Obama honors 'tough compassionate' cop

Speaking at the 32nd annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service on Wednesday, President Barack Obama publicly honored, among others, officer Bruce St. Laurent, who died last year assisting Obama's motorcade in Florida.

Laurent, a husband and father of four, was killed Sept. 9 when his police motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck as he was closing access to a highway in Palm Beach County.

"He was, according to a friend, 'just what a cop should be: tough compassionate, caring and brave.' But to his community, he was more than a cop," Obama said, noting that St. Laurent had survived cancer, served as a high school teacher and an unofficial snake wrangler, and enjoyed playing Santa Claus for children at Christmastime.

Obama delivered his remarks as part of a memorial held annually on Capitol Hill for National Police Week in Washington, which began in 1982 as a gathering in Senate Park to honor fallen officers. A total of 143 officers were honored at this year's ceremony.

In addition to St. Laurent, Obama noted by name fallen officers Barbara A. Pill of Brevard County, Fla., who Obama said long worked to help her community; Bradley Michael Fox of Plymouth Township, Pa., who served two tours in Iraq; and Scott Ward of Baldwin County, Ala., a military veteran whose funeral procession "stretched for miles," the president said.

Obama urged the country to honor officers not "only in the wake of tragedy. We should do it every day."

The president on Saturday hosted an annual Police Week ceremony at the White House where he honored 43 officers designated as "Top Cops" by their peers.

There, Obama invoked those who helped bring the Boston Marathon suspects to justice:

Our entire country saw once again the strong stuff that these men and women in uniform are made of?police officers, first responders who were running towards explosions, not knowing if there was something more on the way?law enforcement from different agencies and different parts of the country working together as one united team to identify suspects and bring them to justice, and in a moment that few of us will ever forget, the citizens of Watertown, Mass., lining their streets to cheer on and high-five and hug the officers as they headed home after a job well done.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-honor-fallen-police-officers-143113114.html

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Parity abounds so far in NBA conference semifinals

Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James warm up before facing the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 of their NBA basketball playoff series in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Charles Trainor Jr)

Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade and LeBron James warm up before facing the Chicago Bulls in Game 2 of their NBA basketball playoff series in the Eastern Conference semifinals on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Charles Trainor Jr)

Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson instructs his team against the Denver Nuggets during the first half of Game 6 in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson, left, gives Carmelo Anthony instruction in the second half of Game 2 of their NBA basketball playoff series in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden in New York, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. The Knicks won 105-79. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant slips and falls as Memphis Grizzlies Tony Allen blocks his pass during the final seconds of Game 2 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra calls out a play during the first half of Game 1 of the NBA basketball playoff series in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Chicago Bulls, Monday, May 6, 2013 in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Parity has struck the NBA playoffs, where the conference semifinals are all fit to be tied.

The four current series are all knotted at one game apiece ? the first time that's happened in the second round of the NBA playoffs since the league went to its current format more than a quarter-century ago. For favorites like Miami, New York, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, home-court advantage has disappeared, and now it's the underdogs who can control their own fates simply by taking care of business on their home floors.

A wild weekend is ahead, without question.

The Heat, Knicks, Spurs and Thunder are four of the league's top five winningest road teams this season. That probably isn't being received as great news for Chicago, Indiana, Golden State and Memphis, the lower-seeded clubs who will be hosting pivotal Game 3's when NBA playoff action resumes on Friday and Saturday.

"Pretty cool. The NBA's loving it," Heat forward LeBron James said. "When it comes to the playoffs, I always continue to say no matter how many games you win or lose in the regular season, once you get to the playoffs everybody's record is 0-0. So I think it's great. I think it's great for our fans, I think it's great for the competition that every series is tied 1-1."

After a first round with only two sweeps ? by Miami and San Antonio, probably the favorites in the Eastern and Western Conferences, especially after Oklahoma City lost Russell Westbrook to a knee injury ? the tone for the second round was set pretty quickly around the league. Miami lost Game 1 at home to a wounded and weary team from Chicago. San Antonio needed a huge comeback to beat Golden State in Game 1 of their series, then saw the Warriors simply come back and take Game 2.

