The baby who in March was hours from being pulled off life support at a Canadian hospital but was rescued by a pro-life group that brought the boy to the U.S. for treatment, died Tuesday night in the comfort of his own home in Windsor, Ontario.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Improper health care payments
The Obama administration is targeting programs that help the poor and unemployed as it seeks to recover billions of dollars in improper payments.
The effort, part of a government-wide focus on wasteful spending led by Vice President Biden, will get a high-profile boost today when the entire Cabinet meets for the first time on that subject alone.
The latest target for government auditors is Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and people with disabilities. The Health and Human Services Department will announce an initiative today aimed at recovering $2.1 billion in improper payments over five years.
At the same time, the Labor Department will intensify its partnership with states to reduce improper payments of unemployment insurance. More than half the states have improper payment rates higher than 10%, led by Indiana and Louisiana at more than 40%, according to Labor Department data.
"If we're going to spur jobs and economic growth and restore long-term fiscal solvency, we need to make sure hard-earned tax dollars don't go to waste," Biden said in prepared remarks.
Medicare and Medicaid are considered high-risk programs by the Government Accountability Office because they are prone to high rates of fraud, waste, abuse and improper payments. The GAO estimates that $70 billion was lost through improper payments in 2010 — roughly 10% of their combined federal cost.
The Health and Human Services Department estimated that improper payments in Medicaid alone cost the government $22.5 billion last year.
Government recovery efforts have lagged far behind the problem. Inspector general reports show that $4 billion was recovered last year from improper payments in government health care programs, a figure which has risen steadily from $1 billion in 2007.
The effort to track improper government payments dates to 2002 under the Bush administration and was later expanded to include Medicare and, most recently, Medicaid. Last year's health care law called for about $6 billion in savings by cracking down on waste and fraud.
Past administrations have made similar efforts to reduce waste and audit programs for efficiency and effectiveness. Vice President Al Gore headed President Clinton's "Reinventing Government" effort, while President George W. Bush created a new method of assessing and rating government programs.
In carrying on the tradition, President Obama brought it under Biden's control and instructed all government agencies to look for wasteful spending, just as he has pushed them to eliminate unneeded regulations.
Outside experts say the effort is worthwhile — but they warn not to expect too much.
"It's nickels and dimes in terms of the whole thing, but no one can argue that you should just let it go," says Patrick Louis Knudsen, a budget expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I don't think that you can correct the whole budget problem from that."
Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, says past government efforts have proven largely ineffective.
"The federal government is so big at this point that you just can't do proper oversight, unless you're willing to hire an army and give them enforcement powers," she says. "They don't ever seem to get it under control.
The effort, part of a government-wide focus on wasteful spending led by Vice President Biden, will get a high-profile boost today when the entire Cabinet meets for the first time on that subject alone.
The latest target for government auditors is Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and people with disabilities. The Health and Human Services Department will announce an initiative today aimed at recovering $2.1 billion in improper payments over five years.
At the same time, the Labor Department will intensify its partnership with states to reduce improper payments of unemployment insurance. More than half the states have improper payment rates higher than 10%, led by Indiana and Louisiana at more than 40%, according to Labor Department data.
"If we're going to spur jobs and economic growth and restore long-term fiscal solvency, we need to make sure hard-earned tax dollars don't go to waste," Biden said in prepared remarks.
Medicare and Medicaid are considered high-risk programs by the Government Accountability Office because they are prone to high rates of fraud, waste, abuse and improper payments. The GAO estimates that $70 billion was lost through improper payments in 2010 — roughly 10% of their combined federal cost.
The Health and Human Services Department estimated that improper payments in Medicaid alone cost the government $22.5 billion last year.
Government recovery efforts have lagged far behind the problem. Inspector general reports show that $4 billion was recovered last year from improper payments in government health care programs, a figure which has risen steadily from $1 billion in 2007.
The effort to track improper government payments dates to 2002 under the Bush administration and was later expanded to include Medicare and, most recently, Medicaid. Last year's health care law called for about $6 billion in savings by cracking down on waste and fraud.
Past administrations have made similar efforts to reduce waste and audit programs for efficiency and effectiveness. Vice President Al Gore headed President Clinton's "Reinventing Government" effort, while President George W. Bush created a new method of assessing and rating government programs.
In carrying on the tradition, President Obama brought it under Biden's control and instructed all government agencies to look for wasteful spending, just as he has pushed them to eliminate unneeded regulations.
Outside experts say the effort is worthwhile — but they warn not to expect too much.
"It's nickels and dimes in terms of the whole thing, but no one can argue that you should just let it go," says Patrick Louis Knudsen, a budget expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I don't think that you can correct the whole budget problem from that."
Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, says past government efforts have proven largely ineffective.
"The federal government is so big at this point that you just can't do proper oversight, unless you're willing to hire an army and give them enforcement powers," she says. "They don't ever seem to get it under control.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Nokia E6 - Workhorse goes touchscreen
The Nokia E6 is an evolution of a product line that has won Nokiamay fans. It started with the launch of the Nokia E71, which was loved by users and reviewers alike and sold millions of units worldwide. It was loved for its slim and stylish design, comfortable QWERTY keypad, powerful smartphone
features and a solid battery life. Backed by the Nokia brand name the phone was an instant hit. It was followed up by the excellent E72, which improved upon almost every weakness of its predecessors and was again met with a positive response.
Fast forward to 2011 and the candy bar QWERTY form-factor is slowly dying away. But it seems Nokia isn’t quite ready to let it go and neither are many of the users of the E71 and E72 who have been holding on to their phones all these years despite the growing temptation from competing brands. They have probably been waiting for a suitable upgrade to a phone they bought years ago and trusted Nokia to come up with another winner for them to spend their money on. But has Nokia managed to do that? Read on to find out.
