7 Dia de los Muertos activities with your kids

If you are looking for D?a de los Muertos crafts or activities to help your kids celebrate the holiday, here are seven of our favorites. The best part is that they are easy to create using a printer or common household items.

1)????? Create your own altar- Setting up your own special table to remember a loved one who has passed away can be a fun and therapeutic process. All you have to do is designate a small table or flat area in your home to serve as the memory table, and cover it with a nice tablecloth or piece of fabric. Use real or paper marigolds and other flowers to decorate it, as well as a few candles and calaveras (sugar skulls). Be careful not to light the candles if you have young children in the house, but you can simply use them as decoration. Don?t forget to add a picture of your loved one, and include items that reflect his or her favorite hobbies, foods, and other memorable characteristics.

2)????? Make cempas?chitls out of tissue paper ? Paper flowers are an easy and popular craft from Mexico. They are great for decorating your altar, or for dressing up your home in honor of the occasion. All you need is colored tissue paper, some scissors, and a few pieces of wire or pipe cleaners. Take a look at this how-to video. Or visit Teach Kids Art for some simple directions.

3)????? Decorate a frame ? Paint a small, wooden frame (available at most craft stores) in bright colors like turquoise, hot pink, or lime green. Then hot glue fake flowers ? like marigolds! ? and other Day of the Dead images to the border. You can also use paint pens to add colorful details. Add a picture of a beloved friend or family member who has died, and your frame will be complete!

4)????? Print up your own treat boxes ? Perfect for holding candy, crayons, or other small treats, these calavera treat boxes can be printed in the color-it-in version, or one that is already vibrantly decorated. My daughter and I enjoyed coloring ours in, but my son preferred a blank face so that he could decorate it his own way with a cowboy hat and other details. All you have to do is download the free pattern from Don?t Eat the Paste, print them up on cardstock, color them in (optional), cut them out, and glue them together.

5)????? Create your own calavera masks ? Let your child?s creative juices flow by having them design and decorate their own masks. We love these from Scrumdilly-do! that turn simple paper plates into fun calaveras with a few markers, scissors, and glitter. Or for slightly more durable ones, these masks from AlphaMom use permanent markers and plastic milk jugs.

6)????? Make suncatchers ? Bloesem Kids has an easy tutorial on their site for creating calavera suncatchers out of plastic and permanent markers. The best part is that you can create virtually any design using this method, so perhaps you might ask your kids to create some candles, marigolds, and even some pan de muertos to decorate your windows?

7)????? Make an ofrenda ? It?s easy to create your own diorama of a Day of the Dead scene using empty shoe boxes and a few art supplies like construction paper, paint, glitter and clay. Your kids don?t have to follow any particular directions, but if they need a little inspiration, they might enjoy this picture on Pinterest.

Monica Olivera Hazelton,?NBC Latino contributor and?the founder and publisher of MommyMaestra.com, a site for Latino families that homeschool, as well as families with children in a traditional school setting who want to take a more active role in their children?s education. She is the 2011 winner of the ?Best Latina Education Blogger? award by LATISM.

Source: http://nbclatino.com/2012/10/31/7-dia-de-los-muertos-activities-with-your-kids/

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What The iPad Mini?s Up Against: Asus Reports Nexus 7 Sales Approach 1 Million Per Month

Asus CFO told The Wall Street Journal late Tuesday that the Nexus 7, Google well-received, affordable 7-inch Android tablet was nearing 1 million in sales per month. Chang noted that unit sales rose from roughly 500,000 around the time of its introduction in June/July, and rose steadily after that. It's a solid look at what the iPad mini will be competing with when it goes on sale this Friday.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/FhtyWzLZ7GQ/

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By Jes?s D?az THIS IS A SCANDAL!?Apparently the Kindle Fire HD...

By Jes?s D?az

THIS IS A SCANDAL!?Apparently the Kindle Fire HD versus iPad Mini comparative ad in Amazon?s front page has ?FLUNKED THE REALITY TEST?!?Stop the fucking presses! As?some astute [journalists/fanboys/amateur PR people] have discovered,?everything is correct except for the fact that the iPad has stereo speakers, not mono! Goddamn cheaters! I?m glad someone called this one out. Now the entire Eastern Seaboard can carry on and go buy their iPad minis on Friday without being afraid of being swindled. Thank God!

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ovWRV59YoFk/34705583925

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Exercise is smart for your heart - and makes you smarter

Public release date: 29-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361 x273
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

Study shows that high-intensity training boosts cognitive function

A regular exercise routine can make you fitter than ever mentally fit.

In a new study, previously sedentary adults were put through four months of high-intensity interval training. At the end, their cognitive functions the ability to think, recall and make quick decisions had improved significantly, says Dr. Martin Juneau, director of prevention at the Montreal Heart Institute.

"If you talk to people who exercise, they say they feel sharper. Now we've found a way to measure that," says Dr. Juneau.

Blood flow to the brain increases during exercise. The more fit you are, the more that increases. The pilot study presented today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress looked at adults, average age 49, who were overweight and inactive. Dr. Juneau and his colleagues measured their cognitive function with neuropsychological testing, as well as their body composition, blood flow to the brain, cardiac output and their maximum ability to tolerate exercise.

The subjects then began a twice-a-week routine with an exercise bike and circuit weight training. After four months not surprising their weight, body mass index, fat mass and waist circumference were all significantly lower. Meanwhile, their capacity to exercise (measured by VO2 max) was up 15 per cent.

Most exciting, says Dr. Juneau, cognitive function had also increased, based on follow-up testing. These improvements were proportional to the changes in exercise capacity and body weight. Essentially, the more people could exercise, and the more weight they lost, the sharper they became.

A decline in cognitive function is a normal part of aging, notes Dr. Juneau. That drop can be worse for people who have coronary disease.

