BrickStreet remains king of workers' comp market - News - The ...

BrickStreet Insurance President and CEO Greg Burton (right) and Vice President T.J. Obrokta Jr. stand in the lobby of the company's offices next to the Charleston Town Center mall. The company, which was West Virginia's sole provider of workers' compensation insurance after the state privatized the system, still has more than half of the state's workers' comp business.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 240 insurance companies have filed to carry workers' compensation insurance in West Virginia, but one company maintains half of the business in the state.

That would be BrickStreet Insurance, the Charleston-based company formed as a quasi-private company when the state decided to privatize its workers' comp business.

For a couple of years, BrickStreet was the only game in town, and all of the state's workers' comp business went there. Since July 2008, other companies have been allowed to participate in the workers' comp market. As of mid-August, 241 workers' comp carriers had filed with the state Insurance Commission.

But as of the end of last year, BrickStreet still handled 50 percent of the workers' comp premiums in the state, according to the Insurance Commission.

BrickStreet officials say the privatization has been a rousing success. They say employers' workers' comp costs have been cut in half, and workplace injuries are reported more quickly.

"Claimants are also receiving quicker care and better care today," said Greg Burton, BrickStreet's president and CEO. ?

"In 2006, only 10 percent to 15 percent of claims came in within 48 hours after the accident. Today, it is 50 percent," Burton said. "Medical costs are also going down. BrickStreet is working with health-care providers to get people back to work more quickly."

T.J. Obrokta Jr., BrickStreet's senior vice president and general counsel, said, "The old system generated a lot of litigation. Today, that litigation has dropped by 70 percent."?

Protests about claims decisions have also dropped, Obrokta said, from about 25,000 protests in 2006 to only a projected 5,000 this year.

Both Burton and Obrokta worked for the old state Workers' Compensation Division, and moved to BrickStreet under privatization. The move was initiated under former Gov. Bob Wise and completed under former Gov. Joe Manchin.

Sue Howard, a Wheeling lawyer who has represented workers' comp claimants for many years, believes privatization "has become problematic for claimants dealing with Workers' Comp insurance carriers who are out of state and not well-trained in West Virginia law.

"It has been a nightmare for certain claimants who get claims mangers who don't properly administer their claims.

"There needs to be more information provided to injured workers about how to file complaints with the Insurance Commissioner when conduct is improper," Howard said.

"When BrickStreet started operating [in 2006], it was able to hire a lot of claims adjusters from the old West Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, who had more experience and training. I see fewer problems with BrickStreet than with other private carriers. I think it is a training issue," Howard said.

BrickStreet also has its critics. Charleston lawyer James Humphreys, a former Democratic state senator and congressional candidate, opposed the privatization of workers' comp in the Legislature.

"BrickStreet has made an ungodly amount of money," Humphreys said. "Workers' compensation should not be about profits for a corporation. It should be about protecting and supporting injured workers.

Last year, BrickStreet collected $250.6 million in premiums and incurred $102.3 million in losses, according to its annual statement filed on Dec. 31, 2011. The company's net income was $47.1 million

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 240 insurance companies have filed to carry workers' compensation insurance in West Virginia, but one company maintains half of the business in the state.

That would be BrickStreet Insurance, the Charleston-based company formed as a quasi-private company when the state decided to privatize its workers' comp business.

For a couple of years, BrickStreet was the only game in town, and all of the state's workers' comp business went there. Since July 2008, other companies have been allowed to participate in the workers' comp market. As of mid-August, 241 workers' comp carriers had filed with the state Insurance Commission.

But as of the end of last year, BrickStreet still handled 50 percent of the workers' comp premiums in the state, according to the Insurance Commission.

BrickStreet officials say the privatization has been a rousing success. They say employers' workers' comp costs have been cut in half, and workplace injuries are reported more quickly.

"Claimants are also receiving quicker care and better care today," said Greg Burton, BrickStreet's president and CEO. ?

"In 2006, only 10 percent to 15 percent of claims came in within 48 hours after the accident. Today, it is 50 percent," Burton said. "Medical costs are also going down. BrickStreet is working with health-care providers to get people back to work more quickly."

T.J. Obrokta Jr., BrickStreet's senior vice president and general counsel, said, "The old system generated a lot of litigation. Today, that litigation has dropped by 70 percent."?

Protests about claims decisions have also dropped, Obrokta said, from about 25,000 protests in 2006 to only a projected 5,000 this year.

Both Burton and Obrokta worked for the old state Workers' Compensation Division, and moved to BrickStreet under privatization. The move was initiated under former Gov. Bob Wise and completed under former Gov. Joe Manchin.

Sue Howard, a Wheeling lawyer who has represented workers' comp claimants for many years, believes privatization "has become problematic for claimants dealing with Workers' Comp insurance carriers who are out of state and not well-trained in West Virginia law.

"It has been a nightmare for certain claimants who get claims mangers who don't properly administer their claims.

"There needs to be more information provided to injured workers about how to file complaints with the Insurance Commissioner when conduct is improper," Howard said.

"When BrickStreet started operating [in 2006], it was able to hire a lot of claims adjusters from the old West Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission, who had more experience and training. I see fewer problems with BrickStreet than with other private carriers. I think it is a training issue," Howard said.

BrickStreet also has its critics. Charleston lawyer James Humphreys, a former Democratic state senator and congressional candidate, opposed the privatization of workers' comp in the Legislature.

"BrickStreet has made an ungodly amount of money," Humphreys said. "Workers' compensation should not be about profits for a corporation. It should be about protecting and supporting injured workers.

Last year, BrickStreet collected $250.6 million in premiums and incurred $102.3 million in losses, according to its annual statement filed on Dec. 31, 2011. The company's net income was $47.1 million

In 2010, BrickStreet reported $263.8 million in premiums, $171.1 million in losses and $52.8 million in net income.

In the 2011 annual report, Burton said the A.M. Best Co., a credit-rating group that helps the financial services industry, gave BrickStreet an A-minus rating. He said that "places our company among the most financially secure insurance providers in the nation."

"Most of the lawyers who were representing injured workers seeking workers' comp have gotten out of it today. They don't do it anymore," Humphreys said.

But Ross Johnson, who owns Mountain State Insurance in Charleston, praises the company.

"The primary thing BrickStreet has done is to reduce the cost of workers' compensation. It has done that in three ways. They reduced premiums, improved workplace safety and improved claims outcomes."