The Nokia E6 maintains the basic design of its predecessors. An untrained eye will probably mistake it for the E72. But look closely and you will see subtle differences such as the lack of soft keys below the display and rearranged shortcut keys which makes the area look considerably less cluttered. The D-pad also looks different. The D-pad and the QWERTY keys are the only parts of the front that are raised and everything else is flush.
The back looks completely different than its predecessors, with a less flamboyant battery cover and camera lens. On the top is the headphone jack, power button and the microSD card slot. It has the micro USB port at the left and the traditional Nokia charging port at the bottom. Recent Nokia phones sport USB charging ports but Nokia understands that the E6 buyers will mostly be old Nokia customers and hence are likely to have the old Nokia chargers lying around.
The new phone maintains the slim profile of the older phones and feels nice to hold in the hand. It also feels very solid and there is a nice heft to it. However, not everything about the design felt right. The battery cover was slightly shorter than the slot it was in and hence would slide up and down by about half a millimeter, which I personally found annoying. The plastic cover at the top creaked when I pressed it.
Another thing about the design that bothered me was the LED under the USB port cap. It lights up when the phone is charging, which is fine if you are charging through a USB charger but if you use a standard charger that Nokia supplies, the port remains closed and the LED then shines awkwardly from underneath it. The overall build quality and attention to detail then, it seems, has taken a step back from the older E-series phones.
The keypad on the E6 is standard QWERTY affair and is mostly identical to those on the previous phones, which is to say it is comfortable to use. The keys below the display are also well spaced out on this phone and easy to use too.
The right side seems a bit busy due to the presence of an extra button between the volume control keys. The volume keys are backlit but I don’t feel that was particularly necessary. Volume keys are hardly looked at before operating and Nokia should have made them more tactile. I often pressed the middle button when I wanted to pressed one of the volume keys.
The button in between the volume rockers actually activates voice commands. You can press and hold the button and then speak the name of an application or file or contact to open it. If you press it during a call, it mutes the mic.
The sliding phone lock key on the right feels bit awkward to use because of its position. As on the E7, you can press and hold it to activate the LED flash on the back to be used as a flashlight.
The E6 lacks the soft keys found on the older phones since it has a touchscreen now. Users of these older phones will have to condition themselves to this new arrangement before they get used to it.
The Nokia E6 has a 2.46-inch display, which is slightly bigger than its predecessors. Nonetheless, the resolution has quadrupled.
Having 650x480 pixels in such a small area has given the E6 display tremendous pixel density. In fact, at 326-PPI, it is the same as the iPhone 4's Retina display. This makes the display very sharp and clear.
Also, unlike its predecessors, the E6 has a touchscreen. Unfortunately, 2.46-inch is not quite the ideal size for a touchscreen and it does feel cramped. This is particularly noticeable in the browser and the image gallery when you try to pinch to zoom.
Even if you remove the touchscreen out of the equation, the display still feels very small and not worthy of a modern smartphone. And I'm not sure if it was the resolution or the fact that I'm used to a much bigger display but my eyes hurt after looking at the display for more than a few minutes. This is one of the biggest shortcomings of this form factor, wherein the display size will always have to be compromised.
The Nokia E6 runs on a 680MHz processor with 256MB of RAM. In today's day and age, these specifications seem very outdated and I know that Symbian fans would say that the OS is very efficient. I can tell you for a fact that the E6 feels sluggish, particularly when it comes to launching applications or switching between them.
The E6 runs on the latest version of Symbian named Symbian Anna. Anna brings a few useful features to the table, such as an improved web browser and a portrait QWERTY keypad (not present on the E6 for obvious reasons), along with more subtle ones such as home screens that follow the movement of your finger as you switch between them and a brand new set of icons.
The updated browser, although new to Symbian, doesn’t offer anything that you haven’t seen in other browsers, such as the ability to create new windows and search from the address bar. Even those have their limitations; you can't have more than three windows at a time and when you enter a term in the address bar, the browser will think it is an URL and try to open it instead of doing a web search. The performance was disappointing as well -- with sluggish page scrolling and occasional crashes. The download manager continues to be sad and the Flash lite plugin is not as good as the full Flash 10.3 player on Android devices, which itself is not as good as the one for desktop computers.
features and a solid battery life. Backed by the Nokia brand name the phone was an instant hit. It was followed up by the excellent E72, which improved upon almost every weakness of its predecessors and was again met with a positive response.
Fast forward to 2011 and the candy bar QWERTY form-factor is slowly dying away. But it seems Nokia isn’t quite ready to let it go and neither are many of the users of the E71 and E72 who have been holding on to their phones all these years despite the growing temptation from competing brands. They have probably been waiting for a suitable upgrade to a phone they bought years ago and trusted Nokia to come up with another winner for them to spend their money on. But has Nokia managed to do that? Read on to find out.
The Nokia E6 maintains the basic design of its predecessors. An untrained eye will probably mistake it for the E72. But look closely and you will see subtle differences such as the lack of soft keys below the display and rearranged shortcut keys which makes the area look considerably less cluttered. The D-pad also looks different. The D-pad and the QWERTY keys are the only parts of the front that are raised and everything else is flush.
The back looks completely different than its predecessors, with a less flamboyant battery cover and camera lens. On the top is the headphone jack, power button and the microSD card slot. It has the micro USB port at the left and the traditional Nokia charging port at the bottom. Recent Nokia phones sport USB charging ports but Nokia understands that the E6 buyers will mostly be old Nokia customers and hence are likely to have the old Nokia chargers lying around.
The new phone maintains the slim profile of the older phones and feels nice to hold in the hand. It also feels very solid and there is a nice heft to it. However, not everything about the design felt right. The battery cover was slightly shorter than the slot it was in and hence would slide up and down by about half a millimeter, which I personally found annoying. The plastic cover at the top creaked when I pressed it.
