Sunday, September 30, 2012

Pop-Up Golf Practice Net

Published Sunday, September 30, 2012 By Raluca. Under?General????

The Rukk Net is simple and FAST to set up and take down, generous in size, durable, light-weight, versatile, and most of all- affordable It pops-up instantly to let you practice multiple sports anywhere. Use one practice net for golf, baseball, softball, lacrosse, soccer and football. Use it indoors or outside, in backyards, basements, garages, on patios, at practice fields, or league games. The Rukk Net is made from high quality Nylon netting and a durable spring steel frame. Very light and portable at 14 lbs. Folds flat into a 32? diameter zippered carrying case. Multiple attachments make this the most versatile practice sports net ever!!!

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Source: http://www.7gadgets.com/2012/09/30/pop-up-golf-practice-net-2/61702

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Adoption & Foster Care: My Personal Experiences: In It For The Money

Most of the stories in the media about foster care seem to take the most horrendous cases into account, portraying foster children as extremely disturbed or dangerous delinquents and painting foster parents in an equally unflattering light.?

One such unflattering assumption about foster parents which makes me laugh is that ?Foster parents just take in kids for the money.?? Clearly, anybody who believes this has never done foster care.??

Michael and Sarah Gerstenzang were an upper middle class couple who were living in New York City with two young children when they took their first foster placement because, among other reasons they wanted to ?give back to society and help a child.?? Michael was an attorney and as a social worker Sarah always had an interest in child welfare.? When reflecting on her personal experiences, Sarah shared her feelings about the low reimbursement rate foster parents receive:

[My husband ] ?and I were asked numerous times by our friends and acquaintances if we thought that many foster parents were ?doing it for the money.?? (I think middle class people sleep better when we assume that adults are being paid to care for children whom we as a society are responsible for.)? We would first explain that there wasn?t much money in foster care for foster parents, to which some people replied, ?Yeah, but if they take in like ten kids??? And then we would patiently explain that taking in ten kids wasn?t permitted.? But for argument?s sake, if one could take in ten kids, economize, and have a little left over, would it be worth it to have to live with ten kids??

Thank goodness for reforms which limit the number of children in a foster home and thoroughly screen families before giving them a license to make sure they?re fostering for the right reasons.? In our state, one of the requirements for fostering is that the family must be financially independent enough that they don?t have to rely on foster care as a source of income (as verified by income tax returns and paycheck stubs) which hopefully helps to weed out the people who are just doing it for the money versus those who are truly interested in making a difference in the life of a child.

Realistically, it?s not accurate to say that you get PAID for doing foster care- you get reimbursed with a stipend because children not only require much of your time and attention, but cost money to raise.? I love what continued to explain about stipends, drawing on her background of studying social policy as a graduate student:

??The practice of reimbursing foster parents for some of the costs of caring for a child dates back more than one hundred years.? Stipends were initially paid to discourage families from putting children to work to earn their keep.? They were intentionally set at levels slightly lower than the cost of covering the child?s expenses.? The basic argument for the low level of reimbursement applies today:? Foster parents have to want to foster for humanitarian reasons, not for profit. So the people who make the most significant difference in quality of life for the foster children, the foster parents, are the only ones not getting paid; who does get paid are lawyers, judges, social workers, and administrators.? Because they are not employees, foster parents also forgo health insurance and Social Security benefits.? Since the foster system depends on career foster parents and children benefit from their experience, it is a shame that the system doesn?t support and encourage these parents.? And if children can?t be cared for in foster homes (due to either a lack of homes or the child?s difficult behavior) the next step for them is often a group home, which can cost two hundred dollars per day or more, depending on the level of care.?

On a related note, because of a legislative audit last year, my state?s Division of Child and Family Services is shifting its focus on how to spend funds for children in foster care, including less reliance on group homes as well as investing more money on in?home services in an attempt to reduce the number (and cost) of children being placed in out-of-home placements. A newspaper article explaining the changes the recent audit prompted stated, ?While in-home placement provides better outcomes for children, it is unsafe for some children to remain in their own homes.??

Hence the need for foster families!? Herein lies the problem, which the article continues to state:

?The low basic financial reimbursement rate may discourage some people from the 24-hour, seven days a week commitment that foster care requires, national advocates say.?

Props to Utah DCFS Director Brent Platt who was quoted in the article as saying "The reality is, people don?t do it for money.? These are people who want to help children, to give back to their communities."

Source: http://mamamem.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-it-for-money.html

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National Coffee Day | Demystifying Coffee Jargon | Make It At Home ...

EOC OriginalCoffee language can be so confusing. When my daughter sends me to the drive thru to pick up her favorite beverage I am always overwhelmed with the verbiage? it can confuse you and almost make you cry! Vocabulary lessons in school didn?t include words like macchiato, latte, or frappe?so most of us are at a disadvantage when attempting to order a coffee treat just because we don?t know what all those terms mean.

In honor of National Coffee Day on September 29th, Eight O?Clock Coffee, America?s Original Gourmet Coffee, is demystifying coffee jargon?and explaining how to make a great-tasting specialty coffee drink at home, no fancy machines needed. Behold, your guide to creating a caf? coffee experience right in your own kitchen, courtesy of Eight O?Clock Coffee!

latteLatte- Traditionally, this is made using espresso and foamed milk. The milk to coffee ratio is 3:1.
Make It At Home! Use a strong coffee, like Eight O?Clock Coffee?s Dark Italian Roast, and brew regularly. Pour some milk into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisk milk as it heats to make it frothy. Pour some of the coffee into a mug, add some hot liquid milk and spoon the foamed milk on top.

Caf? Mocha- This is simply a latte with some type of chocolate flavor added in.
Make It At Home! Prepare using the latte instructions. Before adding the coffee and milk, pour 2/3 cup of hot chocolate mix into the bottom of the mug, add coffee and milk and stir until the mix has dissolved.

