If A Realtor Asks To Show My Home After My Contract Expired, What ...

Q: If a realtor asks to show my home after our contract has expired what commission do I owe? We live in MN.
?smiles, Albert Lea, MN

A: Typically, if a listing agreement expires, there is no obligation to the broker. However, if the showing is for a client that has already seen the property before, or if the showing is as a result of the previous listing, there may be something owed. I would be surprised if an agent showed a property without some sort of compensation discussion before the showing. You have an agent who is bringing you a buyer, and if the goal is to sell your home, then have the discussion about what would be owed prior to any showings. It is always best to clear things up before they get messy.
Cathy Baumbusch is a Realtor? with RE/MAX Executives in Alexandria, VA.

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Related posts:

1. Do I Have To Sign An Agreement To Have A Realtor Show My Home?
2. Will We Owe Commission If Our Realtor?s Contract Expired?
3. I Took My House Off The Market, Can I Sign A Per-Showing Contract?
4. Do I Owe A Real Estate Commission If The Contract Has Expired?
5. After My Contract With An Agent Expires, Can I Sell My Home On Land Contract?

Source: http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2012/10/30/if-a-realtor-asks-to-show-my-home-after-my-contract-expired-what-commission-do-i-owe/

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Political ads gear up for final push of campaign

NEW YORK (AP) ? The campaign ad crush has intensified and expanded in the final week of the presidential contest, with President Barack Obama, Republican challenger Mitt Romney and allied independent groups making their final, full-throated advertising pitches to voters in the major battlegrounds.

The Romney team began airing ads in Pennsylvania for the first time in the general election after venturing into Minnesota late last week, signaling a renewed effort to broaden the map of potentially competitive states. Obama's team responded in kind in both places and will go on the air in Michigan to counter a $2 million ad push there by a pro-Romney group.

A presidential campaign advertising effort likely to total more than $1 billion was on track to end just as it began, with a blizzard of TV commercials in a handful of states aimed at still-persuadable voters who may decide the election.

Obama's campaign has sunk more than $28 million into TV ads for the remainder of the contest, according to media trackers who follow the presidential race. Ohio is the top prize, seeing $6.5 million in Obama ad spending through Tuesday, Election Day.

The Obama campaign is running two ads in Ohio. In one, titled "The Problem," Romney is criticized for saying he would deal with China on the economic front while having a history of investing in companies that outsourced U.S. jobs. Another spot, "No One Was Looking," plays off Romney's comments, caught on tape at a private fundraiser in May, about the "47 percent" of Americans who don't pay federal income tax but also criticizes him on taxes, job outsourcing, Medicare and education.

The Obama campaign also is spending $5.4 million in Florida and $4.1 million in Virginia. An ad titled "Looking" was in heavy rotation in both states, while Florida voters also were seeing "Unbreakable," aimed at Jewish voters and touting Obama's commitment to Israel, and "Remember," which criticizes Romney on Wall Street regulations and taxes. Also airing is a Spanish-language version of "Determination," in which Obama makes a direct appeal for a second four years in office.

The rest of Obama's final campaign ad buy was spread across the other major swing states ? Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Wisconsin ? plus Minnesota and Pennsylvania, which Romney is trying to put into play.

Romney aides point to tightening polls in Minnesota, which Obama carried by 10 percentage points in 2008. Romney's campaign had placed $17.2 million in ads for the final week by Tuesday afternoon, a figure that was expected to climb.

The Obama campaign also indicated Tuesday it would begin advertising in Michigan to counter a $2 million ad buy from the pro-Romney super political action committee Restore Our Future. The super PAC, which was founded by several former Romney aides, has run a total of $10 million in ads in Michigan. It's the only group to actively advertise in a state generally considered an Obama stronghold.

Romney's team spent $5.1 million on commercials in Ohio, where polling has shown him a few points behind Obama for most of the contest. The state's 18 electoral votes are crucial to Romney's effort to amass the 270 needed for victory. No Republican in the past 110 years has won the presidency without Ohio, and a loss there would mean Romney would have to carry virtually all the other swing states in order to prevail.

Romney also was spending $4.2 million in Florida and $2.3 million in Virginia and was advertising in all the swing states Obama was targeting. Romney was spending just $150,000 on ads in New Hampshire, compared with $2 million for Obama, and just $564,000 on ads in North Carolina, compared with $1.1 million for Obama. But campaign ad trackers expected Romney's team to boost its spending across the board in the coming days.

The Romney campaign was running a mix of ads in the final week of the race. In one, "Bringing People Together," Romney stresses the need for bipartisanship and says he worked with Democrats as governor of Massachusetts. In another, "Cabinet Members ? Humanity," women who worked in his Cabinet laud his attitudes toward the poor, working women and families.

Romney called himself "severely conservative" earlier in the campaign but since has tried to appear more moderate to appeal to women and swing voters.

His campaign continues to run a controversial ad in Ohio suggesting that Chrysler, one of the auto companies boosted by a federal bailout, was planning to move production of its Jeep line to China. The claim drew a rebuke from company CEO Sergio Marchionne, who insisted Chrysler has no plans to shift U.S.-based Jeep production overseas.

The Romney team's new ad buy in Pennsylvania, a state that had been considered safe for Obama, followed that of several independent groups supporting Romney's candidacy.

Restore Our Future announced it would advertise in Pennsylvania as part of a $20 million, multistate push in the final week. Another pro-Romney group, Americans for Job Security, was spending about $1.2 million on ads in Philadelphia, while American Crossroads, a super PAC tied to President George W. Bush's longtime political counselor Karl Rove, announced Tuesday it would spend $1.2 million on ads in the rest of the state.

American Crossroads and a companion group, Crossroads GPS, planned to spend more than $17.7 million on pro-Romney ads in the top battlegrounds.

Obama, for his part, was getting an assist from Priorities USA Action, a super PAC formed by two former White House aides. The group was spending $9.5 million on commercials in the final week, including $2.7 million in Ohio.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/political-ads-gear-final-push-campaign-065210259--election.html

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Hello~

Ah, nice name, its a genre of music I listen to. Would I be wrong to assume that indie is your favorite music genre?

