Sunday, March 31, 2013

UConn women run past Maryland 76-50

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) ? Breanna Stewart and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis each scored 17 points, leading top-seeded Connecticut over Maryland 76-50 on Saturday in the Bridgeport regional semifinals.

Stewart got help from fellow freshmen Moriah Jefferson, 10 points, and Morgan Tuck, eight points, in sending the top-seeded Huskies (32-4) to their eighth straight NCAA regional final.

Alyssa Thomas, who had averaged 28.5 points in the tournament, had 13 to lead Maryland, which finished its season at 26-8. Tianna Hawkins and Chloe Pavlech each had 11 points for the Terps.

UConn led 35-26 at halftime, then opened the second half on a 9-0 run.

The Huskies will play Kentucky in on Monday night in a rematch of last year's regional final, which was played just over 100 miles away in Kingston, R.I.

The Wildcats beat Delaware 69-62 earlier Saturday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uconn-women-run-past-maryland-76-50-203942886--spt.html

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C. African Republic: March in favor of new leader

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? A demonstration in support of Central African Republic's new leader Michel Djotodia was held in the capital, Bangui.

Several hundred residents marched through the city of 700,000 Saturday, carrying banners endorsing Djotodia, who came to power last week when the Seleka rebel coalition advanced from the north to seize the capital city.

Djotodia met the press Friday and said that he will lead the country through a transitional period to elections in 2016, and he pledged he would not be a candidate in those polls. He vowed to strengthen the rule of law and freedom of expression in the country.

In Johannesburg, South African President Jacob Zuma announced he will visit Central African Republic on April 3 to attend a summit of the Economic Community of Central African States.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/c-african-republic-march-favor-leader-191150998.html

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'I love mysteries,' says man claiming hidden gold

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) ? For more than a decade, he packed and repacked his treasure chest, sprinkling in gold dust and adding hundreds of rare gold coins and gold nuggets. Pre-Columbian animal figures went in, along with prehistoric "mirrors" of hammered gold, ancient Chinese faces carved from jade and antique jewelry with rubies and emeralds.

Forrest Fenn was creating a bounty, and the art and antiquities dealer says his goal was to make sure it was "valuable enough to entice searchers and desirable enough visibly to strike awe."

Occasionally, he would test that premise, pulling out the chest and asking his friends to open the lid.

"Mostly, when they took the first look," he says, "they started laughing," hardly able the grasp his amazing plan.

Was Fenn really going to give this glistening treasure trove away?

Three years ago, he lay two of his most beloved pieces of jewelry in the chest: a turquoise bracelet and a Tairona and Sinu Indian necklace adorned with exotic jewels. At the bottom of the chest, in an olive jar, he placed a detailed autobiography, printed so small a reader will need a magnifying glass. After that, he says, he carted the chest of loot, now weighing more than 40 pounds, into the mountains somewhere north of Santa Fe and left it there.

Next, Fenn self-published a memoir, "The Thrill of the Chase," distilling the autobiography and, intriguingly, including a poem that he says offers clues to lead some clever ? or lucky ? treasure hunter to the bounty.

It wasn't long before word of the hidden trove got out, and the publicity has caused a mini-gold rush in northern New Mexico.

But it has also set off a debate: Has Fenn truly hidden the treasure chest or was this, for the idiosyncratic, publicity-loving 82-year-old who loves to tell tales, just another way to have fun, a great caper to bolster his legacy?

One friend, Michael McGarrity, an author and former Santa Fe County sheriff's deputy, acknowledges it could be "a private joke," though he believes "Forrest has certainly buried something." If it was the treasure he saw, well, "it really is quite an astonishing sight to see."

There certainly seems to be no shortage of believers, including Doug Preston, whose novel "The Codex" about a notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber who buries himself and his treasure as a final challenge to his three sons, is loosely based on Fenn's story.

"I've seen the treasure. I've handled it. He has had it for almost as long as I've known him. It's real. And I can tell you that it is no longer in his vault," says Preston.

"I am 100 percent sure that he really did go out and hide this thing. I am actually surprised that anyone who knows him would think he was blowing hot air. It is just not his personality. He is not a tricky, conspiratorial, slick or dishonest person at all."

Fenn says his main goal is to get people, particularly children, away from their texting devices and looking for adventure outdoors.

But probably few are having more fun with the whole adventure than Fenn himself, a self-described schmoozer and endless flirt who is reveling in what he says are 13,000 emails from treasure hunters ? not to mention 18 marriage proposals.

"His net worth is much higher than what he put in the bounty," says Preston, guessing the treasure's value is in the million-dollar range. "He is having way more than $1 million worth of fun with this."

___

It all began, Fenn says, more than 20 years ago, when he was diagnosed with cancer and given just a few years to live.

That's when he decided to buy the treasure chest and fill it with some of his favorite things.

"Nobody knows where it was going to be but me," he recalls thinking. He revised the clue-poem's wording several times over the years, and made other changes in his plans. For a time, he thought of having his bones with the treasure chest, though how that might have been accomplished is unclear.

"But then," Fenn says with a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes, "I ruined the story by getting well."

In "The Thrill of the Chase," he lays out his unusual rags-to-riches story while sharing memories of his favorite adventures and mischief-making.

From the outset, the book tells readers the recollections "are as true to history as one man can average out that truth, considering the fact that one of my natural instincts is to embellish."

Average out the truth? Instinct to embellish? Well, one thing is certain: He certainly knows how to tell a tale.

Fenn was raised in Temple, Texas, where his father was a school principal, according to the book. The family was poor, he says, only eating meat on Sundays if there was a chicken to kill. But, Fenn writes, they spent every summer in Yellowstone National Park, where young Forrest and his brother Skippy launched many an adventure. He describes the brothers trying to fly a homemade plane and tells about being left on the side of the road after an argument during a road trip.

Fenn never went to college, although he did attend classes at Texas A&M University with his friends for a short time, before it was discovered he was not a registered student, the book says.

He married his high school sweetheart, Peggy Jean Proctor, and spent nearly two decades in the Air Force, including much-decorated service as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

After returning to Texas, he, his wife and two daughters moved to Santa Fe, where, over time, he became one of this artistic enclave's best known and most successful gallery owners.

