Thursday, February 28, 2013

Brian Boyle: A Message of Appreciation to Healthcare Providers

My lifesaving medical team at Prince George's Hospital Center


When you are a patient in the hospital, I personally find that teamwork allows progress to take place. Everyone is in it together and within the healthcare atmosphere the people around you become a new kind of support system, or even in a lot of ways, a new family that understands the pain and frustration you feel. This new family is not traced back through genetics, but rather through life experience.

I know that healthcare providers share their experiences with their patients, coworkers, faculty and staff, and also with their administration. They care for these people that they meet and work with on a daily basis. And with each day, through a smile or a handshake, a bond forms that develops into friendship, which then leads to a sense of teamwork and ultimately to a sense of accomplishment when various goals are achieved.

When you are in this atmosphere as a patient, you are depending on others to help you and assist you. To share in your triumphs and tragedies, to understand your background and beliefs, and to support you through various degrees of sickness and in health.

The power that healthcare providers have is extraordinary. On a daily basis they are not only caring for the health of their patients, but they are also creating reasons to smile, making living conditions suitable and pleasant, and forming connections with their patients who not only need them, but depend on them.

At a very young age I found out what it really means to depend on others. At the age of 18, I wasn't living the normal life of a high school graduate, instead I was pretty much reborn. I had to re-learn how to blink, move my fingers, talk, eat, tie my shoes, shower, and do everything in my own strength to live independently again, at least somewhat close to the way things used to be with a lot of help from those around me.

Within each person, whether said or not, the challenge remains an internal battle, conducted within our own private self, both for the patient and equally for the healthcare provider as well. Victory is measured in the smallest achievable increments, like blinking, or moving a finger, but most importantly, victory is being achieved no matter how big or small the achievement through the work that healthcare providers do.

I know that I'm not a doctor, nurse, physical therapist, or work in hospital administration. But my perspective is based on being a former intensive care patient and also a healthcare advocate. I have traveled the country and visited and spoke to dozens of medical groups, healthcare organizations, and state hospital associations. My knowledge is based on personal experience and I know that working in the field of healthcare can be a challenge sometimes because there are goals that have to be reached, and things that have to be financially managed and accounted for.

But when all is said and done, the impact that is being made is not just affecting numbers, it's affecting people. And these people have backgrounds, they have families, and they have lives. That body on the hospital bed is a person, and it's so important to remember this when the numbers and financial goals are being discussed in the media. Healthcare providers do not get the credit they truly deserve because what they are doing is saving these people, saving hopes for the future, saving families, and saving communities. And that is the result of their hard work, their expertise, and their dedication to what they do.

As a former patient who has been transferred throughout the many divisions of the healthcare system, I would like to say thank you to all healthcare providers for all that they do. When you work in the field of health care you are responsible for either bringing people back to life or making them comfortable for the rest of their life. Yes some days are better than others, but everyday is a great day when you help others in need, especially when they depend on you to not only live, but to enjoy life too.

And, with this gift of life that I have been given, I have made it my goal to take my medical background and help others, and do my very best to make a positive impact by working with patient safety and quality of care. And with the support that I have received over the years, I have been inspired to also become a healthcare professional. I am currently studying in the Certificate of Public Health program at Johns Hopkins University, and will be applying to the Master's in Public Health program later this year. I believe that this is the ultimate form of gratitude that I can show to the men and women who helped me during my recovery, and to those who have chosen to help bring aid and comfort to others as well in the healthcare system.

This is a message of appreciation to healthcare providers, and in whichever part of the hospital that you work in, thank you for choosing this path in life, and for all that you do on a daily basis for your patients and their families.

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Follow Brian Boyle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@brianjboyle

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-boyle/a-message-of-appreciation_b_2774420.html

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How to Earn More Profits with an Online Business? - flexus solutions



Six months back, I was looking for a website development company in NCR for my coaching institute. Nowadays a lot of good institutes are offering Online Coaching for student who wants to learn different subjects sitting at their homes. I carried out a comprehensive hunt on internet and also had a talk about it with my family and friends. After carrying out an extensive research work, I finally chose Flexus Solutions a recognized website development company that offers outstanding Web and E-commerce Solutions to the businesses located in India and in all the major states of USA like California, Chicago, Florida, and New York.

Flexus Solutions proved it to me that they are the best website development company with more than 5 years of technical and functional expertise into professional website development, Internet marketing, and E-commerce development. It was an incredible experience to work with the finest team of website professionals at Flexus Solutions.?

The best part of Flexus Solutions is that they are not just limited to web design; custom web development, graphic design but they have got unbelievable Ecommerce and Internet Marketing (SEO/SEM) packages. The Flexus Solutions professional are not restricted to some basic website development projects; they have successfully developed more than 150 outstanding websites for almost all the Industries like landed property, pharmaceutical, manufacturing units and lots of others. I am really satisfied with the products and services they have provided me throughout and after my ?Online coaching? school website project.

With this piece of note I would like to wish Flexus Solutions all the very best for their upcoming projects and thanks for providing me an amazing profit earning website.

Source: http://theflexussolutions.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-earn-more-profits-with-online.html

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Rosa Parks honored with statue at Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and congressional leaders unveiled a full-length statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks in the Capitol Wednesday, paying tribute to a figure whose name became synonymous with courage in the face of injustice.

Parks becomes the first black woman to be honored with a full-length statue in the Capitol's Statuary Hall. A bust of another black woman, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, sits in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Obama said that with the installation of the statue, Parks, who died in 2005, has taken her rightful place among those who have shaped the course of U.S. history. He said her presence in Capitol would serve to "remind us no matter how humble or lofty our positions, just what it is that leadership requires."

