Posted by admin on Nov 30, 2012 in Finance, debt management | 0 comments
Many people use debt consolidation program to get rid off their agonizing burden of debt. It?s one of the most popular methods of eradicating your debts within a short period of time. Choosing best debt consolidation programs will not only help you to get through your unbearable debt problems, but also enable you to save money.?
Here are some important techniques for you to follow, in order to find out best debt consolidation programs?available.?
Go for non-profit organizations: It?s advisable for you to choose a debt consolidation program offered by a non profit organization. There are lots of non-profit organizations. Check with BBB for accurate reports about non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations don?t charge a fee for their consolidation program. Though some organizations may ask you for reasonable donations. It?s better to steer clear of for-profit organizations who charge lofty fees.
Check whether all your debts are assessed properly: Make sure your debts are being assessed properly through the debt consolidation program you have chosen. Proper estimation and consolidation of your various unsecured debts are a must when you desire to get rid off your debts as soon as possible. If you want debt consolidation to work best for you, then it?s very important for you to be very clear about all of your debts.
Take care of credit card stipulations: When you enroll into a debt consolidation program, you are often asked to stop using the credit cards. In most of the cases, this is compulsory because creditors agree to lower the interest rates on that condition only. Be careful that your debt consolidation plan takes care of these details and obligations put on by your creditors.
Be sure of your payment plan: After the negotiation with your creditors is complete, you need to zero in on a payment plan. The best debt consolidation programs must come up with the most suitable payment plan for you. If the payment plan which is offered to you is not suiting your financial situation, then probably you have gone wrong with your choice of debt consolidation program.?
Manage your finances: Paying off your debts is not the only reason why you should look forward to a debt consolidation program. After you payback your debts, you may be in need of proper assistance to boost up your finances. Go for a debt consolidation program which includes financial counseling in the package.?
Agree for a short time span to repay debts: Once you have consolidated your debts, it shouldn?t take much time to payback your debts. Unless your amount of debt is really huge, it?s useless to take much time to repay your debts. If your debt consolidation program is good enough, then 2 to 5 years are enough for repayment.
If you can find these qualities in any debt consolidation program, then quite obviously you have bumped into the best debt consolidation program and without any hesitation you can go for it. Always watch out for best debt consolidation programs to get rid of debts quickly.
AAn open letter to Pandora & the Artists, and the foundation for a dialogue on compromise.
Pandora formed a partnership with the artists, when they were still a collective of entrepreneurly minded music theorists. Now Pandora is publicly traded and pressure to hit quarterly goals and grow the business is higher than ever. Pandora?s business relies heavily on audio ads, as it is the only fully scalable business model available due to unconnected experience of radio. Audio ads are difficult to monetize, however. Pandora?s current model features ads for companies like Lexus or Target. These audio ads are largely viewed as bothersome, on the basis that many people think they disrupt the listening flow with foreign and irrelevant information. Audio ads, therefore, cannot be aired very often without losing loyal customers. This creates a problem, how can Pandora increase revenue to keep their shareholders happy, yet still maintain a healthy and favorable partnership with the artists? Before we talk compromise, lets analyze a few of the Artist?s most pressing problems and the grounds for their unified protest.
Pandora Vs. The Artists
The music industry has been in decline since Napster arrived in 1999. It is an entirely new landscape since the digitization of music. U2?s manager claimed, in an article for GQ, that 95% of music is stolen. This is a sobering reality for artists and labels. With music sales stifled by pirating, artists rely heavily on touring to supplement their income. Funding partners are spending less money on promo with little hopes of recouping and even less hopes of a return on their investment without their primary source of revenue, music sales. The result is a drastic decline in the overall marketing reach for new music, concerts, and other merchandise. In addition, the principal marketing funnel through traditional radio has lost ground to on demand iPods, smart phones and online streaming. Without this important funnel, it is harder than ever to market music. With such a small economic foothold, it is not hard to imagine why the artists have unified to protest lower Internet radio royalties. What if Pandora could solve a marketing problem for the music industry, help them increase revenue, and increase their own bottom line in the mean time? Let?s talk compromise?
What if Pandora raised the white flag on royalties, and instead launched a new business model that fills a huge marketing gap for the artists? Since Pandora has to rely on audio ads, why not sell them to the artists (for a reasonable price and/or a reduced royalty rate). Users would welcome audio ads from the artists they like, allowing Pandora to play them more often. Let?s not forget, most of us would go see our favorite artists, when they came to town, if we knew they were coming. Sadly, I miss concerts all the time. They come and go without me ever knowing, and I imagine I?m not the only one. The same goes for new music. I rarely hear about new releases in time for the opening week. I?m usually a month or two behind, at least.
Pandora could allow artists to create short audio ads promoting each stop of their tour, and then target the ads geographically. They could also create short audio ads promoting upcoming music releases. The ads could run after their songs played in the tone of, ?Hi, this is Taylor Swift, thanks so much for listening to my music. I will be in your city on Dec 21st, don?t miss it!? or ?Hi this is Beyonc?, my new record drops January 15th. I?m really proud of it and I hope you like it!? Pandora could also link to retailers like Ticketmaster or iTunes while the ads play, help the artists drive sales and take a referral royalty for them. It?s a win/win. Pandora increases revenue and the artists gain a new marketing funnel targeted to their fans and in the cities they tour. Plus, the longtail of artists could buy ads on a price per play basis allowing them to independently market themselves.
In the end, the partnership between Pandora and the artists is important, and it needs to be nurtured. A mutually beneficial business model is the bridge to that end. The Pandora collective might have grown to the heights of Wall St., but their mission and culture should remain the same?
To enrich people?s lives by enabling them to enjoy music they like and discover music they?ll love? [and,] just as we [Pandora] value music we also hold deep respect for those who create it.
There is still money to be made in music if the marketing message had a better funnel. Could Internet radio be that new funnel? Use the comments to tell us (and Pandora) your thoughts! Do you agree there could be a compromise, even if it is not this one? If you have your own ideas, don?t hold back!
