birdying markkaa: 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

State Dept. warns Americans about Haiti travel

9 hrs.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON --?The State Department has issued a revised Haiti travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Caribbean island nation about robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.

"U.S. citizens have been victims of violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, predominantly in the Port-au-Prince area. No one is safe from kidnapping, regardless of occupation, nationality, race, gender or age," the department said.

The new travel warning was released Friday to replace a less strongly worded advisory issued in June.

In recent months, travelers arriving in Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city, on flights from the United States have been attacked and robbed after leaving the airport. This year, at least two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in robbery and kidnapping incidents, the State Department said.

"Haitian authorities have limited capacity to deter or investigate such violent acts or prosecute perpetrators," the department said.

The State Department also noted that while the incidents of cholera have declined, the disease persists in many areas of Haiti. Medical facilities, including ambulance services, are particularly weak.

"Thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Haiti each year, but the poor state of Haiti's emergency response network should be carefully considered when planning travel. Travelers to Haiti are encouraged to use organizations that have solid infrastructure, evacuation and medical support options in place," the department said.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/state-dept-warns-americans-about-haiti-travel-1C7782788

us supreme court breaking dawn part 2 trailer mississippi state chris carpenter chris carpenter dick cheney hcg drops

Councillor Gary Malcolm: My New Year's Message for Ealing

With the Olympics, this year has generally been more positive compared to the sad event of the Ealing riots in 2011. I was lucky enough to attend a number of the Olympic and Paralympic events. They personally have inspired me to take up two new sports - tennis and fencing.

In my local park (Southfield Recreation Grounds) a tennis league takes place every 6 weeks where you pay ?10 and play each person, of varying standards, over the 6 week period. The winner is the one who gets the most points. It is really fun and if anyone wants to know more please tweet me at: @CllrGaryMalcolm

The Council needs to remind people of the many good facilities such as parks we have around the borough. Only if we can get more kids playing sports can we win more medals as well as keeping us all healthier.

Myself and many others have spent more time in the variety of restaurants and shops in Ealing to help support local businesses in the post riot time where many insurers seemed not willing to pay the shopkeepers the insurance they said they were entitled to.

In 2013 the Liberal Democrats hope that some proper work on a new cinema will take place. Ealing hungers for a new cinema and we should not have had to wait this long.

We have also been fighting to ensure that our local hospitals and fire stations can be protected from being downgraded. These vital services are not ones that can be taken away without any harm being caused to Ealing's residents.

Over the past year a theme has been the dirty streets in Ealing caused by the poor management of Enterprise. My postbag mainly contained emails and communications from residents aggrieved about this matter. People feel ashamed that their streets are so dirty.

Some of the decisions taken by Ealing Council's administration have not to me been focussed on protecting our most vulnerable residents. How much or little money a Council has it needs to look at how it can protect the elderly, those with disabilities and the many community services that Ealing residents use. The Liberal Democrats will continue to stand up for these in 2013. We are clear this is one area which the administration needs to be reminded about.

Despite a number of disappointments this year in Ealing the Olympics has given many people a positive spirit which we must build on.

I wish everyone a great New Year.

Source: http://garymalcolm.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-new-years-message-for-ealing.html

green party day 26 new hunger games trailer sasquatch david choe national wear red day gunner kiel

Just How Bad Was Obama's Fiscal Game?

Even as the United States found itself poised to go over the fiscal cliff on New Year's Eve, a deal was emerging ? and liberals did not particularly like it. It's not that President Obama compromised on tax rates ? though they didn't like that either ? it's that he compromised on tax rates after?he insisted he wouldn't compromise on tax rates. The deal being hammered out in the Senate reportedly would extend the Bush tax cuts for income under $450,000 ? instead of the $250,000 Democrats have long wanted ? and estates worth more than $5 million will be taxed at 40 percent. Unemployment benefits would be extended, but Social Security cuts appear to be off the table for now. Here's why liberals ? including a former member of Obama's economic team ? think Obama's got no game.

RELATED: With Muted Enthusiasm, CEOs Tell Obama They'll Pay Higher Taxes

Team Cave: The Roster, and the Complaints

RELATED: Five Best Monday Columns

Jared Bernstein, former member of Obama's economic team.?Compromise is expected, he writes, but wealthier people will get the smallest tax hike Obama's offered ? including during the debt limit fight in the summer of 2011.

The thing that worried me most in the endgame is that the WH would be so intent on a deal that they?d lock in too few revenues with no path back to the revenue well, and that they?d leave the debt ceiling hanging out there...

Those fears will be realized unless the President really and truly refuses to negotiate on the debt ceiling and is willing to blow past those who would stage a strategic default.? If he is not, and if this cliff deal passes, then I fear the WH may have squandered its hard won leverage.

New York's Jonathan Chait. Obama is revealing horrifyingly bad negotiating skills, Chait says, by agreeing to letting the Bush tax cuts expire on income over $450,000, instead of $250,000, which he campaigned on.

"[T]the tax cuts are the one area where [Obama] enjoys overwhelming leverage over the Republicans. Their only threat is to block extension of tax cuts on income under $250,000, a wildly unpopular stance countless Republicans have acknowledged they could not sustain for long without courting an enormous public backlash. This is the hand where Obama needed to collect all the chips.?Instead he is allowing Republicans to whittle down the sum by essentially threatening to shoot themselves in the head."

Obama only encouraged Republicans to play chicken with the debt limit in a few months: "Obama may think his conciliatory approach has helped avoid economic chaos. Instead, he is courting it."?In a followup post, Chait says new details of the reported compromise make it seem "less bad." He says, "What we have now is a spectrum of outcomes that will play itself out over the next few months, ranging from 'okay' to 'terrible.'"

RELATED: The 'Fiscal Cliff' Isn't Just a Game Anymore

The New York Times' Paul Krugman. Krugman calls Obama the "Conceder in Chief?" He sees "a bad and upsetting deal but not as terrible as initial rumors had it."?There were no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. But Obama traded $150 billion or so in taxes on the wealthy for unemployment benefits being extended for a year and other spending provisions. The worst part, Krugman says, is that Obama revealed he will cave on what he wants most. "[W]henever the president says that there?s an issue on which he absolutely, positively won?t give ground, you can count on him, you know, giving way ? and soon, too."

RELATED: John Boehner's Chart Takes on America

Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin.?Harkin said on the Senate Floor?Monday, "As I see this thing developing, as I have said, no deal is better than a bad deal... and this is a very bad deal, the way things are shaping up."?

