For some, cooking is a necessity. For others, it?s an enjoyable pastime. Discovering new recipes then putting them together in your kitchen is a hobby partaken by many and, with the rise of tablets, it?s become a much more interactive experience than ever before.
Taking your tablet into the kitchen with you might seem like an unattractive prospect to some, but it can unlock access to a world of recipes and support for your cooking. In this roundup, we?re going to take a look at five great cookery apps available for your Android tablet!
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BBC Good Food ? Recipes
BBC Good Food is a popular magazine that provides a wealth of recipes and other cooking content on the web, making it the UK?s number one food magazine and website.
The BBC Good Food Android app for your tablet ? also available for your phone too! ? includes a plethora of recipes and useful cooking tips, allowing you to download cookbooks that can be selected based on criteria like season so, yes, you?ll probably be able to get a special cookbook for the upcoming holidays. Recipes also display useful information like nutritional details that already take it beyond a physical cookbook. Plus, the app and all the cookbooks are free for a limited time!
Price: Free (for a limited time; ?1.49 normally) Requires: Android 2.2 or above Google Play Link: BBC Good Food ? Recipes Developer: BBC Worldwide (Ltd)
iFood Assistant Tablet
Like the BBC?s Good Food app, iFood Assistant is full of great recipes that you can use in your kitchen. Simply open up the app, searching up an attractive-looking recipe and get cooking. Much as you?d expect, the app includes all the relevant data about recipes such as estimated preparation and cooking time and can generate a shopping list of required ingredients.
The searching functions in iFood Assistant are really great. You can look up recipes by meal type and even preparation time, so it?s easy to find an appropriate recipe that suits the time you have available.
Price: Free Requires: Android 2.2 or above Google Play Link: iFood Assistant Tablet Developer: Kraft New Services
Recipe, Menu & Cooking Planner
Pepperplate is a really nice app for managing your recipes and taking your Android device into the kitchen. You can add recipes and then jump into cooking your entire menu without having the hassle of managing multiple timers in different places. When you?re ready to go shopping for ingredients, the app can convert your chosen recipes into a shopping list.
Pepperplate also lets users share recipes with family and friends via email and social networks so it?s a perfect app when organising servings for large groups. Find a recipe, share it with your group on Facebook and then head out to the store with a list of literally everything you need.
Price: Free Requires: Android 2.1 or above Google Play Link: Recipe, Menu & Cooking Planner Developer: Pepperplate
Cooklet for tablets
In a similar fashion to BBC Good Food, Cooklet allows you to select and download cookbooks to your tablet. The app is gorgeous to look at and full of interesting recipes.
Cooklet?s great feature is its ability to dynamically adapt to specific portion sizes ? quite a useful tool when cooking for a smaller or larger group of people ? and change measurements into different units with ease.
Price: Free Requires: Android 2.2 or above Google Play Link: Cooklet for tablets Developer: Cooklet
Cocktail Flow Tablet
Food might not be the only thing on your mind, so what about drinks? Cocktail Flow Tablet is here to help you find, browse and make drink and cocktail recipes. Now you can impress friends and family members with not only your food crafted from one of the previous apps, but also your ability to make fantastic cocktails.
Cocktail Flow Tablet even allows you to select great recipes that don?t require you to go shopping for specific ingredients. The app can pull up recipes specific to the ingredients you already have in your bar, so it?s fantastic for last-minute additions and changes too!
Price: $2.95 Requires: Android 2.2 or above Google Play Link: Cocktail Flow Tablet Developer: Distinction Ltd
Taking your Android tablet into the kitchen never seemed more promising, eh? Of course, don?t forget the browser that allows you to easily explore any cooking website even if they don?t have a native app or watch videos on sites like YouTube for step-by-step, visual cooking instructions.
Certainly, if you?re a UK user, you can grab the BBC iPlayer app and catchup on your favourite cookery shows, all while making the food yourself.
If you?re using your tablet in the kitchen and have a killer recommendation, be sure to share it in the comments.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Disgraced Wall Street titan and philanthropist Rajat Gupta was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday, a much lighter sentence than U.S. prosecutors had demanded, by a judge who called his insider trading crimes "disgusting" and "a terrible breach of trust."
Gupta was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine. He was convicted in Manhattan federal court last June for leaking Goldman Sachs boardroom secrets to Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager at the center of a U.S. government crackdown on insider trading over the past four years.
Some legal experts said Wednesday's sentence came as a surprise, while others said the judge struck a fine balance.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff told a somber courtroom audience, including Gupta's wife and four adult daughters, that the illegal sharing of corporate secrets at the height of the 2008 financial crisis "was the functional equivalent of stabbing Goldman in the back."
Gupta, 63, gave no visible reaction to the sentence, which was given at the end of a 30-minute statement in which the judge spelled out the businessman's "extraordinary" philanthropy over decades that stood in stark contrast to his crimes.
Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp's co-founder, and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan were among 400 friends and luminaries who had written letters to the judge urging leniency.
During the trial, the court heard how Gupta had tipped off his then friend and business associate Rajaratnam between September and October of 2008. Within minutes of a conference call of members of Goldman's board on September 23, 2008, Gupta told Rajaratnam that influential investor Warren Buffett was infusing $5 billion into the investment bank. Rajaratnam traded on the information as the market was closing.
Rakoff said during the two-and-a-half hour sentencing proceedings that the tip "was not only overwhelming, but it was disgusting in its implications ... a terrible breach of trust" at a time when Goldman Sachs was in turmoil.
But the judge also said: "I have never encountered a defendant whose past history suggests such an extraordinary devotion ... to people in need."
Gupta had faced a maximum sentence of 20 years for securities fraud and five years for conspiracy. Federal judges have wide leeway in sentencing and Rakoff has a reputation for veering from guidelines for courts in handing down punishment.
MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON SOUGHT
Rakoff ordered Gupta to begin his sentence on January 8, 2013. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will decide where, but his lawyer asked for the minimum security prison in Otisville, New York.
The judge denied Gupta's lawyer's bid to have him freed on bail pending an appeal, which could last as long as two years. His lawyer, Gary Naftalis, said in a statement that "we believe the facts of this case demonstrate that Mr. Gupta is innocent."
The former Goldman director is the most influential corporate figure to be convicted in the wide U.S. probe of insider trading involving fund managers, traders, consultants and executives. He is a former global head of the McKinsey & Co management consultancy, and once sat on the boards of Procter & Gamble Co and American Airlines, as well advising philanthropies including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gupta was born poor in India and orphaned as a teenager but rose to the top of the corporate and philanthropic elite.
