UCLA hires Steve Alford as new basketball coach

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Steve Alford was hired as UCLA basketball coach on Saturday, spurning New Mexico days after he agreed to a new 10-year deal with the Lobos for a chance to run what he called "the premier basketball program in the country."

The Bruins are bringing in someone who shares the same Indiana roots as John Wooden, who led UCLA to a record 10 national championships, including seven in a row, before retiring in 1975. Alford learned about Wooden as a first-grader in Martinsville, Ind., where his father, Sam, coached the high school basketball team at Wooden's alma mater.

"Ever since then there was a draw to find out more about him," Alford said on a teleconference. "I know my first steps into Pauley I will really feel that."

Alford agreed to a seven-year deal worth $18.2 million, with a yearly salary of $2.6 million and a $200,000 signing bonus, according to UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero.

Alford will be introduced in Westwood on Tuesday.

"This is truly a leap of faith," he said.

Guerrero said UCLA reached out to Alford first, not knowing whether he would be interested in the Bruins. Once he confirmed he was, the details were finalized early Saturday, Guerrero said.

"It was not an easy decision because I was extremely happy," Alford said. "I was about as happy as I can be.

"When I kept thinking about things, it still came back to UCLA. You're talking about the premier basketball program in the country. To have an opportunity like this, they don't come around every day."

Guerrero said Alford is "the perfect fit for UCLA" because he connects with a new generation of players and brings an up-tempo and team-oriented style of play to Westwood.

"He's ready for this stage," Guerrero said.

Alford's deal with New Mexico, scheduled to take effect on April 1, was worth more than $20 million over 10 years.

Guerrero said Alford is responsible for a buyout of his agreement in Albuquerque, but that UCLA would work out the details. Both Alford and New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs said they didn't know how much the buyout was worth.

Alford, who is 48, succeeds Ben Howland, who was fired last weekend after 10 years and a 233-107 record that included three consecutive Final Four appearances and four Pac-12 titles. The Bruins were 25-10 this season, which ended with a 20-point loss to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Alford led New Mexico to a 29-6 record this season that included the Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles. But the Lobos were upset by Harvard in the second round of the NCAAs shortly after Alford's new contract had been announced.

Alford had a 155-52 record in six years at New Mexico, with the Lobos making three trips to the NCAA tournament. He was selected Mountain West coach of the year three times.

"I'm about building programs, not teams, not seasons," Alford said. "UCLA doesn't just want one winning season, UCLA wants a basketball program that is going to breed consistent excellence.

"I've always tried to do things with excellence. When you think of UCLA in every regard, you see the word excellence."

Expectations have always been high in Westwood since Wooden's era. The Bruins own a record 11 national championships, but have won just one ? in 1995 under Jim Harrick ? since Wooden retired.

"Nobody understands pressure any more than I do. I've been under pressure since I was 16," said Alford, whose high school gym in New Castle, Ind., seats 10,000 and frequently sold out when he was there. "You're not going to find anybody more competitive than I am."

Guerrero said, "He's not the kind of guy that will shy away from what UCLA basketball is all about."

The Lobos didn't just lose Alford, they also won't have his son, Bryce, on their roster next season. Alford said his highly touted son would follow him to Westwood, continuing a tradition that Alford first established when he played under his father at New Castle Chrysler High.

Krebs said it was clear when he talked to Alford on Saturday morning that his mind was made up, and although he's disappointed, he said he respected the decision.

Krebs said it was like a "bomb dropped in the room" when Alford told his players he was leaving.

"This is a very emotional time," Krebs said. "There is no good way to break the news to the young men in the program. ... There's a lot of raw emotion right now."

Alford said, "That's not easy to look those young men in the face, but I think they understand. The reason they understand is it's UCLA. If it was anywhere else, this is not a decision that would have been made."

Lobos senior center Alex Kirk said, "Nobody would say no to UCLA. That's crazy."

Guerrero had said he wanted a coach who would help boost season ticket sales. The Bruins had just a few sellouts at newly renovated Pauley Pavilion this season.

"I think the UCLA family will embrace him. I think he'll be able to hit on all cylinders," Guerrero said. "He'll be able to energize the fan base in so many ways. Look at New Mexico, they get 15,000 a game. It's madness there."

Alford is known for his up-tempo coaching style, which should suit Bruins fans turned off by Howland's grind-it-out defensive emphasis.

"We do like to score points, we like transition, we like to get up and down the floor," he said, while noting that defense wins championships. "Ultimately, it's about the product ? are they good young men of character and integrity?"

Alford called recruiting in fertile Southern California "of the utmost importance." He had players from the region on his New Mexico roster, including Kendall Williams, who became Mountain West player of the year.

"I will hit the ground running," he said, noting the respect he has for high school coaches was formed through his father.

Alford's other head coaching stints were at Iowa (2000-07), Missouri State (1996-99) and Manchester College (1992-95) in Indiana.

Alford is famous in the Hoosier state, where he starred at Indiana University from 1984-87 under coach Bob Knight. The Hoosiers won the national championship in his senior year. He also played on the gold medal-winning 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Los Angeles as a college sophomore. Knight coached that team. Alford said he put in a call to his former coach about taking the UCLA job.

Alford was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1987 and played four years in the NBA before starting his head coaching career at tiny Division III Manchester.

As a high school senior, Alford averaged 37.7 points and was Indiana Mr. Basketball.

Besides Bryce, Alford and his wife, Tanya, have a son, Kory, and a daughter, Kayla.

___

Associated Press Writer Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ucla-hires-steve-alford-basketball-coach-162919050--spt.html

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A Map to Show Where the Drought Will Get Worse

The drought that swept across America last summer affected 80 percent of U.S. agricultural land, making it the most severe in more than half a century. As water becomes an increasingly critical issue in many regions in the U.S., not just the dry Southwest, water managers need increasingly accurate models and maps.

