Haley Barbour, who served as Mississippi governor when Hurricane Katrina hit his state, asserted Thursday that ?Hurricane Sandy saved Barack Obama?s presidency.?
?It broke the momentum that Romney had coming in at the end of October,? the former chairman of the Republican National Committee told TODAY?s Matt Lauer.
Barbour said too much attention was placed on the praise New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie showered on Obama when the president arrived to tour the damage the storm had left on the state.
?That?s not Chris Christie?s fault. Now, I do think the news media made a much bigger deal out of it that made it sound like Christie was almost endorsing Obama,? he said. ?All Christie said was, the president is trying to be a good partner.?
Mitt Romney also has blamed Sandy as a factor in his loss to the president. During a private breakfast Wednesday with his most loyal and generous campaign donors, Romney stopped short of blaming Christie directly. However, he did echo Barbour's belief that Sandy stunted his momentum in the final week of his campaign, the Washington Post reported, based on interviews with those attending.
Barbour said that a governor needs to do what?s in ?the best interest of his state and his people.? And in this case, it was to establish a good tone for what will be a years-long relationship with the federal government.
Read story: Obama and Christie's shared praise far from unusual
Barbour said he did the same thing with former President Bush after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast region in 2005 and yet "the press attacked me for not criticizing, said that was partisan."
"I did exactly what Chris Christie did in this sense. I was taught criticize in private, praise in public," he said.
Barbour defended the Republicans' handling of the presidential campaign, saying it was nearly impossible for a new party to take over the White House from an incumbent.
?The country is very divided. It wasn?t like some big blowout for the Democrats,? he said.
What the nation should focus on is how the election drew 11.5 million fewer voters to the poll.
?That to me is something we need to all think about, Republicans and Democrats,? he said.?
More:?Elizabeth Warren on deficit: 'There's room for compromise'? Six splitting headache waiting for President Obama? Obama victory photo is his most re-tweeted ever?
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? News Corp. said Tuesday that net income for the latest quarter tripled from a year ago, reflecting a one-time gain from the sale of its stake in digital video technology company NDS. Revenue rose 2 percent thanks to growth at pay TV networks such as Fox News Channel.
Fiscal first-quarter net income came to $2.23 billion, or 94 cents per share, compared with $738 million, or 28 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding about $1.38 billion in special gains, largely due to the NDS sale, adjusted earnings came to 43 cents per share, beating the 37 cents expected by analysts polled by FactSet. News Corp. had a 49 percent stake in NDS, which was acquired by Cisco Systems Inc. in July.
Revenue of $8.14 billion was roughly in line with the $8.15 billion analysts were looking for.
Shares rose 52 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $24.80 in after-hours trading following the release of results. In the regular session, shares closed up 36 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $24.28.
The company, which is controlled by CEO Rupert Murdoch, said that charges related to the phone hacking scandal in Britain came to $67 million, up from $17 million a year earlier. For the fiscal year through this past June, the company had already spent $224 million handling a U.K. probe into allegations against its newspapers.
At its U.S. pay TV networks, advertising revenue rose 8 percent, led by Fox News and its regional sports networks. Fees from distributors such as cable TV companies rose 16 percent domestically. The segment was again the company's most profitable, generating operating profit of $953 million on $2.45 billion in revenue.
The company said it expects full-year adjusted operating income in the year through next June to grow in the "high single- to low double-digit" percentages from the $5.6 billion made in the most recent fiscal year. The forecast excludes the $224 million spent on the U.K. probe in fiscal 2012.
The company is in the midst of a plan to split into two companies, one housing its newspapers, Australian operations and for-profit education business, and the other its more profitable TV and movie businesses.
Despite the split, analysts remain concerned that company founder Murdoch would use company cash ? which grew to $12 billion in the quarter from $9.6 billion at the end of June ? to spend on expensive acquisitions.
Last week, Murdoch used Twitter to criticize the announced merger between Pearson PLC's Penguin Books and Bertelsmann SE's Random House as a "faux merger disaster." That sparked speculation that he would make a bold bid to buy Penguin and merge it with News Corp.'s HarperCollins.
Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said he was not about to "comment on Rupert's tweets."
"I'm not going to get too deep into the rumors on what we're buying or what we're looking at," he said.
Never mind the spin and the overly spun ? here?s who had a good and bad weekend as the MLS conference semifinal first legs played out over four cities over the weekend:
WINNERS
MLS Cup host hopes for Real Salt Lake, Seattle and Los Angeles: San Jose still has the inside track, of course. But when Houston seized control of its home-and-away series against top Eastern seed Sporting Kansas City, hope began to float for these three Western Conference hopefuls. Previously, even if they had gotten past San Jose (the top Western seed), the conventional wisdom said the big 2012 decider date would go to Kansas City. Now?hmmmmm.
Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando: I?m not quite sure it was quite what it?s been made out to be. The tendency to make the present more historically significant than it really is will always be a powerful force. Still, he was exceptional against Seattle, doing so much heavy lifting in his team?s 0-0 draw.
Every center back on the field in Houston: Sporting Kansas City?s Matt Besler was best of all, but central partner Aurelien Collin (who won everything falling his way in the air), along with Houston?s Bobby Boswell and Jermaine Taylor, all had strong matches. Collin did have one bad moment, getting turned on the home team?s second goal. (And Taylor had to leave, injured, so his day was ultimately undone by misfortune.)
RSL center back depth: Speaking of strong performances along the back line, Kwame Watson-Siriboe is RSL?s fourth choice. But you sure couldn?t tell it from the performance he put in Friday against Seattle.
Dominic Kinnear: The Dynamo manager won two playoff games; his spiffy post-season record now stands at 12-7-4.
LOSERS
Anyone who likes scoring:?Four matches, five goals. Blek!
Three home teams that couldn?t get it done: Neither D.C. United nor Seattle could exploit their initial home field advantage. The idea is to win at home, which doesn?t just provide the obvious, numerical edge in goals. It also shifts more of the second-leg pressure over to the other guys. Win at home and you just need a draw on the road ? and the other fellows know it. Well, D.C. United and Seattle may be sitting pretty next to the Galaxy, who can win by a goal at San Jose and not be assured of advancing. Houston?s win at home meant the hosts were 1-1-2 during the weekend.
Logic: Yes, logic. Because I keep hearing about how a failure to win at home in these first legs wasn?t so bad. No, it?s not grim disaster wrapped in imminent doom, but it?s certainly not ideal, now is it? Bottom line here, three of four home teams failed to score a goal at home (no matter how hot a certain goalkeeper was). That spells ?opportunity lost? in my book.