Obama and House Speaker John Boehner jointly led the unveiling, standing with the statue between them as they grasped and pulled in opposite directions on the braided cord that held the covering. Congressional leaders in the House and Senate joined Parks' niece in tugging on the cord.

"We do well by placing a statue of her here," Obama said, "but we can do no greater honor to her memory than to carry forward the power of her principle and a courage born of conviction."

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) applauds after the unveiling of the Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol in Washington February 27, 2013. (From L-R) are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House ... more? U.S. President Barack Obama (C) applauds after the unveiling of the Rosa Parks statue in the U.S. Capitol in Washington February 27, 2013. (From L-R) are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner and House minority leader Nancy Pelosi. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) less?

The statue portrays Parks seated, wearing a hat and clutching her trademark purse ? "a permanent reminder of the cause she embodied," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The several hundred lawmakers, family and congressional staff who gathered for the ceremony in the vaulted hall rose to their feet and whooped as Boehner opened the ceremony.

"Here in the hall, she casts an unlikely silhouette ? unassuming in a lineup of proud stares, challenging all of us once more to look up and to draw strength from stillness," said Boehner, R-Ohio.

Parks is famous for her 1955 refusal to give up her seat on a city bus in Alabama to a white man, but there's plenty about the rest of her experiences that she deliberately withheld from her family.

While Parks and her husband, Raymond, were childless, her brother, the late Sylvester McCauley, had 13 children. They decided Parks' nieces and nephews didn't need to know the horrible details surrounding her civil rights activism, said Rhea McCauley, Parks' niece.

"They didn't talk about the lynchings and the Jim Crow laws," said McCauley, 61, of Orlando, Fla. "They didn't talk about that stuff to us kids. Everyone wanted to forget about it and sweep it under the rug."

He said more than 50 of Parks' relatives traveled to Washington for the ceremony.

In a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in segregated Montgomery, Ala. She was arrested, touching off a bus boycott that stretched over a year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Parks had "moved the world when she refused to move her seat."

Jeanne Theoharis, author of the new biography "The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks," said Parks was very much a full-fledged civil rights activist, yet her contributions have not been treated like those of other movement leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Rosa Parks is typically honored as a woman of courage, but that honor focuses on the one act she made on the bus on Dec. 5, 1955," said Theoharis, a political science professor at Brooklyn College-City University of New York.

"That courage, that night was the product of decades of political work before that and continued ... decades after" in Detroit, she said.

Parks died Oct. 24, 2005, at age 92. The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor on Feb. 4, which would have been her 100th birthday.

Parks was raised by her mother and grandparents who taught her that part of being respected was to demand respect, said Theoharis, who spent six years researching and writing the Parks biography.

She was an educated woman who recalled seeing her grandfather sitting on the porch steps with a gun during the height of white violence against blacks in post-World War I Alabama.

After she married Raymond Parks, she joined him in his work in trying to help nine young black men, ages 12 to 19, who were accused of raping two white women in 1931. The nine were later convicted by an all-white jury in Scottsboro, Ala., part of a long legal odyssey for the so-called Scottsboro Boys.

In the 1940s, Parks joined the NAACP and was elected secretary of its Montgomery, Ala., branch, working with civil rights activist Edgar Nixon to fight barriers to voting for blacks and investigate sexual violence against women, Theoharis said.

Just five months before refusing to give up her seat, Parks attended Highlander Folk School, which trained community organizers on issues of poverty but had begun turning its attention to civil rights.

After the bus boycott, Parks and her husband lost their jobs and were threatened. They left for Detroit, where Parks was an activist against the war in Vietnam and worked on poverty, housing and racial justice issues, Theoharis said.

Theoharis said that while she considers the 9-foot-statue of Parks in the Capitol an "incredible honor" for Parks, "I worry about putting this history in the past when the actual Rosa Parks was working on and calling on us to continue to work on racial injustice."

Parks has been honored previously in Washington with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, both during the Clinton administration.

But McCauley said the Statuary Hall honor is different.

"The medal you could take it, put it on a mantel," McCauley said. "But her being in the hall itself is permanent and children will be able to tour the (Capitol) and look up and see my aunt's face."

___

Associated Press writer Mark S. Smith contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rosa-parks-statue-unveiled-capitol-165811836.html

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Barbara Walters To Return To 'The View' On Monday, March 4

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: Co-Anchor Barbara Walters -- Photo by: NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- GOLDA MEIR -- Pictured: (l-r) Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir during an interview with Barbara Walters on NBC News' 'Today' on September 30, 1969 -- Photo by: NBC/NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: Co-Anchor Barbara Walters -- Photo by: NBC NewsWire

  • Today

    TODAY -- 1969 -- Pictured: (l-r) Panelist Joe Garagiola, co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-Anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs, co-anchor Frank Blair (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- Pictured: The Kingsford Company Sponsorship Ceremony (l-r) Fessel, Siegfriedt & Moeller Inc. President Ed Fessel, FS&M Copy Chief Dave Evans, NBC News' Frank Blair, NBC News' Barbara Walters, NBC News' Hugh Downs, Kingsford President Owen Pyls, FS&M Executive Art Director Victor Verderstrasse (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Today

    TODAY -- PRINCE PHILIP -- Pictured: (l-r) Barbara Walters interviewing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on NBC News' 'Today' (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • THE TODAY SHOW

    THE TODAY SHOW -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs, (Photo by NBC NewsWire/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • The TODAY Show

    THE TODAY SHOW -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-anchor Barbara Walters, co-anchor Hugh Downs (Photo by NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

