Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/267680431?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, December 2, 2012
Police: Wyo. murder-suicide happened during class
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) ? A man wielding a sharp-edged weapon killed one person in a Casper neighborhood Friday before killing a male teacher and himself in front of students in a community college classroom, causing a campus-wide lockdown as authorities tried to piece together what happened.
Police found the suspect and one of the victims dead at a science building on the Casper College campus, which was locked down for about two hours, school and police officials said. The other victim was found about two miles away.
Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said the murder-suicide took place in a classroom with students present, but he did not know how many students or what the class topic was.
He said investigators do not know the motive for the killings.
Walsh said an "edged weapon" was used it at least one of the killings, but he did not offer specifics, and it wasn't clear if the same or a similar weapon was used in all of the deaths.
The attacker wasn't believed to be a Casper College student and it appeared he knew the victims, Walsh said. He didn't identify the suspect or victims but said the victims were a male and a female.
"We're locating next of kin and working on notification absolutely as fast as we can," Walsh said.
He added authorities don't believe there was any further threat to the community.
"I want to emphasize that this is a horrible tragedy," Walsh said. "And I want the city to ... just feel safe right now. There is no one at large."
The attack at the two-year community college in Casper, about 250 miles northwest of Denver, occurred just before 9 a.m. while class was in session.
"On the third floor we located a crime scene, and secured that," Walsh said. He said authorities evacuated all students and staff from the science building.
The college sent out a campus-wide alert via text message and email within two minutes of receiving word of the attack at 9:06 a.m., school spokesman Rich Fujita said. The lockdown ended at about 11 a.m. after school officials received word police were no longer searching for a suspect, Fujita said.
There are fewer classes on Friday than any other day of the week at Casper College, so only between 1,500 and 2,000 of the college's 5,000 students were there, he said. Casper College is one of seven community colleges in Wyoming.
Political science instructor Chris Henrichsen said he was showing the film "Frost/Nixon" to his Wyoming and U.S. government class when he stepped into the hall to get something for a student and was told a homicide had occurred on campus.
He went back to his classroom, where students were getting messages about the campus lockdown on their phones.
"We locked the door and waited for further instruction," Henrichsen said.
The students were later sent home, but some who parked near a different campus building where the attack occurred had to leave their cars there, Henrichsen said.
About two miles away, Dave Larsen said he was headed to the gym when he drove past a body in a gutter with two people standing over it, one talking on a cellphone.
Larsen lives about a block from the location of the body, a well-kept neighborhood of mostly single-story houses.
Emergency vehicles had the street blocked off Friday afternoon.
Police provided some details in a news conference streamed live by the Casper Star-Tribune (http://trib.com/ ).
Walsh said 33 law enforcement officers from different agencies responded to the college after receiving reports of the attack. He said authorities first thought it might have been an "active-shooter-type situation."
"We quickly contained the building and started a sweep through the building," he said.
Walsh said that within minutes of the initial call, there was another report of a traumatic injury about two miles southwest of campus. That victim was found in the street, the Star-Tribune reported.
Classes were canceled for the day. A meeting was held in the afternoon for the 150 teachers and students who remained. College president Walt Nolte addressed them, calling it the worst day of his more than 40 years in higher education. He encouraged the community to come together, Fujita said
"It is particularly painful because of our size," Fujita said of the small, tight-knit campus.
Counselors were speaking to students and planned to be available through the weekend. About 450 students live on campus.
Classes were to resume on Monday.
"We agreed it doesn't do any good to just set the students loose. It makes the most sense to have them come back to campus, where they can get help if they need help and come to terms with what happened," Fujita said.
Walsh said police train for such incidents but had no warning of the violence.
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, who went to the campus Friday evening, said it was too early to assess security precautions at the college.
"There's no sense in doing that now until we understand fully what has taken place," he said.
Mead added: "The focus now should be on the victims' family, the community college family, the president, the trustees and the students, and making sure we're attending to any of their needs."
Casper College opened in 1945 as the state's first junior college and moved to its current site 10 years later. The campus consists of 28 buildings on more than 200 acres. The college provides more than 140 academic-transfer, technical and career programs.
Wyoming has only one four-year university, the University of Wyoming in Laramie, which serves more than 13,000 students.
