WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trade agreement between the United States and the European Union would give the transatlantic partners a much-needed economic boost at a time of rising global competition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.
"If we get this right, an agreement that opens markets and liberalizes trade would shore up our global competitiveness for the next century, creating jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars for our economies," Clinton said in a speech at the Brookings Institution.
Clinton's strong endorsement of the pact was the latest indication that the United States and the 27 nations of the European Union could launch talks on a comprehensive trade agreement early next year.
A high-level, US-EU working group led by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has been studying the issue for the past year and is expected to formally recommend negotiations in a report to be released sometime in December or January.
The United States and the European Union already have a huge bilateral trade and investment relationship.
But Clinton argued a trade pact that strengthens those ties would increase transatlantic security "in the face of rising challenges to our economic model" and the growth of many "behind-the-border" measures that impede trade.
(Reporting By Andrew Quinn and Doug Palmer; Editing by Vicki Allen and Stacey Joyce)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? By comparing simulations from 20 different computer models to satellite observations, Lawrence Livermore climate scientists and colleagues from 16 other organizations have found that tropospheric and stratospheric temperature changes are clearly related to human activities.?
The team looked at geographical patterns of atmospheric temperature change over the period of satellite observations. The team's goal of the study was to determine whether previous findings of a "discernible human influence" on tropospheric and stratospheric temperature were sensitive to current uncertainties in climate models and satellite data.
The troposphere is the lowest portion of earth's atmosphere. The stratosphere sits just above the troposphere, between 6 and 30 miles above earth's surface.
The satellite temperature data sets were produced by three different research groups, and rely on measurements of the microwave emissions of oxygen molecules. Each group made different choices in processing these raw measurements, and in accounting for such complex effects as drifts in satellite orbits and in instrument calibrations.
The new climate model simulations analyzed by the team will form the scientific backbone of the upcoming 5th assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is due out in 2014.
In both satellite observations and the computer model simulations of historical climate change, the lower stratosphere cools markedly over the past 33 years. This cooling is primarily a response to the human-caused depletion of stratospheric ozone. The observations and model simulations also show a common pattern of large-scale warming of the lower troposphere, with largest warming over the Arctic, and muted warming (or even cooling) over Antarctica. Tropospheric warming is mainly driven by human-caused increases in well-mixed greenhouse gases.
"It's very unlikely that purely natural causes can explain these distinctive patterns of temperature change," said Laboratory atmospheric scientist Benjamin Santer, who is lead author of the paper appearing in the Nov. 29 online edition of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"No known mode of natural climate variability can cause sustained, global-scale warming of the troposphere and cooling of the lower stratosphere."
The team analyzed results from climate model simulations with specified historical changes in human and natural external factors, and from simulations with projected 21st century changes in greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols. They also looked at simulations with no changes in external influences on climate, which provide information on the year-to-year and decade-to-decade "noise" of internal climate variability, arising from such natural phenomena as the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
The team used a standard "climate fingerprint" method to search for the model signal pattern (in response to human influences, the sun and volcanoes) in the satellite observations. The method quantifies the strength of the signal in observations, relative to the strength of the signal in natural climate noise.
Other contributors include researchers from Remote Sensing Systems of Santa Rosa; the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, Melbourne, Australia; the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis, Victoria, Canada; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton; the University of Colorado, Boulder; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; the U.K. Met. Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, U.K.; the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Toulouse, France; North Carolina State University; the National Climatic Data Center, Asheville; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder; the University of Adelaide, South Australia; the University of Reading, U.K.; and the Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Camp Springs.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Benjamin D. Santer, Jeffrey F. Painter, Carl A. Mears, Charles Doutriaux, Peter Caldwell, Julie M. Arblaster, Philip J. Cameron-Smith, Nathan P. Gillett, Peter J. Gleckler, John Lanzante, Judith Perlwitz, Susan Solomon, Peter A. Stott, Karl E. Taylor, Laurent Terray, Peter W. Thorne, Michael F. Wehner, Frank J. Wentz, Tom M. L. Wigley, Laura J. Wilcox, and Cheng-Zhi Zou. Identifying human influences on atmospheric temperature. PNAS, November 29, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1210514109
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
In the last election, Republicans got roundly panned as the party of angry, old white men ? 71 percent of Hispanic voters chose President Obama. So did 93 percent of African-Americans and 55 percent of female voters.?So you would think Republicans would finally reach out to women and minorities.?But you would be wrong.