Johnson, whose company has been in business since 1917, said BrickStreet's "adjusters are focused on minimizing the cost of claims and expediting medical care. They also work to create safe workplace environments.

"If there is a person gone from work, it slows production down. If employers can avoid claims to begin with, and have the claims that do happen have a shorter duration, it makes the business run more seamlessly.

As other companies make inroads into the West Virginia workers' comp market, BrickStreet has expanded its business to other states.

In April, the company acquired a small workers' comp insurer headquartered near Pittsburgh. BrickStreet has an office in Chicago and is opening up another regional office in Charlotte, N.C.

"A West Virginia business may have a plant or a mine in Kentucky or Virginia," Obrokta said. "We have to be licensed in those states to sell them workers' comp coverage."

He said BrickStreet is licensed, or has applied to be licensed, in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.??

"But we are domiciled in West Virginia. This is our core business," Burton said. "We are writing $250 million in insurance in West Virginia. Between $60 million and $65 million is out of state."

Obrokta believes BrickStreet has done better than many people thought it would after it started back in 2006.

"The state gave us a $200 million loan and 10 years to pay it back. We paid it off in 3 1/2 years," he said.

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.

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Source: http://wvgazette.com/rssFeeds/201209280187

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DIY? No Can Do: More Companies Turn to Software for Help with PPC

There was a time when being a PPC manager necessarily entailed being an Excel ninja as well. Not a fan of spreadsheets? Then step away from the PPC account, my friend!

In 2001, however, a tipping point occurred ? the majority of companies no longer managed their PPC accounts using Excel. And the trend continues in that direction. According to SEMPO?s recent State of Search report, the number of companies who manage their PPC campaigns DIY-style using free tools like those provided by search engines, Excel, or ?a simple database? fell from nearly half (49%) in 2001 to just 38% in 2012. That?s a big drop! And a much bigger drop than the change from 2010 to 2011 (53% to 49%).

Here?s the survey data from SEMPO (the exact question was ?Do you or your primary search engine marketing service provider use a special technology solution with features such as ?bid management?, ?campaign management?, ?portfolio management? and ?dynamic optimization? for paid search campaigns??):

As you can see, there?s been a big rise in the number of companies that use a proprietary in-house solution (17% this year compared to just 4% last year) as well as those that license a third-party tool to use in-house, up to 22% in 2012 from 12% in 2011. A full 62% (almost 2 in 3) of companies now use some kind of software to help them manage PPC, whether it?s a proprietary or third-party solution and whether they manage it in-house or use an SEM service provider.

Why Are More Businesses Investing in PPC Software?

The SEMPO report doesn?t delve into why this shift is happening, but here are some possible explanations for the shift:

• AdWords is getting more complicated ? AdWords is constantly launching new features (such as Shared Budgets) or changing the way existing features work (take the ad rotation setting changes from a few months back). Some advertisers may feel they can?t keep up and are falling behind.
• People are advertising on multiple platforms ? Almost all companies using PPC advertising (97% of them!) run campaigns on Google AdWords, but more than half use Bing/Yahoo (65%) ?and Facebook advertising (56%) as well.
• The PPC software industry is coming into its own ? Search marketing is still a young industry. The available solutions are improving by leaps and bounds, and advertisers are beginning to realize that it?s a smart investment that delivers ROI ? and/or PPC vendors are getting better at convincing advertisers that software is worth the investment! There are also more and better solutions targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as opposed to just enterprise-level big spenders.
• Marketing departments are increasingly feeling the pinch ? With the economy still not fully recovered, it may be that fewer marketers are being held responsible for a larger number of roles. If, for example, a single search marketer is handling both SEO and PPC, they may need advanced tools that offer automation to get more done in less time.

Have You Made the Switch to a Paid Solution?

Are you one of those companies that has made the switch to a third-party or proprietary in-house solution for PPC management? Or are you still working your magic with AdWords Editor and Excel?

Source: http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/diy-no-can-do-more-companies-turn-to-software-for-help-with-ppc-0290076

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FOSS Patents: Google loses appeal, continues to be barred from ...

A U.S. appeals court has dealt the latest setback, and the most important one to date, to Google's hopes that it could address Android's huge patent infringement problems through the abusive pursuit and enforcement of sales bans based on Motorola Mobility's standard-essential patents, forcing the holders of non-standard-essential patents violated by Android into cross-license deals or mutual non-assertion pacts. The noose keeps tightening and it appears to be only a question of when, not if, Motorola will have to extend a standard-essential patent license to Microsoft on truly FRAND terms.

On Friday afternoon by Pacific Time, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion dismissing Motorola Mobility's appeal of a preliminary injunction by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington that enjoined and, after the appeal was just turned down, continues to enjoin the Google subsidiary from enforcing a couple of German H.264-related patent injunctions that the Mannheim Regional Court had granted in May. The preliminary injunction had been granted by Judge James L. Robart, the federal judge presiding over the Microsoft v. Motorola Mobility FRAND contract dispute in the Seattle-based district court. The Ninth Circuit has now found that Judge Robart applied the correct legal standard and did not abuse his discretion in barring Motorola from enforcement in Germany.

The appeals court's ruling follows a September 11, 2012 hearing in San Francisco and means that Google must wait until Judge Robart resolves the FRAND contract issues raised by a Microsoft complaint filed in November?2010.

A bench trial in Seattle will commence on November?13 and will result in a FRAND royalty rate consistent with the FRAND promise Motorola once made to the ITU, a United Nations standard-setting organization that played a key role in developing the H.264 video codec standard in which roughly 80% of all digital video is encoded these days. Google does not want Judge Robart to resolve this contract issue as planned because it knows that its entire SEP enforcement effort against Microsoft would be brought to an end. In the opinion on the preliminary injunction, the Ninth Circuit does not want to address Motorola's objections to Judge Robart's course of action, but it comes fairly close to formally endorsing some of its key elements:

"We emphasize that we do not (indeed, we may not) decide whether the district court's partial summary judgment, or its determination that it would adjudicate a [F]RAND rate, was proper ? if an appellate court is to review those determinations, it will have to do so on a final, not an interlocutory, appeal. But we do hold this much: The district court?s conclusions that Motorola's [F]RAND declarations to the ITU created a contract enforceable by Microsoft as a third-party beneficiary (which Motorola concedes), and that this contract governs in some way what actions Motorola may take to enforce its ITU standard essential patents (including the patents at issue in the German suit), were not legally erroneous. Motorola, in its declarations to the ITU, promised to 'grant a license to an unrestricted number of applicants on a worldwide, non-discriminatory basis and on reasonable terms and conditions to use the patented material necessary' to practice the ITU standards. [...]"