The Knicks lost Game 1 to Indiana before evening up their matchup, and the Thunder are likely feeling lucky that they're not in an 0-2 hole after Memphis had plenty of chances to take the opening game of their series.

"When you get this deep into the playoffs, they're all good teams, they're all very good teams more than capable of winning at home or on the road," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. "So I'm not surprised at all. Good coaching, good playing, you make adjustments and win games. They've all been great games."

Big fourth-quarter comebacks, first by Oklahoma City and then by Memphis, decided the outcomes of the first two games of that series, where the cumulative score right now is Grizzlies 190, Thunder 186. The first two Spurs-Warriors games were pure theater, with San Antonio winning a double-overtime thriller in Game 1 after rallying from 16 points down late in regulation.

Road teams took Game 1's in the East semifinals, with Indiana and Chicago both winning by seven. And the home teams imposed their wills in Game 2 of both matchups, New York using a huge late run to beat the Pacers by 26, and the Heat outscoring the Bulls by an unbelievable 62-20 margin over a 19-minute stretch on the way to evening that matchup with a 115-78 romp.

"Anybody can beat you on a given night and playoff basketball is no different," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "I mean, everybody at this particular time is hungry even more. Nobody wants to go home so it becomes crazy basketball. Everybody is pumped up and ready to play."

Then again, if you checked out how these teams fared against each other in the regular season, maybe you could have seen something as uncanny as this coming.

There wasn't any real separation between the clubs then, either.

The Bulls and Heat split four games against one another, as did the Knicks and Pacers, and Spurs and Warriors. The only exception was Memphis beating Oklahoma City in two of the three games they played this year ? and if they met four times, there would figure to be a chance that it could have been a 2-2 split as well.

"Each team is working hard, trying to get wins," said Memphis guard Tony Allen, who was part of Boston's title-winning team in 2008. "They got the trophy on their mind so I believe that each series is probably going to go all the way to the end. You look at the eight teams that are left, all the teams have a shot."

The Heat entered the playoffs as the overwhelming favorites to win their second straight title, and they remain that way in the eyes of oddsmakers even though they'll need to win one game in Chicago to reclaim the home-court advantage.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra's eyes widened a bit Thursday when told that no second round in the NBA playoffs had ever opened quite this way.

"Is that right? First time ever? Really? Wow," Spoelstra said. "Makes for great theater. I know I'm enjoying the other games, probably like other fans are enjoying ours. It shows how much parity there is and how little margin for error with the teams that are left. ... We had always felt there was up to six or seven legitimate, title-contending teams."

The way things look, maybe there's eight now.

"It looks like it's the best eight teams in the NBA right now," James said. "So we'll see what happens."

___

AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York, and AP Sports Writers Antonio Gonzalez in Oakland, Calif., and Teresa M. Walker in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-09-BKN-Knotted-Playoffs/id-87dae3fdee1b41bb8d8c5eb14f62fd0d

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Make Your Business Better from Email marketing Strategies | Email ...

Strategies that will help you in making better relationships with your new and old customers via email marketing technique. Thus it will ultimately make your business better by increasing the conversion rate. Hence every business should focus on these strategies whether it is online business or traditional business.

First most important thing is interact with your email subscribers, don?t nosh them with information. Give a chance to interact with you, you can ask them questions or ask for their suggestion or offer them rewards for valuable tips. Moreover, make use of social media like FB, twitter, LinkedIn as much as possible to increase the popularity of your brand name.? By creating contest and offering them prizes will also help you in collecting the database and that will be helpful in your email campaign. Connecting to social media helps the business in getting new as well as retaining the old customers.

Get in touch with your ?dormant? subscribers because an inactive subscriber doesn?t mean that they can?t contribute you in any way, it?s better to ask them what are their expectations and what kind of services they want ?and try to include those ?answers or results from inactive recipients into your next strategy. Additionally, ??also decide the frequency of your mails like how often you will send them weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. However, if your business is launching the products frequently then you should send them at launch of products only then don?t wait for particular moment.

