THE CONNING TOWER: Hollander named USA Track & Field ...

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INDIANAPOLIS - Cal Poly?s Laura Hollander (Huntington Beach, Calif.) has been named USA Track & Field?s Athlete of the Week after winning the Big West Conference Cross Country Championships in a course record time of 19:12.6.

Hollander led the 6 km race wire-to-wire to break the previous course record by 45 seconds. The true freshman became only the second athlete to break 20 minutes since the Big West Championships moved to a 6 km distance in 2003.

Hollander led her team to win the overall conference title with 43 points.

?It was nice to get the individual win and also to have the team win meant a great deal to me,? Hollander said. ?It was a fun day to be a Mustang. I feel even more proud to win because it was the first ever individual win for a Cal Poly athlete.?

Hollander?s conference win is the latest in her undefeated college season that includes wins at the Pac 12 Preview and Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.

?This whole season for me I've simply tried to enjoy each race and run to the best of my ability each time,? Hollander said. ?I love running and racing so its been really fun.?

Now in its 11th year, USATF?s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on www.usatf.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2012 Winners: January 5, Landon Peacock; January 11, Kirubel Erassa; January 18, Shalane Flanagan; January 26, John Nunn; February 1, Gunnar Nixon; February 8, Jenn Suhr; February 14, Jillian-Camarena Williams; February 22, Brycen Spratling; February 28, Chaunte Lowe; March 7, Eric Broadbent; March 14, Ashton Eaton; March 21, Jeanne Daprano; March 27, Wallace Spearmon; April 3, Trevor Barron; April 9, Kevin Castille; April 18, Brittney Reese; April 25, Amy Sproston; May 2, Leo Manzano; May 9, Stephanie Brown-Trafton; May 16, Allyson Felix; May 23, Nick Hartle; May 30, Kimberlyn Duncan; June 6, Jessica Cosby and Meghan Vogel; June 13, Jesse Williams; June 20, Shelby Ashe; June 27, Ashton Eaton; July 4, Allyson Felix; July 12, Christian Cantwell; July 18, Gunnar Nixon; July 25 Evan Jager; August 1, Denzel Harper; August 15, Allyson Felix; August 23, Reese Hoffa; August 29, Carmelita Jeter; September 5, Matt Tegenkamp; September 12, Aries Merritt; September 19, Ben True; September 26, Willie Banks; October 3, Jan Holmquist; October 10, Dathan Ritzenhein; October 17, Alana Hadley; October 22, Sarah Baxter; October 31, Laura Hollander

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track & field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the World's #1 Track & Field Team, the most-watched events at the Olympics, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport, and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States: www.usatf.org.

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Source: http://theconningtower.blogspot.com/2012/10/hollander-named-usa-track-field-athlete.html

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Southern Folk Artist & Antiques Dealer/Collector: The 1850 House ...

Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba painted in 1927 from a early 19th century portrait?miniature?

This is first of a post on the 1850 house museum located in the Pontalba buildings on Jackson square in the heart of New Orleans French Quarter. The 1850 house museum is deer to my heart. As a child I remember reading about it and seeing photo's of the?beautiful? Antebellum interiors in books. In my teen's my family went to New Orleans every few months and for the first time I got a chance to see this?magical?place in person. Every time I was in New Orleans as a teenager I would stop by the 1850 house museum for a?visit not knowing that in my mid 20's I would work in the?gift?shop under the 1850 house museum. We can't get into the 1850 house museum without first talking about the?fascinating woman that was behind building the Pontalba buildings?? ?? ?

Micaela Leonarda Antonia Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba (November 6, 1795- April 20, 1874) was a wealthy New Orleans-born aristocrat, businesswoman and real estate developer, and one of the most dynamic personalities of that city's history.

?The St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytere and the Cabildo uilt and paied for by Micaela's father?

Her father died on April 26, 1798, when Micaela was two and a half years old. Prior to his death, he had commissioned architect Gilberto Guillemard to design and construct the St. Louis Cathedral, the Presbytere and the Cabildo, all of which line one side of Place d'Armes. The original church and Cabildo had been destroyed in the Great New Orleans fire of 1788. Upon the death of her Spanish father, Andres Almonester y Rojas in 1798, Micaela, as his only surviving child, inherited a considerable fortune; although the estate was controlled by her mother a Creole, Louise Denis de la Ronde a member of one of the most illustrious Creole families in Louisiana. Micaela's mother Louise shortly afterwards the death of her first husband?married Jean Baptiste Castillon, the 25-year-old French consul. The huge difference in their ages caused much scorn amongst the people of New Orleans, who showed their displeasure by conducting a riotous charivari that lasted for three days and nights which even featured effigies of her new bridegroom and dead husband in his coffin. The charivari was only called off once Louise had promised to donate the sum of $3,000 to the poor.

The Old Ursuline Convent where Micaela was educated is the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley. Completed in 1752, it is also the oldest surviving example of the French colonial period in the United States.?

Being the sole heiress to a considerable fortune, Micaela was likely the richest girl in the city. Her younger sister Andrea Antonia had died in 1802 at the age of four. Micaela was educated, along with other daughters of the Creole elite, by the nuns at the old Ursuline Convent situated on la Rue Conde, now Chartres Street. She was an artistic child as well as musical; at the age of 13 she owned her own piano. At home she spoke French, although she knew Spanish, and later she learned English.

The St. Louis Cathedral where Micaela was married and built by her father. It is the oldest continuously active Roman Catholic Cathedral in the United States, originally built in 1727 and dedicated to King Louis IX of France, ?The Crusading King? who was later canonized by the Church. The original St. Louis Cathedral burned during the great fire of 1794 and was rebuilt. The present structure was completed in the 1850s.

In keeping with Creole tradition, a marriage was arranged for Micaela in 1811 when she was fifteen. Although Micaela was in love with an impoverished man, she had no choice but to accept the husband her mother had picked for her. He was her 20-year-old cousin, Xavier C?lestin Delfau de Pontalba, known as Celestin or "Tin Tin", who although born in New Orleans, lived with his family in France.? The de Pontalbas had made the proposition to?Micaela's ?mother by letter, having regarded a matrimonial tie between the two families as a "business merger that would transfer the Almonester wealth into their hands". The prospective groom duly arrived in Louisiana with his mother, Jeanne Fran?oise le Breton des Chapelles Delfau de Pontalba, and after an acquaintance of just three weeks he and Micaela were married. The marriage was celebrated on 23 October 1811 at St. Louis Cathedral and attended by the most influential members of Creole society. Indicative of her high social rank amongst the Creole community, Micaela was given away at the wedding ceremony by nobleman and distant cousin Bernard de Marigny, acting as a representative of Marshall Ney, the trusted military commader of Emperor Napoleon I. Father Antonio De Sedella officiated at the ceremony which was conducted in Spanish - a language Micaela's groom did not understand. In contrast to her mother's second marriage, the citizens of New Orleans strongly approved of this match which was considered to have been the most important marriage ever contracted in New Orleans by two illustrious Creole families. Immediately upon her marriage, Micaela became a French citizen.

