Friday, April 13, 2012

The Life and Music of James Brown

In his new book The One: The Life and Music of James Brown, R.J. Smith offers a portrait of a man who transformed American music, from his impoverished childhood in the segregated South to his accrual (and loss) of several fortunes. The 30-minute conversation includes discussion of Brown?s mentors, his punishing touring schedule, his business ventures, his trip to Vietnam, his endorsement of Richard Nixon, and his violence.

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Feds: Soldiers took 'live' anti-tank weapon home

An anti-tank weapon, capable of penetrating 12 inches of armor, was smuggled off of a military base in Washington state. Chris Daniels reports.

By Jeff Black, msnbc.com

Five soldiers are under investigation for taking an Army anti-tank weapon loaded with a live rocket home from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state and passing it around, a federal law enforcement spokeswoman confirmed to msnbc.com.

NBC station King-TV in Seattle was first to reveal?the probe. The station?reported that one of the soldiers smuggled the M-72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon)? --?a shoulder-fired launcher armed with a rocket capable of penetrating armor nearly one-foot thick --?off the sprawling base southeast of Seattle. The weapon was then held in the possession of at least five soldiers.

?It was indeed a live rocket,? Cheryl Bishop, spokeswoman for the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told msnbc.com on Wednesday.


According to KING-TV, this is how the weapon was discovered:

The soldiers' secret reportedly became revealed when one of the troops was deployed to Afghanistan last year. His girlfriend called police when she found the rocket launcher in their closet.

The weapon was turned over to federal agents by the Pierce County Sheriff?s office, Bishop said.

?There is nothing that we know about to date that there was any intention for it?to be used," Bishop said. ?They did have it ? it was an active and live military LAWs rocket.?

Investigators told King-TV they expect that charges for illegally possessing a military-grade weapon will be filed by federal prosecutors against the soldiers.

The Army has assisted in the investigation, Bishop said. It was unclear if any disciplinary action within the military has taken place against the soldiers.

An Army spokesman at?the base?told King-TV he wasn?t aware of the investigation.

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Thursday, April 12, 2012

What meltdown? Broker bidding wars are back

Bonuses offered by the U.S.'s biggest securities companies to recruit top brokers are reaching their loftiest levels since the financial crisis, and none of the big firms are retreating from the bidding war.

The brokerage arms of banks such as Morgan Stanley, UBS AG, Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America are offering high-end U.S. brokers two to three times the commissions and fees they produced in the previous year, up from about one times those earnings previously.

The bonuses, which can approach $15 million for some teams over several years, have steadily escalated and include perks such as prime parking spaces and the hiring of brokers' sales assistants, recruiters say.

The bonuses reflect how eager big firms are to manage the assets of the very wealthy, who tend to be more loyal to their advisers than to the advisers' firms. In addition, fees from wealth management, as the brokerage business is known today, are dependable, while revenue streams from trading and investing are volatile and becoming less profitable under regulatory and market pressures.

The big companies also are eager to attract big brokers and assets at a time when investors are still fearful of investing and cutting down on trades. So despite the costs, big firms keep bidding up the pay.

"Clearly they want the deals to go away, but no one can afford to make the first move and lose market share," said Alois Pirker, research director of Aite Group, a wealth management consulting firm in Boston.

Delayed returns
The high payouts mean brokerages often won't recoup their largesse for at least two years, and often more than five, according to brokerage executives who declined to be identified. And if brokers who are sated on fat bonuses or uncomfortable with their new firm lose their sales zeal, the payback can extend years beyond that.

"They should absolutely stop doing it, but nobody wants to give up their competitive advantage," said Pirker. "If they go cold turkey, they lose."

Just two years ago, brokerage executives said they understood the folly and were going to end it.

"I truly believe the industry is moving toward a more rational recruiting model," James Gorman, chief executive of Morgan Stanley and the former head of retail brokerage at Merrill Lynch, told investors in January 2010 after the company reported a 2009 loss of $960 million.

But Morgan Stanley, the biggest broker, with more than 17,100 advisers, continues to compete. Rick Peterson, a recruiter in Houston, said he heard of a team of advisers leaving Merrill Lynch for Morgan Stanley in 2011 for a potential payout of about $25 million.

He declined to identify the team and spokespeople at Morgan Stanley and Merrill, which is owned by Bank of America, declined to comment.

