When Looking for a Personal Injury Lawyer Look No Further Then ...

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By Valerie Evans

Seeking legal assistance has become a common necessity these days considering the increasing rate of personal injury cases each month. Finding and choosing a reliable and credible law firm and professional can be quite stressful especially if you cannot find one that meet your financial capabilities. As such, you need to look for reliable and credible legal assistance that won?t pressure you with legal fees up front. Firms where legal professionals are first and foremost dedicated to the urgent needs of personal injury victims and their families are the ones you should look for.

These professionals understand that justice is difficult to receive by victims of negligence caused by big businesses and even insurance companies as well as individuals or parties having large financial resources or power. They exert every effort and every resources they have to ensure that the injured receive the justice they deserve through the maximizing of verdicts and settlements of every case. Law firms like this are able to provide positive results for a great number of personal injury cases making them highly recommendable for any type of personal injury claim.

Such law firms have been known to concentrate specifically on products liability, wrongful death and serious personal injury aside from other personal injury claims. As a matter of fact many reputable law firms track record show that their company has been able to win over $500,000,000 in settlements as well as verdicts after numerous cases being handled. However, despite the large number or rate of success, these law firms does not show any sign of backing down and still continues to strive for excellence and convenient legal assistance to personal injury victims and their families as their goal is to help these victims and families piece their lives back together and recover from whatever situation they may currently be in.

It is essential that victims look for law firms, that isn?t all about formalities and strong personalities or appearances but rather where the legal professionals and staff provide personal and compassionate attention whenever they assist clients in their troubled and difficult times. As such, to these professionals and staff, it is always the best interests of their clients that come first and not the money they can earn.

Every succcessful claim is a result of the cooperation, resources and working relationship of the firm?s staff and professionals, thus victims of personal injury cases need not have to worry about their claim standing in court or for a settlement.

The author, Valerie Evans, writes legal articles for law firms including http://www.bobcohenlaw.com/?operated by? Attorney Bob Cohen

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Japan orders interception of NKorean rocket

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AP source: Obama clears sanctions to squeeze Iran (tbo)

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Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora Offers Two Great Ways to Enjoy a ...

A private beach home, ranging from 300 to 500 square metres (3,228 to 5,280 square feet), complete with its own pool and sandy beach is the ideal option for families on holiday. Privacy, spacious accommodations and plenty of room for recreation provide all the makings for a great family vacation. The Resort is offering the Stay Longer ? Fifth Night Free package ? a complimentary fifth night and daily buffet breakfast for two through December 12, 2012.

Overwater Bungalows ? For families looking for the overwater suite experience, the Resort?s overwater bungalows are spacious at 100 square metres (1,080 square feet.) Each offers a living room with queen-sized sofa bed, as well as a private deck for dining and lounging. The Resort is currently offering the Family Plan package ? 50 percent off a second overwater bungalow for kids with daily buffet breakfast for two adults and two children through December 12, 2012.

?While we?re primarily known as a romantic destination, we also offer fantastic experiences for families,? says Rajiv Malhotra, general manager of Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora. ?These two packages allow families to create the holiday of their dreams in a beachfront villa or in side-by-side overwater bungalows, both at significant savings.?

?

Source:- travelandtourworld.com

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Source: http://travelntourworld.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/four-seasons-resort-bora-bora-offers-two-great-ways-to-enjoy-a-family-holiday/

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Behind the Ear Hearing Aids Offer Greatest Versatility

There are many different styles of hearing aid devices available to those of us that suffer from hearing loss. No matter the severity of the hearing loss, there are hearing aids that can help. The style that offers the most versatility is the behind the ear model. This model can have a larger battery capacity, and a few more features due to everything being contained in the small pack that sits behind the ear. While this model might not be right for everyone, it is worth considering.

Source: http://www.mindthinksuccess.com/health-and-fitness/behind-the-ear-hearing-aids-offer-greatest-versatility/

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Cop car karaoke: Man sings 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

By Kurt Schlosser

Whatever you sing in the privacy of your own shower or your car on the way to work is your business. But if you get arrested and end up in the back of a police car nowadays, it'll likely be filmed and end up on YouTube. So, sing well.

If you're apparently intoxicated and know all the words to Queen's "Bohemian Rhasody," the video will be that much better.

"I didn't say that I was intoxicated," says the man in the back of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser. "But it doesn't even matter ... it has to do with brotherhood of men on the planet Earth." And then it starts. Five minutes of cop-car karaoke.

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality." Got that right.

The YouTubers are quick to offer all sorts of helpful commentary, as always.

User mari3011 says, "Later he was released since all he had was? a case of Mercury Poisoning."

"If I was? the cop, I would have requested Freebird at the end," writes AuralSynth.

After the song ends ("Nothing really matters ...") and the video draws to a close, the back door of the police car is opened and the suspect asks, "Do you have?to cuff me?" "Are you going to hit me?" an officer responds. "Physical violence is the least of my priorities." Well said, Freddie Wannabe.

We give the guy credit for making the six-minute ride from wherever he was picked up to wherever he was dropped off entertaining. Do you have a favorite song that is your back-of-the-cop-car standard? "I Fought the Law" would probably feel pretty good. A certain rap classic by N.W.A., on the other hand, would?be ill advised. Share your song choices over on Facebook.

And, hey, check out the real deal below to see how well the guy actually did:

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10925507-man-belts-out-bohemian-rhapsody-from-back-of-cop-car

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Model Lauren Scruggs Lands Reported 7-Figure Settlement

You can't put on a price on losing a hand and an eye, but model Lauren Scruggs finally has some financial peace of mind after the horrific accident with an airplane propeller that nearly killed her last December.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/model-lauren-scruggs-reaches-reported-7-figure-settlement-plane-s-insurer/1-a-439623?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Amodel-lauren-scruggs-reaches-reported-7-figure-settlement-plane-s-insurer-439623

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Bailey's offers great food, coffee ? but loud crowd - Huntingtonian

The $2 muffin at Bailey's. (Photo by Jessi Emmert)

When I heard about Bailey?s Coffee, my first thought was, ?Does this town really need another coffee shop??