Details on how a man with no art background made such a dramatic but successful transition are scarce in his book. When asked to elaborate, he says simply, "I never went to college. I never went to business school. I never learned the rules that make businesses fail."

Those who know him credit his love of people. As an art dealer, he hosted a virtual who's who of the rich and famous at his gallery and guest house, including Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Sam Shephard, Jessica Lange and Michael Douglas, to name a few. Even at 82, he still throws one hell of a party, friends say, mixing up the guest list with the many actors, artists, writers and political leaders who live in or frequent this artistic mountain hideaway.

Perhaps the biggest misconception about Fenn ? whom some locals refer to as Santa Fe's Indiana Jones ? is that he was a treasure hunter himself.

"Forrest is a trader," said Dan Nietzel, a professional treasure hunter who has searched for Fenn's treasure. "He traded for these things. I think people think he went around digging all these things up."

But there are some intangibles Fenn has spent his life searching out.

"I love mysteries. I love adventures," he says.

As a teen, scouring Yellowstone every summer, he almost led friend Donnie Joe to an early demise when they got lost on horseback in Montana's Gallatin National Forest trying to retrace the steps of Lewis and Clark, according to his memoir.

"Donnie got in a serious swivet and wouldn't speak to me for a while, except to say that our unfortunate adventure was ill-conceived, dumb thought out, and I was over-rated like my horse," he writes.

His book moves on to the Vietnam War, describing his Air Force service, his combat missions and even his survival after being shot down.

While it's sometimes hard to know whether Fenn's zest for "embellishment" adds to his stories, military records emphatically back this chapter. They confirm that as a fighter pilot he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, silver and bronze stars, a purple heart and other medals. In one engagement, enemy fire shattered the canopy of his jet, cutting his face, and yet he continued to attack, the records show. In another, he showed "outstanding heroism," making repeated low strafing passes to draw fire until wounded forces on the ground could be rescued. He rose to the rank of major.

Fenn also describes himself as an amateur archaeologist. In the mid-1980s, he bought a ranch near Santa Fe that includes the 57-acre ancient pueblo of San Lazaro, where he has spent years digging up bones, pottery and other artifacts that he keeps in a room off his garage.

And while he says he made his fortune selling paintings, his love is clearly of antiquities. His personal study, which was designed to house a 17-by-28-foot Persian rug from the late 1800s, is filled from floor to ceiling with valuables, ranging from gilded fore-edge books to war memorabilia, a brandy bottle left in his guest house by Kennedy Onassis, and even what he says is Sitting Bull's pipe.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2006 raided his home as part of an antiquities theft probe, but Fenn was never charged.

___

"Begin it where warm waters halt

And take it in the canyon down,

Not far, but too far to walk.

Put in below the home of Brown."

That's part of the poem of clues to the treasure's location, which Fenn published in his memoir three years ago. News reports have created a run on the book.

Based on the more than 9,000 emails Fenn says he has received just in the past few months, he estimates thousands of treasure hunters will descend on northern New Mexico this spring.

Dana Ortega, director of sales and marketing at Santa Fe's Inn and Spa at Loretto, said the hotel, which offers a special package starting at $300 that includes a copy of Fenn's now hard-to-find book, has seen a huge spike in interest.

"About 50 people came in on the package last year," she said. "Now our phones are ringing off the hook. ... So many people have the book so they are not all doing the package, but they call and want to stay here."

The local Chamber of Commerce should "give Forrest an award for increasing tourism," says McGarrity, his friend.

He talks of being stopped on the street by a man in a big truck with Texas plates, pulling an all-terrain vehicle and asking if he knew where Forrest Fenn lived.

"Are you hunting for treasure?" McGarrity asked.

"You betcha!" the Texan said.

But the publicity has also raised safety concerns.

A few weeks ago, a woman from Texas, drawn by a network report about the treasure, got lost searching the mountains near Los Alamos. She spent the night in the rugged terrain of Bandelier National Monument and was walking out the next day when rescuers found her. But the case prompted officials to warn searchers to be properly prepared for the outdoors. They also reminded the public it's illegal to dig, bury an item or use a metal detector on federal lands.

Also a concern: Fenn says he has had people ringing the buzzer at his gate and trying to follow him when he leaves.

For the most part, though, he says people reaching out to him are just trying to convince or trick him into giving more clues.

So far, the best anyone seems to have gotten out of him is that the treasure is more than 300 miles west of Toledo, not in Nevada, and more than 5,000 feet above sea level "in the Rocky Mountains. (Santa Fe, whose Sangre de Cristo mountains mark the start of the Rockies, is 7,260 feet above sea level.)

But he emphasizes two things: He never said the treasure was buried, and he never said it was in Santa Fe, or even New Mexico for that matter.

Nietzel says the most common place the clues about "where warm waters halt" first lead people is to Eagle Nest Lake, about 100 miles north of Santa Fe, because it has a dam that holds back warm water and is known for its brown trout.

Others are sure it must be in Yellowstone, because of Fenn's history there and his deep knowledge of the park.

Nietzel says he has made 29 searches for the treasure in six states, and he plans to resume his efforts when it gets a little warmer in the mountains.

Another friend of Fenn's, Santa Fe jeweler Marc Howard, says he has made about 20 searches, and is "still trying to match my wits against a seemingly impossible poem."

The scheme is similar to a treasure hunt launched in 1979 by the author of a British children's book, "Masquerade," which had clues to the location of an 18-carat jeweled golden hare hidden somewhere in Britain. That rabbit was found in 1982, although it was later revealed it was found with the help of the author's former live-in girlfriend.

Fenn, who lives with his wife in a gated estate near the center of town, insists he is the only person who knows where his treasure is hidden. Asked what his two daughters, Kelly and Zoe, think of him hiding part of their and their seven kids' inheritance, he replies only that "they've been saying for years that I am crazy." He doubts they have any interest in finding it, but says he wouldn't be surprised if one of two grandsons has gone looking for it.

And he is ambivalent about whether the chest is found soon, or even in his lifetime.

