New start for I. Coast universities after violence

Closed after a bloody leadership crisis that rocked Ivory Coast in 2010-2011, universities in the commercial capital Abidjan are being refurbished to restore them to temples of learning rather than combat colleges.

On the campus at Cocody in the chic north of the city, newly baptised the Felix Houphouet-Boigny University after the father of the nation, workers have yet to complete renovation. But the vast site is already impressive, with its lecture halls, new student housing and large sports fields.

The site marks a stark contrast with the state of the campus in April 2011, when buildings had been ravaged by conflict and vandalism during the four months of a political crisis after president Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit defeat in elections to his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Some of the students became engaged in two weeks of outright warfare before Ouattara came to power, at the cost of 3,000 lives. Almost as soon as he was in office, Ouattara decided to shut down both universities in Abidjan and launch a major overhaul.

"This is not just renovation. We have been obliged to build from the bottom up because everything was looted, broken and vandalised," Higher Education Minister Ibrahima Cisse Bacongo told AFP.

The work, which has been under way at all five faculties in the west African country -- once the economic powerhouse of the region -- will cost "100 billion CFA francs (153 million euros / $191 million dollars), the equivalent of three new universities," Bacongo said.

For more than 80,000 students, the new academic year that is scheduled to begin on September 3 "will mark a new start, a complete break with the past," he added.

Bacongo said that Ivorian "students were manipulated, exploited under the former regime of Laurent Gbagbo, and they developed a culture of violence in university circles."

For the authorities, a main culprit was the Student and School Federation of Ivory Coast (FESCI), the all-powerful trade union movement which was closely allied to Gbagbo's regime after he took power in 2000.

FESCI has been held responsible for much of the violence on Abidjan's campuses, which spilled over on to the streets, and it ran rackets and a reign of terror, which led even Gbagbo to describe it as a "mafioso organisation."

The union has not been dissolved, as the Ouattara government initially envisaged, but it has been marginalised from power during the closure of the universities.

FESCI secretary-general Augustin Mian puts a brave face on the change in fortunes and said that the movement will "adapt to new demands... For the benefit of learning, peace and serenity must return to the university."

The closure of the universities was not universally welcomed. The party that once backed Gbagbo, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), said that it meant the end of higher education in Ivory Coast.

"You don't shut down a university," protested Dedy Sery, a professor of sociology close to the FPI. "It's as if you're decapitating the future of the country," he added, denouncing a "cultural crime."

Sery charged that Ouattara's government undertook "a witchhunt" among the academic staff, who were traditional allies of Gbagbo, long a socialist in opposition before he came to power.

Moreover a large increase in inscription fees, from 6,000 CFA francs (nine euros) to 100,000 CFA francs (150 euros) for the first year, caused an outcry until the authorities brought it back down to 30,000 CFA francs (45 euros).

Meanwhile the contract to renovate the campuses has sparked questions.

Ouattara has ordered an inquiry into the terms under which the tender was made and accepted and sacked Bacongo's financial director for "problems of governance." Many people have objected to the cost of the work, which has more than doubled in two months.

For Eric Ahizi, a 22-year-old student of economic sciences, the imminent start of the academic year will end "a real nightmare... I had a year to finish my master's degree and put myself on the job market, which is swamped today."

Ahizi said he was looking forward to seeing the "fine achievements" of the revamped campus and pointed out that it was now up to students to "look after them".

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/start-coast-universities-violence-151212979.html

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Personality Plays a Key Role in the Brand-Consumer Dating Game ...

24 August 2012 | By Sherwood MacVeigh

The article is written by Sherwood MacVeigh, Director, Senior Brand Strategist at Hyperquake, USA

Dating sites like Match.com and eHarmony use personality traits to identify potential matches between members that may turn into long-lasting romantic relationships. Similarly, consumer goods companies can use personality traits to identify potential matches between brands and targeted consumers that may turn into long-lasting purchasing relationships. Knowing how to create and nurture brand personality and use it to connect emotionally with consumers is an essential part of the brand-consumer dating game.

Just as every individual has a distinct personality ?a combination of emotional, attitudinal and behavioral traits that drives who they are and makes them act or react a certain way in different situations?so, too, does every brand. Having a unique, engaging personality is important for a brand because it is the element of a brand?s identity that interacts with consumers? emotions?which, research has shown, are primary drivers in the brand selection process. Facts alone don?t sell products?emotions are an essential part of the equation. They enable a consumer to look beyond solely quantifiable benefits (e.g., a detergent?s cleaning ability or a soft drink?s calorie count) and select the brand that best matches their temperament, attitude, values, age, lifestyle, etc. That?s why people frequently advise ?trust your gut? when making a purchase decision?your ?gut? is made up of myriad, tiny data points that have been filtered through your emotional brain, making you like, feel ambivalent toward, or dislike a particular brand.


