Jobless claims drop to five-year low

12 hrs.

Reuters

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to its lowest since the early days of the 2007-09 recession, a hopeful sign for the sluggish labor market.?

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000, the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday.?

Claims have now fallen for two straight weeks, suggesting that if employers are concerned tax hikes enacted this year will affect consumer demand, this is not leading to more layoffs.?

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected claims to rise to 355,000 last week.?

Economists have cautioned about reading too deeply into this month's figures, as claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year. This is because of large swings in the model used by the department to iron out seasonal fluctuations.?

A measure of labor market trends nonetheless pointed to an improvement in the labor market's health. The four-week moving average for new claims fell 8,250 to 351,750, the lowest since March 2008.?

A Labor Department analyst said claims data were estimated for three states last week, but there was nothing unusual in the state level data.?

Claims are now at roughly the same level they were in much of 2006 and 2007. Claims started trending higher around December 2007, the month that the country's recession began.?

However, while employers have pulled back on layoffs, they have only added jobs to the economy at a lackluster pace.?

Employers adding 155,000 new positions in December and the unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent.?

Job gains averaged 153,000 jobs per month in 2012, little changed from 2011. The sluggish labor market and subdued inflation pressures appear likely to keep the Federal Reserve on its ultra easy monetary policy course.?

The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 71,000 to 3.16 million in the week ended January 12.?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/jobless-claims-drop-five-year-low-1C8086504

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Let Internet Marketing Help Your Business Succeed With These Tips ...

It may be hard to start out, particularly if your business has a lot of competition. Internet marketing needs to be tackled with a multi-line strategy. This article can help you figure out how to put the business first.

A good internet marketing strategy should always include giving your customers a money back guarantee if something is not right. This way, you will appear to be a legitimate business and your potential customers will feel like they are safe to trust you with their money. By assuming all of the risk and offering your customers a guarantee, they will be more inclined to trust you.

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An important tip regarding Internet marketing is to be an expert in anything that you deal with on your site. This is very important because it gives you a great deal of credibility and makes a strong impression on your potential customers.

Don?t be typical when it comes to banner ads. Make your banner stand out from the crowd, and potential buyers will be more likely to click it.

Security is extremely important for every business website. There are a lot of trusted security services. VeriSign is a popular choice but there are many other companies that offer secure transaction services. Although security systems are expensive, they are necessary to protect both the customer and the company.

When planning your Internet marketing strategies, use a variety of techniques and approaches and don?t put all your effort into one narrow pathway. This is especially important when developing a new business. It?s an excellent idea to keep plugging away at your day job until the success of your online venture is assured.

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Offer your customers a way to make charitable donations by buying your products. This should be advertised clearly (but not excessively) to your website visitors. The percentage of your profits doesn?t need to be huge to help your marketing.

Use what you have learned to help you focus and devise an effective strategy. As we said before, if you invest some of your time into it you will make or break your online business. Remember, though, that the knowledge you learn is only as good as the implementation of the tactic.

Be sure to visit our friends at SIVA Marketing.

Source: http://internetmarketingforcash.com/?p=2044

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Google applies for license to build experimental wireless network at Mountain View

Google's learned quite a lot about internet provision through its wired Fiber service, and now it appears to be preparing a localized wireless network. El Goog has solicited the FCC for a license to build an "experimental radio service" at its Mountain View lair, which uses bands that current consumer devices don't. As the WSJ notes, Google's old buddy Clearwire holds the keys to the 2524-2625MHz range it'll occupy, and wireless networks using these frequencies are currently under construction in China, Brazil and Japan. The initial hub for the service is planned to be within the building that houses the Google Fiber team -- perfect fuel for speculation that big G wants to create its own network (possibly in cahoots with Dish), and one that's not confined to its HQ. Right now, it's just a document, so we'll have to wait and see how this develops. Even if it ends up going nowhere, it's not like the search behemoth doesn't have the money to flirt with whatever it wants.