TOKYO (Reuters) - A new Japanese party that hopes to become a force to contend with in a December 16 general election is calling for more defense spending to protect national interests and lower corporate and income taxes to bolster the economy, domestic media said on Thursday.
The Japan Restoration Party, which came in second to the main opposition Liberal Democrats in an opinion poll published on Thursday, also wants to shrink the role of the central government while promoting free-market competition and making it easier to revise Japan's pacifist constitution.
The party's platform, to be unveiled later on Thursday, calls for breaking through a decades-old unofficial cap that limited defense spending to 1 percent of gross domestic product and boosting maritime surveillance, the Yomiuri newspaper said. The moves that could further strain ties with China, already frayed by a feud over islands in the East China Sea.
About 15 percent of voters surveyed by the Nikkei business daily plan to vote for the Japan Restoration Party, outstripping the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) 13 percent but lagging behind the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at 23 percent.
Echoing LDP pledges of aggressive monetary easing to fight deflation, the Restoration Party wants to revise a law governing the Bank of Japan law - a move critics worry would lessen central bank independence.
The party, which had dropped its anti-nuclear stance after its founder, popular Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto decided to merge with a tiny pro-nuclear party led by the former governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, will promise to "phase out" existing reactors by the 2030s to reduce reliance on nuclear power.
Public opposition to nuclear power in Japan has increased since the Fukushima radiation crisis last year, the world's worst in a quarter century.
(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Linda Sieg)
The winter weight gain many people experience may not be entirely due to ?a few too many cookies at holiday parties ? there may be larger forces at play.
The short, cold days of winter can be an energy suck. In a recent Women?s Health survey, 63% of respondents said winter weather made them feel tired.
Plus, by some estimates, nearly one in five people have some effects from seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. The basic gist: Less sunlight can mean you produce less of the hormones that regulate mood, leaving you feeling groggy and a little depressed.
Exercise is one way to feel better, but nutritionists say shifting the way you eat can also help you feel better, with the added bonus of avoiding expensive weight gain.
We asked them for their top picks to work into a winter diet. Here are six to try:
Leafy Greens
Kale, spinach and collards ?can help boost your mood and lift depression,? says?Lindsey Smith, author of ?Junk Foods & Junk Moods.? They?re great sources of fiber, protein, iron and various other vitamins and minerals.
Try it: Our $10 dinner challenge?has recipes for a spinach-rice medley, and a strawberry chicken salad that could easily be made with spinach instead of romaine.
Cold-Water Fish
Salmon, tuna and sardines are particularly rich in Omega 3 fatty acids. ?Studies have found they help regulate the neurotransmitters that affect moods,? says nutritionist Rania Batayneh of EssentialNutritionForYou.com. Low levels of Omega 3?s can contribute to depression and pessimism.
Try it: Our watermelon recipe roundup included a pairing of sushi-grade salmon and watermelon-rind pickles.
Dark Chocolate
It?s healthy? in moderation, of course. The benefits come from Phenylethylamine, ?which is a feel-good endorphin often released in the brain when people fall in love,? Smith says. Some studies have also found dark chocolate reduces stress hormones.
Try it: Our $10 romantic meals challenge offers up a simple chocolate souffl?.
Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds can represent rich sources of Omega 3?s and other nutrients. ?In particular, walnuts and flax seeds are worth working in,? says registered dietician Tina Marinaccio. Work them into smoothies, salads and other dishes.
?Apples are shown to be just as effective as having a cup of coffee in the morning,? Smith says. In addition to making you feel energized, they?re a great source of filling fiber.
Try it: Our frugal fall cooking roundup included apple-parsnip soup, homemade apple chips and other goodies.
Kefir
?The liquid yogurt is rich in probiotics that help regulate digestive health and immune function,? says registered dietician Tamara Duker Freuman.
Try it: Sub it in for other dairy products. ?I use ?it instead of buttermilk in pancake recipes to infuse them with healthy ?probiotics and keep the fat content down,? says Freuman. ?I use it instead of heavy cream? in my pumpkin pie popsicles for a low-fat, low calorie treat for me and my ?kids; instead of yogurt in smoothies so they don?t get too thick and gloppy ?and instead of milk in my mini-muffin recipes.?
Frugal Foodie is a journalist based in New York City who spends her days writing about personal finance and obsessing about what she?ll have for dinner. Chat with her on Twitter through @MintFoodie http://www.twitter.com/mintfoodie.
If you're confused over a recent email from Facebook regarding its data use policy, you're not alone.? The email ? with the subject line "Up... Read more
20 hrs.
Devin Coldewey, NBC News
Police in Helsinki?seized?the laptop of a young girl during a search of her family's home last week, according to her father.?The alleged?offense? Using the?popular BitTorrent website The Pirate Bay to download a single album.
Last year, 9-year-old Julietta?came across a torrent on The Pirate Bay after searching on Google?for Finnish pop star Chisu's latest album. The download failed to work, and she and her father went and bought the album together shortly afterwards.?Unbeknownst to them,?Finland's Copyright Information and?Anti-Piracy Centre (known as CIAPC, as well as its Finnish acronym, TTVK) had already?taken notice.
The events are related by the girl's father,?Aki Wequ Nylund,?in?a public?Facebook post. (Though Google Translate's Finnish is not very good, an account of the translated?story?was posted at copyright and BitTorrent news blog?TorrentFreak.)
This spring, a letter arrived from the TTVK?alleging that the Nylund's account had been linked to a copyright infringement. The letter gave the option to pay a settlement of ?600 and sign a non-disclosure agreement ? a common tactic used by copyright holders that removes the need for formal charges.
Nylund contacted the?TTVK?lawyer to contest the matter, but?the TTVK continued its pursuit of damages. Last Tuesday morning, he found a pair of Finnish police officers standing at his doorstep.
