How to Act Like a Small Business and Think Like Your Customer

October 27, 2012

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Sure, your business may be successful, yet when it comes to customer acquisition (and taking your company?s sales to the next level) you can?t figure out what makes buyers tick!

If you find it?s been harder to attract quality customers lately, you?re not alone. The customer acquisition rulebook has changed. You may find it worth your while to act like a small business ? and think like your customer.

Here are 5 ways to acquire the customers you want and keep them:

1. Become involved.

According to BusinessPundit.com, ?Customers want to feel like you care about their needs, and that you?re emotionally invested in helping them solve their problems. It?s a little easier to convey this message in a brick and mortar setting, but online survey software can let your e-commerce customers know that you?re completely involved in meeting their needs, too.?

Popular online survey tools such as Survey Monkey, FluidSurveys, Polldaddy, and PollCode make it easier than ever for small businesses to send surveys, polls, questionnaires and gain cost-effective customer feedback and market research.

2. Express yourself.

Customers don?t fall in love with companies or products ? they become enamored with brands. And a well-crafted brand will tell a unique and compelling story that resonates with like-minded consumers. This expression is a firm commitment to your company values ? why you exist and do what you do.

Far too long have companies thought that simple interactions are all it takes. ?Shared values build relationships,? according to Harvard Business Review. ?A shared value is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand?s higher purpose or broad philosophy.?

For example, TOMS Shoes motto is ?One for One? a philosophy of giving, indicating that for every pair of shoes sold, TOMS will donate a pair to a child in need. What shared values do you have with your ideal customers?

3. Share experiences.

The more time you spend getting to actually know your customers, the better off your business-customer bliss will be. The digital age (Internet, online marketing, social media, etc.) has brought about a significant shift in the way your company should think about engagement.

?Companies need to embrace this shift with a new strategy ? Social CRM, which recognizes that instead of managing customers, the role of the business is to facilitate collaborative experiences and dialogue that customers value,? according to an IBM executive report.

This simply means that all small business owners can start to engage customers where they are, not where you want them to be. For example, learning how and where your prospective customers share information, news and recommendations is helpful in mapping out a strategy that meets them conveniently where they are.

Sharing experiences accomplishes a few things: it helps your customers manage information, define themselves and their world, and build stronger ties, according to a NY Times study.

Pertaining to social media sharing, the study revealed that 85 percent of respondents think that reading other?s thoughts and responses help them to process information and events. Also 84 percent share to support causes or issues they care about and 94 percent of people carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to the people receiving it.

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Source: http://yfsentrepreneur.com/2012/10/27/how-to-act-like-a-small-business-and-think-like-your-customer/

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German composer Hans Werner Henze dies at 86

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2009 file picture German composer Hans Werner Henze is photographed in Essen, Germany. German avant-garde composer Hans Werner Henze's publisher says he has died at 86. Schott Music said that Henze died on Saturday Oct. 27, 2012 in Dresden. It didn't disclose the cause of death. Henze's work over the decades straddled musical genres. He composed stage works, symphonies, concertos, chamber works and a requiem. He once said that "many things wander from the concert hall to the stage and vice versa." Henze was born July 1, 1926 in Guetersloh in western Germany. After studying and starting his career in Germany, he went to live in Italy in 1953. (AP Photo/dapd/Lennart Preiss,file)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2009 file picture German composer Hans Werner Henze is photographed in Essen, Germany. German avant-garde composer Hans Werner Henze's publisher says he has died at 86. Schott Music said that Henze died on Saturday Oct. 27, 2012 in Dresden. It didn't disclose the cause of death. Henze's work over the decades straddled musical genres. He composed stage works, symphonies, concertos, chamber works and a requiem. He once said that "many things wander from the concert hall to the stage and vice versa." Henze was born July 1, 1926 in Guetersloh in western Germany. After studying and starting his career in Germany, he went to live in Italy in 1953. (AP Photo/dapd/Lennart Preiss,file)

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2012 file picture German compoeser Hans Werner Henze photographed at the Saxony State opera in Dresden, Germany. German avant-garde composer Hans Werner Henze's publisher says he has died at 86. Schott Music said that Henze died on Saturday Oct. 27, 2012 in Dresden. It didn't disclose the cause of death. Henze's work over the decades straddled musical genres. He composed stage works, symphonies, concertos, chamber works and a requiem. He once said that "many things wander from the concert hall to the stage and vice versa." Henze was born July 1, 1926 in Guetersloh in western Germany. After studying and starting his career in Germany, he went to live in Italy in 1953. (AP Photo/ dapd/ Matthias Rietschel,File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2009 file picture German composer Hans Werner Henze is photographed in Essen, Germany. German avant-garde composer Hans Werner Henze's publisher says he has died at 86. Schott Music said that Henze died on Saturday Oct. 27, 2012 in Dresden. It didn't disclose the cause of death. Henze's work over the decades straddled musical genres. He composed stage works, symphonies, concertos, chamber works and a requiem. He once said that "many things wander from the concert hall to the stage and vice versa." Henze was born July 1, 1926 in Guetersloh in western Germany. After studying and starting his career in Germany, he went to live in Italy in 1953. (AP Photo/dapd/Lennart Preiss,file)

BERLIN (AP) ? German composer Hans Werner Henze, whose prolific and wide-ranging work included a wealth of operas and 10 symphonies, died Saturday, his publisher said. He was 86.

Henze died in the eastern German city of Dresden, longstanding publisher Schott Music said in a statement, calling him "one of the most important and influential composers of our time." It didn't disclose the cause of death.

Henze's work over the decades straddled musical genres. He composed stage works, symphonies, concertos, chamber works and a requiem, and once said that "many things wander from the concert hall to the stage and vice versa."

His operas ranged from the 1950s "Ein Landarzt" ("A Country Doctor"), based on a story by Franz Kafka, to "L'Upupa," written in 2002 and the only opera for which Henze wrote his own libretto. Other works included the musical dramas "Elegy for Young Lovers" and "The Bassarids," and the oratorio "The Raft of the Medusa" ? dedicated to the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

The Semperoper opera house in Dresden recently kicked off a tribute to Henze with a performance of his antiwar drama "We come to the River," produced in collaboration with writer Edward Bond and first performed in London in 1976.

Henze was born July 1, 1926 in Guetersloh in western Germany and grew up as the Nazis tightened their grip on the country. After studying and starting his career in music and theater in West Germany, he left the country in 1953 and went to live in Italy.

Alongside his operas, Henze was known for his symphonies, among them "Sinfonia N. 9," finished in 1997 ? a choral symphony based on Anna Seghers' novel "The Seventh Cross" that reflected his anti-fascist convictions.

His final symphony, "Sinfonia No. 10," completed in 2000, was premiered by Sir Simon Rattle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

As well as composing, Henze took teaching assignments in Austria, the U.S., Cuba and Germany. He served as composer-in-residence at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, and at the Berlin Philharmonic, Schott Music said.

Henze founded the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte festival and summer school in Montepulciano, Italy, in 1976.

Information on survivors and funeral arrangements was not immediately available.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-10-27-Germany-Obit-Henze/id-cff92c43f4db4cdcbe922a118e322259

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Ecuador Real Estate Scam

Take precautions when buying real estate in Ecuador because there are growing numbers of Ecuador real estate scams.??

Ecuador beach property is really wonderful? but Ecuador is a boom area and like the California gold rush? such expansion attracts some who are ethically challenged.

Always take full legal precautions when buying real estate in Ecuador or anywhere.

Water for example can have a big impact on real estate value.

This lake in our Florida back yard has dropped two or three feet in the last year.

See more on investing in water to prepare for a future in Ecuador here.

A Scam on Water Front Property in Ecuador?

This Ecuador Living Club member may have been the target of a scam when asking this:? Hi Gary, I am a member of the EL Club. I arrived in May and you recommended the services of Andres Cordova. He assigned Sebastian Cordero to assist us and all went well with fair price and of our course the EL discount; THANKS!

At this time I have an important question. We are in the process of purchasing a piece of property one block off the beach.? Deposits have been made and we are using the services of gringo who is a broker here.? Recently a different ?Gringo? we met along the way told us that an old law was re-enacted this past February that requires foreigners to have a Cedula in place before being permitted to purchase property within 5 blocks of the beach.? This other gringo? says two lawyers told her this and in fact says the only way to get around this is to create a corporate entity which this person is now in the process of doing.

