Monday, December 3, 2012

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Coffee vending services are popular with office workers and visitors. They insert a few coins, and press a button to make their selection and receive their hot drink almost instantly. These types of machines have come a long way from the first model, designed to dispense holy water, by an individual who worked as an engineer and mathematician hundreds of years ago.

Historically, in many workplaces, employees brought in their refreshment supplies and made their own hot drinks or used a flask. That caused employers concerns, because individuals also brought in their second-hand kettles, which usually did not meet with the current safety standards. The alternative was for the company to provide kettles or hot-water urns.

Refreshment breaks in the workplace have always been a source of conflict between employees and management. Employees were often accused of taking extended breaks, or too many breaks. They responded with complaints about the distance they had to go to get a hot drink, or the queue they had to stand in when they got there.

Introducing vending machines in rest areas has proved popular with employees and eliminated the need for kettles in the work area. If the rest and vending area is incorporated into the office area, staff are less likely to take frequent or extended breaks. They can get their hot drink from the office coffee service and return to their desk if that is allowed.

Many large and modern office complexes are designed so their floor plan includes an area for refreshments and vending services. The preferred method for providing office vending services would be on a contract basis. The service supplier maintains, cleans and replenishes stocks and retains ownership of the machines. In many cases, the cost of the machine rental for the employer is minimal.

Many employees take advantage of food and drink machines to save time. They do not want to waste time going outside the office for food and drinks, especially in the bad weather. They can usually take their pick and enjoy a wide variety of hot and cold drinks and food.

Reputable firms that provide kitchen supplies Pittsburgh area and elsewhere around the US, survey their customers and monitor buying habits to determine the types of products that are popular. They also take into account the information supplied by health providers and nutritionists on what makes a healthy snack or dinner. They aim to provide food and coffee vending services to meet customer demands.

Source: http://bestcoffeebeansinformation.blogspot.com/2012/11/discover-more-about-coffee-vending.html

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Sunday, December 2, 2012

Top commercial, residential real estate deals of the week | TribLIVE


By Sam Spatter

Published: Saturday, December 1, 2012, 9:02?p.m.
Updated 16 hours ago

DEALSOF THE WEEK

A quick look at recent retail, commercial and industrial projects, sales and leases of note in Western Pennsylvania:

$4.7 million (combined price)

Properties sold: 922 Brush Creek Rd., Cranberry; 14200 Rt. 30, North Huntingdon.

Seller: Bridge Construction, Pittsburgh

Buyer: Guardian Storage Solutions, Pittsburgh

Details: Two Lock-Up Storage Centers, with Cranberry having 511 storage units and North Huntingdon, 411 storage units.

Comment: ?Bridge Construction built our local storage units, and decided to sell these two to us, giving us locations in areas we did not previously have,? said Steven H. Cohen, Guardian owner/president.

$3.9 million

Property sold: 610 Alpha Dr., RIDC Park, O?Hara

Seller: Regional Industrial Development Corp., Pittsburgh

Buyer: Penhurst Realty II LP, a unit of Tsudis Chocolate Co., Pittsburgh

Details: Acquired building it has occupied, following receipt of a $1.56 million loan from Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, which allowed Tsudis to reconfigure space for expansion, hire 75 employees for a total of 275.

Comment: ?Tsudis Chocolate had been leasing the building and decided to buy it, and make some improvements as it expands its operation there,? said Don Smith, Jr., RIDC president.

$2 million

Property sold: 150 Lake Dr., McCandless

Seller: Frank and Virginia Pelly, Pittsburgh

Buyer: Lake Drive Realty Partners LLC, Pittsburgh

Details: Two-story, 26,650-square-foot building, 90 percent leased.

Comment: ?A group of local investors purchased the building as an investment, and I still have 6,400 square feet available for lease,? said Jessica Jarosz of Colliers International/Pittsburgh who worked with Paul Fedorko of Marcus & Millichap?s Pittsburgh office who represented the seller.

TOP DOLLAR HOMES

Recent home and condominium sales that brought top prices in Western Pennsylvania:

$675,000

Property: North Strabane

Seller: William Ripper

Buyer: Perry and Kyle Dick

Details: Custom brick and stone Provincial, on 5.25 acres, two-story family room with wall of windows, stone fireplace, private den with French doors, master suite with Corian counters, jet tub, his-and-her vanities, extended level aggregate driveway and parking pad.

Comment: ?The buyers loved that this was in a private five-acre setting, yet close to Donaldson?s Crossroads. They liked the floor plan, two-story family room, huge gourmet maple kitchen and first floor master suite,? said Tim Ulam with Sue Franz of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

$642,500

Property: Adams

Seller: Christopher Schueller

Buyer: Michael and Jennifer Zatchey

Detaisl: Brick Provincial with open family room, paneled study with built-in bookcases, mud room with large pantry, five bedrooms, four and a half baths, second-floor laundry, patio off kitchen/family room.

Comment: ?Buyers loved the neighborhood and flat back year, yet wooded, liked the finished lower level with a media room, the bedroom and the ?school room? for children,? said Kim Marie Angiulli, Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

$580,000

Property: Point Breeze

Seller: Sidney and Sylvia Busis

Buyer: Jeffrey Peterson and Roberta Miller

Details: Contemporary-style house on a cul de sac with second-floor office, all bedrooms with vaulted ceilings, shower for pet or clean off muddy feet, private back yard with patio, two-car garage with extra wide driveway.

Comment: ?Buyers found this a wonderful home, built by and loved by the sellers. They loved the contemporay archecture with great space and spacious indoor,? said Tamara Skirboll, Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

Sam Spatter is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7843 or sspatter@tribweb.com.

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Source: http://triblive.com/business/realestate/3025354-74/pittsburgh-seller-buyer-comment-details-property-building-family-floor-loved

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Egypt Supreme Constitutional Court Suspends Work Indefinitely

By Tamim Elyan and Tom Perry

CAIRO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Mursi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict between some of the country's top judges and the head of state.

The Supreme Constitutional Court said it would not convene until its judges could operate without "psychological and material pressure", saying protesters had stopped the judges from reaching the building.

Several hundred Mursi supporters had protested outside the court through the night ahead of a session expected to examine the legality of parliament's upper house and the assembly that drafted a new constitution, both of them Islamist-controlled.

The cases have cast a legal shadow over Mursi's efforts to chart a way out of a crisis ignited by a Nov. 22 decree that temporarily expanded his powers and led to nationwide protests.

The court's decision to suspend its activities appeared unlikely to have any immediate impact on Mursi's drive to get the new constitution passed in a national referendum on Dec. 15.

