Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Lib Dems Dismiss Tory Threat To Cut Green Energy Subsidies

The Liberal Democrats have dismissed a Conservative threat to cut renewable energy subsidies in order to reduce consumer bills as a ?total red herring? while energy companies have warned that a political row over green policies will itself lead to higher prices.

Following the headline-grabbing pledge by Ed Miliband that a Labour government would freeze energy prices for 20 months Tory ministers queued up to attack green subsidies at their conference in Manchester last week with some saying that the levies should be cut in order to reduce bills.

But a senior Lib Dem source told the Guardian such a cut was not legally possible because contracts with energy companies are already in place: ?This side of the election, the deals are already done: you?d need to be knocking on the doors of windfarms and saying the deal you had is off.?

Full story

Source: http://www.thegwpf.org/lib-dems-dismiss-tory-threat-cut-green-energy-subsidies/

walmart black friday Target Black Friday PacSun apple store bestbuy bestbuy gamestop

Top 5 amazing iOS 7 gestures: How to get more done faster!

iOS 7 includes even more gesture-based navigation shortcuts than ever, and that means, if you master them, you can navigate your apps, peek at information, and general get things done faster and more easily than ever before. Whether it's glancing or navigating back at your list in Mail or Messages, swiping up Control Center or down Notification Center, moving through your Safari history, or flinging away tabs or entire apps, with iOS 7 gestures, all the shortcuts you need are literally at your fingertips. Here's how to use them:

1. Calling Control Center and Notification Center

Notification Center has been accessible via a downward swipe from the top edge of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad display for a while now. With iOS 7, the all new Control Center can be accessed via a swipe up from the bottom edge as well.

That works from anywhere in the system, though on full-screen apps you need to swipe twice - once to reveal the "handle" and a second time to activate the center itself. That's to stop you accidentally covering your game, movie, etc. If you really don't want to trigger Control Center accidentally, you can disable them from working inside apps, period. Also, if you're concerned about security, you can disable them from functioning on the lock screen - so no one can read your messages or take your device offline without authenticating first.

2. Peeking at, and navigating to, lists in Mail and Messages

Both Mail and iMessage include a new gesture that lets you either peek back at your messages list, or pull back to it entirely. From an individual message, simply touch the screen on the left edge and swipe right, and your full list of messages will appear. Pull back only slightly for a quick glimpse of the message list, or pull back all the way to switch to it entirely. You can also swipe from right to left on an individual message to access delete and other functions.

In the Mail app you can swipe back again to get your full list of mail accounts and folders, and in messages you can swipe right to glance at time stamps for individual messages.

3. Swiping through history in Safari

With iOS 7, Safari gets gesture-based navigation all its own. Now, you can swipe from the left edge towards the right to go back to the previous page in your browser history, or from the right edge towards the left to go forward to the next page (if you've previously gone back). If you imagine following each link on a website adds another page to the stack, these gestures let you quickly move pages off of and onto the stack until you get to just exactly the one you need.

4. Tossing away cards and tabs

iOS 7 lets treat a lot more objects like objects, including and especially the new card interface for multitasking and the new rolodex interface for Safari. In both, when you trigger them, you can grab a screen and simply toss it away. From anywhere on the system, double click the Home button to bring up the new card interface for multitasking. Then just touch one app, two apps, or as many as three apps, and flick them up and off the screen. They'll quit and be one. In Safari, tap the bookmarks button, touch a tab, and flick it to the left to close it. Couldn't be simpler. You can even fling down passes in Passbook to get back to the wallet view.

5. Accessing Spotlight Search from any Home screen

While it might seem like iOS 7 banished Spotlight Search from the Home screen system, what it actually did was move it from its own screen off to the left, and integrate it into every screen. Now, instead of swiping the other way, you simply touch anywhere on the Home screen (except the top edge, that's reserved for Notification Center), and swipe down slightly. It works the same way search has worked inside apps for years. The screen drops down and the Spotlight field is revealed.

Bonus tip: iPad gesture navigation

The iPad and iPad mini also still include several, system-wide gesture shortcuts all their own. They make it incredibly quick and easy to move between apps, open the fast app switcher, and even return to the Home screen. To access the multitasking card interface, place four fingers on the screen and swipe up. To move between apps without having to click into the multitasking card first, place four fingers on the screen and swipe from right to left to go to the previous app, and from left to right to return to the next app. To return to the Home screen, place four fingers on the screen and pinch them in together.

You can also use the basic pinch to get back from a single photo to the new Moments view in the Photos, or back from single place view to multiplace list in the Weather app.

Your top iOS 7 tips?

Those are our top 5 secret shortcuts that make moving around the iOS 7 interface not only faster, but funner as well. If you've found other ways to save time, let us know how!


    






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/CSVhVpZ-A4s/story01.htm

nba trades Xbox 720 HTC One NICOLAUS COPERNICUS Las Vegas shooting Jerry Buss Chris Bosh wife

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Iran confirms British diplomat exchange

Tehran (AFP) - Iran confirmed Tuesday it will appoint a non-resident charge d'affaires with Britain, as the two sides work towards restoring ties severed after an attack on the British embassy in Tehran.

