Equipping Your Leaders for Success | Mike Moroney | Denver CO ...

?

A recent HR Magazine article based on a CMI (Chartered Management Institute) survey of 700 leaders, revealed that a CEO?s #1 challenge?is to develop and engage human capital. ?However, when ranking strategies within this challenge, it was interesting to discover that mid-management leadership development was ranked at #10.? As CMI rightly pointed out, this is a significant concern:

? ? there is evidence that improving management and leadership can boost levels of business performance by as much as 23%, which could make the difference between survival and failure in tough markets. Failing to see management development as a key strategy to develop and engage employees could be making a costly mistake.??? To read the entire article, click here.

We couldn?t agree more.?While it is easy for organizations to assume that their leadership is already quite capable, there are a few factors affecting leadership in recent months and years that are potentially not being considered.

A good example is how economic conditions have required leaders to oversee more areas than in the past ? often times areas where they?ve had little, if any, experience.? In such circumstances, it may be important to provide a development program that specializes in those areas.? This is especially true during times when markets are changing.? Pricing, marketing techniques, efficient use of resources, technology utilization, and much more are evolving every day into new best-practices.? Being aware of this and keeping up within it is not only crucial to your business but also very important to the motivation, development, and productivity of your employees.

Most likely, the CEO?s of these companies are hesitant to invest into full development programs for their leadership due to the associated high costs. Often, a combination of formal training and continuing education through conferences, seminars, professional training, etc. can be very costly ? not just in terms of ?out of pocket? expenses but also (and possibly even more so) in terms of lost productivity. That is one of the reasons that MMC developed its Leadership Coaching Package. This is a highly effective tool that leaders can use ?on-the-job? to develop their abilities while also ?increasing? their productivity.

To use a football analogy, you have seen coaches and quarterbacks reviewing photos taken above the field during the game. These photos come from the ?press box coach? who is stationed high above the action to evaluate the opposing team?s strategy and identify weaknesses in his own. Feedback from a press box coach helps sideline coaches manage the overall game and address individual players? performance. Unlike football teams, however, many organizations lack similar systems to track their performance or don?t know how to interpret and act on the data they get from their reporting systems. ?MMC?s Leadership Coaching Package is designed to fill that gap. We watch the action, study metrics and trends, keep a pulse on operational successes and challenges, and provide weekly insight and advice to the leadership team for sustained and improved performance.

To receive more information about MMC?s Leadership Coaching Package, contact us at 720-233-3227.

About Mike Moroney

Mike Moroney, Principal and Owner of MMC, brings more than 30 years of corporate sales and executive leadership experience to his clients. Throughout his career, Mike has brought transformational growth to Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial start-ups, and the educational community.

Source: http://mikemoroney.com/equipping-your-leaders-for-success/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=equipping-your-leaders-for-success

white lion mike d antoni resigns holes ncaa brackets 2012 odd lamar d antoni

1 Trend, 3 Ways: Hooded Animal Hats

Suri Cruise, Violet Affleck and James Broderick look adorable in their faux fur animal hats. Check them out, plus our picks for every budget.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/C-fE-xlyiK8/

oscar winners 2012 billy crystal oscars 2012 angelina jolie oscars chardon high school christopher plummer viola davis school shooting in ohio

Video: Temperature drops may bring tornadoes in South

>>> and now to our weather, making news again, specifically another huge temperature swing. in the midwest, after a dangerous ice storm yesterday, it felt like spring today. but that's before the coming temperature change of around 50 degrees. weather channel meteorologist chris warren is with us. chris, these numbers are incredible.

>> they really are, brian. an all-time january high in topeka, kansas today. 77 degrees. many southern locations feeling these unusually warm temperature readings, looking at temperatures into the upper 70s in some cases, even 80 degrees in corpus christi . tomorrow potentially even warmer in those spots. and this is why. we have a big area of high pressure , keeping things very warm. but dramatically different by the end of the week. cooler air moving down from canada. this is how it plays out in it chicago. 58 degrees tomorrow, almost 40 degrees cooler by thursday and friday. and brian, this will come at a price. we're looking at the threat for severe weather in the lower midwest and the south, possibly tornadoes tomorrow and wednesday.

>> all right. chris warren , weather channel headquarters tonight. chris, thanks.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50621012/

divine mercy cabin in the woods the legend of korra three stooges the three stooges the bee gees woodward

Senate Approves Bill on Sandy Aid (WSJ)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/280182777?client_source=feed&format=rss

xavier joan crawford joan crawford john goodman kendall marshall whitney houston news sylvia plath

Business Development manager | Internet Marketing | Sales ...

Tax Type Tax Rate Tax ID or Company no.

eg. VAT, GST ? Registration no.

Source: http://www.freelancer.com/projects/Internet-Marketing-Telemarketing/Business-Development-manager.html

google privacy changes windows 8 preview leap year moratorium dwts season 14 cast leap day michigan primary results

59% Of All Android Tablet Usage Comes From The U.S., Where Amazon?s Kindle Fire Leads The Pack

Android tablets have nearly caught up to iPad devices as the world's most popular tablet platform, and some project that they?may even overtake?iPads later this year. According to new research from app analytics company Localytics, the U.S., and specifically Amazon, should take the most credit for that trend: some 59% of all Android tablet usage came from the U.S., with over half of that attributed to Kinde Fire and Fire HD tablets.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lSKiJqX6cxg/

amar e stoudemire m.i.a. adrianne curry hoekstra best superbowl commercials 2012 best super bowl ads chrysler super bowl commercial

Purported death threat throws Nevada assembly into uncertainty (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279851086?client_source=feed&format=rss

morgellons disease arik armstead sag awards red carpet torrey pines nhl all star game 2012 pollyanna samuel adams

Officials examine rules for investing in education in neighbouring ...

Home ? national ? Officials examine rules for investing in education in neighbouring countries

Education

Chularat Saengpassa,
Wannapa Khopa
The Nation January 28, 2013 1:00 am

Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) acting secretary-general Chanwit Tubsuphan told The Nation of the plans in an interview last week.

He said the officials were studying regulations and conditions for educational investment in Asean countries to prepare Thailand's involvement under agreements with AEC members.

