Tea with the Empress ? View From an Irish Back Yard

How many times?as a kid did I say, ?I?ll never _____ when I grow up.?

One of those was always, ?I?ll never drink tea.? I was determined that it looked and smelled gross, and only coffee would suit me when I was old enough to have it. If only I could have seen myself now! :)

I continued this self-promise until I was invited to a real Tea Party when I was 12 or 13. The only thing that tempted me to try the brew was the smell ? this was no ordinary tea! My host had made?a generous pot of Earl Grey, and once I?d tasted it, I knew I?d never go back.

Now I drink all kinds of tea, of course ? from regular Lyons Original Blend?black tea to Solaris Organic Rooibos?Chocolate Chai to Celestial Seasonings Sleepy Time. I love tea. I don?t know how I?d make it through the day without it! And these Kellys?I married into are a bunch of tea addicts! It?s true ? from the first day I visited, I?ve watched them go?through at least 5 ? 6 cups a day each, more in the winter, and it seems like every new conversation is punctuated by turning on the kettle. ?They say that Frank?s brother, Noel, even had it in his baby bottle! Wow! In general, though, kids start drinking tea very young here, probably a long-held tradition in this country where the cold and damp can go right to your bones.

I?ve long wanted to try tea-infused food, and this weekend I did. Perhaps it?s the dropping temperatures and?rain, or all the baking blogs I?ve been reading, or the new season of The Great British Bake-Off, but I?ve been pining for some cupcakes.

Chocolate Empress Cupcakes

It?s quite common these days to see recipes that use Earl Grey Tea infusions. I still love Earl Grey Tea, but I know it can be a bit strong and overpowering if you?re not?fond of?that telltale bergamot and lemon taste. So I decided to go a bit milder and try something using one of my all time favourite teas, Empress Grey (sometimes named Lady Grey). This is a lighter tea with similar flavours to the Earl, but it?s delicate and a bit sweeter.

My basis for these cupcakes was this recipe from The Food Network ? but as I said above, I?adapted the recipe to use Lady Grey and orange juice. I also used a chocolate cupcake recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook rather than the one on the web site ? since the tea was milder, I thought I should use a cupcake made with cocoa powder rather than melted dark chocolate so that the balance would be right.

I read and re-read the recipe before making these, sure I was missing something. When do you strain the tea leaves out? Certainly you?re not meant to eat them? But I was wrong, you don?t take them out and they?re actually fine to eat ? you hardly notice them. It seems a bit strange, when you think of strong, dry black tea in your food, but they soften and release their flavours and aromas beautifully. No worries needed.

The frosting is a kind of boiled frosting, such as the White Mountain variety you might find in old Betty Crocker cookbooks, a relative of the Italian Meringue. It takes a bit more time, but it is so different than?normal buttercreams?and ganaches?I didn?t mind the extra toil. The end result is?a sweet, light, marshmallowy confection that makes a complete mess on your face when you bite in. Lovely.

Tea Flecks in the Frosting

There?s a funny little sidenote here, though ? by the time the cupcakes had cooled and I made this frosting last night, Evelyn was in bed (in the room directly above the kitchen) and Frank was watching a TV show he?d been anticipating. So? when it came to the part of the recipe where you beat the frosting with your mixer for 5 minutes? I had to take the bowl and hand-beaters into the utility room and balance the lot of it on my lap while I awkwardly sat on top of the vacuum! And of course, it took longer than 5 minutes to get to the stiff peak stage (doesn?t it always in situations such as these?)! ?Haha on me!!? I?m sure I looked a fool, but that is the price we must pay for beautiful food.

I have to say, these are some of the nicest cupcakes I?ve made.? They?re not for everybody, but they?re unique and were a satisfying way to spend a Saturday night after what was actually a pretty nasty week. I?m quite proud of them. :)

Now if you?ll excuse me, I?m going to go have tea with the Empress. Yum.

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Source: http://maryannk.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/tea-with-the-empress/

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Fielder, McGehee homer as Brewers beat Astros 8-2 (AP)

HOUSTON ? Lucas Harrell made the most of his debut with the Houston Astros, but the bullpen couldn't make it stand up.

Harrell, claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox on July 8, yielded three hits and no runs in 5 1-3 innings in his fourth career start overall after being called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City. He left with the Astros leading 2-0, but Houston's relievers couldn't hold the lead.