My ?agent? and two other lawyers are saying this is simply not true. They maintain that the laws enacted in the 2008 Constitution allows foreigners to purchase property with only a passport with no restrictions as to proximity to the sea. Do you have any insight into this? Have new restrictions come into effect since February? I look forward to hearing from you.

I replied: ?I have not heard of this nor have I heard any reason for such a shift.

So I immediately checked with Dr. Andres Cordova and he confirmed that there is no such change in the Ecuador real estate laws or constitution.

Andres immediately replied: Good morning, Gary.?? There is no need whatsoever to have a cedula to purchase real estate in Ecuador. If this were the case we would know as we make several closings per month for foreign clients some of whom are not residents of Ecuador.

For authorities to require this it would mean an unconstitutional restriction if you ask me. No laws I am aware of have been enacted that impose this restriction or cedula requisite. This would entail that only residents of Ecuador can purchase and this is not the case.

Foreigners who are not residents of Ecuador can purchase property, whether beachfront or not, without any restrictions, in exactly the same conditions as Ecuadorians can.

Foreign trusts, corporations and foundations can also purchase even though they have no domicile in Ecuador.

If there are any questions please let me know; I am here to help.? Fondly,? Andres

Dr. Andres Cordova provides a website for Ecuador Living readers that is updated often and benefits from your questions and feedback.?? Also, Andres provides reduced? visa and deeding fees for Ecuador Living club members.

You can access his site at? www.legalservicesecuador.com

Learn how to get discounts on Ecuador visas as an Ecuador Living Club member.

Merri and I have lived and or invested in Ecuador for the last 17 years and found that there are excellent real estate laws providing good ownership and conveyancing protection.? The system however does not protect unwary buyers from fraud. ? There are not strict real estate brokerage laws? so when buying real estate be sure to have a good independent attorney who looks after your interest.

Plus never forget the golden rule of investing in Ecuador.??Visit first. Rent second, and then after you understand the place? the people and the market? buy if you choose.

Gary

Another way to prepare your journey to Ecuador is with a special session at our Super Thinking + Spanish courses!

Last modified on 2012-10-14 16:27:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Learn how to speak Spanish in just three days using Frequency Modulation.

Super Thinking tactics help us absorb? retain and recall information better and faster.? We prove this in our Super Thinking + Spanish course which teaches delegates to communicate on Spanish in just three days.

Delegates at a 2012 Mt. Dora Super Thinking + Spanish course? a Doctor attendee?wrote:? Merri,

We want to thank you and Gary plus all the others for making the class such a fun and rewarding experience.?? I took Spanish as an undergraduate and lasted two days before dropping the class due to my own anxieties.? Over the years I have tried to learn French, Italian, and Spanish yet again using a variety of methods such as Rosetta Stone, Berlitz etc. and was never successful.? I finally feel like I can be successful at learning to converse at Spanish?in fact already feel successful!? Thanks so much for teaching an old dog some new tricks.? We?re both looking forward to continuing the learning process, having fun doing so, and taking more classes.

Enroll here.

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule below.

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for One $699. Enroll here

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for Two $899. Enroll here

November 23-24-25? Toronto Ont. (Durham)??(Teacher Rick Brown)

November ?26-27-28? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

2013

January 4-5-6, 2013? Kelowna, B.C.? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

January 11-12-13, 2013?? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

January 30,-31-Feb.1,?? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

February 6-7-8, 2013? Montevideo, Uruguay?? (Teacher Spiro Michas)

February 22-23-24, 2013 Earning With Quantum Thinking in a Micro Businesses (Gary & Merri Scott)

March? 15-16-17, 2013? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Our Super Thinking + Spanish courses are Spanish course that goes way beyond just learning to speak Spanish.

See how after just one weekend a delegate became an accidental Spanish translator.

Spanish is the second largest language in the world. Chances are a huge Spanish speaking population lives near you. Yet our language system did not teach us how to communicate with or understand this culture.

Learning Spanish is valuable and important.? Now there is way, to enjoy a long weekend as you learn Spanish at a very affordable price.

Unlock the power of your untapped knowledge.

There are numerous little known, but scientifically proven ways to enhance the speed, accuracy and efficiency of your decision making process for greater wealth, health and happiness. In just three days you can gain almost amazing learning skills.? Plus you become skilled in Spanish as a bonus.

In just three days?

Sound too good to be true?

This is not a gimmick nor a trick. At least three best selling books, Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 have revealed insights about how we can learn and think more powerfully based on systems drawn from the Bulgarian, Dr. Georgi Lozanov.

In 1980 Superlearning sold over two million copies and showed how the Lozanov learning system blended long-tested sciences of yoga with contemporary physiology and psychology so people could learn faster and better.

This book exposed this fact and made the system so popular that Dr. Lozanov was allowed to visit the US from Bulgaria to teach this system to just a very few people so they could pass on this vital information on how to learn and think in a more natural, powerful way so we can enjoy life and enhanced memory more.

Merri was among those few who learned how and is licensed to teach the Lozanov system from this Bulgarian master. She has organized a practical course on how to learn faster and better.

With her modified system, you will learn how to think and learn more powerfully in just three days. To prove how good you will be with this process, you learn Spanish as a side benefit.

The learning system you gain expands on Dr. Lozanov?s original work and offers new insights into tapping human potential, drawing from ancient and modern tactics for quick learning such as subliminal memory, music, nutrition, and productivity.

There are three scientific reasons why this course will change your learning capacity forever (and help you speak Spanish in just four days).

This system uses music to integrate brain waves so the process of absorbing, processing and recalling information is vastly accelerated.? This brings forth the three C?s:? Calm, Clarity and Coherence.

Don Childs, our pronunciation coach & Merri. A delegate just created a great Spanish sentence on the second day. Congratulations!

The Super Thinking system works by focusing on the learner first? the data second.? The system ?grows the learner? rather than just expands the information.? The explosion of data we must all process everyday means there is too much information to process already.??? Let?s view this learning in terms of plumbing to outline what ?Growing the Learner?? means.

If you have 4.5 inches of information flowing through a 4 inch learning pipe, the solution is not to add another inch of information.? The answer is to first create a six inch pipe and then an even larger pipe?a never ending expansion of abilities!

You learn how to evoke the power of the senses thus super-charging memory. Ever hear a song from twenty, thirty or forty years past and in a snap know all the words, the tune and remember with who and where your heard it decades ago? Learn how to use ten cycle music to gain almost super human thinking powers.

Dr. Lozanov was totally committed to learning without stress, to enjoy the thrill of relaxed, leisurely learning. These are just two, whole learning, super-thinking tactics you gain at this course.

What is your desire? Do you want to speak Spanish, French, German, Chinese or any language? Would you like to golf better or accomplish more in school? Would you like to easily, quickly zip through projects, chores, reports? Merri?s ?Super Thinking? course can help you learn any subject two-to-five times faster, in exciting and innovative ways.

The techniques you gain will help unlock the quantum potential we all possess. This evolutionary program shows how certain types of music can enhance learning and how even altered nutrition can make you a startling 25 percent smarter, how subliminal messages can increase your energy and thinking process, plus much, much more.

Merri?s system follows and builds upon what was taught in the Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 books plus includes techniques and strategies that she has gained in her 42 years of global travel and study with educational masters around the world.

This is a course that shows you how to increase your mental power to better succeed in the 21st century when we can otherwise be overwhelmed by information.

The system you gain is built from old and new sources ranging from yoga to contemporary Russian science, and ultimate zone training already used by many Olympic champions.

?Super Thinking plus Spanish? presents new ways to use music to supercharge your mind. The knowledge you gain about smart food and super nutrition allows you to enhance productivity and creativity.

The tactics you gain enhance your ability to absorb? retain and recall information.

Once these concepts of enhancing your mental powers with music are understood, you will know how to create your own program and build new skills at work in study and play.

Second you gain seventeen, easy to use learning techniques that can help you gain any romantic language in much less time than traditional learning techniques.

Rick Brown will teach next in Toronto.

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule below.