But "when a person finds that treasure chest, whether it's tomorrow or 10,000 years from now and opens the lid, they are going to go into shock. It is such a sight."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/love-mysteries-says-man-claiming-hidden-gold-173507907.html

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

high ceilings decorating How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Decorating interiors with high ceilings implies a high dose of creativity. building personality for a room with tall walls is neither difficult, nor more challenging than dealing with common-sized rooms. After all, home space is a gift no matter how you look at it and you should not be reluctant to use it. In this post we will share some tips&tricks to help you out in your upcoming projects. Master these simple guidelines and let your imagination do the rest.

Rule of thirds

Just like in art and photography, visually splitting a wall in three equal parts when decorating will guarantee balance and ultimately, success. From the bottom up, try imagining your room as having three different ?design levels?. You can adorn the first with judges paneling, use the second for paintings and leave the third as it is. This is just a random example; as the photos below will show, the possibilities are endless. Furniture should also be placed within the bottom third. The idea is to create focal points and to diminish the intimidating feel of high ceilings.

the home has high ceilings and lets in a lot of light How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Lighting

You don?t have to spend a lot of money on lighting fixtures to give your interiors a special vibe and this is also true when it comes to rooms with high ceilings. But lighting can make a bold statement and you should definitely pay a lot of time and attention to this subject. We noticed lighting spots are very popular these days. We are a fan of chandeliers, as we believe they are a great way to add elegance to a tall living room, kitchen or bedroom. You can also use lighting to subtly divide areas. For example, three chandeliers in the living room can visually separate the lounge area, kitchen and dining space.

Contemporary Gray L Shaped  How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Frames, paintings and graphic art

When dealing with high ceilings, paintings are not just optional, they are a must. Why? Because they add life , elegance and nobility. Not all appreciate the soberness of an art gallery effect, so the best idea is to arrange your graphic art the way you want. In order to reduce the overwhelming architectural impression of tall walls, place the paintings at eye level. Otherwise, enjoy the majestic effect of highlighting space through art!

the living room How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Accent walls

Color is always a good way to accentuate height and help bring drama to the space. By painting a single wall in a bold color, the high ceiling and other unpainted walls will automatically be connected at a different level. The space will get a fresh look and a unique personality.

Sophisticated Modern Living How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Curtains

Curtains can add that homey feel a tall space needs so much. You can try models that cover the entire wall, or just two thirds of it (less recommended). White curtains will ensure a breezy feel, red will bring in extra energy and darker hues will add an intriguing sense of drama. Black materials will also contribute to the idea of shrinking the room and make it more cozy, if that is what you are after. For cohesion, be sure to repeat the color of the drapes somewhere else in the space. A patterned design, although a bit more difficult to integrate, will ensure diversity and visual appeal.

cozy Swedish villa How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Exposed Wooden Beams

We are intrigued (read that pleasantly surprised) by the growing popularity of exposed wooden beams. On a design stage where minimalism and functionality are main actors, it is nice to see elements that bring personality back into the game. But what are the effects of wooden beams in a tall interior? Mainly, they can reduce the scale, making the room feel more comfortable and friendly. Some use fake ceilings to bring the room down, we prefer this solution instead. As you can see in the photo below, the rest of the interior does not have to be decorated in a rustic style. Wooden beams can be successfully integrated in a contemporary interior as well.

wooden beams How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Texture for the ceilings

Just like with an accent wall, you can make the ceiling stand out by using a special texture. In the example below, the wood adds warmth and makes the room feels smaller than it actually is. It also does a great job at contrasting the walls and floor and creating a sense of disruption.

textured ceilings How to Decorate Interiors With High Ceilings

Things to Avoid

There are a few things you should try to avoid in order to maintain balance in your high-ceiling interior. Do not clutter the room using many small items, like tiny furniture objects, small works of art or various decorating pieces. Try instead to use less larger artifacts. Paintings should always be placed at eye-level. If you want to cover the space above eye-level, bring in some abstract sculptures or a wall clock. With these being said, we wish you a fun time decorating. Please leave your comments below with more tips from you own experiences.

Source: http://freshome.com/2013/03/29/how-to-decorate-interiors-with-high-ceilings/

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'Facebook phone' likely to put social network at front of Android

"Come See Our New Home on Android," the invitation sent to members of the press on Thursday declared. Does this mean the long-rumored Facebook phone is about to become official? What is the social network's next move? And does it stand a chance?

Facebook is intending to introduce a modified version of Google's Android operating system, according to sourcing from TechCrunch's Josh Constine, the New York Times' Nick Bilton and Brian X. Chen, and the Wall Street Journal's Evelyn M. Rusli and Amir Efrati. This version of Android will put Facebook front and center and "will debut on a handset made by HTC, according to a Facebook employee and another person who were briefed on the announcement," Chen and Bilton explain.

"Imagine Facebook?s integration with iOS 6, but on steroids, and built by Facebook itself," Constine adds. "It could have a heavy reliance on Facebook?s native apps like Messenger, easy social sharing from anywhere on the phone, and more."

?It?s putting Facebook first,? a person familiar with the matter emphasized to Wall Street Journal reporters. But unlike competitors such as Amazon and Google, it is not putting Facebook itself into the hardware game.

"With Amazon, it's pretty clear," mobile industry consultant Chetan Sharma told NBC News. "They want to sell their content and services. They're building their own devices, which is different from what Facebook is doing."

However, the idea of a modified version of Android may be viewed as an act of hostility directed at Facebook's frenemy, Google.

"The reaction from Google will be interesting to see," Sharma pointed out. "There's obviously overlap ... It seems to Google that it's underpinning their Google+ efforts. Longer term, I don't see them letting it go and letting other people do their work."

But even if Google lets Facebook's plans fly, there are other issues to consider, Sharma says. "If it's just a phone that's going to be pushed by HTC, its chances are going to be limited," he explains. "[HTC] doesn't have the marketing powers." To truly stand a shot, Facebook needs to join hands with carriers.

Of course, some might wonder whether any carriers would be game. After all, Facebook's VoIP efforts and its baked-in Messenger service might conflict with carriers' business agendas, right?

Not necessarily so, says Sharma. "In certain markets [VoIP and Messenger] would be challenging," he elaborates. "In markets where unlimited voice and messaging is already bundled in ? in those scenarios operators have less resistance to the idea. They already make money on voice and messaging and they'll also make money on the data used by Facebook."