Prince Fielder had four hits, including a two-run homer in the ninth, and the Milwaukee Brewers scored all their runs in the last three innings to rally for an 8-2 victory Friday.

Harrell, who had a 1-0 career record with a 5.28 ERA in 11 games in the majors, said he was a little nervous and excited, but when he got through the feelings, things went well.

"I felt like just getting back there," Harrell said. "I had an extra day from my last start. I got in a groove a little later on out there."

Houston manager Brad Mills said Harrell pitched well to get into the sixth inning against the Brewers' difficult lineup.

"You don't like, want to make a big mistake to a guy like Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder because they will make you pay for it," Harrell said. "I feel like the few times I got in the situation I had to make the pitch I made the pitch."

Braun was impressed with Harrell.

"He kept the ball down in the zone," Braun said. "I thought he had a really good fastball, he had a really good slider-cutter that he was throwing at any time. He threw some really good changeups to lefties and really kept us off balance. He really threw the ball well."

Braun didn't get to Harrell, but he did get to reliever David Carpenter with the go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning to help the NL Central leaders snap a three-game skid and end Houston's four-game winning streak.

Casey McGehee had a two-run shot in the eighth inning to stretch the lead to 5-2 and Nyjer Morgan scored in the ninth before Fielder's 31st homer.

Trailing 2-0 entering the seventh, Milwaukee got consecutive two-out singles by pinch-hitter Taylor Green and Corey Hart.

The Astros looked to have a chance to get out of the seventh when Hart hit a high popup foul that Jimmy Paredes was in position to catch. But it bounced off a beam on the roof and out of his reach, and Hart capitalized on his second chance with a single.

"You'd like to have it not hit the roof," Mills said. "Had it not hit the roof there, we might have been able to get out of that thing, but it hit the beam and they were able to keep the inning going with a base hit and wound up getting some big runs there."

Morgan walked to load the bases and chase reliever Aneury Rodriguez (1-6), who was replaced by David Carpenter. A wild pitch by Carpenter allowed Logan Schafer, who made his major league debut pinch-running for Green, to score and cut the lead to 2-1.

Braun's single to left field scored Hart and Morgan to put Milwaukee on top 3-2, but Braun was out on a rundown at second. Fielder, who finished a triple short of the cycle, doubled to start the eighth inning before McGehee's homer to left field.

"I didn't give us a very good chance to finish off that game with a win," Carpenter said. "It's on me. It's not on anybody else."

Milwaukee starter Zack Greinke (14-5) allowed a season-high nine hits with two runs and six strikeouts in six innings.

Brian Bogusevic hit his first career triple in the fourth inning on a ball that landed in deep right center field, just in front of the Astros' bullpen. Paredes followed with an RBI single to put Houston up 1-0. Paredes has seven RBIs in his last 10 games.

A wild pitch allowed Paredes to advance to second before an error on the same play by catcher Jonathan Lucroy let him take third. Clint Barmes followed with a double that scored Paredes and made it 2-0. Greinke limited the damage by retiring the next three Astros.

Carlos Lee and Bogusevic hit consecutive no-out singles in the second inning before Barmes drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Greinke was able to escape that jam when Humberto Quintero grounded into a double play to end the inning. Lee's single extended his hitting streak to a season-high 13 games.

NOTES: Brewers SS Yuniesky Betancourt left the game in the eighth inning with a right elbow bruise after being plunked by Carpenter. ... Milwaukee 2B Rickie Weeks, who has been out since severely spraining his left ankle on July 27, is progressing, but Roenicke said it will still be a while before he's healthy enough to play defense. He did say that he's thought about using him as a pinch-hitter before he's ready to return full time. But he said, even if he decides to use him in that capacity that would still be more than a few days away. ... Hart has a 15-game hitting streak. ... Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz wasn't with the team on Friday because his mother is sick. Manager Ron Roenicke doesn't expect him back for this series. ... Milwaukee lefty Chris Narveson (9-6) faces Houston's Bud Norris (6-8) in the second game of the series on Saturday. Narveson last pitched in relief on Wednesday against the Cardinals, his first work as a reliever this season. Norris didn't factor into the decision in his last start despite striking out 10 in seven innings.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110903/ap_on_sp_ba_ga_su/bbn_astros

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Affiliate Marketing as a Profitable Home Based Business | Fast Track ...