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for One $699. Enroll here

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for Two $899. Enroll here

November 23-24-25? Toronto Ont. (Durham)??(Teacher Rick Brown)

November ?26-27-28? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

2013

January 4-5-6, 2013? Kelowna, B.C.? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

January 11-12-13, 2013?? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

January 30,-31-Feb.1,?? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

February 6-7-8, 2013? Montevideo, Uruguay?? (Teacher Spiro Michas)

February 22-23-24, 2013 Earning With Quantum Thinking in a Micro Businesses (Gary & Merri Scott)

March? 15-16-17, 2013? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all our Spanish and writing courses, plus investing and business seminars and tours FREE or at a discount as an International club member.? See details here.

For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Spiro Michas teaching in Motevideo.

Fluency in a language is considered to come when you know 1,200 words. To prove that it is possible to gain this and much more, let me share just one of the 17 tactics Merri taught me that gives you thousands of Spanish words in less than three minutes.

Here are the thousands of Spanish words lesson #1:

All words in Spanish and English that end in ION are almost identical,? just pronounced differently. For example action is accion, education educacion, manipulation, manipulacion, etc.

Now you already literally know hundreds of Spanish nouns. This is just one of seventeen Spanish lessons you gain. The next lesson teaches you how to pronounce each of these nouns. Then you learn in a third lesson almost as many verbs, almost as quickly.

Third, you learn how to avoid conjugating verbs by sticking with the infinitive (far easier than it sounds). This simple lesson leaves you sounding like a Spanish professor (believe me I know as I use this tactic every day when in Ecuador).

There are many other lessons. For example lesson five shows how to sound infinitely polite and yet get almost anything you want in Spanish. Lesson six gives you the valuable connectors and the seventh lesson triples your Spanish capacity with yesterday, now and tomorrow.

By the end of the three day course you will feel quite comfortable speaking Spanish without stress!

A delegate who learned Super Spanish outlined how this course can help you.?? After three days, I can speak Spanish in complete sentences. In simple conversations, such as buying groceries or ordering a meal, I can make myself understood. I think that?s incredible!? Although I am far from the competence level of a native speaker, I feel I?ve taken a giant step forward in learning Spanish so that I can experience the people and culture of Ecuador.? The foregoing benefits would have more than justified the time and money I invested in Super Thinking Super Spanish. And learning Spanish was not the most important benefit I got from the course.? In recent years, I?ve rarely relaxed (No wonder I have had high blood pressure!) . ? In class, the past three days, I?ve been introduced to the calming effects of Baroque music.? What a blessing! I?m inclined to make this a daily part of my life.?? Rob Christi

The Super Spanish helps you start speaking and understanding Spanish right away.? This can help you speak Spanish faster and make your traditional Spanish course easier and more effective.?

A Livescience.com article helps explain why this course works and how delegates are creating Spanish sentences by the first lunch break and can communicate well in Spanish after just three days.?? This article by Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Senior Writer, is entitled ?CIA Seeks Anyone, Anyone Who Can Speak 2 Languages?

Four important points in the article are shown in excerpts below with my comments to show what has been wrong with traditional Spanish courses and why the Super Thinking tactic is perfect for this program.

The article says: WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Many Americans don?t learn a second or a third language from birth, let alone a language that the CIA or U.S. Foreign Service might want. The situation has forced U.S. government agencies to learn how to cultivate the most talented second-language speakers from among college students with little to no other-language expertise.

?In U.S. education, we don?t develop early bilinguals,? said Catherine Doughty, a language expert at the University of Maryland.

Doughty spoke as part of a panel on Feb. 19 during the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Washington, D.C. Finding the best.? Government agencies aren?t alone in trying to recruit multilingual speakers; U.S. corporations covet such skills for doing business in the era of globalization.

The article explained how Doughty and her colleagues used tests to train up cognitive processes related to language learning, such as the ability to hold information in the brain while using it for learning.? The tests sought to predict those who can succeed despite everything stacked against them.

The article reviewed changes in the brain. ?Lee Osterhout is a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Washington in Seattle.? His lab used electrodes placed on the scalp to measure the electrical activity created by the signals of brain cells. That allowed the researchers to see differences in the brain patterns among language learners and fluent speakers. They found some surprising results.

The article pointed out: Repeated studies of French language students showed that their brains responded differently to real French words compared with fake words after just two weeks of classes, even if the students themselves could not tell such words apart.???

?From knowing nothing to a little bit, [there are] huge changes in the brain,? Osterhout pointed out.?[From] knowing a little to knowing a lot, [it is] much more subtle.?? Another surprise came from studies of Spanish-speaking immigrants, because neither age nor language proficiency seemed to predict how quickly the immigrants picked up English. Instead, the fastest learners showed both the greatest motivation to learn and a willingness to use English at every opportunity despite being bad at it (at first).

MY COMMENT: This is the other reason why Super Thinking plus Spanish works. This three day course gets the delegates speaking and thinking Spanish all the time so they can use and/or think Spanish every day? and communicating even from the beginning. In this way the education grows even when Spanish is not being spoken.

The Super Thinking course first integrates the brain.? Students learn better with relaxed concentration. Then the course teaches them 17 simple lessons so they know 4005 words in Spanish and can use them to create sentences. In this way, you can communicate in just three days.

Travel, accommodations and food are not included.

Gary

Shawn and Suzanne Bandick teaching Super Spanish together in Vernon BC.

Yet your Spanish will just be one result from learning how to think better!? You will be able to use your new learning powers in amazing ways.

Here are what delegates wrote about a Super Thinking + Spanish seminar.?

?Hi Gary & Merri, You two are the BEST!!! Your Seminar was fantastic! I am so excited. I had procrastinated fulfilling my continuing education for my Broker?s License and then just before my surgeries, I realized by expiration date isn?t Nov. 12th ? it is Sept 12th. Well, as you can see prior to taking your course I had only completed 3 units of the required 45 units. I thought I would take your course and then complete my remaining 42 units over the next 2 weeks. However, I took one class exam on Saturday night, August 27th. I didn?t even take the cellophane off the required Course manuals until after I saw the two of you today less than 5 hours ago! I used your techniques and completed 39 units of continuing education today. I have now completed all 45 units. All of my test scores were in the 90.6-96% range. My course exam information is listed below. I just wanted to let you know how valuable your course was to me. Thanks again!? Suzy Kurinsky

Another wrote: Hi Gary & Merri -? First, Merri, thanks for the great home made chili dinner. It was some of the best I have ever tasted. Also, thanks for the Spanish course. Merri?s technique is truly a breakthrough in learning.? I believe I learned more Spanish in four days than I learned in four weeks in?a previously attended?Costa Rica language school.? The Costa Rica school taught a very limited number of memorized words and phrases. Ted.

Another delegate at a Super thinking plus Spanish seminar wrote: Merri?s approach exposed us to a broad variety of works and the technique needed to expand the language.? Again, Thanks for the experience.

One attendee wrote: Thank you very much Gary! And I just wanted to say thank you and Merri so much for everything during the seminar. You guys are indeed a shining example of having a business that truly serves others. And thanks for the extra time spent and good things taught to me personally. I have begun to implement them already and will continue to apply them. And you might be interested that waiting for my flight home I ended up sitting next to a woman from Quito and could understand some of what she said in a cell phone conversation. We talked a little and she said that I should visit Ecuador!? Thank you again for your real graciousness and acceptance! I will also write to Merri and thank her as well. And I wish that I could do something for you two!

Another wrote: Thank you!? We? always look forward to spending time and learning about so many fascinating things. Like Minded people and Vivaldi! What could be better?? You and Merri are very special to us!

Another sent this note: Hello Merri,? Thank you for the wonderful workshop on Super Learning + Spanish!??I really enjoyed the workshop and getting to know you and Gary.? I am definitely going to take more of the courses that you and Gary are teaching.? I can see several ways to apply what I learned in the classes I teach.

Since I returned home, I have purchased some of the CDs of Baroque music and thought about which specific pieces will work best in different parts of my classes.? I am also reading Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra.? I found your discussion of this book to be very helpful in?showing how to balance one?s life.? I have adjusted my daily schedule, and I can already notice a difference in my productivity.

Thank you for sending the file of the 4005 Spanish words.? This will be very helpful in my daily review of Spanish.

