বুধবার, ৩১ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Mommie...Again: Guest Blogger: Toddler Bucket List

Toddlers love to explore!? They are so little in such a big world with tons to see, hear, touch and smell.? If you have a hard time trying to come up with fun ways to entertain your toddler you should remember that it's the little things that toddlers love most....like snuggling up with mom or dad to watch a movie, going for a walk in the park...or simply eating an ice cream cone!

There are so many fun things that I want to make sure that my little guy gets to experience while he's still little.? I want to make sure he doesn't miss out on a single thing!? So, I created a toddler bucket list several months ago and we've been having a blast trying new things and marking stuff off of our list!??


Here's our Toddler Bucket List:

1. Feed a baby goat {or other baby animal}
2. Fly a kite in the park
3. Walk in the rain
4. Splash in puddles {don't forget your rain boots!}
5. Play outside in the snow--throw snowballs and build a snowman
6. Splash in the waves on the beach
7. Visit a petting zoo
8. Visit a real zoo
9. Attend story time your local library
10. Play with play dough
11.? Water flowers with a watering can
12. Bake cookies and decorate them with sprinkles
13. Have a tea party--yes, even boys love to do this!
14. Finger paint
15. Play with sidewalk chalk
16. Make handprint art-there are some great handprint art ideas on Pinterest!??
17. Blow bubbles.? If you want to go a step further, blow giant bubbles!
18. Ride in a kiddie parade
19. Go grocery shopping with their own little cart {we love to do this at our local Piggly Wiggly}
20. Have friends over for a banana split or ice cream party
21. Catch lightning bugs
22. Face painting
23. Go to an outdoor movie night or the drive-in
24. Fill a room with balloons and have some fun!
25. Play with a kitten or a puppy
26. Eat popsicles
27. Run in the sprinkler
28. Pick dandelions
29. Find a local farm and take a tour {Fall is the perfect season for this!}

30. Drive them around during the Holiday Season to look at beautiful Christmas light displays

If you have a toddler, I encourage you to create your own toddler bucket list and I would love to hear your ideas!

Enjoy!

Emily at Dirt and Pearls Blog

Source: http://www.mommieagain.com/2012/10/guest-blogger-toddler-bucket-list.html

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George Lucas Made $4 Billion Without Investors - Business Insider

An entrepreneur by the name of George Lucas just cashed out of the company he founded and built: Lucasfilm.

Unlike many entrepreneurs who build companies these days, George Lucas didn't raise any VC money.

And that means he gets to keep the whole check Disney wrote for his company, which was for a not-inconsequential $4 billion.

How did George Lucas build a company worth $4 billion without any outside investors?

Here are the key points:

  • He quit an early career when he realized it wasn't right for him (he wanted to be a race-car driver ... until he almost got killed in a crash)
  • He made a type of product he loved and cared deeply about (movies)
  • He made?and learned from?lots and lots of different products (There were many Lucas movies before Star Wars)
  • He evolved (Lucas's early movies were artsy non-commercial films)
  • He studied and learned from the best mentors (Francis Ford Coppola, among others)
  • He became friends with other extremely talented people in the industry (Steven Spielberg, among others)
  • He was shrewd (He sold his directing services to Fox Studios for Star Wars for cheap?but kept all the merchandise, licensing, and sequel rights, which Fox didn't want)
  • He was very, very patient (Unlike many of today's entrepreneurs and investors, Lucas wasn't looking for a "quick flip." Lucasfilm was founded in 1971, 41 years ago)

Put all those things together, and you've got yourself a recipe for building a great business.

And how here are the details, as described by Wikipedia:

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm before selling the company to Disney on October 30, 2012. [8] He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.3 billion as of 2012.[1]

Early life and education

George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore (n?e Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913?1991), who owned a stationery store.[9][10]

Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto, and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film 1:42.08, as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, American Graffiti. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. On June 12, 1962, while driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, and almost killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career.[5][11] He attended Modesto Junior College, where he studied, amongst other subjects, anthropology, sociology and literature.[5] He also began filming with an 8?mm camera, including filming car races.[5]

At this time, Lucas and his friend John Plummer became interested in Canyon Cinema: screenings of underground, avant-garde 16?mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage and Bruce Conner.[3] Lucas and Plummer also saw classic European films of the time, including Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim, and Federico Fellini's 8?.[3] "That's when George really started exploring," Plummer said.[3] Through his interest in autocross racing, Lucas met renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler, another race enthusiast.[3][5] Wexler, later to work with Lucas on several occasions, was impressed by Lucas' talent.[5] "George had a very good eye, and he thought visually," he recalled.[3]

Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, George Lucas shared a dorm room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood and John Milius, they became a clique of film students known as The Dirty Dozen. He also became very good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future Indiana Jones collaborator, Steven Spielberg. Lucas was deeply influenced by the Filmic Expression course taught at the school by filmmaker Lester Novros which concentrated on the non-narrative elements of Film Form like color, light, movement, space, and time. Another huge inspiration was the Serbian montagist (and dean of the USC Film Department) Slavko Vorkapich, a film theoretician comparable in historical importance to Sergei Eisenstein, who moved to Hollywood to make stunning montage sequences for studio features at MGM, RKO, and Paramount. Vorkapich taught the autonomous nature of the cinematic art form, emphasizing the unique dynamic quality of movement and kinetic energy inherent in motion pictures.