One of the most important factors for water availability is evapotranspiration (ET), a figure that combines evaporation and plant breathing, known as transpiration. Although most of the water that falls from the sky goes toward ET, it has historically been difficult to calculate with accuracy. But a new model, developed by the United States Geological Society (USGS), gives water managers a better picture of how much water their area and region is losing.

The model shows that huge swaths of the Western U.S., including nearly all of the farmland West of the Mississippi River, is losing most of or all of the total precipitation to ET. If temperatures continue to trend upward, Central California, the High Plains, and Northwest Montana are some of the places that could see even more water scarcity than they do now.

Ward Sanford, a hydrologist with USGS and lead author of the study that appeared in the February issue of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association, says climate data improved significantly over the past decade. More information on precipitation, even in places where it changes rapidly was particularly important, as was the spread of GIS (geographic information system) technology, which allowed hydrologists to work faster, more cheaply and over larger areas than they could with traditional methods.

"To calculate ET, it's a very difficult thing to do. There's a lot of uncertainty," says Karl Taboga, a hydrogeologist with the Wyoming Geological Society, which is compiling groundwater studies to updates the state's river basin plans. Traditionally, many water managers would do just a water-balance approach to calculate ET. If they know the precipitation and then subtract the water stored in wells and flowing out of streams, the missing water is ET. Another approach is to measure the radiant energy needed to turn the water to gas as it evaporates at the surface, but it is usually only done over small areas because it is labor intensive.

Credit: Sanford et. al.

The new USGS model takes 30 years of historical precipitation data and water-balance information, and then combines them with climate and land cover regression models, which estimate the conditions via statistical analysis. "Climate variables are the most influential in determining ET, with the land cover adding a small but finite additional effect," Sanford says. He first developed the model when doing water studies for the state of Virginia, "then I realized we could so this for the whole country," he adds.

Some places aren't doing so badly. Taboga's home state of Wyoming has relatively healthy aquifers, for example. But around the country, Sandford's USGS model shows just how hard the drought has hit, especially across the Midwest, traditionally known as America's breadbasket. In regions such as the High Plains and the Central Valley in California, the ratio of ET to precipitation is greater than 1, meaning that evapotransiration is greater than the amount of precipitation?the area is losing water. In many of the areas with high rates of ET, such as the High Plains, water is imported to sustain agriculture. "We're engineering those areas to be that way; they can't be that way naturally," Sanford says. "How long is this sustainable?"

To help answer this question, the files for the model, which are free online, can be used to predict how water availability will change if average temperatures ratchet higher. Knowing how the water is being depleted, resource managers can take action to decrease the depletion and plan for the future, Taboga says, whether that's limiting or reallocating water rights or suggesting irrigation efficiency to legislators. He says the model will be especially important in places like the Ogallala Aquifer that stretches under the Great Plains region, which covers many states with competing interests. In water-scarce regions like the Middle East, models that can be used across the entire region are even more critical.

Sandford's next project is to combine his modeling with satellite data for an even more robust picture of ET across large areas, especially as climate shifts. "Even if precipitation goes up in the next 10, 20 years," Sanford says, "if the temperature goes up, it's going to leave even less water available."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/water/a-map-to-show-where-the-drought-will-get-worse-15273242?src=rss

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In Russia, teen complains of adoptive US parents

MOSCOW (AP) ? A teenager adopted by an American couple has returned to Russia, claiming that his adoptive family treated him badly and that he lived on the streets of Philadelphia and stole just to survive, Russian state media reported.

The allegations by Alexander Abnosov, who was adopted around five years ago and is now 18, will likely fuel outrage here over the fate of Russian children adopted by Americans. It's an anger that the Kremlin has carefully stoked in recent months to justify its controversial ban on U.S. adoptions.

Russia's Channel 1 and Rossiya television ? which are both state controlled ? reported Tuesday that Abnosov returned from a Philadelphia suburb to the Volga river city of Cheboksary, where his 72-year-old grandmother lives.

Russian media identified the teen as Alexander Abnosov, but also show him displaying a U.S. passport that gives his name as Joshua Alexander Salotti.

Abnosov, who spoke in a soft voice and appeared somewhat restrained, complained to Rossiya that his adoptive mother was "nagging at small things."

"She would make any small problem big," he said on Channel 1. He also told Channel 1 that he fled home because of the conflicts with his adoptive mother, staying on the streets for about three months and stealing.

"I was stealing stuff and sold them to get some food," he said with a shy smile.

According to the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Abnosov says that his parents visited him while he stayed in a shelter in Philadelphia, but that they didn't ask him to come home as he'd expected. Channel 1 said his adoptive father gave him $500 to buy a ticket to Russia, though it wasn't clear when he arrived here.

The newspaper said it reached Abnosov's adoptive mother, who denied driving him away. She was quoted as saying he was asked to come home, but said he wanted to return to Russia where he has relatives to care for.

The teen's adoptive parents ? identified in the media reports as Steve and Jackie Salotti ? could not immediately be reached Tuesday.

A woman who identified herself as a relative at the couple's home in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, said the parents weren't there and did not want to discuss the case.

The teen attended the Methacton School District in Pennsylvania from April 2004 through the fall of 2012, when he withdrew from Methacton High School, spokeswoman Angela Linch said Tuesday.

Abnosov's story was top news on Russian state television, which tried to cast it as an example of the alleged misfortunes that befall Russian children adopted by U.S. parents.

The Russian government in December banned all American adoptions of Russian children in retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting alleged Russian human-rights violators.

Some 60,000 children have been adopted by Americans in the past two decades, and many Russians disagree with the ban, seeing it as a politically driven move depriving children of a chance to have a family.