Another emailed this: Every day I?m becoming more proficient in Spanish.? As I get ready to do something, I think about how I would say it in Spanish.? Thank you again for a Super Workshop!? With love and blessings,

Another: Gary and Merri,? It certainly was an interesting and intriguing four days for me. ?I enjoyed the Spanish but even more so, all the tentacles that extended during those four days that went into so many different directions.

I grew up in a very SQUARE box with loving ?and intelligent parents but my world remained within this box, unable to see beyond those walls, as I was never encouraged to ?think outside the box?.. ?Mike has been opening doors and leading me outside this box but because of my upbringing I have not completely embraced or understood what was beyond those doors he opened for me. ?As I have gotten older I have become more open to the world outside those doors yet those old tapes continue to play and I have not been able to completely release myself and experience all that can be.

Another shared this: Listening to the two of you during our time together has suddenly got me to thinking, and although some of the ideas still seem foreign to me, ?I am at a point in my life now where I can say, ?anything is possible? and I am now willing to embrace and allow myself to experience the world of possibility and let it take me in directions I may have in the past resisted. ?I really don?t know where all this is going to lead me but I am now willing to explore, develop and grow.

I found all the information you offered on healing, realigning the body, nutrition, etc. so fascinating, have you ever thought about doing a course on just that? ?With the aging population and the health care issues I think it would be not only an interesting course but one that would be very beneficial to so many. ?I, personally, would love to learn more about what you talked about and plan on purchasing the book, ?Body Renewal, the Lost Art of Self Healing? for my Kindle.

Thank you again for a wonderful four days!!

Another: Hola Merri Y Gary, I was thinking about you this Remembrance Day, and I went to check emails and there you are!? We had fun at Disney World on Monday and sat beside several Personnes Espaniol.? We could understand them however I couldn?t make sentences quickly, but could say one or two word phrases that were understood.? We arrived home at 3am yesterday ? the airlines were very late in Denver due to a crew incident.

I found myself making up sentences all day yesterday as I was running errands.? John knows more vocabulary than I at this point as he has studied Spanish previously.? Today I will begin to review the lessons and construct sentences to send to you and the group ? as you suggested below.? Es en BUENO sugestion!!!? I also received the email Merri sent with the 4005 words and started to scroll through those yesterday.

Another: Thank YOU Merri, Gary, Don and Richard for everything you have done to create and bring this wonderful experience to all of us.? It takes a well sychronized team of people to put on an effective, change producing seminar!? I have given many seminars and enjoyed the experience immensely.? The outcome is even better!? Estoy une infantil de Super Thinking and Spanish, y es possible aprender en tiempo.

John and I both thank all of you for the wonderful experience ? we are working now to clear up things so we can leave for the Galapagos and Ecuador November 25th ? December 20th.? Nosotros tiene muchos appreciacion!? Gracias y Abrazos,

Another: Hello Gary,? Muchas gracias para la informacion!? I had a wonderful time at the Super Learning + Spanish weekend!? excelente!

I was impressed with your depth of knowledge on numerous subjects and your ability to speak about them with exceptional recall.? Con mucho apriciar,? P.S. Yo estoy enteresado en Espanol #2.

One delegate even explained how after our course they ended up as the accidental translator: Gary,? I have sent Merri a couple of messages, and ?a story of Mike being able to translate yesterday for a Spanish person ?who couldn?t understand what a man was trying to tell him!

We loved the seminar, and are excited to put the super learning to practice, and especially the great company of like-minded people (especially G & M!)? Muchas Gracias! ?Tiene an excellante dias.

Another was able to write part of his thanks in Spanish. Gary Thanks so much for sending the course and the extra one ( that was an unexpected and delightful surprise!)? It was great seeing you and Merri again and we are looking forward to returning to Mt. Dora next year.? usted y Meri tengo un fantastico celabracion de la dar gracia y navidad

Finally another?. communicated entirely in Spanish?. after just our Super Thinking + Spanish seminar: Buenas dias nuestra maestra perfectamente, Merri!?? Muchas gracias por la lista espanol.

Claro, David y yo aprendemous mucho espanol el fine de semana pasada. Gary y usted nos hacen espanol muy facil aprender. Es importante continuar a practicar espanol cada dia. Gracias tambien!? Buenas suerte?hasta la vista! Con mucho amor,

Comments from another delegate: I wanted you to know that the Spanish course has proven incredibly helpful. Dealing with internet service providers and shopping for appliances, etc., normally would have required me hiring a translator to follow me around. While it may not be pretty or 100% grammatically correct, I am understood. Thank you!? Saludos!

Whether your goal is to reduce your cost of living? increase your income? enhance the return on your investments or all, being able to speak Spanish? enhances your opportunity and does the world good.

Lose Weight and Inches With Frequency Modulation

See an example from a Super Thinking + Spanish delegate who lost 55 pounds after taking our course.?? See how Jim Reed used our Super Thinking + Spanish course to enhance his health and wealth as well as speak Spanish.

The ability to speak Spanish? even if you never leave the US is valuable in this day and age.?? Spanish opens access to a good labor force and helps you communicate with a useful part of the American population.

Beyond Spanish? knowledge is bliss. Ignorance is dangerous in these times of rapid change.? The more knowledge we can absorb, retain and recall? the better our chances of success? higher income? less stress?. better health and more fulfillment.

So it?s little wonder that the attendance at our Super Thinking + Spanish and Quantum Wealth courses have grown dramatically.?? Our changing world not only reinforces the need to speak Spanish but also requires us to be smarter.

Ernest Neuman and pronunciation coach teaching in Vancouver.

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule below.

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for One $699. Enroll here

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott)? Course for Two $899. Enroll here

November 23-24-25? Toronto Ont. (Durham)??(Teacher Rick Brown)

November ?26-27-28? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

2013

January 4-5-6, 2013? Kelowna, B.C.? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

January 11-12-13, 2013?? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

January 30,-31-Feb.1,?? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico? Super Thinking + Spanish (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

February 6-7-8, 2013? Montevideo, Uruguay?? (Teacher Spiro Michas)

February 22-23-24, 2013 Earning With Quantum Thinking in a Micro Businesses (Gary & Merri Scott)

March? 15-16-17, 2013? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all our Spanish and writing courses, plus investing and business seminars and tours FREE or at a discount as an International club member.? See details here.

Super Thinking plus Spanish courses are among the few I know that not only share valuable information but help the delegates become smarter so they absorb, retain and recall the education more effectively.? The course does this through the power of music? a power we all already have within. Let?s see some examples.?? Meet Jim Reed.

Jim is a retired airline pilot who moved to Ecuador a year ago and lived in our Casa Blanca condos for a year.? He has become an Ecuador resident and?built a house. ? I interviewed him on one of our trips to Cotacachi.

Like so many others I have spoken with who have attended our Super Thinking + Spanish course? he claims to be much happier? more relaxed and has become healthier, shedding medication and weight.

Jim lost 55 pounds in the last year and, as reported by so many? without trying? without eating less? without any feeling of deprivation.

One fact that many who enjoyed wonderful positive changes when they have attended our Super Thinking course is they learned to use music in a very specific way to reach the quantum states of their intellect.

Here are more raves from delegates of this course:

Gary & Merri, Mike and I have so enjoyed attending your seminars.? I look at is as a place to gain? ?tools for life? as well as? receiving a plethera of information on the topics at hand.

(So far we attended? Spanish and investing.) I get equally as much value out of the tools, and mindset in viewing the information that can be applied to life in general as well as the topic at hand. So thanks for enjoying what you do? it definitely shows up in real world application.

At each seminar we meet many interesting and unique folk ? I think the audience you draw? can think out of the box at least a little bit! So again thanks for gathering such a wonderful array of resources for us.

Another emailed:? Dear Gary and Merrie,? We so enjoyed the language class last weekend at Mt Dora!

Carolyn came back with your simple, common sense approach and the new tools to start speaking.

Most remarkable is that she feels comfortable putting together sentences and ?communicating.? Somehow many of us seem to get caught in the trap of thinking we have to say it ?right,? and so we don?t even try. It is interesting that we do not see ourselves ?creating? communication in our native tongue; each saying it a little different than the other, and yet still all getting the ?communication? across the bridge in our own manner.

We delighted to know you both better, and greatly admire your passion for life and generosity sharing what you have learned.

We are planning to attend the next business seminar you offer. Carolyn is talking about returning for the Fall Spanish Super Thinking class with a girlfriend.

