Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/nene-leakes-kim-zolciak-feud-its-over/
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Sunday, March 31, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
She?s Not Talking About It, But Siri Is Plotting World Domination
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/V33ESncsNj8/
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Amazon Rumored To Be Readying Subscription Music Streaming ...
Amazon is rumored to be developing a subscription music streaming service similar to that of Spotify or Rdio.
According to a report in The Verge, Amazon has been in talks with various music companies about starting its own subscription music service. The report said that the talks have been informal, centering on an on-demand service.
Amazon already has the infrastructure needed to launch a service like this with its existing cloud music storage and the Cloud Player, which allow Amazon customers to stream music from the company's servers.
Amazon isn't the only major internet media company to show interest in developing its own music streaming service, as both Google and Apple are reported to be looking into similar services. Google has reportedly been in talks with record companies and music producers about integrating a subscription music service into both YouTube and Google Play. Apple is reported to be in negotiations for a Web radio service, similar to the service Pandora offers its users.
Should Amazon, Google and Apple enter the arena of subscription-based music streaming, they'll find themselves in what is already a packed house. Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, GrooveShark and Rhapsody already offer services of this kind. Rdio just updated its iOS app with a new user interface and social integration. Spotify has picked up 1 million paid subscribers since December.
Source: http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=19925
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LG E980 arrives in the FCC's database with LTE: is this the Optimus G Pro for AT&T?
It's reported that the E980 is LG's codename for the Optimus G Pro (considering that the E970 is the Optimus G), and while we've already reviewed the global variant, it sure looks as if AT&T is setting itself up to carry the handset here in the US of A. Arriving in the FCC's database today is the item you see above, replete with LTE bands that match AT&T's profile. Assuming it's the G Pro, AT&T loyalists can get ready for a 5.5-inch, 1080p display, one of the fastest mobile processors on the planet, 2GB of RAM and a Jelly Bean-infused edition of Android. The only remaining questions? When, where, how much, and in what color.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: FCC
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/21/lg-e980-fcc-optimus-g-pro-att/
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Thursday, March 21, 2013
National borders are no match for e-commerce - Information Policy
by Allison Enright
Online retailers today are increasingly looking beyond their national borders to gain customers and spur growth. And few are doing this as aggressively as Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Rakuten Inc., a Japan-based operator of online marketplaces since 1997.
Until 2010, Rakuten?s online marketplaces were limited to Asia, but since then a rapid-fire series of acquisitions and internal moves have made it a multinational, global company. It now operates marketplaces in 13 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil, and Mikitani says he?s not done expanding. ?From day one we wanted to go international. I was quite aware that [e-commerce competition] was going to be global sooner or later,? he says.
Mikitani doesn?t believe national borders should limit e-commerce, and he?ll lay out how he came to this realization and how he?s leading Rakuten to operate this way during his keynote presentation at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2013 in Chicago in June.? Mikitani?s presentation will take place from 8:45 a.m.-9:15 a.m. on June 5.
In the keynote address, entitled ?Spanning the globe for e-commerce opportunity,? Mikitani will explain his approach to global expansion and how he figures out where he wants to take Rakuten next. Over the last three years, Rakuten has expanded globally in three ways: through acquisition, such as its purchases of Buy.com in the United States and Play.com in the United Kingdom; by investing in existing web companies like Russian e-retailer Ozon.ru and social network Pinterest; and by establishing startups in countries where Rakuten sees potential to grow. ?In developing and emerging markets we go in very small and we create,? he says. He says consumers in these markets are less familiar with online shopping and Rakuten has to convince consumers that shopping online is a good, reliable option.? ?Our approach is, ?Don?t rush. Create a sound business and create the initial momentum.??
Mikitani?s commitment to borderless e-commerce initiative is felt throughout Rakuten, he says. Coinciding with its expansion beyond Japan, Mikitani in 2010 launched his self-proclaimed ?Englishnization? initiative. The intention was to immediately have the company conduct business in English. ?The global marketplace demands the speed of a single language. There is no time for translation, no time for misunderstanding,? Mikitani writes in ?Marketplace 3.0,? his new management book. Now, when employees from Rakuten?s far-flung offices log in for the weekly management meeting every Thursday or Friday?depending which side of the dateline they are?language isn?t a hindrance.
Rakuten also is positioning itself as a merchant of digital goods. In 2012, it acquired Kobo Inc., a Canadian maker of e-book readers and seller of e-books that competes globally with Amazon.com Inc.?s Kindle devices and digital bookstore. Also in 2012, it acquired Wuaki.TV, a video streaming service based in Spain.
Internet Retailer?s editors asked Mikitani to speak at IRCE because he co-founded Rakuten with just a handful of team members and proceeded to build the company into the largest e-commerce company in Japan, and the second-largest in Asia. With operations now in more than a dozen countries, he is taking his approach to e-commerce global.
http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/03/20/national-borders-are-no-match-e-commerceSource: http://www.i-policy.org/2013/03/national-borders-are-no-match-for-e-commerce.html
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88% A Place at the Table
All Critics (49) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (6)
You don't have to be a fan of info-graphics in social-justice docs to be troubled by one showing that the price of processed food has decreased in almost exact proportion to the rise in cost of fresh fruits and vegetables.
"A Place at the Table" presents a shameful truth that should leave viewers dismayed and angry: This nation has more than enough food for all its people, yet millions of them are hungry.
One thing is clear from "A Place at the Table": You cannot answer the question "Why are people hungry?," without also asking "Why are people poor?"
It specifically addresses our country's hunger crisis. But it also speaks to larger hungers. Hungers for independence, a dignified life, a better chance for ones children-in short, the American dream. See it and weep.
As rich as we are as a nation - still - many of our citizens are, at best, malnourished. One in six says they regularly don't have enough to eat.
It deserves to be seen, along with "Food, Inc.," "King Corn" and other muckraking food docs of recent years.