Three people have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests and counter-demonstrations over Mursi's decree.

At least 200,000 of Mursi's supporters attended a rally at Cairo University on Saturday. His opponents are staging an open-ended sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the cradle of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, which propelled him to power in a June election, hope to end the crisis by pushing through the new constitution hastily adopted by the drafting assembly on Friday. The next day the assembly handed the text to Mursi, who called the referendum and urged Egyptians to vote.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is determined to go ahead with its own plans regardless of everybody else. There is no compromise on the horizon," said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University.

Outside the Supreme Constitutional Court, Muslim Brotherhood supporters rallied behind the referendum date. "Yes to the constitution", declared a banner held aloft by one protester. Chants demanded the "purging of the judiciary".

The interior minister told the head of the court that the building was accessible and the protests were peaceful, according a statement from the ministry.

The protest reflected the deep suspicion harboured by Egypt's Islamists towards a court they see as a vestige of the Mubarak era. The same court ruled in June to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood-led lower house of parliament.

Since then, several legal cases have challenged the legitimacy of the upper house of parliament and the 100-member constituent assembly that wrote the constitution.

Those against the upper house have focused on the legality of the law by which it was elected, while the constitutional assembly has faced a raft of court cases alleging that the way it was picked was illegal.

STOCK MARKET RALLIES

Mursi believes that securing approval for the new constitution in a popular referendum will bury all arguments on the legality of the constituent assembly, as well as controversy over the text it worked through the night to finish on Friday.

It will also override the Nov. 22 decree that prompted statements of concern from Western governments and a rebellion by sections of the judiciary that saw it as a threat to their role. The decree shielded Mursi from judicial oversight.

Judges supervise voting in Egypt, so Mursi now needs them to oversee the referendum. Vice President Mahmoud Mekky said on Sunday he was confident the judges would perform that role, though Mursi's critics in the judiciary may call for a boycott.

While the Islamists' critics, including representatives of the Christian minority, have accused the Brotherhood of trying to hijack the constitution, investors appear to have seen Mursi's moves as a harbinger of stability. They were also relieved that Saturday's mass Islamist protest went off calmly.

The main stock market index, which lost a tenth of its value in response to Mursi's Nov. 22 decree, rallied more than 2 percent when the market opened on Sunday.

"The events that took place through the weekend, from the approval of the final draft of the constitution and the president calling a referendum, gave some confidence to investors that political stability is on track," said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities, an Egyptian brokerage.

But the political opposition, made up of leftist, liberal and socialist parties, have been infuriated by what they see as the Brotherhood's attempt to ram through a constitution that does not enjoy national consensus.

Mursi's opponents warn of deeper polarisation ahead.

"LET EVERYONE HAVE THEIR SAY"

Leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said on Twitter that the "struggle will continue" over a draft constitution that "undermines basic freedoms".

Liberal figures, including former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, pulled out of the constituent assembly last month, as did Christian representatives.

The draft constitution contains Islamist-flavoured language which opponents say could be used to whittle away human rights and stifle criticism. It forbids blasphemy and "insults to any person", does not explicitly uphold women's rights and demands respect for "religion, traditions and family values".

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said it protected some rights while undermining others.

The text limits presidents to two four-year terms, requires parliamentary approval for their choice of prime minister, and introduces some civilian oversight of the military - although not enough for critics. Mubarak ruled for three decades.

Mursi described it as a constitution that fulfilled the goals of the Jan. 25, 2011 revolution that ended Mubarak's rule. "Let everyone - those who agree and those who disagree - go to the referendum to have their say," he said.

The Islamists are gambling that they will be able to secure a "yes" vote by mobilising their core support base and many other Egyptians keen for an end to two years of turmoil that has taken a heavy toll on the economy.

Nafaa of Cairo University said the constitution would likely be approved by a slim majority. "But in this case, how can you run a country with a disputed constitution - a constitution not adopted by consensus?" he asked.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/02/egypt-supreme-constitutional-court-suspension_n_2226942.html

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Saturday, December 1, 2012

Fix Tablet Issues with Computer Repair Services in Houston TX ...

Fix Tablet Issues with Computer Repair Services in Houston TX

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SmackDown Five-Point Preview: Nov. 30, 2012

Tonight, John Cena follows up last week?s rare Friday night appearance with his second SmackDown in as many weeks ??starting things off at the top of the show. But what prompts the Cenation leader to revisit the blue brand? In this case, it may just be all about the ?Money.?

After the 10-time WWE Champion defeated adversary Dolph Ziggler in an epic one-on-one battle Monday on Raw, he was left limping as he tweaked his previously injured knee. But maybe that wasn?t the only lingering effect of their battle.

Throughout the ?AJ scandal,? Ziggler has clearly been obsessed with Cena, but has Cena begun to zero in on Ziggler as well? Further to the point, has Cena come to Friday night specifically seeking The Showoff? And if so, what does he have in mind for his mouthy foe?

View Comments

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-11-30/smackdown-five-point-preview-nov-30-2012

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Pakistan agrees to free more Taliban prisoners

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan agreed on Friday to free more Taliban prisoners in the future, a move considered a key step to coaxing the militant group into peace negotiations to end the 11-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The decision was announced in a statement by the foreign ministry in Islamabad after a one-day visit by Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasoul, who held talks with his Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar.

The statement gave no details on when the prisoners would be released, how many would go free or whether the militant group's former deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, would be among them.

Earlier this month, Pakistan decided to release nine Taliban prisoners in a move that Kabul welcomed as a positive first step and an indication that Islamabad supports the stalled Afghan peace process.

The cooperation of Pakistan, which has longstanding ties to the Taliban, is seen as key to jumpstarting an Afghan peace process that has made little headway since it began several years ago, hobbled by distrust among the major players, including the United States. The Afghan and U.S. governments accuse Islamabad of backing insurgents ? an allegation Pakistan denies ? and say many militant leaders are hiding in the country.

With Afghan presidential elections and the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops looming in 2014, Afghanistan and its international allies are trying to push a peace process with the Taliban to bring an end to the conflict.

The foreign ministry statement after Rasoul's meeting with Khar said both sides agreed to the "release of more prisoners," but gave no further details.

Rasoul was expected to press Pakistan to free more Taliban prisoners, including Baradar, whom Afghanistan considers to be key to the reconciliation process, said an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the talks.

Baradar was captured in Pakistan in 2010 because he reportedly was having secret talks with the Afghans.