"It's reassuring to know that you can at least partially prevent that decline by exercising and losing weight," says Dr. Juneau.

As he notes, people can manage their cholesterol or blood pressure with a pill, but try to find a pill that will increase your cognitive function. Exercise, he says, can do it all.

"At least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week can make a huge difference to manage risk factors for heart disease and stroke," says Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson. "There are many benefits of exercise we know it can make us feel better. This suggests it can make us 'think better' as well."

"Activity can help you even if it's spread out in chunks of 10 minutes or more at a time," she says. "In fact, to get the most benefit, add more activity to your life over several days of the week."

###

The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2012 is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy.

Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.

For more information and/or interviews, contact the CCC 2012 MEDIA OFFICE AT 416-585-3781 (Oct 28-31)

OR

Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954 ext. 104
dhprbks@interlog.com

Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org

After October 31, 2012 contact:

Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
(613) 569-4361 ext 273
jfraser@hsf.ca

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 29-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361 x273
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

Study shows that high-intensity training boosts cognitive function

A regular exercise routine can make you fitter than ever mentally fit.

In a new study, previously sedentary adults were put through four months of high-intensity interval training. At the end, their cognitive functions the ability to think, recall and make quick decisions had improved significantly, says Dr. Martin Juneau, director of prevention at the Montreal Heart Institute.

"If you talk to people who exercise, they say they feel sharper. Now we've found a way to measure that," says Dr. Juneau.

Blood flow to the brain increases during exercise. The more fit you are, the more that increases. The pilot study presented today at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress looked at adults, average age 49, who were overweight and inactive. Dr. Juneau and his colleagues measured their cognitive function with neuropsychological testing, as well as their body composition, blood flow to the brain, cardiac output and their maximum ability to tolerate exercise.

The subjects then began a twice-a-week routine with an exercise bike and circuit weight training. After four months not surprising their weight, body mass index, fat mass and waist circumference were all significantly lower. Meanwhile, their capacity to exercise (measured by VO2 max) was up 15 per cent.

Most exciting, says Dr. Juneau, cognitive function had also increased, based on follow-up testing. These improvements were proportional to the changes in exercise capacity and body weight. Essentially, the more people could exercise, and the more weight they lost, the sharper they became.

A decline in cognitive function is a normal part of aging, notes Dr. Juneau. That drop can be worse for people who have coronary disease.

"It's reassuring to know that you can at least partially prevent that decline by exercising and losing weight," says Dr. Juneau.

As he notes, people can manage their cholesterol or blood pressure with a pill, but try to find a pill that will increase your cognitive function. Exercise, he says, can do it all.

"At least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week can make a huge difference to manage risk factors for heart disease and stroke," says Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson. "There are many benefits of exercise we know it can make us feel better. This suggests it can make us 'think better' as well."

"Activity can help you even if it's spread out in chunks of 10 minutes or more at a time," she says. "In fact, to get the most benefit, add more activity to your life over several days of the week."

###

The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2012 is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Foundation or CCS policy or position. The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation (heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy.

Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.

For more information and/or interviews, contact the CCC 2012 MEDIA OFFICE AT 416-585-3781 (Oct 28-31)

OR

Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954 ext. 104
dhprbks@interlog.com

Congress information and media registration is at www.cardiocongress.org

After October 31, 2012 contact:

Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
(613) 569-4361 ext 273
jfraser@hsf.ca

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/hasf-eis102212.php

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Insurer subsidiary lifts Loews Corp. 3Q profit

NEW YORK (AP) ? Loews Corp. said on Monday that its third-quarter net income rose 9 percent as improving performance at the diversified holding company's CNA Financial insurance subsidiary offset lower earnings at deepwater driller Diamond Offshore Drilling.

Loews reported net income of $177 million, or 45 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. That was up from earnings of $162 million, or 40 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Excluding a $166 million charge writing down the value of a subsidiary's natural gas properties because of declining natural gas prices, Loews earned $339 million, up from adjusted earnings of $177 million a year ago.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $3.72 billion from $3.44 billion.

Loews, which is controlled by New York's Tisch family, reported net income of $195 million at CNA Financial, more than double the $84 million that CNA reported in the year-ago period. That subsidiary, 90 percent owned by Loews, reported higher net investment income and lower catastrophe losses.

But at the Diamond Offshore Drilling unit, about half of which is owned by Loews, earnings fell 31 percent to $83 million from $121 million.

Loews also owns a 55 percent interest in Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, and HighMount Exploration & Production and Loews Hotels are wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insurer-subsidiary-lifts-loews-corp-3q-profit-125132217--finance.html

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Stock futures end short session lower; market closed Tuesday

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell in a shortened session on Monday and cash equity trading was canceled as powerful Hurricane Sandy bore down on the U.S. East Coast, closing equity trading for Tuesday.

Monday's shutdown was the stock market's first weather-related closure in 27 years.

U.S. stock markets will remain closed on Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said, depending on the damage from the huge and dangerous storm on financial center New York City overnight and on Tuesday.

Index futures stopped trading electronically at 9:15 a.m. (1315 GMT), but will reopen at 7 p.m ET for the overnight session during European and Asian hours, closing again at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday morning.

NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group said they made their decision in consultation with industry executives and regulators, and intend to reopen Wednesday, conditions permitting.

"It doesn't make sense to put people in harm's way or to only have half a market," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group in New York. "If just the electronic market was open, that wouldn't provide enough interest, with everything else still closed."

Sandy, a mammoth storm, took aim at the most densely populated U.S. Northeast Coast on Monday, forcing hundreds of thousands to seek higher ground, halting public transport and closing schools, businesses and government departments.

Italian political turmoil and Spanish hesitancy over seeking euro-zone assistance put the two countries on the front line of the region's debt crisis and back under market pressure on Monday as their leaders met in Madrid.