To help justify it, the ban has been accompanied by extensive state media coverage of what is described as numerous cases of parental cruelty to adopted Russian children in the United States. The Kremlin also has accused U.S. authorities of turning a blind eye to such cases.

Most recently, Russian officials pointed to the Jan. 21 death of 3-year-old Max Shatto, born Maxim Kuzmin, whose mother found him unresponsive outside their home in Gardendale, Texas.

Russian officials claimed the boy was the victim of "inhuman treatment," and expressed disbelief with an American grand jury decided earlier this month not to charge Max's adoptive parents in his death after a prosecutor concluded his fatal injuries were accidental.

Abnosov's grandmother told Rossiya that she was refused custody of her grandson after his alcoholic father died five years ago.

"I've been asking them to give me the boy," she said, referring to child welfare officials. "But I was very ill then, and they told me I was too old and ill to raise him."

Abnosov indicated he plans to stay in Russia, and state media reported that he is going through the legal process needed to establish at what level he would fit in the Russian education system.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Maryclaire Dale in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-teen-complains-adoptive-us-parents-161705946.html

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This SoCal Water Treatment Plant Is Powered by Poop

The Inland Empire's cadre of water treatment plants clean millions of gallons of waste water every day. But what to do with all that left over poo? Normally it's unceremoniously dumped in a local landfill but at Regional Water Recycling Plant No. 1, that massive pile of crap is put to a better use—making electricity with the largest biogas fuel cell generator in America. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oxWPRzS4A1o/this-socal-water-treatment-plant-is-powered-by-poop

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BracketRacket: A bookstore, a reunion and a mamba

Duke's Mason Plumlee (5) dunks the ball past Albany's Luke Devlin (11), Sam Rowley (14) and Jacob Iati (0) during the second half of a second-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 22, 2013, in Philadelphia. Duke won 73-61. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Duke's Mason Plumlee (5) dunks the ball past Albany's Luke Devlin (11), Sam Rowley (14) and Jacob Iati (0) during the second half of a second-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 22, 2013, in Philadelphia. Duke won 73-61. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta calls a play against Iowa State in the first half of a third-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday March 24, 2013, in Dayton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

Welcome back to BracketRacket, the one-stop shopping place for all your NCAA needs.

Today's edition includes the mad rush at Florida Gulf Coast's bookstore, a Plumlee family reunion and Nate Silver's reconfigured odds for the 16 teams left in the field. And, for your viewing pleasure, a little dance move we've called the (Gregg) Marshall Mamba.

___

BOOKSTORE RUSH

The surprising run to the Sweet 16 has made Florida Gulf Coast University a favorite bandwagon team, with fans from all over the nation jumping onboard.

On campus, it's created quite a stir, particularly at the university bookstore.

After the guys from Dunk City became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16, the school bookstore was bombarded with hundreds people hoping to pick up FGCU gear. The bookstore website had Sweet 16 shirts available Monday morning and the line outside the store snaked around more than 100 long. Customers stood shoulder to shoulder inside ? a somewhat blurry look here: http://bit.ly/10cKHAY ? and the checkout lines took up to an hour to get through.

According to information provided by Susan Evans, FGCU's vice president and chief of staff, sales of hats and apparel for the men's team at the bookstore from March 1-25 were just under $115,000, over $100,000 more than a year ago. The women's team has gotten a nice boost in popularity as well, sales of their team's gear at over $34,000 after hitting just over $5,000 last year.

The school's websites also have seen a huge uptick in traffic during the Eagles' run.

The daily unique visitors to www.fgcu.edu barely eclipsed 50,000 even after FGCU made it into the NCAA tournament, but was over 230,000 on Monday. The athletics website, www.fgcuathletics.com, had a dramatic jump as well, climbing over 117,000 unique visitors after hovering under 10,000 before the weekend.

Oh, and the Eagles seem to have some strong support in Alaska, at least to an ESPN SportsNation poll: http://bit.ly/15SgVEP

___

FAMILY REUNION

Miles Plumlee spent most of his rookie season bouncing from the NBA's Indiana Pacers to the D-League's Fort Wayne Mad Ants and back.

Now he's hitting the road again ? at the wrong time for an impromptu family reunion.

His two younger brothers, Mason and Marshall, will be in town for Thursday night's NCAA Midwest Regional, playing for second-seeded Duke against No. 3 Michigan State at Lucas Oil Stadium.

"I'm excited for them, but I'm a little upset we're not playing any home games this week," Miles told AP Sports Writer Michael Marot after Tuesday's Pacers practice.

About an hour after practice, Miles left with the team headed to Houston for its first stop on a four-game road trip that runs through the rest of the regional round.

The rest of the Plumlees will likely converge on his hometown while the oldest brother is gone.

"I have no idea who's coming, but a lot of the family is coming. We still have a lot of family here," Miles said. "I'm so proud of him (Mason). He's put in a lot of work since his freshman year and now you can see how he's grown."

___

SILVER'S ODDS

Statistical guru Nate Silver has recalculated the odds for the final 16 teams in the NCAA tournament.

Why do you care what he thinks? Well, the man from the FiveThirtyEight blog had his statistics dialed in the past two presidential elections, nailing all 50 states in the most recent one while calling nearly every Senate race.

He's turned his critical eye toward the NCAA bracket and came up with new odds now that the field has pared down.

Louisville is still the favorite, its odds up to 32.4 percent from 23.8 percent. Next in line is Florida, which jumped eight points to 21.3 percent and leapfrogged Indiana, which dropped nearly eight points from 18.4.

Florida Gulf Coast has better odds of winning now that the No. 15 seed has reached the Sweet 16, but not much ? the Eagles are up to 0.02 percent after starting at 0.001.