The demand for international education and English programmes (EP) has been increasing unceasingly and was expected to continue growing, especially when AEC comes into effect and brings a free market to the region. OPEC will study these plans to see limitations and opportunities in educational investment for investors.

"Each country in Asean has regulations and conditions for educational investment. For example, some countries may not allow foreigners to provide basic education in their countries. We're studying this and its effect on people, culture and perspectives before Thailand makes a decision on how much it would be open for foreign investors to invest in the country's education," Chanwit said.

There are 133 international schools in Thailand. The amount has grown from about 40 in 1992. There are 40,000-50,000 students at those schools at present, said Usa Somboon, president of International Schools Association of Thailand (ISAT) in a separate interview.

Also, global international education has increased dramatically and will keep growing. The total number of English-medium international schools in the world is more than 6,400 with more than 3.2 million students. By 2022, it is expected that there will be 11,300 international schools and 6.2 million students, according to ISC Research, part of the International School Consultancy Group and Usa.

According to Chanwit, the number of private schools with EP increased from 144 in 2008 to 162 in 2012, while the number of EP students rose from 35,800 in 2008 to 54,800 in 2012. In all, 400 state and private schools across the country are offering EP and Mini-EP to hundreds of thousands of students. Ten per cent of them are foreigners.

"We expect that more students from Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam will come to Thailand to study at our international and EP schools after AEC takes effect. Apart from children of expats from Western countries, many foreign students in such schools are from those countries," he said.

Usa said: "Our country is ready to be an international school hub for the region. I would like the government to sincerely support international education in Thailand in terms of strategic planning. We've been asking many times about having an independent entity or agency to support international education in Thailand and that it acts like a centre of information for international schools in Thailand and helps develop strategically how to promote and compete in a growing global society."

"We are the leader in international education in Asean. If our resources are developed and supported in the right way and right time, we will be able to expand within the country and in the Asean region," said Wirach Amonpattana, vice-president and treasurer of ISAT.

Also, Usa and Wirach voiced the association's desire for empowerment of international schools. It would like educational agencies to change some regulations about Thai language and culture training for foreign teachers that were considered major obstacles for them in obtaining a teacher's licence in Thailand. They said they wanted the government to allow international schools to independently manage their own executive board members.

Chanwit said as OPEC supervised international schools and he was a board member of the Teachers' Council of Thailand, he would propose the council allow ISAT and universities to provide training for foreign teachers in different parts of the country. It would then be more convenient for them and would also adjust assessment methods that were more suitable for foreign teachers.

"OPEC is considering the proportion of foreign and Thai people who are appointed to international schools' executive boards. At present, at least half of the board members must be Thai. OPEC will check if the laws need to be changed following agreements in AEC," he said.

Although government agencies are focusing on attracting foreign students to study in Thailand rather than promoting schools to expand to other countries, Chanwit agreed with Usa and Wirach that Thailand was unable to completely block foreign educational investment flowing into the country under the AEC. International schools in Thailand, he said, would have to expand their business aggressively in neighbouring countries as well.

Wirach said Ruamrudee International School was planning to open a school in Myanmar.

"OPEC could be a reference for the international schools to guarantee their quality in any countries in which they will invest," Chanwit said.

Latest stories in this category

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Officials-examine-rules-for-investing-in-education-30198820.html

night at the museum pope shenouda bolton muamba sxsw crystal cathedral st. patrick s day brandon lloyd

Militant groups clash in NW Pakistan, 24 killed

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? A Pakistani official says clashes between two Islamic militant groups over control of a prized valley near the Afghan border have killed 24 people.

Arshad Khan of the Khyber tribal region said Saturday that the clashes started Friday when the main militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban captured a base of another militant group, Ansarul Islam, in the Tirah valley. Ansarul Islam then tried to retake the base, with fighting continuing into the next day.

A military officer speaking on condition of anonymity said most of the dead were militants but some local tribesmen were also killed.

The remote and mountainous valley is valued by militant groups as a base. It's difficult for the Pakistani military to enter and allows militants easy access to Afghanistan and other tribal agencies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/militant-groups-clash-nw-pakistan-24-killed-072610952.html

berkshire hathaway ufc 144 james jones james jones aladdin black forest ufc 144 fight card

Video: Custody battle over Obie the Dachshund settled

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50597828/

fat tuesday obama sweet home chicago accenture match play george washington carver king cake mardi gras fun.

Nightclub fire kills at least 232 in Brazil

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) - A nightclub fire killed at least 232 people in southern Brazil early on Sunday when a band's pyrotechnics show set the building ablaze and fleeing partygoers stampeded toward blocked and overcrowded exits in the ensuing panic, officials said.

The blaze in the university town of Santa Maria was started by a band member or someone from its production team igniting a flare, which then set fire to the ceiling, said Luiza Sousa, a civil police official. The fire spread "in seconds," she said.

Local fire officials said at least one exit was locked and that bouncers, who at first thought those fleeing were trying to skip out on bar tabs, initially blocked patrons from leaving. The security staff relented only when they saw flames engulfing the ceiling.

The tragedy, in a packed venue in one of Brazil's most prosperous states, comes as the country scrambles to improve safety, security and logistical shortfalls ahead of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics, both intended to showcase the economic advances and first-world ambitions of Latin America's largest nation.

In Santa Maria, a city of more than 275,000 people, rescue workers and weary officials wept alongside family and friends of the victims at a local gymnasium being used as a makeshift morgue.

"It's the saddest, saddest day of my life," said Neusa Soares, the mother of one of those killed, 22-year-old Viviane Tolio Soares. "I never thought I would have to live to see my girl go away."

President Dilma Rousseff cut short an official visit to Chile and flew to Santa Maria, where she wept as she spoke to relatives of the victims at the gym.

"All I can say at the moment is that my feelings are of deep sorrow," said Rousseff, who began her political career in Rio Grande do Sul, the state where the fire occurred.

News of the fire broke on Sunday morning, when local news broadcast images of shocked people outside the Boate Kiss, as the nightclub was known. Gradually, grisly details emerged.