The police presented a search?warrant, entered, and identified the now 10-year-old?girl's Winnie?the?Pooh-decorated laptop as the object of their search, and confiscated it.
Unsurprisingly, the events have drawn criticism locally and abroad. Finnish Internet rights watchdog Electronic Frontier Finland denounced the actions of the TTVK in a statement and blog post, calling attention to the arbitrary nature of the settlements and their use?as a scare tactic. They also point out that?Nylund's acknowledgment?in this case notwithstanding, an IP address used to track an infringement cannot be linked to a person's identity.
The TTVK's executive director defended the actions in comments to Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, saying that TTVK and the police were only working to enforce the law.?
Chisu, the pop star whose album was at the center of the controversy, expressed in a Facebook post that she supported copyright law but apologized for the situation.
Niko?Nordstr?m, CEO of Warner Music Finland, acknowledged (also via Chisu's Facebook page)?the limits of IP-based enforcement, but said?"this procedure is currently the only way to tackle illegal downloading" (translation by Google).
Had the TTVK known that the infringing party in this situation was a young?girl, might they?have taken a softer approach? In past cases,?U.S. media associations have not?made accommodations for minors, either.
As for Julietta's lost laptop, an anonymous benefactor sent a brand-new MacBook Pro to replace it. Her father reports that she is already putting it to use, playing online with her friends. An administrator at The Pirate Bay promised VIP privileges to her as well if she wants them?? ?although after this experience, it would be understandable if she opted not to take advantage of the offer.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
I have a Facebook friend who constantly spams me with invitations for games. Can I discreetly block all these invites?
A.
Facebook includes tools to let you ignore invitations from friends asking to join them in apps and games. If you missed the ?Ignore All Invites From This Friend? link on the latest invitation, you can set up a block before the next invite arrives.
Just click the account menu on the top right side of your Facebook page and choose Privacy Settings. On the Privacy Settings page, scroll down to the ?Blocked People and Apps? section and click on Manage Blocking. In the ?Block app invites? area, enter the user name or the e-mail address of the friend who keeps sending you the invitations; that person will not get a notification that you have blocked the invites.
A Thanksgiving Day dispute over a misplaced sex toy ended with an arrest last week.
Police in Rock Hill, S.C., responded to a domestic disturbance at the home of Arteesha Donaldson and her girlfriend, Latoya Hudson, on Nov. 22, the Smoking Gun reports.
Hudson told police that Donaldson ?began looking for her detachable latex penis? and became upset when she could not find it. The couple argued, and Donaldson threw an ironing board at Hudson, the report states.
However, Donaldson said she threw the ironing board to the floor, not at her girlfriend, WBTV notes.
According to a police incident report, Donaldson was arrested after a NCIC search revealed she had active warrants in a neighboring county. The Smoking Gun reported that Donaldson was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.
This isn't the first time a sex toy has come between lovers.
In 2011, a Florida man was arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend after she woke him up with a sex toy, according to the Naples Daily News. A Florida woman was also arrested for allegedly trying to beat her girlfriend with a "female sex toy." Prosecutors eventually decided not to pursue felony assault charges against the woman.
>>>when he took the job as leader of the
major leagueplayers union
in 66, the
minimum salary
back then was $6,000, and the owners had all the power. by
1982
, when he retired, the union was one of the strongest in the u.s. the average player's salary was almost a quarter million dollars. the players had won
free agency
. he was by any standard a game changer.
marvin miller
was 95.
Not long ago the United States Preventive Task Force (USPSTF) trumpeted this message to men: ? No need to get screened for prostate cancer. If you do get it you probably won?t die of it.?? It was a message that went round the world and many listened. Many took it to heart. Many were confused. Many still are.
Who were the experts who made the pronouncement? Certainly not the medical community who had been dedicating themselves for years to treating and curing prostate cancer. They were stunned and outraged at the USPSTF recommendations.
Despite the fact that PSA screening has saved tens of thousands of lives, a group of so-called ?independent scientists? were winding the clock backwards, blacking out years of progress in controlling prostate cancer. The ?independent scientists?, we were told, could more objectively evaluate the literature without bias. With not a single urologist or prostate cancer specialist on the panel? ?
Prostate cancer specialists and researchers at Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute immediately called the USPSTF message dangerous and setting a disastrous course. The American Society of Clinical Oncology rejected the recommendations outright, calling instead for a sensible approach to screening: discouraging PSA screening in men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years, but advising men who are expected to live more than 10 years to discuss the benefits and harms of screening with their physicians.
According to the panel, ?healthy men? don?t need screening. There is too much screening. ? Think of the cost-saving if we cut down on screening.? So the mantra goes. ?The recommendations prompt this question:? Are they in place to promote progress or are they in place?far more likely?to save money?
?Prostate cancer is after all, the most common cancer in American men. It is also the second most common cause of cancer death.? It produces no symptoms until? it reaches an advanced stage, but by then it is too late to cure!? It can be diagnosed with a rectal exam (DRE), but it has to be large enough to be felt by a doctor.? The problem is that by the time it has grown this much it could mean it has spread beyond the confines of the prostate gland. That can spell real trouble.? What the PSA test does is signal danger before trouble begins! ?That patient may appear to be ?healthy? but the PSA can say otherwise.
It takes an expert to read and interpret a PSA test. To know at what level it should be in men of every age. To know if it is rising too quickly, requiring an biopsy.? It is not a perfect test but it is the best tool in the tool box?so far.? They are looking for a more perfect one all the time. Before 1991, when PSA testing became widespread, 20 percent of the men with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer had a tumor that had already spread to the bone.? Today that number is less than 4 percent!? In 1991, one out of 5 men had metastases.? Today, it is one out of 25!? Between 1994 and 2004, deaths from prostate cancer plummeted 40 percent. That was more for any other cancer in men or women.