  • Tricia Nixon speaks with Barbara Walters

    380450 59: Tricia Nixon speaks with Barbara Walters before an interview April 28, 1972 at the White House. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)

  • TV Personality Barbara Walters

    UNDATED FILE PHOTO: TV Personality Barbara Walters. (Photo by Diane Freed)

  • Barbara Walters and Oscar de la Renta Arrive at White House

    N364974 05: Barbara Walters, left, and Oscar de la Renta arrive at the White House for a state dinner honoring King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain in Washington, D.C., February 23, 2000. (Photo by Michael Smith)

  • 2000 GQ Men of the Year Awards

    Barbara Walters at the 2000 GQ 'Men of the Year' Awards at the Beacon Theater in New York City, 10/26/00. The show airs on the FOX Network on December 9, 2000. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)

  • NBC 75th Anniversary

    Barbara Walters arrives for the NBC 75th Anniversary celebration taking place live in Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City, May 5, 2002. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect.

  • Daytime Emmy Party Hosted By Mayor Michael Bloomberg

    NEW YORK - MAY 15: (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER & U.S. TABS OUT) Barbara Walters arrives at a party hosted by mayor Michael Bloomberg to celebrate the 30th Annual Daytime Emmy Awrds May 15, 2003 at Gracie Mansion in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)

  • The Museum of Television & Radio Gala - Arrivals

    HOLLYWOOD - NOVEMBER 15: Journalist Barbara Walters arrives at the Museum of Television and Radio's gala tribute to Barbara Walters, held on November 15, 2004 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, in Beverly Hills, CA, California. (Photo by Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)

  • Oprah Winfrey Host The Legends Ball

    SANTA BARBARA, CA - MAY 14: Television reporter Barbara Walters attends Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball at the Bacara Resort and Spa on May 14, 2005 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

  • Alt 365+ Book Party

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: TV personality Barbara Walters attends the Alt 365+ book party during Olympus Fashion Week at Barney's September 12, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Donald Bowers/Getty Images)

  • Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment Breakfast - Arrivals

    BEVERLY HILLS, CA - DECEMBER 6: Television journalist Barbara Walters attends the 14th annual Hollywood Reporter Women In Entertainment Power 100 breakfast December 6, 2005 at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

  • NY: Columbia Pictures & St. Regis Screening Of ''Marie Antoinette''

    SOUTHAMPTON, NY - AUGUST 28: Barbara Walters arrives at the Columbia Pictures & St. Regis screening of ''Marie Antoinette'' August 28, 2006 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Steven Henry/Getty Images)

  • The New York Public Library Hosts Annual Library Lions Gala

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 13: Television journalist Barabra Walters poses with honoree Oprah Winfrey at The New York Public Library's Annual Library Lions Gala at The New York Public Library, November 13, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters Honored With A Star On The Walk Of Fame

    HOLLYWOOD - JUNE 14: Television Personality Barbara Walters poses as she is honored with the 2,340th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame June 14, 2007 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

  • Broadcasters Foundation Of America "Golden Mike" Fundraiser

    NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 25: Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks and President of the Disney Television Group Anne Sweeney (L) and television host Barbara Walters attend the Broadcasters Foundation Of America 'Golden Mike' Fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria February 25, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)

  • 125th Metropolitan Opera Opening Night

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Barbara Walters attends the 125th Metropolitan Opera opening night at Lincoln Center on September 22, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

  • Opening Night Of "Billy Elliot The Musical" - Arrivals & Curtain Call

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 13: Television personality Barbara Walters attends 'Billy Elliot The Musical' on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on November 13, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images)

  • Time's 100 Most Influential People In The World

    NEW YORK - MAY 05: American journalist Barbara Walters attends Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 5, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

  • InStyle Magazine Hosts Super Saturday 12 To Benefit Ovarian Cancer Research

    WATERMILL, NY - AUGUST 01: Barbara Walters, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Judith Giuliani attend Super Saturday 12 to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research Fund hosted by InStyle Magazine at Nova's Ark Project on August 1, 2009 in Watermill, New York. (Photo by Rick Odell/Getty Images)

  • TIME's 2009 Person of the Year

    NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 12: (L-R) Editor of O Magazine Gayle King, managing editor for Time Richard Stengel, TV personality Barbara Walters and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl attend the TIME's 2009 Person of the Year at the Time & Life Building on November 12, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Time Inc)

  • "Boardwalk Empire" New York Premiere - Arrivals

    NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 15: Journalist Barbara Walters attends the premiere of 'Boardwalk Empire' at the Ziegfeld Theatre on September 15, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

  • "Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark" Broadway Opening Night

    NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 14: Barbara Walters attends 'Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark' Broadway opening night at Foxwoods Theatre on June 14, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

  • Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell - Wedding Reception

    LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 09: Barbara Walters attends Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevells' wedding reception at Paul's house in St John's Wood on October 9, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Danny Martindale/Getty Images)

  • Glamour's 2011 Women Of The Year Awards - Inside

    NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 07: Barbara Walters attends Glamour's 2011 Women of the Year Awards on November 7, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Glamour Magazine)

  • "Evita" Opening Night New Star Cast

    NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 05: Barbara Walters attends the 'Evita' opening night new star cast at the Marquis Theatre on April 5, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters attends the Time 100 Gal

    Barbara Walters attends the Time 100 Gala celebrating the Time 100 issue of the Most Influential People In The World at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 24, 2012 in New York. AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A.CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

  • 2012 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner - Arrivals

    WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 28: Journalist Barbara Walters attends the 98th Annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