We are excited by the many new challenges we have found through your offerings.

Another a dentist said: I was so delighted with my experience at the Spanish training.? I felt more confident of ability to pronounce Spanish than I ever was of French or German.? Funny? I did not think I remembered any French or German but when I cannot remember the Spanish words the German and French popped up.? Practicing my pronunciation made my trip home go faster. I never enjoyed pronouncing either of the other two, but this was fun. It is hard to fall asleep at the wheel when you are moving your mouth to speak Spanish. It does work your mouth in a different way.? I realized that you have to say each syllable slowly and correctly(until you get it perfectly) and when you do it is impressive.

It was amazing to see us all writing such advanced sentences after a few days and so much more enjoyable than having to go through the alphabet to build the words to build the sentences.

Another Wrote: Dear Gary,? I intended to give it a few days before I wrote to you about my experience in the Spanish + SuperThinking? Course. However, I had such dramatic results today, in the physical rather than the cognitive realm, that I had to share this immediately.

I started my day with Baroque music. Before I began my Spanish lesson, I went through the Mayan Waves Brain Refresher (Brain Sync). I also played an alpha wave composition while I completed a lesson in the morning. I repeated the process this afternoon. Before my high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout in the evening, I put on a gamma brain wave video from you tube faster reading gamma waves help with exercise. I preformed the ?Halo Of Sweat? workout from an online fitness site. Around the world, people complete the workout and posts their scores, striving to meet or beat the personal trainer. Frankly, my reps have rarely come close to the reps of the woman featured in the video nor have I ever beat her. Until today.

Not only did I come close to her performance, I surpassed her quite significantly with several exercises. I performed my best in the last exercise, Abs Burn Out. Her scores were 38, 34 and 33 and mine were 60, 40 and 47!

I believe several factors allowed me to achieve this acceleration in athletic ability today:

1. My left and right hemispheres are now harmonizing.
2. The meditation and relaxed concentration techniques I learned are coming more easily to me and effective.
3. My focus and concentration are greatly enhanced.

I am a Pilates professional so to have my exercise regimen improve so swiftly is remarkable. Not only am I now able speak Spanish but I am experiencing optimal health as well. I am deeply grateful to you and Merri for your SuperLearning instruction.? Be well,

Mark Frakes with a Super Spanish class in the St. Louis area.

Here is our Super Thinking + Spanish schedule below.

October 24-25-26? Panama City, Panama?? (Teacher Robert Girga)

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott) Course for One $699. Enroll here

November 2-3-4? Mt. Dora, Florida (Gary & Merri Scott) Course for Two $899. Enroll here

November 23-24-25? Toronto Ont. (Durham)??(Teacher Rick Brown)

November ?26-27-28? Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (Teachers Shawn?& Suzanne Bandick)

December 3-4-5? Panama City, Panama? (Teacher Robert Girga)

2013

January 11-12-13, 2013?? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

February 6-7-8, 2013? Montevideo, Uruguay?? (Teacher Spiro Michas)

February 22-23-24, 2013 Earning With Quantum Thinking in a Micro Businesses (Gary & Merri Scott)

March? 15-16-17, 2013? Mt. Dora, Florida? Super Thinking + Spanish (Gary & Merri Scott)

For information more contact Cheri Hall at cheri@garyascott.com

Attend all our Spanish and writing courses, plus investing and business seminars and tours FREE or at a discount as an International club member.? See details here.

Source: http://www.ecuadorliving.com/2012/10/27/ecuador-real-estate-scam-2.html

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Lender Monroe Capital is Chicago's first IPO of 2012 - In Other News ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Chicago traditionally has been home to plenty of nonbank business lenders like Monroe. Many flourished in the 2000s, launched by refugees from old Chicago-based commercial finance giant Heller Financial Inc., which GE ...

Source: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20121027/ISSUE01/121029848/newly-public-monroe-capital-a-singular-sensation

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Here are the highest paid executives at hospitals in Philadelphia ...

Three executives from Virtua, the expanding health system in South Jersey, were among the Philadelphia region's 10 highest-paid hospital and health-system executives in 2010, based on salary and incentives, an Inquirer analysis of pay for 460 executives at nine area health systems and 13 independents found.

Virtua broke into a group typically dominated by the region's larger systems and medical centers, such as Jefferson Health, the University of Pennsylvania, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, thanks to incentives that in two of the three cases dwarfed base pay.

The overall biggest payday, excluding amounts reported in previous years, went to Robert V. Stanek, who collected $6.94 million, much of it in retirement benefits, at the end of a long career at Catholic Health East, The Inquirer's analysis found.

Virtua's Richard P. Miller, chief executive since the system's formation in 1998 and the fifth-highest-paid locally in 2010, had $1.06 million in base salary. His incentive pay was $1.93 million, including a $725,636 contribution to a supplemental executive retirement plan and $1.19 million in performance-based pay.

The two other top-paid Virtua executives, ranked nine and 10 overall for salary and incentives, were former president and chief operating officer Ninfa Saunders and chief medical officer James P. Dwyer. Saunders had $788,790 in base pay and incentive pay of $889,762. Dwyer's incentive, or "at risk," pay was $858,580, nearly twice his $452,252 base pay.

Performance-based pay at Virtua is based on goals for quality and safety, patient satisfaction, employee engagement, and finance, but "no salary at risk is paid to anyone in the organization unless a financial threshold target is achieved," said Jane C. Yepez, Virtua's vice president of marketing and public affairs.

Ron Seifert, vice president and health-care executive-compensation leader at Hay Group Inc., a Philadelphia management-consulting firm, said about 90 percent of large integrated systems use annual incentives, up from 75 percent to 80 percent a decade ago.

"The utilization of incentives is highly prevalent and is part of the tool kit for boards to keep their executives focused," Seifert said. Boards also have used multiyear financial incentives to keep executives in place during a turbulent period in health care, he said.

Though financial incentives for top hospital executives are not new, public availability of details about them is fairly recent. Four years ago, the Internal Revenue Service required hospitals to start providing a more detailed breakdown of executive pay, including "bonus and incentive compensation," which used to be lumped in with salary.

About three-quarters of the region's health-care executives received incentive payments in 2010, the latest year for which full-year data were available for institutions in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The biggest incentive payment, $2.13 million, went to Joseph T. Sebastianelli, president and chief executive of Jefferson Health System since 2002.

Most of that money was from a $1.75 million retirement payout under a five-year plan that required Sebastianelli to remain until his originally planned retirement date of Dec. 31, 2010, said David F. Simon, Jefferson's chief legal officer. The board asked Sebastianelli, who ranked fourth overall in 2010, to stay three more years, to lead the system through a period "when major changes were expected to the health-care system due to health-care reform," Simon said.

Sebastianelli also received a merit bonus of $331,707, including $141,383 for achievement of quality-related goals, $126,883 for financial performance compared to budgeted revenues and expenses, and $63,441 for individual performance, Simon said.

At Jefferson, unlike at Virtua, meeting financial targets is not a prerequisite for bonuses based on safety and other measures.

The financial target at Virtua in 2010 was an operating margin of at least 4 percent. The system nearly doubled it, with an operating margin of 7.6 percent that year, the highest in New Jersey, a financial report from the New Jersey Hospital Association said.

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia did not disclose the financial targets for chief executive Steven M. Altschuler, who has led it through a period of explosive growth and was the region's second-highest-paid in 2010, with total pay of $4.17 million. He was by far the highest-paid chief executive at 10 major U.S. children's hospitals.

Altschuler's pay "recognizes his leadership and his many accomplishments in the delivery of world-class medical care, groundbreaking research, and pediatric education," the hospital said.

In 2000, Altschuler's pay totaled $1.1 million; he was one of just four executives in the region to collect at least that much. The number of million-dollar executives had soared to 28 by 2010.

Average pay for the region's top 100 health-care managers jumped 88 percent, to $712,486 from $379,679.

By contrast, pay for health-care workers overall rose 39 percent in Pennsylvania and 33 percent in New Jersey, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bill Cruice, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, a union, decried the big pay packages now common for nonprofit hospital executives.

"Extravagant compensation for hospital executives is one of the key reasons why health-care costs continue to escalate in the country," Cruice said.