Seeing as how your name is indie, music is your passion, and cat goes perfectly well with jazz (that was nothing important in particularly, I just wanted to say it).

I'm glad to see that you're a creative person, then again we're all creative here. That's what being a writer is, an artist, we're all one and the same.
I think you'll fit well into our Creative Realm, we've got a place for music, artwork, writing, and poetry.

If you need RPing tips you can ask a scholar, who is denoted in dark blue letters (like me) to help you or provide mentor-ship to help craft your roleplaying skills. Telling a good story is vital, but so is spelling, and punctuation. These skills will be developed over time, so it's nothing worry about now.

Shy? It took a lot to post an introduction.

Scour away my friend.

Anyway, welcome to RPG, RolePlayGateway, on behalf of everyone here, we're glad to have you.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/LAFAexqu8RM/viewtopic.php

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Has anyone experienced this? : Grief and Loss Forum - Psych forums

I have always known there was something wrong with me from the time I was a child. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my mom took me to see a therapist. After about a half dozen sessions of me sitting there with my arms crossed and silent the entire time, my mom quit taking me. When I was 12, I lost my grandmother who meant more than life itself to me. My grandmother had mental health issues in her past and seemed to understand that there was something "different" about me, but genuinely loved me nonetheless. She took an interest in me, spent considerably more time with me than her other grandchildren, and took care of me. Her death marked a turning point in my life that has been a downhill roll over since.

My first suicide attempt was when I was 19. Like an idiot, I took about 2 handfuls of 800mg prescription Motrin which resulted in throwing up blood. That was the first of many hospitalizations to come. I was diagnosed then as being Bipolar which just seems to me to be a catchall diagnosis. I took medication for a period of time before giving up on the process. In 2002, I was formally diagnosed by a psychologist who took his time diagnosing me only after having seen me for a period of a few months. While I had at least some hope before for help to be received by being Bipolar, that changed once I got the BPD diagnosis.

Fast forward a few years and at 22 years of age, I became a mother. I was not prepared to be a mother or that the partner I was with would be as unsupportive as he was. When my daughter was 4 years old, I lost custody for the first time for more than a year. When she was 11, I lost custody again but I regained custody after about 4 months. In 2010, I lost custody again and eventually ended up with my daughter in a guardianship situation in which I have had very little time to see her. Two weeks ago, I attempted to contact the guardian to visit and I have not heard anything back. To say that I have been in a severe emotional tailspin ever since would be an understatement.

I've been through years and years of therapy and medication only to see no improvement in my condition. I've read everything I can about BPD hoping to get some sort of insight and find ways of coping. In early 2011, I tried committing suicide and very nearly succeeded. I took handfuls of anti anxiety medication, narcotic pain meds, and sleep meds. I woke up a week later, intibated, from a coma and in full liver failure. Apparently, I was shocked my the electric paddles from the paramedics to restart my heart. I was so angry at having woken up and I still am. Immediately after I left the hospital, my brother filed a restraining order against me which caused me to lose my home. Over the course of the year, I lost my fiance, several close friends, my albeit rocky relationship with my brother, 2 substantial car accidents, and most of the money I had saved. My aunt took me in and I have been living here since. Several months ago, my brother found out I was attending church and started going to the same one. One evening as he left, he told me he loved me. I felt anger and rage inside me, from his audacity to say he loved me. Someone who loved me would never have turned their back on me. I stuck with him through his lifes trials and he apparently refused to for me.

Ever since losing custody of my daughter permanently about 2 months ago, I've realized that absolutely everything in me has died. I hardly leave the house, rarely answer the phone, and try not to ever mention anything about how I am feeling because I have become sick to death of hearing "it will all be okay", "time heals all wounds", "turn to the Lord..." I feel more disconnected than ever from God and my faith and I was raised in church. I went from being an amazingly social person who volunteered, worked, went to school, etc. into absolutely nothing. My suicidal thoughts are constant and can overwhelm me at any moment, in the grocery store, driving, waking me in the middle of the night, etc. In some silly way, at least I felt whole before, but now I feel as if I am in a million little pieces ever so carefully being held together by a string. My health has declined significantly in the last year and a half. I wish every day that I was able to have ended it a year ago because living in such unbearable gut wrenching pain is not a way to live.

Source: http://www.psychforums.com/grief-loss/topic100036.html

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Heat get their rings in glitzy ceremony

Miami Heat's LeBron James holds his 2012 NBA Finals championship ring during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat's LeBron James holds his 2012 NBA Finals championship ring during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat owner Mickey Arison, left, presents LeBron James with his 2012 NBA Finals championship ring during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade holds his 2012 NBA Finals championship ring during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat players hold their 2012 NBA Finals championship rings as they stand next to the championship banner during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

From left, Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade, left, Chris Bosh and LeBron James pose with their 2012 NBA Finals championship rings during a ceremony before a basketball game against the Boston Celtics, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

MIAMI (AP) ? LeBron James held his index finger aloft, then turned and took a walk nine years in the making.

A few moments later, a championship ring ? finally ? was his.

James and the Miami Heat celebrated their NBA title once again Tuesday night, with the ring-and-banner ceremony replete with an indoor fireworks show that immediately preceded their season opener against the Boston Celtics.

NBA Commissioner David Stern handed Heat owner Micky Arison the first ring of the night, and Arison handed the others out to executives, coaches and players.

James went last, as the crowd roared for the reigning NBA MVP.

"It's not given," James said earlier Tuesday. "These moments are not given."

Stern gave brief remarks to the crowd, starting his address by mentioning "those who were affected" by Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Coast earlier this week. (Stern misspoke and referred to the storm Hurricane Katrina, though his point was clear.) He congratulated Heat executives and coaches, then lauded Miami's players.

"And congratulations to the Miami Heat fans," Stern said.

The only player to address the crowd was veteran Mike Miller, who spoke after warmups.

"We want to thank you guys so much for all your support," Miller said. "Without you guys, a night like tonight's not possible. The journey that starts tonight is going to be even more challenging, so we're going to need your passion, your support and your energy even more. Enjoy the game tonight and let it fly."

