Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/xavier-delucq/discipline-budgtaire-merkel-europe_b_1243366.html
chelsea handler mitch daniels lakers shirataki noodles elizabeth warren jorge posada maurice sendak
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Xavier Delucq: Discipline budgétaire en Europe : qui va avoir des coups de règle d'or ?
');; var debugadcode = ''; document.write(debugadcode); } "; var coords = [-5, -78]; if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'homepage' ) { coords = [-5, -70]; } else if( HPConfig.current_vertical_name == 'mapquest' ) { coords = [-5, -68]; } FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
As Florida votes, Romney seems in driver's seat (Reuters)
COCOA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) ? Florida's Republican voters go to the polls on Tuesday in a high-stakes presidential primary election, with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney holding a commanding double-digit lead in polls over rival Newt Gingrich.
Florida is the largest state to hold a presidential primary so far this year and a Romney victory would give him a big boost in the state-by-state battle to decide who will face President Barack Obama in the November election.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. local time. Most of the state is on Eastern Time (plus 5 hours GMT), except the western Panhandle region, which is on Central Time and where polls will close an hour later.
Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was riding high just 10 days ago after an upset win in South Carolina's January 21 primary and led in Florida polls as recently as early last week.
But the well-funded and well-organized Romney took back the lead after his two strong debate performances and a blizzard of television advertisements attacking Gingrich.
On the stump on Monday, Romney was breezy and Gingrich combative, reflecting the respective states of their campaigns. Romney cancelled a scheduled Tuesday morning campaign event; Gingrich scheduled four appearances in a final appeal for support on primary day.
Gingrich said Republicans needed to shun Romney and unite behind him if they wanted to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in November's general election.
"If you watch tonight, my prediction is that the conservative vote will be dramatically bigger than Governor Romney's but it will be split, so we've got to find a way to consolidate conservatives and I am clearly the frontrunner among conservatives," Gingrich said on Fox News.
Gingrich has derided Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate" who raised taxes and fees as governor, enforced a healthcare mandate, and will not provide a sharp enough contrast to Obama.
Romney's attacks have focused on Gingrich's work for troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, an ethics probe and his resignation as speaker in early 1999. It has also mocked Gingrich's attempt to ride the coattails of former president Ronald Reagan, a conservative hero.
BIG SPENDING
The campaigns and allied Super PAC fundraising groups had until the end of Tuesday to report whose money they are spending, and how, in an increasingly expensive campaign. Campaign finance filings to the Federal Election Commission will for the first time officially show who contributed money to the Super PACs and fueled their multimillion-dollar spending sprees.
Reuters/Ipsos poll data on Monday showed Romney's support in Florida at 43 percent versus Gingrich at 28 percent.
When voters hear Gingrich in person they often come away impressed, praising his intellect and toughness.
"I was a little undecided between Newt and Mitt but I have decided for sure that Newt's going to get my vote. He's forthright. He says what he means and means what he says," Gene Vandevander of Tampa said at a Gingrich rally.
A straw poll of conservative Tea Party sympathizers in the state released on Monday gave Gingrich 35 percent support against former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum at 31 percent, Romney at 18 percent and Texas congressman Ron Paul at 11 percent.
But other major voting blocs in Florida, including Hispanics, seem to be heavily favoring Romney.
Florida allows early voting at polling stations and by mail, and more than one-third, or 35 percent, of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they had already voted. They favored Romney by a wide margin, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
As Gingrich vows to keep fighting until the nominating convention in August, some voters worried that a nasty, prolonged primary fight would hurt the eventual nominee.
"We don't want to attack each other, but to focus on the issues," said voter Jonathan Sanchez of Orlando. "We don't want to seem divided."
Florida's 50 delegates are given on a winner-take-all basis. The two other Republicans on the ballot, Santorum and Paul, have moved on to other states.
After Florida's primary, Nevada's February 4 caucuses are the next contest in the process of choosing a Republican nominee.
(Additional Reporting by Steve Holland and Sam Youngman in Florida and Paul Simao in Washington; Writing by Ros Krasny and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Eric Beech and Paul Simao)
julia gillard pecan pie the hobbit trailer prometheus trailer red velvet cake recipe josh krajcik porphyria
Live from the Floor of the 2012 Washington, D.C. Auto Show
Cosmetically, the Super Bee package recalls the limited-production muscle cars Dodge produced from 1968-1971. Mechanically, however, the 2012 Charger beneath that exterior remains unchanged, housing a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 that pumps out 470 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque.
kendrick perkins the bachelor emily maynard death race fafsa internal revenue service huntington disease
Monday, 30 January 2012
Mary Tyler Moore honored for lifetime achievement (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Mary Tyler Moore made it after all.
The 75-year-old actress, who as Mary Richards "turned the world on with her smile" in her groundbreaking 1970s sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," received the lifetime achievement award at Sunday night's 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
"MTM. There's probably not a person in the civilized world who doesn't know what that means," said Dick Van Dyke, her former co-star in the equally appealing 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke show," as he introduced her.
He noted Moore's achievements as an Oscar-nominated actress, a dancer and a Hollywood executive whose MTM Enterprises has produced several other hit TV shows.
As she accepted her award, Moore revealed how the civilized world almost never did hear of MTM, who was told in the opening theme song of her show each week, "You're gonna make it after all."
When she entered show business at age 18 in 1955, Moore said, there were already six others Mary Moores in the Screen Actors Guild.
Told to change her name, she quickly added Tyler, the middle name of both her and her father, George.
"I was Mary Tyler Moore. I spoke it out loud. Mary Tyler Moore. It sounded right so I wrote it down on the form, and it looked right," she said. "It was right. SAG was happy, my father was happy, and tonight, after having the privilege of working in this business among the most creative and talented people imaginable, I too am happy, after all."
Before the awards show Van Dyke had stopped on the red carpet to remember working with Moore on his show.
"She was 23 and had never done comedy. I never saw somebody pick it up so fast. I still have a crush on her," he said.
The show's audience, including Moore's former co-star Betty White, showered both her and Van Dyke with standing ovations, leading Van Dyke to remind them, "I'm just a presenter."
Van Dyke and Moore were so believable as husband and wife Rob and Laura Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that many viewers thought they were married in real life.
As Laura Petrie, Moore also turned Capri pants into a fashion trend during the show's run.
Van Dyke noted they fit her so well, which created such a concern during that more conservative era, that she was limited to wearing them in only one scene per show.
robert schuller guy fawkes day stevie williams steve williams koch brothers weather phoenix dippin dots
Japan, Russia to boost ties despite islands row (AP)
TOKYO ? The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia agreed Saturday to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute that has kept the two nations from concluding a peace treaty.
Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the two countries need to address the row over islands off northeastern Japan in a calm manner. Gemba said resolving the dispute and forging a peace treaty officially ending their hostilities in World War II is "more necessary than ever."
Both men sought to downplay the dispute and focus on ways the two nations could expand their ties.
"As the security situation in the Asia-Pacific undergoes major changes, the Japan-Russia relationship has taken on new importance," Gemba said at a joint news conference following what he called a "fruitful" two-hour meeting.
"We reaffirmed that we want to strengthen our cooperation in security, defense and economic matters, particularly energy modernization," he added.
Lavrov welcomed the increased trade between the two nations, which grew last year to 2.45 trillion yen ($31 billion).
"We want our international cooperation to expand," Lavrov said.
The two sides signed an agreement to simplify visa procedures to boost visitors and business interaction, particularly from Japan to Russia.
Ties between Japan and Russia soured in late 2010 when Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian president to visit the disputed islands, called the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. They were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II, but Japan says they are part of its territory.
The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to have oil, natural gas and mineral deposits.
"Resolving this problem and concluding a peace treaty is more necessary than ever," Gemba said. "But unfortunately ... our positions are different. We hope to resolve this through dialogue."
Lavrov said tackling the matter would have to wait until a new leader is chosen in Russia's presidential election on March 4.
"Both countries need to address the row over the islands in a calm manner without getting emotional or critical," he said.
Lavrov and Gemba were to discuss North Korea over a working lunch in the second part of their meeting. Japan and Russia are among six nations involved in long-stalled talks offering aid for North Korean nuclear disarmament.
Asked about North Korea, Lavrov said Moscow has information that the talks will "possibly resume." He did not elaborate.
North Korea, which is undergoing a leadership transition, appears to be pushing for a resumption of the talks, but the U.S. and its allies want it to first show it is serious about previous disarmament commitments. South Korea and China are the other countries involved in the talks.
Lavrov also said Russia would support Japan's efforts to press North Korea on its abduction of Japanese citizens.
After years of denials, North Korea said in 2002 that it had kidnapped 13 Japanese to train its spies. It returned five abductees but claimed the rest had died. Japan disputes that and says as many as 12 Japanese may still be captive in the North.
aaron curry ios 5 features ios 5 features ellen degeneres show ellen degeneres show david guetta david guetta
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Hazanavicius wins at Directors Guild for 'Artist'
Director Michel Hazanavicius arrives at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
Director Michel Hazanavicius arrives at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
Director Michel Hazanavicius, right, and Berenice Bejo arrive at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Directors Guild of America Awards are the latest Hollywood film honors to go silent.
Hollywood's top filmmakers group presented its feature-film honor Saturday to Michel Hazanavicius for his silent film "The Artist," giving him the inside track for the best-director prize at the Academy Awards.
"I really love directors. I really have respect for directors. So this is really very moving and touching for me," said Hazanavicius, whose black-and-white silent charmer has cleaned up at earlier Hollywood honors and could emerge as the best-picture favorite at the Feb. 26 Oscars.
The Directors Guild honors are one of the most-accurate forecasts for who might go on to take home an Oscar. Only six times in the 63-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to win the Oscar for best director. And more often than not, whichever film earns the directing Oscar also wins best picture.
French filmmaker Hazanavicius, whose credits include the spy spoofs "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" and "OSS 117: Lost in Rio," had been a virtual unknown in Hollywood until "The Artist." His throwback to early cinema centers on a silent-era star whose career crumbles when talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.
First-time nominee Hazanavicius won over a field of guild heavyweights that included past winners Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" and Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris." Past nominees David Fincher for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Alexander Payne for "The Descendants" also were in the running.
Accepting his nomination plaque earlier in the ceremony from his stars in "The Artist," Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, Hazanavicius recalled his childhood education in great cinema, including Hollywood classics such as "Red River" and "Rio Bravo."
Hazanavicius said he felt he was being welcomed by the Directors Guild for a language they had in common: cinema.
"Maybe you noticed, but I'm French. I have an accent. I have a name that is very difficult to pronounce," Hazanavicius said. "I'm not American, and I'm not French, actually. I'm a filmmaker. ... I feel like I'm being accepted by you not as Americans but as filmmakers."
James Marsh won the film documentary prize for "Project Nim," his chronicle of the triumphs and trials of a chimpanzee that was raised like a human child. It was the latest major Hollywood prize for Marsh, who earned the documentary Academy Award for 2008's "Man on Wire."
Scorsese went zero-for-two at the guild awards. He also had been nominated for the documentary award for "George Harrison: Living in the Material World."
Robert B. Weide won the TV comedy directing award for an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," while Patty Jenkins earned the TV drama prize for the pilot of "The Killing."
The award for TV movie or miniseries went to Jon Cassar for "The Kennedys."
Other television winners were:
? Reality programming: Neil P. DeGroot, "The Biggest Loser."
? Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, "The 65th Annual Tony Awards."
? Daytime serials: William Ludel, "General Hospital."
? Children's programs: Amy Schatz, "A Child's Garden of Poetry."
? Commercials: Noam Murro.
At the start of the ceremony, Guild President Taylor Hackford led the crowd in a toast to one of his predecessors, Gil Cates, the veteran producer of the Oscar broadcast who died last year.
The Directors Guild awards were the first of two major Hollywood honors this weekend. The Screen Actors Guild hands out its prizes Sunday.
___
Online:
http://www.dga.org
Associated Pressfrank lucas lego man lego man cheryl hines john lackey john lackey ed lee
Tweet lightly: How social media could someday affect your credit score, insurance, and more (Digital Trends)
Did you know January 28 is Data Privacy Day in the United States, Canada, and the European Union? The intention behind Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the privacy of personal information?not just amongst individual users of things like social networking, but also amongst businesses, organizations, and corporations that collect, retain, and access information about their clients, customers, and users. Companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have been drawing the attention of privacy advocates and regulators in recent years, but the reality is that there are tens of thousands of companies out there collecting, processing, and distributing personal information about individuals all the time. Increasingly, those companies are looking to things like social networking for cues about individuals? behaviors, lifestyle, interests, and activities.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ??Time?s 2010 Man of the Year ? once famously declared privacy is not a ?social norm,? and Facebook and other companies have consistently borne out that idea in the online world, collecting increasing amount of information about individuals and hiding behind privacy policies longer than the U.S. Constitution. Clauses of implied consent decree that users legally agree to having their information gathered and tracked, so long as they continue using accounts or services. In other words: Users can either agree to be tracked, or they can agree not to use a service. However, this cavalier approach to data collection and user profiling is drawing increased scrutiny not just from consumer and privacy advocates, but by governments and everyday people. The European Commission has just proposed new data protection laws that would enshrine a ?right to be forgotten? for individuals, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has forced Facebook to toe the line on sharing user information with third parties. Google?s recent ground-up revamp of its privacy policies and user tracking is almost certain to draw FTC scrutiny as well.