I have a tested and tried routine when it comes to Huntington coffee shops. If I want to study, I go to Caf? of Hope, unless it?s karaoke night, then I avoid it like the plague. If I want to feel like a hipster, I go to 4 Cups. And if I want to discuss or overhear salacious gossip, I go to Coffee D?Vine. It?s just that simple.

I wasn?t sure where Bailey?s was going to fit into this picture when I pulled up to the cute brick building ? a restored train station ? nestled near The Rusty Dog and the railroad tracks. I fell in love with the d?cor the moment I walked into the shop. Small square tables covered with garnet-colored tablecloths were set up in a seating room to the left of a small counter and the sweet sounds of Jack Johnson played softly from the speakers. It was around dinner time on a Tuesday, and the dining room was about half full.

An employee was talking with a few customers, obviously regulars. He stood up and walked behind the counter, asking what I?d like. I scanned the menu behind the counter, which had fairly standard coffee shop prices. A plain cup of coffee was $1.50 for a small, $1.75 for a large. The specialty drinks ranged from $3.35 to $5. Food items were limited to donuts and muffins, and ranged from $1.25 to $2.

I asked for a caramel latte, but he apologetically informed me that their froth machine was broken. I wondered why a brand new shop?s equipment was already malfunctioning. He offered to make me an au lait instead, an alternative with no foam. I was disappointed, but appreciated his apology. I also ordered a big apple cinnamon muffin. My total came to a reasonable $5.34. He asked me to sit down while he got my order ready.

Sooner than expected, the server broughtmy muffin and caf? au lait to my table. My muffin was great, albeit a little too hot ? I burned my tongue. I decided to let it cool off for a moment and turned, a bit more skeptically, to my au lait. I fully admit I am a bit of a coffee snob, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. It was smooth and bold, but not too bold. The caramel flavor was present but not overpowering, and it was piping hot but not scalding. Overall, it was one of the best coffee drinks I?ve had in Huntington.

Perhaps the most amusing part of my Bailey?s experience was listening to regular customers chat?loudly. I was entertained, but I probably won?t head to Bailey?s during finals week because of the rather loud conversation and close proximity to other customers. The dining room is adorable, but had it been full, it definitely would have been cramped. Overall though, my coffee was delicious and the muffin was good.

I may just add Bailey?s to my coffee shop routine if I want to drink the best cup of coffee in Huntington and listen to a rowdy round of local debate.

Bailey?s is located at 11 West State Street. They are open Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Source: http://www.huntingtonian.com/?p=14724

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Abide by These Very simple Suggestions For Productive Public ...

Mar 30

Comply with These Basic Recommendations For Site Thriving Public Talking and Speech Composing.Try out to know the audiences background and their frame of reference. Request the organizer issues about the audience, previous occasions or campaigns, the intent and mission of this celebration or campaign, and the advertising strategy.

Make guaranteed you and the organizer are on the identical web page and relocating in the same route. Your content could possibly require tweaking or even a entire-blown revision for an audience if written for consumers with the exact same technical history you possess. And, it is the only time use of jargon and technical terminology is excusable.{ Best Site

Which Are The Nations Speaking French In The Read This Globe. In the Canadian government French is utilized as an equal language to English.

Posted in Uncategorized

Source: http://www.sjzg.info/abide-by-these-very-simple-suggestions-for-productive-public-speaking-and-speech-writing/

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How to skin care in spring and summer | Health and Fitness Tips ...

Spring and summer skin?s metabolism to speed up gradually, more and more strong secretion of sebum and sweat. Skin resistance in spring and summer is the worst, are susceptible to the invasion of external harmful factors. How to skin care in spring and summer?

1, Wash your face carefully, thorough cleansing
Spring and summer temperatures rise, the sebum secretion will become more active, small pimples like acne will become more active, often quietly appeared. In order to keep smooth facial skin, you?d better wash your face carefully. The most important thing is to choose your own facial cleanser. The best natural ingredients, texture and a mild cleanser. Moreover, before use, do not forget the finger massage cheeks, promote blood circulation, make the face more rosy, glossy.

2, Deep exfoliating, open the skin respiratory passages
With the spring and summer days the temperature rose, the replacement of skin cells, thick cuticle is no longer as important task to resist low temperature. Remove excess dead skin is an important hurdle in the spring and summer skin care can not be ignored. Regularly exfoliating the skin smooth and shiny, to absorb nutrients faster and more thorough and effective wake-up the vitality of the skin

3, Pay attention to freckle and strengthen the whitening
Spring and summer days, the stain is most vulnerable to seizures and aggravate. Suddenly increased ultraviolet light to let the skin grow new stain, but also to dilute the stain resurgence;

4, Attention to sun protection
In particular, this time from 11:00 to 15:00, the intensity of ultraviolet radiation than you thought to be much higher. UV is very easy to encourage the formation of freckles, the deposition of melanin. Therefore, the sun protection is very important.

5, Do a good job moisturizing and maintain Hydra
Moisturizing do can prevent the appearance of fine lines. To do a good job moisturizing, is to make the skin maintain more moisture, so as to reduce fine lines caused by dryness.