Initial whispers don't suggest that "Facebook Home," as the social network's device/software combo is expected to be named, is going to be pitched by any carriers, so we'll have to see how things fare with merely HTC. (Of course, that's assuming all these rumors and reports pan out.)

Things will be official on Thursday, April 4, and we'll be in Menlo Park, Calif., to report live.

Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a2435f1/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Ctechnolog0Cfacebook0Ephone0Elikely0Eput0Esocial0Enetwork0Efront0Eandroid0E1C9144291/story01.htm

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Dell opens window on efforts to sell company

(AP) ? Dell 's financial advisers tried to persuade 71 potential bidders to make an offer for the troubled personal computer maker before two of them emerged to challenge a proposed $24.4 billion deal with the company's founder, according to documents filed Friday.

The wide-ranging efforts to ignite a bidding contest for Dell Inc. are among the morsels of new information contained in a voluminous recitation of the events that have thrust the world's third largest PC maker on to the auction block.

The bidding has boiled down to a group led by company CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners vying against separate alternative proposals submitted during the past week by buyout specialist Blackstone Group LP and billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The other potential suitors contacted by Dell's financial advisers weren't identified in Friday's disclosures.

For now Dell's board is standing behind its nearly two-month old agreement to sell the Round Rock, Texas, company to Michael Dell and Silver Lake for $24.4 billion, or $13.65 per share. But the board is still holding out the possibility that it might side with one of the offers from Blackstone or Icahn once they finalize their bids in the next few weeks. Blackstone has pledged to offer more than $14.65 per share for most of Dell Inc.'s outstanding stock while Icahn says he plans to pay $15 per share for up to 58 percent of the company's outstanding stock.

Dell hopes to complete a sale by Aug. 2, although it still hasn't even set a date for a shareholder meeting to approve whichever deal gets the board's final blessing.

Friday's regulatory filing provided Dell's board with its best chance yet to convince shareholders that it has gone to great lengths to ensure the company is sold for the highest possible price, given the challenges facing PC makers at a time sales of desktop and laptop machines have been declining as more people embrace smartphones and tablets.

Dell's disclosures underscored the bleak outlook in Friday's filing by including snapshots of internal financial projections that were lowered during the past eight months as the company's management and board came to grips with the depths of the PC downturn.

In July Dell's management presented a forecast calling for an operating profit of $5.6 billion on revenue of $66 billion in the current fiscal year ending in January 2014. After mulling a variety of information, Dell's board concluded the company is more likely to post an operating profit of $3 billion, a 46 percent decrease from the July prediction. The board is now planning for revenue of $56.5 billion for the current fiscal year, a 14 percent drop from the earlier forecast.

Michael Dell, the company's CEO and founder, believes he will be in a better position to engineer a turnaround if he doesn't have to cater to Wall Street's fixation on whether revenue and earnings are growing from one quarter to the next. That's why Dell would end its 25-year history as a publicly held company if its CEO's debt-laden proposal wins out. The deal would saddle Dell Inc. with more than $15 billion in debt, including a $2 billion loan from Microsoft Corp.

Blackstone and Michael Dell also have left open the possibility of working together, if Blackstone should end up in control of the company. Icahn hasn't indicated whether he would want to retain Michael Dell if his bid succeeds.

Michael Dell's deal is facing resistance from major shareholders who believe the sales price isn't high enough. Southeastern Asset Management, the company's second biggest shareholder after Michael Dell, contends Dell Inc. is worth nearly $24 per share. The Memphis, Tenn., firm had suggested that it work with Michael Dell on a buyout last June, according to Friday's filing.

A month after Southeastern floated the buyout idea, Michael Dell met with a Silver Lake representative at an industry conference and set up an August meeting to discuss how they might work together.

Silver Lake initially was competing against another unidentified buyout firm that dropped up of the bidding in early December. Silver Lake at first proposed paying $11.22 to $12.16 per share before finally settling on $13.65 per share after being prodded by Dell's board to raise its offer on several occasions, according to the company's filing.

After the deal with Michael Dell and Silver Lake was announced in early February, company adviser Evercore Partners contacted 67 different potential suitors and fielded unsolicited inquiries from four other parties, according to the filing. Only 11 of the potential bidders that spoke with Evercore were interested in exploring a deal. The documents didn't identify any of the other suitors besides Blackstone and Icahn.

To keep Blackstone at the negotiating table, Dell agreed to pay up to $25 million of the firm's expenses.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-29-Dell%20Acquisition/id-85aca3e6e21a400d87e00f7429c2b349

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Khloe Kardashian Pregnant, Tabloid Claims/Asks: Who is the Father?!?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/khloe-kardashian-pregnant-tabloid-claims-slash-asks-who-is-the-f/

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5 Handy Tools to Boost Productivity in Business - Small Businesses ...


HandHarsh economic times and general demands have many businesses working in overdrive. With meetings to organize, staff to accommodate, and customers to please, there just doesn?t seem to be enough time to get it all done. It can make for a frustrating environment, but thanks to technology, there are solutions.

The internet has brought us an abundance of tools that offer the ability to keep production moving. These five tools have the potential to come in handy in both the office and home setting.

1. Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk has a lot to offer business pros and homebodies alike. This app comes with several interesting perks, including the ability to:

  • ?Share tasks
  • ?Manage tasks offline
  • ?Integrate with Google Calendar
  • ?Receive notifications via email, IM, or text

At the basic level, Remember the Milk is great at creating lists that you can easily manage in a variety of unique ways. It?s all cloud-based, so you can pretty much access it at any time, on any device.

2. Google Drive

Although DropBox has been on top of the online file storage game for a while, Google Drive has proven to be a worthy alternative. Available for web use, Android, and even iOS, the service that started out as a glorified version of Google Docs has matured into a nice little tool all its own. In addition to storage, it serves up real-time updates, the ability to download documents, and full-on editing capabilities. Google Drive is also cloud driven, so you can access your data any time on a multitude of devices.

