When a traditional funeral just doesn?t seem appropriate?consider having one of our unique One Last Time Events. ?At Roberts Family Funeral Home, we have created a suite of very unique memorial services specifically designed for families who are looking to celebrate the life of their loved one in a truly memorable way.
Source: http://www.robertsfamilyfh.com/2012/11/30/unique-services-honoring-unique-lives/
best buy sears abercrombie abercrombie Aeropostale Jcpenny ohio state football
?
Last week European Union Leaders met to work out modalities for the regional budget and also discuss the Greek debacle and any prospect of what can be done to salvage the troubled nation even as Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal symptoms of the same debt sickness.
The meeting ended with a lesser resolve to tackle the debt crisis challenges as leaders like President Francois Hollande expressed ?concern about the concessions and commitment of the Richer nations in the group, at a time the French economy has been given a cut in its AAA ratings by International Financial rating groups.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was full of doubt as to whether the leaders have the conviction and necessary political will to take firm decisions on the way forward for the EU Budget.
Prime Minister David Cameron several weeks came under fire when he lost a vote ?on the way he handled the British interest in the EU budget proposal, since that experience Cameron has taken a firm stand to esteem his National interest above Regional interest, a decision Merkel did not find pleasant.
Greece is in a desperate situation as it is almost left to fight on its own to survive and despite attempts by the International Monetary Fund to wade into the situation and plead for more time for Greece to stabilize, the EU stance that it must continue to follow the prescription of austerity means ?more pain for the Hellenist nation.
Prime Minister Antoni Samaras reiterated in an interview monitored by Daily Telegraph that ?It is not only the future of our country, but the stability of the eurozone that is at stake??.
It is understandable by Germany that they are conceding a lot and bearing so much ?burden for the crisis in Greece, and their case is for how long will these continue. On the part of Greece devising strategies on how to achieve economic sustainability is becoming slimmer as anything called sovereignty for them is eroding gradually.
Several weeks ago ?there was a coordinated Rally and Strike action to commemorate the ?European Day against Austerity?, from Madrid to Athens thousand trooped voicing out their displeasure over the handling of the ?eurozone? crisis issues.
Recently the Global economy watch magazine had to pose a serious question asking? Are the EU Leaders summits and meetings ?necessary? This is on the backdrop that despite several meetings of the leaders, the inaction on Greece has caused the ?eurozone?? situation to move from bad to worse.
But the 26th of November brought positive news? ?for ?Greece as the Euro Finance ministers finally reached a deal with the IMF to cut their debt by $40billion a great relief to the ?Ancient home of democracy?.
It will be expected that the landmark deal which will open the channel for more development aid for the Greeks, will be utilized effectively by the Government to spur economic growth that will turn a bleak outlook to a bright future.
Apart from Europe another major economic power bloc that has to ?of ?necessity resolve its debt burden or experience a dire situation that could be likened to a dreaded Tsunami affecting ?the global economy is the United States.
After the euphoria of the Obama re-election and his concluded trip to South-East Asia, the Nation would now be faced with another tough moment of political economic decision when the white house and congress sit down to negotiate the 2013 budget plan and fiscal plan.
Global stocks and analysts are watching with a lot of enthusiasm what will be the outcome for the leading economy on the planet. The Democratic led Presidency wants increased taxation for the rich to manage and tackle the deficit, while the Republican led congress expects the administration to agree to ruthless budget cuts.
Both have had their battles last year and it took a dying minute approach in August to reach a deal that year or the economy would have gone into a terrible recession, so this time Americans are hopeful it will be positive.
The danger of a Fiscal cliff according to experts and analysts like? Mr Ben Bernanke Federal Reserve Chairman, Proffessor Nouriel Roubini and Proffessor Joseph Stiglitz, would hurt the economy and invariable affect the globe.
It is expected therefore that both President Obama and House leader Mr John Boehner will show maturity and courage by confronting the issues squarely and esteem national interest above party interest.
In Nigeria it is a time for caution, as the recent request by the Federal Government for a 7.9 billion Naira loan that came under criticism from technocrats like Mr Femi Falana is expected because with the debt crisis rocking key Nations in the globe, our Government will have learn and avoid falling into the same pit.
Despite the statement credited Dr Kenneth Nwankwo the Director General of the Debt Management Office(DMO) that borrowing can aid and facilitate growth if used judiciously, the time has come for a proper review on how past loans acquired in this administration have been utilized.
If the Obasanjo Administration did well to clear Nigeria?s foreign debt, Federal Government ?must therefore show responsibility by setting the mechanism to track how the loans are allocated or our? nation will pay dearly? for any other default like Greece.
Ottoabasi Abasiekong a Public and International Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos.
ottoabasig@gmail.com
Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple awkward awkward chase CJ Spiller tracy morgan
NEW YORK ? Coty has announced the appointment of Marc Rey as president of Coty Prestige U.S. and regional VP of Coty Prestige North America, starting Jan. 2.
Among Rey's key responsibilities will be the current U.S. Coty Prestige portfolio, Coty Prestige Canada, Philosophy and Sephora key account responsibility for the Americas. He will report to Jean Mortier, president of Coty Prestige, and will be located in New York.
"We are thrilled that Marc is joining the Coty family," stated Michele Scannavini, CEO of Coty. "Marc's deep expertise within the beauty industry; his energetic, entrepreneurial approach to the business; and his impeccable track record make us confident that he will lead our prestige business in North America to new heights."
Rey secedes Bob Cankes, who will retire in the second half of this fiscal year, after 14 years with Coty.
"Our thanks go out to Bob for his many years of contribution toward Coty's successful development in North America. He played a primary role in growing our prestige business from being a small challenger to now being a leader in the U.S. fragrance industry. We are grateful to Bob for his dedication and passion, and we wish him a well-deserved retirement after more than 40 years in the industry," Scannavini stated.
Prior to his appointment at Coty, Rey served as the president of International Designers Collections at L'Or?al USA. In this role, he oversaw the skin care, makeup and fragrance businesses for L'Or?al's designer brands, including Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent and Viktor & Rolf. Rey began his career in 1986 as an assistant brand manager at Danone. From there, he went on to hold managerial roles at such companies as McKinsey & Co., Johnson & Johnson and YSL Beaute, among others.