Social impact
In observance of Data Privacy Day, Microsoft?which has a major stake in how data protection plays out, has released data from a survey of 5,000 people examining how they approach their online profiles and reputations. Overall, the survey found that 91 percent of respondents have taken some action to manage their overall online profile at some point in time, while about two thirds of respondents feel they are actually in control of their online reputations. However, only 44 percent indicated they actively consider the potential long-term consequences of their online actions; that means a surprising 56 percent do not consider any consequences from their online activity. Further, a surprising 14 percent believe they have been negatively impacted by the online activities of others. In this survey, ?negative impact? means things like being fired from a job, being denied a mortgage, losing health insurance, or losing out on being accepted to a college or a job. 
It?s well-known that most employers these days commonly vet job candidates by checking out their social media postings: Pictures from a drunken party in college could come back to haunt job-seekers later in life, particularly as things like Facebook?s now-mandatory Timeline expose more of people?s online histories. Similarly, employers and others can easily trawl through someone?s postings to Twitter and other social media services. Someone who regularly uses insulting or demeaning language in their public tweets or fuels flame wars with strangers in forums might now be an employer?s first choice for a job that entails dealing with the public or customers politely. By the same token, tweeting ?Mainstreet offramp at 90mph, flipped off ugly minivan that honked at me!!? is probably a fast way to lose a job as a delivery driver.
Messages, files, photos, videos and other things marked as private or shared with a small group on a social networking site are only private in a very limited sense. If someone you?ve shared with takes the material public, it?s out there for the whole world to see, forever, just like any other social media posting. Also remember that discovery processes for civil and criminal cases treat social networking posts just like any other communication: They can be subpoenaed, and providers have to turn them over the data regardless of whether that information was free for the whole world or intended for just a selected few. And those subpoenas don?t have to be about you specifically: they might be about one of your online ?friends? or related to a fan page, group, discussion list, or blog you happen to like.
Do not track
Back in December 2010 the FTC fielded a do-not-track proposal that essentially extends the notion behind the the well-received U.S. do-not-call list for telephone solicitation to the Web. Consumers would be able to tell online advertisers that they do not want to be tracked or have data about their online data collected about them and used to target advertising. Although all the major Web browsers implemented support for the do-not-track behavior during 2011 (and Microsoft even submitted a version to the W3C as a standard), the bottom line is that, even if consumers enable the feature on all their browsers, sites and services must explicitly support it. It doesn?t work automatically, and there is no regulatory requirement that any site support it.Of course, there is a negative consequence for high-profile companies (the Googles, Microsofts, and Facebooks of the world) if they fail to support something like the do-not-track technology: They can be publicly humiliated, which could impact their usership and, ultimately, the amount of money they can earn via their online advertising businesses. However, FTC commissioner Julie Brill, speaking at the George Washington University law school in observance of Data Privacy Day, noted a entirely different aspect of the industry: Low-profile data brokers who specialize in scraping and collecting information about Internet users?and then, of course, sell it to others. Like, perhaps, the Facebooks, Googles, and Microsofts of the world.
Brill indicated the FTC intends to take a much closer look at these sorts of data brokers, particularly since the data they collect is essentially unverified and hidden away. Internet users have no way of knowing, reviewing, or correcting what data brokers are saying about them, and similarly have no way to opt out of the data collection. In much the same ways inaccurate credit reports can have a severe negative impact on an individual?s finances (and can take months or even years of effort to correct, even in cases of fraud and identity theft), material collected about individuals via the Internet could have an impact on people?s everyday lives.
?Analysts are undoubtedly working right now to identify certain Facebook or Twitter habits or activities as predictive of behaviors relevant to whether a person is a good or trustworthy employee, or is likely to pay back a loan,? Brill said in her remarks. ?Might there not be a day very soon when these analysts offer to sell information scraped from social networks to current and potential employers to be used to determine whether you?ll get a job or promotion??
Brill outright admitted the FTC doesn?t even know who many of these data brokers are.
The FTC is expected to release its final report early next year, outlining policy principles and urging the industry to adopt and implement transparency principles that put consumers in control of the personal data being distributed about them. Unfortunately, these will be nonbinding recommendations: The FTC doesn?t have much in the way of enforcement power without assistance from Congress, and about the only thing the FTC can bring to bear right now is the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which only applies to credit reporting agencies (CRAs), defined as companies assembling and selling credit and financial information about individuals. It?s not clear whether scrapings from the Internet and social networking services would fall within that definition. And the final policy report is expected to fall far short of the EU?s proposed ?right to be forgotten,? which itself is not above criticism.
It?s not all about you
There are essentially three classes of information that impact people?s online reputations:- Items posted by a user for the whole world to see
- Items posted by a user intended only for a select group
- Items posted about a user by a third party
To combat this possibility, industry leaders like Microsoft and Google recommend users be proactive and keep an eye on what?s being said about them online. Both companies recommend regularly searching for all variations on their names in popular search engines to see what turns up. Microsoft?s survey found that only 37 percent of Internet users do this. (Among other things, Google recommends automating these types of searches with a Google Alert. (Unfortunately, you have to have a Google account to do that, and will be subject to Google?s we-track-everything policies.) If you find your online reputation is less flattering than you?d hoped, there?s not much you can do about it: Once something is published on the Internet, it?s essentially available to anyone, forever.
One tactic for maintaining some online privacy can be to keep your personal and professional lives separate. Maybe have one profile that?s public and available to the world ? including employers, schools, government agencies and others. Then, have separate profiles, screen names, and email addresses that handle your personal business, and keep those under tighter control, utilizing the privacy tools available on most social networking services and sites. (Bearing in mind that nothing available on the Internet is truly private.) If you do separate personal and professional roles, don?t cross-pollinate the two! There?s no point to having separate setups if you?re just going to link back and forth between them.
Keep a lid on it
A little over a two years ago, current Google chairman Eric Schmidt opined on CNBC that if people were doing something they didn?t want anyone to know, maybe they shouldn?t be doing it in the first place; Schmidt has also frequently expressed disdain for anonymity online, once declaring it ?too dangerous.? Comments like these from a top executive at one of the world?s most pervasive providers of online services ? and advertising ? should be troubling to anyone who doesn?t feel all the details of their lives ought to be accessible to anyone at any timeAlthough we can?t control what others say about us, or what companies are compiling about us, we do have control over what we do ourselves. A good rule of thumb for managing online privacy and reputation is ?think before you post.? If you?ve separated your personal and professional online lives, make sure you?re logged into the right account. And before posting a candid photo or hot-under-the-collar remark, think ?Is this something I really want associated with me for years?? Because whether you answer yes or no, it will be.