Landon Donovan: He keeps telling us that he feels older than 30. Now he?s starting to look the part, too. Not only in Sunday?s loss to San Jose, but in the win over Vancouver, Donovan seemed to be missing some his old zip and zoom. He needs to deliver big in Wednesday?s return leg in Northern California.
Andy Najar: Whether you believe the young D.C. United right back?s story, that he wasn?t really throwing the ball at referee Jair Marrufo is really beside the point. It was a silly, silly thing to do. It hurt his team, not just Saturday, but in Wednesday?s return leg, too.
AND SOME ?TIES?
Goalkeepers: Rimando, Seattle?s Michael Gspurning and New York?s Luis Robles, held up their end, but gaffes by Los Angeles? Josh Saunders and D.C. United?s Bill Hamid split the decision here. (San Jose?s Jon Busch and Houston?s Tally Hall were fine, even if neither were too busy.)
PARIS (AP) ? The French Cabinet has approved a bill legalizing gay marriage, sending the measure to the legislature for debate the day after Maine and Maryland became the first American states to approve same-sex marriage in a popular vote.
Gay marriage has become a contentious issue in France, where President Francois Hollande made it a cornerstone of his campaign. At the time, it appeared to have the backing of a majority of the population, but support has fallen off amid vocal opposition from religious and rural leaders.
Lawmakers from the conservative UMP denounced the Cabinet approval Wednesday.
"It's the end of the family, the end of children's development, the end of education. It's an enormous danger to the nation," UMP senator Serge Dassault said on the radio show France Culture.
If you are interested in a highly efficient, environmentally friendly way to heat and cool your Mentor?home, then you may want to consider the installation of a geothermal heating and air conditioning system in your home. Geothermal heat pump systems are a great way to reduce your energy consumption and utility bills while also reducing your impact on the environment. If you?d like to learn more about geothermal heating and air conditioning systems ore are interested in scheduling a property evaluation or installation, call the geothermal experts at Apple Heating & Cooling today. We are happy to discuss the benefits of geothermal systems with you as well as what the installation process entails and operational procedures. Call today for more information.
A geothermal system, unlike more traditional heating and air conditioning systems, does not consume a fuel source to create energy. They use a heat pump to transfer ambient energy from the ground or a water source on your property to heat your home, and in the warmer seasons the process can be reversed and the geothermal heat pump system will remove heat from your home and move it back outside. While a geothermal heating and air conditioning system does not need a fuel source to create energy the way that a gas or electric furnace does, it does require access to electricity to perform its function. The way in which it uses this electricity, though, is much different from and more efficient than other heating and cooling system options.
Because geothermal systems do not use electricity to create heat but rather to transfer preexisting heat, much less of that electricity is needed to heat or cool your home. This is not only great for energy efficiency, but it is also good for utility companies. You may think that the utilities would frown upon a reduction in the use of electricity, but in fact the steady draw of electricity that geothermal systems create helps to reduce the spikes in electricity consumption during peak hours of use. This actually can help to make electricity more reliable and less expensive for all users, as it is not overloading the utilities electrical supplies.
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Tags: Ashtabula, Electricity, energy efficiency, Geneva, Geothermal, Mentor
Monday, November 5th, 2012 at 8:00 am | Categories: Geothermal |
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
Friday Oct. 26 3:45 p.m.
The latest European hurricane forecasting model (ECMWF) shows the predicted track of hurricane Sandy coming into closer agreement with the US Global Forecast System (GFS).
The ECMWF model was showing a more southern track for Sandy, with landfall occurring on Monday afternoon. Now, the European model shows Sandy on a more northward track with the center of the storm coming ashore at New Jersey early Tuesday morning.
If you look at the 2 p.m. EDT Friday National Hurricane Center's forecast track for Sandy, the European supercomputers predict Sandy will land at the northern part of the cone (see below).
Bear in mind that meteorologists stress that, beyond 24 hours, the accuracy of these models becomes less certain. And this is one of the more complex storm systems, with many moving parts, which could alter Sandy's track. For example, if the blocking high pressure area in the northern Atlantic moves off sooner than predicted, Sandy wouldn't hang a left toward the East Coast. But most forecasts predict the high to force Sandy to turn toward the coast.
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Friday Oct. 26 3:35 p.m.
Hurricane Sandy, which according to the AP has so far left 39 people dead in the Caribbean, is shaping up to be a big deal. The Monitor's Ron Scherer quotes forecasters warning of widespread flooding, storm surges, snow in the Appalachians, and heavy wind damage from the slow-moving storm.
Weather Underground's Jeff Masters says that the storm is "likely to be a billion-dollar disaster." At AccuWeather, meteorologist Joe Lundberg writes that if Sandy makes landfall near Long Island or northern New Jersey, which he says is the most likely scenario, it would be "an economic and human disaster on multiple levels."
Another meteorologist described Sandy in even more colorful terms: A blog post by AccuWeather's?Senior Vice President Mike Smith quotes a Facebook post from a "very prominent and respected National Weather Service meteorologist," which reads:?"I've never seen anything like this and I'm at a loss for expletives to describe what this storm could do."
Both Virginia and Maryland? have declared states of emergency ahead of the storm, and voluntary evacuation orders have been issued for New Jersey's Cape May County, the Garden State's southernmost county. ?
There are a lot of moving parts to this weather system, meaning that the computer models could be inaccurate and Sandy could fizzle. But if you live on the East Coast between Virginia and Maine, it's worth it to stock up on batteries and water, and to make a straightforward evacuation plan. Check the Monitor's?list of hurricane preparedness tips for specifics.
Friday Oct. 26 1:55 p.m.
Sandy is just a Category 1 hurricane (74-95 mph winds). What's all the fuss?
The short answer: Storm surge over a wide area, over a sustained period.
Aside from the hybrid mega-storm aka Frankenstorm stuff that we've cited below, there's the sheer size of Sandy. She's big. Sandy's got some girth, and she's expected to get bigger.
Sandy has grown in size every day, with tropical storm force winds now extending 275 miles? from the center. But Monday or Tuesday, there are forecasts that indicate Sandy could have strong winds 400 miles from her center.
The 11 a.m. EDT National Hurricane Center report showed some slowing of her speed, and her winds aren't getting stronger. And Sandy's a little less "organized." But her reach is growing. Rather than high winds in tight, her 80 mph winds are reaching out further. That's part of the concern among meteorologists.
