salvadoran alteration: May 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Atlassian Launches A Marketplace For Project Management Add-Ons

Atlassian, the Australian company that makes popular software project management tools JIRA and Confluence, has opened a marketplace where customers can download and buy add-ons for the company's apps. Usually, the launch of a marketplace or app store signals a company's broader platform ambitions, but Atlassian President Jay Simons says the platform approach has been "part of our DNA" for a long time. The company regards JIRA and Confluence, in particular, as its core products, so it has been building its own add-ons, and companies like Box and Zendesk have offered their own integrations. (Marketplace includes add-ons for a few other Atlassian products, too.)

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Spain thump South Korea in Euro tune-up

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Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Consultant - Kuwait

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Consultant

Job description:

Job Description:

The disaster recovery and business continuity analyst assist in supervising the disaster recovery process and develop plans for the disaster recovery functions of the main activities of the organization. In addition, during a disaster the analyst is involved in the continued operation of the business?s infrastructure. The analyst is also assigned for long-range disaster recovery planning to provide the highest level of protection possible for the organization in an efficient and effective manner. The disaster recovery plan must be reviewed and updated on regular basis.

Tasks & Responsibilities:
?????????Plan and chart the direction of the disaster recovery process.
?????????Establishes procedures and properties for the disaster recovery process.
?????????Complies with the record management policy.
?????????Assist in managing all activities during the disaster recovery process, and during semi-annual disaster recovery testing.
?????????Works with critical systems base in Mainframe, Sun and Unix.
?????????Works closely with all related departments in developing and managing the creation of business continuity plan for all function that interfaces with the technology infrastructure.
?????????Coordinates and supervises all the special projects relating to disaster recovery process and capacity.
?????????Recognize and identifies potential areas where existing disaster recovery policies and procedures require change, or where new ones need to be developed, especially regarding future business expansion.
?????????Capable to understand the job functions of the disaster recovery and business continuity team with whom the analyst interacts and assume its functions if needed.
?????????Interacts at a senior level with all user departments within the enterprise.
?????????Perform at above the enterprise?s information technology performance standard.
?????????Develops and maintain disaster recovery procedures with the performance standards.
?????????Develop, maintain and implement, if necessary, the disaster recovery plan as well as assist managing the entire recovery process.
?????????Practice in managing all special disaster recovery projects within the enterprise IT area.

Academic Requirements:
?????????Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Engineering or Information Systems.

Skills:

Technical skills, Capabilities and Experience:

Not less than (17) years of experience in systems and information technology in different work environments (5) years, at least in the field of consultancy work, study and planning for integrated projects in the field of information systems and technology and lead teams, supervision and follow up their implementation, evaluation and review their performance. In addition, must have the incumbent expertise and skills need to carry out the following duties:

?????????Provide technical advice relevant to the functions of planning, management and implementation of projects of the Department.
?????????Participate in the development plans near and long-term tasks and activities.
?????????Participate in the development of training plans and work on the development of performance to the required level, and follow up the development of technical personnel. The choice of teaching methods and courses for the trainees, as appropriate, and advise the supervisor of the developments in the field of electronic data processing-related and pre-planning for the trainees. Also participate in the evaluation of software, hardware and consolidate the operation of departments under the requirements of training and development.
?????????Follow-up and guide the team in the management of tasks covered by the plans near and far range, and was following the interim and final results using the methods of proper control and to ensure complete implementation and achievements in the specified time, and matching the output of interim and final policy, standards and framework.
?????????Be responsible for developing the workforce, especially administrative, preparation and monitoring of projects, departments and equipment, and standards and work procedures and training activities, etc., and setting the standards for quality assurance and programmers training, budget preparation and control, etc.
?????????To ensure ?the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. Involved in planning long-term objectives of management development in general. Follow up defective systems and users.
?????????Ensure the quality of automated systems and technologies apply the standards of quantity and quality to ensure a high level of overall quality of the service.
??????????Inform the senior management of the results and achievements of the stages of the work tasks and systems covered by the plan through periodic reports indicating the results and outputs of the implementation side of the main problems identifying the purpose of identifying the necessary guidance during implementation.
?????????Carry out relevant work assigned to the layout and career development for technical staff, and evaluating their performance through the implementation of tasks and projects, and ensure the optimal use of tools and equipment available.
??????????Preparation of technical reports, studies, administrative and technical notes (in both Arabic and English) and the related topics of particular elements of the technical and manpower in the field of systems and information technology, and the preparation of technical proposals.
?????????Advising the specialized committees, meetings and seminars in the field of information technology on the level of information centers, or national level to the State of Kuwait.
?????????Conduct studies and research related to the field of information society and its own benchmarks.
?????????Preparation and follow-up annual plans and progress of tasks and projects at the level of information.
?????????Participate in strategic planning in the field of information systems and technology for the implementation of national projects and projects of government agencies included in the Five-Year Plan of the State of Kuwait.
?????????Study and evaluate the technical requirements needed to implement the annual plans of government agencies in Kuwait and to propose appropriate financial allocations for implementation by components and elements of art.
?????????Develop methodologies for the development and implementation of application systems, operation and maintenance methods and documented at the level of information centers in government entities.
?????????Participate in the preparation of studies of organizational structures and functions of administrative units in the field of information technology, and characterization of the different functions to perform the work.