Caf? au Lait- Similar to a latte, but usually uses strong brewed coffee instead of espresso and has a 1:1 ratio of coffee to milk.
Make It At Home! Brew Eight O?Clock Coffee?s Dark Italian Roast, steam the milk and add equal parts milk (add this first) and coffee to your mug.

CappuccinoCappuccino- Usually made with equal parts espresso, steamed milk and frothed milk.
Make It At Home! Follow the same instructions as the latte, but pour equal parts coffee and steamed milk into the mug and top with frothed milk. It?s great with cinnamon or chocolate sprinkled on.

Macchiato- A traditional macchiato is a shot of espresso with a bit of milk foam. We usually think of the caramel macchiato, which is very popular at coffee shops in the US.
Make It At Home! Make a tasty caramel macchiato using Eight O?Clock Coffee Dark Italian Roast. Heat milk in a saucepan and whisk until frothy, add a few pumps of vanilla syrup to your cup of coffee, top with milk froth and drizzle with caramel syrup.

frappeFrappe- A frappe is a cold blended coffee drink with chilled coffee, sugar, milk or cream and ice blended together.
Make It At Home! All you need is 6-8 ounces of cold coffee (we like Eight O?Clock Coffee Original Blend), 2 Tbsp milk, 3/4 cup crushed or cubed ice and sugar to taste. Combine ingredients in a blender. You can also add 2 Tbsp of your favorite syrup?caramel, chocolate, vanilla?some people even add ice cream to make it thicker. The possibilities are endless, so get creative!

Pumpkin Coffee- Virtually every coffee shop has some kind of limited-time-only pumpkin coffee, a delicious fall flavor.
Make It At Home! Brew your own pumpkin coffee this fall or any other time of year you feel a craving coming on. Use 2 tsp of pumpkin spice for every 3 Tbsp of Eight O?Clock Coffee Original Blend. Combine the pumpkin spice with the coffee grounds and brew. Sweeten to your desire.

EspressoEspresso- A concentrated coffee brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans.
Make It At Home!? Espresso machines are typically very expensive, but you can come close to the real deal with your regular coffee pot. Choose a dark roast, like Eight O?Clock Coffee?s Dark Italian Roast, and grind the beans as finely as possible. Double the coffee filter, and pack down the coffee grounds into the filter (use 1 tbsp for every 1/4 cup of espresso). It?s a great option that replicates the strong, bold flavor espresso and cappuccino aficionados love.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission?s 16 CFR, Part 255: ?Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.? The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own. Your experience with the product may differ from mine. The sponsor is responsible for prize fulfillment and will be shipping the winner(s) their prize(s). For more information read my disclosure policy.

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Source: http://www.ourkidsmom.com/2012/09/national-coffee-day-demystifying-coffee-jargon-make-it-at-home-ideas/

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Libya attack: GOP goes after the White House, especially Susan Rice

Questions about how the Obama administration has handled the attack in Libya that killed the US ambassador on Sept. 11 have taken a harder political edge. Some Republicans say UN Ambassador Susan Rice should resign over faulty reporting of the attack.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / September 29, 2012

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice speaks with an aide during a meeting of the Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York Wednesday. Some Republicans are calling for her resignation over the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

John Minchillo/AP

Enlarge

As the presidential debates and the election approach, questions about how the Obama administration has handled the attack in Libya that killed the US ambassador on Sept. 11 have taken a harder political edge.

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says it?s a scandal worse than Watergate ? that the American people ?have flat-out been lied too,? as he put it on Fox News Friday.

Eric Fehrenstrom, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney?s campaign (also speaking on Fox News), says, ?President Obama needs?to be held accountable for his?administration's attempts to?mislead the American people?about what happened in?Benghazi.?

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, has called for the resignation of United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice.

Blasphemy riots: 6 examples around the world

The broader theme here (and in many other partisan and conservative blog comments) is that President Obama wasn?t just unaware of the threat in Libya and its violent outcome, but that he and his administration were purposely untruthful about what happened.

The headline on Karl Rove?s column in the Wall Street Journal this week was ?Obama's Biggest Opponent Is the Truth.?

?Every day, it seems, he attempts to disqualify his opponent through deliberate and undeniable falsehoods,? Mr. Rove wrote. ?This is only one side of a two-sided coin. The president can't tell the truth about his own record either.?

In predicting what he?ll be dealing with in his upcoming debates with Obama, Mr. Romney himself told ?Good Morning America? earlier this month, "I think he's going to say a lot of things that aren't accurate."

The essence of the charge about Libya by Republicans is that the administration purposely tried to downplay the incident by asserting that the attack was spontaneous, prompted by riots tied to the anti-Islam YouTube video that set off protests in Egypt, Libya, and many other Muslim countries across North Africa and the Middle East.

In the days following the attack, Ambassador Rice (and others in the administration) left the impression that the attackers took advantage of the riot to quickly gather weapons and target the relatively defenseless consulate.

Only later did administration officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, acknowledge that ?terrorists? ? some with possible ties (or at least supported by) Al Qaeda ? likely were involved.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/KS_gvbi7ArA/Libya-attack-GOP-goes-after-the-White-House-especially-Susan-Rice

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Source: http://www.u4u.cz/node/3027

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Upstairs and Downstairs

Watched both seasons of Downton Abbey and Upstairs and Downstairs, both have fantastic stories for both those above and those below, and just wondering if there's anyone out there who'll fancy a roleplay like that at all? Ideas for storyline and such are welcome. At the moment, I'm just looking for general interest before working furthur on it as to what to put in it, though one thing I will suggest is more than one House maybe?

Let me know if interested :D

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/UiC7lyQ44EU/viewtopic.php

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Pacific Northwest in Time-Lapse - Carry On | Travel + Leisure

09.27.12

I?m a sucker for time-lapse photography. I?m also a sucker for the Pacific Northwest. Combine the two and you have this mesmerizing work?some 260,000 stitched-together pics?from Portland-based photographer John Eklund, who was kind enough to let us share it.