Which brings us to our number of the day: 0.
That is the number of women or people of color who will chair a committee in the House of Representatives next year. Somehow, out of 19 chairmanships, every single one had to go to some old or middle-aged white guy.
Just look at some of the new committee leaders: Jeb Hensarling on Financial Services; Ed Royce on Foreign Affairs; Mike McCaul for Homeland Security; and Lamar Smith ? who still doesn?t think climate change is caused by human behavior ? is now in charge of, you guessed it, the Science Committee.
Wow. You could find more diversity at a Glenn Beck book signing. Way to change your image, guys.
Page last updated at 1:13 am, Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club driven by proactive customer service thanks to Club Car fleet
Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club, Oman, has underlined its commitment to proactive, five-star customer service by investing in a new fleet of Club Car golf cars featuring the latest interactive technology.
The Braemar Golf managed venue, the first grass course to have been built in the Sultanate, is purchasing a fleet of 75 Club Car vehicles fitted with the state-of-the-art Visage GPS mobile golf information system from Club Car?s main distributor and partner in the Middle East, Hydroturf International LLC.
?Unlike the majority of European courses, in the Middle East clubs are expected to have a fleet of golf cars at the disposal of their customers,? said Mike Braidwood of Braemar Golf.
?We didn?t just want a car that would get customers from a to b. We wanted a system that would provide the best in customer service and ensure a memorable experience for each visitor.
?However, given the rugged terrain of Muscat Hills, we also needed to invest in vehicles that would ensure the safety of our guests and members and their enjoyment of our course.
?Club Car and its Visage GPS mobile golf information system was an obvious choice here. The technology enables us to control both the speed at which the cars are being driven on the steep slopes, but also the exact areas where the vehicles can go.?
Mike Braidwood continued: ?From an operator?s perspective, the technology is an absolute necessity. Visage informs us of every car?s condition, tracks each vehicle?s precise position and alerts us to any problems that might impact a customer?s enjoyment and, of course, safety.
?The systems allows for proactive customer service ? we are able to better communicate with our golfers, sending them messages to the onboard computer to notify them of no-go zones and dangerous areas, let them know if they need to pick up their pace of play and even pass on messages from the clubhouse.
?In the exception that a car has been sent out without enough charge, we are able to act and deliver a fully-charge vehicle to the golfers, avoiding any complaints and providing the service that is ultimately expected from a world-class golf course.
The 72-par, 18-hole golf course, designed by Paul Thomas of David Thomas and Associates, is framed by sea views and a stunning backdrop of the Al Hajar Mountains. Weaving through three dramatic wadis, Muscat Hills Golf offers a challenging terrain with steep slopes and undulating fairways.
?As you can expect, the golf cars are heavily used at Muscat Hills,? added Mike Braidwood. ?However, with Visage, the fleet is rotated regularly to ensure that all vehicles are used equally, avoiding any one car depreciating faster than the others.
?We are delighted with our investment in Club Car and are very impressed with the performance, durability and easy maintenance of our new fleet, that we eagerly anticipate the arrival of the rest of the vehicles to increase our service offering and continue to deliver above our customers? expectations.?
For more information about Club Car, visit www.clubcar.tv, about Hydroturf, visit www.hydroturfinternational.com, and for Visage, visit www.visagegolf.com
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Young surgeons face special concerns with operating room distractionsPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robin Feuerbacher robin.feuerbacher@osucascades.edu 541-322-3181 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A study has found that young, less-experienced surgeons made major surgical mistakes almost half the time during a "simulated" gall bladder removal when they were distracted by noises, questions, conversation or other commotion in the operating room.
In this analysis, eight out of 18, or 44 percent of surgical residents made serious errors, particularly when they were being tested in the afternoon. By comparison, only one surgeon made a mistake when there were no distractions.
Exercises such as this in what scientists call "human factors engineering" show not just that humans are fallible we already know that - but work to identify why they make mistakes, what approaches or systems can contribute to the errors, and hopefully find ways to improve performance.
The analysis is especially important when the major mistake can be fatal.