Ch?teau de Mont-L'Eveque - Oise (France).?

Sometime after the wedding, Micaela and C?lestin, accompanied by both their mothers, left Louisiana for France. They arrived in July 1812 and the couple took up residence with C?lestin's family at Mont-l'?v?que, the moated, medieval de Pontalba chateau outside Senlis which was about 50 miles from Paris. Her mother, Louise Castillon, went to live in a rented house in Paris before she set about astutely buying up property in the city including a home on the Place Vend?me. She had become a widow for the second time in 1809 with the death of Jean Baptiste Castillon.

At first the marriage was successful; Micaela became pregnant shortly after their arrival in France and eventually bore her husband a total of four sons and a daughter. To alleviate the boredom of country life, she converted a large room at the old chateau into a theatre where she put on plays. She put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into her project, ordering costumes for the performers and hiring local people for the minor roles and Parisian artists for the leading roles. She often performed onstage in the amateur theatrical productions which were attended by her friends from Paris. However, the constant interference of her eccentric father-in-law eventually turned the marriage into a disaster which was made worse by the fact that C?lestin possessed a weak, spoiled, effeminate character. Her father-in-law, Baron Joseph Delfau de Pontalba, who had served as an officer in the French and Spanish armies, was greedy and unstable, and over the years proceeded to make Micaela's life extremely unhappy and intolerable. The baron was already greatly disappointed with Micaela's dowry, considering it much smaller than he had been led to expect. The $40,000 plus some jewelry Micaela brought to C?lestin as her dowry which had been the sum agreed upon when the marriage contract was drawn up, represented only one-quarter of her Almonester inheritance with the remaining three-quarters retained by Louise. The old baron, intent upon seizing the vast Almonester fortune, had forced Micaela into signing a general Power of Attorney giving her husband control over her assets, rents, and capital, both dotal, and as heir of her father. In the early 1820s, to escape the tyranny of her father-in-law, Micaela persuaded C?lestin to set up his own household in Paris, and the couple and their children moved into one of his father's homes in the Rue du Houssaie close to her mother's residence.

President Andrew Jackson

The death of her mother in 1825 left Micaela as the sole recipient of her considerable estate which also included numerous properties in Paris. The de Pontalbas furiously demanded that she sign over all her New Orleans property to them in exchange for her being allowed to assume control of her mother's Paris houses. In 1830, without her husband's permission, she went to New Orleans for an extended visit, taking the opportunity to travel around other parts of the United States. She stopped in Washington DC where President Andrew Jackson sent his own carriage and secretary of state Martin Van Buren to bring her to the White House as his guest. The celebrated Battle of New Orleans in which Jackson had defeated the invading British on 8 January 1815 had been fought on the grounds of the Chalmette Plantation belonging to her uncle and aunt. Upon her return to France the baron accused her of deserting C?lestin; as a result she became a "virtual prisoner" of the de Pontalbas. In frustration, she took her children and transferred back to Paris where she began a series of lawsuits to obtain a separation from C?lestin, but lost them due to the strict French marriage laws.

Ch?teau de Mont-L'Eveque - Oise (France).?

Micaela's attempts to protect her fortune and separate from C?lestin so enraged Baron de Pontalba that he resorted to violence. On October 19, 1834, during one of her visits to the chateau, he stormed into her bedroom and shot Micaela four times in the chest at point-blank range with a pair of duelling pistols. After the first shot, she allegedly screamed out: "Don't! I'll give you everything". Whereupon he replied: "No, you are going to die" and shot her another three times in the chest, one bullet passing through the hand that she had instinctly put up to cover one of the gun's muzzles. Despite her injuries, Micaela made an attempt to escape her father-in-law and outside the door she fell into the arms of her maid who had rushed up the stairs upon hearing the first gunshot. With the armed baron still in pursuit, Micaela was dragged down the stairs to the drawing room where she fell to the floor, crying out, "Help me". Baron de Pontalba stood over her bleeding, unconscious body, yet he fired no more shots and returned to his study.
She survived the shooting attack, despite having been shot four times in the chest, with one of the bullets having crushed her hand. Her left breast was disfigured and two of her fingers mutilated. That same evening the baron, having never left his study, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with the same pistols.

A 1835 portrait of the Baroness painted just after she survived an attack on her life by her father-in-law.?

With one billet still in her chest and two missing fingers. You can see the Baroness?hiding?them in the folds of a dress?ribbon?

In 1848 at the outbreak of revolution in France, Micaela, accompanied by two of her sons Alfred and Gaston, departed for New Orleans to visit relatives and check on her property, where she quickly became the leader of fashionable society, her salons drawing the city's most important and influential people. The wealthiest white woman in New Orleans at the time, her contemporaries regarded Micaela as having been shrewd, vivacious, and business-like. Seeing New Orleans for the first time after an absence of many years, Micaela had immediately noticed that the once-stylish French Quarter had become derelict and unsightly. The Place d'Armes, in the heart of the French Quarter, was little better than a slum; its parade ground muddy, and houses squalid and neglected. She owned most of the property in Place d'Armes as it formed part of her vast inheritance. Her assets there valued at $520,000, but despite being owner of the third most valuable property in the French Quarter, she made little profit from it as most of her tenants were slack in paying the rent. Micaela put her imagination to work and made energetic plans to remedy the situation. She ordered the houses to be demolished and hired the skilled building contractor Samuel Stewart to renovate the Place d'Armes. The following year after obtaining an agreement from the city for a 20-year tax exemption, she personally designed and commissioned the construction of the beautiful red-brick town houses forming two sides of Place d'Armes which are today known as the Pontalba Buildings. Their exteriors resembled the edifices in Paris' Place des Vosges.