"In particular, the face of the contract makes clear that it encompasses not just U.S. patents, but all of Motorola's standard-essential patents worldwide. When that contract is enforced by a U.S. court, the U.S. court is not enforcing German patent law but, rather, the private law of the contract between the parties. Although patents themselves are not extraterritorial, there is no reason a party may not freely agree to reservations or limitations on rights that it would have under foreign patent law (or any other rights that it may have under foreign law) in a contract enforceable in U.S. courts. [...]"

The Ninth Circuit opinion cites to different writings and decisions on FRAND, including several quotes from Judge Posner's recent ruling. It's clear that the Ninth Circuit gave a lot of consideration to FRAND issues and that it does believe FRAND promises must be honored. It is at least very skeptical of whether the pursuit of injunctive relief is legitimate in cases in which the defendant is clearly entitled to a license on FRAND terms.

The Ninth Circuit clarifies that its affirmation of Judge Robart's antisuit injunction does not imply that there is anything fraudulent about the process in Germany. The issue is not whether the Mannheim court did the right thing or the wrong thing -- it's that Motorola engaged in forum-shopping to gain leverage in Germany before the first-filed U.S. contract issue would be resolved. In practical terms, Motorola wanted to render the Seattle proceedings meaningless by gaining enough leverage in Germany that it could get a settlement on its terms before Judge Robart would even get to adjudge the case before him. Judge Robart made it clear that he wanted to thwart that plan, and the Ninth Circuit says that he had the right to do this.

By coincidence, I discussed this complicated situation yesterday, only a few hours before the Ninth Circuit opinion in a post on the fact that the Android camp is currently enforcing only one patent injunction against Apple and none against Microsoft. If you look at item?3 of that post, you can find more detail on the procedural history of the German H.264 patent injunctions that Motorola will most likely never get to enforce.

At the start of this post I was talking about Google's strategy for addressing Android's massive patent infringement. In light of this unsuccessful appeal to the Ninth Circuit, Google should think even harder about taking a license to all those Microsoft patents that read on Android. Google should ask itself, very seriously, whether it really has a workable plan to get away with wide-ranging unlicensed infringement.

If you'd like to be updated on the smartphone patent disputes and other intellectual property matters I cover, please subscribe to my RSS feed (in the right-hand column) and/or follow me on Twitter @FOSSpatents and Google+.

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Source: http://www.fosspatents.com/2012/09/google-loses-appeal-continues-to-be.html

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Sharebuilder Review

When it comes to picking the right brokerage account, the type of trader you are is crucial in your decision. ShareBuilder is an online broker that is part of the same parent company of ING.

ShareBuilder was created to make automatic online investments through automated withdrawals from your existing accounts so that your savings will grow automatically.

What?s all that really mean?

You don?t have to sit and worry about which day you?re going to invest money. You set up an automated plan, sit back, and watch your retirement account grow without a lot of checking in from you. It?s an easy, low-hassle way of starting to invest.

It?s very similar to the way that an IRA or 401K is managed by your financial advisor. Instead of investing once or twice per year, you build up a habit through consistent investments.

This is also a great way to start investing for new investors that have never traded stocks or invested in mutual funds. You are taking the thinking out of investing.

Set the plan, engage the automatic investments, and go back to worrying about the rest of your life.

Looking to get started with ShareBuilder today? Open an account?and get a $50 account bonus for free.

Automated Withdrawals with ShareBuilder

Automated withdrawals can be used to your advantage in many different ways. For example, if you have ever owned a 401k or IRA, you may have noticed the deduction when you receive your pay stub at the end of your pay period. Your financial advisor set this up so that the deduction goes straight into your IRA or 401k which is typically a collection of mutual funds. These mutual funds are all made up of individual securities which commonly are shares of common stock. What ShareBuilder?has created allows you to do the same thing except you are in control of your investment activities.

You can set up this automated withdrawal from either an existing checking account, a deduction from your paycheck, wire transfer or by simply mailing a check. Upon setting up your account, you get to decide the frequency as well as the amount of these withdrawals?s which will be automatically transferred into your ShareBuilder account.

For example, if you receive$1,000 check bi-weekly, you can opt for $200 to be automatically invested into ShareBuilder. ShareBuilder will take your funds and purchase shares in whatever stock, ETF, or mutual fund of your choosing and automatically invest the dollar amount. This gives you the opportunity to buy partial shares so that you can put the entire $200 in your account to good use immediately.

At the most simplistic level, this is essentially creating your own IRA or retirement fund that you personally manage. The fees that you will be assessed depend on the account level you sign up for.

Different Accounts That ShareBuilder Offers

ShareBuilder?offers two different account levels. They offer a Basic Plan and a subscription based Advantage Plan.

The Basic Plan has no monthly fee so it?s free to start. When using the automated investment method with the Basic Plan, you will be assessed a $4 fee for every automated transaction, as well as $9.95 for all real time trades. You can trade Options with the Basic Plan as well for $9.95 per trade + $1.50 per contract.

With the automatic investing option you can limit the cost of your trades for stocks and ETFs to just $4 per investment. That is among the lowest in the industry.

The next step up is the Advantage Plan. With the Advantage Plan you pay $12 per month and receive 12 automated investment transactions per month for free. All automated transfers after 12 per month will be assessed a fee of $1. If you need to make a real time trade (rather than on an automated schedule) the fee will drop to $7.95 ($2 less than on the Basic Plan). Option pricing also drops $2 to $7.95 per trade plus $0.75 per contract. ShareBuilder also kicks in premium research from S&P such as the S&P Morning Brief and a list of research team upgrades/downgrades on stocks.

Essentially if you plan to regularly invest funds more than 3 times per month then it makes a lot of sense to switch to the Advantage Plan. Three automatic transactions under the Basic Plan would cost $12. With the Advantage Plan you get 9 additional automatic transactions for free compared to the Basic Plan. It?s like paying $1 per trade ? a price that cannot be beaten with any other broker.

Both account types allow you to invest in mutual funds. The trade costs range from $0 (yes, free) for No Transaction Fee Funds to $19.95 for other mutual funds.