This study, published in Archives of Surgery, was done by researchers from Oregon State University and the Oregon Health and Science University, in the first collaboration between their respective industrial engineering and general surgery faculty.
"This research clearly shows that at least with younger surgeons, distractions in the operating room can hurt you," said Robin Feuerbacher, an assistant professor in Energy Systems Engineering at OSU-Cascades and lead author on the study. "The problem appears significant, but it may be that we can develop better ways to address the concern and help train surgeons how to deal with distractions."
The findings do not necessarily apply to older surgeons, Feuerbacher said, and human factors research suggests that more experienced people can better perform tasks despite interruptions. But if surgery is similar to other fields of human performance, he said, older and more experienced surgeons are probably not immune to distractions and interruptions, especially under conditions of high workload or fatigue. Some of those issues will be analyzed in continued research, he said.
This study was done with second-, third- and research-year surgical residents, who are still working to perfect their surgical skills. Months were spent observing real operating room conditions so that the nature of interruptions would be realistic, although in this study the distractions were a little more frequent than usually found.
Based on these real-life scenarios, the researchers used a virtual reality simulator of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy removing a gall bladder with minimally invasive instruments and techniques. It's not easy, and takes significant skill and concentration.
While the young surgeons, ages 27 to 35, were trying to perform this delicate task, a cell phone would ring, followed later by a metal tray clanging to the floor. Questions would be posed about problems developing with a previous surgical patient a necessary conversation and someone off to the side would decide this was a great time to talk about politics, a not-so-necessary, but fairly realistic distraction.
When all this happened, the results weren't good. Major errors, defined as things like damage to internal organs, ducts and arteries, some of which could lead to fatality, happened with regularity.
Interrupting questions caused the most problems, followed by sidebar conversations. And for some reason, participants facing disruptions did much worse in the afternoons, even though conventional fatigue did not appear to be an issue.
"We've presented these findings at a surgical conference and many experienced surgeons didn't seem too surprised by the results," Feuerbacher said. "It appears working through interruptions is something you learn how to deal with, and in the beginning you might not deal with them very well."
###
Editor's Notes: A digital image of a young surgeon performing this simulated surgery is available online: http://bit.ly/QqrXOX
A PDF copy of the journal publication in Archives in Surgery, on which this story is based, is available by contacting Christine Coffin, at 541-322-3152 or Christine.coffin@osucascades.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Young surgeons face special concerns with operating room distractionsPublic release date: 29-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robin Feuerbacher robin.feuerbacher@osucascades.edu 541-322-3181 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A study has found that young, less-experienced surgeons made major surgical mistakes almost half the time during a "simulated" gall bladder removal when they were distracted by noises, questions, conversation or other commotion in the operating room.
In this analysis, eight out of 18, or 44 percent of surgical residents made serious errors, particularly when they were being tested in the afternoon. By comparison, only one surgeon made a mistake when there were no distractions.
Exercises such as this in what scientists call "human factors engineering" show not just that humans are fallible we already know that - but work to identify why they make mistakes, what approaches or systems can contribute to the errors, and hopefully find ways to improve performance.
The analysis is especially important when the major mistake can be fatal.
This study, published in Archives of Surgery, was done by researchers from Oregon State University and the Oregon Health and Science University, in the first collaboration between their respective industrial engineering and general surgery faculty.
"This research clearly shows that at least with younger surgeons, distractions in the operating room can hurt you," said Robin Feuerbacher, an assistant professor in Energy Systems Engineering at OSU-Cascades and lead author on the study. "The problem appears significant, but it may be that we can develop better ways to address the concern and help train surgeons how to deal with distractions."
The findings do not necessarily apply to older surgeons, Feuerbacher said, and human factors research suggests that more experienced people can better perform tasks despite interruptions. But if surgery is similar to other fields of human performance, he said, older and more experienced surgeons are probably not immune to distractions and interruptions, especially under conditions of high workload or fatigue. Some of those issues will be analyzed in continued research, he said.
This study was done with second-, third- and research-year surgical residents, who are still working to perfect their surgical skills. Months were spent observing real operating room conditions so that the nature of interruptions would be realistic, although in this study the distractions were a little more frequent than usually found.