Filed under: Wireless, Internet, Google

Comments

Source: FCC, Wall Street Journal

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qdk7XSOJEmA/

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The Brain behind Local Live - Free Press Houston

Pictured above is Jordan Pannell. Photo taken by Alana Settles during Dirty Dub Radio, hosted by Buda Love & Rob Bass.

By: Erin Dyer

Free Press Houston spoke with Jordan Pannell, a young, influential Houstonian making advancements in discovering, representing, and promoting local arts and music by means of Local Live (including Local Live Media, L.L.C, LocalLiveMedia.com, LocalLiveHouston.com, and LocalLiveRadio.com). If you are unfamiliar with Local Live, do yourself a favor and check it out. Like, right now. After all, awareness and involvement in our city will ultimately emanate continuous growth of Houston as a prominent art community as we reinvest in ourselves and our cumulative, raw talent.

FPH:?So, you are the founder of Local Live? tell us a little about the different projects currently involved with that.

Jordan Pannell:?Yes ma?am, I am the founder and brainchild of Local Live, which includes Local Live Media, L.L.C., LocalLiveMedia.com, LocalLiveHouston.com, and LocalLiveRadio.com. Local Live Media, L.L.C. is our multimedia company which works with clients looking for videography, TV/Film production, audio engineering, events planning, promotions, and community organization. LocalLiveHouston.com and LocalLiveMedia.com currently both link you to our website?s front page, which, from there, you can choose one of our three 24/7 streaming online community radio stations from around the nation, along with access to our archives, and more soon to come. LocalLiveRadio.com is a direct link to our Local Houston community radio station, Local Live Houston Radio, which is our main and most active station.

(LocalLiveMusic.com is not a URL we use at all, though I am considering buying now!)

FPH: Have you always had an affinity for local music, and local art in general?

JP: Mainly music in my early years. When I was younger, my brother, Brad, played in two different Ska bands, named ?The Refried Beans? and ?Car 54?. They played at places like Fitzgerald?s (2706 White Oak), house parties, and even our community church. This led me to grow an ear and love for local music and venues on every spectrum. Later on, in the early 2000?s, a pal, David Lanning, started an online radio station with friends, which he named HHPRadio. I mp3-DJ?d local hip hop and rock, while the main focus of the station was drum and bass.

I began to love and appreciate local art about 7-8 years back, when I met and became inspired by local artists, such as my buddy Skeez, Dune-Micheli Patten (whose art was always around me as a teen), and of course, both of my grandmothers, who are craftwork artists, and whose work I began to appreciate in a different light.

FPH: Why did you create LocalLiveHouston.com? What effect did you hope it would have on the community? Did you expect the impact to expand beyond the city of Houston?

JP: Local Live was created because we recognized need for social justice, a voice for the city, and more expansive exposure for the music, media, arts and entertainment community. We want to return radio and media to the roots of the community. This means developing programs that originate in Houston, and includes people who are active in the communities. By broadcasting on the internet, the hope is to reach other communities outside of Houston, and draw attention to the diverse culture and interesting people that make up our city. The idea is to get other motivated people in other cities to join up with similar efforts? to create locally-based programming for their community? and to spread the love that naturally breeds itself as a result. We have already expanded the Local Live Radio format to Portland, Oregon and Dallas, TX. The sister 24/7 online community radio stations are ?Portland Oregon Tunes & More Radio,? or ?P.O.T. Radio?, managed by musician/activist Justin James Bridges, which highlights folk, blues, Americana, rock, Cannabis culture, and local news coverage. Now I know how Houstonians have a passionate dislike for Dallas, yet my cousin, Diamond Dave, runs ?Entertainment Network Dallas,? or ?E.N.D. Radio? online, which focuses on country, rock, talk radio, and news coverage. And yes, I admit? Dallas sucks.

FPH: Concerning LocalLiveHouston.com, what do your day-to-day duties look like?