Lucas saw many inspiring films in class, particularly the visual films coming out of the National Film Board of Canada like Arthur Lipsett's 21-87, the French-Canadian cameraman Jean-Claude Labrecque's cin?ma v?rit? 60 Cycles, the work of Norman McLaren, and the documentaries of Claude Jutra. Lucas fell madly in love with pure cinema and quickly became prolific at making 16?mm nonstory noncharacter visual tone poems and cin?ma v?rit? with such titles as Look at Life, Herbie, 1:42.08, The Emperor, Anyone Lived in a Pretty (how) Town, Filmmaker, and 6-18-67. He was passionate and interested in camerawork and editing, defining himself as a filmmaker as opposed to being a director, and he loved making abstract visual films that create emotions purely through cinema.[3]

After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in film in 1967, he tried joining the United States Air Force as an officer, but he was immediately turned down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later drafted by the Army for military service in Vietnam, but he was exempted from service after medical tests showed he had diabetes, the disease that killed his paternal grandfather.

In 1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film production. Working as a teaching instructor for a class of U.S. Navy students who were being taught documentary cinematography, Lucas directed the short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which won first prize at the 1967?68 National Student Film Festival, and was later adapted into his first full-length feature film, THX 1138. Lucas was awarded a student scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe and work on the making of a film of his choosing. The film he chose was Finian's Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who was revered among film school students of the time as a cinema graduate who had "made it" in Hollywood. In 1969, George Lucas was one of the camera operators on the classic Rolling Stones concert film Gimme Shelter.

Film career

George Lucas is a filmmaker, with a film career dominated by writing and production. Aside from the nine short films he made in the 1960s, he also directed six major features. His work from 1971 and 1977 as a writer-director, which established him as a major figure in Hollywood, consists of just three films: THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars. There was a 22-year hiatus between the original Star Wars film and his only other feature-film directing credits, the three Star Wars prequels.

Lucas acted as a writer and executive producer on another successful Hollywood film franchise, the Indiana Jones series. In addition, he established his own effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), to make the original Star Wars film. The company is now one of the most successful in the industry.

Lucas co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Coppola?whom he met during his internship at Warner Brothers?hoping to create a liberating environment for filmmakers to direct outside the perceived oppressive control of the Hollywood studio system[citation needed]. His first full-length feature film produced by the studio, THX 1138, was not a success. Lucas then created his own company, Lucasfilm, Ltd., and directed American Graffiti (1973). His new-found wealth and reputation enabled him to develop a story set in space. Even so, he encountered difficulties getting Star Wars made. It was only because Alan Ladd, Jr., at Fox Studios liked American Graffiti that he forced through a production and distribution deal for the film, which ended up restoring Fox to financial stability after a number of flops.[12]

Star Wars quickly became the highest-grossing film of all-time, displaced five years later by Spielberg?s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. After the success of American Graffiti and prior to the beginning of filming on Star Wars, Lucas was encouraged to renegotiate for a higher fee for writing and directing Star Wars than the $150,000 agreed.[5] He declined to do so, instead negotiating for advantage in some of the as-yet-unspecified parts of his contract with Fox, in particular ownership of licensing and merchandising rights (for novelizations, T-shirts, toys, etc.) and contractual arrangements for sequels.[5] The studio were apparently unconcerned to let go of these rights - at the time, licensed products and merchandising did not represent the significant market that it is now.[5] This negotiation has earned Lucasfilm hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, as Lucas has exploited merchandising rights wisely, and now directly profits from all licensed games, toys, and collectibles created for the franchise.[5]

Over the two decades after the first Star Wars film, Lucas worked extensively as a writer and/or producer, including the many Star Wars spinoffs made for film, TV, and other media. He acted as executive producer for the next two Star Wars films, assigning the direction of The Empire Strikes Back to Irvin Kershner and Return of the Jedi to Richard Marquand, while receiving a story credit on the former and sharing a screenwriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan on the latter. Lucas also acted as executive producer and story writer on all four of the Indiana Jones films, which he convinced his colleague and good friend, Steven Spielberg, to direct. Other notable projects as a producer or executive producer in this period include Kurosawa's Kagemusha (1980), Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (1981), Jim Henson's Labyrinth (1986), Godfrey Reggio's Powaqqatsi (1986) and the animated film The Land Before Time (1988). There were also some less successful projects, however, including More American Graffiti (1979), the ill-fated Howard the Duck (1986), which was arguably[citation needed] the biggest flop of his career; Willow (1988, which Lucas also wrote); and Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). Between 1992 and 1996, Lucas served as executive producer for the television spinoff The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. In 1997, for the 20th anniversary of Star Wars, Lucas went back to his trilogy to enhance and add certain scenes using newly available digital technology. These new versions were released in theaters as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. For DVD releases in 2004, this series has received further revisions to make them congruent with the prequel trilogy. Besides the additions to the Star Wars franchise, in 2004 a George Lucas Director's Cut of THX 1138 was released, with the film re-cut and containing a number of CGI revisions.

The animation studio Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group[citation needed], one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. Pixar's early computer graphics research resulted in groundbreaking effects in films such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan[13] and Young Sherlock Holmes,[13] and the group was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple after a power struggle at Apple Computer. Jobs paid U.S. $5 million to Lucas and put U.S. $5 million as capital into the company. The sale reflected Lucas' desire to stop the cash flow losses from his 7-year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools, as well as his company's new focus on creating entertainment products rather than tools. A contributing factor was cash-flow difficulties following Lucas' 1983 divorce concurrent with the sudden dropoff in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi.

The sound-equipped system, THX Ltd, was founded by Lucas and Tomlinson Holman.[14] The company was formerly owned by Lucasfilm, and contains equipment for stereo, digital, and theatrical sound for films, and music. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic, are the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, while Lucasfilm Games, later renamed LucasArts, produces products for the gaming industry.

In 1994, Lucas began work on the screenplay for the prequel Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which would be the first film he had directed in over two decades. The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, beginning a new trilogy of Star Wars films. Lucas also directed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which were released in 2002 and 2005, respectively. Numerous critics considered these films inferior to the previously released Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.[15][16][17]

In 2008, he reteamed with Spielberg for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Lucas currently serves as executive producer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated television series on Cartoon Network, which was preceded by a feature film of the same name. He is also working on a so-far untitled Star Wars live-action series.