Apart from it in order to create the image in the reader?s mind at least send one mail every month because at least one mail per month is considered within timeline and it is assumed that your customers will memorize you while making a purchasing decision thus it will also help you in raising the brand awareness.

Weekly email marketing campaigns are successful. Research tells that if all of sudden you increase the frequency of sending the mail then rate of subscribers reduces by over 50% and even reducing frequency from two times per week to one per week also increases unsubscribe rate.

Other important strategy is that since maximum of the people use the internet in their mobile phones thus they also checks their mails in mobile phones so make your website mobile friendly and target mobile phone users rigorously. Additionally, during mass email marketing create email subscription and landing pages that can easily work on mobile phones. Keep measuring the results of your email campaign like open, sent, forward, bounce rate, sales, clicked, unsubscribe as well because it will help you in making your next strategy better.

Make relations with your subscribers as people not only want technology or every time they are greed of offer, prizes, discount no doubt, they matters a lot? but they also want to connect emotionally with you and when you are connected emotionally with them they will surely come back to you. Hence put some customer expectation in your message so that they can find interest in your message and always be curious for your next mail.

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Source: http://bestemailsolutions.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/make-your-business-better-from-email-marketing-strategies/

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Jeanne Cooper dies, leaves 'Young and Restless' legacy (+video)

Jeanne Cooper dies: As grande dame Katherine Chancellor, Jeanne Cooper starred on "The Young and the Restless" for four decades.

By Lynn Elber,?Associated Press / May 9, 2013

Jeanne?Cooper, the enduring soap opera star who played grande dame Katherine Chancellor for nearly four decades on "The Young and the Restless," has died. She was 84.

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Cooper died Wednesday morning in her sleep, her son the actor Corbin Bernsen wrote on Facebook. The family confirmed the death to CBS, according to a network spokeswoman.

Bernsen tweeted April 12 that his mother faced an "uphill battle" for an undisclosed illness. In subsequent days he wrote of her gradual improvement and said that she'd been taken off breathing equipment.

In a Facebook posting April 17, Bernsen said his mother cursed several times, "showing me that she's becoming her old self, not thrilled about the situation, and ready to get out of the hospital and shake up the world."

On Wednesday he wrote that she remained a fighter until the end: "She has been a blaze her entire life, that beacon, that boxer I spoke of earlier. She went the full twelve rounds and by unanimous decision... won!"

Cooper joined the daytime serial six months after its March 1973 debut, staking claim to the title of longest-tenured cast member. The role earned her 11 Daytime Emmy nominations and a trophy for best actress in a drama series in 2008.

"God knows it's claimed a big part of my life," she told The Associated Press in March as CBS' "Young and the Restless" celebrated its milestone 40th anniversary.

As the years passed, Cooper brushed aside thoughts of saying goodbye to the show and its fictional Wisconsin town of Genoa City.

"What would I do? I'm no good at crocheting. My fingers would bleed," she told the AP last September, with her 84th birthday approaching the next month.

Cooper, born in the California town of Taft in 1928, attended the College of the Pacific and performed in local theater productions before her professional career began with the 1953 film "The Redhead from Wyoming" starring Maureen O'Hara. Other film credits include 1968's "The Boston Strangler" with Tony Curtis and 1967's "Tony Rome" with Frank Sinatra.

She had a parallel career in TV, with shows including "The Adventures of Kit Carson" in 1953 and "The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" in 1954 and "Bracken's World" in 1969-70.

In a recurring role on "L.A. Law," she played the mother to Bersen's character, Arnie, and received a 1987 Emmy nomination for best guest actress in a drama. Bernsen later joined his mother on her series, making several appearances as a priest, Father Todd.

But it was her role on "The Young and the Restless" that made her a TV star intimately familiar to viewers.

In 1984, Coooper's real-life facelift was televised on the show as her character underwent the surgery at the same time, and had no regrets about it.

