure in six states, and he plans to resume his efforts when it gets a little warmer in the mountains.

Another friend of Fenn's, Santa Fe jeweler Marc Howard, says he has made about 20 searches, and is "still trying to match my wits against a seemingly impossible poem."

The scheme is similar to a treasure hunt launched in 1979 by the author of a British children's book, "Masquerade," which had clues to the location of an 18-carat jeweled golden hare hidden somewhere in Britain. That rabbit was found in 1982, although it was later revealed it was found with the help of the author's former live-in girlfriend.

Fenn, who lives with his wife in a gated estate near the center of town, insists he is the only person who knows where his treasure is hidden. Asked what his two daughters, Kelly and Zoe, think of him hiding part of their and their seven kids' inheritance, he replies only that "they've been saying for years that I am crazy." He doubts they have any interest in finding it, but says he wouldn't be surprised if one of two grandsons has gone looking for it.

And he is ambivalent about whether the chest is found soon, or even in his lifetime.

But "when a person finds that treasure chest, whether it's tomorrow or 10,000 years from now and opens the lid, they are going to go into shock. It is such a sight."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/love-mysteries-says-man-claiming-hidden-gold-173507907.html

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FCC confident in its mobile phone radiation limits, seeks second opinions

Cast your memory back to last summer. Sweep away memories of iPhone 5 leaks galore, and you might remember that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) asked the FCC to reevaluate its radiation limits for mobile phones. Now a few seasons later, the FCC has finally wrapped up a report that responds to the GAO, and there are no changes to its RF radiation levels in sight because it feels comfortable with its current caps. "We continue to have confidence in the current exposure limits, and note that more recent international standards have a similar basis," reads the report. However, given that its guidelines were adopted in 1996, new research on radiation and the proliferation of mobile devices, the FCC would like some feedback regarding its restrictions. It's put out a call for comments from concerned parties and even federal health and safety bodies.

Though the freshly-released document didn't rock the proverbial boat, it made one change worth noting. The pinna (outer ear) is now classified an extremity, which means the FCC allows devices to hit the tissue with more radiation. Feel like poring through 201 pages of regulatory minutiae? Click the source link below for the commission's full dossier.

Filed under: Cellphones

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: FCC

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/wkfE4oWqOVk/

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The best Supreme Court chart ever (Washington Post)

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

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Helena Christensen on Kim Kardashian Weight Critics: Disgusting! Despicable!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/helena-christensen-on-kim-kardashian-weight-critics-disgusting-d/

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GWH News and Notes: Ric Flair's Son Found Dead at 25

Ric Flair?s Son Found Dead at 25

From Legacy Talent and Entertainment: "We are heartbroken to confirm that Ric's son, Reid Fliehr, has passed away today March 29, 2013 in Charlotte, NC. The investigation into the cause of death is ongoing. Reid was 25 and an incredible son, brother, friend, and professional wrestler. No words can describe the grief that Ric and his family are experiencing and they do request privacy during this devastating time."

Source: http://www.gwhnews.com/2013/03/ric-flairs-son-found-dead-at-25.html

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TabJuggler Makes Moving Around Tabs in Chrome a Breeze

Chrome: When you get to that point in the day where you have twenty tabs open in several windows, everything gets a little chaotic. TabJuggler is a Chrome extension that offers a variety of ways to wrangle them in and manage them a bit better.

TabJuggler gives you a simple way to manage your tabs. You can move all tabs to single window, open each tab in its own window, open windows by website, sort them by title or address, and search through everything you have open. The search functionality is especially helpful when you have a ton of open tabs. The search also gives you the option to close every tab that meets that search term, close tabs that don't match, or move all the matched results to a new window. If you're a tab junky looking for a better way to manage it all, TabJuggler is worth a look.

TabJuggler | Chrome Web Store via Ghacks

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/HQnefn4gr8E/tabjuggler-makes-moving-around-tabs-in-chrome-a-breeze

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Have a cow: Bovine beauty sells for $170K

Jane Wells , CNBC ? ? ? 4 hrs.

Think beef is expensive now? A cow just sold for a record $170,000 at auction in Syracuse, N.Y.

"That's more than the median home price in Central New York last month: $112,500," wrote Marnie Eisenstadt in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Except that you can't milk a house.