Jacboson and Silverbush know how to make this potentially unpleasant news palatable and inspiring.
A documentary about the shocking extent of hunger in America, affecting 1 in 4 children.
Provides plenty of moving case studies...[but] it's most useful for its prismatic look at the problem of American hunger, examining the problem's recent history, its root causes...and its inextricability from other national crises...
Hunger in America, seen through the eyes of its victims, with an emphasis on children. Sobering documentary addresses a shameful problem.
As moving as the real lives are, for a film clearly intending to be a call for action, hunger cries out for more journalism and not just depressing stories and statistics.
A Place at the Table makes a strong case that hunger for one is a problem for all.
Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush explore the surprisingly difficult obstacles to ending a situation where about 1 child out of 4 faces insecurity over where to get a meal.
A Place at the Table may bring to light a hunger epidemic the entire United States faces, but it also casts an even darker shadow on an already tainted world.
Powerful docu explores the problem of hunger in America.
An explosive investigative documentary about the injustices emanating from agricultural capitalism, how it's more about who gets to define what food is, and exactly who hugely profits from it.
...joined by an eclectic array of advocates and advisors to hit home the fact that, daily, millions of Americans go hungry.
Fine but conventional documentary on the problem of hunger in contemporary America.
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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_place_at_the_table_2013/
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First-Ever Spring Storm Madness A Huge Success : Keuka College ...
The first-ever Spring Storm Madness pep rally occurred Tuesday night inside a jam-packed Weed Physical Arts Center. The Storm's winter sports teams were recognized for their accomplishments while the eight spring sports teams were introduced to the community. At the end, a Keuka College "Harlem Shake" video was created (photo courtesy of Erik Holmes, Keuka College Sports Information Department).
By John Boccacino/Sports Information Director
Tuesday night saw a number of firsts for the Keuka College athletics department.
First, the men?s volleyball team picked up its first-ever North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) victory with a four-set win over Wells College.
Then, the Weed Physical Arts Center was transformed into a massive pep rally as students, coaches, faculty, staff and administrators packed the gym for Keuka?s first-ever Spring Storm Madness.
Decked out in green, these participants eagerly cheered on the Storm?s winter sports teams and their many accomplishments while giving a warm welcome to Keuka?s eight spring sports teams.
The event was organized and run by senior Nate Smith (Hilton, NY/Hilton), a men?s soccer standout who was extremely pleased with the turnout and the support shown to the Storm?s student-athletes. The event was also organized by Keuka?s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) with assistance from the Student Senate.
During this pep rally-style celebration, members of Keuka College and the surrounding community got the chance to meet these student-athletes and participate in school spirit activities.
For senior Montana McDonald (Romulus, NY/Romulus), a member of Keuka?s women?s basketball and soccer squads, the highlight of the evening was towards the end of the festivities, when hundreds of Keuka student-athletes, coaches and administrators participate in the Storm?s version of the viral ?Harlem Shake? video.
?Having the ?Harlem Shake? costume competition among the teams was exciting because we all were dressed up and we really got the crowd excited,? said McDonald, who along with the members of the women?s basketball team dressed up in 1980s-style apparel for the video.
?With our video, we wanted to show that our school is full of high-spirited, intense athletes as well as a student body that is 100 percent supportive of us. We want other NEAC schools to see that off the floor we are a bunch of crazy college students that love to dress up and have fun. It was really exciting and such a fun way to kick off the spring sports season.?
Click Read More to Watch video of Keuka?s Harlem Shake video
Among the games that occurred during the pep rally: a tug-of-war contest amongst the classes, a sack race featuring members of the SAAC and a paper airplane contest.
Additionally, there was a dance-off and assorted costume contests. Assorted prizes and Keuka paraphernalia were given away during the Spring Storm Madness.
The men?s and women?s basketball teams and their coaching staffs were honored for successful seasons that saw the women post a 20-4 overall mark (16-1 in the NEAC) and claim the school?s fourth NEAC North Division championship in seven years.
The men?s basketball team went 10-13 and 8-7 in NEAC play and won the most games since the 2008-09 season.
Among the highlights: seniors Teddy Tuggles (Rochester, NY/Gates Chili) and Mariah Mouzon (Elmira, NY/Elmira Free Academy) each surpassed 1,000 career points during the season, while five student-athletes earned All-NEAC honors.
For the women, juniors Jessica Bandrowski (Center Moriches, NY/Center Moriches) and Danielle Gravel (Sidney, NY/Sidney) earned first-team All-NEAC, while Mouzon was named third-team All-NEAC.
For the men, Tuggles garnered second-team All-NEAC while sophomore Trevor Healey (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) was named third-team All-NEAC.
While Storm Madness has always honored the fall sports teams while introducing Keuka?s basketball teams and its men?s volleyball squad, this unique pep rally gave fans their first look at the Storm?s lacrosse, baseball, softball, tennis and golf teams.
?It was really exciting because the spring sports never really have the chance to be recognized and we have some of the most successful teams on campus,? McDonald said. ?All the athletes were really excited and absolutely loved being announced, along with getting the chance to throw items out to the crowd.?
Written by jboccacino@keuka.local ? Filed Under Featured Stories, Men's Baseball, Men's Basketball, Men's Golf, Men's Lacrosse, Men's Sports, Men's Tennis, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf, Women's Lacrosse, Women's Softball, Women's Sports, Women's Tennis?
Tagged: Montana McDonald, Nate Smith, Spring Storm Madness
Source: http://keukastorm.com/2013/03/20/first-ever-spring-storm-madness-a-huge-success/
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013
23 years after $500 million art heist, a breakthrough
FBI says it knows who pulled off the 1990 art heist at Boston's Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. The stolen Rembrandt, Manet, and other art works were taken to Connecticut and Philadelphia after the heist. ?