• Whitening skin care methods
  How to skin whitening and skin care? Beauty skin care, the most important thing is always pay more attention to maintenance! 1, Double washing the face Before going to sleep is required to clean t...
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• Potatoes skin care and skin whitening
  Potatoes have a good skin care, face care effect. Fresh Potatoes juice applied directly in the face, skin whitening effect is very significant. Human skin easily in the hot summer sunburn, tanning, Po...
• 5 kinds of moisturizing skin fruits
  Many fruits have natural moisturizing skin effect. 1, Apple Apple's unique flavor can ease the pressure too much caused by bad mood, as well as refreshing effect; Apple is rich in crude fiber, can...
• What foods to eat to help women improve skin problems
  How to help women improve skin problems? Following nine kinds of fruits and vegetables can help women improve skin problems. 1, Grapes contains a large number of polyphenols, antioxidants It conta...
• Nine collagen cosmetic effect ? what is collagen protein?
  Many skin care products are added in collagen protein and collagen beauty beverages are also very popular, the popular skin care ingredients. Today, we have to analyze the collagen cosmetic effect. ...
• Collagen protein to help you skin whitening
  Crystal clear white skin, is the dream of every woman, but also many men dream. Collagen protein to get you skin whitening. If long-term regular intake of vitamin C, can effectively prevent the pro...
• Diet tips for prevent skin acne
  What foods to eat for anti skin acne? Diet tips for anti skin acne. Acne patients should eat more vitamin content of foods. Particular attention to supplement vitamin A, B2, B6, C, E. Because VitaminA...
• 7 tips teach you how to relieve dry skin in autumn and winter
  In autumn and winter dry skin problem has troubled many people, in addition to using skin care products replenishment moisturizing, in fact, there are more and more effective methods of health conditi...
• How to prevent large pores (shrink Pores)
  How to shrink Pores? Large pores of the problem has always been plagued by a number of beautiful women, large pores make the skin not only bad, but also the gradual relaxation of the skin, the pores e...

Tags: how to skin care, skin care, skin care in spring, skin care in summer
This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2012 and is filed under Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.hhtip.com/how-to-skin-care-in-spring-and-summer/

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Internet Home Based Business Page is a Big Hit With Fans -

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Internet Home Based Business Page is a Big Hit With Fans. Houston, TX. (PRWEB) March 07, 2012. ?Best internet marketing tools? is the name of just one of the most popular sections of a new page on amnkickstart.com this ...

Source: http://www.positivekidstuff.com/internet-home-based-business-page-is-a-big-hit-with-fans/

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Rate of Autism Diagnoses Has Climbed, Study Finds

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A review of 2008 data found a 20 percent rise in diagnoses among children over the previous two years.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=cb4101fd7ab06dc65e132796dc17497f

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Home Improvement Loans MyReviewsNow | DIY Institute

Article by Chickie Maxwell

Home improvement loans are a great way to make repairs and improvements to your home. Using an improvement loan can not only make your home look and feel better, but it can also greatly increase the value of your home as well.

Home improvement loans are loans that are used to make either improvements, repairs or renovations to your current home. They are secured loans that are covered by using your home as collateral for approval. For the improvement to be approved, generally the changes have to be aesthetically improved or the improvement has to make the home more comfortable to live in. Below are some things to think about when considering home loans.

The Collateral- Most often than not, the home itself is used as collateral for securing home loans. The loans are created by mortgaging the home that is going to be getting remodeled. In some cases, other assets might also be used as collateral. Cars and boats are other assets that might be able to be used instead of the home.

Factors That Affect Home Improvement Loans- There are many factors that affect the loan. These can include the amount of the loan, the interest and the repayment period. Some things that sway these factors include where the home is located and the size and worth of the home.

Another factor that is considered when applying for home improvement loans is the borrowers? credit history. Homeowners that have a better credit history will have less problems getting approved for the loan. They will also be able to get a better interest rate and terms. In contrast, those homeowners will less than perfect credit might find it harder to get approved for home loans.

The age and condition of the home is another factor that is really taken into consideration by lenders. If the home is really old and in bad condition, it might be harder to get a good sized loan. On the other hand, owners of homes that are new and in good condition will typically receive higher amounts.

Advantages Of Home Improvement Loans- Not only does getting home improvement loans improve your property, certain improvements can also significantly increase the value of your home as well. Some improvements will also provide your home with a longer life. Fixing up your home can also make it more comfortable and enjoyable to live in.

Disadvantages Of Home Improvement Loans- Though there are many advantages to getting a home improvement loan, there are also some downsides. With the downturn of the economy, it can be difficult to find loans that have good interest rates. Lenders are also more stringent in their approval techniques. During these times, it will be even more difficult for those homeowners with a bad credit history to find a good loan.

Once you have decided that home improvements loans are something you want to look into, be sure to do extensive research. Get multiple quotes from lenders and don?t just settle for the first one that you can get approved for. Even with less than perfect credit, there are still ways to get loans with decent interest rates and terms.

If it is possible, consider working on your credit history for a while before renovating your home. Doing so will make it easier to get approved for better loans with good interest rates. A good interest rate can save you thousands over the course of a loan. Home improvement loans are a great way to fix up your home and add value to it, but all factors need to be considered thoroughly before signing the loan papers.

For further information regarding home improvement loans, please visit MyReviewsNow Online Shopping.

Related Home Improvement Articles

Source: http://www.caravelinstitute.com/2012/03/29/home-improvement-loans-myreviewsnow/

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AzTtec PC case mod takes the Thermaltake Level 10 GT back in time

The Thermaltake Level 10 GT PC case is quite a sight on its own, but it's also proven to be popular among case modders, who have taken things to some considerable extremes in the past year. One of the most impressive to date is this so-called AzTtec mod by bit-tech.net member dmcgrath, who's ditched the usual LEDs and gaming inspirations in favor of something that makes even steampunk look thoroughly modem by comparison. To do that, he carved the enclosure you see above by hand out of a material called Balsa Foam, and then proceeded to painstakingly paint it and adorn it foliage and other tiny details. Hit the source link below to examine it up close.