3. Objectiveli

Objectiveli is another utility that comes in handy for task management. This web-based tool provides you with a streamlined interface that allows you to track tasks, goals, and objectives in real-time. It helps teams and organizations stay focused by providing a centralized view of everything that has been assigned, thus minimizing the need for handwritten notes, spreadsheets, and internal email communications. Objectiveli is highly recommended for team orientated businesses, and individuals who want to see what?s ahead of them in big picture form.?

4. Rapportive

What we have here is a tool that enhances the power of your Gmail account. Rapportive delivers rich data about your contacts directly to your inbox. It pulls data about these contacts from a number of different sources, including Facebok, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora. So if it?s someone from LinkedIn, you would be able to see updates and other activity without actually visiting the site. ?Hence the name, this tool is all about getting to better know your contacts so you can form a ?rapport?.

Rapportive is a free tool available as a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Mailplane, and Safari. This one can be extremely handy for marketers scouting the web for leads, or the consumer who simply wants to know more about a company before doing business with them.

5. Pomio

Sales people, managers, programmers, and people all over the world are practicing the Pomodoro Technique, the time management method developed by Francisco Cirillo many years ago. Some say its overblown hogwash. Others swear by it. Lost? This five-step overview sums it up:

  • ?Outline a specific task
  • ?Set your timer to 25 minutes
  • ?Work on the task for 25 minutes straight through?
  • ?Break briefly for about three to five minutes
  • Take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes between each set (every four 25-minute periods)

The concept is simple enough, but getting the most from it has proven challenging. That?s where tools like Pomio come in. Pomio is an iOS app that acts as a Pomodoro timer, but it does so much more. It fully supports task management by allowing you to enter specific objectives and properly time them to make sure you are doing the method correctly. With access to detailed analytics, you can find out where you?re excelling, and where you need improvements. This is a fun little tool that can actually help you get more done if you play fair.

Conclusion
Steady productivity is one of those intangible assets with value that simply can?t be measured. But as you know, keeping it a high level is a task in and of itself. With everything from social networks to reality shows in the mix, the potential for distraction is greater than ever. On the bright side, there are plenty of good productivity tools at your disposal. All you gotta do is find the right ones and use them.

Chiko Noguchi is a best practices activist and advocate for a leading provider of event marketing services.
Image courtesy John-Morgan

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Source: http://smallbusinessesdoitbetter.com/2013/03/5-handy-tools-to-boost-productivity-in-business/

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AntTek's Quick Settings app brings the shortcut menu to users still waiting on Jelly Bean

Image

Still waiting for that upgrade to Jelly Bean? So are most Android users, if that's any consolation. While you might not see Android 4.2 before Google moves on to the next letter in its OS alphabet, you can get Jelly Bean's Quick Settings feature via a new app from AntTek. Available via Google Play, the program is compatible with Android 2.1 or later (no rooting required). It's pretty straightforward: you get a customizable settings menu, with options such as direct calling and email along with shortcuts to apps.

We downloaded the free app and spent a few minutes toying around -- it looks almost exactly like Quick Settings on Jelly Bean, and there are several controls for tweaking icon size, changing the theme and selecting what actions you'd like to display. We're not huge fans of the red drop-down panel that you swipe to bring up the app, but you can minimize its size and adjust its position on the top of the home screen. AntTek says a pro version, with additional functionality and an unlimited number of icons on the Quick Settings panel, will be available for €1.49. Hit up the source link below to download the app.

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Source: Google Play

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/anttek-quick-settings-app-brings-jelly-bean-shortcut-menu/

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Exclusive: Afghanistan says ready to work for peace without Pakistan help

By Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan is shocked by Pakistan's "complacency" in the nascent Afghan peace process and is ready to work without Islamabad's help on reconciliation, Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin told Reuters on Wednesday.

It was the first time Afghanistan has suggested the possibility of going it alone without its neighbor. Regional power Pakistan is seen as critical to stabilizing Afghanistan because of its long ties to insurgent groups.

Ludin also said the government would look to senior Taliban figures recently handed over by the United States in Bagram prison to urge militants to pursue peace. He did not elaborate.

Afghan officials had been pushing Pakistan hard to encourage the Taliban and other groups to join reconciliation efforts and Kabul had spoken of progress after Islamabad released some Taliban prisoners who could promote peace.

But Ludin, widely believed to shape foreign policy, told Reuters in an interview that Afghanistan had noted a shift in Pakistan's position towards peace efforts that are gaining more urgency as foreign forces prepare to leave by the end of 2014.

"We here in Kabul are in a bit of a state of shock at once again being confronted by the depth of Pakistan's complacency, we are just very disappointed," he said.

"But what has happened in the last few months for us, (we)see that Pakistan is changing the goal post every time we reach understanding."

Afghanistan also said it had canceled a military trip to Pakistan due to "unacceptable Pakistani shelling" of the country's mountainous eastern borderlands.

More than two dozen Pakistani artillery shells were fired into Afghanistan's eastern province of Kunar on Monday and Tuesday. The cancellation of the trip and days of angry diplomatic exchanges have placed further strain on a fraught relationship.

Afghanistan expressed its concern about what it called Pakistan's attempt to sideline President Hamid Karzai's government to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Kabul this week, said Ludin.

The deputy foreign minister, who is closely involved in peace efforts, said Afghanistan insisted that its High Peace Council, formed by Karzai, should spearhead any peace efforts.

Ludin said Pakistan had been trying to get the Taliban to talk to other parties, like the opposition, something he said would reverse gains.

"Suddenly, there is a new notion of the peace process now being introduced by Pakistan and that's 'well why should the Taliban talk to President Karzai or the High Peace Council?'" said Ludin. "They (Taliban) should in fact talk to other political parties. That's what they have told us," Ludin said.

"Pakistan's concept of the peace process is one that will reverse the achievement of the last 10 years that will negate the centrality of the Afghan state."

Although there have been several meetings in Western capitals over the last few months in which representatives of the Taliban met Afghan peace negotiators, there are no signs of any breakthrough.

RENEWED TENSIONS

Karzai is due to visit the Gulf Arab state of Qatar soon to discuss the opening of a Taliban office that could be used for peace contacts in the future.

Kabul has long been suspicious of Pakistan's intentions, accusing it of harboring the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta, and using militants as proxies to counter the influence of rival India in Afghanistan.