Affiliate Marketing as a Profitable Home Based Business

Running a home based business has become an attractive way to supplement one?s income and with the growth of online businesses, affiliate marketing is a relatively easy way to earn extra cash. What exactly is Affiliate Marketing? It is an agreement between a merchant and a website owner, whereby the website owner, or the affiliate consents to the use of his/her site for the promotion of the merchant?s products by linking with the online vendor?s site. In exchange, the merchant pays a commission on all sales generated by the affiliate. This means that every time someone clicks on a link on the affiliate website,?is redirected to the merchant?s website and proceeds to make a purchase, the affiliate gets a commission.


The main reason why affiliate marketing is an excellent home based business is that there is little or no cash outlay for the prospective affiliate. The merchant has already tried and tested his product in the market and found it to have a good sale value, so all you, as an affiliate, have to do is find as many buyers as you can in order to increase the sales and bring in the profits. Affiliate programs are usually free to join, so affiliates do not have to worry about start-up costs. There are thousands of products and services you can choose from. You can find affiliate programs for every product so there is bound to be a product or service that is relevant to your website. You could even set up affiliate marketing as a home based business to run independent of your presence, perhaps while you at your primary job.


Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective ways to advertise online. It is also one of the easiest ways for anyone with a website to make a profit online. Affiliate marketing programs are described as a win-win situation for both the merchant and the affiliate because of the pay-for-performance scheme. It gives the merchant a wider market in which to advertise a product or service. Affiliate marketing gives the product or service the exposure that it might not otherwise get with other traditional advertising techniques.


Meanwhile, the affiliate enjoys several advantages. Foremost among these is the ease with which profits can be made. In addition, there is absolutely no sales experience necessary. Most affiliate programs offer excellent support when it comes to providing marketing material. Because of the global reach of the internet, you can easily find thousands of eager buyers. You can broaden your advertising campaign with dynamic, high pressure tactics such as viral marketing. If you aim to reach the largest possible number of targeted potential buyers, you will greatly increase your earnings. The lack of complexity involved in affiliate marketing allows you to be an affiliate marketer with minimal liability, an ideal pre-requisite for a home based business. It is even possible to earn high affiliate commissions without a website of your own. It is always an advantage to have your own website, but if you don?t, you can still become an affiliate marketer. You can, as do many people, earn a good income through Pay-per-Click advertising (PPC) using Google Adwords. You can also use different approaches like email marketing, offline promotions, writing e-books and engaging in online discussion forums. A further advantage of taking up affiliate marketing as a home business is that it is not contractual work. What this means is that there is no binding obligation on your part to keep promoting products that do not sell well ? for whatever reason. Since you are in this business to make money, if you think that your returns are poor, you are free to go on to another product belonging either to the same or a different vendor.

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Let us assume that you have decided to try your hand at affiliate marketing ? you have your website ready, it has a theme, good domain name and reliable hosting ? and you are raring to get started on your new home based business. There are 3 easy ways to start an effective affiliate marketing program:


1. Identify your area of interest and expertise ? Focusing on a specific area you know very well will help bring out your creative best without much risk or effort. You can add a personal touch to your site and give your visitors, who are potential buyers, the impression that you are an expert in your field. In this way, you gain their trust and eventually encourage them to buy the products you endorse. Most importantly, instead of getting bored and discouraged if your sales are slow to get started, you could use your expertise and enthusiasm to find more creative ways to promote your affiliate products.


2. Searching for the right products ? Look for merchants who pay a good percentage of the product value as commission.. Select products or services related to your interest and that are pertinent or complementary to the theme of your website. In choosing the products, you must also consider whether the number of visitors your advertising attracts to the site actually translates to buyers. If all you get are people browsing through the site, brought there by your publicity campaigns, then your earnings will go down. In such cases, you will have to rethink your strategy for attracting targeted buyers. There are various affiliate networks and affiliate solution providers that can give you information on the most profitable products and best paying merchants. The key here is, be wise enough to choose the right one.


