5 Clever Ways Your Business Can Use Video to Drive Traffic ...

?My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.? -Jane Austen

Tired of hearing about how video increases conversions? Yeah me too.

And I live and breathe online video.

However, you?re a savvy marketer. You read the Unbounce blog and probably other popular marketing blogs, so you don?t need to be pounded over the head about the fact that you should be using video.

You already know that video increases conversions and you?ve probably read these great posts:

So, let?s take a different approach. Let?s explore some businesses that are using video in clever ways and in places you?ve never dreamt of.

Here are 5 clever ways businesses are using video to engage with their audiences and grow their traffic.

Go K-Pop

How do you capitalize on a wacky yet addictive music video that has become this year?s biggest internet sensation known as ?Gangnam Style??

Simple, you create your own version of a wacky, yet addictive music video and call it ?Inbound Style.?

If you?re an avid reader of Hubspot, like myself, then you love the marketing tips they provide. But you also love their not-so-serious approach to marketing.

Sure we?re geeky marketers who enjoy a dinner conversation about the latest conversion tactics and social media trends, but sometimes we all like (and need) to take our shoes off, take in a long breath of fresh air and enjoy a little comedy.

For all the great content that Hubspot creates, it?s refreshing to see a little personality so we, as their audience, can have a deeper connection with the brand.

THE Unsubscribe Video

What happens when you click unsubscribe on one of the daily emails you receive from Groupon?

Well, the quirky brand we all know and love uses video to re-engage users during this process.

The video allows you to ?punish? Derrick for sending an email that you found irrelevant. If you decide to click on the ?punish? button, another person comes over to yell at him and throws some water in his face.

At the end of the video, you are able to show some pity on Derrick and resubsribe to the emails.

Even though there?s no audio in the video, the concept is genius and the first time I saw it, I resubscribed immediately.

It?s an amazingly clever use of video and has led to many other blogs writing about this simple unsubscribe page.

Although Groupon has since switched over to a more conventional unsubscribe page where you can manage your email settings, the fact that Mike Arrington created a video about Groupon?s unsubscribe page made it still worth mentioning.

Video Twitter Replies

What typically happens when one of our followers ask us a question on Twitter? We write a reply back to them as fast as we can or link them to the right page with the answers. Works perfectly fine right?

But how do you go above and beyond the norm and truly connect with your audience? Jen Rubio, Social Media Manager for Warby Parker, uses social media in unexpected ways to double the response rate and truly connect with followers.

Most people generally think of Twitter as a text-based social platform, but one of the most successful things that Warby Parker does on Twitter is reply to people with video responses.

The companies? followers frequently ask questions about the color, size and/or shape of a particular frame, and instead of just responding to them with a tweet, she and her team creates a video that shows them the difference between two frames.

Keeping things visual captivates your audience and produces great content with little to no time or money.

Targeted Customer Testimonials

Full disclosure: Sharefile is a customer of SmartShoot.

How did Sharefile become one of the biggest file sending services on the net getting acquired by Citrix in October 2011?
They used SmartShoot, of course. J to the k.

On a serious note, Sharefile understood the power of video and instead of just creating one overarching testimonial video they created multiple testimonial videos targeted at key target markets.

By creating industry specific landing pages along with industry specific customer testimonials, they?ve boosted user signups to their subscription service.

Click for full-size image

Create Your Own Whiteboard Animation

Have a loooooong piece of video content that you can?t wait to share with the world? Consider using a whiteboard animation video.

The beauty of these videos is that everything moves at an engaging pace and allows you to create longer videos without the fear of losing your audience.

One of my ABSOLUTE favorites is Dan Pink?s talk about the hidden trusts behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

Now if you?ve got the budget you can certainly get a whiteboard animation through the SmartShoot platform, however, you?re looking at a minimum of $2,000 for a 60 second video.

Pat Flynn, a popular blogger and internet marketer, has a fantastic video that teaches you how to create your own whiteboard animation for just a few hundred dollars.

Pat states that ?with YouTube, I can reach more people than I ever could by just sticking to written content on my blog.? His YouTube channel has over 13,000 subscribers and 1.8 million views.

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? Steve Young

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Source: http://unbounce.com/online-marketing/5-clever-ways-your-business-can-use-video-to-drive-traffic/

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$1 billion deal major step in Toyota legal trouble

FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

FILE - In this photo taken June 25, 2011, file photo, Toyota keys sit in a fish bowl at the Toyota of Tampa Bay dealership in Tampa, Fla. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

In this Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, photo, a Toyota dealership signs glows over a car lot in Tustin Calif. A plaintiffs' attorney on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, says Toyota Motor Corp. has reached a settlement in a case involving hundreds of lawsuits over accelerations problems. Steve Berman said Wednesday the settlement, which still needs a federal judge's approval, was worth more than $1 billion and is the largest settlement in U.S. history involving automobile defects. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? With a proposed payout of more than $1 billion, one major chapter of a nearly four-year legal saga that left Toyota Motor Corp. fighting hundreds of lawsuits and struggling with a tarnished image has ended, though another remains.