Another thing about the design that bothered me was the LED under the USB port cap. It lights up when the phone is charging, which is fine if you are charging through a USB charger but if you use a standard charger that Nokia supplies, the port remains closed and the LED then shines awkwardly from underneath it. The overall build quality and attention to detail then, it seems, has taken a step back from the older E-series phones.
The keypad on the E6 is standard QWERTY affair and is mostly identical to those on the previous phones, which is to say it is comfortable to use. The keys below the display are also well spaced out on this phone and easy to use too.
The right side seems a bit busy due to the presence of an extra button between the volume control keys. The volume keys are backlit but I don’t feel that was particularly necessary. Volume keys are hardly looked at before operating and Nokia should have made them more tactile. I often pressed the middle button when I wanted to pressed one of the volume keys.
The button in between the volume rockers actually activates voice commands. You can press and hold the button and then speak the name of an application or file or contact to open it. If you press it during a call, it mutes the mic.
The sliding phone lock key on the right feels bit awkward to use because of its position. As on the E7, you can press and hold it to activate the LED flash on the back to be used as a flashlight.
The E6 lacks the soft keys found on the older phones since it has a touchscreen now. Users of these older phones will have to condition themselves to this new arrangement before they get used to it.
The Nokia E6 has a 2.46-inch display, which is slightly bigger than its predecessors. Nonetheless, the resolution has quadrupled.
Having 650x480 pixels in such a small area has given the E6 display tremendous pixel density. In fact, at 326-PPI, it is the same as the iPhone 4's Retina display. This makes the display very sharp and clear.
Also, unlike its predecessors, the E6 has a touchscreen. Unfortunately, 2.46-inch is not quite the ideal size for a touchscreen and it does feel cramped. This is particularly noticeable in the browser and the image gallery when you try to pinch to zoom.
Even if you remove the touchscreen out of the equation, the display still feels very small and not worthy of a modern smartphone. And I'm not sure if it was the resolution or the fact that I'm used to a much bigger display but my eyes hurt after looking at the display for more than a few minutes. This is one of the biggest shortcomings of this form factor, wherein the display size will always have to be compromised.
The Nokia E6 runs on a 680MHz processor with 256MB of RAM. In today's day and age, these specifications seem very outdated and I know that Symbian fans would say that the OS is very efficient. I can tell you for a fact that the E6 feels sluggish, particularly when it comes to launching applications or switching between them.
The E6 runs on the latest version of Symbian named Symbian Anna. Anna brings a few useful features to the table, such as an improved web browser and a portrait QWERTY keypad (not present on the E6 for obvious reasons), along with more subtle ones such as home screens that follow the movement of your finger as you switch between them and a brand new set of icons.
The updated browser, although new to Symbian, doesn’t offer anything that you haven’t seen in other browsers, such as the ability to create new windows and search from the address bar. Even those have their limitations; you can't have more than three windows at a time and when you enter a term in the address bar, the browser will think it is an URL and try to open it instead of doing a web search. The performance was disappointing as well -- with sluggish page scrolling and occasional crashes. The download manager continues to be sad and the Flash lite plugin is not as good as the full Flash 10.3 player on Android devices, which itself is not as good as the one for desktop computers.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Yahoo fires chief executive Carol Bartz
Carol Bartz, Yahoo's chief executive, was fired late ending a rocky tenure in which she tried and failed to revitalise the online giant.
In a statement the company announced Bartz had been "removed" from her post and would be replaced by chief financial officer Timothy Morse "effective immediately" on an interim basis as the firm began the search for a new, permanent CEO.
In an e-mail sent to employees from her iPad and titled "Goodbye," Bartz wrote: "I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's chairman of the board." She wrote, "It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward."
The combative chief executive had been under pressure to turnaround Yahoo from the day she was appointed. Yahoo remains one of the biggest destinations on the internet but has lost gound with advertisers and audience to Google, Facebook and services like Twitter.
According to research firm eMarketer Facebook is set to overtake Yahoo this year to collect the biggest slice of online display advertising dollars in the US.
Bartz joined Yahoo in January 2009, replacing co-founder Jerry Yang who had returned to the helm of the company in an ill-fated bid to turn its fortunes around. When Bartz joined the firm its shares were trading for around $12. After news of her departure broke, the shares jumped more than 6% in after-hours trade to $13.72, from a close of $12.91 on the Nasdaq. In January 2000, near the end of the dot-com bubble, Yahoo's shares traded at more than $125 a piece.
Bartz had also fallen out of favour with Wall Street investors, unhappy with her turnaround strategy and her handling of the firm's strained relatonship with China's Alibaba Group, in which it holds a 40% stake.
In June Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock gave his public support to Bartz at the company's annual general meeting. "This board is very supportive of Carol and this management team," Bostock said in his opening remarks. "We are confident that Yahoo is headed in the right direction."
Bartz, had previously been chairman of software firm Autodesk. She arrived with a reputation as a tough talker and reinforced it early in her tenure by telling Michael Arrington, founder of the influential Techcrunch website to "f*** off" during a staged interview at an industry event.
Her management style came under fire after the company's apparent mishandling of its relationship with Alibaba. In May when it was revealed that Alibaba had handed Alipay - one of Alibaba's crown jewels - to a company controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, apparently without Yahoo's knowledge. Alibaba said Yahoo was fully aware of the transaction and the two sides openly bickered about the deal.
Yahoo is conducting a strategic review of the company's options, including possible divestment of its Asian holdings. It cautioned that no decisions had yet been made.