JP: Presently, the staff of LocalLiveHouston.com is mostly voluntary? and big ups to Chris Shannon, my co-pilot. Aside from administrative tasks involved in coordinating that staff, most of the duties center around programming, podcasting, networking, public relations, audio engineering, community planning, and much more. Production duties make up most of the day. We have live broadcasts 12pm-2am Tues-Fri, and on weekends we do remote broadcasts from concerts, conferences, and events. Each of those shows require personal time and attention, along with promotion and networking via social media. Between 2am and 12pm, and on weekends without events, you can catch an amazing rotation of Houston?s finest musicians, along with other independent musicians from around the globe? and truly get to know your local music! Development of new programming and opportunities in other multimedia mediums are also a daily task. ?The fun around here is nonstop.

We are constantly working on expanding our programming and adding new content to the station. Also, we work with LoveSun TheDon, Urban Circus, Houston Media Source, and have many new TV, film, and movie projects in the works to keep our followers entertained and connected to their community? so keep an eye out for that!

FPH: Everyone working with LocalLiveHouston.com is clearly active and enthusiastic about the whole idea, but it seems that you haven?t had a lot of media coverage. My question is? how do we get a broader audience in Houston to get involved with this platform?

JP: So far, LocalLiveHouston.com has had to garner its own coverage in the Houston media. It was an honor being awarded winner at the 2012 Houston Press Music Awards for Best Radio Station without having to get politically involved. We won this because we are one of the only broadcast media groups that supports the Houston music scene as much as we do, other than 90.1 KPFT. That room during the awards was full of musicians who we have been honored to build relationships with, and who have played live on Local Live Radio airwaves. We all know Musical artists and fans recognize the importance of a local broadcast platform. Unfortunately, business models and trends keep many media outlets focused on music that comes from big-money production companies that can manipulate the system they have created. Aside from Free Press Houston, most of the media outlets are owned by people who do not live in Houston and have no interest in promoting the community in which their airwaves or press reach. The broadcast media companies save money by using the same formats and promote the same music across the country, leaving a HUGE void on the local scene. Recognition of local acts is few and far between, and LocalLiveHouston.com fills this void because our main focus is featuring local talent and community groups over the internet. Much of our culture over the last few decades has led a great segment of the population to believe that nothing worth their entertainment dollar comes from their local community? yet, those that get out into their community know about thriving cultural opportunities, and support it strongly. We aim to share those opportunities, and shift that thinking into a robust perspective to help support and sustain our own local music, media, arts, and entertainment community scene.

Continued presence in the community, along with expanding our programming to reach diverse segments of listeners, is the best strategy to reach a broader audience. Also, we hope to get in on the LPFM (Low Power FM) radio market with the help of Austin Airwaves and Prometheus Radio when the window opens this coming year? or at least assist them. We want to work with as many nonprofit and community organizations as we can, to establish a pure mission in ensuring this city has a media outlet for social justice. Grassroots is a slow-build, and unless a controversy arises, local media does not see a story; however, it is the effort that those at?locallivehouston.com?are making that should garner local media attention. The people who work for media companies owned by people outside of Houston should want success for musicians, entertainers, and people that live in their city; and they should take it upon themselves to promote local musicians and artists. One way they can do this is by supporting our grassroots media source because we work hard to do just that. People need to know thy neighbor.

FPH: What are your biggest challenges within LocalLiveHouston.com?

JP: Streaming internet programming is very much a niche market. Continuing to develop local programming and involving a wide variety of locals will meet this challenge. Locallivehouston.com also faces the challenge of creating a new model for how ?radio? programming creates revenue. Staying away from arbitron earnings is a given. Creating ways to gain sponsors and expand to different media production which will support the musicians, artists, entertainers and events will also meet this challenge. The key is to remain pure in our efforts, and persevere.

FPH:?Any personal stories or memories you?d like to share with our readers?