Casper is Wyoming's second-largest city with a population of about 56,000. Wyoming residents refer to it as the "Oil City" because it's a hub for the state's oil industry.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Neary in Cheyenne and Matt Volz in Helena, Mont., contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-wyo-murder-suicide-happened-during-class-235147631.html
Intellectual Property Protection Tips - Nicholls Legal
From NYT: The two most precious resources for any small-business owner are time and money. That?s why when the subject of intellectual property comes up, many owners run in the other direction. They see images of expensive lawyers and use that as an excuse to ignore the topic, reasoning that it is a problem for big companies to worry about.
The trouble is, with the rise of competition through the Internet and on the global market, understanding intellectual property is more critical than ever for small-business owners. Let?s explore some of the common fallacies:
1. For small-business owners, it?s not worth the time or effort to secure intellectual property rights.
Daniel Lubetzky, chief executive of New York City-based Kind Snacks, had high hopes when he and his company attended the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., in March. And who could blame him, since his Kind Plus bars had been named the best new product at the Natural Products Expo East last October?
But it didn?t take long before Mr. Lubetzky knew something had gone wrong: He kept hearing how one of his competitors had copied the packaging, look and feel of his bars.
Fortunately for Mr. Lubetzky, he had secured crucial components of intellectual property like trademarks, trade dress (the look and feel of a product) and Web addresses after founding his company. Unlike a patent, which can cost up to $25,000 to secure, trademarks and Web addresses can be obtained relatively cheaply and without the aid of a lawyer.
With the legal documentation to back up his intellectual property rights, Mr. Lubetzky sent the offending company a cease-and-desist letter, which achieved the desired result. ?Too many entrepreneurs forget there is more to I.P. than just patents,? said Mr. Lubetzky, who happens to be a lawyer.
2. Once I get a trademark, my brand is safe.
It may be. But consider what happened to Tracey Deschaine, who runs a restaurant called Dixie Picnic? in Ocean City, N.J.
When Ms. Deschaine opened her business in 2006, she secured trademarks on her business name and logo and on the name of her signature item, ?upcakes,? which are upside-down frosted cupcakes. The problem, she says, was that even though she had obtained the trademarks, someone monitoring the activity on the United States Patent and Trademark Office?s Web site had spotted her application and secured upcakes.com as the Web address, or U.R.L., before she could.
?I had no idea that even though I have a trademark, someone else could just go register the U.R.L.,? she said. ?I wish I had planned ahead and bought the site before I did that.?
Full story here.
Source: http://nichollslegal.com/intellectual-property-protection-tips/
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5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Landing Page and Boost Conversions
Landing pages are web pages on your website that are used to generate leads for your business. The main purpose of a landing page is to entice visitors to perform a desired action whether it is registering an interest in one of your products, arranging a demo, downloading an eBook, signing up to your newsletter, or another product or service that your business offers. Every business, however small or large, can benefit from optimized landing pages.
Businesses use several methods to promote and build traffic to their website. However, ultimately the success of a business online depends largely on how many visitors are converted into sales or leads for the business, referred to as conversion rate. Optimised landing pages are one of the most effective tools a business can use to boost conversions on the website.
Creating effective landing pages have become a standard marketing practice for any business that wants to increase conversions and generate leads for the business. In this article we take a look at 5 easy but highly effective ways to get better results from your landing page.
1. Focus All Attention on One Conversion Action
Your landing page should be dedicated to one task or one desired user action only e.g. register for your newsletter, sign-up for a webinar, download an eBook or another lead that is relevant to your business. The entire attention should be focused on one conversion event. More than one action will dilute the focus away from your primary lead event and have a negative impact on your conversion rate.? If you are running multiple campaigns or wish to generate additional leads from your website, use dedicated landing pages for each.
Take a look at DeVry University?s landing page below for requesting information about the courses. There is only one conversion action on the page and all attention is devoted toward it.
2. Test Variations
A/B split testing is widely acknowledged as an essential element of an effective landing page optimisation strategy. However, it remains under-utilised. Simple changes like the design or colour of your buttons or the placements of your lead capture form can make a huge difference to your conversion rates.
Businesses have been able to double their conversion rate by applying simple tweaks and variations to their landing page elements. Split testing makes this possible. Google?s Website Opitmizer is one of the easiest ways to do this.
Make it easy ? Make sure that?s it is obvious what you want the visitor to do and even more obvious how to do it. (This is where the use of video, audio, arrows and buttons can be effective.) Limit any data collection to name and email or your conversions will drop unless what you are offering is so valuable people will give more information.