His sentence was less than the eight to 10 years sought by prosecutors, but more than the probation and community service in Rwanda sought by Gupta's lawyers. The judge dismissed that proposal as "a kind of Peace Corps for insider traders."
It was also less than some other insider trading defendants who were jailed for between four and 10 years. Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year prison sentence, one of the longest for insider trading.
On Thursday, a U.S. appeals court in New York is set to hear Rajaratnam's appeal. He argues prosecutors should not have been able to play phone taps of his conversations at his trial because he says they were improperly obtained.
"SANCTITY OF CORPORATE CONFIDENCE"
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Tarlowe argued for a sentence of at least eight years, telling the court "Mr Gupta knew as much about the sanctity of these types of corporate confidences as anybody, and that's what makes it so shocking."
New York securities class action and shareholder rights lawyer Mark Rifkin said the judge "understood both sides of the argument, and the relatively light sentence he imposed balances Gupta's misuse of his position against a lifetime of good work."
But Andrew Stoltmann, an attorney and investor rights advocate based in Chicago, wondered whether Gupta's "Mother Teresa-like halo" had warranted a sentence that was "little more than a slap on the wrist."
"He had such an important role at some of these companies that it is kind of the ultimate betrayal of trust," he said.
When Gupta addressed the court, he read from a statement for six minutes, using bland language that stopped short of fully admitting his conduct, but apologizing to "extraordinary institutions and outstanding people" and to his family.
"I feel terrible that they have been burdened with totally undeserved negative attention. I apologize to them and ask for their forgiveness," Gupta said.
Naftalis, arguing for a lenient sentence, said his client had suffered a "fall from grace of Greek tragedy proportions."
"This was an iconic figure who had been a role model for countless people around the globe," he said. "He is no more."
The case is USA v Gupta, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-907.
(Editing by Martha Graybow, Matthew Lewis, Gary Hill and Paul Tait)
In an effort to stave off the challenge from online retailers in a rapidly changing market, two of the world?s largest book publishers, Random House and Penguin, are engaged in talks to combine their businesses.
Pearson, the British media conglomerate that owns Penguin, said Thursday that it was discussing a potential deal with Random House?s owner, Bertelsmann of Germany. The merger, if completed, would create a combined entity that would control nearly 25 percent of the United States book market and feature an elite roster of authors like Dan Brown, Toni Morrison and John Grisham of Random House and Junot Diaz and Patricia Cornwell of Penguin.
The potential consolidation comes as traditional publishers try to compete with dominant technology companies like Amazon, Apple and Google that have gained power in the e-book market. Lower prices offered by retailers like Amazon have put pressure on publishers to adjust their digital book strategy at a time when brick-and-mortar stores have been disappearing.
A deal could signal a move toward further consolidation among the major publishers, much the way the music industry realigned itself as it made the painful transition to the digital marketplace. Facing intense competition from Apple?s iTunes, the industry shrunk from six major record companies to three.
A merger of Random House and Penguin could help the publishing houses cut costs by combining resources, and it would give them more heft in negotiations with Amazon and Apple as readers increasingly abandon print for cheaper e-books.
Penguin Group USA is among the five major publishers named in a lawsuit filed last spring by the Justice Department, which accused those publishers and Apple of colluding in the pricing of e-books. Three publishers ? Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins ? settled. Penguin and Macmillan have not. Random House, the largest book publisher in the United States, was not named in the lawsuit.
?A combined Random House and Penguin would be a supplier so large it would be very difficult for any anyone to dictate terms to,? said Mike Shatzkin, the founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, a consultant to publishers. He added: ?You?re allowed to collude if you?re combined.?
But for authors and their representatives, news of the merger discussions, first reported by Germany?s Manager Magazin, came as another potential blow in an already challenging profession.
Several literary agents said a merger would lead to a consolidation of publishing imprints, thus reducing the number of bidders vying for titles. They also said that combining editing and marketing resources would likely lead to layoffs and potentially put added pressure on authors, especially those who do not churn out mass-market hits.
David Kuhn, a literary agent in New York, said that a shrinking book industry could be compared to the situation in Hollywood, where studios under financial pressure now focus on churning out a handful of blockbusters a year, rather than taking risks on smaller films. ?If there are 20 fewer imprints, then that means there are 20 fewer publishers with checkbooks willing to make bets on less known entities,? Mr. Kuhn said.
Another New York agent, who insisted on anonymity to candidly discuss the deal, was more pessimistic. ?This group would be HUGE. NOT good for authors,? the agent wrote in an e-mail
James L. McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said the early panic was justified. ?Agents should be terrified because it would give them even fewer people to play against each other,? he said.
But, he added, the consolidation of some of the remaining ?big six? publishing houses is inevitable. ?The need to get some kind of grip on the future of book publishing is driving every single one of these top six publishers in often unconventional ways,? Mr. McQuivey said.
A deal between Random House and Penguin would be subject to government approval. Regulators in Europe have demanded significant divestitures as a condition for approval of another recent cultural acquisition, the purchase of EMI by the French media company Vivendi. In the United States, Mr. McQuivey said, regulators could take other factors into account.
?They?re facing a much bigger threat in Amazon than considering it might restrain competition,? Mr. McQuivey said of the potential merger.
Although financial details remain preliminary, Bertelsmann is expected to have an ownership stake of more than 50 percent in Penguin, according to a person briefed on the talks, who was not authorized to discuss the conversations publicly.
In 1998 Bertelsmann paid more than $1 billion to acquire Random House, which now includes 200 editorially independent imprints that publish around 10,000 books a year. In 2011 the publishing house reported revenue of $2.26 billion, a 4.6 percent decline from a year earlier. In the first half of 2012 Random House reported a 64 percent increase in operating profit, largely because of the success of the ?Fifty Shades of Grey? trilogy.
Penguin, which publishes about 4,000 books annually, had $1.61 billion in revenue in 2011, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. Revenue from e-books accounted for 12 percent of Penguin?s global revenues in 2011, up from 6 percent in 2010, according to Pearson.
For Pearson, based in London, unloading part of its struggling publishing business at a premium could help it focus on its faster growing education business. Earlier this month, Pearson?s longtime chief executive, Marjorie Scardino, said she planned to step down at the end of the year, prompting speculation that the company would eventually sell its publishing units, Penguin and The Financial Times.