RELATED: Obama Says He'll Veto Boehner's Plan B

The New Republic's Noam Scheiber. Schieber says he actually hates the reported compromise.?"I think the president made a huge mistake by negotiating over what he?d previously said was non-negotiable," Schieber says, referring to the Bush tax cuts. "If Obama will cave even when he?s got all the leverage, when won?t he cave? Never, the Republicans will assume."

The New Republic's Timothy Noah goes further: "Kill this deal."

At Lawyers, Guns & Money, Scott Lemieux writes, "As always, it?s not that I'm opposed to any possible deal that makes concessions on tax rates, but I'm certainly opposed to concessions when the Republicans aren't?actually offering much of anything?in return."

...and the White House's Case

The Washington Post's Greg Sargent writes that the White House thinks Republicans might not be as willing to give on tax rates after we go over the cliff as some liberals predicted.

And so, the idea is that it?s better to lock in a deal on rates now, at, say, $450,000, extend unemployment benefits, and pocket those gains and continue the fight next year. Raising the income threshold is obviously not desirable, but Dems will have broken the decades-long GOP opposition to raising tax rates on the rich, pocketed hundreds of billions in revenues, made the tax code more progressive, and extended unemployment benefits ? all without agreeing to any spending cuts yet...

Republicans will use the debt ceiling to extract spending cuts, but Dems might counter by demanding more revenues via tax reform that closes loopholes and deductions for the wealthy.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/just-bad-obamas-fiscal-game-215658330.html

tim gunn tim gunn built to last obama state of the union address 2012 mitt romney tax return flip saunders academy award nominations

Sunday, December 30, 2012

McNeill tornado relief stops taking clothing gifts

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

Source: http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20121229/NEWS01/121229005/1002/rss

willis mcgahee willis mcgahee ship aground off italy nfl playoff schedule 2012 nfl live saints vs 49ers vanessa marcil

cocorosco: 2headedsnake: Matt Larson oil painting that?s an...

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

Source: http://realhorrorshowptitsa.tumblr.com/post/39162853774

president day lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek sturgis

French panel overturns 75 percent tax on ultrarich

PARIS (AP) ? Embattled French President Francois Hollande suffered a fresh setback Saturday when France's highest court threw out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75 percent rate, saying it was unfair.

In a stinging rebuke to one of Socialist Hollande's flagship campaign promises, the constitutional council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was unconstitutional. It was intended to hit incomes over ?1 million ($1.32 million).

The largely symbolic measure would have only hit a tiny number of taxpayers and brought in an estimated ?100 million to ?300 million - an insignificant amount in the context of France's roughtly ?85 billion deficit.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was quick to respond, saying in a statement following the decision the government would resubmit the measure to take the court's concerns into account. The court's ruling took issue not with the size of the tax, but with the way it discriminated between households depending on how incomes were distributed among its members. A household with two earners each making under ?1 million would be exempt from the tax, while one with one earner making ?1.2 million would have to pay.

The French government approved the tax in its most recent budget, amid criticism by some that it would do little to stem the country's mounting fiscal problems and would drive away the wealthiest citizens. Hollande's popularity, meanwhile, has been tanking as the country's unemployment continued its rise for the 19th straight month.

In recent weeks, Gerard Depardieu ? France's most famous actor ? announced his intention to turn in his French passport and move to a village in a tax-friendly Belgium.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-29-France-Taxing%20the%20Rich/id-d468b6e529bc4b9b864961ecc16f6f3a

powerball results pebble beach golf beverly hilton roland martin whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Suspected U.S. drone kills three al-Qaida militants in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Three al-Qaida militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni security officials said, the fourth such attack this week and a sign attacks from unmanned aircraft are on the upswing in the country.

The officials said the three men were hit as they were riding in a Land Cruiser in el-Manaseh village on the outskirts of Radda in Bayda province. Dozens of local al-Qaida-linked fighters protested the drone strikes after traditional Islamic Friday prayers.

Earlier this week another suspected U.S. drone strike killed two militants in Radda itself, Yemeni security officials say, and seven were killed in two other strikes in the southeastern province of Hadramawt. Four suspected drone strikes a week is uncommon in Yemen.

According to statistics gathered by the Long War Journal before Saturday's attacks, the United States "is known to have carried out 41 airstrikes" this year against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the group's branch in Yemen is known. That makes for an average of around three to four strikes per month.

The Journal, a product of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies that was founded by former U.S. officials, says that since December 2009, the CIA and the US military's Joint Special Operations Command are known to have conducted at least 54 air and missile strikes inside Yemen, excluding Saturday's suspected attack.

AQAP overran entire towns and villages ? including Radda ? last year by taking advantage of a security lapse during nationwide protests that eventually ousted the country's longtime ruler. Backed by the U.S. military, Yemen's army was able to regain control of the southern region but al-Qaida militants continue to launch deadly attacks on security forces that have killed hundreds.

Also on Saturday, two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed an intelligence officer in the southeast, security officials said. They said that the officer, Mutea Baqutian, was on his way to work in Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, when the men stopped his car, gunned him down, and fled.

The government has blamed al-Qaida militants for similar assassinations of several senior military and intelligence officials this year. The bullet-riddled body of Major al-Numeiry Abdo al-Oudi, deputy director of the security department of al-Qitten in Hadramawt, was found in the town's suburbs last week. He had been kidnapped earlier in the month.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Seif, who is commander of Yemen's central military region, said the Defense Ministry has deployed an infantry brigade in the northeastern province of Marib to stop armed tribesmen who maintain cordial ties with al-Qaida from attacking oil pipelines and power generating stations, as well as to counter al-Qaida militants.

State TV meanwhile aired a meeting between President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and eight Yemeni sailors who were rescued last week by forces of Somalia's semiautonomous Puntland region after being held for nearly three years by Somali pirates.

The Puntland government says that its forces captured the hijacked Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1 on Sunday after a siege that lasted two weeks. They freed the eight Yemeni sailors together with five Indians, two Pakistanis, four Ghanaians, two Sudanese and a Filipino. The ship was hijacked March 29, 2010.

Hadi congratulated the eight sailors for their safety and ordered the government to compensate them for their suffering.