Based on these real-life scenarios, the researchers used a virtual reality simulator of a laparoscopic cholecystectomy removing a gall bladder with minimally invasive instruments and techniques. It's not easy, and takes significant skill and concentration.
While the young surgeons, ages 27 to 35, were trying to perform this delicate task, a cell phone would ring, followed later by a metal tray clanging to the floor. Questions would be posed about problems developing with a previous surgical patient a necessary conversation and someone off to the side would decide this was a great time to talk about politics, a not-so-necessary, but fairly realistic distraction.
When all this happened, the results weren't good. Major errors, defined as things like damage to internal organs, ducts and arteries, some of which could lead to fatality, happened with regularity.
Interrupting questions caused the most problems, followed by sidebar conversations. And for some reason, participants facing disruptions did much worse in the afternoons, even though conventional fatigue did not appear to be an issue.
"We've presented these findings at a surgical conference and many experienced surgeons didn't seem too surprised by the results," Feuerbacher said. "It appears working through interruptions is something you learn how to deal with, and in the beginning you might not deal with them very well."
###
Editor's Notes: A digital image of a young surgeon performing this simulated surgery is available online: http://bit.ly/QqrXOX
A PDF copy of the journal publication in Archives in Surgery, on which this story is based, is available by contacting Christine Coffin, at 541-322-3152 or Christine.coffin@osucascades.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Last fall, I told you how one of my family members was using an iPad and some apps as he recovered from a stroke. ?There are a lot of people, like George, who are non-verbal or speech-impaired due to a?neurological disorder or brain trauma. ?There have been many approaches to helping them communicate, and TalkingTILES [...]
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? Literally hundreds of clinical trials, including some that have gained widespread attention, have been done on the possible benefits of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention of heart disease -- producing conflicting results, varied claims, and frustrated consumers unsure what to believe.
A recent analysis done by scientists in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, published in the Journal of Lipid Research, has sorted through many of these competing findings, and it helps to explain why so many of the studies seem to arrive at differing conclusions.
The review concludes that both fish consumption and dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplements may still help prevent heart disease; that some fatty acids, from certain sources, are more effective than others; that these compounds may have enormous value for serious health problems other than heart disease; and that the very effectiveness of modern drug therapies for heart disease may be one explanation for the conflicting findings on the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.
"After decades of studying omega-3 fatty acids, it's clear that they have value in primary prevention of heart disease," said Donald Jump, author of the analysis, a principal investigator in the Linus Pauling Institute, and professor in the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences.
"It's less clear how much impact fish oils have in preventing further cardiovascular events in people who already have heart disease," Jump said. "The studies done several decades ago showed value even for that patient population, but the more recent studies are less conclusive. We believe that one explanation is the effectiveness of current state-of-the-art treatments now being offered."
Some of the earliest work that raised interest in omega-3 fatty acids was done in the 1970s with Greenland Inuits, who ate large amounts of fish and were found to have unusually low levels of cardiovascular disease. But, Jump said, millions of people now at risk for cardiovascular disease take medications such as statin drugs for high cholesterol; fibrates for high triglycerides; anti-thrombotics to thin their blood; and other drugs with anti-inflammatory or anti-arrhythmia effects.
Fish oils can have positive effects on virtually all of these same cardiovascular risk factors, Jump said, but so can the drugs.
"Some of the early studies done on fish oil were prior to so many effective medications being widely available and heavily used," Jump said. "And people often forget that nutrients, like fish oils, are less potent than prescription drugs, and often have their best value when used for extended periods.
"When so many people in these studies are taking a regimen of medications to address the same issues that fish oil might also affect, it's easy to understand why any added benefit from the fish oils is more difficult to detect," he said.
The point, Jump said, is not that omega-3 fatty acids have no value -- they do. But for studies of their value in cardiovascular disease, which are often done when patients are taking other medications, that value is less clear.
A wide body of other research, he says, makes it clear that omega-3 fatty acids also have health benefits that go beyond cardiovascular disease. They have been shown to improve visual acuity; improve cognitive function and reduce dementia; reduce inflammation and perhaps some types of cancer, such as colon cancer; and reduce total mortality.
Among the findings of this review:
An important type of omega-3 fatty acid for human health is DHA, which is the predominant omega-3 fatty acid that accumulates in tissues.