Khar, the Pakistani foreign minister, said during a joint news conference earlier Friday that the release of prisoners was "discussed thoroughly" and that the two countries had "operationalized" a joint commission to address the issue.

Pakistan also shared with Afghanistan a draft of a strategic partnership agreement the two countries hope to negotiate over the next year, Khar said. Afghanistan signed a similar agreement with Pakistan's archenemy India last year, causing consternation in Islamabad.

The Afghan foreign minister welcomed Pakistan's efforts.

"We want all Afghan Taliban to return to their country, join the constitutional political process there and play their part in furthering the construction and development of our nation," Rasoul said.

The Taliban prisoners released earlier by Pakistan, including some senior leaders, are believed to still be in the country, said the Afghan official who spoke ahead of Rasoul's visit.

While it's unclear whether the Taliban are interested in negotiating peace, the official maintained that there are indeed key Taliban figures who support a political process to end the violence, but that some of them are afraid to establish direct contact with the Afghan government because some of those who did in the past were killed or detained.

Afghanistan wants Pakistan to encourage Taliban leaders to join the Afghan-led peace process and allow Taliban negotiators to travel to third countries for talks without detaining them or putting pressure on their families, the official said.

Informal contacts have been established with Taliban officials in recent years, but so far no formal negotiations have begun.

Waheed Muzhda, a political analyst in Kabul and an expert on Taliban issues, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he met informally about two months ago in Qatar with several Taliban figures, including Tayyab Agha, a personal emissary of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a former deputy at two ministries during the Taliban regime.

Muzhda said the Taliban are interested in talks, but with the U.S. and not with the Afghan government. If any negotiations begin, they would be between the U.S. and the Taliban, he said.

"If there was a good result from that, then the Afghan government could be involved," Muzhda said.

___

Riechmann reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report from Kabul.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-agrees-free-more-taliban-prisoners-164704725.html

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics

Thursday, November 29, 2012

A completely new method of manufacturing the smallest structures in electronics could make their manufacture thousands of times quicker, allowing for cheaper semiconductors. The findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature.

Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.

Behind the discovery is Lars Samuelson, Professor of Semiconductor Physics at Lund University, Sweden, and head of the University's Nanometre Structure Consortium. He believes the technology will be ready for commercialisation in two to four years' time. A prototype for solar cells is expected to be completed in two years.

"When I first suggested the idea of getting rid of the substrate, people around me said 'you're out of your mind, Lars; that would never work'. When we tested the principle in one of our converted ovens at 400?C, the results were better than we could have dreamt of", he says.

"The basic idea was to let nanoparticles of gold serve as a substrate from which the semiconductors grow. This means that the accepted concepts really were turned upside down!"

Since then, the technology has been refined, patents have been obtained and further studies have been conducted. In the article in Nature, the researchers show how the growth can be controlled using temperature, time and the size of the gold nanoparticles.

Recently, they have also built a prototype machine with a specially built oven. Using a series of ovens, the researchers expect to be able to 'bake' the nanowires, as the structures are called, and thereby develop multiple variants, such as p-n diodes.

A further advantage of the technology is avoiding the cost of expensive semiconductor wafers.

"In addition, the process is not only extremely quick, it is also continuous. Traditional manufacture of substrates is batch-based and is therefore much more time-consuming", adds Lars Samuelson.

At the moment, the researchers are working to develop a good method to capture the nanowires and make them self-assemble in an ordered manner on a specific surface. This could be glass, steel or another material suited to the purpose.

The reason why no one has tested this method before, in the view of Professor Samuelson, is that today's method is so basic and obvious. Such things tend to be difficult to question.

However, the Lund researchers have a head start thanks to their parallel research based on an innovative method in the manufacture of nanowires on semiconductor wafers, known as epitaxy ? consequently, the researchers have chosen to call the new method aerotaxy. Instead of sculpting structures out of silicon or another semiconductor material, the structures are instead allowed to develop, atomic layer by atomic layer, through controlled self-organisation.

The structures are referred to as nanowires or nanorods. The breakthrough for these semiconductor structures came in 2002 and research on them is primarily carried out at Lund, Berkeley and Harvard universities. The Lund researchers specialise in developing the physical and electrical properties of the wires, which helps create better and more energy-saving solar cells, LEDs, batteries and other electrical equipment that is now an integrated part of our lives.

###

Lund University: http://www.lu.se

Thanks to Lund University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125582/Completely_new_method_of_manufacturing_the_smallest_structures_in_electronics

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Rangers keeping contact with Hamilton's agent

By STEPHEN HAWKINS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 6:49 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2012

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has maintained contact with Josh Hamilton's agent, and said Thursday that the slugger's free agency process has gone as expected so far.

"I think the interest has been consistent," Daniels said. "The process that we agreed to really back in the spring, when we tabled negotiations at that point, was that Josh was going to test the market and once he had a sense of that would circle with us, and I think he's still in that process."

Speaking on a conference call in advance of next week's winter meetings, Daniels said that it has worked out well for the Rangers since they are still sorting through some options. But along with that upcoming gathering in Nashville, there are more trades and free-agent signings being made around the league.

"The market's starting to move," Daniels said. "I would think things on both Josh's end as well as on our end, things we're looking at, I would expect things will start moving a little bit."

Hamilton is a free agent for the first time after hitting a career-high 43 home runs with 128 RBIs in 148 games this past season for Texas. The 2010 AL MVP has hit .304 with 161 homers in his six major league seasons, the last five with the Rangers.

In the meantime, catching and the bullpen are priority issues for the Rangers.

Mike Napoli, who has spent the past two seasons in Texas, is a free agent who has drawn interest from Boston, Seattle and possibly other teams. He met with the Rangers on Wednesday.

The Rangers also ended last season with catcher Geovany Soto. The deadline for teams to offer 2013 contracts is 11 p.m. CST Friday. If Texas can't reach agreement with him by then, the Rangers likely would fail to offer a contract and allow him to become a free agent rather than face the possibility of salary arbitration.

Soto made $4.3 million last season and hit .196 with five homers and 25 RBIs in 47 games for the Rangers after being acquired July 30 from the Chicago Cubs.

"There are just so few guys available that I'm not sure that we're going to have our long-term answer at catcher this offseason," Daniels said.

When asked if the Rangers needed to try to improve their rotation or were comfortable with what they have, Daniels said they are always open-minded to upgrading their starters.

"Do we have to? Not necessarily, but it's something we're looking at," Daniels said.

While the GM didn't offer any specific names from outside his organization, the Rangers are expected to have interest in free agent right-hander Zack Greinke.