"We have an illiquid market, we have a risk-off situation from overseas, and we have some issues going on in the States with Sandy, so that is impacting things a little more than expected," said David Lutz, managing director of trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.

S&P 500 futures fell 4.9 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 69 points and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 15.75 points.

Futures closed well off their session lows. S&P 500 futures fell more than 10 points at the intraday low.

The storm forced the closure of U.S. stock markets on Monday, the anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash.

Futures did not reopen as usual during the day, including the popular S&P 500 e-mini contract that lets smaller traders access index futures.

E-mini contracts typically trade around the clock, closing for just 45 minutes of each day.

A market closure for more than a day may start causing problems for investors who need to trade in and out of positions, investors said.

"If you go two days, you really start to create some serious financial stress for some players that need to get something done," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer of Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis. "A two-day closure will create more stress, and therefore will allow electronic trading. That's my best guess."

CME Group closed its interest rate operations, including Treasury, Eurodollar and fed funds futures and options on futures markets on the trading floor at 12:00 noon on Monday in line with a closure of the cash market.

In Europe, Spanish and Italian bond yields rose and German Bund futures hit two-week highs on Monday, partly prompted by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's threat to bring down the Rome government.

Greece's foreign lenders have refused to make any further concessions on changes to labor laws contested by a junior coalition partner, the country's finance minister said on Sunday, prolonging an impasse on a crucial austerity package.

Athens has been locked in talks with its EU and IMF lenders on the austerity package for months, but a final agreement has been held up by the small Democratic Left party's refusal to back the new wage laws.

European shares fell for the first time in four sessions on Monday, hit by worries over weak company results. The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> fell 0.3 percent to close at 1,093.57 points and the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index <.stoxx50e> fell 0.7 percent to 2,478.84 points.

Canadian ETFs traded in Toronto that hold U.S. equities or are exposed to U.S. indexes, such as the Horizons S&P 500 Index C$ Hedged ETF , are available to trade. Some ETFs will be ineligible for subscriptions or redemptions. Horizons ETF warned that the bid/ask spread could be abnormally wide.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-lower-storm-earnings-cash-markets-closed-112834767--sector.html

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Only The Best Ideas For Affiliate Marketing Success - I Need Info Tips

There is little cost involved in starting an web marketing campaign; therefore, it is very attractive to small businesses. There is nothing to be bought, shipped, or handled personally. It?s not as easy as it seems, however, so if you want to make a living through internet marketing, you need to know what you are doing.

Google Plus is an avenue for new business ventures. Try to get involved with it now while it is still in its infancy. On Twitter and Facebook, you should make your username from Google Plus available and also place an icon on your website near your social media links. Give them good information so they want to visit your site.

Good affiliates will have a higher conversion ratio than their competitors are the ones you should choose to work with. Use a 1% conversion rate for your benchmark.

Create your newsletter so it is appealing for people to join the mailing list. Most internet users do not like getting emails as much as they used to when the internet first became popular. You do not want people to think your emails are spam, so create them in a friendly and easy-to-use way.

When you are first getting your affiliate promotion business off the ground, you will need to spend some money before you start turning a profit. When you start making some money, invest it into your current affiliate campaigns by paying for some pay-per-click advertising as a test. If you can, advertise on major sites such as Yahoo and Facebook since they can draw numerous viewers to your site.

Get to know your audience when you are setting goals to become a successful affiliate marketer. You need to work to meet the needs of your readers. Find out why they are visiting your website. Which products, articles or other content are they viewing?

Improve your strategy in affiliate marketing by setting daily goals. The task bar will show what remains to be done, which helps in keeping the focus on the goal.

Once you have made your decisions regarding affiliate products you wish to sell, you should focus your marketing campaign on the correct target audience. Cheap products get by on high sales and click through methods. For instance, selecting a rather expensive product will require you to focus on convincing customers more than working with volumes.

As you begin your internet marketing journey, you should seek and establish relationships with affiliates who offer the types of things you are hoping to provide. Signing up with different affiliate networks will provide you with many sources of income. When considering affiliates, research the company before you agree to work with them. Be sure to find out about the company and their products.

After you have made yourself successful and are generating good amounts of money, ask for an increase in your earnings. These programs want good employees so if you are doing a good job, it will not bother them to pay you a little more.

Market your business online more effectively by using affiliate marketing programs. Internet marketing is one of the most popular ways of advertising, because of the number of people who click links. You should look for some things in an affiliate program such as type of payments received, ease of site navigation, and it?s popularity.

Confirming that the affiliate company is willing to share a commission on every sale that you send their way is an important consideration. It is important to know how you will receive compensation for orders that are submitted by mail, online, or by phone. You must be sure to be compensated appropriately for your efforts.

Know your industry backwards and forwards, including recent developments. Staying one step ahead of your competitors is important, and you certainly never want to be the business that is left behind.

In order for your affiliate promotion effort to generate more revenue, punch up your review by adding media ? screenshots, videos, or anything that will show off the product. People will want to buy your product because it is so appealing. Your product reviews should be highly detailed, so your customers know exactly what to expect when they make a purchase.

Suggest different uses for the products that are sold through your affiliate program. For example, if you sell a high-lipped shoe mat, take a video of it in use as a dog food and water tray, or put it on the counter and demonstrate it as a dish drainer for pots and pans.

One way to increase loyalty is to allow your customers to be your affiliates. You can, for example, offer customers who make a purchase the option of becoming an affiliate for your site. Let your customers know how easy it is to become an affiliate. Not only will your internet marketing plan be more effective, it will also benefit your bottom line.

Try to avoid becoming a ?super? affiliate. They end up spreading their efforts too thin, with an overload of products and promotions that end up being much less than effective in the highly competitive affiliate market. This isn?t realistic, however. Maximum results don?t exist, so there?s no need to strive for them. It?s best to take all the time necessarily to find the method that works for you.