The vast majority of the victims, most of them university students, died of smoke inhalation, officials said. Others were crushed in the stampede.

"We ran into a barrier of the dead at the exit," Colonel Guido Pedroso de Melo, commander of the fire brigade in Rio Grande do Sul, said of the scene that firefighters found on arrival. "We had to clear a path to get to the rest of those that were inside."

Officials said more than 1,000 people may have been in the club, possibly exceeding its legal capacity. Though Internet postings about the venue suggested as many as 2,000 people at times have crammed into the club, Pedroso de Melo said no more than half that should have been inside.

He said the club was authorized to be open but its permit was in the process of being renewed.

However, Pedroso de Melo did point to several egregious safety violations - from the flare that went off during the show to the locked door that kept people from leaving.

'HAPPENED SO FAST'

When the fire began at about 2:30 a.m., many revelers were unable to find their way out amid the chaos, confusing restroom doors for exits and finding resistance from bouncers when they did find an exit.

"It all happened so fast," survivor Taynne Vendrusculo told GloboNews TV. "Both the panic and the fire spread rapidly, in seconds."

Once security guards realized the building was on fire, they tried in vain to control the blaze with a fire extinguisher, according to a televised interview with one of the guards, Rodrigo Moura. He said patrons were getting trampled as they rushed for the doors, describing it as "a horror film."

One of the club's owners has surrendered to police for questioning, GloboNews reported.

TV footage showed people sobbing outside the club before dawn, while shirtless firefighters used sledge hammers and axes to knock down an exterior wall to open up an exit.

Rescue officials moved the bodies to the local gym and separated them by gender. Male victims were easier to identify because most had identification on them, unlike the women, whose purses were left scattered in the devastated nightclub.

The disaster recalls other incidents including a 2003 fire at a nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, that killed 100 people, and a Buenos Aires nightclub blaze in 2004 that killed nearly 200. In both incidents, a band or members of the audience ignited fires that set the establishment ablaze.

The Rhode Island fire shocked local and federal officials because of the rarity of such incidents in the United States, where enforcement of safety codes is considered to be relatively strict. After the Buenos Aires blaze, Argentine officials closed many nightclubs and other venues and ultimately forced the city's mayor from office because of poor oversight of municipal codes.

The fire early on Sunday occurred in one of the wealthiest, most industrious and culturally distinct regions of Brazil. Santa Maria is about 186 miles west of Porto Alegre, the capital of a state settled by Germans and other immigrants from northern Europe.

Local clich?s paint the region as stricter and more squared away than the rest of Brazil, where most residents are a mix descended from native tribes, Portuguese colonists, African slaves, and later influxes of immigrants from southern Europe.

Rio Grande do Sul state's health secretary, Ciro Simoni, said emergency medical supplies from all over the state were being sent to the scene. States from all over Brazil offered support, and sympathy messages poured in from foreign leaders.

(Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Gustavo Bonato, Jeferson Ribeiro, Eduardo Sim?es, Brian Winter and Guido Nejamkis.; Writing by Paulo Prada; Editing by Todd Benson, Kieran Murray and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brazil-nightclub-fire-kills-least-90-local-media-104354656.html

joseph kony 2012 arian foster dennis kucinich apple ipad kony kony 2012 jim irsay

Will Lance Armstrong Testify To USADA - Business Insider

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Lance Armstrong's lawyers say the cyclist will talk more about drug use in the sport, just likely not to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led the effort to strip him of his Tour de France titles.

In a testy exchange of letters and statements revealing the gulf between the two sides, USADA urged Armstrong to testify under oath to help "clean up cycling."

Armstrong's attorneys responded that the cyclist would rather take his information where it could do more good ? namely to cycling's governing body and World Anti-Doping Agency officials.

USADA's response to that: "The time for excuses is over."

The letters, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, underscore the continuing feud between Armstrong and USADA CEO Travis Tygart, the man who spearheaded the investigation that uncovered a complex doping scheme on Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teams.

Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories were taken away last year and he was banned for life from the sport.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week, Armstrong admitted doping, said he owed a long list of apologies and that he would like to see his lifetime ban reduced so he can compete again.

His most realistic avenue toward that might be telling USADA everything he knows in a series of interviews the agency wants started no later than Feb. 6.

That seems unlikely.

Armstrong attorney Tim Herman responded to USADA's first letter, sent Wednesday, by saying his client's schedule is already full, and besides, "in order to achieve the goal of 'cleaning up cycling,' it must be WADA and the (International Cycling Union) who have overall authority to do so."

By Friday night, Herman strongly suggested Armstrong won't meet with USADA at all but intends to appear before the UCI's planned "truth and reconciliation" commission.

"Why would we cooperate (with USADA)?" Herman said in a telephone interview. "USADA isn't interested in cleaning up cycling. Lance has said, 'I'll be the first guy in the chair when cycling is on trial, truthfully, under oath, in every gory detail.' I think he's going testify where it could actually do some good: With the body that's charged with cleaning up cycling," Herman said.

In its last letter to Armstrong, sent Friday evening, USADA attorney William Bock said his agency and WADA work hand-in-hand in that effort.

"Regardless, and with or without Mr. Armstrong's help, we will move forward with our investigation for the good of clean athletes and the future of sport," Bock's letter reads.

The letters confirm a Dec. 14 meeting in Denver involving Armstrong, Tygart and their respective attorneys, which is when, in Tygart's words, Armstrong should have started thinking about a possible meeting with USADA.

"He has been given a deadline of February 6th to determine whether he plans to come in and be part of the solution," Tygart said in a statement. "Either way, USADA is moving forward with our investigation on behalf of clean athletes."

The letters were sent to the AP after details about a Tygart interview with "60 Minutes," being aired Sunday, were made public.

Among Tygart's claims: Armstrong is lying when he says he didn't dope during his 2009-10 comeback.

Tygart said USADA's report on Armstrong's doping included evidence Armstrong was still cheating in those years.

"His comeback was totally clean," Herman said. "It's pretty fashionable to kick Lance Armstrong around right now."

Tygart also reiterated that an Armstrong associate offered USADA a donation of more than $200,000. Armstrong denied that in his interview with Winfrey, too.

