As Facebook grows, millions say, 'no, thanks'

NEW YORK (AP) ? Don't try to friend MaLi Arwood on Facebook. You won't find her there.

You won't find Thomas Chin, either. Or Kariann Goldschmitt. Or Jake Edelstein.

More than 900 million people worldwide check their Facebook accounts at least once a month, but millions more are Facebook holdouts.

They say they don't want Facebook. They insist they don't need Facebook. They say they're living life just fine without the long-forgotten acquaintances that the world's largest social network sometimes resurrects.

They are the resisters.

"I'm absolutely in touch with everyone in my life that I want to be in touch with," Arwood says. "I don't need to share triviality with someone that I might have known for six months 12 years ago."

Even without people like Arwood, Facebook is one of the biggest business success stories in history. The site had 1 million users by the end of 2004, the year Mark Zuckerberg started it in his Harvard dorm room. Two years later, it had 12 million. Facebook had 500 million by summer 2010 and 901 million as of March 31, according to the company.

That staggering rise in popularity is one reason why Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering is one of the most hotly anticipated in years. The company's shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday under the ticker symbol "FB". Facebook is likely to have an estimated market valuation of some $100 billion, making it worth more than Kraft Foods, Ford or Disney.

Facebook still has plenty of room to grow, particularly in developing countries where people are only starting to get Internet access. As it is, about 80 percent of its users are outside U.S. and Canada.

But if Facebook is to live up to its pre-IPO hype and reward the investors who are clamoring for its stock this week, it needs to convince some of the resisters to join. Two out of every five American adults have not joined Facebook, according to a recent Associated Press-CNBC poll. Among those who are not on Facebook, a third cited a lack of interest or need.

If all those people continue to shun Facebook, the social network could become akin to a postal system that only delivers mail to houses on one side of the street. The system isn't as useful, and people aren't apt to spend as much time with it. That means fewer opportunities for Facebook to sell ads.

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, says that new communications channels ? from the telephone to radio, TV and personal computers ? often breed a cadre of holdouts in their early days.

"It's disorienting because people have different relationships with others depending on the media they use," Rainie says. "But we've been through this before. As each new communications media comes to prominence, there is a period of adoption."

Len Kleinrock, 77, says Facebook is fine for his grandchildren, but it's not for him.

"I do not want more distractions," he says. "As it is, I am deluged with email. My friends and colleagues have ready access to me and I don't really want another service that I would feel obliged to check into on a frequent basis."

Kleinrock says his resistance is generational, but discomfort with technology isn't a factor.

After all, Kleinrock is arguably the world's first Internet user. The University of California, Los Angeles professor was part of the team that invented the Internet. His lab was where researchers gathered in 1969 to send test data between two bulky computers ?the beginnings of the Arpanet network, which morphed into the Internet we know today.

"I'm having a 'been-there, done-that' feeling," Kleinrock says. "There's not a need on my part for reaching out and finding new social groups to interact with. I have trouble keeping up with those I'm involved with now."

Thomas Chin, 35, who works at an advertising and media planning company in New York, says he may be missing out on what friends-of-friends-of-friends are doing, but he doesn't need Facebook to connect with family and closer acquaintances.

"If we're going to go out to do stuff, we organize it (outside) of Facebook," he says.

Some people don't join the social network because they don't have a computer or Internet access, are concerned about privacy, or generally dislike Facebook. Those without a college education are less likely to be on Facebook, as are those with lower incomes. Women who choose to skip Facebook are more likely than men to cite privacy issues, while seniors are more likely than those 50-64 years old to cite computer issues, according the AP-CNBC poll.

About three-quarters of seniors are not on Facebook. By contrast, more than half of those under 35 use it every day.

The poll of 1,004 adults nationwide was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications May 3-7 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Steve Jones, a professor who studies online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says many resisters consider Facebook to be too much of a chore.

"We've added social networking to our lives. We haven't added any hours to our days," Jones says. "The decision to be online on Facebook is simultaneously a decision not to be doing something else."

Jones says many people on Facebook try to overcome that by multitasking, but they end up splitting their attention and engaging with others online only superficially.

Arwood, 47, a restaurant manager in Chicago, says she was surprised when colleagues on an English-teaching program in rural Spain in 2010 opted to spend their breaks checking Facebook.

"I spent my time on break trying to learn more about the Spanish culture, really taking advantage of it," she says. "I went on walks with some of the students and asked them questions."

Kariann Goldschmitt, 32, a music professor at New College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla., was on Facebook not long after its founding in 2004, but she quit in 2010. In part, it was because of growing concerns about her privacy and Facebook's ongoing encouragement of people to share more about themselves with the company, with marketers and with the world.

She says she's been much more productive since leaving.

"I was a typical user, on it once or twice a day," she says. "After a certain point, I sort of resented how it felt like an obligation rather than fun."

Besides Facebook resisters and quitters, there are those who take a break. In some cases, people quit temporarily as they apply for new jobs, so that potential employers won't stumble on photos of their wild nights out drinking. Although Facebook doesn't make it easy to find, it offers an option for suspending accounts (Look for a link under the "Security" tab in "Account Settings.")