A Bertelsmann spokeswoman, Susanne Erdl, declined to comment. In a statement Pearson confirmed the talks, adding that ?the two companies have not reached agreement and there is no certainty the discussions will lead to a transaction.?
Analysts said Thomas Rabe, the chief executive of Bertelsmann, based in G?ttersloh, Germany, is under pressure to make a deal because some of the company?s existing businesses are slowing, with no clear plans for growth in the digital era. Mr. Rabe took over about a year ago from Hartmut Ostrowski, who was seen as more of a caretaker, and immediately announced plans to transform Bertelsmann.
Among other things, he changed the company?s legal structure to permit a possible initial public offering of stock, which could raise funds for an acquisition. Buying Penguin would be a big move, though not necessarily the most forward-looking one, given that book publishing, over all, is stagnant or in decline.
?If you?re Bertelsmann, would you want to invest in such a slow-growth business?? asked Ian Whittaker, an analyst at Liberum Capital.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 25, 2012
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the publication that first reported discussions about a merger. It was Manager Magazin of Germany, not The Financial Times.
Much has been written about "KI (spirit)" in books and articles on Aikido. In fact, it would be hard to avoid addressing KI because the name of the art itself means "Way of Uniting with KI".
There is another aspect of Aikido which has not been widely addressed, and many practitioners have not even heard of it. KOKYU RYOKU is generally translated as "Abdominal Breath Power". Although this is not a direct translation (KOKYU means "breath" and RYOKU means "power"), it is actually quite descriptive because KOKYU RYOKU is a force or feeling that originates in the HARA (abdomen) and flows through the body.
The word KOKYU per se does appear in many Aikido texts as part of the name of a technique, e.g. KOKYU-HO (a sitting exercise), KOKYU-NAGE (breath throw), etc. KOKYU-NAGE refers to a large variety of throwing techniques based on the KOKYU movement, and the term "KOKYU-NAGE variation" has become a catch-all for techniques which do not have any other name.
One of the few books that does address KOKYU, although briefly, is "The Essence of Aikido", by John Stevens, Kodansha International Ltd., 1993, pp. 151. Stevens writes that "KOKYU-HO (the way of KOKYU) or 'breath power techniques,' constitute the fourth pillar of Aikido. Morihei (the founder of Aikido) said 'Breath is the thread that ties creation together. When the myriad variations of breath in the universe can be sensed, the individual techniques of Aikido are born.' In the old days, KOKYU-HO techniques, thought to contain the secret of true power, were never taught publicly."
As of the present time, KI and KOKYU RYOKU cannot be explained in the context of intellectual reason or science. However, it is my humble observation that KI and KOKYU RYOKU are different, but complementary entities. Whereas KI relates to unity of a person's consciousness with that of another human being and/or the spirit of the universe (the essence is SATORI or "spiritual enlightenment"), KOKYU RYOKU is physically oriented and flows through the body.
Although KOKYU means "breath", KOKYU RYOKU is not associated with respiration in the context of breathing air. In fact, a person can be simultaneously inhaling and directing KOKYU RYOKU out the handblades or any other part of the body. I do not know if KOKYU RYOKU is a paranormal force which has yet to be explained, or is a feeling or state of mind.
KOKYU RYOKU is something that originates in the HARA and gushes out through the entire body. It is non-directional per se. When a person performs a technique, KOKYU RYOKU is focussed in a direction which augments the flow of the technique. The classical direction for flow is out the handblades, although other directions are associated with different techniques.
The basic KOKYU exercise is sitting KOKYU-HO, which consists of one training partner grasping both wrists of another training partner, who then pushes over the person who is grasping. This exercise is a pure application of the KOKYU movement, which consists of lowering the elbows, rotating the handblades out, and pushing forward with the handblades. If a person has acquired KOKYU RYOKU, it will be directed out the handblades and augment the pushing force.
The KOKYU movement itself is derived from raising and cutting with the sword. It is inherent in both of these movements. KOKYU-NAGE refers to any technique which incorporates the KOKYU movement. However, it also relates to techniques which do not explicitly include the KOKYU movement with the handblades but are associated with the feeling of KOKYU.
KOKYU RYOKU is acquired through many years of hard training in correct technique. Although the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba O-Sensei, was very religious, he once told my teacher, Morihiro Saito Sensei, that a person did not have to be religious to learn Aikido. O-Sensei said that he incorporated the essence of his religious pursuits into the Aikido techniques, and that if a person correctly executes these techniques he or she will be moving in harmony with the spirit of the universe (KI). Performing these movements purifies the mind, body and spirit and guides the person closer to KI, little by little, day by day.
Aikido technical training also develops KOKYU RYOKU. At some point in training, KOKYU RYOKU will start to come out by itself. As with KI, there is no way to force KOKYU out artificially. Once acquired, KOKYU RYOKU feels like something flowing through the body, and is unmistakable. Its ability to augment Aikido technique is dramatic. Consider trying to cut a stick of frozen butter with a dull knife. It is hard. Then, heat the knife to a high temperature and try again. The knife glides through the butter effortlessly. This is like performing a technique with KOKYU RYOKU.
Although KOKYU RYOKU is not associated with respiration of air, there is a link with relaxation. KOKYU RYOKU will not come out if a person is struggling using tense muscles. KOKYU RYOKU generally starts to come out when a person has become strong in technique to the point at which he or she does not have to struggle hard to make the techniques work. Then, the body starts to relax, KOKYU RYOKU comes out, and the techniques become easier or even effortless. As such, Aikido techniques reach a point at which they do not require muscular power.
Aikido is a path that has no end. It is something that a person can study their entire life and constantly discover new and interesting aspects to explore and develop. Although this is a blessing, it is also a source of frustration in that progress can be slow and involve numerous learning plateaus. The terms "learn Aikido" and "instant gratification" are an oxymoron.
It is important to understand that consciously trying to get KOKYU RYOKU or KI will not produce the desired results, but only frustration. It is therefore best to enjoy training every day, and not think about things that will come by themselves when the time is right. Aikido training, among its many other benefits including self-defense, self-improvement, physical fitness, camaraderie, etc., is fun. After all, where else can you twist peoples' wrists and throw them down hard every day and not get arrested or sued?
JERUSALEM (AP) ? A deadly flare-up in fighting between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas group subsided on Thursday after Egypt helped to restore calm ahead of a major Muslim holiday.