  • 2012 MoMA Party In The Garden Benefit - Arrivals

    NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Barbara Walters attends the 2012 Party in the Garden benefit at the Museum of Modern Art on May 22, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

  • Barbara Walters

    COMMERIAL IMAGE In this photograph taken by AP Images for The Hollywood Reporter Barbara Walters arrives at The Hollywood Reporter 35 Most Powerful People in Media event on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in New York. (Evan Agostini/AP Images for The Hollywood Reporter)

  • Barbara Walters poses for a photo on the red carpet for The Colleagues 23rd Annual Spring Luncheon on Tuesday April 17, 2012 in Los Angeles (AP Photo/Earl Gibson III)

  • Barbara Walters

    Barbara Walters arrives at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Saturday, April 28, 2012 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

  • New York City Ballet Celebrates Legendary Fashion Designer Valentino Garavani

    This Sept. 20, 2012 photo released by Starpix shows Barbara Walters at the New York City Ballet Fall Gala honoring Valentino Garavani at Lincoln Center in New York. Valentino, who created most of the vibrant costumes and dramatically upped the glamour quotient of the evening, attracting movie stars, supermodels and socialites galore. (AP Photo/Starpix, Amanda Schwab)

  • Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck

    President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama appear on the ABC Television show ?The View? in New York, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, From left are, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, the president, the first lady, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

  • BARBARA WALTERS

    This image released by American Broadcasting Companies shows Barbara Walters answering a phone to take donations for victims of Superstorm Sandy during "Good Morning America," Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 in New York. Walters made a contribution of $250,000 to the American Red Cross and GMA co-host George Stephanopoulos followed suit with a donation for $50,000. (AP Photo/American Broadcasting Companies, Lou Rocco)

  • Barbara Walters

    FILE - This June 23, 2012 file photo shows Barbara Walters presenting an award onstage at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Walters, who has been battling the Chicken Pox, will not return to her daytime talk show "The View," for three more weeks. She was hospitalized on Jan. 19 after fainting and cutting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

  • Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/barbara-walters-returns-to-view_n_2765655.html

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    Wednesday, February 27, 2013

    It was impossible to spot Libor rigging: UK watchdog

    LONDON (Reuters) - Regulators could not have spotted the "lowballing" of Libor interest rates during the financial crisis even if they had looked, Britain's Financial Services Authority said.

    The watchdog's chairman, Adair Turner, told a parliamentary commission on banking standards on Wednesday it was much easier to see abuses in share trading by using computers.

    Manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor) during the 2008 crisis, for which three banks - Barclays BARC.L, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS - have been fined so far was far harder to see, he said.

    "There was no information on the trader manipulation," Turner told the commission. Libor is used to price trillions of dollars of financial products from derivatives to mortgages.

    As markets went into meltdown following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 some banks put in low submissions for rates at which they could borrow from other banks to give an impression they were sound.

    The FSA's report into when and what it knew about Libor rigging will be published on Tuesday, March 5.

    It comes after questions from lawmakers as to why the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission began probing possible rigging of the London-based Libor before the FSA.

    Neither the FSA, the CFTC - two of the regulators that have fined the three banks - or other regulators had ways to see the trader manipulation, Turner said. "We could not have got at it by intensive supervision. You just cannot have a police force big enough to spot all these problems."

    While whistleblowing was one of the few ways to report illegal activity, Turner said trading room mentality was detached from the real economy as some traders see their job in front of a screen as being like playing a computer game, asking "Why shouldn't I cheat?".

    FSA managing director Martin Wheatley told lawmakers he was unconvinced about the need to start rewarding information with cash as U.S. regulators can do.

    NOT BROCCOLI

    Turner, whose job ends next month when the FSA is scrapped, also said the watchdog should have acted faster to deal with mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI).

    Commission member Andrew Turnbull said the compensation process was mayhem with banks facing a torrent of claims. The FSA should "get a grip" to bring closure as a rising bill was sucking capital from banks.

    "We are not where we want to be," Wheatley said.

    some 10 billion pounds has been paid out, a sum that is expected to go higher. PPI sales totaled 50 billion pounds.

    The FSA has been in talks with the British Bankers' Association on ideas for accelerating compensation and one or two banks and already had deadlines for claims, which they set three years ago, and have now passed. "The problem is one or two banks that have not done that," Wheatley said.

    Wheatley also said he had been surprised by comments this month from Eric Daniels, a former chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group , who said its PPI sales practices put it "on the side of the angels" and likened banks to supermarkets by selling some products as loss leaders.

    "I was quite aghast. They are not selling a piece of broccoli that goes off after a few days ... I find it quite extraordinary," Wheatley said.

    After the FSA is scrapped, Wheatley will head a new standalone Financial Conduct Authority, with the Bank of England responsible for ensuring banks hold enough capital and cash.

    (Editing by Dan Lalor)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/impossible-spot-libor-rigging-uk-watchdog-135842279--finance.html

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    Green Day Announce Club Dates, Eye Return To Arenas

    The band will play three intimate shows ahead of their return to big venues at the end of March.
    By James Montgomery


    Tr? Cool, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt of Green Day
    Photo: Getty Images

    Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702626/green-day-club-dates.jhtml

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    Catfight? Workplace conflicts between women get bad rap

    Feb. 25, 2013 ? A new study from the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business suggests troubling perceptions exist when it comes to women involved in disputes at work.

    "Our research shows that when it comes to workplace conflict, women get a bad rap," says PhD candidate Leah Sheppard, who conducted the study with Prof. Karl Aquino. "We show how the negative stereotyping around so-called 'catfights' carry over into work situations."