Source: http://drugstorenews.com/article/coty-taps-marc-rey-head-cotys-prestige-market-business-us-canada
lesnar vs overeem appetizer recipes alistair overeem alistair overeem texas a m insight bowl russell brand files for divorce
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? The Photonics Research Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has recently achieved a breakthrough in researching high-speed optical communications by increasing the speed of optical communication networks by 40 times.
This breakthrough has attracted the attention of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., a leading global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solution provider, to provide funding and equipment for further developing the leading-edge technology and filing patents.
The research was jointly undertaken by Professor Alex Wai, PolyU Vice President (Research Development), Professor Chao Lu of the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Professor Hwa-yaw Tam and Dr Alan Pak-tao Lau, Chair Professor and Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering respectively. "With this breakthrough, one can download over 177-hours-worth of YouTube video in a second," Professor Wai said. The findings have also been published in top international journals such as Optics Express, Photonics Technology Letters and Journal of Lightwave Technology.
The development of optical communications has made steadfast advancement since the invention/discovery of fibre optics by Professor Charles Kao, Nobel Laureate in Physics and former Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Over the years, fibre optics has formed the backbone of modern information technology. With the increasing dominance of smart mobile devices and bandwidth-hungry applications such as cloud computing, YouTube, Facebook and other social network activities, the overall speed demand are increasing at an unprecedented rate and major telecommunication service providers are incessantly looking for technological breakthroughs that could further push the network speed limits.
The speed of optical communications largely depends on distortions of the information signals generated from its interactions with silicon dioxide molecules that make up optical fibre. However, the higher the speed of information transmission, the more likely the signal will be distorted. When such distortions are large enough, detection errors will occur at the receiving end. If the information cannot be correctly transmitted, the whole communication system will be considered useless.
Currently, the most commonly deployed optical communication systems operate at 10Gb/s, i.e. 10 billion binary digits (bits) per second. Professor Lu and Dr Lau have cleverly combined optics, statistics and signal processing technology that greatly increase the speed of network by 40 times, i.e. 4 trillion bits per second. In particular, based on experimental observations, they found that distortions of the light signal generated from silicon dioxide molecules inside an optical fibre are not totally random. In fact, the distortions follow certain statistical characteristics.
PolyU researchers therefore proposed the use of "coherent detection," in which optical signal is first converted into electrical signal so that the data information can be preserved. This is followed by the use of more mature electronic signal processing technologies extensively used in all computers, smartphones and the like. This latest technological advance has attracted the attention of Huawei.
A Huawei spokesperson said, "A lot of universities have come up with innovative ideas that sound really out-of-the-box at first glance. However, most of them cannot overcome physical and cost constraints that the idea cannot make their way to a commercial product. From the industry standpoint, the deliverables of this PolyU research are cost-effective and can meet the practical needs of our society, bringing real benefits for mankind."
"We are pleased to see that leveraging on its strengths in scientific research, PolyU has successfully developed the fastest optical transmission systems with significant cost effectiveness. This really helps us to maintain our lead in the industry and lay down a solid foundation for our sustained growth in the future," the spokesperson added.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
montrose marshawn lynch earthquake bay area clear channel drexel dale george will
Updated: November 28, 2012
Amazon on Wednesday opened its Appstore for Android in Japan, representing the store?s first push into Asia.
The store is live now, boasting apps for Android phones and tablets, including local favorites in Japan like the mushroom-growing game Mushroom Garden and the news app Yahoo Headline. Japanese customers will also find best-sellers like the games Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope.
Japan is Amazon?s seventh market launch for the Appstore, after the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Like the other locations, the Appstore in Japan offers a paid app for free every day. In addition, apps purchased from the store can be used across a customer?s Android devices, including Amazon?s line of Kindle Fire tablets.
?The Amazon Appstore connects app and game developers across the globe with Amazon?s enormous customer base, and we?re excited to expand that audience to our millions of customers in Japan,? Jim Adkins, vice president of the Amazon Appstore, said in a statement. ?Now our customers in Japan can find all of the apps and games they?re looking for and can take advantage of popular programs like Free App of the Day.?
Amazon started selling the Kindle Paperwhite in Japan on Nov. 19; the company?s new Kindle Fire
Amazon also last month launched its Cloud Drive service in Japan, giving users in the country the ability to upload and store digital files in the Amazon Cloud and access them from any PC, Mac, or Android device.
By Angela Moscaritolo, PCMag
Source: http://www.ecoustics.com/news/amazon-appstore-android-opens-japan/
sun storm tri international criminal court ios 5.1 apple tv update new ipad release pregnant jessica simpson
Associated Press Sports
updated 5:11 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2012
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - With all the focus on Robert Griffin III's running ability, it can be easy to overlook the fact that he's having the most accurate passing season by a Washington Redskins quarterback since Sammy Baugh.
Through his first 11 NFL games, Griffin has completed 67.5 percent of his passes, trailing only Alex Smith, Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning among regular starters. The only Redskins QB with a better percentage for an entire season is the legendary Baugh, who hit 70.3 percent in 1945.
Coaches say Griffin's ability to extend a play with his legs gives him more chances to find open receivers - whereas other quarterbacks might have to throw the ball away to avoid a sack.
The Redskins host the New York Giants on Monday night.
---
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsCSN Bay Area: Colin Kaepernick now takes over as quarterback of a playoff-bound team that's 8-2-1 and owns a 2 1/2-game lead in the NFC West. How will he fare?
??ProFootballTalk: Erik Kuselias sits down with San Francisco 49ers S Donte Whitner to ask what Alex Smith is feeling now that Colin Kaepernick will start on Sunday. They also discuss the latest Adderall fad in the NFL and his prediction for how the '9ers will conclude their season.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50001568/ns/sports-nfl/
boehner john boehner demi moore hospitalized james farentino somali pirates navy seals navy seal team 6
>>> tonight we get to hear something for the first time. audiotape being released by the library of congress for all to hear. for music fans it amounts to something of a rosetta stone on tape. these tapes were recorded by a record executive named joe smith who once ran warner records while working on a book in the '80s, he conducted over 200 hours of interviews on tape. as you'll hear from the stars, they helped fill in some blank spots in modern music history.