Plant-derived sources of these fatty acids, such as flaxseed oil or chia seeds, have less benefit than those from cold-water fish, because of differences in how the human body processes these nutrients.
For individuals unwilling or unable to consume fish or fish-oil supplements, some products made from yeast or algae are high quality.
It's difficult to be certain of the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in farm-raised fish, since these fish require dietary omega-3 supplementation.
"We still believe the evidence is strong that the EPA and DHA content in heart tissues and blood is important to health and to the prevention of cardiovascular disease," Jump said. "To meet the current recommendations for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, individuals are advised to consume 200-300 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA per day."
This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon State University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
D. B. Jump, C. M. Depner, S. Tripathy. Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and cardiovascular disease: Thematic Review Series: New Lipid and Lipoprotein Targets for the Treatment of Cardiometabolic Diseases. The Journal of Lipid Research, 2012; 53 (12): 2525 DOI: 10.1194/jlr.R027904
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
There were reports this past?week?that Google's Romanian and Pakistani portals,?Google.ro and Google.com.pk,?had been hacked. But?if you're worried about the security?of your Google account info, you can relax: By most standards, this was?nothing like a "real" hack. But it does show off another way?that hackers can?mess with the system.
It's true that people throughout the world found themselves looking not at the familiar search engine page?but at a message from a proud hacker, it wasn't?Google that?got hacked. What happened was?something called "DNS cache poisoning." While it sounds serious, it's not a security breach ? more like a bad rumor going around the Internet.
DNS, or the?domain name system, is how the Internet keeps track of itself. With billions of websites corresponding to billions of IP (Internet protocol)?addresses, many of which are constantly shifting, keeping track of which site goes with which address is an incredibly complicated job.
Furthermore, because authorities and methods differ between countries and regions, there are many DNS servers with conflicting information. Sometimes one mistake can be amplified and experienced around the world.
To help you visualize DNS, imagine you're on a long street lined with shops. You know what?shop you want, but you don't actually know which door to enter, and not only that, but?they keep rearranging the signs. To get to your destination, you have to ask the helpful people in the street, all of whom are more or less familiar with which door is which.
You tell?one of these guides: "I'm going to Google." Chances are he knows, and will reply, "It's the red door with the white sign." If he isn't sure, he asks his neighbor, who might be a little more up to date. And if that neighbor doesn't know, he'll ask his neighbor, and so on. Usually these guys are pretty knowledgeable, and every fresh query updates their?outdated information.
But because this system is based on trust,?false information can still?be spread, either intentionally or not. Someone might start a rumor that Google's door was blue with a green sign, hoping to drive traffic to this other door instead. The majority of guides knows not to trust such?random rumors, but everyone makes mistakes. So sometimes that information?will travel all the way up and down the line until?someone points out that the blue door does not in fact go to Google.
Starting a "rumor" like that in the domain name system is called poisoning or spoofing the DNS. It begins?when a normally reliable DNS server?reports incorrect?domain data. That information may simply be a mistake, as with a?Google outage earlier this month stemming from an error in Indonesia.
Or it may be?deliberate,?as the case appears to be this time: Someone got the servers managing the ".ro" Romanian domain to announce not just the wrong IP address for Google.ro, but a specific wrong IP of that person's choosing, pointing to their own webpage touting the "hack." Similarly, in Pakistan, the records for nearly 300 sites, including Google's and Apple's, were deliberately?rewritten.
The result: Millions of people who tried to use Google were steered to some hacker's site (which fortunately did not not host any malware or other objectionable content). But it's important to note that?Google itself was untouched. No matter how many people are directed to the wrong "door," the data and accounts that Google comprises are as safe as they've ever been.
In contrast, a "real" hack would be if someone actually gained access to Google's data ? its own code, or?user names, emails and passwords, that sort of thing. It's the difference between burglarizing a store and giving out bad directions to the store. That said, a DNS redirect around?Google means trouble for?the company, not to mention for?those who manage the Romanian and Pakistani DNS servers. Any security breach would have been on their side, so they've got more to worry about.