"It opened up reconstructive surgery for so many people, youngsters getting things done," she said. "To this day, people will come up to me and say, 'Thank you so much for doing that. My mom or I had something done, and not just cosmetic surgery.' That was an incredible experience in my life."

"The Young and the Restless" has topped the daytime serial ratings for more than 24 years, in part because of the continuity provided by Cooper and its other long-time stars including Eric Braeden. It held its ground as the genre diminished in popularity and the majority of soaps vanished.

Cooper's 30-year marriage to Harry Bernsen ended in divorce. The couple have three children, Corbin, Caren and Collin, and eight grandchildren.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/bDBAOjJ6qdc/Jeanne-Cooper-dies-leaves-Young-and-Restless-legacy-video

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ARA: Help, we need bridesmaids dresses for a wedding in two weeks

A reader asks:

My daughter is getting married on May 25th. We have no bridesmaid dresses!! We ordered them back in February from a local store. We have been questioning the store since the end of March about them. They have consistently told us they would be in within the next week or two. We now have basically two weeks and they are still telling us not to worry they will be here. Yesterday the owner finally said maybe we should just get our money back ? that wasn?t an option until yesterday!!! Now we?re stuck and can?t find a way to get 4 bridesmaid dresses in two weeks. Do your readers have any suggestions????

Source: http://blog.timesunion.com/kristi/ara-help-we-need-bridesmaids-dresses-for-a-wedding-in-two-weeks/54880/

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Brain system for emotional self-control discovered

May 9, 2013 ? Different brain areas are activated when we choose to suppress an emotion, compared to when we are instructed to inhibit an emotion, according a new study from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Ghent University.

In this study, published in Brain Structure and Function, the researchers scanned the brains of healthy participants and found that key brain systems were activated when choosing for oneself to suppress an emotion. They had previously linked this brain area to deciding to inhibit movement.

"This result shows that emotional self-control involves a quite different brain system from simply being told how to respond emotionally," said lead author Dr Simone Kuhn (Ghent University).

In most previous studies, participants were instructed to feel or inhibit an emotional response. However, in everyday life we are rarely told to suppress our emotions, and usually have to decide ourselves whether to feel or control our emotions.

In this new study the researchers showed fifteen healthy women unpleasant or frightening pictures. The participants were given a choice to feel the emotion elicited by the image, or alternatively to inhibit the emotion, by distancing themselves through an act of self-control.

The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of the participants. They compared this brain activity to another experiment where the participants were instructed to feel or inhibit their emotions, rather than choose for themselves.

Different parts of the brain were activated in the two situations. When participants decided for themselves to inhibit negative emotions, the scientists found activation in the dorso-medial prefrontal area of the brain. They had previously linked this brain area to deciding to inhibit movement.

In contrast, when participants were instructed by the experimenter to inhibit the emotion, a second, more lateral area was activated.

"We think controlling one's emotions and controlling one's behaviour involve overlapping mechanisms," said Dr Kuhn.

"We should distinguish between voluntary and instructed control of emotions, in the same way as we can distinguish between making up our own mind about what do, versus following instructions."

Regulating emotions is part of our daily life, and is important for our mental health. For example, many people have to conquer fear of speaking in public, while some professionals such as health-care workers and firemen have to maintain an emotional distance from unpleasant or distressing scenes that occur in their jobs.

Professor Patrick Haggard (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) co-author of the paper said the brain mechanism identified in this study could be a potential target for therapies.

"The ability to manage one's own emotions is affected in many mental health conditions, so identifying this mechanism opens interesting possibilities for future research.

"Most studies of emotion processing in the brain simply assume that people passively receive emotional stimuli, and automatically feel the corresponding emotion. In contrast, the area we have identified may contribute to some individuals' ability to rise above particular emotional situations.

"This kind of self-control mechanism may have positive aspects, for example making people less vulnerable to excessive emotion. But altered function of this brain area could also potentially lead to difficulties in responding appropriately to emotional situations."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/2DYRq7na970/130509104354.htm

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How Technology is Changing the World of Personal Finance | Credit ...

