Sunday, March 24, 2013

Table Hopping - Blogs - Times Union

In Sunday?s Table Hopping column I make the case that gargantuan entr?es are an upstate tradition that should come to an end. Short version:

Leaving aside that it?s unhealthy to try to eat so much at one sitting, I have philosophical and practical reasons for wanting more modest-sized entree portions, starting with this: Most restaurant food doesn?t improve when taken home, left in the fridge overnight and reheated. It?s certainly inferior to a freshly made?dish.

Also, plowing through a huge piece of meat or pile of pasta bores the palate. No matter how exquisite the dish, every bite after the first few is going to be incrementally less satisfying. ?

Finally, when American appetizers are the size of an entree in Europe and the main dish is immense, it?s almost impossible to manage dessert, too, which of course is itself a large?portion. ?

I?d rather see restaurants continue to charge what they do, reduce portion sizes slightly and spend more on higher-quality ingredients. ? It will also be more healthful and sufficient to consume in one sitting. That?s my idea of good?value.

Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping/36859/table-hopping-column-restaurant-entee-portions-are-too-big/

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Suggestions To Generate Competitive Internet Marketing Campaigns

A lot of businesses are turning to Affiliate marketing to get the word out about their services and products. Online marketing revolves heavily around search engine optimization, as well as advertising and a handful of other methods. If you want to know more about internet marketing, or how to use it effectively, read this article.

TIP! You should approach banner advertising differently, and go for a unique approach when designing one for your website. The more appealing and original your banner ad appears, the more people you?ll have clicking on it.

Do you need a good online marketing idea? If visitors are motivated to give you their email addresses, you can end up with a very impressive opt-in list. Sign them up for contests and freebies to give them added value for joining your team. People will be more prone to providing their own personal email if it could directly benefit them!

One way to increase the number of clicks on your ads is to link product images to a separate page that contains information about the product. Just make sure you use appropriate text around the ad that does entice them to click on the ad, so they also know where they are being taken to. This stealthy method does not look like a traditional advertisement.

TIP! It is very helpful to have a 500 error page. When this page appears, some of the code has stopped working.

An important title will give you respect and your customers will pay attention to what you have to say. If you are a business owner, become the CEO or President. If you are not the owner, you can still adopt an impressive title. Sign your articles and emails with your name and your title.

To be successful with Web marketing, have a great site. Make sure you test the site often to fix bad links or bugs. If your website proves to be full of mistakes or links that don?t work, then your potential customers will go elsewhere.

TIP! If you want to know why someone chose not to purchase your product, offer an option where they can give feedback. If they decided not to purchase because of a problem with your website, you can improve it.

Take into consideration the different methods available for advertising your website. Free or cheap methods to promote your business are to make a blog or use social networks to promote your business. These are some of the ways that you can increase your traffic to improve sales. It just takes some creativity.

A great marketing strategy is to offer bulk discounts on products. If your customer can save money through purchasing items in quantity, they often will. You?ll still be making money any any wholesale products but you?ll also see an increase in the number of products you move.

Try offering special discounts for buying the same product regularly. You could entice them by offering a discount for agreeing to receive a product delivery each month.

For more effective marketing, try mentioning guarantees in your promotional content. Even though a guarantee is only as good as the company behind it, people want to know they are not taking a risk by buying your product. They are more comfortable spending their hard-earned money when a money-back guarantee is in place.

TIP! One often-overlooked way to build more web traffic is by keeping your website simple. Interactive media like Adobe Flash can be tempting when designing your website, and website designers might try to convince you to use it.

A great Internet promotion tip is to become an expert in the field you are dealing with. This is vital not solely because it gains you credibility about your field, but it also prevents you from appearing dishonest because you don?t know what you?re talking about.

If you are interested in having more visitors to your site, it is vital that you rank higher and employ SEO tactics. This is even more important for retailers that are competing to sell the same items as many other retailers online. Providing your own unique descriptions of products and using rich, descripyive adjectives will help your site stand out and be recognizable.

In conclusion, many businesses use Online marketing to sell products and services. Affiliate marketing uses methods such as search engine optimization and advertising to generate sales interest. If you remember the advice in this article, you can use Affiliate marketing to seriously boost interest in your own products and services.