Make sure that you are not trying to market products that are already in a market that is saturated. Quality does not always mean the same thing as popularity. There is fierce competition for really popular items. Which means you may not see a profit.

Keep an eye on your affiliate statistics and look at each link to see where it performs well. Check it out at different parts of the page like the top, middle or even the bottom. Use the same content; the only thing to change is the placement of the link.

Continue to reach your goals beyond making a profit. Make sure you work hard every day to make your profits grow. Your eventual success will be well worth the effort.

Source: http://ineedinfotips.com/computers/only-the-best-ideas-for-affiliate-marketing-success/

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Full Dragon exits space station, Earth next stop

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? An unmanned Dragon freighter left the International Space Station on Sunday with a stash of precious medical samples and aimed for a Pacific splashdown to end the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a giant robot arm to release the commercial cargo ship 255 miles up. The California-based SpaceX company will steer its capsule back to Earth via parachutes on Sunday afternoon, a couple hundred miles off the Baja California coast.

The supply ship is bringing back nearly 2,000 pounds of science experiments and old station equipment. Perhaps the most precious cargo is nearly 500 frozen samples of blood and urine collected by station astronauts over the past year.

The Dragon is the only delivery ship capable of returning items, now that NASA's shuttles are retired to museums. Atlantis made the last shuttle haul to and from the station in July 2011.

SpaceX ? more formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp. ? launched the capsule three weeks ago from Cape Canaveral, full of groceries, clothes and other station supplies. Ice cream as well as fresh apples were especially appreciated by the station residents, now back up to a full crew of six.

It's the second Dragon to return from the orbiting lab; the first mission in May was a flight demo. This flight is the first of 12 deliveries under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

"It was nice while she was on board," space station commander Sunita Williams said as the Dragon backed away. "We tamed her, took her home and, literally and figuratively, there's a piece of us on that spacecraft going home to Earth."

She added to the SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, Calif.: "Congratulations Hawthorne and thank you for her."

The Dragon will be retrieved from the Pacific and loaded onto a 100-foot boat that will haul it to Los Angeles. From there, it will be transported to McGregor, Texas.

The medical samples will be removed as quickly as possible, and turned over to NASA within 48 hours of splashdown, according to SpaceX. Everything else will wait for unloading in McGregor.

A Russian supply ship, meanwhile, is set to blast off this week. It burns up upon descent, however, at mission's end. So do the cargo vessels provided by Europe and Japan.

SpaceX is working to transform its Dragon cargo craft into vessels that American astronauts could fly in another four or five years. Until SpaceX or another U.S. company is able to provide rides, NASA astronauts must rely on Russian rockets to get to and from the space station.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/full-dragon-exits-space-station-earth-next-stop-133242696.html

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Do You Know the Rest of Einstein's Most Famous Equation?

He's synonymous with genius, but Albert Einstein is also best known for what is easily the world's most famous equation, E=mc?. But did you know that it's actually a shortened version of a longer equation? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/mUwnVc3ih94/do-you-know-the-rest-of-einsteins-most-famous-equation

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matykhanom: Cell Phone Covers | Nemanja Krecelj Social Media

Cell phones have changed the way people communicate with each other. Most people now rely on these gadgets as their main communication system. Even with simple things like setting a date or appointment, it has also altered the way people do these things. Nowadays, people do not set a specific place where they would meet up anymore. Instead, they would just say, ?Hey, see you in the shopping mall!? And it would be understood that once you get to the mall, you would ring or text the person you?re meeting and tell him/her your exact location so you can see each other.

As much as cell phones have proliferated around the market, so have mobile phone accessories. Accessories for cell phones come in two kinds. The first type is the practical function type of accessory like chargers, batteries, Bluetooth devices, headsets, holsters, belt clips, a cell phone case or cover, and so on. The other type is for fashion purposes. This includes ribbon or jewelry lanyards, bling kit, charms, and so on. When buying mobile phone accessories, it is very important that you are able to strike a balance between form and practicality so that you will invest your money into good use. Here are some ways to do that.

Add zest to practical devices
If you?re buying batteries and chargers because you need them to make cell phone usage more convenient for you, that?s a very good idea. But if you want to spice things a little, you can add glamor and style to these accessories by decorating them. For example, you can wholesale cell phone accessories put bling stick-ons on the surface of your portable charger. This would not only make it look more stylish but also make it easier for you to recognize your portable charger.

Source: http://www.nemanjakrecelj.com/167-cell-phone-covers

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Source: http://matykhanom.blogspot.com/2012/10/cell-phone-covers-nemanja-krecelj.html

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Benghazigate: The state of the story (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/258694762?client_source=feed&format=rss

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SolarWinds tops list of best small US companies

By Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes

Courtesy Solarwinds

Austin, Texas-based SolarWinds offers IT departments affordable software to monitor networks and servers.

The U.S. economy is plodding along in its recovery from the recession that stretched from December 2007 to June 2009. The annual GDP growth rate has been a pitiful 0.5% on average during the past five years, but it is not all bleak. There are companies from aerospace to health care to steel that are booming. Forbes' annual ranking of America's Best Small Companies highlights those companies that have experienced strong growth over the past five years.

Topping this year's list is the software outfit SolarWinds. The Austin, Texas-based company is one of eight software firms that made the final cut. Internet data traffic is expected to triple over the next five years, according to Cisco Systems. Despite its green energy name, SolarWinds is in the middle of the trend. Led by CEO Kevin Thompson, the company offers IT departments affordable software to monitor networks and servers.