Excellent Research

Like any other broker, ShareBuilder offers a variety of tools to its customers. They offer screening options for mutual funds, ETFs, and of course stocks. They have your normal market mover and watch list options as well. You can also research option chains and there is a calendar of upcoming IPOs so you can track which ones you want to invest in.

ShareBuilder?also offers easy tax applications to keep track of your gains/losses throughout the year which you can easily export to typical tax software programs. If you trade a lot having clear and?concise?tax records is a huge benefit when it comes time to file your taxes.

Building a Diverse ETF Portfolio with ShareBuilder

Whether you are a new investor just trying to figure out how to invest each month or a seasoned investor looking to lower your investment options,?ShareBuilder?is a solid choice. Here are two examples of how you can use ShareBuilder to grow your portfolio automatically.

New Investor: Open a Roth IRA

The best time to start investing is right now. The longer you wait to begin investing, the more you have to save in order to hit your retirement goals.

If you are a new investor that is just trying to figure out how to budget for your retirement, starting with ShareBuilder?s Basic Plan is a great place to look. ?With a Roth IRA you are investing after-tax income from your paycheck. IRS rules limit you to investing $5,000 per year into a Roth IRA. But even if you don?t have $5,000 (that?s $416.67 per month), any amount will help grow your account.

Let?s assume you have just $100 per month to save for a Roth IRA.?To make things simple we will invest 75% of your money into Vanguard?s Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and 25% into Vanguard?s Total Bond Market ETF (BND). If you are just starting out you don?t need to worry about asset allocation as much as you need to worry about actually investing money for your future.

Here are the steps to take to set up that portfolio:

1. Open a Basic Plan account with ShareBuilder?and get a $50 account bonus
2. During the account opening process, make sure you select ?Open a Roth IRA?
3. During the investment selection process, choose Automatic Investment
4. Search for VTI (the total stock ETF from Vanguard) and choose to invest $75 per month with 1 automatic transfer per month
5. Then search for BND (the total bond ETF from Vanguard) and choose to invest $25 per month with 1 automatic transfer per month
6. Sit back and relax, you?re done!

That?s all it takes to get started with investing. You will pay $4 per automatic transfer (so $8) for your two investments each month. As time goes on you can increase how much you invest or upgrade to an Advantage Plan to increase the number of transactions you have each month.

Seasoned Investor: Lower Your Trading Costs

If you?re a seasoned investor, ShareBuilder can still be a big help by reducing your automatic investment costs. (If you are a day trader that is not the plan or broker for you.)

Here are the steps to take to cut down on your investing costs:

1. Open an Advantage Plan account with ShareBuilder?and get a $50 account bonus
2. During the account opening process, choose whichever account you need whether it is a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, or a normal trading account
3. During the investment selection process, choose Automatic Investment
4. Search for your investments and how much you want to invest in each
5. Make sure you choose at least 4 automatic investments each month, otherwise the Basic Plan would be the same or lower cost (3 trades x $4 = $12, which is the cost of the Advantage Plan each month)
6. Sit back and relax, you?re done!

This plan can save you significantly compared to other brokers. If you had 12 automatic investments each month with Scottrade (another favorite of ours), you would pay $84 in trading fees. With ShareBuilder that would drop to just $12, a savings of $72.

Conclusion

If you consider yourself to be a day trader, then ShareBuilder is not the online broker for you. Their real time trades as well as options fees at $9.95 (or $7.95 with the Advantage Plan) are not attractive relatively to other online brokers.

However, ShareBuilder is a great option if you want to set up an easy automatic investing plan in ETFs, Equities or No Transaction Fee Mutual Funds. By picking these quality investment tools you will be able to set up automated withdrawals from variety of sources to have your account grow steadily while only paying transaction fees ranging from $1 to $4 depending on which plan option you choose.

By setting up your account with ShareBuilder you will be able to theoretically replace your financial advisor using your own skills and ShareBuilder?s easy automated system to steadily save for retirement without the approximate 1% fee given to your advisor on an annual basis. Setting up your SharBuilder account will take no more than 20 minutes, and requires no extra paperwork than any other financial account.

Interested in opening an account with ShareBuilder??If you open an account today they will give you a $50 account bonus.

Tagged as: Automatic investing, ING Direct Investing, Sharebuilder

Source: http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/sharebuilder-review/

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Voter registration problems widening in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) ? What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread statewide, with election officials in nine counties informing prosecutors or state election officials about questionable voter registration forms filled out on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida.

State Republican officials already have fired the vendor it had hired to register voters, and took the additional step of filing an election fraud complaint against the company, Strategic Allied Consulting, with state officials. That complaint was handed over Friday to state law-enforcement authorities.

A spokesman for Florida's GOP said the matter was being treated seriously.

"We are doing what we can to find out how broad the scope is," said Brian Burgess, the spokesman.

Florida is the battleground state where past election problems led to the chaotic recount that followed the 2000 presidential election.

The Florida Democratic Party called on the state to "revoke" the ability of state Republicans to continue to register voters while the investigation continues. Oct. 9 is the deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 6 presidential election.

"It is clear that the Republican Party of Florida does not have the institutional controls in place to be trusted as a third-party, voter registration organization," said Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.

The Republican Party of Florida has paid Strategic Allied Consulting more than $1.3 million, and the Republican National Committee used the group for work in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia.

The company said earlier this week that it was cooperating with elections officials in Florida. It initially said the suspect forms were turned in by one person, who has been fired.

"Strategic has a zero-tolerance policy for breaking the law," Fred Petti, a company attorney, said Thursday.

But late Friday the company put out a lengthy statement on its website and said that it was aware of questionable forms in other counties and that it confirmed in each of those counties that the problem was with "one individual." Strategic said it had more than 2,000 people working in the state of Florida.

Strategic insisted that it has "rigorous quality control measures" and it blamed the Republican Party of Florida for the decision by Republican National Committee to dump the company on Thursday.

"When the Republican Party of Florida chose to make likely libelous comments about our effort and stated that the Republican National Committee suggested us as the vendor, the RNC was put in the unenviable position of ending a long-term relationship for the sake of staying focused on the election," the company stated.

In Florida, it is a third-degree felony to "willfully submit" any false voter registration information, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

In recent years, Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature ? citing suspicious voter registration forms turned in by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN ? has cracked down on groups holding voter registration drives.

The League of Women Voters filed a federal lawsuit against some of the restrictions and Florida agreed earlier this month to drop a new requirement to turn in registration applications within 48 hours after they are signed. The state has reinstated a 10-day deadline.