High winds will keep the storm surge threat high. "This large wind field will likely drive a storm surge of 3 - 6 feet on Monday and Tuesday to the right of where the center makes landfall, on the mid-Atlantic or New York coasts. These storm surge heights will be among the highest ever recorded along the affected coasts, and will have the potential to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage," writes? Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground.com
Dr. Masters goes on to write:
"The latest H*Wind analysis from NOAA's Hurricane Research Division put the destructive potential of Sandy's winds at 2.1 on a scale of 0 to 6, and the destructive potential of the storm surge much higher, at 4.2 on a scale of 0 to 6. The full moon is on Monday, which means astronomical tides will be at their peak for the month, increasing potential storm surge flooding. With Sandy's strongest winds expected to last at least 12 hours near the time of landfall, the peak storm surge will affect the coast for at least one high tide cycle, and possibly two. This will greatly increase the potential for storm surge damage and coastal erosion. If Sandy hits Long Island, as the GFS (Global Forcast System) model predicts, the storm surge will be capable of over-topping the flood walls in Manhattan and flooding portions of the New York City subway system."
Friday Oct. 26 12:55 p.m.
Gov. Martin O'Malley is declaring a state of emergency across Maryland as Hurricane Sandy approaches, the Associated Press reports.
O'Malley said Friday the declaration gives the state flexibility to activate the Maryland National Guard and provide assistance to local emergency managers. He says everyone should prepare for extreme weather by reviewing their family emergency plans, checking their emergency supplies staying informed.
Heavy rain and high winds are expected to reach the Maryland coast Saturday night. Forecasters predict several days of foul weather including the possibility of snow in the western Maryland mountains.
Friday Oct. 26 12:40 p.m.
Why is Sandy a 'Frankenstorm'? There's more to the moniker than a hurricane arriving just ahead of Halloween.
Hurricane Sandy is a tropical cyclone. But computer models say it's on a collision course with a "extratropical trough" - a low-pressure storm system associated with the jet stream.
A tropical cyclone gets its energy from warm water. So, under normal circumstances, Hurricane Sandy would lose energy as it moved north and came ashore on the East Coast.
But the computer models say that won't happen this time. In this rare case, Sandy will meet up with an "extratropical trough" which draws energy not from the surface temperatures but from the temperature differential between the cold polar air and warm tropical air. The jet stream itself "is tightly coupled to that temperature contrast. The contrast in temperatures between air masses is ultimately what drives the jet stream, and the stronger the temperature contrast, the stronger the jet stream will be," explains Adam Sobel an atmospheric scientist and a professor at Columbia University.
The jet stream, which this extratropical trough is associated with, is unusually far south right now.
When Sandy moves ashore it will likely form a hybrid storm with properties of both types of storms - thus the 'Frankenstom' label. This type of storm is rare and the computer models are struggling to figure out exactly what will happen. But as Sobel notes in a thorough explanation of this on Climatecentral.org, "this new energy source will enable Sandy to maintain its intensity, or maybe even increase it."
Friday Oct. 26 11 a.m.
Meteorologists are looking at the computer models and are freaking out. They've not seen predictions of barometric pressures dropping this low in these parts of the US in their lifetimes.The NOAA Hydrometeorological Prediction Center Extended Forecast discussion notes that computer models "SHOW PRESSURE SOLUTIONS WELL BEYOND WHAT HAS EVER BEEN OBSERVED NEAR THE NEW JERSEY/NEW YORK COAST (EVEN EXCEEDING THE 1938 LONG ISLAND EXPRESS HURRICANE)."
As the?Capital Weather Gang blog observes:
"The clash of the cold blast from the continental U.S. and the massive surge of warm, moist air from Hurricane Sandy will cause the storm to explode and the pressure to crash.
These historic low pressure levels simulated by the model are equivalent to a category 3 or 4 hurricane, which have peak winds over 115 mph. But Sandy?s winds will not be that high, because as it transitions into this hybrid hurricane-nor?easter monster, its core will unwind. So its peak winds will diminish, but strong winds will be felt over a vast area."
Friday Oct. 26 10:10 am
Remember Snoctober? Last October, just before Halloween, an early snowstorm hit the East Coast and knocked out power to more than 2 million residents from Pennsylvania to New England. Many homes were without power for days and some folks didn't get their electricity back for weeks.?
Well, state governments and private utility companies don't want a repeat of the Snomaggedon of last fall. Utility companies from North Carolina to Vermont are canceling vacations and arranging for power repair crews to come from the Midwest to help out.
AP reports: "A spokesman for Unitil in New Hampshire says the utility is talking to crews as far away as Tennessee and Michigan to make sure they will be available. Alec O' Meara said typically, Unitil talks about reaching to contractors as far as three days in advance of a storm, but the calls are being made sooner than that this time."
The Associated Press reports that Vermont is also warning farmers to prep for Sandy.
"The Vermont Agency of Agriculture is advising farmers to harvest crops still in the fields. For those who need power for milking cows or cooling milk tanks, the agency warns to prepare for power outages by making sure generators are working."
Friday Oct. 26 9 a.m.
Check out Miami-based CBS TV weather forecaster David Bernard's forecast for Sandy on video. He offers a good explanation of why Sandy's northward track will be blocked by a large high pressure area in the Atlantic, pushing it westward toward Delaware. Then, Sandy is likely to encounter a cold front, as the jet stream dips deep into the US South. That collision will could produce 1 to 2 feet of snow in the higher elevations of West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Friday Oct. 26 8:45 a.m.
Where is Sandy headed? It's still too early to say definitively. Here's what the computer model shows which was issued by the National Hurricane Center at 8 a.m. Friday. This track shows Sandy taking a hard left turn toward the East Coast on Monday. It has the eye of the storm hitting Delaware Tuesday at 2 a.m. and heading inland toward Pennsylvania and the Ohio valley.
Hurricane Sandy tears through Bahamas, weakens to Cat. 1
Friday Oct. 26 8 a.m.
Hurricane Sandy passed through the Bahamas early Friday knocking out power but there were no reported deaths. The Associated Press reports a total of 22 fatalities across the Caribbean in Sandy's wake.
"Generally people are realizing it is serious," said Caroline Turnquest, head of the Red Cross in the Bahamas, who said 20 shelters were opened on the main island of New Providence.
Sandy hit the Bahamas as a Category 2 Hurricane, with winds above 105 m.p.h. but weakened to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday night, with sustained winds of 80 m.p.h. Currently forecasters expect Sandy to remain a Cat. 1 hurricane or weaken to a tropical storm as it moves northward.
But meteorologists are warning that it's not just the strength of Sandy that's the issue. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco has warned that? a confluence of weather systems could produce what he has dubbed a "Frankenstorm," arriving along the East Coast of the US with tropical storm-force winds Tuesday. Cisco said that there was a 90 percent chance that most of the U.S. East Coast would get steady gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain and maybe snow starting Sunday and stretching past Wednesday.
?This storm is dangerous,? says Bryan Norcross, a hurricane specialist at the Weather Channel told The Christian Science Monitor. ?If it comes to pass like the consensus forecast, it will be unprecedented, we have never seen anything that looks like this.?