Aiming for 80% of the functionality of rival offerings from IBM and Hewlett-Packard, the company sells its wares for one-tenth as much. Such savings have fueled annual sales growth of 38% since 2006. Donald Yonce, a former Wal-Mart executive, co-founded the company in 1999 and served on the board until 2010. His 15% stake is worth $640 million, thanks to a 140% jump in the stock over the past year.

Our list highlights public companies with sales under $1 billion, which are ranked based on return on equity, sales growth and earnings growth over the past year and the past five years. We also factored in stock performance versus each company's peer group during the last 12 months. (Click here for a detailed methodology.)

Full List: The Best Small Companies In America

Education companies ranked No. 2 (Grand Canyon Education) and No. 3 (American Public Education). For-profit colleges have been under fire in recent years for high dropout rates and saddling students with significant debt, but these two have held up better than most. Grand Canyon's stock has doubled since its 2008 IPO on the strength of annual earnings growth of 236%, which is the best rate among the companies on our list. American Public has expanded its offerings to include programs like one with Wal-Mart that teaches 2,800 employees and has the retailer committing $50 million over three years to pay for books and tuition. Sales growth has averaged 44% a year since 2006 at American.

Gun maker Sturm, Ruger clocks in at No. 4. The company, founded in 1949, has been on fire with annual sales growth of 51% since CEO Mike Fifer arrived in 2006. Fears about President Obama's position on gun control and shootings like the one in Aurora, Colo., has gun ownership at a near 20-year high. Ruger pushed out eight new models of guns over the past 12 months and new models accounted for 38% of sales through June 30.

Job growth has been sluggish during the economic recovery, but most of our top 100 companies added headcount the past three years (only four reduced the number of employees). Electronic health records software maker Quality Systems ranks 43rd and has been a member of our Best Small Company list for 12 straight years. As doctors and hospitals move towards digitizing their records, Quality Systems has ramped up hiring, adding more than 900 employees during the past three years.

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Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/28/14726804-solarwinds-tops-list-of-americas-best-small-companies?lite

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Edison voice recording old, but not oldest

The oldest playable recording of an American voice was to make its second public debut Friday? when a newly digitized version is played at a theater in Schenectady, N.Y. The first playback took place immediately after the recording was scratched onto a sheet of tinfoil, at a demonstration of Thomas Edison's freshly invented phonograph on June 22, 1878, in St. Louis.

But despite the fact that Edison was the first person to play an audio recording, he was not the first person to record audio. And depending on the chosen definition of "performance," the 1878 phonograph recording, which features a cornet solo and a recitation of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," is not the first-ever recording of a musical performance, as is being reported.

?douard-L?on Scott de Martinville, a Parisian who made his living as a bookseller, is the first person who captured sound, and he's also the first person who recorded a musical recital, most likely his own.

In 1857, Scott patented the phonautograph, a device that, like the phonograph, funneled sound waves through a horn with a stylus on the end, translating them into traced lines on a turning cylinder. But at the time of his breakthrough, it didn't occur to Scott that sound recordings might be played back. His machine sought only to make a visual record of sound that could be studied at a later date. [ Hear It: Rare Tinfoil Phonograph Recording from Thomas Edison Restored ]

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As such, the phonautograph's stylus simply drew lines on a sheet of paper covered in soot from an oil lamp; it left no substantial physical record, like scratch marks in a sheet of foil. So when a man who is thought to be Scott crooned a 10-second lick of the French folksong "Au Clair de la Lune" into a phonautograph on April 9, 1860, he likely had no idea that nearly a century-and-a-half later the world would hear his singing voice.

In December 2007, an American audio historian rifled through the records of a Parisian patent office and found a few phonautograph recordings, or phonautograms, that were submitted by Scott as part of his original patent application. The historian also found clues that led him to another cache of phonautograms stored by the French Academy of Sciences.

Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were able to make digital maps of the recovered soot etchings, and when they played them back with a "virtual stylus" in 2008, Scott's 1860 rendition of "Au Clair de la Lune" became the earliest known recognizable recording of the human voice, and also the earliest musical recording.

Scott dated his first phonautograms to three years before his patent in 1857, meaning the earliest audio recordings were made in 1853 or 1854. But because Scott hadn't yet taken up the practice of chiming a tuning fork in the background of his recordings, tagging them with a stable signal that could be used by modern engineers to surmise the true speed of the original recording, the contents of his earliest experiments remain indecipherable squawks.

The earliest recognizable recording of any sound is an 1859 Scott recording of a tuning fork vibrating at 435 Hertz. But the earliest indirect recording of any sound ever is probably to be found in the very structure of our universe, which betrays the effects of propagating sound waves present just after the universe's inception.

All of Scott's recovered recordings can be heard at the website of First Sounds, an informal collaborative of scientists, recording engineers and audio historians that aims to make "the earliest audio recordings accessible to all people for all time."

Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook? and Google+.

? 2012 LifesLittleMysteries.com. All rights reserved. More from LifesLittleMysteries.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49571314/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Immune system fighters speak in patterns of proteins, prefer squishy partners

Public release date: 26-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Meyers
cmeyers@aip.org
301-209-3088
American Institute of Physics

When talking to the key immune system fighters known as T-cells, it helps to speak their language. Now researchers from Columbia University in New York, N.Y., and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have discovered two new conditions for communication that may help scientists one day harness the power of T-cells to fight diseases such as cancer. The team will present its findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 Nov. 2 in Tampa, Fla.

T-cells flow freely throughout the body and communicate with their partner T-cells, in part, through signals expressed in proteins on their surfaces. But unlike other freely circulating cells, T-cells are a bit more touchy-feely. "They stick to each other; they kind of crawl on each other," says lead researcher Lance Kam, a biomedical engineer at Columbia University. The cells spread onto each other; they put new proteins into the interface between them. And these proteins at the interface, Kam continues, "organize into some really beautiful patterns." One arrangement is shaped like a bulls-eye.