3. Promoting your chosen products ? This is a crucial task, since it is through this that you would be able to increase traffic to your website, close the sales and of course, reap the profits. Affiliate marketing allows you to make a lot of money fast particularly if the products you sell are expensive, branded and much sought after. Heavily priced products, however, can be hard to sell and attract other affiliate competitors; but with the right marketing strategies and sales techniques, you can draw visitors to the merchant?s site and make them buy the products. Continue to educate yourself by reading books or other articles online about the best advertising techniques. You need to be creative, flexible and willing to embrace new ideas to market your partners? products until you find the perfect strategy that works for a specific market that you are targeting.


Nothing stops people from making money on the Internet more than an unwillingness to ride out the rough patches. The main reason for this is that they are in it only for the quick influx of cash. The money is important, no doubt about that , but a sincere desire to learn more, to try different strategies, to put in the effort and above all a confidence that it can be done, will in the end, only help you join the ranks of those successful in affiliate marketing. You may even find it so lucrative that you decide to give up your day job to concentrate exclusively on your home based business thus achieving every one?s dream of personal and financial independence.

Visit www.ebookmall4U.co.uk for e-books and articles ranging from parenting to web designing.


For more information on how Affiliate Marketing can help you in your online venture, here is the Free Special Report

Related posts:

  1. Affiliate Programs ? Home Based Business Income Opportunities
  2. How One Can Make Home Based Business Profitable?
  3. The Numerous and Exquisitely Profitable Benefits of Affiliate Marketing
  4. Profitable Affiliate Products ? 8 Steps to Find Hot Products to Sell in Affiliate Marketing Business
  5. Why Affiliate Marketing A Helpful Tool to Make Money Online

Source: http://fasttracktosixfigures.com/affiliate-marketing-as-a-profitable-home-based-business/

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Dating for Parents: The Three Post-Divorce Rules | Michigan ...

For Parents Dating after a divorce, it may seem a very disconcerting thought at the moment. Before you can fully appreciate the wonders of online Single Parents Dating, you should triumph over your personal problems. Let Dating for Parents help you out before you jump into the dating wagon. Consider these 3 essential rules:

1. Never ever make decisions when you are depressed or pressured, for you might regret making them. You and your kids need some time-out and heal. Relationship experts say that the appropriate time for single parents to start dating again is one year, but of course, it?s an individual decision. So before you jump to the conclusion that you should start dating again, think over it first. Do you need this additional load at the moment? Are you healed and ready to commit again. When you are pressured and unsure of your decisions then it?s best for you to set it aside and take time to think over. If however, you think that you still need more time to adjust and if the idea of dating makes you uncomfortable then wait for the right timing, only you can tell.

2. Let your kids in with whatever plans you may have, especially your dating venture. Let your children be aware of your Single Parents Dating plans but make it casual. Tell them that you would want to get together with other adults again. Don?t say that you?re going to find them a new dad; that would just come off as a shocker. Children may not be as vocal but address any concerns that they might voice out or anything you might have sensed that bothers them, mother?s intuition right? Then, you should reassure them that even when you start dating, they are still your number one priority and that you love them very much.

3. Empathize with your kids. Look at things through your kids? eyes. The last thing that you would want to feel when you are dating is regret, remorse and uncertainty, all of these emotions mixed up will hinder you from establishing a relationship. Children want your attention all for themselves, for children are egocentric in nature. Just try putting yourself in their shoes. How do you suppose they feel? By looking through their eyes and by understanding the way they think, you?re on the sure track to keeping and making them appreciate you- and your date.

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Source: http://www.divorce-attorney-news.com/michigan/divorce-rights/dating-for-parents-the-three-post-divorce-rules/

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More legal trouble for Apple with WiLAN patent claim ? Apple News ...

It seems Apple can?t even go a full week without being targeted with a new patent violation claim. Friday, patent-holding firm WiLAN, which does little beyond seek licensing fees for its 800 wireless tech patents, announced that it had begun the process of litigation against Apple, as well as Dell, HP and others, for infringing on two of its patents related to CDMA, HSPA, Wi-Fi and LTE technologies.

WiLAN filed its claim with the U.S. District Court?for the?Eastern District of Texas, which is generally a go-to court for patent claims because it has a track record of favoring plaintiffs, with 88 percent of rulings siding with those laying claims, vs. a nationwide average of only 68 percent. WiLAN, an Ottawa, Ontario-based company will employ the services of McKool Smith, one of the best U.S. intellectual property law firms, and one with ample experience arguing cases in East Texas.