Bostock said: "On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Carol for her service to Yahoo! during a critical time of transition in the Company's history, and against a very challenging macro-economic backdrop. I would also like to express the Board's appreciation to Tim and thank him for accepting this important role. We have great confidence in his abilities and in those of the other executives who have been named to the Executive Leadership Council."
The company also said its directors named five other senior Yahoo executives to an executive leadership council that is intended to help Morse, a former chief financial officer at Altera, a semiconductor makers, and at General Electric Plastics, manage the company.
In a statement the company announced Bartz had been "removed" from her post and would be replaced by chief financial officer Timothy Morse "effective immediately" on an interim basis as the firm began the search for a new, permanent CEO.
In an e-mail sent to employees from her iPad and titled "Goodbye," Bartz wrote: "I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's chairman of the board." She wrote, "It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward."
The combative chief executive had been under pressure to turnaround Yahoo from the day she was appointed. Yahoo remains one of the biggest destinations on the internet but has lost gound with advertisers and audience to Google, Facebook and services like Twitter.
According to research firm eMarketer Facebook is set to overtake Yahoo this year to collect the biggest slice of online display advertising dollars in the US.
Bartz joined Yahoo in January 2009, replacing co-founder Jerry Yang who had returned to the helm of the company in an ill-fated bid to turn its fortunes around. When Bartz joined the firm its shares were trading for around $12. After news of her departure broke, the shares jumped more than 6% in after-hours trade to $13.72, from a close of $12.91 on the Nasdaq. In January 2000, near the end of the dot-com bubble, Yahoo's shares traded at more than $125 a piece.
Bartz had also fallen out of favour with Wall Street investors, unhappy with her turnaround strategy and her handling of the firm's strained relatonship with China's Alibaba Group, in which it holds a 40% stake.
In June Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock gave his public support to Bartz at the company's annual general meeting. "This board is very supportive of Carol and this management team," Bostock said in his opening remarks. "We are confident that Yahoo is headed in the right direction."
Bartz, had previously been chairman of software firm Autodesk. She arrived with a reputation as a tough talker and reinforced it early in her tenure by telling Michael Arrington, founder of the influential Techcrunch website to "f*** off" during a staged interview at an industry event.
Her management style came under fire after the company's apparent mishandling of its relationship with Alibaba. In May when it was revealed that Alibaba had handed Alipay - one of Alibaba's crown jewels - to a company controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, apparently without Yahoo's knowledge. Alibaba said Yahoo was fully aware of the transaction and the two sides openly bickered about the deal.
Yahoo is conducting a strategic review of the company's options, including possible divestment of its Asian holdings. It cautioned that no decisions had yet been made.
Bostock said: "On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Carol for her service to Yahoo! during a critical time of transition in the Company's history, and against a very challenging macro-economic backdrop. I would also like to express the Board's appreciation to Tim and thank him for accepting this important role. We have great confidence in his abilities and in those of the other executives who have been named to the Executive Leadership Council."
The company also said its directors named five other senior Yahoo executives to an executive leadership council that is intended to help Morse, a former chief financial officer at Altera, a semiconductor makers, and at General Electric Plastics, manage the company.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
New formula to create highly engaged audience on Facebook
facebook fan is very important for facebook user. facebook fan page is important for all. facebook fans are always try to use facebook. If you read the article than can know how to make facebook fan page
New formula to created by a North Carolina diet doctor highly engaged audience on Facebook in the world, far surpassing marketing efforts by celebrities and sports teams. He draws on the words of Jesus and posts them four or five times a day.
A North Carolina diet doctor has come up with a formula to create the most highly engaged audience on Facebook in the world, far surpassing marketing efforts by celebrities and sports teams. He draws on the words of Jesus and posts them four or five times a day.
For the last three months, more people have “Liked,” commented and shared content on the Jesus Daily than on any other Facebook page, including Justin Bieber’s page, according to a weekly analysis by AllFacebook.com, an industry blog. “I wanted to provide people with encouragement,” said Dr. Tabor, who keeps his diet business on a separate Facebook page. “And I thought I would give it a news spin by calling it daily.
Facebook and other social media tools have changed the way people communicate, work, find each other and fall in love. While it’s too early to say that social media have transformed the way people practice religion, the number of people discussing faith on Facebook has significantly increased in the last year, according to company officials.
Over all, 31 percent of Facebook users in the United States list a religion in their profile, and 24 percent of users outside the United States do, Facebook says. More than 43 million people on Facebook are fans of at least one page categorized as religious.
Much of the conversation on social platforms is fostered by religious leaders, churches, synagogues and other religious institutions turning to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to attract followers and strengthen connections with members. What is new is that millions of people are also turning to Facebook pages, like the Jesus Daily, created by people unaffiliated with a religious leader or a specific house of worship. With 8.2 million fans, the Jesus Daily counted 3.4 million interactions last week, compared with about 630,000 interactions among Justin Bieber’s 35 million fans, the AllFacebook.com analysis shows. The Bible Facebook page, run by the United Bible Societies in Reading, England, has eight million fans and also beat Mr. Bieber with about a million interactions.
Amid pages for Lady Gaga, Texas Hold’em Poker and Manchester United, Joyce Meyer Ministries is in the top 20, along with another page devoted to Jesus Christ, and the Spanish-language page Dios Es Bueno, or God Is Great. And Facebook got its first Bible-themed game recently, the Journey of Moses.
But the increase in the number of people finding faith communities via social media platforms provokes the question of what constitutes religious experience and whether “friending” a church online is at all similar to worshiping at one.
Although Pope Benedict acknowledged in a recent statement that social networks offered “a great opportunity,” he warned Roman Catholics that “virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”
The Rev. Henry G. Brinton, senior pastor of the Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Va., who writes a blog and whose church uses Facebook, said that it was important for people to gather to “experience the physical sensation of water in Baptism, the chance to hold hands in a service of worship or greet one another in the passing of the peace.”