The painting "Chez Tortoni," by Manet, was one of more than a dozen works of art stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The FBI said Monday, March 18, 2013, it believes it knows the identities of those who carried out the art heist.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum/AP/File
EnlargeThe FBI believes it has identified the thieves who pulled off the 1990 theft of 13 artworks from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which stands as the costliest art theft in U.S. history.
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Officials, who did not identify the suspects, said on Monday they believed the artworks, which are valued at a total of $500 million, were taken to Connecticut and Philadelphia after the heist.
"We have identified the thieves who are members of a criminal organization with a base in the mid-Atlantic states and New England," Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said in a statement.
The frames that once held works including Rembrandt's "Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and Edouard Manet's "Chez Tortoni," now hang empty on the museum's walls -- in keeping with the precise instructions on the museum's appearance that its founder left in her will.
On the night of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers arrived at the private museum's front door and a security guard let them in. The thieves allegedly overpowered both guards, who were found duct-taped to chairs in the museum's basement the next morning.
The 13 stolen artworks included paintings, drawings, sculpture and a beaker.
The Gardner Museum was founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner, an art collector who died in 1924. Her will contained very specific conditions on the running of the museum, including the arrangement of her collection and free admission to anyone named Isabella, a practice that continues today.
The FBI solved Boston's other long-running crime mystery in June 2011, when it found accused mobster James "Whitey" Bulger hiding in a seaside California community. Bulger, who is accused of committing or ordering 19 murders, was arrested on a tip that came in after the FBI launched a publicity campaign aimed at tracking him down; he had been on the run since 1994.
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Review: The Timbuk2 Espionage Camera Backpack
The tale of this backpack review is one of love and regret; I love how this backpack works and I regret that I did not take it on my last trip. In short, it?s a good pack, generally does what it is designed for and does it well. As I know a lot of you are photographers (or at least enjoy carrying around thermos-shaped objects from place to place), I thought I'd talk a bit about what this bag can do.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ZNFvc2oI0Dk/
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Fantastic flash memory combines graphene and molybdenite
Mar. 19, 2013 ? EPFL scientists have combined two materials with advantageous electronic properties -- graphene and molybdenite -- into a flash memory prototype that is very promising in terms of performance, size, flexibility and energy consumption.
After the molybdenite chip, we now have molybdenite flash memory, a significant step forward in the use of this new material in electronics applications. The news is even more impressive because scientists from EPFL's Laboratory of Nanometer Electronics and Structures (LANES) came up with a truly original idea: they combined the advantages of this semiconducting material with those of another amazing material -- graphene. The results of their research have recently been published in the journal ACS Nano.
Two years ago, the LANES team revealed the promising electronic properties of molybdenite (MoS2), a mineral that is very abundant in nature. Several months later, they demonstrated the possibility of building an efficient molybdenite chip. Today, they've gone further still by using it to develop a flash memory prototype -- that is, a cell that can not only store data but also maintain it in the absence of electricity. This is the kind of memory used in digital devices such as cameras, phones, laptop computers, printers, and USB keys.
An ideal "energy band"
"For our memory model, we combined the unique electronic properties of MoS2 with graphene's amazing conductivity," explains Andras Kis, author of the study and director of LANES.
Molybdenite and graphene have many things in common. Both are expected to surpass the physical limitations of our current silicon chips and electronic transistors. Their two-dimensional chemical structure -- the fact that they're made up of a layer only a single atom thick -- gives them huge potential for miniaturization and mechanical flexibility.
Although graphene is a better conductor, molybdenite has advantageous semi-conducting properties. MoS2 has an ideal "energy band" in its electronic structure that graphene does not. This allows it to switch very easily from an "on" to an "off" state, and thus to use less electricity. Used together, the two materials can thus combine their unique advantages.
Like a sandwich
The transistor prototype developed by LANES was designed using "field effect" geometry, a bit like a sandwich. In the middle, instead of silicon, a thin layer of MoS2 channels electrons. Underneath, the electrodes transmitting electricity to the MoS2 layer are made out of graphene. And on top, the scientists also included an element made up of several layers of graphene; this captures electric charge and thus stores memory.
"Combining these two materials enabled us to make great progress in miniaturization, and also using these transistors we can make flexible nanoelectronic devices," explains Kis. The prototype stores a bit of memory, just a like a traditional cell. But according to the scientist, because molybdenite is thinner than silicon and thus more sensitive to charge, it offers great potential for more efficient data storage.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- Branimir Radisavljevic, Michael B. Whitwick, Andras Kis. Correction to Integrated Circuits and Logic Operations Based on Single-Layer MoS2. ACS Nano, 2013; : 130306152835005 DOI: 10.1021/nn400553g
- Dominik Lembke, Andras Kis. Correction to Breakdown of High-Performance Monolayer MoS2Transistors. ACS Nano, 2013; : 130306155146006 DOI: 10.1021/nn400554k
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Elite athletes also excel at some cognitive tasks
Mar. 18, 2013 ? New research suggests that elite athletes -- Olympic medalists in volleyball, for example -- perform better than the rest of us in yet another way. These athletes excel not only in their sport of choice but also in how fast their brains take in and respond to new information -- cognitive abilities that are important on and off the court.
The study, of 87 top-ranked Brazilian volleyball players (some of them medalists in the Beijing and London Olympics) and 67 of their nonathletic contemporaries, also found that being an athlete minimizes the performance differences that normally occur between women and men. Female athletes, the researchers found, were more like their male peers in the speed of their mental calculations and reaction times, while nonathletic females performed the same tasks more slowly than their male counterparts.
The study appears in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
"I think we have learned that athletes are different from us in some ways," said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director Arthur Kramer, who led the study with graduate student Heloisa Alves.
"We found that athletes were generally able to inhibit behavior, to stop quickly when they had to, which is very important in sport and in daily life, " Kramer said. "They were also able to activate, to pick up information from a glance and to switch between tasks more quickly than nonathletes. I would say these were modest differences, but they were interesting differences nonetheless."