The construction of the Pontalba Buildings cost more than $300,000, and she was a constant visitor to the construction sites, often supervising the work on horseback. The cast-ironwork decorating the balconies were also her personal design and she had her initials "AP" carved into the center of each section of the iron work designed by her son. Micaela knew so much about the design and construction of buildings that historian Christina Vella described her as a "lay genius in architecture".

The baroness designed her own seal shown here on the railings of one of the Pontalba buildings

At the time the buildings were row houses. Micaela and her sons occupied the house at number 5, St. Peter Street. When Swedish singer Jenny Lind visited New Orleans for a month in 1851, Micaela graciously allowed her the use of her own house along with a chef. Prior to her departure, Lind publicly expressed her gratitude to Micaela for the latter's lavish hospitality. Afterward, Micaela auctioned the furniture Lind had used and made a very nice profit . Micaela was also instrumental in the name change of Place d'Armes to Jackson Square; as well as the decision to convert it from a parade ground to a formal garden. She also helped finance the bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson which features prominently in the square. It was alleged that when she was landscaping the garden, she threatened the mayor with a shotgun after he tried to prevent her from tearing down two rows of trees. Shortly after Jenny Lind's visit, she and her sons left New Orleans for good and went back to Paris where her eldest surviving son, C?lestin and his family resided. She spent the remainder of her life at her mansion on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor?. When her estranged husband suffered a physical and mental breakdown she took him in and cared for him up until her own death.

Xavier C?lestin Delfau de Pontalba, known as Celestin or "Tin Tin" painted after the?shooting?of his wife?

As C?lestin had succeeded to his father's barony upon the latter's suicide, Micaela was henceforth styled Baroness de Pontalba. Eventually, after several more lawsuits, a civil law judge ordered the restitution of her property and Micaela was granted a legal separation from her husband; although they were not actually divorced. With some of the money her mother had willed her, she commissioned noted architect Louis Visconti to construct a mansion on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor? in Paris which she subsequently used to entertain lavishly, hosting an endless succession of balls, soirees, and parties. This mansion is known today as the H?tel de Pontalba and serves as official residence of the United States Ambassador to France.

The H?tel de Pontalba, Micaela's Paris mansion built by her and where she died in 1874 is now the residence of the United States Ambassador to France

Micaela Almonester de Pontalba died at the H?tel de Pontalba in Paris on April 20, 1874 at the age of seventy-eight. By this time she was already a legend in the city of her birth, as one of New Orleans' most dynamic personalities.

Micaela was described as a flamboyant, temperamental redhead. Physically she resembled her father. Her portraits reveal that she had brown hair, blue-grey eyes, and pale skin; Christina Vella described her complexion as having had the "hue of stored muslin". Although she was not classically beautiful - having had a rather long and "horsey" face - she was intelligent, strong-willed and attracted much admiration from the Parisians for her opulent entertainments.

Micaela left three surviving sons: C?lestin (1815-1885), Alfred (1818-1877), and Gaston (1821-1875). Her firstborn son Joseph and only daughter Mathilde had died as babies. C?lestin and Alfred both married and had children whose descendants in the present day continue to reside in France. Gaston, however died unmarried. Her husband, C?lestin died on 18 August 1878. He was buried beside her in the de Pontalba family tomb at Mont l'?v?que.

Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba (1795-1874) Daguerreotype portrait, New Orleans.?Date?1840s

As a 19th century woman Micaela?accomplishments?were great. She was responsible for the design and construction of the famous Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square, in the heart of the French Quarter. She is the subject of an opera,Pontalba: a Louisiana Legacy, which was composed by Thea Musgrave. A play entitled The Baroness, Undressed, and many novels have been written about her dramatic life.

Source: http://andrewhopkinsart.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-1850-house-museum-part-1-baroness.html

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The Beginner's Guide To Secured And Unsecured Loans | My ...

If you want access to cash, you may be searching for a loan. You could find some good financial loans on the web and get accredited sometimes without needing to touch any papers. There are several available choices to you when you?re looking for a great loan, which includes secured and unsecured loans. But simply what is the distinction between the two, and which one is correct for you?

For home owners who need big money, a secured internet loan is a superb choice. You can borrow more money with a secured financial loan. This financial loan needs that you place the value of your home as protection against the value of the loan. If you?re not able to pay the loan in the agreed period of time, or if you don?t make payments, the financial institution could repossess your home. You might think that this is really a big risk, and it is, however for those who would like to acquire larger amounts of cash with a longer time to repay secured online cash loans, this could be suitable.

As long as you can be certain that you will be able to maintain the repayments and you could pay out in timely manner, this type of financial loan can be ideal. The longer term can mean that your payments are cheaper monthly than you would expect to pay back on a little unsecured loan. If you are a property owner, and desire to borrow more cash than an unsecured loan can offer you, then you should, but remember that your own home is at risk if you do not make your payments on time.

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When obtaining unsecured money loans on the internet, you?ll have a shorter-term to repay the financial loan, so if you know that you?ll be able to manage to repay the financial loan at your next payday for example then unsecured personal loans on the internet may be great for you. Be cautious about bigger rates of interest and costs, and don?t forget that you are limited to the amount that you can borrow based on which area you reside in.

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Source: http://myhandyinfos.com/finance/the-beginners-guide-to-secured-and-unsecured-loans.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-beginners-guide-to-secured-and-unsecured-loans

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Hurricane Sandy: Hotel Stay In Connecticut Offers Welcome Distraction From Storm Damage

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The city is silent and dark. Power has been out for hours. Parts of town have become an obstacle course of downed trees and flooded roads, with bright-red flares warning drivers to stay away.

But despite the chaos just outside the sliding doors, the Holiday Inn-Bridgeport's lobby feels more like a tourist destination than a de facto shelter for those fleeing floodwaters and the prospect of long-term power outages.

Families played Uno and solitaire under lights powered by generators. Golden retrievers and Australian shepherds roamed among upholstered leather chairs. The bar was set to stay open until 1 a.m.

"If we had to do this again next year, no problem," joked Ed Magi of Fairfield, Conn., nursing a Coors Light after working all day to make sure equipment at his office, which is in an evacuation zone, would be protected from the storm. "Getting here was like pulling teeth. But hanging out here in our little den, I'm fine."

After securing homes and gathering valuables, many of those who gathered Monday evening in the hotel were looking for an escape, a break from worrying about the historic storm surges predicted for Long Island Sound. All throughout the night, conditions in southern Connecticut worsened: along bays and rivers, water levels rose quickly, making low-lying roadways impassable. Downed trees temporarily blocked parts of Interstate 95 through the state, as emergency crews combed the roadway to clear debris in punishing winds.

