Thursday, October 31, 2013

China Final HSBC PMI Climbs to 50.9 getdiscountz.blogspot.com

Written By Unknown; About: China Final HSBC PMI Climbs to 50.9 getdiscountz.blogspot.com on Thursday, October 31, 2013

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® China Final HSBC PMI Climbs to 50.9

Buoyed by new export orders, the massive manufacturing sector in China grew at its most rapid rate in seven months in October, a private survey revealed on Friday, Reuters reports. The news supports signs that the economy is stabilizing prior to a key government meeting on economic reform.




The final HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at 50.9, up from 50.2 the previous month and no different from a preliminary flash estimate that was released last week.


A reading above 50 indicates expansion while a figure below it indicates contraction.


As China's official PMI -- released earlier on Thursday -- showed, manufacturing growth is 51.4, the highest in 18 months.


Weighted more toward larger and state-owned enterprises, the official PMI often leads to more favorable results than the private survey, which tends to focus on smaller and private-sector firms, according to Reuters.


One surprise of the HSBC survey was a jump in new export orders to 51.3, up from the initial reading of 50.8. Many enterprises surveyed revealed stronger demand from the U.S.


Domestic new orders grew at their speediest pace since March, but were down a bit on the flash estimate number.


At the Communist Party's third plenary meeting to be held Nov. 9-12, signs that China's economy is performing favorably will help the government push a restructuring agenda toward one that's driven more by consumer demand than by investment/credit.


As Reuters points out, from January to September, China's economy grew 7.7 percent from the prior year, setting it on course to attain a 2013 target of 7.5 percent -- the weakest growth rate, however, since 1990.



China Final HSBC PMI Climbs to 50.9

14-Pound Utah Baby, Joel Brandon Jr., Possibly Biggest Baby Born In US This Year getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® 14-Pound Utah Baby, Joel Brandon Jr., Possibly Biggest Baby Born In US This Year

Sara Brandon kept tradition alive when she gave birth to her 14-pound son this May.




Joel Brandon Jr. -- whose nickname is J.J. -- was born by cesarean section on May 9 at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem, Utah. Possibly the largest baby born this year in America, according to the local news outlet KSL, the not-so-little guy weighed exactly 14 pounds and was 22 inches long. This made for quite the unexpected surprise for everyone witnessing his delivery.


"My last ultrasound showed that he was going to be around 11 pounds," Sara Brandon, told The Huffington Post. "So when he came out and he was 14, I think everyone in the whole room -- even the doctors -- was so surprised."


At 13 pounds, 12 ounces, Addyson Gale Cessna of Pennsylvania is the only baby born this year in the United States that weighs close to J.J.’s weight. And his mother says their family keeps “watching and waiting to see if there is a baby who is bigger” since J.J. just might be this year’s biggest newborn.


Due to J.J.’s large size, Brandon received some extra help in the delivery room from not one, but two doctors.


"Since they knew he was going to be a big baby, I had two doctors delivering him instead of just one," she explained to HuffPost. "They said that they had to use some maneuvering for shoulder dystocia that they normally only use in vaginal births -- in other words, he was so big and crammed in there that they had a hard time getting him out."


J.J. spent a week and a half in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit due to respiratory issues following his birth at 38.5 weeks. But Brandon told KSL that her son is now healthy. Brandon’s type 1 diabetes, a genetic history of big babies in her family and her husband’s height have all been cited as possible reasons for J.J. being a larger than average baby.


J.J. is already sporting size 2 diapers -- the same size his older twin sisters wear. And according to Brandon, his doctors have placed the extraordinary little one in the “150th percentile" for height and weight due to how he compares to normal charts.



14-Pound Utah Baby, Joel Brandon Jr., Possibly Biggest Baby Born In US This Year

What FAA’s Eased Portable Electronic Device Rules Mean For Passengers getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® What FAA’s Eased Portable Electronic Device Rules Mean For Passengers

“We believe today’s decision honors both our commitment to safety and consumer’s increasing desire to use their electronic devices during all phases of their flights,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated. “These guidelines reflect input from passengers, pilots, manufacturers and flight attendants, and I look forward to seeing airlines implement these much anticipated guidelines in the near future.”


FAA based its decision on the results of an exhaustive yearlong review by the 28-member PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee, composed of pilots, flight attendants, airline executives, mechanics, engineers and electronics makers. “I commend the dedication and excellent work of all the experts who spent the past year working together to give us a solid report so we can now move forward with a safety-based decision on when passengers can use PEDs on airplanes,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said.


Fliers have long chafed under rules that require lightweight portable electronics to be turned off for takeoff and landing, largely because the FAA has failed to convince passengers that they pose a threat. Now, it will be up to each airline to prove to the FAA that its fleet can tolerate the radio interference. The sooner they can prove that tablets, e-readers, smartphones and the like are no threat to safety, the sooner you can use your gadgets.


What You Can Do Now That You Couldn’t Do Before


The new rules mean that anyone using an e-reader book, watching a film on a tablet or listening to music on a smartphone or mp3 player will now be allowed to continue these activities uninterrupted from gate to gate “with very limited exceptions.” These exceptions include placing electronic items, books and magazines in the seatback pocket during the actual takeoff and landing due to their physical hazards, and turning devices off during the landing process in rare instances of low-visibility.


The changes will give travelers anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes of additional time with their favorite devices during the departure phase of the flight, and another 10 to 20 minutes on the descent and landing, making it extremely popular with business travelers and the younger demographic alike, according to Henry H. Harteveldt, travel industry analyst at Hudson Crossing, LLC.


What You Still Can’t Do


“You can continue watching the last episode of 'Breaking Bad' if you’ve already downloaded it, or you can finish writing the last chapter of your novel or edit your Power Point presentation,” Harteveldt said. “It’s good for business productivity, but what you will not be able to do is use the Internet. So from the standpoint of the passenger, it’s a partial victory.”


The use of Internet below 10,000 feet is covered by a separate FAA regulation that was not part of the current review. Thus, sending and receiving emails, playing interactive online games or using Wi-Fi are all still prohibited activities, as is making a phone call.


Harteveldt said there was absolutely no desire to change rules on voice calls, which are restricted by the Federal Communications Commission and send out signals strong enough to be received at great distances. Travelers will still be required to switch their cell phones to airplane mode or have the cellular service disabled (i.e., no signal bars displayed), though the use of short-range Bluetooth accessories, like wireless keyboards, is permissible under the changes.


Heavier items like laptops will need to be stowed under seats or in overhead bins during takeoff and landing, just like all other large items that can shift around and pose a safety hazard to other passengers.


How Soon Will The Rules Change?


FAA wants it to be very clear that nothing will change immediately. It has been quick to point out that current rules remain in effect until each airline completes its safety assessment, gets FAA approval and changes its policies.


The federal agency said that differences among fleets and operations would mean the implementation will vary among airlines. Nevertheless, it expects many carriers will be able to prove that their planes allow passengers to safely use devices in airplane mode, gate-to-gate, by the end of the year.


FAA released a tool this week that will help airlines assess the risks of potential device-induced avionics problems for their airplanes and specific operations. The airlines, however, will need some time to revaluate avionics and make necessary changes to stowage rules, passenger announcements and safety videos. They will also need to revise manuals and checklists for crewmember training materials.


Each airline will individually determine how and when it will allow passengers broader use of personal electronics. Industry trade organization Airlines for America assured Thursday that its members would “work with the FAA to ensure expanded customer use of electronic devices is implemented safely and expeditiously.”


Which Airlines Will Be First To Change?


The stage is now set for U.S. airlines to battle to become the first with policies in place to offer gate-to-gate use of handheld devices. According to Harteveldt, it’s a competition that could offer a short-term advantage in the market. “Their travelers would be allowed to use their devices [during takeoff and landing], while others would still have to put them away.”


Delta Air Lines claims it has already tested its entire fleet and was the first to submit a plan to the FAA. "The Delta team is committed to always working to make flying better, and thanks to their efforts our customers are the first to be able to use their devices throughout their entire flight," Joanne Smith, senior vice president of in-flight service at Delta, said in a statement issued Thursday.