[Thanks, Antony]

AzTtec PC case mod takes the Thermaltake Level 10 GT back in time originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Cg0PMO0zyy8/

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Romney gets Bush backing, but no sign of George W.

HOUSTON (AP) ? George W. Bush is as hard to find in his father's office, as he is in the 2012 presidential contest.

The 43rd president appears in a gold-framed picture tucked into a far corner of the room, partially hidden by a Texas flag and a cabinet door. The placement ? whether intentional or not ? is a reminder of the Republican presidential campaign and the lengths to which Romney and his rivals have tried to marginalize the two-term president.

The younger Bush was an afterthought Thursday as President George H.W. Bush met with current GOP front-runner Mitt Romney until a reporter raised the issue.

"I haven't met with President George W. Bush. We speak from time to time," Romney said when asked if he had sought the younger Bush's endorsement.

Reporters were forced to leave the room before they could ask more about Romney's connection to the Republican president who left office just three years ago with the nation on the brink of financial ruin. George W. Bush has been ignored for months in the Republican presidential campaign. But his absence has been more pronounced over the last seven days as Romney trumpeted the endorsements of the former president's father and younger brother, former Florida. Gov. Jeb Bush, while spending two days courting donors across Texas.

George W. Bush, who lives in Dallas, did not attend any of Romney's half dozen Texas fundraisers this week. And he's not expected to follow his family's migration to Romney's camp any time soon.

While largely unspoken, both sides acknowledge that Republicans would be best served by not reminding voters of the Bush legacy of gaping budget deficits, two wars and record low approval ratings. His eight-year presidency has merited no more than a fleeting reference from Romney and his rivals in debates, campaign stops and interviews.

"For now we're just staying out of it," George W. Bush spokesman Freddy Ford said Thursday, declining to comment on a possible endorsement. Ford said Bush was focused on promoting and developing a presidential library bearing his name at Southern Methodist University.

"That's really where he's spending his time," Ford said.

But George W. Bush's virtual invisibility from the presidential contest seemed to surprise even his 87-year-old father Thursday, as a handful of reporters visited the senior Bush's private office in Houston to watch him endorse Romney.

"Has he endorsed you?" George H.W. Bush quietly asked Romney as reporters were beginning to the leave the room.

"Uh, no, no," Romney responded, before Barbara Bush quickly ended the conversation: "We'll talk about that," the former first lady said.

The 43rd president has been noticeably absent from national politics since leaving office in 2009 with a Gallup approval rating of just 34 percent. His predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton, had a 66 percent approval rating in early 2001 when he stepped down after two terms marred by a sex scandal and impeachment.

A plurality of Americans continue to blame Bush for the nation's economic struggles: 43 percent of voters said he deserved a lot or almost all of the blame, compared with 36 percent who point to Republicans in Congress, 33 percent who think Democrats in Congress are responsible and 30 percent who credit President Barack Obama, according to a December AP-GfK poll.

In a presidential contest dominated by concerns over the economy, government spending and federal debt, the Republican candidates have been loath to acknowledge the extent to which the George W. Bush administration's policies contributed to those problems.

There is no question that Obama's policies, including the federal stimulus program and the auto industry bailout, have swollen the deficit and deepened the debt. And three years into his presidency, Obama often falls back on complaints about the bad situation he inherited when defending his own economic performance.

But while Obama may be overly eager to blame the Bush years for the nation's problems, GOP presidential contenders seem just as eager to pretend those years never happened.

"George W. Bush is still too fresh in the minds of voters," said Republican operative Michael Dennehy, a top staffer for Sen. John McCain's presidential bid four years ago. "The Democrats' strategy is to try to pin the bad economy on him. ... It's smarter to just avoid being directly drawn into that line of attack right now."

Taking office in 2001 with a balanced federal budget and a surplus in the Treasury, Bush quickly pushed through sweeping tax cuts without nipping expenditures a corresponding amount. The Bush tax cuts were set to expire after 10 years, but Obama allowed them to remain in place temporarily in exchange for an extension of unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks never were budgeted and have cost taxpayers more than $1.4 trillion so far. Obama ordered the last troops out of Iraq in December, but the Afghanistan conflict is set to continue through 2014.

Bush also signed legislation in 2003 enacting a prescription drug benefit as part of Medicare, the government health care plan for seniors, a huge entitlement program projected to cost as much as $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank bailout program widely loathed by many conservatives, was another Bush-era package. Congress authorized nearly $700 billion for the program at the recommendation of Bush's treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs executive Henry Paulson, in response to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent financial crisis in the fall of 2008. As a presidential candidate, Obama supported the TARP bailout, as did his GOP rival, Sen. John McCain.

Romney shared a deep sense of respect for the Bush family while glancing at the picture in the corner, which featured the faces of the former presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

"I love that picture over there of the two presidents. Father and son," Romney said as reporters were leaving the office. "What a legacy."

__

AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-gets-bush-backing-no-sign-george-w-070348483.html

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PlanOn SlimScan SS100

The PlanOn SlimScan SS100 ($139.99 direct) is nothing if not physically attractive. Picture a gadget with a stainless steel case the size of a credit card, and not much thicker, with the shiny silver interrupted by a 1.2-inch color LCD and just five small black control buttons. Unfortunately, the software side of the package doesn't work as well as the hardware, relegating the SlimScan more to the status of an impressive toy than a useful scanner?for now at least.

PlanOn has introduced a variety of surprisingly small, highly useful products, including the PlanOn PrintStik PS910 ($269 street, 2.5 stars) printer and the PlanOn DocuPen Xtreme X05 ($369.99 direct, 3.5 stars) scanner, with additional, similar, models of each also available. What all of them, including the SlimScan, have in common is an emphasis on small size. The DocuPen scanner, for example is about the size of a baton or magic wand.