The cow's name is Karlie, and she's a Jersey girl, at least in the bovine world.

A YouTube video shot by "Holstein World" shows that Karlie is a beauty, and maybe a bit of a diva as she prances haughtily. As bidding intensified, auctioneers tried to entice attendees to name a higher price. "I tell you what," said one auctioneer, "Make her break $200,000, we'll throw Bambie in with her."

Bambie?! Karlie?! What's next? Kayley, Courtney, Megan and Siena? These are cows, people. Who knew some cows are worth the price of a Maserati?

"Ladies and gentlemen, history's being made right here right now," said the auctioneer as he prepared to drop the gavel on the eye-popping bid. How NOW brown cow?

(Read More: Happy Cows Come From California)

Three-year-old Karlie was sold to Arethusa Farm in Bantam, Conn., bringing with her a long list of accolades: 2012 ABA All-American Sr. 2-year-old, 2012 All-Canadian Sr. 2-year-old, 2012 1st Sr. 2-year-old, International Champion and Res Grand Champion Royal Winter Fair, etc. You know, all the biggies in the world of Jersey cows.

The $170,000 price was nearly seven times more than the second-most expensive cow sold at the auction, and it beats the previous record of $96,000 for a Jersey back in 2006.

The Post-Standard said Karlie has already had one calf herself, and her eggs have been implanted into several surrogates. The fertilized embryos alone are worth $6,000.

(Read More: Ohio Dairy Farm Coddles Cows With . . . Waterbeds?)

What makes her so special? Think of Karlie as the Kate Upton of cows.

"You want a cow that's skinny and kind of tall, like a model," auction host Patrick Rohe told Eisenstadt. "That means her body is efficient at producing milk. It's not wasting energy on making fat stores." But wait, there's more. "You want udders that don't sag and are well-attached ...That means they'll survive years of milking and they won't be prone to getting lots of bacteria on them because they're dragging around the barn."

Good to know, as Karlie could soon land on the cover of Bovine Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition.

?Follow CNBC's Jane Wells on Twitter@janewells

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Snag a copy of ?Windows 8 Security (Free eBook offer expires on 4/4)?

Windows 8 Security [affiliate link] is an eBook that will help you make the most of the enhanced security features that have been added to the new Windows 8 operating system. Some topics covered are?Dynamic Access Control, BranchCache, DirectAccess, BitLocker, Virtualization, Social Media, SmartScreen and WindowsToGo. There are a few hoops to jump through to [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/29/snag-a-copy-of-windows-8-security-free-ebook-offer-expires-on-44/

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Jane Wahl Earned A Special Place In CU Athletics - CUBuffs.com ...

BOULDER ? Jane Wahl never set out to be a pioneer in women?s athletics, but the uncommon path she traveled took her there nonetheless. And the University of Colorado became a better place because of it.

On March 10, the enterprising Wahl received the Sportswomen of Colorado?s Dorothy Mauk Pioneer Award for her work as CU?s first women?s athletic director from 1974-79. Mauk is a former sportswriter for the Denver Post; when she joined the newspaper in 1966 she was believed to be the first female sportswriter working for a major metropolitan daily.

Six years after Mauk was hired by the Post, a very important piece of legislation would alter women?s athletics forever. Title IX, passed in 1972, stated: No person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Translation: Men and women should have equal opportunities in every educational program, including competitive athletics. In previous years, the CU Recreation Department had utilized student fee monies to fund club sports for both women and men.? The administrators of the Recreation Department (Bill Appenzeller and Nancy Gerou) were very much aware of the need for intercollegiate athletics for women, and approached the Student Finance Board with a request to financially support women?s varsity sports with student fees. The request was approved, and included in the package was the position of a female athletic director to oversee the program.

Enter Wahl.

The opportunity in Boulder fell perfectly into place. She was coaching at Thornridge High School in Dolton, Ill., and one of her former students, who was attending CU at the time, mailed Wahl a press clipping from the student newspaper advertising for a position in intramurals at CU.

?I was ready to leave Chicago and I applied for the job,? Wahl recalled earlier this month over lunch with several members of the current Buffs? staff, including Athletic Director Mike Bohn and Associate Athletic Director Ceal Barry.