Pic. Coca-Cola?s prints communicating innocent traits

Many of today?s leading companies have carefully cultivated unique brand personalities that resonate with key consumers and help to forge strong, enduring relationships. Examples include:

  • Innocent?Leveraging polar bears and Santa Claus, Coca Cola enthusiastically projects an innocent, Norman Rockwell-life personality. The brand?s marketing tools effectively reinforce this personality by exuding happiness, goodness, and an attitude of gratitude.
  • Jester?Pepsi dons the personality of a youthful jester, poking fun at its main rival?s more staid, traditional personality. Youthful and exuberant, Pepsi regularly conducts joint promotions with ?cool? events and icons.
  • Caregiver with a splash of wit?Vitamin Water combines vitamins and water in a way that makes consumers feel like they?re being cared for, but in a fun and delightful way. This personality is carried through on the brand?s packaging: even though Vitamin Water?s logo uses an authoritative font, the copy on the side of each bottle is designed to produce a smile or laugh.
  • Ruler/monarch?American Express conveys the personality of a strong ruler/monarch that makes customers feel confident when they use the brand?s credit cards.
  • American classic ?Ralph Lauren?s iconic, ?American classic? personality has enabled the brand to expand beyond its core clothing line to include paint, furniture, bedding and other categories. The master brand employs tiered, category-specific messaging that connects emotionally with multiple audiences without eroding the brand?s intention.

A brand that convincingly owns and effectively communicates certain personality traits can evoke corresponding traits (or the desire for these traits) in a consumer, thus forging a strong emotional bond and increasing the likelihood of purchase. For example, Harley Davidson?s free-spirited, rebellious brand personality attracts consumers who want to feel that way too?even if they are Baby Boomers seeking to rekindle the thrills of their youth. (Baby Boomers comprise the most significant portion of Harley riders.)? Similarly, Clinique facial products? professional and knowledgeable brand personality appeals to affluent, college-educated females who want to convey those traits.

First impressions count

People can?t help it; they often base initial judgments on a person?s ?or a brand?s?looks. That?s why making a good first impression is important, both on a date and at shelf (aka the First Moment of Truth, or FMOT). In a store, package graphics, colors and language provide a visual expression of a brand?s personality; they need to quickly attract targeted consumers, convince them that the brand?s personality is compatible with their own, and encourage purchase. Creating a good impression online is also important?a brand?s website should be visually appealing, informative and easy to navigate, and its social media presence engaging and informative. However, brand owners also should be aware that external forces?bloggers, Facebook visitors, Twitter users? are commenting on their own experiences with the brand, posting ratings (both positive and negative), making referrals, and influencing other consumers? opinions and purchase decisions. It?s analogous to being introduced to a potential partner through a friend; you trust your friends, value their advice, and follow their suggestions.

Sometimes, a brand?s personality can make a negative first impression or hinder its efforts to connect quickly and positively with targeted consumers. From an appearance standpoint, a brand that is using old fonts, colors and graphics on its packaging could be projecting an outdated image. Or a brand?s personality may be so strong that it causes a visceral reaction among consumers ??a select few may like it but others are turned off ??which can make it difficult to expand its customer base. Similarly, a brand?s personality may be initially designed to appeal to one age group, unintentionally excluding other potential customers. For example, when Honda launched the Element, its personality and attributes were specifically crafted to appeal to Gen Y consumers. However, the company soon discovered that many purchasers were Baby Boomers and quickly broadened the Element?s marketing focus to include this important audience.

Pump up brand personality

Numerous factors can contribute to a brand?s personality, such as why, when and where it was created; who (which company) created it; and the competitive set the brand lives within. The following steps can pump up a brand?s personality and help it to engage emotionally with target consumers:

1. Examine your brand?s history; the past often opens a door to the future. What key marketplace trends and/or consumer needs drove the brand?s creation? ?Have they changed over time? Such information can help to determine whether the core drivers of the brand?s personality are still relevant, whether they need to be tweaked, or if a major overhaul is required.

2. Interview both internal stakeholders and consumers.? What does this brand mean to them? Determine if there is a gap between how your company perceives the brand and how consumers perceive it. If one exists, take steps to bridge it.

3. Examine the personality of the category as a whole. Sometimes there are dominant personalities that may be pressuring your brand to ?fit in.? For example, many banking brands have a ?ruler? personality. Rather than blend in with the crowd, is there a way for your brand?s personality to stand out?