Rich Beattie is the executive digital editor at Travel + Leisure.

Source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-blog/carry-on/2012/9/27/pacific-northwest-in-time-lapse

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US aims to rally Syrian opposition with new aid

In this image taken from video obtained from Shaam News Network (SNN), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a young child is rescued from the rubble of a building destroyed by government airstrike in Azaz, Syria, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. A Syrian activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said a Syrian warplane bombed the northern town of Azaz near the Turkish border, killing several people. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network SNN via AP video)

In this image taken from video obtained from Shaam News Network (SNN), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a young child is rescued from the rubble of a building destroyed by government airstrike in Azaz, Syria, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. A Syrian activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said a Syrian warplane bombed the northern town of Azaz near the Turkish border, killing several people. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network SNN via AP video)

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

In this image taken from video obtained from Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebels are seen during an operation in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. Fighting over Syria's largest city intensified Friday, with the most widespread battles reported there in two months as rebel forces launched a new offensive to rout President Bashar Assad's forces from Aleppo, activists said.(AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)

(AP) ? The Obama administration moved Friday to rally Syria's opposition with pledges of $45 million in new non-lethal and humanitarian assistance as the administration and other world leaders lamented the failure of diplomatic efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad from power.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. would contribute an additional $15 million in non-lethal gear ? mostly communications equipment ? to the civilian opposition trying to oust Assad as well as $30 million in new humanitarian assistance to help those affected by the continuing violence.

She also delivered a new, stark warning to Iran that it must stop arming and supporting the Assad regime.

"It is no secret that our attempts to move forward at the U.N. Security Council have been blocked repeatedly, but the United States is not waiting," Clinton said as she announced the new aid at a gathering of the Friends of Syria group that she hosted at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. She and other foreign ministers from the group met with nine Syrian opposition figures, including several who traveled from Syria to attend Friday's session, to discuss strategy.

With U.N. action blocked by Russia and China, Clinton said the rest of the world must support the Syrian opposition. She also said it was urgent that the fractured foes of the regime unite around plans for a political transition that could put an end to more than three decades of Assad family rule. Activists say the current 18-month long conflict has led to more than 30,000 deaths.

"Conditions in Syria continue to deteriorate as the Assad regime relentlessly wages war on its own people," Clinton said. "We see more bodies filling hospitals and morgues and we see more refugees fleeing their homeland and flooding into neighboring countries. The regime of Bashar al-Assad must come to an end so that the suffering of the Syrian people can stop and a new dawn can begin."

In Washington, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said new intelligence suggested the Syrian government has moved some of its chemical weapons in order to protect them, even though the U.S. believes that the main sites remain secure.

The new U.S. humanitarian assistance ? which brings America's total humanitarian contribution to more than $130 million since the crisis began ? will include food, water, blankets and medical services to victims of the violence. U.S. officials said on Thursday that an earlier shipment of medical goods provided by USAID had just arrived in southern Syria. The officials would not provide details of how the aid made it into Syrian territory.

The additional non-lethal support brings the total U.S. contribution in that area to nearly $40 million since the crisis began and includes 1,100 sets of communications equipment, including satellite-linked computers, telephones and cameras and training for more than 1,000 activists, students and independent journalists.

"We are working to help them strengthen their networks, avoid regime persecution and document human rights abuses," Clinton said. The U.S. is not providing military aid to the rebels although it acknowledges that other countries are.

Clinton's announcement came as fighting intensified in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, with the most widespread battles reported in three months in the city of 3 million people as rebel forces launched a new offensive against Assad.

Despite some battleground success, there have been complaints that the opposition is hopelessly splintered and unable to coalesce around a transition plan that was adopted by members of the U.N. Security Council in Geneva over the summer. Friday's meeting was intended in part to encourage better cooperation among Assad's foes.

"It is encouraging to see some progress toward greater opposition unity, but we all know there is more work to be done," Clinton said. U.S. officials have noted that revolutionary councils in cities including Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al-Zour were becoming increasingly organized.

Members of local groups from across Syria and representatives of the exile group, the Syrian National Council ? including its head, Abdulbaset Sieda ? attended the meeting. But U.S. officials declined to name others taking part or let them be photographed, saying that doing so would risk putting those opponents of Assad in danger of reprisals.

The meeting was co-chaired by the Arab League. League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby lamented the U.N.'s inability to demand that the Geneva plan be implemented by threatening sanctions against those who would not abide by it.

"All of our efforts up to now have led to failures," he said. "We have not managed to change the situation."

Neither Russia nor China, which have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence and enter negotiations on a political transition, were invited to Friday's meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ? who was to address the General Assembly on Friday ? has accused the U.S. and other countries of encouraging terrorism in their stance on Syria.

However, Clinton told the meeting that the greatest threat to Syria, other than the Assad regime itself was Iran.

"Let's be very frank here," she said. "The regime's most important lifeline is Iran."

"There is no longer any doubt that Tehran will do whatever it takes to protect its proxy and crony in Damascus. Iran will do everything it can to evade international sanctions," Clinton said. She urged Syria's neighbors to take extra steps to ensure that Iran is not smuggling weapons and materiel into Syria through their airspace or territory.

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-09-28-UN-General%20Assembly/id-76bc9378aea246a3898ecda26a12b389

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CU*NorthWest Enhances Disaster Recovery | cuasterisk.com

CU*NorthWest Enhances Disaster Recovery

CU*NorthWest, a CUSO located in Liberty Lake, Washington announced today it is substantially increasing its investment in disaster recovery facilities with enhanced high availability and communication redundancy.

Partnering with SiteFour, a newly formed CUSO in Yankton, SD, CU*NorthWest will move based production processing from its facility in Liberty Lake to the Yankton center.? CU*NorthWest will then house a complete redundancy solution for SiteFour with real time data replication and redundant communications to third party networks.