Overall, the athletes were faster at memory tests and tasks that required them to switch between tasks. They were quicker to notice things in their peripheral vision and to detect subtle changes in a scene. And in general, they were better able to accomplish tasks while ignoring confusing or irrelevant information.
Perhaps the most interesting discovery was that female athletes had significant cognitive advantages over their nonathletic counterparts, Kramer said, advantages that minimized the subtle speed differences between them and the men. The female athletes were faster than their nonathletic peers at detecting changes in a scene and could more quickly pick out relevant details from a distracting background. Their performance on these and the other tasks was on par with the male athletes, whereas nonathletic males consistently outperformed their female peers.
Nonathletes excelled at only one of the cognitive tests the researchers administered. In this test, called the stopping task, participants were asked to type a "Z" or "/" key as soon as they saw it on a computer screen -- unless they heard a tone shortly after the character appeared, in which case they were told to refrain from responding. Nonathletes tended to be faster in cases where the tone never sounded, while athletes were better at inhibiting their responses after hearing a tone.
The ability to inhibit a response is one marker of what brain researchers call "executive function," the capacity to control, plan and regulate one's behavior, Kramer said. While it has obvious advantages in sport, the ability to quickly inhibit an action also is useful in daily life, he said.
"One way to think about it is you're in your car and you're ready to start off at a light and you catch in your side vision a car or a bicyclist that you didn't see a second ago," he said. Being able to stop after having decided to go can be a lifesaver in that situation.
"So both facilitating and inhibiting behavior is important," he said.
Kramer said the athletes' slower performance on this one task might be the result of a strategic decision they had made to wait and see if the tone sounded before they committed to pressing a key.
"My bet is that the athletes were just learning to read the task a little better," he said. "So if I'm a little slower in going, I'll be a little better at stopping if I need to."
All in all, the new findings add to the evidence that those who spend years training on specific physical tasks tend to also have enhanced cognitive abilities, Kramer said.
"Our understanding is imperfect because we don't know whether these abilities in the athletes were 'born' or 'made,' " he said. "Perhaps people gravitate to these sports because they're good at both. Or perhaps it's the training that enhances their cognitive abilities as well as their physical ones. My intuition is that it's a little bit of both."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Heloisa Alves, Michelle W. Voss, Walter R. Boot, Andrea Deslandes, Victor Cossich, Jose Inacio Salles, Arthur F. Kramer. Perceptual-Cognitive Expertise in Elite Volleyball Players. Frontiers in Psychology, 2013; 4 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00036
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/MGGdIeiAfaw/130318151634.htm
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?Being White? article sparks uproar in Philadelphia | The Scoop Blog
Just finished reading a lengthy article in Philadelphia Magazine that has that city in an uproar. Titled ?Being White in Philly,? the story was slammed last week by Mayor Michael Nutter, who called it ?disgusting? and demanded that its writer and editors be investigated by Philadelphia?s human relations commission.
The article, in some respects, echoes the kind of let?s-have-a-frank-talk-about-race discussions that are periodically promoted here in Dallas. It goes a step further, though, by suggesting Philadelphia?s now-minority white population is too fearful of being labeled ?racist? to speak their minds on the topic.
Writer Robert Huber goes on to recount conversations he had with unnamed white residents who did speak their minds ? some of them in terms that did, indeed, come across as racist. Huber and the magazine have taken a beating by African-American journalists who characterize the article as, at worst, bigoted and, at best, clueless. Many commenters were offended that the article did not include interviews with black residents, resulting in a ?one-sided? point of view.
My take was that that the article probably tried to do too much with its aim of characterizing the city?s complex race relations from a white perspective. I think the writer took pains to be honest, and that some of his effort to provide a genuine view of white racism backfired on him: In trying to say, ?Well, yes, some of the things they said to me were indeed racist,? he stands accused of sharing those views. It was an interesting read, and many of the points it raised ? and the criticisms that have been made against it ? would certainly be applicable to Dallas.
The bottom line, I guess, is that before we can even have a ?frank talk about race,? we have to agree on what exactly a ?frank talk? is ? and I don?t think we?re there yet. Clearly, a lot of people thought this wasn?t it.
Source: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/being-white-article-sparks-uproar-in-philadelphia.html/
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Sunday, March 17, 2013
Survey shows insurance ignorance is rife | Stuff.co.nz
John Cocks, aka Cocksy the builder, will front IAG?s ad campaign.
Two-thirds of?homeowners are still not aware that home insurance is changing and that they will be responsible for calculating the cost of replacing their home.
Giant international reinsurers have required New Zealand insurers to stop offering traditional house replacement insurance, which guaranteed homes covered would be rebuilt regardless of the cost.
Instead, cover is now the "sum insured", though capped insurance might be more accurate. That is because the "sum insured" refers only to the highest payout the insurer will make in the case of your house having to be completely rebuilt.
Any replacement policies still in existence are being phased out this year.
But a survey by giant Aussie-owned insurer IAG, which operates the State, NZI and AMI insurance brands, suggests despite the best efforts of insurers to flag the changes, only 33 per cent of policyholders are aware of what is happening.
It also indicates why that is so. Only 22 per cent of people with house insurance said they were "well aware" of what they were covered for even before the change has been rolled out.
Perhaps surprisingly, 35 per cent think they know what it would cost to rebuild their house, though that of course leaves 65 per cent who are not.
The findings have prompted IAG to create a new website which it is aiming to get up and running this week, called need2know.org.nz. This will explain the changes and, IAG says, is aimed at all of New Zealand, not just its policyholders. It will be advertising online, on TV, on radio and in newspapers.
In creating the website, and the online calculator which will be the main tool for people to work out what the rebuild cost of their home is likely to be (59 per cent of people said they would never pay a professional to provide an insurance valuation for their home), IAG found something out about people which may change the way insurers communicate with the public.
Testing revealed that written information on its own is not the way to get many Kiwis to understand complex information, or to provide them with help in approaching a hard task such as using an online calculator to estimate the rebuild cost of their home.