"Following the meeting between the two foreign ministers in New York, (Britain's) William Hague on Monday called Iranian (counterpart) Mohammad Javad Zarif to propose the appointment of charges d'affaires in both countries," ISNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham as saying.

"Pursuant to a decision by the Iranian parliament, it was agreed that from today the two countries have a relationship at the level of non-resident charges d'affaires," she added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hague said Britain and Iran would each appoint a charge d'affaires, a diplomatic post that is one level below ambassador.

Britain ordered Iran's embassy in London to shut after closing its own in Tehran following the storming of the compound by hundreds of Islamist students in November 2011.

They were demonstrating in front of the embassy to express anger over Western sanctions adopted against Tehran over its disputed nuclear drive, and then ransacked the building.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-iran-appoint-non-resident-diplomats-hague-151643353.html

Blackhawks Parade Tim Hardaway Jr Kelly Olynyk Bill Simmons Doink the Clown alec baldwin alec baldwin

Any.DO's Cal app scores Uber, Waze and Google Maps integration (updated)

The stock iOS calendar works just fine for basic scheduling, but if you religiously use Uber, Waze or Google Maps, Any.DO's Cal could be worth checking out. An update to the popular productivity outfit's brainchild brings integration with the three aforementioned services, which means you can now ...

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/08/any-do-cal-app-uber-waze-google-maps/?ncid=rss_truncated

Jake Pavelka Laurie Forman Ryne Sandberg Laura Prepon Hannah Davis Duck Dynasty Gia Allemand Dead

Hate crime ruled out in U.S. soldier's stabbing death; three arrested

By Jonathan Kaminsky

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Three U.S. Army soldiers have been arrested over the stabbing death of a fellow serviceman in Washington state that police initially described as a possible hate crime, but which authorities later concluded stemmed from "trash talk" that got out of hand.

The victim, 20-year-old Tevin Geike, had been walking with two other soldiers on Saturday in a Tacoma suburb. A car drove by and the African-American occupants yelled "something about being white" to the three men who are all Caucasian, according to witness statements given to police.

More words were exchanged, and even as the situation appeared to defuse, Geike was stabbed to death in violence police initially said may have been racially motivated. But by Monday, authorities said it appeared that verbal sparring of a more general nature had preceded the stabbing.

"My understanding from detectives was that there may have been some trash talk, but when they looked into it race turned out not to be a factor," Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said.

He said prosecutors were weighing first-degree murder charges against Jeremiah Hill, 23, who witnesses say put Geike in a bear hug and pushed him to the ground before returning to the car covered in blood.

"The main suspect, Jeremiah Hill, did not make a statement; so it's unknown exactly why he did this," Lakewood Police Department spokesman Lieutenant Chris Lawler.

Lesser charges have been filed against the other two soldiers, who are accused of helping to dispose of the knife used in the killing.

The three men charged in the case are scheduled to make a first court appearance on Tuesday.

A base spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

A break in the case came Sunday afternoon, Lawler said, when a military sergeant came to police with incriminating information about Hill.

Hill had sought medical attention at a military hospital for a cut to his hand but gave conflicting stories about how he had hurt himself.

Geike was from Summerville, South Carolina, and held the rank of specialist, a base spokesman said. He entered the Army in 2010 and arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2011 after training to be an aviation operations specialist.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Richard Chang and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hate-crime-ruled-u-soldiers-stabbing-death-three-014731152.html

illuminati illuminati Google Fiber Boston Strong Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev Boston Bombing Suspect fbi

Twitter hopes to raise $1 billion USD, unveils IPO documents

Social media micro-blogging behemoth Twitter says it aims to raise $1 billion (USD) as the company plans to go public with an Initial Public Offering, which it filed in September.

In files disclosed on Thursday, Twitter said its revenue for 2012 hit $317 million. The company also said it has 215 million active users. That's compared to Facebook's 1.2 billion and LinkedIn's 240 million. The three companies are often mentioned in the same breath, as they are the leaders in the social media/online platform world (along with Google-owned YouTube), although all three companies offer different services.

According the The Toronto Star (link above), Twitter's market value has been estimated at $10 billion. Shares could begin trading by November.

Twitter filed for its IPO on September 12, 2013, with underwriters Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and CODE Advisors.

The company has not yet said which stock market it will be listed on, but said it intends to use "TWTR" as its ticker.

Source: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/business/226374211.html

casey anthony Pacific Rim Travon Martin riots KTVU Trayvon Martin Verdict George Zimmerman verdict

Monday, October 7, 2013

Israel Prize laureate badly injured in hit-and-run

Israel Prize winner David Kazhdan, 67, was severely injured Sunday when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike in Jerusalem.

He was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, where doctors were trying to stabilize his condition Sunday night.

?He is in very serious condition and the medical team is continuing its efforts to save his life,? hospital spokeswoman Rachel Goldblatt said.

The driver who struck Kazhdan didn?t stop and was not immediately located. Police set up checkpoints in the area near the accident and at the exits to Jerusalem in an attempt to catch the driver.

Kazhdan?s son, Eli, was riding ahead of him when the incident happened. The two were on their way back from a trip to Beit Shemesh.