See Silver's analysis here: http://nyti.ms/10F5Irz

___

MARSHALL MAMBA

Yesterday, we showed you Miami coach Jim Larranaga's version of the Muhammad Ali Shuffle.

Today, we give you the celebration dance of Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall. The Marshall Mamba? Via Yahoo! Sports and CBS/Turner: http://yhoo.it/105XzJ7

___

WHAT DOES A GUY GOTTA DO?

Used to be that getting to the NCAA tournament was a huge goal for a basketball program.

These days, it's not always good enough.

On Monday, UCLA's Ben Howland and Minnesota's Tubby Smith were fired after leading their teams to the field of 68.

Howland had a 10-year run in Westwood, going 233-107 while making three consecutive Final Four appearances and winning four Pac-12 titles. The Bruins were the regular-season champions this season and went 25-10, but lost to Minnesota by 20 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Smith, who won a national championship with Kentucky in 1998, was fired Monday after the Gophers lost to Florida in the NCAA's third round. He went 124-81 in six seasons at Minnesota, helping to bring the program back to respectability after it was hit hard by an academic cheating scandal.

Now both coaches are looking for jobs.

___

STAT OF THE DAY

Ratings for the first week of the NCAA tournament were the highest in 15 years.

Turns out, you're watching online, too.

NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports, set all-time marks by getting 36.6 million live video streams and more than 10 million hours of live video across online and mobile platforms during the opening weekend on the NCAA tournament.

The live video streams doubled from last year and the live video time is up 198 percent.

That's a lot of tablets and smartphones tuned in to the tournament.

___

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"He is an avid physical fitness freak. That's probably a reason why his back situation is what it is today. He would run 20 miles at a time. The physical condition that he is in is amazing to this day. I would've been the opposite, I would've been doing whatever I'm supposed to do other than that. In a funny way, that combination made us get along so well." ? Arizona Sean Miller on Ohio State coach Thad Matta, whom he calls one of his closest friends in coaching.

___

Follow John Marshall on Twitter at http://twitter.com/johnmarshallap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-27-BKC-BracketRacket/id-44c48bb523514d9790ea543f1ecca856

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Federal Internet Marketing For Victoria Businesses Offered In 3 ...

Thunder Bay, Ontario (March 6, 2013) - Federal Internet Marketing is reaching out to businesses in Victoria, BC. The company provides expertise on internet marketing for Victoria businesses to get in the top search engine results using a three-phase method.

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Source: http://www.freepressbox.com/news-federal-internet-marketing-for-victoria-businesses-offered-in-3-phases-232105.html

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Institutional Investors Increase Their Home Buying Activity by 50%

Monday, March 25th, 2013
By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit Confidential

I may be the only one saying it: the rise in the U.S. housing market doesn?t look sustainable.

One of the most critical components of the housing market I follow is first-time home buyers. Why? As I have said many times in these pages, they are the ones who promote economic growth by increasing consumer spending after they make a home purchase; they buy furniture, appliances, audio/visual electronics, and more to fill the homes they buy.

Looking at the existing U.S. home sales for February, I see first-time home buyers accounted for only 30% of purchases in the housing market?that?s 6.25% lower than the number of first-time home buyers one year ago, in February of 2012. (Source: National Association of Realtors, March 21, 2013.) Until first-time home buyers pour into the housing market, I don?t expect it to go much further in terms of price increases.

With that said, the question arises: who is actually buying the homes and causing home prices to start increasing? According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the national median home price for all housing increased 11.6% to $173,600 in February of 2013 from last February.

Home prices have increased for 12 consecutive months now. They haven?t been big increases, but the last time the U.S. housing market witnessed this many consecutive months of price increases was from June 2005 to May 2006.

The reality is that it?s the investors who are buying up homes right across America.

While the number of first-time home buyers declined in February, investors accounted for 22% of all the existing homes purchases in the U.S. housing market. In January, they accounted for only 19%.

According to a report by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE/JPM), institutional investors are looking to invest $10.0 billion in the housing market in an effort to rent the properties out for income. (Source: USA Today, January 22, 2013.)

The recent Market Pulse report by CoreLogic says institutional investors increased their buying activities by more than 50% in 2012?they bought houses in major cities, like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. (Source: CoreLogic, March 18, 2013.)

The average American consumer hasn?t come back to the housing market, as they are struggling?facing higher food and gas prices and lower real disposable income.

It?s the big institutional investors buying homes to rent and not the end-user home occupant; a housing recovery will not sustain itself in the long term under such a scenario. Consider Phoenix, Arizona, for example, where the so-called housing market ?recovery? is robust. In 2011, institutional investors purchased 16% of all the homes sold. By 2012, they purchased 26% of all homes sold.

It isn?t rocket science; when investors are running to the housing market, and buying with two hands, the supply will decrease and the prices will obviously increase. My question is: what happens when their returns diminish (as home prices increase further) and these same institutional investors try to exit the market?

The activity in the housing market is artificial.

Michael?s Personal Notes:

While the mainstream focuses on the smallest nation in the eurozone, Cyprus, I am concerned about the overall health of the global economy. The reality is that progress in the global economy is slowing down with major economic hubs struggling.

Dear reader, Cyprus will eventually get a bailout. We have already seen countries like Spain, Portugal, and Greece each receive a significant amount of loans to keep their countries afloat. Why would Cyprus be any different?

But aside from Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus, when I look at the remainder of the global economy, I see a recession emerging. Demand is simply declining in the global economy?which I believe will lead to a recession.

Look at China: the Chinese economy is expected to grow at 8.1% in 2013 and eight percent in 2014. In 2012, the country grew at the slowest pace in 13 years. (Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, March 20, 2013.) But I believe the growth forecasts for China are overly optimistic.