Texas already has All-Stars Yu Darvish, their primary addition last offseason, and Matt Harrison in their rotation, along with Derek Holland and Alexi Ogando. Ogando was a 13-game winner and All-Star as a starter in 2011 before moving back to the bullpen last season. As of now, the fifth starter would be determined by "competition of guys in house," Daniels said.

Two other starters, Colby Lewis and Neftali Feliz, will still be recovering from right elbow surgery when the 2013 season begins. Lewis had surgery July 27 to repair a torn flexor tendon, and Feliz had ligament transplant surgery Aug. 1.

If Hamilton signs with another team, Daniels said that wouldn't necessarily make outfield a bigger priority the rest of the offseason. He said they could add another outfielder, but "that wouldn't necessarily be our first priority."

Daniels reiterated comments he made earlier this offseason that the Rangers aren't being held up from making other deals because of the uncertainty surrounding Hamilton while the slugger and agent Mike Moye work through free agency.

"If we're in a spot where we've got another decision that's more timely that we've got to make, we'll make that call," Daniels said. "And if we need to push up our side of the timetable with Josh, we can do it at that point. But we're not in that spot yet."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45893107/ns/sports-baseball/

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Money Saving Tips: 5 Simple Tips On How Not To Pay Too Much Tax

Keep your money save and away from tax man

It?s natural that we are all looking for ways to keep our money out of the taxman?s reach. I am yet to see people that willingly likes to pay the taxman more than their fair share of tax, even though millions of people are indirectly paying more than expected.

If you think you?re paying too much tax, the best thing to do is to find out how some of the money you are paying as tax could be legally kept away from the taxman in order to ease your tax burden.

Meanwhile, don?t ever think you can ease your tax burden by hiding, evading or dodging tax is hiding from HMRC behind your sofa, chances are you will be caught and probably end up jail. But, luckily, there are easier, morally acceptable options that could save you money and spare you jail.

5 Simple Tips On How Not To Pay Too Much Tax

1. Check On Your Tax Relief Entitlement

First and foremost, it?s very important to check if you are entitled to any tax relief. Around a quarter of a million taxpayers are missing out on the extra 20 per cent tax relief they are due. You can get this by simply writing to your local tax office.

2. Check On Tax Claim Or Tax Refund

Tax refund will enable you to reclaim tax if you?ve overpaid through your job. Some people are paying too much tax because they didn?t know, and when they eventually discovered it, many don?t bother to claim their money back from HMRC. This is sometimes called accidental overpayments and perhaps, it is the easiest way to enrich the HMRC if left unclaimed. By doing this, you stand a better chance to claim back what?s yours.

3. Check On Whether You?re Not Overpaying

It is possible that you are currently overpaying the HMRC as a result of system errors. In 2011, a system error at the HMRC caused hundreds of thousands of taxpayers to be sent incorrect codes, which means that they were left paying the wrong amount. Make sure you check you?re on the right code as soon as possible, so you can claim back any overpayments.

Pension Saving

Pensions are also a way of making the taxman pay you. For instance, if yo pay ?800 into your pension, the taxman has to add ?200. At retirement, yo can take 25 per cent of your fund as a tax-free lump sum.

Interest Management

Managing the interest on your savings will also reduce the amount you pay as tax. Millions of non-taxpayers have income tax reduced from the interest paid on their savings. Ask your bank or building society to pay interest without deducting tax in future.

Source: http://www.adeyemiadisa.com/featured/money-saving-tips-how-not-to-pay-too-much-tax/

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Negotiations to bring Double-A baseball team to Ottawa drag on

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The window to bring Double-A baseball to Ottawa has been extended into early 2013, Mayor Jim Watson said in a memo to city council Wednesday.

According to Watson, Beacon Sports Capital Partners, the group negotiating the purchase, asked for the extension ?given the complexity of the commercially confidential discussions still under way with a number of parties.?

Watson said he ?remain(s) optimistic? that a deal can be reached within the first quarter of the new year, in time to bring professional baseball back to the vacant Ottawa Stadium for the 2014 season.

Negotiations have been ongoing between the city, the Beacon group and the Eastern League, where it has long been rumoured the floundering Binghamton Mets, Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets, will be sold.

On Tuesday, Beacon COO Richard Billings shot down an ESPN report that suggested the sale of the Binghamton franchise to Ottawa had ?fallen through,? saying the report was ?inaccurate? and that negotiations are indeed continuing.

Binghamton Mets president Michael Urda has denied his team is on the move.

Eastern League president Joe McEacharn did not return requests for comment.

David Gourlay, founder of the Champions for Ottawa Baseball group building community support for the team, said the search for local ownership partners remains a key sticking point in negotiations, and could be a ?deal-breaker.?

The baseball winter meetings, starting Monday in Nashville, were thought to be a crucial point in the timeline to finalize a deal. However, Billings said the meetings are not a ?hard? deadline.

?When there is a final agreement with Beacon Sports Capital Partners and the Eastern League, I will update members of council at the earliest opportunity,? said Watson.

aedan.helmer@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @OttSunHelmer

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Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/11/28/negotiations-to-bring-double-a-baseball-team-to-ottawa-drag-on

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Gleek

So I know there are probably already glee rps out there but I havent found one that is active or one id like. So with that said Im contemplating on starting Glee roleplay. I am thinking that it will be about twenty years from the time the new directions won nationals. Some of the teachers will be canon characters and some of the teens will be children of the canons. I would like to see who would be interested in this... I really want to focus it on the glee club and how they go through the obstacles of the club. There will be drama, romance...but i dont want to focus on that.

I have a bit of a plot going through my head but I want to see who would be interested in it because we need at least twelve characters and i dont mind people doubling up. Ill probably do faceclaims but they would be negotiable. aif anyone would like to help me with this as a co-gm that would be a lot of help.

Well let me know thrugh thw thread oe pm if your interested.
~Echo

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/-tJZoIzrNzg/viewtopic.php

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression Odds are someone is searching the web for you right now, or at least has looked you up fairly recently. Do you know what they learned? Better yet, do you control the pages and profiles they visited? If not, it's time to take your online reputation into your own hands instead of leaving it to Google. Here's how.


Why First Impressions Matter on the Internet

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression It's no secret that friends, nosy family members, and potential employers will all take to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to look for more information about you when they want it. In the case of family and friends, they already know you. When it comes to potential employers or people interested in working with you, it's important to make sure that the things they find about you are representative of who you are (or who you want them to think you are.) Photo by Quinn Dombrowski.