UBS Wealth Management Americas has been particularly aggressive recently as it tries to recover from tax and other scandals of 2009 and 2010, recruiters said.

Its compensation costs last quarter totaled 91 percent of its net income, compared with 65 percent for its wealth management businesses globally, according to company reports. In at least one case, it last year dangled a bonus equivalent to 3.8 times the trailing 12-month revenue of one brokerage team, said Peterson. Spokespeople at UBS did not respond to several requests for comment.

Wells Fargo, for its part, said it is "committed to attracting top industry talent and we do aim to be competitive in our offers. Most new advisers join because of "the culture of the firm" and the strength of Wells Fargo's name, said Erica Van Ross, a company spokeswoman.

Upfront and back-end
Deals offered by big companies are variable but inevitably include an upfront signing bonus and a "loan" made over several years that is forgiven if the broker stays productive and in place for seven to 11 years.

A typical high-end broker with a clean regulatory record who generates $1 million of annual revenue and oversees about $150 million of client assets generally gets an upfront cash payment of 1.25 to 1.50 times trailing 12-month revenue. The multiple rises with stronger production and asset levels. The back-end bonus is tied to hitting asset-gathering goals that rise from about 70 percent of what brokers oversaw at their old employer within the first year to 150 percent within five years.

Like all advisers, they receive ongoing payouts for new business. Top brokers at companies such as Merrill, Morgan Stanley and UBS retain between 40 percent and 50 percent of the fees and commissions they produce, meaning a $2 million producer gets a payout of $1 million a year.

That is a pittance compared with the $235 million that AR magazine calculated as the median income for the top 25 hedge fund managers in 2011, but retail advisers can count on a more consistent return than traders, whose pay gyrates dramatically from year to year. The top 25 hedge fund managers of 2010, for example took home $400 million each.

Even up-and-coming brokers with less than five years of experience who are generating $500,000 of revenue can attract hefty bonus deals, said Peterson.

The bonuses persist because well-connected advisers have access to the assets of the very wealthy, the lifeblood of wealth management companies.

And while brokerage executives may grouse about what it takes to move an elite broker -- only a few hundred migrate a year at the upper levels, according to recruiters -- they remain confident that the bonuses will ultimately pay off.

"Wealth management firms make the bulk of their profits on the top 10 percent of their producers," said Steven Eckhaus, a compensation attorney at Katten Muchin Rosenman whose clients include brokers and top securities firm executives who receive bonuses much higher than retail brokers. "If the deals didn't make economic sense, they wouldn't do it."

The big companies have been growing. Over 2010 and 2011, wealth management assets at Merrill Lynch shot up 31.9 percent to $1.5 trillion, while those at Morgan Stanley rose 5.6 percent to $1.58 trillion, according to Cerulli Associates, a Boston research firm. Merrill was absorbed by Bank of America early in 2009 and Morgan Stanley bought a majority interest in Smith Barney in June of that year.

In the same period, assets at Wells Fargo Advisors, the third-largest firm by brokers, grew 4.2 percent to $885.5 billion while UBS Wealth Americas -- with about half of Morgan Stanley's brokerage force -- rose 11.2 percent to $794.2 billion of client assets, according to Cerulli.

Game of chicken
Andy Tasnady, a sales force management and compensation consultant at Tasnady Associates, said retail brokerages have no choice but to recruit because they can no longer rely on inexperienced advisers making cold calls in a world of increasingly complex products. That leaves the firms competing in a Wall Street game of chicken.

"If a big firm trails off on hiring, everyone says they're on the ropes," said Mike Campbell, chief executive of Dominick & Dominick, a broker-dealer in New York City with 65 advisers. "Hiring brokers is headline news and helps stock prices even if the deals are not economic."

Small firms such as Dominick can't afford to counter offers made to their top producers and lack economies of scale to recruit from the big firms without substantially increasing their technology and service costs.

"It seems like a big-firm war, but the problem is that the shrapnel falls on us," said Jim Kerr, president of DA Davidson in Great Falls, Montana, which has 315 brokers and has experienced attrition among brokers increase since the financial crisis of 2008.

The best offers regional firms can make -- upfront bonuses of about 70 percent of a broker's 12-month trailing revenue in cash and notes, with another 30 percent of the total paid after several years -- are about a third of the big companies' deals, headhunters say.