In advancing his claim that USADA is only a bit player in the investigation, Herman noted in his letter, sent to USADA on Friday, that most cycling teams are based in Europe.

"I'm pretty sick of people trying to blame a European cycling culture that goes back to the 1920s on one guy," Herman said.

Bock's response to that: "Your suggestion that there is some other body with which Lance should coordinate is misguided," he said in his final letter.

?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/will-lance-armstrong-testify-to-usada-2013-1

weather radio indiana autoimmune disease news channel 9 insanity workout mass effect 3 launch trailer yelp

Thawing 'dry ice' drives groovy action on Mars

Jan. 25, 2013 ? Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter see seasonal changes on far-northern Martian sand dunes caused by warming of a winter blanket of frozen carbon dioxide.

Earth has no naturally frozen carbon dioxide, though pieces of manufactured carbon-dioxide ice, called "dry ice," sublime directly from solid to gas on Earth, just as the vast blankets of dry ice do on Mars. A driving factor in the springtime changes where seasonal coverings of dry ice form on Mars is that thawing occurs at the underside of the ice sheet, where it is in contact with dark ground being warmed by early-spring sunshine through translucent ice. The trapped gas builds up pressure and breaks out in various ways.

Transient grooves form on dunes when gas trapped under the ice blanket finds an escape point and whooshes out, carrying out sand with it. The expelled sand forms dark fans or streaks on top of the ice layer at first, but this evidence disappears with the seasonal ice, and summer winds erase most of the grooves in the dunes before the next winter. The grooves are smaller features than the gullies that earlier research linked to carbon-dioxide sublimation on steeper dune slopes.

Similar activity has been documented and explained previously where seasonal sheets of frozen carbon dioxide form and thaw near Mars' south pole. Details of the different northern seasonal changes are newly reported in a set of three papers for the journal Icarus. A video showing some of the changes is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.php?id=1184 .

The findings reinforce growing appreciation that Mars today, however different from its former self, is still a dynamic world, and however similar to Earth in some respects, displays some quite unearthly processes.

"It's an amazingly dynamic process," said Candice Hansen of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson. She is lead author of the first of the three new reports. "We had this old paradigm that all the action on Mars was billions of years ago. Thanks to the ability to monitor changes with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, one of the new paradigms is that Mars has many active processes today."

With three Martian years (six Earth years) of data in hand from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, the researchers report on the sequence and variety of seasonal changes. The spring changes include outbursts of gas carrying sand, polygonal cracking of the winter ice blanketing the dunes, sandfalls down the faces of the dunes, and dark fans of sand propelled out onto the ice.

"It is a challenge to catch when and how those changes happen, they are so fast," said Ganna Portyankina of the University of Bern in Switzerland, lead author of the second report. "That's why only now we start to see the bigger picture that both hemispheres actually tell us similar stories."

The process of outrushing gas that carves grooves into the northern dunes resembles the process creating spider-shaped features in far southern Mars, as seen in an image at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12249, but the spiders have not been seen in the north. The seasonal dry-ice sheets overlie different types of terrain in the two hemispheres. In the south, diverse terrains include the flat, erodible ground where the spiders form, but in the north, a broad band of sand dunes encircles the permanent north polar ice cap.

Another difference is in brightening on parts of the ice-covered dunes. This brightening in the north results from the presence of water-ice frost, while in the south, similar brightening is caused by fresh carbon dioxide. The third paper of the Icarus set, by Antoine Pommerol of the University of Bern and co-authors, reports distribution of the water frost using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM). The light water frost is blown around by spring winds.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., provided and operates CRISM. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiter. For more about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

A slide show of Martian icy scenes is online at: http://1.usa.gov/ZoAO8I .

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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

---

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Bl0tO9lJq3g/130125095328.htm

Golden Globes Miss America 2013 Aaron Swartz Java Gangster Squad school shooting Oscar Nominations 2013

Video: Young caught in Mali conflict?

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50591417/

black history month did groundhog see his shadow soul train don cornelius rod parsley barry sanders jr nick carter sister recruiting rankings

APPLE LOSES ITS SPOT AS WORLD'S MOST ... - Business Insider

Apple lost its spot as the world's most valuable company today to Exxon.

This is a developing story we'll be keeping our eyes on.

As of this writing, according to Google Finance, Apple's market cap is $413.89 billion versus?$416.50 for Exxon.

This is a fluid situation and we expect them to trade spots through the day.

Apple has been the world's most valuable company since August of 2011.

It comfortably held that position for over a year. But, as the world came to the realization that Apple wasn't going to forever grow its profits at 40% per year, the stock started to tank.

It's now more than 30% off its peak, giving Exxon a chance to regain its title as the most valuable company in the world.

Depending on how the day plays out, Exxon could be king again.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-no-longer-the-worlds-most-valuable-company-2013-1

kristen stewart Christian Bale Sherman Hemsley Olympics Opening Ceremony Katherine Jackson Olympics Opening Ceremony Time paris jackson

'The Wolverine' Preview: The Claws Are Out

Director James Mangold leads MTV News through Hugh Jackman's return to Logan.
By Kara Warner

Hugh Jackman in "The Wolverine"
Photo: 20th Century Fox

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700710/the-wolverine-preview.jhtml

London 2012 basketball London 2012 Slalom Canoe Alex Morgan Misty May Treanor Lolo Jones Aly Raisman Marvin Hamlisch

Military has to decide which combat jobs for women

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon's decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat presents a daunting challenge to top military leaders who now will have to decide which, if any, jobs they believe should be open only to men.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to announce Thursday that more than 230,000 battlefront posts ? many in Army and Marine infantry units and in potentially elite commando jobs ? are now open to women. It will be up to the military service chiefs to recommend and defend whether women should be excluded from any of those more demanding and deadly positions, such as Navy SEALs or the Army's Delta Force.

The historic change, which was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units.

The change won't take place overnight: Service chiefs will have to develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior military official said. Some jobs may open as soon as this year, while assessments for others, such as special operations forces, may take longer. The services will have until January 2016 to make a case to that some positions should remain closed to women.

Officials briefed The Associated Press on the changes Wednesday on condition of anonymity so they could speak ahead of the official announcement.