Image credit: Shutterstock / ra2 studio / VLADGRIN
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
More from Digital Trends
Study shows face recognition technology can reveal much more than your image
Why 2012 is starting to look like 1984
Surveys find consumers easily duped by online prize offers
Facebook and the FTC talk new privacy policies
the music man steve smith weather san antonio weather san antonio jerry brown dream act roger williams
[OOC] Named
Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Named"
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Named?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Named"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
-
Demonoid - Member for 1 years
Post a reply
-
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Who is online
Registered users: -raven-, 106.Whit(;, 4ever_dreaming*, Abalyth*, Ace, Airanea, AiraValkov, Allana, anaka*, Anansi, Andreis*, Aniihya*, Annaky, aod0209*, ArcticFox*, Aria Montgomery, AugustaBlaze*, Auricambrflaym, Azure Limit*, Beach-Born-Boy, BekaL101, Beta Type Jakuri, BilgeWater, Billie_blujean, birdguard, Black, Blackangel22, Blackbird26*, BlueWind_22, BSDJoker*, Caelus*, cass-isnt-here, Centraiu, Chaningm92, ChaosxChild13, chaoticklaud, Cheshire_Cat, Choclate~Pyrus*, chocolateloversuntie, ChristineF, Chulance*, cmpuncle, CountessMomo, CriminalMinds*, Cure, DA_SHADOW_PHOENIX*, danm36*, DarknessToDeath23*, dealing with it*, DemiKara*, Demonoid, dig17*, DragonWriter*, Draruto, Drowssword*, DTalon*, Eiris*, Elite-Tiger, emotionless, evilfang, Fatal_Flaw_Enki*, Fearful-lover*, Finalhazard3*, Forensic_Anthro*, gezzygezzy, girlwt*, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Grimpunker96*, Guardian Angel, Halfanelf, HerHeroine*, Horseygirl, iCat, Ikuto Tsukiyomi Fan, Irish Wolf, IronPhoenix, jackrules158, jacobsmacob, Jadeling Hawkins, Jaybt9, JayZeroSnake*, Jeffrey!, JustDrinkTea, Kai, KapugenWolf, Katana_Wing*, kathrin*, Ken Shiro, Kenzi, Kesteven, kkpigs, ktownknight, KuruLesperance, Lady Marmalade, LeNarcissus, Lifecharacter, Lloyd999, Loriana, Lost Socks, lostamongtrees*, LostInFantasy, LuckyNumber24, Lucy100, Luv-is-a-Bug, LycanGod13, MarchHare, Marcus*, Mat_z6, McDevious*, Meesha, mgoodwin2, MidnightDreams, Mr. Crow, Mr_Doomed, MrGuy0250*, MSN [Bot], MSNbot Media, mwills47*, NarrowEye, NasiaWords*, Nemo, Nevermore90, nibblesnbits, nightwolf, NorthernSoul*, oetunianne, Omega_Pancake, Otowar*, Pandex, pathfinder Z, peachyme123, Penfold, pieluver, Planter777*, poeticjustice8012, PolarOpposites*, Porecomesis, Pretty, PrincessBoy*, PrincessX18, Quantumlegacy*, rabble_rouser, Random Kat*, Rawr413*, RedRidingHood*, Rem?us*, Renmiri, rizzyrat, Ropeburn*, RubyBlue, Ryand-Smith*, RydeDawg, Script*, Scumbag_Brain, Scythe Massak?r*, Setsugie, Shiva*, shmband*, SilentButterflies, SinAngel*, SkullJester*, SkullsandSlippers, SkyRight, Smith, Smokescreen, smrtazz13*, Something?, sparkleshine, StandardFiend, Starryskies*, Steppin' Razor*, stormwolf321, SuperQ19, Sweet Angel Jocelyn, sweetgal, Sylwyn, SynapticError, Taiyon, Tearen Wover*, TechGorilla*, teffi90*, The Angry Penguin, The Harbinger*, The Illusionist*, The Painkiller*, The Sickness, The Vampire Mistress*, the_judged*, TheDarkWorgen*, TheFlag, ThePsycoWarlock, TheTreForce*, Thorait, ThumpersDarkSyde, Tiko*, Trickster, True Grave, Usui*, utahann, Velvet_Harmony, VitaminHeart, Vyral*, WadeJackel*, Wake*, Walking-travesty, warlord001, Wet Matches*, WindsOfWhimsy, winged1107, Wudgeous, XavierDantius32*, Xinbane*, Yahoo [Bot], yogitheambrangyl, Zenia, ZeroTolerance, zerr0max*, Ziddie, ? Reality ?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/wk9D3QPYzHs/viewtopic.php
baked alaska battlefield 3 release battlefield 3 release battle field 3 battle field 3 dana wilkey dana wilkey
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Role of A Service Consultant in The Automotive Industry ...
The automotive industry has undergone tremendous changes and development in the 20th century and so far there is no stopping to it. Since the rolling out of the first car, the automotive industry news reports a steep rise in sales, as more and more cars are being produced. In recent times, with so much economic liberalization, attractive finance schemes and tax benefit laws and with increase in the income of the local people, car sales have been hitting new highs. However, with changing times, the mentality of people has changed and today services provided by car manufacturers play a crucial role, apart from car designs and models.
As more companies jump into the automotive sector, buyers have more freedom of choice to select the best of the lot. Unlike earlier times, buyers today pay more attention towards the services provided by the car producers. And with a variety of media around, buyers research and gather more information, before they step into any car dealerships. Hence, with so much of emphasis given on service, the role of the automotive service manager is vital to every car company in the market.
Not only does the automotive service manager coordinate and supervise the duties performed by the service staff, he looks after all the operations carried out by the service department. He has to make sure that all the employees working under him are adhering to company policies and other applicable standards and laws. Because the automotive service manager deals with customers and the service department, he has to be calculative about keeping both, the customer and his staff happy. Also, he does need to have a decent knowledge about mechanics of automobiles, and a pleasing personality to maintain customer satisfaction ratio.
Those employed in the service manager job have to ensure customer retention by not only providing repair and maintenance service but also by communicating and understanding customer?s priorities. He has to analyze and identify market reports, and have a good understanding of current trends making waves in the automotive sector. With so many things in one platter, it goes without saying that the service manager job requires leadership qualities, management know-how, counseling skills, apart from the customer service parameters.
At times, it becomes an arduous task for the automotive service manager to cope up with so many responsibilities and duties, which is time when he needs a service consultant, who will help him to get out of his overloaded work schedule. The main purpose of the service consultant is to counsel service managers, who are buried under the work load which comes with their job profile. Service consultants help service managers on how they can perform their duties in an organized way, which will not only bring down their stress level, but also pump out more productivity.