Johns Hopkins reported the age adjusted death rate from 1990 of 39.2 per 100,000 men and applying it to 200, there would have been 59,000 deaths. Because the death rate fell to 23.5, there were 35,000 deaths.? Which means 24,000 fewer men died from prostate cancer in 2007 alone. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 40 to 70 percent of this reduction is due entirely to screening.
Critics of the USPSTF recommendations say while they used at large uncontrolled observations to look at complications of surgery, they did not discuss the number of lives saved since PSA testing was introduce in the U.S.
Important:
?USPSTF has tried to deal with the issues of over-diagnosis and over treatment. For a Johns Hopkins recommendation on these vital issues, the following link to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines should be carefully read and studied.? These guidelines are approved by The American Society of Clinical Oncology as well as other national and international prostate cancer experts.
This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
According to The Associated Press, Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced on Friday (November 23) that the government will suspend mobile phone service virtually nationwide from 0600 hours on November 24 until 0600 hours on November 25, in order to prevent cellular-activated IEDs against?Shiite Muslims?during Muharram,?which is especially important to Shiites.
Sunni extremists often target Shiites during Muharram, frequently using cell phones. Several bombings targeting Shiites earlier this week killed over a dozen people.
COMMENT: It should be noted that 90% of all IEDs detonated in Pakistan are activated through the use of mobile phones. Local media criticized the government's action to suspend mobile service, considering how dependent most residents are on wireless devices, particularly those who have NO other form of communication, except through a cell phone.? The Pakistani government's extreme action to prevent cellular-activated IED detonations underlines the importance of diplomatic and commercial entities and even individuals to have a redundant form of voice communications when cellular service is interrupted either by design or during a national emergency when mobile service ceases to function. Alternative forms of communication include regional satellite-based telephones (SAT-PHONES), UHF-VHF, single-side band, HAM radio or computer-based satellite communications.
SAN DIEGO (AP) ? This one was all but over, with the Baltimore Ravens trailing by three points and facing a fourth-and-29 from their 37.
All the San Diego Chargers had to do was get the stop and run out the clock for their first win against a team with a winning record this season. Amazingly, the Chargers found yet another way to lose.
The Ravens converted on a dazzling catch-and-run by Ray Rice, forced overtime and then won it 16-13 on Justin Tucker's 38-yard field goal with 1:07 left.
Baltimore (9-2) took a firmer grip on the AFC North, increasing its lead to three games over Pittsburgh, which lost to Cleveland, and Cincinnati, which beat Oakland. The Ravens won their fourth straight and for the eighth time in nine games.
San Diego (4-7) was pushed closer to elimination from the playoff picture for the third straight season, and with it, mostly likely the end of the Norv Turner era. The Chargers dropped four games behind AFC West leader Denver, which swept the season series against San Diego. In the wild-card race, the Chargers trail Indianapolis by three games and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati by two games.
While Tucker provided most of Baltimore's scoring with three field goals, Rice had the play of the game.
On the fourth-and-29 play, Flacco took a shotgun snap and threw a short pass to Rice, who weaved through the defense, found a big hold in the middle of the field and made it to San Diego 33 before he was tackled with 1:37 to play. After a lengthy review, the ball was moved back to the 34 and the refs measured. The new spot still gave the Ravens a first down by the length of the ball.
The Ravens were put in a hole because of a holding call against guard Marshal Yanda and a 9-yard sack of Flacco by Antwan Barnes.
Six plays after the big conversion, Tucker kicked a 38-yard field goal to tie the game as regulation expired.
San Diego punted on both of its OT possessions. The second punt, a 63-yarder by Mike Scifres, pinned the Ravens at their 11 with 4:56 to go.
On third-and-10 from the Chargers 47, Torrey Smith came back and went over cornerback Quentin Jammer's tight coverage to make a nice catch of a 31-yard pass from Flacco to the Chargers' 16. Flacco twice took a knee to set up the winning kick.
San Diego had gone ahead 13-3 on Nick Novak's 30-yard field goal with 7:51 to go in regulation.
The Ravens trailed by 10 points with 7:51 to play.
This was the third time the Chargers blew a lead of double digits in the second half. They also came from ahead to lose at New Orleans and in an epic Monday night game here against Denver, when they blew a 24-0 halftime lead and lost 35-24.
The Ravens struggled offensively until the opening drive of the second half. Flacco threw a short pass to Smith, who made two Chargers miss, then cut inside and deked another defender before being tackled at the Chargers 27 for a 54-yard gain.
The Ravens had to settle for Tucker's 43-yard field goal.
Flacco was sacked five times, twice by Antwan Barnes.
Philip Rivers was sacked six times, twice by Arthur Jones. Rivers was turnover-free for just the third time in 11 games. He came in with 14 interceptions and four lost fumbles.
San Diego's first two drives stalled when Rivers was sacked on third down by Paul Kruger and then Dannell Ellerbe. Their third bogged down when Terrell Suggs deflected a third-down pass.
Rivers finally got time to throw behind his makeshift line on the fourth drive, which he capped with a 21-yard TD pass to Malcom Floyd.
Novak kicked a 47-yard field for a 10-0 lead with 3:04 left before halftime. San Diego had a first-and-10 from the Ravens 22 before Rivers threw an incompletion, was sacked by Suggs and then was flushed and threw an incompletion.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
LONDON (AP) ? The Rolling Stones made a triumphant return to the London stage on Sunday night in the first of five concerts to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut as an American-oriented blues band.
They showed no signs of wear and tear ? except on their aging, heavily lined faces ? as frontman Mick Jagger swaggered and strutted through a stellar two-and-a-half hour show. He looked remarkably trim and fit and was in top vocal form.
The Stones passed the half-century mark in style at the sometimes emotional gig that saw former bassist Bill Wyman and guitar master Mick Taylor join their old mates in front of a packed crowd at London's 02 Arena.
It was the first of five mega-shows to mark the passage of 50 years since the band first appeared in a small London pub determined to pay homage to the masters of American blues.