Eqbal Yassin, a relative of one of the freed sailors, told The Associated Press that the hijackers had allowed some sailors to phone their relatives and convey the pirates' demand for $5 million ransom. He said he was told by his relative that the hijackers killed a Yemeni sailor who tried to escape. He gave no further details.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspected-us-drone-kills-3-al-qaida-men-205946910.html

andrew breitbart red wings penguins the band colton dixon houston weather dwyane wade

Grow Tents - To Have What You Dont!

For enthusiastic gardeners and plant growers, many a time they are faced with a daunting task of not being able to grow something which they would want to because the environment conditions are not right. This is where Grow Tents come handy!

Grow tents are special types of tents which are artificially built, complete with the right kind of environment to grow any kind of plant. The biggest advantage of having a grow tent is the fact that it functions without the need for soil. They are inexpensive and can be sold at a much higher price than in what they were assembled. As a result of it, many people are now switching over to manufacturing this Grow Tent and then selling them.
Here are some of the biggest advantages of having a grow tent over a grow box:

Very reasonably priced

Easy to manufacture

Coat of production is really very measly

A very effective, efficient and an easy method to grow plants faster

Ideal for small places and where there is lack of space.

Since they utilize the Hydroponic Systems, there are no hassles of getting the right kind of soil and the requisite nutrients. Hydroponic systems will be explained later on in the article.

Hydroponic systems allow the grower to manage different aspects of growing environment. It is easier to control humidity and also other growth factors like nutrients.

The plants tend to grow faster in a hydroponic system because of the artificial and scientific means of growing the plants.

There are different kinds of sizes available which makes it much easier to choose any kind of grow tent.

One of the major advantages of having a grow tent is the use of hydroponics. This system does not utilize any kind of soil and hence it makes the entire system very less messy. As a matter of fact, the method is not a new one and has been in use since ancient times like in the times of the Mayans, the Aztecs etc.

The quality of the plants produced with the help of this system is also much better because of the nutrients that are injected in the system. The use of hydroponics has made it much easier for the gardeners and enthusiasts to grow any plants they want in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. These plants which are grown are healthy, have fresh vegetables and are full of nutrients which make them a favorite with organic growers and users. They are superior in size, color and taste as well. Additionally, there is another advantage; people can grow off-season fruits and vegetables using the Hydroponic Systems.

About the Author:
Andrew Paul is writer who is specializes in writing on hydroponics, hydroponic systems, grow tents, water butts and many more. If you are searching grow tents for indoor gardening, visit at grosupplies.com.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Grow-Tents---To-Have-What-You-Don---t-/4352567

blue moon ann romney marco rubio marco rubio farrah abraham Paul Ryan Speech chris cooley

Friday, December 28, 2012

Patio Heater To Heat Your Outdoor Spaces | HideAHorse, a division ...

There are many homeowners who don?t like cold weather because it prevents them from enjoying their outdoor spaces. Cold weather months are usually the time when patios or outdoor decks are most neglected. If you live in a location that experiences cold weather but like the idea of having the option to enjoy your home?s outdoor spaces, then you can find heating solutions that can keep you from getting cold. You can find great and credible patio heater units that can heat up a space, even if it is exposed to the cold air. You can enjoy your time outdoors without worrying about catching a cold by using these outdoor heaters. These outdoor heaters provide a great solution if you want to extend the area where you can entertain when you have guests over, ensuring that they can step out and keep warm in the cold weather.

There are companies that can provide you with great outdoor heater options that you can choose from. One resource is the Heater website, which features a variety of heater models that you can use, including outdoor heaters that will be perfect for your home. The company features outdoor heating solutions from Heat Storm, a leading heater manufacturing company. You can easily mount the outdoor heater units offered by the company because they come with mounting brackets that you can install on your wall. You also have the option to use an adjustable stand instead of mounting the heater, giving you more freedom to move the heater around to the spots where heat is needed the most. So, you have the option to store the heater inside your home during the warmer months as well. You can even use the heater unit indoors, since you can easily bring it with you to any room in your house. The heat projected by the heater unit can vary depending on the location, with a coverage of 50 square feet outdoors and 650 square feet indoors. The heater unit is powered by electricity, so you can just easily plug it in when in use.

You can also find other heater model options offered by the company. You might want to browse this site, Heater, to easily view the various heater models on offer, aside from outdoor heaters. If you think it?s costly to install a centralized heating system in your home, then you should consider getting space heater units for the specific rooms that you frequent. You need to consider what type of heat source you prefer when choosing space heaters, with options that are powered by wood, pellet or electricity, as well as models that can run on more than one type of fuel.

Source: http://hideahorsefoldingsawhorses.com/2012/12/28/patio-heater-to-heat-your-outdoor-spaces/

target walmart nfl nfl best buy sears Aeropostale

Professor Romney? Predicting the 2012 Republican Nominee's Future (Atlantic Politics Channel)

Share With Friends:

| Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273592742?client_source=feed&format=rss

stations of the cross nike foamposite galaxy bill maher seabiscuit dingo nba all star weekend malin akerman

A Look At Simple Information Regarding Web Design ...

Very much continues to be written about precisely how vital search engine optimization is for any business. In the increasingly competitive on line program, google search suppliers provide the required methods to keep up the edge required by small businesses to remain at the top. Please take a look at: soizastudios.com/seo for more information around Search engine marketing best procedures.

The benefit of Website positioning gives any organization is significant, as it forms the particular reputation of any organization. Create its capability to bring businesses closer to his or her target clients which is a crucial software for online business marketing and advertising. Establishing and looking after a web-based blog is really a major promotional tool for virtually any small business. Refining site features so that they communicate to produce internet sites rank in significant to search engines. Search engine marketing helps small businesses introduce and then leave their own tag on purchasers. The lack of Website seo will make any site an empty covering with no actual objective.

SEO providers present different advertisments that businesses are able to use to further improve its field of vision. Additionally, it delivers start-up businesses with a necessary bonus with out taking a lot of through the home business budget. Its capability of rendering and hassle-free set up approach helps it be a priceless world-wide-web advantage to assist. Creating online track record without the need of SEO will make it hard for your company to meet its objectives. Your time and effort come in useless and you?re solely wasting your point in time, funds, and sources. Search engine optimization may be the spinal column of any webpage, as without it, the web site may have challenge keeping profitable.

SEO encourages knowing of the business? model. It will help companies continue being inside the attention of their customers. It helps keep old clients whilst looking after a new one. Any business recognizes that far more to draw in customers an individual has to sell. In addition they understand that it really is substantially expensive to construct their own Search engine optimization company made from scratch. Without correct teaching, businesses could wind up over spending for weak hands final results. Outsourcing Search engine optimization permits small businesses to focus on their main functions.

