http://www.newsblotter.com/ en NewsBlotter.com - http://www.newsblotter.com/ http://www.physorg.com/news203152748.html http://www.physorg.com/news203152748.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Galileo Galilei`s experiments on the motions of falling and rolling objects, described in his 1638 book, `Two New Sciences,` are considered by many to be the beginning of modern science. Now researchers at MIT have conducted a variation on his experiments that has produced unexpected results. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:14:00 +0000 http://news.discovery.com/human/do-homeopathic-cures-work.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 http://news.discovery.com/human/do-homeopathic-cures-work.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 NewsBlotter - Discovery Channel - Alternative medicine has proven tricky to study, and sometimes dangerous to patients. Doctors are divided as to whether or not it has any merit at all. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:14:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203152178.html http://www.physorg.com/news203152178.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Millions of Americans suffer from severe addictions that can ruin lives and are extremely difficult to control. Nearly 2 million enter roughly 12,000 addiction treatment programs in the U.S. each year. And each month, some 15,000 people turn to Adi Jaffe's All About Addiction websites at www.allaboutaddiction.com and at Psychology Today, which provide information, the latest research and answers to readers' questions. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:09:00 +0000 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=09ec4dea044190b9d8671737f64b04d9 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=09ec4dea044190b9d8671737f64b04d9 NewsBlotter - Scientific American - Inspired by human studies showing that avid coffee drinkers and smokers have a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, scientists at the University of Washington decided to see what java and cigarettes do to fruit flies. [More] Cigarette - Coffee - University of Washington - Health - Specific Substances Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203097548.html http://www.physorg.com/news203097548.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- "Brownian motion is a very old concept," Klaus Kroy tells PhysOrg.com. "The laws explaining it were formulated more than a century ago by Albert Einstein. However, we are finding some interesting divergences from what has been known for all these years." Brownian motion is the random movement of small particles dissolved in a liquid or gas. It is the result of the particles` collisions with the solvent molecules. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.whoi.edu/imageOfDay.do http://www.whoi.edu/imageOfDay.do NewsBlotter - WHOI Image of the Day - Scientists collected this 2.5-inch juvenile stomatopod, or "snapping shrimp," in a plankton net in the Arabian Sea. Adult stomatopods live on coral reefs, where big eyes and good color vision aid in their survival and ability to thrive. Two of the many reasons WHOI scientists study coral reef environments are for clues to past climate and information about how reef-dwelling fish populations survive and reproduce. (Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:34:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5028ac641439e70f04e577fc45ea2e35 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=5028ac641439e70f04e577fc45ea2e35 NewsBlotter - NYT > Science - In any herd, some animals have an acute ability to take in environmental cues like temperature and geomagnetic fields and lead the way. But there also is an advantage to being less sensitive to such cues and more attuned to other members of the herd, a study suggests. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:10:00 +0000 http://www.investorwords.com/215/annual_exclusion.html http://www.investorwords.com/215/annual_exclusion.html NewsBlotter - InvestorWords.com - The maximum amount that a person is allowed to give another person without incurring Federal gift tax. The current annual exclusion is $11,000 per year per recipient. There is no limit on the number of these gifts you can make to different people in a year. To qualify, a gift must be of a "present interest," meaning that the recipient can make use of the gift immediately, and the donor must not have any control over the asset after it is given. Browse Our Entire Glossary | Business Dictionary | Stock Research Copyright© 2010 InvestorWords.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:08:00 +0000 http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/IkDMw4so1Qw/if-you-want-to-be-original-sta.html http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/IkDMw4so1Qw/if-you-want-to-be-original-sta.html NewsBlotter - Harvard Business Blogs - I was stuck. Not in the I have writer's block or What next action should I take? kind of way, but in the literal sense. I was riding an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle), which looks like a motorcycle but with four huge, balloon-like nubby tires, and I was stuck in mud, with my two rear wheels spinning hopelessly in the glop. What surprised me is that my two front wheels were solidly planted on dry land, just sitting there, motionless and unhelpful. I looked ahead at my friend Joseph who had made it through the mud with ease on his ATV and who owned the one I was on. "Hey Joseph," I yelled over the roar of the motors, "are ATVs only two-wheel drive?" "Yours is." He laughed. "Most were, until a few years ago." That struck me as more than odd. I mean, even my minivan is four-wheel drive. Why would anyone make an All-Terrain Vehicle — whose main purpose is to travel through rocky, muddy, slippery woods — that's only two-wheel drive? The answer, I discovered, is simple yet profound: ATVs evolved from motorcycles, and motorcycles are powered solely by their rear wheels. If the ATV had been derived from a Jeep — a scaled down, minimalist, sit-on-top version of a Jeep — there's no question the first one out the door would have been four-wheel drive. And far more suited to the task of an ATV. Which got me thinking: if you want to be original — to really think out of the box — you might be better off starting from a different box than you're in. But that's easier said then done: how can we escape the confines of our own history? Michael Newcomb is the general manager of the Four Seasons in Dallas. I wrote about him in The Real Secret of Thoroughly Excellent Companies. The recession has hit the hospitality industry hard since I wrote that post and yet, when I stayed at the hotel recently, I was pleasantly surprised by how little the downturn seemed to affect the hotel's atmosphere. The quality of everything was impeccable, the staff were warm, and morale seemed high. So I sat down with Michael again, this time to discuss how he's managed to keep morale high in the midst of the downturn. What I learned was a lesson in out-of-the-box thinking. In the hotel business, jobs are specialized: maids clean the rooms, golf attendants prepare the golf carts, and gardeners do the landscaping. Historically, in a downturn, you cut each of those positions to the minimum necessary to keep things moving at normal demand. But demand is rarely normal. During a golf tournament, you need more golf staff; during a corporate event, you need more dining staff. When there's a spike, the skeleton staff in a particular area get overworked, and performance, as well as morale, suffers. Entering this downturn, there were two things that were most important to Michael and his executive committee: remaining fiscally responsible and maintaining a high-quality guest experience. So their goal was to reduce staffing costs while keeping morale high — an almost impossible combination. Almost. That's where they got creative. Rather than following history, they started from their goal and worked backwards, questioning everything else. Which is how Michael and his executive committee decided to ignore the silos. They focused on retaining their highest performing core staff — the ones who'd been with the hotel for 15 to 20 years — no matter what department they were in. That left gaps in certain departments. Then, they aggressively cross-trained their core staff. The people in laundry learned to clean golf carts. Housekeeping learned to landscape. And room service learned how to work in the restaurant. Initially there was some resistance as people moved beyond their comfort zones, but they quickly adjusted. They were happy to maintain their hours, increase the d Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:03:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203140043.html http://www.physorg.com/news203140043.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- A wave energy generation test site called the "Wave Hub" is being set up off Cornwall`s northern coast. The site is the first offshore wave energy site in the UK, and will allow four wave energy generator systems, with a total capacity of 20 MW, to be evaluated simultaneously. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/juggle/feed/~3/p8YmZVGr2rk/ http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/juggle/feed/~3/p8YmZVGr2rk/ NewsBlotter - WSJ.com: The Juggle - A roundup of news on advances in fertility technology and research on women delaying parenthood. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:52:00 +0000 http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/juggle/feed/~3/WDfNrUCH8KE/ http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/juggle/feed/~3/WDfNrUCH8KE/ NewsBlotter - WSJ.com: The Juggle - Reporting on children traumatized by disasters, I was struck by how important it is, amid the pressures of our busy lives, to just stop and listen to your kids. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:50:00 +0000 http://online.wsj.com/video/three-stocks-to-enter-ftse-100-at-reshuffle/F29723A3-026D-4B23-9F1C-7CC80F4A9F02.html http://online.wsj.com/video/three-stocks-to-enter-ftse-100-at-reshuffle/F29723A3-026D-4B23-9F1C-7CC80F4A9F02.html NewsBlotter - WSJ.com Video - Business - Resolution, Tomkins and Weir Group are set the join the FTSE 100 index after the results of the quarterly review are announced after Wednesday's close, leading to potential buying pressure. Resolution has also been tipped by Morgan Stanley as a short-term tactical buy. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:41:00 +0000 http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/dQCnYZUILI4/snapshot_chongqing.html http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/dQCnYZUILI4/snapshot_chongqing.html NewsBlotter - Harvard Business Blogs - In China today, it's hard to ignore eager tech entrepreneurs — they turn up everywhere. Chongqing, where I traveled recently, is one of the rising hotspots of Chinese entrepreneurial activity; the city's developers — with the help of the central government — are focused on positioning it for mega-growth. This western frontier city seems still somewhat out of the loop, with a rougher edge than Beijing or Shanghai. But give it a few more years, and this hilly and often fogged-in river town could become one of China's next big tech and commercial centers. Three of my adventures revealed why — and help give a taste of China's entrepreneurial passion and positioning. It was on the late-night mini-bus from the Chongqing airport to my hotel that I met Hong Wei. I had barely noticed her huddled in the back seat when I got in, but once we began to talk, she made a lasting impression. Over the 45-minute ride, she told me about how she had traveled to China's western frontier city for an automotive parts trade fair that had been billed as a blockbuster event. I also learned that she was going to be one of the exhibitors, demonstrating a new breakthrough rust-proof technology for car exteriors that she claimed that she and her husband had developed in their hometown of Nanjing. She was here to get distributor deals, and she urged me to stop by her booth. The next morning, I strolled through the maze of exhibits at the automotive bazaar, thinking I might spot this determined lady entrepreneur again. No luck. The auto industry is one of China's fastest-growing industries, and seemingly every entrepreneur as enterprising and motivated as this woman had set up an exhibit here. What was the center of attention were the glamorous models posing in front of shiny new Chinese-made vehicles. Chinese automakers had surely gone to school on Detroit's old sales tricks, though I didn't see many deals getting done. It will take a few more years before car ownership in China becomes a rite of passage like it is in the U.S. After I left the auto bazaar, I headed for the outskirts of the city and across the Yangtze River from the central business district, toward what's called the New North Zone: a manufacturing, science and research hub that has already attracted automakers Ford and Fiat as well as electronics and information technology giants Microsoft, Ericsson, and Cisco. I have been to other software parks in China — in Nanjing, Dalian, Pudong, and Shenyang — but none have turned on the promotional juice like Chongqing. The new infrastructure that is in place looks just like corporate headquarters that could fit in well in Silicon Valley, and newly built schools, hospitals, shopping outlets and hotels abound along tree-lined streets. Indeed, fast-growing China's tech infrastructure makes U.S. corporate parks look outdated. This is all made possible by the deliberate efforts of the region to make the city attractive for business investment. After my tour of the New North Zone, I soaked up more Chongqing facts over a luncheon of hot pot — a peppery variety that is a regional specialty. This dish is a favorite of my host, Wang Yi, who runs the zone and comes to this fancy hillside restaurant at least once a week, often with foreign business executives he wants to impress. As Wang regaled me with facts about Chongqing, his college-age daughter helped to translate, with impeccable English. Chongqing, they taught me, is the largest city in west China, a transportation hub linked by the Yangtze to Shanghai, and a low-cost labor center that also offers favorable investment policies such as reduced income tax of 15 percent for high-tech businesses. The pitch appears to be working in drawing investment. For instance, the software business here is growing faster than any in other area of the country, by more than 200% in 2009. Developing Chon Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:14:00 +0000 http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/xpPjGhxQw5U/how_i_downsized_myself.html http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/xpPjGhxQw5U/how_i_downsized_myself.html NewsBlotter - Harvard Business Blogs - I know, I know. There's nothing more boring than when bloggers write about their own experiences as a way to make a broader point about life, work, or society. But I hope you'll indulge me this one time, as I reflect on a small matter of personal improvement and ask what it might say about the bigger challenge of making change in organizations. Now that Labor Day has come and gone, I can share the results of a project that has engaged me over the spring and summer — losing weight. I have lost 32 pounds over the last 22 weeks. This is a big deal for me, and not just because my new theme song is Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man." It's a big deal because I achieved something I've been thinking about for years — getting to the weight I was in college, more than 25 years after I graduated. As I reflect on what I learned over these last 22 weeks, I keep thinking back to a much-discussed article we published more than five years ago in Fast Company. Called "Change or Die." It was a bracing reminder of how hard it is for people to make deep-seated changes in their habits, even when they know the price of failure may be death, in the form of a heart attack. "The conventional wisdom says that crisis is a powerful motivator for change," the article noted. "But severe heart disease is among the most serious of personal crises, and it doesn't motivate — at least not nearly enough. Nor does giving people accurate analyses and factual information about their situations. What works? Why, in general, is change so incredibly difficult for people? What is it about how our brains are wired that resists change so tenaciously? Why do we fight even what we know to be in our own vital interests?" These are powerful questions —whether the issue is personal or organizational survival. And they are the questions I was dealing with. True, I have no health problems. I just wanted to shed some pounds. But it's a goal I've been unable to achieve for more than 25 years, despite exercising hard virtually every day of that quarter century. So why did I succeed this time, when I've failed so often before? Here are three explanations for why I was able to downsize myself — and some thoughts about how they apply to the broader challenges of change. 1. Language matters, and the language of hope beats the language of fear. I never, ever told myself (or anyone else) that I was "on a diet." I always told myself, and explained to others, that I was on a "nutrition program" to make me more fit. That was a distinction with a real difference. The language of "dieting" is the language of sacrifice, denial, and eventual futility. It's all about the bad things you're going to try to stop doing, what you're giving up, and not about all the good things you're going to start doing, what you're building towards. The sense of "embracing a program" rather than "following a diet" focused my attention on positive progress, on what was to come, rather than on what I was doing wrong before. Language, it turns out, plays a huge role in all kinds of change programs. In "Change or Die," Dr. Dean Ornish explains why he stopped trying to motivate people by "fear of death" and instead oriented them towards "joy of life." Joy "is a more powerful motivator than fear," he argued. What he didn't say, of course, is that so much of how leaders make the case for change is based on fear — if we don't cut costs, or increase margins, or eliminate cycle times, we'll go out of business. So here's a challenge to change leaders: How do you explain what you're leading your colleagues to, as opposed to what you're changing them from? How do you focus on the pleasures of progress rather than the fear of failure? 2. Simpler is better. I would never have achieved the results I did without the advice of Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:11:00 +0000 http://news.discovery.com/tech/rogue-wave-prediction-light.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 http://news.discovery.com/tech/rogue-wave-prediction-light.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 NewsBlotter - Discovery Channel - Lighthouses may safeguard ships from the shore, but light waves could keep them out of harm's way in the open ocean. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203143196.html http://www.physorg.com/news203143196.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Sydney researchers have discovered a new super-strength light alloy and had their key findings published in Nature Communications. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203141986.html http://www.physorg.com/news203141986.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified dendritic antigen-presenting cells in zebrafish, opening the possibility that the tiny fish could become a new model for studying the complexities of the human immune system. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:20:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203141705.html http://www.physorg.com/news203141705.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- Two asteroids, several meters in diameter and in unrelated orbits, will pass within the moon's distance of Earth on Wednesday, Sept. 8. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:15:00 +0000 http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/08/patience-tested-among-apple-fans-in-new-zealand/?mod=rss_WSJBlog http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/09/08/patience-tested-among-apple-fans-in-new-zealand/?mod=rss_WSJBlog NewsBlotter - WSJ.com: Digits - Five weeks since Apple began offering the iPhone 4 in New Zealand, customers in the country are still waiting to get their hands on the popular smartphone, with no indication on when the long-running supply problems might be sorted. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:09:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203141115.html http://www.physorg.com/news203141115.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Microsoft's long-awaited new Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360 videogame console will hit the Japanese market on November 20, the company said Wednesday. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:05:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/KJktEPmU9_A/marketing-to-the-bottom-of-the-pyramid.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/KJktEPmU9_A/marketing-to-the-bottom-of-the-pyramid.html NewsBlotter - Seth Godin - [this short essay (long blog post) is inspired by and related to this video. You can engage one without the other, but they go together.] Part 1: The bottom is important. Almost a third of the world's population earns $2.50 or less a day. The enormity of this disparity takes my breath away, but there's an interesting flip side to it: That's a market of more than five billion dollars a day. Add the next segment ($5 a day) and it's easy to see that every single day, the poorest people in the world spend more than ten billion dollars to live their lives. Most of that money is spent on traditional items purchased in traditional ways. Kerosene. Rice. Basic medicines if you can afford them or if death is the only alternative. And almost all of these purchases are inefficient. There's lack of information, high costs because of a lack of choice, and most of all, a lack of innovation. There are two significant impacts here: first, the inefficiency is a tax on the people who can least afford it. Second, the side effects of poor products are dangerous. Kerosene kills, and so does dirty water. Part 2: The bottom is an opportunity (for both buyer or seller). If a business can offer a better product, one that's more efficient, provides better information, increases productivity, is safer, cleaner, faster or otherwise improved, it has the ability to change the world. Change the world? Sure. Because capitalism and markets scale. If you can make money selling someone a safer item, you'll make more. And more. Until you've sold all you can. At the same time, you've enriched the purchaser, who bought something of her own free will because it made things better. Not only that, but engaging in the marketplace empowers the purchaser. If you've got a wagon full of rice as food aid, you can just dump it in the town square and drive away. You have all the power. But if you have to sell something in order to succeed, it moves the power from the seller to buyer. Quality and service and engagement have to continually improve or the buyer moves on. The cell phone, for example, has revolutionized the life of billions in the developing world. If you have a cell phone, you can determine the best price for the wheat you want to sell. You can find out if the part for your tractor has come in without spending two days to walk to town to find out. And you can be alerted to weather... etc. Productivity booms. There's no way the cell phone could have taken off as quickly or efficently as a form of aid, but once someone started engaging with this market, the volume was so huge it just scaled. And the market now competes to be ever more efficient. Part 3: It's not as easy as it looks And here's the kicker: If you're a tenth-generation subsistence farmer, your point of view is different from someone working in an R&D lab in Palo Alto. The Moral Economy of the Peasant makes this argument quite clearly. Imagine standing in water up to your chin. The only thing you're prepared to focus on is whether or not the water is going to rise four more inches. Your penchant for risk is close to zero. One mistake and the game is over. As a result, it's extremely difficult to sell innovation to this consumer. The line around the block to get into the Apple store is just an insane concept in this community. A promise from a marketer is meaningless, because the marketer isn't part of the town, the marketer will move away, the marketer is, of course, a liar. Let me add one more easily overlooked point: Western-style consumers have been taught from birth the power of the package. We see the new nano or the new Porsche or the new convertible note on a venture deal and we can easily do the math: [new thing] + [me] = Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:58:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138486.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138486.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Two new studies have shed more light on how smoking may damage fertility, and give further weight to advice that mothers and fathers-to-be should stop smoking before attempting to conceive. The research is published online in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction today. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:50:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138108.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138108.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Interactive computer packages are effective in improving knowledge about sexual health, according to a new study by Cochrane researchers. Computer-based approaches could help to tackle problems such as sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:50:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203139571.html http://www.physorg.com/news203139571.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Computer security firm Symantec on Wednesday reported that about two thirds of the world's Internet users have fallen victim to cybercrime and few think crooks will be caught. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:50:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138603.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138603.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Microbes could be threatening our cultural heritage by degrading historic cinematographic film and even preventing some valuable footage to be archived at all. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138074.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138074.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Acamprosate reduces the number of patients being treated for alcoholism who return to drinking, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The drug showed moderate benefits in trials when used in addition to non-drug treatments. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203139505.html http://www.physorg.com/news203139505.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Willow Garage is out to transform the world of robotics with a formula that has helped make stars of Apple gadgets and Facebook. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:39:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138009.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138009.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - A new analysis released today by the Pacific Institute recommends specific actions that can annually save a million acre-feet of water quickly and at a lower economic and ecological cost than developing new supplies. The assessment notes that new actions are immediately needed to reduce the growing tensions over the state's water resources and to address California's persistent water supply challenges. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:30:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138732.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138732.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Men who wish to attract women on the disco floor would be better advised to learn a few moves that answer the female mating drive rather than bother with the moonwalk. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:25:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203137749.html http://www.physorg.com/news203137749.