The questionable forms tied to the Republican Party have showed up in South Florida, including Miami-Dade, as well as counties in southwest and northeast Florida as well as the Florida Panhandle.

Election officials in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties on Thursday handed over more than 100 suspect forms to local prosecutors. They did so days after officials in Palm Beach County also alerted prosecutors.

Ann Bodenstein, the elections supervisor for Santa Rosa County, said her staff started raising questions after an employee saw a form that changed the home address of a neighbor.

Paul Lux, election supervisor for Okaloosa County, said questionable forms in the Florida Panhandle appear to have all come from Strategic's effort based at the local Republican Party headquarters. He said his office has turned up dozens of suspect forms.

Lux said there have been forms that listed dead people and were either incomplete or illegible. He met with local prosecutors on Friday, but added that his staff was still going through hundreds of forms dropped off by Strategic employees.

Lux, who is a Republican, said he warned local party officials earlier this month when he first learned the company was paying people to register voters.

"I told them 'This is not going to end well,'" Lux said.

But Lux added that he did not blame the Republican Party of Florida.

"I can't place the blame on RPOF if they hired a firm and that firm wasn't following the rules they were given to follow," Lux said.

The state party filed the complaint against Strategic Allied Consulting with state election officials, who late Friday handed the case over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

An FDLE spokeswoman said the agency would not automatically open a criminal investigation, but would review to see if there were "possible criminal acts."

___

Follow Gary Fineout on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fineout

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-28-Voter%20Registration-Florida/id-0b250b12bbc240dda19e54aa06fae412

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This is the carbon fiber core of Ferrari's first hybrid

Ferrari has already said that it will never make an electric car -- at least, not while Luca di Montezemolo is in charge -- but we already know that a hybrid Ferrari is in the cards. And, this is what will hold it all together. At this year's Paris Auto Show the company rolled out this carbon fiber cage that is the core chassis of the machine. Other than a pledge that the thing will use F1-inspired technology nobody would tell us what it would be called (possibly F70, at least internally) or just when the rest of its components will be bolted on. But, for now, enjoy this sneak peek under the skin of Ferrari's next hypercar.

Gallery: Hybrid Ferrari carbon fiber chassis

Steve Dent contributed to this report.

Filed under: Transportation

This is the carbon fiber core of Ferrari's first hybrid originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/28/this-is-the-carbon-fiber-core-of-ferraris-first-hybrid/

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Santorum, DeMint endorse Akin in Mo. senate race

Missouri Republican Senate candidate, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., speaks during a news conference at the start of a statewide bus tour, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, in St. Louis. Akin is hoping that donors displeased by his much-criticized remarks about rape will reopen their checkbooks. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Missouri Republican Senate candidate, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., speaks during a news conference at the start of a statewide bus tour, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, in St. Louis. Akin is hoping that donors displeased by his much-criticized remarks about rape will reopen their checkbooks. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin won two high-profile Republican endorsements Wednesday, a day after guaranteeing his candidacy would continue despite calls for him to quit because of comments about rape and pregnancy he since has apologized for.

Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and Sen. Jim DeMint, a tea party favorite, announced support for Akin's challenge to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. They called Akin a "principled conservative" ? the same phrase Akin uses to describe himself at campaign events.

"If Republicans are to win back the Senate and stop President Obama's liberal agenda, we must defeat Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri," Santorum and DeMint said in a joint statement. They added: "We support Todd Akin and hope freedom-loving Americans in Missouri and around the country will join us so we can save our country from fiscal collapse."

Santorum easily won Missouri's nonbinding Republican presidential primary in February.

Akin had faced pressure to quit the campaign after a TV interview aired Aug. 19 in which he said women's bodies have a natural defense against pregnancy in cases of what he called "legitimate rape."

Tuesday was the deadline for Missouri candidates to get a court order to withdraw from the Nov. 6 ballot. Akin let the deadline pass and instead embarked on a statewide bus tour.

Akin repeatedly has apologized for the rape comment, but lost support from top national Republicans, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The Republican National Committee, the campaign apparatus for GOP senators and Crossroads, a group affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove, all dropped their involvement in Missouri's Senate race ? eliminating millions of dollars of advertising that could have aided Akin.

In a fundraising email Wednesday, Akin said the Santorum and DeMint endorsements "are huge for our campaign and show that real conservative leaders are stepping up, because they know how important it is that we defeat Claire McCaskill and take back the Senate."

McCaskill's campaign called the endorsements a "predictable influx of 'support' from the extreme wing of the Republican Party" that doesn't change the fact that Romney and other prominent Republicans wanted him out of the race.

"You can tell these endorsements are 'enthusiastic' just by the way these Republicans waited until they were stuck with Todd Akin to finally support him," McCaskill spokesman Erik Dorey said sarcastically.

Akin, a six-term congressman from suburban St. Louis, has been trying to rebuild his campaign through online fundraising appeals and an anti-establishment message. He has been aided by former Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker. Gingrich headlined a fundraiser for Akin this week.

As the dropout deadline passed, McCaskill began running an ad in Missouri highlighting Akin's comment about rape, alongside previous comments he made that were critical of Social Security, Medicare, the federal minimum wage and federally financed student loans.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-09-26-Missouri%20Senate/id-a5a8494edf874589a10b339fbdd3021c

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Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on

Finnish game studio Rovio went from relatively unknown to center stage with the Angry Birds franchise. And in record time, too -- the first Angry Birds landed on Apple's iOS App Store in December 2009, less than three years ago, and has since become an international sensation. The birds spawned a flock of sequels, branded tie-ins, and tons of merchandise. All this adds up to quite a bit of chicken scratch for Rovio, and also quite a bit of pressure to keep the money train rolling.

Today marks Rovio's first true sequel to the original Angry Birds, and it's focused on the other side of the farm: the pigs. Enter Bad Piggies. Unlike Angry Birds, Bad Piggies isn't about flinging anything towards a complicated structure in order to knock it down. Instead, it's about moving one very green, goofy sounding pig to various points on a map to collect items and reach a goal -- it's much more Cut the Rope than Angry Birds. The same physics-based game mechanics are at play in Bad Piggies that made both Cut the Rope and Angry Birds so popular, and they're just as fun in this time around. But how do you get said piggy to the goals? You build a contraption, of course.