That’s not possible through online worship alone, he said. “I am not saying there isn’t value to the connections that get made through social networking. But they can never replace the importance of people being together physically in the service of worship.”
Perhaps the biggest opportunity for religious leaders and institutions is finding and keeping new members, according to the Rev. Kenneth Lillard, author of “Social Media and Ministry: Sharing the Gospel in the Digital Age.” He said Facebook and other social media tools, including Google Plus, YouTube and Twitter, represented the best chance for religious leaders to expand their congregations since the printing press helped Martin Luther usher in the Protestant Reformation.
“I am looking at social media doing the same thing for today’s church,” said Mr. Lillard, a Baptist minister from Maryland.
Since making a focused effort to use social media three years ago, Rabbi Laura Baum, of the Congregation Beth Adam in Cincinnati, said the synagogue had reached thousands of people around the world and significantly expanded the number of people participating in Shabbat services on Friday evenings. They offer readings and services via live videos on Facebook, allowing Jews from all over the world to join in prayer and in conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Livestream.
“There are some people who will always prefer the in-person, face-to-face experience, who love being in a room with other Jews and smelling the freshly baked challah. And some people will prefer being online,” said Rabbi Baum, 31, who is one of the leaders of OurJewishCommunity.org. “There are those people who prefer to check out our tweets on their phone or listen to our podcast. I don’t think the use of technology needs to be for everybody. But we have found a community online. Many of them have never felt a connection to Judaism before.”
For some, the Jesus Daily has become a faith community online, where people share their troubles and provide and receive words of support. “Jesus Daily reminds me every day that I am not alone,” said Kristin Davis-Ford, a single mother and full-time student in Houston. “Every single prayer request I have posted has been answered,” she said, “and I know it is the power of God’s children, coming together and standing in agreement.”
Dr. Tabor, a medical researcher, drafts most of the posts himself, using some marketing techniques learned from his successful diet business, which he now pitches on QVC. He recently posted photographs of baby animals, asking people to name “God’s Little Helpers.” By noon, more than 147,000 people had “Liked” the post. And names for the baby animals were among the more than 7,000 comments, including this one from Steve Karimi, writing from Nakuru, the provincial capital of Kenya’s Rift Valley province: “I love Jesus Daily. Truly inspirational.”
Dr. Tabor is not sure what the future holds for the page, he said, mentioning an online television global ministry. For now, it is still his hobby.
“I want it to be about encouragement,” he said. “There are so many people battling cancer, fighting to keep their marriages together, struggling to restore relationships with their children,” he said. “There are people out of work, at the end of the line and I just want the Jesus Daily to be a central place where they find encouragement, no matter what battle they are fighting.”
New formula to created by a North Carolina diet doctor highly engaged audience on Facebook in the world, far surpassing marketing efforts by celebrities and sports teams. He draws on the words of Jesus and posts them four or five times a day.
A North Carolina diet doctor has come up with a formula to create the most highly engaged audience on Facebook in the world, far surpassing marketing efforts by celebrities and sports teams. He draws on the words of Jesus and posts them four or five times a day.
For the last three months, more people have “Liked,” commented and shared content on the Jesus Daily than on any other Facebook page, including Justin Bieber’s page, according to a weekly analysis by AllFacebook.com, an industry blog. “I wanted to provide people with encouragement,” said Dr. Tabor, who keeps his diet business on a separate Facebook page. “And I thought I would give it a news spin by calling it daily.
Facebook and other social media tools have changed the way people communicate, work, find each other and fall in love. While it’s too early to say that social media have transformed the way people practice religion, the number of people discussing faith on Facebook has significantly increased in the last year, according to company officials.
Over all, 31 percent of Facebook users in the United States list a religion in their profile, and 24 percent of users outside the United States do, Facebook says. More than 43 million people on Facebook are fans of at least one page categorized as religious.
Much of the conversation on social platforms is fostered by religious leaders, churches, synagogues and other religious institutions turning to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to attract followers and strengthen connections with members. What is new is that millions of people are also turning to Facebook pages, like the Jesus Daily, created by people unaffiliated with a religious leader or a specific house of worship. With 8.2 million fans, the Jesus Daily counted 3.4 million interactions last week, compared with about 630,000 interactions among Justin Bieber’s 35 million fans, the AllFacebook.com analysis shows. The Bible Facebook page, run by the United Bible Societies in Reading, England, has eight million fans and also beat Mr. Bieber with about a million interactions.
Amid pages for Lady Gaga, Texas Hold’em Poker and Manchester United, Joyce Meyer Ministries is in the top 20, along with another page devoted to Jesus Christ, and the Spanish-language page Dios Es Bueno, or God Is Great. And Facebook got its first Bible-themed game recently, the Journey of Moses.
But the increase in the number of people finding faith communities via social media platforms provokes the question of what constitutes religious experience and whether “friending” a church online is at all similar to worshiping at one.
Although Pope Benedict acknowledged in a recent statement that social networks offered “a great opportunity,” he warned Roman Catholics that “virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”
The Rev. Henry G. Brinton, senior pastor of the Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Va., who writes a blog and whose church uses Facebook, said that it was important for people to gather to “experience the physical sensation of water in Baptism, the chance to hold hands in a service of worship or greet one another in the passing of the peace.”
That’s not possible through online worship alone, he said. “I am not saying there isn’t value to the connections that get made through social networking. But they can never replace the importance of people being together physically in the service of worship.”
Perhaps the biggest opportunity for religious leaders and institutions is finding and keeping new members, according to the Rev. Kenneth Lillard, author of “Social Media and Ministry: Sharing the Gospel in the Digital Age.” He said Facebook and other social media tools, including Google Plus, YouTube and Twitter, represented the best chance for religious leaders to expand their congregations since the printing press helped Martin Luther usher in the Protestant Reformation.