Keeping the text of internet business to the customer by way of customer support is an additional vital Search engine optimization advantage. You don?t have to worry about ever losing communication along with your buyers. Search engine optimisation might still make sure your visitors will get you on the world wide web. This really is regardless of how deeply your enterprise is hidden inside the seashore of growing fresh market contenders.

Esta entrada foi publicada em Uncategorized. Guardar nos favoritos o link permanente. ou deixar um trackback: URL de Trackback.

Source: http://feldspato.monchique.info/uncategorized/a-look-at-simple-information-regarding-web-design/

winning mega million numbers bruce weber boston globe google maps 8 bit mirror mirror robyn texas relays

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Almanac Online : Second act for M-A performing arts center

Menlo Park may turn to an outside partner to get the most out of the city's $2.6 million investment in the Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center (PAC).

Catherine Carlton, who served on the Parks and Recreation Commission before winning a seat on the City Council this November, said her research into Bay Area event venues uncovered a local connection -- Eric Lochtefeld, who owns the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, grew up in Menlo Park and attended Menlo-Atherton High School.

A potential partnership resulted from their conversation: With 492 seats, the PAC offers a mid-sized venue that fills a gap in Mr. Lochtefeld's business, while he has the expertise to refer performers to the PAC as well as handle promotions and ticket sales, according to Ms. Carlton. The center could also provide a rehearsal space for Broadway by the Bay performers, giving students a chance to learn alongside theater professionals.

"Some of the really big promoters won't necessarily be a good fit, since Fox handles the administration and they already have really tight connections with groups like Ticketmaster. But for some independent acts, comedians and things like that, then this is the appropriate fit," Ms. Carlton said, noting that specific details of any arrangement have yet to be worked out.

Mr. Lochtefeld said he's turned down offers from other cities to take over their venues because the company has its hands full hosting 150 events a year at the Fox, but he has a soft spot for his hometown. "My wife and I cannot assure the City of Menlo Park that promoters we refer will book shows or that we will promote and produce our own shows in Menlo Park, but Cat has done a terrific job of paying attention to what is going on, reaching out to us, and laying the foundation for us to do business in that venue," he said in an email.

Menlo Park shared the cost of building the center with Menlo-Atherton High School in exchange for 55 days of rent-free use during the school year, and unlimited access during school vacations. But as the Almanac previously reported, the city only averages between 11 and 36 days of use per year since the theater opened in 2009.

In 2011 the city briefly experimented with another agency, Prime Time Entertainment, to provide sound equipment, event coordination, and staffing. But the association fell apart without sufficient marketing by the city and a dearth of available PAC dates.

Scheduling remains challenging. "We had one opportunity come up already, but it conflicted with a school event so we couldn't do anything with it," Ms. Carlton said. Still, a new manager in charge of scheduling onboard at the PAC may help, and the school is also trying to publish its schedule earlier so the city can plan its own use.

To help address the issue of costs, in October the city announced a new grants program to award $500 to $1,000 each year to up to five community groups to subsidize rental of the theater. Staff has recommended that the first round of grants go to the Menlo Park Chorus; Kepler's Arts/Lectures, the new nonprofit events arm of the iconic local bookstore; Menlowe Ballet; Western Ballet; and West Bay Opera. The Parks and Recreation Commission was scheduled to vote on the recipients on Dec. 19, but did not have a quorum, according to Commissioner James Cebrian.

He sounded enthusiastic about potentially working with the Fox Theatre, saying the commission has been exploring public-private partnerships. "Though it is early in the process, I am very optimistic that Cat's work to bring the Fox Theatre and the city together will result in a fruitful collaboration."

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.

Source: http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=12767

red hook romney tax return the tree of life movie academy award nominees 2012 2012 oscar nominations kyle williams florida debate

Texas officer who ended '66 UT sniper rampage dies

AAA??Dec. 27, 2012?7:57 PM ET
Texas officer who ended '66 UT sniper rampage dies
By PAUL J. WEBERBy PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press?

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 1966 file photo, from left, Allen Crum, university co-op employee; Austin policemen Ramiro Martinez, Houston McCoy and Jerry Day, the four men who braved the deadly accurate sniper fire by Charles Joseph Whitman from the University of Texas tower, meet with newsmen in Austin, Texas. McCoy, the Austin police officer who fired two blasts from his shotgun to bring down Whitman, has died. (AP Photo/Ted Powers, File)

Houston McCoy, in a 2008 file photo, the Austin police officer who stopped University of Texas Tower sniper Charles Whitman more than 46 years ago, died in a rest home in his hometown of Menard. He was 72. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Kelly West) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; INTERNET AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM

In this April 21, 2010 photo provided by the Austin Police Department, retired APD officer Houston McCoy, left, poses with police chief Art Acevedo, right, in Austin, Texas. McCoy, the Austin police officer who helped stop Charles Whitman's 1966 sniper rampage from atop the University of Texas tower, has died. He was 72. (AP Photo/Austin Police Department, File)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? The Austin police officer who helped stop Charles Whitman's 1966 sniper rampage from atop the University of Texas tower has died.

Houston McCoy fired two blasts from his shotgun to bring down Whitman, who killed 16 people during nearly two hours of terror on the UT campus. Wayne Vincent, president of the Austin Police Association, said McCoy died Thursday in the rural West Texas town of Menard.

McCoy was 72 and had been battling a terminal illness for the past year.

Whitman wounded dozens of others before McCoy and fellow officer Ramiro Martinez made their way to the observation deck. Martinez also fired on Whitman.

Vincent called McCoy a good police officer who "answered the call" unsure whether he would live upon reaching the top of the tower.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-27-US-Obit-Tower-Sniper-Shooter/id-0990ed676c3e4f37895103b30f9a0776

acm awards 2012 january jones ncaa final game reba mcentire acm awards the killing april fools

Andrew Solomon defies conventional wisdom in "Far From the Tree"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In his latest book "Far From the Tree," National Book Award winner Andrew Solomon turns the conventional wisdom that children are composites of their parents on its head, but says that is not a bad thing.

In the 700-page tome that explores the lives of families with children with conditions ranging from autism to deafness, Solomon says having a child is an act of production rather than reproduction that "abruptly catapults us into a permanent relationship with a stranger."