The most intense battle, however, remains among the big firms themselves. "If one of them sees heightened departures, they will dip into their money pool and play the game," Pirker said. "You want to win them over with your firm's story, but if that doesn't work you have to do it with your money."

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Justin Bieber Reveals His Five Key 'Boyfriend' Tips

Believe singer shares his advice with MTV News: 'Girls can be tough sometimes, so you just got to be patient.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Kelly Marino


Justin Bieber
Photo: MTV News

Justin Bieber proclaims all the things he wants to do to get the apple of his eye to be his girlfriend on his single "Boyfriend."

According to the lyrics, he'll buy her lots of nice things, take her on trips, heat up some fondue, sing in falsetto and be generally swaggie, whatever that means. While those suggestions are sweet gestures to put into song, when MTV News sat down with Bieber on the set of his music video for the Believe track, he broke down the ways, in real life, a guy can be the best boyfriend he can possibly be.

"I don't know if I'm even the best boyfriend," Bieber admitted, "but I can give a few suggestions."

Well, after taking a second to get his tips together, Selena Gomez's beau had timeless advice for any clueless fellas out there: "I think being honest and patient, because girls can be tough sometimes, so you just got to be patient. That's two," he explained. "Forgive, and have fun, because it's about having fun."

So, what was Bieber's final piece of advice? "Last one?" he said. "Be faithful."

In addition to those five simple steps, Bieber recently dished to Seventeen magazine about another one of his dating philosophies. "I'm just trying to make [Selena] happy, that's all," he shared. "I think it's important to make all women feel like they're princesses, because every girl is a princess. I'm serious."

"Boyfriend," with production and writing credits from Mike Posner and Mason Levy, is the swoon-worthy lead single off his highly anticipated next release. Believe is set to drop later this year, and will include appearances from Bieber's rapping alter ego Shawty Mane, Drake and possibly even his skateboarding buddy, Lil Wayne.

What do you think of Bieber's tips? Sound off below!

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Tezyy That's Why - Panic Phobia

By jwg024
Filed Under Health & Fitness?| Tagged With: active listening, analysis, anxiety, articles, beliefs, books, cassettes, clarity, course in miracles, creativity, dealing with death, decision making, effective communication, emotional harmony, emotions, finding role in life, Greece, happiness, harmony, immortality, inner conflicts, inner Peace, inner work, lectures, life coach, love, Meditation, mental clarity, motivation, New Age, philosophy, physical harmony, problems solving questionnaires, psychology, relationships, religion, robert najemy, self acceptance, self analysis, self knowledge, self understanding, self-help, seminars, spirituality, tension, universal teachings, www.holisticharmony.com, www.holisticharmonycom | | 20 Comments?

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Exotic manure is sure to lure the dung connoisseur

ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2012) ? Although the preference of dung beetles for specific types and conditions of dung has been given substantial attention, little has been done to investigate their preference for dung from exotic mammals found on game farms or rewilding projects.

In "A Comparison of Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Attraction to Native and Exotic Mammal Dung," an article appearing in the latest edition of Environmental Entomology, Sean D. Whipple, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and W. Wyatt Hoback, a biology professor at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, used pitfall traps baited with various native and exotic herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore dung to evaluate dung beetle preference in the Great Plains of North America.

After spending two years capturing more than 9,000 dung beetles from 15 different species, they found that omnivore dung was the most attractive, with chimpanzee and human dung having the highest mean capture. This can largely be attributed to omnivore dung being more odiferous in comparison to that of herbivore dung.

Surprisingly, native Nebraskan dung beetles which coevolved with bison showed little attraction to bison dung compared with waterbuck, zebra, donkey, and moose dung.

"Our results suggest that even closely related species of generalist-feeding dung beetles differ in their response to novel dung types," said Dr. Whipple. "In addition, preference for a specific manure does not appear to be correlated with dung quality, mammalian diet, or origin of mammal."

"This novel research indicates that native dung beetle species will respond to dung from exotic animals, and that there is an apparent mismatch of species to resources," said Dr. Hoback. "This mismatch will be addressed in continuing research and may shed light on ecological and evolutionary patterns among detritivores which encounter new resources. As such, there are implications for both conservation and exotic species biology."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Entomological Society of America.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sean D. Whipple, W. Wyatt Hoback. A Comparison of Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Attraction to Native and Exotic Mammal Dung. Environmental Entomology, 2012; 41 (2): 238 DOI: 10.1603/EN11285

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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PHOTO: Who Is This "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy"?