“I am looking at social media doing the same thing for today’s church,” said Mr. Lillard, a Baptist minister from Maryland.
Since making a focused effort to use social media three years ago, Rabbi Laura Baum, of the Congregation Beth Adam in Cincinnati, said the synagogue had reached thousands of people around the world and significantly expanded the number of people participating in Shabbat services on Friday evenings. They offer readings and services via live videos on Facebook, allowing Jews from all over the world to join in prayer and in conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Livestream.
“There are some people who will always prefer the in-person, face-to-face experience, who love being in a room with other Jews and smelling the freshly baked challah. And some people will prefer being online,” said Rabbi Baum, 31, who is one of the leaders of OurJewishCommunity.org. “There are those people who prefer to check out our tweets on their phone or listen to our podcast. I don’t think the use of technology needs to be for everybody. But we have found a community online. Many of them have never felt a connection to Judaism before.”
For some, the Jesus Daily has become a faith community online, where people share their troubles and provide and receive words of support. “Jesus Daily reminds me every day that I am not alone,” said Kristin Davis-Ford, a single mother and full-time student in Houston. “Every single prayer request I have posted has been answered,” she said, “and I know it is the power of God’s children, coming together and standing in agreement.”
Dr. Tabor, a medical researcher, drafts most of the posts himself, using some marketing techniques learned from his successful diet business, which he now pitches on QVC. He recently posted photographs of baby animals, asking people to name “God’s Little Helpers.” By noon, more than 147,000 people had “Liked” the post. And names for the baby animals were among the more than 7,000 comments, including this one from Steve Karimi, writing from Nakuru, the provincial capital of Kenya’s Rift Valley province: “I love Jesus Daily. Truly inspirational.”
Dr. Tabor is not sure what the future holds for the page, he said, mentioning an online television global ministry. For now, it is still his hobby.
“I want it to be about encouragement,” he said. “There are so many people battling cancer, fighting to keep their marriages together, struggling to restore relationships with their children,” he said. “There are people out of work, at the end of the line and I just want the Jesus Daily to be a central place where they find encouragement, no matter what battle they are fighting.”
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Irene-Change in Climate
Irene create for change in climate. hurricane irene create by us. We change climate and than come hurricane.
the hurricane center inform about hurricane.
The scale of hurricane irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?
he short answer from scientists is that they are still trying to figure it out. But many of them do believe that hurricanes will get more intense as the planet warms, and they see large hurricanes like Irene as a harbinger.
While the number of the most intense storms has clearly been rising since the 1970s, researchers have come to differing conclusions about whether that increase can be attributed to human activities.
“On a longer time scale, I think — but not all of my colleagues agree — that the evidence for a connection between Atlantic hurricanes and global climate change is fairly compelling,” said Kerry Emanuel, an expert on the issue at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Among those who disagree is Thomas R. Knutson, a federal researcher at the government’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. The rising trend of recent decades occurred over too short a period to be sure it was not a consequence of natural variability, he said, and statistics from earlier years are not reliable enough to draw firm conclusions about any long-term trend in hurricane intensities.
“Everyone sort of agrees on this short-term trend, but then the agreement starts to break down when you go back longer-term,” Mr. Knutson said. He argues, essentially, that Dr. Emanuel’s conclusion is premature, though he adds that evidence for a human impact on hurricanes could eventually be established.
While scientists from both camps tend to think hurricanes are likely to intensify, they do not have great confidence in their ability to project the magnitude of that increase.
One climate-change projection, prepared by Mr. Knutson’s group, is that the annual number of the most intense storms will double over the course of the 21st century. But what proportion of those would actually hit land is another murky issue. Scientists say climate change could alter steering currents or other traits of the atmosphere that influence hurricane behavior.
Storms are one of nature’s ways of moving heat around, and high temperatures at the ocean surface tend to feed hurricanes and make them stronger. That appears to be a prime factor in explaining the power of Hurricane Irene, since temperatures in the Atlantic are well above their long-term average for this time of year.
The ocean has been getting warmer for decades, and most climate scientists say it is because greenhouse gases are trapping extra heat. Rising sea-surface temperatures are factored into both Mr. Knutson’s and Dr. Emanuel’s analyses, but they disagree on the effect that warming in remote areas of the tropics will have on Atlantic hurricanes.
Air temperatures are also rising because of greenhouse gases, scientists say. That causes land ice to melt, one of several factors leading to a rise in sea level. That increase, in turn, is making coastlines more vulnerable to damage from the storm surges that can accompany powerful hurricanes.
Overall damage from hurricanes has skyrocketed in recent decades, but most experts agree that is mainly due to excessive development along vulnerable coastlines.
In a statement five years ago, Dr. Emanuel, Mr. Knutson and eight colleagues called this “the main hurricane problem facing the United States,” and they pleaded for a reassessment of policies that subsidize coastal development — a reassessment that has not happened.
“We are optimistic that continued research will eventually resolve much of the current controversy over the effect of climate change on hurricanes,” they wrote at the time. “But the more urgent problem of our lemming-like march to the sea requires immediate and sustained attention.”
Source: IHT
the hurricane center inform about hurricane.
The scale of hurricane irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?
he short answer from scientists is that they are still trying to figure it out. But many of them do believe that hurricanes will get more intense as the planet warms, and they see large hurricanes like Irene as a harbinger.
While the number of the most intense storms has clearly been rising since the 1970s, researchers have come to differing conclusions about whether that increase can be attributed to human activities.