Though the book focuses on how families cope with more extreme forms of difference, Solomon, 49, believes that encountering unexpected traits in one's child is a universal part of parenthood.

"I have yet to meet anyone as a parent who has not from time to time looked at their child and said, ?Where did you come from?'" he said in an interview.

The book seems to have struck a chord. "Far From the Tree" is a top selling book and has garnered praise from critics.

Writing for The New Yorker, Nathan Heller called it "a careful, subtle, and surprising book," while the New York Times Book Review wrote, "This is a book that shoots arrow after arrow into your heart."

The book, which includes 10 years' worth of interviews with families and relevant research, is divided into chapters that are devoted to conditions such as dwarfism, transgender and schizophrenia.

Solomon said what unites the diverse collection of conditions covered in his book is that each one often results in isolation for the child and confusion and resentment for parents.

"Intellectually, the difficult part was trying to understand the ways in which these very differences had something in common, and coming up with the underlying idea of the book, which is that these individual differences are isolating, but taken together they're unifying," he said.

Solomon uses his own experience growing up as a dyslexic homosexual, two qualities that set him apart from his parents and were viewed as flaws by most, to frame the travails of the families in his book. He cautions against viewing the conditions he writes about solely as problems that need to be fixed or eliminated.

"We have to recognize that this thing (homosexuality) so universally described as an illness just 50 years ago could now largely be accepted as an identity ... We should be awake to the idea that what seems obviously to be an illness today may seem very different 50 years from now," he said.

Solomon noted the strong deaf culture that has grown among deaf people, and predicted that transgendered people and high-functioning autistic people would both gain increased acceptance over the next several decades.

Regardless of whether a trait is viewed as an illness or an identity, he believes that the goal should be to improve the life conditions and minimize suffering for the types of families featured in "Far From the Tree."

Solomon said the happiest families he interviewed were ones that were able to move past anger and frustration about their child's condition to accept their child and find meaning in challenges.

"The families that had looked at these experiences and acknowledged how unbelievably difficult they are and how painful they can be but nonetheless have found meaning of the experience were the ones that were doing better," he said.

"I was amazed by the way that for many of these families that experiencing difficulty had intensified rather than undermined parental love."

(Reporting By Andrea Burzynski; editing by Patricia Reaney and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/andrew-solomon-defies-conventional-wisdom-far-tree-160818367.html

Hurricane Sandy new jersey atlantic city ocean city maryland Nexus 7 KDKA Pumpkin Carving Ideas

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Gun Rights Support Runs Far Deeper Than Politics

BRYAN, Texas -- Adam Lanza's mother was among the tens of millions of U.S. gun owners. She legally had a .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle and a pair of handguns, which her 20-year-old son used to kill 20 children and six adults in 10 minutes inside a Connecticut school.

In the raw aftermath of the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history, countless gun enthusiasts much like Lanza's mother complicate a gun-owning narrative that critics, sometimes simplistically, put at the feet of a powerful lobby and caricatured zealots. More civilians are armed in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, with Yemen coming in a distant second, according to the independent Small Arms Survey in Geneva.

Take Blake Smith, a mechanical engineer who lives near Houston and uses an AR-15 style rifle in shooting competitions.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who famously claimed to have shot a coyote while jogging with a pistol holstered to his running shorts, has signed a half-dozen certificates applauding Smith as one of the state's top marksmen. "But I won't call myself a fanatic," said Smith, 54, whose father first let him handle a gun around age 6.

"I sit at a desk all day. And when I get out to the range, I don't hear any gunfire going on," said Smith, who likens his emotional detachment to his guns to the way he would feel about a car or any other machine. "I'm so intent on my sight alignment, my trigger pull, my position. I don't worry about anything. I don't think about anything. It's relieving. It's therapeutic. Everybody has to have their Zen."

Since the school shooting, President Barack Obama has asked for proposals on reducing gun violence that he can take to Congress in January, and he called on the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun-rights organization, to join the effort.

Gun laws in the U.S. vary from state to state ? for instance, as of last month it is now legal to carry a gun in public view in Oklahoma ? and are defended by the firearms industry and the NRA. On Friday, the NRA broke a weeklong silence since the Connecticut massacre by calling for armed volunteers at public schools, prompting criticism from many quarters.

But in the U.S., gun-control advocates are up against a sizeable bloc of mainstream Americans for whom guns are central to their lives, whether for patriotism or personal sense of safety, or simply to occupy their spare time.

Dave Burdett, who owns an outdoors and adventure shop across the street from the sprawling Texas A&M University campus in College Station, says his affinity for guns is rooted in history, not sport.

"It isn't about hunting. Everyone says, `Well, I can understand having a sporting rifle, but not an AR-15," Burdett said. "But wait a second ? the idea of the Second Amendment was to preserve and protect the rights of individuals to have those guns."

"Remember that the (American) revolution was fought by citizen soldiers," he added. "To this day, that's one of the cornerstones of our military defense. We have an all-volunteer military."

An NRA poster picturing a bald eagle is taped to the glass door of his office. He started as a lawyer, dabbling in everything from commercial land to trying to block the deportation of an illegal immigrant, before seguing into selling guns.

When his daughter graduated with a business degree from Texas A&M, Burdett figured she would move somewhere cosmopolitan like Dallas and work in a downtown high-rise. She instead went to work in the store, built her own AR-15 out of spare parts and used it to join what her father described as the "let's-go-pig-hunting-tonight circuit." Those feral hog hunts often include high-powered rifles as well as night-vision goggles.

"The other thing is, shooting is fun. It really is," Burdett said.

Many think so. Smith, the mechanical engineer, said that includes teenage girls. At national shooting competitions, Smith has run into a group of girls around 13 or 14 years old who call themselves "The Pink Ladies," firing high-powered rifles at targets. He also recalls meeting Australians, whose country bans guns, who told him, "I love to shoot, so I'm going to the U.S."

Others add safety to the list of reasons for allowing people easy access to guns.

"To me it's obvious ? the more people that have guns, or at least in their homes, it's more of a criminal deterrent," said Bill Moos, a local taxidermist in the small town of Bryan, near College Station. Moos, who owns more than 30 guns, can be spotted any given morning, prowling his roughly 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch with his dogs and a shotgun slung over his shoulder.

He tells a story of standing in the post office one day and hearing about a suspect driving around, wanted by the police. He thought of the woman behind the counter near him.

"My first thought was, `How are you going to protect yourself?' Does she have a gun, in case someone tries to rob her?" he said. "It's the first thing you think of: How are you going to defend yourself?"