4. Be authentic. Don?t change your brand?s personality just to be like the ?cool kids? (e.g., trendy, flash-in-the-pan brands). Make sure your brand?s point of view is current and relevant then find new ways to connect with consumers over the long term. Redesigning a brand?s packaging is a relatively simple fix; updating product features can be a costly but worthwhile undertaking if the new offering brings to light a personality trait that consumers hadn?t realized it possessed.

5. Let a brand?s personality help guide its future. When your company considers line extensions and other innovations to move a brand forward, make sure they enhance and leverage the brand?s personality, not dominate or contradict it. Brands that exhibit multiple personalities via discordant, unrelated packaging, messaging or SKUs can cause consumer confusion and dilute brand loyalty. Far better to build on a personality that has already proved successful at the brand-consumer dating game.

About the Author

Sherwood MacVeigh is Director, Senior Brand Strategist at Hyperquake, a brand evolution agency. She can be reached at?Sherwood.macveigh@hyperquake.com.

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Source: http://popsop.com/57959

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Is It Too Late To Defuse The Danger Of Megafires?

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    Bill Armstrong, fire manager for the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico, is a firm believer in thinning forests and returning them to a natural burn cycle to avoid megafires.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    The Forest Service is thinning and treating the forest around the Sierra de los Pinos neighborhood in the Jemez Mountains, west of Los Alamos, N.M. The goal is to reduce the threat posed by future megafires.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    The Forest Service is also trying to get people who live in the Jemez Mountains area to thin and maintain the forests around their homes.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Contract foresters work on a thinning operation in Los Griegos Peak, on U.S. Forest Service land in the Jemez Mountains.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A forest-thinning operation in Los Griegos Peak.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A thinned and treated forest in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, near the Santa Fe watershed. To effectively protect against wildfire threats, the Forest Service needs to burn tree litter and other detritus that remain on the forest floor.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Bill Armstrong of the U.S. Forest Service opens the security gate at the Santa Fe watershed, in New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo mountains.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Armstrong stands in front of a Ponderosa pine, locally known as a yellow belly pine.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A view of a private home in the Jemez Mountains.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A view of the Valles Caldera. The valley served as a high-mountain pasture for ranchers for years. In the distance you can see the Santa Fe National Forest, which burned during the 2011 Las Conchas fire.

    David Gilkey/NPR

Fourth in a five-part series

Forests in the Southwest have become a fuel stockpile. A century of U.S. Forest Service policy of quashing all fires has allowed forests to become overgrown, and now a warming climate is making the problem worse.

Scientists are trying to defuse these green time bombs. Is it too late?

I hike up into the Santa Fe National Forest just outside Santa Fe, N.M. My guide is William Armstrong, the service's fire manager for this forest. He's dressed all in green and is so lanky, he looks like a sapling himself, except his eyes are a piercing blue.

I remark just how lush his forest is, how the Ponderosa pines almost reach out and touch one another. He doesn't take it as a compliment. "They're a plague," he says. "On this forest, it's averaging about 900 trees per acre. Historically it was probably about 40. Here in the national forest, what we're facing is a tree epidemic."

Armstrong has rubbed some people the wrong way with talk like that. But he says forest this dense is dangerous. "We're standing here on the edge of what is known as the Santa Fe Municipal Watershed," he explains. "Imagine a huge bathtub" ? a natural bathtub sitting in the mountains around Santa Fe. When it rains, the water flows down into reservoirs. That's where the state capital gets most of its water.

Trees help slow down the flow, but big wildfires take out the trees. They even burn the soils. "They convert from something that's like a sponge to Saran Wrap," Armstrong says. "In the aftermath of a wildfire within this watershed, that would flood like the Rio Grande, for heaven's sakes; that would come down a wall of water, and debris and ash and tree trunks, and create devastation in downtown Santa Fe. Suddenly, they find that the entire mountain is in their backyard."

For a hundred years we've been very good at suppressing [forest fires]. And now we're reaping that fiery maelstrom. We have fires now we can't stop.

This is the nightmare city managers have in the Southwest: fire, then flash flood.

Taming The 'Destructive Dragons'

Armstrong supports trimming smaller trees with machines and chain saws. But that costs hundreds of dollars per acre. The service now lets some natural fires ? ones started by lightning, for example ? burn within prescribed limits. Or they start "prescribed" burns when conditions are safe. These clear out smaller trees and undergrowth to keep them from fueling megafires. Armstrong has done that here.

But people didn't like the smoke, and when an intentional fire gets out of control, people sue. And there's been widespread drought in recent years. These are some of the reasons the Forest Service has reduced the use of prescribed fires.

That leaves Armstrong wondering what to do next. "How do we reduce the intensity so that these fires are not destructive dragons," he says with exasperation in his voice, "but agents of benefit, of recycling nutrients, of maintaining diversity, resiliency? How do we do that?"