For the film Red Tails (2012), Lucas serves as story-writer and executive producer. He also took over direction of reshoots while director Anthony Hemingway worked on other projects. Lucas is working on his first musical, an untitled CGI project being produced at Skywalker Ranch. Kevin Munroe is directing and David Berenbaum wrote the screenplay.[18]

Semi-retirement

?I?m moving away from the business... From the company, from all this kind of stuff.?

?George Lucas on his future career plans.[19]

In January 2012, Lucas announced his retirement from producing large-scale blockbuster films and instead re-focusing his career on smaller, independently budgeted features. He did not specify whether or not this would affect his involvement with a fifth installment of the Indiana Jones series.[19][20][21] In June 2012, it was announced that producer Kathleen Kennedy, a long-term collaborator with Steven Spielberg and a producer of the Indiana Jones films, had been appointed as co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd.[22][23] It was reported that Kennedy would work alongside Lucas, who would remain chief executive and serve as co-chairman for at least one year, after which she would succeed him as the company's sole leader.[22][23]

Philanthropy

In 1991, The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded as a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. The Foundation's content is available under the brand Edutopia, in an award-winning web site, social media and via documentary films. Lucas, through his foundation, was one of the leading proponents of the E-rate program in the universal service fund,[24] which was enacted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On June 24, 2008, Lucas testified before the United States House of Representatives subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet as the head of his Foundation to advocate for a free wireless broadband educational network.[25]

In 2005, Lucas gave US$1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.[26]

On September 19, 2006, USC announced that George Lucas had donated $175?180 million to his alma mater to expand the film school. It is the largest single donation to USC and the largest gift to a film school anywhere.[27] Previous donations led to the already existing George Lucas Instructional Building and Marcia Lucas Post-Production building.[28][29]

Lucas has pledged to give half of his fortune to charity as part of an effort called The Giving Pledge led by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to persuade America's richest individuals to donate their financial wealth to charities.[30][31]

Awards

The American Film Institute awarded Lucas its Life Achievement Award on June 9, 2005.[32] This was shortly after the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, about which he joked stating that, since he views the entire Star Wars series as one film, he could actually receive the award now that he had finally "gone back and finished the movie."

On June 5, 2005, Lucas was named among the 100 "Greatest Americans" by the Discovery Channel.[33]

Lucas was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Directing and Writing for American Graffiti, and Best Directing and Writing for Star Wars. He received the Academy's Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1991. He appeared at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007 with Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola to present the Best Director award to their friend Martin Scorsese. During the speech, Spielberg and Coppola talked about the joy of winning an Oscar, making fun of Lucas, who has not won a competitive Oscar.

On June 17, 2006, the Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted George Lucas and three others.[34][35]

On January 1, 2007 George Lucas served as the Grand Marshal for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, and made the coin toss at the 2007 Rose Bowl.

On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Lucas would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.

On September 6, 2009, Lucas was in Venice to present to the Pixar team the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the 2009 Biennale Venice Film Festival.

Personal life

In 1969, Lucas married film editor Marcia Lou Griffin, who went on to win an Academy Award for her editing work on the original Star Wars film. George and Marcia adopted a daughter, Amanda, in 1981, and divorced in 1983. Lucas has since adopted two more children: Katie, born in 1988, and Jett, born in 1993. All three of his children have appeared in the three Star Wars prequels, as has Lucas himself. During the 1980s, Lucas was in a relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt. He has been dating Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, since 2006 and she has accompanied him to several events including the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in February 2007, an American Film Institute event in October 2007, the 2008 Cannes Film Festival held in May, and the 2010 Golden Globes.[36][37][38]

Lucas was born and raised in a Methodist family.[5] The religious and mythical themes in Star Wars were inspired by Lucas' interest in the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell,[39] and he would eventually come to identify strongly with the Eastern religious philosophies he studied and incorporated into his films, which were a major inspiration for "the Force." Lucas eventually came to state that his religion was "Buddhist Methodist". Lucas resides in Marin County.[40][41]

Lucas has said that he is a fan of Seth MacFarlane's hit TV show Family Guy. MacFarlane has said that Lucasfilm was extremely helpful when the Family Guy crew wanted to parody their works.[42]

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/george-lucas-made-4-billion-without-investors-2012-10

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সোমবার, ২৯ অক্টোবর, ২০১২

Park planned for Sydney tar ponds site | Metro

SYDNEY, N.S. ? The Nova Scotia government says a park and sports field will be built as part of a project to revitalize an area where a former steel mill left behind contaminated soil in Cape Breton.

The province says $17 million in contracts have been awarded to build an outdoor stage, pedestrian bridges and trails as part of the Sydney tar ponds and coke ovens remediation project.

In 2007, the federal government and the province committed $400 million to ensure the remediation of several former Sydney steel plant properties, with work to be completed by 2014.

Nearly a century of steelmaking left behind more than a million tonnes of contaminated soil at four sites around the former steel mill.

Toxins found in the soil have since been stabilized and solidified using a mixture of cement and other materials.

As part of the project, up to $20 million has been set aside for future uses that include the development of downtown recreation areas, an entertainment venue and parking.