The SlimScan is essentially a smaller version of the DocuPen scan element in a case that's about the size and shape of a stack of four credit cards. In both cases, the scan element is along one of the long edges of the scanner, along with rollers. To scan, you start at the top of the page, business card, or receipt, then roll smoothly down in one sweep.

What in large part makes the DocuPen scanner so attractive is the combination of small size and the ability to scan an entire page in one sweep with little to no learning curve for getting a good scan. What works nicely for scanning a page with the DocuPen, however, doesn't work anywhere near as well for scanning a business card with the SlimScan.

Scanning
You can get a feel for the problem with scanning by using a credit card as a stand in for the scanner. Put a business card flat on a desk. Then hold a credit card with one long edge along one short side of the business card about 5 to 10 degrees off the perpendicular, and sweep the credit card across the business card.

If you try this without holding the card down, sweeping across will tend to move the card. If you hold the card down with your fingers, they'll get in the way of sweeping across the entire card. One solution is to tape the card down to hold it in place, but that's an inelegant workaround at best. A potentially better choice is to put the card in the kind of plastic sleeve that some sheet-fed scanners come with to protect photos, but PlanOn doesn't supply a protective sleeve. The company says it's considering adding one, though.

Not so incidentally, receipts don't generally have the same problem. There's usually more white space around the text than with a business card, leaving plenty of room for you to hold the receipt down without interfering with the scan.

Recognizing Text
Unfortunately, there are other problems beyond the simple mechanics of scanning. After a couple of dozen attempts?more of a learning curve than I'd like?I was able to get decent scans, at least to the extent of my being able to read the text on screen. However, the SlimScan?s program for managing receipts and business cards utterly failed to read any of the text correctly, much less parse it into the right fields.

The results were so poor that I contacted PlanOn to find out if I was doing something wrong. Part of the problem, it turns out, is that you have to scan at a surprisingly slow speed to get good enough scan quality: 1 second per centimeter, or 2.5 seconds per inch?a critical piece of information that isn't mentioned in the scanning instructions, but is hidden instead in an appendix in a PDF file stored in the scanner's memory. PlanOn says it's aware of this oversight and intends to correct it with the next printing of the quick start instructions.

Armed with this information, I rescanned a selection of cards at the slower pace. Indeed, the recognition improved, with at least one or two fields on each card getting filled in properly. Unfortunately, the accuracy still wasn't enough to save any time over simply typing the information into Outlook.

To eliminate scan quality from the equation, I asked the PlanOn representative to send me some scans to import into the program, and then compared my results with his. Even with his scans, I didn't see any obvious improvement. I also didn't see the same level of accuracy that he was reporting. It turned out that he had a later version of the program, which might well make the difference. Even with the accuracy he said he saw, however, it's clear that the program isn't a match for, say, the latest version of NewSoft Presto! BizCard when it comes to recognizing text and putting it in the right fields.

Other Issues
With the SlimScan doing so poorly on the two central tasks for a self-proclaimed receipt and business card scanner, it almost doesn't matter what else it does well or badly. However, there are several other issues that demand mention.

The scanner itself doesn't seem to be fragile, but the protective cover for the scan element is. The cover includes spring loaded plastic clips that can break easily, as I discovered roughly 90 minutes into the scanner's lifetime. PlanOn says it's aware of this issue and is looking at alternatives to the cover as it currently ships. On a strongly positive note, the company says that if it settles on a better solution, it will make it available at minimal cost to anyone who already owns the scanner.

Another issue is that the setup and calibration instructions aren't quite right. I was able to muddle through the installation, but for calibration, I had to call PlanOn to get the right steps. As with the oversight in the instructions about scan speed that I've already mentioned, PlanOn says it will address these issues in the next iteration of the instructions.

Ultimately, the PlanOn SlimScan as I received it is simply not ready for release into the wild. A lot of the issues I saw grow from poor documentation, which can be fixed easily enough, and which PlanOn says it will indeed take care of. But even after those issues are fixed, the OCR accuracy in the software version I received for testing was short of the level it needs to be to make the SlimScan truly useful, and the program itself is cumbersome to use. For the moment, the SlimScan is on a par with the wonderful dancing bear, where the wonder is not in how well the bear dances, but that it dances at all. I look forward to seeing a later iteration of the software, with the hope that PlanOn can turn this bear into a much more graceful dancer.

More Scanner Reviews:
??? PlanOn SlimScan SS100
??? Canon imageFormula P-215 Scan-tini Personal Document Scanner
??? Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300
??? Brother DS-700D
??? Canon imageFormula DR-C125
?? more

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Obama could turn a health-care loss into a win

If the Supreme Court decides the individual health-care mandate is unconstitutional, Obama's plans for reform begin to unravel. But with a little political maneuvering, he can turn such a defeat into a victory.

Not surprisingly, today?s debut Supreme Court argument over the so-called ?individual mandate? requiring everyone to buy health insurance revolved around epistemological niceties such as the meaning of a ?tax,? and the question of whether the issue is ripe for review.

Skip to next paragraph Robert Reich

Robert is chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton. He has written 13 books, including 'The Work of Nations,' 'Locked in the Cabinet,' and his most recent book, 'Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future.' His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.

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Behind this judicial foreplay is the brute political fact that if the Court decides the?individual mandate is an unconstitutional extension of federal authority, the entire law starts unraveling.

But with a bit of political jujitsu, the President could turn any such defeat into a victory for a single-payer healthcare system ? Medicare for all.?

Here?s how.