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    Northern Arizona University students Zac Timmons (left) and Karen Kralicek (center) work with plant ecologist Judy Springer in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in east-central Arizona. They are studying the effects of forest restoration treatments following the Wallow Fire of 2011.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Wally Covington is director of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He helped create the 4FRI project, whose goal is to restore the natural Ponderosa pine forest.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A worker walks by a feller buncher, a heavy machine used to clear timber, in a section of Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Covington's group is trimming the forest to make it more fire-resistant.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Timmons and Springer work in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, which were burned during last year's Wallow Fire. The largest fire in Arizona history, Wallow barreled through a half-million acres of forest.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Kralicek logs data on plants and wildflowers that have grown back in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests since the Wallow Fire.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Ecologists use tape measures to track regrowth following last year's Wallow Fire.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A team of students from Northern Arizona University walks through a clearing on the way to a remote location they are studying in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Northern Arizona University researchers are trying to study the effects of fire on treated and untreated forest areas in Apache-Sitgreaves.

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    A year after the Wallow Fire, students chart every square inch of an open meadow in an area where the fire raged.

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    A researcher holds a horned lizard found in a study site, a positive sign of life returning after the Wallow Fire

    David Gilkey/NPR

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    Madison Daniels, a student at Northern Arizona University, takes a short break from gathering data in a meadow in Apache-Sitgreaves. Both students and faculty live in the forest for weeks while they conduct their ecological research.

    David Gilkey/NPR

To find the answer, I drove six hours across the desert up into the pine-covered mountains of Flagstaff, Ariz. I went with ecologist Wally Covington to the Gus Pearson natural area. Covington is trimming forests there to make them fireproof.

Eighteen years ago, these pine forests had 50 times the number of trees that would have been here naturally. That's because for most of the 20th century, the Forest Service put out almost every fire. That allowed small trees to grow like weeds. In a fire, they become ladders that carry flames up into the taller trees and kill them ? crown fires, they're called.

And the overgrowth doesn't just cause bigger fires. Covington says it also hurts the big trees. There's only so much light and water to go around. "The competition with the old growth trees was so intense that those trees started dying at an accelerating rate," Covington says as he shows me some of the big Ponderosa pines still left at the Pearson site. "It's really amazing that any of these old trees are still hanging on."

Restoring The Natural Forests

Covington helped create the 4FRI project: the Four Forest Restoration Initiative. The Forest Service, environmental groups and commercial loggers are collaborating as well. "The goal," says Covington, "was to restore as rapidly as possible some facsimile of the natural Ponderosa pine forest." A forest that would be fire-resistant and also healthier.

We walk through two plots of forest; one is the experimental, the other is what's been left to grow. It's easy to distinguish the experimental site. Here they've cut out the small trees, leaving a few dozen big ones per acre. They've raked up a century's worth of pine needles that had accumulated, and they've spread grass around and then burned it every four years.

The result is an open forest "you could ride a horse through at full gallop," says Covington. That's the way the first settlers described it.

Now Covington wants to treat hundreds of thousands of acres like this. He hopes that will protect them from big fires, but he doesn't know whether that will work yet. He says they've got to find out fast. "You know," he says, "in my opinion we need to get as much done as we can in a hurry, because fire and crown fire is going to come through these lands faster than we think. This is huge." The overgrowth is a bomb waiting to explode, he says, and climate change and drought are the spark waiting to light it.

The Fire 'Was Just Whipping Through The Trees'

The thing is, very little of this treated forest has been put to the test.

One section that was tested is part of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near the town of Greer, in eastern Arizona. Last year the Wallow Fire barreled through half a million acres here, the largest fire in the Southwest since record keeping began around 1900.

It hit Greer hard. I went there and talked to Nadine Stanley at a gift shop at the town's Butterfly Lodge museum, where she works. She was one of about 2,700 people evacuated from the region.

"We got up on the other side of Salt River Canyon," she recalled. "We looked back. You could see the flames way up in the sky. That was scary. How far away is it? Two hours' driving, so 120 miles."

The intensity of [the Wallow] fire was just so massive, it was just whipping through the trees, it didn't care how continuous these trees were.

Part of the area the Wallow Fire consumed was a patch that Covington's team from Northern Arizona University had previously thinned out. They'd removed small trees, snags, even shrubs from a hillside. Right next to it, they'd left an overgrown patch intact. One side treated, the other not. When the fire hit, it didn't matter.

When I visit the site with ecologist Michael Stoddard from NAU's Ecological Research Institute, it's clear that the Wallow Fire overwhelmed the team's best efforts at preparing the forest. "The intensity of this fire was just so massive," Stoddard says with a touch of awe in his voice, "it was just whipping through the trees. It didn't care how continuous these trees were."