Required Certification and Training:

?????????Operation Supervision
?????????Mainframe
?????????SUN
?????????Disaster Recovery Planning
?????????Operation Management
????????? ManG CHANGE ? D.P. OPERATIONS
?????????Capacity Management
?????????Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) or Associate Disaster Recovery Planner accreditation (preferred)

Personal & Administrative Skills:

?????????Skills in communication with the staff, the art of manufacturing objectives, planning, team building, the discovery of priorities, increase productivity, time management, presentation skills, the art of dialogue, dealing with others.

Job Category:	IT?[?View All IT Jobs?]
Language requirements:
Employment type:	Full Time
Salary:	Unspecified
Degree:	Unspecified
Experience (year):	17
Job Location:	Kuwait
Address:	P.O. Box 66849 Dubai , UAE

Company Type	Employer
Post Date:	30/05/2012 / Viewed 58 times

Apply Online

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Emerging new media is changing the landscape of communication between you and the people you serve. You cannot afford to lag behind with regard to utilizing a website, along with social, and digital media platforms to attract new clients, and increase communication within your network of clients, and supporters.

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Planning Write is aware that featuring your accomplishments is only half of your story.

Communicating the human element of your work, profiling projects you have completed, connecting your accomplishments to your success, spotlighting people who have benefited from your work, and the lives you?ve changed is incredibly important to retain, and grow your client base.

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Adoption eBook Reviews ? See Jamie blog

subscribingin your email inbox

These e-books both have ?foster? in the titles, but they are not just for foster or foster-adoptive families. They are written for any adoptive family dealing with kids who may have trauma in their past. I received both books for the purposes of review, and it made sense to include both reviews in one post, since the intended audience is the same.

SHIELD: A Framework of Self-Care for Foster and Adoptive Families ? by Sharla Kostelyk, founder of Adoption Magazine.

Sharla was a foster parent for eight years, and is an adoptive mom to five children, plus two biological children. She has ?been there, done that? ? which is why she wrote this book to help foster or adoptive parents remember that caring for yourself first is an absolute necessity so that you can care for the children.

Shield Adoption e-book

This ebook includes practical suggestions, tips, and sound advice on:

Preparing for welcoming a new child into your home: financial preparations; scheduling; all those things that will be harder to find time for after the child(ren) move in.
Setting up a support network for yourself, and how to educate those friends and family on exactly what kind of support you may need.
The importance of finding a few key people who have the experience to help you along the way or offer an educated listening ear.
Taking time to educate yourself; things will go much more smoothly if you know what to expect.
Dealing with your own emotions, and that of the kids.
Protecting your marriage.
Making time for relaxation, exercise, sleep, hobbies, and so on to maintain your sanity.

For more information, or to buy, click here: SHIELD Adoption E-book.

???????????????

The Adoptive and Foster Parent Guide: How to heal your child?s trauma and loss? by Carol Lozier.

The Adoptive and Foster Parent Guide
This ?magazine-style? ebook allows busy parents the option of skimming quickly on a particular topic, or reading it in depth, whichever works best at the time. The goal of this ebook is to support adoptive or foster parents and guide them in helping heal their child?s past hurts.