May 8th, 2013

| | |

As a 90s child, I can just barely remember a time when technology wasn?t pervasive in my life. Technology has revolutionized how we communicate and connect, and the financial services industry has not been left behind.

You used to write checks, and now you can pay bills online. You used to get your bill in the mail. Now you can find out how much you owe by logging into your online account. With banks upgrading their mobile apps to video chatting through an ATM, technology continues to make it easier for us to control the state of our money.

At Credit Karma, we?re all a little nerdy about our finances. I?m interested in how technology makes new things possible, so here are some cool ways that the finance world is growing right now.

Snap a Pic, Deposit Your Check

We kind of take this for granted nowadays. It wasn?t that long ago when your bank?s app hurt your eyes and you only used it to find the nearest ATM. Now, with most major banking apps, you can deposit a check into your account by snapping a photo of it with your phone?s camera. (How many times have you seen this Chase commercial?) If you just don?t feel like getting out of your pajamas or the nearest banking branch is an hour away, this can be a really convenient feature.

Concerned? It takes confidence to believe that your phone or tablet is secure enough to transmit your check to your bank. And what are you supposed to do with the physical check afterwards?

Video Chat with an ATM

Earlier this month, Bank of America announced that they would be introducing ATMs with video chat capabilities in Boston. If you have a question or need to withdraw cash in denominations other than $20, you can connect with a remote teller who can help you out face-to-face. Sort of. I initially found this news surprising, but banks in 20 states have already installed these types of machines, so maybe it?s not that crazy of an idea after all.

Concerned? I don?t know how comfortable I?d feel talking to an ATM if other people are around. Even if private information isn?t being shared, people may still overhear how much cash I want to withdraw and take advantage of that.

Don?t Lose the Paper Trail

I?ve never really organized my receipts. I?d usually keep them until the return period expired and then I?d toss them out. But when I began tracking my transactions online, I felt that my banking accounts lacked context. Sure I went to Safeway, but what did I buy there and why did it cost so much?

Instead of burrowing through a folder of paper, you can use an app to save, store, and search through your receipts. I?ve given apps like OneReceipt and Lemon Wallet a try. Through Lemon Wallet, you can manually input your receipt information to organize on your own. OneReceipt allows you to take a photo of your receipt and they will automatically process the information for you in a day or so. It?s less work than Lemon Wallet, but you do have to wait. Whatever app or website you try (you?ll find plenty), this ability to extract and digitize information from paper makes the world easier for shoppers everywhere.

Concerned? Throwing your receipts away is, well, kind of permanent. It?s a smart idea to keep physical copies of important receipts if you think you?ll need to present them down the line.

Monitor your Money 24/7

The idea of account monitoring in itself is pretty amazing. The fact that we can know at any time if a transaction has gone through or if we were accidentally overcharged puts a lot of the power in our own hands.

If you haven?t heard, Credit Karma has recently launched free account monitoring. This new feature helps you stay on top of your game. When you link your online banking accounts, you can sign up for account monitoring and be alerted to various events, like when your bill is due in the next 3-15 days or if your available credit falls below a certain amount. You can also keep up on your transactions, net cash flow, daily balances and more. You can truly cover all of your bases in one place. Log in today and connect your accounts.

Concerned? In this age of hacking, how can you trust that your information is safe at your bank or a third-party site? Could a stranger profit from stealing your username and password? Legitimate businesses will store your data in a secure system and protect themselves from breaches, so look for a TRUSTe certification before doing anything else.

We?re living in a tech-obsessed world right now. While we could be arguing about unplugging, I think it?s important to look at how much we can do now. These tools let you handle your money whenever you feel like it ? and I think we can all get behind that.

Charmaine Ng is a contributor to the Credit Karma blog. Before joining Credit Karma in February 2013, she constantly had to explain that social media marketing was a real job. When she isn?t writing her way through life, you can find her reading about the latest in entertainment, watching television, and advocating for libraries. Her favorite social network is Twitter. Say ?hi? @noodlemaine!

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Source: http://blog.creditkarma.com/personal-finance/how-technology-is-changing-the-world-of-personal-finance/

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