Seifert, the compensation consultant, disputed that notion, saying executive pay is "minuscule in the grand scheme of things."

Speaking of the Philadelphia region, he said: "These businesses are critical to our economy. They are very, very complicated organizations.

"You don't find leaders who can run them and run them well for free," said Seifert, whose practice takes him all over the country. "Capable leadership comes at a price."

View a sortable table of executive compensation for health-system executives in the Philadelphia region at philly.com/business

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user AMagill]

Contact Harold Brubaker at 215-854-4651 or hbrubaker@phillynews.com. ___

(c)2012 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Copyright 2012 MedCity News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://medcitynews.com/2012/10/here-are-the-highest-paid-hospitals-executices-at-hospitals-in-philadelphia/

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Top 6 Major drains on baby boomer bank accounts : BoomerCaf? ...

?
A report by the National Center for Policy Analysis?has investigated how much baby boomers are spending on things like education, entertainment and clothing, and how that has changed over the past 20 years.

?For a number of years now, retirement and financial experts have bemoaned the fact that baby boomers and others who should be thinking about retirement saving are nowhere near ready to retire,? Pamela Villarreal of NCPA said in the summary of the report.

?Some blame the failure of 401(k) and Individual Retirement Account (IRA) retirement plans to fill in the gaps left by elimination of corporate pensions. Others argue that American adults of all ages are simply not saving enough.?

Education

The rising cost of education is taking its toll on boomers. From 1990 to 2010, education expenditures jumped 80% for 45 to 54 year olds and 22% for 55 to 64 year olds.

Some individuals may be carrying debts over while others may be furthering their education later in life. More likely, the report said, is that baby boomers have some of their finances tied up in helping their children pay for their college expenses and deal with loans.

Healthcare

Taking into account both out-of-pocket expenses and insurance premiums, health care expenditures rose 30% for 45 to 54 year olds and 21% for 55 to 64 year olds. Insurance premiums nearly doubled for both age groups.

?This reflects the growth of health care spending, which has essentially wiped out the gains in median family income over the past decade,? Villarreal said.

Helping Grown Children

More than half, 59%, of parents who had an 18 to 39 year old son or daughter were spending money to support their adult child. Of that 59% some were paying living expenses (48% of expenditures), transportation costs (41%), spending money (29%), medical bills (28%), and paying back loans (16%).

Mortgage Debt

In the last two decades, expenditures on principal, mortgage interest, taxes, maintenance and insurance rose 25%. For those between the ages of 55 and 64, half of the increase was due to rising interest expenditures, the report said, even though mortgage interest rates have fallen over time.

?The portion of income they spend on mortgage interest increased 47%, from 4.3% to 6.3%,? Villarreal said.

The report speculates that the increase may be due to the rate at which home prices outpaced growth before the 2008 collapse.

Entertainment

Baby boomers seem to be cutting back on their bills here, according to NCPA:

*Food purchases, including spending at restaurants, fell 18% for 45 to 54 year olds and 20% for 55 to 64 year olds.

*Household furnishings fell nearly one third for 45 to 54 year olds and dropped one-fourth among the 55 to 64 range.

*Clothing expenses fell the most dramatically, down 42% for 45 to 54 year olds and 70% for the 55 to 64 year olds. (NCPA attributes this drop in part to a decrease in labor costs that brought down prices of apparel.)

Falling Income

Income median income for 45 to 54 year olds peaked at $74,457 in 1999 and has since fallen to $62,485 (correlated to the 2008 recession).

Income peaked for 45 to 64 year olds at $60,345 in 2007 and has since fallen to $56,575 in 2010.

?This difference is likely due to the fact that 45 to 64 year olds hold more income in stocks; thus stock market volatility has affected their capital gains and dividends, particularly during the 2000s,? the report said.
?

Tags: Featured

Category: Baby Boomers

Source: http://www.boomercafe.com/2012/10/27/top-6-major-drains-on-baby-boomer-bank-accounts/

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Syrian warplanes stage 1st airstrike under truce

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighters take cover as a Syrian army sniper aims over a destroyed mosque in Tarik Al-Bab, southeast of Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees report shelling and shooting mostly in the northern province of Aleppo, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour, Daraa to the south and suburbs of the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighters take cover as a Syrian army sniper aims over a destroyed mosque in Tarik Al-Bab, southeast of Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees report shelling and shooting mostly in the northern province of Aleppo, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour, Daraa to the south and suburbs of the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighters belonging to the Liwa Al Tawhid unit pose for photo in the Karmal Jabl neighborhood after several days of intense clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 photo, a Syrian rebel soldier watches an enemy position amid mortar explosions and gunfire in the Karmal Jabl neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees report shelling and shooting mostly in the northern province of Aleppo, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour, Daraa to the south and suburbs of the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian warplanes bombed a building in a Damascus suburb on Saturday, killing at least eight people in the first airstrike since an internationally mediated cease-fire went into effect, activists said.

The attack came a day after car bombs and clashes left 151 dead, according to activist tallies, leaving the four-day truce that began Friday at the start of a major Muslim holiday in tatters.

The rapid unraveling of the effort to achieve even a temporary peace marked the latest setback to ending Syria's civil war through diplomacy after months of failed efforts.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people were killed and many others wounded in the airstrike in Arbeen, a suburb of the capital. The area also has witnessed heavy clashes and intense shelling.

An amateur video posted by activists online showed a building that was turned into a pile of rubble said to be from the airstrike. A lifeless hand stuck out from the debris. The videos appeared consistent with AP's reporting in the area.

In the north, rebels and Kurdish neighborhood guards fought a rare battle late Friday in the embattled city of Aleppo that left 30 people dead, activists said.

In all, 151 people were reported killed on Friday, including 11 in a car bomb in a residential area of Damascus, on par with the daily death tolls preceding the cease-fire.

Shelling and clashes resumed Saturday nationwide.

A car bomb parked behind an Assyrian church near a military police compound and a military court went off Saturday killing five people In the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, according to the Observatory. Military forces that rushed to the site of the blast then came under rebel fire, and three soldiers were killed, it said.

State-run TV denied the blast caused any casualties.

Nobody claimed responsibility, but the attack was similar to those staged in the past by a radical Islamic group fighting on the rebel side, Jabhat al-Nusra, which has rejected the cease-fire outright.

The Observatory also said 30 rebels and Kurdish gunmen were killed in clashes that broke out in Aleppo's predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Ashrafieh late Friday. A Kurdish official put the death toll at 10 Kurds, but had no figures for the rebels.

Rebels made a push Thursday into largely Kurdish and Christian areas that had been relatively quiet during the three-month battle for Syria's largest city.

Kurds say the rebels had pledged to stay out of their neighborhoods. Kurdish groups have for the most part tried to steer a middle course in the conflict between the rebels and the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Mohieddine Sheik Ali, head of the Kurdish Yekiti party, said the clashes broke out after rebels entered Ashrafieh, violating "a gentlemen's agreement" not to go into Kurdish areas in Aleppo.

He said 100,000 Kurds live in Ashrafieh and many in the nearby Sheik Maksoud area. Sheik Ali said tens of thousands of Arabs have also fled to these areas to escape the violence in other parts of Aleppo.

The Observatory said the clashes led to a wave of kidnappings between the two groups, but did not provide further details. Pro-government news websites also reported the clashes.

Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, making up around 10 percent to 15 percent of the country's 23 million people.

After the anti-government uprising began in March last year, both the Syrian government and opposition forces began reaching out to the long-marginalized minority whose support could tip the balance in the conflict.

Kurds have long complained of neglect and discrimination. But they are also leery of how they would fare in a Syria dominated by the large Sunni Arab rebel movement

In other violence, the Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees also reported shelling and shooting Saturday in Aleppo and Daraa to the south.

Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy, had mediated a four-day cease-fire that began Friday to mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.

"The cease-fire collapsed nearly three hours after it went into effect," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory.

In Lebanon, the leading LBC TV said Lebanese journalist Fidaa Itani, one of its employees covering Syria's civil war, was detained by the rebels and is being held in the town of Azaz near the Turkish border.

The station quoted a local rebel leader in Azaz, Abu Ibrahim, as saying that rebels suspected Itani after he filmed many videos of rebels operations in Aleppo. Itani's Lebanese cell phone was closed when The Associated Press tried to reach him.