There long has been opposition to putting women in combat, based on questions of whether they have the necessary strength and stamina for certain jobs, or whether their presence might hurt unit cohesion.

But as news of Panetta's expected order got out, many members of Congress, including the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., announced their support.

"It reflects the reality of 21st century military operations," Levin said.

Objections were few. Jerry Boykin, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, called the move "another social experiment" that will place unnecessary burdens on military commanders.

"While their focus must remain on winning the battles and protecting their troops, they will now have the distraction of having to provide some separation of the genders during fast moving and deadly situations," said Boykin, a retired Army lieutenant general. He noted that small units often are in sustained combat for extended periods of time under primal living conditions with no privacy.

Panetta's move comes in his final weeks as Pentagon chief and just days after President Barack Obama's inaugural speech in which he spoke passionately about equal rights for all. The new order expands the department's action of nearly a year ago to open about 14,500 combat positions to women, nearly all of them in the Army.

In addition to questions of strength and performance, there also have been suggestions that the American public would not tolerate large numbers of women being killed in war.

Under the 1994 Pentagon policy, women were prohibited from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. A brigade is roughly 3,500 troops split into several battalions of about 800 soldiers each. Historically, brigades were based farther from the front lines, and they often included top command and support staff.

The necessities of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached ? but not formally assigned ? to battalions. So while a woman couldn't be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.

And these conflicts, where battlefield lines are blurred and insurgents can lurk around every corner, have made it almost impossible to keep women clear of combat.

Still, as recent surveys and experiences have shown, it will not be an easy transition. When the Marine Corps sought women to go through its tough infantry course last year, two volunteered and both failed to complete the course. And there may not be a wide clamoring from women for the more intense, dangerous and difficult jobs, including some infantry and commando positions.

Two lawsuits were filed last year challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat, adding pressure on officials to overturn the policy. And the military services have been studying the issue and surveying their forces to determine how it may affect performance and morale.

The Joint Chiefs have been meeting regularly on the matter and they unanimously agreed to send the recommendation to Panetta earlier this month.

A senior military official familiar with the discussions said the chiefs laid out three main principles to guide them as they move through the process. Those were to maintain America's effective fighting force, preserve military readiness and develop a process that would give all service members the best chance to succeed.

Women comprise about 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel. More than 280,000 women have been sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or to jobs in neighboring nations in support of the wars. Of the more than 6,600 U.S. service members who have been killed, 152 have been women.

The senior military official said the military chiefs must report back to Panetta with their initial implementation plans by May 15.

___

AP National Security Writer Robert Burns and AP Broadcast reporter Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/military-decide-combat-jobs-women-141230491.html

albatross louis oosthuizen phil mickelson 10 year old gives birth c. difficile carmelo anthony nurse jackie

Sniping, then singing as 'American Idol' returns

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? There was no hair-pulling between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj on the season debut of "American Idol," although some viewers may have been reduced to it.

The pop divas exchanged insults worthy of middle schoolers, fellow freshman judge Keith Urban looked trapped between them, and there was a whiff of make-believe Wednesday about the show's touted feud.

"We can have accessories. I didn't know that was allowed. That's all I'm gonna say," Carey commented archly about Minaj's flashy, drum major-style hat.

The rapper took offense.

"Why'd you have to reference my hat?" Minaj said, with Carey then accusing Minaj of rudeness to her during an earlier elevator meeting.

Mercifully, a contestant arrived to break up the bickering and remind us that we tuned in to a talent show, not an episode of "Real Housewives of American Idol."

When the action resumed, Minaj demonstrated a magnificent talent for eye-rolling and upped the ante with a muttered insult.

"If she called me something that begins with a 'b' and ends with an 'itch,' I rebuke it," Carey declared.

Whether the clash is real or not, Minaj's scrappiness came off as far more entertaining than Carey's demure, even queenly manner. Carey is getting a truly royal paycheck: $18 million, to Minaj's $12 million.

The award for least self-absorbed judge goes to genial country singer Urban.

The two-hour episode opened by showcasing last year's winner, Phillip Phillips, and those alumni with established careers, including Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson.

Then host Ryan Seacrest brought "American Idol" back down to earth and to its new judges.

"Our legacy continues as a new era begins," he said, reciting the panelists' resumes, including record sales, Grammys won and, in Carey's case, vocal range (five octaves, "the definition of diva," Seacrest said).

Cue the parade of good, bad and touching performances and biographies, with contestants facing serious challenges once again an "Idol" hallmark.

The judges, including veteran Randy Jackson, hardened their hearts and rejected a young man who had lost a leg to cancer but melted for a teenage girl whose family fosters children with medical concerns and another singer with partial hearing loss.

Forty-one people survived the New York auditions to sing another day in the Hollywood rounds, with the action moving to Chicago on Thursday's episode.

"I feel like we jell well in a weird, crazy way," Minaj declared optimistically of the panel near the episode's conclusion.

Fox certainly hopes so. Last season, "Idol" lost its status as the most-watched TV program for the first time since 2003, eclipsed by NBC's "Sunday Night Football," and pegged its lowest-rated season since it debuted in summer 2002.

___

Online:

http://www.fox.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sniping-then-singing-american-idol-returns-101014580.html

illinois primary 2012 michael bay zsa zsa gabor illinois primary trayvon martin 911 call kiribati vernal equinox

Gillmor Gang Live 01.18.13 (TCTV)

Gillmor Gang - Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Danny Sullivan, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor. Recording live today at 1pm Pacific.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qsoPUSpB1Es/

the voice World Ending 2012 gossip girl channing tatum Ink Master Jenni Rivera Funeral aspergers

TX Petroleum Investment. Co, Breton Sound, LA Gulf of Mexico

NOAA?s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) provides science-based solutions to protect and restore the nation?s natural resources from coastal environmental hazards. OR&R serves the nation by providing expertise and a suite of products and services critical for making science-based response decisions that prevent further harm, restore natural resources, and promote effective planning for future incidents.