The dilemma at the heart of the new law is that it continues to depend on private health insurers, who have to make a profit or at least pay all their costs including marketing and advertising.

Yet the only way private insurers can afford to cover everyone with pre-existing health problems, as the new law requires, is to have every American buy health insurance ? including young and healthier people who are unlikely to rack up large healthcare costs.

This dilemma is the product of political compromise. You?ll remember the Administration couldn?t get the votes for a single-payer system such as Medicare for all. It hardly tried. Not a single Republican would even agree to a bill giving Americans the option of buying into it.

But don?t expect the Supreme Court to address this dilemma. It lies buried under an avalanche of constitutional?argument.

Those who are defending the law in Court say the federal government has authority to compel Americans to buy health insurance under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which gives Washington the power to regulate interstate commerce. They argue our sprawling health insurance system surely extends beyond an individual state.

Those who are opposing the law say a requirement that individuals contract with private insurance companies isn?t regulation of interstate commerce. It?s coercion of individuals.

Unhappily for Obama and the Democrats, most Americans don?t seem to like the individual mandate very much anyway. Many on the political right believe it a threat to individual liberty. Many on the left object to being required to buy something from a private company.

The President and the Democrats could have avoided this dilemma in the first place if they?d insisted on Medicare for all, or at least a public option.

After all, Social Security and Medicare require every working American to ?buy? them. The purchase happens automatically in the form of a deduction from everyone?s paychecks. But because Social Security and Medicare are government programs financed by payroll taxes they don?t feel like mandatory purchases.

Americans don?t mind mandates in the form of payroll taxes for Social Security or Medicare. In fact, both programs are so popular even conservative Republicans were heard to shout ?don?t take away my Medicare!? at rallies opposed to the new health care law.

There?s no question payroll taxes are constitutional, because there?s no doubt that the federal government can tax people in order to finance particular public benefits. But requiring citizens to buy something from a private company is different because private companies aren?t directly accountable to the public. They?re accountable to their owners and their purpose is to maximize profits. What if they monopolize the market and charge humongous premiums? (Some already seem to be doing this.)

Even if private health insurers are organized as not-for-profits, there?s still a problem of public accountability. What?s to prevent top executives from being paid small fortunes? (In more than a few cases this is already happening.)

Moreover, compared to private insurance, Medicare is a great deal. Its administrative costs are only around 3 percent, while the administrative costs of private insurers eat up 30 to 40 percent of premiums. Medicare?s costs are even below the 5 percent to 10 percent administrative costs borne by large companies that self-insure, and under the 11 percent costs of private plans under Medicare Advantage, the current private-insurance option under Medicare.

So why not Medicare for all?

Because Republicans have mastered the art of political jujitsu. Their strategy has been to demonize government and seek to privatize everything that might otherwise be a public program financed by tax dollars (see Paul Ryan?s plan for turning Medicare into vouchers). Then they go to court and argue that any mandatory purchase is unconstitutional because it exceeds the government?s authority.

Obama and the Democrats should do the reverse. If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate in the new health law, private insurers will swarm Capitol Hill demanding that the law be amended to remove the requirement that they cover people with pre-existing conditions.

When this happens, Obama and the Democrats should say they?re willing to remove that requirement ? but only if Medicare is available to all, financed by payroll taxes.

If they did this the public will be behind them ? as will the Supreme Court.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. This post originally ran on www.robertreich.org.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/OQCVJF6jqeQ/Obama-could-turn-a-health-care-loss-into-a-win

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MLB.tv lands on Xbox 360, gets cozy alongside ESPN and UFC

You knew it was coming, and now Microsoft's ready to make MLB.tv on your Xbox 360 official. Just like previous sporting efforts on the console, Redmond's gone and built a custom layer atop a partner's content in hopes of creating a richer and more immersive experience. A premium MLB.tv subscription still applies here, which'll grant you access to HD streams of every out-of-market game -- all of which are watchable live, in recap or archived forms. We liked the "My Teams" functionality which enabled us to quickly earmark content from teams we cared about, which makes triaging through MLB's rather large catalog far more palatable. There's a spiffy mini guide too, which makes for swapping between games a painless affair, in addition to split screen view, where two games are splayed side-by-side -- each which can be paused, or rewound to your hearts content. And it wouldn't be a party if gesture and voice controls, courtesy of Kinect, didn't make an appearance here too. So go peep that dashboard for the update, or hop past the break for a demo video of the whole shindig.

Continue reading MLB.tv lands on Xbox 360, gets cozy alongside ESPN and UFC

MLB.tv lands on Xbox 360, gets cozy alongside ESPN and UFC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/27/xbox-360-gets-mlb-tv/

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Tips On Anger Management Courses | Article Directory - Submit ...

Anger management course is a session that teaches skills or essential techniques to class participants regarding proper means of managing feelings and behaving well when in a tough condition. This course should not be used to replace medical treatments or other vital therapies. People who go to such lecture may have been directed by probation or demanded by an employer for self-improvement. There are actually 2 ways in which to have these courses.

Anger is normal. It becomes abnormal when the outraged human being is unchecked and engages in rage and harmful behavior that results in violence. Angry feelings controls you, rather than you controlling the anger. Anger out of control can ruin your life and harm other people. Anger starts when energy hormones and adrenaline kicks into high gear. It could actually cause aggressive reactions like violence.

One more means to seek out anger management groups or classes in your neighborhood is to contact local hospitals or mental health facilities. They may have an extensive list of counselors, or therapists, who either create shop at the clinic or have their own personal practices. In spite of everything, hospitals would probably be a very good starting place. Just be sure to request someone who specializes in anger management, otherwise you might not get the full benefit of the lecture.