The area also was the site of the May kidnapping of 11 Shiite Lebanese pilgrims who were on their way home from Iran. Two have been released while rebels say they will hold the others until Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, apologizes from the Syrian people for supporting Assad.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-27-Syria/id-7de2b1c674c24dfaa78de683c6acf317

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Motherhood and Cancer: Full Day

Today was Captain Adorable's first kindergarten field trip. Therefore, we were up earlier than normal, and found a treat on our front steps. Capt. Adorable had been BOOed. It turned out to be a package with glo-sticks, cancdy, Halloween decorations, and other cool stuff. There was also a note telling us to BOO two other children. We talked about who to BOO on the way to school.

All 5 kindergarten classes from our school went on the trip. I drove home to pick up my friend from the neighborhood, who also has a son in kindergarten (though a different class), was also a chaperone, and was carpooling with me. ?We went to a local farm (more argi-tainment than agriculture, but whatever).?We arrived before the busses from our school, and got to see the craziness of the arrivals outside the gate--there were lots of kids from other schools and day cares there in addition to the approx 120 from our school.?There were animals (got to milk a cow), a hay ride, a maze, some live music, lots of running around, and a pumpkin at the end. I was assigned a group of 2 to take care of--Capt. Adorable and one other (very nice and well behaved) boy. It was fun and tiring. On the field trip,another friend from the neighborhood asked if we had found anything on the porch this morning, so I knew who had left the BOO.

I had about an hour at home, during which time I wrote and answered emails and texts concerning the upcoming neighborhood Halloween Party, which I am organizing. Then I drove to school to pick up my sweet son. We stopped at home long enough for him to eat the lunch he was too excited to eat while at the farm, changed into hockey practice clothes, grabbed the gear, and hopped in the car. No time to buy treats for the BOOs we should leave for others. Traffic was terrible, but it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. He was ready to hit the ice (meaning all equipment on) at 5:22. Practice lasted till 7:00; we were back in the car on the way home at 7:14.

Captain Obvious had wanted to come to practice, but we asked him to instead go buy Book stuff, which he did. After dinner, we packed up the BOOs and set off to leave them at friends' doorsteps. Captain Adorable went up to the door, put the treat pack down, then rang the door bell and ran to his hiding spot as fast as he could! It was dark outside and it was really funny to watch one mom, completely mystified and poking at what we had left (the treats were in an empty oatmeal container with a long sugar straw sticking out the top--must have looked like a bomb or something, whoops!!). The other family saw who was running off, but it was still fun and felt good to all laugh together as we drove off through the darkness back to our house. I think we will do that again next year.

I still have to put my jelly fish costume together. Big party tomorrow, whew. Let's hope Hurricane Sandy doesn't rain on us till the party is over!

Source: http://motherhoodandcancer.blogspot.com/2012/10/full-day.html

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Pennies for Cash4Gold - The Term Sheet ... - Fortune Finance

FORTUNE -- Cash4Gold, the metal refinery known for having MC Hammer rap its praises during the 2009 Super Bowl, is being sold for scrap.

Fortune has learned that the company's assets, including its domain name and client database, will be sold for approximately $440,000 to Direct Holdings Americas, the parent company of Time-Life (which is not affiliated with Time Inc., the publisher of Fortune). The deal remains subject to bankruptcy court approval, but that it believed to be a formality.

What's remarkable is that all of this comes less than four years after Green Bullion Financial Services, the Pompano Beach, Fla.-based parent company of Cash4Gold, raised $40 million in venture capital funding from respected firms like General Catalyst Partners and Highland Capital Partners. That's right: This was the low-rent version of Color.

Cash4Gold used some of that money to finance the now-infamous Super Bowl ad, which reportedly cost $2.4 million to broadcast and hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. By the middle of 2010, however, both VC firms had written down their investment to nearly zero, and shortly thereafter exited the company altogether. Highland also was sued by one of Cash4Gold's former business partners for fraud and breaches of contract, but the case was later settled out of court.

Then came the bankruptcy this past July, with a Florida insolvency manager called Moecker & Associates hired by the court to find a buyer. Moecker also appears to have helped continue fulfilling orders for Cash4Gold, as the actual company shut down operations and stopped even answering its phone.

Among those interested in purchasing the assets was the parent company of Sharon, Mass.-based?CashForGoldUSA, an independent rival with a very similar-sounding name. It looked at the incoming inventory and several months of web traffic analytics, and tells me that it determined that the business was worth around $200,000. But rival bidder Direct Holdings America had something CashForGoldUSA didn't: A cheaper source of capital.

At the time it went under, the largest Cash4Gold creditor was Euro RSCG, a marketing agency that had produced that old Super Bowl ad -- with an outstanding bill of $800,000 (the second-largest creditor was Google, which was owed around $115,000). Multiple sources tell me that Direct Holdings America purchased some or all of that outstanding Euro RSCG credit, which ultimately gave it greater bidding flexibility (such debt purchases are fairly common in the insolvency auction world). Thus the $440,000 price, compared to the $200,000 that Cash4GoldUSA was willing to pay.

For a full list of creditors, go here.

What remains unknown is what Direct Holdings America plans to do with Cash4Gold, assuming the court approves its purchase. After all, it's a direct marketer of music and video products, not a metal refinery.

I put in a call to the company yesterday, but was told the CEO and CFO were unavailable for comment because they were on a business trip. When I asked if they might respond to voicemails or emails, the company representative sounded annoyed, stressing again that "they are on a business trip." Guess business trips mean different things to different folks (note: This post was written and posted aboard a cross-country flight).

Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers:?GetTermSheet.com

Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/10/26/pennies-for-cash4gold/

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Sandy leaves Bahamas after killing 43 in Caribbean

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) ? Hurricane Sandy spun away from the Bahamas late Friday after causing 43 deaths across the Caribbean, churning northward toward the U.S. East Coast, where it threatens to join with winter weather fronts to create a super storm.

The Category 1 hurricane toppled light posts, flooded roads and tore off tree branches as it spun through Cat Island and Eleuthera in the scattered Bahamas archipelago, with authorities reporting one man killed, the British CEO of an investment bank.

The death toll rose again in impoverished Haiti, reaching 29 late Friday as word of disasters reached officials and rain continued to fall.

Joseph Edgard Celestin, a spokesman for Haiti's civil protection office, said some people died trying to cross rivers swollen by rains from Sandy's outer reaches. While the storm's center missed the country as it passed by Wednesday, Haiti's ramshackle housing and denuded hillsides make it especially vulnerable to flooding.

Officials at a morgue in the western town of Grand Goave said a mudslide crashed through a wooden home Thursday, killing 40-year-old Jacqueline Tatille and her four children, ranging in ages from 5 to 17.

"If the rain continues, for sure we'll have more people die," said deputy Joseph Franck Laporte. "The earth cannot hold the rain."

Officials reported flooding across Haiti, where 370,000 people are still living in flimsy shelters as a result of the devastating 2010 earthquake. Nearly 17,800 people had to move to 131 temporary shelters, the Civil Protection Office said.

Sandy was a Category 2 hurricane when it wreaked havoc in Cuba on Thursday, killing 11 people in eastern Santiago and Guantanamo provinces as its howling winds and rain destroyed thousands of houses and ripped off roofs. Authorities said it was Cuba's deadliest storm since July 2005, when category 5 Hurricane Dennis killed 16 people and caused $2.4 billion in damage.

Cuban authorities said the island's 11 dead included a 4-month-old boy who was crushed when his home collapsed and an 84-year-old man in Santiago province. Near the city of Guantanamo, two men were killed by falling trees, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported.

Official news media reported Friday that the storm caused 5,000 houses to at least partially collapse while ripping the roofs off 30,000 others. Banana, coffee, bean and sugar crops were damaged.

Sandy also killed a man in Jamaica on Wednesday when a boulder crashed through his house, and police in the Bahamas said a 66-year-old man died after falling from his roof in upscale Lyford Cay late Thursday while trying to repair a window shutter. Officials at Deltec Bank & Trust identified him as Timothy Fraser-Smith, who became CEO in 2000.

One death was reported in Puerto Rico. Police said a man in his 50s was swept away Friday by a swollen river in the southern town of Juana Diaz, where rain from Sandy's outer bands has been steadily falling.