    The researchers asked experiment participants to assess one of three workplace conflict scenarios, all identical except for the names of the individuals involved: Adam and Steven, Adam and Sarah, or Sarah and Anna.

    The study, published in the current edition of the journal Academy of Management Perspectives, found that when the scenario depicted female-female conflict, participants perceived there to be more negative implications than the male-male or male-female conflicts.

    Participants judged the likelihood of two managers repairing a frayed relationship roughly 15 per cent lower when both managers were female, versus male-male and male-female. Participants rated those involved in all-female conflicts as also being more likely to let the argument negatively influence job satisfaction than male-female or male-male quarrellers.

    The study also found that female experiment participants were just as likely as males to see the all-female conflict as more negative.

    "This study suggests there's still a long way to go when it comes to the perception of women in the workplace," Sheppard says. "Hopefully, our findings will help to increase managers' awareness of this bias, so they don't let stereotypes guide their decisions on how they staff teams and leverage the full talent of female employees."

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    The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of British Columbia, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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    Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/B5SzNsruguU/130225092248.htm

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    Asus Fonepad: The 7-Inch Phone That You Never Ever Asked For

    This is Asus's Fonepad. Not to be confused with the Padfone. It's a ridiculously priced 1000 Euro 7-inch tablet that also makes calls. More »


    Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZzTyTb2JCm0/asus-fonepad-the-7+inch-phone-that-you-never-ever-asked-for

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    App.net adds free, invite-only limited account tier

    App.net adds free, invite-only limited account tier

    app.net (ADN) has just announced a new, free account tier. It's by invite only, so if you want in you'll have to hit up an existing, paid friend with an account. It's also limited, in that you can't engage with as many people or host as much data as a paid account. What it is is a way to sample one of the most interesting cloud services to date. Dalton Caldwell dropped the F-as-in-free-bomb on the ADN blog:

    As of today, App.net is a freemium service

    Although App.net has had only paid account tiers thus far, we initially conceived of App.net as a freemium service. It took some time to get to this point, but we are now ready to make this vision a reality.

    Here's what you get (and don't) with the free account:

    • Free accounts can follow a maximum of 40 users (unlimited for paid accounts)
    • Free accounts will have 500 MB of free file (10 GB for paid accounts)
    • Free accounts can upload a file with a maximum size of 10 MB (100 MB for paid accounts)

    This is what I like best about ADN. Their fearlessness in trying new, even sometimes outlandish-sounding things. From launching a paid micro-blogging service to adding a powerful messaging system to offering online storage, they're seeking not to mimic an existing business, but become something more -- a personal, one-stop cloud platform. That ambition really is audacious to say the least, but the future is willed into existence.

    I don't know what or how much difference the new free accounts will make, or if they've nailed the right balance for them, but I like that they're trying.

    And in an age of media and advertising owned social, I think it's not only important, but laudable that they are.

    Source: ADN blog



    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Hwx51KoMHUk/story01.htm

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    Tuesday, February 26, 2013

    Mitsubishi participates at Muscat Festival | General Automotive ...

    Commenting on the Muscat Festival campaign, Mark Tomlinson, General Manager of General Automotive Company, said, "With the huge number of residents arriving at the Muscat Festival everyday, it is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our range of models. Visitors can experience first-hand the superb on and off-road family comfort of the Pajero, the power the practical family nature of the Galant, the affordable Lancer or the attractive new Lancer Fortis."

    He added, "To celebrate the occasion of the Muscat Festival, we at General Automotive Company are proud to announce our special festival campaign which rewards customers with exclusive prices and offers everyone a chance to win exciting gifts with each test drive."

    As an exclusive promotion running alongside the Muscat Festival, these world-class automobiles are being made available at a price never before seen.

    The campaign not only includes this spectacular pricing but include free registration, free service for 2 years/30,000kms (whichever comes first), 6 years roadside assistance, 6 years/unlimited kilometer warranty and finance at a low rate of interest if required. Customers purchasing the Lancer and the Galant will also receive free insurance as a bonus.

    Additionally, those who test drive Mitsubishi vehicles from now until March 19 will be entered into a draw with a chance to win one of three attractive prizes - an iPhone 5, a third generation iPad or even a 32" LED TV.

    The Galant, Lancer, Pajero and the Lancer Fortis are available in Mitsubishi showrooms across the Sultanate and General Automotive Company invites customers to visit their local showroom to book a test drive and avail of this exciting offer. This offer is only valid while stocks last.

    Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/mitsubishi-participates-muscat-festival--331025

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    The Onion apologizes for offensive Quvenzhan? Wallis tweet

    Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images

    Best actress nominee 9-year-old Quvenzhan? Wallis is carrying a puppy purse, which she has shown off on a few red carpets.

    By Wilson Rothman

    Not all humor is for everyone (just read reviews of Seth MacFarlane's Oscar night hosting job), but some jokes cause everyone to agree that a line has been crossed. Such was the case Sunday night when, for nearly an hour, a tweet by the Onion applied the c-word to 9-year-old "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star?Quvenzhan? Wallis. On Monday, The Onion CEO?Steve Hannah apologized and promised disciplinary action for "those individuals responsible."

    Here's the bulk of Hannah's message, posted on Facebook and on the satire news site:

    On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhan? Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude and offensive ? not to mention inconsistent with The Onion?s commitment to parody and satire, however biting.

    No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire.

    The tweet was taken down within an hour of publication. We have instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again.

    In addition, we are taking immediate steps to discipline those individuals responsible.

    Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply sorry.