JetBlue representatives issued a similar announcement a few hours later. “We intend to be the first commercial airline in the United States to allow gate-to-gate use of personal electronic devices,” said Robin Hayes, JetBlue chief commercial officer. “To support that goal, we began the certification process with the FAA today."


Other U.S. carriers indicated Thursday that they would implement new policies by as early as Thanksgiving and as late as the year’s end, pending FAA approval.


Who You Should Thank For The Policy Change


Several politicians called for an immediate review of FAA’s “outdated” policies on personal electronic devices, but perhaps none were louder than Sen. Claire McCaskill, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. McCaskill, who penned four letters on the matter and issued numerous calls to action, called Thursday’s announcement “great news for the traveling public” and “a win for common sense.”


“I held the FAA’s feet to the fire to move quickly and responsibly and it has now delivered,” McCaskill said. “I expect the airlines, as key partner stakeholders who helped produce the recommendations to relax current restrictions, to move quickly so that Americans flying for the holidays no longer face restrictions that make no sense.”


The committee members responsible for recommending the changes included a lead engineer at The Boeing Company, a vice president at Amazon.com, a vice president at the Consumer Electronics Association, a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency and various representatives from U.S. and international airlines.


What FAA’s Eased Portable Electronic Device Rules Mean For Passengers

Halloween Cocaine Pumpkins: Woman Arrested At Montreal-Trudeau Airport For Carrying Three Drug-Filled Pumpkins getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Halloween Cocaine Pumpkins: Woman Arrested At Montreal-Trudeau Airport For Carrying Three Drug-Filled Pumpkins

A woman traveling through Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport was arrested on Halloween morning after agents with the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) found nearly two kilograms (four pounds) of cocaine hidden inside three pumpkins she was carrying.




CBSA made the discovery while they were searching the luggage of a woman who had just flown into Montreal. "The pumpkins seemed heavy, so we decided to run them through an X-ray machine and the drugs were found in bags inside the pumpkins," CBSA spokeswoman Jacqueline Roby told Agence France-Passe.


According to the Vancouver Sun, the drugs and the passenger were handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for further investigation.


Roby declined to say how old the woman was or where she was traveling from, the Vancouver Sun reported. “As for the street value, it all depends on how the cocaine is cut and sold, so I cannot give you that either,” she added.


“Border services officers work tirelessly to intercept narcotics regardless how they are hidden”, Benoît Chiquette, the CBSA's Regional Director General for the Quebec Region, said in a statement on CBSA’s website. “This seizure helps eradicate narcotics from our community by stopping potential traffickers from using our international airports for their illicit cross-border activities.”


According to the CBSA website, border officers at Montreal-Trudeau Airport have made 173 drug busts since the beginning of 2013, including 10 cocaine seizures totaling 44 kilograms (97 pounds). In 2012, border officers in Quebec made 1,653 drug busts, the CBSA confirmed.



Halloween Cocaine Pumpkins: Woman Arrested At Montreal-Trudeau Airport For Carrying Three Drug-Filled Pumpkins

Where Is The Model S Most Popular? Atherton, California, Were 15% Of New Car Registrations Were Tesla Electric Sedans This Year getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Where Is The Model S Most Popular? Atherton, California, Were 15% Of New Car Registrations Were Tesla Electric Sedans This Year

The Tesla Model S is not just the first all-electric vehicle to top 200 miles in range, it’s also a popular toy among America’s West Coast elite.




An analysis of new U.S. car registrations from auto data provider Polk by the automotive pricing and information provider Edmunds.com reveals that the Model S is currently the best-selling car in eight of the 25 wealthiest American ZIP codes. Leading the pack is Atherton, Calif., which sits adjacent to the Palo Alto headquarters of Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and has a median home price topping $6.6 million.


According to the data, 15.4 percent of all new car registrations in Atherton in the first eight months of the year were Teslas, while in nearby Los Altos and Portola Valley they accounted for more than 10 percent.


The data not only shows that high-income Californians are digging the new wheels, which debuted in June 2012. Edmunds says the data suggest the company has a product that could appeal to a broader range of consumers.


“It’s a classic pattern for any retail product, including cars: the wealthy and influential buyers set a trend, and the mainstream aspires to follow,” says Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com senior analyst. “As Tesla increases the number of models and improves its price points, it could find itself in demand by more than just those in these wealthy enclaves. After all, luxury car companies typically find the most volume in their entry-level vehicles.”


Tesla has a long way to go for that, even in the low-volume, high-margin luxury car segment. Outside of California, only Water Mill, N.Y., has the Model S share of new car registrations above 1 percent. The pattern seems to be playing out globally, too, where Norway, a country with a small, affluent population, is where the Model S was the No. 1 selling model in September.


Electric cars have never really taken off, historically speaking, and the No. 1 selling EV in history is Nissan’s Leaf, which has found a small niche among customers willing to trade the Leaf’s meager 80 miles of range for zero-emission, lower cost driving. Tesla says it will release a sub-$40,000 EV, possibly called the Model E (the working title is “Gen 3”), in four years.


To do that might require the company to sacrifice range, unless it can figure out how to cram more juice into a smaller battery pack that it would probably use for a compact. Until then, it will have to rely on wealthy, environmentally conscious futurists to generate growth.



Where Is The Model S Most Popular? Atherton, California, Were 15% Of New Car Registrations Were Tesla Electric Sedans This Year

Arsenal - Liverpool: Early Prediction And Preview For Saturday's Premier League Match getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Arsenal - Liverpool: Early Prediction And Preview For Saturday's Premier League Match

Things do not get much easier for Arsenal as they look to recover from back-to-back home defeats with the visit of high-flying Liverpool on Saturday. Arsenal remain top of the Premier League, but will be overtaken by third placed Liverpool should their losing run continue at the Emirates.




Losses to Borussia Dortmund last week and Chelsea on Tuesday were very different, both in nature and scale, but had similar causes at their root. In both cases, Arsenal’s lack of strength in depth was exposed. There was, of course, a much-changed lineup fielded in the Capital One Cup, but Chelsea rotated even more and yet their quality remained higher. Much has been made of the lack of an alternative to Olivier Giroud after the lackluster performance of Nicklas Bendtner, but the more immediate concern will be the lack of depth in midfield.


While Arsenal have an abundance of creative, ball-playing midfielders, there is a distinct absence of players who excel without the ball. Predictably a two-man central midfield of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey was exposed defensively against Chelsea. To Wenger’s undoubted relief, Mikel Arteta will return from his one-match suspension to take on third-placed Liverpool. However, once more there will be no Mathieu Flamini, with the Frenchman ruled out with a groin injury.


It would be hard to overstate Flamini’s impact since his return this summer. Arsenal do not have another midfielder who relishes the combativeness of the game in quite the same way, and haven’t done since Flamini walked out for Milan five years ago. His disciplined work is not only crucial unto itself in breaking up opposition attacks, but also inspires his teammates to work similarly hard without the ball. The drop in work rate has been noticeable from Arsenal whenever Flamini has been off the pitch in recent matches.


Ironically Flanini’s absence coincides with the possible return of the player on Liverpool’s books perhaps most capable of taking advantage of it -- Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian has been out for six weeks with a shoulder injury, but Brendan Rodgers confirmed that he’ll return in some capacity at the Emirates.


If he does indeed start then there will be the thrilling prospect of Coutinho linking up for the first time this season with the current best forward partnership in the Premier League, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.


Coutinho carried the creative burden for Liverpool in the opening weeks of the season, despite operating from the left flank. With Rodgers having since switched to a 3-5-2 formation, it is his natural No. 10 role, until recently occupied by Victor Moses, that will surely be earmarked for the former Internazionale man.


It only remains to be seen whether Rodgers believes that not only does Coutinho have the match fitness required to start, but that his involvement wouldn’t leave his side too open at the home of the league leaders. Against West Brom last week Moses was left out, with the more defensively capable Jordan Henderson selected alongside Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva.


But it may well pay for Liverpool to be bold. The central defensive partnership of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have been excellent this season, but they will be far more exposed without Flamini and just the far-less athletic and combative Mikel Arteta offering protection. It could be a long day for the duo with Suarez and Sturridge, and possibly Coutinho, running at them.


With that in mind, Arsenal may struggle to get back to winning ways at the Emirates and may instead be forced to settle for a point that will keep things intriguingly poised at the Premier League summit.


Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool


Follow Jason Le Miere on Twitter



Arsenal - Liverpool: Early Prediction And Preview For Saturday's Premier League Match

Stop-And-Frisk Changes Blocked By Appeals Court, Judge Removed From Case getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Stop-And-Frisk Changes Blocked By Appeals Court, Judge Removed From Case

A federal appeals court blocked a judge’s order that would have drastically changed the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program. The judge has also been removed from the case.




In August, Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that New York City had violated the Constitution with the implementation of its stop-and-frisk by unfairly targeting young black and Hispanic males.


The city quickly filed suit against Scheindlin’s ruling and on Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Scheindlin’s decision would be stayed and Scheindlin removed from the case, ABC New York reports.


The court claimed that Scheindlin must be removed from the case because she violated the necessity for a judge to appear impartial on a case by appearing in a series of media interviews speaking against stop-and-frisk.


Scheindlin’s original ruling called for changes in the way NYPD officers targeted suspects to be stopped and frisked, including further changes in training, supervision and official policies. The ruling called for a supervisor to ease the NYPD into the transition and for a pilot program where officers would wear cameras to record their activities in areas with high levels of stop-and-frisk stops. None of these changes will go into effect until the city’s appeal against the ruling is complete.


The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program has been widely criticized by civil rights groups.


Over the past decade, stop-and-frisk searches have jumped by close to 600 percent in New York City. In 2011, 92 percent of those stopped were males, and 87 percent of the individuals stopped were either black or Hispanic. Eighty-eight percent of such stops resulted in the police releasing the person in question without an arrest or ticket.



Stop-And-Frisk Changes Blocked By Appeals Court, Judge Removed From Case

Aaron Hernandez News: Current NFL Player Asked To Testify, Former Patriots Star Could Face Gun Trafficking Charges getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Aaron Hernandez News: Current NFL Player Asked To Testify, Former Patriots Star Could Face Gun Trafficking Charges

Aaron Hernandez has been in jail for four months as he faces murder chargers for the death of Odin Lloyd. Now, the grand jury that indicted the former NFL star is investigating him for gun trafficking.




According to CNN, Hernandez is suspected of being involved in the illegal transportation of weapons across state lines. The report states that authorities found an assault rifle in a car in Massachusetts that is connected to the investigation.


As the grand jury looks into Hernandez’s potential involvement in gun trafficking, one of the ex-tight end’s college teammates has been hit with a subpoena. Miami Dolphins center Mike Pouncey was served on Sunday after the team’s game in New England, according to Sports Illustrated. Pouncey was met by Massachusetts State Police as he headed towards the team bus.


Pouncey isn’t expected to face any charges in the case, but to just speak with the grand jury. He is good friends with Hernandez, who he played with at the University of Florida. Pouncey and his brother Maurkice, who plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, were photographed wearing hats that read “Free Hernandez” in July.


The Dolphins have refused to comment on the situation, as have the Steelers. On Sunday, Pittsburgh will be in New England to play the Patriots.


While Pouncey may not face chargers, several associates of Hernandez have been indicted in relation to the murder of Lloyd. Hernandez’s fiancée has been charged with perjury, and his cousin has pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt and being an accessory to murder after the fact. Hernandez’s friends Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz have been charged with being accessories to murder, after they were allegedly with Hernandez on the night that Lloyd died.


Hernandez was hit with five weapons charges when he was initially indicted. They stem from the bullets police found when raiding the ex-football player’s home.



Aaron Hernandez News: Current NFL Player Asked To Testify, Former Patriots Star Could Face Gun Trafficking Charges

Arsenal Injury News: Return Status For Podolski, Walcott, Flamini, Sanogo And Others Ahead Of Liverpool And Borussia Dortmund Matches getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Arsenal Injury News: Return Status For Podolski, Walcott, Flamini, Sanogo And Others Ahead Of Liverpool And Borussia Dortmund Matches

After being eliminated from the Capital One Cup by Chelsea, Arsenal turn their attention back to the Premier League on Saturday for a home clash against Liverpool that has top-of-the-table implications.




Arsene Wenger is still without some notable first-team players, and their status for the next three games has drawn particular interest considering the Gunners also face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League next week before heading to Old Trafford to take on rivals Manchester United.


Mathieu Flamini may struggle to make either of those fixtures after being ruled out for between two and three weeks with a groin injury suffered against Crystal Palace last weekend. There are three players, though, who return to fitness in time to take on United. Lukas Podolski (hamstring), Theo Walcott (abdominal) and Yaya Sanogo (back) are expected to return in the next two weeks.


Podolski, who was injured in the home leg of August’s Champions League playoff against Fenerbahce, posted a picture at Arsenal’s London Colney training complex this week.


“I’ve been waiting for this moment -- back on the pitch,” the German forward tweeted.


Serge Gnabry, who missed the defeat to Chelsea with an ankle problem, is expected to be available against Liverpool, though will almost certainly start form the bench. The teenage attacking midfielder recently signed a new contract and drew praise from experienced playmaker Tomas Rosicky.


“He is a good dribbler and can take on you on in the one-on one-situations,” Rosicky told Arsenal’s official website. “That can be his strong point in the future and for an 18-year-old he is doing very well. I think he has a manager here who will develop him and who has a history of developing young players. Nothing better could happen to him than being offered a new contract here.


“He is a very talented boy; 18 years old and he still has plenty of things to learn and he will find no better place to learn than here. I think it works very well for both sides that he stays here. He's got a great environment for his growth and the potential and talent is there, so let's see how he will develop.”


A return date for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain remains uncertain after a knee injury suffered in the opening match of the Premier League season. He is expected back sometime next month.


The prognosis for Abou Diaby is far less promising. After a cruciate ligament injury suffered in March, the French midfielder has suffered a setback in his recovery


"He had a little key hole surgery again, on the knee because his knee blew up every time he did something so it is now six months after the cruciate, Wenger said, according to the Daily Mirror. “He could not even jog yet so with new surgery it is a setback for him so competitive football cannot be played before March."


The Champions League match at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday will be a pivotal for Arsenal after falling to defeat to last year’s finalists at the Emirates last week. There is now a three-way tie in Group F, with Arsenal, Dortmund, and Napoli each on six points. Napoli next take on pointless Marseille.



Arsenal Injury News: Return Status For Podolski, Walcott, Flamini, Sanogo And Others Ahead Of Liverpool And Borussia Dortmund Matches

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: Katz’s Deli Where Meg Ryan ‘Faked It’ Celebrates 125th Anniversary [VIDEO] getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® “I’ll Have What She’s Having”: Katz’s Deli Where Meg Ryan ‘Faked It’ Celebrates 125th Anniversary [VIDEO]

The Empire State, The Statue of Liberty and Katz’s Deli- All icons of New York City and if you have travelled to the city that never sleeps, it’s more than likely you passed or went into the famous deli in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.




Known for its towering pastrami sandwiches and that famous scene in ‘When Harry Met Sally’ Katz’s Deli has become arguably the most famous Deli in the country. Locals, celebrities and even politicians cannot get enough of this deli built on the foundation of history and family.


Katz’s Deli first opened its doors in 1888 and now is run by 5th generation owner Jake Dell who tells IBTimesTV he still eats at the Deli ‘2-3 times a day’. But he wasn’t always going to follow in his great grandfathers footsteps. He was studying medicine, before he realized that working in the family business was his true calling.


We wanted to find out, after 125 years what the recipe for success is?


Walking into the busy deli you are automatically intoxicated with all the different smells of meat, pickles, and aromas. Locals and tourists rub shoulders on the busy tables while busy chefs create their famed towering sandwiches in a matter of moments with spot on precision.


The walls are covered with the famous faces that ate there, people like Jimmy Carter, Liam Hemsworth and Johnny Depp.


If you have been to NYC more than likely you have been to Katz’s Deli, but the burning question remains why do people keep going back? Jake Dell told us it’s the feeling you get when you walk in, and take it from me that pastrami sandwich is something you will never forget eating, that is if you can finish it.