Walter McBride and his family evacuated from their Milford, Conn., home, which sits right across the road from the beach. Yet inside the hotel lobby, McBride seemed confident that his family would return Tuesday to a damage-free home.

"We don't believe it's going to affect our house," McBride said to those gathered around.

"Is that wishful thinking?" Joy Eller, who was sitting nearby, said with a smile.

"That's a deep-seated belief," McBride replied, also smiling.

Power in the hotel had been shut off since 7 p.m., which helped foster the gathering in the lobby, where evacuees traded jokes and stories.

Nearly everyone in the hotel had streamed in from towns across the state. Many had stayed at the same hotel last year, after Connecticut's widespread power outages following Hurricane Irene caused people to flee their homes.

Kevin Meath of Monroe, Conn., brought his children, his mother and his toy poodle, Peaches. His family had stayed at the same Holiday Inn for seven days in a row last year. The second he heard warnings about Sandy last week, he booked three nights again.

"One day without power, and that was enough to be prepared for this year," he said.

He's worried about downed trees and damage to his home, eager to return Tuesday to survey any damage. But on Monday night, the Holiday Inn lobby was all he was thinking about.

"It's mother nature, you can't do anything about that," he said. "So we make the best of it. Laugh, have some fun, and hey, you're with people you love."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/30/hurricane-sandy-hotel-stay-connecticut_n_2042545.html

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50 homes burn as six-alarm blaze hits Queens

Frank Franklin Ii / AP

A fire that ravaged through the flooded Breezy Point neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens destroyed at least 50 houses Monday night.

By NBC News staff

Updated at 9:23 a.m.:?NEW YORK -- ?At least 50 homes were destroyed in the New York City borough of Queens early Tuesday as crews continued to battle a six-alarm fire into the daylight.

FDNY officials said the fire at Breezy Point was reported at about 11 p.m. ET on Monday in a Zone A area, which the New York City Office of Emergency Management declared to be the highest risk of flooding from Superstorm Sandy?s storm surge.

FDNY spokesperson Michael Parrella told NBC News that nearly 200 firefighters were on the scene by 5 a.m. Tuesday, battling high winds that made the flames difficult to knock down.

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With chest-high water from the storm filling the street, firefighters had to use a boat to make rescues, the Associated Press reported. Fire department officials said about 25 people were trapped in the upstairs unit of one apartment, and the two-story home next door was ablaze and setting fire to the apartment?s roof. Firefighters climbed an awning to rescue the trapped people and took them downstairs to a boat in the street.

Parrella said the six-alarm blaze was largely contained Tuesday morning after the fire ravaged through several blocks and destroyed 50 homes, but there were pockets still smoldering. City officials said it appeared most of the area was evacuated prior to the fire, and no serious injuries have been reported, NBCNewYork.com reported.

About 170 firefighters were called to the scene in Breezy Point, Queens, where at least 50 homes have caught fire. MSNBC's Chris Jansing reports.

One firefighter sustained minor injuries and was transported to an area hospital, Parrella said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, Parrella said, and weather was still a factor.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com?

The Breezy Point neighborhood, which functions mainly as a summer get-away for many residents of New York, sits on the western end of the Rockaway peninsula, jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. The small, coastal area contains about 3,500 homes.

Reports of the fire came just hours before President Barack Obama signed a major disaster declaration for New York and Long Island in the wake of Hurricane Sandy?s destruction, enabling federal aid to assist with storm recovery efforts.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/30/14797289-50-homes-destroyed-as-six-alarm-blaze-rips-through-queens?lite

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Ford posts better-than-expected Q3 profit

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Could the 49ers pick up where San Francisco?s Giants left off? A Week 8 NFL quiz

San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith was on fire in Monday night?s 24-3 romp over the faltering Arizona Cardinals. He completed 18 of 19 passes, leading some to wonder if the 49ers might just be ready to follow the Giants? World Series win with a Super Bowl championship. To review your knowledge of Week 8 NFL developments, take this 14-question quiz.

- Ross Atkin,?Staff writer

Question 1 of 14

1. True or false? If the 49ers were to go on to win the Super Bowl, San Francisco would be the first city to field championship teams simultaneously.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree (15) scores a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, in Glendale, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)

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Video: Storm derails presidential campaigns

>>> you're looking live at the white house on what is also a rainy and stormy night in washington. this storm has had a huge effect beyond just the distraction on the race for president. let's go to our chief white house correspondent political director, chuck todd , who thankfully is in the briefing room in the west wing tonight, away from the elements.

>> reporter: yes, good evening, the president actually woke up in orlando, florida, where he was going to do a rally. and when they woke up, they made a decision, no, the president was going to skip that campaign event, get back to air force one and get back to washington, before the weather got worse. came back here, got briefings from his homeland security director, janet napolitano . then he went through everything he learned about the storm, gave a warning to folks about the coastline, and was asked about the event.

>> i am not worried about the impact on the election, i'm worried about the impact on the election, the impact on the first responders, on the economy, and on transportation. you know, the election will -- take care of itself.

>> reporter: the reality is, we have got 8 calendar days left before the election, but the president has cancelled all campaign events tonight. and two more campaign events tomorrow. governor romney also cancelled his campaign events tonight. and cancelled alvl the events tomorrow. so we only have at best, six campaign days left, assuming they get back on the trail weapons.