3. Use Supporting Media
Studies have shown that use of relevant media e.g. an image or a video on your landing page is a sure-shot way to boost conversions. It also makes your page more appealing and can help to highlight benefits. Displaying an image of the product in use or a video tour are some examples of supporting media that can boost conversions. You can also create a video explaining your product or create a video testimonial of existing customers. Seeing a real person can make your landing page more engaging for visitors, helps to build trust and personalise the user experience.
4. Remove All Unnecessary Elements
A typical web page consists of several elements e.g. menu, newsletter sign-up, general text about your business, footer links, and more. It may be beneficial to remove a lot of these elements from your landing page. Effective landing pages that get the best results are usually those that focus entirely on the product you are offering and do not give user with additional options on the page. As a general rule, try to remove elements that are not related to you primary conversion event.
Take a look at Match.Com?s registration landing page below. There are no links, or any other additional elements on the page, giving the user only option which is to register for the service.
Some items you can remove are:
- General Website menu
- General header and footer used on the rest of your page
- All other secondary conversion elements like newsletter sign-ups or other calls to action
- All extra content or links that are not directly related to your primary conversion event
5. Leverage Your Thank You Page
The thank you page or confirmation screen is the page where users are redirected to upon successful completion of the desired action on your landing page. Although this is a very important part of your conversion process, it is often overlooked.
A good confirmation page offers the ideal opportunity to get more out of your landing page and should be planned carefully. In addition to a relevant confirmation message and fulfilment of your offering, you can take advantage of this space to boost engagement further. E.g. you can offer something extra such as an eBook, report or another download relevant to your main conversion action. Confirmation page can also be used to generate additional leads.
Take a look at the?eBook confirmation page on Hubspot below. It is a perfect example of how you can leverage your thank you page.
What About You?
Do you use landing pages to generate leads for your business? Are you taking advantage of any of the methods above? We would like to hear from you. Please share your responses by leaving a comment below.
If you like this article, please share it!
Source: http://www.kronikmedia.co.uk/blog/improve-landing-page/6104/
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Saturday, December 1, 2012
2012 One of the Most Active Hurricane Seasons
This year's hurricane season officially ends today (Nov. 30) and will be remembered primarily for Hurricane Sandy, for obvious reasons. But Sandy was only the last hurricane in a very active ? and unusual ? season.
One of the busiest on record, the 2012 season also saw weaker-than-average cyclones and began earlier than usual, said Brian McNoldy, a researcher at the University of Miami.
There were 19 named tropical storms this year in the Atlantic Ocean basin tying 2012 at third for most named-storms in recorded history, McNoldy told OurAmazingPlanet. The top spot goes to the 2005 season, which saw 28 named storms. A storm is named once it attains tropical storm status, defined as a rotating, organized storm with maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph).? [In Images: Hurricane Season 2012]
Early rise
Two storms, Alberto and Beryl, spun up this spring before the official hurricane season start date of June 1, an unusual occurrence, McNoldy said. These resulted from warmer-than-average surface temperatures throughout the Atlantic. Beryl was the earliest second-named storm of any season since record keeping began in 1950, according to government records. (The official start date is a human-imposed one based on statistical averages of hurricane season starts. Likewise, another hurricane could arise after today's season end, although it isn't likely.)
Over the last 30 years, an average of 12.1 named storms, 6.4 hurricanes and 2.7 major hurricanes have occurred per year, McNoldy said. This year, 10 hurricanes appeared, but only one of them, Hurricane Michael, grew intense enough to rank as major (defined as Category 3 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson scale). And Hurricane Michael only maintained this level of intensity for six hours, McNoldy said.
In fact, the United States has not been hit with a major hurricane since 2005, by far the longest respite on record, according to McNoldy.
While major hurricanes were scarce this year, storms still caused major damage, particularly Hurricane Sandy. That storm killed 125 people in the United States, and another 71 people in the Caribbean, including 54 in Haiti, according to the Associated Press. Hurricane Isaac also walloped the South in late August, causing a storm surge of up to 11 feet (3 meters) in some areas. Mainly, though, it poured down rain, dropping some 23 inches (58 centimeters) near Gretna, La., for example, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Blame it on the heat
The large number of hurricanes seen this season resulted, in part, from above-average surface temperatures throughout the Atlantic, conditions which help cyclones form, said Jeff Weber, a scientist with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Temperatures reached about 6 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) above average this summer, he said.