?I was riding in front of him, so I didn?t see the accident itself,? David said. ?I heard the crash, and when I looked back, I saw my father lying on the ground. I didn?t manage to see the truck, because my focus was on my dad. This work I leave to the police.?

Kazhdan was born in Moscow and moved to the US in 1975. He immigrated to Israel in 2002 and won the Israel Prize for mathematics and computer science in 2012. He is currently a professor of mathematics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, professor emeritus at Harvard and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

He lives with his wife in Jerusalem and has three children.

Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-prize-laureate-badly-injured-in-hit-and-run/

National Cheeseburger Day iOS 7 Scott Eastwood Léon Foucault Gta V Cheats liam hemsworth zac efron

I bought a composite AV cable with 30 pin connector at a proper apple store for my ipad 2 which no longer works now i have updated to ios7 - please advise how to make this work ?

This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only.
Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site.
All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the Apple Support Communities Terms of Use.

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5417559

one world trade center Benghazi Filomena Tobias Raquel Pomplun the great gatsby the great gatsby stephen curry

Samsung's new 13MP phone camera promises twice the stability, brighter shots

Optical image stabilization for current smartphone cameras leaves something to be desired; you still need a steady hand to avoid blurry photos. Samsung has just unveiled a new, extra-stable sensor that may be considerably more forgiving. The 13-megapixel unit corrects angular errors up to 1.5 ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/yynYxaTBVNs/

one tree hill projectglass stock act new york auto show khalid sheikh mohammed masters par 3 gwen stefani

Michael Bernoff Call 2 Action Review | Online MLM Network ...

Everyone is looking to improve themselves these days. People are looking to get better at learning how to the things they know they need to do. That could be how to stay motivated, stay out of your comfort zone, challenging yourself daily and finally achieving the success they?ve always desired. Michael Bernoff?s Call 2 Action is dedicated to helping you get results and become successful. Michael Bernoff?s Call 2 Action program is one we?ll take a look at today.

?

Introduction

?

Call 2 Action is special amongst the coaching industry because, unlike most of the others, it presupposes virtually no knowledge or resources on your end, except your time and commitment to go through the course. This means they provide you with a wealth of resources ? how to take action, motivate yourself any time you want in most efficient way possible. The challenge that most people face is that they struggle with taking action. The challenge is getting yourself to do what you know you need to do. Call 2 Action, then, is special from the get-go, because they provide you with a wealth of data and information that you need to really be successful.

?

Call 2 Action Course

?

Call 2 Action also stands out because you get to work with Michael Bernoff and his team ? they interact with you, actively. They serve an encouraging role ? that is, they help keep you on track and remind you to perform at a certain level ? but they also care about your own success and your own problems, and are willing to extend a helping hand whenever you need one. The most important thing about Call 2 Action, then, is that in your business, you will have the necessary tools to make this whole thing work.

?

The Call 2 Action 5 Day intensive and interactive course structure

?

Day 1: Introduction ? How The Proper Use Of Language Powerfully Affects Our Lives
Day 2: Motivation Strategy ? Unlock Your Personal Motivation Strategy
Day 3: Comfort Zone ? Discover and expand your comfort zone
Day 4: Design Your Future ? Create the future you desire
Day 5: Integration ? Unlock Your Personal Motivation Strategy

?

Extensive Support & Tools

?

As we mentioned above, this means you can get started and not have to worry so much at all about having to look around for resources to learn. But does it mean you don?t have to look around for tangible resources? That is, do they provide the materials to set up your business? The answer ? yes. This means you?ll be set, every way you can be, from day one.

?

It?s your turn!

?

Do you generally know what to do in life to be successful? Do you have the communication techniques and internal motivational strategies to break through your own self-limited beliefs to design the next decade of your life? Please leave your feedback in the comments section and I look forward to reading them!

?

Nate Leung is the CEO and Founder of NateLeung.com. He has been an Internet Network Marketing professional since 2001. Nate specializes in blogging, generating highly targeted leads, prospecting, social media and driving traffic. You can find out more from Nate by connecting with him over at Google +. There is no greater passion he has than helping people to succeed in their business. He teaches people how to use the Internet to build a successful Network Marketing business. If you're struggling and or looking for help, contact Nate here.

0

Source: http://www.nateleung.com/michael-bernoff-call-2-action-review/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=michael-bernoff-call-2-action-review

michigan state michigan state andrew luck pro day josh johnson kim kardashian flour matt forte jeremy shockey

U.S. Targets Terrorists in Africa

About This Show

From the country?s major political and policy issues to diplomacy on the global stage, State of the Union with Candy Crowley brings in the world?s top newsmakers and analysts to deliver the smartest, most comprehensive look at what matters most to you. Sundays at 9am and Noon ET.

Send Feedback | Subscribe | About Candy Crowley

Source: http://sotu.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/06/u-s-targets-terrorists-in-africa/

British Open emmy nominations comic con detroit Boston Magazine nelson mandela Liv and Maddie

Sunday, October 6, 2013

London sees half of all UK?s imported malaria cases

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.pjonline.com --- Saturday, October 05, 2013
Half of the UK?s imported malaria cases in 2012 were among London residents, according to Public Health England. Of the 1,378 cases reported in the country last year, 676 were confirmed in people living in the capital. Yvonne Doyle, regional director for PHE in London, said: ?Malaria is a preventable disease, so it?s worrying that the majority of people (80 per cent) who contracted malaria... To read the whole article click on the headline ...