The Chinese Customs Administration reported that the country imported only 56.4 million tons of iron ore?the main ingredient for steel production?in February 2013, compared to 65.5 million tons in January. This represents a decline of almost 14%. Steel production in China gives us an idea about the health of the global economy.

According to Citigroup Inc. (NYSE/C), steel demand in China was only 2.1% in 2012, compared to 20% in 2010. Keep in mind that China is the biggest producer of steel in the world!

Similarly, the Japanese economy?a well-known exporter in the global economy?is facing hardship, too, as its exports decline and the country is back in a recession.

The eurozone, one of the major hurdles for economic growth in the global economy, continues to be in severe distress. It?s not only debt-infested countries that are struggling, but stronger nations like France and Germany are begging for growth now, too.

On the other side of the global economy, Brazil is facing economic scrutiny as well. According to the country?s central bank, Brazil?s trade deficit in February was $1.3 billion, compared to a surplus of $1.7 billion in February of 2012.

These are just a few hints of how sick the global economy really is.

For us here at home, a recession in the global economy will further weaken the U.S. economy, as 40% of American-based S&P 500 companies that derive sales from outside the U.S. face mounting pressure for earnings growth. Once big U.S. companies start suffering, it?s all downhill from there for the U.S. economy.

Where the Market Stands; Where It?s Headed:

The stock market is overbought, with far too much optimism amongst stock advisors and investors. Corporate insiders are at their most bearish level since the late 1990s. (See ?Corporate Insiders Most Bearish in 14 Years.?) Corporate earnings growth will be negative again this quarter, the second time that?s happened in the past three quarters. The VIX is at its lowest level in years (see ?Fear Index Says This Stock Market Reminiscent of October 2007?), and the U.S. economy almost had negative growth in the last quarter of 2012.

I?m sitting back, just waiting for this market to fall.

What He Said:

?I?ve been pushing gold bullion and gold shares for over a year now. Bank in January 2002, I personally started buying gold shares.? Michael Lombardi, Profit Confidential, December 13, 2002. Gold bullion was trading under $300.00 an ounce when Michael first started recommending gold-related investments.

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Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/real-estate-market/institutional-investors-increase-their-home-buying-activity-by-50/

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Israelis get kosher cigarettes for Passover

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men burn leavened items in a final preparation before the Passover holiday in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, March. 25, 2013. Jews are forbidden to eat leavened foodstuffs during the Passover holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men burn leavened items in a final preparation before the Passover holiday in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish town of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, March. 25, 2013. Jews are forbidden to eat leavened foodstuffs during the Passover holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Observant Jews in Israel craving a smoke during the week-long Passover holiday that starts at sundown Monday can now enjoy a rabbi-approved puff.

It's the first time cigarettes have joined the long list of goods stringently checked to ensure they comply with Passover rules on what items are allowed, or kosher for the holiday ? meaning they have not come in contact with grains or other forbidden ingredients.

The stamp of approval came from the Beit Yosef private rabbinic group, which certifies foods as compliant with Jewish dietary restrictions. Last month, Beit Yosef approved three local cigarette brands for smoking during Passover. The chief rabbinate in Israel, however, disapproved of the measure, saying cigarettes are life-threatening and should not be approved by rabbis.

"Poison is not kosher. For all days of the year, not just Passover," said the chief rabbinate's spokesman Ziv Maor.

But Rabbi Igal Ben Ezra, Beit Yosef's chief supervisor, said the certification was meant for Israeli smokers who only buy products marked as "kosher for Passover" and who might be concerned about buying cigarettes without such a label. It's "mostly for people who have doubts on this subject," said Ben Ezra.

The Jewish holiday of Passover celebrates the biblical Exodus story of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. According to tradition, the Israelites were in a rush and had no time to let their bread rise as they fled. To commemorate the hasty Exodus, Jews eat matzo, or flat wheat crackers that symbolize unleavened bread, and refrain from foods containing leavening such pasta during Passover.

During the holiday, Jewish law forbids chametz ? anything consisting of grains that may have come in contact with water, starting the process of fermentation.

Jews, including many who are not religiously observant the rest of the year, spend weeks ahead of Passover cleaning their homes and belongings to rid them of any morsel of food considered to be chametz.

The week-long Passover diet is in addition to the year-round kosher regulations that ban pork and shellfish, require meat to be ritually slaughtered and forbid the mixing of meat and dairy.

And even though only about 20 percent of Israeli Jews identify themselves as Orthodox, statistics suggest almost everyone attends the traditional Passover meal and most Israeli Jews refrain from eating foods that contain forbidden grains throughout the holiday.

To accommodate them, the Israeli food industry transforms ahead of Passover.

Manufacturers of popular snacks substitute their regular recipes with ingredients approved for Passover. Cows eat corn and alfalfa instead of grain-based hay so that observant Jews can drink their milk because religious practice forbids deriving benefit from an animal that has eaten banned grains. Kosher restaurants, including kosher branches of McDonalds, serve buns made of alternative ingredients, such as potato flour.

Determining what exactly is permitted during Passover has become more complicated in the modern age, as rabbis have pondered what to do with products like pet food and pills. Many industries have adapted and as a result, there are now pet products and medicines that are labeled kosher-for-Passover.

This is the first time, however, that cigarettes in Israel are carrying such a label for the holiday.

Ben Ezra, the Kosher supervisor, said the local cigarette company, Dubek contacted him to help settle the kosher debate.

After an inspection of the company's factory a month ago, he concluded that Noblesse, Time and Golf cigarettes could be deemed kosher for smoking on Passover ? as long as the factory used ingredients that had not come in contact with leavened products. He would not specify those ingredients, saying he was sworn to secrecy.

Ben Ezra said he himself quit smoking eight months ago but used to smoke during Passover even without such a thing as "kosher cigarettes."