WiLAN has a history of?pursuing?claims against Apple, including in a suit related to Wi-Fi tech in 2007, and in a 2010 case over Bluetooth. Some companies have settled with WiLAN in these cases, Intel among them, but otherwise, they remain ongoing. Most recently, it was in the news for its ongoing attempts to acquire another patent-holding firm, MOSAID, through a hostile takeover bid. MOSAID has recently added more than 2,000 patents to its portfolio in a deal with Nokia.

Typically, companies like WiLAN just want to extract licensing fees from the companies involved in the suit, so you seldom see an actual verdict in these cases. You can see why, in the face of constant attacks from companies like WiLAN, Openwave and Lodsys that Apple and others would want to build deep patent?portfolios. There?s also the motive of being able to hamstring your closest competitors through patent litigation, of course.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Source: http://gigaom.com/apple/more-legal-trouble-for-apple-with-wilan-patent-claim/

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Appeals court asked to vacate "Don't Ask" judgment (Reuters)

PASADENA, Calif (Reuters) ? Obama administration lawyers asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to vacate a judgment declaring "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" unconstitutional now that the ban on openly gay men and women in the military is about to be repealed.

But attorneys for opponents of the ban argued that the lower-court decision striking it down should be affirmed and left intact, preserving a legal precedent for anyone discharged under the policy who is seeking reinstatement, back pay or other recompense.

President Barack Obama in December signed a repeal of the 17-year ban into law, and announced last month that the repeal would take effect September 20 following months of preparation by the Pentagon to implement the policy change.

The administration has argued that the legal case against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is therefore moot and the landmark judgment won last year by a gay rights group, the Log Cabin Republicans, should be vacated.

"This lawsuit has always been about ending 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' Once 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' ends, in 19 days, this lawsuit is over," government attorney Henry Whitaker told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

More than 13,000 gay men and lesbians have been expelled from the armed services for revealing their sexual orientation since the policy went into force in 1993 under then-President Bill Clinton.

Whitaker said the military already is accepting reenlistment from some of them.

Many, however, may be denied restoration of their old rank, while others who were less than honorably discharged will wish to upgrade their severance status to qualify for the G.I. Bill or veterans benefits, said attorney Dan Woods, representing the Log Cabin Republicans.

He also raised the possibility a future president or Congress might try to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," or some variation of it, as some Republican presidential candidates have vowed to do.

"There's an election next year," Woods said. "These are some of the reasons the case is not moot 19 days from now."

Three months before Congress passed the repeal law, a federal judge in California handed gay activists a major victory last year by ruling that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" infringed on the constitutional free-speech and due-process rights of homosexuals in the armed forces.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips put her decision into effect in October by ordering a halt to further enforcement of the ban, briefly requiring the military to welcome openly gay recruits for the first time.

But the 9th Circuit reversed her injunction in November, ruling that "Don't Ask" should remain in place pending a final outcome of the case.

The appeals court reinstated the injunction in early July, then partially reversed itself again 10 days later. As it currently stands, the ban on openly gay men and lesbians in uniform remains in effect, but the Pentagon is effectively barred from enforcing it.

It is now up to the 9th Circuit to decide whether to affirm or overturn Phillips' underlying decision declaring the gay ban unconstitutional. The court could otherwise throw the case out on grounds the Log Cabin Republicans lack standing or vacate Phillips' judgment as requested by the administration.

The court did not indicate how it would rule, but Woods said afterward that he did not expect a decision until after the repeal went into effect on September 20.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jerry Norton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110901/us_nm/us_gays_military

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High-profile tech blogger launches VC fund (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? Michael Arrington, one of the highest-profile U.S. technology bloggers, has created a venture capital fund to invest in promising start-ups.

The editor of TechCrunch will lead the $20 million "CrunchFund," whose list of limited partners reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley heavyweights, from Kleiner Perkins to Andreessen Horowitz.

Online company AOL Inc, which bought TechCrunch in September 2010, is also a limited partner in the new fund.

The move comes months after Arrington publicly announced that he had begun to actively invest in start-up companies, triggering lively debate within the industry.