Goldschmitt says it takes effort to stay in touch with friends and relatives without Facebook. For instance, she has to make mental notes of when her friends are expecting babies, knowing that they have become so used to Facebook "that they don't engage with us anymore."

"I'm like, 'Hmmm, when is nine months?' I have to remember to contact them since they won't remember to tell me when the baby's born."

Neil Robinson, 54, a government lawyer in Washington, says that when his nephew's son was born, pictures went up on Facebook almost immediately. As a Facebook holdout, he had to wait for someone to email photos.

After years of resisting, Robinson plans to join next month, mostly because he doesn't want to lose touch with younger relatives who choose Facebook as their primary means of communication.

But for every Robinson, there is an Edelstein, who has no desire for Facebook and prefers email and postcards.

"I prefer to keep my communications personal and targeted," says Jake Edelstein, 41, a pharmaceutical consultant in New York. "You're getting a message that's written for you. Clearly someone took the time to sit down to do it."

___

Associated Press Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius in Washington contributed this report.

___

Online:

AP site on poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

CNBC site on poll: http://www.cnbc.com/id/47390543

Link for suspending an account (log-in required):

https://www.facebook.com/deactivate.php

Link for deleting an account (log-in required): http://on.fb.me/GYg2ND

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Canada OKs Osiris drug; first stem cell therapy

BOSTON (Reuters) - Osiris Therapeutics Inc said on Thursday that Canadian health regulators have approved its treatment for acute graft-versus host disease in children, making it the first stem cell drug to be approved for a systemic disease anywhere in the world.

Osiris shares rose 14 percent to $6.00 in extended trading after the news was announced.

Graft versus host disease (GvHD) is a potentially deadly complication from a bone marrow transplant, when newly implanted cells attack the patient's body. Symptoms range from abdominal pain and skin rash to hair loss, hepatitis, lung and digestive tract disorders, jaundice and vomiting.

The disease kills up to 80 percent of children affected, Osiris said. To date there have been no approved treatments for the disease. Canadian authorities approved the therapy, Prochymal, for use in children who have failed to respond to steroids.

Prochymal was approved with the condition that Osiris carry out further testing after it reaches the market. C. Randal Mills, the company's chief executive, said in an interview that could take three to four years.

Some investment analysts have been skeptical about Prochymal's future. In 2009, two late-stage clinical trials failed to show the drug was more effective overall than a placebo in treating the disease, though it showed promise in certain subgroups of patients.

Since then, the company has mined data from all its clinical trials to show that in patients with severe refractory acute GvHD -- those who have more or less failed all other therapies -- Prochymal demonstrated a clinically meaningful response at 28 days after therapy began in 61-64 percent of patients.

In addition, treatment with Prochymal resulted in a statistically significant improvement in survival when compared with a historical control population of pediatric patients with refractory GvHD.

The Canadian authorities approved the drug on the basis of that data, the company said.

FDA SUBMISSION THIS YEAR

Osiris, which is based in Columbia, Maryland, plans to apply for marketing authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of this year, including the newly-analyzed information. Mills said that if the FDA were to approve the drug, he would expect it to be on similarly conditional terms as outlined by the Canadian authorities.

In general, the FDA does not approve drugs based on subset analyses.

Prochymal is made up of bone marrow stem cells derived from an adult donor and is designed to control inflammation, promote tissue regeneration and prevent scar formation. It is not entirely clear how it works to help patients with GvHD, of which there are between 3,500 to 4,000 worldwide, Mills said.

Osiris said it will receive at least eight years of exclusivity in the Canadian market. But competition is heating up elsewhere.

Athersys Inc said last month it had met with the FDA to discuss the results of a recently completed clinical trial of its MultiStem stem cell treatment to prevent GvHD in patients being treated for leukemia or other conditions that place them at risk of the complication.

Dozens of adult stem cell therapies are moving through clinical trials, and Canada's approval of Osiris's drug will likely boost optimism in the sector. Stem cells derived from adult tissue such as fat or bone marrow circumvent the ethical concerns raised by the use of cells derived from embryos.

In 2008, Genzyme Corp, which is now owned by Sanofi SA, paid $130 million to Osiris and agreed to pay up to $1.25 billion more if Prochymal and another Osiris drug, Chondrogen, designed to repair tissue in damaged knees, reached the market and achieved certain sales levels.

In February, Sanofi said it had discontinued its project with Prochymal. Osiris said the statement was issued without its consultation and that it had not received notice from Sanofi regarding the discontinuation. However, the company said that the agreement between the two companies provides that in this instance all rights to Prochymal revert to Osiris without compensation to Sanofi.