You don't have to be a job-seeker to understand the importance of your online reputation, though. You can be a freelancer or entrepreneur who wants to control their image, or just someone who doesn't your name dragged through the mud. It may seem like the wall of Google search results when you search your name is impossible to control, but there are some clever things you can do. In this post, we'll tackle some of them, and by the end you'll have a better picture of what people find when they search for you. With work, you'll even have better control over what they find.

Step One: Find Out Where You Stand (and Erase Embarrassments)

Before we get started, it's a good idea to see what others see when they search for you. Then we can tweak what we find so it's representative of the "you" that you want the public to see, not just what Google collects.

Search For Yourself on Google and Facebook

We'll start with Google. You've probably done a vanity Google search before, but if not, now's the time. Just log out of your Google accounts or use a browser where you're not logged in (Google personalizes results based on your account activity) and search for your name. Don't bother going more than a few pages deep, and make note of what you see. Remember, making a good first impression requires actually making an impression. While turning up nothing means no one will find anything bad, it also means they won't learn anything good about you, and that can be pretty bad too.

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression Next, let's check Facebook. You can view your public self on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+:

  1. Log out (or use a browser that's logged out) and search for yourself by name. Even if you don't use your name as your account ID, it may be easy to find yourself with a quick name search. See if that's the case, and see what's visible.
  2. Log back in and view your profile "as public." Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ all make it easy to do this from your profile page. This way you can see what your profile looks like to someone who stumbles on you, even if you're not easily found.
  3. Optional: Go deeper.We've covered how to do an even deeper dive on someone before. Most people won't go to such lengths, but if you're curious, give it a try.

Clean Up Any Results You Don't Like

Now that you've seen what others see, it's time to get rid of anything you don't like. You can't trust you'll have the opportunity to explain the bad stuff away in a phone or in-person interview. We've discussed how to fix internet embarrassments before. Whether the behavior is your own, someone trolled you and set up fake profiles to defame you, or someone's been impersonating you online, here's how to handle it for each service:

  • How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First ImpressionGoogle and Other Search Engines: If you found the offending results at Google or another search engine, ask them to remove the pages from their results. Google has a process for this, and another for Google Images, but they only apply to pages that have been taken down, or old, cached versions of pages that are still up-it's not for pulling down any old page. DuckDuckGo has a feedback form, as does Bing, where you can submit takedown requests for non-legal reasons.
  • Facebook: Deleting is your best option (so no one takes screenshots or makes your private posts public without you knowing.) Alternatively, change post visibility individually, or can go go to Privacy Settings > Limit Past Post Visibility to hide everything at once. Get familiar with Facebook's privacy options, and if the content is on Facebook but not under your control, we have some tips to help. Don't get caught making the same mistake Lindsey Stone did. Make sure private posts are truly private, the only things public are the ones that showcase your public persona, and you think before you post.
  • How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First ImpressionTwitter: Twitter is easy, just look at your profile by name. If your profile is public, everyone can see it, and if you use your real name as your handle, it's easy to find. You can take your account private, but that won't stop public users from quoting you (although it does stop retweets) or responding to you publicly. Remember, Twitter is probably the most public of all networks. Think before you tweet.
  • Google+: Your posts at Google+ aren't as important as your Google profile. Hide anything you saw but wanted private when you viewed your profile earlier. Make useful details (a contact email address, links to your portfolio or personal web site, etc) are visible. Create topical circles for sharing and familiarize yourself with Google+'s privacy settings.
  • LinkedIn: If you post articles to LinkedIn, make sure they're professional in nature and relevant to the public persona you want to put forward. While you're there, go ahead and fill out your profile with additional details: odds are your profile may be incomplete, or the last time you updated it was the last time you changed jobs.

If all else fails, you can turn to services that promise to protect your online reputation. They're usually effective, but they all cost money. For example, previously mentioned BrandYourself and Reputation.com (formerly Reputation Defender) will all help streamline this process for you.

Step Two: Beef Up Your Online Presence with Better Profiles, a Nameplate Site, and More

Now that we've ditched the bad stuff, it's time to build up the good stuff. Potential employers, business contacts, and people you network with will look you up anyway, so why not make sure what they find is what you want them to know?

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First ImpressionSpruce Up Your Social Networks. Your social networks can be valuable tools if you use them. Update your LinkedIn profile with your interests and skills, not just your work history. Add some relevant interests to Facebook and leave them public. You may even want to like a few job or industry-related pages, or create a Facebook page specifically for your professional persona. Upload a good-looking profile photo to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google profiles, and consider filling out your photo gallery with flattering shots of you, your work, or even your projects and things you've worked on. Use every opportunity to showcase your skills, talents and interests, whether it's in the "Likes" section of your Facebook profile, or the photos in your Instagram account. There's nothing wrong with food photos at Instagram if you're a self-described foodie, for example.

Sign up for new services that best showcase your skills. For example, if you want your indie film to get attention or you want to expand the audience of your video podcast, consider signing up for Vimeo as well as YouTube. You get access to a whole new community, and much more exposure. Are you a writer? Consider nabbing a named Tumblr account, even if you already blog at Wordpress. If you're a photographer and want to build a portfolio, consider hosting your photos at Flickr, Smugmug, and Picasa to get the most exposure and make it easy for people to find you. At the very least, you can direct visitors to the service you regularly use.

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression Get a nameplate site (or several) that accurately reflects who you are. Choose the best nameplate site for the information you want to convey and sign up. For example, almost anyone can benefit from an About.me, Flavors.me, or Vizify account, but students may want to try Seelio because you can upload videos and projects that show off your skills even if you don't have a resume to speak of. Business owners with projects can use Sidengo because their template pages feature things like contact pages, maps, and document downloads for things like forms and menus. They're all free, and do a great job of linking visitors to networks you already use while conveying useful information.

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First ImpressionGet your own domain and use it as a portfolio and for email. Owning your own domain is extremely valuable and worth more than the money you'll pay to get it. Before you say "all the best domains are gone," keep in mind that even if you can't get yourname.com, you should be able to get a variation on it that's close enough. If you can't use your name, pick a domain you're comfortable using as your personal banner and use that instead. Once you're registered with a great registrar, choose a great hosting company and set up shop. If you're a writer, host your own blog, or publish selected clips of your writing from other blogs. Republish yourself if you wrote something amazing elsewhere. If you're a photographer or artist, use your domain as a portfolio to showcase your work. You can even just use it as an additional nameplate site. Behind the scenes, use your domain for email. It looks professional and every email you send is an invitation for the recipient to come and see your portfolio, full of links to the things you want them to see.