Wahl received a letter from Gerou shortly thereafter informing her that she fit more with women?s athletics than with intramurals. She was asked if she would mind having her resume put in for the women?s athletics position instead. Wahl agreed, and the rest made history.

WAHL JOKED ABOUT HOW it all came about, saying, ?It wasn?t that I said, ?I?m going to get into women?s athletics and I?m going to change the world,? but, ?Oh, sure, I can do women?s athletics since I did that at the high school I was at.??

While at THS Wahl said the girls had full competitive schedules in individual sports such as golf and tennis. But team sports such as basketball initially had two ?play days? where numerous schools brought female students from their intramural teams (in gym uniforms which were universally detested).

They would join other students and form teams to play in a huge tournament, and after those two ?play days? they were done for the year. Gradually the team sports competition evolved to allow sports days, where teams from each school played against other school?s teams ? initially twice a year, then four times a year, and finally a full schedule.

After six years of working to improve athletic opportunities for girls at the high school level, Wahl left Illinois and came to the Rocky Mountains in 1974 on a journey she would never have dreamed of before being offered the position. In her first year at CU, her title was coordinator of women?s sports in the recreation department. One year later she was officially the first director of women?s athletics.

The pay wasn?t much and the hours were long, but Wahl knew she had to try to make a difference by helping women at the collegiate level compete to their highest capability. In her words, ?You had to love it more than money and food.?

Following the 1973-74 athletic year, nine of CU?s club teams were conducted as varsity sport programs: basketball, volleyball, softball, field hockey, gymnastics, track and field, tennis, swimming and diving, and golf. One year later track and field, cross country, tennis, gymnastics, swimming and diving, basketball and golf were given full varsity status. Volleyball, softball and field hockey remained as club sports. Skiing was also conducted, although its money came from outside sources, and volleyball eventually earned varsity status in 1986.

At the time, all the women?s coaches were part-time, so Wahl was responsible for scheduling most of the athletic competitions. She also made sure to attend every game possible to show her support for the growing programs.?

The combined budget for all of those programs was less than $100,000, but somehow Wahl, the coaches and athletes made it work. ?I think the things we?ve achieved speak a lot for that,? she said. ?Really, we?ve done pretty well, better than anyone would expect for the money we have available. ?

The Lady Buffs were members of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and competed in the Intermountain Conference (Region 7) which included schools in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

As a rookie herself, Wahl received guidance for her fledgling program from Appenzeller and Gerou, her superiors in the Recreation Department, and from the other schools in the women?s conference.? The AIAW held yearly national meetings where rules, regulations, and other information were shared, including that from successful programs across the country.

OVERALL, EACH INSTITUTION HAD tremendous autonomy regarding its own programs, except in the area of athletic scholarships.? Initially, AIAW was very resistant to offering scholarships to female athletes, wanting to avoid the abuses seen in the men?s programs.? Then, after female athletes had filed suit, scholarships were approved but with very strict rules regarding ?no paid recruiting.?

The Big Eight Conference didn?t sponsor women?s sports until 1982, but that didn?t stop teams in the conference from playing one another informally since the men were competing in the league. Early in Wahl?s tenure the women?s athletic directors began meeting to schedule competition among their schools.? For CU the distances would involve less travel than to some schools in their own AIAW region.?

One of the earliest contests, Wahl remembers, was when the CU women?s basketball team played Nebraska in Cozad, Neb., on November 6, 1976 in the local high school gym. CU lost by a point (81-80), but the Buffs were treated to Nebraska home-grown steaks at Wahl?s family home just south of Cozad during the trip. It wasn?t an official Big Eight contest, but it was a start since the two teams were in different regions. (Nebraska, as well as Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri were all in the AIAW Region 6.)

Things were quite different at that time. Wahl recalled that the AIAW Region 7 schools would have fall and spring meetings and they would tend to much of their scheduling at that time. School administrators would agree to play the contests and schedules were set. Bohn noted, ?That was back in the day when a handshake was all it took.? Now, of course, there are reams of red tape with contracts and other incentives when scheduling opponents.