Jagger, in skin-tight black pants, a black shirt and a sparkly tie, took time out from singing to thank the crowd for its loyalty.
"It's amazing that we're still doing this, and it's amazing that you're still buying our records and coming to our shows," he said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
Lead guitarist Keith Richards, whose survival has surprised many who thought he would succumb to drugs and drink, was blunter: "We made it," he said. "I'm happy to see you. I'm happy to see anybody."
But the band's fiery music was no joke, fuelled by an incandescent guest appearance by Taylor, who played lead guitar on a stunning extended version of the ominous "Midnight Rambler," and Mary J. Blige, who shook the house in a duet with Jagger on "Gimme Shelter."
The 50th anniversary show, which will be followed by one more in London, then three in the greater New York area, lacked some of the band's customary bravado ? the "world's greatest rock 'n' roll band" intro was shelved ? and there were some rare nostalgic touches.
Even the famously taciturn Wyman briefly cracked a smile when trading quips with Richards and Ronnie Wood.
The concert started with a brief video tribute from luminaries like Elton John, Iggy Pop and Johnny Depp, who praised the Stones for their audacity and staying power. The Stones' show contained an extended video homage to the American trailblazers who shaped their music: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and others. The montage included rare footage of the young Elvis Presley.
The Stones began their professional career imitating the Americans whose music they cherished, but they quickly developed their own style, spawning hundreds ? make that thousands ? of imitators who have tried in vain to match their swagger and style.
The concert began with some early Stones' numbers that are rarely heard in concert, including the band's cover of the Lennon-McCartney rocker "I Wanna Be Your Man" and the Stones original "It's All Over Now."
They didn't shy away from their darker numbers, including "Paint It Black" and "Sympathy for the Devil" ? Jagger started that one wearing a black, purple-lined faux fur cape that conjured up his late '60s satanic image.
He even cracked a joke about one of the band's low points, telling the audience it was in for a treat: "We're going to play the entire "Satanic Majesty's Request" album now," he said, referring to one of the band's least-loved efforts, a psychedelic travesty that has been largely, mercifully, forgotten.
He didn't make good on his threat.
He also made fun of the sky-high ticket prices, which had exposed the band to some criticism in the London press.
"How are you doing up in the cheap seats," he said, motioning to fans in the upper rows of the cavernous 02 Arena. "Except they're not cheap seats, that's the problem."
But Jagger seemed more mellow than usual, chatting a bit about the good old days and asking if there was anyone in the crowd who had seen them in 1962, when they first took to the stage.
He said 2012 had been a terrific year for Britain and that the Stones nearly missed the boat, playing no role in the celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympics, or the new James Bond film.
"We just got in under the wire," he said. "We feel pretty good."
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? Congolese officials are in talks Sunday with representatives of M23, the rebel group that last week took control of the eastern Congo city of Goma, according to Ugandan officials.
Ugandan Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga said that he is mediating discussions to help both sides reach a settlement that would end a violent rebellion that has sucked in Uganda and Rwanda, which both face charges of backing the rebels.
M23 President Jean-Marie Runiga is leading the rebels in the talks, according to Rene Abandi, M23's head of external relations.
Abandi, who is now based in the Ugandan capital Kampala, said M23 representatives met with Congolese President Joseph Kabila in a tense, two-hour meeting that was also attended by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
"He tried to accuse us and we also tried to accuse him," Abandi said of the meeting with Kabila on Saturday. "It was a meeting to have a common understanding of the principle of negotiation. (Kabila) said he's ready to negotiate directly with us."
But some Congolese officials in the capital Kinshasa have said there will be no talks with the rebels unless they quit Goma. A regional summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in Kampala ? attended by both Kabila and Museveni ? on Saturday called on the rebels to leave Goma and urged Kabila to listen to the "legitimate grievances" of M23.
Despite the regional leaders' demands for the rebel forces to withdraw from Goma, M23 soldiers were visibly in control of the city Sunday. M23 also still held Sake, a contested town 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Goma. The Congolese army attacked the town Saturday, but M23 retained control.
M23 President Runiga said that withdrawal from Goma was "under consideration" and, while M23 did not oppose the idea "in principle," no decision had been taken yet, according to M23 spokesman Lt. Col. Vianney Kazarama, speaking to the Associated Press. Runiga is still in Kampala and no official response to the demands from the regional summit is expected before his return to Congo, said Kazarama in Goma.
"We are waiting to hear from Runiga when he will be back from Kampala," said Kazarama.
"Since May we have asked to meet with President Kabila," said Amani Kabasha, M23's deputy spokesman. "At least now there has been contact. The door is open for talks to find the durable peace that eastern Congo needs."
Government troops remain in Minova, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Sake, following a failed attack on M23 last Thursday. Unruly Congo army soldiers had looted residents for the third night running, according to a United Nations official in the town who insisted upon anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. U.N. peacekeepers patrolled Minova throughout the night to protect civilians from the rampaging government troops.
In Minova, Congo Gen. Francois Olenga, who was recently named head of the Congolese army, held meetings with area commanders . "The country is in danger. We cannot defend our country with traitors," said Olenga to The Associated Press.
Pickup trucks packed with Congolese army soldiers armed with automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades sped through Minova to regroup at the local soccer stadium. Army soldiers were also walking in the streets, looking for food. Some army soldiers were selling cigarettes on the side of the road.
An M23 communiqu? sent Saturday night claimed that government regiments were moving into attack positions around rebel-held territory.
"Let them attack us!" said M23 spokesman Kazarama. "Do they have the strength? Absolutely not, we are in a strong position."
___
Jones reported from Goma, Congo. Associated Press reporter Melanie Gouby contributed to this report from Goma. Associated Press photojournalist Jerome Delay contributed from Minova.