On the television in the corner of his workshop, above a stuffed gray fox and a clutch of animal jawbones dangling on a ring like a set of keys, Obama is holding his first press conference since the Connecticut tragedy. He's promising to send Congress legislation tightening gun laws and urging them to reinstate a ban on military-style assault weapons, like the one used by Lanza.

Moos turns down the volume.

"I guess it's something you get used to," he said of guns. "That you grow up around, and you enjoy them, and you accept the fact that you can own. It's a privilege. It's a whole different way of life. I guess I don't need three pick-ups and a Corvette. But I have them."

___

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/25/gun-rights-support-_n_2362556.html

eli whitney blake griffin dunk on kendrick perkins kendrick perkins steve jones emily maynard kola boof burmese python

Taking Care of Pets Through Legal Documents - Keystone Elder Law

Dec 26, 2012 ?|? Post by: alison

As you are enjoying the holidays with your family and beginning to think of the future, do not forget about your furry family members and how they will be taken care of when you pass away. When creating a last will and testament, a lot of people do not realize or forget that they need to provide for their pets. A great way to accomplish this is to create a pet trust. This trust can be a testamentary trust, a trust that it is in your last will and testament and does not come into effect until after you have passed away, or you can put pet provisions in a living trust, a trust that is created and effective during your life.

Pennsylvania allows such provisions for the care of an animal with a few requirements under 20 Pa.C.S.A. ? 7738. First, the animal must be alive at the time the trust is created. Second, the trust must terminate when the animal, for which the trust is providing, passes away or if the trust is providing for multiple animals, it must terminate when the last surviving animal passes away. Third, a person may be appointed in the trust to take care of the animal and enforce the trust or a court may appoint a Trustee as well. Fourth, assets in this trust must be used for the animal. Fifth, after the animal dies the remaining trust assets will go to your children unless you specify other beneficiaries in the trust.

Do not try to create one of these trusts on your own. Meet with an attorney who can draft documents that meet your goals and protect your pet. Happy holidays!

Jessica Fisher
Attorney

Source: http://www.keystoneelderlaw.com/blog/uncategorized/taking-care-of-pets-through-legal-documents/

jr smith chris anderson rondo suspended bay bridge downton abbey season 3 presidents day band of brothers

2013 Smart Guide: Hot computing for a cool billion

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

It has been called science's X Factor: six mega-projects vying for two prizes, each worth a cool ?1 billion.

In 2010, the European Commission put out a call for visionary computing initiatives comparable to the moon landing or the mapping of the human genome. Such ultra-ambitious projects would change the way we think about the world and ideally solve some of its problems, too.

Of 21 ideas submitted, six were shortlisted for further development. These include the Human Brain Project - an attempt to simulate the brain using a supercomputer - and a scheme to create a new generation of electronic devices based not on silicon but graphene.

The winners will be announced at the end of January. The prize money, from European countries and private firms as well as the European Union, will be spread over 10 years.

Our money is on FuturICT, a real-life SimCity on a global scale. It will give individuals, companies and governments real-time information about the planet, and run simulations to find the best strategies for dealing with issues such as climate change.

FuturICT was conceived after the 2008 financial crash drove home our lack of understanding about today's hyperconnected world. The civilisation simulator will be an open platform, accepting data on anything from social media and the stock exchange to climate models and political preferences. Stay tuned for the start of something big.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/26f07616/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg216289650B60A0A0E20A130Esmart0Eguide0Ehot0Ecomputing0Efor0Ea0Ecool0Ebillion0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

Movember USC shooting halloween chipotle lsu football lsu football Jessie Andrews

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Woman died after 'fall' at Reading FC Christmas party at Madejski ...

A WOMAN found dead after a Christmas party at Reading Football Club died from head injuries, police said.

The 22-year-old partygoer was found at the bottom of a fire escape stairwell at the Premier League club's Madejski Stadium.

Cops said her injuries are consistent with a fall from height.

She was discovered at 12.50am in the Millennium Madejski Hotel, which forms part of the football ground.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Next of kin have been informed but she has not yet been formally identified.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said a post-mortem examination by a Home Office pathologist was carried out last night.

Detective Inspector Phil O?Neil said: ?We are continuing to treat the woman?s death as unexplained and are progressing a number of lines of inquiry in order to fully understand the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.

?Inquiries such as this can take some time but we are keeping the woman?s family fully informed of our progress."

Tragic ... party was at hotel joined to ground

Vagner Vidal / INS News

Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4712863/Woman-died-after-fall-at-Reading-FC-Christmas-party-at-Madejski-stadium.html

Cyber Monday 2012 Walmart.com detroit lions NFL.com Thanksgiving Day cooking a turkey toysrus

Suggestions for Protecting Enterprise Data - Create Security Line of ...

Dataloss problem has become the current enterprises? constant nightmare. More and more hardware failures and non-physical failures can cause enterprise data to be lost, such as storage medium damage and accidental artificial operations. Facing these increasingly serious problems, if the enterprise security administrator wants to solve data loss problems and provides safe and reliable data protection platform, he must do the following things:

1. Value data backup and prevent data loss: In the informationized management of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), users are likely to equate copying data and backing up data. But in fact, there are great essential differences between them. Data backup is not just copying data, but includes backup management and various follow-up data security work. Therefore, every enterprise should value backup problems, and regularly uses backup tools such as BackBone and NetVault to back up important data for enterprise. By this way, we can fast use backup data to recover lost data.

2. Improve?emergency recovery ability to build the last line of defense: as one of the data recovery security methods, the appearance and development of data recovery technology is closely related with constant artificial data security damage (such as accidental operations, hacker attacks and virus attacks) and enterprise data disaster events caused by natural disaster. But unfortunately, many SMEs know little about this technology, and they think such a kind of serious data security disasters only occur in large enterprises. They hardly realize the fact that data security problems has become very common along with the data loss events caused by natural disasters and artificial attacks in recent years. Therefore, before various unpredictable data loss events happen, we should make a preparation for such a kind of situation ? install?data recovery software like MiniTool Power Data Recovery on computer in advance. By this way, we can fast recover the lost data when encountering important data loss problems, decreasing the losses due to long-time data loss.