Maor, the spokesman for Israel's chief rabbis who oversee kosher supervision of foods, said they do not approve of labeling cigarettes as kosher and permitted for Passover, but were unable to prevent it because they only regulate the food market.

"There are some communities who consider it important that everything they bring home has a kosher stamp on it," said Maor.

Cigarettes have not been alone in the debate over what's kosher for Passover.

In the 1990s, some particularly devout officials asked the national water authority to stop pumping water on Passover from the country's sole freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee. They were concerned that Jews could break Passover rules by drinking tap water possibly "contaminated" by fishermen who may have thrown grain-based fish food into the lake or picnicking Israelis who may have tossed breadcrumbs into it.

As a result, Israel's water authority began plugging the pipe from the Sea of Galilee three days before Passover and pumping water from underground aquifers and water reservoirs instead ? though most rabbis, even from the strictest streams of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, say this is unnecessary.

"No one feels the difference," said Uri Schor, spokesman of the water authority. "Whenever you open the faucet, you have water."

Hours ahead of Passover, many Israelis were finishing cleaning their homes Monday of every last bread crumb, feverishly cooking and swarming supermarkets to stock up on food for the Seder, the traditional Passover meal.

In Jerusalem, smoke filled the air as some religious Jews burned the last of their bread crumbs while others dunked their plates in large vats of hot water set up around the city, so their dishes would be completely free of bread products.

The airport was busier than usual with travelers taking advantage of the holiday to travel abroad, and local TV stations gave Israelis advice on avoiding traffic jams when driving to their relatives for the Seder.

The military announced a two-day closure on the West Bank to keep Palestinians out of Israel at the start of the holiday, with exemptions for medical emergencies and other humanitarian reasons. The army imposes such security closures during Jewish and Israeli holidays.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-25-ML-Israel-Kosher-Cigarettes/id-5c1ed3971cd54f229e839201d928793e

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DOTA GUIDES TO ENHANCE GAME AT AN AMAZING RATE ...

If you are sick of being merely a normal participant, this guide based upon assessing exactly what great users do and what jobs. It could possibly boost you to a competitive member all at once yet I ensure impressive improvement after executing these 5 straightforward summaries to improve your match.

1. Watch expert replays and image that you are merely among the usersThis key will certainly make you enhance immediately. This is my replay. I am currently gardening and bugging at the very same time.The factor is you should feel that you played that hero you are seeing since this is the quickest procedure you might be playing like the genuine user. He might be Yaphets, Yamateh, 2009, or some various other wonderful Shadow Fiend gamers however you need to be the participant in your artistic imagination while seeing the replay.After seeing replays of superb assistances or gankers like 820, NS, like Vigoss, your selection making because element of match (receiving) could enhance a lot. Exactly just what occurs is their experiences became your very own encounter. When they fail, you furthermore fell short so you recognize exactly what to do following time. When they succeed, you furthermore flourish so you acknowledge specifically what jobs. You do not have to play against prominent groups to experience playing against them since of this method.

2. Make it a pastime to view your own replays.Won and dropped matches demand to be indulged in. If you are going after superiority in your match, you ought to not be idle to check out simply what is the mistake you have actually done that has to be corrected. May it be a straightforward last striking health problem or a considerable improving point difficulty that developed your whole group to shed, you need to know items you?re not doing right for you to be able to mend them.Typically you merely obtained because the opposing team is not that skillful yet nonetheless you still have someone perishing. Yes, it is not that effortless to have a total 5-0 sweep clash if you are dealing with excellent groups yet there could be means to make it happen.

3. Have adequate time to play preferred hero to know it.Have you ever before questioned why your match is not comparable to you?re numerous other matches playing a different hero? Improving your match additionally stems from boosting on means to use a hero. That is the explanation why there are Dota heroes? introductions dispersing out in the internet.Playing a hero for 2 to 3 days will definitely make you comfy with the hero you wish to realize, from there you will definitely experience numerous end results that may take area in true matches making you thought them, and you?ll know various techniques that will definitely guarantee success in utilizing that hero.

4. Constantly play against much better players.You most likely will drop. Playing versus considerably better players will certainly make you recognize your setbacks and items required be adjusted on your game.We constantly went down in the past. I also deliver complimentary all set great teams to play with us. I dropped my money and I still went down the match but I would certainly still welcome them to enjoy us when a lot more. The feeling is not so exceptional when dropping but simply exactly what occurred was we smoothed up. We appreciated our replay against them. We found their techniques and we formulated our personal far better than they did. The time came when nobody can effortlessly cover us any kind of longer here in our location also the group we investing for. It feels like a firm. Financial investment and challenging job first, then success will certainly come.

5. Close your eyes and do this.Close your eyes. Consider exactly just what you wish to acquire (may it be Dota or not \* this works \*) ? Then if you have currently thought of exactly just what you prefer to be, consider that you are that personal today. Make your creative imagination sensible with all the specific aspects consisted of in your overview. Unwind and imagine you are that efficient person you want to be. Believe it is occurring now. After visualizing your objectives, open your eyes and believe that it actually happened. It is a component of your encounters because you are presently that efficient person you want to be right now.The workout I made you to do is essential due to the fact that if you prefer to make better assurance and a favorable outlook. You will have more success if you rely on it since your mind will certainly create an advantageous sensation that makes you do everything to attain your goal.

After seeing replays of excellent helps or gankers like 820, NS, like Vigoss, your choice making in that facet of game (suffering) can boost a bunch. You do not require to play versus popular teams to experience playing against them because of this procedure.
Have you ever questioned why your match is not as great as you?re various other matches playing a numerous hero? Improving your match furthermore originates from boosting on means to make use of a hero. Playing versus considerably better gamers will certainly make you acknowledge your downsides and products required be adjusted on your game.