Source: http://feeds.pjonline.com/~r/pjonline/news/~3/y5So13tEPN8/london_sees_half_of_all_uk%E2%80%99s_imported_malaria_cases

Kensington Palace Carlos Danger geraldo rivera Carlos Hyde Baby I Ariana Grande Best Song Ever Deanna Burditt

Student Tablet Hardware Melts, District Suspends $30 Million Amplify Program On Safety Concerns

HotPotato2A North Carolina school district has suspended the use of 15,000 tablets after reports of multiple hardware issues, including the device’s charger melting at home. Guilford County Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green has suspended the $30 million program on safety concerns. The recall is a major sting for NewsCorp’s Amplify, which released details of its digital-first education initiative back at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012. Directed by former New York City education chancellor, Joel Klein, there are high hopes that Amplify can help bring K-12 education into the 21st century. But, melting tablet accessories aren’t a good sign. “We recognize that suspending the program on short notice is going to be disruptive to students, staff and parents,? Green Explained. ?My decision was made out of an abundance of caution, and I decided to err on the side of safety.” Apparently, that’s not the only problem. As reported by News & Record, “Parent Linda Mozell said her daughter and other students at Southeast Middle School had repeated problems connecting to the Internet with their tablets. And even though her daughter got one of the ?hard shell? protective cases, that caused its own set of problems, she said. The keyboard?s hard-shell case kept rubbing against the tablet screen in a way that could scar it, she said. In addition, the cord connecting the tablet and keyboard broke easily, the stylus was too big for easy use, and the equipment came home without a user?s manual.” Amplify has given us a response (pasted in full below) and tells us that the breakage rate of screens is around 3%, which compares to Asus’s industry average, around 2.5%. An Amplify spokesperson says the melting charger is (so far) an isolated incident. Amplify and Guilford County aren’t the only ones experiencing hiccups with tablets. Los Angeles Unified suspended it’s 1-for-1 iPad program after students hacked through the filters, granting them full-fledged access to the bountiful wonders of the Internet. Presumably the next round of Amplify’s tablets will not pose a safety risk to children. Amplify’s response is below: “This week our largest customer, Guilford County Schools, informed us that a tablet charger, which was manufactured by ASUS, was partially melted while charging a student’s tablet at home overnight. We are working to determine whether the issue was caused by an electrical problem in the student’s home or because of a manufacturing defect. While the problem occurred with only one

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FLGc4WJb1Ig/

stephen colbert Exodus International John McAfee publix James Gandolfini stock market stock market

Old-Time College Football Booster Gets Wistful About Paying Players

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: deadspin.com --- Saturday, October 05, 2013
Roy Adams, an infamous booster in SEC country, thinks the game has changed of late and that the players and boosters don't have the same relationship . He thinks the players want too much money. Don't get Adams wrong, he'd probably still give it to them and brag about it, but it's just not as quaint as it used to be. Read more... ? ? ? ? ...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/deadspin/full/~3/K15wSah_IYc/old-time-college-football-booster-gets-wistful-about-pa-1441531833

Neverwinter George Jones Farrah Abraham Tape Google Now Jason Collins White House Correspondents Dinner 2013 NHL playoff schedule

AP IMPACT: Families hoard cash 5 yrs after crisis

NEW YORK (AP) ? Five years after U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis and shattering confidence worldwide, families in major countries around the world are still hunkered down, too spooked and distrustful to take chances with their money.

An Associated Press analysis of households in the 10 biggest economies shows that families continue to spend cautiously and have pulled hundreds of billions of dollars out of stocks, cut borrowing for the first time in decades and poured money into savings and bonds that offer puny interest payments, often too low to keep up with inflation.

"It doesn't take very much to destroy confidence, but it takes an awful lot to build it back," says Ian Bright, senior economist at ING, a global bank based in Amsterdam. "The attitude toward risk is permanently reset."

A flight to safety on such a global scale is unprecedented since the end of World War II.

The implications are huge: Shunning debt and spending less can be good for one family's finances. When hundreds of millions do it together, it can starve the global economy.

Weak growth around the world means wages in the United States, which aren't keeping up with inflation, will continue to rise slowly. Record unemployment in parts of Europe, higher than 35 percent among youth in several countries, won't fall quickly. Another wave of Chinese, Brazilians and Indians rising into the middle class, as hundreds of millions did during the boom years last decade, is unlikely.

Some of the retrenchment is not surprising: High unemployment in many countries means fewer people with paychecks to spend. Some people who lost jobs got new ones that pay less or are part time. But even people with good jobs and little fear of losing them remain cautious.

"Lehman changed everything," says Arne Holzhausen, a senior economist at global insurer Allianz, based in Munich. "It's safety, safety, safety."

The AP analyzed data showing what consumers did with their money in the five years before the Great Recession began in December 2007 and in the five years that followed, through the end of 2012. The focus was on the world's 10 biggest economies ? the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, Italy and India ? which have half the world's population and 65 percent of global gross domestic product.