If you've been hearing soft music in the background of your Web browsing today, it may be because the entire Internet is singing "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" to a guy named Zeddie Little. Nicknamed "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy," Little first popped up last week on the website Reddit, where a photo of him running a 10K (and looking uncannily perfect while doing so) was viewed millions of times.

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Android 4.0 and New Hardware for India's $35 Tablet

India?s highly publicized $35 tablet is all ready to ship within two to three weeks will be overhauled with improved hardware as well as Google?s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, according to the firm which is ?assembling the device for Indian government.

The second generation Akash 2 will feature 7-inch capacitive multitouch screen and faster single-core, 800MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, said CEO of Datawind, Suneet Singh Tuli. The tablet will be shipped with Android 2.3, but will be upgraded to Android ICS nearly six to eight weeks after the delivery, said Tuli.

The total price of the tablet is nearly $45, and Indian government will subsidize that to $35, said Tuli. In July 2010 the original $35 tablet was announced by Indian government as subsidized low-cost computing device for the students in the country. The Akash 2 is an important upgrade over original $35 tablet that had 7-inch resistive touchscreen, Android 2.2 as well as a slower 366MHz processor based on an older ARM architecture. Akash 2 will feature 256MB of RAM along with 2GB flash storage that are same as original $35 tablet.

According to Tuli the tablet will likely to be upgraded dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processors by end of year. Cortex-A9 processors were used by many tablets including the ones by Asus, Acer, Lenovo and Samsung.

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Video: Haunted Memories, Part 2

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

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Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa

Monday, April 9, 2012
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Fowler Museum - Galleries

Fowler Museum at UCLA

See below for additional information.

Admission

Admission is free and open to the public

Contact

DEPT OF WORLD ARTS & CULTURES
(310) 825-4361
fowlerprograms@arts.ucla.edu

Website

http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/exhibitions/current

Additional Information

Second Skins juxtaposes two separate traditions of fabricating vibrantly graphic clothing from the inner bark of trees: one shared by diverse peoples who live in and around the Ituri rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the other produced by the ?mie of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific.

Focusing on twentieth century and contemporary iterations of possibly ancient traditions, the exhibition will explore barkcloth?s contemporary ?migration? from the body to the gallery wall, highlighting the genre?s artistic inventiveness and the differing ways the two traditions have interacted with the international art market.

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Monday, April 9, 2012

Self Hypnosis - Universal Energy|Improve your quality of life

You can tap into the energy of the universe and power yourself to achieve anything you set your mind to do with self hypnosis.

This self hypnosis session has been recorded by leading UK hypnotherapist Jon Rhodes of HypnoBusters.

Self hypnosis can help aid a wide variety of problems including weight loss, quitting smoking, relaxation, sleeping, creativity, health, self improvement and much more.

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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Why Journey Nursing Positions Is the Way to Go

Journey nursing is an exhilarating profession that enables you to the prospect to travel the globe and just take care of sufferers. Discovering the correct nursing company is a vital component in accomplishing a successes in travel nursing.

Journey nursing jobs provide you with awesome possibilities for nurses who wish to expand their sphere of health related encounter, by operating in several parts of the entire world in several health care businesses. They are not confined to an one region and gains publicity by doing work with health care professionals all about the planet who have know-how in treating selected ailments. This employment gives you nurses a number of rewards and encounters that will get them outdoors of their comfort zone.

There is no specific qualification when compared to other nursing job opportunities. Then again, a journey nurse is necessary to have impeccable data and a historical past of encounter. Those people who have just graduated nursing school might possibly not be qualified for a travel nursing occupation right until they have finished at least a 12 months of company in their respective fields. This is extremely critical, as it is a mandatory criterion for program to the work.

The perks available by travel nursing jobs differ depending upon the company that employs the nurse. The agency obtains the work for the nurse and continues to assist the nurse until eventually the contract amongst the nurse and company has finished. Yet, a fine agency presents an good certain income, preparation of all documents that are critical for journey, tax strengths and non-public housing. Loyalty software applications that include paid out holidays, reimbursements, insurances and a few other features are also delivered.