“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: Katz’s Deli Where Meg Ryan ‘Faked It’ Celebrates 125th Anniversary [VIDEO]

Halloween Science: Tricks, Treats, And Spooks, Fact-Checked getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Halloween Science: Tricks, Treats, And Spooks, Fact-Checked

As you don your costume and ready the candy bowl for tonight, you might be wondering just how much truth there is behind some of the spookiest Halloween traditions. While many ghouls and ghastlies belong to the realm of myth, there are still some scary stories that have a grain of truth to them.




Can You Die Of Fright?


Short answer: yes. Shock and stress can flood your system with adrenaline and stop your heart – it’s sometimes called “stress cardiomyopathy syndrome.” When your sympathetic nervous system lights up and kicks your metabolism into high gear, it increases your heart rate, breathing rate, and makes you sweat more. Some doctors suspect that the fright-induced adrenaline rush affects small blood vessels leading to the heart, and also seems to have the potential to stun your heart muscle. Younger people probably won’t drop dead from a good scare, though; dying of fright seems to be much more likely in older, post-menopausal women with lower levels of the hormone estrogen, which protects the heart.


Fear and superstition can also make people with heart problems more likely to die at certain times of the year. A 2001 paper in the British Medical Journal found that Japanese-Americans and Chinese-Americans are more likely to die from heart problems on the fourth of the month; in Japanese and Chinese culture, the number four is associated with death. When researchers looked at a population of white Americans over the same time period, they found no such mortality peak around the fourth. The scientists dubbed this fourth-day mortality peak the “Baskerville effect,” after the character in the Sherlock Holmes novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” who frightens himself to death with visions of a demonic dog.


Can Your Hair Turn White From Fear?


Short answer: not exactly, but kind of. The hair that comes out of your head is dead tissue, so it can’t actually change color. A massive fright won’t turn you frosty all over. However, there is an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata where a person’s pigmented hairs will fall out, and only leave gray or white hairs behind. And stress could trigger an attack.


“It’s conceivable for a person who has a tendency for alopecia areata to go through a stressful experience which makes it flair up and the first thing that happens is their dark hair falls out,” dermatologist David Orentreich told NBC News in 2009. “And that can happen quickly – in days or weeks – leaving just the gray hair.”


Do Vampire Bats Want To Suck My Blood?


We’d love to assure you that there’s no chance of getting bitten by a vampire bat, but there have been numerous reports of the critters sinking their teeth into people, particularly in Peru. Take heart in the knowledge that they’re much more likely to go for some tasty cow blood, though. Researchers think vampire bats may be more likely to snack on humans as their rainforest habitat is cut down.


Thankfully, there’s little chance of a vampire bat sucking you dry – a typical bat will drink only around an ounce of blood in a meal, while the average person has about 160 ounces of blood in the body. The greater danger is from rabies – while only a small fraction of bats carry the deadly virus, it can jump from bat to human. In 2010, Peru’s health ministry sent workers out to vaccinate more than 500 people bitten by vampire bats following the deaths of at least four children in an indigenous Amazonian tribe.


However, there may actually be a silver lining to vampire bat bites: some people in the Amazon that have encountered the little bloodsuckers are developing natural antibodies to the rabies virus.


Do Creeps Actually Poison Halloween Candy?


Most of the stories about creepy people poisoning Halloween candies are urban legends, but there have been a few scattered cases of tainted treats. The most gruesome poisoners, however, aren’t shadowy strangers, but family members. On Halloween night of 1974, Texas man Ronald Clark O’Bryan killed his own eight-year-old son with cyanide-laced Pixy Stix in order to collect on a life insurance policy. O’Bryan was executed by the state in March of 1984.


Why Is It So Hard For People To Shoot Zombie Family Members?


There’s always some scene in zombie movies where a gun-toting hero hesitates to kill a newly zombified friend or family member – sometimes with fatal consequences. Why doesn’t our sense of self-preservation kick in, especially when our loved one is obviously rotting away and/or itching to chomp on our brains?


As psychologist Melanie Tannenbaum explains in a blog post at Scientific American, humans are primed to anthropomorphize things. Studies show we are remarkably quick to attribute human-like qualities to robots, so just imagine how hard it is to de-anthropomorphize a family member – even one that’s starting to turn a little ripe.


“If you think now that it would be difficult to axe someone you once loved in the brain before they eat you alive, think about how much more difficult it would be if you were living in an unpredictable environment (as a post-apocalyptic world, almost by definition, must be) and therefore even more likely to ascribe human-like, thinking, feeling capacities to your now-undead friends and relatives,” Tannenbaum wrote.


If Ghosts Exist, How Many Are There?


If there really are spectral shades haunting the mortal plane, we probably wouldn’t be able to move without bumping into them. If we assume, for the moment, that everyone who dies becomes a ghost, then all we need to know is the total number of dead humans that have piled up throughout the ages. The Population Reference Bureau estimates that about 107.6 billion people have walked the Earth by the year 2011, at which time there were nearly 7 billion people alive on the planet. So, assume a ghost population of roughly 100 billion souls.


If we spread out the 100 billion ghosts equally distant from each other across the entire surface of the Earth, there would be about 507 ghosts per square mile – roughly the population density of the Netherlands. But suppose the ghosts don’t like haunting the ocean. If they just stick to the land – surface area of about 57 million square miles – then there would be 1,754 ghosts per square mile, making the spook population almost as dense as Taiwan’s. If ghosts prefer to stick to habitable land (24.6 million square miles), there would be about 4,065 ghosts per square mile, almost exactly the same kind of population density you’d find in San Diego, Calif.



Halloween Science: Tricks, Treats, And Spooks, Fact-Checked

Google (GOOG), Oracle (ORCL) And Red Hat (RHT), A Tech Cavalry Of Sorts, Rides To The Aid Of Disgraced US Government Healthcare Site getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Google (GOOG), Oracle (ORCL) And Red Hat (RHT), A Tech Cavalry Of Sorts, Rides To The Aid Of Disgraced US Government Healthcare Site

The U.S. government has enlisted the help of three major American software firms, Google Inc. (NSADAQ:GOOG), Ret Hat Inc. (NYSE:RHT) and Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL), to help it repair the roughly 500 million lines of computer code that has vexed the website in facilitating signups for government-mandated health insurance.




Several news outlets reported the development on Thursday afternoon.


According to USA Today, quoting Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ""As part of the 'Tech Surge,' we've added key personnel from the government and private sector, including expert engineers and technology managers. These dozens of people are strengthening and reinforcing the team we have working 24/7 to address the problems around HealthCare.gov."



Google (GOOG), Oracle (ORCL) And Red Hat (RHT), A Tech Cavalry Of Sorts, Rides To The Aid Of Disgraced US Government Healthcare Site

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Release Date Arrives: Sprint Galaxy Nexus Next To Update In 10 To 21 Day Roll Out, Direct Download Available getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Release Date Arrives: Sprint Galaxy Nexus Next To Update In 10 To 21 Day Roll Out, Direct Download Available

The Galaxy Nexus is a dinosaur among smartphones at two years on the market; which makes it a surprise that it appears to still be maintaining an update cycle. Sprint announced Thursday that the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system is now rolling out onto handsets in an OTA update.




According to the mobile network, Galaxy Nexus receive the update within the next 10 to 21 days. The software version GJ04 appears to simply update the Sprint Galaxy Nexus to Android 4.3, as there are no details of significant updates in the changelog. Other minor improvements include TRIM support, always-on Wi-Fi location, support for new languages, improved typing, and dialer auto-complete.


Carrier branded Galaxy Nexus models have long run Android 4.2, which proved to be extremely buggy, and has not received any optimization updates. Users will likely hope to see various bugs addressed in Android 4.3. Unlike carrier models, Google’s pure Android model of the Galaxy Nexus has been running Android 4.3 for three months now.


As the Sprint Galaxy Nexus updates to Android 4.3, many now wonder what will become of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Previous reports have indicated that an update for the Verizon model Galaxy Nexus is currently uncertain. This is a frustration for many owners, whom have had the same Android 4.3 bug issues as owners of the Sprint Galaxy Nexus.


Sprint uses can head over to the network’s community page for more information, and can check for the update manually by accessing Settings > About phone> Software update menu.


While users have the option of waiting for Android 4.3 to roll onto their handset, there is also a direct download available for those savvy users who want to attempt to install the update on their own.