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (AP) -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and national nonprofit organizations said Tuesday they want Craigslist to be "a model for good policy" and officially get rid of its adult services section globally. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:20:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203138162.html http://www.physorg.com/news203138162.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - The likelihood that the treatment of a middle ear infection will fail is slightly higher for a child who is given a shorter course of antibiotics, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. The results are conclusive, but the researchers say there are other factors that must be considered when the drugs are prescribed. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:16:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203137957.html http://www.physorg.com/news203137957.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - The risk factors for indoor and outdoor falls for older adults are different, according to a new study by the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, a fact that is often missed when the two are combined and may affect how falls prevention programs are structured. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:13:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203137879.html http://www.physorg.com/news203137879.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - There are currently no reliably safe and effective treatments for morning sickness, according to Cochrane researchers who conducted a systematic review of the available evidence. There was very limited evidence for all pharmaceutical and alternative medicines tested. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:11:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203137622.html http://www.physorg.com/news203137622.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (AP) -- A powerful new 5.1-magnitude aftershock rattled terrified residents of New Zealand's earthquake-stricken city of Christchurch on Wednesday, as officials doubled their estimate for repairing the damage from nearly 300 aftershocks in five days. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:08:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ASmarterPlanet/~3/HfUSHlSvtU4/live-from-the-ibm-summit-at-start.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ASmarterPlanet/~3/HfUSHlSvtU4/live-from-the-ibm-summit-at-start.html NewsBlotter - A Smarter Planet Blog - Today we open the doors for 9 days at the IBM Summit at Start, just as a YouGov poll of over 2,000 consumers revealed that 47 per cent of British adults feel the plethora of information on sustainability is confusing and often conflicting. The business community didn’t fair much better as 50 per cent of the public rate the way organisations convey their sustainability policies as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’. How can we change that? May be changing that perception over the 9 days of IBM Summit at Start is asking a lot but we can begin to get things rolling. The key to the event is asking, what can sustainability do for business? This is a more authentic way to approach the subject so as to arrive at a place where the output makes sense to business and it’s consumers. Over the nine topics we will look at those people and businesses doing it right, talk to those with the big ideas and dreams and see how, through collaboration, we can all make business, people and cities work better. It’s a tall order but if you don’t start, you never get going. We have a packed agenda and we will bring you much of the action via Livestream, Twitter @ibm_start (#ibmstart) and our news hub as is humanly possible. Along-side the IBM summit is the Start Garden Party that is focusing on what individuals can do. The summit will deep dive into the issues and questions that help and hinder the take up of sustainable business practices. Some of the sessions at the Summit are going to be held under Chatham House Rules, simply to encourage a full and frank exchange of views. However, the output will be collated and published after the event, probably in October. We have a number of keynotes and panels sessions with speakers such as Wayne Hemingway, Designer and Entrepreneur; Dame Ellen MacArthur, Sir Martin Rose, CEO M&S, and many more. Full details here. We hope you can join us and participate in the on-line debate around this topic of our times. Related articles by Zemanta IBM to hold summit on sustainability (computing.co.uk) I’ll be at IBM Start this week (and next!) (greenmonk.net) Technorati Tags: business, Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:51:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b7dd8866defd77be3f4e42656a1055b5 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b7dd8866defd77be3f4e42656a1055b5 NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - An American psychiatrist’s program of techniques to reduce stress has helped people in Gaza and Israel deal with the effects of violence. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:39:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/news_analysis_and_views/~3/tioLksKNfzA/displaystory.cfm http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/economist/news_analysis_and_views/~3/tioLksKNfzA/displaystory.cfm NewsBlotter - The Economist - Plenty of university graduates are working in low-skilled jobsYoung people often worry whether the qualification for which they are studying will stand them in good stead in the workplace. According to the OECD, college and university leavers are better placed in the labour market than their less educated peers, but this advantage is not even in all countries. Young graduates living in Spain are particularly likely to end up taking low-skilled work, while those in Luxembourg rarely take anything other than a graduate job. American and British students appear to have the biggest incentive to study: British graduates aged 25-34 earn $57,000 on average. Their Swedish peers earn $37,400.More Daily charts ... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:37:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/celestinechua/~3/-ahK6ArNNm8/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/celestinechua/~3/-ahK6ArNNm8/ NewsBlotter - The Personal Excellence Blog - Today is Day 8 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check #30DLBL on Twitter for latest news on the challenge. Note from Celes: If you’re reading this article from your inbox, it has probably been updated. Read the latest version of Day 8′s task online. Yesterday was about creating our action plans to achieve our goals. Some of you have finished creating your action plans and have generously shared them in the comments. Some very exciting projects are born, such as Project Hot Bod (Theresa, Fitness – the title gave it away didn’t it? ), Project: Debut as Author (Andy, to finish his first book by Oct ’10), Project 69 (Luis, to get to his ideal weight of 69kg), Project FOK (Kat, Fitness)and more. Some of them are starting with effect today! For myself, I created my project too (Project Beautiful, Graceful and Healthy Celes). I went for a 4km jog yesterday evening, and went grocery shopping this morning for healthy food with my mom. I’ll be jogging later this evening too. Some of you might have found the planning process a block. A number of you told me you didn’t know how to proceed with the task. Simply put, Day 7′s task is just about creating a plan so you can achieve your goal, that’s all. Do you need an action plan for every goal? Not at all. If your goal is a small goal that can be achieved just by simply taking 2-3 actions, then there’s no need to plan. For example when I have small goals like exercise X times a week or to write X number of blog posts a week, I just take action. Too much planning cause action paralysis, which defeats the purpose of planning. Some goals automatically get achieved by continuing your daily actions, for example graduating from college. However if it’s a big goal like say, when I first became a full-time vegetarian or when I first quit my job and was thinking on how to set up a whole new personal development business, then yes, it is very important to have an action plan. Your plan is like a guide which you can follow as you achieve your goal, so you know you’re not alone. The point of planning is to empower you and trigger you to action, that’s all. It shouldn’t demotivate you, make you resist it, or anything like that. As long as you’ve planned enough to take action and have clarity of what’s ahead, then that’s sufficient. Take action, let the results roll in, and then adjust your plan from here-on. Also, planning is supposed to be an ongoing process too vs. a one-off thing. I’ve realized that from setting up/running my personal development business since 2 years ago. Every week, I’m constantly adjusting/tweaking/adding new information to my plan – it’s to match my business as it evolves. Remember, your plan is supposed to be your best friend. I’ve simplified Day 7′s post so it’s much easier to follow and create your action plan. Check out the latest version. If you have any questions, o Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:05:00 +0000 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/1orDSABE0xE/3641314 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/1orDSABE0xE/3641314 NewsBlotter - Search Engine Watch - Google's latest Keyword Tool update improves the accuracy of exact match searches, and should make things easier for SEMs in the long term. ... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:01:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=62c82575507b095e0428b65f9b4dc5ad http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=62c82575507b095e0428b65f9b4dc5ad NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - Psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:57:00 +0000 http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=b7b07500572738e7b125f234c211795f http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=b7b07500572738e7b125f234c211795f NewsBlotter - National Geographic - The decline and near extinction of several species of river dolphins is a reflection of the deterioration of water quality and quantity around the globe, according to a new report. Water quality - River dolphin - Species - Health - Environment Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:53:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1636d72a28a8947f0c6587353d0f2936 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1636d72a28a8947f0c6587353d0f2936 NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - This is a mild version of Grace Young’s spicy orange chicken, with as much emphasis on vegetables as on chicken. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:30:00 +0000 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/c8MB55M5GxY/3641313 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/c8MB55M5GxY/3641313 NewsBlotter - Search Engine Watch - If you thought that only humans were capable of pulling a fast one on you, think again: quite a few crawlers out there are not at all what they make out to be. ... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:01:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=699a36a71526dd2bb655f7fd9ead35bd http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=699a36a71526dd2bb655f7fd9ead35bd NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - The magazine published ratings of 221 heart bypass surgical groups from 42 states online on Tuesday and will print them in its October issue. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:50:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ASmarterPlanet/~3/8FvAS_6fnW8/building-a-smarter-city-in-cambridge-ontario.html http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ASmarterPlanet/~3/8FvAS_6fnW8/building-a-smarter-city-in-cambridge-ontario.html NewsBlotter - A Smarter Planet Blog - Editor’s note: Following is a guest blog from Mike Hausser, the director of asset management for the City of Cambridge in Ontario, Canada: How do you start building a smarter city if you are a rapidly growing municipality of 125,000 with over 200,000 assets like buildings, sewer systems and roadways valued at more than $1.2 billion across 50,000 locations? Here at the City of Cambridge, Ontario, we think we’ve got what it takes. And we have combined vision, technology and collaboration with the public and private sector to make it happen. Today, in partnership with the Federal Government of Canada and IBM, we announced < hyperlink this text to news release> how we are using the Canadian Federal Government’s Gas Tax Funding to better manage critical city information and assets. The Federal Gas Tax fund (GTF) is a key component of the Building Canada infrastructure plan. The plan’s intent is to strengthen Canada’s communities by providing predictable and long-term funding in support of municipal infrastructure that contributes to cleaner air, cleaner water and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Technological advances now allow cities to be instrumented, making it easier than ever before to collect data points and use that information to make real-time decisions in areas like traffic flow, water usage, sewage flow and overall water management, We believe a smarter city goes to work for its citizens. It measures and influences more aspects of their operations. These interconnected cities allow free flow of information from one discrete system to another, which increases the efficiency of the overall infrastructure. Finite resources are optimized. Vision and creative leadership at a municipal level are critical. For example, some cities have used the gas tax funding to repave roads. We’ll do some of that too, but we have decided to take a more innovative, forward-thinking approach that lays the foundation for a smarter city in a number of key areas: Water: It is a precious resource which is becoming increasingly scarce worldwide.  Our new water management process calculates the outdoor water use volumes by customer. Through the interconnection of several independent systems, the collective datasets allow us to analyze the volume of sewage from homes and businesses against the volume of water coming in from ground water or rainfall. Problem areas can then be quickly targeted for detailed inspection. This process is helping improve the efficiency of our sewer systems and is reducing environmental impacts. Traffic: We want to make driving easier for citizens of Cambridge. Traffic is counted and loaded into the new system automatically alongside collision records. This helps us do safety audits to more efficiently determine the need for changes in intersection design, speed limits, traffic calming and traffic control. This information is also automatically used to classify roads to determine the severity of road defects and prioritize repairs. Our approach to traffic management also includes sidewalks. We have started mobile inspection of sidewalks. The computer is mounted on a bike which is ridden across nearly 800 kilometres of sidewalks each summer. The system tracks what sidewalks have been inspected and safety hazards and defects are identified on a map by the operator. Defects and safety hazards that fall within certain thresholds are queued and the IBM system then creates automatic service requests to generate the appropriate work order, or job ticket, for repair crews. Progress is monitored to ensure defects are resolved within expected time frames. Natural events that affect traffic are also managed using IBM software systems Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:41:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=58b0ff0e83ccc66a152fec9aba55f0f1 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=58b0ff0e83ccc66a152fec9aba55f0f1 NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - The two companies agreed in January to jointly develop ZymoGenetics’s hepatitis C drug and share the profits. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:30:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c6befa456a6ace5fcb10fcec0bcc51dd http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c6befa456a6ace5fcb10fcec0bcc51dd NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - New Web sites aim to connect those in need with friends and acquaintances willing to provide rides and meals, do chores or pay visits. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:21:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7923848c18015e172830dfd417ee104e http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7923848c18015e172830dfd417ee104e NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - A group at the Riverdale Senior Center helps fight the isolation of aging in men. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:20:00 +0000 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/s6w-hFjm9ZU/3641312 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/s6w-hFjm9ZU/3641312 NewsBlotter - Search Engine Watch - How we redesigned and optimized a sports website's team and player pages to gain better coverage in the SERPs. ... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:01:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2defaea3e9f02e3d58de84100f6fb0ef http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2defaea3e9f02e3d58de84100f6fb0ef NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - A federal judge refused to lift a ban on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:01:00 +0000 http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=529212157&topic=Main http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=529212157&topic=Main NewsBlotter - HR Executive - Employer healthcare expenses are on the rise, with employees shouldering more of the costs. Experts say the trend is likely to continue, and HR leaders must play a key role in managing healthcare costs and communicating plan changes to the workforce. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:29:00 +0000 http://www.investorwords.com/3196/National_Association_of_Securities_Dealers.html http://www.investorwords.com/3196/National_Association_of_Securities_Dealers.html NewsBlotter - InvestorWords.com - NASD. Merged with the NYSE Regulation, Inc. in 2007 to form the organization now known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Browse Our Entire Glossary | Business Dictionary | Stock Research Copyright© 2010 InvestorWords.com. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:03:00 +0000 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/r_h5BZHMizM/3641311 http://feeds.searchenginewatch.com/~r/sew/~3/r_h5BZHMizM/3641311 NewsBlotter - Search Engine Watch - Top tips for building an online buzz when you've launched something new and want to boost sales. ... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:01:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7e51ab188d8d14bc0445b964c111bb0b http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7e51ab188d8d14bc0445b964c111bb0b NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - Aching shoulders are among the most common overuse tennis injuries, robbing professionals and duffers of playing time and comfort. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:01:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/w1XoLFxmvgs/10-ironclad-seo-arguments.htm http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/conversationmarketing/MRJI/~3/w1XoLFxmvgs/10-ironclad-seo-arguments.htm NewsBlotter - Conversation Marketing - SEO. What's the deal? Why do marketing VPs, IT teams and CFO's flee, screaming, at the mere mention of search engine optimization? I have no answers. However, I do have a few points - data-driven or otherwise - that I've used to sell SEO in the past. I've tested extensively, and I can tell you that these all work far better than threatening to give your client a lederhosen wedgie. 85% of people who click on a search result click on the organic search result. The only way to rank in the organic results is SEO. 100% of searchers click the first organic search result. Less than 50% click the first paid result. That's from Vanessa Fox's excellent book, Marketing in the Age of Google. Don't believe me - believe her. SEO has a cascading effect. Most of the work you do for organic SEO - content creation, site performance improvements and link building via outreach - also improves conversion, grows your overall brand and strengthens other marketing efforts. It scales well. If you spent $5000 on organic search and then get 1,000 clicks from an organic listing, it cost you $5/click. As your rankings improve, though, and you get, say, 10,000 clicks, your cost doesn't increase. Now your cost is $.50/click. And so on. You'll learn critical stuff about your customers. Improved search visibility will mean more unpaid search traffic. That will tell you more about the words, phrases and questions on customers' minds when they look for your product or service. Search puts you in front of the customer when they need you. Unlike traditional advertising, banners and such, search-driven marketing appears in front of the customer right when they need your services. You know that, because they're searching for you. Hopefully you know why that's good. SEO is a fantastic deal. Even the most expensive SEO campaign costs a fraction of offline marketing. A typical print ad in a national magazine will cost you $40,000, minimum. A banner campaign on a major site? $10,000/month. Television? Don't even ask. Even plain old face-to-face selling may cost more by the time you're done missing work, buying meals, traveling around and wearing holes in your nice shoes. Try this: Take 5% of your offline marketing budget and invest it in a smart SEO person. See what it gets you. Paid search costs increase over time. There are very few topics for which pay-per-click (PPC) marketing has become cheaper. "Bid inflation" means that most companies have seen a rapid rise in their PPC expenses. SEO only gets more expensive if your consultant increases their price, or your in-house team asks for raises. SEO is a lasting asset. Assuming you stick to SEO techniques with long-term viability, your search engine optimization work will help you for months or years. Every improvement you make, every page you add to your site, every link you earn will stick around, boosting later efforts. Think of SEO as a marketing savings account: Your work will generate compound interest. The upstart can win. In spite of my whining about Google's brand favoritism, SEO is a small business' best chance to beat out incumbents. SEO requires a degree of agility that big companies often can't manage. There you have it. I pull out 3-4 of the above arguments in almost any sales pitch Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:44:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=831d28b8ee158b163338794feead502e http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=831d28b8ee158b163338794feead502e NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - Dr. Lin also all but built the mental health system from the ground up in his native Taiwan, later helping governments in other developing nations to do the same. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:30:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6c94b0943d313ace8b78c6bd18d12846 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6c94b0943d313ace8b78c6bd18d12846 NewsBlotter - NYT > Science - Debates over the human element in recent weather calamities are a distraction from climate realities. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:27:00 +0000 http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=11556 http://www.davidco.com/connect/forum_view.php?t=11556 NewsBlotter - Getting Things Done - I just got my new Kindle from Amazon, that I'm going to use for my reading. As a planner, I read a lot of documents as part of my job, so it will enable me to read more away from my desk, without my glasses and not have to lug my laptop around. I've made a list for my Kindle, which I check each day,... Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:14:00 +0000 http://news.discovery.com/earth/providing-climate-data-for-the-masses.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 http://news.discovery.com/earth/providing-climate-data-for-the-masses.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 NewsBlotter - Discovery Channel - Soon everyone might have access to all of the world's leading climate data, as part of a massive effort to understand climate change in unprecedented detail. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:13:00 +0000 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a5a9b0d710e6b08b3a4fdde8d93cfe13 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a5a9b0d710e6b08b3a4fdde8d93cfe13 NewsBlotter - Scientific American - By Ewen Callaway Journal articles on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) ghostwritten by medical writers employed by the pharmaceutical industry serially understated the treatment&aposs risks and promoted unapproved uses, according to an analysis of industry documents. The analysis, published September 7 in the journal PLoS Medicine , is based on some 1,500 e-mails, contracts and other documents made public in July 2009, after The New York Times and PLoS Medicine successfully argued that their release would be in the public interest. [More] New York Times - Public Library of Science - Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:00:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=65278adfd75b9f5541b9d9cc2d4026b6 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=65278adfd75b9f5541b9d9cc2d4026b6 NewsBlotter - NYT > Science - Archaeologists uncovered the remains of a settlement that flourished more than 3,500 years ago. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:50:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=fa1b32c8362f9d6b0c65063f7e3f3cdc http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=fa1b32c8362f9d6b0c65063f7e3f3cdc NewsBlotter - NYT > Science - Stephen Hawking’s pop-science book about the origins of our universe got attention for a passage about God. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203056102.html http://www.physorg.com/news203056102.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- Male fish are so stubborn that they refuse to ask for directions, especially when they are ready to reproduce. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:00:00 +0000 http://online.wsj.com/video/social-networking-comes-to-ipods/699EF4D0-33F1-4BA3-B650-F1F310FE01A2.html http://online.wsj.com/video/social-networking-comes-to-ipods/699EF4D0-33F1-4BA3-B650-F1F310FE01A2.html NewsBlotter - WSJ.com Video - Business - The iPod is no longer just a portable player of music. Now users of Apple's array of iPods can sync up with Ping, a music-centric social networking tool. WSJ's Katherine Boehret reports. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20100907/new-parents-at-risk-for-postpartum-depression?src=RSS_PUBLIC http://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20100907/new-parents-at-risk-for-postpartum-depression?src=RSS_PUBLIC NewsBlotter - WebMD - Both moms and dads are at an increased risk for depression during the first year of their infant's life, finds a new study of parents in the U.K. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:16:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=63850725499907fd85cb8dcd7e975425 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=63850725499907fd85cb8dcd7e975425 NewsBlotter - NYT > Science - The next frontiers for mobile robots are the office, hospital and home. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:03:00 +0000 http://www.portfolio.com/business-travel/2010/09/08/a-business-travel-report-card-for-president-obama?ana=from_rss http://www.portfolio.com/business-travel/2010/09/08/a-business-travel-report-card-for-president-obama?ana=from_rss NewsBlotter - Portfolio: Business Travel - What kind of marks does Barack Obama get when it comes to the interests of road warriors? The president can be happy by scoring pairs of As and Bs, but beware—he’s got a D and an F to answer for. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0000 http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20100907/high-cholesterol-linked-to-cookware-chemicals?src=RSS_PUBLIC http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20100907/high-cholesterol-linked-to-cookware-chemicals?src=RSS_PUBLIC NewsBlotter - WebMD - Exposure to chemicals used in the manufacture of nonstick cookware and waterproof and stain-resistant products could be raising cholesterol levels in children, a new study suggests. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:57:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203103725.html http://www.physorg.com/news203103725.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Cisco Systems and Westcon Group North America have agreed to pay 48 million dollars to settle an overcharging case, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:42:00 +0000 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/9mA_iGeMjmg/an-interview-on-seobook http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/9mA_iGeMjmg/an-interview-on-seobook NewsBlotter - SEOmoz - Posted by randfishJust a short post tonight.First, off, I'm honored to be interviewed by Aaron Wall. We've had our differences and maintain some divergent opinions on a few topics, but we both have an insane passion for helping make SEO professionals better at their job and work hard to grow the credibility of SEO as a whole.Second - we've got a lot of reason to be thankful. SEOmoz was recently named the 334th fastest growing company in the US by Inc Magazine. I was named to Seattle's 40 Under 40 List (I'm guessing it's a typo) and we've recently passed 6,000 PRO subscribers (actually, we're up over 6,300 as of today).As amazing as all that is, nearly everyone at SEOmoz is thinking not about these milestones, but about one of our own - Jen Lopez - who noted on her Twitter feed that she's out battling cancer. We are all with you Jen - every last one of us, with all our hearts. And we agree: #fuckcancer Do you like this post? Yes No Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:32:00 +0000 http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20100907/h1n1-swine-flu-no-worse-than-seasonal-flu?src=RSS_PUBLIC http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20100907/h1n1-swine-flu-no-worse-than-seasonal-flu?src=RSS_PUBLIC NewsBlotter - WebMD - Study: In adults and children over age 6 months, the H1N1 swine flu was no more severe -- and posed no greater risk of serious disease -- than seasonal flu. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.hybridcars.com/news/push-small-global-hybrids-toyota-build-yaris-hybrid-28543.html http://www.hybridcars.com/news/push-small-global-hybrids-toyota-build-yaris-hybrid-28543.html NewsBlotter - HybridCars.com - Toyota Yaris In what could become the next chapter of the hybrid car saga, Toyota is planning to produce small, affordable high-mpg hybrids. The downsizing of hybrids, at first in Europe and Asia, could represent the technology’s shift to mainstream global markets where economies of scale would mean dramatic increases in hybrid production. The Mid-Japan Economist newspaper today reported that Toyota plans to produce a hybrid version of the Yaris subcompact at its factory in France starting next April. This report follows at least a year’s worth of rumors about a small hybrid slated for production at Toyota’s Valenciennes factory. Honda is the only other carmaker with concrete plans to produce small affordable hybrids. The Honda CR-Z coupe went on sale last month, and at next month’s Paris Motor Show the company will unveil the Honda Fit Hybrid, which could come to the United States in the next year or two. Critics argue that hybrid systems do not make sense for small cars, which are already relatively efficient. But tougher environmental laws throughout the world will require lower emissions for cars of all sizes.read more Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:19:00 +0000 http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100907/low-carb-labels-may-confuse-more-than-educate?src=RSS_PUBLIC http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20100907/low-carb-labels-may-confuse-more-than-educate?src=RSS_PUBLIC NewsBlotter - WebMD - People often misinterpret product claims of low-carbohydrate content on the front of packages, believing the foods are healthy and will help them manage their weight, a study shows. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:17:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203102052.html http://www.physorg.com/news203102052.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday refused to lift his order blocking federal funding for some stem cell research, saying that a "parade of horribles" predicted by federal officials would not happen. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:14:00 +0000 http://www.hybridcars.com/news/car-dealers-give-proposed-new-fuel-economy-label-failing-grade-28542.html http://www.hybridcars.com/news/car-dealers-give-proposed-new-fuel-economy-label-failing-grade-28542.html NewsBlotter - HybridCars.com - Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency submitted three fuel economy label concepts for public review. One of those designs—referred to in the agency's seven-page brochure as "Label 1"—was a large sticker with a prominently displayed letter grade that would be given to every auto model that goes on sale in the United States. The grades range from D to A+ based on a fuel economy grading system whose details aren't available and are probably yet to be finalized. Today, the National Automobile Dealers Association came out against that option, saying that the letter grades would confuse consumers and be unfair because they are "imbued with schoolyard memories of passing and failing." The EPA is determined to move forward with some form of new labeling scheme and is currently reviewing feedback for the three proposed designs during a 60-day public comment period. “New fuel economy labels will keep pace with the new generation of fuel efficient cars and trucks rolling off the line, and provide simple, straightforward updates to inform consumers about their choices in a rapidly changing market," said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a press release. But whether a letter grading system is the best way to do that is a question that has yet to be answered. Of the NADA's two chief criticisms, the possibility that consumers could be confused by letter grades or an overabundance of information on the stickers is the most valid. For example, if a shopper is in the market for an SUV and finds that all of the vehicles he is considering have the same vaguely-defined rating, would he be inclined to ignore fuel economy entirely in his decision process—even when an extra 2 mpg could pay significant dividends in terms of fuel costs and emissions? The EPA does have an interest in alerting consumers to which vehicles pass, fail and lead the class in fuel economy, but in order for a letter-grading system to be successful it would have to be designed to be straight-forward and understandable to consumers that aren't used to relying on fuel economy as one of their chief considerations in purchasing a new car or truck. If the EPA fails to accomplish this, letter grades—or even the stickers themselves—risk following in the path of the DHS's all-but-forgotten color-coded terrorism alert system. The EPA is encouraging anyone interested in weighing in on the new labels to do so on its website.read more Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:03:00 +0000 http://wpcarey.asu.edu/bluechip/News_Display.cfm?num=577 http://wpcarey.asu.edu/bluechip/News_Display.cfm?num=577 NewsBlotter - W. P. Carey - Although we have not yet seen sustained employment growth at the national level, labor markets in more and more states are showing improvement over the same period last year. This spreading state-by-state job creation is one overlooked indicator that casts somewhat of a brighter glow over the current economy. As of July, 33 states reported higher nonfarm employment than in the dismal days of 2009. But year-over-year U.S. employment fell yet again in July. With over half the states adding jobs now, why isn't the national employment picture more positive? Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0000 http://news.discovery.com/animals/bugs-personality-insects.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 http://news.discovery.com/animals/bugs-personality-insects.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 NewsBlotter - Discovery Channel - Individual bugs behave consistently and in their own unique ways over time and across different contexts, research finds. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0000 http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/09/07/fords-new-fiesta-is-fun-frugal-and-surprisingly-roomy/?mod=rss_WSJBlog http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2010/09/07/fords-new-fiesta-is-fun-frugal-and-surprisingly-roomy/?mod=rss_WSJBlog NewsBlotter - WSJ.com: Driver's Seat - A review of Ford's new Fiesta subcompact hatchback. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:56:00 +0000 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=21f08bb733641b12cfe37a6c0e5bacff http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=21f08bb733641b12cfe37a6c0e5bacff NewsBlotter - NYT > Health - The deal is about $885 million, Bristol said. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:52:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099358.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099358.