রবিবার, ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Justin Bieber Throws Up on Stage!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/09/justin-bieber-throws-up-on-stage/

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Alt-week 9.29.12: 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and laser-controlled worms

Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

Altweek 92912 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and lasercontrolled worms

Dimensions, they're like buses. You wait for ages, and then three come along at once. And then another one right after that. While that might be about where the analogy ends, this week sees us off to the moon, where we then leap from the third, right into the fourth. Once there, we'll learn how we could eventually be controlled by lasers, before getting up close and personal with a 300 million-year old bug. Sound like some sort of psychedelic dream? Better than that, this is alt-week.

Continue reading Alt-week 9.29.12: 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and laser-controlled worms

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Alt-week 9.29.12: 3D pictures of the moon, 4D clocks and laser-controlled worms originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/29/alt-week-9-29-12-3d-pictures-of-the-moon-4d-clocks/

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Turkish Recipes: S?zme Yo?urt Tatl?s? (Yoghurt Cake) | Turkey's For ...

When it comes to Turkish cuisine, what do the people of Turkey not do with yoghurt? The answer is...not a lot. It's enjoyed on its own; it's made into the wonderfully summery Turkish drink, ayran; it's used as an ingredient in kebab dishes such as ?skender Kebab; yoghurt is the main ingredient in the soup, yayla ?orbas??and it's the base for many Turkish meze dishes such as cac?k and geren.

And Turkish yoghurt is also used as an ingredient in desserts. For our Turkish Food & Recipes Feature Week, we made a first course of Sebzeli Uskumru ?orbas? (Vegetable & Mackerel Soup). That was followed by a main course of the Ottoman classic, H?nkar Be?endi, and now it's time for a dessert. How apt that we should finish off our meal using a Turkish staple ingredient: s?zme yoghurt?(thick, natural yoghurt).


(As with our previous two recipes, this recipe is taken from the Turkish cookery book, The Sultan's Kitchen. The recipe is from page 144 and is republished with the permission of publishers, Tuttle Publishing. All photos are our own and the recipe is written in our own words.)


A Turkish Recipe For S?zme Yo?urt Tatl?s? (Yoghurt Cake)

Well, we have done many Turkish recipes on this blog since we started it - but this is the first time you have seen a dessert. Make the most of it as there won't be too many more - at least not for a while. We purposefully chose a dessert that didn't look too difficult, wouldn't require too much careful measuring (we don't have the equipment) and that we might be able to eat at the end of it. The cake worked and we've eaten it. A result!
Neither of us are dessert experts, so we stuck to this recipe as closely as we could. Here's how we went on.
  • First of all, preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 farenheit).
  • Take 8 eggs at room temperature and separate the yolks from the egg whites. Let the yolks fall into a large mixing bowl and keep the whites to one side for now.
  • Into the egg yolks, finely grate the zest from a lemon (around 2 teaspoons) and add half a cup of sugar (your cup should be roughly the size of a British teacup).
  • Beat the egg yolks, lemon zest and sugar together until you get a foam on top (we used a hand whisk and this took a minute or two).

Now it's time to add the rest of the cake ingredients:

  • Into your egg mixture, sift in three quarters of a cup of all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 cup of fine-grain semolina.
  • Gently fold these into the mixture. (Memories of baking with my nana when I was a child. Folding was a slow figure of 8 until all the flour was mixed in.) See top left image in the photo above.
  • Now add 2 cups of room temperature s?zme yoghurt (top right image) and again, fold this in gently until it's completely mixed in (bottom left image).
  • Take your egg whites and beat them until they form white peaks and fold these into the mixture also.
  • Use butter to lightly grease a baking tray. The recipe suggests a 10x15x2 inch baking pan. We used a square pyrex lasagne tray roughly 12x12 inch (about 30x30 cms).?
  • Sift a light sprinkling of flour over the butter and now add your mixture to your baking pan.
  • Place in the centre of your preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes or until it's a light, golden brown on top.
  • Meanwhile, make a syrup. 2 and a half cups of water, 3 cups of sugar and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir and bring to the boil for 3 minutes and then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say...

  • As soon as your cake is golden on top, remove from the oven.
  • Slice it into 12 squares and hopefully your cake will not be stuck to your baking pan. We were expecting disaster at this point but as you can see, all was well.
  • Now pour your syrup over the cake slices and allow them to cool gradually at room temperature. The syrup will soak through your cake.

A serving of s?zme yo?urt tatl?s?

And when it's ready to eat, the recipe suggests sprinkling crushed pistachios on top of your cake. We forgot to buy some, so we served ours with pistachio-flavoured ice cream instead - and very good it was, too.


Making S?zme Yo?urt Tatl?s? - Afternotes:

  • S?zme yo?urt tatl?s? is a quick and easy cake to make if you have lots of people to feed.
  • We were using a hand whisk and couldn't get our egg whites to form peaks. However, our cake is still light and airy. An electric whisk and a drop of lemon or vinegar in the egg whites should work.
  • Our oven is very small so the cake was golden on top, and cooked through, within 35 minutes.?
  • We're not big fans of sweet foods so we halved the amount of syrup in the recipe above.?
  • If you're unable to get s?zme yo?urt where you live, natural Greek yoghurt will make a decent substitute.
Afiyet Olsun!