Women?s sports at CU have come a long way since Wahl?s days as the women?s AD four decades ago. Nowadays, for example, the women?s basketball team charters flights, making traveling to and from games much more simple and safe, as well as limiting the amount of classwork that student-athletes miss. During Wahl?s days, the women?s teams didn?t travel further than they could drive since the travel budgets weren?t very large; however, occasionally outstanding individual athletes (i.e. gymnastics) were flown to meets as far away as California.

Wahl remembered one women?s basketball trip very well, sending the team to play in Arizona in a 15-passenger van. The team played in a very small gym with no cushions on the chalkboard on the wall behind the baskets. One of CU?s players crashed into the chalkboard tray during the game, leaving a huge bruise on her posterior. When the team returned to Boulder, the travel-weary player showed the bruise to Wahl and was excited about the fact that she made the layup before hitting the chalkboard tray. Wahl wasn?t as excited about the bruise and said to herself, ?We have to do better than this.?

Eventually, the Buffs women?s sports did. Another big change in which Wahl was involved was combining the men?s and women?s athletic departments. New legislation was passed in 1975 giving universities a deadline of July 21, 1978 to comply with the gender equity mandated by Title IX.

But CU, like other institutions, had been slow to plan. In fact, Gerou stated, men?s athletics expressed no interest in the women?s program at all, hence the need for the recreation department to sponsor it.

Roland Rautenstraus, CU?s president at the time, called Wahl and CU men?s Athletic Director Eddie Crowder into a meeting to address the problem. The university needed to comply with Title IX or stood to lose $62 million dollars in federal funding. Wahl and Crowder were given a simple message: Figure it out. (As in the past with men?s athletics, no funds from the university were offered.)

PRIOR TO HER MEETING WITH Crowder, Wahl was approached by Shari Robertson (CU?s Affirmative Action officer) and Dr. Elaine Yarbrough (a communications professor) with an offer to help her prepare a negotiation strategy.? As a small-town farm girl who was scheduled to work out a financial budget with someone who had risen quite high in the ranks of the NCAA, Wahl gratefully accepted their counsel.

After several meetings, Wahl and Crowder were on the same page. Out of those meetings emerged a women?s athletic budget that increased from $152,000 to $400,000. Five full-time coaches were hired, with plans to add four new women?s programs. In addition two full-time secretaries, a full-time trainer, and a three-quarter time sports information director were added to the women?s staff, as well as a full-time fund raiser position. The two departments also merged and Wahl became Assistant Athletic Director under Crowder in the combined configuration.

In 1979, the Big Eight announced that it would sponsor championships in 10 different women?s sports (volleyball, basketball, softball, gymnastics, swimming, golf, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and cross country). The conference would spend $150,000 on those championships.

The record books show that CU had been competing in Big Eight Championships prior to that, but those were not under conference jurisdiction until the 1979-80 season. Seven schools started playing Big Eight schedules in 1982-83, but the conference didn't officially start maintaining in-depth statistics until Iowa State came on board in all sports for the 1983-84 athletic year.

Unwilling to accept status quo at the national level, just like at CU, Wahl made a recommendation at national meetings to make the women?s basketball smaller than the men?s. The idea was re-buffed with the comment that women were equal, but the size of the ball would eventually change and the women?s game as a result.

In the 1990?s, CU achieved another step in equality when the women?s teams were no longer called the Lady Buffaloes. Like the men, the school officially began using Buffaloes, or Buffs for short starting in the 1993-94 season.

Wahl left CU in 1979 to complete her doctoral degree and wrote her thesis on, of course, Title IX. She examined the status of intercollegiate women?s athletic programs across the country in the years following its passage. She was replaced by Rene Portland, the then-women?s basketball coach, whose title would be coordinator of women?s athletics.

In 1982, Wahl was hired to be Women?s AD, Softball Coach and Associate Professor at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. Since leaving CU, she has continued to hold the university near and dear to her heart having put so much time and effort into growing the program. Without her, who knows where the Buffs would be; but without the Buffs, Wahl recognizes that she would have missed out on a tremendous experience.

She is very grateful that the pioneer role fell to her.? ?The athletes, coaches, CU personnel, and pioneers in other colleges and universities greatly enriched my life,? she said. ?It?s fun to see how far things have come from the beginning. It?s good to see that all of the effort was worth it.?