Source: http://incidentnews.gov/incident/8548?f=161914064

Army Navy Game john lennon leann rimes pearl harbor Jacintha Saldanha Grammy nominations 2013 Butch Jones

Sioux Falls, SD 2010 Ford F-150 Used Truck Sioux City, SD Minneapolis, SD Vern Eide Auto Center at E 10th for $32,977

• Color: Black Ea
• Interior: Black w/Sport Cloth Captain's Chairs
• Stock#: 5415A
• Engine: 5.4L V8
• VIN: 1FTFW1EV3AFB49729
• Transmission: Automatic 6-Speed
• Odometer: 28,041 mi.
• Body Style: 4WD Truck (4 Door SuperCrew)

154271|4220

Vern Eide Auto Center at E 10th154259|4220

?

• Interior

• • Leather seats
  • Heated drivers seat
  • Heated passenger seat
  • 8-way power adjustable drivers seat

• Convenience

• • Bluetooth
  • Cruise control
  • Power door locks
  • Driver memory seats
  • Tilt steering wheel
  • Power heated mirrors
  • Memory settings for 2 drivers
  • Power windows with 1 one-touch
  • Audio controls on steering wheel
  • Air conditioning with dual zone climate control

• Technical

• • 310 hp horsepower
  • Automatic Transmission
  • 5.4 liter V8 SOHC engine
  • Fuel economy EPA highway (mpg): 18 and EPA city (mpg): 14

• Safety

• • Passenger Airbag
  • 4-wheel ABS brakes
  • Traction control - ABS and driveline
  • Head airbags - Curtain 1st and 2nd row

• Not all issues are reported to CARFAX. The number of owners is estimated. See the full CARFAX Report for additional information and glossary of terms.

Payment $578.19

Vehicle Price $32,977 $0 $32,977 Down Payment (%) 0.0 % 0 % 100 % Interest Rate 8.0 % 0 % 12 % Months 72 12 72

?

Contact Us at (877) 769-2968

*The advertised price does not include sales tax, vehicle registration fees, finance charges, documentation charges, and any other fees required by law. We attempt to update this inventory on a regular basis. However, there can be lag time between the sale of a vehicle and the update of the inventory.

EPA mileage estimates are for newly manufactured vehicles only. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.

Before purchasing this vehicle, it is your responsibility to address any and all differences between information on this website and the actual vehicle specifications and/or any warranties offered prior to the sale of this vehicle. Vehicle data on this website is compiled from publicly available sources believed by the publisher to be reliable. Vehicle data is subject to change without notice. The publisher assumes no responsibility for errors and/or omissions in this data the compilation of this data and makes no representations express or implied to any actual or prospective purchaser of the vehicle as to the condition of the vehicle, vehicle specifications, ownership, vehicle history, equipment/accessories, price or warranties. 2010 Ford Sioux Falls, SD 2010 Ford Mitchell, SD 2010 Ford Albert Lea, MN

Source: http://www.verneide.com/2010-Ford-F-150-Sioux-Falls-SD/vd/12467550

solar flares 2012 whitney houston will toyota recall northern lights sign of the times keystone pipeline purim

MLI study on Dutch Disease and Canadian manufacturing covered in The Globe and Mail, Postmedia, Wall Street Journal, CBC News, Global News, Calgary Herald, Huffington Post Canada, iPolitics, and more

January 16, 2013 ? MLI?s recently released study by Philip Cross, Dutch Disease, Canadian Cure: How Manufacturers Adapted to the High Dollar, makes waves across the media today. Media coverage listed?below:

?How Canada?s ?petro-currency? became the ?Bay St. Buck?? by Michael Babad, The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2012

?Canada?s Dutch Disease diagnosis flawed, study says? by Gordon Isfeld, Financial Post, January 16, 2012 (reprinted in Postmedia newspapers)

?Dutch Disease is a myth, think tank says? by Paul Vieira, Wall Street Journal?s Canada Real Time, January 16, 2013

?Dutch Disease not a major factor in Canada?s manufacturing woes, report argues? by Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press, January 16, 2013 (reprinted in the Calgary Herald, CBC News,?Global News, Waterloo Region Record, Metro News, Huffington Post Canada, Winnipeg Free Press)

?High dollar?s impact fleeting for most Canadian factories, report says? by Barrie McKenna, The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2013

?Economy Today: Tapping into a weak global economy? by Eric Beauchesne, iPolitics, January 16, 2013

Business Daily update from the Hamilton Spectator, January 16, 2013

Top Business Stories from The Globe and Mail?by Michael Babad, January 16, 2013

More updates to follow!

?

?

Related posts:

1. MLI study in Financial Post, Globe and Mail, CBC, Wall Street Journal, Toronto Sun, Huffington Post Canada and more: European style debt crisis could happen here October 18, 2012 ? MLI?s latest study, Provincial Solvency and Federal Obligations, by author Marc...
2. Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, Toronto Star, & iPolitics write about MLI?s book, Northern Light: Lessons for America from Canada?s Fiscal Fix October 15, 2012 ? The release of MLI?s book, Northern Light: Lessons for America from...
3. MLI?s Philip Cross in the Financial Post: Dutch Disease in Canada a myth January 16, 2013 ? MLI?s Philip Cross writes about his latest study, Dutch Disease, Canadian...
4. Surprise: Manufacturing survives high dollar and Dutch Disease is a false diagnosis, study finds High commodity prices do not account for all of Canadian dollar strength. Manufacturing resuming lead...
5. MLI?s CNOOC-Nexen Panel covered in The Globe and Mail, Financial Post, Global National, BNN, Sun News Network, CPAC and much more! October 18, 2012 ? The Macdonald-Laurier Institute hosted a timely panel discussion yesterday on the...

Please note that the link above was live when posted. Older links may no longer be functional.

Source: http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/mli-study-on-dutch-disease-and-canadian-manufacturing-covered-in-the-globe-and-mail-financial-post-global-news-calgary-herald-huffington-post-canada-ipolitics-and-much-more/

nate mcmillan clooney arrested southern miss rod blagojevich rod blagojevich uconn ncaa march madness

Report: IOC strips Armstrong of Olympic medal

LONDON (AP) ? The IOC has stripped Lance Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of his involvement in doping, officials familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Two officials said the IOC sent a letter to Armstrong on Wednesday night asking him to return the medal. The move came after the International Olympic Committee was notified by cycling's governing body that Armstrong had not appealed the decision to disqualify him.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced.