But a few months ago, Kabul was encouraged after Pakistan released some Afghan Taliban prisoners from its jails.

Now relations seem to have taken a sharp turn for the worse as the United States winds down the war, now in its 12th year.

This week, Pakistani officials accused Karzai of being an impediment to the peace process.

Ludin suggested Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to remain unstable so that militant groups allegedly backed by Islamabad would be in a position to capitalize on instability after 2014.

"What they would like is again a fragmentation of the Afghan state and going back to the drawing board so that they can have another 10 years, at least another decade, of weak, compromised Afghan state," he said.

Ludin stressed that Pakistan was a pivotal player and Afghanistan would still welcome its support.

"The sad reality is though Pakistan still remains the most important missing link in this whole vision that we have," he said.

Karzai had worked too hard and taken too many political risks to let Pakistan dictate how peace efforts should proceed, Ludin said.

"He (Karzai) has spent his political capital on this, he has basically staked his own political capital, his own reputation, on this and he has really mobilized the whole country, the whole region in support of the process," said Ludin.

"It is laughable, laughable if Pakistanis think that the whole notion of the President Karzai is impediment to peace."

Karzai's government, he said, would now turn to some of the most senior, hardcore Taliban leaders behind bars in Bagram in its quest for peace.

"We will try to appeal to them and say: 'Look, continued reluctance of Taliban to stay away from peace process and any buy in to this whole Pakistani design that they should not to speak to the Afghan government, is dangerous,'" said Ludin.

"Now that we have them we will see who is ready to help in this process."

(Reporting by Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-afghanistan-says-ready-peace-without-pakistan-help-110327661.html

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Gut-Microbe Swap Helps with Weight Loss

A bacterial transplant in mice has been shown to provide some of the benefits of gastric bypass surgery without putting the animals under the knife


gut microbe, gastric bypass Here the taxonomy of gut bacteria in mice that have received gastric bypass (red) is compared to that of mice kept at the same weight (blue) and of others that were not kept on a diet (green). Image: Science Translational Medicine/AAAS

Obese people considering gastric bypass surgery to help trim their fat might one day have another option: swallowing a new supply of gut bacteria. A study in mice suggests that weight loss after bypass surgery is caused not by the operation itself, but at least in part by a change in the amounts of various species of microbes in the gut.

A bypass operation separates off a small part of the stomach and connects that directly to the intestines. Recipients tend to feel less hungry, fill up more quickly and burn more calories at rest, and they often lose up to 75% of their excess fat. Counter-intuitively, this is thought to be caused by a change in metabolism, rather than by the reduced size of the stomach.

Gut microbes are thought to be part of this picture. People who have had bypasses are known to experience changes in the selection of microbes in their guts. Fat people have been shown to host a different selection of gut bacteria from people who are obese, and transferring the gut bacteria of fat mice into thin ones can cause the thin mice to pack on extra weight. But no one knew whether the microbes in bypass patients changed because they got thin, or if the patients got thin because the microbes changed.

Chop and change
To investigate, Lee Kaplan, director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and his colleagues gave about a dozen obese mice bypass surgery. As expected, the mice lost about 29% of their body weight, and kept it off despite a high-fat diet. New conditions in their bodies ? such as a change in bile acids ? allowed a different set of gut bacteria to thrive.

The researchers then took faecal samples from the mice that had been operated on, and put bacteria from them into the guts of mice specially bred without any gut flora. These mice, which were not obese, lost 5% of their weight without any changes to their diet. The results are reported in Science Translational Medicine.

The effect is impressively large, says Randy Seeley, an obesity researcher at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, particularly given that sterile mice almost always gain weight when given any kind of gut flora. The fact that the mice getting the second-hand bacteria did not lose as much weight as those that had surgery suggests that other factors are also at work; these could include hormonal changes.

The results are promising for obesity treatments, but there are still hurdles to overcome. ?You can?t just take a pill of the right bacteria and have them stick around,? says Seeley. If the gut?s environmental conditions don?t change, then the original microbes come back, he says. Kaplan says that the next steps are to isolate the four bacteria types that the study found to be at play and introduce them into obese mice or people. Antibiotic treatments might help the new bacteria to stick. ?I believe it?s possible,? says Kaplan.

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on March 27, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=fca6fa7a6f995e1106279c0f34dc1c43

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Eggs-treme: Christie's auctions super-sized egg

LONDON (AP) ? It's a foot long, nearly nine inches in diameter, and would once have made a really, really, big omelet.

A London auction house is hoping buyers will be scrambling to take a crack at this natural wonder, a massive fossilized egg laid long ago on the island of Madagascar by a now-extinct elephant bird.

Christie's said Wednesday that the oversized ovum ? laid sometime before elephant birds were wiped out several hundred years ago ? is expected to sell for up to 30,000 pounds (roughly $45,000).

Flightless, fruit-gobbling elephant birds resembled giant ostriches and could grow to be 11 feet high (3.4 meters). Christie's says their eggs are 100 times the size of an average chicken's.

The egg is being sold during a travel and science sale on April 24.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eggs-treme-christies-auctions-super-sized-egg-133424322.html

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Boxee TV update brings DLNA access, on device DVR management and more

Boxee TV update brings DLNA access, on device DVR management and more

Boxee's second box is getting a fresh round of updates, as GigaOm points out software version 2.1.0.7781 has been detailed and is rolling out. It includes features that appeal to classic Boxee fans like support for DLNA rendering that lets it browse and play files from PCs or other devices on the same network and DMR that lets users push media to it from apps like Skifta. For more traditional viewers, the update also brings a standard TV guide users can pull up by selecting "TV" on the home screen, the ability to schedule and manage DVR recordings from antenna on the box itself (previously only possible via webpage for the still-in-beta feature), notifications for upcoming recordings and even 3D support in the Vudu app. Boxee co-founder Idan Cohen joined us at Expand and mentioned some of the other updates the team is working on, we'll see if oft-requested features like the ability to pause live TV are added any time soon. Hit the source link for the full list of changes, current owners should see the new software arrive over the next few days.