>> all right, chuck todd , reporting

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49602950/

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Mother: Execution brings relief, not closure

FILE - This July 18, 2012 file frame grab provided by KELO-TV shows convicted killer Donald Moeller during a court appearance in Sioux Falls, S.D. Moeller is scheduled to be executed to be executed the week of Oct. 29, 2012, for the 1990 killing of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell. His death sentence was the first handed down in South Dakota since the 1940s. (AP Photo/Courtesy KELO-TV, File)

FILE - This July 18, 2012 file frame grab provided by KELO-TV shows convicted killer Donald Moeller during a court appearance in Sioux Falls, S.D. Moeller is scheduled to be executed to be executed the week of Oct. 29, 2012, for the 1990 killing of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell. His death sentence was the first handed down in South Dakota since the 1940s. (AP Photo/Courtesy KELO-TV, File)

In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, photo, Tina Curl of Lake Luzerne, N.Y., holds up photographs of her daughter's grave as friend Wendy Wilson looks on. Curl spoke to reporters after witnessing the execution of Donald Moeller at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Moeller, 60, kidnapped, raped and killed Curl's 9-year-old daughter, Becky O'Connell, in 1990. (AP Photo/Amber Hunt)

This Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, photo shows an artist's rendering of what Becky O'Connell would look like today if she hadn't been killed at age 9 in 1990. Donald Moeller, 60, was put to death at the South Dakota State Penitentiary for Becky's kidnapping, rape and murder, ending a 22-year saga. (AP Photo/Amber Hunt)

This Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 photo shows the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, S.D. The facility is preparing for its second execution in October with the lethal injection of inmate Donald Moeller, 60. Moeller kidnapped, raped and killed 9-year-old Becky O'Connell in Sioux Falls in 1990. His death will mark the 18th execution in the state or Dakota Territory since 1877. (AP Photo/Amber Hunt)

Leona Wieland, 65, of Sioux Falls, lights candles in peaceful protest with Sister Janice Klein, left, as they await the Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, execution in Sioux Falls, S.D., of South Dakota State Penitentiary inmate Donald Moeller. Moeller, 60, is set to die for the 1990 killing of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell. His death will mark the state's second execution this month. (AP Photo/Amber Hunt)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ? Tina Curl was so eager to see her 9-year-old daughter's killer executed Tuesday night that she couldn't even take her seat in the witness room.

"I was right up to the glass," she told The Associated Press after the execution. "I wanted to see it up close."

Donald Moeller, 60, received a lethal injection at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls on Tuesday night as punishment for the 1990 kidnap, rape and killing of young Becky O'Connell.

Curl, who said Moeller's death brought her relief but not closure, had been steadfast in her wish to watch Moeller die, even raising funds to cover the expenses to make the 1,400-mile trip from her home in New York state to Sioux Falls for the execution.

Late Tuesday she said she will never return to South Dakota.

Moeller kidnapped Becky from a Sioux Falls convenience store where she'd gone to buy sugar to make lemonade at home. He drove her to a secluded area near the Big Sioux River, then raped and stabbed her. Becky's naked body was found the next day; investigators said her throat had been slashed.

Curl said she wanted to know details from Moeller about the crime. She had written him in prison, but he didn't respond. She was hoping to get that information Tuesday night in Moeller's final statement.

But when asked if he had any last words, Moeller replied, "No sir," and then looked up and said, "They're my fan club?"

Moeller then was administered a lethal injection of pentobarbital and took about eight heavy breaths before his breathing stopped and Moeller turned slightly pink.

Moeller's eyes remained open as his skin turned ashen, then purple. The coroner then checked for vital signs, and Moeller was pronounced dead at 10:24 p.m.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard said he hoped the execution would bring some peace to Becky's family and he commended Warden Doug Weber and his staff for their professionalism in planning this state's second execution in less than a month.

"I take no pleasure in his death, but there are those who are so vile that executions are warranted," Daugaard said in a statement.

Moeller initially was convicted in 1992, but the state Supreme Court overturned it, ruling that improper evidence was used at trial. He was again convicted and sentenced to die in 1997. The state Supreme Court affirmed the sentence, and Moeller lost appeals at the state and federal levels.

Though he fought his conviction and sentence for years, Moeller in July he said he was ready to accept death as the consequence of his actions. He admitted for the first time in court that he killed the girl.

But even as Moeller insisted he was ready to die, several motions were filed on his behalf to stop the execution despite his protests.

Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed a pending suit challenging South Dakota's execution protocol after Moeller insisted he wanted no part of it. Moeller also distanced himself from a motion filed by a woman with loose family ties who argued that his decades in solitary confinement had made him incapable of voluntarily accepting his fate. That motion was dismissed Monday.

Moeller's execution came just two weeks after the Oct. 15 execution of Eric Robert for killing South Dakota prison guard Ronald "R.J." Johnson during a failed escape attempt.

Before that, the last execution in South Dakota was in 2007, when Elijah Page died by lethal injection for the murder of Chester Allan Poage, who was abducted and killed in a scheme to burglarize his mother's home.

In 1947, George Sitts was electrocuted for killing two law enforcement officers. And in 1913, Joseph Rickman was hanged for the murder of a woman and her daughter.

They were among 17 inmates executed since 1877, the oldest of which came during the days of the Dakota Territory.

___

Associated Press news editor Amber Hunt contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-31-South%20Dakota%20Execution/id-8d56ef8dc495453398b60f80a45b98ec

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Video: Storm Takes Aim at Ports & Refineries

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49610120/

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Superstorm now ashore, its work is far from done

Snow coats Highway 33 West in West Virginia as Hurricane Sandy batters the eastern seaboard, and a cold weather system blankets most of the high elevations in West Virginia on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. As the systems meet, blizzard conditions are in effect across multiple counties in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

Snow coats Highway 33 West in West Virginia as Hurricane Sandy batters the eastern seaboard, and a cold weather system blankets most of the high elevations in West Virginia on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. As the systems meet, blizzard conditions are in effect across multiple counties in West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)

Kevin Crister steps into a flooded roadway in front of his mother's mobile home at Meadow Run Mobile Home Park in Conewago Township, Pa., Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Some residents of the park were told they needed to evacuate due to Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing for higher ground, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin) YORK DISPATCH OUT

Don Mullen, of Seven Valleys, uses a flashlight to search the soup selection at Wetzel's Market in Glen Rock saying he wanted to get some of the usual things before the road flooded out to Seven Valleys, in York, Pa. Manager Mike Wetzel says they stay open during power failures with a natural gas generator powering registers and some lighting. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Paul Kuehnel) YORK DISPATCH OUT

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? The storm that was Sandy isn't done just yet.

After lashing coastal cities and inundating parts of New York City with 13 feet of water, the core of the hybrid storm is beginning a long slog across Pennsylvania and upstate New York, with its effects spreading as far west as Wisconsin and Illinois.

The big storm, which has caused wind warnings from Chicago to Maine and Canada to Florida, will continue to be a problem for a couple more days with heavy rainfall, snow and local flooding.

"This is going to be an event that for a period of time is going to alter the way we do things," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday, warning residents of his state they would not escape with just a glancing blow.