Thursday, Oct. 25 5 p.m. EDT
After battering eastern Cuba, Hurricane Sandy intensify as it crosses the Bahamas today, with its western edge grazing Florida's coast. ?The US National Weather Service warns that Sandy might "help spawn a sprawling storm that could bring significant rain, wind and waves to the Northeast."?
Sandy's exact track is hard to pin down, but meteorologists warn that that it is unlikely to head out to sea, thanks to a storm to its east and an area of high pressure west of Greenland, which together are helping to confine Sandy to the East Coast.
What's more, as Weather Underground notes, Sandy is expected to collide with an eastward-moving dip in the jet stream, creating the potential for a "hybrid" storm with high winds spread over a large area.
At this point, Sandy is expected to make landfall on Monday, somewhere between Virginia and Maine.
To make matters even worse for East Coasters, the storm's land Monday is a full moon, meaning a high tide, which increases the chances of significant coastal flooding. ?
Snowfall is also a concern particularly in the Appalachians. As New Englanders learned last?Halloween, heavy snowfall combined with leafy trees has a tendency to knock down power lines.
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas received a phone call from Israeli president Shimon Peres on Sunday, official news agency Wafa reported.
Both leaders discussed the peace process, according to Wafa.
Israeli President Shimon Peres hailed President Mahmoud Abbas as a courageous partner for peace on Saturday after the Palestinian leader made clear his support for a two-state solution in an interview with Israeli TV.
"(Abbas's) courageous words prove that Israel has a real partner for peace," Peres said in a statement. "These are significant words ... We must all treat them with the utmost respect."
The conclusion last week of the fifth triennial rule-making of the Copyright Office has brought good news for documentary filmmakers, online distributors, remix artists and smartphone owners. It?s?bad news for computer tablet owners,?video gamers and space shifters. Every three years,?the Copyright Office?listens to complaints and?reassesses need?for?temporary exemptions to the?1998 Digital Millenium?Copyright Act (DMCA), which outlaws circumvention of digital rights management. These exemptions reflect developments, whereby certain copyrighted materials become less available to the general public.
Here?s some specifics on what Maria Pallante, the Register of Copyrights, recommended to James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, and which were adopted, effective Oct. 28:
Critics and cineastes will benefit from a ruling on short excerpts from motion pictures on DVDs that are Content Scrambling System (CSS) protected and motion pictures lawfully acquired through online distribution services. These are exempted for criticism or comment by either screen-capture technology, or when that does not provide high enough quality content, by circumvention. This is solely for criticism or comment in 1) noncommercial videos; 2) documentary films; 3) nonfiction multimedia e-books offering film analysis; and 4) educational purposes in courses that require film and media analysis, college and university faculty and students and students in grades kindergarten through 12.?This renews the 2010 exemption that?allows documentary filmmakers to rip content from DVDs and streaming video for fair use incorporation in their work, but Blu-Ray was not included as proponents failed to demonstrate that space shifting is a noninfringing act.?Video remix was also renewed, but?expanded to allow online service clips.
Motion pictures and other audiovisual works on CSS protected DVDs or distributed by a DRM protected online service may be circumvented ?to facilitate research and development of players capable of rendering captions and descriptive audio for persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, or hard of hearing.? The Register supports empowering Americans with disabilities to participate in the multimedia culture.
DRM protected e-books (literary works distributed electronically) that were lawfully obtained by a person with a disability may be cracked to allow those people to use screen readers and other assistive technologies. This exemption previously was unavailable if the e-book were available in a non-DRM protected format.
Smartphones may be cracked to allow interoperability of nonvendor approved computer applications (jail-breaking) with the handset. Computer programs on smartphones, purchased new, before? or no later than 90 days after Oct. 28, may be legally unlocked to allow connection to a different wireless telecommunications network.
The exemption for jail-breaking smartphones to allow use of other than manufacturer-approved operation systems was continued. It was not?extended to tablets because ?the proposed class was broad and ill-defined,??nor to?video game consoles because ?access controls on gaming consoles protect not only the console firmware but the video games and applications that run on the console as well.? The Registrar did not exempt jail-breaking or running home-brew applications to circumvent access controls to video game consoles because proponents did not sufficiently establish that even if fair use could serve as a basis for the exemption, there was failure ?to demonstrate that video game consoles? access controls have or are likely to have a substantial adverse impact on such uses.?
The Register considered but concluded that Section 1201 does not prohibit circumvention of technological protection of works in the public domain, so there is no need for an exemption. In the tug of war between digital rights groups and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), regulators sided with the latter, rejecting proposals for copying DVDs for personal use.
Civil remedies and criminal penalties for violation of the DMCA can be found here.
ORLANDO, Fla. ? A judge extended early voting hours in one Florida county on Sunday after the state Democratic Party sued in an effort to give people more time at the polls.
Some voters had faced waits several hours long on Saturday, the last scheduled day of early voting. The judge ruled on a lawsuit filed late Saturday in Orange County after an early voting site was shut down for several hours. The Winter Park library was evacuated when a suspicious package ? a cooler ? was found outside. It was later detonated by a local bomb squad.
Bill Cowles, the Orange County elections supervisor, said that voters who show up on Sunday will be asked to use a provisional ballot. The extra hours will be offered at only the Winter Park library.
A Republican Party spokesman said the party was not challenging the decision. Brian Burgess said state law requires provisional ballots to be used whenever a court orders an extension of voting hours.
The Democratic state party also filed a federal lawsuit Sunday morning seeking more voting time in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Voting in Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County didn't wrap up until early Sunday morning because voters standing in line when the polls closed were allowed to vote.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and other Democrats asked Gov. Rick Scott this past week to use his emergency powers to extend early voting. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year cut the number of days available for early voting from a maximum of 14 days to eight days.
Scott and state election officials, however, turned down the extension requests. Secretary of State Ken Detzner maintained that there was not a true emergency that justified the extension. Chris Cate, a spokesman for Detzner, said that the state did not plan to appeal the decision to reopen the Winter Park location.
The federal lawsuit says counties should offer absentee ballot voting at local election offices if early voting cannot be extended. Both Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties said they planned to do that.
"I decided to open because we are allowed to do so," said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher.
Bucher noted that voting in her county did not wrap up until 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Her office started accepting absentee ballots at 9 a.m.
Christina White, deputy supervisor with Miami-Dade County, said the county also decided to accept absentee ballots for four hours on Sunday at its main office.
"We are hoping that (the Democratic Party) is happy with that," White said.
Broward County is also allowing voters to pick up absentee ballots on Sunday, but only if they made an appointment in advance.