However, air higher up in the atmosphere also got warmer than usual. This helped to cap the storms' strength, McNoldy said; hurricanes intensify the most when the upper atmosphere stays cool. The difference between the warm surface and cool atmosphere provides strength to cyclones, which function like giant heat engines, he said.
Nevertheless, this year's storms still packed a punch. Scientists use Accumulated Cyclone Energy, or ACE, to measure the intensity of a hurricane season; the measure quantifies the amount of energy contained in cyclonic winds, taking into account the number, duration and intensity of storms. The 2012 season finished with an ACE of 126.2, or about 137 percent of an average season. The median value from 1951 to 2010 is 92.4, as McNoldy noted in a piece he wrote for the Capital Weather Gang.
More than predicted
In its first hurricane season forecast, made before the season began, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted nine to 15 named storms. Then, in August, the organization upped its prediction to 12 to 17 named storms, with five to eight of those becoming hurricanes. The revision was based on changes to climate patterns that affect storm formation. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane once its top winds hit at least 74 mph (119 kph).
The 19 named storms this season beat even the revised prediction.
It's relatively unusual to have more storms than forecast. The underestimate can be blamed on El Ni?o, or rather, the lack of El Ni?o, Gerry Bell, the lead hurricane season forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, told OurAmazingPlanet in October, when Hurricane Sandy formed. Forecasters predicted that this weather pattern, characterized by cool surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, would have developed by the fall. But it didn't.
Therefore, cyclone activity continued longer than expected in the Atlantic, unperturbed by El Ni?o, which spawns high level winds that stream eastward and can disrupt the swirling motion that gives a developing storm its power, McNoldy said.
This year contributes to a recent trend of increased hurricane numbers. It is one of only seven years on record with 19 or more cyclones. Three of those seven years are 2010, 2011 and 2012.
One main reason for the recent abundance of cyclones is that, since 1995, the Atlantic Ocean basin has been in the warm phase of a cyclical weather pattern called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, with hotter than average surface temperatures throughout the tropics and sub-tropics, Bell said.? This pattern lasts for about 25-40 years, and comes with more hurricanes than its "cool" phase, he said. Warm water helps hurricanes form and gives them strength. [Infographic: How, When & Where Hurricanes Form]
In addition, the past few years have also seen a strong West African monsoon, which creates disturbances in the eastern Atlantic that can turn into cyclones, Bell said. There's also been relatively weak wind shear in the tropical Atlantic, where cyclones form. Wind shear is a difference in wind speed or direction between the low and high atmosphere, which tears apart developing storms. El Ni?o tends to hamper cyclone formation via wind shear.
The season's end
Global warming likely isn't to blame for the increase in hurricanes, McNoldy said. Many climate models suggest that increased temperatures could lead to fewer, but stronger hurricanes worldwide, he said, essentially the opposite of what we saw this year.
Better technology also allows us to detect more hurricanes than in the past, Weber, of UCAR, said. In the past few decades, satellites have significantly increased the detection of short-lived tropical storms, i.e. ones that last fewer than 36 hours.
This year's season ended with Hurricane Sandy, which caused widespread devastation thanks to a tremendous storm surge throughout New Jersey and New York. Sandy will go down as the second costliest storm in U.S. history. This storm was unusual, as the first storm to retain hurricane strength north of the jet stream, the wind pattern that moves air from west to east across North America and into the Atlantic, Weber said. Sandy also registered the lowest barometric pressure in the history of the Northeast, he said. Once it moved north of the Gulf Stream, Sandy interacted with a mass of cold air moving east across the continent, causing it to transition to an extratropical storm and wreak so much devastation, he said.
Scientists are still studying Sandy to understand how it formed, and whether or not climate change might have contributed. "It could be a freak thing, or we could be going into a new climate regime where we're likely to see more impacts like this in the future," Weber said.
Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter?@OAPlanet. We're also on?Facebook?and Google+.
Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2012-one-most-active-hurricane-seasons-183922995.html
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Keenly Followed Online Social Rating Community Thenumber1.com Throws Lights on Common Man's Opinion Pertaining to World Politics
Thenumber1.com, a popular social rating website, is quickly emerging as preferred platform for common people to express their independent stand about the most critical issues of world politics. This website has been introducing interesting social rating competitions covering a wide array of topics, since the launch of the website few months ago.