Key findings:

? RETREAT FROM STOCKS: A desire for safety drove people to dump stocks, even as prices rocketed from crisis lows in early 2009, and put their money into bonds. Investors in the top 10 countries pulled $1.1 trillion from stock mutual funds in the five years after the crisis, or 10 percent of what they had invested at the start of that period, according to Lipper Inc., which tracks funds.

They put even more money into bond mutual funds ? $1.3 trillion ? even as interest payments on bonds plunged to record lows.

? SHUNNING DEBT: Household debt surged at an unprecedented rate in the five years before the financial crisis. In the U.S., the U.K. and France, it soared more than 50 percent per adult, according to Credit Suisse. For all 10 countries, it jumped 34 percent. Then the financial crisis hit, and people slammed the brakes on borrowing. Debt per adult in the 10 countries fell 1 percent in the 4? years after 2007. Economists say debt hasn't fallen in sync like that since the end of World War II. People chose to shed debt even as lenders slashed rates on loans to record lows. In normal times, that would have triggered an avalanche of borrowing.

"Given what they've lived through, households are loath to borrow again," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "They're not going to stretch. They want a cushion."

? HOARDING CASH: Looking for safety for their money, households in the six biggest developed economies added $3.3 trillion, or 15 percent, to their cash holdings in the five years after the crisis, slightly more than they did in the five years before, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The growth of cash is remarkable because millions more were unemployed, wages grew slowly and people diverted billions to pay down their debts. They also poured money into bank accounts knowing they would earn little interest on their deposits, often too little to keep up with inflation.

? SPENDING SLUMP: Cutting debt and saving more may be good in the long term, but to do that, people have had to rein in their spending. Adjusting for inflation, global consumer spending rose 1.6 percent a year during the five years after the crisis, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting and consulting firm. That was about half the growth rate before the crisis and only slightly more than the annual growth in population during those years.

Consumer spending is critically important because it accounts for more than 60 percent of GDP.

? DEVELOPING WORLD NOT HELPING ENOUGH: When the financial crisis hit, the major developed countries looked to the developing world to take over in powering global growth. The four big developing countries ? Brazil, Russia, India and China ? recovered quickly from the crisis. But the potential of the BRIC countries, as they are known, was overrated. Although they have 80 percent of the people, they accounted for only 22 percent of consumer spending in the 10 biggest countries last year, according to Haver Analytics, a research firm. This year, their economies are stumbling.

Consumers around the world will eventually shake their fears, of course, and loosen the hold on their money. But few economists expect them to snap back to their old ways.

One reason is that the boom years that preceded the financial crisis were as much an aberration as the last five years have been. Those free-spending days, experts now understand, were fueled by families taking on enormous debt, not by healthy wage gains. No one expects a repeat of those excesses.

More importantly, economists cite a psychological "scarring" that continues to shape behavior. Scarring is a fear of losing money that grips people during a period of collapsing jobs, incomes and wealth, and then doesn't let go.

The desire for safety remains even after jobs return, wages rise and financial and housing markets recover. Think of Americans who suffered through the Great Depression and stayed frugal for decades, even as the U.S. economy boomed after World War II.

Although not on a level with the Depression, some economists think the psychological blow of the financial crisis was severe enough that households won't increase their borrowing and spending to what would be considered normal levels for another five years or longer.

To better understand why people remain so cautious five years after the crisis, AP interviewed consumers around the world. A look at what they're thinking ? and doing ? with their money:

___

INVESTING

Rick Stonecipher of Muncie, Ind., doesn't like stocks anymore, for the same reason that millions of investors have turned against them ? the stock market crash that began in October 2008 and didn't end until the following March.

"My brokers said they were really safe, but they weren't," says Stonecipher, 59, a substitute school teacher.

That individual investors would sell while markets plunged is not surprising. Households nearly always bail out as stocks drop, only to buy again after they rise.

But this time was different. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average rocketed 118 percent over the next four years and reached a record high in March. In Germany, the DAX Index soared 116 percent and hit a record in May. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 index rose 85 percent. Yet small investors mostly sold during that period, an extraordinary vote of no confidence.

Americans pulled the most money out over five years ? $521 billion from stock mutual funds, or 9 percent of their holdings, according to Lipper. But investors in other countries sold an even larger share of their holdings: Germans dumped 13 percent; Italians and French, more than 16 percent each.

The French are "not very oriented to risk," says Cyril Blesson, an economist at Pair Conseil, an investment consultancy in Paris. "Now, it's even worse."

It's gotten worse in China, Russia, Japan and the United Kingdom, too.

Fu Lili, 31, a psychologist in Fu Xin, a city in northeastern China, says she made about 20,000 yuan ($3,267) buying and selling stocks before the crisis, more than 10 times her monthly salary then. But she won't touch them now, because she's too scared.

In Moscow, Yuri Shcherbanin, 32, a manager for an oil company, says the crash proved stocks were dangerous and he should content himself with money in the bank.

Hirokazu Suyama, 26, a musician in Tokyo, dismisses stock investing as "gambling."

In London, Pavlina Samson, 39, owner of a jewelry and clothes shop, says stocks are too "risky." What's also driving her away may be something that runs deeper: "People feel like they're being ripped off everywhere," she says.