Stoddard says the fire jumped a 200-yard-wide meadow and up this hill. The flames arced over 50 feet high. The fire front sucked the moisture out of everything ahead of it, so the trees exploded when the fire reached them. The treated area did a little better than the untreated, but it was still cooked.

Ecologist Walker Chancellor is a former firefighter who worked on the NAU project. He bends over and scratches the soil with a twig. It's something in between packed dirt and asphalt. "Hydrophobic," he explains. "When it rains, the water just runs off."

Overwhelming The Timber Industry

Chancellor says even as they keep looking for answers to prepare the forests for the new megafires, the enemy just gets stronger. He says it's not like it was when he fought fires. "We have larger fires," he says, shaking his head. "We've just gotten into these unprecedented, never-seen-before fire behavior that is scary."

And scientists here say the warming climate will only make things worse.

Last year's Wallow Fire, the largest in Arizona history, barreled through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, in the east-central part of the state. The forests are now being thinned to reduce the threat posed by future wildfires. Enlarge David Gilkey/NPR

Last year's Wallow Fire, the largest in Arizona history, barreled through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, in the east-central part of the state. The forests are now being thinned to reduce the threat posed by future wildfires.

David Gilkey/NPR

Last year's Wallow Fire, the largest in Arizona history, barreled through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, in the east-central part of the state. The forests are now being thinned to reduce the threat posed by future wildfires.

Even without climate change, the size of the job is overwhelming. The 4FRI project has identified 2.4 million acres that need thinning. The Forest Service, which is collaborating in the 4FRI project, has started doing that at the Apache-Sitgreaves forest not far from Greer. Most of the trees at the site I visit are dead, burned in the Wallow Fire. But they're still fuel for the next fire and have to be removed.

I watch a hot saw machine ? kind of a backhoe with giant crablike pincers ? grab trees and slice through the stems. It fells half a dozen trees in seconds. But that's not fast enough. The local forest supervisor, Jim Zornes, says the Forest Service doesn't have the money to cut very much.

Even if they did, they've got no place to put the timber. "We did have pressure to harvest every dead tree that was left standing within the Wallow Fire," he says. "The problem is, we would have so overwhelmed our local industries, the logs would truly have no place to go."

In my opinion we need to get as much done as we can in a hurry because fire and crown fire is going to come through these lands faster than we think.

Zornes says the timber industry has moved out of the region. There are few timber companies who can deal with small trees, those 16 inches in diameter or smaller. Those are what they can cut; everyone agrees the big trees need to stay.

Fighting Fire With Fire, Literally

Zornes says the Forest Service has to negotiate between people who don't want any trees cut and commercial operations that want to cut all they can. The 4FRI project has pulled together constituents from both sides. The Sierra Club is a participant. Historically, says the club's Rob Smith, "We didn't trust the Forest Service." He says many environmental activists saw the service as a friend of big timber companies.

"It has been a transition for many of them," he says, to change their view from "basically 'stop logging in national forests' to 'cut down some of the smaller [trees].' " He says there's now an understanding that too many small trees can be more harmful than helpful.

It's not uncommon to hear people blame environmental groups for holding up logging that would have cleared many of these forests of undergrowth, especially by using the Endangered Species Act. In fact, the Forest Service is one of the most frequently sued federal agencies under ESA. But Democratic Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts recently issued a report pointing out that only a small percentage of proposed logging contracts in the region have actually been halted by such lawsuits.

What frustrates fire experts like Armstrong is the slow pace of change. Millions of acres are overgrown, and selective thinning is like spitting in the wind. He says the service literally needs to fight fire with fire, with more prescribed burns.

Armstrong says if people want big forest, they have to accept some fires. Or lose control of them. "For a hundred years," he says, "we've been very good at suppressing them. And now we're reaping that fiery maelstrom. We have fires now we can't stop. And they're going to continue to burn until the landscape is so scarred, and so broken up, there isn't going to be a whole lot left to burn."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/24/159374096/is-it-too-late-to-defuse-the-danger-of-megafires?ft=1&f=1007

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Top Ten Overall Defensive Players in Madden NFL 13

To prep football fans everywhere for the upcoming release of Madden NFL 13, EA Sports has put out this video showcasing the top 10 defensive players featured in the game.

So, what do you think? Agree with the choice? Think better players are missing from the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/egmnow/mheh/~3/moYux_ud4sI/

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Ann Romney?s convention speech moved to Tuesday

The Romneys in Iowa (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)Organizers of the Republican National Convention are moving Ann Romney's speech to Tuesday night after the three major television networks opted against airing convention coverage on Monday.