Source: http://metronews.ca/news/canada/419616/park-planned-for-sydney-tar-ponds-site/

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Chinese officials bow to protests against factory

A Chinese woman is taken away by Chinese police officers during a protest against the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory outside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. After a weekend of protests by thousands of citizens over pollution fears, a local Chinese government relented Sunday and agreed that a petrochemical factory would not be expanded, only to see the protesters refuse to halt their demonstration. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A Chinese woman is taken away by Chinese police officers during a protest against the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory outside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. After a weekend of protests by thousands of citizens over pollution fears, a local Chinese government relented Sunday and agreed that a petrochemical factory would not be expanded, only to see the protesters refuse to halt their demonstration. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A Chinese police officer stands behind his folks confronting residents who gathered outside the government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, during a protest against the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the eastern Chinese city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the plan that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese anti-riot police force protesters to leave the area outside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, where residents had gathered to protest the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of protesters marched through an eastern Chinese city on Sunday, shouting for fellow citizens to join them in demanding that the government halt the expansion of a petrochemical factory because of pollution fears. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese paramilitary police form up inside the city government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, as protesters gather to protest the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Thousands of people in the eastern Chinese city clashed with police Saturday while protesting the proposed expansion of the factory that they say would spew pollution and damage public health, townspeople said. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Protesters pull out a Chinese national flag in front of a local government office in Zhejiang province's Ningbo city, protesting the proposed expansion of a petrochemical factory Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Several hundred citizens of Ningbo gathered outside the offices of the municipal government and shouted for the city's mayor to come out and for the release of people they believed had been detained by police during demonstrations Saturday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

(AP) ? After a weekend of protests by thousands of citizens over pollution fears, a local Chinese government relented and agreed that a petrochemical factory would not be expanded, only to see the protesters refuse to halt their demonstration.

The standoff in the prosperous city of Ningbo has highlighted the deep mistrust between people and the government in China. Should they continue, the demonstrations would upset an atmosphere of calm that Chinese leaders want for a transfer of power in the Communist Party leadership next month.

The protest in the eastern city, which comes at a sensitive time in China's political calendar, had swelled over the weekend and led to clashes between citizens and police. The Ningbo city government said in a statement Sunday evening that they and the project's investor had "resolutely" agreed not to go ahead with the expansion. The factory is a subsidiary of Sinopec, one of the biggest petrochemical companies in the world.

Outside the government offices where crowds of protesters remained, an official tried to read the statement on a loudspeaker but was drowned out by shouts demanding the mayor step down. On the third attempt, the crowd briefly cheered but then turned back to demanding that authorities release protesters being held inside.

Liu Li, 24, a Ningbo resident, said the crowd did not believe the government's statement.

"There is very little public confidence in the government," she said. "Who knows if they are saying this just to make us leave and then keep on doing the project."

The city government was likely under great pressure to defuse the protest with China's leadership wanting calm for the party congress that starts Nov. 8. It was unclear whether local authorities will ultimately cancel the petrochemical project or continue it when the pressure is lower.

Hundreds of people outside the government offices refused to budge despite being urged to leave by officials. Riot police with helmets and shields came out of the government compound and pushed the crowd back. Some people including families ran away. Police dragged six men and one woman into the compound, beating and kicking at least three of them. Police also smashed placards and took away flags.

The crowd roared for the protesters' release. Police also briefly detained ITN correspondent Angus Walker outside the offices.

The demonstration in wealthy Zhejiang province is the latest this year over fears of health risks from industrial projects, as Chinese who have seen their living standards improve become more outspoken against environmentally risky projects in their areas.

"The government hides information from the people. They are only interested in scoring political points and making money," said one protester, Luo Luan. "They don't care about destroying the environment or damaging people's lives."

The protests began a few days earlier in the coastal district of Zhenhai, where the petrochemical factory is located. On Saturday they swelled and spread to the center of Ningbo city, whose officials oversee Zhenhai.

Residents reported that Saturday's protests involved thousands of people and turned violent after authorities used tear gas and arrested participants.

Authorities said "a few" people disrupted public order by staging sit-ins, unfurling banners, distributing fliers and obstructing roads.

Early Sunday, thousands of residents began gathering outside the offices of the municipal government. Hundreds marched away from the offices in an apparent effort to round up more support along nearby shopping streets. Police diverted traffic to allow them to pass down a main road.

The crowds in Ningbo are a slice of China's rising middle class that poses an increasingly boisterous challenge to the country's incoming leadership: Armed with expensive smartphones, Internet connectivity and higher expectations than the generations before them, their impatience with the government's customary lack of response is palpable.

A 30-year-old woman surnamed Wang said officers took her to a police station Saturday and made her sign a guarantee that she would not participate in any more protests, but she came back Sunday anyway.

"They won't even let us sing the national anthem," Wang said. "They kept asking me who the leader of the protests was and I said that this is all voluntary. We have no leader."

In a sign that censors were at work, the name "Zhenhai" was blocked on China's popular microblogging site Sina Weibo.

Protester Yu Yibing said he wanted the factory to be closed and his 7-year-old son to grow up in a clean environment.

"As the common people, we need to live in a green environment. This is a reasonable request," Yu said. "But the government only puts out some statement and refuses to see us and also suppresses us. I don't know how else we can express our views."

The Zhenhai district government, which comes under the Ningbo government, said Ningbo's Communist Party chief, Wang Huizhong, and mayor, Liu Qi, had held discussions with local residents Saturday night.

It said in a short statement on its website Sunday evening that the project wouldn't go ahead and that refining at the factory would stop for the time being while a scientific review is conducted.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the planned project was designed to produce 15 million tons of refined oil and 1.2 million tons of ethylene per year and belongs to Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., which has invested 55.87 billion yuan ($8.9 billion).

Calls to Zhenhai police and the propaganda department of Ningbo police rang unanswered Sunday.

Past environmental protests have targeted a waste-water pipeline in eastern China and a copper plant in west-central China. A week ago, hundreds protested for several days in a small town on China's Hainan island over a coal-fired power plant.