Service consultants also provide insight to those in the service manager job or service director job on how to calculate the productivity of other employees, and educate them with work practices to enhance their customer service skills. Service consultants take service advisor training as part of the service consulting module and set standards to make sure employees always have a positive approach towards their work and are updated with skills and knowledge so that they can provide a better experience to their customers.
death row naacp cheryl cole x factor freetown freetown nicole scherzinger modern family
Sponsored By:
We were unable to forward you to the advertisement you clicked on.
The likely cause for this is that your browser, feed reader, or email application is configured to not accept cookies, or your reader may launch an external browser to view links without sharing cookies.
- If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure your privacy setting is at medium or below.
- Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
- Click the Privacy tab
- Adjust your privacy setting if necessary
?
- If you're using a reader that embeds Internet Explorer (examples: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Feed Demon), you'll also need to select Internet Explorer as your default web browser.
- Open Internet Explorer
- Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
- Click the 'Programs' tab and check the box for Internet Explorer to check if it is the default browser and save your change
- Close your browser, re-open it, and when prompted, select Internet Explorer as your default
- You can then click on an ad in your newsletter and visit the site you wish to view
Source: http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=d5f5dd2ab572f25bc05a6fd9407b9de1&p=4
crimson tide dixville notch 2013 ford fusion lsu football lsu football bcs jay z glory
What if we could predict tornadoes a month out? Scientists make strides.
Scientists have only a fledging ability now, but a new approach to prediction could eventually allow forecasters to identify portions of states facing high risk for tornadoes in an upcoming month.
Scientists have developed a fledgling ability to predict monthly tornado activity in the US up to one month in advance.
Skip to next paragraphThe technique, which uses existing weather-forecasting tools, is not yet ready for prime time. But in initial tests, the approach showed "statistically significant skill" in predicting regional tornado activity during most months of the year, including the peak of the spring tornado season, the researchers say.
If the approach can be honed sufficiently, eventually it could allow forecasters to identify portions of states facing the highest risk for tornadoes in an upcoming month.
In addition, the technique could help scientists explore a potential direct relationship between global warming and tornado activity. So far, such efforts have focused largely on the relationship between global warming and conditions that can spawn severe thunderstorms, which may or may not trigger tornadoes.
Though the results so far are modest, "this is exciting, because it's a hard problem," says Michael Tippett, a researcher with Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society, who lead the team.
The effort represents "an important early step" along the road to seasonal forecasts of tornado activity, says Harold Brooks, a researcher at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.
One potential audience for such forecasts would be federal and state emergency managers, Dr. Brooks suggests.
"If you were able to say: 'The second half of April is going to be really, really bad,' " it could provide extra lead time to marshal emergency supplies or ratchet up efforts to ensure more people know how to respond to tornado watches and warnings when they are issued, he explains.
Ordinarily, Dr. Tippett spends his time developing or improving ways to make extended-range forecasts of tropical cyclones, or swings in natural climate cycles such as El Ni?o or the Arctic Oscillation.?But that changed last April, when the US experienced its worst tornado outbreak on record. The three-day outbreak from April 25 to 28 spawned 359 tornadoes in 21 states, including four tornadoes that reached EF5, the most destructive category. The outbreak and the thunderstorms that spawned them inflicted at least $11 billion in damage and killed 322 people.
At the time, Tippett says, he noted that forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., "had identified large regions where they thought there was going to be trouble, maybe four or five days in advance."
That implied the presence of large-scale, predictable features in the atmosphere that favor the formation of severe storms.
Researchers have applied the same general concept to produce seasonal hurricane forecasts. Tippett says it dawned on him that key atmospheric features also may encourage tornado-spawning storms to form.
the hobbit trailer prometheus trailer red velvet cake recipe josh krajcik porphyria the civil wars cinnamon rolls
UN refugee chief: economic crisis fueling conflict (AP)
DAVOS, Switzerland ? The U.N.'s refugee chief has warned leaders meeting in Switzerland this week that the global economic crisis is fueling conflicts around the world.
Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Friday that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest.
Guterres says existing humanitarian hotspots in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia aren't going away while new emergencies are emerging in places like South Sudan.
He urged donors to increase funding to prevent aid for 500,000 people in the newly independent country from drying up.
Guterres also says that only if political solutions are found to each crisis can there be peace and security in the world.
school closings giants vs 49ers san francisco 49ers san francisco 49ers news channel 5 49ers news ketamine
Pilot Season: ABC Picks Up Three More Comedy Pilots (omg!)
ABC has picked up comedy pilots for How to Live With Your Parents for the Rest of Your Life, Only Fools & Horses and an untitled project from Due Date's Adam Sztykiel.
How to Live centers on a recently divorced, single mom who moves back in with her eccentric parents who have no boundaries. Accidentally on Purpose's Claudia Lonow created the project and will serve as executive producer alongside Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo.
Get the latest news on all the pilot pickups here
Based on the iconic British series, Only Fools & Horses chronicles the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and their aging grandfather. The trio concoct outrageous and morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in their quest to become millionaires. Happy Endings and Scrubs scribes Steven Cragg and?Brian Bradley will write the pilot.
The Sztykiel project is a raw peek behind the curtain of modern 20-something relationships. Sztykiel will write and co-executive-produce. Sean Perrone and Aaron Kaplan will executive-produce.
ABC previously picked up comedy pilots The Manzanis, White Van Man, Counter Culture, the untitled Dan Fogelman project and a Kari Lizer comedy.
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
lana peters lana peters jennifer nettles jennifer nettles giants vs saints suh suh
Friday, 27 January 2012
Romanians take to streets in austerity winter (Reuters)
BUCHAREST, Jan 27 ? In December 1989, art student Titi Amzar risked his life to join the demonstrations in University Square that brought down reviled communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Now 43, Amzar is back on the square demanding much the same thing - a new leader for Romania.
"All these post-communist governments have been incompetent," Amzar, now a designer, told Reuters at the crossing of broad boulevards in central Bucharest where some 50 protesters were killed more than 20 years ago.
"The political class is the main culprit for the collapse of our economic system and the ills of the society."
Protests against President Traian Basescu and his close ally, Prime Minister Emil Boc, have occurred daily for two weeks and spread around the country, initially against proposed health reforms but quickly broadening to express unhappiness with tough austerity measures and corruption.
Many demonstrators, like Amzar, have also criticized the opposition and questioned if any of Romania's current leaders can fix the country's problems.
The unrest, the worst in more than a decade, is still far from serious enough to sway policy or threaten the government.
But it may derail Boc's chances in parliamentary elections late in 2012 and leave Basescu, who will not face the voters until presidential elections in 2014, stuck in an unhappy marriage with his opponents.