(Reporting By Toni Clarke; Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Bernard Orr)

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Martial Arts as a Form of Therapy - Health, Fitness, and Sports

Vashna Phoenix Joined: Apr 20, 2008 Posts: 534 Location: Illinois	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 2:55 am?? ?Post subject: Martial Arts as a Form of Therapy I am afraid that in writing this I am going to be misunderstood. I have a background in archaeology and constantly feel the need to correct people about various aspects of cultural history or certain traditions. I don't have an ego per say, and that is something more of an itch than anything. I'm not sure how else to describe it. It's an itch that has to be scratched. I never want to show anyone up. That's not my goal at all. Recently someone energetically referred me to this article on how studying martial arts can be helpful in the treatment of autism. My initial reactions were that it was an extremely broad statement and lacked supporting evidence. However, the individual in question was very excited and believed it could help me focus and deal with my necessary stimming motions. Stimming motions and such are a serious problem for me. I lack coordination and realize this would be a huge barrier to beginning any study like this. I also realize, however, that it could also be a step in the right direction to dealing with the lack of coordination that I grapple with. Naturally, that's directly connected to my diagnosis of autism and comorbid conditions. I would give anything to experience improvement in that area. After doing a little searching on Wrongplanet, I've found other people even share my concerns about the commercialization of martial arts. Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm worried that I would never be able to get over the fact that each individual historical convention of just about everything isn't followed. To be honest, I'd like to be able to eventually get over my powerful debilitating obsessions. Naturally, I don't function well without a schedule and can't function in social areas or classrooms either. I suppose in some respects I'm even only considering the idea out of loyalty to the individual that brought it up. I'm wondering, though, if I'd be able to get some benefit out of a particularly classical, internal school of martial arts. For instance, if I were able to find a correctly taught T'ai Chi Ch'uan class with an understanding instructor I think I would be able to maybe function properly. I actually have a bit of a background in Ch'uan.
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ouinon chemical reaction Joined: Jul 11, 2007 Posts: 6347 Location: Europe	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 7:24 am?? ?Post subject: Both my nearly 13 year old son and I, both somewhere on or very close to the autism spectrum, have been finding physical exercises useful for strength and "inside our body" confidence/control etc, aswell as enjoyable, but we aren't going to any "real life" classes; we are using free online videos of workout routines of varying lengths, ( from 5 minutes to over an hour ) in various styles, by various presenters. I have been building up a timetable or schedule, which started off as a "mere" 10 minutes per day last October/November, 10 minutes which were a struggle to maintain, but we succeeded, and which is now between 30-45 minutes twice a day, ( plus a walk, weather permitting ). We have been using a mixture of "Core" exercises, upper body/arm etc exercises with weights, regular cardio/aerobics, plus some yoga and callanetics stretching and flexibility routines. The "Core" stuff ( also often described a "bodyweight" exercises ) is interesting, especially as it turns out that it's pretty much what yoga has been doing for a century or more, ( only much more slowly :lol ), and seems to be the most important part of all strength training and "control of the body", etc. At one point we were using some MMA/Mixed Martial Arts workouts, as a kind of cardio exercise mainly, ( though my son loved the whole boxing/kickboxing/combat aspect of it ), but we both began to find the presenters either depressingly "heavy"/earnest/severe/driven or simply silly, ( and in the case of one sensible workout it sadly went from being free to pay-to-view ). The advantage of using online videos though is that you can customise, stop and start, pause, repeat, cut short, file away for a while, mix with others according to one's levels of competence/fitness etc, and do it whenever you are free, ( as well as laugh and gasp and chat unrestrictedly :lol ). I started a thread here a while back about the videos we've been using, which might help to give you some idea of what's available. I'll just go get the link. I suspect that you would be able to find some MA workouts online by presenters/trainers who take historical conventions/accuracy etc very seriously. http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt195567.html .
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AardvarkGoodSwimmer Phoenix Joined: Apr 27, 2009 Age: 49 Posts: 3674 Location: Houston, Texas	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:21 am?? ?Post subject: With both boxing and tennis, I have gotten a lot out of private lessons. I like the idea of taking two private lessons and then practicing some stuff on my own. And then perhaps group lessons when I'm a little ahead of the curve. Although even then, group lessons seem tedious, besides the point, never quite sure I'm doing it right, etc. I did study judo pretty much from age 10 to age 17, with group lessons and still got a lot out of it. I studied boxing on and off on my own from age 42 to 46, with private lessons and practicing on my own, and got a fair amount out of that, too. Please don't take a bunch of blows to the head during training because all that stuff about post-concussion syndrome, and even cumulative lesser blows, is largely true. And just like football helmets don't really protect, neither does boxing headgear.
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nebrets Pileated woodpecker Joined: Feb 27, 2012 Posts: 192 Location: Orion?Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy.	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:54 am?? ?Post subject: I take Aikido at a dojo associated with the US Aikido Federation (USAF- part of the Aikikai Foundation still headquartered in Japan by the founder's family). I enjoy Aikido because most of the historical traditions are followed, although the art itself was only really developed in the 1930's in Japan. The most important thing for me is that it is a non-competitive art, every thing is practiced in partners, most of it is learned at your own pace, and there is no sparing (this decreasing your chances of injury. Not sparing is important to me because I do not react quickly to an unexpected object moving towards my face. Most people will at least flinch when you move your hand to their face quickly, I do not respond, thus increasing the likelihood that I will be hit. Although in the upper belts a free form is practiced for testing (but not regular classes) called randori when two to four people act as attackers at one time against the person being tested - this allows the person being tested to show the variety of techniques they know. Another wonderful thing for me is that practice is very structured, and the rules are spelled out. This means I know exactly how to behave at all times, and how to act to the different people in the dojo - my sensei, and my senpai (older student). Most classes I also get in a good cardio workout, so I count the three times I go each week as my weekly exercise. In daily practice everything is practiced in two person kata (predefined form) with one person giving a predetermined attack (the uke), and the other person receiving and redirecting the attack as part of a defense (the nage). There is nothing left to guess work in any part of practice. We also practice with wooden weapons sometimes and that is fun too. My sensei knows that I have AS, and need to have instructions 'spelled out' in detail. He, and my other classmates are very understanding if it takes me a few extra times to learn a technique, or if I need extra instruction on the details of the technique. They are also understanding if I get sensory overload. I can leave the mat at anytime if I become over whellmed and need a break, or if the neighbors are blasting the bass on the radio, and it is very disturbing to me, I can put in some soft earplugs during class. _________________ __ /(. . )