Click the photo below to buy the book on Amazon (large photo for UK, small one for USA):


United Kingdom
The Sultan's Kitchen by ?zcan Ozan? ??The Sultan's Kitchen by ?zcan Ozan

Source: http://www.turkeysforlife.com/2012/09/turkish-recipes-suzme-yogurt-tatls.html

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Learn The Basics Of Home Improvement Today | Content for Reprint

Author: Greg James | Total views: 92 Comments: 0
Word Count: 897 Date:

Anyone can get involved in home improvement projects. Home improvement projects can benefit you much further than providing you with a nicer home to live in. When these projects are done well, they can boost your property value. This article should give you some tips on how to handle your next remodeling project.

People may consider installing radiant heating or a central vacuuming system in order to attract higher purchase offers from potential buyers. Unfortunately, many forget to focus on the exterior aesthetics such as the paint or the crooked shutters. Buyers notice these things and consider the property a fixer-upper. Do not forget that the first impression that others have of your home does matter.

Some people believe that high ticket items like radiant heating under the floors or central vacuum systems will add value to their homes. However, they avoid painting the outside of the house or fixing the crooked shutters! Buyers notice these things and consider the property a fixer-upper. The way someone initially sees your home is important.

Soundproofing inside interior walls makes a good investment in any home. It would be luxurious to soundproof every wall, but it's not really feasible or financially savvy. Bedrooms, bathrooms and equipment rooms are the most important to sound proof. The kitchen can be a nice area to soundproof as well, unless it's a fairly open kitchen that attaches to a lot of different areas.

Use empty two-liter bottles as storage containers for your kitchen. They will protect just about any dried goods like flour or sugar. They are also clear, so it is easy to see what is inside. You can put them in the freezer or even in the fridge. Just open and pour when you need to use the contents.

If you wish to get creative with the design of the place, set up a stencil along the walls and use this for an outline of your basic graphic. Laminate some copies of your pattern at the copy store, and then cut them out with a craft knife. Place your stencil on the wall using painter's tape, apply the paint and put another stencil underneath the older one, switching as needed to complete the look throughout the room.

Install battery-powered LED fixtures in closets. You can find them at many discount stores. Some require you setting them in place with a couple of screws. Some are even easier with sticky pads. If you buy automatic lights, you can just open the door and the light will turn on.

Making your ceiling appear higher than it is can be accomplished using two very simple tips. You can put a lengthy floor lamp in the room or install striped wall paper. Doing this creates the illusion of height. The eye focuses on the tall lines, causing the ceilings to seem higher.

Pay attention to the climate in which you live. If your climate isn't accommodating, a patio may not be a great addition. Creating a covered patio or a wind-breaking structure may improve the situation, but if you aren't prepared to shell out for these extra costs, you may be better off skipping these plans.

Sand wooden objects before staining to make sure the wood is smooth. Follow up by wiping with a damp cloth. Sanding smooths the finish. Using a damp cloth to wipe the surface helps get rid of dust and provide a smooth finish.

If a home improvement project will require using your street, be courteous and tell your neighbors well ahead of time. This may occur if you need to have things delivered or if large pieces of equipment are a part of your plans. Your neighbors will appreciate a little warning before you inconvenience them this way.

Once you have put in new floors or carpets, do not allow anyone to walk on it with shoes in order to ensure that it looks good for years. Provide your guests with a storage space to take off their shoes. Consider providing slippers to everyone. This ensures that your floor stays clean for many years.

When you have to have your roof redone, use light colored substances or white tile. Having a light colored roof will help keep your attic cool by deflecting the sun's rays. This will make your cooling and heating bills less expensive.

Get references from anyone you hire to do improvements at your home. Think of it in terms of hiring an employee for your business. You want to investigate background, and also ensure that others have been happy with the work they do.

If you are improving your home on a budget, and want to stay in your home during the work, focus on only one room at once. This will keep things bearable, as long as you have more than one bathroom. When the bathroom is being renovated, living in your home is just not possible. Therefore, attempt to stay with your family or friends until you finish it.

Taking on a remodeling job doesn't have to be intimidating and difficult. Things will be easier by properly planning and taking your time. Take these ideas to heart and begin working on your house.

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1: Jewish Baby Names And Their Meanings ? A Passion For Magnificence

The title of this article, ?Jewish Baby Names and Their Meanings ? A Passion for Magnificence? was inspired by King Solomon He led Israel to brilliance and had a passion for magnificence

2: Gifts vs. Cash -- Wedding Etiquette Q&A

Q: My daughter is getting married in October 2008. Her and her fiance have everything they need for their home. Is it okay to ask for money instead of a gift? If it is okay, how do we word this? st

3: How To Buy High Quality Furniture At Estate Sales

Estate sales and auctions are an excellent place to pick up gently used or even antique furniture at prices considerably less than retail. While it might take patience, it is possible to find reasonable prices on excellent pieces that will last for generations -- saving you money in the long run.

4: The Tell Tale Signs Of Pregnancy

Lean what signs to look out for that could mean a baby is on the way.

5: Best Ways To Find People Free Online

With about 50% of the world population able to access the internet, there is now a much better chance to find someone free online This is especially true if the person you are trying to locate lives in a country where internet usage is high

Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/family/learn-the-basics-of-home-improvement-today.htm

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Selena Gomez's Post-'Hotel Transylvania' To-Do List: Thrillers And New Music!