Download Sprint Galaxy Nexus Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update here.


Sprint also updated its Samsung Galaxy S4 just one day prior, on Wednesday. The Galaxy Nexus was notably also produced by Samsung, but tends to not bear the Samsung name like other devices developed by the Korean manufacturer.


Are you glad to see the Sprint Galaxy Nexus update to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean? Let us know in the comments below.


Follow me on Twitter @FionnaatIBT.



Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Release Date Arrives: Sprint Galaxy Nexus Next To Update In 10 To 21 Day Roll Out, Direct Download Available

VIDEO World Series 2013: Drunk Boston Red Sox Fans Drop F-Bomb During Celebration, Plus Car Tipping And Vandalism getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® VIDEO World Series 2013: Drunk Boston Red Sox Fans Drop F-Bomb During Celebration, Plus Car Tipping And Vandalism

The Boston Red Sox clinched the 2013 World Series on Wednesday night with a Game Six victory over the St, Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park. After the team celebrated on the field, thousands of fans took to the streets to revel in championship.




Unsurprisingly, some fans took the celebration too far. As people filled the streets of Boston, moving vehicles were forced to become a part of the festivities. Videos posted online show fans jumping on top of cars, not allowing them to move. Other parked cars were damaged and overturned. The conduct of the fans led to several arrests.


“Total of 9 people arrested for unruly behavior #GoHome #CelebrateResponsibly,” tweeted the official Twitter account of the Boston Police Department at 1:38 a.m. ET.


Television news crews ventured out to interview fans who were rejoicing over the win. That turned out to be a mistake for Channel 7 in Boston, who interviewed a fan that dropped an F-bomb on live TV.



VIDEO World Series 2013: Drunk Boston Red Sox Fans Drop F-Bomb During Celebration, Plus Car Tipping And Vandalism

Who Is Bobby Metzinger? Cardinals Fan Arrested After Tweeting World Series Bomb Threats, References To Boston Marathon Bombing [PHOTO] getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Who Is Bobby Metzinger? Cardinals Fan Arrested After Tweeting World Series Bomb Threats, References To Boston Marathon Bombing [PHOTO]

A St. Louis Cardinals fan was arrested Friday after he insinuated, police say, that he would bomb the World Series to keep the Boston Red Sox from defeating his favorite team.




Bobby Metzinger, a 31-year-old St. Louis resident, tweeted bomb threats and references to the Boston Marathon bombing using a now-deleted Twitter account, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. In the posts, Metzinger referenced the same type of bomb used in the attack that killed three people and injured hundreds more in April.


On Saturday, Metzinger was charged with making a terroristic threat, the Post-Dispatch reports. He was initially held on $10,000 bond, but was released from jail Monday.


He has deleted his Twitter account, but another account, “@BestFansStLouis,” managed to capture the tweets before they could be taken down. “The [World Series] will be another finish line not crossed by [Boston],” Metzinger reportedly tweeted. “Putting my loft up for a ridiculous 'Boston-only' rate for the [World Series]. Pressure cooker sold separately.”


Pressure cooker bombs were used at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15.


St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson doesn’t believe Metzinger actually intended to follow through on his bomb threats, but decided to take the necessary precautions. In an interview with the Post-Dispatch, he compared the Twitter threats to someone walking onto a plane and making terroristic statements.


“I wasn’t going to take any chances with the safety of the fans and Major League Baseball,” Dotson told the paper. “We follow through on threats like this all the time, but certainly everyone’s attention is heightened because of the World Series."


But Metzinger’s threats weren’t limited to a potential bombing; he also reportedly tweeted a reference to a song by Offspring, a rock band, which discusses gun violence, Deadspin reports. “Listening to Offspring’s 'Bad Habit' and the lyrics just ring true of what will go down very soon,” Metzinger reportedly tweeted. The post reportedly prompted several people to report him to the police.


While details on Metzinger’s life are scant, Deadspin managed to dig up a few pieces of information, as well as a source that’s personally acquainted with the man. He reportedly graduated from St. Louis University, works in marketing, and held a job as a social media manager until a recent firing, the source told Deadspin. Metzinger is also a former Bleacher Report writer.



Who Is Bobby Metzinger? Cardinals Fan Arrested After Tweeting World Series Bomb Threats, References To Boston Marathon Bombing [PHOTO]

NFL Week 9 Picks Against The Spread: Predictions And Updated Las Vegas Odds For Every Game ATS getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® NFL Week 9 Picks Against The Spread: Predictions And Updated Las Vegas Odds For Every Game ATS

Some of the NFL’s best teams are scheduled for a bye week, leaving what is expected to be a very competitive slate of games. More than half of the point spreads have been set at three points or less.




Last week was an impressive showing for the favorites, who covered nine of the 13 contests. The Giants were the only underdog to win outright. Below are picks against the spread for every game in Week Nine.


Cincinnati Bengals (-3) at Miami Dolphins


The Bengals might be the hottest team in football, and the Dolphins have lost four straight. Playing at Sun Life Stadium shouldn’t make much a difference for Miami, who has one of the worst home-field advantages in the NFL.


Prediction ATS: Cincinnati


Atlanta Falcons (+7.5) at Carolina Panthers


Matt Ryan and the Atlanta offense has struggled without Julio Jones and Roddy White, but the quarterback’s four interceptions last week were an aberration. Their loss to the Cardinals was their first that came by more than one score. The Falcons should be able to keep it close in this NFC South matchup.


Prediction ATS: Atlanta


Minnesota Vikings (+10.5) at Dallas Cowboys


Whether Josh Freeman or Christian Ponder starts at quarterback, it shouldn’t make much of a difference. The Cowboys have an explosive offense, and Minnesota won’t be able to keep up one with one of the league’s worst signal callers under center.


Prediction ATS: Dallas


New Orleans Saints (-6) at New York Jets


Geno Smith has looked very much like a rookie in the past three games, throwing one touchdown and five interceptions. In order for the Jets to remain competitive, they’ll have to force Drew Brees and company to turn the ball over a few times. However, the Saints have the least amount of giveaways in the NFL.


Prediction ATS: New Orleans


Tennessee Titans (-3) at St. Louis Rams


Both teams have a hard time scoring, so it should be a close game. Kellen Clemens might only have to make a few plays to give the Rams a chance to win.


Prediction ATS: St. Louis


Kansas City Chiefs (-3) at Buffalo Bills


The Chiefs have shown no signs of slowing down. The betting line isn’t that big because Kansas City is on the road, but it hasn’t mattered much where they play their games.


Prediction ATS: Kansas City


San Diego Chargers (-1) at Washington Redskins


Phillip Rivers has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks this season, failing to have a game with less than an 86.4 passer rating. It might be difficult to find a worse secondary than the Redskins, and Rivers could have another big day.


Prediction ATS: San Diego


Philadelphia Eagles (+2.5) at Oakland Raiders


The Raiders have been undervalued all season long, going 5-2 against the spread. The Eagles have scored 10 total points in their last two games, and Nick Foles could have trouble against an Oakland defense that has played surprisingly well.


Prediction ATS: Oakland


Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+16.5) at Seattle Seahawks


It’s one of the biggest lines this season, but heavy favorites have done well in 2013. In Week Eight, four of five double-digit favorites covered the spread. Tampa Bay seems to bet getting worse every week, and they’ll likely fall victim to the home dominance of the Seahawks.


Prediction ATS: Seattle


Baltimore Ravens (-2.5) at Cleveland Browns


The Ravens haven’t lost to the Browns since 2007 and all of those wins have come by at least six points. With Cleveland entering the game on a three-game losing streak, Sunday should be no different.


Prediction ATS: Baltimore


Pittsburgh Steelers (+6.5) at New England Patriots


The Steelers have a below-average offense, but the Patriots rank just 17th in points per game. New England has struggled against the league’s better defenses, and Pittsburgh could have a chance to pull off the upset. Their inability to score, though, will make it tough for them to win outright.


Prediction ATS: Pittsburgh


Indianapolis Colts (-2.5) at Houston Texans


The Texans have shot themselves in the foot week after week with turnovers, making them 1-6 against the spread for the season. The health of running backs Arian Foster and Ben Tate is in question, which will limit an offense that is led by an inexperienced quarterback.