>> for starters, we get to hear ray charles explain why he can never sing the same song the same way twice. especially when people want to hear it exactly the way it is on the record.
>> i sing, i can't stop loving you, georgia -- there ain't no way i can sing georgia the same way --
>> a lot of the newly released independent views have to do with the stones and the beatles .
>> i think it's very competitive. it's a very competitive business.
>> the two bands actually got along in a sweet way. then goes on to talk about the fab four. mccartney who admits to a strong sense of commercialism gives a candid assessment to his mate. saying john and ringo had natural wit. then mccartney talks about something else, drugs and sergeant pepper , the album that became to define the beatles psychedelic era .
>> sergeant pepper owes a lot to us getting into pop. compared to what you talk about these days, you're never sort of out of it on the floor.
>> reporter: finally we hear from yoko ono , john lennon 's widow, who takes on a long lingering rumor once and for all.
>> i didn't break up the beatles . the beatles were getting very independent. john, in fact, was not the first one who wanted to leave the beatles . paul was the only one who was trying to hold the beatles together. but then again, the other three felt that paul was going to hold the beatles together as his band. it was an incredible period of unpleasantness for john. he was delighted that he was out of it.
>> yoko says ringo was the first one who wanted out. and as time goes by, consider this, the stones 50th anniversary tour is underway. and today would have been jimi hendrix 70th birthday.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49986631/
maurice sendak state of the union sotu boehner john boehner demi moore hospitalized james farentino
David McNew / Getty Images
Amazon has another (pretty much) informationless press release out about Kindle sales this morning.?The closest thing we get to real data: Worldwide Kindle sales over the holiday shopping weekend were more than double last year's sales.?
Awesome! Right?
Well, we have no clue because Amazon has never revealed absolute Kindle sales numbers. For all we know, Amazon sold 10,000 Kindle tablets and e-readers over the weekend.?
Amazon regularly puts out press releases like this. It brags about the Kindle being the best-selling item on Amazon.com, but doesn't say what that really means.?
It sounds good, so people assume Kindle is kicking butt.?
But, over the weekend, IBM released data on holiday shopping traffic on tablets. Surprisingly, Barnes & Noble's?Nook family had more tablet traffic than the Kindle family. Both of them were getting clobbered by the iPad, which had 88 percent of tablet shopping traffic.?
While we don't have any hard numbers about the Kindle's success, we assume it's meeting the company's internal goals because it has been expanding the line up every year since Amazon introduced the Kindle.?
Here's the full release:
| Worldwide Kindle Device Sales More Than Double Last Year?s Record Over Holiday Shopping Weekend |
|
Cyber Monday is biggest day ever for Kindle sales worldwide The top 4 spots on the worldwide?Amazon?best sellers list since launch nearly three months ago are Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fires SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 27, 2012-- (NASDAQ: AMZN)?Amazon today announced that this Black Friday and Cyber Monday were the best ever for the Kindle family, and the popular new Kindle e-readers and tablets remain at the top of Amazon?s best sellers list worldwide. Milestones for Kindle sales this holiday shopping weekend include:
?Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fires have held the top 4 spots on the?Amazon?worldwide best sellers list since launch, and that was before the busiest shopping weekend of the year,? said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. ?We?re excited that customers made this Black Friday and Cyber Monday the best ever for Kindle worldwide?Cyber Monday was the biggest day ever for Kindle sales, and we?re looking forward to millions of customers opening a new Kindle this holiday season.? The Kindle family is available for purchase on?Amazon.com?as well as at retailers like?Best Buy,Radio Shack?and?Staples?in time for the holidays:
|
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-we-doubled-kindle-sales-2012-11
dark knight rises trailer vince young vince young evan longoria ryan seacrest kentucky derby beltane
By now it?s clear that if you have a business, no matter what size, you need a website. A website provides authenticity to your small business, helps customers or potential customers who are researching your products and services, and provides a first line of customer service, even when your business is closed.
Being a businessperson, however, your focus is on creating your product or service and making sure that it is the best possible so your customers will be satisfied. Then how do you know if your website is helping your business or is just another placeholder on the Web??There are three types of visitors that will frequent your site. In order of importance, your site visitors are customers, researchers and browsers. Make sure your website meets the needs of the first two and doesn?t scare the rest away.
What are your customers looking for when they visit your website? They are usually looking for contact information and hours of operation because they want to talk to you about a product or service they have already purchased, want to find out information about the product or service they are ordering, or they are trying to get help from you. You must have the following information on?EVERY PAGE OF YOUR WEBSITE where visitors can see it immediately:
Everything else is secondary to these vital pieces of information that your customers are looking for. If you don?t have this on every page of your site right now, it should be your top priority to remedy that.
Visitors who are researching are potential customers. These are the people who are in the market, but haven?t made a purchasing decision yet. They are the lost opportunities that you will never know about who didn?t buy from you because they didn?t find the information they were looking for.
The goal of the researcher is to find out more about the product or service they need, and they are looking for a reason to choose you over your competition. In order to help them make an informed decision (and nudge them in your direction), make sure your website includes the following:
It is very important that you also provide clear navigation, special offers, calls to action and other key components, but without the information listed above, potential customers will just move on.
If they?re not a customer or potential customer, the person who happens to land on your site is just a browser. These people may or may not currently need your product or service, but somehow ended up on your site. Once you?ve catered to the needs of customers and potential customers, you can engage browsers and turn them into promoters by creating contests, interesting designs and other fun marketing campaigns.
If you have a website for your business (and you should), make sure you take care of the needs of your customers and potential customers and turn your website from a placeholder to a valuable tool that works for your business 24 hours a day.
Source: http://blog.supermedia.com/building-a-business-website-your-customers-will-love/
lenny dykstra jenelle evans jenelle evans mlb 12 the show sabu google play franchise tag
Industry analysts say new fees and taxes could bring in needed money to a region where some debts are near that of Greece. But could they scare off investors?
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic
For a territory of just more than 56,000 people, the Cayman Islands boasts an impressive corporate roster: From some of the favorite US brands like Coca-Cola and Federal Express to the world?s richest sports franchise, English football club Manchester United.?