MTV News looks ahead at Gomez's thrillers, drama and action flicks — and even a new album.
By Jocelyn Vena


Selena Gomez
Photo: Jeffrey Mayer

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1694590/selena-gomez-post-hotel-transylvania.jhtml

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GSA Tests Energy-Slashing Technologies To Deploy In 10,000 Federal Buildings

Fleeting scandal aside, the General Services Administration quietly continues to root out government waste and save taxpayer dollars. The GSA announced this week that trials of workstation lighting controls and advanced power strips dramatically reduced electricity use in federal buildings. The agency also announced plans to test an additional dozen energy- and water-saving technologies this year as part of its Green Proving Ground program.

The banality of its name doesn?t hint at the importance of the GSA?s mandate and influence. The GSA is the largest owner of commercial real estate in the United States; it owns and leases 9,600 buildings nationwide. If the GSA were to unleash the full potential of federal procurement across its portfolio, it would expand the market for sustainable technologies.

Regular readers will remember the last time the GSA was featured at this blog. It was April, and GSA was engulfed by blowback from the Las Vegas conference scandal. That post focused on the GSA?s Deep Retrofit Challenge, a partnership with energy service companies under which the GSA aims to achieve ?the maximum energy performance savings possible? by retrofitting 30 federal buildings, totaling nearly 17 million square feet.

The Green Proving Ground complements these efforts by leveraging the GSA?s extensive real estate portfolio to undertake real-world testing of promising energy- and water-saving technologies. Innovations that reduce operating costs and meet the sustainability goals outlined by President Obama for federal agencies (more on this below) are deployed by the GSA. Technologies proven effective in earlier rounds of Green Proving Ground testing, for instance, are being installed as part of building retrofits funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Here are results from the GSA Green Proving Ground trials released this week:

Tackling plug loads with advanced power strips

Plug loads ? the ubiquitous computers, printers, and copy machines that clutter a modern office ? now account for roughly 25% of the electricity consumed in a typical office building. Working with a team from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), GSA indentified eight buildings in its Mid-Atlantic region in which to test advanced power strips (APS) that constrain plug loads. Planners selected three plug-load reduction strategies: schedule timer control, load-sensing control, and a combination of the two. The APS selected for the trial provides Web-based control, monitoring, and data collection.

The schedule timer control was the most effective strategy tested in the Plug Load Control study (PDF), resulting in an average electricity savings of 48%. Giving users the ability to set the day and time when a circuit is powered on and off reaped particularly large energy savings in the printer room and kitchen, where appliances such as coffee makers and water coolers had been powered 24/7. ?Energy savings and low simple payback argue in favor of deployment of APS with schedule time control throughout GSA?s portfolio,? the GSA found.

The GSA's Green Proving Ground program tests the ability of promising technologies, such as the workstation lighting systems pictured above, to slash energy and water waste in federal buildings. Credit: GSA

Workstation lighting controls

Technology tested under the Occupant Responsive Lighting study (PDF) delivered annual electricity savings ranging from 27% to 63%. This time, the GSA partnered with experts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to identify seven sites at five buildings in California to test a package that included a workstation-specific lighting system, dimmable ballasts, occupancy sensors at each luminaire, and controls. The retrofitted systems are centered over each cubicle; separate ballasts dedicated to ambient and task lighting enable individuals to adjust lighting to preferred levels.

Not surprisingly, the test site with the longest working hours ? a call center at the Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles that is occupied 18 hours a day, seven days a week ? demonstrated the largest energy savings. Simple payback at this site was calculated to be less than seven years. The GSA expects costs for workstation lighting systems to fall as the technology matures and reaches scale. Even so, the GSA says that offices operating 14 hours a day or longer, with utility costs of $0.11/kWh or more, offer ?a strong argument for targeted deployment.?

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/justingerdes/2012/09/29/gsa-tests-energy-slashing-technologies-to-deploy-in-10000-federal-buildings/

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শনিবার, ২৯ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Food for Life Baking Co. is running a fall weekly giveaway on their Facebook pag...

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Source: http://www.facebook.com/godairyfree/posts/503854856294496

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Many employers still unaware of NY nanny law

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? Allison Julien worked for more than two decades as a nanny in New York, toiling 50 to 60 hours a week without overtime pay until the state enacted the nation's first bill of rights for domestic workers two years ago.

Since then, the Barbados immigrant says her job has changed dramatically. She still dedicates long hours to caring for children in Brooklyn's upscale Park Slope neighborhood but she now has a written contract with the parents who hired her, guaranteeing overtime. She is also assured one day off a week and three paid personal days yearly.

California could become the next state to adopt such legislation if the governor signs a similar bill in the next few days. Other states could follow, with efforts under way in Illinois, Washington, Massachusetts, Hawaii and Maryland for their own domestic worker bill of rights.

Although New York's Labor Department has investigated 80 cases since the law went into effect in late 2010 and recovered $250,000 in unpaid wages for domestic workers, getting the word out about the law remains a major hurdle, department spokesman Leo Rosales said. Authorities have reached out to community groups, employer organizations and foreign consulates to find those affected.

They are lessons supporters of a similar bill in California say they will take into account if it becomes law.

"The challenge is this industry and workforce is so fragmented and decentralized," said Helen Panagiotopoulos of the Domestic Workers United, a New York City-based advocacy group. "The workplace is in the privacy of someone's home. That's why we've started to use strategies to fight those challenges by training domestic workers to spread the word."