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
CHICAGO Children exposed to alcohol during fetal development exhibit changes in brain structure and metabolism that are visible using various imaging techniques, according to a new study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Alcohol use by expectant mothers can lead to problems with the mental and physical development of their childrena condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Research suggests an incidence of 0.2 to 1.5 per 1,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Costs for care of individuals affected by fetal alcohol syndrome in the U.S. have been estimated at $4 billion annually.
Advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are affording unprecedented insights into the effects of alcohol on the central nervous systems of children whose mothers drank alcohol during their pregnancy. Recently, researchers in Poland used three different MRI techniques to better define these effects.
The study group included 200 children who were exposed to alcohol during their fetal stage and 30 children whose mothers did not drink while pregnant or during lactation. Researchers used MRI to evaluate the size and shape of the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that forms the major communication link between the right and left halves of the brain, in the two groups. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the major cause of impaired development or complete absence of the corpus callosum.
The MRI results showed statistically significant thinning of the corpus callosum in the children exposed to alcohol compared with the other group.
"These changes are strongly associated with psychological problems in children," said Andrzej Urbanik, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
Dr. Urbanik and colleagues also used diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to study six areas of the central nervous system in the children. DWI maps the diffusion process of water and can be a more sensitive means than traditional MRI for detecting tissue abnormalities.
Children in the alcohol group exhibited statistically significant increases in diffusion on DWI compared with the other children.
"The increase of diffusion indicates neurological disorders or damage to the brain tissue," Dr. Urbanik said.
To noninvasively study metabolism in the brains of the children, the researchers used proton (hydrogen) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HMRS), a common adjunct to structural MRI studies. HMRS results showed a complex collection of metabolic changes.
"In individual cases, we found a high degree of metabolic changes that were specific for particular locations within the brain," Dr. Urbanik said.
###
Coauthors are Teresa Jadczak-Szumi?o, M.Sc., Monica Nardzewska-Szczepanik, M.D., Paulina Karcz, M.Sc., and Justyna Kozub, M.Sc.
Note: Copies of RSNA 2012 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press12 beginning Monday, Nov. 26.
RSNA is an association of more than 50,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists, promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the published abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.
For patient-friendly information on MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
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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.
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
CHICAGO Children exposed to alcohol during fetal development exhibit changes in brain structure and metabolism that are visible using various imaging techniques, according to a new study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Alcohol use by expectant mothers can lead to problems with the mental and physical development of their childrena condition known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Research suggests an incidence of 0.2 to 1.5 per 1,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Costs for care of individuals affected by fetal alcohol syndrome in the U.S. have been estimated at $4 billion annually.
Advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are affording unprecedented insights into the effects of alcohol on the central nervous systems of children whose mothers drank alcohol during their pregnancy. Recently, researchers in Poland used three different MRI techniques to better define these effects.
The study group included 200 children who were exposed to alcohol during their fetal stage and 30 children whose mothers did not drink while pregnant or during lactation. Researchers used MRI to evaluate the size and shape of the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that forms the major communication link between the right and left halves of the brain, in the two groups. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the major cause of impaired development or complete absence of the corpus callosum.
The MRI results showed statistically significant thinning of the corpus callosum in the children exposed to alcohol compared with the other group.
"These changes are strongly associated with psychological problems in children," said Andrzej Urbanik, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
Dr. Urbanik and colleagues also used diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) to study six areas of the central nervous system in the children. DWI maps the diffusion process of water and can be a more sensitive means than traditional MRI for detecting tissue abnormalities.
Children in the alcohol group exhibited statistically significant increases in diffusion on DWI compared with the other children.
"The increase of diffusion indicates neurological disorders or damage to the brain tissue," Dr. Urbanik said.
To noninvasively study metabolism in the brains of the children, the researchers used proton (hydrogen) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HMRS), a common adjunct to structural MRI studies. HMRS results showed a complex collection of metabolic changes.
"In individual cases, we found a high degree of metabolic changes that were specific for particular locations within the brain," Dr. Urbanik said.
###
Coauthors are Teresa Jadczak-Szumi?o, M.Sc., Monica Nardzewska-Szczepanik, M.D., Paulina Karcz, M.Sc., and Justyna Kozub, M.Sc.
Note: Copies of RSNA 2012 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press12 beginning Monday, Nov. 26.
RSNA is an association of more than 50,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists, promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill.
Editor's note: The data in these releases may differ from those in the published abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA Newsroom at 1-312-949-3233.
For patient-friendly information on MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
[ | 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.
auto insurance Falmouth ME There are more cars on the road every year. As this number goes up, the possibility of accidents also goes up. The difference between a little aggravation and large pain can be car insurance. So how do you know what type of car insurance you need and how much to buy? Coverage requirements vary by state/province, but usually include the following: Liability: Pays for the expenses you are responsible for in a car accident, including property damage and injury. Bodily injury damages can include medical fees, and lost wages. Property damage can refer to car repair costs and loss of property use. If you are sued, it also pays your legal fees. Local laws usually require minimum amounts, but higher amounts can be purchased and are very beneficial. Personal Injury Protection: This is required in some states and is optional in others. It pays you or your passengers for medical treatment resulting from a crash, regardless of who may have been at fault, and is often called no-fault coverage. The minimum amount of personal injury protection is usually set by local government. Medical Payments: Medical payment coverage is available in states that are not considered no-fault and will pay regardless of who is responsible for an accident. This insurance will pay for an insured person?s reasonable and necessary medical or funeral expenses resulting from a crash. Collision: Damages that occur from a collision will be paid for under this type of car insurance. Comprehensive: This type of insurance takes care of all damages not caused by a collision. This could include weather damage, vandalism, and burglary. Uninsured Motorist: Too many drivers are ignoring the law by driving without owning the right amount of car insurance. This insurance will cover you if one of these drivers hit you. Under-Insured Motorist: Just like uninsured motorist protection, this type of insurance covers you from people driving without enough insurance protection. Emergency road service, car rental, and other varieties of car insurance can also be purchased. What you pay for car insurance varies based on the company and will depend on multiple factors, such as: *Your selected coverage *Your vehicle?s make and model * Whether or not you have been in an accident * Your age, sex and marital status * The place where you live Some drivers may not want to pay for auto insurance, but it is truly something you don?t want to live without. Review your needs, do your research , and with the guidance of your insurance agent, choose the option that fits you best.