Journey nursing work are completed on a contractual basis. They are hired for a certain time period of time, which may perhaps array from a very few weeks to a number of years. Through this time, they are expected to are living in the respective region where by their program is expected. The nurse gets income by using the agency to which he or she belongs. All assist and backup that the nurse could want is given by the company. Extension bonuses are also given if the nurse extends the period of time of the contract. The company also provides expense blueprints that permit the journey nurses to make the most effective use of their bucks.

These forms of jobs are in desire of clearly-qualified nurses who can cope with the circumstances that commonly appear up whereby they are sent to function. Their competencies and authenticity are verified by the various documents that are needed at the time of program. These files are verified by the government and official clinical organizations. The paperwork is set along in what is described as an account and can comprise of health care licenses, immunization certificates, health and fitness certificates and the like. A nurse?s eligibility is identified by this record, or account, of qualifications.

Flying to a second region and doing work there with no just one to rely on could appear awkward to some. It is to be famous that the company plays a significant purpose in the lifespan of a travel nurse. Journey nursing job opportunities contain a good deal of support from the agency. This assistance is both fiscal and moral. So if a nurse is element of a really good agency, there is next to nothing to feel concerned about. They can tackle the company about targeted demands such as housing, transport, finances and nearly anything else that could occur up. Attempting to keep this in intellect, it is straightforward to see how this sort of career is worthwhile.

In search of additional information nursing jobs?Go to our web page for added details.

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Home based business Recommendation That may help you Thrive ...

Should you observe great guidance, venturing into a home-based business just isn?t as hard as you imagine. The following document will provide you with some helpful home-based business suggestions you can use. commissionjungle.com Many house owners of property enterprises get jointly on-line. Seek out out on-line message boards which have been devoted on your variety of business enterprise or service you present and also other people that are not as part of your discipline. Other business enterprise entrepreneurs may possibly give you hints concerning how to operate your personal business enterprise. Goods that solve a problem or fill a need to have can be a great factor to advertise from the home-based business. If the merchandise delivers a solution to a frequent, each day trouble, men and women are going to be extra thinking about acquiring it. Should you develop a solution to a frequent trouble you encounter, your merchandise is positive to become successful. Performing from property as part of your pajamas is as fun while it sounds, but will not be amazed in case you end up missing that human interaction you are only able to get from currently being out and about during the workplace. Just take time for you to routine regular conferences and errands to your business enterprise external of one?s property to avoid experiencing lonely. http://www.websitesautomationwizard.com/ Scour the net to find the most beneficial wholesale rates for that home-based business supplies you would like. Numerous wholesale providers can be found on the internet and can offer you discounts in the supplies your organization needs at a portion from the expense of retail. A business license provides the chance to purchase the products at the lesser selling price. Select a title which has genuine this means. A unforgettable title that?s simple to realize will help your manufacturer become synonymous during the minds of customers using your high-quality goods. There can be a freaky or elevating tale linked to your manufacturer title. This may assist you be recognizable by your customers. Take the time to determine your total expenses to supply your merchandise. Not recognizing the precise determine may result in you losing capital. Wholesale mark-up could double the cost. A standard selling price improve for retail could be the wholesale selling price multiplied by two. Make your price-point some thing equally both you and your customers can are living with. Consulting with the attorney who specializes in business enterprise legislation is an important step when you are commencing a home business enterprise. You?ll find at times precise laws about property enterprises. By contacting a business lawyer, you might have the ability to see what your state laws are and ensure you are following them to ensure that you don?t get into boueux along with the state. Company trips can be a excellent strategy. Touring for business enterprise, as a substitute of pure pleasure, delivers you substantial tax financial savings. Locate someplace that?s internet hosting a seminar about your variety of business enterprise. Ensure you truly head to and sit throughout the function! This way you could even now legally deduct the trip without boueux in the IRS. jason fielder As was said at first of this document, many individuals dream about commencing their own personal home-based business. Having said that, obtaining a home-based business started out is difficult in case you will not determine what you are accomplishing.

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Pope urges families to persevere in economic crisis

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Saturday, April 7, 2012

Nikki Stone: Banking on the Underdog

With just over three months to the Summer Olympics in London, many people are picking their favorites to win bronze, silver and gold. As I recall my own experiences leading into my second Olympic games, I've learned not to count out the media's underdogs.