Instead, many of us are highly visual. Mixing the test with greater use of images, audio and film footage got complex messages across far more effectively.
That led IAG to hire celebrity builder John "Cocksy" Cocks of My House My Castle fame to front some films for the planned website to get across information on how to gauge things like the slope under a home, the quality and type of house construction and the age of a home in preparation for using an insurer's online calculator to estimate rebuild costs.
IAG businesses and distributors are shifting to sum-insured policies over the coming 14 months.
All new policies from the following dates will be sum-insured policies: ASB (from May 1), AMI (May 12), BNZ (May 6), Cooperative Bank (May 6), State (May 27), Lantern (April 20) and NZI (April 20).
Renewals of existing replacement policies will see policies begin switching to sum insured from the following dates: AMI (May 12), ASB (July 1), BNZ/Co-Op (June 1), Lantern (July 1), NZI (July 1), and State (May 27).
When people with replacement cover come to the end of their insured period, IAG companies will estimate a sum insured for them based on the information the insurer has about their home, but policyholders have to check whether this is accurate.
There's a lot riding on that.
If the insurance cap (sum insured) they select is too low, for example, and there is a building cost spike after a widespread disaster, the homeowner bears the risk of being under insured.
need2know.org.nz
- ? Fairfax NZ News
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Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8430964/Survey-shows-insurance-ignorance-is-rife
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Hollande turns to "good cop, bad cop" for French prison shakeup
By Alexandria Sage
PARIS (Reuters) - She is the darling of France's progressive left and recites poetry in parliament. He cultivates a tough-guy image and boxes to keep fit.
Justice Minister Christiane Taubira and Interior Minister Manuel Valls are the unlikely "good cop, bad cop" team tasked by Socialist President Francois Hollande with pushing through his latest sensitive reform: overhauling France's teeming prisons.
Criminal justice experts agree something must be done to tackle chronic overcrowding that prompted the Council of Europe rights body to describe conditions at one large French jail as "repugnant".
France's 191 prisons - some of them dating back to the Middle Ages - are among the most run-down in Europe. Rats and cockroaches, blocked drains and piles of rubbish are common.
One in ten inmates injects drugs and HIV and suicide rates are four and six times the national averages respectively.
But reforms to be debated in parliament from Tuesday will still expose Hollande to attacks from right-wing critics just as his ratings have hit record lows, weighed down by his failure to stem rising unemployment.
In February he braved marches by hundreds of thousands of conservative French to push a gay marriage bill through the lower house of parliament. That and the prison reform are vital to keeping his left-wing coalition happy as he carries on with deeply unpopular moves to cut France's high public deficit.
But after communications gaffes by his 10-month-old government on everything from taxes to rescuing industrial sites, Hollande can ill afford a new controversy flaring.
That is where the Valls-Taubira double act comes in.
"We are two sides of the same power," said Valls, who last week underlined his tough credentials by sending out riot police to tackle a crime wave in the southern port city Marseilles.
"Christiane Taubira and I are shaping the same policy: to ensure the security of the French and ensure that decisions taken by the law are efficient," Valls told French television.
PRISON LAST RESORT
The reforms are set to reverse a decade of "zero tolerance" crime policy under Nicolas Sarkozy, who made his name as Jacques Chirac's hardline interior minister before becoming president.
Sarkozy's approach contributed to a 34 percent rise in the prison population to nearly 70,000 over the past decade - five times the rate of growth in the overall population. Inmates often sleep on mats on the floor in overcrowded cells.
On Tuesday, parliament will debate a list of suggested reforms aimed at making prison a "last resort" by using fines, probation, treatment and training for less serious crimes.
Taubira's formal prison reform package, which is expected to include at least parts of those proposals, should be presented to parliament in the spring.
A 2009 justice ministry poll made public late last year found 77 percent of the French believed prison policy was not helping to cut crime - suggesting Hollande can count on substantial public support.
But conservatives and France's far-right National Front see a chance to attack Hollande for being soft on crime.
"This is a message of impunity to France's delinquents," said Eric Ciotti, a lawmaker for the conservative UMP party.
Valls' close association with Taubira is intended to counter such attacks. A regular on the evening news with his high-profile dashes to crime scenes, the 50-year-old is regularly named in polls as France's most-liked politician.
His broad appeal is backed up by Taubira's credibility among left-wing campaigners that was boosted by her unflappability during 110 hours of parliamentary debate on the gay marriage bill.
The 61-year-old native of France's overseas region of Guiana in South America won plaudits from friends and foes alike for a 12-day performance in which she quoted poetry, ridiculed conservative deputies and won a rare standing ovation.
Taubira's popularity lifted by eight points this month, a CSA poll found, the only member of Hollande's team to rise.
ATTACKS FROM THE RIGHT
"We incarcerate if it's necessary," Taubira told a March 7 briefing with foreign media. "We're breaking with the custom of the past decade to incarcerate up, down and sideways."
Taubira brushes off charges of leniency and says she will build new prisons to replace France's most squalid jails - a policy also endorsed by the right.
To further offset attacks from the right, the government has already taken steps to harden anti-terror laws and add video surveillance in crime-ridden areas. Valls has promised that serious youth delinquency will not be tolerated.
The Socialist parliamentary majority means the reforms are likely to get through, though a proposal to end mandatory minimum sentences could get watered down.
But Pierre Tournier, research director at France's CNRS think tank, said Taubira was unlikely to risk pushing on for even more radical reforms - such as lifting the ban on marijuana as urged by some on the left - particularly given the government's falling popularity over the struggling economy.
"The left has a big interest in proposing reforms but without waving red flags," Tournier said.
(Editing by Mark John and Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hollande-turns-good-cop-bad-cop-french-prison-132623658.html
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No. 13 Florida defeats Alabama 61-51 in SEC semis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Florida finally showed it can win a close game. All it takes is for senior guard Kenny Boynton to answer his coach's challenge.