Kam's team wanted to find out whether the spacing of the proteins in these cellular tete-a-tetes plays a part in the communication process, and whether the squishiness or rigidity of the cells has any effect on the conversation. Using a custom-made artificial cell, they tested whether the real T-cells "liked" certain configurations of proteins on its surface. Not only did the team find that the spacing of the signaling proteins mattered for the proper activation of T-cells, but the rigidity of the surface mattered as well. Mouse cells like most cells preferred a more rigid surface, but human T-cells liked squishier partners.

Knowing that these two conditions figure into T-cell activation may help drug researchers design optimal T-cell habitats in which to grow huge T-cell armies to fight cancers and other diseases. While this reality is several years away, the two new findings that the team presents will help advance the harnessing of T-cells for immunotherapy. This type of cancer treatment involves removing a patient's T-cells, expanding their numbers, training them to recognize cancer cells, and re-injecting this fortified army back into the patient. Understanding what kind of partner the T-cells prefer could help to make this process more effective.

"We think that by learning more about the natural interface, the natural signals that activate the cells, we can get better control over the cell expansion process," Kam says, resulting in larger production of high-quality T-cells that can fight cancer.

###

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AVS 59th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM & EXHIBITION

The Tampa Convention Center is located along the Riverwalk in the heart of downtown Tampa at 333 S. Franklin St., Tampa, Florida, 33602.

USEFUL LINKS:

Main meeting website: http://www2.avs.org/symposium/AVS59/pages/greetings.html

Technical Program: http://www.avssymposium.org/

Housing and Travel Information: http://www2.avs.org/symposium/AVS59/pages/housing_travel.html

PRESS REGISTRATION

The AVS Pressroom will be located in the Tampa Convention Center. Your complimentary media badge will allow you to utilize the pressroom to write, interview, collect new product releases, review material, or just relax. The media badge will also admit you, free of charge, into the exhibit area, lectures, and technical sessions, as well as the Welcome Mixer on Monday evening and the Awards Ceremony and Reception on Wednesday night. Pressroom hours are Monday-Thursday, 8-5 p.m.

To register, please contact:

Della Miller, AVS
E-mail: della@avs.org

This news release was prepared for AVS by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

ABOUT AVS

Founded in 1953, AVS is a not-for-profit professional society that promotes communication between academia, government laboratories, and industry for the purpose of sharing research and development findings over a broad range of technologically relevant topics. Its symposia and journals provide an important forum for the dissemination of information in many areas of science and technology, enabling a critical gateway for the rapid insertion of scientific breakthroughs into manufacturing realities.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 26-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Catherine Meyers
cmeyers@aip.org
301-209-3088
American Institute of Physics

When talking to the key immune system fighters known as T-cells, it helps to speak their language. Now researchers from Columbia University in New York, N.Y., and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have discovered two new conditions for communication that may help scientists one day harness the power of T-cells to fight diseases such as cancer. The team will present its findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 Nov. 2 in Tampa, Fla.

T-cells flow freely throughout the body and communicate with their partner T-cells, in part, through signals expressed in proteins on their surfaces. But unlike other freely circulating cells, T-cells are a bit more touchy-feely. "They stick to each other; they kind of crawl on each other," says lead researcher Lance Kam, a biomedical engineer at Columbia University. The cells spread onto each other; they put new proteins into the interface between them. And these proteins at the interface, Kam continues, "organize into some really beautiful patterns." One arrangement is shaped like a bulls-eye.

Kam's team wanted to find out whether the spacing of the proteins in these cellular tete-a-tetes plays a part in the communication process, and whether the squishiness or rigidity of the cells has any effect on the conversation. Using a custom-made artificial cell, they tested whether the real T-cells "liked" certain configurations of proteins on its surface. Not only did the team find that the spacing of the signaling proteins mattered for the proper activation of T-cells, but the rigidity of the surface mattered as well. Mouse cells like most cells preferred a more rigid surface, but human T-cells liked squishier partners.

Knowing that these two conditions figure into T-cell activation may help drug researchers design optimal T-cell habitats in which to grow huge T-cell armies to fight cancers and other diseases. While this reality is several years away, the two new findings that the team presents will help advance the harnessing of T-cells for immunotherapy. This type of cancer treatment involves removing a patient's T-cells, expanding their numbers, training them to recognize cancer cells, and re-injecting this fortified army back into the patient. Understanding what kind of partner the T-cells prefer could help to make this process more effective.

"We think that by learning more about the natural interface, the natural signals that activate the cells, we can get better control over the cell expansion process," Kam says, resulting in larger production of high-quality T-cells that can fight cancer.

###

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AVS 59th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM & EXHIBITION

The Tampa Convention Center is located along the Riverwalk in the heart of downtown Tampa at 333 S. Franklin St., Tampa, Florida, 33602.

USEFUL LINKS:

Main meeting website: http://www2.avs.org/symposium/AVS59/pages/greetings.html

Technical Program: http://www.avssymposium.org/

Housing and Travel Information: http://www2.avs.org/symposium/AVS59/pages/housing_travel.html

PRESS REGISTRATION

The AVS Pressroom will be located in the Tampa Convention Center. Your complimentary media badge will allow you to utilize the pressroom to write, interview, collect new product releases, review material, or just relax. The media badge will also admit you, free of charge, into the exhibit area, lectures, and technical sessions, as well as the Welcome Mixer on Monday evening and the Awards Ceremony and Reception on Wednesday night. Pressroom hours are Monday-Thursday, 8-5 p.m.