JP: If you see Bob Lane of local band, Another Run, playing trumpet on stage? well, that happens to be the trumpet I grew up playing in Jazz band that I passed on to Bob so that it could travel every stage and get put to good use! Devil Killing Moth and Bury the Crown both released albums in 2012 which they put a thanks and shout out to LocalLiveHouston.com, Stiletto Radio show and Free Thinker Radio inside the CDs? that was pretty rad! Providing audio and music for the US Vets Fun Run and Homeless In Memoriam the past couple years has always been an honor to be involved with. An amazing memory was taking part in coordinating and co-curating the 1st Annual Summer Street Art Festival with the lovely and talented Skeez and Aimee Jones. There were vendors, music, art, drinks, and an amazing fashion show on the industrial rooftop catwalk overlooking the president heads sculptures and the Houston skyline. What was even cooler is one of our Local Live Radio show hosts, Jimmy BL!TZ of the Alter Audio radio show, saved the night as EmCee of the Fashion show when we received word that our scheduled EmCee couldn?t make it! The BL!TZ owned it for being a virgin of fashion show catwalkin?. Honestly I have tons of funny stories and random personal accounts that I?d love for Free Press Houston readers to ask me about if they catch me around town at a local event, or at the newly reopened Moon Tower Inn? which, might I add, has damn good food and cold ass beer: a perfect combo for tellin? memorable stories.
If you want to get involved with the station, now is the time as we are expanding our programming in order to better serve every bit of Houston. We need volunteers who want to help out as production engineers, street team & more which you can find out by emailing?staff@locallivehouston.com?with your info. I would personally like to thank every musician, entertainer, artist, earthling, extraterrestrial & person who has come through our many studio doors to entertain the listeners along with sharing your very important messages. We have so much more entertainment planned for Houston this year, we are excited & know its going to be a blast!

LocalLiveMedia.com
LocalLiveRadio.com
LocalLiveHouston.com
Facebook.com/LocalLiveMedia
Twitter: @LocalLiveMedia

Source: http://www.freepresshouston.com/music/the-brain-behind-local-live-an-interview-with-jordan-pannell/

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Making Network Marketing Work Best For You | Jim McGilvary's ...

Mistakes Are Costing You! Learn To Stop?Making ALL 189 Of Them!

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Posted by Administrator on Jan 22, 2013 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Knowledge is an important tool. This article?s advice could give you a good start; you should make use of as much of it as you can.

Avoid wasting your time. The internet is full of distractions that can pull you away from the task at hand. Set up a schedule for your work, and focus on meeting your deadlines.

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Source: http://leucabiz.com/blog/making-network-marketing-work-best-for-you/

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To Catch A Marten: Seeking Clues In Olympic National Forest

A group of volunteers is helping biologists see whether there are any martens left in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A group of volunteers is helping biologists see whether there are any martens left in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

It's about 25 degrees on a clear Saturday morning when Gregg Treinish ? executive director of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, a nonprofit that puts volunteers to work gathering data for scientists around the world ? gathers a small group of outdoor adventurers around him near the Duckabush River in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state.

The mission for this group: help biologists figure out whether there are any martens left in the Olympic National Forest. Volunteers will set up motion-activated cameras in some of the forest's snowiest, most remote territory.

The citizen scientists fill their packs with a strange assortment of gear, including chicken wire, hammers, folding saws and ? wait for it ? human-head-sized chunks of beaver carcass.

"I don't mind carrying dead things, but maybe I'll move my lunch," says Sonia Wolfman, a lawyer from Olympia, Wash., as she stuffs a black garbage bag full of beaver guts into her pack.

The beaver, which was provided by the Forest Service, will be used as bait to lure the martens in front of the remote cameras the volunteers plan to set up throughout the forest.

But in the Olympics anyway, catching a marten, a member of the weasel family, on camera is a rare occurrence.