The rings had the words "All In" on one side, and "Family" underneath two images of the Larry O'Brien Trophy on the other. James hugged Stern briefly as the commissioner said a few words, then got a few words from Arison before checking out the box that held his newest bauble.

Players posed for a quick photo as the banner started being raised, then James and others took their rings out to examine the detail. He touched the banner as it rose behind him, then went back to checking out the ring.

Soon, they were put away, the lights came on, and the season started.

"I think we all know what another year's all about," James said. "We know what our long-term goal is. But we're not going to take any short cuts. It's a process. It's always been that way for us."

The pursuit of a title is what drove James every year since joining the NBA in 2003, and he had been close twice, ultimately falling in his first two trips to the NBA Finals.

His breakthrough came last June, and James capped his stellar postseason with a triple-double in Game 5 of the finals against Oklahoma City, as the Heat capped off the second title in franchise history.

"I'm not going to take this moment for granted," James said. "It doesn't happen to everyone. I know the history of the game. I am going to live in the moment. Not going to sit here and say I'm not. It's a special moment for not only our team, for our organization, for the city, whoever's a Miami Heat fan, our families, everything. We'll live in the moment, but we also have some other business to take care of as well."

In the long term, that means another title.

In the short term, that meant getting ready for Boston.

Miami's first ring night was an unmitigated disaster ? a 108-66 loss to the Chicago Bulls after the 2006 championship jewelry was issued. The Heat were on the other end of a banner blowout last Christmas in Dallas, where in a finals rematch they ran out to a 35-point lead shortly after halftime.

The Heat were clearly inspired by having a chance to put a damper on Dallas' day. And they expected the Celtics to feel the same way, after Miami ousted Boston in last season's Eastern Conference finals and then lured Ray Allen away in a free-agency coup over the summer.

"We were hoping that Oklahoma was playing Miami on opening night to watch ring night," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't know why they chose us. But it is what it is. They deserve it. They won it last year. They get to have their day. We had our day and LeBron had to sit and watch that.

"It's his payback night," Rivers added. "And he deserves it. He really does. He's probably gone through more scrutiny than any player, maybe any athlete, that I can ever remember. In that light, I'm happy for him."

The Celtics were not on the court for the ceremony, which preceded the usual pregame warmup period.

"To be able to raise that banner in front of our fans, it took a tremendous amount of work collectively," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We don't want to diminish that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-30-Heat-Ring%20Night/id-9cbcbddaa6514d24ba030eaa9669160d

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Grading and supporting U.S. education: Study examines consequences of international comparisons

ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2012) ? K-12 schools in the United States are often criticized for falling behind their counterparts in other countries, but a new Cornell University study suggests that this "negative spin" does not increase public support for spending more to improve the nation's schools.

Presidential hopefuls, local school board candidates, and even companies like Exxon Mobil stress the need to have the best education system in the world to be competitive in the global economy. President Obama's education issue webpage, for example, begins with the statement, "To prepare Americans for the jobs of the future and help restore middle-class security, we have to out-educate the world and that starts with the school system" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education). And, in the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney unveiled a five point jobs plan for 70 million television viewers. Romney presented "Number three" as "Make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed and the best schools in the world. We're a far way from that now."

"But my research concludes that comments such as Romney's erode support for public schools and decrease interest in spending additional money to improve them," said Stephen Morgan, Cornell professor of sociology and lead author of the study "The Consequences of International Comparisons for Public Support of K-12 Education," published in the latest issue of the journal Educational Researcher.

With results from a randomized experiment on a nationally representative sample of adults (aged 18 to 93), the study concludes that statements such as these convince approximately seven percent of adults to lower their grades for public schools in their own communities from "A" or "B" to "C," "D," or "Fail." And, when asked whether we spend enough money on improving the nation's schools, a similar percentage of respondents shifts from the position that we spend "too little" toward "about the right amount" or "too much." Overall, "people think worse of their schools, but there is no evidence that they are then convinced to spend more money to fix them," said Morgan.

The percentage of the national sample that is shifted by international competitiveness concerns may be modest, "but seven percent could be enough to flip the outcome of a school levy vote or a local election," said Morgan.

Morgan says that international comparisons shouldn't necessarily be avoided altogether, especially by candidates or interest groups that favor cost-neutral reforms. And they are probably effective in generating interest in education reform in general. "I'd guess that they are partly responsible for convincing some of my own students to care about educational reform and to apply to programs like Teach For America," said Morgan.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell University.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. S. L. Morgan, E. S. Taylor Poppe. The Consequences of International Comparisons for Public Support of K-12 Education: Evidence From a National Survey Experiment. Educational Researcher, 2012; 41 (7): 262 DOI: 10.3102/0013189X12455217

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/qLjuzuk9Xn4/121029103508.htm

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New technique connects multi-walled carbon nanotubes

ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2012) ? Using a new method for precisely controlling the deposition of carbon, researchers have demonstrated a technique for connecting multi-walled carbon nanotubes to the metallic pads of integrated circuits without the high interface resistance produced by traditional fabrication techniques.

Based on electron beam-induced deposition (EBID), the work is believed to be the first to connect multiple shells of a multi-walled carbon nanotube to metal terminals on a semiconducting substrate, which is relevant to integrated circuit fabrication. Using this three-dimensional fabrication technique, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed graphitic nanojoints on both ends of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which yielded a 10-fold decrease in resistivity in its connection to metal junctions.

The technique could facilitate the integration of carbon nanotubes as interconnects in next-generation integrated circuits that use both silicon and carbon components. The research was supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and in its early stages, by the National Science Foundation. The work was reported online October 4, 2012, by the journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology.

"For the first time, we have established connections to multiple shells of carbon nanotubes with a technique that is amenable to integration with conventional integrated circuit microfabrication processes," said Andrei Fedorov, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. "Connecting to multiple shells allows us to dramatically reduce the resistance and move to the next level of device performance."

In developing the new technique, the researchers relied on modeling to guide their process parameters. To make it scalable for manufacturing, they also worked toward technologies for isolating and aligning individual carbon nanotubes between the metal terminals on a silicon substrate, and for examining the properties of the resulting structures. The researchers believe the technique could also be used to connect multi-layered graphene to metal contacts, though their published research has so far focused on carbon nanotubes.