Given his role as founder of an influential blog, Arrington plans to disclose potential conflicts of interest in anything he writes, AOL spokesman Mario Ruiz said. And, AOL will begin looking for a managing editor to oversee TechCrunch's day-to-day operations and standards, while Arrington remains "founding editor."

"The easiest way for me to handle this is to be up front about all of these investments and disclose it in posts, which I've done and will continue to do," Arrington, a former corporate lawyer, wrote in a blog post on TechCrunch in April.

Arrington created the CrunchFund with Pat Gallagher, a venture capital investor who went to college with Arrington at Claremont McKenna College.

Among the limited partners investing in the fund are venture capital firms Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, according to a description posted on the TechCrunch website.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110901/tc_nm/us_crunchfund

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ConsumerMan: Gold prices, scams are on rise

America has a serious case of gold fever. Because of the shaky economy and the soaring price of gold, people are eager to buy gold coins and invest in gold stocks. This gold rush mentality presents a golden opportunity for hucksters to pitch their bogus get-rich-quick schemes.

Federal and state authorities are going after the scammers. But these guys can steal millions of dollars from thousands of unsuspecting victims before they are shut down.

For example, a few weeks ago the owner of a Florida company, The Global Bullion Exchange, pled guilty to running an illegal investment scheme that prosecutors say defrauded more than 1,400 out of more than $25 million. (U.S. Attorney?s news release)

Life Inc.: Ameicans are betting on gold

The company told customers they could purchase gold bullion for a small down payment using the company?s ?leverage? program. In fact, investigators say the company never bought any gold.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority just issued an investor alert to warn people about gold stock scams. Gerri Walsh, FINRA?s vice president for investor education, tells me they?ve seen ?a proliferation of misleading investment opportunities? related to gold. Walsh says con artists are making claims about return-on-investment that are ?based on thin air.?

I spoke to her at length about this growing problem.

Q: What sort of things are you seeing in the way of questionable investments?

A: Some are in gold mining companies. Others are in gold directly ? or at least that?s what they claim.

Q: What is your major concern?

A: Our concern is that investors are being swept away by the feeding frenzy that?s being created by blogs and tweets and other promotions that are touting gold. And what we want investors to do is to step back and think about whether these are really good investments.

Having some mutual funds that invest in gold in your portfolio can be a sound diversification strategy. But the reality is that exposure or over-exposure to gold as a commodity can be a risky thing.

Q: I understand telemarketers are pitching all sorts of ways to invest in gold. What do you think about responding to a cold call like this?

A: FINRA recommends that you never invest based on a cold call.

Q: Gold investments are also being sold via free lunch seminars. They?re supposed to be educational, but we all know the goal is to sell something. How do you feel about them?

A: Free lunch seminars are often used to push sales, absolutely. Many people go to them because they are interested in education. But they find out that when the sales seminar is over that?s when the hard pitch really begins.

By virtue of signing up for the seminar you usually give them information about yourself, such as your investment objectives and your contact information. So people who contact you after the sales seminar are likely to start getting to know you, developing some trust between you and them. That?s when they?ll go in for the kill and make a pitch that you feel obligated to respond to.

Q: What?s FINRA?s advice to people who are interested in having some of their portfolio in gold?

A: Our advice is to slow down and think about whether that investment is right for you. If you?re considering investing in gold bullion, you need to be very, very careful to make sure that the gold actually exists.

If you?re thinking about a fund, such as an Exchange-Traded Fund that invests in gold, you want to find out exactly how the fund invests in gold. In other words, does it hold the physical gold, because some funds do, or does it invest in gold futures contracts or somehow track some other gold-related index?

We encourage investors to check out both the investment and the person selling the investment before they do anything. You can do that on the FINRA web site. You can see if the person you are dealing with is licensed to sell securities.

Q: While gold is the hot investment right now, a smart investor should have a diversified portfolio, right?

A: Legitimate gold and ETF investments might be a good or sound diversification strategy for some investors. But you need to be aware that those investments can be very, very volatile. And a heavy concentration of gold investments could leave you overly exposed to that single commodity and at risk of losing a substantial amount of money.

We caution investors not to put all their eggs in one basket. And the feeding frenzy that?s going on with gold right now might lead people to liquidate their assets and put all of their money into gold which they might perceive as safe. But that?s an incredibly dangerous strategy because being exposed to a single commodity, to a single investment, is never a good idea.