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, publishing it in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology next week. In 2008, the research consortium set out to map the genetic blueprint for the domesticated turkey, the fourth-most popular source of meat in the United States. The complete genome sequence, rapidly acquired using 'next-generation' sequencing technology, promises new data for avian researchers and, ultimately, a better quality product for turkey producers and consumers. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:50:00 +0000 http://online.wsj.com/video/google-ita-merger-plans-under-investigation/F61BE6E2-2237-48E6-8052-0F99CB02C19B.html http://online.wsj.com/video/google-ita-merger-plans-under-investigation/F61BE6E2-2237-48E6-8052-0F99CB02C19B.html NewsBlotter - WSJ.com Video - Business - Google's plan to buy travel-search software firm ITA raises two competition issues for U.S. regulators. WSJ's Amir Efrati explains why. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:47:00 +0000 http://twitter.com/gtdguy/statuses/23858897161 http://twitter.com/gtdguy/statuses/23858897161 NewsBlotter - Getting Things Done - Great fun to meet German manufacturing manager in Irish B&B who swears by GTD ! Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:41:00 +0000 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=99413799430264fe46c343130afa7965 http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=99413799430264fe46c343130afa7965 NewsBlotter - Scientific American - Babies born to mothers with HIV have a much smaller risk of getting the virus themselves if medical personnel administer preventive drugs, such as nevirapine, at birth to the moms and their newborns. Nevertheless, a small percentage of those infants will end up getting the disease anyway. And without treatment, some 62 percent of HIV-positive children die before the age of two. [More] HIV - Health - Conditions and Diseases - AIDS - Child Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099235.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099235.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - The first academic analysis of the 1500 documents unsealed in recent litigation against the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) reveals unprecedented insights into how pharmaceutical companies use ghostwriters to insert marketing messages into articles published in medical journals. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099061.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099061.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- The supermassive black holes that lie at the centers of galaxies can spawn tremendous bipolar jets of atomic particles. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:40:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099454.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099454.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (AP) -- Judges have the right to require warrants before police get cell phone records that could suggest a customer's likely location, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a novel electronic privacy case. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:40:00 +0000 http://twitter.com/gtdguy/statuses/23858793686 http://twitter.com/gtdguy/statuses/23858793686 NewsBlotter - Getting Things Done - A stunning day driving NW Ireland. Counties Mayo & Galway. Tucked away gorgeous B&B 2nite. http://www.delphilodge.ie/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:39:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203096777.html http://www.physorg.com/news203096777.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Prior research has shown that alcohol abuse and dependence are typically associated with higher rates of obesity, as evidenced by a high body mass index (BMI). Findings from a new study of the relationship between BMI and regional measures of brain structure, metabolite concentrations, and cerebral blood flow suggest that alcohol-related brain injuries may result from a complicated fusion of hazardous drinking, chronic cigarette smoking, and even elevated BMI. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:30:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203098729.html http://www.physorg.com/news203098729.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Allowing developing countries to increase import tariffs based on price and supply triggers under proposed World Trade Organization rules would actually harm those countries, according to a Purdue University economic analysis. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:30:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203097079.html http://www.physorg.com/news203097079.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Infants who received heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV-7) at 2, 4, and 11 months were more likely than unvaccinated controls to have nasopharyngeal (in the nasal passages and upper part of the throat behind the nose) acquisition of pneumococcal serotype 19A, a leading cause of respiratory pneumococcal disease, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:30:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099306.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099306.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Fetal exposure to radiation and the risk of childhood cancer: what is the likelihood of a risk? Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:28:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203099126.html http://www.physorg.com/news203099126.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - There is an association between taking statins (lipid lowering drugs), and reduced risk of developing the chronic inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis. These are the findings of a study by Gabriel Chodick and colleagues, published in this week's PLoS Medicine. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:25:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203098915.html http://www.physorg.com/news203098915.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- A new Iowa State University study has found that corn bred to contain increased levels of beta-carotene is a good source of vitamin A. The discovery gives added support to the promise of biofortified corn being developed through conventional plant breeding as an effective tool to combat vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:22:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203096859.html http://www.physorg.com/news203096859.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Lung cancer researchers have identified a genetic signature that can help doctors determine which patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer are at high risk for developing disease recurrence and therefore may benefit from chemotherapy after surgery ("adjuvant chemotherapy"). Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:20:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203097020.html http://www.physorg.com/news203097020.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - In one of the first international studies to compare the link between formal education and heart disease and stroke, the incidence of these diseases and certain risk factors decreased as educational levels increased in high-income countries, but not in low- and middle-income countries. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:20:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203098530.html http://www.physorg.com/news203098530.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - (PhysOrg.com) -- A species of seahorse unique to the waters of the Gulf Coast could face extinction because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, warns marine conservation organization Project Seahorse. Without careful intervention, the dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) could virtually disappear within a few years, while many other fish populations, including several other species of seahorse, face a similarly bleak future as cleanup continues. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:17:00 +0000 http://children.webmd.com/news/20100907/sleep-linked-to-childhood-obesity?src=RSS_PUBLIC http://children.webmd.com/news/20100907/sleep-linked-to-childhood-obesity?src=RSS_PUBLIC NewsBlotter - WebMD - Infants and young children who don’t get enough sleep at night may face a significantly increased risk of becoming obese before adulthood, a new study says. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:17:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203097162.html http://www.physorg.com/news203097162.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - US newspaper advertising revenue fell 5.55 percent in the second quarter of the year, but the rate of decline slowed in a dose of relatively good news for the embattled industry. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:10:00 +0000 http://www.physorg.com/news203096725.html http://www.physorg.com/news203096725.html NewsBlotter - PhysOrg.com - Alcohol consumption, withdrawal, and abstinence can all raise stress hormones in humans and animals. A review has described how stress hormones called glucocorticoids are associated with neurotoxicity during abstinence after withdrawal from alcohol dependence.Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism may therefore represent a pharmacological option for recovery. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:10:00 +0000