The low-temperature EBID process takes place in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) system modified for material deposition. The SEM's vacuum chamber is altered to introduce precursors of the materials that researchers would like to deposit. The electron gun normally used for imaging of nanostructures is instead used to generate low energy secondary electrons when the high energy primary electrons impinge on the substrate at carefully chosen locations. When the secondary electrons interact with hydrocarbon precursor molecules introduced into the SEM chamber, carbon is deposited in desired locations.

Unique to the EBID process, the deposited carbon makes a strong, chemically-bonded connection to the ends of the carbon nanotubes, unlike the weakly-coupled physical interface made in traditional techniques based on metal evaporation. Prior to deposition, the ends of the nanotubes are opened using an etching process, so the deposited carbon grows into the open end of the nanotube to electronically connect multiple shells. Thermal annealing of the carbon after deposition converts it to a crystalline graphitic form that significantly improves electrical conductivity.

"Atom-by-atom, we can build the connection where the electron beam strikes right near the open end of the carbon nanotubes," Fedorov explained. "The highest rate of deposition occurs where the concentration of precursor is high and there are a lot of secondary electrons. This provides a nanoscale sculpturing tool with three-dimensional control for connecting the open ends of carbon nanotubes on any desired substrate."

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes offer the promise of higher information delivery throughput for certain interconnects used in electronic devices. Researchers have envisioned a future generation of hybrid devices based on traditional integrated circuits but using interconnects based on carbon nanotubes.

Until now, however, resistance at the connections between the carbon structures and conventional silicon electronics has been too high to make the devices practical.

"The big challenge in this field is to make a connection not just to a single shell of a carbon nanotube," said Fedorov. "If only the outer wall of a carbon nanotube is connected, you really don't gain much because most of the transmission channel is under-utilized or not utilized at all."

The technique developed by Fedorov and his collaborators produces record low resistivity at the connection between the carbon nanotube and the metal pad. The researchers have measured resistance as low as approximately 100 Ohms -- a factor of ten lower than the best that had been measured with other connection techniques.

"This technique gives us many new opportunities to go forward with integrating these carbon nanostructures into conventional devices," he said. "Because it is carbon, this interface has an advantage because its properties are similar to those of the carbon nanotubes to which they are providing a connection."

The researchers don't know exactly how many of the carbon nanotube shells are connected, but based on resistance measurements, they believe at least 10 of the approximately 30 conducting shells are contributing to electrical conduction.

However, handling carbon nanotubes poses a significant challenge to their use as interconnects. When formed through the electric arc technique, for example, carbon nanotubes are produced as a tangle of structures with varying lengths and properties, some with mechanical defects. Techniques have been developed to separate out single nanotubes, and to open their ends.

Fedorov and his collaborators -- current and former graduate students Songkil Kim, Dhaval Kulkarni, Konrad Rykaczewski and Mathias Henry, along with Georgia Tech professor Vladimir Tsukruk -- developed a method for aligning the multi-walled nanotubes across electronic contacts using focused electrical fields in combination with a substrate template created through electron beam lithography. The process has a significantly improved yield of properly aligned carbon nanotubes, with a potential for scalability over a large chip area.

Once the nanotubes are placed into their positions, the carbon is deposited using the EBID process, followed by graphitization. The phase transformation in the carbon interface is monitored using Raman spectroscopy to ensure that the material is transformed into its optimal nanocrystalline graphite state.

"Only by making advances in each of these areas can we achieve this technological advance, which is an enabling technology for nanoelectronics based on carbon materials," he said. "This is really a critical step for making many different kinds of devices using carbon nanotubes or graphene."

Before the new technique can be used on a large scale, researchers will have to improve their technique for aligning carbon nanotubes and develop EBID systems able to deposit connectors on multiple devices simultaneously. Advances in parallel electron beam systems may provide a way to mass-produce the connections, Fedorov said.

"A major amount of work remains to be done in this area, but we believe this is possible if industry becomes interested," he noted. "There are applications where integrating carbon nanotubes into circuits could be very attractive."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications, via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. Kim, D. Kulkarni, K. Rykaczewski, M. Henry, V. Tsukruk, A. Fedorov. Fabrication of an Ultra-Low-Resistance Ohmic Contact to MWCNT-Metal Interconnect using Graphitic Carbon by Electron Beam Induced Deposition (EBID). IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 2012; : 1 DOI: 10.1109/TNANO.2012.2220377

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/bg5KaQmezII/121030093616.htm

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Finish Sticky Dish Challenge & a Sloppy Joe Pasta Recipe

Have you ever had one of those nights where you?re just too tired to plan a meal or even bother going to the grocery store?

That was me last week. I had about 3 of those nights right in a row which made cooking dinner quite a challenge. I was in complete lazy mode and found myself just piecing together whatever ingredients I had on hand. In most cases those meals come out just barely edible but sometimes, just sometimes I stumble onto a recipe that?s worth making again. In this case it was a Sloppy Joe Casserole that turned out to be quite tasty and is a nice change from the typical sloppy joe sandwiches.

Sloppy Pasta Bake

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Author: Cat Davis | FoodFamilyFinds.com

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 box rotini pasta
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 can corn, strained
• 2 cans Mamwich sloppy joe sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Boil pasta, strain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Brown ground beef with onions and peppers until fully cooked, strain and put it back in the skillet over medium heat.
4. Add corn and sauce to ground beef and cook for 5 minutes or until hot.
5. In a large baking dish, combine pasta and sauce.
6. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted.

3.1.09

While I was in lazy cooking mode I also happened to be lazy about after dinner clean-up too. I ended up leaving my casserole dish hanging out on the dishwasher door all night long and woke up to a crusty mess. A year ago I would have grumbled about having to let the dish soak in hot soapy water all day but not these days. I had been through just about every dishwasher detergent on the market before I discovered?Finish? Quantum?.