The group runs a 24-hour hotline to advise workers about their rights and offers a free monthly legal clinic.

Julien said the law has empowered her to demand what workers in other jobs were already getting.

"These bare minimum standards go a long way for a lot of people. I know firsthand that a lot of workers don't have these. A lot of us work seven days a week without overtime," she said.

Many domestic workers are immigrants who may be afraid to speak up or unaware of their rights, labor officials say. It also has taken time to raise awareness among employers.

In a survey conducted last year of more than 1,000 Brooklyn parents by the Park Slope Parents group, only 15 percent said they paid nannies overtime, while 44 percent said they paid the same rate after 40 hours a week.

Forty percent said they didn't ask their nannies to work extra hours. Pay ranged from $10.85 to $20 an hour, with an average of $16.41 for those paid on the books and $14.56 for those paid off the books. Only 17 percent kept records of work hours.

Susan Fox, a parent who founded the Park Slope group, said parents have limited knowledge of the law, with almost half those surveyed in 2011 saying either they hadn't heard of it or didn't think it applied to them, while 37 percent thought they were in compliance, and 18 percent thought they weren't.

Fox said her group held workshops but has found many parents who don't pay on the books believe it does not apply to them.

"We tend to hear crickets about issues surrounding nannies, pay and laws, since the laws can be confusing, parents can be overwhelmed, overworked, and unable to pay exactly as the laws mandated," she said in an email to The Associated Press.

Domestic workers also often are confused about the law.

Susan Tokayer, who owns a nanny agency in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., called Family Helpers, just north of New York City, said she gives clients information about the 2010 law but "I don't think it has made a difference."

She said many parents who paid under the table are probably not complying, while people who pay on the books, such as her clients, were already required under New York's existing labor laws to pay time-and-a-half as well as worker's compensation and disability. "It became a law again," she said.

She said it's standard practice to give nannies two weeks paid vacation in their first year, which is more than the law requires.

As they did in New York, domestic workers played a key role in drafting California's bill.

Under New York's law, nannies, housekeepers and caretakers are given one day off per week, overtime pay for more than 40 hours a week, three paid day off annually, and legal recourse when their rights are violated. Live-in nannies receive overtime after a 44-hour work week.

The biggest difference between the bills was that California's workers set as a priority a requirement that employers provide an appropriate place for caretakers who spend the night, and uninterrupted sleep, said Andrea Cristina Mercado, the director of the California Domestic Worker Coalition, which led the effort on the West coast.

"Some have been forced to sleep on floor, or made to work throughout the night." Mercado said.

Paid vacation days were left off the table in California to ease the bill's passage, supporters said, but workers want meal breaks and rest periods.

Sabina Widmann, a 40-year-old San Diego marketing director, said she has always paid overtime to her nanny who works more than 40 hours a week caring for her two daughters, ages 11 months and 5 years.

"I consider her to be like family. She is more than an employee," Widmann said, adding that she threw her a birthday party with her friends and allows her to meet up with her friends at the beach while she cares for her daughters.

Still, she has mixed feelings about the bill.

"I think requiring people to pay overtime is probably a good thing," she said. "But if they are going to require a lunch break, it's not going to work. Really that would hurt the nanny more than me because I would have to put the little one in day care then."

That concern was raised by many of the lawmakers who voted against the bill. If it becomes law, California's Department of Industrial Relations will hammer out those details by January 2014.

Supporters say employers will have the flexibility to work out compromises such as compensating for working lunches or allowing on-duty breaks in the home, allowing them to rest when children take naps instead of being asked to do housework.

"We've heard concerns throughout our California campaign that providing these kinds of things for domestic workers is going to negatively impact people, negatively impact business, but we have not seen that to be the case in New York," Mercado said. "I think public education is key. We are looking to New York to learn from them on how to embark on a really ambitious public education campaign both for domestic workers and employers."

_____

Watson reported from San Diego. Karen Matthews in New York also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/many-employers-still-unaware-ny-nanny-law-071409226.html

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Website promotion at very huge discounts | Informative-Articles.com

If a recent Internet was applied primarily for information retrieval, at the present time the circumstance has evolved radically. The increasing number of Online searchers, technologies (communication together with the target audience through the site, payment systems through the Internet, offers on-line, etc.) and quite a few additional circumstances make Internet the strongest advertising device and place for sales simultaneously. By way of example, the boom in home shopping definitely demonstrates skillfully used Internet technology brings a stable income for web owners.

Online promotion is often effective for any companies, the potential audience that is certainly on the lookout for similar goods or services over the internet. Statistically, the amount of Web users is growing every year. And this audience is extremely easily understood by business, the way it provides a high capacity to pay. Think, thousands, perhaps thousands and thousands of an individual every day are looking for your products and competitors? products, because more agile competitors already have taken the most effective places in search results. You as well usually takes first place, it will take just to start the various search engines optimization.

Web optimization just serves to make your internet site on the very best places in the top. In more scientific terms, web optimization this can be a group of measures to further improve the positioning of the site in search engine results for the pre-selected queries.

PROFFI SEO is the thing that you need if you?d like to see your website high in engines like google, online seo provides professional services worldwide for small and medium size businesses. Everyone can reap the benefits of our services including Keyword research and analysis, Competition analysis, On-page optimization, Top search rankings, Ethical backlink building, Ranking reports, Website development, Web page promotion.