Each level starts with a build section, allowing players to create all types of vehicles in order to transport the pig from point A to point B (while grabbing collectibles along the way). Only a small handful of build options are available, keeping Bad Piggies just as speedy of a game -- to pick up and play while commuting or while waiting at the dentist's office -- as its wildly successful progenitor. It's hard to say if Bad Piggies will recapture the success that Rovio found with Angry Birds proper, but all the hallmarks are there: quick, fun gameplay, colorful characters, goofy sounds, and accessibility (we couldn't help but get all three stars on every level, but you don't have to in order to proceed, should it prove too difficult). Bad Piggies launches tomorrow morning for iOS devices, Mac, and Android.

Gallery: Bad Piggies (iPad)

Filed under: Gaming, Mobile

Angry Birds sequel 'Bad Piggies' launches tomorrow, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/RNKKRrnXsQw/

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Transit App Embark Sees 100K Downloads, 1.3M Trips Planned Since Apple?s Release Of iOS 6

Apple's changes in iOS 6 are already proving plenty beneficial for some of its developers, including mass transit app-maker Embark. The San Francisco-based startup has seen 1.3 million trips routed through its app since Apple decided to ditch Google Maps in favor of its own solution, which lacks integrated transit mapping options. Embarks' suite of apps, which serve customers across 12 U.S. and international transit systems, have also been downloaded over 100,000 times since iOS 6 arrived, representing a huge upwards spike in traction

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GFXeo6tRqa8/

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India, US investment treaty will help businesses: Hormats | Your ...

The Bilateral Investment Treaty being negotiated between India and the US will help provide strong rules on investor protection and effective means for resolving business disputes between the two countries, the American Government has said.

The US and Indian Governments are actively engaged in Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) negotiations, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy & Environment Robert Hormats said.

?We are aiming for a BIT that provides a high level of openness to investment across the economy, strong rules on investor protection and transparency, and effective means for resolving investment disputes,? he said at the annual India Investment Forum here yesterday.

Hormats called on Indian companies to voice support for a strong agreement that would provide them with the same protections for their investment in the US that American investors would receive in India.

?We in Government are doing our part so smart investors and corporations can continue to allocate capital, investments and people to their most productive ends.

?In order to make a robust BIT Agreement a reality, the business leaders from Mumbai and Manhattan ? perhaps even Delhi and Dallas, or Lucknow and Los Angeles ? must spearhead private sector advocacy for an agreement,? he said.

Hormats pointed out that creating a stronger US and global economy, with more jobs for Americans, is the foremost priority of the Obama Administration.

The state of the global economy still poses acute challenges and the Obama Administration remains focused on creating US jobs and help the American economy in growing faster.

?But job creation is not a zero-sum activity,? he said, adding that America will continue to focus on representing the interests of its citizens and businesses as they participate in the global economy.

?India looms large within our economic statecraft agenda. When American firms look to India, they see extraordinary promise, enviable demographics, and a business culture that celebrates innovation and entrepreneurialism. We all know the Indian economy has vast potential,? he said.

The challenges that India is seeing due to slowdown in its GDP growth, devaluation of the rupee and high inflation are surmountable, Hormats added.

He said the challenges underscore that steps toward fiscal consolidation like reducing subsidies are very important.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/international/article3935130.ece

Source: http://yourdailyupdateblog.com/archives/33188

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Cellular eavesdropping made easy

Public release date: 24-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sonia Furtado Neves
sonia.furtado@embl.de
European Molecular Biology Laboratory

New method for identifying and measuring secreted proteins over time

It is much harder to keep up with a conversation in a crowded bar than in a quiet little caf, but scientists wishing to eavesdrop on cells can now do so over the laboratory equivalent of a noisy room. A new method devised by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in collaboration with the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, provides a new approach for studying the proteins cells release to communicate with each other, react to changes, or even to help them move. Published online today in Nature Biotechnology, the work also opens new avenues for drug and biomarker screening.

Cells in the lab have to be fed, and the 'serum' used to feed them contains proteins many more proteins than the cells themselves secrete, or release into their environment. So for scientists attempting to eavesdrop on cells' conversations, it's like the cells are sitting in a room bustling with impenetrable chatter until now. The new method developed by Jeroen Krijgsveld and colleagues allows scientists to distinguish proteins secreted by the cells from those in their food. And as they can measure exactly how much of each protein the cells have released, at just 2-hour intervals, scientists can see how secretion changes over time, for instance in response to changes in the cells' environment.

The EMBL scientists coax cells into using an artificial amino acid instead of the methionine they would normally employ as one of the building blocks for their proteins. The researchers can then fish out the proteins released by the cells from the surrounding serum, using a technique called click chemistry. This does away with the need to starve cells, which was so far the most reliable way of being sure you were not 'counting' proteins from the serum. And this is an important development, as the new approach showed that starving cells, even just for a few hours, affects secretion.

The double advantage of not having to starve cells and being able to follow changes over time enabled Krijgsveld and colleagues to follow, for the first time, how white blood cells called macrophages which can't be grown without serum react to a component of bacteria to kick off a rapid immune response.

"There's much more for the community to explore," Krijgsveld says: "our method could be used to watch how cells react to drug treatments; or to search for biomarkers, like the proteins cancer cells release that help them invade tissues; or to see how secretion changes if cells are grown in 3D instead of on a regular Petri dish. We've really seen a great deal of interest already."

As well as continuing to investigate the intricacies of secretion, Krijgsveld's lab now plan to use their new approach to study how cancer cells respond to drugs.

###

The work was done in collaboration with Stephan Herzig at DKFZ.

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sonia Furtado Neves
sonia.furtado@embl.de
European Molecular Biology Laboratory

New method for identifying and measuring secreted proteins over time

It is much harder to keep up with a conversation in a crowded bar than in a quiet little caf, but scientists wishing to eavesdrop on cells can now do so over the laboratory equivalent of a noisy room. A new method devised by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in collaboration with the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, provides a new approach for studying the proteins cells release to communicate with each other, react to changes, or even to help them move. Published online today in Nature Biotechnology, the work also opens new avenues for drug and biomarker screening.

Cells in the lab have to be fed, and the 'serum' used to feed them contains proteins many more proteins than the cells themselves secrete, or release into their environment. So for scientists attempting to eavesdrop on cells' conversations, it's like the cells are sitting in a room bustling with impenetrable chatter until now. The new method developed by Jeroen Krijgsveld and colleagues allows scientists to distinguish proteins secreted by the cells from those in their food. And as they can measure exactly how much of each protein the cells have released, at just 2-hour intervals, scientists can see how secretion changes over time, for instance in response to changes in the cells' environment.