According to GOP officials, Romney, the wife of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, will swap speaking slots with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who had been set to speak on Tuesday, so that her remarks will air in prime time.

Earlier Friday, Russ Schriefer, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign, told reporters convention organizers were still hopeful the networks might change their minds and air Ann Romney's speech. But by late Friday, they gave in and pushed Romney's speech back a day to give her remarks better coverage.

On Friday afternoon, rumors swirled that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is scheduled to introduce Mitt Romney on Thursday, might have to give up his speaking slot?prompting panic among some Republicans who remain disappointed that he was not picked to be Romney's running mate.

Matt Rhoades, Romney's campaign manager, said in a statement to reporters that Rubio had been "incredibly gracious to offer his speaking slot" to Romney's wife, but the campaign still wanted him to speak ahead of Romney on Thursday.

"Sen. Rubio represents the future of the Republican Party, and we can think of no better person to introduce Gov. Romney on this important night," Rhoades said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ann-romney-convention-speech-moved-tuesday-235709939.html

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Discover The Commercial Real Estate Techniques Of The Pros ...

While entering the world of commercial real estate can be frustrating for beginners, often it can be difficult for even the most experienced buyer, too. The article which follows will give you many tips to help you to relax, be more confident, and make real estate decisions which will bring in great rewards!

When you first begin investing in properties, you may need to sacrifice a lot of your personal time. Hunting for the opportune property will take time and effort, and even after you have purchased it, upgrades and reconditioning might be necessary. Although it may take time to get your investment property up to speed, do not abandon your project. The investment will be repaid as time goes on.

Research any real estate brokers you are considering working with, and ask questions to determine whether their visions align with yours. You need to know how they will measure results. This will help you assess their working strategies. Only work with them if you feel you are a good match, and have a similar philosophy about the strategies they use.

When you?re in the market for commercial property, find your lender prior to making an offer on it. Make a list of all of the most expert lenders locally. Fellow investors and friends can help you select the best ones. Before beginning the task of purchasing a property, take time to research the lenders and choose one who will fulfill your needs. If you take the time to be fully prepared, your loan process will be more efficient, and the odds of qualifying for the loan are higher.

When obtaining financial for commercial real estate ventures, you need to have your personal and business financial statements available. It is difficult to convince the bank that you are a good financial risk if your records are not in order to back up these claims.

Secure the proper financing prior to hunting for property to buy. Loan products and commercial lenders are very different than a home loan. Depending on how you view the situation, they are often better. Commercial loans typically require larger down payments, but banks are more likely to let you borrow some of this from a partner or friend.

It?s likely that the property you buy will need some repairs and work before you move in. It could be as simple as a coat of paint or replacing some carpet. Normally, however, it may be something a little more involved like walls being moved. Negotiate in advance who pays for these improvements or try to get the landlord to pay for at least a portion of the costs.

Meet with your tax adviser prior to making a purchase. A tax expert can advise you on how much the property costs and what amount of your real estate income will be taxable. Work with the adviser to try and locate an area where the taxes will be lower.

Before you sign a lease, find out about pest control. This is especially important if the region is known for certain types of pest infestations. If this is the case, ask specifically what the landlord will do with regard to pest control.

To find a honest real estate broker firm, ask them how they make most of their money. This should be a topic that can be openly discussed and should allow you to learn if there are shared interests between you and them. You should determine how exactly they derive profits from your business transactions.

You also want to take into consideration the neighborhood that your real estate is in when you purchase commercially. Expensive, luxury-oriented businesses will thrive in more affluent neighborhoods. Yet, if you have a business that might thrive in a neighborhood where the not so well-off would opt to go to your business, then maybe that kind of neighborhood is for you.

Bigger is better in commercial realty investments. If you were considering purchasing a five-unit building, recognize that managing fifty units is no more difficult than five. Smaller buildings must still have commercial financing, and you can often get a better deal on a bigger building.

An important component to your commercial investment is determining your rental allocation strategies. Find out how much the rent will be before you look for tenants. Having this strategy determined upfront will assure you of meeting the benchmarks you established for accrual of your investment.

When purchasing property, look at the amount of units available. The higher the number of units you have in a property, the more streams of financial income you have from the property. A lot of buyers won?t give a first glance to properties with nine or less units, and most buyers assume that more units equates to more money making potential.

Clarify how much space is available in square footage. The square footage of a commercial property may represent one of two things; it may represent the usable space of that property, or it may represent the total square footage of that property. Make sure you know both totals so you can have a smoother process.

Keep letters of intent simple by tackling large issues before sweating the small stuff. This way, negotiations will be smoother, and agreements on the small issues are more likely to be reached.