By midnight, what's left of Sandy was near Philadelphia and was forecast to spend most of Tuesday heading across Pennsylvania and then take a sharp turn Wednesday into western New York, weakening as it moved, said Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

The once-tropical system has merged with a wintry cold front and is likely to produce heavy rain in the East for the next two or three days ? adding up to more flooding, Brown said.

Coastal storm surge will likely continue to be elevated Tuesday, especially with morning high tides, but they may be at levels a foot to a couple of feet less than Monday night's peak, Brown said. On the coast, gale-force winds will continue and subside eventually Tuesday evening, but inland they should subside by midday.

In parts of the mid-Atlantic region, particulary higher elevations, several more inches of snow was predicted Tuesday in addition to what fell the night before.

On the western shore of Lake Michigan, large waves were a concern. The Village of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., urged residents to evacuate in anticipation of waves as high as 18 feet. In Chicago, emergency officials asked residents and utility crews to be prepared for winds forecast at 50 mph and waves as high as 25 feet.

In upstate New York, automated calls warned about 13,000 Rochester-area residents who live near Lake Ontario to watch out for waves of 8 to 10 feet overnight. Emergency officials in neighboring Wayne County also suggested that shoreline homeowners evacuate.

The National Weather Service warned of hurricane-force winds with gusts up to 80 mph in New York City and surrounding counties until Tuesday evening.

___

Hill reported from Albany, N.Y. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-30-Superstorm-Inland/id-2ced447eceb44b72965bd54aae319f69

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Disney to make new 'Star Wars' films, buy Lucas co

People walk past a fountain showing the Yoda character from the Star Wars movies outside of Lucasfilms headquarters in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

People walk past a fountain showing the Yoda character from the Star Wars movies outside of Lucasfilms headquarters in San Francisco, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2011 file photo, "Darth Vader" accepts the Ultimate Villain award from "Star Wars" creator George Lucas during the 2011 Scream Awards, in Los Angeles. A decade after George Lucas said "Star Wars" was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy is destined for theaters after The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2012 file photo, George Lucas arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, Calif. A decade after George Lucas said "Star Wars" was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy is destined for theaters after The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2012 file photo, George Lucas arrives at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles. A decade after George Lucas said "Star Wars" was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy is destined for theaters after The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles File)

In this publicity photo released by Disney, Robert A. Iger, left, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company, and George Lucas, chairman and founder, Lucasfilm, sign the agreement for The Walt Disney Company to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Burbank, Calif. The Walt Disney Co. announced today that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. from George Lucas for $4.05 billion. The deal brings Lucasfilm under the Disney banner with other brands including Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, all companies that Disney has acquired over the years. (AP Photo/Disney, Rick Rowell)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A decade since George Lucas said "Star Wars" was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy under new ownership is destined for theaters after The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it would buy Lucasfilm Ltd. from him for $4.05 billion.

The seventh movie, with a working title of "Episode 7," is set for release in 2015. Episodes 8 and 9 will follow. The trilogy will continue the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia beyond "Return of the Jedi," the third film released and the sixth in the saga. After that, Disney plans a new "Star Wars" movie every two or three years. Lucas will serve as creative consultant in the new movies.

"I'm doing this so that the films will have a longer life," Lucas, the 68-year-old creator of the series and sole owner of Lucasfilm, said in an interview posted on YouTube. "I get to be a fan now ... I sort of look forward to it. It's a lot more fun actually, than actually having to go out into the mud and snow."

Disney CEO Bob Iger said Lucasfilm had already developed an extensive storyline on the next trilogy, and Episode 7 was now in early-stage development. He said he talked with Lucas about buying the company from him a year and a half ago, but they didn't decide on a deal until very recently as Lucas set in motion his retirement.

"The last 'Star Wars' movie release was 2005's 'Revenge of the Sith' ? and we believe there's substantial pent-up demand," Iger said.

The blockbuster deal announced Tuesday will see Disney pay half the acquisition price in cash and half in newly issued stock. The company expects it to add to earnings in 2015 and said that as an example of its earnings power, Lucasfilm made $550 million in operating income the year "Sith" came out. Along with the cash, Lucas will end up owning about 40 million Disney shares, which is about 2.2 percent of the 1.83 billion shares that will be in circulation when the transaction closes. Disney did not say when that would happen.

The deal includes Lucasfilm's prized high-tech production companies, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, as well as rights to the "Indiana Jones" franchise. Lucasfilm will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco's Presidio park, and employees are to remain in their current locations. Disney has its headquarters in Burbank, Calif., near Los Angeles.

The deal brings Lucasfilm under the Disney banner with other brands including Pixar, the Muppets, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, all companies that Disney has acquired over the years. Coincidentally, Lucas created Pixar as a division of Lucasfilm to develop computerized filmmaking techniques before he sold it to Apple's Steve Jobs, who later sold it to Disney.

Twitter went wild with the news as fans speculated on mash-up titles for future movies, using the hashtag "DisneyStarWars." Among the amusing attempts were "When You Wish Upon a Death Star" and "Bambi Wan Kenobi." ''Star Wars," ''LucasArts," ''Disney," and "Indiana Jones" were all trending topics on Twitter after the deal was announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Fan club co-founder Ming Pan, a graphic designer in San Francisco, said he was glad audiences would get another "Star Wars" movie but worried whether the franchise would thrive after Lucas passes the torch.

"It's something that I thought may happen down the line, but I just didn't expect it to happen while Lucas was still alive because he has always expressed such a tight control over the 'Star Wars' license," Pan said.

Lucas was hailed as a cinematic visionary when the original "Star Wars" came out in 1977. But he had become an object of often-vicious ridicule by the time he started releasing 3-D versions of all six films in the franchise this year.

Die-hard fans had been vilifying Lucas for years, convinced that he had become a commercial sell-out and had compounded his sins by desecrating the heroic tale that he originally sought to tell.

They railed against him for adding grating characters such as Jar Jar Binks to the prequel trilogy, which Lucas directed and which came out from 1999 to 2005. They attacked him for tinkering with the original trilogy that spanned 1977 to 1983, too. Revisions in special editions and home video releases ? such as making the Ewoks blink and having a green-skinned alien named Greedo take the first shot at Han Solo in a famous bar scene ? were treated as blasphemy.

The criticism grated on Lucas, who vowed never to make another "Star Wars" movie.

"Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?" Lucas told The New York Times earlier this year.

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the fourth film in another lucrative franchise, subjected Lucas to even more barbs when it came to theaters in 2008. Fans of those films were especially outraged about an opening scene that featured Indiana Jones crawling into a lead-lined refrigerator to survive a nuclear bomb blast.