Check out my #1 recommended Internet Marketing Promotion tool. Regardless what you?re selling your promoting online, this is a ?must have?. Click Here

Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/performwebs/blog/suggestions-to-generate-competitive-internet-marketing-campaigns/

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Inches from burglars, teen hides in closet and calls 911

By Monica Garske, NBCLosAngeles.com

Doian Oladipupo grabbed a phone and ran into her parent?s walk-in closet when she heard burglars enter her Chula Vista home near San Diego.

The intruders came so close to discovering the 15-year-old that their voices could be heard during the 911 call.

?Robin, Robin, bring it over here. Bring the bucket over here,? one burglar said.

See original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

?I can hear them. Don?t talk,? the dispatcher told Oladipupo.


Unable to speak, Oladipupo tapped on the phone to answer the dispatcher?s yes or no questions.

?I was just so thankful,? she said of emerging from the ordeal unscathed.

The teen was home alone Tuesday afternoon when she said someone knocked on the door then opened a window. She ran upstairs and called 911, but soon after, one of the intruders entered the closet she was hiding inside.

Oladipupo kept calm, steadied her breath and went undetected by the intruders ransacking her home.

An 18-year-old and two 17-year-olds were arrested in connection with the break-in after Oladipupo identified her family?s belongings in the trio?s car, which was also stolen, police said.

Police believe the burglars are connected to other heists in the area.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/29e3a55c/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C220C17420A0A570Einches0Efrom0Eburglars0Eteen0Ehides0Ein0Ecloset0Eand0Ecalls0E9110Dlite/story01.htm

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Panasonic brings out a Miracast adapter for Japanese TV viewers (video)

Panasonic brings out a Miracast adapter for Japanese TV viewers

It's easy to snag a Miracast-capable device if you're willing to shop for a brand new TV or a set-top box. but it's much tougher if Miracast is the only thing you're looking for. Minimalists will be happy, then, that Panasonic just released a dedicated adapter for the job. Plug the very utilitarian-looking brick into an HDMI jack and you can wirelessly stream HD-grade video from any supporting device on the same WiFi network; Panasonic would naturally prefer that it's the company's new Eluga X smartphone. The adapter is so far only available in Japan for an estimated and rather steep ¥8,980 ($95), although we're hoping that it eventually crosses the Pacific at a price that befits the narrow focus.

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Comments

Via: Akihabara News

Source: Panasonic (translated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/22/panasonic-brings-out-a-miracast-adapter-for-japanese-tv-viewers/

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Paul Ryan Budget Rejected By Senate

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has soundly rejected a balanced budget plan authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.

Five Republicans joined every Democrat present to kill the measure, which failed on a 40-59 vote.

The GOP's most ardent tea partyers ? Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah ? opposed the measure, which projects a balanced budget in a decade but relies on $600 billion-plus in tax revenues on the wealthy enacted in January to do it.

Susan Collins of Maine and Dean Heller of Nevada also opposed the Ryan plan, which cuts sharply from safety net programs for the poor and contains a plan to turn the Medicare program for the elderly into a voucher-like system for future beneficiaries born in 1959 or later.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/paul-ryan-budget-senate_n_2929568.html

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Sprawling and struggling: Poverty hits America's suburbs

David Friedman / NBC News

Tara Simons, left, and her daughter Alexis talk in their kitchen in West Hartford, Conn.

By Allison Linn, Staff Writer, NBC News
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. ? Like many Americans who move to the suburbs, Tara Simons came to West Hartford because she wanted her daughter to grow up in a nice, safe place with good schools.

Her fall from a more financially secure suburban life to one among the working poor also happened for the same reason it?s happened to so many others. She had a bout of unemployment and couldn?t find a new job that paid very well.

As a single mother, that?s made it hard to hold on to the suburban life that is, in her mind, key to making sure her daughter gets off to the right start.

?I?m basically paying to say I live in West Hartford,? she said. ?It is worth it.?

It?s a struggle that many Americans?bruised by the?weak economy?can relate to.

The number of suburban residents living in poverty rose by nearly 64 percent between 2000 and 2011, to about 16.4 million people, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of 95 of the nation?s largest metropolitan areas. That?s more than double the rate of growth for urban poverty in those areas.