Partners within the cuasterisk.com network to include Services Center Credit Union and Mobile, AL based CUSO CU*South will come together to share production and high availability environments.? Both CU*NorthWest and CU*South have become owners in the SiteFour venture and will participate in the operation as both customers and resource providers.

Greg Smith, CEO of CU*NorthWest said, ?This is just another example of our network of cooperatives working to improve the value for our collective clients through collaboration and joint investment.? Disaster recovery and business continuity plans will be greatly enhanced and clients will feel virtually no change in their invoice.?

About the Partner

CU*NorthWest
CU*NorthWest was founded in 2005 and is a 100% credit union-owned CUSO located in Liberty Lake, Washington. CU*NorthWest offers a wide variety of services for credit unions including its flagship CU*BASE processing system in both an online (ASP) and in-house environment, and Internet development services featuring the It?s Me 247 online banking product. Additional services include web site development, network design and security, bookkeeping services, and a complete eDocument solution. CU*NorthWest provides expertise in implementing technical solutions to operational needs, and helps credit unions form strategic alliances and partnerships. For more information, visit www.cu-northwest.com.

Source: http://cuasterisk.com/2012/09/28/cunorthwest-enhances-disaster-recovery/

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

What Can Make High Web Hosting Companies Appealing Currently ...

Posted by marlenaraimo758 on Sep 26, 2012 in ADULT JOKES | Comments Off

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Source: http://funclub24.com/2012/09/26/what-can-make-high-web-hosting-companies-appealing-currently/

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Group claims Da Vinci painted early Mona Lisa work

GENEVA (AP) ? A Zurich-based foundation says it will prove to the world Thursday that Leonardo Da Vinci painted an earlier version of the Mona Lisa ? a claim doubted by at least one expert on the multifaceted Renaissance artist.

The Mona Lisa Foundation, which has been working with the anonymous owners of the "Isleworth Mona Lisa," says that after 35 years of research, experts believe it predates the famed 16th-century masterpiece by some 11 or 12 years based on regression tests, mathematical comparisons and historical and archival records.

"So far, not one scientific test has been able to disprove that the painting is by Leonardo," said art historian Stanley Feldman, a foundation member and principal author of a foundation book entitled "Mona Lisa: Leonardo's Earlier Version" to be released Thursday. "We have used methods that were not available to Leonardo 500 years ago."

"When we do a very elementary mathematical test, we have discovered that all of the elements of the two bodies ? the two people, the two sitters ? are in exactly the same place," Feldman told The Associated Press by phone. "It strikes us that in order for that to be so accurate, so meticulously exact, only the person who did one did the other ... It's an extraordinary revelation in itself, and we think it's valid."

The Isleworth painting ? likewise a portrait of a young woman with an enigmatic smile ? is slightly larger, was painted on canvas and has brighter colors than the famed Louvre Museum masterpiece painted on wood. The posture, folded hand positions, faces, expressions and clothing are similar, while the landscape in the background is different.

The foundation says the painting turned up in the home of an English nobleman in the late 1800s ? thus the connection to Isleworth ? and was shipped to the United States for safekeeping during World War I. After the war, it was analyzed in Italy, and eventually taken to Switzerland where it remained in a bank vault for the last 40 years, the group said.

The Isleworth Mona Lisa has been known publicly for generations ? if forgotten by the broader public ? and the book excerpts numerous news headlines about the painting and the possibility of its Da Vinci connection in the early 20th century.

Martin Kemp, an Oxford University professor and Leonardo expert, wrote in an e-mail that "the reliable primary evidence provides no basis for thinking that there was 'an earlier' portrait of Lisa del Giocondo" ? referring to the subject of the painting that's known as the Mona Lisa in English and La Joconde in French.

Kemp questioned the "debatable interpretations" of source material about the Isleworth painting, and said that scientific analysis cannot categorically deny that Da Vinci didn't paint it. However, he added: "The infrared reflectography and X-ray points very strongly to its not being by Leonardo."

"The Isleworth Mona Lisa miss-translates subtle details of the original, including the sitter's veil, her hair, the translucent layer of her dress, the structure of the hands ... " Kemp wrote. "The landscape is devoid of atmospheric subtlety. The head, like all other copies, does not capture the profound elusiveness of the original."

The Louvre Museum declined to comment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/group-claims-da-vinci-painted-early-mona-lisa-204936543.html

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Girl who called self 'Mrs. Bieber' dies of cancer

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

You talkin' to me? Gerry Harvey's one-man, online retail debate ...

26 September 2012Scott Ewing discusses retail magnate Gerry Harvey's somewhat inaccurate predictions regarding online shopping in The Conversation.

?Gerry Harvey is great media talent. When I first became interested in online retail, I almost immediately became interested in Gerry.

As far back as 2000, Gerry told ninemsn on a live chat forum ?that most of the online business will be conducted by traditional retailers and that over 90% of the e-retailers will in fact all go out of business one after the other?.

In 2008, he famously told Smart Company that online retailing ?is a complete waste of time?. During his short-lived campaign to have GST applied to all goods bought by Australians from overseas websites he said that online retail was ?escalating to proportions that are quite unbelievable? and was threatening to put scores of retailers out of business.

By June 2011, he was sanguine: ?We find people will order smaller things online, but for bigger items they?ll mostly come to the store, go home and order online?.

You might think this was Gerry changing his mind over time about the implications of online retail. But then I saw this interview on Lateline. If current affairs television consistently reached this level of rollicking entertainment, I would watch it a lot more often.

Gerry came across as a more avuncular and amusing version of Queensland?s late Joh Bjelke-Petersen. It became obvious watching this interview that there was no evolution to Gerry?s opinions on online retail ? he held them all simultaneously.

There?s a popular line of thought that Gerry is a dinosaur, a man out of time who doesn?t get the internet. On the contrary, I think that there a lot of people who don?t get Gerry, or perhaps his business, and its complicated relationship with online retail.