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Via: GigaOm

Source: Boxee Support

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ZXw7NDmK7Gw/

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

State and Local Public Finance: The Future of the Wheelage Tax


The wheelage tax is a $5 user fee/tax on most vehicles kept in a metropolitan county and is levied by the respective metropolitan county board of commissioners.?The Minnesota's?statute?that covers the wheelage tax, specifies that the revenue generated by the wheelage tax must go directly to the county?s road and bridge fund.?

As of December 2012, only the metropolitan counties had the authority to levy such a tax. The seven counties are listed below:

1. Anoka County

2. Carver County

3. Dakota County

4. Scott County

5. Washington County

6. Hennepin County

7. Ramsey County

While the metropolitan counties have the authority to levy the tax, Hennepin and Ramsey County have not imposed this tax on its residents.?In fact in 2011, the Hennepin County Board rejected?the proposition of levying the tax to raise revenue to defray the costs of building the Lowry Avenue Bridge.?Board Chairman Mike Opat said he did not support the wheelage tax because it is a regressive tax that could potentially make the poor even poorer. In this legislative session?H.F 709?and?S.F 583 want to broaden the county wheelage tax authority to all of Minnesota?s 87 counties. Additionally, they seek to eliminate the $5 cap and set a new $20 cap on this tax, beginning in 2014. Supporters of the bills, in a Star Tribune?article, pointed out that Minnesota counties are struggling in keeping up with the road and bridge maintenance costs and increasing and broadening the wheelage tax will allow all counties to generate revenue to pay for these maintenance costs. While local governments have other revenue raising options, the wheel tax is said to be more politically palatable because its funds are collected from the users and these funds stay in the county for county projects, as opposed to other taxes like a state wide gas tax, whose funds do not stay entirely in the county.? As of March 22, 2013, both the House and Senate bills have cleared their respective policy committees and will now be examined in both the Senate and House tax committees. For now, we will have to wait and see if they become law.??? Interestingly, while researching the wheelage tax, I came across a wheelage tax?blog from Jason B, a 2010 State and Local Public Finance student. In his blog, Jason foresaw that the local government aid (LGA) reductions faced by county governments would push the metropolitan counties to raise the wheelage tax from its $5 capped amount.?In our legislative session, Jason?s recommendation is certainly a possibility, and in fact if the bills are passed, they could have even greater impacts since now not only will there be an increase in the fee but also an expansion to all counties.?

Source: http://pa5113.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-future-of-wheelage-tax.html

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Password Genie 4.0


Installing antivirus and firewall utilities will keep your PC safe, but installing a password manager may be even more important. Without the aid of a password manager, you'll probably use the same weak passwords over and over, simply because you can remember them. That can put your email account, your social media account, or even your bank account at risk. Password Genie 4.0 ($15 per year direct) handles all expected password management tasks; this new version adds the ability to fill personal data in Web forms.

At $15 per year, Password Genie barely costs more than LastPass 2.0 Premium (which runs $12 per year). You can install the product on up to five PCs or Macs and sync your stored data between those. The free Android edition will also sync with your PC-based accounts, as will an iOS edition that's in the works now.

Getting Started
As with LastPass 2.0, Dashlane 1.1, and almost all other password managers, you define a strong master password during the installation process. This password protects all of your other passwords, so it really needs to be something that you can remember but that nobody else would guess.

The master password field turns green when you've achieved a minimal strength level. That's decent, but others offer more help. Dashlane's master password wizard leads you through the process of creating a password that's both strong and memorable, a process similar to PCMag's own recommended technique. Norton Identity Safe displays a sliding scale of password strength, with specific advice on how to reach a higher level.

During installation you can choose to import any passwords you've saved in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. (The fact that Password Genie can import these may clue you in to the fact that browser-stored passwords aren't all that secure.) New in this version, you can choose to import those passwords even after the initial installation.

Password Capture
Like LastPass, Password Genie integrates with the browser by installing a single, simple button. The button clearly visible in Firefox; in some versions of Internet Explorer, you may find it pushed out of view until you click the >> button at the far end of the browser toolbar.

When you log in to a secure site, Password Genie offers to save your credentials. Like LastPass, it lets you identify a new or existing folder to categorize the site you're saving. By default, it names the saved site using the URL, but you can change that name to whatever will be most memorable. Password Genie uses a popup dialog box to gather this information; LastPass and Identity Safe have switched to a less obtrusive infobar that slides in from the top of the browser window.

In testing, Password Genie correctly captured almost all of the sites I tried. One oddball site uses two password fields; I couldn't get that one into Password Genie even by editing with the Advanced Form. With its "Save All Entered Data" feature, LastPass is among the few that handle this particular page.

If you log in to a known site using different credentials, Password Genie offers two choices: save a new login or replace the existing one. It detects password change events very nicely, and also detects when you're creating a new account. By default it will pop up with a suggested strong password for that new account. You can also launch its password generator manually.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/vez1A91RuC8/0,2817,2417011,00.asp

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Moon and asteroids share history, NASA scientists find

Mar. 25, 2013 ? NASA and international researchers have discovered that Earth's moon has more in common than previously thought with large asteroids roaming our solar system.

Scientists from NASA's Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) in Moffett Field, Calif., discovered that the same population of high-speed projectiles that impacted our lunar neighbor four billion years ago, also hit the giant asteroid Vesta and perhaps other large asteroids.

The research unveils an unexpected link between Vesta and the moon, and provides new means for studying the early bombardment history of terrestrial planets. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature Geoscience.

"It's always intriguing when interdisciplinary research changes the way we understand the history of our solar system," said Yvonne Pendleton, NLSI director. "Although the moon is located far from Vesta, which is in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, they seem to share some of the same bombardment history."

The findings support the theory that the repositioning of gas giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn from their original orbits to their current location destabilized portions of the asteroid belt and triggered a solar system-wide bombardment of asteroids billions of years ago, called the lunar cataclysm.

The research provides new constraints on the start and duration of the lunar cataclysm, and demonstrates that the cataclysm was an event that affected not only the inner solar system planets, but the asteroid belt as well.