Absentee ballot voting differs from early voting in that voters must fill out their ballot, place it an envelope and then sign it. The ballot envelopes are opened later and then fed into voting machines.
During early voting, voters place their ballots directly into the voting machines.
The Orange County lawsuit asked that early voting be extended at Winter Park and that the court ask local television and radio stations to let voters know about it.
The lawsuit included sworn statements from several voters who said they waited in line for hours and were turned away because voting was suspended at the site. A volunteer with the campaign of President Barack Obama said that the crowd of voters dwindled from 300 to just 40 after voting was halted.
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By Reece HeatherPublished: 02 November 2012 7:39 AM UTC
Posted in: News, Online, Online News, PC, PC Games, PC News, Playstation News, PS3, PS3 Games, PS3 News, Video Games, Xbox 360, XBOX Live, Xbox News, Xbox360 Games, Xbox360 News
Tags: Action, Agent 47, assassin, Breathing World, Death, Hitman Absolution, Io Interactive, killing, Living, Microsoft Windows, new, PC, Sniper Challenge, Square Enix, Stealth, Third Person Shooter, trailer, video game, Windows
A new Hitman: Absolution trailer has sneaked its way online on GameTrailers today, showing off the active world across the diverse levels in the exciting new stealth game.
The trailer shows a variety of characters that are living and interacting with each other in real-time, as you play the game. It teaches the importance of learning people?s routines and listening to their conversations, so that you can gain new information to guide you in your mission. You can use different people in order to reach your victim, such as using a specific guard to pass through a retina scanner.
One more trailer will be released before the game hits store shelves on November 20 (for US and Europe), covering the Sniper Challenge Mode.
Article from Gamersyndrome.com
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Hitman: Absolution
Hitman: Absolution new cinematic trailer
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Just Cause 2 Interactive Trailer Released
About the Author
My name is Reece, and I'm an aspiring writer from England. I've been into gaming since I was about 4 years old, playing the Game Boy, PSOne and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis to you Americans!). Having these systems around during my youth lead to the greatest and most-anticipated Christmas ever - the year I got my N64! Open to any system and genre, I remain completely unbiased as a proud owner of a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS. Come on Vita, give me more reasons to buy you too! My favourite games are Resident Evil 2, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Streets of Rage 2, Left 4 Dead, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Yoshi's Island. I also write news for Explosion.com. You can catch me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReeceH92
Competitive console gaming has been in the shadows of the competitive gaming world for as far as we can look back. However, within the past 2 years, competitive console gaming has had a rollercoaster of attention from the general gaming population.
One of the biggest moments of the console gaming community was that of the Call of Duty XP event, where the prize pool of 1 million Dollars saw a huge attention come directly to console gamers. Since then there has been a dispersed amount of attraction to competitive console gaming, with competitive events drawing noticeable but not near enough attention to be on par with the bigger PC titles that saw huge viewership.
Well not all is lost, competitive console gamers might be sitting on the eve of what might see the whole competitive world sit back and take notice. This is all due to the next two titles that will play a huge role in driving the public gamers straight into the competitive console gaming world; those two titles are Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Why, you might ask yourself, are these two titles so integral to the development and viewership of competitive gaming? Well the fact is that these are the two titles that draw the most attention to public gamers that also have the competitive draw that allows the public to relate to the games. This relationship is vital for growth for the community (with numbers of players) as well as the viewership that can relate to the game that is being played at the highest level. Now there are other titles out there that also draw similar attention. Those games, such as Fifa, do not allow for mass media sharing of the matches that take place due to the fact that there are no spectator options for games. Halo 4 and Black Ops 2 stand in a completely different bracket, due to the fact that they both cater to the competitive community viewership. Therefor, allowing the spectators to be able to constantly follow their favourite players/teams which create a rich and more rewarding environment for console competitive gaming.
From a completely local gaming point of view, what could these two titles offer to propel us forward to a new level of competitive gaming? With regard to Halo 4, in the coming weeks the first Halo 4 tournament will kick off. This tournament will see one of the biggest prizes we have ever seen for console gamers. Winners will be flown to Gamescom in Germany and be able to enjoy in some of the best competitive action between now and the finals. If you haven?t registered yet check it out here. What I gained from this personally was more than just a tournament, but a sign from the game industry leaders in South Africa that they are more than ever taking notice of competitive console gaming and with that we as a community can grow exponentially faster than ever.
?
Then we have Black Ops 2 which is in a great position locally, due to the local competitive progress that has been made with the previous Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare 3. Black Ops 2 has the opportunity of being the Call of Duty title where we have a dedicated competitive community from the get go instead of a bunch of puzzle pieces that need to be collected and put in place, as was the case with all titles dating back to Call of Duty 4. There is also the support we have seen by stream following, which allows Black Ops 2 to be the bigger better brother in the streaming department which will only make the viewing experience that much better.
With Halo 4 and Black Ops 2 we have been given the tools to take local competitive console gaming to the higher level. Yet these are just tools and if we as a community do not make use of these tools we will be faced with the grave situation of staying in the shadows of our formidable bigger brothers, the PC gamer. Yet like any younger brother it?s up to us to prove our worth to our elder by growing and developing into a well structured and organized machine of public appeal. This will be done by supporting one another via our public media, which are our twitter, YouTube and streaming events. Think of this as the begging of what could possibly be the biggest growth for competitive console gaming. The only question is : are you going to take part or just ride the rollercoaster?
Advancing understanding of treatment through clinical trialsPublic release date: 3-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Adrienne Lea alea@asn-online.org 202-503-6560 American Society of Nephrology
Studies investigate the potential of several drugs for the treatment of patients with diabetes or kidney disease
Three late-breaking studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on drugs being tested in patients with diabetes or kidney disease.
Hans-Henrik Parving, MD (University of Copenhagen, in Denmark) and his colleagues investigated whether the drug aliskiren might improve the prognosis of patients with type 2 diabetes who are at high risk for developing heart and kidney problems. The randomized double-blind ALTITUDE trial included 8561 individuals who received aliskiren (300 mg once daily) or placebo on top of a drug that blocks the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), a complex hormone system that regulates blood pressure and fluid balance. (Drugs that target the RAAS have limited effectiveness in part due to feedback responses, such as compensatory increases in an enzyme called renin. Aliskiren is a direct renin inhibitor and may help overcome these shortcomings because it suppresses the reactive rise in renin activity stimulated by other RAAS blockers.) After an average follow-up of 32.9 months:
17.9% of patients receiving aliskiren and 16.8% of those receiving placebo experienced a heart attack or stroke, developed kidney disease, or died of cardiovascular disease.
Stroke occurred in 3.4% of patients taking aliskiren, compared with 2.7% of patients taking placebo.