Make the most of those services. Make sure all of your profiles are filled out with as much useful information as possible. Don't just sign up and walk away. Upload a good photo of yourself to your social networks and nameplates?preferably a flattering one?so potential employers and new friends alike see you at your best. Use a consistent email address across all of those services so it's easy to get in touch with you, and cross-link them to one another frequently. This makes sure anyone who lands on one can easily get to everything else you do, and makes it easier for Google to index the real you.

Keep an eye on the results. For people who just want a good face and impression, you can stop here. For others who enjoy analyzing how people find them, most nameplate services offer analytics so you can see how people find you and where they click to leave. Add Google Analytics to your personal site and portfolio to see how well you're being recieved, and what people come to your site to see. This way you can keep an eye on who's looking for you and what their eyes are drawn to when they find you.

Step Three: Keep Your Best Foot Forward

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence and Make a Great First Impression By now, you've done your homework to find out what other people find when they look for you, cleaned up your profiles, and added content to the web that you control so people only see what you want them to learn about you. As you go forward with your shiny, professional online persona, make sure to keep it clean by following the fundamental rule of sharing on the internet: don't post it if you don't want it to be public. The internet is a big place with a long memory. Internet Shame Insurance can remind you if you're about to post something you might regret. Photo by Lukas Mathis.

Keep in mind that your ideal online first impression doesn't have to be a perfect, rosy picture of your personality, just a truthful one. We agree with XKCD on this point?if putting your best foot forward keeps you from being a jerk, then great, but don't let it stifle your brilliance or keep you from expressing your opinion and being true to your ideals. After all, those are the things we want people to learn about us when they go looking.

Title image made using Viorel Sima (Shutterstock).

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/UkhayCKr9mo/how-to-clean-up-your-online-presence-and-make-a-great-first-impression

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

This Is What Happens When a Lion Steals Your Camera

We all worry from time to time about having our tech stolen. But when Ed Hetherington travelled to Zimbabwe for a wildlife photography adventure, he probably didn't expect to have his camera snatched by a lion. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vGpcIYvsXqo/this-is-what-happens-when-a-lion-steals-your-camera

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Mathematics used to identify contamination in water distribution networks

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? None of us want to experience events like the Camelford water pollution incident in Cornwall, England, in the late eighties, or more recently, the Crestwood, Illinois, water contamination episode in 2009 where accidental pollution of drinking water led to heart-wrenching consequences to consumers, including brain damage, high cancer risk, and even death. In the case of such catastrophes, it is important to have a method to identify and curtail contaminations immediately to minimize impact on the public. A paper published earlier this month in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics considers the identification of contaminants in a water distribution network as an optimal control problem within a networked system.

"Water supply networks are an essential part of our infrastructure. Sometimes the water in such a network can be contaminated, often by human error, causing the use of polluted water for drinking water production. In the case of such a situation, it is important to have a method to identify the location of the pollution source," says the paper's author, Martin Gugat, explaining the significance of his work. The paper considers a water distribution network with a finite number of nodes where contamination can occur in the pipes.

"The contamination spreads dynamically through the network with time. So, in order to model the system, a model of the evolution in time is necessary," explains Gugat. "In our approach, we use a partial differential equation (PDE) to model how pollution spreads in the network."

By using a PDE model for transport of contaminants, the problem of identifying the source becomes an optimal control problem. The solution is calculated using equidistant time grids, which allows one to determine the values of contamination at all potential sources on the time grid. Available data on pollution and network flow is incorporated into the model.

Employing certain assumptions for travel times through the pipes, the author uses a least-squares method to solve the problem. The least squares method provides approximate solutions to optimization problems that are relatively e?cient to compute using the tools of numerical linear algebra.

This provides a fast method to identify possible contamination sources, explains Gugat. "For a really accurate model, however, a full system of three-dimensional PDEs is necessary. But with three-dimensional PDEs, simulation is only possible for small networks," he says. "This illustrates that to solve real life problems on real networks, there is a trade-off between the accuracy of the model and its utility."

While the method is tested numerically in the paper, additional work would involve testing the system with an existing water network to demonstrate its workability in practice.

Another future direction is toward elimination of the contaminant. "The second step after the identification of the contamination source is a strategy to flush the polluted water out of the network as fast as possible with acceptable operational cost. The development of an optimal strategy for such a rehabilitation of the water supply is an interesting question for future research," says Gugat.

"For a more detailed model of the process, more complex nonlinear PDEs could be used," he continues. "The cost of the numerical treatment of complex PDEs for large networks is prohibitive. Applied mathematics has to offer models that can be used according to the problem requirements to solve problems with network graphs of a realistic size."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Martin Gugat. Contamination Source Determination in Water Distribution Networks. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 2012; 72 (6): 1772 DOI: 10.1137/110859269

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/mnS79D1qmw4/121128143541.htm

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Create a Life Plan by Answering Three Questions

Create a Life Plan by Answering Three QuestionsA life plan is like a map that helps guide you towards a more meaningful life. Having one could save you from letting the days go by (as in that Talking Heads song) without purpose. Leadership speaker Michael Hyatt offers a number of resources for creating your personal life plan.

In his blog post/podcast, Hyatt outlines the three questions that a life plan should answer:

  1. How do you want to be remembered?especially by the key people and groups in your life?
  2. What matters most to you? Hyatt uses a metaphor of "life accounts" to list your priorities (e.g., spiritual, family, career).
  3. How can you get from here to where you want to be? Envision your future and compare it to your current reality, then create an action list to get you moving towards you goals.

We've mentioned Hyatt's example of a life plan before, but this blog post is a good, quick introduction to why you might want a written plan for your life and what the key elements are. He also offers a free 93-page e-book with templates if you sign up for his newsletter (which you can cancel at any time) and a free Life Plan Word document template (no signup required).

#032: How to Create a Life Plan | Michael Hyatt

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/MHBXyigZmnk/create-a-life-plan-by-answering-three-questions

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Obama to appeal to public on fiscal cliff

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about the Thanksgiving holiday in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. The White House said Tuesday, Nov. 27, that the president plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about the Thanksgiving holiday in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. The White House said Tuesday, Nov. 27, that the president plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less.

The White House said Tuesday that the president intends to hold a series of events aimed at building support for his approach to avoid across-the-board tax increases and steep spending cuts in defense and domestic programs. Obama will meet with small business owners at the White House on Tuesday and with middle-class families on Wednesday.