When I returned to competition following my spinal injury, I found sports journalists were not the only people who had written me off. I had to convince my sponsors that I was still worth my salt. Believe me, sponsors don't just take your word that they should bank on you with their valuable marketing dollars. And since my injury, I had yet to produce any results to demonstrate that I might be an Olympic medalist a short nine months later.

I knew I had to prove that I still had it in me to be the best, which meant I had to first believe it myself. I had to learn to do the more difficult jumps, perfect the maneuvers and land them, in less than three-quarters of a year. I think I may have been one of the few people who actually believed that I could do all that in such a short time.

To prove how confident I was, I had to be creative with my contracts with sponsors. Before my injury, the majority of my contracts were "retainers," where sponsorship dollars were set in advance and delivered up front. Sponsors knew my abilities and were willing to pay for the likely results. To prove my belief in my own post-injury skills, I had to accept a "victory schedule" contract, where they would pay me each time I ended with a top-three finish, the big bucks coming if I landed on the Olympic podium.

With my only source of income being my sponsor payments, and absolutely no recent podium finishes, it took a large amount of bravado for me to choose this path. I couldn't wait to prove to sponsors that they should have banked on me with the advanced set retainer, because I had every intention of landing on the podium every week.

There are thousands of athletes preparing to demonstrate their magic at the London Olympic Games this summer and they certainly can't all be favorites. I believe that the ones that will thrive are the ones who haven't counted themselves out. This is why dark horses DO succeed. They are training to prove why a betting man's money should have been on them.

So as you think of these athletes, ask yourself who is counting YOU out? What are you doing to prove them wrong? Be creative and explore ways to demonstrate why they should have put you on the "podium." Don't let someone else dismiss your potential. Only YOU have the ability to say the title isn't yours.

Motivational Weight Management Tip

I've had the great honor of working with some of the Biggest Loser contestants and it has inspired me to leave motivational diet, health, and wellness tips at the end of all of my blogs. These tools have been driven from actual advice I've shared.

This week's tip:

Joe Paterno wisely stated, "You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you'll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit." You need to approach your weight loss regimen with supreme confidence. With the right attitude you will stick to your program. Anything can become a habit. Why not make it your positive attitude... and I promise that the exercise and weight management goals will follow.

?

Follow Nikki Stone on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NikkiStoneGold

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Hulk Man Boobs Cardio Workout | Bodybuilding, Supplements, Diets ...



Lunges are a challenging exercise because they work so many muscles at the same time. On the front leg, you?ll work the glutes and hamstrings and, on the back leg, you?ll work the quads and calves. Step ups are another great exercise for the glutes. For step ups, place one foot on a step or platform and push through the heel to lift the body up. This is an excellent exercise for the glutes, providing you use a step that?s high enough, although you may need to work up to a higher step if you?re a beginner. You eventually want a height were your knee is at about a 90-degree angle.The other key is to concentrate all your weight on the stepping leg. In other words, lower down gently, barely touching the toes of the other leg to the ground. You?ll really feel this when you take it slow and concentrate on the working leg.While I?m fond of more compound moves (like the squats, lunges and step ups listed above) since they work more muscle groups, the hip extension is an exercise that specificially targets the largest muscle in the body?the gluteus maximus.Deadlifts are great for your hamstrings, butt and lower back, but this one-legged version is a great way to add intensity to the exercise and engage your stabilizer muscles to keep your body balanced. Form is critical and you should skip this exercise if you have any back problems.

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Use Web Marketing To Help Your Scentsy Business Earnings Soar ...

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Supporters hail Brotherhood bid for Egypt presidency

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood candidate for Egypt's presidency was cheered on by supporters on Thursday when he registered to run in an election where his main rivals will be other Islamists and candidates who served under the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak.

Khairat al-Shater, 61, a millionaire businessman and leading strategist in the Brotherhood, was named as its candidate last week in a policy reversal by the group that previously pledged it would not participate.

The Brotherhood's broad grass-roots network, built over decades, ensures Shater is a frontrunner, although he has yet to launch his campaign. "The people want Shater for president," the group of about 2,000 supporters chanted. Some lit fireworks.