Weeks of simmering violence had intensified on Tuesday night, when rocket fire from Gaza drew Israeli airstrikes that killed two Palestinian militants. The hostilities came to a boil Wednesday, when militants fired some 80 rockets and mortars at southern Israel, and Israeli aircraft struck Gaza four times. In all, four Palestinians, including three militants, were killed in the fighting and two foreign workers in Israel were critically wounded.
The rocket and mortar fire stopped altogether overnight, though one projectile landed in southern Israel on Thursday morning, causing no damage. The military said it last struck Gaza on Wednesday morning. The violence ebbed as Muslims began preparing for the Eid al-Adha holiday, which begins on Friday.
Both sides confirmed Egyptian involvement in ending the fighting.
Under longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, Egypt had played an important role in halting multiple outbreaks of hostilities between Israel and Gaza militants. The new government of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi who belongs to Hamas' parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, kept up the tradition.
Israeli defense official Amos Gilad told Army Radio on Thursday that Egyptian security forces have "a very impressive ability" to convey to the militants that it is in their "supreme interest not to attack."
Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said Egypt conveyed Israel's desire to contain the violence.
"We said we'll abide by the calm if the occupation abides," he said. "It happened over the phone with Egyptian intelligence."
Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, has largely avoided attacks since a devastating Israeli military offensive nearly four years ago. It remains virulently anti-Israel but has sought to keep things quiet as it consolidates control of Gaza, which it violently overran five years ago.
Still, it is under pressure from smaller groups to prove that it remains in confrontation with the Jewish state.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suggested the visit Tuesday of Qatari's leader to Gaza ? the first by a head of state to the territory since it came under Hamas rule ? emboldened Hamas to clash this week with Israel by bolstering the group's legitimacy.
The positive momentum for the U.S. housing market continues Tuesday.
U.S. home prices rose 1.3% in the third quarter versus the second quarter and jumped 3.2% from the same period in 2011, according to Zillow's latest Real Estate Market Report.
Related:The 'Mortal Enemy' of Home Prices: Excess Housing Inventory
The quarterly gain marks the fourth consecutive month of rising home values and the best uptick in prices since the housing slowdown began in March 2006.
"Nationally, the housing market is on the mend," says Zillow's chief economist Stan Humphries in an interview with The Daily Ticker. "We are actually seeing not only a pretty strong performance in home values but also a consistent performance now."
While home prices are up 3.2% on the year, Humphries expects growth to moderate next year. The real estate Web site predicts home values will increase 1.7% over the next twelve months because of the high number of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage.
Related:Housing Recovery Stalled By Banks: Harvard Analyst
Even though home values continue to rise nationally, it will remain an uneven recovery for some time, notes Humphries. It's all dependent on the market. For example, home prices are up in large metros like New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Miami but are down considerably in areas like Atlanta and Philadelphia.
"Real estate has always been very local" except during the housing crash when most markets were in decline, says Humphries. "But now I think the local dynamics are really reasserting themselves."
Many political battleground states were also in the red last quarter, including New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
"It is stunning to me how little we are talking about housing in the presidential election," says Humphries. "I think part of it is because while we are seeing some good news on the housing front overall."
Humphries says the housing market is still down 21% from its peak, one reason why the president may not be talking about housing as much as he could be. Moreover, because Obama has pursued centrist housing policies, it makes it difficult for the Republican candidate Mitt Romney to tout policies that very conservative, says Humphries.
Of the 252 markets that the Zillow Home Value Forecast follows, 183 have already "hit bottom" and 41 more are expected to hit a low point in 2013.
"[Overall] it's been a long time since we've seen a housing market this good," Humphries adds.
Do you agree? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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NASA study using cluster reveals new insights into solar windPublic release date: 24-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
A new study based on data from European Space Agency's Cluster mission shows that it is easier for the solar wind to penetrate Earth's magnetic environment, the magnetosphere, than had previously been thought. Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. have, for the first time, directly observed the presence of certain waves in the solar windcalled Kelvin-Helmholtz waves that can help transfer energy into near-Earth spaceunder circumstances when previous theories predicted they were not expected.
The recent paper, published on Aug 29, 2012, in the Journal of Geophysical Research shows that the presence of these waves help the incoming charged particles of the solar wind breach the magnetopausethe outer region of the magnetic "shield" around our planet. As a result, the boundary of Earth's magnetic bubble behaves less like a continuous barrier and more like a sieve allowing entry to the continuous onslaught of energetic electrons and protons.
"The complex environment near Earth varies continuously, but it is always filled with strong and complex magnetic fields. Variations in the pressure of the solar wind and in the orientation of the magnetic field can lead to changes in how the magnetosphere responds to the solar wind," says Melvyn Goldstein, a geospace scientist at Goddard and an author on the paper. "And understanding how the solar wind impacts these changes by transferring material, momentum and energy across the magnetopause, is one of the most important questions in magnetospheric physics in general and space weather effects in particular."
This latest discovery was made possible by the unique configuration of the four identical Cluster spacecraft, which fly in a closely controlled formation through near-Earth space. As they sweep from the magnetosphere into interplanetary space and back again, the flotilla provides unique three-dimensional insights on the processes that connect the sun to Earth.
Previous discoveries derived from Cluster measurements have shown that the magnetopause is commonly subject to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. These waves have a distinctive shape that is quite familiar: they look like large amplitude ocean waves that are whipped up by strong winds. Such waves generate turbulence as they crest and break. In the case of the solar wind, the waves are made of huge swirls of electrified gas called plasma, up to 25,000 miles across, which develop along the outer edge of the magnetosphere. Moving plasma, and therefore the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, trap magnetic fields along with them, which turn out to be crucial in trying to determine how the solar wind can enter the magnetosphere. As the magnetic field becomes wrapped up in the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, oppositely directed fields can "reconnect", allowing plasma to move from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.
"The space weather community pays considerable attention to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves," says Kyoung-Joo Hwang, a research scientist at Goddard and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and lead author of the paper. "Because they have global influence on Earth's magnetic system and are important for understanding Earth's response to changes on the sun."
In general, the solar wind's ability to penetrate into near-Earth space is thought to rely on the magnetic alignment of the interplanetary magnetic fields, often shortened to IMF. As the solar wind streams from the sun toward the day side of Earth, its magnetic fields connect up to those of Earth, resulting in a sudden and dramatic reconfiguration or reconnection of the field lines. This is most efficient when the IMF is aligned southward opposite to the northward alignment of Earth's magnetic field. The temporary tangling of the field lines creates ideal conditions for magnetic reconnection, allowing large amounts of plasma and magnetic energy to be transferred from the solar wind to the magnetosphere.