There are three parts to the book:

Understanding My Child
Healing My Child?s Past Trauma and Loss
My Child?s Team

For me personally, I found the most helpful insight in Part One, the ?Understanding My Child? section. This section explores healthy attachment, and attachment styles hurt children may have developed to cope; I could identify some of the coping techniques and attachment styles I?ve seen in our home, and found myself nodding along with the ?Letter to family and friends? about how to support parents in parenting the adopted child, even when their parenting may not look like how friends and family may think it should be, or how it would be with a child who had not experienced past trauma. Understanding the child?s history is key, as there is usually far more to misbehavior than it seems on the surface, and parents must find the original roots of behaviors in order to deal with them properly. Parent-child separation in early life may cause the core issues of loss, rejection, grief, shame, identity, intimacy, and control.

Part Two focuses on resolving hurtful pasts, and includes many real stories and examples from foster and international adoptions. Though I felt this would be most helpful for parents with children closer to elementary age, there is good insight here, as well as tips on finding a counselor or therapist equipped to help foster/adoptive children.

Part Three shows how to organize a team (both profession and non-professional) to help your child. I think this would be most helpful to foster parents and soon-to-adopt parents in understanding the roles of various people (such as court appointed advocates, judges, case workers, etc), how they can help your child, and how you can make sure to keep good communication with them all to make sure the child does not ?fall through the cracks.?

For more information, or to buy this book, click here: The Adoptive and Foster Parent Guide.

(Note: post may contain affiliate links. See disclosure page for details.)

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

'Once' more, as best musical?

When the Tonys roll around, don't count out the heartrending show 'Once.'

By Christopher Wallenberg,?Contributor / May 30, 2012

Kazee (l.) and Milioti in ?Once?

Joan Marcus/AP

Enlarge

At this point, nobody should doubt "Once," the scrappy Little Movie Musical That Could.

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Shot in just 17 days on a budget of $150,000, the charming Irish indie captured the audience award at Sundance, the 2008 Academy Award for best song ("Falling Slowly"), and the hearts of moviegoers everywhere, raking in more than $20 million in sales.

Yet "Once" continues to defy expectations ? and find new life. A Broadway stage adaptation of the film has received rave reviews, pocketed the most Tony nominations of any show this season (11), and is now the unlikely leading contender to capture the best musical prize at the Tony Awards June 10 on CBS at 8 p.m. EDT.

Revolving around a Dublin street busker and a feisty Czech immigrant pianist who team up to make a demo recording while each grapple with troubled relationships, "Once" is not your typical meet-cute story. Instead, it tells the bittersweet tale of two wayward souls connecting over a broken vacuum cleaner, soul-baring folk-pop, and heartsick romantic yearnings. Former real-life couple Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova not only wrote the swelling songs but brought the main characters to life on screen. (Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti play the parts on stage.)

In a Broadway season filled with the bloated and hackneyed ("Ghost: The Musical"), the colorless and tepid ("Leap of Faith"), and the innocuously nostalgic ("Nice Work If You Can Get It"), "Once" offers a soulful, poignant, and heartrending antidote.

Irish playwright Enda Walsh penned a lyrical and bitingly funny book. Director John Tiffany and choreographer Steven Hoggett created a poetic ballet of hand gestures and expressive movement. The show's songs, from "When Your Mind's Made Up" to "Say It To Me Now," are rife with melancholy ? gathering steam as the regret and resignation shift into a rib-rattling emotional catharsis.

In her moving acceptance speech at the Oscars in 2008, Ms. Irglova dared viewers to follow their dreams. "['Falling Slowly'] was written from a perspective of hope," she said. "And hope at the end of the day connects us all."

When she spoke those words, Broadway was not likely even a glimmer in her eye. But "Once" is proof positive that dreams ? even the ones you didn't know you had ? sometimes do come true.

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Dear Prudence: Suburban Dad Likes His Weed

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Germany Online Gaming Market worth ?1.7bn in 2015

Business | 29th May, 2012 | Munich, Germany | iGaming in Germany ? Video

Germany is set to enact a new Interstate Treaty on Gambling that would reconfirm the prohibition of online gambling in all German states except one ? Schleswig-Holstein. As the EU Commission reviews the treaty, research body MECN indicates online gaming in Germany will grow to ?1.7bn by 2015, driven by poker and lotteries.

iGaming in Germany Before the new treaty comes into effect, lawmakers must determine whether online licensees in Schleswig-Holstein will be able to operate throughout the country. The German region passed its own gaming law in Sep 2011 that permits online poker and casino games. Three licenses have since been issued to Betfair, JAXX and state-owned Oddset.