The settlement ? unprecedented in its size according to a plaintiff's attorney ? brings an end to claims from owners who said the value of their vehicles plunged after recalls over sudden and unintended acceleration.

Lawsuits claiming that the defects caused injury or death remain, with the first trial beginning in February unless another major deal comes first.

Steve Berman, a lawyer representing Toyota owners, said the settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving automobile defects.

"We kept fighting and fighting and we secured what we think was a good settlement given the risks of this litigation," Berman told The Associated Press.

The courtroom claims began with a highway tragedy. A California Highway Patrol officer and three of his family members were killed in suburban San Diego in 2009 after their car, a Toyota-built Lexus, reached speeds of more than 120 mph, hit an SUV, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames.

Investigators determined that a wrong-size floor mat trapped the accelerator and caused the crash.

That discovery, and the accident's grisliness, spurred a series of recalls involving more than 14 million vehicles and a flood of lawsuits soon followed, with numerous complaints of accelerations in several models, and brake defects with the Prius hybrid.

The Japanese automaker has blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and stuck accelerator pedals for the problems.

The runaway Lexus case was settled separately for $10 million in 2010, before the cases were consolidated by U.S. District Judge James Selna.

Selna divided them into two categories: economic loss and wrongful death. He needs to approve Wednesday's settlement, which only applies to the first group of lawsuits. The deal was filed Wednesday and Selna is expected to review it on Friday.

Toyota said it will take a one-time, $1.1 billion pre-tax charge against earnings to cover the estimated costs of the settlement. Berman said the total value of the deal is between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion.

As part of the economic loss settlement, Toyota will offer cash payments from a pool of about $250 million to eligible customers who sold vehicles or turned in leased vehicles between September 2009 and December 2010.

The company also will launch a $250 million program for 16 million current owners to provide supplemental warranty coverage for certain vehicle components, and it will retrofit about 3.2 million vehicles with a brake override system. An override system is designed to ensure a car will stop when the brakes are applied, even if the accelerator pedal is depressed.

The settlement would also establish additional driver education programs and fund new research into advanced safety technologies.

"In keeping with our core principles, we have structured this agreement in ways that work to put our customers first and demonstrate that they can count on Toyota to stand behind our vehicles," said Christopher Reynolds, Toyota vice president and general counsel.

Current and former Toyota owners are expected to receive more information about the settlement in the coming months.

Plaintiffs' attorneys have spent the past two years deposing Toyota employees, poring over thousands of documents and reviewing software code, but the company maintains those lawyers have been unable to prove that a design defect ? namely Toyota's electronic throttle control system ? was responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly.

Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA were unable to find any defects in Toyota's source code that could cause problems.

The company has been dogged by fines for not reporting problems in a timely manner.

Earlier this month, NHTSA doled out a record $17.4 million fine to Toyota for failing to quickly report floor mat problems with some of its Lexus models. Toyota paid a total of $48.8 million in fines for three violations in 2010.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda appeared before Congress last year and pledged to strengthen quality control. Recent sales figures show the company appears to have rebounded following its safety issues.

___

Online:

Settlement website: http://www.ToyotaELsettlement.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-27-Toyota%20Lawsuits/id-31ebf882530d4d8cb87cd3a57b94d593

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Video: FMHR Top Three Trades

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Cliff Negotiations Take Holiday Break (WSJ)

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Prehistoric cinema: A silver screen on the cave wall

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Daily Chronicle | Nonprofit plans to offer health insurance as co-op

CHICAGO ? A new nonprofit organization called Land of Lincoln Health is taking steps to offer health insurance coverage in Illinois in 2014 when President Barack Obama's health overhaul law goes into full effect.

The Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council announced Friday that an application it submitted has received approval for a $160 million federal low-interest loan. The loan will be used to develop Land of Lincoln Health as a so-called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan, or "co-op."

The Affordable Care Act created co-ops as a new type of private nonprofit health insurer. The co-ops will be directed by customers.

Land of Lincoln Health is now applying for a state license to offer health insurance to individuals and small businesses in Illinois.

There are 24 hours, 56 minutes remaining to comment on this story.

Source: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/12/21/nonprofit-plans-to-offer-health-insurance-as-co-op/ay3a5jq/

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The Benefits Of A Computer Networking Technology Diploma ...

Technology continues to expand at an alarming rate and there will always be a high demand for individuals with the education and training to keep that technology up and running. A computer networking technology diploma is a ticket to a successful and prosperous future. As a graduate, there are a wide variety of benefits that you will enjoy.

The job market for someone holding a computer networking technology diploma will always be there. Someone who has graduated with this degree will not have to worry about job security. The job lookout is very good for at least the next decade, with more related jobs being created at a high rate.

The most common career of a person possessing such a degree is as a network administrator. Almost every company and major business in the world needs administrators to maintain, monitor, repair, and defend their critical infrastructures. Degree holders can also work as computer programmers, network operators and information system managers.

But the job market is not only limited to corporations. There are also plenty of jobs available through the government, defense, and contracted companies. The jobs pay very well and have great benefits for employees and their families.