    It's key that Hannah says the attempted joke was "inconsistent with The Onion's commitment to parody and satire." This is a group that has deftly responded to the country's worst tragedies with humor that helps us cope, from 9/11 ("Hugging Up 76,000 Percent"; "U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're At War With") to the Sandy Hook massacre ("F*** Everything, Nation Reports ... Just F*** It All To Hell").

    While it wasn't the first time that The Onion's Twitter feed landed it in hot water, the crass, throwaway tweet about an amazing little actress didn't just seem in poor taste, but not very Onion-y at all.

    Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science?editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.

    ?

    Source: http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17088491-the-onion-apologizes-for-offensive-quvenzhan-wallis-tweet?lite

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    Monday, February 25, 2013

    Palm oil casualty? 14 pygmy elephants fall prey to pesticides in Borneo

    Malaysian wildlife officials say 14 dead pygmy elephants were found last month in Borneo, apparently poisoned by chemicals used by farmers on the country's massive palm-oil plantations.

    By Jason Motlagh,?Correspondent / February 11, 2013

    A Borneo pygmy elephant looks for food along the Kinabatangan river in Malaysia's state of Sabah on the Borneo island in this file photo.

    Bazuki Muhammad/REUTERS/File

    Enlarge

    A rare breed of elephant appears to be the latest casualty of the palm oil boom that is sweeping Malaysian Borneo, reigniting an already heated debate over the pros and cons of the world?s cheapest cooking oil.?

    Skip to next paragraph

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    Malaysian wildlife officials say 14 dead pygmy elephants were found last month in the wilds of Sabah Province, apparently poisoned by chemicals used by farmers to keep pests from eating the palm fruit grown on plantations that blanket vast swaths of the countryside.

    In once instance, a 3-month old baby elephant was photographed nuzzling its mother, who lay on the ground next to three other corpses. For activists, the image is emblematic of nature?s losing battle with man in and around the farms.

    Favored in developing countries for its versatility and long shelf life, palm oil is now found in more than half of processed foods in Western supermarkets, from cosmetics to Girl Scout cookies. Surging global demand has generated billions in profits for Indonesia and Malaysia, the world?s first- and second-largest producers, bringing prosperity to once poor corners.

    The boom is changing the complexion of Borneo, the resource-rich island they share that is one home to one of the oldest rainforests on earth. But environmental groups say the palm oil boom is driving the expansion of plantations deeper into hyper-diverse tracts of forest, accelerating global warming and forcing rare species like the?pygmy elephant and orangutan into deadly confrontations with humans.

    In a statement following the elephant report, Dionysius S.K. Sharma, executive director of World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia, said the ?central forest landscape in Sabah needs to be protected totally from conversions? and called for "frequent and large-scale patrolling" of forests to protect elephants. Yet he conceded this would be a "massive task" given the remoteness of the terrain and large areas involved.?

    The scale of the plantations is massive. Take a flight from Kota Kinabalu, the provincial capital, to Lahad Datu, also known as ?Palm City,? and permaculture reigns: Palm plantations sprawl for miles on end, occasionally pocked with the smokestacks of large processing facilities. The largest are owned by agribusiness giants like Sime Darby and Wilmar International, with clients that include top consumer goods companies Unilever and Nestle.

    Business booming

    Thanks in part to new US laws mandating the removal of oils rich in trans-fats, business has never been better.

    In 2011, the export of palm oil and palm-based products netted the Malaysian economy $27 billion, a fivefold increase over the past decade. With such profits at hand, the Malaysian government wants to double the area under cultivation by 2020.

    This is welcome news to longtime residents of Lahad Datu, the coastal?town that has been transformed in years from a crime-ridden backwater to an investment-friendly hub. Real estate prices are soaring, investors are pouring in and the streets are safer than ever, replete with fast-food franchises and shiny hotels. ??This place is opening up, finally,? says Arnan Angkut, at a bustling seaside teashop. ?We are doing much better than before because of palm oil.?

    But this kind of enthusiasm could spell long-term trouble for communities in the region and beyond.

    A joint study published in October by Stanford and Yale universities revealed that land-clearing operations for plantations in Borneo have emitted more than 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 alone, equal to annual emissions from about 28 million vehicles. Over the past two decades, about 6,200 sq. mi. of primary and logged forested land have been destroyed in Borneo.

    Orangutan populations reduced by half

    Activists say that palm oil deforestation and hunting have already combined to reduce Bornean orangutan populations to half the total of the 1980s. At this rate, some predict the iconic animal could be extinct within years.

    For its part, the pygmy elephant, a rare sub-species of the African elephant, is in even greater peril: WWF-Malaysia estimates there are about 1,200 left in the wild. And Malaysian wildlife authorities have said they expect to find more dead elephants as they comb the jungle.

    *Jason Motlagh reported this story on a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/ZfEOPB1FxNU/Palm-oil-casualty-14-pygmy-elephants-fall-prey-to-pesticides-in-Borneo

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    Can I get a little love here please. - InterNACHI Inspection Forum




    My new website went live on Thursday evening, I am asking that you please do me a favor, spend some time there reading and examining the site and give my some honest feedback.
    I will gladly read all the comments and suggestions.
    the site is tophomeinspection.com
    Looking forward to many of you visiting, spending some time there and giving me feedback.




    Ensuring Your Peace of Mind
    Serving all of Central Florida's Home and Insurance Inspection Needs.
    http://tophomeinspection.com

    Aubrey Kahn
    Florida License # 135
    Chairman of InterNACHI Nickels
    Board Member of Florida Home & Insurance Inspectors Chapter
    Local Expert on "The Home Improvement Show" on WFLA Orlando, 104.5fm Saturdays 9-11am

    Source: http://www.nachi.org/forum/f11/can-get-little-love-here-please-79339/

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    Sunday, February 24, 2013

    America`s Deplorable State of the Union

    by Stephen Lendman

    Obama's annual State of the Union addresses reflect beginning-to-end doublespeak duplicity. Empty rhetoric signals business as usual.