There are many open issues that need to be resolved under the new treaty that will determine how the market will unfold. If approved by the EU Commission, the new law would ban online casinos and poker rooms in the country, leaving players to use offshore sites or turn to new sites located in Schleswig-Holstein that will cater to German customers.

Schleswig-Holstein, the county?s most northern state, was the only region not to sign the imposed treaty in Germany. Referred to as ?ground-breaking? in the industry, the state?s break-away law was given the green-light by Brussels and enables an unlimited number of operators apply for a license, at a 20 percent tax rate.

Although Germany has historically been one of the most resistant jurisdictions towards online gambling, other states may look to adopt the model of Schleswig-Holstein in order to gain a share of the available profits.

New legislation would also effectively liberalise the German sports betting market, remove the state monopoly controlling the provision of gambling services and open the market to private companies. Ahead of this, MECN estimated that sports betting would grow to ?1.5 billion in 2015, with retail operations leading the field.

iGaming in Germany Martin Oelbermann, co-author of the study, said, ?Since the experience in France, liberalisation alone no longer automatically prompts applause?

?Aside from taxes, operators are also concerned about other regulations, such as advertising restrictions, online identification processes, IT systems.?

Germany?s existing nationwide treaty expired in March, but this did not end the political and industry discussions ahead of a clear market in Germany. Each area needs to be mapped out in detail by lawmakers before it is approved by the EU Commission and becomes law.

The subject of online gaming and whether the approved Schlewig-Holstein model can be applied to other German regions will be at the top of the agenda for online operators.

According to financial advisors Collins Stewart, Playtech generate approximately 10 percent of its sales in Germany, with Betfair and Sportingbet generating 5 percent and 4 percent respectively. It is reported that nearly 40 percent of bwin.party?s profit comes from Germany.

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Civilization's fall blamed on climate change

The mysterious fall of the largest of the world's earliest urban civilizations nearly 4,000 years ago in what is now India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh now appears to have a key culprit ? ancient climate change, researchers say.

Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia may be the best known of the first great urban cultures, but the largest was the Indus or Harappan civilization. This culture once extended over more than 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) across the plains of the Indus River from the Arabian Sea to the Ganges, and at its peak may have accounted for 10 percent of the world population. The civilization developed about 5,200 years ago, and slowly disintegrated between 3,900 and 3,000 years ago ? populations largely abandoned cities, migrating toward the east.

"Antiquity knew about Egypt and Mesopotamia, but the Indus civilization, which was bigger than these two, was completely forgotten until the 1920s," said researcher Liviu Giosan, a geologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "There are still many things we don't know about them." [Photos: Life and Death of Ancient Urbanites]

Nearly a century ago, researchers began discovering numerous remains of Harappan settlements along the Indus River and its tributaries, as well as in a vast desert region at the border of India and Pakistan. Evidence was uncovered for sophisticated cities, sea links with Mesopotamia, internal trade routes, arts and crafts, and as-yet undeciphered writing.

"They had cities ordered into grids, with exquisite plumbing, which was not encountered again until the Romans," Giosan told LiveScience. "They seem to have been a more democratic society than Mesopotamia and Egypt ? no large structures were built for important personalities like kings or pharaohs."

Like their contemporaries in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the Harappans, who were named after one of their largest cities, lived next to rivers.

"Until now, speculations abounded about the links between this mysterious ancient culture and its life-giving mighty rivers," Giosan said.

Now Giosan and his colleagues have reconstructed the landscape of the plain and rivers where this long-forgotten civilization developed. Their findings now shed light on the enigmatic fate of this culture.

"Our research provides one of the clearest examples of climate change leading to the collapse of an entire civilization," Giosan said. [How Weather Changed History]

The researchers first analyzed satellite data of the landscape influenced by the Indus and neighboring rivers. From 2003 to 2008, the researchers then collected samples of sediment from the coast of the Arabian Sea into the fertile irrigated valleys of Punjab and the northern Thar Desert to determine the origins and ages of those sediments and develop a timeline of landscape changes.

"It was challenging working in the desert ? temperatures were over 110 degrees Fahrenheit all day long (43 degrees C)," Giosan recalled.

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After collecting data on geological history, "we could re-examine what we know about settlements, what crops people were planting and when, and how both agriculture and settlement patterns changed," said researcher Dorian Fuller, an archaeologist with University College London. "This brought new insights into the process of eastward population shift, the change towards many more small farming communities, and the decline of cities during late Harappan times."