Late Friday, Sandy was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas and 395 miles (635 kilometers) south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. It was just above the threshold for being a hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), and was moving north at 7 mph (11 kph).

With the storm projected to hit the U.S. Atlantic Coast early Tuesday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned it could merge with two other systems to become a hybrid, monster storm.

Government officials in the Bahamas said the storm seemed to have inflicted the greatest damage on Cat Island, which took a direct hit, and Exuma, where there were reports of downed trees, power lines and damage to homes.

"I hope that's it for the year," said Veronica Marshall, a 73-year-old hotel owner in Great Exuma. "I thought we would be going into the night, but around 3 o'clock it all died down. I was very happy about that."

On Long Island, farmers lost most of their crops and several roofs were torn off, legislator Loretta Butler-Turner said. The island was without power and many residents did not have access to fresh water, she said.

Power also was out on Acklins Island and most roads there were flooded, while the lone school on Ragged Island in the southern Bahamas was flooded.

Russell, the emergency management official in Nassau, said docks on the western side of Great Inagua island had been destroyed and the roof of a government building was partially ripped off.

Jennifer Savoie, a New Orleans native who lives in Eleuthera, said her fiance's resort, The Cove Eleuthera, was spared major damage but that power is out across most of the island.

"We know the protocol and how to prepare," she said. "It's in our blood. We were hit pretty hard though."

___

Associated Press writers Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Trenton Daniel in Port-au-Prince and Pierre-Richard Luxama in Grand Goave, Haiti; Seth Borenstein in Washington; and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sandy-leaves-bahamas-killing-43-caribbean-032952031.html

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Self Defense Tips & Techniques for Women : Palm Heel Strike to ...

Related eBooks

Learn how to strike a male attacker?s vital areas using the heel of your palm in thisfree women?s self defense video clip. Expert: Audrey Ronquilo Bio: Audrey Ronquilo is a savvy TV host that teaches karate to all ages. She became interested in karate and women?s self defense verbal altercation transgressed into physical assault. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

Related Reading:

In Self DefenseIn Self Defense is inspired by the true-life story of a martial arts legend who died at the hand of his own son. After fighting in the jungles of the South Pacific in World War II, Willy Wetzel and his family migrated from Indonesia to America in 1956. Willy opened one of the first martial arts schools in the United States in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He was a pioneer and became known worldwide for his mastery of many martial arts forms. The finest pupil Willy ever taught, was his second son, Roy Wetzel. The Wetzels all had their battle scars, some more visible than others. When Roy returned from Viet Nam with a Purple Heart, he hoped for a peaceful life at home. Instead Roy found himself in a fight with his father.One fateful night, their strained relationship finally came to a head. As Roy's young daughter lay asleep in the next room, a weapon-filled brutal fight between father and son ensued. The aftermath of Willy's last skirmish would leave Roy bloody and beaten and charged by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with Murder. This led to a controversial trial and the original court transcripts contained in the second half of this non-fiction novel give a compelling account of the prolonged legal contest that stirred up many debates. Following the lives of the Wetzels in intricate detail, In Self Defense will keep you turning the page till the very end. Complete Krav Maga: The Ultimate Guide to Over 230 Self-Defense and Combative TechniquesDeveloped for the Israel military forces and battle tested in real-life combat, Krav Maga has gained an international reputation as an easy-to-learn yet highly effective art of self-defense. Clearly written and extensively illustrated, Complete Krav Maga details every aspect of the system including dozens of hand-to-hand combat moves, over 20 weapons defense techniques and a complete physical conditioning workout program.

All the moves are described in depth from beginning Yellow Belt to advanced Black Belt, yet they are easy to learn because one of Krav Maga's strengths is its simplicity. Based on the principle that it is best to move from defense to attack as quickly as possible, Complete Krav Maga offers fast-escape maneuvers from attacks and holds. It then follows them up with specific counterattacks, including punches, kicks and throws.

The authors show how anyone (big or small, man or woman) can practice self defense by using Krav Maga to protect weak spots, exploit an assailant's vulnerabilities and turn the attacker s force against him. Complete Krav Maga teaches the reader how to get in shape, gain confidence and feel safer and more secure every day.

Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/self-defense/self-defense-tips-techniques-for-women-palm-heel-strike-to-vital-areas-in-womens-self-defense

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How chips, PCs, services companies are faring

Companies providing computers, components, services and related software have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. The reports come as consumers shift their spending toward tablets and a weak global economy curbs corporate spending on computers. Here's a look at how selected companies are faring.

? Oct. 10: Research firms IDC and Gartner say worldwide shipments of PCs fell sharply in the third quarter, as some consumers spent their electronics dollars on smartphones and tablets and others held off for a new version of Windows. Gartner also estimates that Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. outsold Hewlett-Packard Co. for the first time to become the world's largest seller of PCs. IDC still had HP on top.

? Oct. 16: Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, says the usual bounce in sales due to the holiday season is likely to be cut in half this year, even though Microsoft is launching a new operating system that it says will get consumers excited about PCs again. In the quarter that just ended, Intel's revenue from PC chips fell 8 percent from a year ago, in line with reports from IDC and Gartner.

IBM Corp. says revenue slipped below Wall Street's expectations, much of it because of the economic deterioration in Europe and other parts of the world, which resulted in weakened international currencies and translated into fewer dollars on sales made abroad. IBM management also raised the specter of slowing demand for the company's technology-consulting services and business-software products as corporate customers become more cautious and debt-laden government agencies deal with budget cuts.

? Oct. 18: Microsoft Corp. says net income fell 22 percent in the latest quarter as it deferred revenue from the sale of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system to PC makers ? and as PC sales in general took a dive. Excluding the deferrals, revenue for the Windows division fell 9 percent from a year ago, roughly in line with the decline in global PC shipments in the third quarter reported by research firms Gartner and IDC.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. says it will cut nearly 1,800 jobs, about 15 percent of its workforce, by the end of the year in order to reduce spending in the face of dwindling sales. CEO Rory Read says trends that are reshaping the PC industry are happening faster than the company expected. The job cuts were announced as AMD reported that its revenue tumbled 25 percent in its just-ended quarter.

SanDisk Corp. reports lower net income and revenue for the third quarter as the company sold fewer of its memory chips to gadget makers. But the results surpassed Wall Street's expectations, and SanDisk says it is gaining market share from competitors.

? Monday: Texas Instruments Inc. CEO Rich Templeton says the chipmaker executed well in the quarter "even though the economy and semiconductor market remained weak and likely will get weaker in the fourth quarter." Texas Instruments says it expects fourth-quarter earnings of 23 cents to 31 cents per share. That's below the 36 cents per share expected by analysts.

Hard drive maker Western Digital Corp. says first-quarter net income more than doubled from a year ago, helped by the March acquisition of a data storage subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. CEO John Coyne says a weak economy is "dampening near term demand" but said he remains confident in the company's prospects over the long term.

? Tuesday: Apple refreshes its lineup of Mac computers and introduces a 13-inch MacBook Pro model with a sharper, Retina display. It announces new iMacs for later this year, along with a faster, full-sized iPad tablet and a smaller one called the iPad Mini.

Xerox Corp. says net income fell 12 percent in the third quarter as growth in the company's services business only partly offset declines in the sale of equipment, supplies and related products.

? Wednesday: EMC Corp. says its net income and revenue grew at a slower pace in the third quarter as the uncertain economy led to more cautious spending by customers for its data storage equipment. The results fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

Business software maker SAP AG says third-quarter profit fell because of a large one-time gain booked then, but the company raises its sales outlook for the year and says its business in cloud computing was growing fast.

? Thursday: Apple Inc. warns that profits will be down in the holiday quarter compared with a year ago because it's releasing so many new products. When a production line is new, it costs more to run and the components are more expensive.

? Friday: Strong sales of Galaxy phones propelled Samsung Electronics Co.'s quarterly profit to a record high, but there's concern its growth will slow in an increasingly crowded smartphone market.

Microsoft Corp. begins selling its Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet computer.

Coming up:

? Tuesday: Seagate Technology PLC

? Nov. 7: Qualcomm Inc.

? Nov. 8: Nvidia Corp.

? Nov. 20: Hewlett Packard Co., Dell. Inc., Salesforce.com Inc.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chips-pcs-services-companies-faring-001157826.html

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