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werewolf Tufted Titmouse Joined: Oct 24, 2010 Posts: 32	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 12:09 pm?? ?Post subject: Well you might be in trouble with your need for historical accuracy... I have done karate in two different clubs, slightly different styles. And there is no such thing as historical accuracy although everyone claims it. Karate has history (and today and future) very similar to church history, where everyone claims to have the truth and continuity and labels everyone else as heretic. I just tried to ignore it, and found a club where there was less talk and more actual excercise and where I personally liked the style better. Karate helped me develop a huge amount of social skills. Just handling the closeness and attention of a partner and keeping your attention on him was something I don't do voluntairly and therefore practicing it made me better at handling people. But - that was before I self-diagnosed myself as an aspie. After that I gradually came to better terms with myself, lost the need to constantly change myself to compete with others in every field and then I lost the motivation to put myself through such torture what a training with partner embodies. Haven't been to a lesson for long time already. My new obsession is gym. And surprisingly this has brought some noticeable improvement in balance and also I somewhat feel more in control of my movements though I havent tested it yet in anything challenging. I'm starting to think that any kind of excercise can improve balance and coordination. I think you should simply choose something that you can do with pleasure (enjoyable process or due to feeling of pride).
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AardvarkGoodSwimmer Phoenix Joined: Apr 27, 2009 Age: 49 Posts: 3674 Location: Houston, Texas
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AardvarkGoodSwimmer Phoenix Joined: Apr 27, 2009 Age: 49 Posts: 3674 Location: Houston, Texas
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Vashna Phoenix Joined: Apr 20, 2008 Posts: 534 Location: Illinois	Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 5:59 pm?? ?Post subject: For personal reasons, the issue of martial arts is a very sore one. When I was a little boy my grandmother tried to force me into a karate class as a way to correct my self-esteem problems. I didn't function right and refused to go. We now understand that was due to mental conditions diagnosed much later. Naturally, my self-esteem then as now was extremely poor. My grandmother since passed away, and I have a complex where I look back on the situation and am overcome with guilt. I'm sure it has something to do with grieving. I'm subconsciously rationalizing that if I had just succeeded like she wanted me to I would have her still with me. That's not the case, of course, but I'm sure we all understand the way the mind works. That being said, I'm actually in the best shape of my life for entirely different reasons. I lost a lot of weight running. In fact, I wrote on Wrongplanet before about how I'm actually considerably underweight. I've gone to the other albeit equally unhealthy extreme. I wasn't looking at martial arts as a way to get fit. Instead, it just seems that a friend's otherwise well-meaning intentions set off a trigger. So now I'm feeling guilty about the whole thing. Ounion, I never would have thought about looking for serious programs online. I'm certain it isn't difficult at all to tell great stuff apart from the junk. Do you believe I should look at things like that? While I still wouldn't be working on anything social, the idea seems really promising from a balance and coordination point of view. Nebrets, your words certainly gave me a bit of hope. I'm very familiar with Aikido from a historian's perspective. Ueshiba Morihei-sensei's are more admirable than many in the field of modern martial arts, and he never attempted to explicitly claim that he was resurrecting any particular theories from the past. Moreover, he was greatly influenced by Omoto-kyo philosophy. As a gentle aside, I would prefer to ignore any negativity towards religious doctrine for the time being if that were possible.
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mike_br Tufted Titmouse Joined: Apr 23, 2012 Posts: 42	Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 8:02 am?? ?Post subject: Re: Martial Arts as a Form of Therapy Vashna wrote: I am afraid that in writing this I am going to be misunderstood. 1) Recently someone energetically referred me to this article on how studying martial arts can be helpful in the treatment of autism. 2) I lack coordination and realize this would be a huge barrier to beginning any study like this. I also realize, however, that it could also be a step in the right direction to dealing with the lack of coordination that I grapple with. Naturally, that's directly connected to my diagnosis of autism and comorbid conditions. I would give anything to experience improvement in that area. 3) I'm worried that I would never be able to get over the fact that each individual historical convention of just about everything isn't followed. To be honest, I'd like to be able to eventually get over my powerful debilitating obsessions. 4) Naturally, I don't function well without a schedule and can't function in social areas or classrooms either. 5) have a bit of a background in Ch'uan. 1) Not sure about autism, but it helps you as a human being: fitness, coordination, sense of progression etc. 2) Right on. Any martial art will make your coordination better. In my opinion, choose one without excessive acrobatics (like tae kwon do). Go for boxing classes, they're awesome (you don't have to go into the ring, read n. 4) 3) NO martial art will follow everything. They aren't even "martial" anymore, but have changed through generations to adapt to a new context. Even traditional martial arts are changing. Boxing began without gloves, for example. Don't worry about it. 4) If you got the money, get a private instructor. They are great, motivate you personally and work towards what YOU want. You may want to train boxing but not actually fight (except shadow combat... no hard punches), for example. 5) Ch'uan is bad for your health. It's known to kill human beings out of sheer, massive boredom (I kid, if you like it, go ahead. But I find it does not give you the same level of fitness as other styles). Good Luck!
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All Animals Exotic or Small ? Animal Shelter- Things You Should Know