Basescu has a theoretically non-executive position but makes almost all major Romanian policy announcements himself, including wage and pension cuts in 2010, a new International Monetary Fund deal and withdrawal of the healthcare reforms.
The bluff former sea captain, president since 2004, made a serious misstep when he criticized the popular deputy health minister Raed Arafat, prompting his resignation and sparking the demonstrations.
Basescu had accused Arafat, a Palestinian-born doctor who created Romania's widely admired main emergency response system, of being a left-winger - a sensitive thing to say in post-communist Romania - after he opposed privatization of the health system.
STILL POOR
While Romania has made huge strides in the last 20 years, its per capita income is still less than half the EU average and it is still markedly poorer than other former communist countries like Poland and Hungary. Many villages and even some parts of Bucharest still have no running water or electricity.
Romanians tended to suffer quietly under communism and there was no equivalent of 1956 in Hungary or the 1968 Prague Spring. But tempers boiled over in 1989 after years of food and energy shortages and Romania's revolution was that year's bloodiest, with more than 1,000 killed.
The thousands who have taken to the streets this month chose
University Square, where the 1989 protesters assembled and now known as 'Kilometer Zero of Democracy', to echo the events of that year.
They are angry about lack of progress in catching up with other members of the European Union and a perception that politicians are more interested in lining their pockets than working to improve the country.
"Romanians put up with a lot if they perceive the government to be fair, but this government has come to be seen as acting unilaterally and imposing discretionary cuts," said Alina Mungiu-Pippidi of the Romanian Academic Society thinktank.
The demonstrators wave placards comparing Basescu with Ceausescu and Dracula, saying he is sucking the nation's blood. But they also criticize the opposition, some of whose MPs have said they will push for Basescu's impeachment.
Although the protests have been mostly peaceful, demonstrators have thrown bricks and set fires, prompting the police to respond with tear gas.
"A large majority of the population would now like 'Basescu out' but beats a retreat when the talk turns to who they would like to put in," wrote Grigore Cartianu, editor of daily Adevarul.
LONG WAY BACK
The Basescu/Boc team presided over boom and bust and passed some of Europe's harshest austerity to balance the economy, including 25 percent salary cuts and a 5 point hike in value added tax.
About three quarters of the population think the country is heading in the wrong direction, a Eurobarometer survey showed.
"The whole system is wrong ... otherwise how can one explain that people who work legally don't have the basics assured from a state salary?" said 42-year-old Daniela Lupu, a public clerk who lives on a monthly wage of just 700 lei ($210) a month.
Boc has effectively admitted the weakness of his Democrat-Liberal party's position by reappointing Arafat and has a long way back from 18 percent in opinion polls, compared with about 50 percent for the USL, an uneasy leftist alliance.
The USL has promised to revoke some austerity measures and if it sticks together and polls well enough to take power it would be stuck with Basescu - who can delay and try to block legislation - until 2014.
Ultimately Boc and Basescu will be judged on results. But with growth of only about 2 percent expected this year, the clock is ticking.
"If in spring some growth starts coming then they can start reaping benefit. If it doesn't come by then, it's too late," said Guy Burrow, partner at consultancy Candole in Bucharest.
Amzar, protesting in the chill breeze on University Square, runs his own small advertising business which has been hurt by dwindling demand, though he has not been directly affected by salary or pension cuts.
"It is clear that incompetence, siphoning of public money and improper laws designed for cronies have affected the whole economy," he said.
"I don't love Basescu's government nor do I like the opposition - all the politicians now are like dogs fighting over a bone."
($1 = 3.4134 Romanian lei)
(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
rocky horror picture show risky business weather nj weather nj nyc weather nyc weather philadelphia weather
Cops: Fla. man arrested for gruesome Conn. slaying (AP)
LYNN HAVEN, Fla. ? A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly hacking to death a Connecticut man and eating the victim's eye and part of his brain, police said Wednesday.
Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, was arrested Tuesday night on a Connecticut warrant for murder, according to police in Lynn Haven, Fla.
A property inspector discovered the body of Angel L. Gonzalez on Friday on the third floor of an abandoned home in Bridgeport, Conn., according to that city's police department. A medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt head trauma and ruled Gonzalez's death a homicide.
On Monday a cousin of Smith's in Connecticut contacted the Bridgeport police about Gonzalez's death. She told detectives that Smith had arrived at her house Dec. 15 and said he wanted to "get blood on his hands" before going to a park and then to the abandoned home, where he used to live, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The next day, Smith returned to the cousin's house with blood on his pants, hands and an axe, the affidavit said. Smith's cousin said he told her that he was sleeping on a porch at the abandoned home when we was awakened by a Hispanic man and invited inside. Then Smith described beating the man's face and head with the axe and collecting one of his eyes, a piece of his skull some of his brain matter, which he consumed in a nearby cemetery, the affidavit said.
The cousin told detectives she called Smith's mother, who notified police on Dec. 16 that they may want to check the abandoned home and that her son had "mental issues," the affidavit said.
Smith had left Connecticut for Florida on Friday on a Greyhound Bus, the cousin told detectives. Police and Smith's relatives reached Smith by telephone, and in a recorded call Smith admitted that he had been at the abandoned house and that he told a relative that he had killed the man, according to the affidavit.
Federal, state and local law enforcement officers took Smith into custody at an apartment Tuesday night without incident, Lynn Haven police said.
It was not immediately clear whether Smith had an attorney.
batman arkham city weather orlando winston churchill winston churchill arkham city conjugated linoleic acid world series schedule
Elevated risk factors linked to major cardiovascular disease events across a lifetime
Elevated risk factors linked to major cardiovascular disease events across a lifetime
Thursday, January 26, 2012In one of the largest-ever analyses of lifetime risks for cardiovascular disease (CVD), researchers have found that middle-aged adults who have one or more elevated traditional risk factors for CVD, such as high blood pressure, have a substantially greater chance of having a major CVD event, such as heart attack or stroke, during their remaining lifetime than people with optimal levels of risk factors. This National Institutes of Health-supported study used health data from 257,384 people and was the first to look simultaneously at multiple risk factors for CVD across age, sex, race, and birth generation.
The paper will be published in the January 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"This paper adds to the substantial body of evidence that modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors in healthy men and women heavily influence the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease later in life, regardless of their backgrounds," said Susan B. Shurin, M.D., acting director of the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
"Prevention of cardiovascular disease is a lifetime opportunity for and a responsibility of individuals, families, communities, and the health care system. This paper reinforces that cardiovascular disease can be prevented and controlled throughout the course of an adult's lifetime," she added.