___

Associated Press writer Louise Watt and researcher Henry Hou in Beijing contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-10-28-AS-China-Pollution-Protest/id-e319c89cddfd4330b0fac3ff7115a80b

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Video: Nat Gas Inventories Up 67 BCF

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49552599/

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Sudan says Israeli jets bombed arms factory

EPA

A picture made available on Oct. 24, 2012 shows a fire following an explosion at Yarmouk military factory in Khartoum, Sudan. The fire has been contained, but it is still unclear what triggered the explosion.

By NBC News staff and wire services

Sudan on Wednesday blamed Israel for a huge explosion and fire at an arms factory in Khartoum that killed two people. Israel's defense minister declined to comment.

"Four military planes attacked the?Yarmouk?plant. ... We believe that Israel is behind it," Sudan Information Minister Ahmed?Belal?Osman told reporters, adding that the planes appeared to approach the site from the east.

Asked by Israel's Channel Two News about Sudan's accusations, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "There is nothing I can say about this subject."

Similarly, U.S. officials who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said, "We have no comment. We can?t help you on this.?

Some Pentagon officials suggested that the explosion could have been accidental and said there were ?conflicting reports? about its cause.


Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, has blamed Israel for similar blasts in the past, but Israel either has refused to comment or said it neither admitted or denied involvement.

The powerful explosion at the?Yarmouk Military Industrial Complex in southern Khartoum rocked Sudan's capital?before dawn Wednesday, sending detonating ammunition flying through the air and causing panic, Sudan's official news agency and local media reports said. Nearby buildings were damaged by the blast, their roofs blown off and their windows shattered, according to the reports.

New fighting in Sudan's Darfur region, several killed

"Sudan reserves the right to strike back at Israel," Osman said, saying two citizens had been killed and that the plant had been partially destroyed. Another person was seriously injured, he added.

Officials said earlier there were no reports of deaths, although some residents had suffered from smoke inhalation.

Around 300 people gathered in the evening at the courtyard of a government building where the Sudanese Cabinet was meeting in an emergency session, shouting "Death to Israel" and "Remove Israel from the map."

Conflict displaces 900,000 in Sudan border areas

"Israel is a country of injustice that needs to be deterred," Vice President Ali Osman Taha, standing next to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, told the crowd. "This attack only strengthens our firmness."

The governor of Khartoum state initially had ruled out any "external" cause for the blast, but officials later showed journalists a video from the vast site showing a huge crater next to two destroyed buildings and what appeared to be a rocket lying on the ground.

Sudan forces burned, looted remote border village: activists

Osman said an analysis of rocket debris and other material had shown that the attack had been engineered by Israel, which Sudan views as an enemy.

Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Mohamed Hussein and senior officials visited the site of the explosion and held an emergency meeting with top army generals while security forces sealed off the area surrounding the complex and halted traffic.

Israel kills 3 Hamas militants after Qatari emir leaves Gaza

In 2009, a convoy carrying weapons in northeastern Sudan was targeted from the air, killing dozens. It was widely believed that Israel carried out the attack on weapons shipment headed for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel never confirmed or denied that. Sudanese parliamentarians denied that weapons were transported in the area.

In 1998, the United States used cruise missiles to knock out a Khartoum pharmaceutical factory suspected of links to al-Qaida in the aftermath of the terror group's bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

Sudan has long been a major hub for al-Qaida militants and a transit for weapon smugglers and African migrant traffickers.

NBC News' Senior Investigative Producer Robert Windrem, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/24/14675496-sudan-says-israeli-jets-bombed-arms-factory?lite

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Will Windows 8 crack the surface?

23 hrs.

Firm sales numbers for Microsoft's Windows 8 and its new Surface tablet will not be available for three months, but it may be clear long before then if it has a hit on its hands.

"We can definitely gauge it by chatter," said Emily Chan, an analyst at Bernstein Research. "There is a slight learning curve, so I don't think we will see that big pop that iPad saw."

Microsoft is desperate for the new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 to grip customers' imaginations, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple and Google in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.

Perhaps more important is its new own-brand tablet called the Surface, available only through its own stores and website, which will challenge Apple's iPad head on.

"I'd want to know the sales???and return rate???of the Surface," said Sarah Rotman Epps at tech research firm Forrester. "But those numbers will be hard to get since Microsoft is the only retailer."

Early reviews of the Surface have been mixed, generally praising the slick hardware, but faulting battery life and the limited software and applications available.

Some worry that the first Surface model, which runs on a stripped-down version of Windows 8 called RT that is not compatible with old Windows programs, will cause some confusion and dissatisfaction among customers.

The three models for sale on Microsoft's U.S. website are already on back order, suggesting strong demand, but it is not known how many Surfaces Microsoft has manufactured.

"The fact it's back ordered is indicative that there's consumer interest," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. "How Microsoft introduces it, evangelizes it and explains it will determine long term success."

Microsoft has not said if it will reveal sales figures for Windows 8 or of the Surface before its next scheduled earnings on Jan.?24. The company tends to trumpet good news and stay silent otherwise.

After the launch of Windows 7 three years ago, CEO Steve Ballmer waited only a month to announce strong sales. A year later, he waited only 10 days to report record-breaking sales of the Kinect, the motion-sensing add-on for the Xbox. But Microsoft has never shared the sales of Windows-powered phones, which have a lowly 3 percent of the market.

If Ballmer stays silent about Windows 8 sales, it might indicate a less than stellar performance.

"I would definitely take it a sign that it's not super, super strong, but I won't take it as something negative," said Chan at Bernstein, who is expecting 8.3 million Surface sales by the middle of next year.

That averages out at about 1 million a month, a third the rate of the iPad, which notched up its first million sales in 28 days and has now sold more than 100 million units, averaging about 3.2 million a month.