Watch out for fool?s gold

The FINRA warns investors to be on the lookout for any pitch for a gold investment that:

  • Claims to tie stock performance to the general rise in gold prices ? a rise in gold prices does not guarantee a rise in the price of a gold company's stock.
  • Uses scare tactics such as the threat of inflation or an economic meltdown.
  • Makes speculative claims based on a new gold reserve's proximity to an existing reserve or centers on a company that has changed its name or trading symbol to align it more closely with gold. For example, FINRA says one company that currently purports to engage in gold mining was originally incorporated to provide golfing opportunities on private courses to nonmembers.

More Information:

FINRA: ?Gold? Stocks ? Some Investments Mine Your Pocketbook
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alert: Investing in Bullion and Bullion Coins
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Alert: Investing in Gold? What?s the Rush?

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44347632/ns/business-consumerman/

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Discovery of important woolly rhino fossil

Friday, September 2, 2011

A paper to be published on September 2, 2011 in the authoritative magazine Science reveals the discovery of a primitive woolly rhino fossil in the Himalayas, which suggests some giant mammals first evolved in present-day Tibet before the beginning of the Ice Age. The extinction of Ice Age giants such as woolly mammoths and rhinos, giant sloths, and saber-tooth cats has been widely studied, but much less is known about where these giants came from, and how they acquired their adaptations for living in a cold environment.

A team of geologists and paleontologists led by Xiaoming Wang from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) and Qiang Li of Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, uncovered a complete skull and lower jaw of a new species of woolly rhino (Coelodonta thibetana) in 2007, at the foothills of the Himalayas in southwestern Tibetan Plateau.

"Cold places, such as Tibet, Arctic, and Antarctic, are where the most unexpected discoveries will be made in the future ? these are the remaining frontiers that are still largely unexplored," said the NHM's Dr. Wang.

There are dual connections between the new paper and the Natural History Family of Museums (including the Natural History Museum and the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits). Dr. Wang contributed to NHM's Age of Mammals exhibition, which depicts the creation of the Himalayan Mountains and Tibetan Plateau, and subsequent climactic changes of the Pleistocene Ice Age. Additionally, the largest Ice Age megafauna collection in the world is excavated, researched, and displayed at the Page Museum.

The new rhino is 3.6 million years old (middle Pliocene), much older and more primitive than its Ice Age (Pleistocene) descendants in the mammoth steppes across much of Europe and Asia. The extinct animal had developed special adaptations for sweeping snow using its flattened horn to reveal vegetation, a useful behavior for survival in the harsh Tibetan climate. These rhinos lived at a time when global climate was much warmer and the northern continents were free of the massive ice sheets seen in the Ice Age later.

The rhino accustomed itself to cold conditions in high elevations and became pre-adapted for the future Ice Age climate. When the Ice Age eventually arrived around 2.6 million years ago, the new paper posits, the cold-loving rhinos simply descended from the high mountains and began to expand throughout northern Asia and Europe.

In addition to the new woolly rhino, the paleontologist team also uncovered extinct species of three-toed horse (Hipparion), Tibetan bharal (Pseudois, also known as blue sheep), chiru (Pantholops, also known as Tibetan antelope), snow leopard (Uncia), badger (Meles), as well as 23 other kinds of mammals.

The team's new fossil assemblage from Tibet offers new insights into the origin of the cold-adapted Pleistocene megafauna, which has usually been sought either in the arctic tundra or in the cold steppes elsewhere. This new evidence offers an alternative scenario: the harsh winters of the rising Tibetan Plateau may have provided the initial step towards cold-adaptation for several subsequently successful members of the late Pleistocene mammoth fauna in Europe, Asia, and to a lesser extent, North America. The Tibetan Plateau may have been another cradle of the Ice Age giants.

"This discovery clarifies the origin of the woolly rhinoceros ? and perhaps much of the now extinct, cold-adapted, Pleistocene Eurasian megafauna ? as the high-altitude environments of the Zanda Basin of the primordial Pliocene Himalayas," said H. Richard Lane of the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Earth Sciences.

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Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County: http://www.nhm.org

Thanks to Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/113039/Discovery_of_important_woolly_rhino_fossil

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