International seo service is a terrific possibility of promote your business to a higher level, and then there are definitely more opportunities and prospects. Our international seo company is making use of countries like Germany, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden etc. Our company of professionals is going to do everything possible to maintain your site was the first place of search engines like yahoo, all at a surprisingly low price affordable for anyone.

All of the information you need about online search engine optimization you will find on our site http://proffi-seo.com. Really don?t waste your chance and register in the ranks of our customers today, international seo firm joining together top professionals, who know all the substantial and up-to-the-minute approaches to search engine optimisation so that you can raise the ranking of the website.

For more information about seo optimization company visit our website.

Source: http://informative-articles.com/151639/website-promotion-at-very-huge-discounts/

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Interval International Affiliates Hokkaido Tracks Vacation Club ...

Interval International logoMIAMI, FL (September 28, 2012)? Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services and an operating business of Interval Leisure Group (NAS: IILG) , announced the affiliation of Hokkaido Tracks Vacation Club, comprising apartments and free-standing houses within five four-seasons resorts ? all located in the village of Hirafu at the southern end of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. This area, called Niseko, is renowned as one of the world?s fastest growing ski resorts for its abundance of exceptionally light and dry powdery snow.

?The founders of Hokkaido Tracks Company introduced the first western style, luxury accommodation in Niseko in 2003. Their latest project, Hokkaido Tracks Vacation Club, will help establish the area with its traditional hot springs, called onsen, as a four-season vacation destination,? said Joe Hickman, executive director of Asia-Pacific for Interval International. ?Winter sports enthusiasts appreciate the abundant snowfalls and visitors in summer months enjoy golf, cycling, rafting, hiking, and fishing.?

Close to shops and restaurants in the pedestrian-friendly village of Hirafu, the vacation club units range from studios to a three-bedroom house. Each is contemporary in design and finished with Japanese influence, the majority with views of either Mt. Annapuri or the picturesque Mt. Youtei-zan with surrounding forest. With the exception of studios, all units have full kitchens and mini-bars stocked with drinks and snacks. En-suite amenities include washer and dryer, flat-panel satellite TV/DVD in the living room and bedrooms, Wi-Fi, and iPod docking stations. All units have secure storage for ski equipment in the building.

Concierge services including tours, car rentals, ski passes and equipment rentals, and restaurant bookings can be arranged through the central front desk and guest services team. An exclusive ski valet service is also offered at the base of the new Grand Hirafu gondola, complimentary to all guests of Hokkaido Tracks. Owners and guests can also request grocery delivery and pre-stocking, in addition to in-room catering. The village of Hirafu offers a wide range of cuisines and cultural experiences.

During the winter season, which runs from early December to late April, skiers and snowboarders enjoy an annual snowfall of up to 50 feet (15 metres) on more than 29 miles (47 kilometres) of groomed slopes. Snowmobiling and snowshoeing are other popular winter activities. Visitors can also go to the Candle Festival, when thousands of candles light the walkway along the canal in the nearby town of Otaru.

In any season, Niseko is also an excellent base for exploring. Popular day-trips include driving the stunning Niseko Panoramic Line of ancient alpine wetlands, volcanic outcrops and visiting the summer festival in Sapporo, the closest major city.

?Hokkaido Tracks Vacation Club is our most exciting venture to date and we are delighted to announce its addition to the Hokkaido Tracks group,? said Simon Robinson, who co-founded Hokkaido Tracks Management with his business partners Josia Francki and Matt Dening in 2003. ?Through our relationship with Interval International, we hope to welcome a new generation of owners and Interval members who choose us through Interval?s quality exchange network.?

About Interval International
Interval International operates membership programmes for vacationers and provides value-added services to its developer clients worldwide. Based in Miami, Florida, the company has been a pioneer and innovator in serving the vacation ownership market since 1976. Today, Interval has an exchange network of approximately 2,700 resorts in more than 75 nations. Through offices in 15 countries, Interval offers high-quality products and benefits to resort clients and about 2 million families who are enrolled in various membership programmes. Interval is an operating business of Interval Leisure Group, Inc. (NAS: IILG) , a leading global provider of membership and leisure services to the vacation industry.

SOURCE: Interval International

Related Posts

  1. Interval International Adds Port Chambly Vacation Club in Mauritius to Global Vacation Exchange Network
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  3. Interval International Affiliates MIA at Riviera Maya
  4. Interval International and Marriott Vacation Club International Celebrate 20-Year Relationship with Long-Term Renewal
  5. Interval International Affiliates Pafiana Heights

Source: http://www.insidethegate.com/2012/09/interval-international-affiliates-hokkaido-tracks-vacation-club/

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For Nokia, helping the competition find its way is good business

For Nokia, helping the competition find its way is good business

Financially, Nokia is in bad shape. It lost a billion dollars last quarter, which is only good news when you look at the quarter before that, which shows a $1.7 billion loss. Despite all this, Christof Hellmis, VP of Product Location Services at Nokia, doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned. In fact, he's rather chipper as he sits down with us at this year's Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris.