<a href=?http://defenseoftheancient.com?>defense of ancient,defense of ancients,defense of the ancient strategies,defense of the ancient guides,dota guides,dota tips</a>?

Source: http://robertwatson.holdonhosting.net/dota-guides-to-enhance-game-at-an-amazing-rate/

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Windy weather disappointing in New England?s home opener

Foxborough--Weather conditions were a big factor in a scoreless tie between Sporting Kansas City and the New England Revolution Saturday afternoon in Foxborough.

Chances were at a minimum in a game that only saw eight shots spread?among?both teams. With a strong wind gust at Gillette Stadium, moving the ball proved to be a difficult task for both sides, as there was no control of any ball played in the air.

Revolution head coach Jay Heaps found that tactics almost went out the window, given the conditions.

?I don?t want to make excuses but I will say this, the wind was definitely difficult to play in,? Heaps said. ?You can see the ball moving, you could feel it. I think if you go do heat maps, it?s going to be split down the middle and it?s going to be all away from where the benches were because the wind was just pulling everything over there.

"It was hard to switch fields when we needed to change the point of attack.?

Sporting Kansas City coach Peter Vermes had a gameplan heading into the weekend, but found out ahead of the game that his team would certainly be battling the elements.

?Coming in during the week we wanted to play,? Vermes said. ?When we saw the weather getting worse and yesterday having practiced here, it was pretty simple that it was going to be a difficult game based on which way the wind was going.?

The game was a homecoming of sorts for Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber, who played two seasons with the Revolution before being traded. Feilhaber held possession positively for spells in the first half but still found that the weather made play difficult for both teams.

?The wind really made the game impossible to play,? Feilhaber said. ?I think both teams realized that, so it was more like a field possession game.

"You just booted it down to one end and kind of pressed them. It wasn?t a pretty game by any means, but I think 0-0 is a fair result?

The lack of ball movement was further compounded by the high physical play all over the field, with 30 total fouls committed. Heaps singled out the resilant play of the Revolution back four was a big positive on an otherwise negative day.

?I think that, for me, Kansas City is one of the best teams at grinding out a game like that and I think that it showed a lot of our guys coming out and fighting them and making it a difficult battle,? Heaps exclaimed. ?I think our back four played well, but not just our back four, our entire midfield defended well. It?s one of those games where you want the three points.?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/rss/sow/SIG=12t5r52ib/*http%3A//sports.yahoo.com/news/windy-weather-disappointing-england-home-024400105--mls.html

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Victoria Stilwell Tells Steve Dale She&#39;s Positive e-Collars are ...

By Steve Dale, today at 9:32 am

On Steve Dale's Pet World on WGN Radio, listen HERE to dog trainer Victoria Stilwell from Animal Planet's It's Me or the Dog. I asked her about actress Eva Mendes fancying a shock or electronic collar. "It's one thing about putting one around your hand to try to test them, it's another thing to put it around your neck," she says. Mendes explained to David Letterman that she went ahead and gave the collar a try.

"If you use one (an e-collar) ?long enough, you could change the electrical energy in the brain," Stilwell adds. ?Never one to mince worlds, Stilwell says these collars are abusive and have no place in her world. Why is this equipment abusive to even suggest to use on children and acceptable for dogs, she wonders.

In her new book "Train Your Dog Positively," Stilwell writes about how to help dogs with a long ?list of behavioral issues, including separation anxiety. She even suggests playing background music to help calm anxious dogs. Ever one to help, I offered various types of music. Hear which one Victoria chooses.
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Filed under: dog training, dogs

Tags: dog training, dog walking, e collar, electronic dog collars, It's Me or the Dog, leash training, separation anxiety, Steve Dale archives, Steve Dale's Pet World, Through a Dog's Ear, Training Your Dog Positively, Victoria Stilwell

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/steve-dales-pet-world/2013/03/victoria-stilwell-tells-steve-dale-shes-positive-e-collars-are-abusive/

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The future of gaming is here, but you - The Next Web

Videos games have enjoyed steadily improving graphical effects as computers, and programming languages, have improved and matured. While the world is currently fixated on the coming crop of console devices that will sit, plugged into televisions for the next 5 years, Nvidia is pushing PC technology forward.

A video clip demonstrating facial rendering software caught our eye this morning. In the demo, a GeForce GTX Titan graphics card is employed to display an interactive face in detail that is all but incredible. Catch: the GTC Titan will set you back a flat grand, if you can find one in stock, which isn?t easy.

This is the future, shown now. Gaming is moving in this direction. As the GTX Titan?s specs reach more consumer-friendly prices in the coming few years, what is shown off below will be open to all. Get excited [Jump to the 8:43 mark to see the demo]:

Top Image Credit:?Sam Howzit

Source: http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/03/23/the-future-of-gaming-graphics-is-here-but-youll-need-a-1000-gpu-to-render-it/

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The page you are looking for has moved. Please go to the main EurekAlert! homepage to locate the section you are interested in and reset your bookmarks.

If you are looking for this week's current news releases, click on "Breaking News" once you reach the main EurekAlert! homepage. If you are a reporter looking for the embargoed news section, go to the main EurekAlert! homepage, log in with your username and password and then, from the main reporter homepage, click on "Embargoed News." If you are a PIO looking to submit a release, go to the main EurekAlert! homepage, log in with your username and password and then, from the main PIO homepage, click "Submit a Release."