Some had suggested that the Harappan heartland received its waters from a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, thought by some to be the Sarasvati, a sacred river of Hindu mythology. However, the researchers found that only rivers fed by monsoon rains flowed through the region.

Previous studies suggest the Ghaggar, an intermittent river that flows only during strong monsoons, may best approximate the location of the Sarasvati. Archaeological evidence suggested the river, which dissipates into the desert along the dried course of Hakra Valley, was home to intensive settlement during Harappan times.

"We think we settled a long controversy about the mythic Sarasvati River," Giosan said.

Initially, the monsoon-drenched rivers the researchers identified were prone to devastating floods. Over time, monsoons weakened, enabling agriculture and civilization to flourish along flood-fed riverbanks for nearly 2,000 years.

"The insolation ? the solar energy received by the Earth from the sun ? varies in cycles, which can impact monsoons," Giosan said. "In the last 10,000 years, the Northern Hemisphere had the highest insolation from 7,000 to 5,000 years ago, and since then insolation there decreased. All climate on Earth is driven by the sun, and so the monsoons were affected by the lower insolation, decreasing in force. This meant less rain got into continental regions affected by monsoons over time." [50 Amazing Facts About Earth]

Eventually, these monsoon-based rivers held too little water and dried up, making them unfavorable for civilization.

"The Harappans were an enterprising people taking advantage of a window of opportunity ? a kind of 'Goldilocks civilization,'" Giosan said.

Eventually, over the course of centuries, Harappans apparently fled along an escape route to the east toward the Ganges basin, where monsoon rains remained reliable.

"We can envision that this eastern shift involved a change to more localized forms of economy ? smaller communities supported by local rain-fed farming and dwindling streams," Fuller said. "This may have produced smaller surpluses, and would not have supported large cities, but would have been reliable."

This change would have spelled disaster for the cities of the Indus, which were built on the large surpluses seen during the earlier, wetter era. The dispersal of the population to the east would have meant there was no longer a concentrated workforce to support urbanism.

"Cities collapsed, but smaller agricultural communities were sustainable and flourished," Fuller said. "Many of the urban arts, such as writing, faded away, but agriculture continued and actually diversified."

These findings could help guide future archaeological explorations of the Indus civilization. Researchers can now better guess which settlements might have been more significant, based on their relationships with rivers, Giosan said.

It remains uncertain how monsoons will react to modern climate change. "If we take the devastating floods that caused the largest humanitarian disaster in Pakistan's history as a sign of increased monsoon activity, than this doesn't bode well for the region," Giosan said. "The region has the largest irrigation scheme in the world, and all those dams and channels would become obsolete in the face of the large floods an increased monsoon would bring."

The scientists detailed their findings online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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NOAA Takes Remedial Steps After National Weather Service Chief?s Departure

The sudden retirement on Friday of National Weather Service chief Jack Hayes coincided with a set of remedial actions agency superiors took following the mishandling of appropriated funds. The actions include improved training and oversight of budget execution and better communication with Congress.

Hayes, a six-year veteran atop NWS with 30 years of experience in meteorology as well as service in the Air Force, wrote a goodbye note to staff without referencing a?May 24 memo?from his boss, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco. The memo recapped events that led to an internal probe of misrouted funds and set in motion a dozen management changes.

The investigation, undertaken by NOAA and Commerce Department leadership in coordination with the department?s Office of Inspector General, found that National Weather Service employees reprogrammed funds without congressional notification as required by law, a NOAA spokesman said in a statement.

?The investigation also found that no funds were used on inappropriate items, they were simply used in different categories than originally budgeted. The investigation found no evidence of corruption or personal financial gain in these actions. We do not believe any money was moved out of the National Weather Service,? the statement said.

?As NOAA and department leadership say clearly, however, the employees who engaged in these fund transfers violated appropriations procedures and failed to behave according to the professional standards expected of government employees,? the statement added.

Neither the Lubchenco memo nor an accompanying?memo?from Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank mentioned Hayes, though the NOAA chief wrote, ?the investigative team did identify personnel-related issues; NOAA is addressing those issues separately and concurrently.?

Both memos, however, referred to a breakdown in the system and faulted multiple parties, saying NOAA headquarters, the Commerce Department?s Office of the Inspector General, and Commerce?s Office of the Chief Financial Officer ?all bear responsibility for missing and mishandling early complaints about the questionable financial transactions,? Lubchenco wrote.