The IOC executive board discussed revoking the medal last month, but delayed a decision until cycling body UCI formally notified Armstrong he had been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and all results since 1998. He then had 21 days to appeal.

Now that the deadline has expired, the IOC decided to take the medal away. The letter to Armstrong also was sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The move was confirmed to the AP on the same day that Armstrong's admission of using performance-enhancing drugs ? after years of denials ? is to be broadcast in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The timing of the IOC move, however, was not related to the TV interview.

Two months after winning his second Tour de France title in 2000, Armstrong took bronze in Sydney in the road time trial behind winner and U.S. Postal Service teammate Vyacheslav Ekimov of Russia and Jan Ullrich of Germany.

The IOC opened a disciplinary case in November after a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report detailed widespread doping by Armstrong and his teammates. The report called it the most sophisticated doping program in sports.

The IOC will not reallocate Armstrong's bronze medal, just as the UCI decided not to declare any winners for the Tour titles once held by the Texan. Spanish rider Abraham Olano Manzano, who finished fourth in Sydney, will not be upgraded and the bronze medal placing will be left vacant in Olympic records.

In August, the IOC stripped Tyler Hamilton, a former Armstrong teammate, of his time-trial gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics after he admitted to doping. In that case, Ekimov was upgraded to gold.

The IOC also is investigating Levi Leipheimer, a former Armstrong teammate who won the time-trial bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. The American confessed to doping as part of his testimony against Armstrong in the USADA case.

The IOC is looking into the details of Leipheimer's admitted doping, including when the cheating took place, before moving to strip his medal. Finishing fourth behind Leipheimer in 2008 was Alberto Contador, the Spaniard who was stripped of the 2010 Tour de France title after testing positive for clenbuterol.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sources-ioc-strips-armstrong-olympic-medal-124206051--oly.html

Jordyn Wieber michael phelps Kerri Strug Ledecky Nadia Comaneci Rebecca Soni Snoop Lion

Five Reasons To Be Excited For the 'Idol' Premiere

Is this really the 12th season of American Idol? Yep, you were 11 years younger when this singing competition first hit the air. Is it still worth watching when its two-day premiere begins on Wednesday (at 8 p.m. ET on Fox)? You bet it is! Here's why: 

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/american-idol-premiere-why-were-excited/1-a-515351?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aamerican-idol-premiere-why-were-excited-515351

Bbc News China abc glock earthquake abc news msnbc

Naples FL Real Estate and Beyond: Home Buyers Today Rely on ...

To search for?real estate in?Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero or Marco Island, Florida, click?HERE.

John R. Wood Realtors ? The Symbol of Local Knowledge.

Don?t forget to Find Us on Facebook.

Recently, a collaborative study between?Google and the National Association of REALTORS^? (NAR) looked at the digital?usage?of today?s home buyer. The study found that buyers are relying on the Internet more than ever for real estate information.

?Nine in 10 home buyers today rely on the internet as one of their primary research sources, and 52 percent turn to the web as their first step.?

While this is probably no?surprise?to anyone, what is interesting are the statistics included in the study. ?These stats, a compilation courtesy of the KCMBlog.com, were revealed in the study?

5 Top new home buyer activities on mobile devices

1.???????? 51% ? Read general home information
2.???????? 48% ? Get directions in order to visit a home
3.???????? 44% ? Compare prices
4.???????? 35% ? Compare features
5.???????? 35% ? Search a listing company?s inventory

Places where new home buyers use their mobile devices

• 77% ? At home
• 31% ? At work
• ?28% ? While waiting in line
• ?27% ? At a restaurant
• 26% ? At someone else?s home

Days of research before the new home shoppers take action on a site

• 40% ? 120 days
• 17% ? 60 days
• 7% ? 30 days
• 4% ? 3 weeks
• 3% ? 2 weeks
• 5% ? 1 week
• 24% ? same day

% of age groups who registered to buy/sell a home on a website

• 8% of 18-24 year olds
• 31% of 25-34 year olds
• ?21% of 35-44 year olds
• 19% of 45-54 year olds
• 14% of 55-64 year olds

Used the Internet to search for a home by category

• 47% ? First time buyers
• 75% ? Senior buyers
• 93% ? Vacation Home buyers

Today?s real estate purchaser is going online to perform extensive research first, so you?ll want to be sure your real estate agent is an online expert.

?In today?s complex, rapidly changing, and digitally driven media environment, capturing a home shopper?s attention in order to build a real estate business and personal REALTOR? brand is tougher than ever.?

Once your research is?done, call upon a John R. Wood Agent to assist you in confirming your research and in finding the perfect home or selling your Southwest Florida property!

Click HERE?to find a John R. Wood Agent!

John R. Wood Realtors Naples Florida

Tags: Bonita Springs real estate, Buying a Southwest Florida home, Buying an Estero home, home buyers internet, home buyers naples fl, Naples Florida, Naples Florida real estate sales, Naples luxury real estate, Naples real estate, NAR, National Association of Realtors, Southwest Florida real estate sales

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Naples Florida Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.johnrwood.com/blog/2013/01/naples-fl-real-estate-and-beyond-home-buyers-today-rely-on-the-internet-as-one-of-their-primary-research-sources/

pecan pie recipe Hector Camacho Jill Kelly McKayla Maroney gronkowski jeremy renner best buy black friday deals

Microsoft prepping Photosynth for Windows Phone 8 launch

Microsoft's Photosynth app creates 3D panoramas by combining 2D pictures.

When Microsoft?launched Photosynth earlier this year for Windows Phone 7.5, the unique 3D panorama creation?software?quickly became one of the more popular apps on Microsoft's smartphone platform. While the app is still available for Windows Phone 7.5 devices, those with Windows Phone 8 smartphones have had to wait.

That wait is almost over, as Microsoft's Photosynth team has announced the release of the app for Windows Phone 8 is just a few weeks away following "problems with drivers on a few important phones." The announcement came via the team's Twitter account?through the following?statement:

Currently, only Windows Phone 7.5 devices can see the app on the Windows Phone Store as Photosynth is one of the few apps that cannot automatically run on Windows Phone 8,?according to a post on the Photosynth website by David Gedye, the Photosynth team's lead program manager.