Gartner forecasts that Surface and other tablets running Windows RT will sell about 2.3 million units this year and 9.3 million next year, grabbing about 2 percent and 5 percent of the worldwide tablet market, respectively.

Door-busters

Retail activity will be closely watched. Microsoft will have more than 60 brick and mortar stores open for the release of Windows 8 on Friday, half of them 'pop-up' stores that will stay open for the holiday shopping season.

Third-party retailers are cautiously optimistic.

"We have seen pretty good response to our pre-orders for Windows 8," said Best Buy spokesman Jeff Haydock. "Quite honestly, I don't know what to expect from Friday. I don't know if there will be lines or not. My sense is it will take some time for people to kind of come into the stores and check it out."

Best Buy may give some color on how PC sales are going when it reports earnings on Nov. 20.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the No. 1 U.S. retailer, said U.S. pre-orders for Windows 8 PCs "have been better than expected."

Online retailers Amazon.com Inc, Newegg and TigerDirect have been silent on Windows 8 pre-orders.

The full impact of PC sales on retailers will not be evident until chains report same-store sales for November.

Quick reaction

One early indicator of Windows 8's success will be the contents of the online Windows Store. Microsoft has had a harder time drumming up interest among developers for Windows 8, given the risk that there will be fewer users than competing platforms.

Microsoft will not disclose numbers, but there are expected to be 5,000 or so third-party apps available to U.S. users, in comparison with the iPad's 275,000. Some big names such as Facebook will be missing.

In social media, the tenor of comments on the Twitter hashtags #Windows8 and #Surface will give an indication of their reception after Ballmer unveils them both on Thursday.

Many users likely will be shocked by the new design, which dispenses with the Start button and features square tiles for apps.

"Public reaction to the new UI will depend how well Microsoft explains why 'different' is better and teaches how the new experience works," said Gartenberg. "That all starts on Thursday."

By the numbers

The ultimate test for Windows 8 will be PC sales.

Industry trackers are expecting a bump for PC sales in the last two months of the year, but not enough to rescue the whole year, which is forecast to dip for the first time since 2001.

Some analysts had expected an uptick in production of laptops ahead of the Windows 8 launch, but PC makers facing an uncertain global economy have been wary about committing.

Chip maker Intel, which is a good gauge of future PC demand due to its position early in the production process, expects the PC business to grow at only half the normal seasonal rate in the fourth quarter.

Chief Executive Paul Otellini recently told analysts he expects to have a better understanding of the success of Windows 8 in 90 days.

Stephen Baker, an analyst at retail research firm NPD Group, is expecting a 10 percent jump in PC sales for November and December over last year, but said comparisons will be difficult given a profusion of new devices and the volatility of year-ago data.

Fourth-quarter PC shipment numbers from research firms Gartner and IDC will not be published until early January, although analysts say PC makers might start to drop hints about demand before then.

"There will likely be many milestones, but very few will ultimately be decisive. The key point is will PC sales continue to shrink or will they experience a boost," said Al Hilwa at research firm IDC. "We can probably begin to properly judge that with some ambiguity in January."

(Additional reporting By Dhanya Skariachan in New York, Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Noel Randewich in San Francisco. Editing by Andre Grenon)?

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at:?http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/will-windows-8-crack-surface-1C6670946

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MAILBAG: How many postcards should I send for my Real Estate ...

Q: Dear Chris:

I am somewhat new to the Real Estate industry and getting ready to embark on my first geographic marketing campaign. I?ve read things you?ve written about how to pick the right farm area, but I?m trying to figure out how many cards to send to the farm area?

Should I do 200? 500? 1000? More?

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks,
Roger
Coldwell Banker

A: Hi Roger:

Thanks for your email! Sounds like you?ve done your homework with the selection of your farm area. As you?ve read in many articles I have written on the topic, choosing the right farm area is a process.

Just as important as where you farm, how many people you mail to is just as, if not more important. Usually when I meet with agents about farming, they automatically assume that as a business owner, my objective is to sell them on the largest farm area (translation: most postcards) possible. The truth is though that it?s the exact opposite. In fact, I regularly suggest to agents that they cut their proposed farm area by as much as 50%.

Why you ask? It?s simple. In Real Estate, mailing postcards to a farm area is a long term process. People are inundated with media these days and as a result, it can take anywhere from six to eight months to start to build up a head of steam and see some measurable results.

Because of this, I always suggest to the agent to do as many homes as they can (at the end of the day, it is a numbers game), BUT only do as many as they can comfortably afford to cut a check for, every month, without fail, even if they don?t start getting results for six to eight months.

If you follow that rule of thumb, Roger, you should be A-OK. Thanks again for your email!

Chris Leo
Status 5 Studio, Inc.

Chris Leo

Chris Leo is a Silicon Valley, CA entrepreneur, complete workaholic, top notch marketer, type ?A? personality, shameless self-promoter and never ending ?connector?.

Even though he is seemingly always working, when he does take breaks, the ?work hard, play hard? motto takes on a whole new meaning. His life is controlled chaos and he loves it.

Chris on Google+

Facebook?Twitter?LinkedIn?Google+?

Source: http://leadingagent.net/blog/?p=899

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Obama on marathon tour; Romney runs across Ohio

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? A scratchy-voiced President Barack Obama powered through a marathon drive to get his supporters to vote Thursday and planned to set an example by becoming the first president to cast his own ballot ahead of time. Republican Mitt Romney spent one of the precious 12 days before Election Day entirely focused on the Rust Belt battleground of Ohio.

With a new Associated Press-GfK poll showing Romney has erased Obama's 16-point advantage among women, the president tried to keep a GOP abortion controversy alive. Obama repeatedly made a veiled reference to Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's comment that pregnancies resulting from rape are "something God intended."