Magnetic reconnection also occurs more weakly with a northward orientation of the IMF, generally only seen at higher latitudes. Spacecraft observations have indicated that Kelvin-Helmholtz waves may play an important role in the transfer of solar wind material into the magnetosphere during a northward IMF a hypothesis bolstered by the fact that the waves can facilitate magnetic reconnection. However, previous identification of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves during northward IMF were limited to the low latitude flanks of the magnetosphere.
The team of scientists has now directly observed these Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at high latitudes under other orientations of the IMF. Instead of pointing north or south, the IMF was pointing west, towards the dawn side of Earth. Under these conditions, the Cluster data showed the waves on the dusk side of the high-latitude magnetopause. The magnetopause is the boundary between the relatively undisturbed magnetosphere and the magnetosheath, the region containing solar wind plasma that has come across the bow shock that protects Earth from the direct onslaught of solar wind plasma. The scientists were also able to characterize how differences in IMF orientation greatly influenced the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves as a result of variations in the thickness and other characteristics of the boundary layer.
The data were obtained between 7:00 a.m. and noon EST on 12 Jan., 2003. The four Cluster spacecraft were in tetrahedral formation, about 2,500 miles apart, flying close to the northern duskward region of Earth's magnetosphere. The quartet was outbound, heading toward the evening side magnetopause.
"This was the first time that the presence of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at the magnetopause had been demonstrated at high latitude for a dawnward orientation of the IMF," said Hwang. "We are seeing these waves in unpredictable places, under solar wind conditions that were previously thought to be unfavorable for their generation."
While the paper reports on only one case study, similar conditions are frequently found in the magnetosphere, says Goldstein. "Since this and similar geometrical orientations of the IMF are common, the process we describe might act as a fairly continuous mechanism of solar wind transport into the magnetosphere."
Hwang is now undertaking a statistical study to determine how ubiquitous the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves are and how they evolve and develop.
"This discovery shows how Earth's magnetosphere can be penetrated by solar particles under certain interplanetary magnetic field conditions," said Matt Taylor, ESA project scientist for Cluster. "The study of the high-latitude, dayside magnetopause would not have been possible without the in-situ measurements sent back by Cluster. The relatively small spatial separation of the four spacecraft made it possible to analyze the spatial structures and characteristics of the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves."
These results are also relevant to studies of magnetospheric processes around other planets in the solar system. For example, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities are commonly observed at the boundary of Mercury's magnetosphere and on the dawnward flank of Saturn's magnetopause. This new study opens up the possible locations where such waves may be generated, suggesting that they can be a common, and possibly continuous, mechanism for the entry of solar wind into planetary magnetospheres under various IMF orientations.
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NASA study using cluster reveals new insights into solar windPublic release date: 24-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Susan Hendrix Susan.m.hendrix@nasa.gov 301-286-7745 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
A new study based on data from European Space Agency's Cluster mission shows that it is easier for the solar wind to penetrate Earth's magnetic environment, the magnetosphere, than had previously been thought. Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. have, for the first time, directly observed the presence of certain waves in the solar windcalled Kelvin-Helmholtz waves that can help transfer energy into near-Earth spaceunder circumstances when previous theories predicted they were not expected.
The recent paper, published on Aug 29, 2012, in the Journal of Geophysical Research shows that the presence of these waves help the incoming charged particles of the solar wind breach the magnetopausethe outer region of the magnetic "shield" around our planet. As a result, the boundary of Earth's magnetic bubble behaves less like a continuous barrier and more like a sieve allowing entry to the continuous onslaught of energetic electrons and protons.
"The complex environment near Earth varies continuously, but it is always filled with strong and complex magnetic fields. Variations in the pressure of the solar wind and in the orientation of the magnetic field can lead to changes in how the magnetosphere responds to the solar wind," says Melvyn Goldstein, a geospace scientist at Goddard and an author on the paper. "And understanding how the solar wind impacts these changes by transferring material, momentum and energy across the magnetopause, is one of the most important questions in magnetospheric physics in general and space weather effects in particular."
This latest discovery was made possible by the unique configuration of the four identical Cluster spacecraft, which fly in a closely controlled formation through near-Earth space. As they sweep from the magnetosphere into interplanetary space and back again, the flotilla provides unique three-dimensional insights on the processes that connect the sun to Earth.
Previous discoveries derived from Cluster measurements have shown that the magnetopause is commonly subject to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. These waves have a distinctive shape that is quite familiar: they look like large amplitude ocean waves that are whipped up by strong winds. Such waves generate turbulence as they crest and break. In the case of the solar wind, the waves are made of huge swirls of electrified gas called plasma, up to 25,000 miles across, which develop along the outer edge of the magnetosphere. Moving plasma, and therefore the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, trap magnetic fields along with them, which turn out to be crucial in trying to determine how the solar wind can enter the magnetosphere. As the magnetic field becomes wrapped up in the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves, oppositely directed fields can "reconnect", allowing plasma to move from the solar wind into the magnetosphere.
"The space weather community pays considerable attention to Kelvin-Helmholtz waves," says Kyoung-Joo Hwang, a research scientist at Goddard and the University of Maryland Baltimore County and lead author of the paper. "Because they have global influence on Earth's magnetic system and are important for understanding Earth's response to changes on the sun."
In general, the solar wind's ability to penetrate into near-Earth space is thought to rely on the magnetic alignment of the interplanetary magnetic fields, often shortened to IMF. As the solar wind streams from the sun toward the day side of Earth, its magnetic fields connect up to those of Earth, resulting in a sudden and dramatic reconfiguration or reconnection of the field lines. This is most efficient when the IMF is aligned southward opposite to the northward alignment of Earth's magnetic field. The temporary tangling of the field lines creates ideal conditions for magnetic reconnection, allowing large amounts of plasma and magnetic energy to be transferred from the solar wind to the magnetosphere.
Magnetic reconnection also occurs more weakly with a northward orientation of the IMF, generally only seen at higher latitudes. Spacecraft observations have indicated that Kelvin-Helmholtz waves may play an important role in the transfer of solar wind material into the magnetosphere during a northward IMF a hypothesis bolstered by the fact that the waves can facilitate magnetic reconnection. However, previous identification of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves during northward IMF were limited to the low latitude flanks of the magnetosphere.