As part of the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project, investigators analyzed 50 years of data from 18 existing cohort, or population-based, studies in the United States. The investigators pooled the data from the 18 cohorts and measured traditional CVD risk factors ? including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and smoking status ? in men and women from both black and white populations at ages 45, 55, 65, and 75 years.
Men who were 55 years old with at least two major risk factors were six times as likely to die from CVD by age 80 as were men with none or one CVD risk factor (29.6 percent vs. 4.7 percent). Women with at least two major risk factors were three times as likely to die from CVD as were women with no or one CVD risk factor (20.5 percent vs. 6.4 percent).
When all CVD events ? fatal and non-fatal ? were considered, the results were even more striking. Forty-five-year-old men with two or more risk factors had a 49.5 percent chance of having a major CVD event through age 80, while 45-year-old women had a 30.7 percent chance. On the other hand, men with optimal risk factor levels only had a 1.4 percent chance of having a major CVD event, while women had a 4.1 percent chance of having a major CVD event through age 80.
The results from each individual study were consistent with one another and with those of the pooled group, and showed that traditional risk factors predicted a person's long-term development of CVD more than age. All of the risk factors appeared to carry the same levels of risk as they did 20, 30, or 40 years ago. While black Americans had a higher prevalence of CVD risk factors than white Americans, their lifetime risks were similar when their risk factor profiles were similar.
"In general, previous studies have only looked at CVD risk factors across one specific age or gender in white populations," said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., principal investigator of the study and an associate professor and chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. "We analyzed an enormous pool of available data, which allowed for a more precise estimate of lifetime CVD risks across the age, sex, race, and risk factor spectrum."
Lloyd-Jones added, "These data have important implications for prevention. We need to get more serious about promoting healthy lifestyles in children and young adults, since even mild elevations in risk factors by middle age seem to have profound effects on the remaining lifetime risks for CVD."
The NHLBI supported several of the cohort studies involved, including the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Cardiovascular Heart Study, Framingham Heart Study, Framingham Offspring Study, Honolulu Heart Program, Puerto Rico Heart Health Program, and Women's Health Initiative.
"This paper illustrates the power of pooling data from epidemiological studies," said Michael Lauer, M.D., director of the NHLBI's Division of Cardiovascular Sciences. "Because of the U.S. government's investments in these studies, it was possible for the investigators to gather and analyze data on over a quarter of a million people, which could lead to substantial public health and clinical practice implications."
"It is important for adults to know their blood pressure and cholesterol numbers and whether they are at risk for diabetes and also to understand the different approaches they can take to prevent or control their risks for CVD. As American Heart Month approaches in February, this paper underscores the importance of raising awareness of heart disease and coronary heart disease ? the most common type of heart disease and the number one killer of both men and women in the United States," said Lloyd-Jones and Shurin.
In an effort to help people reduce their risks of cardiovascular disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently launched the Million Hearts Campaign, a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.
Also, in December 2010, in an effort to promote healthy behaviors and prevent diseases, including cardiovascular disease, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched Healthy People 2020. Healthy People 2020 and its specific, measurable health objectives represent the nation's disease prevention and health promotion goals for the coming decade.
###
NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov
Thanks to NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute 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.
This press release has been viewed 8 time(s).
port charlotte florida kit homes boxing day radio shack bethany hamilton bethany hamilton after christmas sales
Thursday, 26 January 2012
With a little help from our ancient friends
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Cameron
david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School
A new study of hunter-gatherers suggests social networks sparked evolution of cooperation
Boston, MA (January 25, 2012)Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests.
The study's findings describe elements of social network structures that may have been present early in human history, suggesting how our ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes, including the tendency to cooperate. According to the paper, social networks likely contributed to the evolution of cooperation.
"The astonishing thing is that ancient human social networks so very much resemble what we see today," said Nicholas Christakis, professor of medical sociology and medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of sociology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and senior author on the study. "From the time we were around campfires and had words floating through the air, to today when we have digital packets floating through the ether, we've made networks of basically the same kind."
"We found that what modern people are doing with online social networks is what we've always donenot just before Facebook, but before agriculture," said study co-author James Fowler, professor of medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego, who, with Christakis, has authored a number of seminal studies of human social networks.
The findings will be published January 26 in Nature.
Roots of altruism
The natural world, red in tooth and claw, has a gentle side. While individuals compete fiercely to ensure the proliferation of their progeny, a few animals, including humans, also cooperate and act altruistically. Researchers have wondered if human social networks are a product of modern lifestyles, or if they could have emerged under the kind of conditions that our distant ancestors faced. This question has been challenging for classic evolutionary theory to explain neatly.
For cooperation to arise, an altruistic act, like sharing food with a non-relative, must have a net benefit for the sharers. Otherwise, purely self-serving individuals would outcompete and eventually replace the selfless. All theoretical explanations for the evolution of cooperationkin selection, reciprocal altruism, group selectionrely on the existence of some system that allows cooperators to group together with other individuals who tend to share.
"If you can get cooperators to cluster together in social space, cooperation can evolve," said Coren Apicella, a post-doctoral research fellow in Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and first author on the paper. "Social networks allow this to happen."
While it is not possible to quiz our distant ancestors about their friendships or habits of sharing and collaborating, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Cambridge have characterized the structure of social networks among the Hadza, an ethnic group in the Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania, one of the last surviving groups of hunter gathers. (There are less than 1,000 Hadza left who live in the traditional way).
Getting connected
The Hadza lifestyle predates the invention of agriculture. The Hadza eat a wide range of wild foods, foraging for tubers, nuts, and fruit and hunting a great variety of animals, including flamingos, shrews, and giraffes. Honey is one of their favorite foods, known by half a dozen different names in Hadzane, their primary language.
Apicella took the lead in collecting the data for the study, interviewing 205 adult Hadza over the course two months, measuring their tendency to cooperate and mapping their friendships.
Apicella, Fowler and Christakis designed the study and experiments, working with Frank Marlowe, lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge, and author of the only book-length ethnography on the Hadza in English.
Collecting the data was not easy. The nomadic Hadza roam over 4,000 rugged square kilometers. Apicella and her research assistants travelled the region by Land Cruiser battling mud-drenched trailsat one point forcing her and her colleagues to pave the ground with felled treesand, on an earlier trip, even fleeing a horde of marauding elephants.
In order to construct a social network, Apicella and her colleagues took a dual approach. First, they asked Hadza adults to identify individuals they would prefer to live with in their next encampment. Second, they gave each adult three straws of honey and were told they could give these straws as gifts to anyone in their camp. This generated 1,263 campmate ties and 426 gift ties.
In a separate activity, the researchers measured levels of cooperation by giving the Hadza additional honey straws that they could either keep for themselves or donate to the group.