There's not much anyone at home can do to "protect" against this kind of Internet fraud, except make sure their computer's malware protection is up to date. DNS spoofing has to be resolved on a higher level, and the solution takes time to propagate. If you encounter a page that seems to be broken or defaced, don't linger or click around. Leave the site and give the system administrators time to sort it out before you go back. Chances are, the admins?are already on the case ? they would have been among the first to notice that their own site was broken, after all.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
Looking ahead to their retirement years, many investors see a future rife with serious financial concerns and somewhat diminished expectations, according to a recent T. Rowe Price survey. The August 2012 survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive and considered the practices of 850 investors in the United States aged 21-50 with at least one investment account, found that investors' biggest retirement concern was rising health care costs, cited by 76% of respondents. The survey also found that investors have a significant lack of confidence in Social Security and in the ability of their parents and grandparents to have enough money to maintain their desired lifestyle in retirement.
Selected survey findings
The top retirement concerns among investors aged 21-50 are health care costs (76%), rising taxes (67%), Social Security availability (63%), inflation (61%), long-term care (58%), living too long and running out of money (52%), and housing values (52%).
Only 16% of investors expect to receive full Social Security benefits as currently promised. The remaining 84% expect to receive no Social Security benefits (36%) or some form of reduced benefits when they retire (48%).
When asked what they are doing differently to prepare for retirement as a result of this Social Security view, the most common responses among the 84% group were saving more (42%) and planning to work longer (29%); 13% said they are doing nothing about it, 11% said they are investing more aggressively, and 5% said they do not plan to retire.
When asked for ways they are helping their parents or grandparents with financial matters, 19% of investors said they are providing guidance with daily expenses, 15% are providing general retirement planning guidance, 13% are providing direct financial assistance in meeting daily living expenses, and 9% are helping their elders better understand their Social Security options.
For those who provide general retirement planning guidance, only 59% believe their parents or grandparents will have enough money to maintain their desired lifestyle; the remaining 41% believe their elders will not have enough money (26%) or are not sure (15%).
Quotes
Stuart Ritter, CFP?, senior financial planner with T. Rowe Price:
"As this survey makes clear, investors are concerned about rising health care costs, and they should be. According to a report from the Employee Benefits Research Institute earlier this year, health care costs are the second-biggest expense for those aged 65 and older, behind housing, and it's the only spending category that steadily increases with age.1 Younger investors' fears about what health care costs might look like decades from now are completely understandable."
"Not outliving one's savings should be the primary goal of any retirement planning strategy. Yet it seems that many people may be underestimating their longevity risk. An earlier study we conducted showed that the mean age at which people expect to retire is 62 and the expected number of years they will live in retirement is 22. Yet the chance that at least one member of a 65-year-old couple will reach age 90 is 45%.2 So for many people, the 'long term' may be longer than they realize."
"One of the perennial lessons younger investors can learn from current retirees is to save at least 15% and begin as early as possible. The ones who do are the ones more likely to enjoy the flexibility and lifestyle that financial independence can give you. Of course, the other half of the saving equation is spending in retirement. Spending must be prudent and a function of how much one has saved."
1 "Expenditure Patterns of Older Americans, 2001-2009," by Sudipto Banerjee, February 2012. 2 Source: Society of ActuariesRP-2000 Table.
About the survey
The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of T. Rowe Price from August 8-20, 2012, among 850 adults aged 21-50 who have at least one investment account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, and household income were weighted, where necessary, to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms. Known widely for Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris serves clients in 196 countries and territories through its North American and European offices and its network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
About T. Rowe Price
Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price is a global investment management organization with $574.4 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2012.? The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, subadvisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries.? The company also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools.? The Retirement Plan Services division currently serves more than 3,500 retirement plan sponsors and more than 2 million retirement plan participants. T. Rowe Price's disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research.?
A lawsuit filed Thursday claims a nonprofit hospital in northwest Chicago failed to provide charity care to two low-income, uninsured patients.
The case reopens a longstanding controversy in Illinois over whether hospitals are doing enough charitable work to qualify for lucrative tax exemptions.
The lawsuit claims Swedish Covenant Hospital repeatedly lost one patient's financial assistance application and threatened to send her bill to a collection agency.
It states the hospital incorrectly told another patient she was ineligible for assistance and demanded cash from her.