"This is a historical day for Egypt. Our earlier decision not to field a candidate was for Egypt and its protection. Today, our decision to field a candidate is also for Egypt's benefit and out of a sense of responsibility" Saad Husseini, a member of the Brotherhood's party, told reporters.

Shater's bid for the presidency risks splitting the Islamist vote between him, a candidate who follows the stricter Salafi interpretation of Islam and another contender with more moderate views who was expelled from the Brotherhood over his decision to run before the group changed tack on fielding a candidate.

That could hand the advantage to two other main contenders: Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League who had also served as Mubarak's foreign minister in the 1990s, and Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, who, like the ex-president, was once in charge of the air force.

In a poll researched in March, just before Shater was named as a candidate, Moussa was frontrunner with the Salafi candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail in second place, and Shafiq third. Islamists already dominated parliament.

Abu Ismail's campaign said after Shater was nominated that it would make their candidate "more popular".

But his campaign has also had to fend off accusations that his late mother was a U.S. citizen, which would disqualify him from a race that stipulates both parents must be only Egyptian, with no dual citizenship.

The website of state-run Al-Ahram newspaper on Thursday cited the head of the Higher Presidential Election Commission as saying it had received a letter from the Interior Ministry that said Abu Ismail's mother had travelled using an American passport three times in the five months before she died in 2010.

Campaign manager Mohamed Nasr said Abu Ismail had filed a lawsuit that would force the Interior Ministry or the commission to show she had only Egyptian nationality, adding the media talk was "entirely fake".

CONTENDERS

The door for nominations closes on Sunday with any challenges to nominees reviewed after that. About 1,000 people have take documents to register to run. The first round of voting is May 23-24, followed by a second round on June 16-17.

Fears that Shater's candidacy could hand power to those outside the Islamist camp has prompted some groups to call for a single Islamist candidate to run and for others to step aside. None of the main contenders have yet indicated they would.

The rise of Islamists is being closely watched in the West, long wary of their influence in Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with Israel and recipient of $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid. But U.S. and other officials have lined up to meet Brotherhood officials, including Shater.

In his first reported comments since he was named, Shater, a pragmatic conservative, pledged to introduce sharia, Islamic law, as his "first and final" objective if elected and also pledged to reform the Interior Ministry.

He also dismissed suggestions that he had connived with the military, which has ruled Egypt since Mubarak was ousted on February 11, 2011, to undermine the popularity of other Islamists.

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which controls the biggest bloc in parliament, has demanded the army-appointed government be sacked, criticizing it for mishandling the economy and failing to reform the Interior Ministry and its police force. The ruling military council has rejected this.

Shater, jailed in 2007 by a military court and released before the end of his sentence and shortly after Mubarak was ousted, could be barred from running due to that jail term. But Brotherhood lawyer has said he was pardoned, although no official announcement has been made.

ARMY VOWS TO HANDOVER POWER

Essam Darbala, head of one Salafi body, the Consultative Council of the Islamic Group, said such issues raised concerns that Islamists could be excluded, leaving the field open to candidates such as Moussa and Shafiq.

"There will be great difficulty in transferring power from the military which has ruled Egypt for 60 years to civilians at the end of June," Darbala said in a statement.

The army has insisted it will not have a political role in the presidential vote and has vowed to stick to its pledge to hand power to the new president by July 1. Analysts expect it to wield influence from behind the scenes for years to come.

One potential candidate who some speculated could have the army's backing, Omar Suleiman, the former intelligence and who was briefly appointed at Hosni Mubarak's vice president, said he would not run in a statement, Egypt's official news agency said.

An aide to Suleiman, who asked not to be named, confirmed this to Reuters adding: "Pressure on him to (run) comes from various groups that do not represent him officially."

Some of his supporters earlier said they had gathered thousands of signatures needed for him to register.

Independents need to secure 30,000 backers from around the nation or support from 30 members of parliament. Any party represented in parliament can field one candidate.

Moussa and Shafiq have exchanged barbed remarks. According to the daily Al-Masry al-Youm, Moussa said it would be wrong for the first president after Mubarak's to be the ex-president's last prime minister. "Egypt needs deep-rooted change," he said, the newspaper reported.

In counter comments, Shafiq said Moussa secured the post of Arab League chief because he was picked by Mubarak. Arab states vote on the secretary-general but the post has almost always been held by an Egyptian.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alison Williams)

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