Source: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=206970092

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Clean fuel regulations: EPA, oil industry vie over effect on gas prices

EPA on Friday proposed new regulations to require refineries to make cleaner gasoline. The cost? EPA says less than a penny a gallon. Oil industry says nine cents a gallon ? and higher gas prices.

By Ron Scherer,?Staff writer / March 29, 2013

Suzanne Meredith, of Walpole, Mass., gases up her car at a Gulf station in Brookline, Mass., July 2012. Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards.

Steven Senne/AP/File

Enlarge

The Obama administration proposed on Friday new ? and more costly ? regulations of the refining industry to produce cleaner gasoline and clearer skies.

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If the new rules are implemented as scheduled in 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says, they will spare thousands of people from premature death and prevent respiratory problems in tens of thousands of children. The cost: on average less than a penny gallon.

Not so, says the oil industry, which has been battling the EPA over the proposed rules. The new rules will add as much as nine cents a gallon to the cost of making fuel and will produce ?ambiguous? results, says The American Petroleum Institute.?API, the industry?s lobbying arm in Washington, refers to the proposed new rules as part of a ?tsunami of regulations? the industry faces this year that could add as much as 65 cents to the cost of producing a gallon of fuel in the future.

Gasoline prices are politically sensitive. Consumers often know how much they have paid for a gallon of gasoline compared with their prior fill-up. When pump prices are rising, consumers grumble and, if prices get high enough, cut back on other discretionary purchases. As a result, economists refer to rising fuel prices as a tax on the economy.

But will Americans pay more for fuel and smile about if they believe it will result in cleaner air?

?Some will, but the majority won?t,? answers Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at GasBuddy.com. ?There is a sense among a lot of people that we are entitled to cheaper fuel prices than the rest of the world.?

The proposed changes would make US standards the same as most of Europe, Japan, and South Korea, Mr. Kloza says. ?We would be joining 45 other countries with tougher fuel standards,? he says.

Republicans quickly attacked the proposed regulation. ?The Obama Administration is modeling our regulations after California, which has the worst economy in the nation, and today?s announcement is essentially a guaranteed energy tax hike and unfortunately is just one of many radical policies coming out of this Administration that will deal a heavy blow to middle-class families and small businesses,? said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, in a statement.??

In January, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, often associated with Democratic issues, conducted what it termed a ?bipartisan survey? of 800 registered voters for the American Lung Association on whether Americans favored tougher fuel regulations and improved antipollution laws. It found 62 percent of voters supported new gasoline and vehicle standards, and 32 percent opposed them.

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It's Easter Weekend. Save 15% on All iOS Accessories!

Use coupon?HOP13?at checkout to save 15% on ALL iOS accessories

Take me to the iMore Store and let the savings begin!

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Chief Justice is a victim of credit card fraud

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chief Justice John Roberts, who spent the last two days presiding over high-profile oral arguments on gay marriage, has been a victim of credit card fraud, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Roberts' credit card problem was first reported by the Washington Post in a story that said the chief justice was heard talking about it in a suburban Maryland Starbucks on Tuesday morning. That was the day the court weighed the validity of Proposition 8, a California ban on gay marriage.

Roberts was again in the spotlight on Wednesday when the court weighed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples for the purposes of federal benefits.

Kathy Arberg, the court spokeswoman, said Roberts had no comment on the incident.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chief-justice-roberts-victim-credit-card-fraud-214804410.html

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And Now Let's Go to Balki Bartokomous with the Weather

By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...

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EBay targets $110 billion of marketplace volume in 2015

By Alistair Barr

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - EBay Inc aims to handle $110 billion of sales volume on its marketplace in 2015 by expanding globally, getting more local inventory online and using mobile technology to engage more with shoppers, executives said on Thursday.

The new forecast, made by Devin Wenig, president of eBay's Marketplaces business in North America, compares with Gross Merchandise Volume, or GMV, of $75 billion in 2012.

GMV is a closely watched measure of eBay's performance. Doug Anmuth, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, was expecting 2015 GMV of $101 billion.

After bleeding market share to Amazon.com Inc for years, Chief Executive John Donahoe began a turnaround effort in 2009 that set the Internet commerce company back on track by borrowing from its larger rival's playbook.

He took what was then a muddled auctions website and made it easier for shoppers to buy new items at fixed prices and get more free shipping and returns - essentially mimicking the Amazon experience. He also embraced mobile technology, creating shopping apps for smartphones and tablets that brought in new customers.