Swedish Covenant spokeswoman Leigh Ginther says every patient who is identified as uninsured is given an application for charity care and a personal explanation of the process. The hospital reported $6.2 million in charity care expenses last year, nearly 3 percent of its net revenue.
I just had a conversation with a Albuquerque agent whose listing I was photographing. He reminded me of our local MLS and how they have just raised the picture amount from 25 to 100 pictures. He asked me, who would download 100 pictures of their listing. It definitely got my motor started when he brought this subject up. If a picture is worth a thousand words? then a 100 must be worth a hundred thousand, right? Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Putting more images on the MLS than are required to get a showing is nonsence. And, in New Mexico, since most agents are still taking their own pictures, that is 10 times the amount of bad MLS images to quickly unimpress the average viewer. So what works? A simple formula will get the showings an agent needs to sell a home. Spend time and resources decluttering and staging. Then take 15-25 great pictures of the top selling features. Take them at the right time of the day? such as sunset to deal with glare. Add a virtual tour with music and motion for added effect on the major sites such as Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com. Then not only will viewers thank you, agents will compliment you on a great looking marketing package.
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Jim Gross is a real estate photographer and broker in Albuquerque, NM.
Use the links below to contact Jim, order a property website and follow.
Real Estate Photography???Search Albuquerque Homes?????Email Contact: 505-980-7788 Keller Williams 505-271-8200 6703 Academy Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109
BRUSSELS/TOKYO (Reuters) - Britain is trying to convince France and Italy to agree to negotiations with Japan to create a free-trade area with the European Union despite concerns that a deal would hurt the continent's weaker carmakers.
European free-trade advocates, including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, want EU trade ministers on Thursday to formally ask the Commission - the EU executive - to start talks with Japan, the world's third-largest economy.
Paris and Rome, however, are determined to defend their carmakers against strengthened competition from Japan after a free-trade deal with South Korea was followed by rising car imports when it came into force in July 2011.
A deal between Europe and Japan would bring together two trading partners responsible for a third of global economic output, but because a deal would take several years to finalize, those pushing for an accord worry Japan could lose interest.
Japan is currently more focused on parliamentary elections due on December 16, as well as on a Pacific free-trade area that Tokyo sees as a priority.
"There is a window of opportunity that could easily close," said a British diplomat involved in discussions.
The plan is part of the EU's ambition to sign free-trade deals on behalf of its 27 member states with major economies, including Canada and the United States, in the hope that trade will help revive stagnant demand in the European Union.
Japan is the EU's third-largest trading partner after the United States and China, accounting for 150 billion euros ($194 billion) a year in trade in goods and services.
Japan already has low import tariffs, with no duty on Scotch whisky or French cognac for instance. But Europeans say Japanese laws make it hard for them to do business there today, with special regulations on everything from music to imported cars.
For example, Japan gives copyright protection to sound recordings for 50 years as opposed to 70 in most of the rest of the world. Music labels would like Japan to let royalty payments run for longer, an issue underscored by artists like the Rolling Stones, who have been celebrating 50 years in music this year.
"We need to ensure our products can actually reach Japanese consumers without being blocked by legal or security barriers," said one Italian diplomat.
Britain, a purchaser of high-speed trains from Japan's Hitachi , is keen to keep Japanese competition in a European market dominated by France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens .
Overall, an accord could increase EU economic output by up to 1.9 percent, or by 320 billion euro ($415 billion), by 2020, according to an internal EU document prepared for the talks. Japan could see a 0.7 percent boost.
Reluctance in France and Italy, and to a lesser degree Germany, stems from doubts over whether Tokyo is prepared to significantly open its auto, agriculture and services markets to foreign competitors.
France and Italy say they could go ahead with negotiations but suggest that trade in cars be subject to checks to avoid a surge in imports.
READY TO TALK?
Japan's elections next month look likely to return to power the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party, which has been more vague about its trade agenda than the current Democratic Party of Japan government.
A deal with the EU also stirs little passion in Tokyo, where officials are focused on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership that would link Asia, the United States and Australia.
"Japan is ready to start negotiations with the EU," said a Japanese source familiar with discussions in Tokyo. "But it is for the Europeans to decide. Japan has done what we could do."
Tokyo says it is serious about a deal and has dropped a ban on French and Dutch beef imports as well as agreeing to allow food additives in European food imports.