To register, please contact:

Della Miller, AVS
E-mail: della@avs.org

This news release was prepared for AVS by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

ABOUT AVS

Founded in 1953, AVS is a not-for-profit professional society that promotes communication between academia, government laboratories, and industry for the purpose of sharing research and development findings over a broad range of technologically relevant topics. Its symposia and journals provide an important forum for the dissemination of information in many areas of science and technology, enabling a critical gateway for the rapid insertion of scientific breakthroughs into manufacturing realities.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/aiop-isf102612.php

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Gadgets and apps that'll help you deal with Hurricane Sandy

By Susan Ayers Walker, Techlicious

Family safety planning is always at the back of our minds as we try to meet any weather challenges that might arise, like Hurricane Sandy barreling down on the East coast. Here are useful items to add to your home and family safety apps for your devices.

Accessory Power

Power in a pinch
In an emergency or extended power outage your car might be the only source of power. To accommodate the many communication and computing devices a family might own the Anker Multi-function 90W Universal AC/Auto Combo Adapter is a good choice for under $30 on amazon.com. Solar is another alternative to charge your devices ??the Accessory Power Revive Solar ReStore external battery pack with USB charging port and built-in light, for under $30 on newegg.com, will do the job and you can take this charger skiing or to the beach. It is a good idea to encourage the family to keep devices charged at all times.

Flashlights
You can never have enough flashlights when you need them! The Hybrid Solar Powered Flashlight ($25 on amazon.com) has a power panel to charge its batteries and will keep its charge for three years. And if the charge runs out, you can pop in regular batteries. However, I do also love combination products like the Greenlite LED 3-in-1 Night Light, Emergency Light, & Flashlight ($18.98 on greenlite.ca). Both are reasonably priced so you can put one in the bedroom, garage and kitchen.

SteriPen

Water purifier
To ensure access to clean drinking water, you'll want to have a water purifier on hand. The SteriPEN Adventurer Opti ($89.95 on steripen.com) uses UV light to kill bacteria ??including Giardia and Cryptosporidia ??in 16 ounces of clear water in less than a minute. For murky water, consider the Katadyn Vario Multi Flow Water Microfilter ($94.95 on rei.com).

"Grab-and-go" emergency backpack
Have an emergency backpack in the garage, ready to put in the car if you have to evacuate. The backpack should contain essentials like a first aid kit, food and water for a day or two, matches, batteries, flashlights, a few small blankets, a plastic tarp, utility gloves and simple tools. Mayday's 4 Person Deluxe Emergency Backpack Kit ($68 on amazon.com) is already packed with enough supplies for a few days for a family of four. However, make sure you add a small bowel for water and dry food for your pets.

Cobra Electronics

Two-way radios
Two-way radios provide an easy way to communicate with between vehicles if you are evacuating with more than one car. Plus, in a hurricane or similar situation, you cannot depend on cell towers to work or have the capacity to serve the busy mobile phone system. These two-way radios use less power than your mobile phone, offer 22-50 channels and have a range of 20-30 miles, depending on the brand. Models, like the Cobra MicroTalk CTX425 ($45 on amazon.com), also include a 10-channel NOAA weather radio.

Important papers
Have a waterproof bag ready to go for the items you plan to take with you, such as passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates and check books. You can also scan and store copies of credit cards, home owner insurances policies, valuable photos and contact lists securely in the cloud. Also, make sure you pack cash in small bills in your ?grab and go bag,? in case ATMs fail and credit cards don?t work.

Medication
It's a good idea to have a list of medications and medical issues for each family member handy along with a list of family doctors and insurance numbers. You can store these on your mobile phone or tablet.? I like the Family Health Record ($1.99 in iTunes) app for my iPhone and AboutOne (free) for Android, Windows Phone and iOS devices.

Life360

What to do
With a busy family, everyone might be in different locations when an emergency event strikes. Plan for this by making sure each family member know exactly where to go if a sudden evacuation is required. Each member should also know how to communicate with the family unit. The Life 360 app, free for iOS, Blackberry and Android devices, will help you locate and secure your family.

Fuel
Lastly, good advice from someone who lives an area prone to earthquakes and forest fires: Keep vehicles' tanks at least half full of gas at all times. If you need to evacuate quickly, gas stations might not be operational. And if you do need to find one, load up Gas Buddy onto your iOS, Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry device.

More stories on Techlicious:

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Source: http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2012/10/27/14728231-gadgets-and-apps-thatll-help-you-deal-with-hurricane-sandy?lite

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Car Lease Deals Can Really Make Sense for a ... - Financial Blogger

Car leases are a great fit for just about any business. After all, when your needs can vary from year to year, there?s no real need to actually own a fleet of vehicles. Leasing them would be better due to changes in market conditions, as well as the number of personnel that you can have on staff at any time. If you try to ignore these factors, you could end up putting too many liabilities on your company?s balance sheet ? is that what you really want? Probably not.

This is where car lease deals come into play. You will be able to affordably get the transportation that you need without spending a lot of money. Leases are also flexible ? if one vehicle isn?t working for you, transfers are usually not out of the question. You have to decide what you will do, and what you will skip over as a business owner. Making these decisions can be difficult when there are so many other things trying to get your attention every day, but you have to make sure that you?re covering all of your bases.

The good news is that contract hire has become easier to acquire than ever before, partially thanks to the rise of the Internet. You can comparison shop, figure out exactly what you want to lease and when, as well as get honest maintenance and ongoing support. Since this is a car lease deal, the emphasis is on a good working relationship between you and the car lease company. They will want to make sure that all of your needs are met to the best of their ability.

Hiring cars for your business can be a bit complicated, but as mentioned earlier, all you have to do is ask whatever questions that are on your mind. Even the most honest and reputable companies know that you will have questions that need to be answered in order to increase your confidence in the product.

Leasing your cars can also help you save on maintenance. As you already know, the burden of maintenance is going to be something you have to deal with if you own the fleet of vehicles outright. Yet if you transferred over fully to the concept of leasing contracts, you would be able to have the maintenance costs worked into your overall agreement, thus giving you the peace of mind that you deserve.