When the networks were mapped and analyzed, the researchers found that co-operators and non-cooperators formed distinct clusters.
The researchers also measured the connectedness of people with similar height, age, handgrip strength, etc., and other characteristics, such as food preference. They also analyzed the transitivity of friendshipthe likelihood that one's friends are friends with one another, and other network properties.
The structure and dynamics of the Hadza hunter-gatherer social networks were essentially indistinguishable from existing social network data drawn from modern communities.
"We turned the data over lots of different ways," said Fowler. "We looked at over a dozen measures that social network analysts use to compare networks and pretty much, the Hadza are just like us."
"Human beings are unusual among species in the extent to which we form long-term, non-reproductive unions with other members of our species," said Christakis. "In other words, not only do we have sex, but we also have friends."
Previous work by Christakis and Fowler, who are coauthors of the book "Connected," has shown that our experience of the world depends on where we find ourselves within social networks. Particular studies have found that networks influence a surprising variety of lifestyle and health factors, such as how prone you are to obesity, smoking cessation, and even happiness.
For the researchers, the Hadza offer strong new evidence that social networks are a truly ancient, perhaps integral part of the human story.
###
This research was funded by the National Institute on Aging and by the Science of Generosity Initiative of the University of Notre Dame.
Written by Jake Miller
Citation:
Nature, Jan. 26, 2012
"Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers" by Coren L. Apicella, et al.
Additional contact:
Inga Kiderra, University of California, San Diego
ikiderra@ucsd.edu
858-822-0661
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 25-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Cameron
david_cameron@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0441
Harvard Medical School
A new study of hunter-gatherers suggests social networks sparked evolution of cooperation
Boston, MA (January 25, 2012)Ancient humans may not have had the luxury of updating their Facebook status, but social networks were nevertheless an essential component of their lives, a new study suggests.
The study's findings describe elements of social network structures that may have been present early in human history, suggesting how our ancestors may have formed ties with both kin and non-kin based on shared attributes, including the tendency to cooperate. According to the paper, social networks likely contributed to the evolution of cooperation.
"The astonishing thing is that ancient human social networks so very much resemble what we see today," said Nicholas Christakis, professor of medical sociology and medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of sociology in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and senior author on the study. "From the time we were around campfires and had words floating through the air, to today when we have digital packets floating through the ether, we've made networks of basically the same kind."
"We found that what modern people are doing with online social networks is what we've always donenot just before Facebook, but before agriculture," said study co-author James Fowler, professor of medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego, who, with Christakis, has authored a number of seminal studies of human social networks.
The findings will be published January 26 in Nature.
Roots of altruism
The natural world, red in tooth and claw, has a gentle side. While individuals compete fiercely to ensure the proliferation of their progeny, a few animals, including humans, also cooperate and act altruistically. Researchers have wondered if human social networks are a product of modern lifestyles, or if they could have emerged under the kind of conditions that our distant ancestors faced. This question has been challenging for classic evolutionary theory to explain neatly.
For cooperation to arise, an altruistic act, like sharing food with a non-relative, must have a net benefit for the sharers. Otherwise, purely self-serving individuals would outcompete and eventually replace the selfless. All theoretical explanations for the evolution of cooperationkin selection, reciprocal altruism, group selectionrely on the existence of some system that allows cooperators to group together with other individuals who tend to share.
"If you can get cooperators to cluster together in social space, cooperation can evolve," said Coren Apicella, a post-doctoral research fellow in Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and first author on the paper. "Social networks allow this to happen."
While it is not possible to quiz our distant ancestors about their friendships or habits of sharing and collaborating, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Cambridge have characterized the structure of social networks among the Hadza, an ethnic group in the Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania, one of the last surviving groups of hunter gathers. (There are less than 1,000 Hadza left who live in the traditional way).
Getting connected
The Hadza lifestyle predates the invention of agriculture. The Hadza eat a wide range of wild foods, foraging for tubers, nuts, and fruit and hunting a great variety of animals, including flamingos, shrews, and giraffes. Honey is one of their favorite foods, known by half a dozen different names in Hadzane, their primary language.
Apicella took the lead in collecting the data for the study, interviewing 205 adult Hadza over the course two months, measuring their tendency to cooperate and mapping their friendships.
Apicella, Fowler and Christakis designed the study and experiments, working with Frank Marlowe, lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Cambridge, and author of the only book-length ethnography on the Hadza in English.
Collecting the data was not easy. The nomadic Hadza roam over 4,000 rugged square kilometers. Apicella and her research assistants travelled the region by Land Cruiser battling mud-drenched trailsat one point forcing her and her colleagues to pave the ground with felled treesand, on an earlier trip, even fleeing a horde of marauding elephants.
In order to construct a social network, Apicella and her colleagues took a dual approach. First, they asked Hadza adults to identify individuals they would prefer to live with in their next encampment. Second, they gave each adult three straws of honey and were told they could give these straws as gifts to anyone in their camp. This generated 1,263 campmate ties and 426 gift ties.
In a separate activity, the researchers measured levels of cooperation by giving the Hadza additional honey straws that they could either keep for themselves or donate to the group.
When the networks were mapped and analyzed, the researchers found that co-operators and non-cooperators formed distinct clusters.
The researchers also measured the connectedness of people with similar height, age, handgrip strength, etc., and other characteristics, such as food preference. They also analyzed the transitivity of friendshipthe likelihood that one's friends are friends with one another, and other network properties.
The structure and dynamics of the Hadza hunter-gatherer social networks were essentially indistinguishable from existing social network data drawn from modern communities.
"We turned the data over lots of different ways," said Fowler. "We looked at over a dozen measures that social network analysts use to compare networks and pretty much, the Hadza are just like us."
"Human beings are unusual among species in the extent to which we form long-term, non-reproductive unions with other members of our species," said Christakis. "In other words, not only do we have sex, but we also have friends."
Previous work by Christakis and Fowler, who are coauthors of the book "Connected," has shown that our experience of the world depends on where we find ourselves within social networks. Particular studies have found that networks influence a surprising variety of lifestyle and health factors, such as how prone you are to obesity, smoking cessation, and even happiness.
For the researchers, the Hadza offer strong new evidence that social networks are a truly ancient, perhaps integral part of the human story.
###
This research was funded by the National Institute on Aging and by the Science of Generosity Initiative of the University of Notre Dame.
Written by Jake Miller
Citation:
Nature, Jan. 26, 2012
"Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers" by Coren L. Apicella, et al.
Additional contact:
Inga Kiderra, University of California, San Diego
ikiderra@ucsd.edu
858-822-0661
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/hms-wal012312.php
idaho potato bowl cagayan de oro cagayan de oro bowl schedule 2011 barefoot bandit bowl schedule barry bonds
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)