Prediction ATS: Indianapolis


Chicago Bears (+10.5) at Green Bay Packers


The Packers only losses have come on the road to the 49ers and Bengals, who are a combined 13-3. With Aaron Rodgers going head-to-head with Josh McCown, Green Bay should get their third straight double-digit win.


Prediction ATS; Green Bay



NFL Week 9 Picks Against The Spread: Predictions And Updated Las Vegas Odds For Every Game ATS

Rob Ford Crack: Alleged Video Of Toronto Mayor Hitting The Pipe Sparked Police Investigation Into Drug Use getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Rob Ford Crack: Alleged Video Of Toronto Mayor Hitting The Pipe Sparked Police Investigation Into Drug Use

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is the target of an investigation into his alleged drug use, nearly six months after an alleged video of Ford smoking crack surfaced.




Toronto Police told the Toronto Star that the video, which had been viewed by Star staffers and Gawker employees but not obtained, has been recovered.


“The video files depict images that are consistent with what has previously been reported,” Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said a at a Thursday news conference. “It's safe to say the mayor does appear in the video.”


Ford was combative with reporters camped outside his residence Thursday morning. A video on the Star website shows the Toronto mayor screaming at reporters and photographers to get off his driveway.


At a news conference shortly after the crack smoking allegations surfaced in May, Ford said he does not use crack cocaine, but did not clarify whether he previously smoked the illegal drug.


Authorities said it was the crack video that spurred their investigation into Ford’s alleged drug use, according to the CBC.


Toronto police said Ford was meeting with drug dealer Alexandro “Sandro” Lisi and that Lisi used counter-surveillance measures, including meeting in a forest, to derail the investigation, the Star reported.



Rob Ford Crack: Alleged Video Of Toronto Mayor Hitting The Pipe Sparked Police Investigation Into Drug Use

NSA Officals Told To Use 9/11 As A Talking Point To Justify Spying getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® NSA Officals Told To Use 9/11 As A Talking Point To Justify Spying

The National Security Agency advised employees to use the September 11, 2001 attacks as a talking point when justifying the agency’s controversial surveillance techniques.




According to a master list of NSA talking points obtained by Al Jazeera, the NSA cited 9/11 as the top talking point to use when defending its widespread surveillance programs. The intelligence agency specifically suggested the phrase, “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.”


Obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, the 27-page document makes several more references to 9/11. Later, the document suggests claiming that “after 9/11 it was determined that the intelligence community failed to connect the dots,” before suggesting that programs such as the recently revealed PRISM and MUSCULAR are all part of an effort to “connect the dots.”


The talking points also repeatedly emphasize that the NSA’s intelligence-gathering attempts are all legal, often underlining the word “legal” for emphasis.


As Al Jazeera notes, NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander used remarkably similar talking points when defending the NSA’s surveillance programs this summer.


"I would much rather be here today debating this point than trying to explain how we failed to prevent another 9/11," Alexander told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee at a hearing on June 18.


"In recent years these programs, together with other intelligence, have protected the U.S. and our allies from terrorist threats across the globe to include helping prevent ... potential terrorist events over 50 times since 9/11," he continued.


When asked by Al Jazeera to comment on these talking points, NSA media representative Vanee M. Vines also stuck to the official script, telling the news outlet that “it is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked.”



NSA Officals Told To Use 9/11 As A Talking Point To Justify Spying

Overdue Library Book Arrest: Jory Enck Arrested In Copperas Cove For Not Returning G.E.D. Study Guide getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Overdue Library Book Arrest: Jory Enck Arrested In Copperas Cove For Not Returning G.E.D. Study Guide

This is one for the books: a Texas man who checked a book out of his local library in 2010 and failed to return it was arrested and jailed on Wednesday.




According to KWTX-TV, 19-year-old Jory Enck of Copperas Cove, Texas was put behind bars over an unreturned a G.E.D. study guide. His booking is a result of a local ordinance the city put in place nearly four years ago that allows police to arrest patrons for not returning overdue library materials after at least 90 days and failing to promptly respond to phone calls or e-mails from the library.


“The reason they passed it was that they were spending a tremendous amount of money replacing these materials that people just didn’t return,” Copperas Cove Municipal court Judge Bill Price said. Price said that the ordinance has faced more than a little resistance, saying local reaction has been one of, "Universal hatred, nobody wants to get arrested over a library book.”


“The other side of that is people that go to our library and can't have these materials, they're put out too," he added.


Sergeant Julie Lehmann of the Copperas Cove Police Department confirmed that if police come across a patron during a routine stop who has been issued with a library warrant, they will always make an arrest.


Enck was later released on a $200 bond, which Price said is standard.


According to the Killeen Daily Herald, Enck was also arrested in 2012 for a much more serious crime. The publication reported at the time that Enck, then 18, was a suspect in a string of 13 vehicle burglaries that took place overnight. Enck was jailed on $50,000 bond.


However, Enck is apparently not the first, or youngest person to run into trouble from the law for an overdue library book. Last year, Infowars reported that police officers visited 4-year-old library delinquent Katelyn Jageman after she amassed $81.60 in overdue library fees for failing to promptly return items including “Dora the Explorer: The Halloween Cat,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Corduroy’s Halloween.”



Overdue Library Book Arrest: Jory Enck Arrested In Copperas Cove For Not Returning G.E.D. Study Guide

Jacqueline Badger Mars: Billionaire Mars Inc. Co-Owner Faces Trial For Accident That Killed Irene Ellisor In Virginia getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Jacqueline Badger Mars: Billionaire Mars Inc. Co-Owner Faces Trial For Accident That Killed Irene Ellisor In Virginia

Jacqueline Badger Mars, the billionaire part owner of candy company Mars Inc., is scheduled to go on trial next week on charges connected to a fatal crash that killed an 86-year-old woman in Virginia.




Mars, 74, faces a charge of reckless driving after her 2004 Porsche SUV crossed into another lane Oct. 4 and struck a minivan in Aldie, Va., the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office told Reuters. The accident killed 86-year-old Irene Ellisor, who was in the backseat of the minivan and was not wearing her seatbelt.


Mars has a net worth of $23.3 billion, making her the 27th-richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg. She owns one-third of Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms, Snickers, Milky Way and other candy. Her trial is scheduled to start Tuesday.


“As court proceedings begin, Jackie’s thoughts and prayers remain with those who have suffered injury and loss,” her spokesperson, Kent Jarrell, told the Washington Post. “She regrets this tragic accident.”


Mars was hit with a summons on Tuesday. Her court appearance in Loudon County General District Court is for a hearing, the Post reported.


Other people in the minivan that Mars struck were seriously injured in the accident. The occupants were in Virginia for a wedding. Ellisor was a resident of Huntsville, Tex.



Jacqueline Badger Mars: Billionaire Mars Inc. Co-Owner Faces Trial For Accident That Killed Irene Ellisor In Virginia

Gold Smuggling On The Rise In India As Authorities Up Tariffs getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Gold Smuggling On The Rise In India As Authorities Up Tariffs

Indian authorities are fighting an explosion in gold smuggling as higher import tariffs and rising demand have created shortages ahead of the traditional Hindu wedding season, when gold consumption traditionally reaches its highest point.




Growing demand for gold has put the the country -- which is the world’s largest importer of the precious metal -- in an economic bind.


The solution: convince citizens to stop buying so much gold and instead invest their capital elsewhere. Economists believe Indians’ obsession with the haven asset has stifled economic growth in the country, according to the Financial Times.


“If I have one wish which the people of India can fulfill, it is don’t buy gold,” Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in June.


As the country increased duties on gold and jewelry, imports continued to rise, pushing the country’s current account gap to record levels and leaving it vulnerable to capital flight.


In August, the tariff increases caused the gold import market in India to collapse, creating severe shortages of gold in the legitimate market. So smugglers swiftly stepped in to fill the void.


“It comes from Dubai, from Singapore, from Bangladesh, Bhaskar Bhat, managing director of Indian jeweller Titan, told the Financial Times.


But convincing the public won't be easy. Gold’s role as an arbiter of social status is deeply ingrained within India’s society.


“In our community they will definitely ask you for gold...otherwise they won’t marry,” a domestic worker from Kerala told the Financial Times.