Perhaps that's because his division, Location & Commerce, is doing quite well indeed. Containing the remains of Navteq, L&C pulled down nearly €100 million profits in each of the past two quarters. It's a healthy golden goose in Nokia's rapidly shrinking barn. So why, then, is the company helping its competition improve their own offerings by providing more comprehensive navigation services baked right into Windows Phone 8? And, why is it that Apple's own attempt at mapping has gone oh so poorly? Those are just a few of the questions we asked of Mr. Hellmis, all detailed for you after the break.

Continue reading For Nokia, helping the competition find its way is good business

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Today's Wayback Top Tenner: Worst. Song. EVAR. 1994 ? The Full ...

I think I?ve found it: Perhaps the worst song ever in the history of EVAR. This song climbed its way up to number 9 on the charts for this week in 1994, and, gladly? It somehow escaped my notice until now.

Holy crap this song sucks. The lyrics, the music, the entire EVERYTHING about it. Horrifying.

For our mutual derision: ?Stroke You Up,? by Changing Faces.

Happy Friday.

Traci

Traci Arbios is a web designer and syndicated columnist (which she touts because it makes her feel fancy). She is also fancy. And she loves cheese. LOVES.

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Source: http://thefullmoxie.com/2012/09/28/todays-wayback-top-tenner-worst-song-evar-1994/

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MyVR Raises $1.4M From YC, SV Angel, Chris Dixon To Attack The $85B Vacation Rental Industry

Screen shot 2012-09-28 at 2.05.02 AMThanks to the HomeAways and Airbnbs of the world, more and more people are looking to rent their apartments and homes. There are currently some six million active vacation rentals in the U.S. and Europe, and this number is growing. However, the problem is that the vast majority of vacation rental owners aren't taking advantage of the available technology to market, manage or share their properties. MyVR, a San Francisco-based startup that graduated from Y Combinator in March, sees a big opportunity to help owners and operators alleviate the offline pain of managing their vacation rentals and help bring them new (or at least more regular) business.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/e3RbCP89jVs/

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Obama, Netanyahu talk Iran after Israeli leader's warning; White House emphasizes co-operation

WASHINGTON - The White House says President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain in "full agreement" about keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

The Obama administration's account of Friday's phone call between the two offered no mention of Netanyahu's declaration to the U.N. General Assembly. The Israeli leader on Thursday held up an image of a bomb and warned that the world only has until next summer to stop Iran from building one.

Obama has promised that the United States will do what it must to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weaponry, but faces pressure from Netanyahu to be more specific in public about what would cause Washington to intervene.

The White House account emphasized the "close co-operation" between the U.S. and Israeli governments over threats posed by Iran.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-netanyahu-talk-iran-israeli-leaders-warning-white-175801651.html

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Vatican newspaper weighs in on 'Jesus' Wife'

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শুক্রবার, ২৮ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১২

Outsourcing Opens the Door to Growth | Entrepreneur Magazine

SA companies are well in line with global trends when it comes to adopting shared services and outsourcing strategies for IT, realising that in-house is not always the way to go.

That?s according to KPMG?s recently launched South African 2012 Pulse Survey for shared services and outsourcing.

The South African survey was launched to provide insights into trends and projections in local end-user organisations? usage of shared services, outsourcing, and third-party business and IT services and compare these to global trends.

Increased exposure to change, rapid technological advancements and an increasingly complex global market has made shared services and outsourcing a strategic imperative for businesses around the world.

?Over the last decade, several businesses have openly embraced transformation programmes, effectively leveraging global delivery platforms,? says Alida Taylor, director of Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory Practice at KPMG SA. ?As part of this study, KPMG sought to understand the extent to which such strategies are being adopted in South Africa.?

Key drivers consistent locally and internationally

The survey revealed that some of the key drivers for improving service delivery capabilities are consistent globally and in South Africa with an aim to reduce costs and support growth and expansion agendas.

?We find this increasingly applicable, as clients look to build capability hubs to support their expansion plans in the larger African continent,? said Vandana Ramani , associate director, Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory Practice at KPMG SA.

SA companies still use in-house resources

Results reveal that South Africa does show a divergence when compared to global results in terms of its propensity to outsource, choosing to seed several of these initiatives in-house first.

However, the survey?s forward-looking trends show that the top three areas of demand for outsourced services are in the areas of:

  • information technology,
  • bundled business and IT services,
  • and vertical specific services.

?Service providers are bullish regarding the South African market in the longer-term,? says Taylor, ?both as users of third-party services and as a location from which to deliver services to other markets.?

Sectors showing potential going forward

  • Banking and financial services
  • Energy and utilities
  • Oil and gas and manufacturing

Challenges faced

The survey also looked at some of the challenges associated with such transformation programmes. The South African market respondents agreed that change management capabilities and the ability to prioritise change programmes are clearly the biggest challenges in the local market.

Organisations are also faced with several compliance and regulatory restrictions, which in turn require careful planning when embarking on such programmes.

?Although challenges exist,? Taylor concludes, ?the convergence of many of these trends leaves us optimistic about the future of shared services and outsourcing in the South African industry landscape.?

Copyright is owned by Entrepreneur Media SA and/or Entrepreneur Media Inc.
All rights reserved. Click here to read our editorial disclaimer. Entrepreneur

About the Author

Entrepreneur Magazine, South Africa.

Source: http://www.entrepreneurmag.co.za/entrepreneur-today/outsourcing-opens-the-door-to-growth/

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Report indicates growth for business VoIP in New Zealand | Packnet

27/09/12 10:01 AM | |

Business VoIP (voice over internet protocol) has shown significant expansion in New Zealand and is likely to grow even further, a new report has strongly implied.