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The three-island British territory tucked just south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea has more than 92,000 registered companies, according to the government, most of which do the majority of their business elsewhere.?
A check around the Caribbean reveals similar stories. The islands have long been attractive because they collect little or no taxes. They?ve built economies around financial services, which has proven a more reliable source of income than tourism in recent years. And over time they?ve helped foreign companies and well-heeled individuals reduce their tax bills. Among them is the hedge fund Bain Capital, of Mitt Romney fame, which became a lightning rod for criticism during the presidential campaign.
But something happened on the way to tax haven status: Caribbean governments have accumulated massive debts they are struggling to repay. Without the taxes most governments use to pay for the costs of running public works projects or social programs, the bills have added up. With little in the way of economic expansion ? The United Nations forecasts 1.6 percent growth this year for the Caribbean ? governments are turning to other means.
Well-known tax shelters from the Cayman Islands to the Bahamas to the British Virgin Islands are considering new fees and taxes that would directly affect foreign investors.
RELATED: Think you know Latin America? Take our geography quiz!
?It is a well established fact [that] ? any government has but one fundamental way to?? have the resources available to fulfill its obligations to its citizens? and that is to raise taxes or fees,? D. Orlando Smith, minister of finance in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), said in a Nov. 15 budget presentation. ?
But industry analysts and tax specialists believe new fees and taxes will bring in needed money for government coffers while doing little harm to the business community.
In the BVI, Mr. Smith proposed an increase in trade license fees, which businesses are required to purchase to operate there, and to base work permit fees on salary levels, meaning higher-paid workers, many coming from large companies with multimillion dollar payrolls, would pay more. His counterpart in the Cayman Islands has proposed an increase in registration fees for hedge funds. And in the Bahamas, the government is considering a sales or value added tax as well as a broad-based corporate tax for the first time.
?This is coming from the same pressure that is affecting other governments around the world: the need to raise revenue,? says Bruce Zagaris, a Washington-based lawyer who has advised Caribbean governments on tax matters. ?Small countries, like those in the Caribbean, are more limited in the ability to raise revenue. In many, such as the Bahamas and Cayman Islands, there is no income tax.?
Places like St. Kitts & Nevis and Barbados are among the world?s most indebted governments, with debt-to-gross domestic product ratios of 151 percent and 118 percent, respectively, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data. Much-maligned Greece?s debt is only slightly higher at 161 percent, according to the European commission. ?
collateral dick cheney heart umf peter frampton elite eight stephon marbury the lion king
"Revenge" celebrated Thanksgiving this week, but it wasn't Thanksgiving 2012. Instead, the show jumped back to 2006, when Emily was first planning her revenge on the family that killed her father. It also gave viewers a chance to spend some quality time with Victoria Grayson's mother, Marion. And if you thought Victoria was mean ...
Hollywood Life wrote that "Marion took the crown for biggest b*tch in town," which is quite a feat considering the other contenders seen on the show.
"You drove a wedge between me and every man I ever loved!" Marion told her daughter. "I should've listened to your deadbeat father. Gotten rid of you before you were even born!"
There were glimpses into key moments for other castmembers, like Nolan having to explain where half a billion dollars from NolCorp went. Also, viewers saw the first meeting between Aiden and Emily, while she was posing as a prostitute.
As for that Thanksgiving dinner, it turned out to be a huge revenge plot of its own orchestrated by Victoria against her mother for years of terrible behavior. The dysfunction in this family runs deep.
Tune in for all the twists and turns every week on "Revenge," Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.
Related on HuffPost:
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/revenge-thanksgiving-victorias-mother-video_n_2190415.html
aretha franklin whitney houston paul williams paul babeu kevin costner budweiser shootout animal house invincible
The Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index fell notably in October 2012, slumping to?a near-recessionary level of -0.56.
This graph shows the Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index since 2000. The index indicated pronounced weakness for the US economy in October 2012.
SoldAtTheTop
EnlargeThe latest release of the?Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index (CFNAI)?indicated pronounced weakness for the national economy with the index falling notably from the prior month to stand at a near-recessionary level of -0.56 while the three month moving average also slumped to -0.56.?
Skip to next paragraph SoldAtTheTopWriter, The PaperEconomy Blog
'SoldAtTheTop' is not a pessimist by nature but a true skeptic and realist who prefers solid and sustained evidence of fundamental economic recovery to 'Goldilocks,' 'Green Shoots,' 'Mustard Seeds,' and wholesale speculation.
' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 indicators of national economic activity collected into four overall categories of ?production and income?, ?employment, unemployment and income?, ?personal consumption and housing? and ?sales, orders and inventories?.?
The Chicago Fed regards a value of zero for the total index as indicating that the national economy is expanding at its historical trend rate while a negative value indicates below average growth.?
A value at or below -0.70 for the three month moving average of the national activity index (CFNAI-MA3) indicates that the national economy has either just entered or continues in recession.?
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on paper-money.blogspot.com.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/EyEvO4nV7eo/Chicago-Fed-US-economy-at-near-recession-level
acl earthquake los angeles unemployment 2012 nfl draft grades young justice nfl draft d rose
houston texans houston texans pecan pie recipe dick clark Hector Camacho Jill Kelly ufc
Inspectors stand in debris, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, at the site of a gas explosion that leveled a strip club in Springfield, Mass., on Friday evening. Investigators were trying to figure out what caused the blast where the multistory brick building housing Scores Gentleman's Club once stood. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Inspectors stand in debris, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, at the site of a gas explosion that leveled a strip club in Springfield, Mass., on Friday evening. Investigators were trying to figure out what caused the blast where the multistory brick building housing Scores Gentleman's Club once stood. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Items from the Score's Gentleman's Club are seen in the rubble on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, the morning after Friday night's explosion in Springfield, Mass. Dozens of building inspectors began assessing homes and businesses in Springfield on Saturday, a day after a natural gas explosion leveled the Scores Gentleman's Club located next to a day care and heavily damaged a dozen other structures. (AP Photo/The Republican, Dave Roback)
A day care next door to a gas explosion that leveled a strip club Friday evening is seen in Springfield, Mass., Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012. Investigators are trying to figure out what caused the Friday evening blast that could be heard for miles, and that left a large hole in the ground where the multistory brick building housing Scores Gentleman's Club once stood. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) ? A natural gas explosion that injured 18 people and damaged 42 buildings in Springfield's entertainment district was blamed Sunday on a utility worker who accidentally punctured a high-pressure pipeline while looking for a leak.