Salaries for people who have earned their diploma are very good. The average salary of a network administrator is about $60,000, but it can be well into the six-digits. Information system managers can make considerably more money, with the average annual pay hovering at around $115,000.

While talking course in networking technology, a student will learn the fundamentals of wireless networks, computer forensics and repair, cloud computing, web technology and design, and programming. Upon completion, students will be comfortable with troubleshooting, repair, maintenance, and configuration of hardware and software, as well as network operating systems including Windows, Linux, and Novell NetWare.

No background knowledge is even required to enter this field of study. You can enter with no computer knowledge at all or with years worth of experience and still get a good education. A diploma program should walk everyone from the basics of computer all the way through advanced network technologies.

Students will be exposed to a wide variety of course material which will help them prepare for additional information technology certificates. Some of the most popular include the Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA), Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP), and many programming languages. Furthermore, there limitless certificates offered by most major computer companies. All of these extra certifications greatly improve your available job market and potential salary.

Thousands of schools offer this field of study. The good thing is that it is offered both on campus and as distant learning. If you are able to take classes in an actual classroom on campus, you can learn a lot and have access to hands on training. However, online schools also have high expectations and allow students the ability to take classes on their own time and at their own pace.

Technology continues to expand and there will always be a demand for people who can set it up and keep it running. This field of work offers job security, satisfaction, and good salaries. If you have any interest in the technology arena, you cannot go wrong by getting a computer networking technology diploma.

Source: http://www.proactiveresults.us/28-the-benefits-of-a-computer-networking-technology-diploma.html

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Higher-end homes selling again

3 hrs.

Diana Olick , CNBC.com

Sales of existing homes beat expectations in November, with Realtors reporting a surprisingly modest effect in the Northeast from Superstorm Sandy. An even bigger surprise was a huge gain in activity among higher-end homes. Sales of homes priced above $750,000 jumped 50 percent from a year ago, as sales of the lowest-end homes (largely distressed) fell 4 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The change in the mix of homes selling pushed the median home price nationally (median defined as half selling higher and half selling lower) to $180,600, a 10.1 percent increase from November of 2011. This is a far higher jump than other so-called "repeat" sales indices have shown, because a median measure does not compare the sale prices of homes selling now to similar homes selling a year ago, but the median of all sale prices nationally, which is skewed to which types of homes are selling. Still, the shift to more activity in higher price ranges is important.

(Read More: The Top Towns For Sales of $10 Million Homes)

"An increase in the median price has a direct effect on the economy and economic growth," noted the Realtors' chief economist Lawrence Yun. That is because more income is generated in the sale of a higher-priced homes. Realtors get larger commissions, mortgage lenders charge higher fees, interest payments on mortgages are higher; even secondary expenditures like lawn care and home improvements are higher on a higher-priced home, either due to its size or the income and spending ability of its buyer.

The shift in the mix is due to more owner-occupants buying move up homes, and fewer investors buying distressed properties. Some claim wealthier buyers are selling fast now so they don't get hit with higher capital gains taxes, a possible result of so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations, but the likely driver of these sales is more simple: Improvement in the overall housing market, the economy and consumer sentiment.

(Read More: McMansions Return: Big Houses Are Coming Back)

"While there's still a risk that the fiscal cliff will derail the housing recovery, the balance between supply and demand suggests that, if anything, the risks around our forecast of a 5 percent increase in house prices next year are on the upside," notes Paul Diggle of Capital Economics.

The shift in the sales mix is also largely due to a drop in the number of distressed homes for sale. Foreclosures and short sales made up just 22 percent of home sales in November, according to the Realtors, the lowest share in five years. Much of that is due to a lack of supply on the distressed side, as investors continue to compete for these properties to take advantage of the still-lucrative rental market.

The Realtors claim the distressed share of sales will continue to decline in 2013, due to fewer seriously delinquent loans, but banks are now ramping up foreclosures of long-delayed delinquent loans, so there could be another bump in that supply before it finally falls dramatically. Bank repossessions?jumped 11 percent month-to-month in November and saw the first annual increase since 2010, according to RealtyTrac.

Overall, the supply of all homes nationally is at its lowest level in 7 years, just 4.8 months' worth at the current sales pace.

(Read More: Best US Housing?Markets for Buyers and Sellers)

"With the homebuyer affordability index near multi-decade highs combined with decent job creation at the same time renting has gotten more expensive -- all lead to a continued improvement in sales," writes Peter Boockvar of Miller Tabak. "This said, sales are still 30 percent below the bubble highs and are still where they were in 1998, both pointing to the degree of possible improvement ahead but also evidence of the damage that was done where historically the pace of recovery takes time."