When Gerry talks about the internet he is addressing at least two very different audiences. The first is the investment community who want to know that Harvey Norman has a digital strategy, understands ?omnichannelling? and is forward focused.

The second are Gerry?s army of franchisees who want to hear that someday this war will be over. All of Harvey Norman?s Australian stores operate as franchises, aside from the recently acquired Clive Peeters and Rick Hart outlets. In the last financial year, franchisee sales revenue fell by 2% and the fees Harvey Norman Holdings received from their franchisees fell 5%.

Gerry has to walk a tightrope ? being seen to embrace or at least understand online retailing while convincing his franchisees that the internet is not going to destroy their livelihood.

The franchisee structure makes it incredibly difficult for Harvey Norman to wholeheartedly embrace online retail. This underscores a very important point about the internet. It?s a disruptive technology. For a lot of businesses, it is not simply a matter of adding another channel. The landscape will change so much that a new business or business model is required. This is something that Fairfax Media and News Limited know only too well.

When Gerry talks about online retailing, most people think they are listening to a retailer. But Harvey Norman is also a major retail property owner and developer. It owns 74 sites across Australia and has a $2 billion property portfolio that includes properties in New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Slovenia.

For retail property owners, online retail is not such a good thing. The investors who want to hear that Harvey Norman has a digital strategy also need to hear that the internet is not going to devalue its retail property portfolio. This is a tricky message to sell.

The strategy of banks and other businesses in the 90s and 2000s to divest themselves of property now looks very sensible. Australian banks have wholeheartedly embraced the internet and their customers have in turn embraced online banking. Banks may be affected by other people?s commercial property devaluing, but mostly they don?t have to worry about their own.

Online retail promises or threatens to greatly change how Australians buy and sell over the next few years. However it works out, I hope that Gerry Harvey is around a fair bit longer, saying things to provoke and amuse us.

Anybody who tells us omni-channelling, a glib and ugly expression if ever there was one, is ?bullshit?, deserves an audience.

Scott Ewing receives funding from the ARC funded Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation.

The Conversation

This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.

Image: Flickr / Jesse757

Source: http://apo.org.au/commentary/you-talkin%E2%80%99-me-gerry-harvey%E2%80%99s-one-man-online-retail-debate

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Services for you:
5 Star Air Conditioning House heat, air conditioning, and freshening repairs. We additionally can be count on for the lowest worth on new equipment, so call us for a second opinion when getting quote. Whether you must your furnace or ac unit repaired or replaced, call on us for your residential or commercial repairs needs. 5 Star Air Conditioning performs several repair including replacement or repair of:
? AC Unit
? Compressors
? Ducts
? Air Filters and Filtration Scheme
? Heating ventilation systems
? House air conditioners
? Heat pumps
? Gas furnaces
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Every air condition piece, whether it is a central air system for a home, an in-window systems, or an manufacturing-sized capacitance; will want servicing from occasion-to-occasion. Air condition use a enormous deal of electricity, which can consequently direct to overheating and other issue. Also, filters need to be changed, and the refrigerant check and adjusted as per supplies.

Source: http://iwpec.org/Blog/2012/09/25/92673-heat-repair-and-air-conditioning-2/

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Crock Pot Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats | SugarFreeMom.com

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There?s nothing like waking up to a delicious aroma from your crock pot cooking you breakfast overnight while you were sleeping! How about the fantastic smell of pumpkin pie for breakfast?!!! Yes, you can eat these breakfast without any guilt!

Super healthy steel cut oats combined with pumpkin puree make this a winning breakfast for any household!

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It doesn?t look like much here but wait till you stir it up!!!

This recipe has been on my mind for weeks, as soon as the fall cooler weather started here in RI I knew I wanted to adapt my Overnight Banana Steel Cut Oats to make this with pumpkin.

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Stir up up upon waking and behold the pumpkin and oats of your dreams!! You can add your sweetener during the cooking time or leave it without added sugar and everyone can add their own sweetener of choice on top. Perfect either way. :)

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I topped mine with a little honey and a sprinkle of nutmeg!!

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* This recipe is also being shared as a guest post on? Skinny Ms.

Crock Pot Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients

  • 1 cup steel cut oats
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • optional: 1/2 cup honey or 2 teaspoons vanilla liquid stevia*

* Sweetener can be added during cooking or cook it without and each person can add their own sweetener of choice on top after cooking.

Directions

Combine all ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:

Servings: 4* Calories per serving: 171* Fat: 3g* Cholesterol: 0g* Sodium: 3g* Carbs: 32g* Fiber: 6g* Sugars: 3g* Protein: 6g* Points+: 4*

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Other Crock Pot recipes you might like:

Source: http://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/crock-pot-pumpkin-pie-steel-cut-oats/

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Asian shares lackluster as growth worries weigh

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday after Germany's business confidence fell in September for a fifth consecutive month and Caterpillar Inc , the world's largest earth moving equipment maker, cut its earnings forecast, underscoring worries about slowing global growth.

Uncertainty about the bailout prospects for Greece and Spain, as the euro zone's three-year-long debt crisis rumbles on, also weighed on investors' risk appetite.

The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> was choppy, caught in a plus 0.1 and minus 0.1 percent range.

Resources-reliant Australian shares <.axjo> eased 0.28 percent as a weaker outlook for industrial metals hurt sentiment, while Hong Kong <.hsi> and Shanghai <.ssec> shares were down 0.18 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Oil, copper and gold rebounded from the previous day's losses while the euro also recovered as the dollar eased slightly. But the safe-haven yen firmed against the dollar.

"It's incredibly difficult to ascertain what fair prices are when central banks are completely distorting financial realities by just throwing money at problems and trying to squeeze growth out of awfully over-indebted private sectors and public sectors," said David Baran, co-founder of Tokyo-based hedge fund Symphony Financial Partners.

"That makes it very hard for investors to have confidence in what they are doing, and clearly that's why you are seeing a race to the safest perceived instruments," he said.