While we love the reckoning of having pets in our homes and lives elite group of us area unit braced for the respective changes that moldiness be unenforced ?for these animals to live with us. When this happens umpteen family will just cast aside their pets. Sometimes this happens when the darling loses it young mammal entreaty or when the trinket of having a darling has tatty off. disregardless of the fact these pets in time detect their way to an animal shelter.These animal shelters have been created to manage with the many an animals and pets that are cast-off in one case their hominal owners have gotten ragged of having them around. The housebroken provide at the animal shelter will look after the animals that are recovered on the streets. Their health will be seen to by the vets at the animal shelter and once they have been patterned out unwellness ?wise, they will be cleaned up and groomed.As just about of these animals area unit perplexed by the diverse circumstances that have befallen them, they area unit for the just about set forth intimidated and accepting of the charge and good food that is provided. spell these quick of necessity are seen to an animal shelter is not a guess where an animal grape juice eat up the entire lives.One of the supply requirements that square measure base in an animal shelter is a direct where the respective with child unsized ?animals like dogs can unfold their muscles and have some exercise. For the little animals there gravid cages that have work out toys and biological science designs.

As far as their temperament is concerned, an owner of an Appenzell Mountain Dog must be aware of the fact that these dogs need to be trained very early, in order to get along well with people and other dogs as well. Overall, they like people and they easily get attached to one person or the entire family. That is the reason why, today, people are looking for these pets as companions rather than working dogs. They are playful and loving, and they enjoy romping.

There will be a inundated time animal vet who will look after the learned profession unwellness ?inevitably of the animals in the animal shelter. In constituent to the feeling of a man there will other members of the animal shelter faculty who will see to the sadness ?of these animals.The symbol will also make certain anyone who wants to sweep up these animals is proven to be cook for the gas-filled sphere of their care. This maintenance includes perception to the food, toys, examination and wellness requirements of the pets. In component the happiness, warm and psychological conditions of the pets poorness to be addressed.Once all of these concerns have been belief of and with kid gloves well-advised the unexampled surrogate syndicate whitethorn take their young blood line phallus nursing home for a legal proceeding time period. After the animal?s sadness ?is assured the animal shelter cater will disallow ?the animal to go to its sunrise homes. These are the work that animal shelters engage to the many another animals that area unit in require of a amorous family.

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S&P cites weak economy, acquisition in Ceridian debt rating

Standard & Poor?s? ? Standard & Poor's Latest from The Business Journals S&P lowers Chesapeake Energy's credit ratingBond-rating agency watches grades of Kansas school districtsSchool funding debate could impact districts' credit ratings Follow this company Rating Services assigned a preliminary ?B-? rating to a planned $500 million debt offering by Ceridian Corp.? ? Ceridian Corp. Latest from The Business Journals New training facility ranks Best Buy forms CEO search committee; Interim CEO Mikan is in the runningBest Buy forms CEO search committee; Interim CEO Mikan is in the running Follow this company

In addition to the speculative grade rating, S&P assigned a recovery rating of ?3,? indicating the expectation of meaningful recovery in the event of a payment default, a statement from the ratings agency said. The outlook is stable.

Ceridian, a Minneapolis-based information services provider with a major operations center in St. Petersburg, is issuing the notes in conjunction with an amend-or-extend transaction of part of the company?s currently outstanding bank debt, S&P said.

Ceridian, which serves the human resources, stored value cards and transportation industries, has seen revenue and earnings growth constrained by global economic weakness and persistently high unemployment that limits payroll processing revenue growth. The company?s recent acquisition of Dayforce, which will enable it to offer software-as-a-service products, should help offset some of the economic impacts as it gains new customers, S&P said.

Ceridian?s loss of a contract for Military OneSource, which had been serviced primarily from the St. Petersburg location, impacted adjusted earnings margins, which were 24 percent before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation in 2011. The company is focused on improving profitability through tighter cost controls and business process improvements, S&P said.

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Wotzoncom: RT @VicUniWgtn: Today?s @VicUniWgtn Graduation parade is cancelled due to bad weather. All ceremonies today will go ahead as planned.

Today?s @ Graduation parade is cancelled due to bad weather. All ceremonies today will go ahead as planned. about 14 hours ago via web

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April Sales Up, Traffic Down and Restaurant Industry Job Growth ...