The story?s roots date to 2010, when NOAA executives began receiving anonymous complaints via the agency hot line. In July 2011, the administrator?s office investigated one such complaint and shared the results with Blank in late November 2011.

The following month, the two set up an internal investigative team consisting of NOAA senior executives and staff from the Commerce budget office, with the inspector general looped in to ?actively engage in this effort.? After conducting 30 interviews with 20 employees, the team produced a 60-page report in May that included 88 exhibits detailing the misrouting of funds.

The conclusions were ?disturbing? to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, ranking member of the Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, who said there were many remaining questions. ?I am further alarmed that the investigative report raises fundamental concerns that the core operations of the National Weather Service are underfunded and that the current process in the Department of Commerce is broken, as it ?did not encourage questioning or provide independent channels for reporting dubious budget decisions,? ? she said in a statement.

Snowe on Friday said she is writing to the appropriations panel to urge it to postpone consideration of the fiscal 2013 Commerce spending bill until Congress can review a new request by NOAA for reprogramming funds and ?also undertake concrete steps to ensure our federal budget process is transparent, subject to rigorous debate, and ultimately prioritizing the safety and well-being of the American people who rely on accurate and timely information from the National Weather Service.?

NOAA and Commerce leaders presented Congress with proposals to reprogram $26 million in the budget category of local warnings and forecasts and for an additional $9 million for radar stations. They also would create a better documented and more transparent budget process, an improved process for handling complaints departmentwide, and better training for senior executives in appropriations reformulation. In addition, they pledged to immediately brief interested members of Congress on details and commission a full independent audit of fiscal 2010 and 2011 budgeting within NWS.

A spokesman for Ralph Hall, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, said Hall had no comment.

Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, said Hayes ?did a lot of good things and was responsible for finding money to upgrade weather forecasting for our national air space, which in turn saved billions of dollars for the economy because it helped reduce flight delays to an all-time low.? That involved consulting airlines and air traffic controllers and then assigning extra forecasters to heavily trafficked airports in New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago, Sobien said, to assist with decisions on which runways to close in bad weather. Hayes also helped get extra funding for forecasting water levels of the Mississippi River, he added.

?It is long-held knowledge that NWS had been operating at a structural deficit -- in fact the Obama transition team was briefed on it in 2009,? Sobien said. ?It sounds like this came as a surprise, but given there?s been a deficit for over a decade, where did they think the money would come from??

Asked why the investigation was done by internal offices and not the inspector general, Sobien said, ?Yes, it seems a little odd. The inspector general could have done it considering that NOAA should have known about it.?

The NOAA spokesman said, ?Commerce has turned over the full results of its investigation to the inspector general?s office.... NOAA and department leadership will continue to work with the inspector general?s office and members of Congress to ensure that processes are put in place to restore proper oversight, that funds are properly reprogrammed and that all individuals responsible for these unauthorized transactions are held accountable.?

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Pre-owned Vehicle Video Reviews Launched by WheelsTV and - Toys

Acton, MA (PRWEB) January 21, 2009

WheelsTV today announced the launch of POV Reviews , comprehensive video reviews of late model pre-owned vehicles.

This suite of videos incorporates JDPower.com?s Power Circle Ratings, based on feedback from verified vehicle owners derived from J.D. Power and Associates annual syndicated studies. These ratings are brought to life with full-motion, broadcast quality video from WheelsTV.

?With POV Reviews, consumers can now do five hours of research in just five minutes, getting a comprehensive review of every make and model within a generation of each vehicle. This is a new and effective tool to assist dealers in selling pre-owned and certified pre-owned vehicles,? states Lehel Reeves, president of WheelsTV.

POV Reviews makes shopping for a pre-owned vehicle quick and easy, gathering consumer feedback from millions of motorists, conducting independent research and encapsulating findings into brief video programs. The WheelsTV Review Board does all the work for the car shopper.

JDPower.com?s Power Circle Ratings are presented in an easy to understand video format that demonstrates important vehicle attributes from fuel economy to reliability, safety and comfort. Data is collated and encapsulated into concise narrative and clear, easy to read data screens, which cover multiple vehicle years and demonstrate trends.

?POV Reviews present the JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings in a way that?s useful and meaningful to consumers,? said Peter Marlow, vice president of corporate communications and consumer development at J.D. Power and Associates. ?We?re pleased to work with WheelsTV to present information in a way that gives consumers the information they want, when they want it, in a rich media format.?