"The trial does not support administration of aliskiren on top of standard therapy with RAAS blockade in type 2 diabetic patients at high risk for cardiovascular and renal events, and may even be harmful," the authors concluded.
Another team led by Vicente Torres, MD, PhD (Mayo Clinic) tested the potential of a vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist (tolvaptan) to inhibit cyst growth and slow kidney function decline in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). This condition causes kidney cysts often associated with pain, hypertension, and kidney failure. The phase 3, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-year trial included 1445 ADPKD patients who were randomized 2:1 to split dose tolvaptan (45/15, 60/30 or 90/30 mg daily as tolerated) or placebo.
Total kidney volume increase over 3 years was halved in patients treated with tolvaptan compared to placebo (2.80%/year versus 5.51%/year).
Patients taking tolvaptan were 61% less likely to experience a certain level of worsening kidney function and 36% less likely to experience kidney pain requiring treatment.
Tolvaptan slowed the rate of kidney function decline compared with placebo.
"Tolvaptan demonstrated clinically meaningful disease-specific benefits for ADPKD patients which may be clinically meaningful," said Dr. Torres. While the trial findings are encouraging, tolvaptan has not yet been approved for this indication.
A third trial, called EVOLVE, was designed to test the hypothesis that treatment with cinacalcet compared with placebo reduces the risk of premature death or non-fatal heart-related events among dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. (Secondary hyperparathyroidism, when the parathyroid gland produces excess amounts of parathyroid hormone, arises in most patients with chronic kidney disease as their disease progresses. It can lead to a number of complications, including cardiovascular problems.) Results from analyses using multivariable adjustment and censoring data 6 months after patients stopped taking the drug will be presented, along with safety data, by Glenn Chertow, MD (Stanford University School of Medicine).
###
Study co-authors for "The Aliskiren Trial in Type 2 Diabetes Using Cardio-Renal Endpoints (ALTITUDE)" (abstract 6313) include Barry M. Brenner, MD, John Mcmurray, Dick de Zeeuw, MD, PhD, Steven Mark Haffner, MD, Scott D. Solomon, MD, Nish Chaturvedi, Frederik I. Persson, MD, Akshay Suvas Desai, Maria Nicolaides, and Marc A. Pfeffer, MD, PhD.
Study co-authors for "Tolvaptan in Patients with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease: The TEMPO 3:4 Trial" (abstract 6357) include Arlene B. Chapman, MD, Olivier Devuyst, MD, PhD, Ron T. Gansevoort, MD, PhD, Jared J. Grantham, MD, Eiji Higashihara, MD, Ronald D. Perrone, MD, Holly B. Krasa, John Ouyang, PhD, Osamu Sato, and Frank S. Czerwiec, MD, PhD.
Study co-authors for "Evaluation of Cinacalcet Therapy to Lower Cardiovascular Events (EVOLVE) trial" (abstract 6450) include Geoffrey A. Block, MD, Ricardo Correa-Rotter, MD, Tilman B. Drueke, MD, Jurgen Floege, MD, William G. Goodman, MD, Christian Mix, MD, Marie-Louise Trotman, Yumi Kubo, Charles A. Herzog, MD, Gerard M. London, MD, Kenneth Mahaffey, MD, Sharon M. Moe, MD, David C. Wheeler, MD, and Patrick S. Parfrey, MD.
ASN Kidney Week 2012, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for 13,000 professionals to discuss the latest findings in renal research and engage in educational sessions related to advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders. Kidney Week 2012 will take place October 30 November 4 at the San Diego Convention Center.
The content of these studies does not reflect the views or opinions of The American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author(s). ASN does not offer medical advice. All content in ASN publications is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions, or adverse effects. This content should not be used during a medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health care provider if you have any questions about a medical condition, or before taking any drug, changing your diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment. Do not ignore or delay obtaining professional medical advice because of information accessed through ASN. Call 911 or your doctor for all medical emergencies.
Founded in 1966, and with more than 13,500 members, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) leads the fight against kidney disease by educating health professionals, sharing new knowledge, advancing research, and advocating the highest quality care for patients.
[ | 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.
Advancing understanding of treatment through clinical trialsPublic release date: 3-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Adrienne Lea alea@asn-online.org 202-503-6560 American Society of Nephrology
Studies investigate the potential of several drugs for the treatment of patients with diabetes or kidney disease
Three late-breaking studies presented during the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Kidney Week provide new information on drugs being tested in patients with diabetes or kidney disease.
Hans-Henrik Parving, MD (University of Copenhagen, in Denmark) and his colleagues investigated whether the drug aliskiren might improve the prognosis of patients with type 2 diabetes who are at high risk for developing heart and kidney problems. The randomized double-blind ALTITUDE trial included 8561 individuals who received aliskiren (300 mg once daily) or placebo on top of a drug that blocks the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), a complex hormone system that regulates blood pressure and fluid balance. (Drugs that target the RAAS have limited effectiveness in part due to feedback responses, such as compensatory increases in an enzyme called renin. Aliskiren is a direct renin inhibitor and may help overcome these shortcomings because it suppresses the reactive rise in renin activity stimulated by other RAAS blockers.) After an average follow-up of 32.9 months:
17.9% of patients receiving aliskiren and 16.8% of those receiving placebo experienced a heart attack or stroke, developed kidney disease, or died of cardiovascular disease.
Stroke occurred in 3.4% of patients taking aliskiren, compared with 2.7% of patients taking placebo.
"The trial does not support administration of aliskiren on top of standard therapy with RAAS blockade in type 2 diabetic patients at high risk for cardiovascular and renal events, and may even be harmful," the authors concluded.
Another team led by Vicente Torres, MD, PhD (Mayo Clinic) tested the potential of a vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist (tolvaptan) to inhibit cyst growth and slow kidney function decline in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). This condition causes kidney cysts often associated with pain, hypertension, and kidney failure. The phase 3, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-year trial included 1445 ADPKD patients who were randomized 2:1 to split dose tolvaptan (45/15, 60/30 or 90/30 mg daily as tolerated) or placebo.
Total kidney volume increase over 3 years was halved in patients treated with tolvaptan compared to placebo (2.80%/year versus 5.51%/year).
Patients taking tolvaptan were 61% less likely to experience a certain level of worsening kidney function and 36% less likely to experience kidney pain requiring treatment.
Tolvaptan slowed the rate of kidney function decline compared with placebo.
"Tolvaptan demonstrated clinically meaningful disease-specific benefits for ADPKD patients which may be clinically meaningful," said Dr. Torres. While the trial findings are encouraging, tolvaptan has not yet been approved for this indication.