"We've seen again this week, I don't think any male politicians should be making health care decisions for women," Obama said. His campaign also has been intensifying its criticism of Romney for refusing to pull his support for Mourdock, even though the Republican presidential nominee said he disagrees with Mourdock's comment.

Romney tried to avoid the subject. While picking up breakfast at a downtown Cincinnati diner on Thursday, Romney refused to answer repeated questions from reporters standing nearby about Mourdock's comment and whether he would call for Mourdock to take down a TV ad Romney filmed for him earlier this week.

At a rally later at the Jet Machine manufacturing company, Romney didn't mention anything about abortion but spoke repeatedly about the choices facing American families. He said seniors on Medicare would struggle to find doctors if Obama is re-elected, daughters would face crushing college loan debt and parents would lose choices about where to educate their children.

"This election is not about me. It's not about the Republican Party," Romney told a crowd estimated at 3,000. "It's about America. And it's about your family."

Romney's campaign reached out to women by sending Ann Romney on daytime's "Rachael Ray" show, where she prepared her meatloaf cakes recipe and took cameras along on a trip to Costco to shop in bulk for family gatherings. Mrs. Romney said that, with 30 mouths to feed, her family always eats buffet-style and that "Mitt is often at the front of the line."

Romney was on a daylong swing through three Ohio towns, sharpening his focus on a state critical to his hopes of winning the White House. The Republican's advisers say their internal data has him tied to win the state's 18 Electoral College votes, but public polling has shown Obama with a slim lead.

Obama, in the midst of a four-state blitz on Thursday, also was scheduled to finish his day in Ohio. Shortly after Romney concludes his evening remarks in Defiance, the president was set to appear 150 miles to the east in Cleveland.

Virginia also got attention from both campaigns on an unseasonably warm October day, with Obama drawing a massive crowd estimated at 15,000 to Richmond's Byrd Park while GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan spoke before a smaller group at the opposite end of the state in Appalachian coal country. Ryan told the audience of about 1,500 that winning a close race won't be enough for the GOP ticket.

"The worst thing that could happen is President Obama gets re-elected and we have more of the same with a debt crisis," Ryan said. "The second worst thing that could happen is we get elected by default, without a mandate."

The AP-GfK poll released Thursday shows the presidential race still a virtual dead heat nationally, with Romney favored by 47 percent of likely voters and Obama by 45 percent. That result is within the poll's 4.2-point margin of error.

Although national polls show the race is close, Romney is struggling to overtake Obama in the state-by-state march to racking up the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory. Romney has far fewer paths to reaching that threshold than Obama, who starts with more states ? and more Electoral College votes ? in his win column. The race is centered on just nine states, where polls show competitive races: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin.

The president's morning rally kicked off the second day of his 40-hour battleground state blitz. Shortly after 7 a.m. and less than five hours after ending his day in Las Vegas, Obama was at a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop near downtown Tampa, and minutes later delivered the still warm doughnuts to a nearby firehouse. He said he wanted to come by early ? noting he is not often out this early ? to thank them for all they do.

Obama then spoke to about 8,500 people at a morning rally in Tampa, a swing area of battleground state Florida. With a full day of campaigning still ahead of him, Obama's voice was already hoarse. But he told the enthusiastic crowd he was "just going to keep on keeping on until every single person out there who needs to vote is going to go vote."

He noted to cheers that he was going to Chicago later Thursday to participate in early voting and that first lady Michelle Obama already mailed in her ballot. Obama campaign spokesman Jennifer Psaki said they hoped his example would send a message to others in early voting states that they should do so as well.

About 7.2 million people have already cast early ballots, either by mail or in person, according to the United States Elections Project at George Mason University. In all, about 35 percent of the electorate is expected to vote before Election Day, a small increase over 2008.

Obama's campaign also announced joint rallies Monday with Bill Clinton in Orlando, Fla., Youngstown, Ohio, and Prince William County, Va. The president also picked up an endorsement from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican who supported Obama in 2008. Powell praised Obama's handling of the economic recovery, telling "CBS This Morning:" ''I think we've begun to come out of the dive and we're gaining altitude." Obama told his Virginia audience that he was "proud and humbled" to get Powell's support.

___

Pickler reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Cincinnati, Philip Elliott in Bristol, Va., and Julie Pace and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-marathon-tour-romney-runs-across-ohio-181238031--election.html

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Television section

For the week of Oct. 15-22

1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati, NBC, 17.47 million

2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 15.86 million

3. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.73 million

4. "Person of Interest," CBS, 13.93 million

5. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 13.64 million

6. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.6 million

7. "The Voice," NBC, 13.01 million

8. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 12.92 million

9. "Modern Family," ABC, 12.28 million

10. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 12.039 million

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032450/ns/today-entertainment/

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Churches condemn Israeli security barrier

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Stocks stabilize on Wall Street after a sell-off

Trader Christopher Forbes works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, following a big drop the day before, after big companies including Boeing reported stronger profits. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Christopher Forbes works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, following a big drop the day before, after big companies including Boeing reported stronger profits. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Michael Pistillo, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, following a big drop the day before, after big companies including Boeing reported stronger profits. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders Kevin Coulter, left, and Peter Mancuso work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, following a big drop the day before, after big companies including Boeing reported stronger profits. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Daniel Chiarmonte works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, following a big drop the day before, after big companies including Boeing reported stronger profits. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

(AP) ? The steep losses finally stopped Wednesday as the stock market turned calm, a day after one of its biggest sell-offs of the year. Major indexes wavered between minor gains and losses in midday trading.

Boeing, one of the 30 large companies in the Dow Jones industrial average, said it expects to deliver more airplanes and raised its estimates for profits this year. Boeing's quarterly earnings also beat analysts' estimates. Its stock rose $1, or 1.4 percent, to $73.82.