The team of scientists has now directly observed these Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at high latitudes under other orientations of the IMF. Instead of pointing north or south, the IMF was pointing west, towards the dawn side of Earth. Under these conditions, the Cluster data showed the waves on the dusk side of the high-latitude magnetopause. The magnetopause is the boundary between the relatively undisturbed magnetosphere and the magnetosheath, the region containing solar wind plasma that has come across the bow shock that protects Earth from the direct onslaught of solar wind plasma. The scientists were also able to characterize how differences in IMF orientation greatly influenced the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves as a result of variations in the thickness and other characteristics of the boundary layer.
The data were obtained between 7:00 a.m. and noon EST on 12 Jan., 2003. The four Cluster spacecraft were in tetrahedral formation, about 2,500 miles apart, flying close to the northern duskward region of Earth's magnetosphere. The quartet was outbound, heading toward the evening side magnetopause.
"This was the first time that the presence of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at the magnetopause had been demonstrated at high latitude for a dawnward orientation of the IMF," said Hwang. "We are seeing these waves in unpredictable places, under solar wind conditions that were previously thought to be unfavorable for their generation."
While the paper reports on only one case study, similar conditions are frequently found in the magnetosphere, says Goldstein. "Since this and similar geometrical orientations of the IMF are common, the process we describe might act as a fairly continuous mechanism of solar wind transport into the magnetosphere."
Hwang is now undertaking a statistical study to determine how ubiquitous the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves are and how they evolve and develop.
"This discovery shows how Earth's magnetosphere can be penetrated by solar particles under certain interplanetary magnetic field conditions," said Matt Taylor, ESA project scientist for Cluster. "The study of the high-latitude, dayside magnetopause would not have been possible without the in-situ measurements sent back by Cluster. The relatively small spatial separation of the four spacecraft made it possible to analyze the spatial structures and characteristics of the Kelvin-Helmholtz waves."
These results are also relevant to studies of magnetospheric processes around other planets in the solar system. For example, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities are commonly observed at the boundary of Mercury's magnetosphere and on the dawnward flank of Saturn's magnetopause. This new study opens up the possible locations where such waves may be generated, suggesting that they can be a common, and possibly continuous, mechanism for the entry of solar wind into planetary magnetospheres under various IMF orientations.
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Streaming video is really available through a variety of different styles. Several individuals are aware of streaming online video on the net, considering that this is roughly when the term began to be made use of. Prior to this, video presentation was frequently streamed in additional ways, yet there was no requirement to set apart in between the methods of transfer given that the streaming procedure was not used to the magnitude that it is made use of today. Streaming is the method in which the video recording is delivered. It is delivered between the supplier as well as the recipient in a genuine time way. The data is being delivered on a frequent basis so that the personal customer will definitely be able to select it up or open it whenever they want. Undoubtedly the web is able to achieve this since it is open twenty 4 hours a day.
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You're not going to get much out of "Chicago Fire's" Taylor Kinney about his girlfriend. But Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford sure gave it a shot on TODAY Wednesday. For one thing, Kinney's main squeeze is slightly well-known outside TV circles -- she's Lady Gaga.
Kotb noted how adorable it was that Gaga had tweeted a promotion for Kinney's new series, suggesting her fans should watch it. "I was surprised," said Kinney, but he was pleased. "I think she's proud of, you know, girlfriend being proud of her boyfriend. She's been to the set a couple times."
It may be hard to see one another since he's on set and she's on tour, but Kinney revealed Gaga has a secret weapon: "She hasn't said anything, but she has a spaceship and she can get from A to B pretty quickly," he said.
But then he got a little shy about talking about his uber-famous girlfriend, and suggested the ladies talk to her to get the whole scoop. Anyway, he doesn't see her as a big style/music icon. "I don't have that outside view," he said. "For whatever reason, it works. I'm a lucky guy."
Have you tuned in to see Taylor Kinney and his co-stars on "Chicago Fire"? What do you think of the show so far? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
The placebo effect seems to make little sense: get ill, take a dummy pill, and you'll recover in much the same way as someone taking real drugs. While there have been many theories bandied about over the years to explain how it works, new evidence suggests that it may be genetic. More »
Two Wolves will move on after Monday's Division 3 tournament at Yolo Fliers Club. But the Woodland girls golf team as a whole did not advance to the Masters tournament next Monday.
Sara Scarlett's 78 on a par-72 course was enough to earn theTexas-commit a spot in the individual side of the Masters, which will be played at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton.
Meanwhile, coach Mark Jones is retiring as the Wolves coach after seven years at the helm. For the past 10 years, Jones also headed the boys team, which is still searching for a coach, and has coached JV basketball at Woodland and track and cross country at Douglass Middle School.
Following four straight Tri-County Conference titles by this girls golf team, Jones could think of no better time to leave.
"It's really been a great year ... for me to go out on," he said. "(But) right now I think I'm pretty much done with golf."
Also done with high school golf are seniors Sydney Santana (103 on Monday), Melissa Mahoney (110) and Selina Munos (131). The fifth Wolves player in the tournament on Monday was sophomore Yeevena Coronado (135).
"We didn't have a good day," Jones said of Monday's performance. "We've had our share of great days this year. It's just today wasn't one of them, unfortunately."
The Wolves finished with a score of 557, 73 strokes behind tournament winner Whitney (484). The Wildcats and Placer (512) advance to the Masters.
Scarlett will also be at that tournament, as
she was a year ago. Jones said Scarlett qualifying last season was "kind of like the start of something big." She wound up going into the last hole in fourth place but double bogeyed to finish 20th.
"She's had a wonderful career, hopefully she'll get on as well as last year," Jones said.
As for the coach, retirement means more traveling.
"We have a vacation home (in Truckee) that I don't get a chance to spend too much time in," he said. Now he should be able to do so more often, though he left his conversation with the Democrat by saying "coaching (has been) fun."
Girls tennis
The Patriots girls tennis team did what it needed to Thursday, beating Woodland to finish 5-5 in Tri-County Conference play, for a chance at the playoffs. But a Natomas victory over Inderkum on Thursday pushed Pioneer to fourth place, one spot out of the postseason.
Inderkum finishes in third and Natomas places second while Yuba City topped the TCC.
The locals will compete in individual playoffs this week, starting with singles competition today before doubles play on Thursday. Any singles players who do not advance today can participate in power doubles on Thursday.