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said the Friday night blast in one of New England's largest cities was caused by "human error." He didn't name the Columbia Gas Co. worker who pierced the pipe while responding to reports of a gas leak.
The worker damaged the underground pipe while using a metal tool to locate the source of the leak, Coan said. A flood of gas then built up in a building that housed a strip club, and some kind of spark touched off the blast, officials said.
Coan said the employee was following older markings on a sidewalk that indicated the location of the gas line. He appeared to be an appropriate distance from the line, but the markings were incorrect and the worker accidentally punctured the pipe.
A message left for a Columbia Gas spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned. Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of public company NiSource Inc., said earlier Sunday that it plans to open a claims center at City Hall on Monday for residents and businesses affected by the explosion.
Preliminary reports show the blast damaged 42 buildings housing 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned, and 24 others require additional inspections by structural engineers to determine whether they are safe. The building that housed the Scores Gentleman's Club was destroyed.
After the pipe was ruptured, authorities evacuated several buildings. Most of the people injured were part of a group of gas workers, firefighters and police officers who ducked for cover behind a utility truck just before the blast. The truck was demolished.
Some officials said it was a miracle no one was killed. Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant praised the actions of city firefighters.
"The firefighters did an excellent job evacuating the area which certainly prevented additional civilian injuries and saved many lives," Conant said.
Columbia Gas officials have been cooperating with investigators and have determined that there are no more gas leaks in the neighborhood, Mayor Domenic Sarno said.
Coan said the investigation is being turning over to the state Department of Public Utilities. It's not clear whether investigators will ever be able to determine what caused the spark that ignited the explosion.
Springfield, which is 90 miles west of Boston and has about 150,000 residents, is the largest city in western Massachusetts. It's known as the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is not near the blast site.
The city has been rebuilding from damage caused by a tornado in June 2011.
Associated Press
The right of some rich countries to keep using "hot air" carbon permits could hamper progress at UN climate talks starting on Monday in Qatar.
With the Kyoto Protocol running out at the end of the year, several countries want to carry over unused carbon allowances.
Campaigners say this "hot air" could render new carbon cuts meaningless.
And there are fears that old fault lines between rich and poor will prevent any significant developments.
More than 17,000 participants are expected in the Qatari capital Doha for the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
Courageous choice Continue reading the main storyEnd Quote Tracy Carty OxfamClearly for the second commitment to have integrity, there need to be limits on what's carried over and how much countries use that 'hot air' in their targets?
Some surprise has been expressed at the choice of venue. Qatar, rich in oil and particularly gas, has some of the highest per-capita carbon emissions in the world.
But Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep), told BBC News that he praised the "courage" of Qatar in hosting the meeting.
"Some of these countries that we thought in the past were not serious about climate change, were not into renewable energy, are now signalling very strongly that they want to be part of the solution.
"The signals we are getting from the Qatari administration is that they now want to start doing things on climate change and this is maybe their first big step."
Hosting a conference is one thing. Making progress is another.
Continue reading the main storyThis year's meeting comes just a month before the expiration of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the world's most significant global agreement on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.
Last year in South Africa, negotiators agreed what is called the Durban Platform. The nub of this was a trade off - the richer countries would extend their carbon cutting beyond 2013 via an extension of the Kyoto Protocol. In return, the developing nations would negotiate a new deal by 2015 that would commit all countries, including emerging super-powers like India and China, to reduce emissions from 2020.
Key to that small forward step was a "coalition of the willing" - an unlikely alliance of the European Union, small island states and the least developed countries.
'Difficult issue'But in Doha, some of the fine details of an agreement have to be worked out. And these are proving very troublesome for that group in particular.
One of the concerns is over "hot air" - several EU countries were given huge allowances of carbon permits that they want to carry over into a new commitment period. But the scale of the surplus, some 13 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, could render future promises to cut carbon effectively meaningless.
"Many (delegates) are unhappy about the carry-over," said Dr Quamrul Chowdhury, a negotiator from Bangladesh who speaks for the developing countries group. "It could be a difficult issue."
Continue reading the main storyAdaptation
Action that helps cope with the effects of climate change - for example construction of barriers to protect against rising sea levels, or conversion to crops capable of surviving high temperatures and drought.
Tracy Carty, a climate change policy adviser from Oxfam agrees that the issue of surplus carbon permits could be very important in the negotiations.
"Clearly for the second commitment to have integrity, there need to be limits on what's carried over and how much countries use that 'hot air' in their targets," she told BBC News.
"Otherwise we aren't going to get the emissions reductions that we need."
Another critical element is money. During the COP15 talks in Copenhagen in 2009, richer countries agreed to provide $30bn in fast-start finance for the period up to 2012. They also established a Green Climate Fund to control up $100bn per year expected to be raised by 2020 to help poorer countries mitigate the effects of climate change.
Empty fundBut several countries including the UK, France and Germany have been accused of reclassifying money that was already committed as development aid. According to research carried out by Oxfam, only 33% of this climate finance can be considered as new.
And with no money in the climate fund after the end of this year, Oxfam believes it is the most critical issue at this meeting.
Tracy Carty argues the dispute could hamper the new alliances that have led to progress at previous meetings in Cancun and Durban.
"On the broad elements of 2015, we aren't going to see any 'big-bang' moments in Doha like we saw in Durban. But on finance it is a crossroads - this is a period where we are coming to the end of a tranche of money and we don't know what's on the table for next year," she said.
Some, though, remain hopeful that Doha can see a "big-bang" moment, pointing to the fact that the new leadership in China and the re-elected President Obama are both making optimistic noises about climate.