Gold Smuggling On The Rise In India As Authorities Up Tariffs

Jonathan Martin AWOL? Dolphins OT Suffers 'Emotional Breakdown,' Leaves Team After Prank, Seeks Treatment At Hospital: Report getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Jonathan Martin AWOL? Dolphins OT Suffers 'Emotional Breakdown,' Leaves Team After Prank, Seeks Treatment At Hospital: Report

Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jonathan Martin has reportedly gone 'AWOL' from the team after being targeted by a prank.




A group of Dolphins players pretended that they didn’t want to sit with Martin in the team cafeteria, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reports. Martin, a second-year player out of Stanford University, reportedly “flipped out, smashed a food tray on the ground, took off, and they haven’t seen him since.”


“[Dolphins] O-line made fun of him and he snapped,” a source reportedly told ESPN. The 24-year-old left the team facility and has “gone AWOL from the team the last couple days,” Glazer reports. The Fox Sports reporter also revealed that a report that Martin got into an argument with Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman is erroneous.


The Dolphins’ are taking Martin’s temper tantrum seriously. The team listed Martin as doubtful for Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals with an undisclosed “illness,” Pro Football Talk reports. However, NFL Media’s Jeff Darlington reported that Martin is seeking treatment for an “emotional breakdown.”


After his violent reaction to the prank, Martin reportedly checked himself into a hospital to retrieve treatment for his undisclosed ailment, NFL.com reports. The second-year player has since left the hospital, and is now spending time with his family.


The Dolphins selected Martin in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. The two-time college All-American started off the season as Miami’s starting left tackle, but moved to the right side earlier this month when the team acquired Bryant McKinnie from the Ravens. Backup lineman Tyson Clabo is expected to start at right tackle during Martin’s absence.



Jonathan Martin AWOL? Dolphins OT Suffers 'Emotional Breakdown,' Leaves Team After Prank, Seeks Treatment At Hospital: Report

Alaa Al Aswany: The Grey Lady’s Troubling New Columnist getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Alaa Al Aswany: The Grey Lady’s Troubling New Columnist

The New York Times didn’t know or didn’t care that one of its new high-profile “contributing opinion writers” has long displayed a relentless hostility to Israel and startling conspiracy theories about “Zionist” power.




The revelations about the best-selling Egyptian novelist and activist Alaa Al Aswany, as highlighted in news reports of recent days, raise the perennial question of whether any newspaper should give space to someone – no matter his or her professional achievements – who promotes bigoted or irrational views.


The revelations raise a disturbing question as well: whether public figures can promote views about Israel and Zionism that they could never promote about another people or cause and still maintain their good name.


That, at this writing, Aswany retains his perch at the Times – the newspaper hasn’t felt compelled to part ways with its new literary rock star – says something profoundly troubling about both its, and our, collective tolerance for public ugliness.


Let’s give Aswany his due. His 2002 novel, "The Yacoubian Building," has sold over a million copies around the globe and was the Arab world’s best-selling novel for more than five years, the Times boasts in its biographical sketch, adding that “[h]is work has been translated into more than 30 languages, and published in more than 100 countries.” He’s also received many international awards.


Aswany’s a leading political figure as well, and he helped fuel the demonstrations that led to Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in early 2011.


So far, so good.


But, as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Eric Trager wrote in The New Republic, Aswany also has said on Egyptian TV that a “massive Zionist organization rules America,” which explains why “Obama is not able to go against Israel’s desires.” In addition, Aswany repeatedly argued over the last year that “the United States supports the Muslim Brotherhood to reassure Israel.”


Aswany’s on Twitter, and his tweets are revealing. After Egypt’s military overthrew Mohamed Morsi, the Brotherhood-affiliated president, Aswany tweeted, “Obama is worried because Israel is worried.” After Sen. John McCain prodded Egypt’s military and the Brotherhood to negotiate, Aswany tweeted, “The Zionist John McCain, one of the biggest defenders of Israel, threatens Egypt if it does not release “[Brotherhood leader Khairat Al-] Shater immediately. The only explanation is that Brotherhood rule is in the interest of Israel.”


After reading such rants, you can’t help but ponder the same question that Trager aired: By what theory of regional politics is the Brotherhood’s rule in Egypt a good thing for the Jewish state on its border?


The Brotherhood, which seeks religious rule to replace secular governance, has never disavowed its original motto: “Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law, Jihad is our way; and dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” Its officials publicly incite genocide against Jews, and a 2011 Brotherhood rally in Egypt included calls to “one day kill all the Jews.”


Aswany, Trager tells us, has two answers to the seeming contradiction:


First, he tweeted, “Zionist support for the Brotherhood prevents Hamas [the Brotherhood’s terrorist offshoot that rules Gaza] from attacking Israel.” That’s nonsense, of course, as Hamas continually repeats its genocidal hopes for the Jewish state and launches rockets into Israel whenever opportunities arise.


Second, Aswany argues, Israel seeks a weak Egypt so it can dominate the region and the Brotherhood’s weak performance leaves Egypt “underdeveloped and subordinate.” That’s nonsense, too, for the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, which truly strengthened Israel’s regional position, was far more secure under Mubarak than it was under Morsi.


Moreover, Aswany’s fixation on all things Israel predates Egypt’s current political turmoil.


In 2010, he refused to let the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information publish "The Yacoubian Building," which by then was in 19 languages, in Hebrew, The Washington Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman reported. Later, he threatened to give any royalties from a Hebrew translation to Hamas. When the organization translated it anyway and made it available for download for a limited time, Aswany said he’d complain to the International Publishers Association.


Of Aswany’s new perch at the Times, the Hudson Institute’s Research Fellow, Samuel Tadros, told Goodman: “It’s quite problematic because [the column] gives him a place where he can spread more of his lunacies,” said Tadros. “There’s always the argument of ‘Who cares, the guy believes [some] crazy stuff, so what?’ But it’s that crazy stuff that then gets spread among the Western journalists, among Western readership.”


Did the Times know about Aswany’s ugly views beforehand? Does it care now?


Lawrence J. Haas, former communications director for Vice President Al Gore, is a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and author of “Sound the Trumpet: The United States and Human Rights Promotion.” Follow him on Twitter @larryhaasonline.



Alaa Al Aswany: The Grey Lady’s Troubling New Columnist

People's Bank Of China Opens Loan-Backed Security Pilot Program To Foreign Banks getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® People's Bank Of China Opens Loan-Backed Security Pilot Program To Foreign Banks

Regulators in China have broadened a pilot plan that allows banks to bundle loans into tradable securities, opening access to foreign banks, Reuters reported Tuesday.




Policymakers see expanding access to credit-based assets as a means of shielding China’s banking system from risk as loan defaults increase in frequency. Meanwhile investors, tired of the tepid stock market, need a new investment opportunity.


The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, first launched a pilot program to market packages of loans into bond-like securities called collateralized loan obligations (CLO) in 2005. Since then, about 90 billion yuan ($14.77 billion) worth of CLO products have been issued in China’s interbank market.


The program is open to all of the 42 foreign banks with locally incorporated branches in China, which includes HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC), Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.L) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C).


Foreign banks controlled a paltry 1.9 percent of banking assets in China, according to PriceWaterhouseCooper, which means they have only a small pool of loans available to create the new securities.



People's Bank Of China Opens Loan-Backed Security Pilot Program To Foreign Banks

World’s Most Powerful People: Vladimir Putin Beats Barack Obama To Top The List In Forbes’ 2013 Ranking [SLIDESHOW] getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® World’s Most Powerful People: Vladimir Putin Beats Barack Obama To Top The List In Forbes’ 2013 Ranking [SLIDESHOW]

Forbes, on Wednesday, released its fifth annual ranking of “The World’s Most Powerful People,” and it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who topped the chart this year from among 72 power players all over the world.




Putin, who continues to strengthen his hold over Russia and has recently been asserting his diplomatic skills on the international stage -- most notably during the Syrian crisis -- claimed the No. 1 spot and pushed U.S. President Barack Obama to second position. This is the first year that Putin is ranked first while Obama has been at the top of the list every year, except in 2010, when Hu Jintao, China's former political and military leader, claimed the top spot.


“Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president — latest example: the government shutdown mess,” Caroline Howard of Forbes wrote in a report. “Anyone watching this year’s chess match over Syria and NSA leaks has a clear idea of the shifting individual power dynamics.”


Obama was followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to round out the top five entries.


The other five among the top ten included Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Co-chair Bill Gates, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Wal-Mart ((NYSE:WMT) CEO Michael Duke.


While UK Prime Minister David Cameron was pushed out of the top 10 this year to the No. 11 spot, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos moved up the list to No. 15 from being No. 27 on last year's list. Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook also jumped up the list to No. 19 from No. 35 last year.


Forbes said, citing The World Bank Group, that 26 people on this year’s list are billionaires, with their combined net worth adding up to $564.1 billion, which is more than Sweden's GDP.


Here are some more interesting facts about the 2013 ranking:


- China and India have four entries each.


- Nine out of the 72 people are women, more than ever before.


- Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 29 (No. 24) and North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, 30 (No. 46) are the youngest people on the list.


According to Forbes, four factors were considered while selecting the 72 most powerful people from the more than 7 billion people on the planet, and they were:


"How many people they have power over; the financial resources they control; if they have influence in more than one sphere; and, how actively they wield their power to change the world.”


For the complete list of the 72 most powerful people of 2013, click here.



World’s Most Powerful People: Vladimir Putin Beats Barack Obama To Top The List In Forbes’ 2013 Ranking [SLIDESHOW]

Rjukan, Norway, Sees Winter Sun For First Time Thanks To Mountain Mirrors getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Rjukan, Norway, Sees Winter Sun For First Time Thanks To Mountain Mirrors

It’s an idea that began 100 years ago, but didn’t come to fruition until this Wednesday when, for the first time ever, the small town of Rjukan, Norway, saw the winter sun.




Tucked in a deep valley under the perpetual shadow of Gaustatoppen Mountain, the town of just over 3,000 residents doesn’t get a single ray of direct sunlight from September to March. To compensate, residents must take a cable car to the top of an adjacent mountain in order to get their fix of Vitamin D.


The problem of Rjukan’s sun-starved winter months wasn’t lost on Norsk Hydro founder Sam Eyde, who developed the industrial town in 1902 to provide a base for those working at a power plant at the foot of the nearby Rjukanfossen waterfall. Eyde announced bold plans to harness the sun in 1913, but the technology to make his “Solspeil” never materialized.


Another decade passed before Eyde cooked up a more practical plan: a gondola to bring the villagers to the sun. Now, with the help of the company he founded, technology has finally caught up with Eyde’s imagination in the form of massive mirrors that bring the sun down to the villagers.


“It is a historically strong point that Hydro is now entering this project as its main sponsor, 100 years after Hydro founder Eyde first seized on the idea,” Steinar Bergsland, mayor of the Tinn municipality, which includes Rjukan, said in a statement. “Rjukan was built on new technology, and it is new technology that is now the basis for the sun mirror.”


Bergsland said he hoped that the mirrors would become a popular tourist attraction and draw new visitors to the town, which is better known as a staging post in Hitler’s quest for the atomic bomb during German occupation. Twelve Norwegian saboteurs parachuted into the nearby tundra and destroyed Norsk Hydro’s “heavy water” plant, hampering the German nuclear energy project and becoming some of Norway’s most legendary war heroes in the process.


Rjukan is currently a candidate for UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage list, and could join the likes of the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Giza as soon as 2015, thanks to its combination of hydroelectric power, history and unique architecture.


As for Rjukan’s most recent historical milestone, local resident and artist Martin Andersen is credited with reviving Eyde’s idea for sun mirrors after the Italian village of Viganella successfully installed its own reflectors in 2006. In order to push forward with the 5m Norwegian krone ($851,000) plan, however, Andersen had to convince the town that it was a sound investment. There was initial resistance over the use of public money, but local residents agreed on a combination of private sponsorship and public investment to once-and-for-all bring the 100-year plan to life.


Helicopters flew in three 17-square-meter (183-square-foot) solar- and wind-powered mirrors, or heliostats, and placed them on a mountain roughly 450 meters (1,475 feet) above the center of town. Engineers based in Germany can now control the mirrors -- which were activated this week -- by computer, tilting them to follow the course of the sun across the horizon to bring light into Rjukan’s main square.


More than 1,000 people gathered in the town center Wednesday for the unveiling ceremony, according to local reports. Many donned sunglasses, sipped cocktails, sat in loungers and played beach volleyball on a makeshift court as mirrors reflected the first rays to hit the town center.


Footage of the event showed only a faint light in town, but the effect, residents said, was a noticeable one. The dim rays also bounced off a statue of Sam Eyde himself, offering a ray of vindication for a man with a vision ahead of his time.



Rjukan, Norway, Sees Winter Sun For First Time Thanks To Mountain Mirrors

Syrian Chemical Weapons Cache Destroyed, OPCW Says, Adding It's 'Satisfied' With Inspection Process getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® Syrian Chemical Weapons Cache Destroyed, OPCW Says, Adding It's 'Satisfied' With Inspection Process

Syria’s declared chemical weapons stockpile, including equipment for producing, mixing and filling chemical weapons, has been completely destroyed, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, said on Thursday, according to news reports.




The weapons were destroyed as mandated by a legally binding resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council in September, prohibiting the Syrian government and other Syrian groups from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling, or transferring chemical weapons. The Hague-based OPCW had set Nov. 1 as the deadline for Syria to destroy its chemical weapons.


“The Joint OPCW-UN Mission has inspected 21 of the 23 sites declared by Syria, and 39 of the 41 facilities located at those sites. The two remaining sites were not visited due to safety and security concerns. But Syria declared those sites as abandoned and that the chemical weapons program items they contained were moved to other declared sites, which were inspected,” the OPCW said in a statement, adding that the mission was “satisfied” with the process.


Syria submitted a formal declaration on Oct. 24, providing details for its plans to completely destroy its weapons and production facilities, in a way that could be verified by the OPCW.


The Security Council resolution was the result of a worldwide call for action against chemicals weapons use in Syria, and after weeks of speculation that the U.S. may launch a punitive military strike against Damascus to punish the regime for its alleged attacks on the city's civilians.


According to Washington and its allies, more than 1,400 people were killed in a nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb on Aug. 21, but both the Syrian government and the opposition denied responsibility, and accused each other of perpetrating the attack.



Syrian Chemical Weapons Cache Destroyed, OPCW Says, Adding It's 'Satisfied' With Inspection Process

GfK German Consumer Confidence Forecast For November Falls; Rising Employment, Income, Demand Expected To Save Country From Recession In 2013 getdiscountz.blogspot.com

getdiscountz.blogspot.com ® GfK German Consumer Confidence Forecast For November Falls; Rising Employment, Income, Demand Expected To Save Country From Recession In 2013

A forecast on Germany’s consumer confidence for November experienced a drop, missing expectations, but GfK, which released the data on Thursday, said that despite the slight decline, private spending in Germany is projected to increase by 1 percent in the whole of 2013, as previously estimated.




The overall consumer confidence forecast for November dropped to a value of 7 from 7.1 in October. In comparison, analysts had expected the GfK forecast indicator to rise to 7.2 in November.


“The domestic economy will make a decisive contribution to preventing Germany from slipping into recession this year,” GfK said in a statement. “Increasing employment levels and subsequent rising income are above all responsible for private consumption being and remaining an essential pillar for the economy.”


In October, consumer confidence experienced little change, as economic expectations improved slightly, while income expectations and willingness to shop dropped marginally, GfK said.


Economic expectations gained 0.6 points in October, pushing the indicator up to a reading of 11.3, while income expectations dropped by 1 point pulling the indicator down to a 32.7 reading. An indicator on willingness to buy fell by 0.6 points in October and is currently at a 44.4 reading.


Meanwhile, German retail sales in September declined 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, as expected, compared to a decline of 0.2 percent in August, data from the Federal Statistical Office released on Thursday showed.


On a yearly basis, retail sales increased 0.2 percent, widely missing expectations of an improvement of 1 percent and down from a 0.4 percent annual increase witnessed in August.



GfK German Consumer Confidence Forecast For November Falls; Rising Employment, Income, Demand Expected To Save Country From Recession In 2013