An essential fundamental of commercial property is location, location, location. Think over the community a property is located in. Check out the growth, both economically and physically, in the areas you?re considering. You need to be sure that in five to ten years later, the area will still be growing.

Certain facets of commercial loans separate them from their residential counterparts, like how much greater a percentage of the overall asking price must be covered in a down payment. Finding the best lending agencies and looking for investments is the perfect way to get the loan you need.

Whether a newcomer to the game or a seasoned veteran, diving into the world of commercial property can be a huge challenge that involves a lot of stress. This article was designed to ease some of the tension and confusion associated with buying commercial real estate, and lead to a smart investment.

&copy Copyright 2012admin, All rights Reserved. Written For: Delray Ocean Front Homes

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Source: http://delrayoceanfronthomes.com/delray-ocean-front-home/discover-the-commercial-real-estate-techniques-of-the-pros/

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How SEO Classes Help Online Businesses ? globaldailychronicle.com

Having a large search engine ranking is very important to your business because it assists a lot when issues related to raising any website?s profile plus generating more product sales are concerned. Any web based business owner who wants to grab the very best out of his/her internet business and does not know about web optimization should enroll to have an SEO course. Website seo courses play an exceedingly big role given that they help the business owner to understand how to use SEO that on the other hand helps online businesses to get the needed direct exposure.

What are these classes?

In most cases, these is based online however the training is done face to face. The type of training is dependent on the company that a person chooses. There are training systems that are set as workshops and there may also be others that coordinator small classes of persons. There are also other companies which will send an SEO expert to the business?s office or workplace. The content plus the duration of each class are also dependent on a really big extent within the provider. There are individual courses that continue just a single day and are also suited to a certain amount of experience.

What are the knowledge taught?

There are distinct SEO skills, technology and strategies. Skills incorporate link building, indexing key phrases, website optimization, as well as Google algorithm. The actual businessman is also explained on the latest factors on Google?s ranking. Analyzing competition is furthermore among the skills coached.

Benefits of the Search engine optimisation courses

SEO classes are very important and especially in this economic climate. To start with, web site ranking plays a very big role with sending traffic to the site. Websites that have excellent rankings and which will appear on the first web pages of Google and also other search engines are superior placed to receive customers when compared to those which usually are not.

The top three sites on search engines for almost any keyword are the ones that receive the highest number of traffic. When a business website gets to this location, chances are that it will have quite positive impact on it is sales.

The best thing with your courses is the fact that these people teach a business gentleman to not only understand the present-day skills, but also the world wide web in whole. Through Search engine optimisation courses, an entrepreneur is able to know how he/she might adapt to changing on the net landscapes which ensures that one can make sure that his/her sites rank well for many years to come.

All proclaimed and done, Website positioning courses have and will continue improving organizations by improving on the websites visibility. However, it is important for every company leader to choose the best schooling company to work with.

Obtaining taken all the www.voltageseocompany.ca previously mentioned factors into serious thought, then a businessman could realize good small business as a result of his/her business virtual reality visibility on the search engines. SEO courses possess played a very critical role in bettering healthy competition within seo companies online businesses which is a great thing.

Source: http://globaldailychronicle.com/?p=261793

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A look at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion

RIM faces the most difficult period in its history. RIM, which developed the ground-breaking BlackBerry in 1999, has hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options. Those options include partnering with other companies, licensing software and overhauling its business.

Here's a look at recent developments as the company struggles to regain market share lost to Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android operating software:

Sept. 15, 2011: RIM reports a sharp drop in net income and revenue in the fiscal second quarter and says it has sold far fewer PlayBook tablet computers than it expected.

Oct. 10: Email and Internet services are disrupted for three days, primarily outside North America. RIM says a crucial link in its infrastructure had failed, and a backup didn't work either. By the third day, other users, including those in the U.S. and Canada, were affected by a backlog of traffic.

Oct. 25: RIM says it is delaying the launch of an upgraded operating system for the PlayBook until February, saying it isn't up to its standards yet. The company also says the new version initially won't have the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. It's the third delay announced since the features were promised in April.

Dec. 2: RIM says it is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets after it had to sell them at a deep discount. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200. The company says it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter. RIM also says it will sell fewer BlackBerrys in the holiday quarter than in the one that just ended. It also says it won't meet full-year earnings guidance of $5.25 to $6 per share, the third cut in a row.

Dec. 6: RIM says "BlackBerry 10" will be the new name for its next-generation system after the company loses a trademark ruling on its previous name, BBX.