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Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead runs off the field after their 13-7 victory over Iowa in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead runs off the field after their 13-7 victory over Iowa in an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa fullback Mark Weisman (45) tries to break a tackle by Nebraska cornerback Andrew Green during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Nebraska safety P.J. Smith (13) reacts after Iowa missed a field goal during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Iowa, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) ? Winning five straight games mostly without him, didn't mean Nebraska doesn't need Rex Burkhead.
On a cold and blustery afternoon with a spot in the Big Ten title game on the line, Burkhead proved why he's so valuable to the Huskers.
Burkhead scored the go-ahead touchdown in his return from a knee injury and No. 17 Nebraska beat Iowa 13-7 on Friday to claim the Legends Division's berth in the championship game.
The Huskers (10-2, 7-1 Big Ten) will face off against Wisconsin next Saturday in Indianapolis after winning six straight since a loss at Ohio State.
It'll be a rematch of Nebraska's thrilling 30-27 home win over the Badgers in late September.
"I remember after Ohio State, I said what we needed to do, and you all looked at me like I was a crazy man. I probably thought I was a crazy man that night. I believe in this team. Honestly, I'm proud of those kids in that locker room," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said.
Burkhead had to be at the top of Pelini's list.
Burkhead, making his first appearance since aggravating a sprained left knee on Oct. 20 against Northwestern, broke through with a 3-yard TD run to make it 13-7 late in the third quarter. He rushed for 69 yards, all in the second half.
Alonzo Whaley's interception with 2:11 left sealed the victory for Nebraska.
The Huskers defense held the Hawkeyes (4-8, 2-6) scoreless in the final three quarters in windy conditions.
Mark Weisman had 91 yards rushing for Iowa, which finished the season on a six-game losing streak. The Hawkeyes will miss out on a bowl game for just the second time since 2000.
"Nobody's happy about where we're at," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We fully realize we have a lot of work to do right now."
Nebraska's offense spent much of the day stifled by a stiff wind that gusted up to 40 mph and a surprisingly stout Iowa defense.
Fittingly, quarterback Taylor Martinez and Burkhead teamed up to put the Huskers ahead.
Martinez beat quadruple coverage for an 18-yard completion to Braylon Heard, an impressive hookup considering the conditions. Burkhead was in the end zone a few plays later to give Nebraska a six-point lead with 3:10 left in the third quarter.
Iowa pinned Nebraska at the 1 with 12:03 left, but Burkhead willed the Huskers out of harm's way with runs of 9 and 8 yards into the wind.
Though the Huskers were later forced to punt, Burkhead helped them avoid the worst while burning valuable minutes off the clock.
"I just thought it would be a mental boost for us. I went into the game thinking we're only going to play him if we need him," Pelini said of Burkhead, who rushed for 57 yards in the fourth quarter. "I asked him 'How do you feel about it? And Rex said 'Let's go.'"
A mild fall in the Midwest came to an abrupt end on Friday.
During the national anthem, the breeze at Kinnick Stadium was so strong it nearly blew over the American flag ? and the man holding it. The wind chill hovered in the teens all day.
The conditions made passing a risky venture. Martinez threw for just 63 yards, while Iowa's James Vandenberg had 92 yards passing and two picks.
"It was really difficult. That wind and that cold weather," Martinez said. "My hands were frozen."
Nebraska threw just once on a 16-play drive that led to a field goal, and Iowa did the same on a 62-yard drive that led to a 1-yard plunge from Vandenberg and a 7-3 lead it held at halftime.
The Huskers muffed a punt and Martinez fumbled and nearly threw a pick in the second quarter. But Iowa's offense, which was lackluster all season, couldn't turn those miscues into points.
The ineptitude of Iowa's offense reached its nadir late in the first half. They were penalized for having too many men on the field ? even though they were coming out of a timeout ? and Mike Meyer followed with a missed field goal.
"They've really had a great season, but they have turned the ball over and we were hoping to be opportunistic that way," Ferentz said. "Overall, they just did a better job than we did in that second half."
Nebraska finished with a 7-1 conference mark for the first time since 2001, when it posted the same mark in the Big 12.
With one more Big Ten win next weekend, Burkhead and his teammates are headed to the Rose Bowl.
"I was just glad to be out there with the guys again," Burkhead said. "I missed being out there."
___
Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP
After an impressive day for online sales on Thanksgiving, Black Friday online shopping appears to be strong as well. According to IBM's Benchmark service, an ongoing measurement that covers some 500 of the largest online retailers in the U.S., early results today indicate a strong Black Friday with 2012 online sales up 13.1 percent for this same time period over Black Friday 2011.
Video: Call that a ball? Dogs learn to associate words with objects differently than humans do
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Dogs learning to associate words with objects form these associations in different ways than humans do, according to research published November 21 in the open access journalPLOS ONE by Emile van der Zee and colleagues from the University of Lincoln, UK.
Previous studies have shown that humans between the ages of two to three typically learn to associate words with the shapes of objects, rather than their size or texture. For example, toddlers who learn what a 'ball' is and are then presented other objects with similar shapes, sizes or textures will identify a similarly-shaped object as 'ball', rather than one of the same size or texture.
Earlier research with dogs has shown that they can learn to associate words with categories of objects (such as 'toy'), but whether their learning process was the same as that of humans was unknown.
In this new study, the scientists presented Gable, a five year old Border Collie, with similar choices to see if this 'shape bias' exists in dogs. They found that after a brief training period, Gable learned to associate the name of an object with its size, identifying other objects of similar size by the same name. After a longer period of exposure to both a name and an object, the dog learned to associate a word to other objects of similar textures, but not to objects of similar shape.