(Read More: New Nightmare for?Home Builders: Not Enough Skilled Workers)

?By CNBC's Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC

Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/higher-end-homes-selling-again-1C7659305

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Why an Apple-Foursquare partnership would make sense

According to one report, Apple is considering a partnership with Foursquare that would involve using the location-based service?s data inside Apple?s maps. That would be a smart move for Apple at a time when its maps have come under heavy fire for a lack of features.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal late Monday, Apple is in discussions with Foursquare about including data from the location-based service in Apple?s Maps application ? the same mapping application that has gotten criticism from many users for its lack of features and poor use of data. If Apple and Foursquare were to form some kind of data-sharing relationship, it would certainly make sense for Apple, since it would add a level of usability that other maps (including Google?s) might not have, and it would make sense for Foursquare to leverage the size of Apple?s installed base. But would it make up for all of the perceived shortcomings of Apple Maps?

There?s no question that Apple needs all the help it can get. When the company announced that its own mapping service would become the new default in iOS 6 ? replacing Google Maps ? it was seen as more of a blow for Apple users than it was for Google, since Apple?s maps were viewed as not being as reliable in terms of data (something that got the company in hot water recently with Australian officials, among other things) and also as lacking some of the features that Google users have become accustomed to, including transit directions.

Even veteran Apple supporter John Gruber of Daring Fireball described the new Apple maps default as a ?downgrade?, and CEO Tim Cook wound up apologizing for the state of the service. And when Google released a maps app for the iPhone last week, it quickly became the most downloaded in recent memory ? with more than 10 million downloads in less than 48 hours.

The bottom line is that Apple needs to add as much value to its Maps app as it possibly can, in order to keep people using it so that it can improve its data and become more competitive with Google. That?s where a partnership with Foursquare would come in very handy: Speaking as an iPhone user, one of the main things I do when I use a mapping service or application ? other than finding a specific destination ? is look for restaurants, coffee shops, stores and other things that are near me, particularly when I?m in a strange city or country.

Coincidentally, that?s also the main thing I (and I think many other users) do with Foursquare. For me, it has become like a better version of Yelp, with locations of businesses and services that my friends or acquaintances have recommended, all helpfully placed on a map that shows where they are in relation to me. I?ve used this countless times in New York and San Francisco to find everything from a coffee shop to a computer store, or even to find hotels.

Adding that kind of information might not make up for the lack of good geographical data within Apple?s Maps, but it could get more iPhone users to spend time in the app, and that in turn would help generate better data. Google has its own local recommendations and services that it shows in Google maps, but Foursquare?s socially based info could be a strong advantage for Apple at a time when it needs help the most.

Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Flickr users Cotidad and See-ming Lee

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/gtaPfeuZNcE/story01.htm

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TrackBack - MS Estate Planning

Yes. ?Typically an employee does not own the policy, but does have an "incident of ownership" since he or she has the right to name the beneficiary (see previous discussion of "incidents of ownership"). ?If the insured employee irrevocably assigns all incidents of ownership in an employer-provided policy to the desired person or to an irrevocable trust, the death benefit will be excluded from the insured's taxable estate. ?If the insured dies within three years of the assignment, however, the policy proceeds will still be included in the taxable estate.

Excerpt from The Complete Guide to Estate and Financial Planning in Turbulent Times (Collaborative Press, 2011) - Walt Dallas, Contributing Author

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For more information on Madison and Jackson MS Wills Trusts and other Estate Planning please visit our website.

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Source: http://blog.estateplanning123.com/2012/12/life-insurance-can-an-employer-provided-policy-be-successfully-removed-from-the-taxable-estate.html

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Egypt's ousted president slips, hits his head

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian security official says ousted president Hosni Mubarak has slipped in the bathroom in the prison where is serving a life sentence, hitting his head.

The official says the ailing Mubarak, 84, was treated in Cairo's Tora prison Saturday for head injuries and a chest bruise. He says Mubarak slipped before two months ago but did not injure himself.

The report comes at a particularly tense moment in the transition that has followed Mubarak's 2011 overthrow, as millions of Egyptians vote in a highly contentious referendum on a draft constitution written by a mostly Islamist panel.

Mubarak was convicted of failing to stop killings of protesters during the uprising. There have been conflicting reports about his health.

The official spoke anonymously as he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-ousted-president-slips-hits-head-192323920.html

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Review: Detroit not reaching consent deal targets

DETROIT (AP) ? A preliminary review of Detroit's finances has determined that the city is not on target to fulfill promises to the state that allowed the city to avoid having an emergency manager appointed to oversee it, the state Treasury Department said Friday.

The review started Tuesday "has found that a serious financial problem exists in the city," Treasury spokesman Terry Stanton said in a news release. The state will likely appoint a review team to take a closer look at the city's books, he said.

That could lead to the appointment of an emergency manager and state oversight of the city under the state's current emergency manager law. The Legislature passed revised emergency manager legislation this week, but it would have no bearing on Detroit's situation because Gov. Rick Snyder hasn't signed it and if he does, it wouldn't go into effect until March, Stanton said.

There is no timeline under which a review team has to be appointed, according to Stanton.

Detroit's has been experiencing a fiscal meltdown for years, so the finding of the preliminary review by Treasurer Andy Dillon's office is not surprising.

"This is part of the process. There is nothing new here," Mayor Dave Bing said Friday night in a statement. "We continue to be focused on our financial restructuring plan."