Held scoreless for the first 25 minutes, Boynton had 11 straight points during a critical 15-0 run Saturday as No. 13 Florida erased a 10-point, second-half deficit to beat Alabama 61-51 in a Southeastern Conference semifinal.
Boynton said he benefited from Gators coach Billy Donovan's halftime message to him. The senior guard's second-half surge helped Florida end its season-long frustration in close games.
"He challenged me to come out and play with confidence," Boynton said. "Honestly he did challenge me, and I think I tried to step up to it."
The top-seeded Gators (26-6) advanced to the championship game Sunday against No. 3 seed Mississippi (25-8), which defeated Vanderbilt 64-52 in the other semifinal. Alabama (21-12), the tournament's No. 4 seed, will spend Sunday waiting to learn its fate from the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Most mock brackets had Alabama on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble at the start of the week. Alabama went 12-6 in conference play during the regular season but hurt its cause by going 1-5 in December, including home nonconference losses to Mercer and Tulane.
"I'll just go to sleep, wake up tomorrow and see what they choose," Alabama guard Trevor Lacey said. "Whatever they choose, we go from there."
Boynton scored all 16 of his points during a 7-minute span. Patric Young had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Gators. Mike Rosario added 10 points. Trevor Releford scored 12 points, and Nick Jacobs and Lacey each added 11 for Alabama.
Alabama led 37-27 with 16:05 remaining before Florida reeled off 15 straight points over the next 5 minutes. In the lone regular-season meeting between the two teams, Florida rallied from eight points down in the final 12? minutes to win 64-52 on March 2 in Gainesville.
That 64-52 result represented Florida's narrowest margin of victory all season before Saturday. The Gators entered Saturday leading the nation in scoring margin (plus-18.9), but they're 0-5 in games decided by six points or fewer.
"We know that to win out games in the NCAA tournament, games are going to be close, so we have to consistently close out games," Boynton said.
This game featured the SEC's two best scoring defenses, with Florida (53.4) and Alabama (58.9) allowing fewer than 60 points per game. And it started out as a defensive struggle. Seven minutes into the game, Florida led 6-2.
But after missing four of its first five shots and committing four turnovers in the first 5? minutes, Alabama's offense found a rhythm. The Crimson Tide shot 55 percent (11 of 20) in the first half against a Florida team that hadn't allowed anyone to shoot 50 percent or better this season.
The Tide stayed hot early in the second half and extended its lead to 37-27 when Releford sank two free throws with 16:05 remaining.
"We were playing good defense," Young said. "They were knocking down some tough twos, some tough threes. But we knew they can't hold that up the whole (game) because they haven't been doing that the whole year. It's been tough for them to score in the halfcourt the whole season."
That's when Boynton took over the game.
Boynton entered the day shooting just 38.9 percent, making him a subject of criticism for much of his senior season. Boynton shot 1 of 7 and scored two points Friday in an SEC quarterfinal victory over LSU, but he didn't get down on himself and maintained the support of his teammates.
"Our team loves Kenny Boynton," Donovan said. "When people watch and the ball doesn't go in the basket, it's very, very easy to point fingers and be critical. But I would say that maybe of anybody on our team, Kenny Boynton is truly loved inside of our team. He's a great teammate. He does want to win. He wants to make every shot he takes. He doesn't intentionally try to miss. But he's gone through a little bit of a tough shooting period."
That tough period might have ended Saturday.
First, the senior guard made a pair of free throws to cut Alabama's lead to 37-31. Next, he made a driving basket. Then, Boynton sank a 3-pointer. He followed that up with a fast-break layup that gave Florida the lead. Boynton closed this stunning flurry by going into the paint and making a shot off the glass that extended Florida's advantage to 40-37 with 12:02 remaining.
"My teammates found me in transition," Boynton said. "Basically, I didn't get more aggressive or anything. The floor just opened up more."
Boynton added a basket that put Florida ahead 47-40 with 9:40 left and a 3-pointer that made 50-42 with 8:11 remaining. Alabama wouldn't cut the margin below four points the rest of the way.
"This was a grind-it-out game," Rosario said. "This was a 40-minute game. Guys knew Kenny needed to step up for us in the second half. I felt he took on that challenge. When that run happened, it just fed off positive energy to all (his) teammates. I felt everyone on the team embraced that."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-13-florida-defeats-alabama-61-51-sec-190717757--spt.html
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Former track coach sues university
AUSTIN (AP) - Former University of Texas women's track coach Bev Kearney has filed race and gender discrimination complaints against the school with federal and state officials, the first step toward her pursuing a lawsuit.
Kearney, who is black, filed complaints Tuesday with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission. By law, those agencies must have the case for 180 days before she can sue.
Kearney resigned Jan. 5 as Texas prepared to fire her for an inappropriate relationship with one of her athletes in 2002. Texas later revealed that assistant football coach Major Applewhite, who is white, was allowed to keep his job after having an inappropriate relationship with a student trainer on a bowl trip in 2008. Applewhite was reprimanded in 2009 by athletic director DeLoss Dodds and his pay was frozen for a year.
University officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
"We think there is a double standard at the University of Texas, giving men the opportunity to engage in inappropriate relationships without fear of being caught or punished," Kearney attorney Derek Howard said Saturday.
Howard said more details on Kearney's complaints would be released Monday.
Kearney, who was hired at Texas in 1993, won six national championships with the Longhorns. She had been recommended for a large raise until the relationship was reported to the school in October and she was suspended in November.
Although Kearney and the school described the relationship as consensual, Patti Ohlendorf, Texas vice president for legal affairs, said in January the school could not condone a coach having a relationship with an athlete, saying it "crosses the line of trust placed in the head coach for all aspects of the athletic program and the best interests of the student athletes on the team."
School officials have said they don't believe Kearney had any similar relationships with other student athletes.