Boys soccer
The Wolves andPatriots boys soccer teams were set to play each team's regular season finale on Monday, but field conditions at Woodland delayed the contest. Pioneer coach Anibal Morales said the game is now scheduled for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
For more local results
and features, follow at twitter.com/WoodlandSports
The U.S. job market is still struggling to recover, but no group has been hit harder than young people and recent college graduates, with about 1 in 2 recent graduates jobless or underemployed. Despite high unemployment, there are more than 3.6 million jobs open according to the Labor Department, with millions more on the horizon. One of the biggest reasons for this disparity is the gap in STEM talent.
STEM (which stands for science, technology, engineering and math) jobs grew at three times the rate of other fields from 2000-2010, and the projected demand is expected to increase by nearly 17 percent. However, even with all this growth filling those jobs with American workers will be a difficult challenge, as fewer than 1 in 5 math-proficient positions are interested in STEM jobs and 43 percent of STEM graduates choose not to work in the field. So how can you help bridge the STEM talent gap, and why is it worth it?
Why Are STEM Jobs So Great?
The annual STEM employee income is nearly $78,000, far outstripping the average U.S. income of $43,460. More than 47 percent of workers with a STEM bachelor degree earns more than a PhD in another occupation.
STEM positions are often in the most innovative fields and for some of the most progressive companies.
STEM jobs aren?t all behind a computer screen. STEM careers can be found in everything from animal breeding and dietitians to geneticists and astronauts.
Technology jobs are often insulated from unemployment woes. While national unemployment remains above 8 percent, tech unemployment is about half that at 4.4 percent.
From 2009-2011, the growth of self-employed STEM workers (3.1 percent) was more than 5 times greater than overall self-employment, meaning greater employment freedom.
STEM positions currently account for about 7.3 million jobs, but that number is expected to grow by more than 1 million jobs by 2020.
Education Misconception
The education requirements for STEM positions range from everything a high school diploma and on-the-job training for electricians all the way to a PhD for engineering managers, but there is vast need across all fields. Skilled trades like electricians are facing a drastic shortage of qualified employees and an aging workforce, meaning there is a lot of room for growth. While more than 90 percent of these jobs require some education after high school, 35 percent of the STEM workforce will have less than a bachelor?s degree by 2018. The bottom line is that you don?t need to be a rocket scientist to find a high-wage, high-tech job.
Go Where The Jobs Are
There are about 100 jobs listed as STEM occupations, but strong demand for information technology jobs is fueling the current growth of STEM jobs (8 of the 10 fastest growing careers are computer or IT related). The rise of internet companies, app developers, nanotechnology, green energy and cybersecurity are contributing to STEM job growth, but more traditional careers have a rising need for young talent as well. More than 50 percent of all Civil, Mechanical and Industrial engineers are over the age of 45, meaning that there will be a huge need for skilled engineers in years to come.
Contact a Staffing Agency
Finding talented employees is one of the most time-consuming and resource-intensive processes that many companies must do. For many technical positions, companies are simply unequipped or too busy to navigate the global marketplace for STEM talent. Staffing firms take the headache of candidate searches away from business and make it easy to put your resume in front of jobs that you are fully qualified for. For technical positions like network security jobs, choose a recruiter like Kforce that focuses on hiring solutions for information technology companies.
Know Your Options
You don?t have to pursue a career as a doctor or an astronaut to have a positive impact on America?s STEM job market. And, finding a tech job doesn?t mean that you need to work for a tech giant in Redmond or Silicon Valley. Nearly every small business in America needs IT infrastructure support, data analysts. Construction firms will always need skilled contractors and engineers to plan the next generation of American infrastructure. The national parks will always need game wardens and rangers with a biology background. Focus on your passions and learn what job you can find to build around your passion.
>>>and as we mentioned there is important news about women's health that may come as a surprise to many women who get one of the most common and important
medical tests
every year. a
pap smear
to screen for
cervical cancer
. tonight, new recommendations from the
american college
. they say most women age 21-65 can wait three to five years between pap tests as long as there is no sign of a problem. also, for the first time, the doctors advise that starting at the age of 30, women should also get tested for hpv when they get their
pap test
.
By Yasha Levine, an editor of The eXiled and co-founder of Project S.H.A.M.E., a media transparency initiative led by Yasha Levine and Mark Ames.
I was passing through the Mojave Desert and by chance stopped by a local thrift store in Joshua Tree. I?m glad I did, because I spotted a book that I just had to own. At $0.50, it was priced to sell. And as you can tell from the title above, the book?s a classic. It?s bound to remain fresh and relevant through the ages?not as a useful guide to homeownership, but as a fossil record of the biggest real estate scam in the history of the United States.
A lot of people still wonder how and why so many millions of people bought such ridiculously overpriced homes and took out mortgages and loans they clearly could not afford?
That?s what I kept wondering when I moved out to Victorville back in the Spring of 2009 to do immersion reporting from the front line of the real estate meltdown. Located about 100 miles east of Los Angeles on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Victorville got higher and crashed harder, in terms of real estate, than almost any other place in California. It doubled its size to 100,000 in just eight short years, growing from an isolated hick outpost into a booming commuter suburb filled with the cheapest McTractHomes south of Fresno. By the time I got there, Victorville was a ruined city filled with empty master planned communities, some of them half built and abandoned, rotting dry in the sun. I spent nearly two years reporting on the real estate swindle out there, and I never could stop thinking about the central question: How the hell were people coerced into moving out here? Why would anyone think that buying a $500,000 house in a desert 100 miles away from Los Angeles be good idea, no matter what kind of loan deal you got or how booming the market. What kind of propaganda were these people subjected to?
Well, this book provides a part of the answer: people were explicitly instructed to do so.
The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner hit the front bookcase displays at Barnes and Noble in March 2006, at the very top of the real estate market and just a few months before the whole thing crashed and burned. Its main message was simple: If you take out a mortgage to buy a home, you will always make money. There is no way you can lose?no matter when you buy, how much you pay or what type of loan you get. And the kicker is: both the book and finance expert who wrote it were bankrolled by Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
This book is just one of dozens?if not hundreds?of similar self-help snake oil guides promising a sure bet system to get rich in real estate. But it?s a good example of the massive propaganda effort financed by Wall Street that was designed to funnel as many people as possible into the mortgage meat grinder. The book was packed with blatant lies that seem so obvious and even comic in retrospect. The book was not put out by some shady fly by night operation, but by a supposedly credible financial expert who had the backing of the most well-known and respected banks, TV networks and newspapers.
But the whole thing was a fraud, shamelessly boosted by some of the biggest names in news media?none of whom have been held accountable for their role in defrauding millions of Americans.