Tokyo's Nikkei average <.n225> edged up 0.3 percent in thin volume on the last day for getting on ownership rolls for mid-term dividends from many shares. <.t/>

"The dividend seekers are driving gains, and there are also some investors desperately trying to keep the benchmark above 9,000 before the end of the first half of the financial year on Friday," said Hideyuki Fukunaga, CEO of Investrust.

The German Ifo institute's monthly business sentiment index fell for a fifth successive month in September to its lowest level since early 2010, with the outlook component touching its worst level since May 2009.

"This lends support to the thesis that the weaker growth outlook is spreading to the EU core," Barclays Capital said in a note.

Citing weakness in the world economy, Caterpillar cut its 2015 earnings forecast, raising chances of weak guidance from other firms in the run up to the U.S. earnings reporting season.

WEAK FUNDAMENTALS

Markets had welcomed additional stimulus packages from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, as well as the European Central Bank's move aimed at easing the burden of heavily indebted euro zone states seeking aid.

But investors soon returned their focus back to the weak economic fundamentals which drove central banks into action in the first place.

Deputy finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 wealthy and leading emerging nations agreed that central bank stimulus was not enough to fix the ailing global economy, and governments must increase their efforts to boost growth.

The International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday the IMF is set to cut its forecast for global growth next month when it updates its projections for the world economy. The IMF/World Bank meetings will be held in Tokyo on October 12-14.

The Bank of Japan's current account balance hit a record high of 44.21 trillion yen on Monday, as the bank further eased its already very loose policy last week.

But the accommodative stance has not weakened the yen, which traded at 77.83 yen, barely above Monday's one-week high against the dollar of 77.805, while the dollar has felt the Fed's easing effect, with U.S. Treasuries' yields inching lower.

The dollar index measured against a basket of key currencies <.dxy> was down 0.01 percent at 79.511.

The euro edged up 1 percent to $1.2944 but remained vulnerable as investors waited for Spain to present its draft budget plan for 2013 and unveil new structural reforms, as well as the results of stress tests on the country's banking sector.

Spain has come under renewed pressure from markets, and risks a downgrade of its sovereign debt rating to junk status by ratings agency Moody's, which is expected to announce its review soon. Madrid also faces a 27.5 billion euro ($35.52 billion)refinancing at the end of October.

Spain has not made clear whether or not it would seek an external sovereign bailout, and EU officials said Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was not expected to do so before a regional election in his native Galicia on October 21.

Another typical safe-haven asset, gold, steadied to around $1,764.69 per ounce, after falling on Monday as investors took profits from the jump in prices to $1,787.20 per ounce on Friday, their highest since February 29.

U.S. crude rose 0.4 percent to $92.31 a barrel, while Brent added 0.3 percent to $110.15 as escalating tensions surrounding Iran offset concerns about weak demand in a still-fragile global economy.

London copper rose 0.6 percent to $8,231.50 a metric ton.

Asian credit markets softened slightly, pushing the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index wider by 2 basis points.

(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight in Tokyo; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-ease-growth-worries-weigh-003004014--finance.html

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With The Launch Of SB Nation United, Vox Media Moves Into The Publishing Playoffs

Screen Shot 2012-09-25 at 9.01.29 AMVox Media's 312 SB Nation sites for sports teams around the country are getting a major upgrade today that spans its user interfaces, editorial workflows and ad displays (including for mobile). Publishers who still don't care about perfecting their web products need to pay close attention. Readers will immediately notice fancy new homepages for their favorite teams, with classy site-specific logos, a "cover" of featured stories above the fold, and a well-organized stream of articles and community features further down the page -- right and left-hand navigation bars for tweets, fan posts, fan videos, comments, and more. But the upgrade, called SB Nation United, is really about bringing together and improving all of the tech products that Vox has been developing through SB Nation or its flagship tech site, The Verge, and making them available to any Vox-owned site. Look for the latest, gaming site Polygon, to come pre-loaded with all the features when it launches next month.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hVxx1Cx_ZNs/

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Tuck School of Business | Auditing Romney&#39;s 47 Percent

Who are the 47 percent? Accounting professor Richard Sansing gets at the answer.

Last week it was revealed that Mitt Romney made some curious remarks during a private fundraising event in May. ?Well, there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,? he said. ?These are people who pay no income tax; 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax.?

Hold on. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax? Actually, that?s true. According to an analysis from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, about 76 million people who filed income tax returns in 2011 (roughly 46 percent) did not owe the government a dime in income tax.

In Romney?s words, these are people ?who believe that they are victims?who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.?

But for Tuck accounting professor Richard Sansing, whose research involves the microeconomic effects of taxation, the story is not that simple. He has three words that add some much-needed context to Romney?s now-infamous statement: distribution, transfers, and payroll.

Distribution
There was a time, say 32 years ago, when every aggregated income level contributed something to the nation?s total income tax burden. In 1980, for example, the lowest quintile?s share of the total individual income tax liability was 0.1 percent. The highest quintile?s share was 64.7 percent.

During the interceding generation, those numbers moved farther apart. In 2009, the lowest quintile actually had a negative tax liability?they received more from the government than they paid, while the highest 20 percent of earners paid 94 percent of the income taxes.

This is not the result of some left-wing conspiracy to over-tax the rich. In fact, the tax distribution closely mirrors the income distribution, and the top 20 percent of households are generating more of the income pie than ever before.

?That?s due to a lot of things over which the political class in this country has very little control,? Sansing says. China and India entered the global economy and drove down the cost of unskilled labor. Advances in communication and technology integrated the global capital markets, allowing people to produce a lot more income than was previously possible.

Blunt as it may be, the rich have gotten richer, both absolutely and relative to the rest of the population. So goes their income tax liability.

Transfers
?Unfortunately,? says Sansing, ?we often frame policy debates in ways in which labels are decisive.?