"For the past 25 years, we've had three verifiable sightings," says Betsy Howell, a biologist with the Forest Service who helped organize this project. "Two were photographs and one was an animal caught in a trap."

Although martens are doing OK in parts of the mountain West, their numbers appear to have plummeted in recent decades in the coastal ranges of Oregon and Washington.

Until scientists know that for sure, these animals can't be recommended for protection under the Endangered Species Act. That's where these volunteers come in.

Treinish leads the group into the woods at a brisk pace. He's a tightly muscled guy with mountain-man hair and an easy smile. When he hikes, his eyes remain glued to the forest floor, scanning the snow. He picks out the tracks of mountain lion, elk, coyote, bobcat and a host of rodents along the trail, and points them out to the group. But no sign of martens.

After more than four miles of hiking up steep switchbacks and past sparkling icy rock faces, we get to a spot that looks like a place martens might hang out. To the untrained eye, it looks like every other snowy section of forest we've hiked through, but not to Treinish.

"It's a nice flat area here," he explains, pointing at a dip in the landscape where a young cedar and fir tree stand about 13 feet apart. "I kind of like how it funnels everything into there, so we'll go with that spot."

The group unloads its gear and starts setting up the station.

Jenna Walenga, a barista from Seattle, snaps on a pair of rubber gloves and prepares to reach into the bloody garbage bag. A few years ago, she hiked Mount Kilimanjaro. Today her job is to attach a hunk of dead beaver to one of these trees.

"I'm actually a vegetarian," she says, as she holds the carcass against the tree so another volunteer can nail it down beneath a layer of chicken wire.

On the opposite tree, the team sets up the motion-activated camera and aims it at the beaver carcass.

The chances of getting footage of martens in the Olympic National Forest are slim. Much of the old-growth forests the martens rely on in the coastal range has been cut down, and biologists worry that climate change will shrink the remaining cold alpine habitat.

No one knows how many martens might still live in the national forest, but Howell says they'd probably never be able to find out without the help of volunteers like these.

"We can do so much more together than we can do separately," Howell says. "The partnership is a great way to get work done that otherwise we just don't have funding or staff for anymore."

The volunteers will set up 11 other stations like this one throughout the forest. Then they'll come back in smaller groups to check the cameras every month or so to see whether any martens showed up to have their pictures taken.

It's still legal to trap martens in Washington and Oregon. But here in Olympic National Forest, there may not be any left to catch ? on camera, or otherwise.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/21/169912767/to-catch-a-marten-seeking-clues-in-olympic-national-forest?ft=1&f=1007

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Power outage hits Damascus, southern Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? The Syrian government on Monday blamed a rebel attack on a key power line for a blackout that hit Damascus and much of the country's south overnight, leaving residents cold and in the dark amid a fuel crisis that has stranded many at home.

Meanwhile, Syria's main opposition postponed the selection of a prime minister and the formation of a transitional government to run the country should the regime of President Bashar Assad fall, highlighting the continued failure of Assad's opponents to unite behind a shared leader or vision nearly two years into the country's crisis.

While Damascus's 2.5 million residents have grown used to frequent power cuts as the country's conflict has damaged infrastructure and sapped the government's finances, they said Monday that the overnight outage was the first to darken the entire capital since the conflict began.

Also Monday, Syria's defense minister vowed the army will keep chasing rebels all over the country "until it achieves victory and thwarts the conspiracy that Syria is being subjected to."

State-run news agency SANA says Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij made his comments during a tour to troops in action against rebels. Al-Freij, who took the post after his predecessor was assassinated in July, rarely makes statements.

His comments came as activists reported air raids and shelling of different areas around Syria, including a helicopter raid in the northeastern town of Tabqa that killed eight people including two women and three children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The blackout hit residents especially hard because of rampant fuel shortages and the winter cold that pushed temperatures below freezing overnight. Getting gas requires waiting in hours-long lines at stations, and cooking fuel and diesel for portable heaters has grown scarce and expensive ? forcing people to find other ways to keep warm.