Anger management classes for children have a wide range of advantages. Children learn what actions are unacceptable and how to express anger in a useful way. This is not only precious to the children as they become older, but also when they turn out to be adults. Children who can manage their anger will most likely not have anger issues as adults. Anger Management Tips points out that kids who are annoyed are usually disappointed with life by the time they turn thirty years old.

Teenagers handle complicated feelings and issues like affair issues, finding their identity and separation anxiety. Misunderstanding and exasperation typically cause anger, causing teenagers to either act out or depart. Anger management classes for teens assist with self-esteem, communication, impulse control and consequences. Different teaching ways enable you to search out the proper kind of learning condition for your teen.

For lots of information on Anger Management Techniques For Teenagers, please visit Online Anger Management Classes to discover more about managing your anger.

Source: http://ads4india.net/tips-anger-management-courses/

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Ways To Find Medical Tourism Located In Japan

There are typically jobs to be found in the field of health, even when there don't seem to be any jobs to be found anywhere else. A college degree is needed for some jobs, a high school degree for other jobs, and there are others where you will get training while you are working. This article doesn't have enough space to cover all of the possible careers that can be found in the field of health care. These few will give you an idea of what there is in the field, and may make you excited to see what career options there are.

Becoming a registered nurse (RN) is probably the most challenging path you can take when it comes to health careers, at least next to becoming a doctor. There is a lot of demand for nurses, however, and depending on where you want to work, you will have a lot of choices. There are many specialties within nursing, such as pediatrics, orthopedics, surgical care, psychiatry and many others.

If you're interested in becoming an RN, you should look into what your local colleges, including community colleges have to offer. The internet is a way to take courses, or a nursing school are both different options. While not everyone has what it takes to be an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), these are very important roles that need to be filled in the medical field. These are professional people who respond to 9-1-1 calls that are medical related and provide support to patients before they get to the hospital. Depending on where you live, you might need some extra schooling and certifications beyond the typical high school diploma and clean driving record to become an EMT. To have this job you need to be able to stay calm and competent in hairy emergency situations. You might have to do any number of stressful things like delivering emergency babies, help stop someone's bleeding, deliver oxygen, etc.

Pharmacists earn lots of money and there are all sorts of jobs available in this field as well. As a pharmacist, you will have to assist patients with both prescription and over the counter medications. This profession that requires you to be able to keep track of a lot of different information like the needs of lots of patients and their medical records. If you dispense the wrong medication to someone it can have disastrous consequences; this is a career that has tons of responsibility. You need to have a big education including an undergraduate degree and a certification that requires the passing of an exam to become a pharmacist. If you are interested in this field you can start doing research on pharmacy schools to find out everything that is involved in this career. Health is a rapidly expanding area of employment, and this article only pointed out several directions you could go. It is one thing to want a certain career, and another to be honest about your abilities and desires, so put down on the list of possibilities only those you know you can fit the requirements. You need to be open with yourself about your interests and your talent level before choosing what you want.

Source: http://health.ezinemark.com/ways-to-find-medical-tourism-located-in-japan-7d35117cfdd9.html

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Julie Otsuka wins PEN/Faulkner prize

NEW YORK (AP) ? Julie Otsuka's "The Buddha in the Attic," a brief, poetic novel about young Japanese women who emigrate to the U.S. and marry men they have never met, has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced Monday that Otsuka will receive $15,000 for the prize, which has been given in previous years to Philip Roth and John Updike among others. Her novel was a finalist last fall for the National Book Award.

Faulkner finalists included novels by Anita Desai and Russell Banks and short story collections by Don DeLillo and Steven Millhauser.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-03-26-Books-PEN-Faulkner/id-a837a7c585a54cae9c2e3e3087abbccc

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Mining boom in Michigan: economic boost or environmental nuisance?

Demand for metals on the world market is prompting a mining boom in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, where jobs are scarce. But possible environmental damage to forests, lakes, and rivers alarms some locals.

Jeff TenEyck was glad to come home last year. He had left Michigan for a small trucking business in South Carolina but returned to work at a new mine just outside Big Bay, the little mill town where he grew up.

Skip to next paragraph

"This is the biggest shot in the arm for the economy here since Henry Ford was here," says Mr. TenEyck, whose grandfather worked in a lumber mill that Ford bought in 1943.

Driven by a worldwide surge in demand for metals, mining is on the rebound in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, bringing the hope of jobs to remote and economically depressed rural communities. A dozen miles south of Big Bay, London-based mining giant Rio Tinto PLC and its subsidiary, Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co., are digging a shaft beneath a pine-covered flat called the Yellow Dog Plains. They plan to begin extracting nickel and copper early next year. Rio Tinto says the Eagle Mine will be the largest nickel mine in the country and will create as many as 700 new jobs.

Meanwhile, Orvana Minerals Corp., a Canadian mining company based in Toronto, is close to final approval for a copper mine expected to create hundreds of jobs in the sparsely populated western Upper Peninsula. Next in line, Aquila Resources Inc. and HudBay Minerals Inc. plan to apply for a permit later this year to mine zinc, gold, and silver at a small, open-pit mine along the Menominee River called the Back Forty Project.

There could be more. Mining companies have been busy prospecting for new deposits, crisscrossing the Upper Peninsula by plane and helicopter, drilling exploratory holes, leasing land, and buying up mineral rights. They've revisited old mines to see if new technology might make it profitable to reopen them.

"It's like flies to honey," says Theodore Bornhorst, professor of economic and engineering geology at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. "It's got a lot of people interested."

The prospect of jobs has also excited the hopes of residents. "It's a no-brainer for most people," says Amy Clickner, head of the Lake Superior Community Partnership, an economic development corporation in Marquette, Mich. "We do have a culture used to mining here. And the people who live up here do have to have jobs."

At the same time, many residents worry that new mining could damage the environment and threaten the natural abundance that they enjoy as hunters and anglers.