A third trial, called EVOLVE, was designed to test the hypothesis that treatment with cinacalcet compared with placebo reduces the risk of premature death or non-fatal heart-related events among dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism. (Secondary hyperparathyroidism, when the parathyroid gland produces excess amounts of parathyroid hormone, arises in most patients with chronic kidney disease as their disease progresses. It can lead to a number of complications, including cardiovascular problems.) Results from analyses using multivariable adjustment and censoring data 6 months after patients stopped taking the drug will be presented, along with safety data, by Glenn Chertow, MD (Stanford University School of Medicine).
###
Study co-authors for "The Aliskiren Trial in Type 2 Diabetes Using Cardio-Renal Endpoints (ALTITUDE)" (abstract 6313) include Barry M. Brenner, MD, John Mcmurray, Dick de Zeeuw, MD, PhD, Steven Mark Haffner, MD, Scott D. Solomon, MD, Nish Chaturvedi, Frederik I. Persson, MD, Akshay Suvas Desai, Maria Nicolaides, and Marc A. Pfeffer, MD, PhD.
Study co-authors for "Tolvaptan in Patients with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease: The TEMPO 3:4 Trial" (abstract 6357) include Arlene B. Chapman, MD, Olivier Devuyst, MD, PhD, Ron T. Gansevoort, MD, PhD, Jared J. Grantham, MD, Eiji Higashihara, MD, Ronald D. Perrone, MD, Holly B. Krasa, John Ouyang, PhD, Osamu Sato, and Frank S. Czerwiec, MD, PhD.
Study co-authors for "Evaluation of Cinacalcet Therapy to Lower Cardiovascular Events (EVOLVE) trial" (abstract 6450) include Geoffrey A. Block, MD, Ricardo Correa-Rotter, MD, Tilman B. Drueke, MD, Jurgen Floege, MD, William G. Goodman, MD, Christian Mix, MD, Marie-Louise Trotman, Yumi Kubo, Charles A. Herzog, MD, Gerard M. London, MD, Kenneth Mahaffey, MD, Sharon M. Moe, MD, David C. Wheeler, MD, and Patrick S. Parfrey, MD.
ASN Kidney Week 2012, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for 13,000 professionals to discuss the latest findings in renal research and engage in educational sessions related to advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders. Kidney Week 2012 will take place October 30 November 4 at the San Diego Convention Center.
The content of these studies does not reflect the views or opinions of The American Society of Nephrology (ASN). Responsibility for the information and views expressed therein lies entirely with the author(s). ASN does not offer medical advice. All content in ASN publications is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions, or adverse effects. This content should not be used during a medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health care provider if you have any questions about a medical condition, or before taking any drug, changing your diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment. Do not ignore or delay obtaining professional medical advice because of information accessed through ASN. Call 911 or your doctor for all medical emergencies.
Founded in 1966, and with more than 13,500 members, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) leads the fight against kidney disease by educating health professionals, sharing new knowledge, advancing research, and advocating the highest quality care for patients.
[ | 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.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) ? A hospital official in northeast Nigeria says more than 40 people, likely civilians, are dead after a military raid in a city that's the spiritual home of a radical Islamist sect.
The official at Maiduguri General Hospital said soldiers brought the corpses, mostly young men, into the hospital Thursday night. The official said Friday that the dead came from the Kalari neighborhood and did not appear to be armed combatants of the Islamist sect known as Boko Haram.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of angering soldiers. A military spokesman in the city declined to comment Friday.
Nigeria's security forces face growing international condemnation over harassing and killing civilians while fighting Boko Haram. In October, soldiers killed more than 30 civilians after a sect bomb attack.
Actually Getting Big Things Done is a series of guests posts on how to make things happen from those who know how to? well? actually get big things done. Today?s post comes from Aaron Mahnke whose new book, Frictionless Freelancing, launched today.
There?s a little saying around the internet: ?Math is hard.? I heard it four times yesterday, and two today, and that?s about?nine times too often for my taste. Math isn?t hard, but do you know what is? Writing.
Yep, I see the irony too. I just wrote about how writing is hard. That created some kind of wormhole in space and time, I?think. I am, however, completely serious about the writing bit. It?s difficult, and at times can seem darn-near impossible.
I?ve published two novels in the last two years, one of which?was over 150,000 words long. Neither was written in just a month (speaking of, NaNoWriMo is now in full swing), but I actually finished writing them, which is more than?90% of the people who start a book can say. As of November 1st, I have a new book?available as well, Frictionless Freelancing. It?s not a novel, but the effort and struggle that it took to write it was identical to?my previous books.
I finished all three books because I have a few secrets that I use to get the job done. And Michael Schechter, being the?nosey man that he is, asked me to open my trench-coat and reveal those secrets to you. So, don?t scream, but here we go.
Cellular Mitosis
To write a novel, or even a work of non-fiction like my new book, is to plan out what you are going to write. Not all of us are?J.R.R.Tolkien, who claimed to just let the plot of the Lord of the Rings take him where it wanted. No, us mere mortal writers?need to plan things out.
Your first step is to write out the plot of your novel in one sentence. What, in a very simple sense, will happen in your book??One sentence is all you need, but you need to write that down. Once you have that single-celled organism of text, it?s time?to start letting it multiply into a massive colony.
Find a way to expand that core sentence into two. Then a paragraph. Then two paragraphs. Keep expanding the details?of each paragraph until you have a very detailed summary of the plot of the novel, usually around three or four pages?long. It?s a non-visual storyboard, telling you what will happen all the way through your book.
This does a couple of really important things for you. First, it helps you work out the plot in real-time, notice conflicts in the?story and discover secondary plots that could be given polish. Second, if done right, this process provides you with one?paragraph for each chapter of your book. Which leads me to the next secret.
Wireframing
I take that long plot description that has just been born and edit it slightly. My goal is to make each paragraph the?summary of one single chapter. Sometimes the way I write my 4-page plot summary needs tweaked to help me make?those paragraphs more clear, but the ultimate goal is to have a paragraph written for each chapter I plan to write.
Each paragraph becomes a chapter synopsis. Now, I use a Mac app called Scrivener, and it allows me to create a new?document for each chapter. Within each document is a spot for the document?s summary, and I copy-paste each?paragraph from my storyboard summary into individual documents, and number them in sequence.
I realize this doesn?t sound like a lot of writing. It sounds more like scrapbooking or something. But we are building a?wireframe for our novel, and this underlying structure is going to hold all of the real content as we write it. And that?s the?third secret.
Fill in the Gaps
I remember an episode of MacGyver from my childhood that involved a skull discovered in the garden of an old manor?house that MacGyver?s friend Penny inherited. At some point in the story, MacGyver needed to know what the original?owner of that skull looked like. He took pencil erasers, some longer than others, and glued them all over the skull at different?points. Then he took clay and filled in the gaps to recreate the flesh of the face.