Obama's strategy is two-fold: Negotiate behind closed doors with Republicans while taking his agenda outside the Beltway only weeks after winning re-election. The president's visit to a small business in Hatfield, Pa., that makes parts for a construction toy company will cap a week of public outreach as the White House and congressional leaders seek a way to avoid the tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

Obama's tactics were quickly panned by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said Tuesday that "rather than sitting down with lawmakers of both parties and working out an agreement, he's back out on the campaign trail, presumably with the same old talking points we're all familiar with."

"If the president wants a solution to the challenges of the moment, the people he needs to be talking to are the members of his own party, so he can convince them of the need to act," McConnell, R-Ky., said.

Both sides warn the so-called fiscal cliff could harm the nation's economic recovery, but an agreement still appears far from assured. The White House and congressional Republicans have differed on whether to raise revenue through higher tax rates or by closing tax loopholes and deductions.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has pushed for raising additional revenue through the reducing of tax loopholes instead of raising tax rates on wealthy Americans and Republicans have said Democrats need to come up with cuts in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

The White House has countered that the president will not sign legislation that extends current tax rates for the top 2 percent of income earners, or those households with incomes over $250,000. White House officials have expressed a willingness to discuss changes to Medicare and Medicaid but oppose addressing Social Security as part of the fiscal cliff discussions.

Obama has signaled his intention to rally the public to pressure Congress to support his agenda, an approach that helped him win passage of a payroll tax cut extension and prevented interest rates on millions of federal student loans from doubling last summer.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to supporters after the election that the president's volunteer base was crucial to his re-election but said they had "more progress to make, and there's only one way to do it: together."

Following the election, Obama aides asked supporters to record YouTube videos discussing the need to have the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes. Some of the people who shared their stories on YouTube planned to join Obama at the White House on Wednesday.

The lame-duck session has created a new lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill, with business and labor groups vying for an advantage in debate over taxes and spending.

Business leaders have created a group called The Campaign to Fix the Debt, which has promoted a long-term plan to fix the nation's debt and deficits. Unions and liberal groups are trying to mobilize Obama's supporters through a website called theaction.org, which aims to end the Bush tax cuts "for the richest two percent." The website encourages supporters to use social media to promote Obama's agenda.

House Republicans planned to hold events in the coming weeks with small businesses in their districts to emphasize the effect that tax increases could have on small business and their employees.

On Friday, Obama will tour and deliver remarks at The Rodon Group manufacturing facility in Hatfield, Pa., offering the company up as an example of a business that depends on middle-class consumers during the holiday season. The company manufactures parts for K'NEX Brands, a construction toy company whose products include Tinkertoy, K'NEX Building Sets and Angry Birds Building Sets.

Congressional Republicans, led by Boehner, have expressed openness to discussing additional revenue but oppose any plan that raises tax rates on the wealthy. They argue that the higher rates would also hurt some small businesses and hinder economic growth.

Republicans have called for changes to the tax code to eliminate tax breaks and loopholes that primarily benefit the wealthy. Several key Republican lawmakers have also said they would not be bound by a no-tax-increase pledge that they have adhered to in the past.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-11-27-Obama-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-8555c13d017a4574b4cae67bd8c2237a

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Lines by Madonna and other celebs pop up in stores

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, fragrances from the Kim Kardashian collection are displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York. Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, fragrances from the Kim Kardashian collection are displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York. Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, Someday fragrance from the Justin Bieber collection is displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York. Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, Fame perfume from the Lady Gaga collection is displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York. Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, Wonderstruck body lotion from the Taylor Swift collection is displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York. Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Aug. 23, 2012, photo, Nicole fragrance by Nicole Richie is displayed at a Lord & Taylor department store in New York Celebrities have long dabbled in design, but with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to an historic peak of $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade. That?s on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

This holiday season you're likely to spot singer Jennifer Lopez in Kohl's. You could get a peek at pop music icon Madonna in Macy's. You might even catch a glimpse of reality TV star Kim Kardashian in Sears.

Well, not literally.

These celebrities likely won't be making guest appearances in the aisles of your favorite department stores. But clothes, shoes and even ties that bear their names will.

It's part of a big push by stores to cash in on celebrities' money-making names. The move can be savvy. After all, who wouldn't want to don the stylish duds of a superstar? It can also be risky. The stars, figuratively, have to be aligned for celebrity lines to become a hit with shoppers. That can mean having the right celebrity pair up with the right store at the right time with the right amount of involvement in the design of the line.

"If it's simply to monetize your moment in the sun, it is not going to work in the long term," says Ivanka Trump, the daughter of real estate mogul Donald Trump who is an executive vice president for his Trump Organization and appeared on his "Apprentice" reality TV show.

Trump, 31, has a line of $150 handbags and $125 pumps at Lord & Taylor and other department stores. "You have to be involved in every aspect of the product line," she says.

Celebs have long dabbled in design. But with the growth of TV shows and websites that follow everything celebrities say, wear and do, interest in their clothing lines has risen in recent years. Indeed, North America revenue from celebrity clothing lines, excluding merchandise linked to athletes, rose 6 percent last year to $7.58 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures available by The Licensing Letter, an industry trade publication. That's on top of a nearly 5 percent increase in 2010.

Major department stores, facing growing competition from trendy fashion chains such as H&M, Mango and Zara, have jumped on the trend. They're hoping to reap benefits from the lines during the holiday shopping season in November through December, a time when stores can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue. Big stores now get as much as a quarter of their sales from celebrity brands, up from under 10 percent five years ago, according to market research firm NPD Group.

As interest from stores and shoppers grows, so does the list of celebs with their own lines. Rocker Bon Jovi, 50, just inked a fragrance deal with Avon Inc. Madonna, 54, has a new Truth or Dare line of perfume, over-the-knee lace-up boots and other shoes at several department stores. Nicole Richie, 31, former reality TV star and daughter of singer and songwriter Lionel Richie, earlier this year rolled out an eponymous clothing line of $86.50 floral maxi skirts and $49.50 lace tops on QVC home shopping network.

And singer Jennifer Hudson's new fashion collection was launched on QVC this fall. Her line includes $96.50 hooded jackets, $53 blouses and one of her favorite wardrobe staples ?$50 leggings. Hudson, a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers weight-loss program, says her goal is to appeal to women of all sizes.

"Every piece is a part of me," says Hudson, 31, who recently slimmed down from a size 16 to a 6. "And it came from something that I have worn or would wear."

THE PIONEERS

Jaclyn Smith, who starred in the popular 1970s series "Charlie's Angels," pioneered the celebrity brand business in 1985 with a line of clothing and accessories at Kmart.