It was the first pre-measured packet that actually cleaned like it claimed. The before and after picture below pretty much says it all but these really are my miracle product in the kitchen. Even with a dish as crusted as the one below, I never have to use a long power cycle, pre-rinse or soak any dishes. I just let the Finish do the work for me and it never fails.

If you haven?t tried Finish Quantum before now is the time to do so. You can join the #FinishRevolution on Facebook and get a free sample. Once you receive your sample and try it out, share your results on twitter with the #FinishRevolution hashtag.

While you?re waiting on your sample, tell me, what product do you currently use in your dishwasher and how?s it working for you?

*product was provided, however I?ve been a long-time Finish product consumer

?

Source: http://foodfamilyfinds.com/finish-sticky-dish-challenge-a-sloppy-joe-pasta-recipe/

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Text, don't call, once Sandy hits, say carriers

12 hrs.

Suzanne Choney , NBC News

Wireless carriers have made extensive preparations to deal with the impact of Hurricane Sandy, and are asking customers to do the same. Among the best things you can do to help keep your phone battery going and to ease network congestion is to limit your voice calls???keep them short???and to send text messages instead.

"Limit non-emergency calls to save battery power and free up wireless networks for emergency workers and operations and send brief text messages instead," Verizon Wireless says in a hurricane preparedness statement. "When the network gets busy, texts have a higher chance of getting through the first time and can be more efficient."

Among other tips offered by Verizon, AT&T,?Sprint and T-Mobile:

• Keep phones and phone accessories???batteries and chargers???in sealed plastic bags?to avoid water damage.
  
• If you have an extra phone battery and you?have power, charge that battery so it's ready.
• Add to your phone's contact list all key emergency phone numbers and email addresses, including police,?fire and rescue agencies; schools and service people.
• If you are being evacuated, forward home or work phone calls to your wireless number.
• Use your phone's camera to take photos or video of your property and valuables before the storm hits, so you have "before" photos if your home suffers storm damage.
  
• If cell service is down in your area, but your home Wi-Fi network is working, switch to Wi-Fi on your phone.
• Expect high-call volume, which can lead to network congestion. If that's the case, you'll hear "fast busy" signals on your wireless phone (or a slow dial tone on your landline phone). If that?happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. That allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again.

For additional tips on conserving your cellphone's battery, see NBC News' Bob Sullivan's Facebook page here. He says:?

How to conserve cell phone power during the storm: a nice set of tips. 1) Airplane mode 2) Turn off cell, wifi to gadget isn't searching for networks til you need them. Added to this, I have my auto jump-start battery in the house, which has a convenient USB port, too. Yours might at least have a cigaretter lighter 12V out ...?use a car charger or converter with that. HT to @steverubel

In advance of Sandy, all carriers have been deploying portable cell sites and mobile emergency generators?in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast?that can replace damaged cell towers. Carriers?are also coordinating their work with local and emergency agencies.

You can read more about your carrier here: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/text-dont-call-once-sandy-hits-say-wireless-carriers-1B6739587

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Brady, Patriots rout Rams 45-7 at Wembley

New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley, right, with St. Louis Rams free safety Quintin Mikell, left, in action during the second half of a NFL football game at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley, right, with St. Louis Rams free safety Quintin Mikell, left, in action during the second half of a NFL football game at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

St. Louis Rams tackle Barry Richardson, lays on the pitch after a hard tackle during the second half of a NFL football game at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, in action during the first half of a NFL football game at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON (AP) ? Tom Brady and the Patriots certainly seemed right at home on their second trip to London.

Brady led touchdown drives on the Patriots' first five drives Sunday and New England (5-3) ran over the St. Louis Rams 45-7 in the NFL's annual regular-season game at Wembley Stadium.

The Rams (3-5) had looked ready to put up a fight when Sam Bradford hit Chris Givens with a 50-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the game.

But St. Louis, which arrived in London on Tuesday three days before the Patriots to get better adjusted to the time difference, was the team that looked jetlagged the rest of the way.

Brady led four straight touchdown drives to give New England a commanding 28-7 lead by halftime, and then hit Brandon Lloyd for a 9-yard score to start the third quarter.

Brady passed for 304 yards with four touchdowns and tight end Rob Gronkowski caught eight passes for 146 yards and two scores. Lloyd also had two touchdown catches, while Stevan Ridley ran for 127 yards and a score as the Patriots put themselves atop the AFC East heading into their off week.

The Rams, who also will be off, are now last in the NFC West after losing two in a row.

New England had at least 350 yards of total offense for the 17th straight game ? breaking an NFL record set by the Rams in 1999-2000, back when Kurt Warner was leading "The Greatest Show on Turf."

This, perhaps, was the greatest show put on by a team in London since the NFL started staging regular-season games here in 2007 ? or at least the most dominating, as New England gave the British crowd a first-hand look at the league's top-ranked offense.

After the Rams took the lead, Brady led a 78-yard drive to tie the scores with a 19-yard pass to Brandon Lloyd. On their next drive, coach Bill Belichick opted to go for it on fourth down at the one-yard line, and Shane Vereen broke into the end zone for the score.

It was the only fourth down the Rams forced until the middle of the third quarter, when the Patriots had to settle for a 26-yard field goal to make it 38-7.

In between, Brady hit Gronkowski on a 7-yard touchdown pass and Ridley had another one-yard run into the end zone for the Patriots 10 seconds before halftime.

St. Louis only had one other scoring opportunity in the first half, but botched the snap on a 52-yard field goal attempt right after the two-minute warning and holder Johnny Hekker was tackled for a 9-yard loss.

By then, though, it was clear that field goals wouldn't do much good either for the Rams, who again failed to cope with a high-powered offense after losing to Green Bay at home last weekend.

Already without leading receiver Danny Amendola, the Rams offense sputtered after Givens left the game temporarily with a toe injury late in the first quarter.

Givens' touchdown gave him a reception of at least 50 yards for the fifth straight game, a rookie record, but he only managed two more catches after returning and finished with 63 yards. Running back Steven Jackson was also largely shut down, finishing with 23 yards on seven carries. Bradford was 23 of 31 for 205 yards and added an interception in the fourth quarter before being replaced by backup Kellen Clemens near the end.