"We covered ourselves from the cold in blankets because there was no diesel or electricity for the heaters," said retired teacher Mariam Ghassan, 60. "We changed our whole lives to get organized for power cuts, but now we have no idea when the power will come or go."

At its height, the outage engulfed all of Damascus and extended to an area at least 50 kilometers (31 miles) north to the town of Zabadani and across the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida that abut the Jordanian border.

By midday Monday, power had returned to more than half of the capital, and Electricity Minister Imad Khamis said authorities were working to restore it in other areas.

Syria's state news agency quoted him as saying that the outages were caused by "an armed terrorist attack on the main feed line." The regime refers to those fighting to topple Assad as "terrorists."

Dozens of rebel groups operate in the Damascus area, and the government did not name a specific group or give any information on where the alleged attack took place. No rebel groups claimed responsibility.

Other than a rebel incursion in July that the government quickly quashed, Damascus has yet to see the large clashes between Assad's forces and opposition fighters that have destroyed entire neighborhoods in other Syrian cities.

The government still controls the capital with a network of checkpoints, but has faced mounting difficulty in providing basic services as the civil war drags on and sanctions imposed by the U.S., the European Union and other countries take their toll.

For most Damascenes, the power cuts and fuel shortages are the most frequent reminder of the war that has engulfed much of the rest of their country.

The government has fixed gasoline prices at about 75 cents per liter, but shortages mean residents must wait up to six hours in lines to fill up.

"There is almost no diesel in the city," said a taxi driver named Wael, who gave only his first name for fear of government reprisals.

To fuel his car, he gets to the gas station first thing in the morning and often waits until noon to fill up. Even then, the gas is rationed by the government to no more than 20 liters per person ? meaning he'll have to wait in line again the next day.

"I hate my job," he said. "I've been trying to find a new one but I can't. How am I supposed to feed my kids?"

Cooking gas, too, has become a precious commodity, and people must wait more than two weeks to replace an empty bottle at the government rate of about $7 or pay as much as four times that on the black market.

The situation is markedly worse in the suburbs ringing the capital, some of which are controlled by the opposition and are frequent sites of clashes between rebels and the army as well as frequent targets of government airstrikes. Some of these areas have had no electricity for months and have only black-market gas driven in from elsewhere.

In the southwestern suburb of Daraya, where rebels have been locked in heated battles with the army for months, activist Amr Abdel-Haq said there had been no electricity for two months and that flour and cooking gas were nearly nonexistent.

He blamed the government for Daraya's lack of electricity, saying the regime is punishing the suburb "because it is resisting and the regime forces have not been able to enter the city or take it over."

"Daraya has become a city of ghosts, and only the rebels live in it," he said.

It was not possible to verify the government's claims that a rebel attack was responsible for Monday's blackout. Both sides of Syria's bloody conflict, which the U.N. says has killed more than 60,000 people since March 2011, frequently blame each other when things go wrong.

After a nationwide Internet outage in November, for example, the regime blamed rebels for the cut, while the rebels and international experts said the government pulled the plug.

Some Damascus residents were skeptical over whether rebels had attacked the main power line, speculating that dwindling fuel supplies could have been behind the overnight blackout, with the government using the rebels as scapegoats.

Also Monday, Syria's main opposition coalition said it had failed to select a prime minister or form a transitional government during a weekend meeting in Istanbul.

The group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, said in a statement that it had formed a committee to "complete the election of a prime minister" within the next 10 days. It also formed seven committees to deal with issues like diplomatic relations and aid to refugees until a transitional government can be formed.

The group's failure to select a prime minister is likely to disappoint the United States and its other backers who pressed for its formation, hoping it would provide more cohesive leadership to those seeking to topple Assad.

___

Hubbard reported from Beirut. A journalist contributed reporting from Damascus, Syria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/power-outage-hits-damascus-southern-syria-150646632.html

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