Lucas was fed up by the time he released "Red Tails," a movie depicting the valor of African-American pilots during World War II, earlier this year. He told the Times he was ready to retire from the business of making blockbusters and return to his roots as a student at University of Southern California's film school, where he once made a movie about clouds moving in a desert.

Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the division's president at Disney and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. She will serve as executive producer for the new movies. Directors for the new movies have not yet been announced. The movies are destined to be live action, not animated, Iger said.

In the YouTube video, Lucas said the decision to continue with the saga didn't contradict past statements.

"I always said I wasn't going to do any more and that's true, because I'm not going to do any more, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more," Lucas said.

He said he has given Kennedy his storylines and other ideas, "and I have complete confidence that she's going to take them and make great movies."

Kennedy added that she and Lucas had discussed ideas with a couple of writers about the future movies and said Lucas would continue to have a key advisory role. "My Yoda has to be there," she said.

The scope of the "Star Wars" universe is staggering with hundreds of books, comics and other storylines that Lucasfilm has approved.

In May 1991, author Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" took up the story of Luke, Leia and Han five years after the events in "Return of The Jedi," which hit theaters in 1983. The characters go on to fight remnants of the evil Empire, marry, have children and battle a new crop of Force-powered enemies.

Season 5 of the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is currently airing on Cartoon Network.

To date, the "Star Wars" movies have grossed $4.4 billion, and even years after the last film, the franchise continues to make money from merchandising. Disney's chief financial officer, Jay Rasulo, said that this year alone, "Star Wars" is on track to generate $215 million in licensing revenue. He added that, adjusting for inflation, the latest three releases in theaters would have generated $1.5 billion each at the box office today.

Disney plans to make movies, games and TV shows and expand on "Star Wars" theme park attractions that are already present in parks in Anaheim, Calif., Orlando, Fla., Paris and Tokyo.

Disney chief executive Iger, a former weatherman who rose through the ranks of ABC, has orchestrated some of the company's biggest acquisitions, including the $7.4 billion purchase of animated movie studio Pixar in 2006 and the $4.2 billion acquisition of comic book giant Marvel in 2009.

Jobs bought Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986 for about $5 million and later sold it to Disney. When that happened, Jobs became Disney's largest single shareholder with a 7.7 percent stake. Those shares are now held in a trust.

Disney shares were not trading with stock markets closed due to the impact of Superstorm Sandy in New York. They closed on Friday at $50.08, near its 52-week high of $53.40. Shares are up 34 percent so far this year.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Liedtke and Garance Burke in San Francisco, and Christy Lemire and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

___

Online:

Lucas YouTube video: http://bit.ly/T2VE6f

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-10-30-Disney-Lucasfilm/id-0addb2293ec3451fbe9079112a1c1a55

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Brent slips near $109 as Hurricane Sandy approaches US

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil slipped on Monday, with Brent near $109 a barrel, as refineries along the U.S. East Coast lowered run rates ahead of approaching Hurricane Sandy, reducing crude use in the world's largest oil consumer.

The run cuts come after a rise of nearly 6 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks in the week to October 19. The world's spare oil production capacity outside of Iran also rose in the last two months as U.S. gasoline demand waned and oil use for power generation fell in the Middle East, the U.S. government said in a bimonthly report.

Brent crude had fallen 33 cents to $109.23 a barrel by 0330 GMT, after posting a 0.5 percent loss last week. U.S. crude was down 46 cents at $85.82.

"With refineries cutting runs, we're likely to see a build-up in crude stocks which could be driving bearish prices at the moment," said Michael Creed, an economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

Hurricane Sandy, which could become the largest storm ever to hit the U.S., is expected to slam into the East Coast on Monday night. Oil refineries there began to cut rates on Sunday, spurred by fears of power outages.

Six East Coast oil refineries representing 1.19 million barrels per day -- or 7 percent of total U.S. capacity -- could potentially be hit by the deadly storm.

U.S. heating oil and RBOB gasoline futures and their crack spreads rose as speculators expect fuel supply to tighten and are betting on wider price spreads between products and crude.

"The buying of crack spreads has put downside pressure on crude," said Yusuke Seta, a commodity sales manager at Newedge Japan.

A crack spread is the price differences between an oil product and crude. To buy the spread, investors buy the oil product contract and sell crude simultaneously.

Speculators have also cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions to the lowest level in three months in the week to October 23 as prices fell by almost 6 percent, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.

The CME said it would suspend floor trading on Monday at its NYMEX world headquarters ahead of Sandy, although the move is unlikely to affect trade as higher-volume electronic dealing will operate normally.

BUZZARD EYED

The impending restart of Britain's largest oilfield and a quick recovery in Nigerian crude output also limited Brent's gains.

The Buzzard field in the North Sea is expected to restart by Monday and its operator, Nexen, has said it will return to full operations over the next two weeks.

Nigerian oil exports in December are expected to reach the highest level since May, pointing to a swift recovery of production after floods knocked out a fifth of the output in the top African producer.

In Iraq, exports of Basra Light are set to hit their highest-ever level at 2.531 million barrels per day in November, traders said and a preliminary programme showed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brent-slips-near-109-hurricane-sandy-approaches-us-045545354--finance.html

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Mitt Romney in 2011: 'We Cannot Afford' Federal Disaster Relief (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Google?s Gmail Launches New Compose Email View And Reply Experience That Will Save You Time

Writing emails can be a drag, especially when you have to click a bunch of buttons just to send one off. Today, Google has introduced a new compose email view and reply experience for Gmail and it should save you a bit of time. The changes are rolling out today, so keep an eye on your inbox for them.

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

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Health insurance reform has benefited (and will continue to benefit ...

Despite having their model overhauled in recent years, private health insurance providers appear to be earning healthy profits these days. In light of the overhaul, they also seem to have turned their focus toward consumers with new apps, cost transparency tools and wellness and fitness incentives.

This has opened up doors for many startups, who are getting new business from and new partnerships with insurers because of the shifting model.

At a recent event, I caught up with Dan Phillips, a vice president at Sandbox Industries, which is the parent company of the HealthBox digital health accelerator and the manager of BlueCross BlueShield Ventures since 2008.