3. Enhance employees? data security awareness: In previous multiple data loss events, although there were so many data loss problems caused by various natural disasters and artificial malicious damage, related data shows that more than 80 % data loss events are caused by the enterprises insiders? carelessness or intentional confidential data leak. So it is very important to prevent insiders from leaking data. But compared with solving technical problems, it is more difficult to solve this kind of problem. Enterprises should enhance management and develop employees? data security awareness to decrease the problems that insiders unintentionally leak enterprises? confidential files.

These three things are necessary for enterprises security administrator to provide safe and reliable protection platform. I believe you can see from the three points above that they are the methods combining prevention and treatment. Therefore, as long as you do what I say to enhance prevention and use data recovery software to fast?recover lost data when encountering data loss, you can eventually solve the problem of data loss.

Great software recommended for you:?MiniTool Power Data Recovery for?Enterprise Data.

Article Tags : protect enterprise data, recover lost data

Source: http://www.workoninternet.com/business/marketing/marketing-strategy/221837-suggestions-for-protecting-enterprise-data-create-security-line-of-defense.html

whale shark duke university platypus platypus overboard east of eden weather radio

Advice That Can Make Real Estate Buying Stress Free - Maynas Eric

However, you still need to be aware of how to maneuver in the market in order to make the best deal possible. Consider applying the tips found here if you wish to simplify the real estate purchase process.

Prequalification for a mortgage is essential prior to searching for a home. You will avoid wasting your time and the agents time by limiting your search to houses you can afford to buy. Getting loans can be an arduous process that shouldn?t be procrastinated.

Any property near a busy road or freeway will earn less rent. These houses can save you money, but as in most things, they are cheaper for a reason. You may not mind the noise, but it could be hard to sell these homes if you needed to.

TIP! A lack of flexibility can be a death sentence when it comes to buying a home. You may not be able to afford the perfect house in the perfect community, but you may be able to afford one or the other.

Learn about what kinds of houses exist in the neighborhoods you?re looking to buy in. This is particularly important, because you may not want to buy the best and biggest house on the block. That?s because all the less expensive homes in the area will lower the resale value of the few costlier ones, making it difficult for you to recoup your investment should you need to sell in the future.

Before you go house hunting, check out your credit report. Once you have obtained a copy, go over it with a fine toothed comb and dispute any discrepancies that you find. Your aim is to have your credit in a position where you can go forward with a home purchase, as this will increase your ability to sustain a mortgage.

Remember that you aren?t all in a war and it can be beneficial to stay in touch with the more experienced real estate investors in your area. Properties are always on the market, but many investors are only interested in certain kinds of properties. This can help you find that hidden gem that hasn?t been purchased yet.

TIP! If you are serious about buying a house, measure it first. Be sure that the square footage given by the owner is the same as the square footage of public record.

When you submit an offer on a property, you can request that the seller help to cover the closing costs, or request other kinds of financial incentives. For example, you could ask for a seller to buy down your interest rates for a limited period of time. Adding financial incentives to offers will make sellers less willing to negotiate selling prices.

Avoid paying extra for a home simply because it has a beautiful view. Even though the view is certainly lovely, it might not appeal to as many potential buyers in the future as you hoped it would. Therefore, purchase the home because you love the view, but do not overpay for it.

TIP! It is easier to begin the purchase of real estate when you are organized. Start by dedicating a notebook to real estate information you glean from friends, real estate agents, newspapers and the internet.

Once you start searching for a home, you need to exercise patience and remain level headed about what may be on the market. It takes a while to find the right property for your goals and strategy.

The difference between failure and success as a buyer is the ability to know how to work within the market. One of the best ways to establish a successful position is to become properly informed. This article was filled with a variety of tips and ideas for making wise real estate purchasing decisions. It?s your decision on whether or not to follow this information.

Join me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/maynaseric

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/advice-that-can-make-real-estate-buying-stress-free-2

CMA Awards 2012 election day Electoral College map nyc marathon nyc marathon willie nelson khloe kardashian

Monday, December 24, 2012

Life after Sandy: Breezy Point demolitions begin

David Friedman / NBC News

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees the demolition on Saturday of a home in Breezy Point, N.Y. The house floated off its foundation during Superstorm Sandy and came to rest in the middle of Beach 215th Street.

By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News

BREEZY POINT, N.Y. -- The bulldozing of homes ruined by Superstorm Sandy has begun in this seaside enclave, but residents are only beginning to come to terms with the costly and complicated process of rebuilding.

Neatly dividing what was from what will be, an excavator on Saturday methodically tore down the first badly-damaged Breezy Point home -- a one-story, white home that floated between 150 and 200 feet into the middle of Beach 215^th Street during the Oct. 29 storm, apparently stopping only when it slid up against a light pole.

While the beginning of demolitions is an important milestone on the road to rebuilding, it left resident Tom Ryan, 64, a neighbor of the homeowner, feeling melancholy.

?It?s a sad day for Breezy Point, but it?s been a lot of sad days lately for Breezy Point, a lot of sad days,? he said as he walked away from the detritus of the home. ?Sixty-one years (here) all year round, and I?ve never seen anything like this.?

What Ryan has been seeing is a period of uncertainty in Breezy Point, a private cooperative founded more than a century ago by Irish immigrants. Sandy?s flooding is believed to have triggered a devastating fire that burned down 111 homes in one of the older areas,? known as ?The Wedge.? And the storm surge damaged more than 2,000 other residences, some of which also are not salvageable and are now about to be removed.

Overall, the storm destroyed 200 buildings and left another 200 unsafe for habitation in the New York City boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, Department of Buildings spokesman Tony Sclafani said Friday. Many of those structures, which are tagged by ?red cards,? will ultimately be demolished in the coming months, he said.?

Buildings blocking public rights of the way are the first structures being cleared in New York City, an operation being run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The removal of these roaming residences will soon be followed by the demolition of the badly damaged structures on private property, a process that the city will oversee.?

(Coastal communities in New Jersey are going through a similar procedure, though the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs cannot say how many building have been slated for demolition. Gov. Chris Christie has said that more than 22,000 homes were rendered uninhabitable by the storm.)?

Like other storm victims, residents of Breezy Point focused on salvaging possessions and cleaning up in the first days after Sandy hit. But some soon learned that they might not be able to save their homes, including many bungalows dating back decades when the area was more of a summer getaway known as the ?Irish Riviera.??

Some hired structural engineers, hoping that their homes could be saved. But in many instances, the answers were not what they had hoped to hear.

Among those getting the news that their home would have to be torn down were Jerome Hoffman, 62, and his wife, Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia, 63, who had hoped to put the bungalow back on its foundation but found out that wouldn?t be possible.?