Dec. 15: RIM says new phones deemed critical to the company's future won't be out until late 2012. The company says the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that won't be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect the new phones to ship late in the year. The company also says BlackBerry sales will fall sharply in the holiday quarter compared with the three months that ended Nov. 26. RIM says it would only ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter, down from 14.1 million in the third quarter.

Jan. 22, 2012: RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and long-time executive Jim Balsillie announce they will step down as co-CEOs. Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, was named as their replacement. Lazaridis and Balsillie remain on the board.

Feb. 21: RIM finally releases an upgraded operating system for its PlayBook. The free upgrade allows for built-in email, calendar and contacts on the tablet ? features promised within 60 days after the PlayBook's launch last April. The PlayBook had received negative reviews because it launched without an email program and the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. The new version still doesn't include the messaging service.

March 29: RIM says Balsillie has resigned from its board, and two top executives are leaving. RIM also writes down the value of its product inventory again as the company reports a loss of $125 million, its first quarterly loss since fiscal 2005. Heins doesn't rule out a sale, but he says it is not the main direction of the strategic review he's overseeing.

April 26: Newest board member of RIM says a turnaround could take three to five years. Prem Watsa, RIM's third-largest investor, says he sees his investment in the company as a long-term one, adding that RIM's fortunes won't be reversed soon.

May 1: RIM unveils a newly designed smartphone prototype powered by its upcoming BlackBerry 10 system. The prototype BlackBerry has a touchscreen, but no physical keyboard like most BlackBerry models. No update was given on the new system's launch date.

May 2: Company stresses that while the prototype has no physical keyboard, RIM will continue to make some models with one.

May 8: RIM announces hiring of two senior executives from struggling tech companies. Frank Boulben, the new chief marketing officer, comes from LightSquared. Kristian Tear, the new chief operating officer, is from Sony Mobile Communications.

May 29: RIM says it will have an operating loss in the current quarter and significant layoffs this year. The company says it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help evaluate various strategies, including opportunities to partner with other companies and license software.

June 20: RIM says it has started laying off employees as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year.

June 21: Company says the first BlackBerry device running BlackBerry 10 will not have a physical keyboard, only a touch-screen one. Ones with hard keyboards will eventually be made, but the company declines to say when.

June 28: RIM says it's cutting 5,000 jobs, or about 30 percent of its workforce, and delaying the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet again, to the first quarter of next year. It also reported worse results for its latest quarter, which ended June 2, than analysts had expected.

June 29: Stock hits nine-year low on day after earnings announcements.

July 10: At RIM's annual shareholders meeting, Heins asks disgruntled investors for patience as the company develops new devices to rival the iPhone and Android smartphones. He says the past year has been very difficult for RIM, and he says the company is "around the clock" to get BlackBerry 10 out.

Thursday: RIM says it has begun showing its new BlackBerry smartphones to wireless carriers around the world, but it remains "months and months" away from starting to sell them.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-blackberry-maker-research-motion-202621505--finance.html

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Vizio Co-Star torn down by iFixit, reveals a dual-core processor

iFixit Vizio

The team over at iFixit has gotten their hands on one of the newest Google TV boxes, the Vizio Co-Star. They of course pulled it apart, looked at its guts, and showed them to the world. When Vizio announced the box, it specified some of the features, but not all of the internal specs, so it's cool to find out what the box is sporting.

Their inspection has revealed many of the specs, such as:

  • 1.2GHz dual-core processor
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4GB NAND Flash

The team also opened up the remote, which revealed, among other things, Bluetooth 3.0.

If you want to see the rest of the pictures of the teardown, hit up the source link.

Source: iFixit

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/pdznROHHFFQ/story01.htm

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ZTE's alleged 'Blade III' smartphone gets photographed ahead of official announcement

ZTE's alleged 'Blade III' smartphone gets photographed ahead of official announcement

Let's be honest, ZTE isn't exactly the best at keeping its upcoming devices secretly under wraps before eventually making them official -- and, well, such is the case with the latest, unannounced Blade III. Finnish retailer Verkkokauppa's currently listing ZTE's purported Blade III as a 3.5-inch (800 x 480) slab that's sporting Ice Cream Sandwich, a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU (MSM7227A) and a 5-megapixel rear shooter. Still, as FoneArena points out, these alleged specs go against other rumors circulating around the web, which indicate the Blade III is boasting a 4-inch display rather than the smaller sized 3.5-incher listed on the Finnish site. Whatever it may be, let's just hope ZTE's next Android smartphone doesn't come with any backdoor woes.

Continue reading ZTE's alleged 'Blade III' smartphone gets photographed ahead of official announcement

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ZTE's alleged 'Blade III' smartphone gets photographed ahead of official announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/23/zte-blade-iii-android-smartphone-leaked/

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