"President Obama indicated that he would make some progress on global warming," said Dr Chowdhury, "and the new leadership of China might go for a deal - that is my personal point of view but we want to see that progress."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20443227#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
west virginia rob roy gaslight justin timberlake michael dyer bachmann bachmann
* Sharp enlargement of mercantile deposits over past decade
* Such deposits can be used by regulators to inject money
* Cash injections in late 2012 to strech record level
* PBOC might not need to cut RRR for rest of year
By Lu Jianxin and Pete Sweeney
SHANGHAI, Nov 22 (Reuters) ? Government revenues deposited
in Chinese blurb banks have grown so vast that regulators
have been means to use them as a financial process tool, increasing
the pointing with that Beijing can conduct growth.
By sensibly auctioning supervision deposits and by
directly redistributing income lifted from taxes and fees to
companies and supervision departments, a Ministry of Finance
(MOF) is now means to use supervision assets to influence
short-term appropriation costs in a wider economy.
This means that marketplace players who guard a central
bank?s open marketplace operations for clues as to a instruction of
monetary process contingency keep another eye on a cycle of funds
moving in and out of accounts tranquil by a MOF.
?Fiscal deposits have spin a vital cause to change the
central bank?s financial process as good as income markets,? pronounced a
senior merchant during a Chinese state-owned bank in Beijing.
?In months when a marketplace is brief of liquidity, the
ministry can also use supervision deposition auctions to assistance the
central bank boost income supply. In this sense, mercantile deposits
are indeed being used as a financial apparatus as well.?
THE WAY IT WORKS
Chinese companies and other institutions, that compensate taxes
and fees to a MOF and a internal offices, contingency deposition these
payments into accounts during designated blurb banks in the
form of mercantile deposits. Such deposits can't be used by
commercial banks and play no purpose in financial policy.
However, 3 times per month, a blurb banks hand
over all of these deposits to a People?s Bank of China (PBOC),
where they spin partial of a PBOC?s financial base. This base
money can be possibly defended in times of additional liquidity, or
pushed behind into a complement in a form of MOF spending, deposit
auctions and refunds on taxation overpayments.
A diminution in mercantile deposits on blurb banks? balance
sheets therefore implies some-more income has been handed over to the
state and is now accessible for income injection.
On months when mercantile deposits drop, a PBOC customarily has
less need to inject short-term income into a complement in a form
of retreat repurchase agreements, given income is entering the
system by channels tranquil by a MOF.
There are transparent anniversary characteristics to a upsurge of
funds.
In December, for example, a MOF typically injects large
amounts of income in a form of taxation refunds, subsidies to
government institutions and income transfers to companies in
pillar industries.
Deposits also tend to diminution in March, June, September,
and November, while other months customarily uncover net fiscal
deposits increasing, tightening income supply in a banking
system.
RECORD INJECTION
An bargain of a MOF?s position on any given month
can be simply subsequent from monthly information on blurb banks?
end-month mercantile deposits published by a PBOC.
The method accessible a mercantile over-abundance of 829.6 billion yuan
($133.2 billion) in a initial 10 months of 2012, and is set to
generate some-more over-abundance in a final dual months.
A Reuters research of a information shows that a MOF is likely
to siphon a record high 1.6 trillion yuan into a complement in the
last dual months of this year. Data suggests it injected slightly
lesser amounts during a same duration given 2008, compared to
under 580 billion yuan in 2007 and reduction than 220 billion yuan in
2002 during a same period.
The supervision has designed to record an altogether budgetary
deficit of 800 billion yuan for 2012, implying that a entirety
of a mercantile over-abundance will be plowed behind into a economy,
supplemented by additional necessity spending.
THE AUCTION MECHANISM
The impact of supervision spending on subsidies, refunds and
transfers is formidable to magnitude precisely, though a auction of
deposits combined by supervision revenues is easier to manage.
Such deposits are auctioned for specific durations of time -
usually between 3 and 6 months ? definition regulators and
money marketplace participants can design how prolonged a income will
be in a system.
This year?s auction volume for such deposits is equivalent
to around half of a sum volume of open marketplace operations
conducted by a executive bank, injecting a record 690 billion
yuan into blurb banks so distant this year, adult from 450 billion
yuan in 2011 and 170 billion yuan in 2008.
This means that even as a PBOC has mutated its
open-market operations to concentration roughly exclusively on a usage
of retreat repos with tenors of reduction than one month to manage
the interbank income supply, it has a massive
pool of accessible deposits to tumble behind on if necessary.
The coherence this toolset provides China?s economic
managers has authorised them to conflict calls to revoke a reserve
requirement ratio (RRR) during blurb banks for a third time
this year, even as world?s second-largest economy slowed to its
slowest in 3 years in a third quarter.
This in spin authorised regulators to continue to fight
inflation ? that regulators fear would be aggravated by another
RRR cut given such cuts inject income into a complement that
cannot simply be pulled behind out ? but formulating a liquidity
crisis.
As a result, traders pronounced that short-term income rates for
the benchmark seven-day bond repurchase rate have
remained in gentle domain around or subsequent 3 percent even
as a executive bank has authorised income to empty from a system
through open marketplace operations for a final 3 weeks.
Traders design rates to sojourn fast or even diminution in
most partial of December.
Although 2013?s bill will not be motionless until subsequent March,
if China?s economy continues to recover, mercantile revenues will
likely arise further, giving a Ministry of Finance even more
firepower to change rates.
($1 = 6.2302 Chinese yuan)
(Editing by Kim Coghill)
Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/22/markets-china-debt-idUSL4N0920TO20121122
Source: http://thecashcollector.com/china-money-china-makes-tax-revenue-a-monetary-policy-tool/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=china-money-china-makes-tax-revenue-a-monetary-policy-tool
westminster dog show 2012 words with friends words with friends phlebotomy dog show best in show bret michaels
fenway park coachella philadelphia flyers 4/20 student loan forgiveness ufc 145 weigh ins record store day 2012
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/11/24/california-headphones-laredo-review/
weather gina carano at last al green burger king delivery etta james at last john king
>>> great britain needs the help of any code breakers out there, trying to learn a message sent by carrier pigeon during world war ii . it is a hand-written message, never making its way to a recipient. it was discovered all these years later in a chimney. they think that carrier pigeon was used during the war, including behind enemy lines . british intelligence agents say they can't figure it out. so if anyone is good at it, we put it on the website.