Miranda Leitsinger / NBC News

Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia, 63, and her husband, Jerome Hoffman, 62, look at their 'little frame shack' in Breezy Point on Dec. 8.

DiLorenzo-Coscia said her family had owned the doomed ?little frame shack,? which was shoved off of its pilings and bombarded with other debris, for more than 50 years.

?If you look at it, it?s just a little shack ? but it?s a lifetime full of memories,? she said.? ?It?s like the Wizard of Oz. ? I just wish we could click three times and get back home.??

Those memories include playing hide and seek under the bungalows as kids, singing tunes like ?Johnny Angel? on the lifeguard stands down on the beach and going on long walks to the point, where she and her friends would read poems they?d written, then tear them up and throw them into the water.?

?I guess we thought that we were, you know, we were grownups or something, that we were heroines in our own novels,? she said.?

The couple would like to rebuild, but they?re struggling with the financial equation. Since it?s a second residence, they?re not eligible for much of the emergency financial aid available to those whose primary residences were damaged by the storm. That means they?d have to refinance their home in Brooklyn to do it and take the same sort of leap of faith that her parents did when they joined the nascent Breezy Point Co-op in 1960 as residents battled to keep their homes after a developer quietly sold the land beneath them.?

?They never regretted it. They never looked back and ? I'm sure that, you know, I?ll feel the same because it?s an investment in our children?s future and family being together, family sharing good times,? she said, adding that she wants her 18-month-old grandson, Michael, ?to be able to enjoy this.??

The co-op board said late last week that the removal of houses deemed unsafe for occupancy or unable to be repaired was expected to begin in the second week of January.?

The city will oversee destruction of homes on private property, while the Army Corps of Engineers takes down homes that no longer have four walls or are in the right of way, in addition to collecting debris from the city-led demolitions, said Patrick Moes, a spokesman for the corps? New York field recovery office.?

The process was demonstrated on Saturday, as contractors sprayed the home that floated off its foundation with water in an effort to prevent asbestos particles from going airborne. The debris, which will be tested for asbestos, was then piled into large dumpsters lined with white tarps. Federal environmental and safety officials were onsite, and appliances were separated out so they could be disposed of properly.?

Workers try to retrieve any mementos that they come across during a demolition, Moes said, and on this day they saved a military-style trunk for the homeowner.? NBC News was unable to contact the homeowner.?

?It?s a part of the grieving process,? Moes said of the work. ?Whether it is a pile of debris or a house ? that?s someone?s home.?

Residents whose homes that stayed put on their property but are beyond saving are racing to complete forms needed for demolition. The co-op board informed them that the city, under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would pay for the demolition of those homes deemed to be a public safety hazard by the buildings department, but only if homeowners complete the paperwork by Dec. 31.?

As the demolition process beings, residents are eager to begin laying plans for rebuilding. But they must wait for anticipated new building requirements. The co-op said Saturday it is awaiting the release of new FEMA flood zone maps, which will help determine construction criteria.?

Such concerns are weighing on Pat and Cam Livingstone, whose small oceanfront one-story home will have to be torn down after the floodwaters raced through and thrust a neighbor?s deck against one side of it.?

John Makely / NBC News

Pat and Cam Livingstone stand outside their home at 220 Oceanside in Breezy Point, which was floated off of its foundation by Superstorm Sandy.

Pat Livingstone, 74, said the couple would like to rebuild.?

?But you just don't know with the storms that are coming every year, it seems to be,? she said earlier this month, as she and her husband retrieved a few items from the home, including a decades-old top hat and some collector coins. ?We'll have to see, that's where we're at. We have to see. What are they going to let us do? What are the restrictions? Are we going to get insurance???

Sandy-struck Breezy Point facing 'greatest historical challenge'

?They want to go up,? she said, referring to the expectation that authorities will require homes to be elevated several feet. ?Can we walk up? Are there going to be ramps? We're pushing 80 now,? she said with a small chuckle.?

Cam Livingstone, 76, said the 20 years that the couple lived full time in Breezy Point were some of the best years of their lives.?

?We had good times here,? he said, his hand resting on the roof of their badly damaged home. ?We threw some big parties.??

But now, he said, they wonder if the effort to rebuild would be worth it.

It ?wouldn't be the money so much,? he said of the possibility of returning, but ?do we want to take another chance at this stage of our life??

Down the promenade from the Livingstones, Bob Hauck, a 58-year-old plumber, has decided it is a risk worth taking.

The storm scooped his oceanfront single-story home off its foundation and plopped it down 100 feet straight back, in a sandy area. He joked that the address of his home should now be 210 Sand Lane instead of 210 Oceanside.

John Makely / NBC News

Bob Hauck looks over what is left of his home at 210 Oceanside in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, NY.

?It?s just mind boggling,? he said of the house he owned for 25 years. ?I?m just trying to picture how it lifted and got pushed back and actually came down, you know, pretty intact.?

Gone are the picture window with a double sash that once offered a full panorama of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the big front deck where Hauck would smoke a cigar and visitors would drop by to say hello. Water warped the floor, in places shoving it up two feet, and pushed in the kitchen wall.?

?Melancholy's an understatement. It?s suppressed grief, it?s suppressed grief,? he said of the state of his home. ?There are no options, you know, in regard to this home. ? the cards are dealt, and we have to play our hand.?

Hauck, a father of four adult children who started coming to this shoreline community with his parents decades ago, said he has ?Breezy sands in my shoes.? It will take all of his financial resources to come back, he said, but he will do it.?

?The beach was our home, and it was a special home because it was a home of a bygone era,? he said, calling it ?a piece of heaven on Earth.??

Hauck said he has been motivated by his neighbors, who have been quick to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, with some even moving back in though water only just became available in one section of the community on Saturday.

He?s ready to do the same.

?It?s like a dream I know I am not going to wake up from. ? It wasn?t the long term plan, but we?ve got to take what we?re given,? he said, adding that he told his family, ?We had a great run and we?ll have another great one.?

Madeline DiLorenzo-Coscia's "little frame shack" is just one of the homes that will be demolished in Breezy Point. (John Makely / NBC News)

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/24/16111442-superstorm-sandy-residents-consider-future-as-demolitions-begin-in-breezy-point?lite

navy seal team 6 tim gunn tim gunn built to last obama state of the union address 2012 mitt romney tax return flip saunders

birdying markkaa