The EMBL scientists coax cells into using an artificial amino acid instead of the methionine they would normally employ as one of the building blocks for their proteins. The researchers can then fish out the proteins released by the cells from the surrounding serum, using a technique called click chemistry. This does away with the need to starve cells, which was so far the most reliable way of being sure you were not 'counting' proteins from the serum. And this is an important development, as the new approach showed that starving cells, even just for a few hours, affects secretion.

The double advantage of not having to starve cells and being able to follow changes over time enabled Krijgsveld and colleagues to follow, for the first time, how white blood cells called macrophages which can't be grown without serum react to a component of bacteria to kick off a rapid immune response.

"There's much more for the community to explore," Krijgsveld says: "our method could be used to watch how cells react to drug treatments; or to search for biomarkers, like the proteins cancer cells release that help them invade tissues; or to see how secretion changes if cells are grown in 3D instead of on a regular Petri dish. We've really seen a great deal of interest already."

As well as continuing to investigate the intricacies of secretion, Krijgsveld's lab now plan to use their new approach to study how cancer cells respond to drugs.

###

The work was done in collaboration with Stephan Herzig at DKFZ.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/embl-cem092412.php

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Emmy Awards 2012: 'Homeland' Dominates

'Modern Family' and 'Game Change' also win big at ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
By Amy Wilkinson

Damian Lewis of "Homeland" with his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1694288/emmys-2012-homeland.jhtml

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Small-Business Lessons From Harley-Davidson's Turnaround ...

This weekend, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how Harley-Davidson turned itself around using ?lean? manufacturing strategies. Lean, or just-in-time, manufacturing is the Toyota production system, which started with W. Edwards Deming and his work with statistical quality control. Whenever I see this kind of article about a large company, I think about how the thoughts and principles can be applied to the smaller companies I work with.

As I read this one, three things occurred to me.

1. The idea behind lean is to create capacity ? not to reduce employee headcount. In this case, Harley-Davidson reduced its headcount by more than 1,000 people using lean techniques. Harley-Davidson probably can do this just once. If it continues to use lean strategies to reduce headcount, it will see employee enthusiasm for the program wane.

People don?t want to see their jobs go, and they don?t want to see their friends? jobs go either. If the layoffs are an economic necessity, they can work. But you can only have so many economic emergencies before people say enough is enough.

My favorite use of lean is to create capacity for more business with the same headcount. I find that employees get excited and stay excited when more business comes into the company. If using lean techniques to make the company better allows for more job security through efficiencies, employees are all for it. If you cut employees in for a piece of the action through bonus programs, so much the better.

2. Installing lean in large companies is much different than installing lean in small ones. Large companies have lots of resources, both economic and human, that they can throw at arrangements like this. Small companies do not.

Still, I?m a big believer in lean activities in small companies. I?ve seen successful implementations increase profits by 50 percent or more. While large companies can afford to do more than one lean project at a time, the small company successes I?ve seen take it one step at a time.

3. Often, we see these activities led by those who have been through M.B.A. programs. The problem I often see with M.B.A.?s in smaller companies is that their educational training is for making positive changes in large companies. But those changes don?t always work in smaller companies with fewer resources. And an understanding of the strategies that do work in small companies is often totally foreign to those with advanced business degrees.

I?ve got nothing against M.B.A.?s. I?ve just come to believe that those with advanced degrees often need to have a complete reset in their beliefs about how successful change is done in a smaller company. Thankfully, there are several programs in the country that concentrate on small businesses.

I found this article very provocative. What do you think?

Josh Patrick is a founder and Principal at Stage 2 Planning Partners where he works with private business owners on wealth management issues.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/small-business-lessons-from-harley-davidsons-turnaround/

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Apple says more than 5 million iPhone 5s sold

FILE-In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, file photo, a staff member of Apple Inc. shows the iPhone 5 to customers at the Apple store in Hong Kong. Apple Inc. said Monday Sept. 24 2012, that it has sold more than 5 million units of the new iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, less than analysts had expected. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE-In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, file photo, a staff member of Apple Inc. shows the iPhone 5 to customers at the Apple store in Hong Kong. Apple Inc. said Monday Sept. 24 2012, that it has sold more than 5 million units of the new iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, less than analysts had expected. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE- In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, file photo, Noah Meloccaro, right, compares his older iPhone 4s to the new iPhone 5 held by Both Gatwech, outside the Apple Store in Omaha, Neb. Apple Inc. said Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, that it sold more than 5 million units of the iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, less than analysts had expected. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

FILE-In this Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, file photo, staff members of Apple Inc. welcome customers as the Apple store in Hong Kong started selling iPhone 5. Apple Inc. said Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, that it sold more than 5 million units of the iPhone 5 in the three days since its launch, less than analysts had expected. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple Inc. said Monday that it sold more than 5 million iPhone 5s in the three days since its launch, fewer than analysts had expected.

Apple shares fell $9.30, or 1.3 percent, to close at $690.79 on Monday. The shares hit an all-time high of $705.07 Friday as the phone went on sale in the U.S., Germany, France, Japan and five other countries.

The sales tally is a record for any phone, but it beats last year's iPhone 4S launch only by a small margin. Apple said then that it sold 4 million phones in the first three days.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White expected Apple to sell 6 million to 6.5 million iPhone 5s in the first three days. He said the shortfall was largely due to limited supply. White said the phone was sold out at 80 to 85 percent of the U.S. Apple stores he and his team contacted Sunday evening, and the ones that were still available were mostly Sprint models.

Online delivery times have stretched to three to four weeks.

The phone will go on sale in 22 more countries on Friday and in more than 100 countries by the end of the year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-09-24-TEC--Apple-iPhone%20Sales/id-8de8019e7c9d459d835b997cb4a6a3b8

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Facebook Groups...The New Online Dating Website

We all know that when it comes to Facebook and relationships, the two just don?t go together. Facebook has ended more relationships than Superhead did in the 90?s. In divorce proceedings facebook drama has been used as evidence. Facebook ruins lives, but it?s also beginning to enrich the lonely. I?ve realized that Facebook Groups are the new form of online dating. Join the right group and your social calendar will be filled like never before, hence a better way to meet people. The question I have is facebook dating equivalent to facebook breakups? If you allow facebook to hook you up is it easier for facebook to break you up?