Brady, meanwhile, made full use of his multitude of weapons ? and got some help by the Rams defense along the way. St. Louis was called for pass interference on third down three times in the first half ? including twice on the final drive.

New England became the first team to win two games in London, having beaten Tampa Bay here in 2009. As expected, the Patriots also had the majority of crowd support from the 84,004 fans at Wembley, despite the Rams being the designated home team.

That, however, didn't stop backup quarterback Ryan Mallett from getting booed when taking knee to run out the clock ? one of the few aspects of the American version of football that the British crowd didn't seem to appreciate.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-28-Patriots-Rams/id-d06b35c763614b028f6f3ecf8a398c91

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The Florida Voters Who Can't Forgive Obama (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Obama to make statement about Hurricane Sandy: White House (reuters)

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Reports: Pop star arrested in UK abuse case

LONDON?? Police investigating the sex abuse scandal surrounding late BBC children's television host Jimmy Savile have arrested pop star Gary Glitter in connection with the case, British media said Sunday.

Metropolitan Police said they arrested a man in his 60s early Sunday morning at his London home, on suspicion of sexual offenses, and that he remains in custody in a London police station.

The force did not identify the man, but British media including the BBC and Press Association reported he was Glitter, 68, a former rock musician and a convicted sex offender. Glitter's real name is Paul Gadd.

'A steep fall' for BBC as child sex abuse scandal rocks UK

1. Only on NBCNews.com

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Hundreds of potential victims have come forward since police began their investigation into sex abuse allegations against Savile, the longtime host of popular shows "Top of the Pops" and "Jim'll Fix It" who died at age 84 last year. Most allege abuse by Savile, but some said they were abused by Savile and others.

Jimmy Savile abuse scandal stuns Britain: a who's who primer

Glitter, best known for "Rock & Roll (Part 1&2)," was convicted in 2006 in Vietnam of committing "obscene acts with children" ? offenses involving girls aged 10 and 11. He was deported in 2008.

He had a previous conviction in Britain for possessing child pornography.

The scandal has horrified Britain with revelations that Savile cajoled and coerced vulnerable teens into having sex with him in his car, in his camper van, and even in dingy dressing rooms on BBC premises.

Video: Savile BBC scandal shocks UK (on this page)

Police have said that though the majority of cases related to Savile alone, some involved the entertainer and other, unidentified suspects. In addition, some potential victims who reported abuse by Savile also told police about separate allegations against unidentified men that did not involve the BBC host.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49585855/ns/world_news-europe/

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Bump Chic! Tamera Mowry-Housley?s Red Carpet Maternity Style

"I'm embracing my new body and its changes... So what if my behind is spreading as wide as the continent of North America," says Mowry-Housley.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/B_-DGhzETW8/

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Johnson wins at Martinsville, takes points lead

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) ? Jimmie Johnson's expectations are high at Martinsville Speedway, and his results keep showing why.

The five-time series champion raced to his seventh career victory on NASCAR's trickiest oval Sunday, and the triumph helped him erase a seven-point deficit and supplant Brad Keselowski as the points leader with three events remaining.

But before handing Johnson the title, he cautioned, there's plenty of racing yet to do.

"I'm ecstatic about the win today and ecstatic about the points lead, but this is no cake-walk," Johnson said after the 59th victory of his career and fourth this season. "These guys are bringing their best each and every week. ... The next two races will tell the tale. Anything can happen. We could both wad it up next week and Clint Bowyer is your champion."

Johnson moved two points ahead of Keselowski, who finished sixth for his highest career showing at the track. The series next moves to Texas and Phoenix before finishing up at Homestead-Miami.

"I know this championship's going to come down to Homestead," Keselowski said. "You've just got to be in position to where you've got a shot at it and we're doing the things it's going to take."

Both drivers needed only to look at Denny Hamlin's day to be reminded that things can go south fast. Hamlin seemed poised to get in the thick of it, and then had an electrical problem that sent him to a 33rd place finish and out of contention.

"When these things happen, you've just got to suck it up and move on," Hamlin said. "There's nothing I can do about it. One of these days it's going to be our time. It's just not right now."

Keselowski's day was nowhere near as adventurous as Hamlin's, but effective all the same.

He started 32nd, methodically worked his way forward, and was never really a factor until he took a late gamble to grab the lead ? and a crucial bonus point. He was leading the race briefly when a caution flag flew and he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. opted to stay out, then watched as the other 16 lead-lap cars all headed for pit road for fresh tires.

"I think we've learned a lesson here in the past not pitting late, and that certainly came into play," Johnson said. "I felt like it was going to be a problem for him. We've been there before and stayed out and got beat."

When the race went back to green with 19 laps to go, Keselowski was a sitting duck whose best bet was to hang on for as long as he could and then avoid any Martinsville mayhem that cropped up in a furious dash to the finish.

Johnson, who led eight times for 193 laps, passed him on lap 487 on his way to making the race a bonus points bonanza. He got one for leading a lap, one for leading the most laps and three for the victory, wiping out a seven-point deficit.

Busch was second, followed by Kasey Kahne, Aric Almirola, Bowyer, Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers.

On the final restart, Busch said he was trying to avoid spinning Johnson heading into turn one, but nudged him. Johnson slowed, and Busch too, and "when I went back to the gas, I spun my tires and got loose, and he squirted away from me."

Bowyer also had a great car, leading 154 laps, and Gordon led 92.

While the championship race tightened at the top, it also eliminated Hamlin, who seemed poised to get in the thick of it, and then had an electrical problem that sent him to a 33rd-place finish and out of title contention.

Until the problems arose, Hamlin had put on a clinic about how to pass cars on the 0.526-mile oval.

"When these things happen, you've just got to suck it up and move on," Hamlin said. "There's nothing I can do about it. One of these days it's going to be our time. It's just not right now."

After his first pit stop, Hamlin was penalized for entering pit road too fast, a penalty that moved him to the back of the lead lap, which was 31st. Immediately, he started quickly working his way forward.

After 200 laps, he was contending and actually left pit road with the lead, but again, he was penalized for speeding entering pit road, again dropping him to the back of the lead lap, this time 28th.