As a label, ?income tax payer? makes someone sound like a responsible, conscientious, contributing member of society. The corollary, if you listen to Romney, is that people who don?t pay income tax are somehow irresponsible moochers.

What gets lost in this analysis is that the tax code over the last 35 years has increasingly become a vehicle for transferring wealth from high-income people to low-income people. Whereas the government used to hand out welfare checks, now it?s more common to give low-income people financial help through the earned-income tax credit (EITC).

The EITC was first implemented in mid-1970s, as part of the welfare-reform efforts of the day, and it was designed to encourage people to join the workforce by giving financial assistance to low-income workers, especially those with children. About 20 years later, President Clinton signed the Republican-sponsored Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, a huge reform of the welfare system that included workforce development and limits on the amount of time a person could receive direct cash payments. The number of families receiving cash welfare has since declined to historically low levels, whereas the EITC is considered one of the government?s most effective anti-poverty programs.

?If you frame the question very narrowly?What?s the share of income tax liabilities??then it?s going to show less liability for the people getting the earned income credit,? explains Sansing, who teaches the courses Taxation and Business Policy, and Managerial Accounting. ?But if you step back you can see there are a lot of ways the government can transfer wealth from high-income groups to low-income groups. The labels have changed, but I?m still seeing dollars from this group going to this other group.?

The point is that a welfare check and a tax credit have similar distributional effects, but the latter affects the distribution of income tax liabilities whereas the former does not.

Payroll
There?s another reason why looking solely at income tax liability is misleading: working people also pay payroll taxes (not to mention sales and property taxes, but we?ll stick to payroll). In fact, federal revenue is comprised in equal measure of payroll and income taxes: about 40 percent for each.

Of the 47 percent of people who don?t pay income taxes, about two thirds pay payroll taxes. The rest of the 47 percent consists of the elderly, who don?t work and whose income is below the taxable level, and the people whose earned income tax credit exceeds their payroll tax burden.

?Governor Romney?s statement is literally true,? Sansing says. ?But if payroll tax is like income tax, a tax on your labor income, why are we drawing a line between them??

Indeed, if you broaden the focus to include total federal tax liabilities, all income quintiles contribute something to nation?s revenue demands, and the space between the quintiles is not nearly as large as it appears in the income tax-only picture.

?There are a lot of subtleties to the story,? Sansing cautions.

Source: http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/auditing-romneys-47-percent/

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Monday, September 24, 2012

'Sun monster,' Zimmermann lead Nats over Brewers

WASHINGTON (AP) ? According to Washington right fielder Jayson Werth, the way an intense, September afternoon sun turns fly balls at Nationals Park into adventures "borders on ridiculous."

Well, this time, that "sun monster" helped Werth's Nationals and hurt the Milwaukee Brewers.

A day after the Nationals misplayed a pair of fly balls in the midday glare, Werth wound up with a two-out, two-run double when Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez lost a ball in the sun to spark a six-run fourth inning Monday, and Washington beat Milwaukee 12-2 to cut its magic number for winning the NL East to five.

"I don't remember a worse sun field, worse sun conditions," said Werth, a major leaguer for a decade. "You almost don't have a chance out there as the game goes on."

Jordan Zimmermann (12-8) allowed one run and four hits in 6 2-3 innings in the rare 1:05 p.m. weekday start. He also delivered two hits and drove in a run as a batter for the Nationals, who are a majors-best 93-60 and increased their division lead over the Atlanta Braves to five games with nine to play.

"We still have a little ways to go, but if we keep playing baseball the way we've been playing, hopefully it'll happen soon," said Ryan Zimmerman, who had three hits and four RBIs.

Marco Estrada (4-7) lasted only four innings for the Brewers, who entered the day 2? games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL's second wild-card berth. He allowed seven runs ? six earned ? and eight hits, and acknowledged that Gomez's problems on Werth's ball into the sun caused the righty to lose his composure "a little bit."

"It felt like it was a blink of an eye," Estrada said. "I looked up, the score was 2-1, and I was like, 'All right, let's get this guy out. Pop fly.' Next thing you know, it's 7-1. I couldn't believe it."

As Brewers manager Ron Roenicke put it: "It would've been a good game if that ball's caught."

Right after Zimmermann's RBI single broke a 1-all tie, Werth hit a high fly that could have been the third out ? but Gomez couldn't find it.

"It is just a matter of being lucky and not getting a ball hit to you when it's in your field of vision," Werth said. "Even then, if the ball is hit to your left early in the game, it goes into the sun. And if it goes to your right later in the game, it goes in the sun. And if it's hit right at you in the middle of the game, you are in trouble."

Gomez paused and held his glove up to try to shade his view, then suddenly scrambled to his left and tried to make a diving catch.

The ball smacked off the dark sweat band on his left forearm and trickled away.

"Nothing you can do," Gomez said.

Roenicke knew his player was having a hard time locating the ball.

"As soon as the ball went up, he was 10 feet off," Roenicke said. "I was watching the ball, where it was, and watching where he was, and I could tell he was off line."

After Bryce Harper walked and joined Werth in a double steal, Zimmerman sent a three-run shot to right-center for his 24th homer and a 7-1 lead.

"Once it gets out of hand, it's tough to keep everybody's intensity there," Roenicke said, "and because of it, a lot of things go wrong."

In Milwaukee's 6-2 victory Sunday, Werth and Harper each failed to catch a ball because of the sun, leading to hits. Werth's misplay was on a shot by Gomez. Afterward, Harper joked about trouble dealing with the "sun monster."

"Payback," said Nationals manager Davey Johnson. "It's a tough sun. I mean, this time of year, that time of day."