(PRWEB) November 30, 2012
After making an impact on its members with numerous fun filled social rating competitions, Thenumber1.com has just come up with a more serious competition on the hottest issues of world politics. This social rating website was created just a couple of months ago, and is already a popular online destination for the younger generation of internet users. It may be recalled that some of the competitions like top villain looks, rate my moustache, rate my cloth, etc. has received tremendous applause from the members of the website. With the introduction of the new competition on the hottest issues of world politics, many members are now using this community to express their opinion on these issues.According to the new competition in Thenumber1.com, the most relevant issues of world politics includes NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, Independence of Kashmir, US pullout from Iraq, Israel's attack on Gaza, etc. Amongst all these, the topic of NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan has sparked a lot of interest amongst the members of the program. One may recall that NATO forces have been deployed throughout Afghanistan since the 9/11 terror attacks. Apart from allowing members to post their opinion on this debated political issue, Thenumber1.com has also published a brief post describing reasons for and against the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.
Thenumber1.com's increasing popularity as a social rating website can be attributed to several features that are not available in most other similar websites. Social sharing, aggregate rating scheme, a comprehensive data model, and an advanced Graphical User Interface are the top factors that make this website the favorite online destination of thousands off people across the globe. When asked about the latest competition in their website, a senior official from Thenumber1.com said, "It is never easy for a common man to express his/her independent opinion on these political issues. That's the exact reason behind creating this competition".
Jonathan, Livne
elobby Ltd
972-72-2508688
Email Information
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/keenly-followed-online-social-rating-community-thenumber1-com-210050941.html
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525K PlayStation 3 consoles, 160K Vitas sold last week | Joystiq
Game On For The Holidays: PlayStation Black Friday Sales Soar
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Nov. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- It's clear that millions of gamers across the US will be spending some quality time with PlayStation during the holidays following sales results for the week of Black Friday.
PlayStation?3 (PS3?) Black Friday bundle sales increased 15%, and total PS3 sales including hardware, software and peripherals, grew 9% over the same period last year. The Ultimate PlayStation Value Bundle, which included a 250GB PS3 and the Uncharted Dual Pack and inFAMOUS Collection for $199, quickly sold out at retailers across the US. In total, more than 525,000 PS3 consoles were sold in the US during Black Friday week1.
In Latin America, gamers were able to enjoy various offers across participating local retailers, resulting in a year-over-year sales growth increase of 200%.
PlayStation? Vita (PS Vita) is entering its first-ever holiday season and enjoyed very strong sales during the week of Black Friday. The Assassin's Creed? III: Liberation Bundle for $199 sold out at retail, highlighted by Amazon selling through its specially priced inventory in less than five hours. The Call of Duty? Black Ops: Declassified Bundle and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Bundles for $199, respectively, were also very popular with gamers and sold out at retail during the week. More than 160,000 PS Vita units were sold during the week of Black Friday.
"We're very pleased with the Black Friday sales results, especially the incredible reception for the PS3 and PS Vita bundles. The demand was very strong which quickly depleted our inventory across retailers nationwide," said Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. "The PlayStation brand generated significant revenue and year-over-year growth at retail because of our focus on what gamers love most in combining amazing hardware with great games and digital entertainment."
Consumers also took advantage of the value delivered by PlayStation's subscription service package, PlayStation?Plus (PS Plus), which supplies members with an Instant Game Collection of 18 blockbuster games2 across the PS3 and PS Vita systems, in addition to huge discounts, exclusive beta access, and much more. Sales of PlayStation Plus subscriptions on PlayStation?Network increased 259%3 compared to last year's Black Friday period. In addition, since the Instant Game Collection was introduced earlier this year, customer satisfaction rates for PS Plus are above 95%.
PlayStation will continue to offer incredible entertainment experiences for gamers during the holidays with the PlayStation?Vita PS Plus Instant Game Collection Bundle that includes a one year membership to PS Plus (launching next week), along with the PS Vita Assassin's Creed? III: Liberation Bundle and PS Vita Call of Duty? Black Ops: Declassified Bundle. In addition, there are two PS3 bundles available this holiday including the PlayStation? 3 500GB Assassin's Creed III Bundle, and the PlayStation? 3 Uncharted 3 Game of the Year Bundle. Gamers will have no shortage of new exclusive titles to play with the recent introductions of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, LittleBigPlanet Karting and Wonderbook?: Book of Spells.
1Retail reporting calendar from November 18-24, 2012
2Active PlayStation?Plus membership required to access content
3Retail reporting calendar from November 19-25, 2012
Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/29/525k-playstation-3-consoles-160k-vitas-sold-last-week/
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