The report, issued by respected independent research organisation Frost & Sullivan, points to business VoIP and telephony in general being one of the main catalysts behind what it claims is a 6.6% growth in the unified communications (UC) market in New Zealand over the course of 2011.

The report predicts that voice telephony will continue to be a strong influencing factor in helping the market to grow well into 2018, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 9%.

The market, says the report, will be further boosted by the capacity of enterprises to benefit from online rather than premises-based solutions, thus helping to reduce set-up and ongoing maintenance costs.

In the case of business VoIP, this has of course been demonstrated globally via the increasing use of a host business VoIP provider or VoIP reseller to provide such services, where the cost of installing in-house internet protocol (IP) telephony equipment would otherwise prove too prohibitive.

The report adds that although videoconferencing, another popular IP telephony service, will also play a significant role in UC adoption, it is voice telephony which is likely to be seen by end users as the most important aspect of UC for their organisation.

UC, which essentially equates to the receipt of different communications signals via a single terminal point, has been strongly influenced by developments in IP telephony and business VoIP over the years, with voice calls, faxes and emails all conveniently accessed by the end user at a common IP telephony reception point.

The Frost & Sullivan report could be said to demonstrate further that UC, business VoIP and IP telephony will continue to be taken up on an increasingly global scale.

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Commenting is closed for this article.

Source: http://www.pack-net.co.uk/blog/report-indicates-growth-for-business-voip-in-new-zealand

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Good Morning America Accused of Using Robin Roberts Illness as "Promotional Opportunity"

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/09/good-morning-america-accused-of-using-robin-roberts-illness-as-p/

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Republicans assail Obama on 9/11 attack in Libya

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing.

Desperate to reverse the apparent trajectory of the White House race, Republicans sense a political opportunity in Obama's reluctance to utter the words "terrorist attack" as well as the varying explanations emerging from the administration about the assault in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Talk of Watergate-style scandal, stonewalling and cover-up echoed in the GOP ranks on Thursday, from the head of the party to members of Congress to Mitt Romney's campaign staff. This full-throated criticism comes five days before the first debate between Obama and Romney, with Republicans determined to cast the president as dishonest and ineffectual on both foreign and domestic policy.

"Amid Middle East turmoil and six weeks before the election, President Obama refuses to have an honest conversation with the American people," Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party, wrote in an article for the website Real Clear Politics. "The country deserves honesty, not obfuscation, from our president."

Republicans say the administration has been slow to call the assault a terrorist attack and has criticized its initial insistence that the attack was a spontaneous response to the crude anti-Islam video that touched off demonstrations across the Middle East.

Since then, it has become clear that the Benghazi assault was distinct from the mobs that burned American flags and protested what they considered the blasphemy in the movie, but didn't attack U.S. personnel. Republicans have also suggested that the administration had intelligence suggesting the deadly attack might happen and ignored it.

"I think it's pretty clear that they haven't wanted to level with the American people. We expect candor from the president and transparency," Romney told Fox News this week.

The White House and Democrats accused the GOP of politicizing national security, with officials specifically mentioning Romney's quick swipe at Obama as an extremist sympathizer as the crisis was still unfolding in North Africa around Sept. 11.

"The Republican approach is to shoot first and ask questions later," Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. "The administration wants to do an investigation and be as accurate as possible. That's the difference between partisan politics and trying to govern."

Democrats also used the criticism to recall the former Massachusetts governor's missteps during his summertime overseas trip and his omission in his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention of any mention of U.S. military forces fighting in Afghanistan.

"Every time Mitt Romney has attempted to dip his toe into foreign policy quarters, it's been an unmitigated disaster," Obama campaign press secretary Jen Psaki said aboard Air Force One.

National security has provided few political openings for Romney and the GOP as Obama has shed the Democrats' past reputation for weakness by ordering the successful raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and undercut al-Qaida. An Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this month found Obama with an edge over Romney on who Americans think can do a better job of protecting the country, 51 percent to 40 percent.

The economy and jobs are the dominant issues in the election, with few voters likely to cast their ballots based on events in Libya or conflicts overseas. Underscoring the general weariness after more than 10 years of war, some of the fiercest GOP defense hawks in Congress have suggested the United States withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, an even bolder step than Obama.

But the administration has struggled to present a coherent description of the assault in Libya, prompting questions from Republicans and Democrats about whether the United States had prior intelligence, whether the attack was planned and whether security was sufficient.

In that same AP poll, Americans approved of Obama's handling of Libya by just 45-41 percent. The poll was conducted within days of the assault.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday called it a terrorist attack.

"What terrorists were involved I think still remains to be determined by the investigation," he told reporters at the Pentagon. "But it clearly was a group of terrorists who conducted that attack."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House press secretary Jay Carney called the violence a terrorist attack last week. But Obama has declined several chances to call the incident a terrorist attack. He said last week that extremists used an anti-Islam video as an excuse to assault U.S. interests.

And just five days after the attack, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the attack was a spontaneous reaction to the video. Her assessment was at odds with Libya's interim President Mohammed el-Megarif, who said there was no doubt the perpetrators had predetermined the date of the assault. Panetta said Thursday it was a "planned attack."

The FBI is investigating, but the apparent contradictions have prompted demands for information from Congress and a flurry of scathing letters to the administration.