NOTES: Nationals SS Ian Desmond stole second in the fifth, giving him 20 steals to go along with 24 homers, making him the team's first 20-20 player since Alfonso Soriano in 2006. ... Brewers 1B Corey Hart hit his 28th homer in the second inning. ... The Nationals will throw three left-handed starters in their next series at Philadelphia, with Ross Detwiler (10-6) on Tuesday, John Lannan (3-0) on Wednesday, and Gio Gonzalez (20-8) on Thursday. ... Washington LF Michael Morse was out of the starting lineup because of a bothersome left hand. ... The Brewers open a three-game series at NL Central champion Cincinnati on Tuesday, with RHPs Mike Fiers (9-8), Shaun Marcum (5-4) and Wily Peralta (2-1) set to start for Milwaukee. ... Harper slammed against the wall in deep center to catch a shot off the bat of Aramis Ramirez to end the first, then rolled onto his back and stayed down for a second or two. Eventually, Harper popped up and jogged to the dugout to loud cheers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sun-monster-zimmermann-lead-nats-over-brewers-222204693--mlb.html

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Libyan army gives rogue militias ultimatum after two disband

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's army on Sunday ordered rogue armed groups in and around the capital to leave state and military premises in Tripoli or be ejected by force, apparently seeking to capitalise on the withdrawal of militias from Benghazi and Derna.

The two main Islamist militias in Derna, a town in eastern Libya known as an Islamist stronghold, said on Saturday that they were disbanding in the town, a day after one of them, Ansar al-Sharia, was driven out of Libya's second city, Benghazi.

The many militias, most of them ex-rebels, that control Libya's streets more than a year after Muammar Gaddafi was toppled are the clearest sign of the weakness of a central government that has been unable to control them and, worse, relies on many of them to provide security.

However, the killing of four Americans including the ambassador in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11 seems to have given the nascent democratic government a cue to rally support and channel public frustration with the armed groups.

Some U.S. officials have accused the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia militia of involvement in the attack, a charge it denies.

Ansar al-Sharia, opposed to democracy, is one of the groups that have operated outside the nominal Defence Ministry umbrella that covers ex-rebels approved - and needed - by the government.

"The army chief Yussef al-Mangoush and (national assembly leader) Mohammed Magarief have ordered all illegitimate militias should be removed from compounds and hand over their weapons to the national army," said Adel Othman al-Barasi, a spokesman for the Defence Ministry.

"A committee made up by the military police has been formed to take over the compounds and the weapons and hand these over to the army."

He said the army had already evicted a militia from a military complex on the highway leading to Tripoli airport on Sunday, and that all such handovers had been done "peacefully".

The state news agency LANA said the army had given rogue militias 48 hours to vacate military or state properties, threatening force if they did not comply, though Barasi said they should start moving out "immediately".

Similar edicts have come and gone in the past, with little or no effect on the militias, but the growing frustration of the public may be tipping the balance at street level.

"BACK TO NORMAL LIVES"

"The civil society groups came to our camps, and the youth demonstrators asked us to evacuate the place and disband," Slim Derby, leader of the Abu Slim Martyrs brigade, which is based in Derna, told Reuters by telephone.

"So we disbanded in accordance with their request, because our responsibility is the security of the city. Our members have their own normal lives, so everyone will go back to their normal lives and their regular jobs."

Ansar al-Sharia made a similar announcement in Derna after protesters forced its Benghazi brigade out of its bases in that city on Friday following a mass demonstration in support of democracy and against Islamist militias.

Those invasions met little resistance and appeared to be part of a sweep of militia bases by police, army and activists.

Siraj Shennib, a 29-year-old linguistics professor, said protesters had been maintaining a vigil against the militias in Derna for 10 days, and the protests became much larger after a car-jacking three days ago.

"The people started coming because it has reached the limit. They are saying: we've had enough," he said. "It was a very peaceful operation. We are happy and we appreciate the effort the militias have done to save people from conflict."

Libyan political scientist Ahmad al-Atrash told Reuters: "People in Benghazi and all over Libya want to get these militias under control ... The overwhelming feeling is against any element that keeps the situation unstable."

Derna, which overlooks the Mediterranean, is known across the region as a major recruitment centre for fighters who joined the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Unlike most of the Libyan militias, which were formed for last year's civil war, the Derna groups, especially the Abu Slim Martyrs, are veteran guerrilla fighters with many years of history fighting Gaddafi in the hills of eastern Libya.

The group is named after the Tripoli prison where Gaddafi's jailers killed around 1,200 prisoners in 1996.

MANAGING THE MILITIAS

Unable to handle security without the help of the militias, some of which still have heavy weapons commandeered from Gaddafi's army, the government has until now opted to manage the problem by co-opting those that espouse democracy.

But its aim is gradually to increase its control and integrate the ex-rebels into regular security forces.

The head of Libya's national congress, Mohammed Magarief, met government and security officials in Benghazi late on Saturday and then announced the formation of a "security operations room".

He said this would bring together the army and interior ministry forces with Defence Ministry brigades made up of former rebels and work to secure Benghazi.

He announced plans to dissolve militias not under government control, and said the government wanted the army to take control of the pro-government militias' compounds as a step towards integrating them into regular forces.

A doctor in a hospital where Ansar al-Sharia had provided security for the past six weeks said it had prevented anarchy.

"I don't know about their religion or ideology, but they solved problems," said Abdulmonin Salim. "I don't care if they come from another planet. I want a secure hospital."

Other problems associated with the militias were dramatically illustrated on Friday when the protesters who had pushed Ansar al-Sharia out of its bases moved on to another compound believing that it, too, harboured an Islamist militia.

It turned out to be the base of the powerful pro-government Rafallah al-Sahati militia, which opened fire in an attempt to protect a large weapons store that it had been asked to guard.

Eleven people were killed and more than 60 injured before the militia pulled back and left the arsenal to be looted.

Nasser Abdelhaaq, a Rafallah al-Sahati commander, suggested the crowd had been manipulated to turn on Rafallah al-Sahati, an officially approved militia that also has Islamist leanings.

Six of the dead were bodyguards of a colonel in the regular Libyan army who went missing on Friday, suggesting a kidnapping that may have been the work of a militia group.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-army-gives-rogue-militias-ultimatum-two-disband-150006531.html

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