Today is the perfect time to really give car leasing a second look ? check it out now!

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.financialblogger.co.uk/car-lease-deals-can-really-make-sense-for-a-wide-range-of-business-owners-check-it-out-today/

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Official: suicide bomber kills 20 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A government spokesman says a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 50.

The attack in the town of Maymana, capital of northern Faryab province, came as people were gathering at the mosque to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, said Jawid Didar, spokesman for the governor's office.

Top provincial officials, including the governor and the police chief, were inside the building when the bomber set off his explosives outside, where a large crowd had gathered, Didar said. The officials were not hurt.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-suicide-bomber-kills-20-afghanistan-064829876.html

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Sandy hits Cuba; 'high impact' likely in Northeast

HAVANA?? Hurricane Sandy grew into a major potential threat to the Northeast on Thursday after hammering Cuba's second-largest city and taking aim at the Bahamas.

Strengthening rapidly after tearing into Jamaica and crossing the warm Caribbean Sea, Sandy hit southeastern Cuba early on Thursday with 105-mph winds that cut power, damaged homes and blew over trees across the city of Santiago de Cuba.

The storm has a 90 percent chance of smacking the Northeast and mid-Atlantic early next week with gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain and maybe even snow, forecasters said Thursday.

"It's going to be a high-impact event," said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's prediction center. "It has the potential to be a very significant storm with respect to coastal flooding, depending on exactly where it comes in. Power outages are definitely a big threat."

PhotoBlog: Hurricane Sandy blows through the Caribbean

The hurricane part of the storm is likely to come ashore somewhere in New Jersey on Tuesday morning, said forecaster Jim Cisco of the NWS prediction center.

"It's almost a weeklong, five-day, six-day event," Cisco added. "It's going to be a widespread serious storm."

It is also likely to hit during a full moon when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential.

Video: Wide area of Northeast threatened (on this page)

And with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, power outages could last to Election Day, some meteorologists fear.

"It could be a Nor'easter on steroids," NWS meteorologist Robert Thompson told NBC station WHDH-TV in Boston. "It?s got the potential to rival the great Nor'easters of the past depending upon the eventual track it takes."

Nor'easters are powerful storms that come up along the East Coast from the south and then increase in volatility with winds from the northeast. In this case, another storm is expected to move into the Northeast from the Ohio Valley around the same time, adding to the weather mix.

Interactive: Wild Nor?easters explained (on this page)

Sandy will likely be around for the 21st anniversary of the infamous "Perfect Storm" of Oct. 30, 1991, that killed six fishermen, WHDH noted.

Even before any Northeast impact, eastern Florida as well as the Carolinas and mid-Atlantic states will see high winds, heavy surf and potentially beach flooding, weather.com reported.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his staff was "getting out the plans" in case evacuations in flood-prone areas were needed, NBCNewYork.com reported.

'City without trees'
In Cuba, the eye of the Category 2 storm came ashore just west of Santiago de Cuba, the country's second largest city with 500,000 people.

Resident Eduardo Gonzalez said he had walked through much of the city and saw many damaged homes, some almost to the point of complete destruction.

A television reporter described Santiago de Cuba as "a city without trees" after so many were uprooted by Sandy.

Officials gave long lists of towns with damage similar to that in Santiago de Cuba and spoke of the need to provide food, clean water and shelter to residents.

In the city of Guantanamo, east of Santiago de Cuba, television showed telephone poles fallen across narrow streets filled with downed cables. Historic buildings in the city center were damaged, reporters said.

Cuban radio reported that one person had been killed in the storm.

Jamaica was struck earlier by the storm when it was still at Category 1 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale.

One person died in Jamaica, and property was damaged across the eastern side of the island. A person also died in Haiti, where Sandy triggered flash floods.

After Cuba, Sandy was passing over the southern Bahamas Thursday, and then through the nation's central and northwest islands overnight.

The massive Atlantis resort went into lockdown mode after dozens of tourists left Paradise Island before the airport closed. The resort is now less than half full, but all its restaurants, casinos and other facilities are still operating.

Other businesses on Paradise Island, where the capital of Nassau is located, remained closed.

In U.S., worse than 1991 'Perfect Storm'?
For the U.S., the threat keeps increasing for "a major impact in the Northeast, New York area," said James Franklin, chief specialist at the National Hurricane Center. "In fact it would be such a big storm that it would affect all of the Northeast."

Cisco noted the 1991 "Perfect Storm" didn't hit as populated an area and is not comparable to what the East Coast might be facing. Nor is it like last year's Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowstorm in the Northeast.

This has much more mess potential because it is a combination of different storm types that could produce a real whopper of weather problems, meteorologists say.

"The 'Perfect Storm' only did $200 million of damage and I'm thinking a billion," said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground. "Yeah, it will be worse."

Masters was somewhat skeptical on Tuesday, giving the storm scenario just a 40 percent likelihood, but on Wednesday he also upped that to 70 percent. The remaining computer models that previously hadn't shown the merger and mega-storm formation now predict a similar scenario.

Related: Northeast utilities gear up for storm
Related: Damage could be worse than Irene, experts say
Related: New England fears repeat of 2011 Halloween storm

The biggest question mark is snow, and that depends on where the remnants of Sandy turn inland. The computer model that has been leading the pack in predicting the system has it hitting around Delaware. But another model has the storm hitting closer to Maine. If it hits Delaware, the chances of snow increase in that region. If it hits farther north, chances for snow in the mid-Atlantic and even up to New York are lessened, Masters said.

Cisco said he could see the equivalent of several inches of snow or rain in the mid-Atlantic, depending on where the storm ends up. In the mountains, snow may be measured in feet instead of inches.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49546844/ns/weather/

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