He shared that the types of companies the insurer is interested in investing in and working with has shifted a bit as President Obama?s healthcare reform policy has rolled out. In the move to ACOs and outcome-based reimbursement, communication and data analysis tools that enable evidence-based care have become more important. BCBS, for example, has invested in Essence Group/Lumeris, which offers a data platform and guidance to help hospitals and health plans transition to ACOs, and InVivoLink, a company focused on capturing, measuring and disseminating data from medical devices.

Then there?s what Phillips hesitantly called the ?retailization? of healthcare and insurance, marked by the implementation of insurance exchanges and the need for insurers to market directly to individuals.

Choosing insurance benefits, after all, is apparently the second-most difficult major life decision that Americans make. That?s given rise to companies like BloomHealth, which helps employers and employees find the plans and benefits that meet their needs, and ChangeHealthcare, whose Transparency Messenger platform educates health plans and employers on healthcare price variation.

Going into a near-dead-heat election, if there?s anything we know it?s that more change is coming for the healthcare industry.

NPR points out in a piece this morning that a Romney/Ryan victory would result in initial uncertainty among payers as the administration figured out how to make good on Romey?s promise to repeal Obamacare.

But several years down the road, under Romney?s proposed Medicare ?voucher? plan, the commercial health insurance industry would expand rapidly and create enormous business opportunities for certain startups working in benefit design, care management, data mining and other areas that help insurance companies, said J.D. Kleinke, a resident fellow at the right-wing think tank American Enterprise Institute.

?For most people with commercial insurance, those plans are trying to find better ways to get us to a good doctor, to help us figure out when we should be taking drugs and which one is the right one to take,? he said.

Even without the Romney Medicare plan, enrollment in Medicare Advantage, a program under which private companies contract with Medicare to provide health plans to seniros, is still expected to grow more than 10 percent next year.

With all of these factors in play, we can expect to see more strategic partnerships like UnitedHealth Group?s with mobile technology companies CareSpeak Communications, Lose It! and Fitbit, and more interest from insurers in working with startups focused on adherence, communication and wellness.

Copyright 2012 MedCity News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://medcitynews.com/2012/10/health-insurance-reform-has-benefited-and-will-continue-to-benefit-these-kinds-of-startups/

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ShareBuilder IRA $350 Bonus to Rollover 401(k) or Transfer ...

ShareBuilder Individual Retirement Accounts are offering a $350 bonus when you rollover a 401(k) or transfer an existing IRA worth $50,000 or more.

How To Get $350 ShareBuilder IRA Bonus

1. Open a new ShareBuilder IRA using Promotion Code RET350.

2. Roll over a qualified retirement account or transfer an existing IRA of at least $50,000 to receive $350.

The assets must be posted to your account by January 15, 2013.

The $350 bonus will be added to your IRA by January 30, 2013.

Check out this ShareBuilder IRA $350 Bonus Offer to get started today.

The bonus will count towards your 2013 contribution limit and will be reported on your Form 5498.

Bonuses can?t be paid to customers who have fully maximized their 2013 contributions.

You must have earned income in 2013 to qualify.

The $350 bonus from ING DIRECT Investing is not available for withdrawal for 120 days after it is awarded to your account.

Assets transferred into the account to qualify for this promotion must remain in the account (minus any losses related to trading or market volatility) for at least 6 months, or your award may be reclaimed by ING DIRECT Investing.

There is also an alternative ShareBuilder IRA Promotion available for even more bonus cash.

Get $350 when you open a new ShareBuilder IRA with a 401(k) rollover or existing IRA transfer.

Source: http://www.maximizingmoney.com/investment-opportunities/sharebuilder-ira-350-bonus-to-rollover-401k-or-transfer-existing-ira-worth-50000-or-more/

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How to Fit Workouts into your Schedule? Health and Fitness

Are you swamped with family, work and life responsibilities that are preventing you from working out? Are you missing your fitness goals due to the lack of time? Do you often make exercise plans only to abandon them within a week? If your answer is ?yes? to any of these questions, then here is some good news for you. Experts contend that the duration and place of workouts is not important. This means that you can gain the same benefits from three 10 minute sessions as you can from half an hour of dedicated gym session. The key here is to make minor tweaks to your routine so that you can fit these smaller sessions into your daily schedule. Working out in a way that maximizes the benefits without disrupting your schedule is the key to success. Here are some easy ways to do it.

Plan your sessions

You need to plan in advance if you want your workout routines to be effective. You are more likely to miss workouts if you do not have a plan in place. Record all your weekly obligations, appointments with doctor, deadlines to meet and projects to complete in a journal and plan your workouts around them. You could plan a small session in the morning, one during your lunch break and one after dinner.

Work out at work

If you decide to split your workout into shorter sessions, then you have to make every break count. Go for a short walk around the office block during your lunch break. If your office has a gym, make use of it to fit in a short workout after office hours.

Work out at home

Not having the time to hit the gym regularly is not an excuse to not exercise. There are plenty of ways to workout from the comforts of your home. You can dance around to a music video for 10 minutes or jog on the spot for ten minutes while you watch TV. You can also do some cleaning around the house during weekends or run errands on foot.

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Source: http://www.health-fitness-services.com/fitness-exercise-posts/how-to-fit-workouts-into-your-schedule

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LG Spectrum 2 made official for Verizon, brings Optimus LTE II to the US for $100

Hints that LG would bring the Optimus LTE II to Verizon have persisted since the spring, which almost led us to wonder if the smartphone was still coming: not to fear, as it's finally here under the Spectrum 2 badge. Other than the expected switch-ups in navigation keys and the mix of both CDMA with global GSM roaming, the design will feel very familiar to anyone who's been on a trip to South Korea lately. The Spectrum 2 preserves the 4.7-inch AH-IPS display, dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4, 8-megapixel camera, 16GB of storage and support for wireless charging for those who buy a charging pad. We're also expecting a relatively light tweak of the software that keeps it running Android 4.0 for now, with LG's support for Tag+ stickers and QuickMemo being the standouts. We do wish we were looking at a quad-core Optimus G instead. For the moderate $100 post-rebate price, however, we'll take the two fewer processor cores -- especially when the Spectrum 2 is already on sale online and should be in retail stores sometime in the next few weeks.

Continue reading LG Spectrum 2 made official for Verizon, brings Optimus LTE II to the US for $100

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

LG Spectrum 2 made official for Verizon, brings Optimus LTE II to the US for $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/30/lg-spectrum-2-made-official-for-verizon-brings-optimus-lte-ii-to-us/

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