I?m actually a member of a few facebook groups and I can honestly say I can see why it?s so easy for people to hook up. If you?re active in a particular group you sort of create a bond with a few members. Although you?ve probably never met most of them, you have a few that you can kick it with online. ?Based off of you pics, conversation and your relationship status the inbox pimpin begins. Now I ain?t against inbox pimpin?if anything it makes the work day go by faster, but I?ve seen and read the thirst and it amuses me. The thing about inbox pimpin is that if you?re being inboxed, imagine how many other women in the group getting the same messages from these men? Either way their messages may hit a spot and then the realness happens. Many people in these facebook groups decide to hang out on an individual basis away from the group. Now this is usually done in secret because ?they don?t want everyone all up in their business.? Now if things are cool in person that?s when the relationship starts. Either it?s a sexual one or one where they?re really trying to get to know one another outside of the internet.

A lot of these relationships turn out to be sexual ones because with all the freedom of speech in these groups, folks can tell who?s sexually frustrated and who?s not. If you exhibit frustration then chances are you will be accosted with offers of penis and whatnot. If it?s a genuine attraction then you never know what can come of it, but you also have to keep an open mind of where it possibly will not go. If you do end up in a relationship and things are beautiful then that?s wonderful. What happens if things end and you?re both still members in this group? Can you agree to FB group chat amicably? Should one person leave the group or should you both decide to leave? It can become very messy being in an open forum group with someone you had a relationship with, especially if it ended badly.

I?m not opposed to dating within Facebook, but at the same time you have to agree not to allow Facebook be the demise of your relationship. The people in these relationships allow social media *not only facebook* to ruin their relationships. Your relationship has to be stronger than the shit found on the internet. It?s so easy to get into messy shit on the internet, but you can control it if you choose to. So if you?re in search of something that can possibly fun then join one of these facebook groups. The main goal is to not expect much, but if you get something popping then enjoy it for what it is and just go with the flow. You never know where it might lead.

Holla at me: Have you ever started dating someone you met on Facebook? How did it go??

No comments yet.

Source: http://candydiaries.com/facebook-groups-the-online-dating-website/

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USC Football: Silas Redd Runs Over California As No. 13 Trojans Rebounds With 27-9 Win

LOS ANGELES ? Matt Barkley knew he wasn't exactly polishing his personal credentials while Southern California grinded out a win with its dominant defense and a steady running game.

Nobody wins the Heisman by handing off, after all.

The star quarterback wasn't thinking about his own trophy case, though, while getting the Trojans back on track for much more important rewards.

Barkley passed for 192 yards and threw two touchdown passes to Marqise Lee, and No. 13 USC bounced back from its first defeat with a 27-9 victory over California on Saturday.

Lee had 11 catches for 94 yards, Silas Redd rushed for 158 yards and a score and the Trojans (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) methodically rolled to their ninth consecutive win over the Golden Bears (1-3, 0-1) in the schools' 100th meeting.

"I'm not looking out every week to get stats or get a flashy game," said Barkley, who threw two interceptions for the second straight week. "I think we left a lot of points on the field ... but we were moving the ball today. If defenses are going to stay back, play a cover-2 shell and force us to run, that's what we've got to do."

Did they ever: Curtis McNeal rushed 115 yards for the Trojans, giving them two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since 2008. USC's defense also dominated, holding Cal to 250 total yards and sacking Zach Maynard seven times.

A week after the preseason No. 1 team got shut out in the second half of a 21-14 loss at Stanford, USC drained any lingering suspense from this matchup with a methodical 75-yard drive that consumed more than half of the fourth quarter, capped by Lee's 3-yard TD catch with 5:56 to play.

"I was surprised, because they didn't have a running attack the previous game, and the previous game before that," Cal cornerback Steve Williams said. "They came out here and pounded the ball."

Barkley, meanwhile, struggled to find All-American receiver Robert Woods, who had only five catches for 30 yards.

Yet Barkley still went 22 for 34 and kept the Trojans moving on several long drives. Center Khaled Holmes' return to the lineup undoubtedly helped, although the senior limped off the field again in the fourth quarter.

"Obviously, it's not as fun," USC coach Lane Kiffin said of his workmanlike game plan. "It's fun winning 50-0, but that doesn't happen every week. Throwing the ball so much earlier in the year ... people are trying to take (Lee) and (Woods) out of the game."

Keenan Allen had nine catches for 93 yards for the Bears, who couldn't get into the Coliseum end zone. Maynard struggled to 173 yards passing with two interceptions, failing to build on a solid effort last week in Cal's narrow loss at Ohio State.

The Bears' three touted tailbacks combined for just 75 yards rushing on 17 attempts. At least kicker Vincenzo D'Amato shook off last week's struggles at Ohio State to hit three field goals for Cal.

"It's very discouraging," Allen said. "(Finishing drives) is something we talk about all week, and it's something we have to work on. You can't win a game with field goals."

Cal coach Jeff Tedford has never won at the Coliseum, and the Bears haven't beaten USC since their memorable triple-overtime win in Strawberry Canyon in 2003. Cal lost its conference opener for the fourth straight season.

"The defense made its share of plays, got some turnovers, but also let some big plays get by," Tedford said.

Stanford shut out USC for the final 41 minutes last week, but the Trojans marched straight downfield against Cal before Barkley threw an end-zone interception to Williams. They ended their scoring drought on their next drive with Redd's 33-yard TD run, the former Penn State star's fourth score in four games at USC.

"We hit them in the mouth from the first snap, and we didn't try to let our foot off the pedal," Redd said.

D'Amato, who missed three field goal attempts in Columbus last week, missed an early 35-yard try at the Coliseum, but hit his second attempt.

USC appeared to be in position to take control after Lee's TD catch capped a sharp drive early in the second quarter, but Barkley threw his second interception on a tipped pass deep in Cal territory shortly before halftime. The Trojans added a late field goal for a 17-3 lead ? not much considering they outgained Cal 300-98.

Cal pulled within 17-9 midway through the third quarter, and McNeal's fumble led to a drive deep into USC territory ? but Cal burned two timeouts on the drive before T.J. McDonald picked off Maynard's throw at the 7. After Andre Heidari made his second field goal and the USC defense forced another three-and-out, the Trojans embarked on their clock-consuming drive.

"I think it's great the way we bounced back," Barkley said. "We shut out what people were saying about us."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/22/usc-football-trojans-silas-redd-cal_n_1906618.html

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