“On a longer time scale, I think — but not all of my colleagues agree — that the evidence for a connection between Atlantic hurricanes and global climate change is fairly compelling,” said Kerry Emanuel, an expert on the issue at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Among those who disagree is Thomas R. Knutson, a federal researcher at the government’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. The rising trend of recent decades occurred over too short a period to be sure it was not a consequence of natural variability, he said, and statistics from earlier years are not reliable enough to draw firm conclusions about any long-term trend in hurricane intensities.
“Everyone sort of agrees on this short-term trend, but then the agreement starts to break down when you go back longer-term,” Mr. Knutson said. He argues, essentially, that Dr. Emanuel’s conclusion is premature, though he adds that evidence for a human impact on hurricanes could eventually be established.
While scientists from both camps tend to think hurricanes are likely to intensify, they do not have great confidence in their ability to project the magnitude of that increase.
One climate-change projection, prepared by Mr. Knutson’s group, is that the annual number of the most intense storms will double over the course of the 21st century. But what proportion of those would actually hit land is another murky issue. Scientists say climate change could alter steering currents or other traits of the atmosphere that influence hurricane behavior.
Storms are one of nature’s ways of moving heat around, and high temperatures at the ocean surface tend to feed hurricanes and make them stronger. That appears to be a prime factor in explaining the power of Hurricane Irene, since temperatures in the Atlantic are well above their long-term average for this time of year.
The ocean has been getting warmer for decades, and most climate scientists say it is because greenhouse gases are trapping extra heat. Rising sea-surface temperatures are factored into both Mr. Knutson’s and Dr. Emanuel’s analyses, but they disagree on the effect that warming in remote areas of the tropics will have on Atlantic hurricanes.
Air temperatures are also rising because of greenhouse gases, scientists say. That causes land ice to melt, one of several factors leading to a rise in sea level. That increase, in turn, is making coastlines more vulnerable to damage from the storm surges that can accompany powerful hurricanes.
Overall damage from hurricanes has skyrocketed in recent decades, but most experts agree that is mainly due to excessive development along vulnerable coastlines.
In a statement five years ago, Dr. Emanuel, Mr. Knutson and eight colleagues called this “the main hurricane problem facing the United States,” and they pleaded for a reassessment of policies that subsidize coastal development — a reassessment that has not happened.
“We are optimistic that continued research will eventually resolve much of the current controversy over the effect of climate change on hurricanes,” they wrote at the time. “But the more urgent problem of our lemming-like march to the sea requires immediate and sustained attention.”
Source: IHT
Friday, August 26, 2011
Steve Cook resign from Apple CEO
steve apple resign from jobs apple
Steve Jobs letters to resign as CEO of appl Inc on Wednesday and passed the reins to his right-hand man Tim Cook, saying he could no longer fulfill the duties in a stunning announcement that raised fears his health has deteriorated further.
Jobs, who fought and survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer and revolutionized the technology arena with the iPhone and the iPad in the past four years, is deemed the heart and soul of a company that recently briefly became the most valuable in America.
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," Jobs, who becomes chairman, said in a brief letter announcing his resignation.
The letter and a separate terse, somewhat cryptic statement from Apple raised more questions than it answered about Jobs' health and the future of the company.
While it's unlikely that his departure as CEO will derail Apple's ambitious product-launch roadmap in the near term, there are concerns about whether the company would be as creative beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
That is why Apple's stock dropped as much as 7 percent in after-hours trading when Jobs' departure was announced.
In the company statement, Apple co-lead director Art Levinson on behalf of the board praised Jobs' "extraordinary vision and leadership" and "countless contributions to Apple's success", saying he would continue to serve the company with "unique insights, creativity and inspiration."
However, the statement, which also talked about Cook's outstanding performance, said nothing about Jobs' health.
His battle with pancreatic cancer, which has stretched over several years, has been of deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board. Over the past two years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming with directors about the true condition of his health.
Jobs has been on medical leave since Jan. 17, with his duties being filled by Cook, who was chief operating officer. Some industry insiders privately expressed concern Jobs' relinquishing the CEO position was a clear signal he was too ill to keep up its punishing pace.
The 55-year-old Jobs had briefly emerged from his medical leave in March to unveil the latest version of the iPad and later to attend a dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for technology leaders in Silicon Valley. But his often-gaunt appearance had sparked questions about how bad his illness is and his ability to continue at Apple.
In each of Jobs' three health-related absences, Cook has taken over the helm. But the 50-year-old Alabama native, a former Compaq executive and an acknowledged master of supply-chain management, remains largely untested in Wall Street's view.
That's partly why, despite Cook being viewed as a safe bet to run Apple's sprawling empire, some still think his boss will be very badly missed.
One Silicon Valley CEO, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive issues involved, said the tone of Jobs' statement indicated his health might be worse than publicly known. The Apple chieftain has earned a reputation for commanding every aspect of operations -- from day-to-day running to broad strategic decisions -- suggesting he would not give up the job if he had a choice.
"It's really sad," the CEO told Reuters. "No one is looking at this as a business thing, but as a human thing. No one thinks that Steve is just stepping aside because he just doesn't want to be CEO of Apple anymore."
"It feels like another shoe is going to drop."
Again, Deep Bench
While Jobs did not give details on the state of his health, oncologists who have not treated the Apple founder said he could be facing several problems tied to his rare form of pancreatic cancer and subsequent liver transplant. They include possible hormone imbalances or a recurrence of cancer that is harder to fight once the body has already been weakened.
His resignation certainly marks the end of an era at Apple.
A college dropout, a Buddhist and a son of adoptive parents, he started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in in the late 1970s.
The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer. But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with internal management soured, and in 1985 the board removed most of his powers and he left the company, selling all but one share of his Apple holdings.
Apple's fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped "interim" from his title.
"Steve Jobs is the most successful CEO in the U.S. of the last 25 years," Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a statement. "He uniquely combined an artists touch and an engineers vision to build an extraordinary company.. one of the greatest American leaders in history."