But eBay's online marketplace is still growing less than Amazon's and some analysts are concerned its growth may struggle to keep up with the overall expansion of the online retail sector.

On Thursday, Wenig told analysts and investors that the Marketplaces business will deliver "at least" market rates of growth.

"They are saying they have fixed the core marketplace, and they are now positioned to drive incremental growth from local, mobile and global initiatives," said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at R.W. Baird.

CEO Donahoe said that the company would enable $300 billion of commerce in 2015, up 71 percent from $175 billion in 2012.

That forecast includes sales on eBay's online marketplace, payments processed by PayPal and other transactions touched by the company's various businesses, such as GSI Commerce.

"That's one of the ways we will measure our success," Donahoe said during eBay's investor day at its headquarters in Silicon Valley.

To get this done, eBay is focusing on three main sources of potential growth - global expansion, local commerce and mobile applications that it hopes will encourage consumers to shop more on its marketplace and use PayPal more to pay for those purchases.

EBay is aiming to increase sales in emerging markets and BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China, by four times current levels in three years, Wendy Jones, an executive overseeing the global push, said.

By the end of 2015, as much as 25 percent of eBay active users and over 12 percent of global sales will come from BRIC countries and emerging markets, she added.

EBay's top executives will give other, new three-year financial forecasts later on Thursday.

Expectations run high on Wall Street. Anmuth of J.P. Morgan, is expecting revenue of $21.16 billion in 2015 and earnings of $3.98 per share that year, versus $14 billion and $2.36 a share in 2012.

The analyst is also calling for 2015 PayPal transaction volume of $246.9 billion that year.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Tim Dobbyn, and Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ebay-ceo-says-company-enable-300-billion-commerce-154139664--sector.html

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UN Arms Treaty Stalled (Voice Of America)

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

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Ind. blast suspect charged in plot to kill witness

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? An Indianapolis man facing trial in a house explosion that killed two people and damaged or destroyed dozens of homes was charged Thursday with plotting to have a witness in the case killed.

Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry announced Mark Leonard had been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder during a news conference in downtown Indianapolis.

Curry said Leonard tried to arrange to have the witness killed for a payment of $15,000. Curry said Leonard also offered a $5,000 bonus if the killing was made to look like a suicide and if the killer could force the witness to first call 911 and recant statements about the explosion.

Leonard, girlfriend Monserrate Shirley and brother Bob Leonard are awaiting trial in the Nov. 10 blast that killed a teacher and her husband, and left 33 homes in the Richmond Hill subdivision so damaged that they had to be demolished.

Investigators say the trio intentionally created a gas explosion in Shirley's home in hopes of collecting insurance money. A microwave set to start on a timer sparked the explosion in Shirley's gas-filled home after a gas fireplace valve and a gas line regulator in the house were removed.

John and Jennifer Longworth died after the explosion ignited another explosion and resulting fire at their house.

All three defendants face murder, arson and conspiracy charges. Shirley also is charged with insurance fraud.

Curry said in February he would see life without parole for Shirley and the Leonards because a jury was unlikely to choose the death penalty.

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Angelina Jolie's gold ring pulls focus from Congolese rape survivors

Angelina Jolie is wearing a simple gold ring instead of her diamond engagement ring as she meets with women and girls in eastern Congo to highlight war-zone rape.

By Associated Press / March 26, 2013

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague visits Lac Vert camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo with actress and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie during their trip to Africa to to raise awareness of war-zone rape, March 26.

Iggy Roberts / Ministry of Defence / AP

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Angelina Jolie is meeting with women and girls in eastern Congo, where sexual violence is rampant, but the coverage is focusing on the gold ring she's wearing in place of her usual massive engagement ring.

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Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, traveled to the Nzulo camp near Goma on Monday along with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

The International Rescue Committee says it has provided care to more than 2,500 women and girls who have been raped or abused over the last year alone. The IRC is handing out kits with flashlights and whistles, as well as cleaning products so that women can avoid bathing at creeks where the risk of assault is higher.

Sexual violence is frequently used as a weapon of war by rebel groups that operate in eastern Congo, as well as by Congolese soldiers.

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