Holzhausen, the Allianz economist, says people are shunning stocks for the same reason they're shunning other investments that involve risk ? less a cold calculation of whether the price is right and more a mistrust of nearly everything financial.

"People want to get as much distance as possible from the financial system," he says. "They want to be in control of their financial matters. People no longer trust in the markets."

In India, where the growing middle class seems perfect for stocks, people were pulling out even before the economy deteriorated in recent months. Indians dumped 15 percent of their holdings in the five years after the crisis.

Pradeep Kumar, owner of a fast-expanding manufacturer of water pumps and parts for electric fans, says he finds stocks confusing and prefers investing in real estate and plowing money back into his business.

"I will not venture into something I don't understand," says Kumar, 41, a father of two from Varanasi in northern India.

What people do understand are bonds ? boring, seemingly safe and, in terms of interest payments, unrewarding. In the five years after the crisis struck, investors in the six biggest developed countries poured $2 trillion into bond mutual funds, an increase of 60 percent. During that time, interest payments fell by half.

Investors have barely been compensated for inflation, if at all.

Consider a favorite German investment: funds run by insurers that hold mostly government bonds. Half the payments investors receive are tax free if they hold onto the funds long enough. Even with that tax savings, though, the investor returns can be dreadfully low. For new policies, the guaranteed interest rate is currently 1.75 percent a year, roughly the rate of inflation.

In recent months, Americans have shown more courage, inching back into stock mutual funds. But they've bought one week, only to sell the next, and they appear almost as wary of the market as they were during the crisis.

In April, one month after the Dow recovered the last of its losses from the crisis and reached a record high, 75 percent of Americans in an AP-GfK poll described the stock market as "risky." That was only slightly better than the 78 percent who felt that way in a CBS News/New York Times poll in January 2009 when the market was plunging.

____

DEBT

Jerry and Madeleine Bosco have been forced to switch to a strange, new role for Americans: from big spenders, with credit cards in hand, to penny pinchers.

After the financial crisis hit, Jerry, who helps prepare booths for trade shows, had to take a 15 percent pay cut. Suddenly, the couple found themselves facing $30,000 in credit card debt with no easy way to pay it off. So they sold stocks, threw most of their credit cards in the trash, stopped eating out with friends and cut out ski vacations with their two sons and weekend trips up the coast from their home in Tujunga, Calif.

Today, most of the debt is gone but Jerry still hasn't gotten a raise, and the lusher life of the boom years is a distant memory.

"We had credit cards and we didn't worry about a thing," says Madeleine, 55. "Our home price was going up. We got DirecTV, and got each of the boys Xbox" game consoles.

From the start of record-keeping by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 1951 through June 2008, in booms and busts alike, Americans never failed to add to debt from one quarter to the next. Fortunately, their incomes also rose most of that time.

Then wages stagnated in the new millennium. And instead of slowing their borrowing, Americans sped it up. Debt rose from less than 90 percent of annual take-home pay in 2000 to 130 percent in 2007.

Americans weren't the only ones who borrowed recklessly. In the 10 years before the crisis, household debt as a percentage of annual pay rose by a third or more in nine European countries. It topped 170 percent in the Netherlands, Ireland and the U.K.

Then came the financial crisis and the hard times that followed.

In the U.S., debt per adult fell 12 percent the first 4 ? years after the crisis, mostly a result of people defaulting on loans. In the U.K., debt per adult fell a modest 2 percent, but it had soared 59 percent in a comparable period before the crisis.

Germans and Japanese are culturally averse to borrowing and didn't build up debt before the crisis. Nevertheless, they've cut back since ? 1 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

"We don't want to take out a loan," says Maria Schoenberg, 45, of Frankfurt, Germany, explaining why she and her husband, a rheumatologist, decided to rent after a recent move instead of borrowing to buy. "We're terrified of doing that."

Such attitudes are rife when it has rarely been cheaper to borrow around the world. German lenders are dangling mortgage rates at 2 percent. In normal times, record low rates would trigger a borrowing boom like few in history.

"But that was the world we knew before 2008," says Jim Davies, an economist at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. "People have a lot of worries and concerns about whether they can make the payments."

And a lot of anger, too.

Anita Williamson of Bristol, England, says she and her husband were wrong to borrow so much during the boom ? 1.3 million pounds ($2.1 million), much of it to buy a home. But she says the banks were far too eager to lend. One bank allowed a loan to be "self-certified," a practice mostly banned now that allowed lenders to take the word of borrowers that they could afford the debt.

"It's very easy for people to believe the so-called experts at the bank," says Williamson, 55, who had to declare bankruptcy to get out of most of her debt. When it comes to finances, she adds, she won't touch a bank again with a "barge pole."

Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. bank, warns not to see a popular revolt behind every dollar in debt that's shed. He notes that populations are aging in many countries: People don't need to borrow as much as they did when they were raising families.

Still, he thinks a new distaste for debt is playing a big role.

"A whole new generation of adults has come of age in a time of diminished expectations," he says. "They're not likely to take on debt like those before them."