The Dow climbed 9 points to 13,111 shortly after noon. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped less than one point to 1,412 while the Nasdaq composite index sank seven points to 2,983.

"Today we're assessing the damage," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. "Everybody just got clobbered yesterday."

Lower corporate revenue and expectations for the rest of the year drove the Dow down 243 points Tuesday, its third-biggest drop this year. DuPont, 3M, UPS and Xerox all reported lower sales than a year ago.

"It seemed out of the blue, but what we were seeing was stock prices adjusting to corporate profitability," Luschini said.

Facebook was poised for its best day since its stock market debut in May. The company said late Tuesday that 14 percent of its advertising revenue came from mobile devices, allaying some investor concerns.

The social network's stock soared $3.91 to $23.44, a jump of 20 percent. Facebook has swung widely since its IPO at $38, and has traded as low as $17.55.

Another Dow stock, AT&T, said it added the fewest wireless customers since 2003, far behind Verizon Wireless. AT&T's results still managed to beat the estimates of financial analysts. AT&T fell 25 cents to $34.75.

A measure of manufacturing in China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, improved this month to a three-month high. China's white-hot economic growth has been slowing.

In the U.S., bond prices inched lower, sending yields up. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to 1.77 percent from 1.76 percent late Tuesday.

Among other stocks in the news:

? Netflix plunged $10.13 a share, 15 percent, to $58.06. Late Tuesday, it slashed its prediction for how many U.S. video-streaming subscribers it would add this year to 4.7 million to 5 million. It had predicted it would add as many as 7 million.

? Dow Chemical rose $1.70 to $30.25. The company announced a wide-ranging restructuring plan late Tuesday that includes cutting 2,400 jobs and closing 20 manufacturing facilities. The company cited slowing economic growth in Europe and elsewhere.

? Tempur-Pedic plunged $6.93 to $24.94, a loss of 22 percent. The maker of premium memory foam mattresses reported revenue that was well below the estimates of Wall Street analysts. The company also cut its estimates for full-year profits and revenue.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-24-Wall%20Street/id-cff9ec1eb3514720828034c56f4ce195

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Apple Q4 2012 financial results: 26.9 million iPhones, 14 million iPads, 5.3 million iPods, 4.9 million Macs,

Apple Q4 2012 financial results: 26.9 million iPhones, 14 million iPads, 5.3 million iPods, 4.9 million Macs,

Apple has posted their Q4 2012 financial results, which includes revenue of $36 billion and profit of 8.2 billion. In terms of devices sold, they reported 26.9 million iPhones, 14 million iPods, 5.3 million iPods, and 4.9 million Macs.

?We?re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,? said Tim Cook, Apple?s CEO. ?We?re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.?

?We?re pleased to have generated over $41 billion in net income and over $50 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2012,? said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple?s CFO. ?Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2013, we expect revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75.?

It was, of course, a record for everything but iPods, which should help explain why they introduced the iPad mini a couple of days ago.

Source: Apple PR

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results

26.9 Million iPhones Sold; Record Fourth Quarter Revenue and Profit

Board Declares Quarterly Dividend of $2.65 per Common Share

CUPERTINO, California?October 25, 2012?Apple? today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2012. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $36.0 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $28.3 billion and net profit of $6.6 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.0 percent compared to 40.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter?s revenue.

The Company sold 26.9 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 58 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 14.0 million iPads during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.9 million Macs during the quarter, a 1 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 5.3 million iPods, a 19 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

Apple?s Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company?s common stock. The dividend is payable on November 15, 2012, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 12, 2012.



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stock market news: Sure Fire Badminton Drills, Sports & Recreation ...

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Kemp starting rehab after left shoulder surgery

(AP) ? Matt Kemp's hopes for a simple surgery on his left shoulder were dashed when the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger awoke to learn things were worse than doctors had first thought.

Kemp was in Arizona on Wednesday to begin rehabbing from the Oct. 5 surgery that repaired a torn labrum and damage to the rotator cuff, injuries resulting from a crash into the center field wall at Coors Field on Aug. 27.

"I was definitely surprised and definitely disappointed," he told reporters by phone in his first public comments since the surgery. "I wish it would have just been a simple cleanup. It's going to take close to January before I can hit and do a lot of other things."

Doctors have said Kemp should be ready by spring training. He has been biking and walking on a treadmill since the surgery, and will now step up his rehab program.

Kemp missed 51 games earlier in the season with a strained left hamstring, and then chose to play through the shoulder pain to finish the season.

"I already asked the doctors if I could damage it any more than it was damaged and they said no, so I kept playing," he said. "When they went in there, they were surprised I was still playing because it was worse than what they had thought."

Kemp clearly wasn't the same player after hitting the wall. He was batting .337 before, when the Dodgers trailed San Francisco by two games in the NL West. Afterward, he hit .214 while the team ended the season nine games behind the Giants.

"As long as I do my rehab right, I'll be able to be back to where I want to be," he said.

Kemp described the surgery as "pretty scary," the most serious procedure he's had in his major league career. The 28-year-old right-handed hitter had hand surgery while in the minors.

"Any surgery can be scary when you have somebody cut on you," he said. "I got through it OK."

Beforehand, Kemp spoke to teammates Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez, who both underwent similar procedures.

"Adrian said I'll be good and feel better once the rehab is over and I'll get my strength back," Kemp said.

Kemp isn't the only Dodgers outfielder coming off surgery. Left fielder Carl Crawford, acquired from Boston in a nine-player trade on Aug. 25, has had Tommy John and wrist surgeries, and he didn't suit up after the trade.

Last season, Kemp said his goal was 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. He finished with 23 and nine, and has reassessed his plans for next season.

"Be healthy. That's the main goal," he said. "If I'm healthy, then good things should happen."

Associated Press

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