    Policy prioritizes corporate empowerment, rewarding rich elites, letting popular needs go begging, funding America's war machine, and cracking down hard on non-believers.

    Obama does what his supporters thought impossible. He governs to the right of George Bush. He's beholden to powerful monied interests. They own him. He's their man in Washington. Whatever they want they get.

    He mocks rule of law principles. He deplores democratic values. He prioritizes wrong over right. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars on humanity.

    He's waging social and economic ones domestically. He's creating unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, hunger and deprivation.

    Ahead of his address, White House blog contributor Macon Phillips called it "just the beginning." Citizen Response will be introduced.

    It lets listeners and viewers explain how they're "connected to (issues) and then share (what's on their mind) with friends."

    Q and A will follow. Theater will substitute for substance.

    Handpicked hundreds will "join a special #WHSocial in person, and 100 White House followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ representing more than 20 states" nationwide.

    They were "invited to watch the speech live from the White House and participate in a panel discussion."

    On February 14, Obama will initiate "Fireside Hangouts." They'll imitate Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats. He delivered dozens on radio from 1933 - 1944.

    Obama's no FDR. The difference between them is stark. Obamanomics substitutes for New Deal fairness. What Roosevelt created, Obama helps put asunder. He heads a bipartisan criminal cabal.

    He prioritizes the greatest wealth transfer in history. He's beholden to powerful monied interests. He's a jobs destroyer, not a creator.

    He deplores people needs. He believes whatever government does, business does better so let it. Reform on his watch is a four-letter word. Social justice is verboten.

    He enforces a repressive police state apparatus. Fundamental freedoms are eroding.

    He's heading the nation toward insolvency, tyranny and ruin. Roosevelt promised change and delivered. Obama prioritizes it solely for rich elites, Wall Street backers, war profiteers, and other corporate favorites.

    He pretends he cares. He's a con man. He calls for job creation while destroying them. Over 25 million working age Americans are unemployed. Tens of millions more are underemployed. Poor jobs substitute for decent ones.

    Wages don't keep up with inflation. Benefits are disappearing. Increasingly most Americans are on their own. The worst is yet to come.

    Progressive Radio News Hour regular Jack Rasmus says except for America's wealthiest 10%, median household spending lags badly.

    What's occurring transacts via credit cards, installment and student loans. Incomes are inadequate. Savings are fast depleting.

    "Consumer spending based on real income gains is just not happening for the middle class." Expect conditions to "seriously worsen," he warns.

    Higher taxes, soaring food prices, and gasoline expected to exceed $5 a gallon by spring will hit hard.

    Declining middle class income is hugely important. Inequality defines today's America. The wealthiest 1% gained enormously.

    Today's fundamental cause of dire economic conditions is "long-term and continuing growth of income inequality," says Rasmus. Unprecedented wealth disparity figures reflect it.

    Economist Joseph Stiglitz says America's top 1% gets around one-fourth of all annually generated income. In 1979, it was 8%. In 1928, it was 22%. It's more extreme now than ever.

    It "continues to grow worse at an accelerating rate," says Rasmus. From 1993 - 2000, America's wealthiest 1% got 45% of all income growth.

    From 2000 - 2008, it was 65%. In 2010, it was 93%. It comes from high pay, bonuses, capital gains, dividends, interest, rents, and other capital income forms.

    At the same time, corporate profits soared. In 2011, they exceeded pre-recession 2007 levels. They've been rising at the fastest rate in 31 years.

    Pre-tax, they doubled their 2008 recession low by March 2011. Achieving them involved more than increased sales. Job cuts, lower wages, fewer benefits, less working hours, other employee hardships, lower taxes, and faster depreciation rules produced them.

    In 2011, profits as a percent of operating costs were their highest in over 80 years. They came at the expense of ordinary households. They sacrificed so corporate America and rich elites could gain.

    Rasmus calls income inequality a "double edged sword." Over 80% of US households suffered so its wealthiest and corporate American could profit.

    Middle class households are shrinking. Income inequality is longterm. High unemployment and lack of decent jobs exacerbate crisis conditions. What began decades ago is worse than ever now.

    It reflects 21st century America. It's harsh, unforgiving and deplorable. Obama ignores solutions. Rhetoric substitutes for meaningful policy measures.

    Helping those most in need is ignored. Austerity is prioritized when stimulus is needed. Problems fester and worsen.

    On January 30, economist Richard Wolff addressed income inequality. Recent decades witnessed "a growing distance between higher and lower" levels, he said.

    "Income inequality and poverty levels" grew. Western societies force-feed crushing hardships on ordinary people.

    Key in capitalist societies "is how corporate boards of directors distribute (business) surplus(es) or net revenues (sales less direct production costs)."

    Since the mid-1970s, real US wages for most workers stagnated or declined. At the same time, productivity rose. Corporations gained hugely. So did rich elites.

    Today's inequality is greater than ever. Obama prioritizes keeping it that way. He personifies capitalism's failures. He deplores systemic change.

    Expect nothing positive ahead on his watch. The worst is yet to come. Bet on it.

    Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net #

    Source: http://rss.mathaba.net/~r/MathabaNews/~3/8TYkadKh9bY/

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    Obama: 100 US military personnel deployed to Niger

    WASHINGTON?President Barack Obama said Friday that about 100 American troops have been deployed to the African nation of Niger. Two U.S. defense officials said the troops would be setting up a base for unarmed drones to conduct surveillance.