This is a video about the familiarization with word.Credit: Citation: van der Zee E, Zulch H, Mills D (2012) Word Generalization by a Dog (Canis familiaris): Is Shape Important? PLoS ONE 7(11): e49382. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0049382
According to the authors, these results suggest that dogs (or at least Gable) process and associate words with objects in qualitatively different ways than humans do. They add that this may be due to differences in how evolutionary history has shaped human and dog senses of perceiving shape, texture or size.
The bottom line: Though your dog understands the command "Fetch the ball", but he may think of the object in a very different way than you do when he hears it. As the authors explain, "Where shape matters for us, size or texture matters more for your dog. This study shows for the first time that there is a qualitative difference in word comprehension in the dog compared to word comprehension in humans."
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van der Zee E, Zulch H, Mills D (2012) Word Generalization by a Dog (Canis familiaris): Is Shape Important? PLoS ONE 7(11): e49382. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0049382
Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org
Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.
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The development in the world of technology has made the world a better place to live in and has made it smaller as well. Connections now can be established in a fraction of a second and a far reaching friend can now be reached on the click of a button. All thanks to the revolution the advancement of technology has created in the world of electronic communication. Staying connected no matter in which ever part of the world you are in is no longer a problem.
Well, emails are sent both for official and personal purpose. It is all about getting your message reached to the other end. When we talk of sending and receiving emails then the first name that comes in our mind is that of the SMTP server. Installing the SMTP server is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your email from one place to another.
Once you transmit your mail to the SMTP server, it takes the responsibility of sending it out. In case some failure occurs, it will be re sending it again and again. It is because that the SMTP server is constantly connected to the internet, it can try re sending its failures at any time and for any number of times. This is the reason that you do not need to worry about failed
recipients.
If you are sending directly, you will need to re send to the temporarily failed recipients many times over to make sure that all the addresses are covered. But this is not just the one advantage of SMTP. The SMTP mail server comes as a free component along with Windows in Microsoft Outlook. It was developed for the purpose of sending mails, managing mail queues and the like.
We never try to find out what happens when we press the Send button of our mail as long as it works. When you send your mail through a SMTP server then it is unlikely to be blocked at the destination. However, if you sending directly, some of the destination servers can block your mail as they know that your computer is not a regular SMTP server.
Let us take a look at some of the situations when you cannot use a SMTP server:
Your service provider does not allow you
Your SMTP mail server limits you to a limited number of messages per hour or has other limitations that you cannot bypass.
The SMTP server therefore makes it possible for clients, colleagues and you to relay messages fast and in a hassle free manner no matter in whichever part of world one is in.
ROUTE 232, Israel (Reuters) - Israel began withdrawing the army on Thursday that had been poised to invade the Gaza Strip to go after Hamas, with both sides declaring they had won their eight-day battle.
Dust-covered tanks and armored bulldozers were winched onto transporters and driven out of the same groves of straggly eucalyptus where they camped in January 2009 before going in.
That conflict cost more than 1,400 lives, all but 13 Palestinian, while this time, some 160 Palestinians were killed in eight days of fighting, against six Israelis.
Hamas nevertheless declared it had come out on top.
"From the lion's den, we declare victory," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas' armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades. Israel's "security hallucination" had been exposed.
Islamist militants launched more than 700 rockets from Gaza by the end of October, Israel said, to explain its decision to set off the latest conflict by killing Hamas's top military commander with a precision strike from an F16 fighter jet.
Psychologically and in propaganda terms, the long-range rockets Hamas fired all the way towards Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over the past eight days were a game-changer, celebrated by Gazans who were also relieved the invasion never came.
But 84 percent of Gaza's rockets were knocked out of the sky by Israel's new Iron Dome interceptor defence, neutralizing Hamas' main weapon.
The Israeli army says Islamist fighters fired 1,500 rockets at Israel, both home made and smuggled from Iran, scoring two lethal hits. The same number of Israeli strikes killed 30 senior militiamen and blew up rockets, launchers and arms dumps.
The ceasefire agreement, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said, was "a paper bridge for the defeated so that they can explain to their public how they can even show their faces after what they were hit with for a week".
The truce, arranged by Egypt, "could last nine months. It could last nine weeks. And when it no longer continues we will know what to do," Barak said.
Tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored personnel carriers and Humvees were lined up in some of the same fields they used four years ago, when they did invade, Israel's blue and white flag flying from their radio masts.
They will be pulled out in the next day so farmers can get back to work.
At Kerem Shalom, on the border with Egypt and Gaza, trucks carrying international food aid were rolling again on Thursday into a terminal where freight is re-loaded onto Palestinian trucks for 1.2 million people in Gaza who depend on it.
Empty buses were coming down Route 232, which runs parallel to the Gaza Strip from north to south, to pick up soldiers no doubt relieved to know they would not have to go in.
In 2009, after a week of aerial bombing and long-range shelling, this country road with kibbutz farms on either side was the launch point for some 30,000 troops and armour that cut the Gaza Strip in two.
Israel is a small country and the frontline is only 70 km (40 miles) from Tel Aviv. The army could be back in place in little more than half a day if needed.
The truce will test the intense distrust between Israel and the Islamist movement that runs Gaza, but both sides had a clear interest in not prolonging the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to cease fire just hours after a bomb exploded on a Tel Aviv bus, prompting opposition charges of weakness but winning international credit he may seek to draw on in Israel's standoff with Iran, whose disputed nuclear program he considers an existential threat.
"I don't hanker to go back in to Gaza. I'm persuaded that Hamas has no hankering to repeat what happened to it over the last week, and ditto Islamic Jihad," Barak told Israel radio.
Hamas had managed to fire one tonne of high explosive into Israel's built-up areas, he said. Israel hit Gaza targets with around 1,000 tonnes.
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Public release date: 25-Nov-2012
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