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49943971/
obama dog doug hutchison larry brown thomas kinkade pat summit brewers matt cain
Warn supervisors to stay away from demeaning jokes and other offensive, sexually oriented comments.
Recent case: William, who was a doctor, worked part time as a pathologist. He developed diabetes, was hospitalized and returned to work using a wheelchair. Shortly after, he was terminated.
William sued, alleging, among other things, that he had worked in a sexually hostile workplace. He claimed the coroner?his supervisor?sometimes called him a "40 year-old virgin," grabbed his groin, kissed him on the forehead, asked about his sex life and that of his mother and generally made himself a nuisance.
The court said he had enough evidence to warrant a jury trial to decide if the conduct constituted same-sex harassment, as well as whether William was fired on account of his disabilities. (Bligh-Glover v. Rizzo, No. 1:08-CV-2788, ND OH, 2012)
Attention: Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, Media, Webmasters and more...
We believe great content should be read and passed around. After all, knowledge IS power. And good business can become great with the right information at their fingertips. If you'd like to share any of the insightful articles on BusinessManagementDaily.com, you may republish or syndicate it without charge.
The only thing we ask is that you keep the article exactly as it was written and formatted. You also need to include an attribution statement and link to the article.
" This information is proudly provided by Business Management Daily.com: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/33745/40-year-old-virgin-wins-right-to-sexual-harassment-trial "
fidel castro rick santorum ozzie guillen castro comments phish gluten free diet barry zito mac virus
>>> we want to turn now to the black friday shopping rush. crowds turning out, looking for their bargains. did it all live up to the hype? michelle franzen is just outside the macy's store. good morning.
>> reporter: it's a little quiet here this morning, but we've made it through that initial wave of black friday that actually began early on thanksgiving this year. so how did we fare? retail analysts say the number of shoppers didn't necessarily go up, but you see that rush of shoppers going into those doors, just spread out a little earlier over that thanksgiving and black friday morning. now, in georgia, at one walmart store, there was a mad rush and crush of people grabbing for prepaid cell phones out of cases that were just opened. but for the most part, it was very orderly. people were out there in force looking for those hot door buster items, from electronics and flat screen tvs to deep discounts on clothing. overall, retail analysts say they're expecting that a drop in shoppers this weekend, that's from thursday to sunday, but overall, with shoppers having nearly five weeks to shop, they're hoping that sales will increase just over 4%. that's the estimate. and shoppers will spend nearly $600 billion. so people will be out in force again today on this saturday, looking for whole new round of sales.
>> michelle franzen , thank you.
>>> how did this black friday add up? kayla, good morning.
>> good morning, erica.
>> we had an overview there from michelle. in terms of the discounts, did these live up to expectations?
>> customers will always say they didn't, because if you weren't there at the crack of dawn, you likely missed out on the heavily discounted big ticket items. but that being said, there were supposed to be more deals. 20,000 deals advertised versus 17,000 last year. but they were roughly in line. experts say they were 25% to 60% off on average with the televisions and apparel getting the heaviest discounts.
>> what about how this is going to add up for retail? final numbers probably will come on monday. but this is black friday because it tends to push them into profit for the year with retailers. is this going to happen with the numbers?
>> it's always the hope. they're waiting for cyber monday. foot traffic was up slightly. if you look at places like the mall of america , or macy's in herald square , you're seeing about a 30% increase in foot traffic. the problem is people were on average expecting to spend less money. american express said the average shopper who was out on black friday spent $398, which is a lot of money. but it's a 25% drop from last year. so it's likely that even though there were more people, they probably spent less.
>> there were also more hours in which to spend your money. i feel like next year it's going to start on monday. but it was a little bit of backlash. walmart and walmart employees striking, protesting here. did it have an impact on sales for some of those stores? did people stay away ?
>> interestingly, walmart is one of the only retailers that we've heard from so far as far as the success of black friday. the retailer came out and said this was our best ever, actually. between 8:00 p.m . and midnight on thursday, which is when the backlash started. of course, the employees did not want to work during that time. walmart said the bulk of the protesters were not store associates and they actually sold 5,000 items per second.
>> it's almost like campaign ads. we hear they work and they're not going away. despite the complaints, it's sort of like we're going to keep opening earlier because it works. what about what we have coming up monday? cyber monday has become such a big thing. anything to look forward to?
>> i think everyone shops every day online now. that's the problem with cyber monday. it used to be this heavily advertised event. but because of thanksgiving, that's the day that everyone is sitting around at home and with the time to shop, you have a glass of wine, you grab your ipad and before you know it, you're onshopping.
>> a lot of mobile shopping now. mobile shopping up 65%. it's not just you and me grabbing our ipads.
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49947370/
2012 kids choice awards kansas ohio state wrestlemania results womens final four josh hutcherson google april fools office space
Fashionista.com:
Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year in the US. Combine larger-than-usual crowds with the potential for bad weather (and delayed flights), and it all leads to one thing: Sitting around in airports for hours at a time.
Read the whole story at Fashionista.com
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/22/airports-shopping_n_2176066.html
PARIS (AP) ? Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy went before a judge on Thursday to respond to suspicions he illegally accepted donations from France's richest woman to fund his 2007 election campaign.
The judge in Bordeaux could decide whether the 57-year-old conservative, a polarizing figure who often faced criticism for cozy ties to the rich, will be charged with taking advantage of the 90-year-old L'Oreal heiress, Liliane Bettencourt. Sarkozy has consistently denied all allegations.
Bettencourt's former accountant told police that she handed over ?150,000 ($192,000) in cash she was told would be passed on to Sarkozy's campaign treasurer. In July, a magistrate ordered the seizure of Sarkozy's diaries.
The sum, although it pales in comparison to U.S. campaign funding amounts, shocked many French citizens because spending on political campaigns is tightly limited here. Individual campaign contributions to candidates are limited to ?4,600, and no candidate can spend more than ?22 million on an entire presidential campaign. The French government reimburses some of that money to the winner.
By comparison, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the campaign for this year's U.S. presidential elections.
The probe centers on the finances of Bettencourt, Europe's richest woman and the focus of a long-running family feud over her fortune that ballooned in 2010 into a multi-layered investigation and political affair. Bettencourt, who was reported to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, has since been placed under legal protection.