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/1969-12/

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Lock Screen Security Hole Found On Some Android-Powered Samsung Galaxy Phones

Remember that nasty little iOS 6 lockscreen bug that let hackers access apps on any iPhone with a few smooth moves? Well, fresh on the heels of yesterday's iOS update that squashed the problem, another security researcher has found a similar issue on Samsung's Android smartphones. Terence Eden claims to have found a flaw that lets hackers access a phone's apps, dialer and widgets even if it's been locked with a password, PIN, or other security measure.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3MI_W0Zu710/

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2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS to debut at New York Auto Show

Drivers got a tease of the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS Wednesday, scheduled to debut at the New York Auto Show next week.?Model refreshes can be a mixed bag, Ireson writes, but with the Chevy Camaro, it's hard to know what to expect.

By Nelson Ireson,?Guest blogger / March 20, 2013

GM teased a first glimpse of the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS before it makes its global debut at the 2013 New York Auto Show.

Courtesy of GM

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Model refreshes are a mixed bag--sometimes exciting, sometimes rather disappointing. With the?Chevy?Camaro, we don't know what to expect--but this is our first hint.

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This is the first glimpse of the redesigned?2014 Chevrolet Camaro?before it makes its global debut at the?2013 New York Auto Show.

Shown in SS trim, the bowtie badge, SS badge, and a slice of the hood, grille, and front bumper all look rather a lot like the current?car. The most notable difference is the grille, which goes from a simple grid layout to a series of vertical bars with inset twin horizontal elements.

Chevy says the 2014 model will be the most significant change in the fifth-generation car's run, which makes sense--it's the first full refresh since the car's debut in 2009.

The full details, including photos and specifications, will be revealed at the Javits Center in New York City next Wednesday, at 12:45 p.m. EDT.?

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best auto bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.?To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link in the blog description box above.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rvbRCpwPEZo/2014-Chevrolet-Camaro-SS-to-debut-at-New-York-Auto-Show

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The Daily Roundup for 03.19.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/19/the-daily-roundup-for-03-19-2013/

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Think Before You Speak | BA Times

If you know me at all, you may think this title goes against a lot of what I believe in. I am an improvisation actor, and improv is all about spontaneous responses. So you may make an assumption that I am, for the exact opposite,?not thinking before you speak. The trick with improvisation is there is a lot of preparation that goes into being able to respond spontaneously in an appropriate manner. The preparation allows you to open your mind and react quickly when performing. Thinking does happen. It just happens beforehand, and if necessary you can draw out the response quickly. I bring this up because in my last blog, The iTunes Impact on Requirements Analysis, I apparently had a lapse in judgment. There was a sentence where maybe I did not think fully before I wrote. Perhaps something was not thought through completely. And I definitely was not expecting the reaction I received.

Here is the background. I threw in a comment about an urban legend related to Pink Floyd?s album Dark Side of the Moon. I was using the legend as a small example to explain a point. One reader, knowing a lot about the farce this legend is, basically stopped reading or believing in the message I was trying to convey in the blog. In the comments the reader took time to explain in detail the truth about the legend. I hit a ?nerve? with the reader; one I did not intend or expect to hit. In hindsight it was not the best example to use. When I was writing I did not think it was a big deal. It was just a situation that I figured a majority of people would know about. The example was not even the main point of my blog. As a blogger I know my audience at a high level. For the most part, I know the people reading my blogs are in one of two categories. They are interested in business analysis or they are my mother. Besides my mother, I just don?t have the opportunity to know all of you intimately. Because of this it is hard for me to know what things will get each individual hung up to the point where they miss the message being delivered.

You, on the other hand, have it easier. You have the luxury of being able to get to know your stakeholders extremely well. One of the critical steps you need to do and prepare for when speaking to or writing something for others is to know your audience. The reason for knowing your audience is to help you determine the best approach to take in order to meet the objective set for the particular situation. What is the objective of writing an email to someone? Why are you meeting with them? Why are you presenting something to a large group? Is it for informational purposes or do you need the team or individual to take action? Do you need them to make a decision or buy into the message you are delivering?

Whatever the objective, you need to consider what will block someone from listening to your message. Here are a couple of common reasons people stop listening.

Grammar and Spelling

Many people are part of a secret society known as the Grammar and Spelling Correction Society. I think they employ more officers than all the law enforcement agencies around the world. You have probably bumped into one or more of them or you may be an officer. They consistently correct your grammar and point out spelling mistakes. In one-on-one conversations they will interrupt you to correct your word choice. If you are giving a presentation you may not be interrupted, but if they see something incorrect on the presentation slide they will begin to focus on the mistake and will be thinking about the error. This is why I always start off presentations stating that if I use the whiteboard or flip chart I can?t be held accountable for spelling mistakes due to these tools not having a built-in spell-check feature. Another way to guard against this is by employing one of the officers. Have them proof your work and correct the errors. I hope the BA Times staff has read through this blog and made some corrections!

Example Use

Examples and scenarios are a great way to explain a point. It helps people connect the message to a possible situation. The problem arises for some people when they try to think through the example and get caught up in arguing the potential of that example really happening. There has to be a society for these people as well! If they can?t figure out how an example can actually happen, they shut down. When I work with someone that does this I do one of two things. If I have time to prepare I think through my example and make sure it could actually happen in reality, this way the person can connect the dots and get my message.

If I am in an ad hoc conversation with no time to prepare I go overboard stating that this is just an example and I have not thought if it could actually happen. I ask them if they are OK with me going forward knowing that. This helps to stop them from thinking about the reality of the example and keeps them focused on my message.

In both situations, you should see a pattern. I acknowledge the potential scenarios that may block the person from listening. There must be some reason why people stop listening to your messages. Feel free to share with the community in the comments below. Regardless of the reason, you need to understand why someone may stop listening and either acknowledge it or prepare to avoid it.

All the best,

Kupe

Don't forget to leave your comments below.

Source: http://www.batimes.com/kupe-kupersmith/think-before-you-speak.html

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Powerless!!

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A 1x1 roleplay where an immortal finds himself without his powers ands finds himself powerless against mortality...

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