In Applewhite's case, his relationship with the student trainer wasn't publicly revealed until 2013. According to a 2009 document in his personnel file released by the school last month, Applewhite was ordered by Dodds to undergo counseling and warned that a repeat offense would have more serious consequences.
Applewhite, a former Texas quarterback, was the Longhorns' running backs coach and in his first season with the team in 2008 when Texas went the Fiesta Bowl in 2008. He is now Texas' offensive coordinator. Applewhite has said the relationship was a "one-time" occurrence.
Source: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/former-track-coach-sues-university
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Saturday, March 16, 2013
U.S. drone strikes violate Pakistan's sovereignty: U.N.
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has violated Pakistan's sovereignty and shattered tribal structures with unmanned drone strikes in its counterterrorism operations near the Afghan border, a U.N. human rights investigator said in a statement on Friday.
U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, Ben Emmerson, visited Pakistan for three days this week as part of his investigation into the civilian impact of the use of drones and other forms of targeted killings.
"As a matter of international law, the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan is ... being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State," Emmerson said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
"It involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty," he said.
Emmerson said in January he would investigate 25 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories. He is expected to present his final report to the U.N. General Assembly in October.
Washington had little to say about Emmerson's statement.
"We've seen his press release. I'm obviously not going to speak about classified information here," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "We have a strong ongoing counterterrorism dialogue with Pakistan and that will continue."
Spokesman Josh Earnest said the White House would withhold judgment until it sees Emmerson's full report.
"We have a solid working relationship with them (Pakistan) on a range of issues, including a close cooperative security relationship, and we're in touch with them on a regular basis on those issues."
'END MILITARY INTERFERENCE'
Emmerson said the Pashtun tribes of northwestern Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, Pakistan's largely lawless region bordering Afghanistan, have been decimated by the counterterrorism operations.
"These proud and independent people have been self-governing for generations, and have a rich tribal history that has been too little understood in the West," he said. "Their tribal structures have been broken down by the military campaign in FATA and by the use of drones in particular."
The tribal areas have never been fully integrated into Pakistan's administrative, economic or judicial system. They are dominated by ethnic Pashtun tribes, some of which have sheltered and supported militants over decades of conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.
Clearing out militant border sanctuaries is seen by Washington as crucial to bringing stability to Afghanistan, particularly as the U.S.-led combat mission ends in 2014.
Most, but not all, attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles have been by the United States. Britain and Israel have also used them, and dozens of other countries are believed to possess the technology.
"It is time for the international community to heed the concerns of Pakistan, and give the next democratically elected government of Pakistan the space, support and assistance it needs to deliver a lasting peace on its own territory without forcible military interference by other states," Emmerson said.
The U.N. Human Rights Council asked Emmerson to start an investigation of the drone attacks following requests by countries including Pakistan, Russia and China.
Criticism of drone strikes centers on the number of civilians killed and the fact that they are launched across sovereign states' borders so frequently, far more than conventional attacks by piloted aircraft.
Retired U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, who devised the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, warned in January against overusing drones, which have provoked angry demonstrations in Pakistan.
Civilian casualties from drone strikes have angered local populations and created tension between the United States and Pakistan and Afghanistan. Washington has sought to portray civilian casualties as minimal, but groups collecting data on these attacks say they have killed hundreds of civilians.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-drone-strikes-violate-pakistans-sovereignty-u-n-190841160.html
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Friday, March 15, 2013
Naija Ninja presents Workshop on Screen Acting and Writing
Naija Ninja presents Workshop on Screen Acting and Writing
Hustle2Fame is a self styled television drama from the Naija Ninja Studios. The show
features the urban, hip-hop life style as present in the music industry. This television
project is set to create the new school acting professionals for the TV and film industry.
WORKSHOP ON SCREEN ACTING AND WRITING.
Starts Wednesday 20th March to Tuesday 26th March 2013 at The RockView Hotel, Plot
33, 23 Road, 2nd Avenue, Festac town, Lagos ? a one week intensive training on the
technical basics of screen acting and writing. a total of 30 participants will be involved
in the workshop, 25 participants for screen acting and 5 participants will be admitted for
screen writing. The successful participants will be immediately engaged in our
professional production (Hustle2Fame) as actors and writers.
Register Now: http://www.naijaninjas.com/hustle2fame/register
SCREEN ACTING WORKSHOP (course outline)
*Basic acting skills and production terminologies.
*Technical demands of screen acting (techniques for acting for camera)
*Improvisation and interpretation, (script analysis, from preparation to presentation)
*communicating emotions for camera.
*Actors tool and relaxation in front of the camera.
*Speech and voice training.
*Shooting environment.
*Casting and audition technique (marketing yourself as an actor).
*The Nigerian television and film environment.
*Production of actors show reel.
Register Now: http://www.naijaninjas.com/hustle2fame/register
WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS
Participants most come in comfortable cloths and with a bottle of water.
Participants must have access to a computer with internet.
Participants must read course handbook and participate in class discussion and daily
practical session
Participants are required to turn up with writing materials and keep a journal regarding
performance , observations e.t.c
Register Now: http://www.naijaninjas.com/hustle2fame/register
THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
Interested participants should have a minimum of secondary school qualification.
Admission into the workshop programme is conducted via verbal audition
Participants can only be admitted when certified by the interviewers to be qualified
Applicants should be at least 16 yrs of age and must speak fluent English
An account info will be issued to successful participants for payment of registration
fees (N10,000).
For Auditions and more information, Please Call 08156960267 or Email:
theshowtv@yahoo.com
Very Limited Spaces are available.
Thanks and Good-luck!
Register Now: http://www.naijaninjas.com/hustle2fame/register
SOURCE:??http://www.naijaninjas.com
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Ang Lee moves into TV after 'Life of Pi' Oscar win
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Double Oscar winner Ang Lee is moving over to television after winning the Best Director Academy Award last month for "Life of Pi."