But the Democrat Dillon and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder have complained that Bing's restructuring is taking too long to show positive results.

The city is billions of dollars in debt and has a budget deficit of more than $200 million. Detroit has been meeting payroll and paying some of its bills from millions of dollars in bond money released by the state from an escrow account.

Some of the payments have been delayed while the city worked to meet certain "milestones" tied to improving its finances. Most recently, the state withheld $10 million after the City Council failed to approve the contract for an outside law firm to assist Bing.

The council finally approved that $300,000 contract and other measures this week and the state released the money to the city.

But the Treasurer's preliminary review still determined that Detroit has violated the Uniform Budgeting and Accounting Act, which requires the city's budget to be amended as soon as it becomes apparent that an amendment is necessary.

Due to financial reporting problems, the city's cash flow projections also fluctuate monthly. That makes it difficult to "make informed decisions regarding its fiscal health," according to Dillon's office.

An estimate in August projected a cash deficit of $62 million by June 30, 2013. But an October estimate placed the projected deficit at $84 million, while November's had it at $122 million.

Bing has said he will lay off 400 to 500 city employees in the new year, roughly 5 percent of the workforce, to help straighten Detroit's poor public finances and avoid an emergency manager.

Bing, Snyder and Dillon entered into a consent agreement in the spring that would allow Bing to implement his changes with help from the state without an overseer appointed by Snyder.

The cities of Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Flint, Ecorse and Allen Park currently are under managers, as are the Muskegon Heights, Highland Park and Detroit public school districts.

The state Legislature, in an effort to bolster the emergency manager law, passed a bill this week requiring financially troubled local governments to choose one of four state-imposed remedies and replaces a similar law rejected last month by voters. Those options include acceptance of an emergency manager, bankruptcy, enter into mediation or join the state in a consent agreement similar to the current one involving Detroit.

Critics say each is trip-wired to ensure the same thing that voters rejected at the polls: state-imposed oversight.

___

Follow Corey Williams on Twitter at http://twitter.coreyapreporter

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/review-detroit-not-reaching-consent-deal-targets-023540188.html

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Experts urge long-term Medicare savings

Democrats and Republicans agree the solution to the nation's out-of-control health care spending won't be wrapped up with a "fiscal cliff" bargain and short-term spending cuts.

"There are a lot of conservatives and a lot of centrists and lot of progressives who believe we need comprehensive reform," said Robert Moffit, Medicare expert for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "Medicare's long-term debt is $37 trillion -- that's not going to be solved in the next three weeks dealing with the fiscal cliff."

That's where the similarities end.

As things stand, federal health care spending will increase from 5% of the gross domestic product now to almost 10% in 2037, and continue to grow from there, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That's in part because health care costs overall are increasing, and because Baby Boomers are starting to hit Medicare age.

When it comes to the details of reducing long-term spending on Medicare, which cost an estimated $560 billion this year, Republican proposals that seem simple enough can cause unseen problems while those promoted by Democrats, including those in the 2010 health care law, are often hard to quantify. And one provision of the law aimed directly at curbing higher Medicare costs - the Independent Payment Advisory Board - has been under constant attack by Republicans as a form of health care rationing.

"People have these narrow budget blinders on, and they miss the big picture of lowering health care costs," said David Certner, AARP's legislative policy chief. "It's better for the federal government in the short-term, but it's worse for everybody else."

During last year's debt-ceiling crisis, Republicans and the Obama administration seemed close to some kind of agreement to raise the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67. Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of Obama's deficit-reduction commission, also said he supported an age increase.

The president's re-election and the June Supreme Court decision upholding the health care law mean it will remain in place. Seniors who would have to wait until age 67 for Medicare will now have the ability to buy health insurance.

Moffit said the age should be raised higher, to 68, which would save $244 billion over 10 years.

While increasing the eligibility age provides clear cost savings on paper, it may also shift costs without working to contain them elsewhere in Medicare and the health care system overall, said Tricia Neuman, senior vice president for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

One part of the health care law that was created specifically to save money remains a target of Republicans during the fiscal cliff debate - the Independent Payment Advisory Board. Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation said one proposal being discussed would bring the board into play earlier than now allowed in the health care law. Beginning in 2013, IPAB must present proposals to save money if projected spending goes above a certain amount. Medicare is not expected to hit that amount until 2021, based on CBO estimates.

Last month, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., again vowed to repeal IPAB, calling it a "rationing" board, even though the law specifically prohibits the board from cutting care to seniors. The board is required to cut Medicare spending when its budget is too high. It is not allowed to determine what kind of care a person receives. Congress can vote to reverse the board's decisions if they can save the same amount of money with another plan. The CBO determined that getting rid of the board would cost $3.1 billion over the next 10 years.

(c) Copyright 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Copyright USA TODAY 2012

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A drug used to treat HIV might defuse deadly staph infections

Public release date: 14-Dec-2012
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Contact: Christopher Rucas
Christopher.Rucas@nyumc.org
212-404-3525
NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine

New findings could potentially lead to novel approaches to treat deadly staph infections

A new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers suggests that an existing HIV drug called maraviroc could be a potential therapy for Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious and deadly pathogen linked to hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year. Their study is published online this week in Nature.