May 16, 2012 ? 10:16 am

Following two months of disappointing declines, industry performance improved slightly in April as same-store sales returned to positive territory while guest traffic remained negative, according to the most recent Restaurant Industry Snapshot from Black Box Intelligence.? The report also found that sales for both food and alcohol were positive, and check average was 3.4 percent higher than the same month last year.? After two straight months of decline, The Restaurant Industry Willingness to Spend Index was flat to the prior month, indicative of consumers concerns.? Consumers continue to be concerned about high gas prices, unemployment and uncertainty in the economy overall.? The fact that the index is flat may indicate a plateau until something positive stimulates the economy.? Let?s hope so.

One of the strongest indicators of the nation?s employment and general economy is the restaurant industry.?? Foodservice?is now at the recovery?s leading edge. Restaurants added more than 550,000 jobs during the past two years, outpacing all other industries except construction.? The nation?s economy and specifically jobs is one of the major concerns of the Obama administration in this election year.? ?The nation?s overall job total grew at a 1.5 percent year-over-year pace this spring, but the restaurant industry was growing at more than twice that rate.? It appears foodservice employment will continue its strong growth in the upcoming months. The NRA?s Restaurant Performance Index, which evaluates the current and future health of the restaurant industry, has been positive since last fall.

Finally, when will our current administration and whichever administration takes over in the fall stop all the talk and do something to help small business?? We need to revitalize business and implement things that stimulate job growth and expansion.? The first step is reducing the corporate tax rate, currently the highest in the industrialized world. Lowering the tax rate will increase incentives for companies to invest and create jobs while also freeing up valuable resources for research and development, expansion and capital expenditures.? Here?s to?hoping that the next administration takes some action and is not all talk.

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Statistical analysis projects future temperatures in North America

ScienceDaily (May 15, 2012) ? For the first time, researchers have been able to combine different climate models using spatial statistics -- to project future seasonal temperature changes in regions across North America.

They performed advanced statistical analysis on two different North American regional climate models and were able to estimate projections of temperature changes for the years 2041 to 2070, as well as the certainty of those projections.

The analysis, developed by statisticians at Ohio State University, examines groups of regional climate models, finds the commonalities between them, and determines how much weight each individual climate projection should get in a consensus climate estimate.

Through maps on the statisticians' website (http://www.stat.osu.edu/~sses/collab_warming.html), people can see how their own region's temperature will likely change by 2070 -- overall, and for individual seasons of the year.

Given the complexity and variety of climate models produced by different research groups around the world, there is a need for a tool that can analyze groups of them together, explained Noel Cressie, professor of statistics and director of Ohio State's Program in Spatial Statistics and Environmental Statistics.

Cressie and former graduate student Emily Kang, now at the University of Cincinnati, present the statistical analysis in a paper published in the International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation.

"One of the criticisms from climate-change skeptics is that different climate models give different results, so they argue that they don't know what to believe," he said. "We wanted to develop a way to determine the likelihood of different outcomes, and combine them into a consensus climate projection. We show that there are shared conclusions upon which scientists can agree with some certainty, and we are able to statistically quantify that certainty."

For their initial analysis, Cressie and Kang chose to combine two regional climate models developed for the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program. Though the models produced a wide variety of climate variables, the researchers focused on temperatures during a 100-year period: first, the climate models' temperature values from 1971 to 2000, and then the climate models' temperature values projected for 2041 to 2070. The data were broken down into blocks of area 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) on a side, throughout North America.

Averaging the results over those individual blocks, Cressie and Kang's statistical analysis estimated that average land temperatures across North America will rise around 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2070. That result is in agreement with the findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which suggest that under the same emissions scenario as used by NARCCAP, global average temperatures will rise 2.4 degrees Celsius (4.3 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2070. Cressie and Kang's analysis is for North America -- and not only estimates average land temperature rise, but regional temperature rise for all four seasons of the year.

Cressie cautioned that this first study is based on a combination of a small number of models. Nevertheless, he continued, the statistical computations are scalable to a larger number of models. The study shows that climate models can indeed be combined to achieve consensus, and the certainty of that consensus can be quantified.

The statistical analysis could be used to combine climate models from any region in the world, though, he added, it would require an expert spatial statistician to modify the analysis for other settings.

The key is a special combination of statistical analysis methods that Cressie pioneered, which use spatial statistical models in what researchers call Bayesian hierarchical statistical analyses.

The latter techniques come from Bayesian statistics, which allows researchers to quantify the certainty associated with any particular model outcome. All data sources and models are more or less certain, Cressie explained, and it is the quantification of these certainties that are the building blocks of a Bayesian analysis.

In the case of the two North American regional climate models, his Bayesian analysis technique was able to give a range of possible temperature changes that includes the true temperature change with 95 percent probability.

After producing average maps for all of North America, the researchers took their analysis a step further and examined temperature changes for the four seasons. On their website, they show those seasonal changes for regions in the Hudson Bay, the Great Lakes, the Midwest, and the Rocky Mountains.

In the future, the region in the Hudson Bay will likely experience larger temperature swings than the others, they found.