Around Big Bay, opponents of the Eagle Mine, including a local group of Ojibwa Indians, have packed hearings, gotten themselves arrested, and traveled to London to speak out at meetings of Rio Tinto shareholders. They have sued Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality for granting a mining permit in 2007. Most recently, they have been fighting the construction of a haul road through a wild area south of the mine.

"Of course we want jobs back in Baraga County," says Susan LaFernier, tribal council secretary for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which lies west of the mine in a county with 18 percent unemployment. "We'd be crazy if we didn't. But we think the harm isn't worth those jobs."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/QRZUHBuY7yo/Mining-boom-in-Michigan-economic-boost-or-environmental-nuisance

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Apple's gains make some mutual funds riskier

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When it comes to Apple, investors could become victims of their own success.

It is a dilemma more mutual fund managers are wrestling with due to the company's nearly 48 percent gain this year. Those who bought Apple well below its current price have seen the value of their investment balloon, sometimes to more than 10 percent of their fund's assets.

That effectively turns a brilliant decision into a concentrated stake, undercutting the benefits of diversification and making some mutual funds riskier.

As Apple stock has marched higher, well-timed bets on the company have helped some growth-oriented and blended mutual funds outperform the broad market. But in doing so, many of those funds have now tied investor dollars closer to the performance of a single company.

This isn't much of an issue when it comes to funds that market themselves as narrow bets on technology. But many funds whose broad holdings could be the core of a (401)k or similar retirement plan - Fidelity's $14.7 billion Blue Chip Growth and the $28.7 billion T. Rowe Price Growth fund among them - are stocking up on Apple.

Apple makes up nearly 9 percent of Fidelity's $80.8 billion Contrafund, for instance. The fund is the sixth-most popular holding in 401(k) plans nationwide, according to BrightScope, a firm that ranks company (401)k plans.

A dramatic fall in Apple's shares, however unlikely that may seem at the moment, would quickly ripple across the retirement accounts of millions of investors who thought they were safer investing in funds than individual shares.

"It adds to the risk profile of a fund to have a significant stake in one stock because it makes them more susceptible to bad news on one or two stocks and they won't be able to cushion the blow with diversification," said Todd Rosenbluth, a senior fund analyst at Standard & Poor's Capital IQ.

Generally in the mutual fund industry, any position over 5 percent of assets is considered a large bet that may influence a fund, said Dan Culloton, a fund analyst at Morningstar.

CONCENTRATED BETS

Shares of Apple have nearly doubled from the $310 they hit in June 2011, and at about $600 a share are up nearly 48 percent in 2012 alone.

Apple, currently the world's most valuable company by market capitalization, now has a weighting of 4.2 percent in the broad S&P 500 portfolio, the benchmark against which the performance of most U.S. mutual funds are judged. That means 4.2 cents of every $1 invested in a S&P 500 index fund will be allocated to Apple shares, before fees.

By definition, actively managed mutual funds have overweight positions in companies they think will outperform the broad market, but usually not more than 5 or 6 percent.

But 46 funds tracked by Morningstar have stakes in Apple that exceed 9 percent of assets, or roughly double the company's weighting in the S&P 500 index. This does not include sector funds that focus on technology or other specialized investment.

The $1.5 billion Oppenheimer Main Street Select fund, for instance, blends value and growth stocks in its portfolio of 34 companies. It had 10.5 percent of its assets, or two and half times the benchmark weight, in Apple as of the end of January, according to Morningstar data.

That concentrated bet is one reason that the fund is up 13.9 percent so far this year, or 2.6 percentage points above the broad S&P 500 index. A dip in Apple's share price and the fund could fall more than the broad market. The fund managers declined to comment.

Fidelity's Contrafund, meanwhile, focuses on growth stocks. It holds 427 stocks, but 8.6 percent of its portfolio, or a total of $6.6 billion, was concentrated in Apple at the end of January. That stake is more than even Apple's weighting of 7.6 percent in the narrower Russell 1000 Growth index, which many growth fund managers use as an internal benchmark.

The Contrafund is up 13.7 percent since the start of 2012. Fidelity declined to comment.

Some reluctance on the part of portfolio managers to sell Apple shares is understandable. Trimming exposure could lead to underperformance for a fund.

"We hear about this a lot from portfolio managers. I have no doubt that they'd like to sell it and take their profits, but you have to be in it to win it and right now Apple's momentum is going up," said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P.

These fund managers usually realize that they are taking on additional risk, Silverblatt said. "What helped you on the way up kills you on the way down."

CUTTING RISK

Some fund managers are taking steps to lower the weighting of Apple in their portfolios.

"We got to the point where it was an inordinate part of our portfolio, and in order to control risk it was only prudent to trim it back," said Robert S. Bacarella, a Wheaton, Illinois fund manager who runs the $49 million Monetta fund with his son.

Bacarella first bought 10,000 shares of Apple in early 2005 when it traded at around $40 per share. In September 2005, those 10,000 shares were worth $536,100 and accounted for 0.9 percent of his portfolio, according to Morningstar data.

Fast forward to December 2011, and Bacarella again had 10,000 shares of Apple. This time, however, their value was nearly $4.1 million, which accounted for 9.3 percent of his fund's weight. He trimmed his shares by 5,000 earlier this year. Apple now makes up 5 percent of his assets.

"This is about risk control. You never know what is going to happen," he said. The sizeable positions built up by other funds would only exacerbate an Apple fall , he added.

"If everyone sees deceleration of earnings growth, what will you do?" Bacarella asks. "I would think that you're going to bail and that will compound to the downside."

(Reporting By David Randall; Editing by Walden Siew, Jennifer Merritt and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apples-gains-mutual-funds-riskier-185403133.html

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