"What are the chances that a drug for HIV could possibly treat a virulent Staph infection?" asks Victor J. Torres, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology, and senior author of the study. "These findings are the result of a fantastic collaboration that we hope will result in significant clinical benefit." Staph causes toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, and food poisoning, among other illnesses, and is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

The discovery arose from a serendipitous finding that was a part of a collaborative study between Dr. Torres, a bacteriologist, and immunologist Derya Unutmaz, MD, associate professor of microbiology and pathology and medicine, whose laboratories are adjacent to each other.

They focused on a receptor called CCR5 that dots the surface of immune T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Sixteen years ago, researchers at NYU School of Medicine discovered that CCR5 is the receptor HIV uses to gain entry into T cells in order to replicate, spread, and cause an infection that can progress into AIDS.

That same receptor has now been found to be critical to the ability of certain strains of Staph to specifically target and kill cells with CCR5, which orchestrate an immune response against the bacteria. The scientists discovered that one of the toxins the bacterium releases, called LukED, latches on to CCR5 and subsequently punches holes through the membrane of immune cells, causing them to rapidly die. The LukED toxin belongs to a family of proteins called leukotoxins, encoded and produced by Staph to fight off the immune system's defenses.

This discovery was made after Dr. Torres asked Dr. Unutmaz and fellow HIV researcher Nathaniel Landau, PhD, professor of microbiology, if he might use some of the human immune cells they had collected over the course of their HIV studies. The laboratories of all three scientists are adjacent to each other. Dr. Torres was trying to find out which immune cells were affected by different leukotoxins. Dr. Unutmaz gave him a T cell line, which they were using for their HIV infection studies and had previously engineered to express CCR5, to test the effects of these toxins.

"Within one hour flat, T cells with CCR5 all died when exposed to LukED" says Dr. Torres, whereas a similar T cell line that lacked the receptor was completely resistant to the toxin's effects. This observation quickly led to another set of experiments to determine that the LukED toxin was indeed interacting with the receptor and that its presence on the cell surface was necessary for the toxin to kill the cells.

The investigators then treated cells with CCR5 with maraviroc, a drug on the market that binds to CCR5 and blocks HIV infection, and then exposed the cells to the Staph toxin. The result, the scientists say, was astonishing. "It was remarkable. Maraviroc completely blocked the toxic effects of this leukotoxin at doses similar to those used to inhibit HIV infection" Dr. Unutmaz says.

"The goal in blocking the toxin with maraviroc or similar agents is to give the upper hand to the immune system to better control the infection," Dr. Torres adds. The researchers further corroborated the critical role of CCR5 in Staph infections using a mouse model. When they infected mice susceptible to Staph infection with strains that contain the LukED toxin, almost all the mice died. However, mice that were genetically engineered to lack CCR5 on their cells survived this lethal Staph infection.

Based on these findings, the investigators hope that future human clinical trials will determine whether drugs that block CCR5, such as maraviroc, could help the immune system to control the infection and potentially save lives.

###

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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: 14-Dec-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Christopher Rucas
Christopher.Rucas@nyumc.org
212-404-3525
NYU Langone Medical Center / New York University School of Medicine

New findings could potentially lead to novel approaches to treat deadly staph infections

A new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers suggests that an existing HIV drug called maraviroc could be a potential therapy for Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious and deadly pathogen linked to hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year. Their study is published online this week in Nature.

"What are the chances that a drug for HIV could possibly treat a virulent Staph infection?" asks Victor J. Torres, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology, and senior author of the study. "These findings are the result of a fantastic collaboration that we hope will result in significant clinical benefit." Staph causes toxic shock syndrome, pneumonia, and food poisoning, among other illnesses, and is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

The discovery arose from a serendipitous finding that was a part of a collaborative study between Dr. Torres, a bacteriologist, and immunologist Derya Unutmaz, MD, associate professor of microbiology and pathology and medicine, whose laboratories are adjacent to each other.

They focused on a receptor called CCR5 that dots the surface of immune T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Sixteen years ago, researchers at NYU School of Medicine discovered that CCR5 is the receptor HIV uses to gain entry into T cells in order to replicate, spread, and cause an infection that can progress into AIDS.

That same receptor has now been found to be critical to the ability of certain strains of Staph to specifically target and kill cells with CCR5, which orchestrate an immune response against the bacteria. The scientists discovered that one of the toxins the bacterium releases, called LukED, latches on to CCR5 and subsequently punches holes through the membrane of immune cells, causing them to rapidly die. The LukED toxin belongs to a family of proteins called leukotoxins, encoded and produced by Staph to fight off the immune system's defenses.

This discovery was made after Dr. Torres asked Dr. Unutmaz and fellow HIV researcher Nathaniel Landau, PhD, professor of microbiology, if he might use some of the human immune cells they had collected over the course of their HIV studies. The laboratories of all three scientists are adjacent to each other. Dr. Torres was trying to find out which immune cells were affected by different leukotoxins. Dr. Unutmaz gave him a T cell line, which they were using for their HIV infection studies and had previously engineered to express CCR5, to test the effects of these toxins.