Some Apple fans took to social media to express their reaction in crudely poetic, though somewhat poignant, terms. One Apple fan from Denmark posted on Facebook: "Good Job. I just ate an Apple. It was bittersweet. Guess I'll just have to Cook it from now on."
Analysts again expressed confidence in the Apple bench, headed by supply-chain maven Cook.
"I will say to investors: don't panic and remain calm, it's the right thing to do. Steve will be chairman and Cook is CEO," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.
On Wednesday, Apple shares slid to $357.40 in extended trading after a brief halt. They had gained 0.7 percent to close at $376.18 on the Nasdaq.
"Investors are very comfortable with Tim Cook even though Jobs has been a driver of innovation and clearly an Apple success. Tim has shown Apple can still outperform extremely well when he's been acting as CEO," said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross.
Apple previously did not have a chairman, but had two independent co-lead directors. In his letter, which was addressed to the Apple board and the Apple community, Jobs said: "I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee."
They did see fit.
Source: hindustan times
Steve Jobs letters to resign as CEO of appl Inc on Wednesday and passed the reins to his right-hand man Tim Cook, saying he could no longer fulfill the duties in a stunning announcement that raised fears his health has deteriorated further.
Jobs, who fought and survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer and revolutionized the technology arena with the iPhone and the iPad in the past four years, is deemed the heart and soul of a company that recently briefly became the most valuable in America.
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," Jobs, who becomes chairman, said in a brief letter announcing his resignation.
The letter and a separate terse, somewhat cryptic statement from Apple raised more questions than it answered about Jobs' health and the future of the company.
While it's unlikely that his departure as CEO will derail Apple's ambitious product-launch roadmap in the near term, there are concerns about whether the company would be as creative beyond the next year or so without its founder and visionary at the helm.
That is why Apple's stock dropped as much as 7 percent in after-hours trading when Jobs' departure was announced.
In the company statement, Apple co-lead director Art Levinson on behalf of the board praised Jobs' "extraordinary vision and leadership" and "countless contributions to Apple's success", saying he would continue to serve the company with "unique insights, creativity and inspiration."
However, the statement, which also talked about Cook's outstanding performance, said nothing about Jobs' health.
His battle with pancreatic cancer, which has stretched over several years, has been of deep concern to Apple fans, investors and the company's board. Over the past two years, even board members have confided to friends their concern that Jobs, in his quest for privacy, wasn't being forthcoming with directors about the true condition of his health.
Jobs has been on medical leave since Jan. 17, with his duties being filled by Cook, who was chief operating officer. Some industry insiders privately expressed concern Jobs' relinquishing the CEO position was a clear signal he was too ill to keep up its punishing pace.
The 55-year-old Jobs had briefly emerged from his medical leave in March to unveil the latest version of the iPad and later to attend a dinner hosted by President Barack Obama for technology leaders in Silicon Valley. But his often-gaunt appearance had sparked questions about how bad his illness is and his ability to continue at Apple.
In each of Jobs' three health-related absences, Cook has taken over the helm. But the 50-year-old Alabama native, a former Compaq executive and an acknowledged master of supply-chain management, remains largely untested in Wall Street's view.
That's partly why, despite Cook being viewed as a safe bet to run Apple's sprawling empire, some still think his boss will be very badly missed.
One Silicon Valley CEO, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive issues involved, said the tone of Jobs' statement indicated his health might be worse than publicly known. The Apple chieftain has earned a reputation for commanding every aspect of operations -- from day-to-day running to broad strategic decisions -- suggesting he would not give up the job if he had a choice.
"It's really sad," the CEO told Reuters. "No one is looking at this as a business thing, but as a human thing. No one thinks that Steve is just stepping aside because he just doesn't want to be CEO of Apple anymore."
"It feels like another shoe is going to drop."
Again, Deep Bench
While Jobs did not give details on the state of his health, oncologists who have not treated the Apple founder said he could be facing several problems tied to his rare form of pancreatic cancer and subsequent liver transplant. They include possible hormone imbalances or a recurrence of cancer that is harder to fight once the body has already been weakened.
His resignation certainly marks the end of an era at Apple.
A college dropout, a Buddhist and a son of adoptive parents, he started Apple Computer with friend Steve Wozniak in in the late 1970s.
The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer. But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry, culminating in a 1980 IPO that made Jobs a multimillionaire.
Despite the subsequent success of the Mac, Jobs' relationship with internal management soured, and in 1985 the board removed most of his powers and he left the company, selling all but one share of his Apple holdings.
Apple's fortunes waned after that. However, its purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought him back into the fold. Later that year, he became interim CEO and in 2000, the company dropped "interim" from his title.
"Steve Jobs is the most successful CEO in the U.S. of the last 25 years," Google Inc
Some Apple fans took to social media to express their reaction in crudely poetic, though somewhat poignant, terms. One Apple fan from Denmark posted on Facebook: "Good Job. I just ate an Apple. It was bittersweet. Guess I'll just have to Cook it from now on."
Analysts again expressed confidence in the Apple bench, headed by supply-chain maven Cook.
"I will say to investors: don't panic and remain calm, it's the right thing to do. Steve will be chairman and Cook is CEO," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.
On Wednesday, Apple shares slid to $357.40 in extended trading after a brief halt. They had gained 0.7 percent to close at $376.18 on the Nasdaq.
"Investors are very comfortable with Tim Cook even though Jobs has been a driver of innovation and clearly an Apple success. Tim has shown Apple can still outperform extremely well when he's been acting as CEO," said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross.
Apple previously did not have a chairman, but had two independent co-lead directors. In his letter, which was addressed to the Apple board and the Apple community, Jobs said: "I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee."
They did see fit.
Source: hindustan times
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