___

SPENDING

In France, Arnaud Reze has stopped buying coffee at cafes to save money. The Kawabatas in Japan rarely eat out. Glen Oakes in the state of Washington used to take an expensive vacation every year, such as to Disney World in Florida. He stopped five years ago.

Around the globe, in small ways and large, in expanding economies and contracting ones, consumers remain thrifty.

You can see it on some High Streets in the U.K., dotted now by secondhand boutiques and pawn shops. Or in weak car sales in Europe, which have plunged to their lowest level in more than two decades. Or in the remarkable rise of Dollar General, a discount chain with 10,000 stores in the U.S. that has more than doubled its profits the past three years.

After adjusting for inflation, Americans increased their spending in the five years after the crisis at one-quarter the rate before the crisis, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. French spending barely budged. In the U.K., spending didn't just grow slowly, it dropped. The British spent 3 percent less last year than they did five years earlier, in 2007.

High unemployment has played a role. Unemployment in Europe is 11 percent. But economists say scarring from the financial crisis, and the government debt crisis that started a year later has spooked people who can afford to splurge to hold back instead.

Reze, 36, is the last person you'd think would feel pressure to save more. He owns a home in Nantes, has piled up money in savings accounts and stocks, and has a government job that guarantees 75 percent of his pay in retirement. But he fears the pension guarantee won't be kept. So he's not only stopped buying coffee at cafes, he's cut back on lunches with colleagues and saved in numerous other ways. He figures he's squirreling away an additional 300 euros ($400) a month, or about 10 percent of his pay.

"Little stupid things that I would buy left and right ... I don't buy anymore," he says.

Even the rich are spending cautiously and saving more.

Five years ago, Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer at Sanderson Farms, a large U.S. poultry producer, had just paid off the mortgage on his home in Laurel, Miss. He was looking forward to having extra money to spend. Then came the financial crisis, and he decided to put the extra cash into savings. "Earning nothing, just like everyone else, " Cockrell says.

"I watched the news of the stock market going down 100, 200 points a day, and I was glad I had cash," he says, recalling the steep drops in the Dow during the crisis. "That strategy will not change."

The wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. households are saving 30 percent of their take-home pay, triple what they were saving in 2008, according to a July report from American Express Publishing and Harrison Group, a research firm.

Steve Crosby, head of wealth management at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that when he talks to the rich, he's reminded of his grandparents who held tight to their cash decades after they lost money in the Great Depression. He expects the financial crisis will haunt his clients for a long time, too.

"There was a scar, and it's measured in half-lives, just like radioactivity," Crosby says. "People want control."

____

THE FUTURE

The good news is that after years of living with less, paying debts and saving more, many people have repaired their personal finances.

Americans have slashed their credit card debt to 2002 levels, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the U.K., personal bank loans, not including mortgages, are no larger than they were in 1999, according to the British Bankers' Association.

People have recouped some losses from the crisis, too. In France, the value of financial assets held by households is 15 percent above its previous peak, according to the OECD. And the value of homes, the biggest asset for most families, is rising again in some countries.

Now that people feel richer, will they borrow and spend more? And, if so, how much more? Will "animal spirits" ? what economists call a surge of optimism that can jolt economies to faster growth ? come back?

Maybe, if there are more people like 63-year-old Sahoko Tanabe of Tokyo, a new buyer of stocks, and an unlikely one.

Like many Japanese, she last loaded up on stocks in the late 1980s, right before the country's main stock index began a two-decade swoon to a fifth of its value. She's feeling more optimistic now. "Abenomics," a mix of fiscal and monetary stimulus named for Japan's new prime minister, has ignited the Japanese stock market, and Tanabe has discovered a new appetite for risk.

"You're bound to fail if you have a pessimistic attitude," she says.

But for every Tanabe, there seem to be more people like Madeleine Bosco, the Californian who sold her stocks and ditched many of her credit cards. "All of a sudden you look at all these things you're buying that you don't need," she says.

Attitudes like Bosco's will make for a better economy eventually ? safer and more stable ? but won't trigger the jobs and wage gains that are needed to make economies healthy now.

"The further you get away from the carnage in '08-'09, the memories fade," says Stephen Roach, former chief economist at investment bank Morgan Stanley, who now teaches at Yale. "But does it return to the leverage and consumer demand we had in the past and make things hunky dory? The answer is no."

___

AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta, AP researcher Judith Ausuebel and AP writers Nirmala George in New Delhi, Joe McDonald in Beijing, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Carlo Piovano in London, Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Results of the AP/GfK poll can be seen online at http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com.

You can reach Bernard Condon on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BernardFCondon .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-impact-families-hoard-cash-5-yrs-crisis-042042926.html

Justin Pugh Jarvis Jones minnesota vikings Eric Reid Kyle Long UFC 159 aaron rodgers

Poehler, Theron shed tears at Power of Women lunch

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) ? Amy Poehler and Charlize Theron were moved to tears Friday, and it wasn't for a role.

The actresses got emotional while being recognized for their philanthropic efforts at Variety's Power of Women luncheon. Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Hudson and Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal were also honored at the fifth annual event, hosted by Aisha Tyler at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Poehler cried while discussing Worldwide Orphans' outreach to needy children.

"There are so many children in the world who have nothing," she said. "Who are we to be in this room and be living this life without helping them?"