The Phoyosynth app is also currently available for iOS devices and has been optimized for the iPhone 5. Desktop users can also create Photosynth?panoramas?with the use of Microsoft Research's Image Composite Editor.

Source: Photosynth Team Twitter via WP7 Connect | Image via Microsoft

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/neowin-all/~3/8-otEm5EEDg/microsoft-prepping-photosynth-for-windows-phone-8-launch

safety not guaranteed lifehouse al gore la dodgers lawrence o donnell magic johnson jetblue pilot

Young Afghan musicians to tour US

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Not so long ago Fakira roamed the mean streets of the Afghan capital, hawking magazines for 13 U.S. cents apiece to support her poverty-stricken family.? Next month, the 15-year-old cellist appears in America's most prestigious concert halls, performing alongside other former street children and orphans of Afghanistan's decades of violence.

"Suddenly my whole life changed, and now I am going to America," she says, recounting her chance encounter with a rather improbable school that's reviving music, both Western classical and Afghan, in a country where the Taliban had made even listening to it a crime ? and where a generation of musicians vanished through killings,?old age or exile.

The teenager, who uses only one name like many Afghans, will be playing in the Afghan Youth Orchestra, which on Feb. 3 begins a 12-day U.S. tour that includes concerts at Washington's Kennedy Center ? President Barack Obama has been invited ? New York's Carnegie Hall and the New England Conservatory in Boston.??

"Most reports about Afghanistan are about suicide bombings, killings, destruction, corruption, (depicting) Afghanistan as a place where hope has died," says Ahmad Sarmast, who leads the youth orchestra. He says the young musicians will try "to show a different Afghanistan, an Afghanistan where hope is alive and the people are striving to bring about changes. The kids are the symbol of hope. "

The orchestra is the centerpiece of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, which Sarmast founded 2??years ago. By all accounts, the music institute is proving a success story in a country?where failed development projects ? through poor planning, corruption or militant violence ? are more the norm.

Its 141 students, half of them former street kids or orphans ages 10 to 22, study free of charge in a well-ordered, two-story building stocked with mint-condition instruments, new computers, a distance learning center and the country's first instrument repair shop.?Rising nearby are concert and rehearsal halls scheduled for completion this summer.?

A cacophony of?sounds echoes down the school's first-floor corridor hour after hour.?In one practice room, four girls practice scales on oboes under portraits of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, whose "Ode to Joy" theme emerges from a trumpeter down the hallway.?The rubah, sitar and sarod ? traditional Afghan string instruments ? and the tabla drum are being played in other rooms.?

The 48-member touring company, which also includes three smaller ensembles, will perform both Afghan pieces and specially adapted Western classics when they will be joined by members of two American youth orchestras.?One program item, titled "Four Seasons in Afghanistan," fuses Antonio Vivaldi's popular concertos with Afghan melodies played on traditional instruments. It's the handiwork of William Harvey, of Indianapolis, Indiana,?a violinist and graduate of New York's eminent Julliard School who serves as the institute's principal conductor.

Urbane and articulate, Sarmast has also been able to attract seven resident foreign teachers, visiting artists and hefty funding and donations from foreign governments, private sponsors and the World Bank, which provided $2 million and is exploring how the institute can be used as a template for other vocational schools in the country.

Son of a famous Afghan composer and conductor, Sarmast sought asylum in Australia after the Taliban swept into power and perpetrated what he calls "nothing less than musical genocide." Obtaining a doctorate in musicology, he returned home after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion toppled the Islamist group to "give back to my society."

"It was my strong belief in the power of music in bringing about social changes," he says. "A strong belief in the healing power of music, especially for a country like Afghanistan which is recovering from 30 years of civil war,?where the people are badly traumatized, especially the children."

For some at the institute, Sarmast's words ring true.

"When I return to the orphanage and there is no trumpet, I miss my mother," says Meena Zamani,? a 10-year-old orphan just beginning to master the instrument. "Playing takes away all my sadness."

Fakira remembers watching students in neat, clean uniforms going off to school while she and her two brothers scoured the streets for money to help their jobless father, mother and five other siblings.?She was finally offered some schooling at an orphanage that took in the poorest of children and where the institute was spotting for the musically talented.??

It was love at first sound when Fakira heard the "soft, comforting" tones of the cello.

"When I pick up and play my cello, the hard times, the bad feelings vanish ? I forget," she says. Now, like other former street children, she receives a monthly stipend of $27 to compensate for lost family income, studies English and other subjects offered by the institute and looks forward to seeing the White House and the bright lights of New York City.

But she and her fellow students also express anxiety, wedged as they are between the tragic past and an Afghanistan that could again descend into chaos after the departure of U.S. and other NATO forces in 2014.?

"I am not sure about my future as a musician in Afghanistan. But I love music so that's why I came here," says 22-year-old Shabeer Aharad, practicing the oboe in preparation for the American journey and heaping praise on his school and teachers.

Other efforts to bring back a rich musical tradition, including a onetime budding Western classical scene in Kabul, have not proved so successful.

The ragged instruments at the country's only university music department include one beat-up drum and a decrepit cello, with even music stands lacking. There are very few seasoned Afghan instructors and only two foreigners.?

One is retired, 64-year-old Faith Rynders, who volunteered to come to Kabul University from Bemidji,?Minnesota, hoping her career as a pianist and voice teacher could prove useful in building a new generation of musicians.

Despite the hurdles she faces, it has.?

In an almost bare room, pierced through with bitter winter cold, one of her students slowly places his hands on a piano keyboard. "The fingers get so stiff," says 22-year-old Fawad Sultani by way of apology.?Then the lean, handsome pianist unfurls the rapid runs and yearning themes of Frederic Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor.

Rynders stands at a distance, smiling.?"I'm very proud of him," she says.??

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/young-afghan-musicians-tour-us-063348890.html

nick carter sister recruiting rankings san onofre paula deen birth control recall nick carter leslie carter