That Canadian region in the northeast part of the continent is likely to experience the biggest change over the winter months, with temperatures estimated to rise an average of about 6 degrees Celsius (10.7 degrees Fahrenheit) -- possibly because ice reflects less energy away from Earth's surface as it melts. Hudson Bay summers, on the other hand, are estimated to experience only an increase of about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

According to the researchers' statistical analysis, the Midwest and Great Lakes regions will experience a rise in temperature of about 2.8 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit), regardless of season. The Rocky Mountains region shows greater projected increases in the summer (about 3.5 degrees Celsius, or 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit) than in the winter (about 2.3 degrees Celsius, or 4.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

In the future, the researchers could consider other climate variables in their analysis, such as precipitation.

This research was supported by NASA's Earth Science Technology Office. The North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program is funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office of Research and Development.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University, via Newswise. The original article was written by Pam Frost Gorder.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Emily L. Kang, Noel Cressie. Bayesian Hierarchical ANOVA of Regional Climate-Change Projections from NARCCAP Phase II. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.jag.2011.12.007

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.

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Get To Know Horse Racing By The Different Type Of Races ...

Posted by Sadia on May 14, 2012 | 1 views | 42750 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.a1article.net%2Frecreation-and-sports%2Fget-to-know-horse-racing-by-the-different-type-of-races-4275.htmlGet+To+Know+Horse+Racing+By+The+Different+Type+Of+Races2012-05-14+17%3A01%3A10Sadiahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.a1article.net%2Frecreation-and-sports%2Fget-to-know-horse-racing-by-the-different-type-of-races-4275.html |

Article by Aiden Brunson

Every horse racing enthusiast must know the different type of races, their requirements, and their implications on the horses that compete in them. Surprised that there are more than just one type of horse race? Then read on.

Every time horse racing becomes the topic of conversation, people usually think of only one thing, and that is the thoroughbred. But contrary to the misconception, there other types of horse racing such as harness racing and steeple chase. It just so happens that the thoroughbred is the most popular! In fact, the Kentucky Derby is known as the most exciting two minutes in the world of Sports.

The Famous Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is only part of a three-part grand slam horse racing: The Triple Crown. Imagine the excitement offered by the entire race. It?s triple the fun and adrenaline! The Kentucky Derby plus the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes complete the renowned Triple Crown prize. To this day, there are only 11 known horses to have achieved such a prestigious prize.

For the record, the highest level of competition for horse racing are the stake races. This type of race is reserved for the best horses, and even then, there is a required registration for each horse. The money collected is added to the prize money. When a Stake race is a Graded race, there is a certain appeal of class to it.

Other Types of Horse Races and their Criteria

Horses have to meet criteria before they can be allowed to race. A race may require additional weight requirements for better horses. This type of race is called a handicap race. The added weight is dependent upon past performances of the horses.

Other races sometimes require that horse must be a ?non winner of three?. This is called an allowance race. Horses entered in this type of race is usually chosen to be prepped for better races. Most of the time these horses go on to compete in handicap and stake races.

Another type of race, and probably the most common, is the claiming race. A claiming race may also be ?optional.? Before the race, owners are asked to specify an amount by which the thoroughbred may be claimed or purchased for.

You can rest assured that the racing field is leveled by this requirement. Obviously, owners will not list better horses in a claiming race. This type of race may be a good place to expose or train your weaker horses. Who knows? They might just need a little training to turn into a champion. Just make sure you are ready to part with your horse.

If you don?t want to part with your horses and you want to list them in a race to see just how they perform or to familiarize them with competitive races, a maiden race is the best avenue for this. This type of race is confined for horses with no record of wins. The winner of the race is said to have ?broken his maidenhood.?

When to Watch Which Race

Race tracks usually hold eight or more races each day, combining all of the above-mentioned races. It doesn?t matter which type or race you watch and whether you win or not. In the end, you?ll still experience the fervent excitement that keeps horse racing enthusiasts coming back for seconds.

New to the races? Visit Sure2Profit.com to know all about horse racing, from the every valuable horse racing tip to the horse racing system.

Category: Recreation-and-Sports Tags: , Different, Horse, Know, Races, Racing, Type

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Sleepwalking more prevalent among U.S. adults than previously suspected, researcher says

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2012) ? What goes bump in the night? In many U.S. households: people. That's according to new Stanford University School of Medicine research, which found that about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults -- or upward of 8.4 million -- are prone to sleepwalking. The work also showed an association between nocturnal wanderings and certain psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

The study, the researchers noted, "underscores the fact that sleepwalking is much more prevalent in adults than previously appreciated."

Maurice Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is the lead author of the paper, which appeared in the May 15 issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Sleepwalking is a disorder "of arousal from non-REM sleep." While wandering around at night can be harmless and is often played for laughs -- anyone remember the Simpsons episode where Homer began wandering around and doing silly things in his sleep? -- sleepwalking can have serious consequences. Episodes can result in injuries to the wanderer or others and lead to impaired psychosocial functioning.

It is thought that medication use and certain psychological and psychiatric conditions can trigger sleepwalking, but the exact causes are unknown. Also unclear to experts in the field is the prevalence.