?I think we have an outdated perception of where poverty is and who it is affecting,? said Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the research. ?We tend to think of it as a very urban and a very rural phenomenon, but it is increasingly suburban.?

Simons? situation is complicated by the fact she?s a single mom. Poverty and financial insecurity among single moms is far higher than for households headed by single dads or two parents.

The rate of poverty among single mothers actually improved dramatically through the 1990s, thanks to a strong economy, more favorable tax breaks and the success of so-called welfare-to-work programs. But two recessions and years of high unemployment erased many of those gains.

Moving for a better life
Simons and her daughter Alexis moved from Massachusetts to West Hartford eight years ago because Simons had a job with a local rug retailer.

Alexis, now 14, made friends, became an avid lacrosse player and is now a high school freshman.

The?picturesque suburb, with its?well-kept homes and an upscale town center, has a?median household income?of $80,061, more than double that of Hartford itself, which is $29,107 according to the Census Bureau.

And yet the number of people needing help has skyrocketed in recent years, said Susan Huleatt, the human services manager for West Hartford.

About five years ago, Huleatt said a mobile van began coming to town once a month to distribute fresh produce to people in need. Now, four vans come each month, and more than 200 people sometimes line up for the food. That?s in addition to the city?s own food pantry.

David Friedman / NBC News

Simons chooses an outfit for a job interview.

Simons expected to work for the rug retailer until retirement, but about a year ago she quit after disputes with one of the two owners. She had never had trouble finding a new job and was unprepared for how hard it would be.

?I know that part of it is my fault and I absolutely take responsibility for that, but I never in a million years thought that I would (be in this position),? she said.

Simons went without work or unemployment benefits for five months before she got her current job about six months ago. The position, as a customer service representative for a local health products company, pays $14 an hour. That leaves her with take-home pay of about $460 to $480 a week, plus about $127 a week in child support. Simons has full custody of her daughter.

She is behind on her electric and gas bills and owes nearly $400 to her daughter?s club lacrosse team, which has her worried that her daughter won?t be able to play this spring.

Like many working poor people, she has fallen into a debt spiral. She took out an $800 payday loan, and she estimates that it will end up costing her $1,600 to pay it back. She also has several hundred dollars in credit card debt and has worked to pay off hundreds of dollars in bank overdraft fees. She?s sold jewelry for cash.

She and Alexis had to leave the house they were renting after she lost her job and a roommate. She got one-time aid from the city?s crisis fund to help with the down payment for her new, cheaper apartment. Still, the $1125 rent eats up more than half of her monthly take-home pay.

She went on Medicaid after being unable to afford health insurance.

Simons said it?s been hard, and sometimes embarrassing, to accept help.

?The thing is, I don?t want it,? she said. ?I want to pay my bills.?

Hoping for a break
Simons has continued to apply for jobs daily, hoping to land a higher-paying position with health insurance she can afford.

One morning in early March, she got a break. ?A rug retailer about 40 miles from West Hartford offered her a job interview.

Excited and anxious, Simons carefully picked out her clothes and fretted about her hair. She was too nervous to eat.

A few hours before the interview, her boyfriend Phil Volonis stopped by to give Simons some gas money. Her 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier had broken down the day before, so he had lent her a car.

David Friedman / NBC News

Simons takes cover from the rain as she heads into a job interview.

Later that evening, Simons walked out of the interview confident that she had done well, but still not sure if she had gotten the job.

Driving home in the pouring rain, Simons said that while living in West Hartford has been good for her and her daughter, she dreams of moving somewhere warmer.

She mused that perhaps Alexis will go to University of Florida ? which has a good women?s lacrosse team - and she could move down there, too.

But for now, she said, she would do almost anything to keep her daughter in this town.

?The kid?s been through enough,? Simons said. ?So, I just want her to feel as safe and settled as possible, and I want her to know that she can count on her mom to keep her where she is and keep promises.?

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/29dc82f5/l/0Linplainsight0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C220C1740A45780Esprawling0Eand0Estruggling0Epoverty0Ehits0Eamericas0Esuburbs0Dlite/story01.htm

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