    Obama announced the deployment in a letter to Congress, saying that the forces "will provide support for intelligence collection and will also facilitate intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region."

    The move marks a deepening of U.S. efforts to stem the spread of al-Qaida and its affiliates in the volatile region. It also underscores Obama's desire to fight extremism without involving large numbers of U.S. ground forces.

    The drone base will allow the U.S. to give France more intelligence on the militants its forces have been fighting in Mali, which neighbors Niger. Over time, it could extend the reach not only of American intelligence-gathering but also U.S. special operations missions to strengthen Niger's own security forces.

    One of the two U.S. defense officials who discussed the development confirmed the American troops would fly drones and other surveillance platforms from Niger military airstrips, tracking militant and refugee movement inside Mali and around the border. The U.S. will share that intelligence with Niger's military, the official said.

    Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the project.

    The drones at the Niger base will be unarmed and used for surveillance, not airstrikes. Still, the development of a base in Niger raises the possibility that it could eventually be used for launching strikes.

    Obama said in his letter to Congress that the U.S. forces have been deployed with the consent of Niger's government. The forces were also deployed with weapons "for their own force protection and security," the president said.

    Last month, the U.S. and Niger signed a status-of-forces-agreement spelling out legal protections and obligations of American forces that might operate in Niger in the future.

    Africa is increasingly a focus of U.S. counterterrorism efforts, even as al-Qaida remains a threat in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Last month's terrorist attack on a natural gas complex in Algeria, in which at least 37 hostages and 29 militants were killed, illustrated the threat posed by extremists who have asserted power propelled by long-simmering ethnic tensions in Mali and the revolution in Libya.

    A number of al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist groups operate in Mali and elsewhere in the Sahara, including a group known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, which originated in Algeria and is active in northern Mali. Last month, French forces intervened to stop the extremists' move toward Mali's capital, and Washington has grown more involved by providing a variety of military support to French troops.

    France has said it will eventually pull out of its Mali operation so that African forces can help stabilize the West African country.

    ???

    AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

    Source: http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_22644776/obama-100-us-military-personnel-deployed-niger?source=rss

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    Saturday, February 23, 2013

    Windows Azure storage issue: Expired HTTPS certificate possibly at fault

    Microsoft's Windows Azure storage service went down worldwide just before 4 p.m. ET/9 p.m. UTC, apparently due to an expired HTTPS certificate.

    Here's what the Windows Azure status dashboard is currently showing:

    storageservicedegredation

    The dashboard messages indicate that Microsoft is aware of the service issue and "actively working on resolving it." The message also notes that all services dependent on Azure storage are affected, as one might expect.

    A Microsoft spokesperson sent the following statement:

    "At approximately 8:44pm UTC Microsoft became aware of an issue affecting storage worldwide. We are actively investigating this issue and working to resolve it as soon as possible. Updates will be published to the Windows Azure dashboard to keep customers apprised of the situation. s and data in cloud storage."

    On the Windows Azure forums, Brian Reischl posted "So is it just me, or did the HTTPS certificate for Azure Storage just expire?" He added a screen shot of what seems to indicate that this is what, indeed, has happened.

    azurecertificate

    There also are reports of Xbox Live Service problems happening at the same time. There are problems "accessing?saved games and data in cloud storage." This may be connected to the Azure Storage issue.

    I have a message in to the Azure team for a further updates.

    Update: Among the Microsoft customers affected by the Storage problem is the .Net package management service NuGet. Microsoft's Team Foundation Service (TFS) on Azure also seems affected.

    Update No. 2: As a few readers have pointed out, if this is a security-certificate issue, this won't be the first time this kind of bug bit Microsoft. When Windows Azure went down at the end of February 2012, the so-called Leap Day bug was linked to a security certificate problem triggered by the date.

    Update No. 3: Former Azure technical evangelist and current Aditi Technologies CTO Wade Wegner suggested a temporary workaround for those who don't need to insure data is accessed securely: "Try switching to HTTP instead of HTTPS and redeploy (via upload on portal)."

    Update No. 4 (6:15 pm ET): Here's the new message at the top of the Azure Dashboard status page:

    "Storage is currently experiencing a Worldwide outage impacting HTTPS operations (SSL traffic). Status of affected services will be updated in the table below. We have identified the root cause and are validating the recovery options before implementing them. Further updates will be published to keep you apprised of the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers."

    Update No. 5 (7:10 pm ET): The Azure dashboard is now showing worldwide Compute service-management performance problems, which Microsoft is attributing to the Storage outage.

    computeissuesstorage

    Compute service availability is unaffected, according to the error message. But the ongoing impact to Storage SSL traffic is resulting in users being unable to create new virtual machines or deploy new or existing hosted service deployments, the dashboard message noted.

    Update No. 6 (7:20 p.m. ET): It looks like the Office 365 Twitter account is confirming an expired certificate is the culprit to blame for the Storage outage.

    o365twittermessage

    Update No. 7 (8:10 p.m. ET): The Azure team also is confirming an expired certificate is at fault. The team is "validating the recovering options" at this point. The full status update from the dashboard:

    "Storage is currently experiencing a worldwide outage impacting HTTPS operations (SSL traffic) due to an expired certificate. HTTP traffic is not impacted. We are validating the recovery options before implementing them. Further updates will be published to keep you apprised of the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers."?

    ?

    (Developing story. More to come.)

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zdnetaustralia/~3/fJ1089QMzBI/

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