The moon rocks brought back by NASA Apollo astronauts have long been used to study the bombardment history of the moon. Now the ages derived from meteorite samples have been used to study the collisional history of main belt asteroids. In particular, howardite and eucrite meteorites, which are common species found on Earth, have been used to study asteroid Vesta, their parent body. With the aid of computer simulations, researchers determined that meteorites from Vesta recorded high-speed impacts which are now long gone.

Researchers have linked these two datasets and found that the same population of projectiles responsible for making craters and basins on the moon were also hitting Vesta at very high velocities, enough to leave behind a number of telltale, impact-related ages.

The team's interpretation of the howardites and eucrites was augmented by recent close-in observations of Vesta's surface by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. In addition, the team used the latest dynamical models of early main belt evolution to discover the likely source of these high velocity impactors. The team determined that the population of projectiles that hit Vesta had orbits that also enabled some objects to strike the moon at high speeds.

"It appears that the asteroidal meteorites show signs of the asteroid belt losing a lot of mass four billion years ago, with the escaped mass beating up on both the surviving main belt asteroids and the moon at high speeds" says lead author Simone Marchi, who has a joint appointment between two of NASA's Lunar Science Institutes, one at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and another at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "Our research not only supports the current theory, but it takes it to the next level of understanding."

The NLSI is headquartered at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

To learn more about NLSI, visit: http://lunarscience.nasa.gov .

For more information about the Dawn mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/dawn .

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. S. Marchi, W. F. Bottke, B. A. Cohen, K. W?nnemann, D. A. Kring, H. Y. McSween, M. C. De Sanctis, D. P. O?Brien, P. Schenk, C. A. Raymond, C. T. Russell. High-velocity collisions from the lunar cataclysm recorded in asteroidal meteorites. Nature Geoscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1769

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/tTc-NiRYgpQ/130325185237.htm

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Early number sense plays role in later math skills

This image provided by the University of Missouri shows an illustration part of a University of Missouri study that examined first-graders? "number system knowledge." That?s how well they understand such things as that numbers represent quantities. Youngsters who didn?t have a good grasp of these concepts went on have lower scores on a key math skills test years later when they were in seventh grade. We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math _ and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on. (AP Photo/University of Missouri)

This image provided by the University of Missouri shows an illustration part of a University of Missouri study that examined first-graders? "number system knowledge." That?s how well they understand such things as that numbers represent quantities. Youngsters who didn?t have a good grasp of these concepts went on have lower scores on a key math skills test years later when they were in seventh grade. We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math _ and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on. (AP Photo/University of Missouri)

(AP) ? We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math ? and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on.

The findings have specialists considering steps that parents might take to spur math abilities, just like they do to try to raise a good reader.

This isn't only about trying to improve the nation's math scores and attract kids to become engineers. It's far more basic.

Consider: How rapidly can you calculate a tip? Do the fractions to double a recipe? Know how many quarters and dimes the cashier should hand back as your change?

About 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. lacks the math competence expected of a middle-schooler, meaning they have trouble with those ordinary tasks and aren't qualified for many of today's jobs.

"It's not just, can you do well in school? It's how well can you do in your life," says Dr. Kathy Mann Koepke of the National Institutes of Health, which is funding much of this research into math cognition. "We are in the midst of math all the time."

A new study shows trouble can start early.

University of Missouri researchers tested 180 seventh-graders. Those who lagged behind their peers in a test of core math skills needed to function as adults were the same kids who'd had the least number sense or fluency way back when they started first grade.

"The gap they started with, they don't close it," says Dr. David Geary, a cognitive psychologist who leads the study that is tracking children from kindergarten to high school in the Columbia, Mo., school system. "They're not catching up" to the kids who started ahead.

If first grade sounds pretty young to be predicting math ability, well, no one expects tots to be scribbling sums. But this number sense, or what Geary more precisely terms "number system knowledge," turns out to be a fundamental skill that students continually build on, much more than the simple ability to count.

What's involved? Understanding that numbers represent different quantities ? that three dots is the same as the numeral "3'' or the word "three." Grasping magnitude ? that 23 is bigger than 17. Getting the concept that numbers can be broken into parts ? that 5 is the same as 2 and 3, or 4 and 1. Showing on a number line that the difference between 10 and 12 is the same as the difference between 20 and 22.

Factors such as IQ and attention span didn't explain why some first-graders did better than others. Now Geary is studying if something that youngsters learn in preschool offers an advantage.

There's other evidence that math matters early in life. Numerous studies with young babies and a variety of animals show that a related ability ? to estimate numbers without counting ? is intuitive, sort of hard-wired in the brain, says Mann Koepke, of NIH's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. That's the ability that lets you choose the shortest grocery check-out line at a glance, or that guides a bird to the bush with the most berries.

Number system knowledge is more sophisticated, and the Missouri study shows children who start elementary school without those concepts "seem to struggle enormously," says Mann Koepke, who wasn't part of that research.

While schools tend to focus on math problems around third grade, and math learning disabilities often are diagnosed by fifth grade, the new findings suggest "the need to intervene is much earlier than we ever used to think," she adds.

Exactly how to intervene still is being studied, sure to be a topic when NIH brings experts together this spring to assess what's known about math cognition.

But Geary sees a strong parallel with reading. Scientists have long known that preschoolers who know the names of letters and can better distinguish what sounds those letters make go on to read more easily. So parents today are advised to read to their children from birth, and many youngsters' books use rhyming to focus on sounds.

Likewise for math, "kids need to know number words" early on, he says.

NIH's Mann Koepke agrees, and offers some tips:

?Don't teach your toddler to count solely by reciting numbers. Attach numbers to a noun ? "Here are five crayons: One crayon, two crayons..." or say "I need to buy two yogurts" as you pick them from the store shelf ? so they'll absorb the quantity concept.

?Talk about distance: How many steps to your ball? The swing is farther away; it takes more steps.

?Describe shapes: The ellipse is round like a circle but flatter.

?As they grow, show children how math is part of daily life, as you make change, or measure ingredients, or decide how soon to leave for a destination 10 miles away,

"We should be talking to our children about magnitude, numbers, distance, shapes as soon as they're born," she contends. "More than likely, this is a positive influence on their brain function."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-03-26-HealthBeat-Math%20Skills/id-23fea68cbf434ed18f266f21fc4f16c5

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