In addition to JDPower.com?s Power Circle Ratings, safety and crash test data is presented in association with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety including actual crash test video documentation and ratings. WheelsTV?s patent pending process then combines the data screens, action footage of each vehicle, voice-over narration, music and effects to create a valuable tool for both consumers buying cars and dealers selling cars.

Pre-owned vehicles out-sell new vehicles by three to one. With POV Reviews consumers are given the ability to quickly and easily research, compare and choose the best pre-owned vehicles for them, saving time and money. This vehicle shopping tool is the first video product to serve the world?s largest consumer market at a time when more motorists are turning to pre-owned vehicles to fill their transportation needs.

For more information, please contact Theresa Carlo at WheelsTV: TCarlo(at)WheelsTV(dot)net, 978-264-4333.

About WheelsTV

Headquartered in Acton, Massachusetts, Automotive Networks Corporation, d/b/a WheelsTV (http://www.wheelstvtestdrives.com), creates and distributes exclusive original content domestically and worldwide on the Internet, broadband, VOD and 3G mobile platforms. WheelsTV?s patent-pending products include Top 200 Test Drives and1:00 on One Vehicle Profiles, providing the optimal consumer experience to its distribution partners including, J.D. Power, AutoTrader, MSN, AOL, Amazon, AutoNation, Yahoo, Vehix, Chrome Systems, Reynolds and Reynolds, Kia, Azuki Systems mobile, Comcast On Demand, Charter Cable, Cablevision, Quebecor and OEM franchise dealers throughout North America.

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The firm?s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on boat ratings, car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

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Video: Romney refuses to condemn Trump?s birther remarks

>>> in for tamron hall . mitt romney 's vegas style campbell with donald trump . romney headed to vegas where in a few hours he's going to be dining with the donald for a campaign fund rafund-raiser. ramps up his birtherism rhetoric, the latest remarks on cnbc.

>> a lot o questioning his birth certificate , they're questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate . i've been known as being a very smart guy for a long time i don't consider myself birther or not birther but there are major questions.

>> when asked about his association with donald trump , romney refused to condemn those specific remarks.

>> i don't agree with all of the people who support me. my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in. i need 50.1% or more and i'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.

>> the obama campaign released this web ad , two republican nominees, how john mccain corrected his supporters' offensive remarks about the president in 2008 to romney 's response now.

>> why doesn't he show his birth certificate ? he doesn't have a birth certificate . he may have one, but there's something on that birth certificate , maybe religion, maybe says he's a muslim. i did a great job in getting him to, first of all i haven't seen it i'll look at it later -- i don't need to look at your copy. i loved running. i had a great time. i was doing fantastically in the polls i became friendly with mitt romney .

>> all of this comes as mitt romney prepares to clinch his party's nomination tonight. let's bring in today's "news nation" political panel, peter alexander , national syndicated radio talk show most, michael smerconi smerconish. we understand romney 's campaign has released a statement to you, just moments ago, now being more specific about donald trump and the language that he's using from this morning.

>> reporter: a lot of people asking questions about what mitt romney said on the campaign plane latst night was sufficient and saying what donald trump said he disagreed. here what happens we are hearing specifically from the campaign in the last hour. governor romney has said repeatedly that he believes president obama was born in the united states , the democrats can talk about donald trump all they want. mitt romney is going to talk about jobs. and how he can get our economy moving again. those are the words from andrea saul, spokeswoman for the campaign. the goal, that's been on message recently, focus on jobs, trying to hit the president on the creating a hostile environment creators but as they began the holiday week they were distracted by this from donald trump . as you know, there's a multimillion dollar private fund-raiser with the donald . the timing couldn't be worse for the campaign as they try to make their mess annual one thing and stuck talking about birther movement, claims donald trump is talking about.

>> earlier today donald trump tweeting about all of this. and had this to say. barack obama practically begging mitt romney to disavow the place of the birth movement. he's afraid of it and for good reason. he keeps using senator mccain as an example, however, mccain lost the election. don't let it happen again. steve , as we look at this, and as you're looking at this unfolding before tonight's big campaign cash grab in las vegas , is this the best advice for mitt romney to follow, what donald trump is offering and the visual he's about to present, mitt romney on the same stage, the same arena, as donald trump ?