He again worked his way into the top five until his problems dropped him 34 laps behind.

Hamlin dropped 49 points off the pace. Bowyer is third, 26 back, and Kahne is 29 back.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/johnson-wins-martinsville-takes-points-lead-212900931--spt.html

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Sandy to erode many Atlantic beaches

ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2012) ? Nearly three quarters of the coast along the Delmarva Peninsula is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, while overwash is expected along nearly half of the shoreline.

The predictions of coastal change for the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia peninsula is part of a larger assessment of probable coastal change released by the U.S. Geological Survey Friday.

"Model forecasts are run anew for each hurricane, as each case has unique factors in terms of storm intensity, timing with respect to tides, angle of approach, and must account for ever-changing details of coastal dune configuration," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "These models help us understand where emergency management resources might be most needed."

Overwash, the landward movement of large volumes of sand from overtopped dunes, is forecasted for portions of the east coast with the projected landfall of the storm. The severity of overwash depends on the strength of the storm, the height of the dunes, and how direct a hit the coast takes.

"On the Delmarva Peninsula, near the storm's expected landfall, close to three quarters of the sandy coast is expected to see beach and dune erosion. Fifteen percent of the coast is very likely to be inundated by waves and storm surge," said USGS Oceanographer Hilary Stockdon from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

In these areas, waves and storm surge would transport large amounts of sand across coastal environments, depositing sand both inland and offshore and causing significant changes to the landscape, Stockdon noted.

The models show that along the New Jersey shore, 81 percent of the coast is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion, while 7 percent is very likely to experience overwash. It also indicates that on the south shore of Long Island, N.Y., including Fire Island National Seashore, 43 percent of the coast is very likely to experience beach and dune erosion. Overwash and inundation are not expected in these areas because of the relative high dune elevations.

According to USGS geologist Cheryl Hapke, many of the sandy beaches along the mid-Atlantic Coast have become increasingly vulnerable to significant impacts such as erosion because of past storms, including Hurricanes Ida (2009) and Irene (2011), as well as large northeastern storms in 2005 and 2007.

"Beaches and dunes often serve as the first line of defense for coastal communities against flooding and other hazards associated with extreme storm" said Hapke, "Any compromise to these features means that storm-related hazards are more likely to threaten coastal property, infrastructure, and public safety during a future extreme storm event."

Beach and dune erosion occurs when storm surge and waves collide with the base of a dune, termed collision in the model, and wash away significant amounts of sand. Overwash happens when these forces exceed dune height and move sand inland. Inundation is a process by which an entire beach system is submerged and, in extreme cases, can result in island breaching.

The USGS coastal change model forecasting likely dune erosion and overwash from the storm can be viewed online: http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/sandy/coastal-change/

For the latest forecasts on the storm, listen to NOAA radio. For information on preparing for the storm, visit Ready.gov or Listo.gov

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by U.S. Geological Survey.

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

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/xL2JFdKkWQU/121027164036.htm

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Trial in 1977 killing asks: Were suspects framed?

FILE - In this April 17, 2012 file photo, Terry Harrington, center, stands with his daughter Nicole Brown, left, his mother Josephine James, right, and family and friends outside the Clarinda Correctional Facility in Clarinda, Iowa, after Gov. Tom Vilsack signed his reprieve. Harrington and Curtis McGhee, wrongfully convicted in the 1977 murder of a retired Iowa police officer, hope to prove during a trial that starts Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, that officers coerced witnesses into fabricating testimony that framed them for killing John Schweer. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

FILE - In this April 17, 2012 file photo, Terry Harrington, center, stands with his daughter Nicole Brown, left, his mother Josephine James, right, and family and friends outside the Clarinda Correctional Facility in Clarinda, Iowa, after Gov. Tom Vilsack signed his reprieve. Harrington and Curtis McGhee, wrongfully convicted in the 1977 murder of a retired Iowa police officer, hope to prove during a trial that starts Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, that officers coerced witnesses into fabricating testimony that framed them for killing John Schweer. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) ? Two black men wrongly convicted in the 1977 murder of a white Iowa police officer hope to prove something they couldn't during trials that sent them to prison for 25 years: that detectives framed them to solve a high-profile case.

During a civil trial that starts Wednesday in Des Moines, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee will argue that Council Bluffs police officers coerced witnesses into fabricating testimony against them in the killing of John Schweer.

Schweer was found dead while working as the night watchman at a car dealership. Harrington and McGhee, then teenagers from neighboring Omaha, Neb., say detectives used threats against a group of young black car theft suspects to trump up evidence targeting them because of their race and pressure to solve the retired captain's killing.

Despite little physical evidence, Harrington and McGhee were convicted at 1978 trials and sentenced to long prison terms. They were freed in 2003, after the Iowa Supreme Court found that prosecutors committed misconduct in concealing reports about another man seen near the crime scene with a shotgun. The key witnesses had also recanted their testimony, saying they were pressured into implicating the men.

After winning their freedom, they filed lawsuits against prosecutors and officers they blamed for forcing them to spend their adult lives in the Fort Madison prison. Their case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009 over the issue of whether suspects have the constitutional right not to be framed by prosecutors. Before justices ruled, Pottawatamie County agreed to pay $12 million to settle claims against two former prosecutors while not admitting wrongdoing.

The settlement did not resolve claims against Council Bluffs and former detectives Dan Larsen and Lyle Brown.

Harrington and McGhee claim Larsen and Brown coerced the group of black car theft suspects into fingering them in the death. Investigators took the star witness, a 16-year-old confessed liar with numerous aliases, to the crime scene, gave him details about the murder weapon, and had him repeatedly change his story until it was plausible, the lawsuit claims.

The witness, Kevin Hughes, was aggressively questioned in Schweer's death after he was pulled over several weeks later driving a vehicle stolen from a Nebraska dealership. He first implicated three other men who had alibis before eventually claiming Harrington pulled the trigger and McGhee drove the getaway car after they went to steal a car from the dealership Schweer was guarding. Hughes said later he lied to get reward money and avoid being charged himself. Other witnesses also recanted.