There are still potential conflict areas, however, including access to public tenders in Japan, ranging from road building to supplying software. The European Commission says Europe's public procurement market is far more open than Japan's, which allows foreign bidders on fewer than 3 percent of public contracts.
On the surface, the EU car market has more barriers than Japan's, with a 10 percent tariff on imported Japanese cars.
But EU carmarkers say they face numerous "non-tariff barriers" that hinder exports to Japan. The country has a category of "light" cars, which benefit from tax breaks.
Most small European cars, such as the Fiat 500, do not meet the category's demanding criteria on size and power, however, making it hard for them to compete with Japanese vehicles.
"It is troubling that the European Commission, in the midst of a serious economic crisis, would propose launching negotiations with Japan before the Japanese remove important non-tariff barriers against the European auto industry," Ford Motor Co , a U.S. automaker with a big presence in Europe, told Reuters in an emailed statement.
Partly because of such worries, the Europeans have insisted that negotiations can be called off after a year if they feel Japan is not doing enough to open up its markets.
(Additional reporting by Franceso Guarascio and Philip Blenkinsop; Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Sebastian Moffett and Hugh Lawson)
I love Mario games, but I never got behind Super Mario Sunshine. Maybe it was because I wasn?t a Gamecube owner at the time, or that the whole F.L.U.D.D. aspect of the game turned me off, but I have never put more than a few hours into the game. Friends rave to me about it, but somehow my interest has always remained low.?In my mind Super Mario World was the peak of the franchise, and while I loved the New Super Mario Brothers, Randy always assured me that Galaxy 1/2 were truly masterpieces to behold.
I originally stumbled upon these pictures searching for Super Mario Sunshine design art, but they always?emanated a Mario Galaxy feel. I saw the beaches and underwater scenes and naturally?thought?of Sunshine, but no?this is actually Galaxy. Being concept art, there were just ideas being thrown around, that I wasn?t used to. But thanks to a bout of insomnia, research now firmly assures me that these are Super Mario Galaxy 1 designs. You can see the?Buoy Base Galaxy, the?Melty Molten Galaxy and the?Sea Slide Galaxy. They?re not 100% what we?re used to, because they?re just?initial?designs, but still cool nonetheless. Hmm, I suppose that?Beach Bowl and Sea Slide Galaxies were meant to be part of one area at one point.
With 47 percent of the popular vote, Mitt Romney may become the president of nothing more than Ironystan. Yes, the final general-election tally is trickling in and, as fate would have it, Romney's total might look more like that mythical number after all. Well, according to David Wasserman of the Cook Political report, it's more like 47.49 and dropping, which, of course rounds down to 47 ? the same percentage of Americans?he said were moochers and takers in a video?that was one of the nails in the coffin of his presidential campaign.
Fuel economy EPA highway (mpg): 29 and EPA city (mpg): 19
Safety
Passenger Airbag
Stability control
4-wheel ABS brakes
Dusk sensing headlights
Traction control - ABS and driveline
Head airbags - Curtain 1st and 2nd row
Interior
Rear bench seats
Front seat type - Bucket
6-way power adjustable drivers seat
6-way power adjustable passenger seat
Exterior
Intermittent window wipers
Payment $555.19
$31,665
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$31,665
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12 %
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Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
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I just had a conversation with a Albuquerque agent whose listing I was photographing. He reminded me of our local MLS and how they have just raised the picture amount from 25 to 100 pictures. He asked me, who would download 100 pictures of their listing. It definitely got my motor started when he brought this subject up. If a picture is worth a thousand words? then a 100 must be worth a hundred thousand, right? Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Putting more images on the MLS than are required to get a showing is nonsence. And, in New Mexico, since most agents are still taking their own pictures, that is 10 times the amount of bad MLS images to quickly unimpress the average viewer. So what works? A simple formula will get the showings an agent needs to sell a home. Spend time and resources decluttering and staging. Then take 15-25 great pictures of the top selling features. Take them at the right time of the day? such as sunset to deal with glare. Add a virtual tour with music and motion for added effect on the major sites such as Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com. Then not only will viewers thank you, agents will compliment you on a great looking marketing package. 
Jim Gross is a real estate photographer and broker in Albuquerque, NM. 