>> reporter: well, i think unfortunately what we're seeing is why some of us try very hard in the last primary to avoid and obama matchup. we have a president who can't run right now on his record so he's got to run on how to paint mitt romney as outside of the mainstream as a conservative, which he's really not. and then you've got mitt romney , who actually won't run on his record, either. he's got to be the first major candidate for president who was a governor of a state who doesn't run on his own record as governor and that's because his record as governor was liberal and he doesn't want to remind his base on that. he's got to run on obama . and even when donald trump is pimping romney he has to do it by going after obama . we have twoen candidates for the next two months who can't run on their own records and i think that means we're going to see a lot of red her igs like this.

>> steve , you were a newt gingrich supporter. newt gingrich is to appear with mitt romney , donald trump . does that change your opinions about mitt romney moving forward, the fact that newt gingrich is throwing his support behind him and showing up on the campaign trail with him?

>> no, i'm 38 years old, and i think a lot of folks that grew up in younger again rashgeneration, we'r e not just proxies. when they speak for us, we don't check our minds. newt gingrich isn't on the ballot, mitt romney is. it's mitt romney 's responsibility to sell people on voting for him, nobody else .

>> so michael, let me ask you, under what circumstances do you think romney 's association with donald trump could backfire? do you see this igniting the obama base or is this just something some fodder for the next 48 hours that's going to go away after tonight's big event.

>> i think it's a constant, looming source of potential embarrassment. i'm not surprised to hear peter report on the statement from the romney campaign, because they're so controlled, they're so choreographed, so scripted. they've had gaffes of course. but usually they're in control of their message. and so to have the donald , this powder keg on the stage next to mitt romney is the antithesis where they need to be. the observation, there's no political upside. if you're a birther you're already for mitt romney . how his this perceived by independents? that needs be to the constant refrain from now to november. there lies the potential source of em barsment. people say, we've litigated this, why in the world is mitt romney impugning his character by standing with trump after he's tweeting and going on " squawk box " promoting birtherism.

>> promoting that and trying to draw up a correlation of the validity of the president's education. listen to this. this was from this morning on cnbc.

>> he's really stonewalling it when it comes to -- he just doesn't want to give those transcripts. so what is he saying at columbia and harvard and his other college where he supposedly didn't have good marks and got into columbia? what is he saying about place of birth? these are just questions.

>> steve , as this talk is happening from donald trump , again, mitt romney not going to take credit for what some people are saying, however when they support him and show up with him on the same stage, people are going to say, all right, you're a reflection of the company that you keep. what does donald trump bring to romney 's campaign after tonight's event? we're talking about millions of dollars from tonight but is it rogue with newt gingrich ander in to gets into pockets? what's the bottom line?

>> oh, i can assure your audience it's more shallow and basic of an instinct than that. romney has enough money to win the president sy. only so many commercials to buy neen a recession. you're looking at a republican party establishment that doesn't stand nor anything other than we're not democrats. they try to beat democrats, they look at what democrats beat them with and think, we should try that. they see george clooney holding fund-raisers and cool hipsters hanging out with michelle obama at the beyonce concert. they are thatting we should hang out with donald trump and patronize them, they are so stupid, they will vote for us because we're cool. that's what drives this, this is what happens when you stand for nothing is you have to run on cliches and talking points and metaphors and you have to condesce condescend.

>> is romney meeting with sheldon adelson ?

>> reporter: there's a schedule meeting today in las vegas . two of them had some form of conversations during the course of the campaign. sheldon addleson, through the campaign, had been poring newt gingrich with at least $10 million, if not more, try trying to bankroll his campaign, specifically through the supoup pack, winning our future. as we talk about the impact the words of george will , he is owe believiating ignoramus. the gift, the romney campaign's making the bet that we will not be talking about donald trump in october, they feel confidently at the end of the day this is going to come down to jobs. they're going to take money, i would beg to disagree with steeb, the romney campaign believes there is more money out there, and they do need. they're confident this is a $1.5 billion campaign between the two, obama and romney . they think 800 million is what their opponent may raise, they hope to raise 3/4 of a billion dollars and at the end of the day for a lot of people regardless of what you say about donald trump , whatever your opinion is of the timing of this, and it's odd to everybody, for one or two news cycles we're talking about the birther movement and the extremism, not what mitt romney is trying to advocate, they're confident this is going to play out in their favor.

>> gentlemen, thanks so much. appreciate it.

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