Cable channel FX said on Thursday that the Taiwanese filmmaker will direct the pilot episode of its drama "Tyrant," about an unassuming American family drawn into the affairs of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.
It is Lee's first venture into directing for television and his first project since 2012's "Life of Pi," the tale of a young Indian boy shipwrecked with a tiger that won four Oscars in February.
Production is due to start in the summer but no broadcast date or casting has been announced. Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff - the team behind Emmy-winning psychological thriller "Homeland" - are the executive producers.
"Ang Lee has demonstrated time and again an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition," FX President John Landgraf said in a statement.
Lee, 58, is one of the more versatile directors in the industry, his work ranging from martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to British literary classic "Sense and Sensibility" and sci-fi action movie "Hulk."
He won his first Oscar in 2006 for directing the gay cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain."
FX, and TV production company Fox 21, which is producing "Tyrant" along with FX Productions, are all units of News Corp
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; editing by Xavier Briand)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ang-lee-moves-tv-life-pi-oscar-win-204700740--finance.html
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Singapore Restaurant Booking Site Chope Raises $2.5M Series B
Chope has raised $2.5 million (S$3.2 million) in Series B funding. The round was led by local publishing house, Singapore Press Holdings, which now owns about 25% of the startup, valued at $1.4 million (S$1.81 million). Chope operates a similar service to OpenTable, and allows restaurant bookings through its website and mobile apps. It provides a restaurant booking backend system licensed from a UK provider to its member restaurants, and that links up to its web front end to allow the bookings to be made. The news was disclosed quietly to the Singapore Stock Exchange over the weekend from Singapore Press Holdings. The Singaporean startup launched in 2011, and expanded to cover Hong Kong in mid-2012. It has 224 restaurants on its roster, and makes about 10,000 reservations a week, according to Arrif Ziaudeen, its CEO and co-founder. It celebrated its millionth diner served in July last year. The company also managed to get its app preloaded onto the Samsung Galaxy S3 models sold in Singapore. The obvious inspiration for Chope?s creation, OpenTable, began operations in San Francisco in 1999, and has about 25,000 restaurants in its database. Like OpenTable, Chope?s service is free to users, and the company charges restaurants a fee to use its reservation booking system, with additional fees per diner coming in through the website. OpenTable has expanded to include other European markets such as France, Germany and the UK in recent years. Additional questions have been sent to Chope on how much control Singapore Press Holdings will have over its day-to-day operations, now that the publisher owns a decent chunk of it.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/78oNG_qKK3g/
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Obama set to meet with political foes in House
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(Updated at 3:15 PM)
House Republicans emerged from a rare conference-wide meeting with President Barack Obama Wednesday. The lengthy discussion on the future of the country focused on taxes, entitlements, immigration, gun control, the nation's relationship with Israel, energy and, yes, the announcement of a new pope.
During his talk, an aide handed the president a note that informed him that there was white smoke billowing from the chimney at the Vatican, and he shared the news with the House lawmakers.
The news from Rome, however, may have been the only major surprise for the lawmakers. Many said after the meeting that while they appreciated the gesture from the president, they still needed more proof that he was willing to negotiate and act in good faith. He told them that he was willing to work with them on tax and entitlement reform, but he also made clear that he wouldn't budget on his demand that higher tax revenue be part of a "grand bargain."
All in all, it was a good first step, lawmakers who attended the meeting said afterwards, but now they want to see him act.
"The best way he can tell us what he wants to do is in a budget, " said North Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem on her way out of the meeting. "And until he puts the action into place, what he says doesn't really matter. We're going to get a lot of lip service out of this guy, I'm just really hoping we can finally get some action out of him."
The president is expected to release his own budget in April, and several Republicans said they will look to that document to gauge the president's willingness to work with them.
"We'll see what comes of it, that's what matters," said Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon.
Walden also noted he was dismayed that Obama was planning to speak to Organizing for Action later that day, his former campaign organization that became a liberal advocacy group after the election.
"The question is, Is this just another chapter in the never-ending campaign? ... Especially after we know the president is going to speak to Organizing for Action tonight," said Walden. "We know he's made it clear that taking out the House is his big priority. And we know he's been on the never-ending campaign tour up to this point, so there's a trust factor."
Obama, who served as an Illinois senator before rising to the presidency, was not in familiar territory like he was on Tuesday when he met with Senate Democrats. Over lunch Wednesday afternoon, Obama shared a basement room of the Capitol with more than 200 Republicans, many of whom actively campaigned against his re-election and others who have publicly accused him of being a "socialist" and an "imperial" leader. The direct talks were the first time he has addressed the entire group for three years, when Republicans invited the president to a conference-wide retreat in Baltimore. For many lawmakers, Wednesday's meeting was the first time they got to meet Obama face to face.
The decision to hold an open discussion with House Republicans is part of a new, so-called "charm offensive" by the White House meant to ease tensions with Capitol Hill. In the aftermath of the failed negotiations to avoid $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts last month and the terse conversations involved in finding an alternative to the "fiscal cliff" in January, the relationship between lawmakers and the president could use a bit of thawing.
At a press conference following the meeting, Speaker John Boehner described the tone as the "most encouraging" part of the discussion. "I thought the tone of the meeting both from the president and from our members was very respectful. There was a candid, frank conversation," he said. When asked to explain exactly how the meeting was "productive," a word used by both parties when describing this week's meetings with the president, Boehner said it was useful to allow members to "understand where he's coming from."
While all of the lawmakers described the meeting as "polite," the sharpest difference between the House vision and the presidents' appeared to deal with whether the federal government should strive to balance the budget. The House Republican budget, unveiled Tuesday, seeks to balance the budget within a decade. The Democratic budget released by the Senate on Wednesday, does not.
"He does not want to balance the budget in ten years and he wants tax increases. And he wants new spending," a dour California Rep. Darrell Issa said as he exited the meeting. "But other than that, we're close."
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