Writers need to be a little bit like MacGyver to finish their books. If you?ve summarized your plot in a multi-page storyboard,?and then broken it up into chapter-sized chunks, then you?ve glued the erasers to the skull. You?ve set up guides for the last?stage, which is very much like filling in the spaces with clay.
Of course, this is the hard part we all dread. We have to actually write the story, word for word. All of the hard work,?though, has already been completed. You?ve planned out what you want to happen or say, and you have set out all of?the pieces in order. Now, we just write.
I understand that ?just write? is a stretch. There is, of course, more to it than that. How each person does this part is as unique?as their fingerprint. That said, I have one more secret to share, this one focusing on how you are going to reach the finish?line.
Pace Yourself
This bit takes some math (math is hard), but it can make the difference between finishing your novel or not. Let?s say you?re doing NaNoWriMo and you have 30?days in November to write an entire novel. If your target is 50,000 words, you essentially need to write 1,667 words per day.?But I doubt you are going to want to write every day of the month. Even professional writers need a break. There will also?be hard days and easy days.
I would prefer to plan on 25 writing days. This allows for some breathing room and flexibility. At 25 days, that means you?need to produce a clean 2,000 words per day. When I?m on a roll I can crank out 1,000 words an hour, and your mileage?may vary, but you need to know what you are capable of achieving.
It can also be helpful to look at each session as a chance to write a single chapter. A good average number of chapters?for a novel is 25, so that could be a very realistic goal. Committing to writing one chapter per day sets a very solid goal for?your writing session as well. It?s less based on word count, and more about ticking off another box in a short list of boxes.
Your Turn
Now you know my secrets. Hopefully they have offered you some ideas and methods that you had not heard of or tried.?And ideally, they provide you with the tools you need to plan, begin and finish your novel or whatever it is you attempt.
Check back tomorrow for my favorite excerpt from Frictionless Freelancing, one that will appeal to everyone looking to make things happen.
Subscribe for free by RSS or Email to receive all of the Actually Getting Big Things Done posts and more from A Better Mess.
>>let's get to nbc's
lester holt
now. he has made his way to point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. lester, good morning to you.
>> reporter: savannah, good morning. you saw it from the air. this is what it looks like up close. keep in mind this goes interest community to community. point pleasant beach, the boardwalk, what's left of it. this was part of a hotel here that was along the boardwalk, popular place. sand is everywhere. places it didn't used to be pushed inland for blocks and blocks. in fact, a moment ago i realized i was standing in the middle of a swimming pool. it's now a giant sandbox.
president obama
will visit the
jersey shorelater today
. governor christie will tour him around to see the damage along this battered coastline, but, of course, it's not just new jersey. this entire region took a nasty hit. unimaginable devastation and staggering scenes of damage stretching all across the northeast as families try to recover from sandy's unforgiving wrath.
>>i'm floored by what happened.
>> reporter: neighborhoods are ravaged. cars and home swallowed by water.
>>it was unbelievable. i never saw anything like that in my life.
>>shredded debris and trees ripped from the ground, knocking down
power lines
and leaving an
open wound
of heartbreak up and down the coast.
>>it was the scariest thing i've ever seen.
>> reporter: across 15 states millions have been left without power. new jersey, the state where sandy came ashore, was hardest hit. in
seaside heights
, the boardwalk's been ripped apart. the
amusement park
there before and after the storm. the roller coaster now in the
atlantic ocean
. the ocean swept so far onshore everything is now covered in sand. the governor told
brian williams
the
jersey shore
as we know it is
forever changed
.
>>i'm committed to rebuilding. we're going to do it, because as you said, it is not only the heart of our economy, it's the soul of new jersey. the
jersey shore
is the soul of new jersey.
>> reporter: even inland in
little ferry
, evacuations continued into tuesday night.
>>you have no one to go to. water is rushing in. water is going by, and you don't know what to do.
>> reporter: new
york
pummeled, too. in breezy point, more than 100 homes were destroyed by fire in the flood-ravaged coastal community.
>>we're just devastating, blowing from one building to the next one, and those buildings were close together.
>> reporter: in this dramatic rescue captured on video, a new
york city police
department helicopter plucked five adults and one child from rooftops in a flooded section of
staten island
. elsewhere in new
york city
, hundreds of thousands still without power. the
stock market
reopens today, but important parts of the city were crippled by flooding and debris.
>>downtown manhattan
, we had the
hudson river
came over the banks and was pouring in to the
ground zero
site.
>> reporter: new
york
's train and subway service are suspended, and it may be days before they resume. schools closed again today. that
high rise
collapsed crane above new
york city
is still dangling, an ominous reminder of sandy's lingering danger. all along the
south shore
of new
york
's long island there's damage, home and lives lost. connecticut's coastline littered with submerged homes. sandy's impact is being felt across a large part of the country.
west virginia
, pounded with two feet of snow. and even
lake michigan
churning with dangerous high waves as the effects of the storm were felt well inland. the economic aftermath is still unfolding, but in spite of a destruction and loss, a resolve to rebuild and to reflect.
>>i still have my life. we still have our health.
>> reporter: when he visits with the president here along the shore today, governor christie is execs pected to talk to the president about the possibility of using the armey corps of engineers to rebuild this area. yesterday at a news conference the governor waxed on about the new jersey of his youth, the
jersey shore
of his youth. i think a lot of folks who come here are feeling awfully jost nick and sad, matt.
>>lester holt
, i think a lot of people agree with
The conclusion last week of the fifth triennial rule-making of the Copyright Office has brought good news for documentary filmmakers, online distributors, remix artists and smartphone owners. It?s?bad news for computer tablet owners,?video gamers and space shifters. Every three years,?the Copyright Office?listens to complaints and?reassesses need?for?temporary exemptions to the?1998 Digital Millenium?Copyright Act (DMCA), which outlaws circumvention of digital rights management. These exemptions reflect developments, whereby certain copyrighted materials become less available to the general public.
My name is Reece, and I'm an aspiring writer from England. I've been into gaming since I was about 4 years old, playing the Game Boy, PSOne and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis to you Americans!). Having these systems around during my youth lead to the greatest and most-anticipated Christmas ever - the year I got my N64! Open to any system and genre, I remain completely unbiased as a proud owner of a Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and 3DS. Come on Vita, give me more reasons to buy you too! My favourite games are Resident Evil 2, Zelda: The Wind Waker, Streets of Rage 2, Left 4 Dead, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Yoshi's Island. I also write news for Explosion.com. You can catch me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReeceH92![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 3-Nov-2012
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