Jurors will be asked to decide at trial, scheduled to last through Nov. 16, whether detectives, who were both white, and the city violated Harrington and McGhee's civil rights and, if so, how much they should receive in damages.

"We have waited for a very long time to have this trial and we look forward to having an opportunity to present our case," said Stephen Davis, an attorney for McGhee, now married and living in a Midwestern community he does not want to disclosure.

Facing a possible verdict of millions, lawyers for the detectives and the city are making an aggressive defense. They plan to argue that Harrington and McGhee probably were the real killers ? and that even if they weren't, detectives did nothing wrong in focusing on them as suspects under the circumstances.

"There is going to be evidence that this civil jury will hear surrounding Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee's involvement in this crime and it's evidence that the juries in 1978 considered," said attorney Kristopher Madsen. "But importantly, we believe there's going to be lacking any credible evidence to indicate these two police detectives in any way fabricated evidence or coerced or threatened witnesses or violated any civil rights of Harrington and McGhee."

The stakes are high for the city because recent court rulings have concluded it will have little insurance coverage if liable.

Lawyers would not say how much compensation Harrington and McGhee would seek, but they plan to show jurors a mock prison cell to illustrate their lives behind bars. Harrington's daughter, born after he was imprisoned, is expected to testify about the former high school football player's long dream of freedom.

A key question will be why detectives stopped pursuing suspect Charles Gates. Police reports about Gates had been hidden from the defense and were uncovered in 1999 by a former prison barber who became convinced of Harrington's innocence and worked for years for his freedom.

They showed that witnesses reported seeing a man with a dog carrying a shotgun near the crime scene, where Schweer's bullet-riddled body was found surrounded by bloody dog prints. In the nights before his death, the police reports show Schweer reported having altercations with a white man carrying a shotgun and walking a dog ? something Gates was known to do.

Police questioned Gates, a 48-year-old loner, and he failed a lie-detector test. He had also been a suspect in an earlier unsolved murder. Investigators even consulted an astrologer about Gates, but ignored him after Hughes and other teens were stopped in the stolen car. Gates denied in a 2003 interview with police that he was involved in the slaying. Attempts to find Gates and reach him for comment were not successful.

"Larsen and Brown thought it was their lucky day. They could pin the murder on them, or use them to pin it on some 'ghetto dwellers'," plaintiffs' lawyers wrote, using a term detective Larsen once used to refer to Omaha residents. "Either way, Larsen and Brown would be putting blacks in front of a white Council Bluffs jury for the killing of a white Council Bluffs cop. That would mean case closed and they would be heroes."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-28-Wrongful%20Convictions-Trial/id-10f92d04317c487db817081ac6b15f51

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Hierarchy of Needs ? Life is Mysterious

---

?What we call normal in psychology is really a psychopathology of the average, so undramatic and so widely spread that we don't even notice it ordinarily. ?This quote is by Abraham Maslow, the theorist who gave us the idea of the hierarchy of needs; once your basic needs are met you begin to seek higher needs, and the idea of self-actualization.? Maslow's point is that being normal, being average, although normally perceived as okay, is pathology. ?Pathology can be defined as disease or sickness. ?The dictionary's definition of psychopathology is "The study of the origin, development, and manifestations of mental or behavioral disorders," or "the manifestation of a mental or behavioral disorder." Most people would be offended if someone were to say that they were average. ?Yet, by definition, most are. ?Average in psychological terms is a huge category, encompassing the majority of the population. ?Those that are not average are outliers. ?Outliers are the small percentage at either end of the bell curve. ?They are either well below average, or well above. ?Average in this sense doesn't have much to do with not being an individual. ?You can be an individual yet fall well within the average.?

So now that we are all feeling insulted, let's discuss what Maslow was saying and why it is so important. ?Maslow's contention was that the ultimate goal of humans is to self-actualize, to become all they can in a lifelong process of self-improvement. ?He also contended that all humans have this potential. ?But before that can happen, other needs which are positioned below self actualization must be met. ?These include physiological needs, needs for safety, needs for love and belonging, and the need for esteem. ?Once these needs are met, the individual can look toward self actualization. ?Not striving toward being all you can be is your Pathology. ?He is using this bold statement to get your attention and to encourage you to take action.?

It can be assumed most people in America, have the lower needs met. ?Most have enough food, water, and shelter. ?Most do not feel constant threats to their safety. ?Hopefully, you feel loved and a sense of belonging. ?So with these needs met, we can move toward feeling esteemed. ?This need encompasses self confidence, feeling competent, and believing at least some others hold you in high esteem. ?Again, it seems reasonable that many readers have these needs met as well. ?This is not to say you feel this way all of the time. ?There may always be flare-ups of self doubt. ?But it is understood that generally, most of the time, you feel confident in yourself and your abilities. ?So, with all of these important needs met, why aren't more people becoming self actualized??

The answer is simple: we become complacent with these lower, but important needs. ?Then, instead of working toward self-actualization people become consumers: keeping up with the Joneses, being the first on our block to have the newest gadget, over-indulging in "entertainment needs" (movies, television, and trips) and otherwise trying to fill the yearning for a higher purpose with purchases, rather than self-improvement.?

Perhaps what is keeping the majority of people from self actualizing is that they are misinterpreting their yearning for self-actualization as a need for more of something else: More love, more things, more fun. ?Therefore the solution is to cease filling the void with things, and instead, focus on you, and what you can be. ?What are you doing that is creative? ?What are you doing to exercise your mind? What are you doing to make the planet and your fellow humans better? What are you doing to be happier with you, rather than your possessions? Answer these questions and the movement toward self-actualization begins.?

If you still have trouble getting started or maintaining progress, it is possible that there are unconscious forces that lie within you that are keeping you stagnated. ?One suggestion is to enter therapy so you can discover these blocks, remove them, and get back on track. ?Making the unconscious more conscious is one of the most beneficial aspects of therapy. ?So often today we view therapy simply as a place to vent or get some direction with other life problems. ?But at its best, therapy is geared toward insight, toward understanding yourself, and to becoming self-actualized. Good luck on your journey.

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Source: http://dranilj1.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/hierarchy-of-needs/

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