"Within one hour flat, T cells with CCR5 all died when exposed to LukED" says Dr. Torres, whereas a similar T cell line that lacked the receptor was completely resistant to the toxin's effects. This observation quickly led to another set of experiments to determine that the LukED toxin was indeed interacting with the receptor and that its presence on the cell surface was necessary for the toxin to kill the cells.

The investigators then treated cells with CCR5 with maraviroc, a drug on the market that binds to CCR5 and blocks HIV infection, and then exposed the cells to the Staph toxin. The result, the scientists say, was astonishing. "It was remarkable. Maraviroc completely blocked the toxic effects of this leukotoxin at doses similar to those used to inhibit HIV infection" Dr. Unutmaz says.

"The goal in blocking the toxin with maraviroc or similar agents is to give the upper hand to the immune system to better control the infection," Dr. Torres adds. The researchers further corroborated the critical role of CCR5 in Staph infections using a mouse model. When they infected mice susceptible to Staph infection with strains that contain the LukED toxin, almost all the mice died. However, mice that were genetically engineered to lack CCR5 on their cells survived this lethal Staph infection.

Based on these findings, the investigators hope that future human clinical trials will determine whether drugs that block CCR5, such as maraviroc, could help the immune system to control the infection and potentially save lives.

###

---

[ | 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/2012-12/nlmc-adu121412.php

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The end of race history? Not yet

Osagie K. Obasogie, contributor

(Image: Tom Pilston/Panos)

Two books illuminate how ideas of a post-racial world conflict with ongoing use of race in science

HAVE we gone beyond race? Many argue society has now overcome centuries of strife to become "post-racial" - a moment that law professor Sumi Cho of DePaul University in Chicago refers to as "the end of race history".

Two seemingly disparate developments have been used to lend support to this claim. In politics, Barack Obama's 2008 election as the first racial minority-member to become US president has been lauded as a racially transcendent moment. In science, the completion of the Human Genome Project's first draft in June 2000 offered seemingly definitive evidence that race is not real. As geneticist Craig Venter noted at the HGP announcement, "the concept of race has no genetic or scientific basis".

Yet this supposed new era of race relations met a backlash on two fronts. The political dimension has been widely publicised; President Obama's first term has been distinguished by elements of hatred and disrespect unquestionably coloured by race.

Another, less well-known dimension has roots within the scientific community. Despite pronouncements that race is genetically meaningless, some researchers insist that there are natural divisions between human groups that align with social categories of race. They argue that taking account of biological differences between racial groups can lead to beneficial innovations such as better understandings of individual ancestry, race-specific therapies, and new tools that can help law-enforcement fight crime.

But science is not on the side of these scientists. It has been widely documented, for example, that the presumption of a biological basis for social categories of race can shape research methods as well as the interpretation of results. Such findings can lead to a troubling re-emergence of biological race in mainstream science that, despite good intentions, is not unlike past versions used to further racial subordination.

Two recent books by legal scholars address these issues. Jonathan Kahn's Race in a Bottle provides a stunning case study of BiDil, the first drug to receive approval by the US Food and Drug Administration as a race-specific therapy. It was designed to treat African-Americans suffering from heart failure - based mainly on a mistaken belief that there are meaningful disparities in heart failure outcomes between blacks and whites caused by biological differences. Although BiDil was initially created as a race-neutral drug, Kahn offers a compelling account of the many influences that turned what is in essence a combination therapy of two widely available generic treatments into a pill "for black people only".

With a meticulous yet accessible and entertaining narrative, Kahn outlines the broader legal and political landscapes that not only allowed BiDil to get as far as it did, but also actively provided an incentive for this approach as the "dream" of personalised medicine marches on. He then shows how an inflexible response from public agencies to these markets and innovations in a genomic age can effectively recreate the notion of biological race.

Dorothy Roberts's Fatal Invention, now out in paperback, extends this insight to examine how the re-emergence of biological race is having a broader impact - not only on innovations such as genetic ancestry-testing and racialised aspects of DNA forensics, but also on how we think about basic notions of racial difference. Advocates of biological race argue that today's use of race in biomedicine is different from past usages within science that supported racism, eugenics and questionable research practices.

Yet Roberts brilliantly identifies the continuity of thought on biological race that links past, present and, perhaps, future. She points out that the continued acceptance of biological race in science and medicine works, for example, to obscure social and environmental causes of the very disparities thought to necessitate race-specific interventions. This reframes minorities' poor health outcomes as a function of their "bad genes" rather than the discriminatory social practices that these groups endure. By identifying this historical thread, Fatal Invention offers remarkable insight into how persistent claims of racial difference as biological difference retain residual notions of racial hierarchy as poisonous today as at any time before.