"Apart from a study we did 10 years ago in the European general population, where we reported a prevalence of 2 percent of sleepwalking," the researchers wrote in their paper, "there are nearly no data regarding the prevalence of nocturnal wanderings in the adult general population. In the United States, the only prevalence rate was published 30 years ago."

For this study, the first to use a large, representative sample of the U.S. general population to demonstrate the number of sleepwalkers, the researchers also aimed to evaluate the importance of medication use and mental disorders associated with sleepwalking. Ohayon and his colleagues secured a sample of 19,136 individuals from 15 states and then used phone surveys to gather information on participants' mental health, medical history and medication use.

Participants were asked specific questions related to sleepwalking, including frequency of episodes during sleep, duration of the sleep disorder and any inappropriate or potentially dangerous behaviors during sleep. Those who didn't report any episodes in the last year were asked if they had sleepwalked during their childhood. Participants were also queried about whether there was a family history of sleepwalking and whether they had other parasomnia symptoms, such as sleep terrors and violent behaviors during sleep.

The researchers determined that as many as 3.6 percent of the sample reported at least one episode of sleepwalking in the previous year, with 1 percent saying they had two or more episodes in a month. Because of the number of respondents who reported having episodes during childhood or adolescence, lifetime prevalence of sleepwalking was found to be 29.2 percent.

The study also showed that people with depression were 3.5 times more likely to sleepwalk than those without, and people with alcohol abuse/dependence or obsessive-compulsive disorder were also significantly more likely to have sleepwalking episodes. In addition, individuals taking SSRI antidepressants were three times more likely to sleepwalk twice a month or more than those who didn't.

"There is no doubt an association between nocturnal wanderings and certain conditions, but we don't know the direction of the causality," said Ohayon. "Are the medical conditions provoking sleepwalking, or is it vice versa? Or perhaps it's the treatment that is responsible."

Although more research is needed, the work could help raise awareness of this association among primary care physicians. "We're not expecting them to diagnose sleepwalking, but they might detect symptoms that could be indices of sleepwalking," said Ohayon.

Among the researchers' other findings:

• The duration of sleepwalking was mostly chronic, with just over 80 percent of those who have sleepwalked reporting they've done so for more than five years.
• Sleepwalking was not associated with gender and seemed to decrease with age.
• Nearly one-third of individuals with nocturnal wandering had a family history of the disorder.
• People using over-the-counter sleeping pills had a higher likelihood of reporting sleepwalking episodes at least two times per month. (Indeed, a sleeping pill was the trigger for Homer Simpson's middle-of-the-night shenanigans.)

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Michelle L. Brandt.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. M. M. Ohayon, M. W. Mahowald, Y. Dauvilliers, A. D. Krystal, D. Leger. Prevalence and comorbidity of nocturnal wandering in the US adult general population. Neurology, 2012; 78 (20): 1583 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182563be5

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.

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.: Computer forensics investigators legislation (S580) up in the House

One of the areas of the Blogland's focus is with issues related to law enforcement and judicial matters. Having grown up in a cop household, these issues are very real to me, thus I tend to be involved and aware of what's going on. These days, my father is a well-regarded computer forensics investigator who got a lot of state and national media exposure for his role in the Kate Waring mission person and murder investigation.

The use of computer forensics as an investigative tool has led to the misconception that they are private investigators, thus should be licensed as such. There is credible evidence which points to this as a very different, hence separate, profession, thus should not be lumped into the same category. Many states have updated their laws to create a clear distinction between the two fields and exempt computer forensics investigators from being subjected to the registration processes which are applied to private investigators.

Senate Bill 580 would allow South Carolina to do the same, thus freeing that profession from red tape which is the result of a lack of understanding of technology and how to use it as an investigative tool. The bill has moved through the Senate and will be heard this week by a?subcommittee?in the House LCI?Committee. Legislators need to the right thing and pass this bill forward.

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges State, local and territorial legislatures, State regulatory agencies, and other relevant government agencies or entities, to refrain from requiring private investigator licenses for persons engaged in:

? computer or digital forensic services or in the acquisition, review, or analysis of digital or computer-based information, whether for purposes of obtaining or furnishing information for evidentiary or other purposes, or for providing expert testimony before a court; or

? network or system vulnerability testing, including network scans and risk assessment and analysis of computers connected to a network.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association supports efforts to establish professional certification or competency requirements for such activities based upon the current state of technology and science.

The reality is that computer forensics investigators are different than private investigators in what they do and how they qualify for their work. Their training and development is highly technical and ongoing, as the need to keep up with advancing technology means they undergo far more training than private investigators, without the need for government mandates or red tape.?

While it makes sense to regulate some professions, it makes little or no sense for this profession to be tied down by a mistaken association with private investigators. Thus legislators should pass S580.

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Amazing Candy Store Looks Like It Was Drawn By Kids [Architecture]

When the Red Design Group was hired by Sweet Enough to design the interior of its first retail store, it ran with the idea of a 'kid in a candy store'. In fact, it actually looks like they hired a group of pre-schoolers to sketch the blueprints with crayons. More »

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