So let?s take a look?Crack open the book and turn to the introduction, it begins like this:
What if I told you the smartest investment you would ever make during your lifetime would be a home!
What if I told you that in just an hour or two I could share with you a simple system that would help you become rich through homeownership?
What if I told you that this system was called the Automatic Millionaire Homeowner?and that if you spent an hour or two with me, you could learn how to become one? [emphasis mine]
Would you be interested? Would you be willing to spend a few hours with me? Would you like to become an Automatic Millionaire Homeowner?
Interested? Intrigued? Want to know more? Well, turn a couple of pages and you get this:
As I sit here in August 2005, I have no idea when you will be reading what I?m writing. Maybe it?s March 2006 (when this book is scheduled to be published)?by which time the real estate market could be slowing or cooling down to modest single-digit annual gains (or not). Perhaps this book was bought by a friend of yours who passed it along to you?and it?s now 2007 and those once ?certain? boom markets are going bust due to speculation. Or maybe the opposite has happened?interest rates have remained at historic lows, and home prices have continued their march upward.
In fact, it doesn?t really matter when you happen to be reading this or what?s going on right now in the markets. This book is not about the boom . . . or the busts. . . . What this book is about is the truth. And the truth is this:
Nothing you will ever do in your lifetime is likely to make you as much money as buying a home and living in it. [emphasis in the original]
What?s this sure-fire system? Well, it?s so simple it fits on the inside flap! Here?s how you do it:
What Makes The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner Essential:
? You don?t need a big down payment to buy a home.
? You don?t need great credit.
? You should buy even if you have credit-card debt.
? You can buy a second home even if you?re still paying off the first.
? You can get started in any market-boom or bust.
? It?s easier to be a landlord than you think.
Just a few months after the book came out, the real estate market went into a death-spiral. Victorville and other Mojave Desert exurbs like Palmdale and Lancaster were packed to the brim with people who followed this book?s advice to the letter. They took out no down payment adjustable rate mortgages, bought at the peak of bubble, had horrible credit scores, were struggling to make ends meet and were probably up the hilt in credit card debt. Over the next year and a half, home prices collapsed by 30% and just kept falling. By the time that I packed my bags and fled West towards the Pacific Ocean in 2010, homes that had sold for nearly $400,000 at the top of the market in 2006 couldn?t find a buyer at $50,000 or $75,000. People were kicked out of their homes, lost all the ?investment? payments they had made on the loan and had to find other places to live?rental homes if they were lucky; their cars or tents at the hobo camp down on the banks of the Mojave River if they weren?t.
So the Automatic Millionaire was a bust?well, at least as far as the now-former homeowners were concerned. But as we now know, the latest homeownership craze was never meant to benefit the homeowners. The only Automatic Millionaires created by this book were David Bach and the financial oligarchy he served.
See, before David Bach began his bright career as a New York Times bestselling author dedicated to spreading the gospel of homeownership, he was a senior vice president of Morgan Stanley and a partner of The Bach Group, a wealth management outfit started by his father. Yep, he was born into it. Finance runs through his veins!
So it?s no surprise that both Bank of America and Wells Fargo sponsored David Bach and his revolutionary Automatic Millionaire Homeowner wealth creation system.
Here?s an excerpt from Wells Fargo?s press release:
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Joins with David Bach to Promote Shared Vision of the Lifelong Benefits of Homeownership to Millions of Americans
Best-Selling Author, Leading Retail Lender to Encourage People to Build Long-Term Financial Success through Homeownership
DES MOINES, Iowa ? Oct. 28, 2005 ? Wells Fargo Home Mortgage today announced a three-year agreement with financial coach David Bach, author of several best-selling books including No. 1 New York Times best-seller The Automatic Millionaire. The partnership is designed to increase the number of first-time, second-home and investment homebuyers and help homeowners best manage the equity in their home as an asset to achieve their long-term financial goals.
Yep, Wells Fargo is only interested in educating homeowners for the greater good. And the bank is not alone. Just look at all the smart people who praise and recommend his work. They wouldn?t lie, not with their reputations on the line!
Jean Chatzky, Financial Editor of NBC?s Today, blurbed: ?The Automatic Millionaire gives you, step-by-step, everything you need to secure your financial future. When you do it David Bach?s way, failure is not an option.?
Fox?s Bill O?Reilly also endorsed the Automatic Millionaire wealth creation system: ?David Bach?s no-spin financial advice is beautiful because it?s so simple. If becoming self-sufficient is important to you, then this book is a must.? Yep, this is the same O?Reilly who bashed homeowner ?losers? who took out loans that they weren?t able to pay, and yet here he is endorsing a plan that says there?s no such thing homeowner who loses money. Wonder what kind of cut Bill gets off Bach?s loot?
So what?s up with David Bach today?
The man?s still doing regular TV gigs and giving financial advice to unsuspecting victims, including a weekly appearance on NBC?s Today Show. But he?s changed his racket: Bach?s no longer out to make automatic millionaires; these days he?s motivating debtors to get second/third jobs and convincing them to adopt austerity measures in their own personal lives. He?ll help you pare down your consumption footprint to the bare minimum necessary for physical survival. Yep, Bach?s our debt handler. His job is to make sure we peons keep making those monthly payments to Wells Fargo and Bank of America!
The day that degenerate shysters like David Bach are afraid to show their faces in public and feel the need to flee across the border is the day that we?ll know that we as a country are making progress towards a brighter future.
Read Yasha Levine?s book: The Corruption of Malcolm Gladwell.
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Public release date: 24-Oct-2012
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That?s what I kept wondering when I moved out to Victorville back in the Spring of 2009 to do immersion reporting from the front line of the real estate meltdown. Located about 100 miles east of Los Angeles on the edge of the Mojave Desert, Victorville got higher and crashed harder, in terms of real estate, than almost any other place in California. It doubled its size to 100,000 in just eight short years, growing from an isolated hick outpost into a booming commuter suburb filled with the cheapest McTractHomes south of Fresno. By the time I got there, Victorville was a ruined city filled with empty master planned communities, some of them half built and abandoned, rotting dry in the sun. I spent nearly two years reporting on the real estate swindle out there, and I never could stop thinking about the central question: How the hell were people coerced into moving out here? Why would anyone think that buying a $500,000 house in a desert 100 miles away from Los Angeles be good idea, no matter what kind of loan deal you got or how booming the market. What kind of propaganda were these people subjected to?