So far, U.S. intelligence has indicated that heavily armed extremists numbering 50 or more attacked the consulate, relying on gun trucks for added firepower. They established a perimeter, limiting access to the compound. A first wave of attacks forced the Americans to flee to a fallback building, where a second group of extremists attacked with mortar fire. Stevens died of apparent smoke inhalation when he was caught inside one of the consulate buildings, which had been set on fire.

Officials have not singled out one responsible group, but have focused their attention on Ansar al-Shariah, a Libyan militant group led by a former detainee at the U.S. military-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that there has been a "thread of intelligence reporting" about groups in eastern Libya trying to coalesce, but no specific threat to the consulate.

Since the fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last year, militias, weapons and terrorists are common in Libya.

"It was just unbelievable that Ambassador Rice and Secretary Clinton and the White House spokesman and others would say that there was no evidence ? that this was a spontaneous attack, yet they say, 'come on, honey, bring your mortars, we're going to a spontaneous demonstration,'" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' "This Morning."

McCain, who called the administration's statements "disgraceful," joined three other Republican senators this week in a letter to Rice pressing her on her "troubling statements that are inconsistent with the facts."

Eight Republicans who head House committees sent a letter to Obama criticizing a "pre-9/11 mindset" of "treating an act of war solely as a criminal matter." They said they would return to Washington from their nearly two-month recess for briefings beyond the back-to-back sessions Clinton and others held last week.

Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., have asked for communications between the State Department and the U.S. mission in Libya leading up to the attacks.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., has written the State Department's Thomas Nides asking him to provide the panel with a detailed accounting of the attacks on U.S. missions in Libya, Egypt and Yemen on Sept. 11, information on security and whether there was any prior intelligence.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the panel, said the purpose of this letter is a bipartisan effort to get information.

"I do think it is legitimate and appropriate to ask questions," Coons said in an interview. "Some have sadly overreached and clearly are politicizing this incident."

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington and Steve Peoples in Springfield, Va., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-assail-obama-9-11-attack-libya-203528583.html

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Quakes point to seafloor break-up

The sequence of huge earthquakes that struck off the coast of Sumatra in April may signal the creation of a new tectonic plate boundary.

Scientists give the assessment in this week's Nature journal.

They say their analysis of the tremors - the biggest was a magnitude 8.7 - suggests major changes are taking place on the ocean floor that will eventually split the Indo-Australian plate in two.

It is not something that will happen soon; it could take millions of years.

"This is a process that probably started eight to 10 million years ago, so you can imagine how much longer it will take until we get a classic boundary," said Matthias Delescluse from the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.

Dr Delescluse is an author on one of three scholarly papers in Nature discussing the 11 April quakes.

Sumatra sits above the collision between the Indo-Australian plate and the Sunda plate.

These vast segments of the Earth's rigid outer shell are converging on each other at a rate of about 5-10cm/yr.

The elongated Indo-Australian, which comprises much of the Indian Ocean floor, dives under the Sunda, which carries the Indonesian island.

It is friction at their boundary - the sticking and unsticking, and the sudden release of stored energy - that is at the root of so many violent quakes, such as the magnitude 9.1 event on 26 December 2004 that set off a catastrophic tsunami.

But the 11 April 2012 tremors, although also immense in scale, did not have the same impact and generated no tsunami.

This can be explained by the nature of the faulting: so-called strike-slip, where rock moves horizontally either side of the line of breakage, as opposed to vertically in tsunamigenic thrust faults.

The April tremors were also much further west, located directly on the Indo-Australian plate itself in an area of large-scale deformation and multiple faulting.

Dr Delescluse said it was evident that movement at the plate's ends was stressing the middle.

"Australia already moves with respect to India, and India already moves with respect to Australia," he told the BBC World Service Science In Action Programme.

"They are separated by a lot of faults. And if you look on Earth today, between plates you have only one fault. So, the process we are talking about is how we go from several faults to only one fault.

"That's the question - we don't know how long it takes to weaken one so that it localises all the deformation and the others stop being active. At the moment, a lot of faults in the Indian Ocean are active."

All around the world

In a second Nature paper, Thorne Lay, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and colleagues provide some fascinating detail on this interplay of faults and how they ruptured on 11 April. Their seismic analysis indicates at least four faults were involved in the main 8.7 event, which lasted about 160 seconds.

Three of the faults were parallel but offset from each other; the fourth was perpendicular to and crossed the first fault.

The 8.7 jolt "is probably the largest intraplate (within a single tectonic plate of Earth's crust) ever seismically recorded," Prof Lay's team remarked.

The third Nature paper describes how this historic quake triggered other tremors around the world.

This effect has been noted before, but Dr Fred Pollitz, from the US Geological Survey, and co-workers were surprised by the delays involved.

Dr Pollitz told the BBC: "For the vast majority of earthquakes, you can expect an aftershock zone not to really go beyond [1,000km].

"But it's also known that very large mainshocks - like the Japanese event we had last year, the magnitude 9 event off north-east Japan - can trigger earthquakes around the world. Most of these triggered events are small and they occur instantly as the seismic waves from the large event are passing by.

"But this April 2012 earthquake triggered many larger and potentially damaging earthquakes around the world, and with a time delay of hours or up to several days. That effectively extended the aftershock zone to the entire globe."

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19732681#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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