Sarkozy's lost his immunity from prosecution when he lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande in May. Since then, his conservative UMP party has fallen into disarray. The former president's ties to the wealthy alienated many in France, but he remains popular among the country's conservatives despite the legal problems that have dogged him since leaving office.
Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, told the Sipa news agency that after Thursday's hearing Sarkozy could either face preliminary charges or be given special witness status with the possibility of facing charges later.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sarkozy-court-over-illegal-donations-suspicions-073448607.html
randy travis arrested dickens greg kelly cujo karen handel hangout todd haley
People watch the 86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday Nov. 22, 2012, in New York. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade put a festive mood in the air in a city still coping with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
People watch the 86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday Nov. 22, 2012, in New York. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade put a festive mood in the air in a city still coping with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
Workers inflate the Spider-Man balloon for the 86th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, on New York's Upper West Side, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. More than 3 million people typically attend the event and it has a TV audience of 50 million. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Kermit The Frog balloon makes its way down New York's Central Park West in celebration of the 86th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,Thursday, Nov 22, 2012. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
Pedestrians cross at a cross-walk outside a terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012, in Atlanta. Millions of Americans piled their families into cars, hopped on buses and waited out delays at airports Wednesday as they set off on Thanksgiving treks that many said required financial sacrifice, help from relatives to come up with airfare and hours searching online for deals. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
The Chloe ballon and Spider-Man balloon are inflated for the 86th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on New York's Upper West Side, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2012. More than 3 million people typically attend the event and it has a TV audience of 50 million. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Victims of Superstorm Sandy in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast were comforted Thursday by kinder weather, free holiday meals and ? for some ? front row seats to the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"It means a lot," said Karen Panetta, of the hard-hit Broad Channel section of Queens, as she sat in a special viewing section set aside for New Yorkers displaced by the storm.
"We're thankful to be here and actually be a family and to feel like life's a little normal today," she said.
The popular Macy's parade, attended by more than 3 million people and watched by 50 million on TV, included such giant balloons as Elf on a Shelf and Papa Smurf, a new version of Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Sailor Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Real-life stars included singer Carly Rae Jepsen and Rachel Crow of "The X Factor."
The young, and the young at heart, were delighted by the sight and sound of marching bands, performers and, of course, the giant balloons. The sunny weather quickly surpassed 50 degrees.
Alan Batt and his 11-year-old twins, Kyto and Elina, took in the parade at the end of the route, well away from the crowd and seemingly too far away for a good view. But they had an advantage: Two tall stepladders they hauled over from their apartment eight blocks away ? one for each twin.
"We're New Yorkers," the 65-year-old Batt said. "We know what we're doing."
With the height advantage, "I get to see everything!" Kyto said.
At nearby Greeley Square, social worker Lowell Herschberger, 40, of Brooklyn, sought in vain to tear his sons, 8-year-old Logan and 6-year-old Liam, from a foosball table set up in the tiny park as the balloons crept by on the near horizon.
"Hey, guys ? there's Charlie Brown," he said, pointing at the old standby balloon.
The boys didn't look up.
"I guess they're over it," the father said with a shrug.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was reflective Thursday as he praised police, firefighters, armed services personnel, sanitation workers and volunteers involved in the storm response. His office was coordinating the distribution of 26,500 meals at 30 sites in neighborhoods affected by Sandy, and other organizations also were pitching in.
The disaster zones on Staten Island were flooded ? this time with food and volunteers from Glen Rock, N.J., organized using social media.
"We had three carloads of food," volunteer Beth Fernandez said. "The whole town of Glen Rock pitched in. ... It's really cool. It's my best, my favorite Thanksgiving ever."
On Long Island, the Long Beach nonprofit Surf For All hosted a Thanksgiving event that fed 1,200 people. Carol Gross, 72, a Long Beach native, said she went to volunteer but was turned away because of a surplus of helpers.
"A lot of people like me, old-timers, we've never seen anything like this horror," she said, recalling the destruction.
Gross' brother, Jerry, who moved to Arizona in the 1960s, was stunned by what he saw when he returned for Thanksgiving.
"To come back and see the boardwalk all devastated like it is, it's like going to Manhattan and finding Times Square gone," he said.
George Alvarez, whose Toms River, N.J., home suffered moderate damage when Sandy hit the coast, said his family usually does "the traditional big dinner" on Thanksgiving. But this year, they chose to attend a community dinner held at an area church.
"This storm not only impacted us, it impacted a lot of our friends, our community, our psyche," Alvarez said shortly before his family headed out for their meal. "We could have had our usual dinner here at home, but this year it felt like we should be with others who are experiencing the same concerns we are. We made it through this devastating storm, and that's something to celebrate."
Across the country, other cities offered a mix of holiday cheer and acts of charity.
Thousands of people made the most of the mild, sunny fall weather to watch Detroit's Thanksgiving parade, hours ahead of the Lions' annual home game.
Floats and marching bands poured down Woodward Avenue on Thursday morning, with many spectators forgoing the cold-weather gear of past parades. Detroit's temperature hit 52 degrees at 11 a.m., with a warm wind blowing from the south.
Parade participants included NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski, a 28-year-old Rochester Hills native and the first Michigan-born driver to win the Sprint Cup Series.
In San Francisco, lines of the homeless and less fortunate began forming late Wednesday outside a church in the city's tough Tenderloin district that expected to serve more than 5,000 meals, said the Rev. Cecil Williams.
"We must make sure people can overcome all adversities," Williams said. "You can, you will and you must."
On New York City's Rockaway Peninsula, convenience store owner Mohamed Razack said he was able to open again Wednesday for the first time since the storm.
"At first, I was very depressed, but now, I'm proud," said Mohamed Razack, 50. "We are the first store to open around here."
___
AP radio correspondent Julie Walker, AP video journalist Ted Shaffrey and Associated Press writers Kiley Armstrong and Karen Matthews in New York, Alison Barnwell on Long Island, Bruce Shipkowski in New Jersey and Terry Collins in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Associated Pressslow jam the news madden cover obama slow jams the news metta world peace ron artest gladys knight private practice