Taken together, Race in a Bottle and Fatal Invention tackle one of the most important concerns pertaining to race facing our society today. How do we make sense of the re-emergence of biological race amid assertions that race no longer matters? There are no better scholars than Kahn and Roberts to help us think through these issues. The growing acceptance of post-racialism, premature as it may be, is forcing a new conversation on how race is no longer merely a social or political issue, but is becoming a distinctively biopolitical concern that requires us to bring our commitments to racial justice to science. Kahn and Roberts offer an unmatched articulation of this new biopolitical terrain that, regardless of your perspective, is must-read material.

Osagie K. Obasogie is an associate professor of law at the University of California, Hastings, with a joint appointment at UC San Francisco's Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley

Book information:
Race in a Bottle: The story of BiDil and racialized medicine in a post-genomic age by Jonathan Kahn
Columbia University Press
?24/$35

Fatal Invention: How science, politics, and big business recreate race in the twenty-first century by Dorothy Roberts
New Press
?14.99/$19.95

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Should stay at home dads have something to be ashamed about ...

Wow....a stupid post and a stupid answer. Just staying home watching the kids. WTF do you think stay at home moms do all day? Just sit around and watch kids? Shit...they go from sun up till sun down and sometimes after that. They cook, clean, make all the appointments, chauffeur, shop, laundry, schedule repairs or make them, decorate generically and seasonly, hostess gatherings, play nursemaid....and when they fall ill everything they do pilesup around their ears because no one else will do so much as clean a goddamned toilet.
Men stay home and wipe a surface and then tell us that, "this isn't so hard". Research has demonstrated this so many times that it should be wide spread knowledge. It doesn't matter if she stays home or he stays home...she still ends up doing the lions share.

Would I feel superior if I agreed to have a house husband? No...but the fact is I wouldn't agree to that. I've seen that in action and it just results in the same stuff as if both work...the woman still ends up doing the real work of maintaining the home.

- Response by joybird, A Hippie Chick, Female, 46-55, Who Cares?

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Anyone here investing in gold & silver? - The Hull Truth - Boating ...

Yesterday, 07:27 PM
? Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Inlet NC Posts: 779	Isn't gold at an all time high? Does not seem to be a good investment to me. __________________ Hydra-Sport Vector 2200CC Yamaha F-250
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Yesterday, 07:50 PM
Senior Member ? Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Orleans Posts: 2,001	Hmmm. Gold. Buy high sell low?
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Yesterday, 07:50 PM
? Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Raleigh/Southport, NC Posts: 2,136	Quote: you need to establish a "self directed IRA". Not a big deal really. You set it up and rollover a portion of your exiting IRA into the new "self directed IRA' which is thru a custodian or trust. This will allow you to hold physical gold albeit in a depository somewhere. You can also own a bunch of other stuff like rental property, privately held business shares etc. Go to Apmex.com and look around their site for more info. Otherwise just by ETF GLD, but when the SHTF, I think the real thing would be better. If you want to purchase gold thru an IRA and then bury it in your backyard, you are shit out of luck though. Thanks, I'll check them out. Might make sense to go the custodial route, then cash out and buy the real thing if needed.
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Yesterday, 07:54 PM
? Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Inlet NC Posts: 779	Quote: Hmmm. Gold. Buy high sell low? Glad I am not the only one. I'd like to have bought a shitpile of it 10 years ago. __________________ Hydra-Sport Vector 2200CC Yamaha F-250
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Yesterday, 08:24 PM
? Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Mexico Posts: 15,197	Banks now say its illegal to keep valuables and currencies in safe deposit boxes. As far as the price goes, I have been a miner all my life and have been selling more equipment to gold, silver and copper miners than you can shake a stick at for the last 4 years. So I am about to sell what I bought at 700 as I personally think that supply will continue to increase reapidly, even in these inflationary times. Im buying new houses for around $60 a sq foot to rent. __________________ ?Oooooooooole'!
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Today, 05:11 AM
? Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Forward City, Alabama Posts: 3,630	it was 11 years ago gold is going to $3500 minimum,silver $150.00 per oz it will be a wild ride and take a lot of nerve to buy and hold OP even in a self directed IRA, you cannot take possession,Only your custodian and your custodian will have it held in a secure vault buy on steep corrections
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Today, 06:24 AM
? Join Date: May 2008 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 2,130	Whatever you do. Dollar cost average your position. Depending on how much $$ you have take 3-12months to establish the entire position. That way you aren't trying to get in at a single point. Yes today may be the lowest it ever will be but it could also be the highest. I have been using www.providentmetals.com over the past year to buy sIlver bars. They jave decent prices over spot. Who knows where it will be in a few years but this more of a long term position(20-40 years) for me. I intend to keep purchasing a little every month. They do have a IRA section so you can read up on how to set that up. __________________ 1972 Formula 233F
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Today, 06:26 AM
? Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Fort Lauderdale Posts: 596	Agree with Esuomm1. Unless the world really comes to an end GLD and SLV are your best bet especially for liquidity. If the world really ends I don't get the need for gold. Seems like ammo, food, etc would be the best currency. __________________ Joe G. "Whisker Away" Glacier Bay 2665
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