She recently raised money for the organization with her and Jon Hamm's post-Emmys Losers Lounge party, where Emmy winners were asked to make donations to gain entry. She has also traveled to Haiti to help orphans.

Theron shed tears while thanking her mother for "teaching me through your actions to be a strong and powerful woman."

The actress brought her mom to the event, where she was being honored for her efforts to end HIV and AIDS through the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach project.

Hudson almost cried while being recognized for her work with the Julian D. King Gift Foundation, which she established in the name of her slain nephew. But she left the stage before any tears fell.

The industry trade paper Variety, which now boasts its first female publisher and editor in chief, established the Power of Women luncheon to acknowledge the worldwide impact Hollywood women make through their charitable efforts. Each of the honorees' charities was represented at the event with a booth highlighting its accomplishments.

Banks works with the American Heart Association to promote awareness of heart disease among women. Kidman is an ambassador for U.N. Women, which aims to end discrimination and violence against women worldwide. Pascal supports the suicide hotline Teen Line, and Washington is a four-year member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, which promotes arts curricula nationwide.

"So often in this town, we're celebrated for how we look and how we dress and our style, and all of that is really cool," Washington said. "But it's so wonderful to be here to celebrate women in this business for what we do, not just how we look."

Jessica Alba, a guest at the luncheon, said working with her natural-products firm The Honest Co. is often more rewarding than acting. The company, established in 2011, makes environmentally-friendly home and skincare products and shares its proceeds with needy communities.

"Entertainment is so fun and I love doing it, but this really feels like I'm doing my little part to make the world a better place," Alba said. "If you're blessed with a platform and access to pop culture and media, and you have the heart, being able to raise awareness for things that you care about is amazing."

Poehler offered another reason to help others through philanthropy.

"Giving to charity is good for your skin," she said, "and it makes your (butt) smaller."

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/poehler-theron-shed-tears-power-women-lunch-222831587.html

nashville predators king arthur king arthur there will be blood there will be blood nigel barker secret service

REFILE-Golf-Internationals hoping for a miracle at Muirfield

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: in.reuters.com --- Saturday, October 05, 2013
DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Drawing inspiration from last year's amazing comeback by the Europeans at the Ryder Cup, Nick Price's Internationals are hoping to produce their own Miracle at Muirfield and win the Presidents Cup. ...

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/INgolf/~3/0-S-IC30Nvo/golf-presidents-price-idINL4N0HW00J20131006

geraldo rivera Carlos Hyde Baby I Ariana Grande Best Song Ever Deanna Burditt Joseline Hernandez phil mickelson

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Goodbye Microsoft Security Essentials: Microsoft Now Recommends You Use a Third-Party

Re: Goodbye Microsoft Security Essentials: Microsoft Now Recommends You Use a Third-P

From what I can glean from the article, Microsoft is not recommending that you replace MSE with another AV program but use another in conjunction with it. I use Windows 8 Defender and also scan periodically with MBAM, etc. Maybe I've been lucky but I've yet to encounter anything that MSE or Win 8 Defender didn't detect and block.

The articles mention too that MS used to have a team whose job was to assess the most-common tests used by reviewers and then to make sure MSE scored well on them. Since they no longer do this they probably won't be scoring highly. Other anti-malware providers are competing for your money and know that consumers use test results to evaluate the best program, thus they will continue to strive to do well on the tests.

Quote:

This shouldn't be seen as Microsoft leaving customers unprotected... the company is merely focusing on the most serious threats. Baseline does not equal bad... We provide a high-quality, high-performing service to our customers and if they choose not to buy [a 3rd-party antivirus] on Windows 8... we want them protected.

';}}''} if(google_ads[0].bidtype=="CPC"){google_adnum=google_adnum+google_ads.length;} document.write(s);return;} google_ad_client='ca-pub-7865546952023728';google_ad_channel='0655048857';google_ad_output='js';google_max_num_ads='6';google_ad_type='text';google_feedback='on';

Source: http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f90/goodbye-microsoft-security-essentials-microsoft-now-recommends-you-use-a-third-party-725849.html

los angeles dodgers christie brinkley seattle mariners supreme court health care joe oliver joba chamberlain new york mega millions

Ecuador's congress authorizes oil drilling in Yasuni reserve in Amazon

QUITO, Ecuador ? Lawmakers in Ecuador on Thursday authorized the extraction of oil from Yasuni National Park, a pristine Amazon reserve.

After a 10-hour debate, a loyalist congress approved President Rafael Correa's plan by a 108 to 25 margin, with four legislators absent.

Correa in August announced that he was abandoning a unique plan to persuade rich countries to pay Ecuador not to drill in the Yasuni, saying wealthy nations had failed to pledge enough money.

Environmentalists had hailed the initiative when it was announced in 2007, saying Correa was setting a precedent in the fight against global warming by lowering the high cost to poor countries of preserving the environment.

Correa had sought $3.6 billion in contributions to maintain a moratorium on Yasuni drilling. But he said Ecuador managed to raise just $13 million.

It's unclear when drilling would begin.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/world/226394191.html

Connecticut shooting Nancy Lanza school shootings Jenni Rivera Adam Lanza Facebook the hobbit Newton Shooting