For more than a quarter of a century, the line that carries everything from $79 striped trench coats and $49 faux fur trimmed vests to $299.99 artificial Christmas trees and $179 dining sets, have become staples at the discounter. In fact, the products' success has risen even though Smith, 67, has long been out of the spotlight. Kmart officials declined to give sales figures, but retail consultant Burt Flickinger estimates the line rings about a $250 million in annual revenue, which is considered healthy.

"She's a beloved American icon," says Flickinger, adding that the line has remained popular because it's "timeless, in good taste and have quality."

Kathy Ireland, 49, a former Sportswear Illustrated swimsuit model, also turned her celebrity brand into a moneymaker. Since 1993, she has built a $2 billion global retail business, according to fashion trade publication Women's Wear Daily. Her line includes more than 15,000 items from curtains to wedding dresses that are sold in more than 50,000 small chains.

Ireland attributes her success to her methodical approach to expansion. In fact, her first foray into the business was socks. She wanted to see how something simple would sell before she rolled out swimwear, active wear and other items a year later in 1994.

"If women would embrace something as basics as a pair of socks, that would tell us we were on to something," says Ireland, who sketches looks for her line for a design team to refine.

More recently, singer Jessica Simpson, 32, has built her brand into a billion-dollar brand in the past seven years. She now sells more than 29 products from shoes, clothes and perfume to purses and luggage in department stores such as Macy's. For the winter holidays, items include $89 platform bright blue platform pumps and $128 strapless belted lace dresses.

Her formula for success has been having a relatable personality: Even as her singing career has wavered, branding experts say Simpson has been able to connect with her young fans because she's vocal about everyday issues like her struggles with weight gain.

Peggy Merck, the publicist for the brand, also says she's very involved in designs for the line, which reflect her casual but sexy style. Her collection, which ranges from size 2 to 16, features lots of cowboy boots, vintage jeans and wedge shoes. Simpson is "hands on," Merck says.

Simpson's business savvy has inspired other celebs. "I admire Jessica Simpson a lot because she has branded her line to become a huge success," wrote "Jersey Shore" reality TV show star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi in an email to The Associated Press.

Polizzi last year started selling perfume and nail polish, among other items at HSN home shopping network and to beauty chain Perfumania. This fall, she expanded her collection to include jewelry. She also plans to add headphones and accessories next year.

"I bring in my ideas on what type of bottle shape I'd like, to different designs of animal print or clothing designs to my favorite smells from soaps, lotions (and) hair sprays," Polizzi wrote.

BEYOND THE NAME

But attaching a star's name to a tee shirt or earrings does not guarantee success. Generally, how well a line does will vary greatly, depending on the star's popularity and involvement in the design, the quality of the merchandise and marketing of the brand.

There are all sorts of ways the merchandise deals work. But in many scenarios, the idea of starting a collection comes from the celebrity, who shops the concept around to manufacturers and stores. How the deals are structured varies widely.

The lines can be a gamble for stores. For one, their success often is closely tied to one person whose popularity can fade quickly among finicky fans. And while shoppers may grab celebrity brands when the lines debut, they may not return if they don't like what they see after that.

"The celebrity name draws the fan base to the product but at the end of the day, the product has to stand on itself," says Michael Stone, president of The Beanstalk Group, a global brand licensing agency. "It has to be well priced and well designed."

Indeed, industry experts say for every celebrity brand that is a hit, five others flop. Anyone remember hip hop star and actor L.L. Cool J's casual clothing line with Sears? It lasted less than a year after its launch in 2008. One reason was that the collection of hooded sweatshirts and jeans failed to catch the eyes of Americans at a time when the country was in a deep recession.

It's also key that the clothes reflect the personality of the celebrity because many consumers will want to emulate their style. For example, Lopez, 43, shuttered her Sweetface clothing collection in 2009, six years after launching it at several department stores, in part because shoppers didn't believe that the line matched her glam style. The collection, which included sweat pants instead of the fitted dresses Lopez is known for sporting, were seen as too casual.

But Lopez learned from that line. Last year, she launched an exclusive collection for Kohl's, which offers $99.99 platform wedge boots and $60 animal print faux-wrap dresses under her name. The collection is faring well, according to Kohl's, although the chain declined to give sales figures.

"Every look in this collection ... is something that people know I would wear," reads a statement by Lopez on Kohl's website.

It's also important that a celebrity doesn't say or do things that could reflect poorly on a store's image. Earlier this month, an angry customer started an online campaign calling for Macy's to dump Donald Trump's line of $65 power ties and $65 dress shirts after the billionaire verbally attacked President Barack Obama on social media after he won re-election.

Angelo Carusone, 30, who has collected nearly 673,000 signatures on petition website signon.org. Carusone, once a loyal Macy's shopper, says he won't shop there again until the retailer severs ties with Trump. "Macy's is building a brand on Trump's consequence-free bullying," he says.

But Macy's has stood by the billionaire, and the uproar has since died down. "Macy's marketing and merchandise offerings are not representative of any political position," says Jim Sluzewski, a spokesman for the chain.

Odd pairings can also be a concern. Indeed, Sears, a struggling retailer that is best known for selling appliances, raised eyebrows when it announced that it would carry clothes under the "Kardashian" name. The collection, which was launched last year, is named after "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" realty TV stars Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian.

The fashions embrace the individual looks of the sisters ? Kim's glamorous style, Kourtney's Bohemian chic look and Khloe's rocker influence. There are $99 leopard print maxi dresses, $24 snakeskin print earrings and $40 metallic striped tops.

When thinking about Sears as a possible partner, Khloe says she at first thought of the retailer as a place just to buy "washers and dryers." But then, she says she and her sisters realized that Sears would enable them to achieve their goal of selling affordable clothes nationwide.

"We felt it was a good fit," she says. "It's like if you date a few people and then you want to marry that person."

Ron Boire, Sears' merchandising chief, declined to give sales figures, but says the line is doing well and gives the chain's clothing department a "younger, more progressive feel."

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of the collection, the Kardashian sisters showed up at a Sears store in the Bronx borough of New York City on a recent Friday. More than 2,000 shrieking teens and young women came to get a glimpse of them.

Among them was Jenessa Cavallo, 23, a legal assistant. Until the Kardashian line was launched, she had never shopped at Sears. Now, she says that she keeps going back, spending more than $500 on Kardashian designs, including a faux fox fur coat, leather jacket and nail polish.

"I feel like I'm Kim," Cavallo says.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-11-27-Celebrities%20In%20Stores/id-c26de015b888462fbc90a432f1c581c5

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